The Iron Butterfly

by Chanda Hahn

  Sighing in frustration I closed the book and put it on my shelf, reminding myself to thank the professor for it. I had no sooner closed and latched the window when a huge raven smashed into the glass with a loud thud, making me jump. The bird was huge, at least three times larger than a normal raven. My heart pumped in fear as it kept trying to force itself into the window, pecking, cawing and scratching at the glass.

  Pressing myself against the bookshelf, I watched in horror as it bashed itself until it was a bloody mess, cracking the glass. The bird’s eyes looked dead and glassed over. It finally flew away cawing and screeching.

  I thanked the stars that I wasn’t sitting in the window seat any longer, if that had happened ten seconds earlier, I would have been seriously injured. I knew it had to be coincidence that I was thinking about the Raven and his experiments, and then a few moments later one flew into my window. But coincidence or not, I didn’t want to stay in my room because I felt a little spooked sitting here alone.

  Jumping up, I grabbed my cloak and headed down the nearest stairwell to freedom. Breathing a sigh of relief as I felt the fresh air hit my face, I made my way toward the stables. Over the past weeks, I had made many trips here to spend time with the horses. The stable master had grown used to my presence and would often hand me a curry comb or a pick on my way in, knowing that I would put both to use as I was not one to sit idle. I smiled in greeting when I saw Stable Master Grese.

  “See if you can do anything with that new one?” Master Grese said. “He’s not letting anyone near him. We may have to get rid of him.”

  I nodded in answer. Making my way over to the newcomer horse, I verbally introduced myself and slowly stuck my hand over the stall near his nostrils. I had learned this was the easiest way to get him used to my scent. The horse was at least 16 hands tall and was so dirty with mud it was impossible to tell his true coat color.

  The horse tried to bite my hand and I pulled it back quickly. Nickering and flicking his head, he stomped in impatience.

  “Wherever did you find this one?” I called to Master Grese.

  “Strangest thing I ever saw, I found him standing outside the main gate as if he was waiting to be let inside. Put up a fight when we tried to approach him, but he wouldn’t leave the vicinity of the gate. Only took five of us to rope and bring him in, and we haven’t been able to touch him since.” Master Grese came over and shook his head. “He’s got such spirit. I would hate to break it.”

  “What are you calling him?” I asked.

  “Faraway,” he grumbled.

  I chuckled at the absurd look on Masters Grese’s face.

  “Okay, I’ll bite, why are you calling him Faraway?”

  Master Grese grinned as he continued. “It’s because that’s where I want to be, whenever I get near him…very far away!”

  Throwing my head back I laughed, startling Faraway as he shied away, bumping into the stall. I felt a light touch of amusement skim my mind. The feeling was so foreign I jumped and looked about.

  Not seeing anyone except for Master Grese’s retreating figure, I reached into my pocket and pulled out a carromint cookie. It wasn’t the same kind that Darren made, but I had Donn the cook experiment with some similar ingredients. Breaking the cookie in half I stood on tiptoe and slowly lowered my hand over the stall. The warm breath and the whiskers of the horse’s muzzle tickled my hand as I froze, fearing to make any sudden movements.

  “Shah. Shah,” I intoned, trying to calm the horse. To get him used to my voice, I began to tell him of my horrible first day of classes, the whole while feeding him smaller portions of the carromint cookie.

  After what felt like eternity, he began to let me stroke him, and I slipped into the stall and rubbed my hands down his flank, feeling the fullness of his muscles. Underneath all of the dirt was a fine specimen of a horse. And I told him so, somehow knowing that all horses are inherently vain.

  “You are extremely dirty, and I happen to know for a fact that we have some mares that are very picky when it comes to their stallions. We can’t have them meeting you like this now, can we? So you’d better behave or I’m going to brush the other stallions down and leave you looking a mess,” I warned the horse.

  Grabbing the brush I began to brush him with the same motions as I was previously doing with my hands. The horse stood absolutely still while I bathed and brushed him down, almost as if he was afraid I really would leave him dirty.

  What I thought to be a spotted gray coat actually turned a beautiful solid white. I brushed Faraway until he shone and tackled his white mane with the curry comb. I spoke in low tones, telling him how handsome he was now that he was clean and how he would be the envy of all the other stallions.

  Deciding to test my luck, since he was being so good, I approached his flank and cleaned his hooves. Noticing that he had never been shod, I felt a trickle of trepidation. I had been under the assumption that Faraway was just a runaway horse and had been broken at one time. But here was proof that he was wild, and wild horses could be dangerous.

  I glanced over my shoulder to see Faraway turn his head and look at me as if to say, “Me? Wild? Ha!” It was then that I really noticed his eyes. They were a solid blue, which was rare for horses. Not unheard of, just rare.

  It was well past dark by the time I had finished and most of the workers had retired or gone home. The only lantern that had been lit was mine and Master Grese was nowhere in sight.

  Giving Faraway a final pat down and the last of my cookies, I decided to head to the kitchens for some food. Closing the gate to Faraway’s stall, I turned just in time to see movement out of the corner of my eye as a cold piece of wire wrapped around my throat.

  “HELP!” my mind screamed as the pressure around my neck increased. I had thrown up my hand in surprise as soon as I saw movement and was able to catch my fingers in the garrote. The more I struggled the more I could feel the wire cut through the flesh of my fingers coating them in blood, as I tried to pull it away from my neck the same time the attacker was pulling it toward.

  A furious shriek assailed my ears, followed by massive pounding and the breaking of boards. As I was losing the battle to stay conscious, I saw a white being surrounded by light arise and lash out toward my attacker. The pressure on my neck released, and I heard a human cry out in pain as I fell into the hay.

  Rolling over, I saw it was Faraway on his hind legs stomping the attacker into the ground in a bloody frenzy, his blue eyes wild, the attacker dead.

  “Oh, Faraway!” My heart cried in sorrow, knowing that he was indeed a wild and dangerous beast and would surely be put down. I felt a bubble of blood spurt out of my lips and my hand went to my throat, knowing that this was the end of my life.

  Chapter 15

  “I swear this one has nine lives!”

  It was Healer Prentiss talking to Adept Lorna. “She should be dead!” she exclaimed in disbelief.

  “Wha…Wha...” I was trying to speak but couldn’t regain control of my simple motor functions. I was obviously still groggy from whatever medicine they had given me. I felt like I was moving slowly through molasses.

  “Rest, Thalia! Let us do the talking.” Lorna with her calm demeanor came and sat on the edge of my bed, but never touched me. “You were attacked in the stable. And we wouldn’t have known you were in trouble if that wild horse didn’t about tear down the stable with his screams. We heard the commotion and rushed out to find a half-crazed horse standing over your body.” She looked away from me and out the window.

  My hand flinched and I raised one finger toward her. My pathetic attempt to try and get her to continue speaking. She did.

  “We actually feared the worst! You have to understand it wasn’t a pretty picture. When we saw the dead body, we assumed it was a student and that you were dead too, killed by the wild stallion. Master Grese started crying and blubbering that it was his fault, he encouraged you. But the stupid beast wouldn’t let anyone come near you until I arrived. Then the crazy h
orse finally moved away and walked back into his stall.

  “It wasn’t until closer examination of the other body did we realize it wasn’t a Denai student but an assassin sent after you. The bloody garrote was evidence enough.” She looked back at me. “We haven’t seen anything like this before. Your throat had been slashed and you had lost a lot of blood, but you were still alive, when by all accounts you should have been dead.”

  Healer Prentiss interrupted by bringing me a cup of herbal tea. “Drink it in slow sips,” she commanded; giving a look to Adept Lorna, she slipped out of the room leaving us alone.

  Finally I spoke up, slowly. “Can a Denai control animals?” I asked, taking another sip.

  “Some can, we even have a few Denai here that can.”

  Using the back of my hand to wipe my mouth, I went on to tell her about the raven at my window, using the fewest amount of words as possible. Nothing I said fazed her.

  “Thalia, I think you should know that Adept Pax and I have come to an agreement that you need to be trained in self-defense. You are still new to your powers and we don’t even know the full extent of them, but he was concerned that you should know how to protect yourself in case this happens again.” She stood as if to leave.

  “And Thalia, until we catch whoever is behind these attacks, it may very well happen again.” She looked frustrated as if the news bothered her.

  “Lorna? What did the attacker look like?” I didn’t want to ask the question but I needed to know if I knew the person. She reached out her long hand and grasped mine.

  Closing my eyes I felt a shock, I was in her memories and I was looking at last night through her viewpoint. I could see Faraway fidgeting in his stall, my body being hefted on a stretcher and carried to the infirmary.

  Lorna glancing over to the mangled, bloody form of the stranger in black, leaning down, she grabbed the shoulder and rolled the body over onto his back.

  I wanted to close my eyes at the flood of images that was laid out before me but I couldn’t because these were Lorna’s memories. I watched as her eyes skimmed his body for damage and any signs of life and then came to rest on his battered face. Revulsion overcame my body as I recognized the attacker as one of the Septori; it was Crow.

  The one whose robe I grabbed in the prison and told me that Cammie was dead. I wanted to pull away from the image of the pale, dead face, gaping mouth opened in a silent scream. A muted whimper came from my throat and Adept Lorna let go of my hand and the images faded.

  “So do you recognize him?” she asked.

  Nodding my head, I felt sick to my stomach. “Crow.”

  “It’s as I feared. With the attack in the alley with the dogs, and the assassin in the stables, we can only form one conclusion. That the Septori know you’re here and they aren’t going to stop until they get what they’ve come for.”

  “Which is?” I barely whispered the words. I needed to hear her say it before I could believe it. It wasn’t true unless Adept Lorna said it.

  “You!” she spoke firmly without compassion. “Not only you, but I believe they want you…dead.” She didn’t sugarcoat it. It was as I feared.

  The saucer and cup slid from my fingers to break upon the cold stone floor. The remaining tea splattered against the bedpost and white sheets, but I didn’t care. Despair seemed to overtake me and I sat shaking in my bed. All along didn’t I know this would happen? That my freedom and life were really only temporary. I couldn’t hide forever before the Septori caught up to me and finished me off. I think I knew all along, that safe was a foreign word and never included me.

  Her words froze me to the core, and I felt as if the room began to close in on me. My eyes started to lose focus and I forgot to breathe. Panic started to overtake me when a hand touched me and all of the feelings melted away. In their place, warmth spread over me leaving no room for terror. Adept Lorna was controlling my emotions.

  “I must speak with the Council and with Pax.”

  She stood to leave but I grabbed her hand in final act of desperation.

  “Faraway?” I asked. “They’re not going to put him down, are they?”

  Adept Lorna gave a solemn smile. “After that crazy beast saved your life, we wouldn’t dream of it. He still won’t let anyone go near him, and Master Grese is determined that he is to be given to you. So, Thalia, it looks like you got yourself a horse.”

  Chapter 16

  I spent the next couple of days in the Healer’s wing and was kept busy with guests. They distracted me from my fears of the Septori, and Adept Lorna came to check on me often and kept the terror at bay.

  Avina entertained with her lovesick chatter about Niclas. Donn snuck in from time to time bringing me sweetbread, saying that how do they expect me to get well on tasteless broth.

  Berry visited and brought fresh cut flowers to brighten up the dreary white, starched room. And Joss brought my homework and read my textbooks to me, even though I could read them myself.

  He just grinned and said it was really an excuse to hide out so that way he could avoid the swarm of girls that always seemed to follow him. But the most surprising guest was Darren.

  “Ah, so how is our friend doing today?” he sang as he burst into the ward in a flurry of motion and color. His short blue cloak billowing out behind him and he moved to the side of my bed, grasping Joss in a friendly hug, slapping his back and leaning down to give me a fatherly peck on my forehead.

  “Darren, I’m so glad to see you, but I must apologize for the things I said before you left.” I felt heat rise to my cheeks.

  “Nonsense, I know why you said them, but it seems to not have deterred Joss at all.” He gave a look to Joss who raised his shoulders in a sheepish manner and grinned crookedly. “Are you staying focused on your homework and training?”

  “Of course,” Joss said defensively.

  “So those would be your texts you’re studying, I presume,” Darren stated while grabbing the book out of Joss’s hands and read the title out loud. “Really, Joss, “Remedial Healing”?”

  By this time the Assistant Healer was glaring at Darren for being overly loud and began to make shushing noises. Darren gave her the full force of his vagabond smile, flipping his hair, and I watched as the assistant stopped in her tracks, hand flying to her chest. Joss and I tried to hold back the laughter as Darren awed her into silence with his dashing looks.

  “I can’t help it if the ladies adore me.” Turning back to me he pulled out a large package wrapped in brown paper and twine. Handing it to me he waited not so patiently while I unwrapped it. It was yards of beautiful fabric in shades of blues and greens and rolls of trim with elaborate designs. The final bulky package he handed me was a pair of light doeskin boots that fit.

  “Darren, they are gorgeous, but why?” I looked at him curiously.

  “What can I say; I’m a sucker for pretty things. Truthfully though, after leaving here I made a couple stops and then went back home to see Melani. After I related our adventures, instead of the adoration I thought I deserved; I got a dressing down. She was appalled that I didn’t see you better outfitted before we left. I tried to explain we were in a dangerous situation and were racing to get to Haven.”

  He made clawing motions with his hands. “The mother lion in her came out and she immediately set to gathering your gifts. I didn’t even get to stay one day before she demanded that I take all of these gifts to you. Saying that any girl who went through what you did deserved to have people that care about her and will look after her.”

  Darren became really serious and faced me. “Thalia, I know that the Adept Council is looking for your family, and secretly I’ve been searching too. And even though you don’t know Melani and I that well, she agreed, well no, demanded, that I tell you that we would love to be considered as an extension of your family. Also that if you don’t find your family or home, that you would always have one with us.” I watched his face closely to see if he may be joking, but Darren was serious. Joss sat with
his mouth open in shock. Leaning forward I hugged Darren.

  “Darren,” I whispered, “It would be an honor to consider you like family.”

  He regained his composure in record time and quipped, “Well, that is as long as you don’t pick up any of Melani’s bad habits and start throwing dishes at me; because I can’t afford to stock two sets of dishes in our house only to have them broken each week.”

  Laughing, I pretended to throw the boots at him, and he ducked in horror. The rest of the afternoon flew as Joss and Darren stayed way past visiting hours and Healer Prentiss, not swayed by Darren’s good looks, kicked them both out.

  Chapter 17

  The next day I was deemed well enough to rejoin classes again. Joss was even in one class with me and made a big show of sitting next to me. There were a few wayward comments, but Joss turned on those students and stared them down until they quit talking. It was almost more embarrassing to sit by Joss, than to sit by myself. I found it very hard to concentrate with him sitting so close. On numerous occasions my eyes would drift from the instructor to study Joss’ strong profile. A couple of times he caught me staring, and I quickly drew my gaze back toward the instructor knowing that the tips of my ears were turning pink in embarrassment. Joss couldn’t curtail his knowing grin and I had to hold back my anger from stomping on his too perfect toes. Let’s see him smirk with a bruised big toe, I thought to myself.

  But having Joss beside me helped my popularity because soon the students were no longer staring in open hostility but curiosity. I knew what they were probably thinking. Who was this strange girl? Didn’t we see her one time working in the kitchen? I wonder if that was a punishment for disobeying the Adepts? Why doesn’t she know anything? What rock did you crawl out from under? Well, maybe not all of those questions.