Water Witch (a new adult novel of fantasy, magic, and romance ) (Elemental Magic Series)

by Atkinson, Thea

  Chapter 18

  She woke to the sound of chirping birds, and the smell of fresh air coming in through an open window. Aedus was toddling around the room, picking items up and shoving them into a leather bag.

  "Where have you been?"

  The girl spun on her heel and dropped the bundle. "You don't remember."

  Alaysha shook her head.

  "I've been here since Yenic brought you in – all but for when I was sent to the shaman." She lifted her hand and Alaysha noticed the place where the index finger had been severed had been seared closed and smoothed over. She winced, and Aedus grinned.

  "It's okay. They gave me a draft: root of dreams the shaman said while they cleaned it up. I slept like a dog after a big meal."

  "I think I've sampled it myself." Alaysha tried to shift and sent a pain streaking across her midsection.

  "Don't move," the girl told her. "You don't want to split it open again."

  "Again?"

  The girl nodded.

  "Where's Yenic?"

  Aedus chewed her lip. "He's saddling Barruch."

  "And you're going with him?"

  The girl came closer. "Well, it's not like I was going to leave until I said goodbye."

  Alaysha tried to smile, but she felt too lonely all of a sudden to do a good job of it.

  "Don't worry, Alaysha. It's just a few days. You need to heal anyway, and we'll be back just when you're well enough to train."

  "You sound like Yenic."

  "He made me practice the words." The girl smoothed the fur over Alaysha's legs thoughtfully, then she brightened.

  "I have a horse. Yenic demanded one for me."

  "Yenic is commanding the great Yuri?"

  "The great Yuri has become strangely cooperative."

  Alaysha grunted at that news. She had wondered herself at the sudden shift in Yuri, and even though he was still surly, his surliness was still not typical.

  "I can wait a few days, I suppose," she said.

  She was left alone then, and she slept. Until Yuri came.

  Like he had done before he left, he took to pacing around the room. Alaysha watched him for a few moments, could see that he was struggling with something. She thought it best to wait until he had formed his thoughts.

  He finally turned her. "What did he tell you?"

  "Who? Yenic?"

  He nodded. "What did he tell you of your past?"

  "He told me the truth. That his tribe has four clans. That each has its own powerful woman and each of those has support you never gave me."

  "You had your mother's sister."

  "Not for long."

  "Is that my fault?" He settled next to her and his expression shifted into something she'd never seen on him except for when he looked at his heir. She wanted to believe it had something to do with her being wounded, but she knew better.

  "He told me why you wanted him dead."

  He chuckled at that. "Did he?"

  She watched his face for signs of alarm. She wasn't surprised when he showed nothing but condescension.

  She had to retract her statement. "He only told me that I killed his grandmother and his sister and all of the other elders. I killed all of their Arms and all of their blood witches." She met his gaze. "But you know all of that. Because you sent me to do it."

  "Did he ever say he was your Arm?" His expression was still unreadable.

  She thought back over their time together. "No. He never said it."

  "No," he agreed. "Because he isn't."

  She was confused. It was true he had never said so, but she had assumed it, and he never corrected her.

  "Did he ever protect you that you remember? Did he ever shield you with his body, make magic for you?"

  She shook her head.

  "It's because he can't. He is his mother's Arm."

  His mother's Arm. So that meant he'd intentionally misled her--if her father could be believed.

  "Why would he lie to me?"

  "Why would I?"

  She kept her his gaze until he lowered his first. "Yes," he said. "I do know that I stand to gain. I admit it. But he lied to you. I never did. I've never lied."

  If he hadn't lied, it was only because he didn't care enough to pretend for her, she thought. When she didn't respond, he continued, pressing it seemed because he felt he needed to, that he sensed her reluctant belief.

  "He didn't tell you about the others. Did he? And yet he knew about them, he knew they were still alive. How did he manage to survive your thirst? How was he able to survive when you were able to kill three fully gifted crones? Have you asked yourself that?"

  She couldn't answer. She'd never once given it a thought. One thing stood out to her, though; Yenic's aversion to killing Yuri and slaughtering the innocent people within Sarum. She held to that, she had to keep believing in that. It was the one thing that could dispel her father's reasoning.

  "What are you implying?"

  "You know what I'm implying."

  "But it doesn't make sense; if he wanted Sarum he could have had it."

  "Sarum is a small thing really. To you and I, a large thing, but to someone with other motives…" He shrugged.

  "But why would he ask me not to attack you, Father? Why would he speak of slaughter rather than war? Why would he defend you?" She felt the warmth of Yenic's words of safety, of his kiss, all slipping away and she was desperate to recover it.

  A smile snaked over Yuri's face and for a second, Alaysha believed him far more clever than she’d ever thought.

  "Control doesn’t have to be an overt thing," he said, and she had the grey shifting thought that she'd heard it somewhere before. "If I had ever asked you to stay your hand, what would you have thought of me?"

  She considered that. She had been willing to let him die because he’d always used her. Would she have been as willing if he’d ever shown kindness to his targets, treated them like people instead of objects? If he’d ever given consideration for how she would feel about killing?"

  "It would be harder to see you as an object," is what she said.

  He nodded. "And an object can be done harm much easier than can a person, no matter how cruel. Isn't that what you were taught? To feel nothing when you killed? To imagine the warriors as targets and not as men?

  "What if those old women in the village were not the others," he asked." Or if they were, what if they were not there of their free will?"

  "But--"

  "How were you manipulated?"

  She considered it. "Aedus. Bronwyn. Yenic too."

  He nodded. "What if those crones truly were the real witches who had loved ones held captive somewhere?"

  She hadn't considered that either. She tried to picture Yenic with his honeyed gaze and find deception in it. She found all she could do was see him suffering from the dreamer's worm, the swelling he bore from trying to save Aedus, the way his mouth looked when he wanted to kiss her.

  That last made her chest tight with anger. If he'd deceived her, he'd used a most vile way to do it.

  "He says you're untrained, and maybe in your gift, you are, but I trained you well no matter what he says. Use what I have given you--harden your heart like I taught you so you can't be treated as a tool against your will. It's the best way."

  "So what if he did lie to me, Father; I killed his sister. Her unborn child. All for you." She felt the strength of her argument weakening in the reality of her father's steely stare.

  "You are so young, Witch. You see only what's in front of you while other men see far and beyond. Have you thought about what would happen if a man could control all the elements? Water, fire, earth, air? Have you?"

  She looked him over, trying to read what was unreadable in him. "It depends on the man."

  He sighed. "I didn't get to be Emir of Sarum by trusting anyone, or from being kind."

  He passed her a draft of warm liquid: dreamer's root, she supposed, and she took large gulps of it. Everything had seemed so simple before and n
ow it had turned more complex than she could manage. All she wanted was sleep. Her stomach burned. Her mind burned. Worst of all, her chest burned as though someone had reached inside and set fire to a secret place within.

  "I don't know if I'm the right man," Yuri said to her, "But at least I can say I wanted to prevent a war that might finish us all off, and if it comes to our threshold anyway, I will fight it." His last words were passion filled, and Alaysha had to struggle to keep his gaze under the fire of his words.

  "And this is what you didn't tell me before. Why you wanted Yenic and Yenic's tribe dead." She could hear the slur in her words as the drug took effect, and she fought to keep her eyes open, her ears capable of hearing his answer.

  "Better to have the only witch when you can't have them all, than to let someone else control the most of them."

  She wanted to believe Yenic could be trusted, but there were too many questions now to simply believe him on faith. Her stomach squirmed as she thought about him and his touch--how it had felt lying next to him in the dark--and she started to feel the sure pangs of anger and hurt. How could he have done such a thing to her? She'd been foolish and ignorant, and even young as he'd kept telling her she was. He'd used her more foully than her father had ever done.

  But could she trust her father either? Best she do like Yuri: keep her own counsel and trust only her own motives because those were the one she could fully know. She would never be used again against her will: not by Yuri, and certainly not by Yenic. Especially not Yenic.

  She was so tired, far more tired than weariness or dreamer's draft could ever account for. She watched her father wait for her to close her eyes, and when she did she heard him move across the cabin and out the door. She fought to open her eyes, to be sure he'd gone and that she was alone. Only then did she feel relieved enough to let go the tears that burned in her eyes, and when she was done, she felt more certain. No matter what came, she knew she could trust herself and herself alone.

  For the present, though, she'd lie here and listen to the birds and thank The Deities that for now, that was all they were – songbirds celebrating the day, and not carrion vultures shrieking over an unexpected and unnatural meal. That might come another day, but it wasn't now; it wouldn't be today.

  She closed her eyes again and let the birdsong send her to sleep.

  ###

  Elemental Magic: Book Two coming September 2012

  Before You Go!

  I'd appreciate if you would keep turning your Kindle pages to the place where you share before you go. If you enjoyed this short story, please consider reviewing it, tweeting that you finished it, or rating it on Amazon or Goodreads. I read each review and whether or not they are glowing or critical, I value your opinion. I know leaving a review can be time consuming, and if you would rather not, I'd be pretty stoked if you would just tell someone you enjoyed the book or recommend it to a friend. I'm not fussy. Better yet, sample one of my novels or short stories on Amazon. I write in a variety of genres as it pleases me. Might it please you too?

  Water Witch: (New Adult) If a witch can't control her own power, someone will control her.

  Formed of Clay: (New Adult) In a world where power is a gift of the gods, betrayal comes at a soul's price.

  Anomaly: (contemporary fiction) Relapse is about more than drug addiction

  Throwing Clay Shadows: (historical fiction) Four-year old Maggie believes she has killed her mother by saying bad things and now she won't say a word

  One Insular Tahiti (contemporary fiction) When a man chooses his rebirth, will the mother he selects be able to forgive him?

  Secret Language of Crows (contemporary fiction) In the tradition of Canadian women writers, the author delivers a story both dark and brutal that somehow finds a way to the light.

  Rattling Bones: a short story collection for the chicklit reader who likes a little dark in her light read.

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