The Battle Sylph

by L. J. McDonald

  The boy had gone farther than Galway expected, slogging along the road with bare feet and in a thin tunic, leaning heavily on his makeshift staff. He was already past the fork that would lead around the Shale Plains to Para Dubh. Thank the gods. Only fools went through the plains themselves.

  Galway saw the kid’s shoulders stiffen stubbornly as he rode up behind, and he slowed his horse to a walk beside him, looking ahead. There wasn’t much to see, only scrub trees and rocks. The clouds overhead were heavy, the air cold enough to threaten snow.

  “Nice day,” he commented, resting one hand on his leg while he held the reins with the other.

  Heyou ignored him, glaring straight ahead as he walked.

  “Looks like it might snow, though,” Galway continued. “Get right cold tonight. The plains are especially bad with all that arctic air coming down through the mountains. You thought of that? What with the bare feet and all?”

  Heyou’s lip twisted, and the boy glared at him with almost as much loathing as Galway had seen from his sixteen-year-old son. “Go away!” he snapped. “Or I’ll kill you!”

  “With what?” the trapper asked reasonably. “That stick? I think it’d need to be thicker.”

  “Don’t you know what I am?” Heyou growled. He looked to Galway as though he was about to cry. “I’m dangerous! Go away! I don’t want your help!”

  “Well, you might say you don’t need my help, but I think you do, and I’m used to danger. How about I give you a ride, since we seem to be going in the same direction?”

  Heyou trembled, trying to speed his walk, though he clearly didn’t have the energy to keep it up. Galway maintained the pace easily, waiting for the boy to wear himself out. He doubted it would take long. The kid was a mass of anger and emotions all spinning out of control. He’d crash soon.

  “Get lost,” Heyou told him venomously. “Die horribly, you bastard! Don’t you get it? I don’t want you near me! I hate you!” He stumbled, barely catching himself with his staff. His face was now more white than red.

  Galway had seen enough. “Well, I don’t hate you.” Edging his horse closer, he reached down and grabbed the boy’s arm, pulling him bodily up onto the saddle and wrapping his cloak around him. Heyou shuddered, trying to punch him, but Galway held him close enough that the kid couldn’t get leverage.

  “Why do you have to be so damn nice?” Heyou sobbed, giving in at last.

  “Because you’ll die if I leave you out here, and not everyone in the world is an asshole.” He couldn’t take the kid back home yet, not if he was going to get through to him. The boy wanted to go north, so for now he’d go north. Iyala would understand.

  Galway kneed his horse into a canter, just to show Heyou they could move faster if he stopped fighting, and the boy finally sagged against him. It was probably just exhaustion, but that was a start. They cantered north, and the miles slid away behind them. Where they were going didn’t matter, not yet. Just that Galway was willing to take him where he wanted would have to be enough. There wasn’t anything in the Shale Plains, after all.

  He was very surprised when he was proven wrong.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Twenty miles beyond the town where they’d met Cal, the forest ended and the ground started to slope, the path heading downward toward a plain formed of rock and shale, dotted by tiny lakes. Great mountains loomed in the far distance, covered by snow. Solie reclined on the wagon seat between Devon and Cal, staring. The horizon looked desolate and cold, lifeless. It was no wonder the king didn’t bother with this land. It didn’t seem as though anyone could survive here.

  Ahead the road dipped, descending but not looking any better than it had through the woods. In fact, the path looked as though it disappeared completely somewhere on that plain, no one having bothered to push it any farther.

  The wagon was heavy and the horses old, but with the help of the sylphs, they would likely be able to cover another ten miles before dark. Solie looked up at the clouds and hoped it wouldn’t snow. It was cold enough as it was, and she dreaded the wagon’s getting stuck.

  “How long will it take us to get to the Community?” she asked.

  “About four days, if we make good time,” Cal answered. “We used to have a town built in a valley northeast of here. We’d worked the land enough that it was fertile again, and we had crops coming in. Pretty good place. Where it was, the valley walls blocked the wind. There were some really old paintings on some of the rocks there, too. We don’t know who did them, but they’re ancient. Horses and deer and stuff.”

  “Where are your people now?” Devon asked.

  “Oh, sorry.” Cal shook his head, recalling himself. “The message said they were at the bluff. It’s this cliff with one side that’s really sheer. Some of us think it was made to be that way, but no one’s really sure why. No one can get to you from the front without sylphs, and the other side slopes down enough that you can drive a cart up. Kind of steep, and there’s no water source for a couple of miles, but it’s more defensible. I guess they’re kind of thinking that way right now. You can see for absolute miles from the top. They’ll know we’re coming long before we get there.”

  Solie sighed, wondering what it would be like when they arrived, or if the Community had already moved on. She supposed they’d send another message if they did…?

  She rubbed her temples. Her head was aching, and her heart, since she couldn’t stop thinking about Heyou. Even sillier, she kept looking behind her as though he was about to come charging out of the woods in pursuit. She looked back again, just to see, and Devon put a hand on her shoulder.

  “Are you all right?” he asked, in an undertone so Cal couldn’t hear.

  “I…can’t stop thinking about Heyou,” she confessed. “I barely knew him, but it hurts.”

  “Yeah.” He squeezed her shoulder. “They say when you lose a sylph, or they’re taken away…I’m sorry, Solie.”

  She bit her lip. “Does it get better?”

  “My father said it did, after he gave Airi to me. Eventually.”

  She looked away again, not wanting to talk about it. At least Devon and Airi were safe and they knew no one was following them. They all could go to the Community and make new lives.

  Maybe they had a postal service there and she could get Devon to write a letter to her aunt, explaining everything. More likely she’d have to borrow Airi to carry it. Solie sat quietly, trying to think of what she’d write, but she couldn’t get past explaining Heyou. Biting her lip, she stared at her hands, finding it easier not to think of anything at all.

  Galway cantered his horse easily along the road out of the forest and onto the slope leading down to the plain. What he saw made him raise one eyebrow with interest. Far ahead, a wagon traveled slowly, its yellow wheels brilliant against the gray shale.

  “I’ll be damned,” he muttered. The boy was actually following someone. Not that he would have caught up without help. Also, provided there was a girl on that wagon.

  He nudged the boy, who had fallen asleep again after swearing at him with an appalling lack of skill. “Hey, Heyou. Look at this.”

  Heyou stirred, sitting up slowly and blinking. Galway had to put a hand on his head and turn it in the right direction, pointing past the boy until he woke up enough to realize what he was supposed to see.

  Heyou saw, and nearly fell off the horse trying to get to her. Galway barely caught him and had to put him in a bear hug to keep him from spooking his horse into throwing them both.

  “Calm down!” he shouted. “You’re going to land on your head!”

  “Please!” Heyou gasped, reaching out for her. “Solie! Please!” He looked up at Galway, his eyes desperate and unguarded for once. “Please take me to her!”

  Boys and girls. They never changed. Galway hid his amusement, knowing Heyou would be deeply offended, instead urging his horse faster. Heyou stretched taut in front of him, staring forward and so tense that he was nearly vibrating. Galway decided not to point out
that the wagon might not have the girl the boy was looking for. After all, he hadn’t expected to find anyone out here at all. Even he didn’t come out this way. No one did, and the road ended only five miles out. Galway didn’t have any idea how they expected to continue on after that.

  The horses continued smoothly, able to keep the pace for hours, and so they gained on the wagon. Galway made no attempt to hide their approach, yet they came very close before they were spotted. Less than a mile away was the first time he saw the wagon’s occupants moving and looking back, and then one figure stood up, a figure with long, flowing hair that he could see even from where he was.

  “Solie!” Heyou screamed. “Solie!”

  Distantly, Galway heard her shout the boy’s name in return, and he grinned. He’d always loved happy endings.

  Heyou thought he’d go insane. He could see Solie, could hear her shouting his name, and he felt a mad gratitude to the man who held him that was horrendously confusing. Males were bad. Every instinct said so, but this man had kept him alive and now brought him back to his queen.

  The horses cantered forward, not moving nearly fast enough. Heyou saw Solie jump down from her wagon, running back toward them with her arms outspread. Heyou nearly whimpered, and when Galway finally pulled his horse to a stop with her beside them, he slithered down off the animal and into her arms. Unable to hold his weight, she tumbled to the ground with him on top.

  Solie landed awkwardly on her back, a stone digging into a rib and Heyou’s weight crushing her, but she didn’t care. He was alive, he was really alive, and he was warm and kissing her and she didn’t care anymore who saw them.

  She kissed him back, hugging him tightly and crying, so relieved that she couldn’t do anything other than embrace him and weep. She could feel his mind, his absolute joy, and that only made her cry harder. He just kept kissing her, pressing his lips against her mouth, her cheeks, her eyes, her neck…

  Devon walked slowly over to the two, happy on one level to see the battler alive, but also badly frightened by his existence. Airi pressed against his back, her chill a sign of agreement. The man who’d brought Heyou dismounted, and he stared at Devon with placid eyes. Devon couldn’t figure out how he could be so calm.

  “Galway,” he said, holding out his hand.

  “Devon.” They shook. “You found him?”

  “Yep.” Galway looked down at the pair and laughed. “Found him freezing to death in the woods. He said he was following a girl. I guess he was. Glad to see he was right. He’s a stubborn one.”

  Devon gaped. “Stubborn?”

  “Yeah. Bit of a temper, too, but I figured he had a good side somewhere.”

  Devon stared at the battler. Were they talking about the same person? From Solie’s reaction, this had to be Heyou, but he couldn’t feel any aura of hate from the sylph at all. Solie had said he didn’t hate her, but this…

  Considering the sylph currently had his tongue down her throat, Devon realized there was likely no hate involved at all.

  Cal walked over, looking bemused. “That’s Heyou?”

  “Apparently,” Devon said.

  “I thought he was dead.”

  “So did I.”

  “Dead?” Galway asked. “Is that why he got left behind?”

  Devon hesitated, not sure what answer to give, but Cal beat him to it. “Yeah. He was supposed to have been killed by a battler. I don’t know how he could have got away. I can’t imagine facing one of them. I think I’d piss myself immediately and start begging for mercy, though I doubt that would work. That’s what I would have done if I’d been there when those two attacked the Community.”

  The man really couldn’t keep a secret. Devon shot him a look, but Galway didn’t seem surprised. He looked so laidback that Devon doubted he would be shocked by anything, including the news that he’d rescued a battle sylph.

  “Community?” Galway repeated. He looked at the heavily laden wagon and out at the barren landscape. “Guess you’re heading there. Think I’ll tag along for a while. I feel kind of responsible for the boy. I’d like to make sure he gets where he’s going this time.”

  There was something very absolute in the man’s words, and Devon recognized the reprimand. As far as Galway was concerned, they’d abandoned a youth to die alone, and he was going to personally make sure it never happened again.

  Not knowing how he could ever tell him the truth, Devon nodded. “Good to have you.”

  Cal opened his mouth and then closed it again, apparently realizing that this man perhaps didn’t meet the requirements the Community sought in recruits. “Um…,” he said, “I don’t know that you’d like to come. We’re going a long way, and it’s not a really nice journey, and we’re not going anywhere that’s nice to see.”

  “That’s fine,” Galway replied. “I’m coming anyway.” Turning his back on both men, he walked over to where Heyou and Solie seemed determined to suffocate each other with their passion and grabbed the battle sylph by the back of his tunic, yanking him right up off the girl. “Come on, you, there’s time enough for that later.”

  Devon yelped out loud, tensing to run before the battler blew his top. From the look of shock on her face, Solie was feeling the same, and Heyou’s expression would have been comical if Devon hadn’t seen the devastation caused by his fight with Ril. There was no explosion, though, and Heyou was set on his feet, where he swayed until Galway put a hand on his back.

  “You don’t want to give her whatever you’re sick from, anyway,” the man added.

  “You’re sick?” Solie gasped, scrambling to her feet. Heyou smiled, moony eyed, and shrugged.

  Devon took a deep breath. He didn’t like this. “Can I talk to them alone for a minute?” he asked.

  Galway shrugged. “Sure.” He led his horses over toward the wagons. Cal blinked and followed, talking apparently about why it was a good idea for the man not to come along.

  Devon braced himself and looked at the girl and the battler, hoping he could get some answers without angering Heyou. He didn’t know how Galway had managed to survive.

  Solie looked up at him uncertainly, her arm around Heyou. The sylph stood with his head resting on her shoulder. He looked very tired.

  “I thought you died,” Devon told him quietly. “We all did. We never would have left you if we knew you were alive.”

  The battler raised his head and glared, but the expression didn’t last long and he buried his face against Solie again. “I hid,” he told them softly. “When it was safe, I followed my queen.”

  “I knew,” Solie breathed. “I don’t know how, but I knew. I knew you were alive.” He pulled away and smiled up at her again.

  Devon frowned. “Why did it take you so long to catch up? And why are you, um…”

  “Not scary?” The battler sighed. “I think I’m dying.” When Solie gasped, he pressed himself against her again. “But I’m happy.”

  “How can you be happy if you’re dying?” she wailed.

  “I’m with you.”

  Solie stared at Devon with heartbroken eyes and he had to look away. He didn’t know how to save a dying battler. He didn’t know anything about sylph health. They didn’t get sick! “Airi?” he asked. “Can we do anything?”

  Not us.

  He sighed and shook his head. In human form and without that aura of hate, Heyou didn’t look like a battle sylph at all, just a sickly boy. “Let’s not tell anyone he’s a battler, okay?” Solie nodded, tears in her eyes as he added, “I don’t know how any of these people would react. Come on.”

  He helped them walk over to the wagon. Heyou was leaning heavily on Solie. Devon wasn’t sure if that was because of his condition or if he just wanted to get close to her. The pair climbed up in back, and Solie wrapped Heyou in blankets.

  Devon got up on the front seat with Cal, and the wagon started off, Galway riding easily behind. Devon blew out a breath and tried not to look at the two lovebirds behind him, but he couldn’t help wondering what
all of this meant.

  Solie lay in the wagon on top of the blanket covering Heyou. He was pillowed by a bag of rice and staring joyfully at her, his hand cupping her face.

  She couldn’t stop touching him either, stroking his hair and cheeks while he made a bizarre, almost purring sound. He was alive! Some strange emptiness in her was full again. Her battle sylph was with her, and she could feel how happy he was. She had to wipe tears away, and leaned over to kiss him.

  “I missed you,” she whispered. She didn’t understand this bond between them, but she didn’t want to deny it anymore either. He was hers, for as long as both of them lived.

  Heyou smiled at her, his face pale. “I missed you too.”

  “What happened to you?” she asked. The wagon went over a heavy bump, and he winced. Solie bit her lip worriedly.

  “He was older than me,” Heyou admitted. “I thought I could beat him since he was locked into one shape, but he destroyed me instead.” He looked away for a moment. “He would have killed you.”

  “Devon and Airi saved me,” she told him. “You were very brave. I never would have escaped without you.” He smiled happily again. “But you’re not going to die, are you? You can’t mean that.” Her voice cracked. “You just found me again.”

  “I don’t know,” he mourned. “He hurt me…I just…I’ll try.”

  Solie bent her head, pressing her forehead against his. He put an arm around her neck, and it weighed heavily on her shoulders. “Just don’t die,” she told him. “You’re not allowed to die, got it? We’ll get to the place we’re going in three days.”

  “Yes, my queen.”

  “Good.” She kissed the end of his nose and smiled. “I can’t be your queen if you leave me.”

  “Then I’ll never leave,” he promised. “Not ever.”