She stepped forward, her face trained on mine. “Up.”
I forced a look of defiance and her face became heated.
“You will burn, Frey.”
I knew she didn’t mean at her hand, not a personal threat. The truth. And I convinced myself to stand, not for her, but for me, to give myself every possible chance when the time came. On wobbly legs I fought back. When I could stand no more, it was Anvil’s turn. But I didn’t have much left to fight off electrical attacks.
And then, on the fourth night, a dream surfaced.
It was twisted and confusing, but I came away with an unmistakable feeling. I stayed inside my room, pretending to still sleep, and pulled the diary from my pack. I flipped forward to the pages of training. Asher, her father, forcing my mother to train. For his benefit.
I was sure then, sure of their actions. They weren’t training me for my protection. I had no chance against council in my condition. They were training me for him.
Lord Asher.
I gritted my teeth against the hate that was filling me.
“Frey?” a voice questioned from outside the hut.
The part of me that had acted before, relished my secret knowledge, was in control again, taking a calming breath before answering. “Yes, Ruby?”
“We should probably get started.”
Two more deep breaths.
“Okay.”
I stood, trying to get a handle on the tremor that was racking my body. One more deep breath and I stepped out, into the sun.
I tried to keep my face clear as I scanned the temple. Anvil. I remembered him before. He’d been there in some of the older memories, helping the scarred man with training, no, practice. I would focus on those memories later, no reason to stare at him now. I continued, seeing Grey and Steed by a pillar. I couldn’t decide on their involvement, they might have just been here for Ruby.
Ruby. Ruby the troublemaker? Was that why she was involved? For fun, entertainment? And then I remembered what Steed had said. Her interest in the diary was because of her mother. Was that the reason? Revenge or some sick obsession because her fairy mother had come up with a crazed plan because of my mother, because of me?
“Frey?” Ruby’s voice was concerned. Her hand wrapped around my arm, pulling me to focus on her face. “Frey, what is it?” She sounded panicked and I realized I was shaking again.
I had to cover. I couldn’t think clearly so I spat out the first reasonable truth I could give. “I… I just remembered something.”
She waited.
“Council… a council member.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know. I only see his face. Nothing else.”
She nodded and rubbed her hand on my arm in an attempt to soothe me. I played on her sympathy and eventually she encouraged me to lie back down.
When I was alone again, the rush of thought and emotion tore through me. I struggled to hold myself together. I couldn’t believe they would betray me but how else could I explain their association with Asher, the man who had ruined me, my mother, the North? A wave of nausea hit and I doubled over, sweat thick on my brow. I tried to wipe it away with a shaky hand but found I needed it to keep from falling. My eyes closed as dizziness took over. Someone was coming in and I realized I had been moaning in agony.
I heard them talking. “What’s wrong with her?”
“Get Ruby.”
And then, moments later, Chevelle’s voice. That pushed me over the edge.
Fever drove my dreams to new heights. The most irrational paranoia seeped through all of my old dreams, turning them to nightmares. But it was the new ones that were most disturbing. Even the colors frightened me. Blood red and flame orange saturated everything one moment and then the next stark white swallowed me whole. My companions, my guard, surrounded me in the long robes and tassels of Grand Council. Chevelle approached me, his face hard. As he closed in, his mouth twisted in a menacing grin and he grabbed me, pulling me close for a deep kiss. When he pulled away I tasted blood. Then the fire lit around me and they gathered to watch me burn. I tried to scream but my throat was dry and I knew intuitively it was dust from the sandy pillars that surrounded me. The flames threw wicked shadows across the ground, which began to sway, and I lost my footing, falling down only to be kicked by the watchers. I laughed then, crazed by the flame, and I could feel my mother. I knew she had done so, laughed as she burned, and I began to scream.
This time, the sound woke me, my own hoarse scream. I started up in panic but Ruby held me down, patting my forehead with a damp cloth. I was drenched and an errant thought wondered if her cloth had started out dry. My eyelids fluttered and I fell back into a deep sleep.
When I woke again, a groggy relaxation kept me from opening my eyes right away. I could hear their whispers. “… maybe that’s not even why… maybe we overdid the training… no, let her rest…”
I silently took stock. My body seemed to have recovered from the days of practice. My mind was rested though still in pain. I tried not to think of why, wanting to stave off the worst of the pains.
They gave me the rest of the day to recover. That evening, after Ruby had brought me dinner, the door to my room flew open.
Chevelle stood, staring at me. His voice was impatient as he commanded me to get up and return to my training.
For just a moment I was surprised. And then, in a flash of violent anger, I found myself responding without thought. “Why? For him?”
He looked irritated that I was talking back to him but then his face turned to confusion.
I couldn’t stop myself. “How could you? After what he did. How?”
A small group had gathered behind him, seeking the source of the commotion. It enflamed me.
“All of you. My guard,” I spat. They stared at me like I had lost it. Maybe I had, because I continued. “Training me at his command. Slaves to Asher. Your Lord Asher.”
I had directed that last part to Chevelle and his face went white. He wore an expression that I had never seen and, honestly, frightened me even in my anger. I tore from the hut, making a new door in the back wall, and ran from them as fast as I could.
Breathless, I had no idea where to go. I just kept running until my shaking legs would carry me no farther.
Apparently, it wasn’t far enough. When I’d finally risen up from the ground to look behind me, Ruby was already there. I was pretty sure she’d been right behind me the entire time, silent. She looked annoyed.
I turned my head away from her and dropped it to the ground.
Eventually, I gave up and followed her back to the temple. I was slightly embarrassed by my outburst, but no one had denied my accusations so I felt justified. And wronged. And bitter.
I continued to practice through my bitterness because, no matter their reasons for training me, I knew I’d not be able to face Grand Council without them.
A few nights later, I woke with a start, remembering that I had abandoned my plan of sweeping the area. I knew that Rhys and Rider were on guard, and the wolves, but I also remembered the last time, when council had gotten past them. I hoped I could locate a vessel as I closed my eyes and searched past the temple, past the pillars, into the surrounding trees.
I found an owl and decided, under the circumstances, he would suffice. I started to take him out of his tree to check the grounds when his keen eyes caught a group standing together not far from his perch. I focused and realized it was Anvil and Grey speaking close and Chevelle, facing away from them, his arms crossed, giving his stance an irritated feel.
I was afraid to get closer, sure the flap of wings would alert them. I started to check for other nearby animals but imagined Chevelle spotting a clumsy squirrel with his knowing eyes, catching me spying. The uncoordinated squirrel was taking over my thoughts and I had to focus (and try not to laugh at my sleepy efforts).
I concentrated, finally hearing their words but just as I caught them. “… Fannie’s doing our job…” Chevelle spun, facing them, his anger clea
r. Grey held up his hands as if to say “no harm,” but it didn’t matter, his face was beyond calming. And then his eyes scanned the clearing and I jumped back to my own mind, afraid somehow he’d know I was there.
I couldn’t fall back to sleep after that. I couldn’t understand what they’d meant. Why were they talking about Fannie now? And what was their “job”? Something they were doing for Asher? But how could Fannie be doing that? She wasn’t training me. Something else, then. They had more than one task?
“What is it?” Ruby asked from the corner. I hadn’t even noticed her. She was watching me sleep now? I started to answer that it was nothing but decided, after my previous outburst, I might as well ask.
“Fannie.”
She leaned toward me and I sat up to face her. “What about Fannie?”
I wasn’t sure how to respond. She didn’t know what I did or didn’t remember, what I did or didn’t know now. I wanted to find a way to lead her into answers.
“Frey, did you see Fannie?”
Apparently it was going to be easier than I thought. I remembered the dream and used that. She could decide what to do with it. “Destroying the village.”
In the dim light, I saw Ruby’s face and I knew. Knew that it hadn’t been a dream at all. I gasped.
She moved to sit beside me on the bed and in my shock I let her attempt to comfort me. “Freya, I’m sorry.”
My skin crawled at the endearment. “Don’t call me that.”
She was stunned at my response. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you before. It’s just that I know what it does to you, when you get upset.”
“Like you care,” I spat.
Her face managed to twist the surprise to hurt and keep both as clear as water. “Frey…”
“Oh come on, Ruby. You work for Asher. You read the diary. You know…”
“You-" She stopped herself. “Elfreda, you are the most ridiculous…” I didn’t know what she intended to call me but she grabbed my arms tight and stared me straight in the eye before she started again. “I. Do. Not. Work. For. Anyone.” She released her grip just a fraction. “Is that clear?”
I had no idea what my face gave away but my mind was anything but clear.
She rumbled out an irritated growl. “Listen to me, if that is what you’re thinking then there is no danger of telling you now. I don’t see how it could possibly make things worse for you.”
With a frustrated, “Oh!” she took off on a side rant. “And all this time I thought you were upset about that stupid girl!”
I felt the guilt wash through me again as I remembered the human. Ruby went back to her explanation, calmer though she remained exasperated. “Frey, Fannie is after Grand Council.”
My mouth dropped at her casual revelation. “What?”
“She’s killing them off piecemeal.”
I knew I needed to ask why but I couldn’t get my voice to work.
Ruby could see my questions. She continued in a softer tone, “She was bound, the same as you, Frey.”
Pain racked my mind but I tried to stay focused as she recounted the binding. “She was not considered guilty as your mother was and she was allowed to live, though bound tightly and under watch. Freya, when we fought them before, as we tried to release your bonds… we released some of hers as well.”
I felt a harsh intake of breath but I couldn’t convince myself it was real, I couldn’t believe her. “How do you know?”
She looked at me like I was missing something. I didn’t see it. “Junnie.”
Junnie. I’d never even wondered why she’d come, what she’d spoken to Chevelle about in such a rush before… before she’d seen the girl.
I still couldn’t speak.
“I’ll let you rest for a bit. Are you going to be okay?”
“No," I begged, “please, Ruby, tell me more.” She didn’t think I could handle it, I could see that. If I were honest, I probably couldn’t but it didn’t stop me. “Please, Ruby. I need to know.”
She hesitated. And then, “What?”
I didn’t know what to ask. My mind was swimming in a current too strong to conquer. “Why?” She waited for a more precise question. “Why did she destroy the village?”
“We think that she blamed them for the binding. Or maybe she just hated them.”
“… why would she blame them?”
“She had some breaks, or leaks. Somehow, she’d gotten parts back and she was confused, though she knew that she’d been bound.”
I thought of all my years with Fannie. “How long?”
“We don’t know. She was secretive. Probably didn’t know who to trust. We don’t think she knew of Junnie’s involvement though.” Ruby looked sorry that she had mentioned Junnie. “But she did seem to know you were bound as well. At least at the end, just before you… left the village.”
“How?” I hadn’t even known then.
“We aren't certain. But the documents you found, they had been taken from council. And the ones that you,” there was really no other way to say it, “stole, they had been tampered with.”
“Tampered with?”
“Mixed up, at the least. Unfortunately, we didn’t get a good look at them before…”
“Before I burned them.”
“Yes.” She tried a timid smile.
“So, you think Fannie used me to get the documents? Or do you mean she tried to frame me, to get me into trouble with council?” I could hear my voice shake.
“There is no way to know what she was thinking, Frey, what she was after. But from what I understand, there was no love lost there.” A sympathetic hand touched mine.
I struggled to remember but it seemed so far away. And none of them were memories I’d wanted to cherish. Something came to me and I couldn’t help but ask now, now that Ruby was finally being open with me. I pushed down the thought that was trying to scream maybe she wasn’t being honest, maybe it was more lies. But I couldn’t entirely deny that feeling, after so much betrayal. So, instead of asking directly about the spell that placed the map on my palms, I took a side route. “Ruby, what about the pouch? Did she know I had that?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know much about that Frey. But I do know one thing… the silver medallion, the one that you found inside, it seems to match those that Fannie had secured from the human site, the place you read about in your mother’s diary.”
I swallowed hard. I wondered when Ruby had seen the medallion. In the castle probably, maybe one of the many times I’d been unconscious, it was impossible to know. I’d had no idea what the symbols meant but I’d never made the made the connection to… it was still hard to think… humans. I closed that line of thought quickly and pushed on to the first thing I could think of. “And the ruby?”
She seemed almost embarrassed as she answered this time. “Yes. Frey, that was payment. But please understand, that was before I knew you.”
“Payment?” I was incredulous. She nodded. “Payment for what?”
“Securing some items, helping you, gathering the guard.”
Bitter resentment wanted to rise, fire was waiting in my palms, the ache was heavy in my chest, but I kept them all still. Some part of me needed the secret, in spite of everything. But I hadn’t forgotten her words from just moments ago. I do not work for anyone.
Lies.
She could see that I’d had enough for now. She moved aside as I rolled away from her, curling to a ball.
And, after a few hours of mental torment, I fell asleep thinking I had reached my limit, feeling certain I was now beyond surprise.
Chapter Five
Stalker
Somewhere in the depths of my subconscious, I knew what I was watching might be the final straw, might finally split a tenuous crack, leaving me in separate, unconnected pieces. But I couldn’t make myself look away.
From a perch above, I could see what I knew was Fannie, what only I knew was Fannie, slinking slowly toward a council member. He stood tall, his robe and tassels
unruffled, murmuring words I could not understand. I couldn’t decide whether to scream in warning or to root for his demise, for I knew, also, that his death would release me.
The panther came into his view and sauntered closer, enjoying itself too much. Then, without warning, it launched forward into the chest of the council member–Magnus White, I now knew. It tore out his throat as they both landed with a thud on the ground behind him, blood spattering down the clean white robe, tassels splayed out on the ground. The cat lingered above him for a few moments, seemingly savoring the sight of the blood flowing from the fatal wound of its prey. Then it turned, slow and deliberate, to look directly at me, its dark muzzle wet with death.
Fear overtook me.
I couldn’t stop myself from talking when I woke, oblivious at first to my surroundings. “The animals. She’s using the animals.”
I felt a hand on my shoulder and I realized I wasn’t alone, Ruby and Chevelle were there in my now tattered hut. Panic still gripped me.
“Easy, Frey.” Ruby tried to calm me.
I looked at them again; they had been watching me sleep. They must have wanted to talk to me; Ruby had probably explained our conversation to him while I slept. Our talk about Fannie. A shiver racked my body.
“What is it, Frey?” Ruby asked, her tone concerned as her hand remained resting on my shoulder. From across the hut I saw Chevelle’s gaze narrow as he gave her a knowing look. He must have blamed her for telling me.
I shook my head. “No, she’s using the cats." Even in my panic, I instantly regretted that I had chosen cats for my own ploy in the castle. "She’s taking them out, one by one. She knows…”
He stiffened. “How could you know that?”
I didn’t answer his question but instead kept rambling about my dream. “She knows they won’t kill the animals, knows she has free reign to slaughter them all.” I could hear the blind panic in my own voice.
He leaned forward. “Frey, it was just a dream. No one knows-”
“No.” I cut him off. “I know.”
Frey Saga Book II: Pieces of Eight Page 6