Dreams of the Fae: Transcendence

by Anna Patrick Paige

  He turned over my palm. A spiral-like stitch fastened the wound shut with six strokes of black thread. “I need to wrap this.” He reached for the linen and gingerly bound the fabric around my hand. “I want you to promise me something. Don’t go into the woods alone anymore. Animals and bandits are not the only dangers. I’m out there too, and if you walk up on me while I’m asleep . . .” He grimaced, tucking in the end of the fabric to complete my bandage. “I’m as much of a threat as everything else. I can’t always be there to rescue you.”

  I tightened his cloak around my shoulders. “I don’t need you to rescue me. I can stand my own ground.”

  “The way you did in the bandit cave?” He stood, displaying a mocking grin, and leaned down next to my ear. “And with the bear?”

  I shoved him—with the wrong hand. My wrist buckled against his hard chest, and renewed pain seared across the stitched muscle. I grasped my hand and winced. “I’ve never known anyone who could go from being so charming to so offensively abhorrent in the same sentence.”

  Darric laughed as if he enjoyed when the twists of his personality caused me anguish. “Pleasure to have met you too, my lady.”

  “I have yet to decide if I feel the same way.” The sting of anger erased any lingering traces of fog.

  “That’s a good thing. You should take it easy tonight. You’re going to need your off hand.” He wrapped his damp cloak around his shoulders, then took my hand without asking and helped me up. “Dry out your clothes. You can use one of my shirts in the meantime. Try to get some rest. I have a business proposition for you in the morning.” He lifted his hood over his head, becoming someone terrifyingly familiar: the stranger who, despite his reservations, had beckoned me to follow him.

  “You’re going into the woods, aren’t you?”

  He plucked his haversack from the ground. “I don’t have a room.”

  I bit my lip apprehensively. “What kind of business proposition?”

  “You might find that patience can be something of a virtue.”

  “So can respect, integrity, and temperance,” I replied spitefully.

  He smirked and turned to leave. “Goodnight, Aya.”

  “Wait.” Regardless of his brutish change, I still owed him gratitude. “Thank you.”

  “No need. I couldn’t let you fester.”

  “Even so.”

  “You’ll pay me back, you’ll see.”

  “Compensation?” I rolled my eyes.

  “We’ll talk about that tomorrow.” He set his hand on my waist, waiting until he had my eyes to speak. I could just detect the outline of his face darkened by the hood. “I know over the last month I’ve been . . .” He gave a wicked smile. “. . . I really can’t make you understand why right now. But I don’t regret saving your life nor bringing you to the Hovel, even though I should. Aya, you are the most unique thing I have ever come across. I don’t want anything to hurt you, and I’m going to make it so nothing ever does.”

  My throat stiffened. Without waiting for me to respond, he took several steps backwards and left the cavern.

  The cat rubbed into my leg. Had she been here the entire time?

  I watched him fade into the darkness, my stranger’s figure becoming indistinct as he disappeared into the night. The short-faced bear was right. My head was toxified with Darric Ursygh, and it was absolutely unacceptable.

  A business proposition.

  Darric’s voice repeated the words inside my head.

  How did he expect me to rest? He knew I didn’t sleep. He knew I would wait in his room, naked and antsy, for the rest of the night.

  I fell back onto his pillow, causing the mattress to poof when I landed, and twisted the fur blankets around my lower body. I had nothing on below the waist. Darric had four shirts to choose from: two lacking sleeves and two bearing them. Hiding in his room, scantily clad, was going to be immodest enough, especially with Bromly and Flint sleeping in the adjacent rooms. I opted for sleeves.

  I wrung out my clothes, hung them on the extra wooden hooks, and threw Darric’s shirt over my head. The adequate cotton material covered all the important areas, though the neckline almost touched my navel and the arms drooped over my hands. The thin fabric left little to the imagination.

  I opened the laces of my shoes to help the leather dry and left Luken’s dagger on the nightstand, then hopped into bed for warmth.

  The cat addled my nerves, anxiously pacing the room and swishing her tail in restless jerks.

  How long was it until daylight? Inside the Hovel, it would be impossible to know the time.

  My injured hand throbbed. Whenever I moved my fingers or made a fist, a painful burn triggered lightning strikes up my arm. No more hunts for me. Divine Fae or not, the old injured male would kill me if I ever joined them again. He had sliced my palm as a punishment, a reminder of how I had permanently altered him. It would leave a scar, but thanks to Darric’s expeditious attention, I would still have a working hand.

  I drifted in and out of thoughts until the fur door cracked open, allowing a thin sliver of orange light into the room. I snatched the covers to my chest, and the shirt fell off my shoulder at the abrupt movement.

  “Get dressed and meet me outside,” Darric gently instructed and closed the fur.

  I leaped out of bed and snatched my chemise. The dry fabric held a remnant chill, but I quickly dressed, threw on my shoes and tightened Luken’s dagger around my ankle, grabbed my cloak, and raced through the Hovel and into the cavern.

  Darric waited next to the fire, arms crossed over his chest, his figure silhouetted against the morning sun and the hood of his cloak pulled down to shade his eyes. He slipped the hood back and looked at me with a sedate expression. “Do you still want to learn to wield a sword?”

  “Yes!” I exclaimed, covering my mouth in disbelief.

  “Shh.” He put his hand up to quiet me. “Don’t wake anyone up.”

  I bit into my lip.

  “Come with me.” He headed for the exit, and I followed him into daylight.

  Darric walked beside me, leaving the cat between us. In time, we reached the waterfall and passed into the tree line, where he took a sharp left and continued through the woods. A mysterious feeling of familiarity pervaded my mind. I couldn’t recall ever coming to this edge of the valley, yet it felt as though I’d been here before.

  The cliffs grew closer, and I began to fear we would be climbing. Darric may have found enjoyment in scaling the side of mountains, but the amusement was lost on me.

  He walked up to the rock, turned right, and vanished behind the stone. I gaped. The cliff rock wasn’t flat but layered. Two separate ledges created a pathway between the crag, impossible to detect until standing next to it. Following, I turned into the stone, and my legs went weak at the sight before me.

  Millions of wisteria blooms grew in a canopy under the trees. The petals fell readily to the ground, littering the supple grass with floral sprinkles of color. Thin and delicate trees intertwined their branches, creating woven masterpieces of natural beauty. The immeasurable number of pink and purple blooms blocked most of the sunlight, leaving limited rays of yellow crystalline beams to illuminate the forest.

  It’s real. The wisteria forest was real. It had not been an intoxicated delusion after all.

  The cat swiftly scaled a tree and perched on a high branch. She contentedly watched petals drift to the ground, mesmerized by the flicker of color.

  “You’ve brought me here before . . .” I breathed, stunned.

  Darric set his haversack by the base of a tree. “You happened to be in tow the last time I was on my way back to the Hovel. I’d call it an accident, but . . .” He scoffed, shaking his head, and chuckled to himself. The cliff we had descended a month ago towered to my left, covered with a complicated system of roots.

  “You told me this place wasn’t real. You had me believing I hallucinated it,” I tried to scold him, but the striking beauty of the forest kept my anger muted.


  “And it worked.” He grinned cheekily. “This forest is the most remote part of the valley and the farthest point away from the Hovel. I’ve never seen anyone enter from this direction, because the above cliffs are too steep. You too almost fell to your death. It was incredible you followed me down here without injuring yourself. I’ve never seen anyone so compelled to stay with me, no matter how difficult the terrain became.”

  “It wasn’t easy,” I stated.

  “Nor did I try to make it such.” He paused, nervously taking his cloak from his shoulders. He laid it over the tree behind him and leaned against the bark. “No one will ever see us here or know where we are. Not even Bromly and Flint know about this place.”

  My jaw dropped into an inaudible gasp. “That’s why you didn’t want me to remember it?”

  “I’ve kept this location to myself. I’ve always tended to seek isolation and . . . I like it here. The privacy gives me a chance to lower my guard. When I’m not at the Hovel, I’m usually here.”

  “It’s beautiful.” I turned in a circle, gazing into the treetops. Petals landed on my face, tickling my cheeks and sticking to my curls. “I couldn’t fully appreciate it last time.”

  “You were in a poison-induced haze.” He watched my amazement, then uncomfortably shifted his lean. “I have a proposition for you. I am willing to teach you to wield a sword.”

  “You’ve changed your mind?” I blinked rapidly at this new development.

  “I believe you are capable of learning. I wouldn’t waste my time otherwise. Though it’s going to be difficult for you. And for me. So I hope you are prepared for that. I’ve never willingly taught anyone to wield a sword. Flint has asked for lessons in the past, but the way I learned . . .” He drifted into thought but quickly resurfaced. “I use techniques I’d rather not reveal to them, but everything I have in my arsenal will be at your disposal. And here”—he waved his hand to indicate the surrounding forest—“is where I’ll teach you.”

  “We’ll be alone?” I questioned, my stomach twisting into an uncertain knot.

  “Against my better judgment, yes. But it’s necessary. Flint has never forgiven me for refusing to instruct him. He’s not going to take this well. It will be hard enough on him without having to watch.”

  “Are they allowed to know you are teaching me?”

  “Yes, but I will decide when and how we tell them. And they will never know where we are. I’m protective over this spot. I won’t be able to get away from them completely if they know all my hiding places.”

  “All? You have more?”

  He deflected the question with a condescending smile.

  I folded my arms over my chest. “What about being able to get away from me?”

  “I’m less concerned about you.” He casually rested his forearms on the branch above his head. The sunlight scattered glimmering rays across his intense stare.

  Elated as I was that Darric had finally agreed to instruct me, I still wasn’t confident I could handle spending that much time alone with him and not combust. Trying to manage a fogged brain and a pounding heart every day was a daunting proposition.

  “In the beginning, we’ll train in the early morning while my brothers are asleep and there is work to be done at the Hovel. It will keep them occupied. In the past, they have respected my need for solitude, but I doubt they will be so accommodating if I have you with me. Eventually, we’ll practice at night. Everything about combat is different in the dark.”

  “Why the secrecy?”

  “I’m used to moving in the shadows. It’s a trait I developed in the Onyx Guard, and I’ve never been able to sever myself from it. It’s something you will learn. Stealth will become critical in your future. Many of my teaching methods are bound to be somewhat unorthodox. Swords are as much a mental game as a physical one. You are not going to learn just how to wield a sword. I’m going to teach you to fight like I do.”

  The longer I stood in the desultory sunlight and floral disarray, with Darric’s unapologetic stare holding me, the more I became wary of his motives. “There’s a catch.”

  He nodded. “In point of fact, I’ll teach you everything I know about weaponry and swords, and you will act freely as yourself around me. No more hiding any ability you have. Everything out in the open. That is the intention of instructing you in a secret location. A Fae trained under my direction . . . well, it could be inconceivable the amount of damage you could inflict.”

  “You’re curious,” I observed and rolled my eyes. “Compensation.”

  “Both ways.” He tossed a petal out of his hair by flicking his head back. “If I knew what you were capable of, I could work it to my advantage when instructing you. I’m not going to pretend I know more about the Fae than I do—members of the Onyx Guard are not allowed into the inner sanctum of Medial Alexandria—but I am well aware that dreaming isn’t the only idiosyncratic quality of the Fae. In Varanus, we took a boy who could control water. He could unhinge it. Manipulate it. Bend it to his will. In Aogar, there was a girl who communicated with a colony of rats, and another in a rural village outside of Zullas who displayed an artistry with weaponry. These talents are the true purpose behind the Senate sending the Onyx Guard to hunt the Fae. Each and every one has been taken to Medial Alexandria to be killed, experimented on, or brutalized. All. Except you.” He pointed a finger at me. “If you knew how to defend yourself, if you knew the skills I know, the Onyx Guard would never be able to touch you.”

  The more Darric spoke of the Senate and the Onyx Guard, the less likely it seemed they would care I was Divine. I was at their mercy outside of Alamantia Palace. He knew I needed protection and, for some reason, wanted to ensure I had it. It should have been an easy decision: trade exposing my abilities for defensive instruction. Yet, I was panicking. I rested my forehead against the closest tree trunk and held my stomach.

  Darric massaged his fingers into my shoulder. His warm hand ran under my hair and covered the back of my neck. “One of the first things I’m going to teach you is control. You fall into hysteria much too easily.” He put his hand on my waist and turned me to face him. “Why are you afraid?”

  The tremors amplified, and my thoughts blurred. I pushed on his chest, trying to put distance between us. “Darric,” I pleaded, releasing the sweet smell of blossoms from my lungs and unintentionally inhaling his heady scent. It’s the wisteria, permeated into his skin somehow. I shoved harder. He released me and I backed away and sank into the grass.

  “Hmm, you do realize to train you properly, I can’t always maintain my distance.”

  Everything that makes you a Fae, Ayleth. Agree to it, under one condition . . .

  “I want to add a clause,” I blurted through short spurts of air.

  He folded his arms over his chest. “I’m listening.”

  “You won’t ask me anything about my life prior to the day we met. I will show you everything I can do, but my former existence will be at my own discretion to reveal and do so under my own terms.”

  He scanned me, then scoffed, disliking my counteroffer. “Agreed,” he said after mulling it over. Taking my hand, he pulled me from the ground. “Bear in mind that your additional clause entitles me to my own.”

  Afraid to ask, I stared at my feet, watching the breeze blow petals across the grass. “What do you want?”

  “One request of my choosing to be defined in the moment, however I deem appropriate, and to be carried out immediately by you, no matter the context or task,” he answered quickly and without apprehension. “Let’s call it an ambiguity.”

  “That’s ridiculous!” I shrieked, and the cat gave an angry howl from her perch.

  “If I’m supposed to ignore any question I have about your past and teach you to wield a sword, then I’m going to have a condition of my own.” He eyed the displeased feline. The tension in his muscles increased, and he rolled his shoulders.

  “The terms of my condition were defined. You’re trying to add vague, exploitati
ve stipulations,” I argued.

  “If you want an obscure past, then I want an ambiguity. Otherwise, we can go back to my original proposition—weapons training in exchange for exposing your Fae abilities to me, both of which benefit you exceedingly more than me.”

  I balled my fists contemptuously. “This is extortion.”

  “I prefer to think of it as strategizing for the future.”

  Of all things to possibly want. Backed into a corner, I would live in terror wondering when he would call upon his self-defined ambiguity, but I couldn’t have him interrogating me about my past.

  “Do we have a deal, my little cave Fae?” he proposed.

  I furrowed my brows, setting my hands to rest on my hips. “Yes, we have a deal, my arrogant antagonist.”

  “Presumptuous, Aya.” He unfolded his arms and drew his sword. “Not that I disagree with you.” He began circling me like a hawk. “Now that the contract is out of the way, allow me to explain several . . . oh, let’s call them rules.” He walked slowly and with purpose, using his sword as an exaggerated emphasis to his words. “Revealing anything to my brothers about this forest or what takes place within it is strictly forbidden. I will train you in control, focus and concentration, balance, attention to detail, physical conditioning, speed and agility, defense and offense.” He stopped and faced me. “I am the instructor and you are the student. There will be consequences for disrespect. For questioning me. For disobeying me. You will accept that I will not shed mercy upon you, because neither will any opponent you ever encounter. Chivalry and benevolence are beautiful sentiments but account for nothing in combat. Ruthlessness is the only true way to ensure you are standing when the fight is over. Your lessons will reflect these concepts, and you will endure anything and everything I decide is constructive to your training. Thus, a day’s lesson is over when I say it is and not a moment sooner. If you ever walk out of training due to anger, misplaced emotion, or exhaustion, your lessons will come to an abrupt and immediate end. In return, you will show me every Fae ability you possess. I will not interrogate you about your past, and you will consent to my ambiguity when I call upon it.”