The part of me that had been dormant through this entire ordeal, the part of me that had just started my heart beating again, awoke with a cry that tore through my body and brought a soundless scream to my mouth. My back arched as it awakened and I fell to the floor of the circle. Every muscle in my body writhed as the power of the elements, and my own elemental power joined forces to heal my damaged flesh. But they could only take my fragile form so far before it would break.
Patches of darkness flashed before my eyes, and everything began to spin. I cried out to the powers to release me, to let me go before I broke apart. At first, they argued. The power of the storm wanted to push me further, but my power took control. It broke my connection to the elements, sending me tumbling to the ground. In the distance, I could hear the sound of the roof closing.
As the rain began to dissipate the forest stepped in to absorb the excess water and warm the ground beneath me. I lay on the grass in the centre of the greenhouse, spent and slightly numb. My power coiled itself around my heart, which was beating stronger than before, and rested.
The clouds above me parted, and sunlight streamed down. I sat up and looked at my hands. They were shiny with new skin, my arms also. I looked down at my body and saw that I was now covered in skin. The new shiny skin of a healing burn.
"It's not perfect. But it'll work," I said to the trees.
I got to my feet and looked at my body. My torso was now sealed in shiny new skin that slid slightly over the muscle when I touched it. My breasts had returned, somewhat deflated, but there was definite fat over the muscle. My ass, however, had not returned to its former glory. Sure, there was skin, but none of the meatiness I was used to.
I ran my hands over my face and found that I had eyelashes and lips again. My skull was covered with skin and a fine layer of stubble.
My wings were whole. Well, chicken wing, no sauce, whole. They were thick with muscle and covered in skin, but no feathers. Not even down.
I still had a ways to go, but at least now I was sealed against the elements.
I walked over to my sword and picked it up, shaking it free of the wrapping, so I was holding the naked handle. I brought the blade to my lips and laid a kiss on the shaft.
"Come find me, Archer."
The sword pulsed for a moment and then went dark. With the sword in one hand, I walked out of the greenhouse.
"I need a bath."
14
I found the two gargoyles upstairs in my room. When I walked in their eyes got so wide I was worried the stones themselves would fall out onto the carpet. I didn't think it would be much trouble for them to pop them back in, but who wants the hassle?
"How do I look?" I spread my arms wide and did a little twirl.
"You look much better," Grog lied.
"You still look gross." Brog, the voice of truth.
"Brog!" Grog gave him a little push. "You're not supposed to say that!"
"It's okay." I walked towards the mirrors and took in my appearance. "I do look pretty gross, but I also look way better than I did before I got here. Hey, the bandages are gone. Thank you guys." I smiled at them in the glass. They smiled back, their tiny stone teeth looked so cute. What is happening to me?
"We do what we can." Grog bowed, Brog following a few seconds behind him.
"Thank you." I turned from the mirrors and headed towards the bathroom. "I really need to clean up before Archer gets here. Can you guys light the fire?"
"Can we?!" Brog was scrambling through the doorway like a happy puppy.
"Great, I need a bath."
My bathtub is amazing. Absolutely amazing. Bathing in the power of the full moon is cool, but soaking in my gigantic, almost a small pond bathtub was just what the doctor ordered. Wait, do Travellers even have doctors? Never mind.
As I filled the tub, the gargoyles set about making the fire, sitting in the flames while they stoked them. The fireplace threw out a lot of heat, and soon the bathroom was toasty warm, and the tub was filled. With a great sigh, I slipped down into the water and let my stubble covered head go right under. When I came up for air, Brog was sitting on the edge of the tub.
"What's up Brog?"
"Are you okay, lady?"
"Much better, thank you for your help."
"You're welcome." His stony brow furrowed as he looked down at the water. "Please be careful in there."
"I will."
I flicked some bubbles at him, he giggled and ran back to the fireplace. He and Grog settled down among the flames and closed their eyes.
I lay back in the tub and breathed deeply for what felt like the first time in days. This tub was so much better than Royal's. I experimented with the lotions and potions, going for the creamiest things I could find to soothe my new skin.
I pulled a bottle from the side of the tub and poured a bit into my hand. It felt like lotion and smelt like honey. I rubbed some of it on to my arm and was instantly soothed. I squirted a bunch of it into the tub and then rubbed some over my head and face. I felt greasy and gorgeous, and I rested my head back on the edge of the tub and closed my eyes. I could feel sleep pulling at the edges of me, and I let it come.
Flames filled my vision. Bright green and red scorching waves. I turned my head to see where they were coming from, but they were everywhere. They were coming from me. My body was burning. I had moved beyond pain. It was so intense that my mind no longer registered it. I felt wrongly calm. Flames licked at me, but my arms hung limply at my sides. I peered through the flashes of green and red fire at the scene around me. I was in the Void. I could just make out one of the deep dark streams a short distance away.
Someone was screaming.
They were screaming my name. I listened harder, tried to turn towards the voice. As I strained my ears, more words were revealed. They were screaming for me to run towards the stream. They were screaming at me to douse the flames that covered me. They were trying to save me. But I didn't need saving. I didn't want saving.
Something in my heart shifted, and the flames turned to black. I was burning within my own pain. My guilt. I had earned this. I had caused this. I would not burn like my people usually did. I would burn black and hard, and then I would be nothing. Then this immortal creature would be no more. Then the pain in my heart would cease, and I would be free of this crushing knowledge. I caused this. I made all this happen. It was my fault.
The voice was still screaming.
The black fire tore at my structure and sent me to my knees. I felt something pounding on the ground. My eyes were losing focus. Blackness clawed at my vision, deep black like the flames around me. The pounding continued. I looked up and saw a man a few feet away, pounding his fist on the ground. His shape was unclear to me. I could see his height and feel his power try to soothe the edges of my fire. But he was not strong enough. I was almost done. I lay down on the ground and accepted my fate. The man ran towards me, framed by the grey sky. He had wings.
My eyes snapped open. I was in the tub. The water was warm. Okay, I thought to myself, I haven't been out that long. Was that a dream or a vision? I wanted to say dream, but it had all the hallmarks of a vision. Crap. What was that all about? Obviously this was a sneak peek into another time I had burned. Interesting, I hadn't even thought of that, but it made sense. My former self was thousands of years old. Of course I'd burned before.
"You're back."
The deep voice shook me from my thoughts and ripped a scream from my throat.
15
"Holy shit! Archer! You scared the hell out of me!"
"I was waiting for you to wake up."
Archer was sitting on a long plush bench that divided the bath area from the shower area. He was in his usual black leather pants and nothing else. The nothing else revealed his chiselled torso and sculpted arms. He was the picture of symmetry. His face was open with high cheekbones and a strong chin. His eyes were bright and clear as he focused on me and his hair was a long sheet of ebony that draped down to his waist.<
br />
And every inch of his skin was silver.
"You're back." It wasn't a question.
"Yep." I've learned that Travellers like short, slightly cryptic answers.
"Where were you?" Archer was sitting casually, one leg draped over the other, leaning back, so his silver abs rippled just so. Wow. But he was holding himself very still. And I was very aware that only my head, arguably the least gruesome part of me, was poking out of the water.
"Another of my kind was taking care of me."
"What happened?"
"Apparently my kind can burst into flame and regenerate when under extreme stress." I shrugged, but the bath water only rippled. He nodded. We both knew what the 'extreme stress' was. "But I'm still not entirely healed."
"I can see that." His voice cracked. He still hadn’t moved.
"The rest of me is worse, much worse." Archer nodded again, but this time a single silver tear slipped down his cheek. "Archer, I will get better. In fact, this is already much better. Seriously. I was just bone when I started, and now I have eyelashes." I tried to smile, but I could feel it pull at my flesh awkwardly and a small shiver ran up Archer's body. He stood up and stepped towards the tub.
"May I see you?" His shoulders were relaxed, but his hands were tight fists.
"Okay, just brace yourself." He nodded.
I stood up.
I tried to do it slowly, to kind of ease him into it, but the bottom of the tub was slippery from all the lotion, and my ultra-smooth feet slipped on the bottom. I had to rush the whole thing to keep from toppling out of the tub. By the time I was upright, Archer's jaw was hanging open and slack in a way I'd never seen before.
"Are you okay?" I asked.
"Am I okay?" He shook his head, his ebony hair swung slowly. "You stand there looking like you've walked through fire and ask me if I'm okay?"
"Well, I did kind of walk through fire."
"And now jokes!" He reached for me and then stopped short, his hands clenching and unclenching in the air. "I thought you were dead! I thought Mhyr had killed you! When the orb of power exploded, I thought you were gone forever! I was right! Look at you! You did die. For only death could turn a person into this." His breath was coming in gasps, sobs soon followed. "I was so worried about you." He was weeping now. "I thought you were gone forever."
He collapsed on the bench and put his head in his hands. I stepped out of the tub carefully and went to his side. The air in the bathroom was warm thanks to the gargoyles, and I wrapped my naked body around him and kissed him on the cheek.
"I'm so sorry, baby," I whispered in his ear. "I should have let you know I was alive sooner, but I'd never experienced this before. I needed to understand what was happening before you could see me."
"Why? Did you think I couldn't handle this?"
"Those first few days, I looked," my voice caught in my throat, "I looked so horrible. I really didn't think I was going to heal. I didn't want anyone to see me so fragile. I needed to hate myself in peace."
Archer shifted on the bench to wrap his arms around me. He held me a little too tightly and kissed the top of my stubbly head, gently rocking me.
"I will always be there for you. I will never turn away from you. You can always count on me." He lifted my chin, so we were eye to eye. "I love you."
That's when I lost my shit.
Yep, bawled out all the pain and fear and stress of the last two weeks all over his large chiselled shiny silver chest. He held me through all of it, at one point pulling me onto his lap and cradling me in his arms like a giant hairless baby, well I guess babies are generally hairless, and I did not look cute nor was I soft to the touch, so maybe like a giant hairless rat? Anyway, it was a pretty big feat considering my wings were also large flaps of flesh and bone at my back.
When I had calmed down I slid from his lap, and he draped my robe around me, helping me get my arms and my wings inside and then tying it snugly. He paused as he finished his knot, his brow furrowed as he looked over my shoulder.
"Why did you bring the gargoyles up here?"
"Oh!" The last time Archer had registered their presence I was rubbing their stone heads goodbye as we walked down my front steps. "I wanted the company." He cocked an eyebrow. I tried a version of the truth. "Sometimes they move around the house when I'm not here."
"Oh, okay."
Okay? He bought that? There was so much I needed to learn about the Traveller world. Like, what has to happen in a person's life to allow them to readily accept stone statues that can move of their own volition?
"Are you hungry?" He asked as he towelled off his chest. His beautiful, chrome, chest.
"What?" Archer looked up and smiled with just a little bit of heat in his eyes.
"I said," he moved the towel very slowly, "are you hungry?"
"Yep," I nodded just as slowly, "very."
"Then let's get you something to eat."
He took my hand, and we went down to the kitchen.
16
Archer is a surprisingly good cook. And I had a surprisingly well-stocked kitchen. As I munched on scrambled eggs and toast, (where did I get toast? Who is bringing this magic toast to my house?), I filled Archer in on what Sid had said about us being let into the City of Caves.
"I agree."
"That was easy." Archer put more eggs on my plate, and I shovelled them down. "So you think Sid is right?"
"Yes, it all makes sense now. We were able to pass the gates far too easily."
"They had the two guards though."
"Ha!" His laugh was a sharp crack that reverberated around the kitchen. "They managed to kill themselves before we even got close. And if they had not, we would have made quick work of them. No, the entrance itself was the challenge, and we sailed through it. Sid is on to something."
"Okay, if Sid is right, then who set us up?" More eggs, damn, regenerating really makes a woman hungry. "It had to be someone that knew Ganaraj hadn't set the Bounty, knew who had set the Bounty, and was also powerful enough to break the charm on the gate. Or, and this is even scarier, was powerful enough to bargain with Big G himself and get him to open the gate."
"We need more information."
"Duh."
"Excuse me?" He looked genuinely puzzled.
"It's human for," I searched for it around mouthfuls of egg, "Duh."
"Very illuminating."
"There's something else we need to discuss." Archer just stared at me, his face perfectly blank. It's weird how good these Travellers get at hiding all emotion. "I've been asked to join the Guard."
"I am aware."
"And?"
"And, what?"
"And what are your thoughts on that?"
"It will not be easy for you. Although you are a powerful creature, you are new to your power and not yet confident in wielding it. There will be some on the Guard who will resent your position. You were technically entitled to join as the sole member of your race, but now you will be joining as the leader of the minions. Effectively taking over two seats. It will not be met without opposition."
After I had figured out the double negatives, I had a few questions.
"But what about us?"
"Us?"
"Yes, us. The coupling and such. Is that something that will be a problem for the Guard?"
"I had not considered it."
He was silent for a long time.
"Well?" I asked.
"I am considering it. Yes. It will be a problem for them, and we should not make them aware of our relationship until you have firmly established yourself as an influential member of the Guard."
"Right." I picked at my few remaining eggs.
"You seem displeased by this."
"Of course I'm displeased! You're my boyfriend! And now we've got to keep that hidden. It doesn't feel good."
"Getting a knife in the back would feel worse."
"Wow. Just, wow." I got up from the counter. "I'm going to get dressed now. When I'm ready, I'll be ga
thering Spin and Sid and heading to the City of Caves. I need to figure out what's going on there before I go meet the Guard. You're welcome to come along," I paused in the doorway, "If you think you can handle it."
"I will be fine."
"Sure."
I walked out, my newly formed face set to 'resting bitch’. I was getting better at this.
Up in my bedroom, I opened all the closet doors and started working my way through. If history had taught me anything, it was that I had an appropriate outfit for every eventuality. I was sure my pre-human-world self had something fitting for my current weird shiny skin state.
I found it in the closet nearest the end. A dark grey jumpsuit with a deep hood and fabric slots for my wings. I pulled it from the closet and laid it out on the bed. This was going to be one complicated dressing situation. I closed the bedroom door and turned the lock. I hoped that Archer didn't have some kind of crazy supernatural hearing and that he'd stay downstairs. Then I called to the gargoyles.
"Hey, guys?" I stepped into the bathroom; they were still frozen in the now cooling embers of the fire. "I need your help with something." Still, they didn't move. "It's okay, I've locked the bedroom door, and Archer is downstairs. He won't see you."
At those words, Grog's stone ears started to twitch. Soon Brog's were wiggling. Within moments they were both back to life and sitting at my feet.
"I need your help getting into this jumpsuit."
"It would be our pleasure." Grog intoned as he bowed deeply, dragging Brog down with him.
"Great. Let me just put on some underwear first."
Damn, it felt great to put on panties. Weird, yes, but I had been undergarment free for the past couple weeks as I had no butt or breasts to deal with. Now that I was clipping myself into a bra and sliding on some panties, full briefs as opposed to my usual thong, I was starting to feel whole again. Man, give me a handbag, and I'd feel positively put together.
The gargoyles looked bulky and stiff, but they could be surprisingly agile and delicate in their movements. Brog was so good with the wing flaps that soon he was directing Grog on what to do. He was the one that figured out I needed to put on the pant legs and then sit on the bed so they could shift both my arms and wings into the upper half of the suit at the same time. It was complicated, but the finished result was surprisingly flattering.
Mend the Flesh (The Phoenix Series Book 3) Page 8