Chapter 22
an apology
Annika gained consciousness slowly, thinking she hadn’t slept at all. She ran her hand along the dirty sheets and discovered that she was alone in bed. Sitting up, she pulled back the curtain to reveal an overcast, late morning sky. The fire was dying down in the fireplace, and the white hot coals warmed the room comfortably. She slipped out of bed and saw Talvi fully dressed in his black suede riding outfit, sitting at his desk writing. He seemed very focused on his work, whatever it was. She walked behind him and rested her chin on his shoulder, hugging him gently.
“Ah, you’ve finally woken up. I hope you slept as well as I did.”
“Mmm hmm. What are you writing?”
“It’s nothing,” he said, turning the paper over, scratching his head. “I’ve already packed your bag. I hope you don’t mind. Yuri’s not coming with us, so I borrowed some of her things for you to use.”
“I don’t mind at all.” She didn’t mind that he had packed her bag, but she really didn’t mind that Yuri wasn’t coming with. She’d been cold and prickly towards Annika ever since she arrived, and Annika wasn’t the type of person to bother with such mind games. She reached down into her bag nearby and fished out her camera, only to find that the batteries were dead. She dug through one of the many boxes Talvi kept and put in new ones, snapping a photo of him sitting at his desk. He gave her his most seductive smile as he posed for his photographer.
“What type of camera is that? I want to see,” he demanded rather than asked. She brought it over to him and showed him the instant picture on the screen.
“This is remarkable! Show me how to use it,” he insisted. She took another picture of his room, demonstrating what each button did, and he grabbed it away from her, taking a photo of her wearing nothing but her ring and some very messy hair.
“Talvi! Don’t waste the batteries,” she scolded.
“It’s not wasteful if it’s an image of you,” he said playfully, and took a few more snapshots. “Come sit on my lap and I’ll take our photograph.” She sank onto his thigh and he held his long arm out, capturing the moment forever with a simple ‘click’. She finally stood up and gathered her clothes, bringing them over to the washbasin near his bed.
“Perhaps I should pack some extra batteries in your bag. We could have a lot of fun with this,” he suggested with a devious gleam in his eye as he took more pictures of her.
“As long as my journal’s in there, I don’t care what we bring.”
“It’s in there, alright. What a glimpse into your head! This poor Danny fellow seems very droll. Not your type at all. And I see you think I’m a spoiled brat, among other things.”
“You read my journal? That’s private!” she protested. He howled in amusement as he reviewed his photography skills.
“Who doesn’t love to read about themselves? ‘That Talvi thinks he’s so clever, but he’s just a spoiled brat,’” he quoted her, batting his eyes. “‘When he read me my favorite fairy tale, my heart started to melt.’”
“Shut up! I can’t believe you read my journal!”
“If it were truly a secret, you would’ve kept it to yourself, not penned it in ink, you silly girl.” He waved his finger at her in reprimand as he put the camera in her bag, and she couldn’t deny that he had a point; she just didn’t agree with it. He turned around in his chair to watch her wash the rest of her body.
“Do you mind?”
“No, not at all.” His impish smile had returned with full force.
“I have your smell all over me,” she observed, rinsing out the wash cloth.
“I know. You’re mine now,” he replied confidently. He looked on for a while longer, then cleared his throat. “Annika, I…I want you to know that if anyone in this room has been conquered, it’s me,” he said. She slowly turned to look at him. His eyes reflected a serious and resolute expression.
“What do you mean, ‘conquered’?”
“You wrote in your little book that you think I don’t mean the things I say, that I look at you as a conquest because you are a woman. Hopefully you know better by now. I’ve meant everything I’ve said to you since the day I first saw you.”
Annika didn’t know what to respond with, and luckily she didn’t have to. There was a gentle knock on the door. She rushed to put on her pants as he reluctantly poked his head outside to answer it.
“Hi,” a soft female voice said.
“What are you doing here?” he asked quietly, blocking the speaker from Annika’s view.
“I need to talk to you. May I come in?”
“I’m a little busy,” he glanced over at Annika, who had just pulled her white blouse over her head. She gave him a questioning look as she tied the green sash around her waist.
“Please? I really need to talk to you,” the woman pled. He dropped his head and opened the door, and in stepped a tall woman clad in black. She wore the same silver buckled knee-high boots, the same black suede pants, the same black suede jacket and the same black shirt underneath, embroidered with the same patterns in silver thread as Talvi’s clothing. The only difference was in the cut of the clothing; it was formed perfectly to her slim body. Her shiny black hair tumbled over her shoulders, falling down to her elbows.
“Yuri, is that you? I didn’t even recognize you without a dress on.” Annika was amazed at the transformation from stuffy, prudent and well-planned Yuri to a woman who appeared ready for adventure.
“I haven’t worn this in a long time. It felt good to put it on,” Yuri said, smiling faintly. Her brother sat on the corner of the desk and folded his arms across his chest, but he didn’t scowl at her.
“I wanted to talk to you both while we could still be alone,” Yuri said. “I just wanted to say how sorry I am, for everything, for all the trouble I’ve caused you both. I’m sorry for the things I said to you, Annika. I’m sorry for all the pain I caused.” She turned to her brother. “It’s none of my business to tell you what to do, as long as you’re happy. I, I was just trying to…I thought I knew what was best for you, but I realize now that I can’t decide that for anyone else. Not for you,” she looked back at Annika with watery eyes. “And not for you, either.”
“It’s okay. It’s not a big deal,” Annika said, dismissing her concern.
“No, it’s a very big deal. When you’re a twin, it’s different. You grow up together, you’re connected in a way that no one else understands unless they’re a twin. You get jealous if anyone interferes with your connection. It’s difficult to let go of that, you know?” Her tears spilled over, running down her cheeks, but she remained resolute. “I just want you to know you make my brother very happy. Everyone in the house agrees with that statement, and apparently it was plain to see at the party if I’d only been willing to look.” She turned to her brother again.
“I of all people should want you to be happy. I’m so sorry for the things I said. I’m sorry for not…I’m just sorry.” She began to cry, and Talvi held out his arms and embraced her for a long time.
“I’m sorry too, about Konstantin,” her brother eventually confessed. “Runa’s right. He’s not that bad…at least, not compared to some of the blokes you’ve run around with.” Yuri wiped her eyes and smiled up at him.
“I love you, but you’re always going to be an ass.”
“More likely than not,” he agreed with a good-natured grin. He finally let her go, and looked at her from head to toe while Annika slipped her backpack over her shoulders.
“Are you coming along, then?” he asked, motioning to Yuri’s outfit. She nodded and gave a confident pat on the sword hanging at her side.
“Yes. I’m long overdue to use this,” she said, and grabbed the dark sunglasses off her brother’s desk as the three of them headed downstairs.
They walked into the sunny library where there was a hub of activity going on. Finn and Zaven followed behind the other three, and Ambrose and Althea were arranging things with the samodivi in different pi
les on the tables. There was a mountain of food, along with cooking supplies, canteens, weapons and armor.
“We’re taking all this?” Annika asked, looking at the tables with a dubious expression. “Where…no, how are we going to bring all this stuff with us?” There was a small purple and blue ‘poof’ and Dardis appeared at her side.
“Pish posh, that’s the least of my worries,” she said, and instructed the group to take whatever armor and weapons they might need. Sariel walked over to the stack of weapons and found a sword about the same size as hers, and buckled it around Annika’s waist.
“What’s this for? I thought it was just a scouting mission.”
“It’s best to be prepared. I’d rather have a sword at my side than not have it at all,” Sariel told her with a knowing look that Annika wasn’t about to question.
“Do you have everything you need?” Ambrose asked, handing her a small metal box. Annika looked up at him, and then saw that he’d passed out similar boxes to most of her friends. “This is a Fairy Poppins box. It’s a popular contraption made by fairy metalsmiths.”
“I’m sorry; I thought you just said ‘Fairy Poppins?” Annika was positive that she must have misunderstood, but then Ambrose confirmed,
“I did just say that.”
“What does it do?” she asked, thinking she was nuts.
“It holds practically anything you need it to,” Ambrose winked, and went back to distributing the strange boxes. Chivanni and Dardis began packing up the food, and to Annika’s astonishment, the moment a basket or jar touched the inside of the box it began to shrink, until it was small enough to slip right in. In no time the piles of food, armor, and other gear had been reduced to a handful of containers the size of shoeboxes. Dardis walked over to Zaven and waved her finger at his supplies. They drifted through the air and into the box he was holding before it snapped shut like the satisfied jaws of an alligator.
“Holy crap! That’s just like Mary Poppins’s carpet bag, from the movie!” Annika exclaimed.
“Of course it is,” Finn said. “The Fairy Poppins invented this contraption over a millennia ago. Where else would the idea have come from?”
While Annika watched in wonder, Dardis smiled and moved onto the next pile, coaxing everyone’s supplies into their appropriate container. Every metal box was labeled in strange lettering, similar to what Talvi had scratched in the dirt that one morning in the woods.
“These Fairy Poppins boxes are special. We haven’t used them for this type of purpose in a long time. The writing you see is your name, so you know whose is whose.”
“It looks Greek to me,” Annika frowned, trying to decipher the text.
“No, it’s not Greek, it’s Fae,” Chivanni corrected her. “And by the way, I would make a point to put a bit of silk in the box to keep the contents from shifting too much. I had the most unpleasant experience of having my toast and jam wind up on my nicest dandelion down jacket.”
Yuri jiggled her box a little and locked it tight, placing it into a leather saddlebag while Annika put hers in her backpack. A dark shadow caught the corner of her eye and she glanced up to see two figures in the doorway of Finn’s library; one tall and one short. It was the vampires dressed in their traveling clothes, which completely obscured their delicate skin from the sun’s ferocious rays. During her stay she’d had multiple myths dispelled, and the ones about vampires weren’t any different. They weren’t afraid of garlic, although they didn’t care for the smell; they could be killed by anything being thrust through their heart, not just wooden stakes, and they could stay awake during the day, but the sun would char their bodies to a crisp if they were exposed for too long. The more Annika learned about them, the more they seemed like regular people with a type of sun-related disorder.
“Where is Nikola?” Konstantin asked Ambrose while his glittering eyes surveyed the room.
“He’s saying goodbye to his grandmother,” he replied. “Dragana will stay here with us until he returns for her.”
The group headed outside to the stables, where a row of horses stood, saddled up and anxiously pawing the ground. Annika immediately recognized Ghassan, the only black horse in the group. Beside him stood Galileo and the darker gold palomino that Finn had ridden to the Tortoise and Hare, along with two dark bays. The silver stags ridden by the samodivi were already caught and tied to a fence rail, and an unfamiliar black and white paint horse in the pasture seemed to be making friends with Yuri’s dappled grey mare from across the fence. But of all the pretty horses and striking silver stags, what surprised Annika the most was the sight of a huge elk saddled and standing among them. It took her about three seconds to realize this was probably how Nikola had arrived.
Dragana, Althea, and Anthea had followed them outside with the children in their arms, watching reluctantly as the group attached their belongings to their saddles and mounted up. Dragana hobbled up to Annika and looked deep into her eyes for a long time. She felt a silent understanding pass between them, as if she were being blessed, and she smiled warmly, knowing she was indeed being blessed. And then Dragana did an odd thing; her hand curled around one of the many talismans she wore around her neck, and she pulled it over her head, slipping it around Annika’s shoulders. She looked down and saw it was a pair of fish swimming in opposite directions, one made of sapphire, and the other of red garnet. They were set inside a ring of silver, so that when she turned it around, the fish were visible from either side of the medallion.
“I can’t accept this,” Annika told her, but Dragana spoke in that windy language that she couldn’t decipher. Nikola rode up to her on his elk, and Annika was taken aback by the sight of him. He was wearing a long furry cloak over his tunic and pants, but it was the soft helmet with a pair of large ram’s horns that spiraled out to the sides which blew her mind.
“She says you are meant to wear this from now on,” he translated. “Taking it off would be a great disservice to yourself, and an insult to her.” Annika turned to the old woman.
What does it mean? Annika asked her in her mind, but Dragana only smiled with her eerie white eyes and took a ginger step towards Althea.
“Tell everyone goodbye, Stella,” Althea said to her granddaughter. The little girl waved with a big smile on her face. She didn’t understand the complex nature of this trip.
“Bye bye! Bring back my daddy if you see him!” Stella cheerfully called out to them as she waved her small chubby fingers at everyone. Tears were streaming down Anthea’s face, dripping off her chin and into Sloan’s blond curls as she held him close. The twins and Finn embraced their family, trying not to prolong the separation. It was a very emotional parting from the family that was a cornerstone to everyone in the group, even to Annika. Although she’d only known the Marinossians for a short time, they felt like family to her.
“Your knapsack, milady,” a deep voice said from beside her. She turned to see Finn standing there with his arm outstretched. He helped lift her backpack off her shoulders and began securing it to Galileo’s saddle.
“You’re letting me ride your horse?”
“Of course,” he said, tossing his curls out of his face while he fussed with a few slender buckles. “He’s the most trustworthy and reliable one in the entire barn.”
“But we’re going a lot further away than the Tortoise and the Hare,” she pointed out as she stroked the white blaze that ran down the horse’s dark nose. “Don’t you want to be the one to ride him?”
“Only in a perfect world where your horsemanship is half as good as mine,” he said with a bright grin. “But we don’t live in that world, so you’re riding Galileo and I’m taking Midas. He’s been rather difficult to handle since Asbjorn’s been gone, and I don’t want anyone getting hurt if I leave him here at home.”
“But Galileo’s a stallion. Aren’t they dangerous?”
“They can be, if they haven’t learnt any manners,” he replied, and double checked the girth strap of the saddle. “But that goes without
saying in regards to any horse, and I certainly wouldn’t let you ride him if I had any doubts. Trust me…he’ll be a perfect gentleman for you.”
“Just like his owner?” she grinned. Finn let out an amused laugh, then sighed wistfully as a hint of red colored his cheeks.
“Yes. Just like his owner,” he finally agreed. Even though he wore a gentle grin, there was a liveliness in his eyes that Annika hadn’t seen since the night they’d gone to the pub.
“Are the two of you nearly ready to leave?” Hilda impatiently inquired.
“Yes. I was just making sure the saddle’s on nice and snug for Annika,” Finn replied. “If it slips off, I don’t imagine she’ll be able to ride upside down for very long.”
“Now that would be a sight to see,” Hilda joked.
“No, it really wouldn’t be,” he countered, not finding the idea very funny at all. She wrinkled her nose at him, and then turned to Annika.
“Perhaps you’d like to keep us all waiting even longer while he tells you about his polo accident? I’ll go prepare us a second breakfast in the meantime,” she said sarcastically, and turned to leave.
“Anything but that,” he muttered under his breath.
“What?”
“I said, you’re going to make me fat,” he quickly improvised, and smiled sweetly at her. Annika held back her laughter until Hilda had joined Runa and Sariel, who were waiting with their deer at the edge of the group. She looked on while he untied Galileo’s reins from the rail. Instead of handing them to Annika, he handed them to his brother, who’d just walked over with Ghassan.
“You’ll have to wait to ride him until we’ve gone far enough from the village,” Talvi explained as Finn headed for the dark gold horse waiting nearby. He gave a gentle tug at the green sash around Annika’s waist and pulled her closer to him. “I didn’t think you’d mind riding with me for a little while, for old time’s sake.
“You’re going to blindfold me again? I’m beginning to think you’re enjoying this a little too much.”
“It’s for everyone’s benefit. I would rather be overly cautious than regretful.” He helped her up and took his place behind her on Ghassan’s back, wrapping the sash over her eyes. “And no,” he crooned into her ear as he knotted the sash at the back of her head, “I could never enjoy this too much.”
She could hear the movement around her and feel the horses begin to walk through the quiet village and over the bridge. They rode for at least an hour before Talvi removed the sash from her eyes and reluctantly let her switch to Galileo. She tried not to watch the ground as it rushed under his huge feet. The giant wolves bounded ahead of the party, always within sight of their masters. Unfortunately, they were always within sight of the deer and the horses, and Annika saw Midas rear up on his hind legs and leap sideways more than a few times.
As the morning faded into late afternoon, the animals grew more comfortable with the sentries and the air grew cool and misty. They slowed to a walk, for the horses could only see a few yards in front of their noses and refused to run any faster. Fog began to grow thick around them, to the point that they couldn’t continue any further. With only a couple hours before sunset, they stopped and set up camp in a densely wooded area.
Annika had spread out her cloak and was unrolling the blanket from her little Fairy Poppins box when a pair of furry boots stepped up beside her from nowhere. She jerked her head up to see a horned figure standing above her.
“Geez, you scared the crap out of me!” She hadn’t even heard Nikola approaching. He took off his bizarre helmet and scratched his head.
“That amulet my grandmother gave you…it’s probably the most powerful of them all.”
“Then why did she give it to me? I don’t understand,” Annika wondered. Nikola sighed and sat down close to her.
“She told me that you were meant to wear it now,” he said in his soft, steady voice. “She doesn’t need its strength and power anymore. The trip to Derbedrossivic was her second to last. There’s only one more journey for her to make.”
“Wouldn’t she want to have this if she was going somewhere else?” Annika asked naïvely.
“She doesn’t need it anymore where she’s going. She’s over a hundred years old. She’s ready to move on from this life,” he said. He seemed a little sad at the thought, but not so much that it overwhelmed him.
“Oh! So you aren’t like the elves and samodivi then?”
“No, I’m human, just like you,” he smiled at her. “You’re what, eighteen, nineteen years old?”
“Twenty-five,” she boasted. He looked a little surprised as he stroked his goatee. “Well, you sure don’t look your age.”
“Flattery will get you nowhere, Nikola,” she quipped.
“If I were trying to flatter you, I would do better than that,” he said with a little smile, but there wasn’t anything conniving about it.
“Aren’t you worried about the vampires? Aren’t you worried about getting attacked or ambushed on this trip?” she asked.
“No. I’ve never been afraid of death. It’s just another part of life. And the vampires…” His blue eyes glanced around the camp without concern. “The vampires I can handle with one hand behind my back. I’ve been training for a long time,” he said simply, without pride or arrogance.
“Since this was your grandmother’s amulet, can you tell me what it means?” she asked. He lifted the amulet from her chest and held it out in front of her nose.
“It has many meanings,” he began, leaning in for a closer look. “It’s a very complex combination in a single amulet. The sapphire is a stone with many supernatural powers. It will protect you against both violent physical and psychic attacks. It will ward off the sorcery of your enemies, and even accidental death,” he pointed to the red fish.
“Now this one is different. The garnet balances yin and yang energies. It will increase your psychic abilities, courage, and confidence, and will fend off evil spirits while you sleep. It will help protect your aura, and if that’s not enough for one little stone to do, it will also keep you safe while traveling. I wouldn’t be surprised if it makes you feel a little…” He smiled to himself and set the amulet back against her chest. “Well, you’ll figure it out.”
“How do you know if it even works or not?” She challenged him. But he just tossed his dreadlocks and reached inside his shirt.
“Believe me, I know,” he said and opened his hand. There lay the exact same amulet.
“You two have matching talismans? Isn’t that remarkable?” Talvi stated casually from behind them, standing tall over them. He had crept up so stealthily, that he could have been standing there for one second or five minutes for all she knew. He sat down on the other side of Annika and unbuckled his boots.
“I can’t believe how many powers this thing has,” she said, and recapped a few of the things that Nikola had explained to her.
“You’ll have to take good care of it then. I still can’t believe Dragana gave it away. Aren’t you tired?” Talvi asked her with a big yawn.
“I know I am,” Nikola said, taking the hint. He picked up his helmet and walked over to a tree to lie down on the bare earth, nuzzling his face against the grass.
“He is such a strange looking guy,” she remarked as she curled next to Talvi and let him cover them with their blanket.
“He would look even stranger with no hands,” Talvi snickered.
“No hands? What do you mean?”
“What I mean is, if he values them, he better keep them to himself.”
The Flame and the Arrow Page 22