Empath

by Evans, S. Usher

  ***

  Not quite ready to face the villagers and their pointing and whispering, Lauren shuffled down the gravel path away from the village. Her head was spinning from all the new information, being in this new place, with these new people, and these new powers. She was in strange clothes and no underwear. She began to play with the stone around her neck, the rough edges of the ruby giving her some kind of salve to her anxiety, like a pacifier to a crying baby.

  Her thoughts floated back to the reason why she bought the item in the first place: to replace the necklace that Josh had given her on their first anniversary. And with a small smile, she realized that in the disarray of the past day and a half—finding herself in a fantasy world with strange powers she didn't understand—she hadn't once thought about Josh.

  And yet, she suddenly wondered if he was okay back in California. He worked in a different building, but the thought of him lying somewhere hurt terrified her. She half wished that he'd been transported to this world too, so they would have no other choice but to get back together.

  She laughed at herself. Such a silly thought. Why on Earth (or wherever she was now) was she so damned melodramatic?

  She slowed her gait further and began to dwell on this idea for a moment. She had always felt things deeply and always seemed to have an inner sense of peoples' motivations. Here, though, that sense was magnified to the point where she couldn't even shake someone's hand without getting an inside glimpse of their emotional current.

  Was there something about this land that gave her these powers?

  Was it the reason she had been brought to this place?

  And did it have anything to do with that Anghenfil monster?

  The terrifying thought of that snake-like voice threatened to break free from the box she had shoved it into, and she shook her head to push it back.

  Her hand clasped around the ruby necklace and she rubbed her thumb along the ridges on the casing. This was real. This was proof that she had come from a different world, that she was really Lauren Dailey, twenty-four years old from Santa Rosa, California, who worked as a data entry clerk for an insurance company. This was proof that she was once a normal person with normal hopes and dreams and normal problems.

  "I'm not going to be stuck here," she said to the forest around her, and she meant it. If some magic portal opened and brought her to this strange land, there had to be a way to re-open it.

  She paused for a minute, and clicked her heels together three times. "There's no place like home?" she tried, but remained firmly in place.

  Her mind wandered again to the beast Siors had told her about. It sounded like something out of a movie, and she envisioned a fire-breathing dragon. Anxiety awakened in her chest and she spoke aloud to shut it down.

  "I'm sure it doesn't really exist, either, that ang-whatever." She hoped that if she said it out loud it would be true. A fire-breathing monster couldn't exist. That was just silly.

  She turned to look up at the mountains above the village. Aerona had said that was where Lauren had been found, buried in a cave-in.

  Right about where the Anghenfil—

  "NOPE," she said out loud, stopping the thought before it could complete itself.

  That thought-she-was-not-thinking aside, perhaps if she returned to the place where she'd been found, she could find some clue to get her home. She spun on her heel and marched up the mountainside, hoping if she walked up far enough, she'd stumble across the cave-in.

  Siors' house was on the edge of the village, so she continued on that path that had been cut through the trees. It led her to a stonier path, one which dropped of steeply on one side. She knew she must be climbing up the mountain and picked up her speed as the slope increased.

  She turned a corner and stopped short at the view before her. The edge of the path dropped off steeply, revealing the beauty of the valley and the world beyond the small village. The mountains rose in snowy peaks that stretched around her. Below her feet, the sleepy village looked small and contained between the green trees and boulders. If she kept looking out, she spotted another village at the bottom of the mountain, and, even farther, a large green plain that spanned all the way to the horizon.

  The view was so pretty that she didn't even notice Cefin sitting on the edge, his spear beside him.

  "Get back to the village," Cefin said without turning around.

  "I-what?" Lauren was taken aback by the harshness of his tone.

  Cefin spun around, and she saw him flush just slightly. "Oh, it's you!"

  "Yeah, it's me," Lauren said lamely.

  He hopped to his feet, his face still red. "Sorry, I thought you were the twins. They like to sneak up on me."

  "Really?" Lauren peered over the edge of the cliff. She worried that the kids would scare him right off.

  She noticed Cefin watching her. "How are you feeling?"

  "Much better, thank you," Lauren said, coming to join him at the edge to take in the view. "It's gorgeous up here."

  "Sometimes on a very clear day you can see all the way to Traegaron." He pointed to an unseeable place in the distance. "It's a day's journey from here."

  Lauren nodded, wrapping her arms around herself. It was chillier up here now that she wasn't moving, and she noticed Cefin wasn't wearing anything but a thin shirt. She also happened to notice how it clung to him and tore her eyes away, not wanting to seem like an idiot for gawking at him. She cleared her throat and tried to be conversational. "So what are you doing all the way up here?"

  "This is my place as watcher," Cefin said. "I protect the village from the Anghenfil."

  "All by yourself?" Lauren asked. The monster couldn't have been that fearsome if they sent this guy to stand watch all by himself. He seemed to know his way around his weaponry, but he was still one man. One very handsome man.

  "The Anghenfil caused many to leave our village. Most men did not wish to stay and fight when it last appeared. I am the only one who answered the call."

  "So why do you?"

  "Because if no one else did, it would wreak havoc on the kingdom. Men in my family have always been watchers. One day, Eddy will join me, when he's old enough."

  "That's right, Aerona is your aunt," Lauren said without thinking. To Cefin's surprised face, she blushed. "I mean…I felt it…when I was…whatever yesterday." She winced. "Empathing…?"

  "So it's true then," he said, leaning on his spear. "You are an empath."

  "I guess." She blew air between her lips. If it wasn't for this morning and the lucid way she read Aerona's thoughts, she would have considered everything to be just a bad dream. She inched away from him, not wanting to read Cefin's mind to find out how strange he thought her.

  "Siors says that you came from a different land. I wondered why such a pretty girl decided to tempt fate at the hands of the Anghenfil in the mountains." He grinned, and she was amazed at how her heart began to pound at his compliment.

  She hadn't flirted—really flirted—with anyone in ages, and she was very rusty at it. But it also felt kind of…nice. "Well, you know, my middle name is Danger."

  "Is it really?" Cefin asked with all the innocence of a man who had never heard that joke before.

  "No, it's…anyway…" She supposed her normal brand of pop culture-inspired humor wouldn't fly here, and she suddenly and violently missed Josh and the back-and-forth banter they shared. She wondered what he would think about her here in this strange land. An empath of all things. Did he even know she was gone?

  "You're an interesting woman, Lauren," Cefin said, his voice pulling her from her miserable thoughts.

  "That's what they tell me," Lauren said, having lost her desire to flirt more with Cefin after the unwelcome reminder of her ex. "Well, I'll see you around."

  "Where are you going?" he asked after her.

  "Oh," Lauren said, spinning around. "I'm going to check out where I landed here, you know, to see if there's anything that could help me get home."

  She got three steps be
fore Cefin was standing in front of her (how did he move that fast?), blocking her path. "I cannot let you do that."

  "Why not?" Lauren asked, folding her arms across her chest. She tried to step around him, but he moved with her to block her path.

  "My job as watcher is to protect the village from the Anghenfil," Cefin said. "And also to prevent foolhardy children from wandering up the mountainside to bother it."

  "First of all, I am not a child," Lauren insisted, knowing that she sounded very much like a child as she said it. "And second of all, I can go up there if I damn well want to."

  In response, Cefin unsheathed his sword at his hip and pointed it at her. Her eyes ran over the sharp point and the edges, and then back to Cefin's face, which was surprisingly taut and tense.

  "Go back to the village."

  "No." She couldn't understand why he was being such a dill weed about this. How did he not get that she didn't belong here? That she wanted to go home?

  "Go back to the village," he repeated, holding his sword steady.

  She returned his steely gaze for a few moments, locked in a silent battle of wills. After a moment, she let out a frustrated growl.

  "Fine," she said, stepping back. "You win."

  "Thank you," Cefin said, lowering his sword. "I don't mean to be harsh, but—"

  In the moment that he was distracted by sheathing his sword, Lauren darted around him as fast as she could. She got four steps before she was plunged in emotion.

  Gods above, she is going to get herself killed by going up that mountain—

  The glimpse into his mind was short-lived as she landed hard on her hands, which stung from the rocks and the sand. She turned around to glare at Cefin, who was smirking for someone who was so nervous on the inside.

  "Do you know how many times the twins try to get up the mountain?" Cefin said. "I've had plenty of practice."

  "I can tell," Lauren huffed, rubbing the heels of her hands that were raw from where she landed. She looked up at him, his fear and annoyance still swimming in her brain and clouding her initial desire to wander up the mountain. She reached a hand to her necklace, and it reminded her of her mission.

  Perhaps she'd try a different tactic.

  She offered her hands to him. "You hurt me."

  "The Anghenfil will do much worse, I promise you," he said without pity.

  Her eyes grew large and she gave him the most adorable, simpering face she could muster. If she couldn't win him over with sneakiness or brute strength, perhaps with sugar. He already seemed to like her, calling her beautiful; maybe this would work.

  "I thought you said you weren't a child," he replied, impervious to her charms. "These are the same tricks the twins use on me thrice a week."

  "GOD DAMN IT," Lauren huffed, losing her patience. "I just want to go home, Cefin!"

  "Then talk to Siors."

  "He doesn't know how I got here either and I just…damn it. If there's something up on that mountain that would get me home, I have to know."

  "The only thing that will greet you on that mountain is death."

  "You went up there before to dig me out of the cave. Why are you afraid now?"

  "I am not afraid," he replied but she could feel his fear from two feet away. "But I value my life and yours—"

  "You don't even know me!" Lauren replied.

  "ENOUGH!" he bellowed, his words echoing in the valley. He walked up to Lauren and unsheathed his sword. "You will go down to the village or I will kill you myself."

  "This isn't over," Lauren huffed, picking up the hem of her dress and storming down to the village.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Lauren was so angry at Cefin for his interference that she spent all dinner glaring at him across the table when he showed up to share in the meal Aerona had cooked. She had hoped to slip out after dinner, when Cefin disappeared towards his own little hut, but Aerona asked her to help with the dishes and by the time they had finished with that, sleep was calling.

  But no sooner had she closed her eyes than she could hear the quiet Wake up, Lauren of Aerona's hand shaking her. Lauren's half-asleep brain was still buzzing with sensations of Aerona's morning worries—having to get water, having to wake the children—and it was unpleasant to say the least.

  "That could never happen again and it would be too soon," Lauren moaned, sitting up in the dark room. The shock of the empathy wore off and she leaned back into the makeshift bed, yawning and rubbing her face. She would have killed for a cup of coffee right about now, but instead looked over to Aerona who was leaning over the hearth.

  "What are you doing?"

  "Breakfast," Aerona said, lighting a small fire in the hearth. "I've already gone to the river to get the water, but I need you to help me tend to the fire."

  Lauren pulled herself out of bed and sauntered over to the fireplace. She plopped down on the floor and poked the small flame with the poker. "I don't suppose we've got waffles, do we?"

  "Waffles?" Aerona looked puzzled, but then shook her head. "Porridge."

  Lauren couldn't help the face she made but did her best to hide it from Aerona. Porridge did not sound appetizing, but she was hungry and was fairly sure the other woman would kick her out at the first sign of ungratefulness. Especially considering Lauren hadn't done anything but sleep and eat since she arrived the day before.

  "You've got a busy day today," Aerona said, walking over to pour the bucket of water into the pot on top of the fire. She added meal from a bag next to the fireplace and began stirring with a wooden spoon. "You'll be taking the laundry down to the river for a good cleaning."

  "Laundry?" Lauren said, her face falling. She'd pondered all night on a good plan, settling for knocking Cefin on the head with a shovel. But doing laundry put a damper on those plans.

  "Yes, I normally have Mairwan tend to it, but I thought it would be a good chore for you today." There was something hidden behind Aerona's smile, but Lauren couldn't place it.

  The twins woke up just as the porridge, or what she was calling the white goop in the cast iron pot, began to boil. Lauren helped Mairwan set the table with the wooden bowls and utensils they had used for dinner the night before.

  "Oi, munchkins," Lauren said, breaking up the small sibling spat that had broken out between Mairwan and Eddy as they fussed at the table. She tossed a look to Aerona, who was leaning over the fire, before leaning in closer to them. "Cefin said you two try to go up the mountain all the time."

  "Aye," Eddy nodded solemnly, leaning forward. "Ya wanna know how?"

  Lauren nodded, leaning in closer to ask, but before she could, a bowl of steaming porridge was placed in front of her.

  "What are you three whispering about?" Aerona said, sternly placing the other bowl in front of Eddy. She returned to the hearth and Lauren leaned in again to talk with Eddy.

  "Ya gotta wait until it's old man Graves up on the mountain," Eddy continued, his freckles dancing in the low light of the fire. "He falls asleep—"

  "You leave that mountain alone, Lauren," Aerona interrupted, placing another bowl on the table in front of Mairwan and one at the head of the table for herself. "Didn't Cefin already tell you what would happen?"

  "I don't understand why I can't go up there," Lauren said, swallowing the goopy and tasteless porridge and forcing herself not to look disgusted. "I'm perfectly capable of handling myself."

  "There's things up there that we don't wake," Aerona said sternly. "And Edward, you should still have them scars on your back from the last time Cefin caught you up there. I would hope they'd be a reminder against anymore foolishness."

  Eddy blushed as red as his hair and quietly ate his porridge.

  "And don't think because you're a grown woman I won't flay you as well if I catch you up that ways," Aerona said to Lauren.

  The children left for their chores right after breakfast, and Lauren offered to help with cleaning up, hoping that maybe she could sweet talk her way out of laundry.

  "So, this laundry, does
it have to be done right now?" Lauren asked, with a laugh.

  "Right now." Aerona nodded to a woven basket next to the door. "Take that and the rest of it down to the river." She handed Lauren a washboard and a bar of soap. "Make sure you hang it up to dry before you bring it back."

  Lauren nodded and went to pick up the basket, huffing at the weight. She nodded to Aerona, who looked pleased with herself, and began shuffling towards the door. Lauren calculated how long it would take her to finish the laundry and hang it up. If she were lucky, she'd be done by…

  Her thoughts stopped when she saw ten more baskets in front of Aerona's house, all overflowing with dresses and shirts and sheets. Lauren let the basket fall to the ground with a loud thump.

  "We do laundry for a few others as well," Aerona said, appearing in the doorway and ignoring Lauren's glower. "As I said, we all help each other in the village, since there's so few of us." She smirked at Lauren and then disappeared into the house.

  "Son of a bitch," Lauren grumbled, picking back up Aerona's basket and trying to find a good way to hold it. Her arms protested, but she found a balance for a few steps and stumbled out of the house. The sun was barely over the ridge, yet the quiet village was already awake. Some of the same women who had pointed and gossiped about her the day before were out and about. They twittered with laughter as Lauren shuffled toward the river, a light sheen of sweat on her head from the effort.

  After an eternity, she finally made it to the river, the basket falling to the ground with a thump. Lauren sat on top of the clothes for a moment, huffing and puffing and remembering with a groan she had ten more baskets to bring out there. She rubbed her sore arms and tried to look on the bright side—at least she would be buff living there.

  No, she reminded herself, she was going to get home soon.

  She looked up at the mountain again, narrowing her eyes to where Cefin was most likely standing watch. That asshole probably told Aerona to put her to work.

  Lauren very well could have told Aerona to go to hell and gone up the mountain anyway, but then again, what if she found nothing up there? Aerona might throw her out of the house, and Lauren was quite sure that a place to live and square meals were hard to come by in this place. As it was, she needed to suck it up and do what Aerona asked, at least for a little while.