"I missed you, too," I said back and realized that I meant it. I missed that Kat, the soft and gentle one. Not the driven, jealous, and a bit crazy one. The one I held in my arms then, was the one I remember from growing up, the one I'd loved.
Her eyes and face softened and gentled. She looked like she wanted to say something more, so I pulled her even closer to me. Then the pain came. A pain I remembered from long ago. A puncture of hot agony up under my ribs had my arms dropping the weight of Kat and gripping my torso. An old scar, ripped open once again.
I watched Kat flop to the ground, all the while with the startling realization that she had just stabbed a dagger into me. I stared at Kat with confusion. In the background I vaguely heard Sunny scream and Cinder slide across the ground to my side. Austin was cursing a blue streak; nothing new there.
I grabbed the handle of the knife and pulled. The metal slowly eased out of my skin. It seemed to take forever, but it finally was out. The wound looked so small to my eyes. A red line, not even a full inch long, marred my chest. My knees buckled under me, and I dropped to the ground. The knife thudded in the dirt next to me. The knife was old. I recognized it. "You stabbed me with your father's knife? Why? Why, Kat?"
Kat was laughing. Crazy laughing, loud and shrieking.
Austin helped support me as I lay flat out on the ground.
Sunny pressed against the wound with her bare hand. Blood, dark and red still gushed its way out from between her fingers.
"Leif," Cinder said. She was looking directly into my eyes. "Look at me. Stay with me."
I was confused. Where was I supposed to be going?
"Do something!" Sunny yelled almost next to my ear. "Cinder!"
What was Cinder supposed to do?
Sunny wiped her hands on her dress. A red swatch of color marred the white of her gown. She pushed her fingers through her hair, to get it out of her face, leaving more red streaks on her cheeks. I watched her do this and the scene looked familiar. The blood on her face and dress. The background of the rock right behind her. Where had I seen it before?
"Cinder! Do it now!" Austin yelled.
"Don't yell at her," I said. My voice sounded quiet. Weak. I turned to Cinder and saw her pink face was unusually washed of all color. It was almost white. I reached up and ran a finger across her cheek.
I glanced at my hands. They were covered in blood. My shirt was dripping with it. The ground was puddling under me with red.
Austin sat on Kat. She was squealing and squalling. Her arms and legs were flapping around so much I had to laugh. Reality hit the moment I did. Pain zigged and zagged its way through my entire body and blasted my head. I gasped with the feel of it.
"Cinder, please!" Sunny yelled.
"It doesn't work that way, Sunny. I'm different," Cinder said. "Give me a second, I have to find the healing."
"Please," Sunny said. Her eyes were full of tears and her face was wet. That was when it clicked. It was a part of what the fairies had shown me. The blood on her face, her body, and hands was mine, though. Not hers, as I had thought.
"Damn fairies," I said, but chuckled all the same, regardless of the pain I knew it was going to cause.
I heard Cinder breathing hard next to me. I caught her eyes, and said, "It's all right, Cinder. I'll be all right."
"No you won't, man. You're bleeding out," Austin said from his perch on Kat. "Cinder, if you can do it, you need to do it now. Otherwise, I'm going for help."
"Do what?" I asked.
"Heal you," Sunny said. "She can, she just doesn't trust her gift. It's different than most Fire People. Most are natural healers. Just laying their hands on the wound would heal you. Cinder has to pull the healing up from within her. I would expect that would be hard to do under pressure. She can do it, though. She can."
The last part was not said for my benefit. It was for Cinder's.
Cinder dropped her face against my neck and said, "I don't want you to die."
I didn't want to either. Finally, I wanted to live. Had something to live for. I was tired, though, and wanted to go to sleep. I knew that was not a good idea, but the draw was fierce to just close my eyes and let go. Let go of all the pain, the heartache, the horrors of life. It would be so easy.
I didn't want to. I wanted to live. I said as loudly as I could, but the words, "I trust you, Cinder. You can do this," came out almost a whisper. She heard me all the same.
I felt her take in a large calming breath, then she sat up. She pushed Sunny's hand out of the way and pressed her own over the no longer gushing hole.
Chapter Nineteen
Six Years Ago
"What do you mean, Isaac didn't come back?" I asked Gavin. He stood before me with this look of fear on his face. Why the fear?
"Just that. He didn't come back last night at all."
"Well, where did he go?" I asked.
"That's just it, Leif. No one's sure," he said. "You saw that Jodi was in camp last night, right?"
"Yeah," I replied. Everyone had seen Jodi. Although she was still very pretty, she had aged some since I'd first laid eyes on her. I'd fallen hard for her golden looks and feminine form. She was my first crush. Actually, she was my only crush. Since then, I hadn't had time for love. At sixteen, lust was starting to play a heavy role in my life, but not love. Never love. I wasn't even certain if that emotion was real or if it was just a fancy word people liked to use to cover up lust. "So?"
"Isaac hasn't gotten over her, yet," Gavin said with a tone that said I should have already known that.
"Again," I snapped, "so?"
"So, he took some of that whiskey Connor likes to drink and headed off into the woods. No one has seen him since. Austin and I searched for him this morning while you worked in the new section of camp with the lost ones. We didn't see any sign of him at all. It was as if he just vanished."
I scoffed out loud then. "Well, then, you know where he went. He went over to Earth and he'll come back when he's ready. What's the big deal?"
Austin came up behind us and said, "The big deal is that people look to Isaac to lead them. If he's not here, who is the leader? Who's in charge? Isaac may look young, but he keeps this place in order. Maybe you haven't noticed, but the children are starting to outnumber the adults around here. More than half are children who don't have any family at all. The orphans from Acadia and lost ones we've brought back. Isaac takes care of all that."
"Okay, so who's next in line to be the leader?" I asked. It couldn't be that hard to find someone to take charge while Isaac was MIA.
Austin and Gavin shared a look. It ticked me off that they communicated like that, so I snapped at them, "What?"
Gavin answered, "There is no next in line. This camp started out with Isaac. His parents died of starvation the season after King Malcolm's death. He was living out here in the forest by himself. Then one day he shared the night with a small family and they decided to stay together. More and more people just started showing up and joining the little camp."
"That's what I did," Gavin said. "I'd heard about a group that lived in the forest. After my dad died, I set out to find them. What was it going to hurt? I had nothing to leave behind and nothing else to do. I came here and this is my home now."
"Isaac is the only leader we ever had," Austin said.
"Well there has to be someone else that can step up while he's gone. Who did it before? When he would make those trips to Earth, who was the leader then?"
"No one. He was never gone very long. A day or two here and there. That's it," Gavin said. "Plus the group was a lot smaller back then. Remember?"
"Well, then, we give him a day or two and worry about it after that if he doesn't show," I said. That was enough. I wasn't going to waste anymore of my time worrying about something that wasn't even a problem yet.
Two days came and went and then four, and then six. There was still no sign of Isaac. Even I couldn't ignore the low hum of concern than ran through the camp. The chaos was only just beg
inning. Silly squabbles over food or firewood turned into all out brawls. The children that ran around the camp began to realize there was no real law in camp and began causing mischief in the form of pranks and thievery. The already tightly wound nerves of the adults began to fray.
When I was woken up in the heavy dark of night by angry shouts of a crowd of people, I knew time had run out for Isaac. With a heavy sigh, I tossed off my covers and rolled up onto my feet. I hadn't even taken two steps out of my tent when I was accosted by several men, faces red with anger, but their eyes blurred from alcohol. They reeked of it. The smell brought back ugly memories of my early years in foster care.
I refused to allow the old fear to take over; instead, I got angry right back at them.
"What the hell is the matter with you guys?" I yelled into the group.
"He stole my bottle of drink," one of the men slurred.
"Roark? Is that you?" I asked, more than aghast at the realization that it was. Roark was one of the good guys. Never drank. Never got angry. Had a wife and children that he actually tried to take care of. Why was he drunk and out in the middle of the night?
I saw him physically shrink back at my harsh tone, but he didn't shy away from answering. "Yes, it's me, and I want to know who's going to do something about this?"
I moved past his demand and onto the real issue. "Where did you get that whiskey?"
"Connor. He makes it out in the forest for us," he said.
"And you didn't have anything better to do with your time than to help him and get wasted on it?" I said.
I was getting angrier and angrier by the moment, but the final brick in the bunch dropped when Roark replied with, "Nope. Sure don't."
Roark was bigger than me in many ways, but my rage trumped them all. I grabbed him by the neck of his shirt and yanked him to me. I snarled loud enough for everyone in the group to hear, "You do now! From now on, there will be no more drinking in this camp. You want to stay here, you will be an asset to the camp."
A voice from the darkness rose up against me. "You aren't the leader of this camp, Leif. You don't get to make the rules."
I let go of my hold of Roark. He dropped to his knees and sat there looking up at me with a bit of fear in his eyes. It took a lot to get me mad, but I was definitely there and he was nervous. He should be. I was that mad. "Where is your leader?" I shouted into the night. No one answered. "He's not here!"
"He's coming back!" a man from the crowd shouted.
"No," I said, "he's not. He left us and he's not coming back. Ever." I don't know how I was so certain of that fact, but I was.
"Who says you should get to be the leader then? Who are you to lead anyway? You're not even from here."
I shrugged, "I'm going to be the leader 'cause the rest of you drunks can't. You sit out here getting wasted, while there are people here that are hungry or need help with their tents or help just getting by, but none of you see them. You are selfish and a waste of my time, and the time of everyone in this camp. Well, no more." I listened as my voice echoed around us and off into the night. I had an idea and I was going to use the loss of Isaac to my favor.
I glanced at Gavin and Austin to make sure they were with me. Gavin, I think, had a small clue of what I was about to do. Austin didn't, but he would follow me anyway. That was who we were, we were loyal to each other and we would back up the other, no matter what.
I turned back to the now silent group before me. "Isaac had a plan, an idea. He was just putting it into action when he disappeared. I plan on continuing his idea. I plan on making it happen. We are about to go on a monumental quest. We will each have our own parts of the quest, but we will need every person to do their part if we are going to make it work."
"What's the quest?" Roark asked. He was finally back on his feet, although still a bit unsteady. He was listening; that's all I wanted.
I smiled. I couldn't help it. These people were so easy to lead. I sat before one of the campfires. Gavin and Austin took up spots next me. "Come, sit down," I said and indicated the spots around the fire. The men, who but a moment before had been hostile and upset at the thought of losing their whiskey, were now more curious than mad.
Once everyone was sitting and I had everyone's rapt attention on me, I began, "I want to tell you a story about a King, his beautiful Queen, and their unborn child."
~ * ~
"What do you mean, I can't make no more of my drink!" a very angry and red-faced Connor said.
I crossed my arms over my chest and said, "You heard me. We are not a band of drunks. We are more than that and I mean to make sure we stay that way. No more whiskey! That's it."
"You don't make the rules around here, boy."
I nodded once and said, "I do now."
He regarded me. He may be a mean old bastard, but he was smart. "How you plan on stopping me?"
I gave him a mean, almost condescending smile, and said, "I won't have to. If you don't stop, if you keep trying to sell it to the others in the camp, if you don't get into line and be the man you're supposed to be, you will be kicked out of the camp."
He smiled. It unnerved me for a moment, wondering what he was thinking. I didn't have long to wait.
"If I go, Kat goes with me. You'd kick out a young girl and a baby, because of a little drink?"
My nerves vanished. I realized I held all the cards, whether Connor knew it or not. "Kat and the baby can stay. I've already procured them their own tent and set up. They will be fine without you. Can you say the same? Who will cook for you? Who will take care of your clothes? Who will make sure your tent is still standing when you come falling into it at night? Who?"
He snarled like a wounded dog. "You don't get to order me around, boy!"
I stayed calm. There was no reason to get mad. I had him right where I wanted him and he knew it. "I'm not ordering you at all. I'm giving you a choice. You can choose to stay, be an asset to the camp, no more drunken nights or production of whiskey. You get on board with the quest to find the lost heir. Or…" I dragged out the last word giving him time to take it all in, "Or, you leave. You start your own camp somewhere else. You do anything you want in your own camp. But Kat and Carrie Ann will be staying here. It's your choice, Connor. Make sure you make the right one."
I turned and left him standing there. I didn't wait for his answer. I'd get it one way or another. He would either stay or he'd pack up with as much drama as possible and leave. Either way, the whole camp would know soon enough.
~ * ~
The fight came sooner than even I expected. It also came with a scream. One so loud and filled with such pain that the hairs on the back of my neck stood at attention before my brain even recognized the sound.
I dropped the armload of firewood I carried right where I stood and bolted toward the sound. Even though I wanted to pretend otherwise, I knew that scream, I knew the voice. I rounded a pathway to see Kat, an angry red welt on her slowly bruising cheek, sitting on the ground trying to comfort a screaming baby.
Connor was roaring drunk and just as mad. He was ripping the family tent off its stakes and throwing his and Kat's and even Glory Ann's possessions all over the place. Some landed in a simmering fire pit a few feet away.
Having years of experience dealing with drunks, I slowly stepped forward and tried to draw Connor's attention onto me. He was mumbling and ranting as he yanked and pulled at the old, threadbare tarp and tenting material.
"Connor," I called out to him. I took great care to keep my voice calm. It didn't matter, though. He swung around and faced me with eyes fierce with growing violence. "You wanted me out, well I'm leaving. You can't stop me neither!"
The baby still crying in Kat's arms was the next to draw his attention, but it was Kat that took the brunt of it. Before I could avert the action, Connor said, "I told you to shut that baby up!" Then he swung out with a fist and connected with Kat's head.
She toppled over and didn't move. The baby rolled out of her arms and flopped down onto t
he dirt with a wail.
I didn't wait another moment. I sprang into action and tackled the old man to the ground. He swung his meaty fist at me, but I was not slowed with drink or age and the punch went wide and missed me entirely. Connor was not as lucky.
I could still hear the screaming baby and next to it the quiet sobbing of Kat. Although the blow had stunned her, she slowly sat up and gathered the baby back into her arms. The screaming baby and quiet tears of Kat were my undoing. I heaved blow after blow upon the old drunk. He cried out in pain, then in fear, then with both. He raised his arms to try to cover his head, but I just moved to raining down blows upon his body.
I don't know how many punches and fists I landed on him, in fact after the first connection, I don't remember much at all. The next thing I knew, Gavin and Austin were pinning my arms to my side and dragging me off a sobbing Connor.
"Leif!" Gavin said. "Stop. You've made your point."
"More than a point," Austin said. "You walloped him good."
I shook my head and tried to clear away the last bit of fog. I took in Connor's bleeding face and swollen and busted lips. It didn't make me feel better like I expected it to. In fact, I felt bad for hurting the old man. Drunk abuser that he was, I still felt guilty. It was a heavy, dark feeling that lived in my heart, deep in my soul. I had a feeling it would haunt me for a while.
I went over to Kat and the baby and helped her to her feet. "Are you and Carrie Ann all right?"
She brushed her hair out of her face and gave a wobbly smile. "Yes. We'll be all right." Then, "Did you really kick us out of camp, Leif?"
Surprise zipped through me. Then another burst of anger at the old man that was still sniveling in the dirt. I reined in the emotion though and said with cold determination so everyone that had come to watch the drama could hear, "No. You and Carrie Ann are staying. He is leaving."
"You kicked him out?" she asked.
I couldn't tell if she was upset that I would kick her father out of the camp or if it was relief, either way, I gave her the truth. "No. I gave him a choice, the choice that I am giving the entire camp. If you want to stay in this camp, you have to be of some worth. You have to earn your keep. No more drinking the day away and leaving all the work to someone else. Everyone will have a job here. If you don't want to do that, if you don't want to be a part of this group, and participate in making it a better place for everyone, then you can leave. Connor apparently is choosing to go, rather than be a productive part of our camp."
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