by Lisa Daniels
Noely nodded.
“Well, they were attacked today by a strange ‘monster,’ the same one that has been reported by sailors for months now. Guess Yuezhi isn’t going to be able to ignore that problem for much longer either. And I say good luck to them trying to settle a Kraken. But this strange serpent-like creature materialized out of nowhere and drove that horrible beast away. I am not claiming to be an expert, mind you, but Krakens are not known for running away, and I do know that has only happened twice before now. And do you know what drove the Kraken away both times then?”
Noely shook her head.
“A strange serpent-like creature that came out of nowhere. It’s almost as if this creature isn’t afraid of a Kraken. A Kraken! If I were to ask you what the five beasts you would not want to encounter are, I have no doubt that a Kraken would be up at the top of that list.”
Noely looked at the man as if he had lost his mind, but given the situation, she felt it best not to upset him. Instead she played along. “Well, yes, right under dragon. I think a dragon would be more terrifying because there is nowhere you can go to escape a dragon.”
The captain gave her a surprised look, his eyes shifting toward Cyprian, then back to the young woman. “Surely you can find safety in the water away from a dragon, or just go into a small opening. That is what I hear they do in Senses and Volsci.”
Noely shook her head, “Sure that will get you away from the fire breathers, but those are hardly the only kinds of dragons.”
The man rested an elbow on the table and looked at her as he rested his chin in his hands. “You don’t say.”
“Hisa.” Cyprian’s voice was a warning that the captain simply waved away.
Noely had gotten started though, and it was an area in which she had some very intimate knowledge. “Fire breathers are the most common, but they tend to keep to themselves over in Senones and Volsci. Over here we have much stranger kinds who are much more adept at not being found by humans. In Kanza we would see ice dragons a couple of times a year, and the ground dragons were always one of my favorites. I even got to pet one when I was little.”
The captain’s eyes had widened when the young woman mentioned Kanza, and now he seemed completely enraptured by her words. So she continued, “I heard there are a few other types, but we never saw them, not in our little village. I had always hoped to see a water dragon, though, because we lived by the sea. It seemed like it was bound to happen someday, but even the eldest people in Kanza could not remember the last time a water dragon had been spotted.”
A wide grin covered the captain’s face. “Surely they were picking on you when they said those things. Who has ever heard of non-fire-breathing dragons?”
“Hisa, that is enough.” Cyprian’s voice was forceful as Noely turned to look at him. He was sitting up without any assistance.
“There you go, Cyprian. I knew you had it in you. Noely, I must ask you to please keep it up. That old fool is hell bent on self-destruction, so I need you to make sure he doesn’t have the chance to achieve it.”
“I don’t want to help you if you are just going to kill him as soon as he is healed.” She stood as the captain did and tried to look at him defiantly.
There was a flash in his eyes as he looked down at her, then he burst out laughing. “Why do you think I’ve sent for Jaylon? Now if you will excuse me, I can hear some commotion up there and I really need to tend to it. Noely, work your magic. I will return directly.” With that the captain strode out of the room, leaving the young woman more confused than reassured.
Chapter 10
A Haphazard Plan
A hand took hers and pulled her back down onto the bed. Noely turned and looked at Cyprian, but as her eyes took in the bandages, she choked back a sob. It was clear he had healed himself some more, but there were still some marks and bruises. Noely leaned over and hugged Cyprian as gently as she could in case he was still hurting.
“I want to say he means well,” Cyprian’s voice flowed through and around her, “but sometimes it really doesn’t feel that way.”
“Please get better.” Noely pushed a little harder against the shifter, and she felt his arms wrap around her, pulling her to him.
“Why is it so important that I get better?”
Noely shook her head, “I asked you to save someone, and you saved an entire town, didn’t you? You were weakened, and that was why the soldiers were able to capture you. Captain Hisa all but said that.”
“Yes, he said everything except that, and made sure you came up with the conclusion that he wanted.”
Noely looked up at the shifter. “Is that not what happened?”
“Not exactly, but it would be lying to say that he was too far off. The reason they caught me was because I had no reason to run any more. My debt was repaid and it was my time.”
“I don’t understand.” Her eyes searched the shifter’s face for the answers.
“Noely, how old do you think I am?” His voice was level as he pulled her to his chest and stroked the back of her head.
“You are a shifter, so that is nearly impossible to guess by looking.” She pushed her face into his chest, not wanting to talk anymore.
“But you must have an impression, an assumption for what you think my age is.”
The young woman shook her head, “I don’t see how that is relevant. I don’t care how old you are, I don’t want you to be so accepting of your own death. It makes no sense.”
The shifter sighed. For a second his hands were on her shoulders as if he was going to push her back, then he appeared to think better of it and again wrapped his arms around her.
“You were going to look at me, weren’t you?” Her voice was low as the young woman remembered the way the shifter’s eyes had once looked. She felt the man nod. “Then heal your eyes and look at me.” She pulled away from him and tried to stare him into doing the right thing.
“If I look at you, I will lose my resolve, and I cannot allow that again.”
“Why? Why are you so willing to accept dying?” Her voice rose as she tried to understand how anyone would willingly accept the kind of pain this man had and such a terrible end.
“How old do you think I am?” His voice was strong and unflinching, almost as if he were instructing her.
“Well,” the young woman thought back to everything that had happened, “if I were to base it on looks, you would be in your late twenties or early thirties. If I were to base it on the way you act, I would say probably a couple hundred years. You are far too mature to be young for a shifter.”
“And what if I were to tell you that I am over 1,000?”
Noely stared at Cyprian for a moment. “Is that a hypothetical?”
He laughed a little, and she was pleased to see that it did not cause him pain. That meant he was healing remarkably well. “Unfortunately, no, it is more a statement of fact disguised as a hypothetical. But I know that you can understand what that means.”
Noely shook her head, “It means you feel you have outlived your time, but what you did today proves that you are not done yet.”
He pushed her back. “Then I will never be done. Look, I have felt more with you in the last 24 hours than I have felt with anyone in almost a quarter of a century. I was ready to go, and finding you should not change that.”
Noely took his hands from her shoulders and held them tight without saying a word. Without warning, she threw herself on Cyprian, her head buried in his neck. “I should have allowed you to pay me back the way you wanted.”
She felt his body stiffen, but he did not push her away. His hands slowly moved around her back as if uncertain. “That certainly would have changed things, but it was best that you didn’t.”
“What about now?” Her hand moved under his shirt, and she felt Cyprian tense at her touch. His skin was smooth and cool, like the beach on a cool spring day. Her other hand went around his neck and she began to kiss the shifter.
His right hand moved down her
back and around her thigh. Noely responded by straddling Cyprian and leaning her body into his. His other hand went under her arm and pushed her upper body against him. Noely’s body began to move against his and his hands began to pull at her dress.
Then he suddenly stopped and pushed himself as far away from her as he could. They were both panting as he spoke, “This is neither the time nor the place for that.”
“If it will convince you that you should not give up, it is the perfect time and place.” She tried to move closer.
He shook his head, “Your first time will not be in a jail cell with a creature almost old enough to be your grandfather.”
Noely froze for a minute and thought about what he had said, her breast moving up and down as she tried to catch her breath. “You know I’m not human?”
A voice from the door turned both of their heads, “What do you mean she isn’t human?”
Standing there, his eyes a little puffy, was Jaylon. The captain pushed past him and sat in a chair at the table. “Of course he isn’t human. Use your powers to sense that.”
“What?” Jaylon and Noely asked in unison.
From the bed, a much firmer voice asked, “You brought a half-pixie?”
Noely’s head whipped around to look at Cyprian, then her eyes went to Jaylon. “You’re half-pixie?”
Hisa laughed, “Do you know any other species that has platinum-colored hair? Of course he’s half-pixie. Leave it to the backward seven kingdoms to be unable to identify a pixie on sight.” The way he held himself and the way he talked was completely different from the way Hisa usually acted, but something told Noely that this was who the man really was.
Noely wanted to say something, but her friend was looking between the two men. “Why does it matter?” His voice was defensive.
Cyprian frowned, “Oh, it matters because of one of the abilities that pixies are known for. Hisa, I know what you are doing and it won’t work.”
“Do you know what Sir Gwavas is going to do to me if you die before he gets a chance to meet you?”
Cyprian snorted, “Give you a stern reprimand probably.”
“Yeah, do you have any idea how embarrassing and shameful it is to be reprimanded by a human? So no, you don’t get to die.”
“I don’t see how you have any say in this,” Cyprian’s voice was level and cool as he faced the captain. The bandage around his eyes was the only thing that detracted from the nobility of his demeanor.
“Look, with or without your consent, I am getting you out of here. I have spent almost 10 years in the military. 10 years, you understand that, right? If you would have told me that I would become a part of the human military 100 years ago, or even 50, I would have let you beat me down for the insult.”
Jaylon closed his eyes and then looked over at Hisa. “You would have let him beat you because you couldn’t believe it?”
Cyprian sighed, “What he means is he would have picked a fight with me over it, knowing that he never had a chance of winning.”
Jaylon looked between the two men, then his eyes latched on to Hisa’s. “How could you possibly lose to him? He looks like he’s all bone.”
Hisa laughed while Cyprian remained passive. Hisa’s laughter subsided and he finally said, “Direct your eyes to the prisoner.” Jaylon complied. “You are looking at a shifter who is almost 14 hundred years old. He has single-handedly taken down an entire kingdom after they killed the woman he loved. He has stopped a few dozen wars, negotiated between feuding species, and split an entire continent. When he is feeling lazy, that man before you, let’s call him Cyprian since we are using real names here – Cyprian beats up on the Kraken. If he doesn’t want to get caught, you can’t catch him. If he doesn’t want to get hurt, you won’t be able to leave a scratch on his perfect body. If you want to try to take him in a fight, then be my guest. It would be nice to see someone else take a beating for a change. I’ve about reached my limit for this century.”
Noely looked at Cyprian and understood why he had decided it was time to die. She took his hand quietly and without anyone else noticing. The shifter squeezed her hand a little, but otherwise did not acknowledge the gesture.
Jaylon looked like he was completely lost. “I don’t understand. Captain Hisa, why are you trying to help the prisoner to escape after your men worked so hard to catch him?”
“Oh please, I don’t need to explain that to you. Just do your thing,” the captain waved his hand, then turned to Noely. “It appears that you have managed to convince him to heal quite a bit, so we won’t have to carry him out. Now I just need you to take him somewhere safe while I lead everyone in the wrong direction.”
Noely looked up at Jaylon who was moving his hand in a similar motion to what Hisa had done. His expression was one of concentration, so she decided to ask his question again, “I don’t have any special powers, so please explain to me why you are doing this.”
Hisa sighed as he leaned his head back. “I’m only in the Yuezhi military to bring this old fool back to his senses. Seriously, he is one of the oldest mortals alive, and the only one that still interacts with the world. You would think that would require some sort of innate sense of self-preservation, or that he would have learned it, but no, this guy is out there looking for a way to die nobly. He damn near succeeded with that avalanche, too. I think it was what gave him the idea to let my men take him down. That was just cruel and uncalled for.” The captain was leaned back in his chair, but he was scowling at Cyprian.
Noely looked between the two men. “How do you two know each other?”
All eyes turned to look at her. Cyprian’s calming voice said very simply, “Same species, different type.”
Jaylon stopped moving his hands. “What types?”
Noely was looking at Cyprian as she said, “Shifters.”
“I know, but what types?”
Noely looked at her friend. “You knew that Hisa was a shifter?”
“Of course. Why do you think I tried to set you up with him? All of the men I have tried to persuade you to date were shifters.”
“Wait, you knew?” The young woman could not believe what she was hearing.
“He’s a pixie, remember. Just like you can get an idea of what species a person is, he can, too. Humans are the only ones who can’t.” Hisa sounded bored. “Here, there seems to be a lot of confusion so let’s get this cleared up. The blind man is Cyprian. I am Hisa, yes, that is my first name – I do not want people calling me by my last name, so I don’t use it in the military. We are both shifters of the same species, but different types. Blondie over there is Jaylon, he’s a half-pixie who is going to tell Cyprian just why he needs to live. And over here we have the lovely Noely, who is-” Suddenly the man stopped talking. He grimaced, “That I cannot tell you because Augustin has to be the one to do it. Or you can take a lover and learn about it yourself.” Like a cat after a mouse, Hisa shifted forward in his chair at an impossible speed. “I am available if you are interested in the second route.”
Cyprian cleared his throat, “She’s not interested in you, Hisa.”
“Yeah, well, you don’t get a say, so butt out.”
“I don’t need a say because she will tell you now on her own.”
While she was still trying to fully comprehend what had happened, Noely saw an opportunity. “Well, Jaylon has been trying to get us together, and if you are really set on dying, Cyprian, I don’t think that I should try to guilt you into continuing for my sake. And without knowing where Augustin is, I may need to take Hisa up on his offer.”
The looks on Hisa and Jaylon’s faces were priceless. Her friend looked like he was about to weep tears of joy, while the captain stood up and walked over to her. He offered her his hand. Not sure that she should take it, Noely’s hand hesitated as she was about to stretch it out to the man.
“I wouldn’t do that, Noely.” Cyprian’s voice was full of warning.
Hisa didn’t even look at the shifter; his eyes were fixed on
Noely. “And why is that?”
“Because he only wants to play with you until he gets tired. He was not kidding when he complained about the military. You saw how scary he could be, and that was not because he felt insulted on behalf of the kingdom. It was because he was irritable from having to follow orders and act like a competent human being.”
Jaylon laughed, “A competent human being. That’s funny. That’s like talking about a gifted cow.”
Three heads turned to look at the half-pixie as he laughed. Hisa joined in until Noely responded, “Thank you, Hisa. I really appreciate the offer, but I don’t think that would be right.”
He smiled down at her, “I know, but look, it had the intended effect. Shame, though. I could have shown you a really good time while it lasted. Now if you will excuse me, I need to go make sure my men are not implicated in the escape. We will have to chase you for a bit, but Jaylon should be able to deflect the worst of it, and no one should get close enough to physically engage you three in fighting.” He strode toward the door, then turned. “Right. In case the virtual immortal is still thinking about dying, down five flights, hit the wall hard to your right, and slip through the door that opens. Good luck and move quickly. My men should be sending the guards down soon. Once they reach the corridor, get ready to take them down and run.”
Noely looked at the captain. “We have to take down the guards?”
“Jaylon should be able to knock them over, you know,” and he made a gesture with his hands. “It will be much easier than dealing with my men; they know how to fight, not just beat up shackled prisoners. Oh, and I don’t want any of my men to get hurt. They may be human, but I’ve gotten kind of fond of them. Anyway, stay safe.” With that he disappeared.
Jaylon and Noely looked at each other for a moment before Jaylon asked, “What does he mean just knock them over?”
Cyprian spoke up, “Has no one taught you how to control your powers?”