The Key of F: a young adult fantasy romance (Freedom Fight Trilogy Book 1)

by Jennifer Haskin

  She sucked in a lungful of air and darted behind the second man. He was much smaller, and she had no problem putting him in a chokehold. Unfortunately, it gave away her location to the first man and he attacked. She kicked him in the kneecap as she spun around, keeping the man she was holding between them. She heard the one in her arms gasping. Knowing he would be turning purple by this point, she told herself she only had to hold on for a few more seconds. Spots were appearing in her vision.

  A sharp, intense pain exploded in her hip and she looked down to see a black handle sticking out of her body. The man in her arms had managed to reach back and stab her. It was a desperate move for freedom, and she relaxed her grip some, but he quickly succumbed to the loss of air and fell limp to the ground. Fale couldn’t keep up her invisibility; she had lost control of her concentration. She dropped the man and stepped back, pulling the blade from her flesh. The odds raised in Fale’s favor; two hands, two knives. She circled her hands around in figure eights and pointed the blades at the first man.

  “Just us again,” she said confidently.

  They ran toward each other and weapons clashed with fury. She crossed her blades, forcing his knife back toward his chest. Their arms were shaking with tension. He took a quick step back and Fale pushed forward, but her arms were too short to force his knife. As she put her leg forward, he punched her in the nose, blood spraying everywhere. Her neck arched and her eyes closed briefly.

  She struck out with her dagger in a blind arc and sliced his forearm, but he pulled her close to him; pinning her arm. The man grabbed a fistful of Fale’s hair and pulled her head back, exposing her neck, and placed the tip of his blade to her artery.

  “There now sweetheart. Don’cha move." Fale felt the blade nick her throat as the man’s foul breath blew into her face. “You an’ the key be comin’ wit’ me, if I gotta knock ya out an’ carry ya all over agin.”

  “By yourself?” she said doubtfully. “Are you going to leave your man here, passed out in the grass?”

  “I got ways,” he grinned. “I work for wizards. I cheat.”

  “I’ve got my own ways.” Fale reached up with her free hand and touched the knife at her throat. It disintegrated and flakes of ash floated to the ground. She spun in his grip, putting her knife to his heart.

  The man’s eyes grew. Suddenly, he appeared to be choking. He looked at his arm where Fale had cut him and said, “It be burnin’ like hot coals. What you done to me? What kinda blade you got there?”

  “I warned you. It’s enchanted,” she said as he let go of her and backed away. He looked like he was going to run, but he stumbled and fell. Fale went to him, sadness in her eyes. She knew he would die, but she didn’t know it would be like this.

  “Stay away from me,” he said, holding a palm toward her.

  “I’m sorry,” Fale had never been the cause of anyone’s death before. She was petrified. Her eyes widened as she watched the man crawl backwards.

  He lay down and his hand fell next to him. Fale watched him struggle to breathe and suddenly go limp. His skin sucked to his bones and wrinkled like a dehydrated fruit. He changed colors, first purple, then gray, then he seemed to sink in on himself as he too, turned to ash. For a second, she thought of her mother and the unforgivable way she died, and Fale felt like a score had been settled. That’s for my mother. But she knew there was no validation in killing, and she shoved the foreign thought away.

  Knowing he was gone, she looked around her for witnesses. Seeing no one, she ran to get her bag and picked up the guitar, then quickened her pace to the marsh. She wondered what would happen if another of Gasten’s men showed up. Could she kill again? Would it be as easy when she knew she wanted his life? Would she go swiftly for his heart- or would she hesitate? What would Lisle and Izzy think when they found out she had killed a man? What if she lost the next fight? None of it would matter if she didn’t live to tell about it. Keron was sure to come to that conclusion if she didn’t hurry. She had to get back before the guys.

  Chapter 17

  The sky grew darker as the clouds rolled in like a funeral dirge. Fale had barely enough time to get back and light the lanterns before Keron and Lisle came through the door. She looked up guiltily at Keron but didn’t have a chance to explain.

  “What happened to you?” he demanded, crossing the room to her.

  “Remember the man from behind your building?”

  “Yeah, what about him?”

  “He was waiting for me behind Izzy’s.”

  Keron sucked in a breath and reached out to touch her bloody temple, then her swollen eye.

  “Did you use the dagger?” Lisle asked.

  “Yes, I didn’t want to.” Fale hung her head.

  Keron held her by the shoulders, “Are you injured anywhere else?” Keron didn’t flinch at the news that she had just killed a man. Instead, his eyes fluttered over every inch of her, searching for wounds.

  “Not really.” She glanced to the left.

  He looked down. “Fale, you’re bleeding everywhere.”

  “It’s okay,” she said, pulling away.

  “Can you heal yourself?” Lisle asked.

  “Apparently not,” she replied. “I can still only heal others.”

  “Let me see,” Keron said.

  Fale raised her sleeve to show the men her bicep, then pulled her shirt away from her opposite shoulder and looked up. “No big deal.”

  “It looks awful, Fale,” Lisle said.

  “Have you even looked at your hip?” Keron asked.

  “I tried not to,” she looked down briefly. She would need stitches; she had been afraid of that. Fale’s shoulder still oozed blood, like her hip, and her forearm ran with tiny rivers of blood to her fingertips. She held the skin of her bicep together.

  “We have gauze…”

  “Fale,” Keron reprimanded.

  “Get Lisle settled, then you can stitch me up,” she said.

  “Easy enough. Lisle, there’s the couch.” Keron pointed to the couch next to them. “You sleep there. Now let’s take care of those injuries.”

  Fale rolled her eyes. “The kitchen is in there. And our bedroom is in there.” Fale pointed to each room. “Our medical supplies are in the bathroom over there.”

  “Wait. There’s only one bedroom here?” Lisle asked.

  “Yes,” Fale said. “I’m sorry to have to put you on the couch.”

  “So, all this time you’ve been sharing…” Lisle’s mouth dropped open as he pointed between her and Keron. Fale caught on and blushed wildly.

  “Yep.” Keron looked like a strutting peacock.

  “Oh,” Lisle replied, deflated.

  Fale felt like someone had stepped on her heart. She hated hurting Lisle; he was her best friend. “Come on, Keron. Get this over with,” her voice was venomous.

  She stood while Keron sat on the toilet and pulled the thread through her flesh tightly. “Ouch,” she complained.

  “I can’t believe I left you alone again and this happened,” he said, blaming himself. Keron cut the string and wet a washcloth. “Some Wardsman I’m turning out to be. I’m responsible for this.”

  “It’s fine, Keron. It was no big deal. I didn’t mind fighting him. Really.”

  Keron wiped her arm, turning it over to get all the blood off. “Lift your head.” She did, and he cleaned the blood from her neck and shoulder. “This was a narrow call, Fale.”

  “He only wanted to take me in,” she countered.

  “Well, you won’t be going anywhere on your own again.”

  “Unless I have to,” she said.

  “No, Fale.” She could tell he wouldn’t give her up again. They’d just become closer.

  “I can do it, Keron,” Fale’s voice rose with her passionate plea.

  “Do you have a death wish?” he demanded, narrowing his eyes at her.

  “No, I have a wish to be independent.” She held her head high.

  Where did that come from?

&nb
sp; “You’re not invincible Fale. Who do you want to be independent from?”

  “From everyone.” Her voice was small. “It’s the only way I feel free. Surely you can understand the desire to be free.”

  He threw the rag down. “I can’t protect you if you don’t let me, Fale." He ran his hands through his hair. Streaking her blood across his forehead.

  “Keron.” She wiped the blood off with her thumb.

  “Taking care of you is getting confusing.”

  “But you’re my guard, you can’t go anywhere. You promised,” Fale said nervously.

  “I know, but how am I supposed to guard you and set you free at the same time? I want to hold you so tight and protect you from everything. You’re like a butterfly and I don’t know how to hold you without crushing your wings,” he said quietly, cupping his hands.

  She took them in hers. “We’ll figure it out. We make magic together.”

  “We have to be discreet about it.” He smiled sadly. “We have Lisle now.”

  “Oh, that’s right.” Fale looked into Keron’s eyes. “As long as you still want to keep me, we’ll be all right.”

  “I’ve always wanted you. Even when I said I didn’t,” he said, pulling her into his kiss. Fale melted into his arms.

  Lisle was sitting on the couch when they emerged from the bathroom. “I was going to get you some ice for your shiner, but you don’t have any,” Lisle said. Fale was confused. “You don’t have much of anything in there,” he said.

  Keron touched Fale’s eye and she winced, “You are gonna have a black eye,” he said, and she understood.

  “We meant to buy food today,” Fale said, shaking her head. “I guess I’ll have to go out for some groceries really quick.”

  “Were you not just in the bathroom with me?” Keron asked her incredulously. “You’re not going anywhere all cut up. I’ll be back in a while.”

  “But-” Fale began.

  “No. Arguing.” Keron held up his finger.

  “He is bossy,” Lisle said when Keron was gone. “You can take care of yourself.”

  “It’s okay, Lisle,” Fale said. “He is watching out for me.”

  “I watch out for you, too. But I don’t tell you what to do.”

  “Can we drop it?” she asked.

  “Sure. What do you want to do?”

  “Do you play cards, Lisle?”

  “Some,” he said.

  “Good. I’ll teach you what you don’t know.”

  Lisle sat on the couch while Fale changed clothes. She knelt on the floor on the other side of the coffee table and they played hand after hand of cards while it began to thunder outside.

  “I hope Keron doesn’t get caught in the rain,” Fale said.

  “He’d better hurry,” Lisle said. “It looks like it’s going to pour.”

  “He should be back soon.” She looked at her watch.

  Lisle laid his cards carefully on the table in a row, but when he looked up, Fale was lying on the floor. Her cards were everywhere, and her eyes were open and glazed.

  “Fale,” Lisle leapt up and over the table. He leaned over her and put his fingers to the artery in her neck. Her heart was pumping, so he knelt over her to put his ear to her mouth but heard nothing. He breathed into her mouth then returned his ear to her lips and heard… a door slamming. Lisle placed his lips on her open mouth and blew. Turning his cheek to her mouth, he listened harder, and he felt her breath just as he was lifted bodily off the ground.

  “What are you doing?” Keron snapped.

  “She slumped over,” Lisle shouted. “I was checking to make sure she was alive, idiot.”

  “Fale? Sprout?” Keron knelt and picked up her limp body. “Wake up.”

  “Yeah, that’s working,” Lisle said.

  “Shut up, Lisle.” Keron’s voice was low and grating. “You kissing her sure isn’t going to wake her up.”

  “I was breathing into her- never mind.” Lisle stopped explaining. “Does she do this a lot?”

  “No,” Keron said. “Sometimes goes blank when she’s having a vision, though.”

  “She’ll come out of it, then.”

  “I know she will, wizard. I just hate it when she does this." Keron said ‘wizard’ like it was a bad word.

  “It’s part of who she is, barbarian.” Lisle’s animosity toward Keron surprised even himself. He felt like Keron wasn’t accepting Fale with all her magic, the way he did.

  “Make yourself useful, bookworm, and go put the groceries away.” Keron brushed stray locks of Fale’s hair off her shoulders.

  Fale’s eyelids fluttered and she looked up to see Keron’s concerned expression. “What’s the matter?” she pressed on the worry lines in his brow with her thumb, smoothing them away.

  “You phased out, sweetheart. What happened?”

  “I had a vision,” she said slowly, recalling every detail. “Get Lisle.”

  “Lisle,” Keron called, as he helped Fale sit up on the couch.

  Lisle came from the kitchen, “Is she awake?”

  “I’ve seen the machine,” Fale said. “Part of it, anyway. It’s big. I only saw silver scales. They were as big as my hand.”

  “Did you see where it is?” Lisle asked.

  “It isn’t in Alloy City. I know that. It lies in a cavern by a great crystalline lake. There is a buffalo shaped mountain in the distance, but I’m not sure where it is. A wicked tree looking like a woman stands on the hilltop. There is a stone nearby with the same symbol on our house carved into it, at the mouth of the cave, as tall as I am.”

  “You ever heard of such a place, Lisle?” Keron asked.

  “No. It must be in the mountains, though. That would make sense, to hide the machine to the north of us,” Lisle said.

  “The mages live in the mountains. They should know, or be able to help us find it,” Fale said.

  “How do you call the mages?” Lisle asked.

  “I just have to need them really badly,” Fale said. “Their sage has probably already told Lucien we need to see him.”

  “I doubt he will travel in this rain,” Keron said. “Let’s eat and if he doesn’t come tonight, he’ll be here tomorrow.”

  There weren’t enough chairs in the kitchen, so Fale drug a porch chair inside. The three of them ate tacos and cleaned up in the small kitchen, speculating on the location of the machine from what they’d heard of other locations in Algea.

  After dinner Lisle asked, “What do you guys usually do now?”

  “Go to bed,” Keron said.

  Lisle looked uncomfortable. “We talk,” Fale said quickly. “Unless you want to shower. We can take turns. Keron, won’t you play your guitar?”

  “I don’t play for wizards,” he said, but seeing her disappointment he added, “I’ll tune it up though, and see if I can think of anything.” She beamed at him; glad he changed his mind for her sake.

  Lisle said, “I think I’m going to wash up." He picked through his bag and grabbed some clothes, then marched into the bathroom and shut the door.

  Fale waited until she heard the water running and said, “I think we make him uncomfortable.”

  “Yep.” Keron had his guitar on his lap in the living room and was tuning one string to another.

  “Keron,” she admonished. “We should make him feel at home.”

  “It’s only gonna happen if I leave, and I’m not leaving,” he said.

  “I’m sure it’s not like that. Maybe I should sleep out here on the floor.”

  “The hell you should. I saw him on top of you earlier and just about lost my mind,” he said.

  “What?”

  “When you had your vision. Lisle thought you were dead.”

  “Poor Lisle,” she said.

  “Yeah, poor Lisle, on top of you with his mouth on yours when I walked in.”

  “What did you do?” Fale accused.

  “Nothing, Fale. I sent him to unpack groceries.”

  “Oh, Keron. He can’t help how he
feels.”

  “How does he feel, Fale? Has he told you?" Fale looked at her hands. She didn’t want to betray Lisle’s confidence. “Has he, Fale?”

  She couldn’t lie to Keron, either. “Yes,” she said.

  “Does he like you as more than a friend?”

  “Yes,” she said again.

  “Does he love you?” he asked vehemently. Anger rolled off him in waves.

  “What difference does it make?”

  “To me? Or to you? You should know why it makes a difference to me. I’m a fighter, I need to know my opponent, but if you’re asking about yourself? Maybe we have a problem.”

  Fale sighed heavily. “Yes, he loves me. And I love-”

  “Oh good, I’m just in time,” Lisle said snidely from the bathroom door in a pair of shorts and a body-hugging t-shirt. “Don’t stop on my account." He strode between them and flopped on the couch.

  “Aah! Men.” Fale threw up her hands and charged out of the living room into the bedroom, slamming the door.

  “Was it something I said?” Lisle snickered.

  “Shut up, Lisle,” Keron said, picking up his instrument and following Fale into their room.

  “I don’t want to talk anymore,” Fale said, changing into her pajamas. She was angry with both and wanted to go to bed.

  “I’m sorry,” Keron said. “It’s my nature to doubt. Especially why you would be with me. I’m a jerk.”

  “I know,” she said, trying not to soften.

  “Whatever you do, don’t smile,” He teased her, reaching out to touch her face. She smiled sadly. “That is pitiful,” he said.

  “Sorry. But you know I can’t be held responsible for how Lisle feels.”

  “I know.”

  “Will you stop bickering with him?” she asked.

  “I’ll try harder.”

  “Good. Will you play for me now?”

  Keron laughed. “Yeah, I’ll play for you." He sat on the bed and played a beautiful melody, his fingers flying over the fretboard.