Retchers
These abominations steal the soul from their prey by consuming the still-beating heart. They remove this heart in an appalling method – using an appendage like a tongue to reach down the victim’s throat and through their chest to their heart. The removal of the heart is an excruciating process and of course, leads to death. Interestingly enough, the retcher’s saliva has remarkable healing properties.
I was happy that Cedric found that remarkable. I certainly didn’t as I stared at the page in horror. Was it possible he had fluked this one? Maybe heard the story when he was a young boy and not realised retchers were real? Because if that were not the case, then it was possible that everything in this book was also real.
I shuddered and threw the book across the room away from me.
‘Izzy.’ My door burst open and Isla danced into the room. ‘We’re going home.’ She jumped onto my bed and bounced up and down. ‘Aethan’s convinced Ebony to marry Orion.’ She stopped bouncing and peered more closely at my face. ‘What’s wrong? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.’
I pasted a smile on my face. ‘No ghosts here. Yes, that’s wonderful.’ I managed to refrain from asking what form the final convincing had taken. If kissing had been involved, blood would be shed.
She laughed. ‘You should see the fierce look on your face. Don’t worry, nothing like that happened. Did you really think it would?’ She studied me for a second. ‘She’s going to marry Orion, Aethan would never lay a finger on her.’ Her face took on a mischievous look. ‘Not that she didn’t try to make him.’
I took a deep breath, determined not to let her rile me for her own amusement. ‘But she’s so….’ Beautiful didn’t cut it.
‘Naïve. Young. Spoilt.’ She let out a snort. ‘I wish you’d gotten over your jealousy. The last couple of days have been a riot. You should have seen the look on Aethan’s face when she asked him what flower she most reminded him of.’
I attempted to keep a straight face – nothing about that situation was funny – but my traitorous lips pulled up at the corners.
‘What did he say?’
‘A rose, of course. I think it’s the only flower he knows. I mean you know how bad he is at that sort of stuff. Remember that poem he wrote for you.’ She burst out laughing again. ‘Awful!’
It had been awful. But some of the things he’d whispered to me when we’d been alone had stolen my breath away. He might have the body and mind of a warrior, but I knew that in there, somewhere, hid the soul of a shy poet.
‘You must tell me how you guys met someday. From things Wilfred’s said, you’ve known each other for quite a while.’
‘Yep, one of these days.’ When snugalofs flew backwards. ‘So when do we leave.’
‘First light. Give us time to re-stock and Ebony time to pack. She wasn’t very happy about not being able to bring her retinue, but even Arracon could see the necessity for us travelling light and fast.’ She pulled a face when she said his name.
‘I don’t know how you stay so composed with him around.’
‘It was a long time ago.’ She sat down cross-legged on my bed. ‘It took a while for me to come to terms with the fact that I would be single forever, but once I got over my anger, I started enjoying life.’
‘Single forever?’
‘I was ruined by the scandal. No-one would marry me after what I did to him.’
‘After what you did to him?’ I stood up and shook my head.
‘That’s all anyone else saw. They didn’t know about the rest.’ She placed the tip of her first finger onto her lips as if to remind me it was a secret.
The few scratchy remnants of my perception of Isla as a scatty, spoilt princess melted away. ‘So you’re happy about Ebony marrying Orion?’
She let out a laugh, but her eyes were hard as she said, ‘If I could, I would slit her throat and leave her to die. But I can’t. So instead I will guard him.’
Aethan had been right, all those weeks ago when he’d said he hoped there was more to Isla then there seemed. ‘Why,’ I asked, slowly picking through my words, ‘have you let me see the real you?’
She cocked her head to the side and studied me. ‘I don’t trust Ebony, not one little bit, and I need your help protecting my family.’
‘No-one was there to protect you.’
‘Exactly.’ She dusted her hands together as if my helping was a done deal. ‘I won’t let that happen again. Anyhoo, places to go, people to do.’ She laughed wickedly and skipped back out of my room.
***
‘I’m sorry,’ Aethan said to Ebony, ‘you can’t bring that many packhorses.’
‘But my clothes.’ Tears trembled on the ends of her lashes.
I wondered if he were still enjoying spending time ‘with a woman of grace’. When he got his memory back I was so going to make him pay for that comment.
‘You can get more made in Isilvitania.’
I glanced over at Isla. A small smile hovering on the edges of her lips told me she was enjoying this as much as I was. She was right, If I could have gotten past my jealousy I would have seen the funny side of this long ago.
‘One. That’s all you can bring.’
‘I thought they’d all be here to see her off,’ I whispered to Isla.
‘Night faery custom. They never say goodbye. Bad luck or something like that.’
‘What about my slave? I suppose you want me to leave him at home as well.’ Ebony stamped her slippered foot and put her hands on her hips.
‘He can come.’
‘Boy.’ Her skirts frothed around her as she turned away from Aethan. ‘Pack as many of the cases as possible onto one horse.’
‘No,’ Aethan said. ‘I don’t want your horse dropping dead on the first day.’
Ebony’s slave stepped out from behind one of the packhorses. He may have worn the baggy, brown clothing of a slave, and those armbands may have proclaimed him one, but the proud, black eyes that burnt in his face told a different story.
Samuel.
He stood with his head slightly bowed, awaiting Ebony’s next demand.
‘Oh very well.’ She flicked her long, silken plait back over her shoulder. ‘Boy, bring my animal.’
Samuel bowed and disappeared around to the side of the castle where the stables were. He returned with two horses. One was a sturdy brown mare with a short, shaggy coat. I was guessing by the bow and quiver full of arrows hanging off the back of the saddle, that that one was his. The other, towering above the brown, was the same midnight-glossy black as Ebony’s hair.
‘Oh great,’ I said to Isla, ‘she’s colour co-ordinated her horse with her hair.’
‘That’s not a horse,’ Isla said.
Samuel led the animal over to a mounting stone and Ebony sprung lightly onto the side saddle. The animal danced to the side as Ebony adjusted her skirts, and flung its head in our direction. Cat eyes stared at us, the pupils twirling gently as it looked us up and down. Steam flowed out of its nostrils as it snorted softly. Small scales glistened on its haunches and each leg ended in five scaly, taloned toes.
‘A hagon,’ I said. Rage filled me at the sight of the animal and I hoped that wherever Emerald was, she was safe.
‘Pick a horse,’ Aethan said.
Ebony ignored him while she continued to play with her skirt, her lips pursed into an angry line. ‘Are you sure?’ She looked up at him through her lashes, her green eyes glowing with unshed tears. ‘Could I bring two?’
‘One,’ Aethan snapped. ‘And hurry.’
I couldn’t help myself. I trotted Lily past her and said, ‘Lucky you like your men strong.’
She lifted her nose into the air, sniffed and turned the other way. ‘That one,’ she said, pointing to one of the animals. More slaves appeared from the side of the castle and started leading the other animals back to the stable.
Samuel leapt onto his horse and tied the lucky packhorse’s rope to the pommel of his saddle. Two swords were sheathed in h
arnesses that criss-crossed his back, and daggers shone against the black tattoos on his biceps.
Wilfred eyed him up-and-down, finally giving him a nod of approval. He may have been a slave, but when the shit hit the fan it was going to mean one more sword on our side.
The first day progressed smoothly, which only served to make me edgy. After all the trouble we’d had, I couldn’t believe that a whole day would go by in which not one thing tried to kill us. It was, to be quite honest, a little boring. And listening to Ebony prattle on to Aethan was only amusing for a while before it became annoying. I mean seriously, who had that much to say?
By the time we set up camp for the night I had started to feel sorry for Aethan. After my convoluted emotions of the last week or so, that was a nice change.
Samuel set up Ebony’s tent a little away from the rest of ours and then prepared her evening meal. He fed and watered and curried both their animals and polished her saddle, but the whole time there was a certain air about him. As if he were ready to drop whatever he was doing and pull out those swords. It was obvious by the way the rest of the men eyed him that they felt it too.
When she had finally retired to her blankets (her words) he pulled a piece of dried meat from one of the saddle bags and sat on a log by himself. I hadn’t heard him utter a word the whole day.
I refilled my bowl with stew and grabbed a bread roll, carrying them both over to him. He looked at Ebony’s tent as I approached and I nodded my head. I handed him the stew and bread and went back to the others. We would be back on the hard travel tack in another couple of days, but until then we had enough to share.
The next day continued as the first had, with Ebony chewing off Aethan’s ear and the rest of us trying to stay out of earshot.
The shadows were long from the setting sun when Wilfred pulled his horse in next to mine and whispered, ‘Aethan wants to go in tonight.’
I turned to him in surprise and he pulled a face and nodded his head towards Isla.
‘He wants to try to find Rako and let him know we are on our way back.’ With Ebony, was the unspoken part of that sentence.
‘Okay,’ I said, managing to keep my voice steady.
I waited till he had drifted off again before I nudged my horse towards where Wolfgang rode. What with the librarians, the book I had found and then the news that we were going home, I had totally forgotten about Wolfgang’s research.
‘Did you find the answer to my blood bond problem?’
‘With all the excitement I had quite forgotten. The answer is quite simple.’
That surprised me. Nothing in my life was ever simple.
‘We need to mark crosses over your pulse points and third eye.’
‘That’s it?’ I couldn’t believe it.
‘Well there is one small problem.’
I rolled my eyes. ‘Of course there is.’
‘It has to be done in someone else’s blood.’
I blew out a big puff of air. ‘How much blood would I need?’
‘Enough for ten crosses.’
That wasn’t so bad. ‘You realise it has to be you, right? None of the others know about this.’
‘I’m assuming you are going in tonight?’
I nodded my head. ‘Aethan wants to contact Rako.’
The rest of the day dragged until we set up camp. We followed the same routine as the night before; Ebony retired early and we shared our dinner with Samuel. Aethan made sure that he, Wilfred and I all had the later watches so we could go straight to Trillania.
Wolfgang came to my tent as soon as we had turned in for the night. He held a small bowl, his dagger and a bandage.
‘Do you want me to do it?’ I didn’t like the idea of cutting him, but he was doing me a favour, so if he wanted me to, I would.
‘Some of the spells I have worked over the years have required me to do this. Sadly, I’ve become quite good at it.’
He winced as he pierced the skin till blood ran down his wrist. He held it over the bowl and watched it dribble in.
‘That should do it.’ He put pressure on his wrist and I picked up the bandage and wrapped it around and around the wound. I cut the end into two pieces and tied them around his wrist to keep them secure.
I stripped down to my tank top and undies so that he could access all the areas he had to. He dipped his finger into the blood and drew crosses on my third eye, either side of my throat, the depression in between my collar bones, the inside of my wrists, behind my knees and the inside of my ankles. I wasn’t sure if it were my imagination or not, but as he drew the last cross I felt all ten points tingle.
‘I’d better get to sleep,’ I said. ‘They’ll be wondering what I’m up to.’
Careful not to rub the crosses on the backs of my knees off, I lay down and closed my eyes.
Wolfgang paused in the process of getting up. ‘Do you want some help?’ he asked.
I nodded my head without opening my eyes and he started to sing the sleep song. Within moments I was sound asleep.
***
Thanks to Wolfgang’s sleep spell I made it to Trillania well before the boys. Wilfred arrived not long afterwards.
‘What took you so long?’
‘What is on your head?’
‘I have no idea what you’re talking about,’ I said. ‘Where’s Aethan?’
‘Apparently Ebony had a nightmare. He’s calming her down.’
‘I bet she did,’ I said.
‘Something about animals with swirling, yellow eyes. She sounded really freaked out.’
Swirling yellow eyes? I shuddered and wrapped my arms around myself. Great, now I was freaked out.
‘Probably just her hagon’s eyes getting to her.’ Retchers weren’t the only animals with twirling eyes.
‘They’re not yellow.’
‘They could be, if it got sick with liver failure.’
He was still laughing when Aethan arrived.
‘What’s so funny?’
‘Your girlfriend’s funny.’
The words poured out of his big, fat mouth and there was nothing I could do to stop them. His eyes widened as he realised what he’d said and he tried to cover up his slip of the tongue.
‘Cause you know Izzy is a girl and she’s your friend, so that makes her your girlfriend. She’s my girlfriend as well. Aren’t you Izzy?’ He reached over and punched me on the shoulder.
‘Shut up Will,’ I hissed. Kill me. Just kill me now.
Aethan’s head swivelled between Wilfred and me before finally settling on me. ‘What’s on your head?’
‘I’m trying out a new look. What do you think?’
If the expression on his face hadn’t been confused a second ago, now it was stupefied. He gaped at me and then, obviously considering that both those topics were better left alone, shook his head and said, ‘Right. Let’s go find Rako.’
He held out his hands to grasp ours and closed his eyes.
I punched Wilfred in the shoulder as hard as I could before joining hands with him.
The world around us shimmered and when it settled again we were standing in the middle of a battle. All around us, goblins fought Border Guards. I shrieked and ducked as a spear passed through the air where my head had been.
I conjured up a sword and turned so my back was to Aethan and Wilfred. I could feel them do the same. We were on the edge of the forest near Isilvitania.
‘Blimey,’ one of the other Guards yelled. ‘Where’d you come from?’
‘We’re looking for Rako,’ Aethan said.
A goblin roared as it charged me, his spear ready to turn me into a shish kebab. I brought my sword down on the spear, shattering it, and then drove the palm of my hand upwards into the goblin’s face. His head flicked back and I spun with my sword, slicing through his exposed neck.
‘He was over that way,’ the Guard said.
I didn’t get to see which way he indicated because another goblin took the place of the first. That was the problem with g
oblins. They were notoriously lazy and if an easy kill presented itself they would take it. Unfortunately for me, as a woman I looked like an easy kill. Unfortunately for them, I wasn’t.
‘Where are you from?’ Wilfred yelled. I felt his back push against mine for a second and I shifted to give him more room. That was one of the problems with fighting this way, movements that you might use normally, like dodging and ducking, could get your wingman killed.
‘Australia,’ the Guard said in a broad accent. ‘Pretty quiet down where we are. You guys definitely get the pointy end of the spear.’
This goblin was more cautious than the last. He feinted towards me a couple of times, pulling back out of range before I could strike. I rolled my eyes and changed my sword to a loaded crossbow. His eyes widened as I pressed the trigger and the bolt slammed into his chest.
‘You snooze, you lose,’ I said.
‘This way Isadora.’ Aethan tugged on my arm and as a unit the three of us started to move towards where Rako was.
The fighting lightened up after we had moved about ten metres. It seemed we had landed in the thick of it. The Australian contingent of Border Guards closed rank behind us and we trotted over to where Rako stood, directing the fight.
‘What’s going on?’ Aethan asked.
He looked towards us and swore. ‘I seemed to remember telling you two you were not to come here. And you,’ he pointed at Wilfred, ‘what in the Dark Sky are you doing here?’
Wilfred gave him a grin. ‘Turns out I accidentally forgot to put my armband away.’
‘Accidentally forgot my arse,’ Rako growled. ‘All right, you’re here now. What do you have to report?’
‘Our mission up to this point has been successful. The night faeries have agreed that a union would be beneficial and we are on our way home with Princess Ebony.’
‘Ebony.’ Rako let out a low whistle. ‘Well done. How far away are you?’
‘We are swinging around the bottom of goblin territory. I expect we’ll hit our border in about five days.’
‘Sir,’ Wilfred said, ‘what’s going on here?’
I tried to hide my smirk. Wilfred only called Rako ‘Sir’ when he knew he was in deep poo-poo.
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