“You’re silly,” she admonished. “We didn’t do anything. I helped you to your room then passed out.”
“With your shirt off?” Angst asked accusingly, his voice dry and raspy.
“What? I passed out,” Victoria said innocently. “I don’t remember the details.”
He lay back down and pressed his palms to his forehead, forcing his throbbing brains back into his head. He looked over and saw her shrug.
“Victoria, we can’t...you can’t do that,” he pleaded.
“Suddenly you don’t like seeing me naked?” she said, rolling over to face him.
“It’s not a matter of what I like, or even want,” he explained, staring up at the ceiling after a helpless glance. “It’s about what’s right and wrong, and this is not right.”
“I don’t understand,” she said, resting her hand on his chest and mostly ignoring him.
“You’re not listening to me.” Angst groaned. “And I feel awful! I should still be sleeping this off. What time is it?”
“It’s dawn...and I need your help. Come on.” Tori shook his shoulder. “We need to get up.”
“The guys won’t be up for hours. Just let me sleep,” Angst whined. “Can’t it wait?”
“Angst, this is important. I can’t do this alone,” Victoria said sincerely.
“Why do I feel sick and you don’t?” Angst said, trying to stall the inevitable.
“Because you’re old, and you drank more than me. Now get up!” She had rolled over and was now on her knees, and was now pressing against his arm in a weak attempt to shove him out of bed.
“Please?” He squeezed his eyes shut. “You...you can even stay here. You can sleep here the rest of the morning if you promise to be quiet. And stop pushing me. And put on a shirt.”
Victoria’s hands slipped off his shoulder and she flopped onto his chest. Her breasts squished into him as her long blond hair fell across his face. Not daring to lift his hands for fear of what they might bump into, Angst tried blowing her hair away from his mouth. She pushed herself up, and he could only imagine every inch of young flesh from her neck to her navel was exposed. Angst’s cheeks warmed as he opened his eyes and forced himself to look at hers.
She stared at him for a moment then smiled fondly. “You really are a good man. Any other guy...” The side of her face lifted with a half-smile.
“I supposed that’s a good thing... most of the time,” Angst said, not quite able to keep the disappointment out of his voice. “You don’t make it easy.”
“That’s not my job,” Victoria said seriously, still hanging over him.
“Can you hide back under the covers now, or go put clothes on, or something?” Angst pleaded, attempting to beckon her into action with his head.
“Are you going to get out of bed and help me?” she asked, shaking his arm.
“No. I want to sleep!” he said, as emphatically as he could.
“Then no.” She flopped back on top of him and rolled to her back, stretching across his chest like a cat in the warm sun.
“Okay, okay, I’ll get up,” he said. “Please, before I lose the few morals I have left!”
“You didn’t close your eyes that time,” she said with a giggle, hopping out of bed.
Angst rolled to his side with a sigh and a grumble, doing his best to avoid looking at what else she wasn’t wearing.
They crept out of the room to find Tarness lying on his back in the hallway, arms and legs splayed out as though he were dead. Angst couldn’t help but smile, though he had no idea how the thunderous snores from the enormous man hadn’t woken everyone. When Angst stopped to wake his large friend, Victoria tugged at his arm. Angst held up a finger, walked back into his room and grabbed a blanket to cover Tarness.
They tiptoed around him and made their way out into the frigid early morning. Hints of sunlight sleepily reached out across the icy grass, each gentle footstep betrayed by a frosty crunch. The cold air helped clear Angst’s head. In an attempt to squeeze out the mead, he pressed his hands against his temples and pulled fingers through his short graying hair. Did it feel a bit thin? Angst pulled his hands away and looked at them—they seemed thin, as did his gut. He smiled at the thought of finally losing weight, then sighed when he realized he appeared sickly and emaciated. It seemed a cruel trick that was soon forgotten, lost in a wave of nausea.
“I still feel awful.” He grunted, rubbing his hands together for warmth.
“You know, whining isn’t your most attractive quality,” Victoria chided.
“Do you just choose to remember what you want?” Angst said in a discouraged voice. “I’m dying!”
Victoria huffed at this, creating a small cloud around her mouth. “You aren’t going to die, probably,” she said with a giggle. “Remember? I know these things?”
“I thought you weren’t seeing clearly?” Angst asked, sniffing deeply through his quickly numbing nose.
Victoria waved him off with a “whatever” sort of dismissal.
“Fine, then why are we outside, in the cold, at the crack of dawn?” Angst asked, staring at her in frustration.
He followed her to the back of the inn where they found a clearing of frost-coated grass glistening in the early morning sun. Victoria examined the area quickly, as though her brief glance would hide their mischief from spying eyes then looked at Angst in utter excitement.
He smiled, in spite of his headache. Her cheeks and nose were beginning to redden from the cold, making her look completely adorable.
“Pay attention,” Victoria said with a smirk, interrupting his line of thinking. “You need to show me how to summon my swifen!”
“What?” Angst said, a little too loudly. He whispered, “What are you talking about? You getting caught summoning a swifen would be worse than someone finding us in bed together...again.”
“That’s why we’re out here so early, silly,” Tori said, as though stating the obvious. “So what do I do first?”
“This really isn’t a good idea,” he warned. “Anyway, Dallow would be better at this. I’m an awful teacher. Not to mention, you’ve seen my swifen-thing these days. Or what’s left of it.”
“Obviously, we can’t go to Dallow, can we? They can’t know what I do. Mom would have them put to death,” she said, clearly losing patience. “Please, Angst, it’s important.”
He sighed. There were so many different levels of “important” with Tori. It could include everything from “it’s important I get there in time to see a cute boy” to “it’s really important because Unsel will be destroyed if we don’t.” Still, he couldn’t deny that it would be good for her to know how to summon a swifen, so in spite of his wariness and weariness, he nodded.
“I promise, Angst. It really is important.” She bit her bottom lip in anticipation.
He made her watch as he struggled to summon his swifen. In a way, his inability to immediately call forth the creature was an advantage, because it gave her the opportunity to see his movements and hear the Acratic phrases repeatedly. Finally, the patchwork steel ram appeared in all its noisy splendor.
“I think it’s cute like this, Angst,” Victoria said, patting his arm. When his shoulders drooped with discouragement, she quickly added, “Um, in a manly way, of course.”
“Right,” he said, deadpan. “Now it’s your turn.”
Angst reached up and plucked a strand of her hair.
“Ouch!” Tori yelped. “Why did you do that?”
“You have to the first time,” he said. “I’m not sure, but I think it requires a piece of you. Anyway, quit complaining. Aerella took out a lot of hair before I was able to do it successfully, and I don’t have as much to lose.”
She scrunched her nose while rubbing her head. Victoria took the long blond strand and whispered to it in Acratic as Angst had done. She was deliberate and methodical, focusing hard on her first summoning, speaking slowly and moving her arms with precision.
The swifen appeared immediately, tak
ing them both by surprise. Angst patted her on the shoulder while at the same time letting out a little air in disbelief. Not only because she’d summoned her swifen on the first try, but because the creature itself was a sight to behold.
The unicorn was bright pink. Its horn and hooves shone gold in the morning sunlight. It was shorter than a horse—a comfortable height for a petite princess. Victoria squealed in delight and clapped her hands together quickly. She hopped up to hug the poor beast around the neck. It smartly patted the ground with a shiny hoof.
“And look!” she proclaimed. “My unicorn is covered in feathers!”
“I noticed... You did great, Tori,” Angst acknowledged. “I’m not surprised, but I am impressed at how quickly you were able to figure this out.”
“I’m good like that,” she said proudly. “I’m glad we stopped at this inn. I summoned my first swifen, and I got to sneak into your bed so I wasn’t alone again.”
“Wait, I thought you passed out?” Angst swallowed back a surge from his stomach.
“Maybe I didn’t pass out,” she said with a wry smile. “But I was right.”
“About what?” Angst asked, resting his face in his palm.
“We only share dreams when we sleep together,” Tori said, her eyebrows rising triumphantly.
Angst looked at her in surprise. She was right, but was this the only way he could remember his dreams? He shook his head in disbelief as he considered the best ways to dissuade her from bedding with him in the future.
“What is that?” asked a deep voice behind them.
Angst and Victoria jumped in surprise and spun about to face a soldier dressed in full armor. The armor was black as Angst’s, but where reflecting sunlight it shone the darkest of blues. Angst shivered in the presence of the armor; even a hundred feet away, it felt wrong, like a void. The man tore his eyes from the unicorn to peer at Angst and then eye Victoria.
“What is...what?” Victoria asked, looking about as though a pink and gold feathery unicorn had never been there. She had dismissed her swifen the instant the soldier had looked away.
“That...um, I...” The man looked surprised then peered at them both with distrusting eyes. “Over here, I found them!” he yelled.
30
Angst barely held himself up, muscles throughout his body spontaneously twitching from exhaustion. He felt dizzy, his right cheek throbbed warmly as blood trickled down his chin. Victoria stood to his right, one hand resting on his back to provide support, the other balled into a tiny fist. She glared at the dozen soldiers observing them as though they were pets. Dallow yawned loudly, looking about with sleepy eyes, scanning from Victoria on his left, down to Hector on his right. Hector was slightly crouched like a spring wound tight, and every soldier eyed him with trepidation. Steam shot out his flaring nostrils into the frigid morning air. Tarness was still at the inn, snoring in the hallway. Three soldiers had been unable to wake him, or move him outside.
“Magic is illegal in Melkier.” A large man paced in front of them, his hands clasped behind his back.
The man’s size and presence were only overshadowed by his dark beard, which was so great and meticulous it seemed to have a personality of its own. Angst tore his gaze from the beard long enough to inspect his new opponent. His face was mostly hidden by the beard, but it was clear the large man’s nose had been broken at one time, which sounded like a good idea. The man’s full set of plate armor was so blue it was black, like the armor of the soldier who’d found them. The dark blue broadsword waiting on his back was small in comparison to Chryslaenor, but rather than radiating power, it was a cold and empty void.
“Magic-wielders are not welcome,” the man continued in his deep booming voice. “They are either put in irons or put down. The only reason you live—”
“Is because, in spite of that fancy armor,” Angst countered weakly, “any one of us could kill your detachment in the time it takes you to groom your beard...thing.”
A dozen soldiers standing at ease nearby stirred angrily at the insult. The man grimaced, the leather of his gloves creaking noisily as he clenched his fists. He spun on a heel and stormed back to hover over Angst and stare him down.
“I know of you,” the bearded man sniffed. “You don’t seem much without your sword.”
“Good,” Angst said with a cocky grin. “I like being underestimated.”
“My soldier didn’t seem to underestimate you when he bloodied your nose.” The large man nodded, his beard bobbing up and down.
“Sure,” Angst said as his head bobbed up and down with the beard. He smiled wryly. “Let me know when you dig your boys out of that hole and they can try that again.”
“He punched you in the face?” Hector asked, his fists clenching as he crouched lower.
“I let my guard down,” Angst admitted from the corner of his mouth. “I was attempting tact.”
“That’s why he was hit,” Victoria said to Hector.
“Shut your mouth,” the large man said, raising a hand to the princess.
The ground rumbled loudly, making the soldiers brandish their swords. Angst grunted, and an oval of earth slightly larger than Mr. Beard sank directly behind him. Before his opponent could react, Angst stepped forward and pushed. The large man fell back, tripped over the newly created ledge and landed on his rear in an embarrassing and noisy heap. A collective gasp rose from the soldiers, two of whom leaped forward to assist their leader.
As Angst reached for his longsword, Victoria shoved him, forcing him to step aside as an arrow sunk into the nearby ground with a thud, barely missing his leg. Angst looked behind him to see the glint of steel from another arrow pointed directly at him. A man in brown leather armor was crouched on the inn rooftop, his stance unflinching.
“Hold!” barked Mr. Beard.
The arrow whistled past Angst’s ear to land at the foot of the freshly created hole. The bearded man glanced at his soldier on the rooftop and smiled. He dusted himself off and walked toward Angst, sneering as he eyed the princess.
“Fancy this one, do you?”
“You’re welcome to find out,” Angst replied coldly. The blood from his nose was now dripping off his chin. “How deep do you want that hole to be next time?”
“What’s that?” the man roared, pointing at Angst’s chest. The necklace bearing Alloria’s ring had slipped out from under his tunic. The ruby seemed to reflect too much sunlight, as though it were glowing. Mr. Beard’s face contorted with anger. “I said, what is that?”
Angst eyed Victoria warily and tried not to think about its origins. “A gift from a friend,” Angst hastily tucked the ring back into his shirt. “Nothing more.”
Mr. Beard’s face clouded with concern. Victoria reached for Angst’s hand to get a better sense of where the ring came from, but he pulled back before she could. She frowned, and her jaw jutted forward.
“What are you hiding?” she asked.
“I don’t hide anything from you,” Angst lied.
“Then where did it come from?” Victoria pressed.
“Now really isn’t the time,” Angst said, with a forced smile. “If you like it, I’m sure I could get you one.”
“No, I don’t like it!” Victoria said, visibly upset. “I think it’s ugly.”
“Then why worry?” he asked.
The man’s head turned from side to side as they bantered. “You two need to shut up while I decide—”
“I’m not worried,” Victoria said to Angst. “But you are. Why is that?”
The bearded figure looked at Dallow and Hector, who shrugged, neither of them surprised.
“Why would I be worried?” Angst feigned, filling his mind with thoughts of cats.
“Because you hate cats!” Victoria cried out, pointing her finger at Angst threateningly.
The soldier pulled his dark broadsword from his back, instantly disrupting the argument. Angst, Hector, and Dallow took a step back, bracing for a fight.
“This is nonsense. We
’re getting nowhere,” Victoria said, turning her glare on Angst. She visibly steeled herself, taking several rapid breaths, then announced, “I am the Royal Princess Victoria of Unsel, and I seek counsel with King Gaarder of Melkier.”
The detachment of soldiers made noisy comments, looking to one another in surprise. Mr. Beard’s thick brows furrowed, and he stared at the princess in disbelief. Angst and his friends turned to her in surprise as Victoria met the bearded man’s gaze, her eyes avoiding everyone else. She pulled a sealed parchment from a pocket in her cloak and handed it to the man.
He stared at the seal.
“You could open this, but I wouldn’t recommend it,” she said tartly. “This is eyes only for your king.”
She gasped as the man broke the seal and read the document. He pursed his lips in contemplation then handed it back. The beard reluctantly nodded to the princess before bowing. She suddenly seemed very tall as the other soldiers followed his lead and bowed accordingly.
“Your Majesty, I did not realize,” the man said with feigned regret. “You travel with magic-wielders...I would never have assumed.”
“These are unusual times,” the princess stated in her most formal tone. “Was Melkier not affected by the Vex’kvette?”
“It was, Your Majesty,” his deep voice boomed proudly. “But we have our armor, and weapons, which are unaffected by magics.”
“Magic-wielders are not wholly illegal in Unsel and were paramount in the defense against the Vex’kvette,” Victoria said with great pride. “I would not travel without them, and these are the best.”
An angry grumbling rose from the regiment of soldiers as they shuffled restlessly. The bearded man held his hand out, and they calmed instantly. A tight, thin-mouthed smile stretched across his face. He waved the archer from the roof. The man scaled down the side of the building in a Hector-like fashion, making Hector peer and raise a bushy eyebrow.
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