The Spirus

by JB Trepagnier

  “I can’t let her leave with you. She needs answers from Belisarus why he hid everything from her and we need to know if she is Lisana. I was sure she wasn’t, but I’m starting to have my doubts.”

  “We don’t know why she came as this girl and did not appear fully formed, but Belisarus shouldn’t have hidden her from us for so long. She needs to be taught what she was sent her to do.”

  “What am I sent here to do? What am I?”

  Sono saw his father look down at her sadly. It would have been easier if she had been with them this entire time. Sono saw his father open his mouth to say something to her, but the tall man cut him off.

  “I will agree to let her come back with you and learn whatever it is she needs to learn, but you must send someone to warn Joron so he can leave before they hurt him. And I won’t let you leave with her until after we’ve gone to Idric and gotten our answers from Belisarus.”

  “What she is is more important than finding out if she’s the missing princess.”

  “What am I?” the girl asked again. She looked like she was getting increasingly irritated that they were arguing over her head and Volaris was not answering her questions.

  “If she is who you think she is, she’s still a flesh and blood girl. If she does what you say she will do and she is Lisana, then she will need to rule when the fighting is done.”

  Sono saw his father thinking and he watched the girl getting even more irritated. “I will agree to travel with you to Idric so we can confirm who she is and why it was hidden from her. I would like to ask that old fool why he kept her from us. After that, she needs to come back with us so I can alert the other tribes.”

  “They don’t know?” the tall man asked, surprised.

  Before his father could answer, Sono was knocked over by a huge blast of heat. When he was finally able to sit up, he saw the tall man and his father on their backs trying to sit up as well. When he looked over, the girl was standing a few feet away and he couldn’t make her out because of the heat waves around her. Her black hair had changed to a fiery red and was blowing behind her. He was sure if he could see her eyes, they would be violet. The tall man tried to call to her to calm herself before she killed them, but she yelled out to both the tall man and her father.

  “I’m not going anywhere with you and I had no plans to leave Idric when we got back there. I’m not coming back with you until you explain to me exactly what I am and what you mean when you say I’m meant for something!”

  “Soryn, he can’t explain anything to you until you calm yourself. You’re going to burn us alive!” the tall man called to her.

  “Both of you are planning my life for me and you keep saying I was meant to do something, but you haven’t asked what I want to do!”

  The heat coming from her was getting unbearable and Sono and the other two men were inching away from her. If she got any more upset, she would kill them.

  Volaris called to her. “I will give you all the answers you seek, but calm yourself before you burn everything. If you burn me, I can’t tell you who you are!”

  Sono did not know this was even possible, but he had never met the Spirus before. He watched her turn into an eagle, engulfed in flames, and fly off.

  “Flaming hell,” the tall man swore. “She keeps exposing herself and she nearly killed us.”

  “This is why she should have been with us from the beginning,” his father told him.

  Volaris told Sono to go back to the Farkhi camp immediately and send someone to warn Joron to get out and that he would be safe with the Farkhi. Sono went to protest because he wanted to be near the Spirus, but his father took one look at his face and told him to leave immediately.

  Leodos

  Leodos was worried. He had seen her get angry and leave to be in private, but he had never seen her lose complete control of her Tempris ability. Even when Esylle was still having issues controlling herself, she had never gotten to the point that Soryn was at. He hoped wherever she flew off to, she was calming herself and would get her answers from Volaris when she got back. He also wanted to know more from him about why they seemed to think she was sent by their God. Leodos led the Farkhi king back to camp, not sure what the guard’s reaction would be. When they approached, all four men stood and drew their weapons.

  “Put those away,” Leodos told them. “He’s not here to hurt anyone and he will be traveling to Idric with us. He has some of the answers about Soryn that have been hidden from her. I don’t know how much of it is true and how much of it is lore, but what he’s told me so far makes some sense, given how she is. She got upset and left again. When she calms down and comes back, I will let him explain.

  “There is also something else you should know. Tollam tried to attack Soryn and she changed him. He was the horse we saw charge through the camp. I’ve been told he can change back into a man and I have no doubt he’s going back to the Lords to tell them about the girl. When this gets to them, they will come for her and the tribes will protect her because of who she is to them. This is possibly another war starting.”

  “What about my father?” Esylle asked, concerned.

  Volaris finally spoke. “I sent my son back to get a message to him. Your father will be safe in our camp and we will protect him. We have always known you hide yourselves from the humans.”

  “How could you let her leave again?” Esylle asked him. “Especially now that the humans could know about her.”

  “I couldn’t stop her. She lost control and nearly burned us alive. I’m hoping she will be calmer when she gets back.”

  “I don’t understand,” Esylle said. “You said something was going on with her and we wouldn’t see her for a few days. What happened besides Tollam attacking her? How did you push her to the point that she lost control like that? Why did she leave and you tell us we wouldn’t see her for a few days? I thought you didn’t want her leaving. Look what happened when she did! How could you be so irresponsible with her?”

  Leodos was still embarrassed and wasn’t sure how he was going to explain to Esylle that the girl she thought was her daughter not only kissed him, but he kissed her back and now she was old enough to want to mate. He was sure it would upset Esylle.

  “She had to be away from you,” Volaris answered for him. “I took care of it so she could be around people again and it was an honor that she allowed me to.”

  “What does that mean?” Esylle asked.

  “I found out she’s nineteen years of age. Things happen to tribe members at that age and she was experiencing it the first time. She was acting on primal instinct and couldn’t be around us. I thought it would go away in a few days and she could come back to us, but Volaris said it wouldn’t go away until she addressed it. She allowed him to fix it for her.”

  “What primal instinct? You’re acting like you don’t want to tell me something.”

  “She was experiencing her first Senso. It’s going to happen to her every year from now on. That fool didn’t explain to her this would happen and she didn’t know what she was supposed to do. I took care of it for her, made sure she enjoyed it, and the pain was minimal.”

  “I don’t know what Senso is, but it sounds like you’re trying to tell me that you laid with my daughter like you were her husband!” Esylle yelled. Leodos was hoping she did not erupt into flames either.

  “If she had been raised with us, as she should have been, we would have had a ceremony for her and a husband. There would have been fights among the tribes over who got that honor. It was an honor to help her through her first mate and she will not have a child.”

  Esylle did not lose control, but she ran to Volaris and started reigning a series of punches on his chest. “You should not have laid with my daughter!”

  Volaris calmly pinned her hands down. “Tempris do not experience this. She wouldn’t have been able to be around you until it was done and the feeling would not have gone away until I helped her.”

  Esylle stormed off to sit by the fir
e. Leodos understood why she was upset and he knew she still thought she was Lisana. He didn’t go try to make it better for Esylle like he had always done because they needed to find Soryn. He asked Volaris if he could find her.

  “Not if she’s still aflame like she was. She’s just going to draw attention to herself. I can get as close to her as I can, but if she still has flames coming off her, I can’t get close. People can’t see her like that.”

  He watched as Volaris left. He hoped Volaris’ people could get to the castle in time to get Joron out. He didn’t know what would happen if Esylle lost her father and this girl wasn’t Lisana. Since Volaris was going to find her and could hopefully get close enough to her to calm her and bring her back, he finally went and sat by Esylle.

  She glared at him. “Why didn’t you tell me that’s why she left and that is why we had to stay here?”

  “There was nothing you could have done. I was embarrassed. I was alone and she was confused and thought I was a compatible mate. When I realized what she was going through, I told her to make herself small and not come back until the feeling passed. Everything I had read was that the feeling would go away in a few days. I didn’t know it wouldn’t until Volaris showed up. I know you don’t like what he did, but she agreed to it and he helped her.”

  “But they aren’t wed!”

  “Even if a part of her is like your family, there are other parts of her that are not. She’s going to experience things you haven’t because even though she’s similar to you, she is also different.”

  “How did she lose control like that? Belisarus should have taught her better!”

  “I think part of it was that her senses were already heightened from what she had just experienced. Volaris and I were making plans on what to do with her after we left Idric and not only did that make her angry, we kept talking when she kept wanting him to answer for her what he kept saying she is meant for.”

  “And what is that?”

  “They think she was sent by their god to bring peace. I don’t know what it means and I still don’t. We won’t get those answers until we get to Idric.”

  “Why do you need to do anything with her after we get to Idric? She wants to stay there, even though I’m hoping to convince her to come back with me even if for some reason, she’s not Lisana.”

  “That’s part of what made her lose control. We were planning things without asking her. I don’t know much about their god, Essos, and neither do you since your family was forbidden to worship him after the wars. Volaris is convinced he sent her. What if she is the way she is because he’s right? Belisarus taught her nothing. Maybe she belongs with the tribes. You didn’t see their reaction to her when I first exposed her. They all seem to know exactly why she is the way she is and how to train her how to use her gifts.”

  “If the human’s find out, they are going to want her dead. They will think she’s too dangerous.”

  “I have no doubt Tollam is on his way back there now to expose her. When she gets back, we need to make it to Idric as soon as possible so you will be safe.”

  Volaris

  Volaris soared through the air. He thought she would be easy to spot if she was still in the same form. He needed to get to her soon if he was going to Idric and not bringing her back with him and finally telling the other tribes she was finally here. He couldn’t risk someone seeing her the way she left.

  He knew Sono was upset with him for sending him away and Volaris saw the look he gave him when he took the girl into the brush. He knew Sono wanted to be the one that helped her. He could have allowed him and performed the ceremony and married the two of them, but he didn’t think the girl would agree to it. Volaris also didn’t allow him because he felt like it should be a king that took the Spirus first Senso and not a young prince. He also knew that he had more experience than Sono and the girl was nervous and didn’t know what was supposed to happen. Volaris could put her more at ease and make it more enjoyable for her.

  He was surprised when she got over the pain, how passionately she responded. It must have been the Tempris in her. He enjoyed himself and when he asked her when they were done, she said she had too. He regretted that the entire thing had not been done properly with the ceremony, but knew there would have been fights among the tribes over who was chosen for her. Based on how she reacted when he and the tall man were planning what to do with her after they left Idric, she would not have like that at all, nor having a husband chosen for her and most likely would have done something rash to let them know she wanted to choose her own.

  Belisarus had not trained her well at all. He must have been slipping in his old age. Volaris had a feeling he spent more time teaching her it was more important to hide than how to use her gifts. The more people she met since she left, the worse she got about exposing herself. She could have killed all three of them with that fire blast.

  He couldn’t have imagined where she would have gone and he would have spotted her if she was still in the form of a fiery eagle. He didn’t know if she had now become something small because she didn’t want to be found or if she was doing what she had done with the royal family and become something that couldn’t speak when she was done talking.

  He knew she was angry, but he also thought she wanted answers and would calm herself so she could get them. He tried flying lower to see if he could find her. He almost missed her, sitting against a tree, curled into herself and crying. He flew down to her.

  “I’m sorry we upset you. I meant to tell you who you were, but the tall man showed up.”

  “Neither of you has any right to plan my life for me,” she said, wiping her eyes.

  “Maybe when you find out who you are you’ll understand.”

  “I’m nobody! I have no parents and I should never have agreed to leave.”

  “You’re a very, very special girl. You should have been with us since the day you were born. You should never have grown up thinking what you can do is bad and you should have had all of the tribes working with you on developing your gifts. You shouldn’t have been taught to fear us. I’ve had people watching you since you first appeared to confirm who you are and we never tried to hurt you. I had been following you trying to find the best way to approach you to tell you who you are and get you to come back with me. I didn’t approach you until you asked me to.”

  “I shouldn’t be able to do what I can do! He hid from me what I am for a reason. I want to go back to Idric and stay there. Too many people know about me here and I’m sure Tollam has already run his mouth about what I did to him.”

  “War has been brimming for years. Tollam is just the catalyst. You are here to end it.”

  “I’m not supposed to be here at all,” the girl cried. “No one should be able to do what I can do!”

  Volaris looked down at her sadly and realized the harm that Belisarus had done this girl. How was she supposed to bring peace if she thought everything about her was bad?

  “I don’t know why your tutor kept everything from you, but you do exactly what you are supposed to be able to do. I don’t know why you appeared to us this way, but you should have been raised with us. Then, you would be where you belong and you wouldn’t think of yourself as wrong and bad.”

  “What am I supposed to do?”

  “If you’ll calm down, why don’t we fly back to their camp site? I know the tall man has more questions and this way, I explain this to everyone at once. Change like me, not in flames like you were before,” Volaris told her, relieved when she changed into a regular eagle and flew away with him.

  Esylle

  Esylle paced. She was worried about her father and Soryn. She hoped the Farkhi were able to get to her father in time to get him out and she was worried about the explosion of heat from the girl. Esylle herself had lost control plenty of times, but never to that extent. Belisarus must not have taught her very well.

  The dark-skinned man that Leodos appeared with did not make her worry less and she was angry that he la
id with Soryn like that. Leodos tried to explain to her that he was helping her, but it didn’t mean she had to like it. She just hoped he was able to find her and calm her down to bring her back.

  “What if she goes back to Idric without us,” she asked Leodos, wringing her hands.

  “She won’t. He has answers she wants.”

  “How do you know she’s not going to have a bad reaction to what he tells her?”

  “She may. If she does, you’re the only person who can get close to her if she has the same reaction again. You’ll have to find a way to calm her down.”

  “I don’t think she likes me,” Esylle confessed. “She doesn’t like me looking at her and she didn’t want me touching her when she woke up when she got hurt.”

  “She just doesn’t know you. Instead of trying to convince her to come back and insisting she’s Lisana, why don’t you try getting to know her and let her get to know you so she’s not so uncomfortable around you all the time?”

  Esylle was about to comment when two eagles flew to the camp site and she watched them transform into Soryn and the dark-skinned man. Soryn looked like she had been crying and was upset. She couldn’t help it and went over and embraced her. She tried not to show she was upset when Soryn pushed her away and asked her not to.

  Mafir had been cooking and so had Frog. They all sat down by the fire to eat. Soryn looked tense and Esylle thought at first no one was going to speak.

  “Are you going to tell me what I am?” she asked tensely.

  “You aren’t a what, you’re a who,” Volaris told her. “You’re a very special person and we have been waiting for you for so long.”

  Esylle was confused. She had been not told about the tribe’s god because she had always worshiped the same god the humans did, as her family had since the war. She knew nothing about who Soryn could possibly be. The girl looked uncomfortable and curious at the same time.

  “If I’m special and you’ve been waiting for me why was I always told you would hurt me if you found out about me?”