“You can have it if you want.” She locked eyes with me.
“Really?”
“Sure.”
“Thank you.” She walked up and kissed me on the cheek. Normally, not a problem, but at that moment I was completely naked, so it felt a little weird. I stepped back and handed her my disgusting clothes.
“Sorry about this.”
“I’ve seen much worse.” She smiled as her eyes flicked quickly over my body. She blushed, a gentle pink showing through the blue of her cheeks. “Take your time.”
She took her time walking back to the door of the hut. I had the feeling she was putting a little extra swing in her hips as she sauntered around the building. Within seconds she was gone, and I had the clearing to myself.
“Shower time!” I said to myself.
I turned greedily to the shower. I had lost track of time while Travelling with these wonderful weirdoes and I couldn’t remember when I’d last bathed. I explored the basket Benyst had left for me. It was like something from a spa, a strange collection for a hermetic old man to have. There were two fluffy towels, one bath sized and the other small, perfect for drying hair. A beautiful cotton robe was tucked behind them. The stitching was impeccable, “Where the hell did he get this?” I whispered to myself. Two bowls were nestled in the bottom of the basket, each filled with a creamy homemade soap. One bowl held a wide toothed comb in addition to the lotion, so I assumed it was for hair. It smelt like fresh coconut, and I desperately needed the comb. I had a small brush in my bag, but it was no match for these post girl fight tangles. “Hey,” I paused, talking to myself again. “I won a fight! An actual fight! Nice.” With a big grin on my face, I examined the second bowl. It had to be for the rest of me. It held the aroma of tropical flowers and had fig seeds in it, excellent for getting the crusty blood off one’s arms.
I put the two bowls on the shelf and pulled the rope. I could hear water moving along metal as it made its way to the shower-head. When it finally fell it was like a perfect rainfall. The water was just a shade warmer than my body making it relaxing and refreshing all at once. I bowed my head and let the water beat down my back taking with it all the stiffness I had acquired wrestling with Cosima. I got my hair good and wet then dug a hand into the bowl of shampoo. It felt so good to coat my hair with the sweet smelling soap. With only the odd curse word, I pulled the comb through the saturated locks until there were no more knots. I left the mixture in my hair as I covered myself in the figgy concoction. I scrubbed all the blood off my arm and from under my nails. I soaped all of my scrapes, which stung, but was necessary, and picked up each foot and scrubbed the black from the bottom. Once I was covered head to toe in bubbles, I stepped under the water and let it do the work. Its gentle pounding made quick work of the rinsing, and soon I was squeaky clean. Man, it felt good.
I pulled the rope, and the water stopped. The small towel wrapped up my hair nicely, and I patted the rest of me dry with the big one. They were both so soft and fluffy it was like drying with kittens. Not that I’ve ever done that, but if I had, I imagine it would have felt like those towels did. Meow, meow, oh so dry! That kind of thing. The robe was equally soft and fit me pretty well. It hit at the knee, so I didn’t have to worry about it dragging on the ground or hold on to it to make sure my ass was covered. I sat down on the edge of the riser and rubbed my feet until they were as dry as paper. Satisfied they wouldn’t pick up too much dirt, I walked around the hut towards the smell of cooking meat.
24
My clothes were hanging on a makeshift line near the warmth of the fire. Benyst was pointedly avoiding it while he busied himself with cooking. There were now three chairs around the fire. I fell into the nearest one, and Benyst had a beer in my hand before I had a chance to ask. I chugged it. Well, I swallowed a lot really fast; I got nowhere near the bottom.
“Your stuff’s over there.” Benyst looked me in the eye and nodded to his cot. My bag and bat were on it. I nodded a silent thank you. Noiryn spoke as she adjusted the clothesline.
“Your clothes should be dry soon. I have your socks if you want them.” I put down my beer.
“That was quick.” She tossed me the socks.
I know it sounds silly but having clean socks at that moment was unreal. Noiryn had made them incredibly soft and fluffy, again I was reminded of kittens; it was so soothing to have my feet wrapped up. I shifted in my chair so I could get them a bit closer to the fire.
“Thank you,” I said lazily. Noiryn simply smiled and took a seat beside me.
By this time Benyst had finished the food, and he handed out plates of it in silence. There was a huge pile of something that resembled beef, which Benyst had cut it into pieces so we could eat it with our hands. There was also a vegetable soup that we drank from the bowl. I tucked into the food without mercy. I was starved, and this was good. I could feel Benyst and Noiryn exchange glances as they tried to silently decide who would start questioning me. I decided to kill the anticipation.
“I didn’t get the wing.”
“What!” Benyst yelled which made Noiryn yelp and slosh her soup.
“Nope. Wasn’t at the temple.”
“Where did you go? We went back to the temple, and you were gone.”
“You went together?”
“Yes,” Noiryn interjected. “Benyst came to me and said you had not come back yet and he was worried. So we Travelled to the temple and looked for you.”
“Yeah, we searched everywhere!” Benyst bristled. “We found the lamp but couldn’t locate the string.”
“No, well, I forgot about the string.”
“Forgot about the…”
“Benyst!” Noiryn interrupted. “Forget the string!” She looked at me. “Start at the beginning.” Benyst opened his mouth to speak, but Noiryn jumped on him. “Stay quiet until she’s finished.”
I took a deep breath and launched into the tale. I told them every detail, from losing the map to my conversation with Mastyx, and finally tying up Cosima, only to be left for her on the shore. The only part I left out was what the skin had felt like. I didn’t want anyone to know what I had seen at Cosima’s hands. When I was done, they both looked shocked.
“You tied her up?” Noiryn asked quietly.
“Yep. Knocked the bitch down and then tied her up with every bit of gold cord I could find.” Gold cord. Noiryn had had the same rope wrapped around her throat when I healed her. We locked eyes, and she gave a small nod, it had been Cosima and not whalers who had hurt her. Why had she lied? Had I known that when I healed her? Benyst broke the moment.
“The wing healed your hand?”
“Yep.” I held it up for them. “See.”
“Amazing. And then it brought you back here?”
“Yeah, I didn’t think it was going to work at first but as soon as I touched it things got going.”
“Amazing.” Benyst sat back in his chair and sipped his beer. His empty plate lay discarded at his feet. Noiryn spoke.
“What do we do next?” There was fear in her voice, but I appreciated the words.
“Mastyx said The Archer has my wing.” Benyst harrumphed his disapproval of the man. “But he didn’t know where to find him. He also wouldn’t tell me anything about Sid and Yeren.” I was thinking out loud, trying to formulate a plan. “Noiryn, when we first met you said they had been taken to The Void, right?”
“Yes, Baba Yaga would have taken them to The Guard.”
“Right…” I rubbed my face with my hands as I talked. “I have to go to The Guard.”
“What!” Benyst yelled as he jumped from his chair. “They cast you out once, and you go waltzing back in! They will never let you leave, they will have you forever!” He reached across the fire and grabbed my hand, holding it above the flame. The heat was painful, and he did not let go. He spoke quietly. “Just go home, Phoenix. I’ll take you there, and then you can forget all of this. They won’t hold them forever. You’ll be safe.”
I pulled from his gras
p and spoke with hushed intensity as power grew in my belly.
“I will not put my tail between my legs and run home. I will not have people I care about treated this way. I have seen what was done to me.” Tears brimmed in the edges of my eyes and my body began to tingle with power. “Not all of The Guard wanted me gone, and those that did not support me will answer for it.” I looked into the fire, the red and gold flames mirrored the sparks that grew in my heart. “I will not give them the satisfaction of my retreat. I am going to The Void, I will confront The Guard, I will see my friends released and what is mine returned. And then…” I showed them a grim smile. “I’ll think about going home.” The tingling in my body simmered as the power reacted to my newly formed plan.
“It’ll never work,” Benyst said gruffly, I could see a shimmer of tears in the cracks of his cheeks.
“You don’t have to come with me.” He wouldn’t meet my eyes.
“I’ll go with you.” Noiryn’s voice was clear and decisive. It sounded so different from her usual wounded cadence.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, well, I don’t think I’ll be much help with The Guard, but I can help you Travel to The Void.”
“You don’t have enough power!” Benyst bristled. “It will take at least both of us to get you there, and even then I’m not sure.” I smiled at him.
“So you’re coming?”
“I’ll do my best to get you there.” He looked me in the eye. “It’s a difficult thing, crossing into The Void, it might not work.”
“He’s right, it might not,” added Noiryn.
“It’ll work.” I was sure it would.
“How can you be so sure?” asked Noiryn.
“Because I’ll be with my wing.” Noiryn’s eyes got as big as saucers.
“You mean?”
“Yep, it’s time to reattach this wing.”
25
I got dressed, the clean suit felt taut and smooth against my skin. It hugged every curve, and as I slid into my boots, I felt the original sexiness of the outfit return. Benyst’s shampoo had worked wonders. I ran my hands through my hair feeling the soft waves cascade over my shoulders. I no longer looked like a half-drowned rat that had chewed its way out of a dumpster. I looked like a Traveller. Well, I would in a few minutes.
I grabbed the burlap sack that contained my wing and went out to the clearing behind the hut. I left Noiryn and Benyst debating the best place to land within The Void, we needed somewhere that would put us near The Guard, but still allow me to make an entrance. This task was made more difficult by the ever changing elements of The Void.
The sac felt weightless in my hand as I circled the clearing trying to decide on the best place to begin my transformation. I had no idea what I was going to do. How the hell do you attach a wing to your back? This wing hadn’t been some sort of costume; it had been a physical part of my body, as intimate and connected as my arms and legs. Short of a staple gun, I was fresh out of ideas.
After much circling, I knelt down in the grass between two of the torches. The spot didn’t particularly call to me; I was just tired of stalling. I placed the sack on the ground in front of me, it looked so small. As I looked down at it, my now clean and dry hair fell in my eyes, obscuring my work. I ran my hands through it and tied it up in a loose knot. It wasn’t pretty, but at least it wouldn’t get in my way. I turned the bag on its side and shook the wing free of its prison.
It unfurled to its full glory, nearly as long as I was tall. The colours shone brightly in the torchlight, highlighted by the deep green of the grass. Holding my hand inches away, I ran it along the length of its beauty. “Are you ready?” I asked, more of myself than the wing. I knew the wing was ready; it had been questing for its home longer than I. “Okay.” I held my arms out in front of me, my hands hovering above the ends of the wing. I whispered, “Please come home.”
Bright green lightening shot from the wing into my hands making the air crackle around us with energy. It felt sharp as it burrowed into the centres of my palms. I could feel it move into my veins, filling me with green fire. It coursed through my body bringing stars to my eyes. When at last the fire had reached the crown of my head, and my vision swam green, the wing called to me. I answered.
I drove my hands down through the lightning to grab the wing itself. The feathers gave under my hands. The stars in my vision were replaced by memory. I could feel flight in my bones. I saw the world so small below me. The edgy green energy broke through my pores to become a purple film that encapsulated the wing and me in a large orb. It did not stop at the ground but continued beneath my body so that we resided in the centre as we sat on the ground. I could feel it throb as the surface of the orb began to cycle through the colours of the wing. Energy crackled, sending my hair around me like a halo. I brought my face to the wing; I ran my cheek along the soft feathers, moving my hands along it as well. The wing seemed to return my caress, and we continued that way as the flashes of flight and grace blew through my mind.
The orb turned red as the memory of our dividing blazed to the forefront. The wing showing me the violence it had experienced. Tearing of tendons, ripping of skin, breaking of bone. I would not allow us to suffer so ever again and I spoke my intention to the wing through thought. I showed it memories I had never before known. I showed it how we would be whole. I showed it how we would fly.
The colour of the orb turned to indigo as the crackling sound grew, magnified by the completeness of the orb. I felt the green fire form again. This time it originated from my heart, and as it pumped through the four chambers, it became magnificent lightning once more. I pulled my face from the wing and sat back on my heels. Everywhere lightning sprung from my skin, ricocheting off the interior of the orb. I grasped the head of the wing and lifted it from the grass. It felt so heavy in my hands. I drew it around my body towards its home at my left shoulder. I arched my back to hold it away from me and focused my attention on the place of joining. I drew all my attention and power into that one spot. I let the power build and pull between us. My flesh began to sizzle and my arms to shake. I felt the cold burn of the fire grow and, when I could stand no more, I pressed my wing to my back.
Instantly flesh and feather began to re-knit. Bones and tendon snapped and cracked as they reached for each other. Pain ripped a scream from my throat. Deep and long, it held the hurt of aeons. Loneliness, fear, and darkness purged from my mouth.
There was a final blinding flash of light as two became one, then everything went dark.
26
It was so quiet. Nothing moved in the clearing, even the torches seemed not to flicker. The jungle held its breath as I lay motionless on the ground.
I could feel my hair hanging around my face, the knot long forgotten. I opened my tightly closed eyes and lifted my head from the ground. There were no more colours dancing and swirling around me, and my body was no longer electrified. It felt like nothing had happened to me at all. “I wonder if it worked?” I thought to myself. “Guess I’d better get up.” I moved to rise. A soft whooshing sound filled my ears, and I was lifted in a lopsided, yet effortless, fashion to my feet. “Shit.” I breathed as my wing folded behind me. I stood there stunned for a few heartbeats. Then it hit me.
“It worked! It fucking worked!”
I let out a triumphant cry and jumped for joy. The wing gave my usually tiny jump an extra kick. Unfortunately, it was only a kick to the left. I rose three feet off the ground, missed the landing and ended up on my ass.
“Holy shit!” Benyst shouted as he rushed towards me, my bag slung across his body, his breath ragged, Noiryn on his heels with my bat in her hands.
“I knew she could do it.” Noiryn sang as she sprinted past him, her body a graceful blue ribbon as it cut through the air.
“Pretty cool, eh?” I answered as my wing stretched long and flapped. Its movement took me to my feet. I fought for balance, my arms out at my sides. “It’s still kind of awkward.” I smiled at them.
> “You look beautiful.” Benyst was roughly wiping his cheeks.
“Gorgeous!” Noiryn added. “Try moving around a bit. See what you can do.”
“Okay.” I shrugged, my wing unfurling slightly, and took a few steps away from them and stopped. I had no idea what to do.
“Flap around a bit!” Benyst offered.
“But how?” I looked back over my shoulder, and the wing flexed. “I mean, do I have to say ‘flap’ or something?” In an effort to observe my wing I had started to resemble a very slow dog chasing its tail.
“Don’t think about it so much,” Noiryn said. “This wing has always been a part of you. Just let go, be spontaneous!”
“Spontaneous?” I asked, scepticism plain in my voice and Benyst’s face.
“Run around and think ‘up’.” She answered dryly.
“Testy, testy…” I chided. “Alright, here I go.”
Now, although I’d been doing a lot of it lately, I don’t normally run, not because I’m out of shape, but because I just don’t like it. If it isn’t life or death, generally I’m not running. But today I was willing to try. I set off in a light trot around the clearing, making a circuit of the torches that surrounded the hut. At first, it was just a tedious jog then I felt the wing move. It sort of angled itself down and towards the midline of my body like a rudder on a boat. This new angle made turning sharply much easier, and I revelled in it as I weaved in and out of the torches, gathering speed.
“Fly!” cried a joyous Noiryn as I rounded the hut towards them.
I just thought ‘okay’, the wing began to flap and I was in the air. I only came a few feet off the ground, and I couldn’t sustain it for very long. This time I was ready for the pull to the left and nailed the landing. I continued around the clearing getting better and better at weaving in and out, getting more height and soaring for stretches of five feet or more as I leapt, letting the soles of my shoes kiss the torch flames. It felt amazing.
Torn From Stone (The Phoenix Series Book 1) Page 14