Taking back forever and a day

by Marcy Lynn

  She’d have her name on lips of every social elite for her behavior, right or wrong. As her Grandmother often put it, the Seeker world was a man’s domain, where in some of the magical realms it still remained that men and women were equal to each other.

  She’d been distracted and now lost the last bit of the rant he’d been making. His glare told her he expected a response but she didn’t know what he’d said.

  Elanor couldn‘t stand there discussing anything with him any longer in any case. She could feel the energy bubbling inside, needing to be released. And she wanted to zap him a good one with some magic. She promptly turned then, dragging the ball and chain with her; walking away from him towards the path they’d just come from.

  “Where are you going?” He demanded.

  “To gnaw off my leg so I don’t have to spend another minute with you!” She snapped over her shoulder. King suddenly appeared beside her, happy to accompany her.

  “That’s right King, attack!”

  She threw a scathing look over her shoulder before carrying on her limp march away from him. She could hear Caspin laughing. Elanor didn’t see the humor in it at all. She couldn’t believe Derek had changed so much. When he first started sailing for his father, hadn’t he been sicken by the treatment of the slaves as she had been? Hadn’t he often said if he had the means, he’d free them? When they talked about how the Elder magic users were often enslaved for their knowledge; he’d been just as disgusted by it as her.

  Did profit change him?

  She only had to think about what he had done to her to know the answer. He’d stolen her off her father’s ship, put a shackle on her leg and now wouldn’t let her leave. Again, the wrong kind of emotions were turning inside her. Burning her energy and building up a bubble ready to burst. Just as she could drain herself from energy; Elanor could absorb and build too much of it as well. Being one of the five elemental witches had cost. If she didn’t use it, the pulse within her, swirling, making every inch of skin tingle with life. Demanding to be expelled. Her arms rose slightly from her sides as she murmured soft words under her breath. Invoking the spirit, she used an old trick she’d often used when they were living in the Seeker realm when they were younger.

  A sudden gust of wind blew down the pathway, sweeping dead dried leaves clean off it. Her hair lifted and swirled in ribbons behind her head, then whipped across her face.

  No one questioned sudden gusts of wind. She continued the wind channeling spell until she felt the ease of tension. When her insides felt less tense, she released the spell. King stood off to her right, head tilted with his ears perked.

  “This has to be our secret my friend. I hope I can trust you not to tell anyone.” She murmured softly to him. Animals often could sense magic better then humans. It was why the Seekers who called themselves ’witch hunters’ used them to find casters. She hadn’t heard any tales of them in some time now though. Not since her Mother was killed.

  But then, magic users rarely allowed themselves to be known any more either.

  It occurred to her that Derek hadn’t followed. Now that she’d found some sense of calm again, she prepared to argue with him more about moral behaviors verse outspoken women. But looking back, he wasn’t moving down the path towards her. She couldn’t see the village any longer either. A little grin slowly moved over her mouth, making her cheeks rise. She’d broken one of his silly rules already.

  She had to be twenty feet away. And certainly out of his view.

  Not that she could go anywhere with a ball stuck to her leg, if she tried swimming with it, she’d surely drown. But it was the principal of the thing wasn‘t it?

  “How do you tolerate him, King?” She asked the dog beside her.

  He nudged her hand with his great muzzle before lumbering off the path to bring back a stick. She chuckled, throwing it for him. “You endure. Yes, I see.” She sighed. She’d have to endure too until she could figure out how to get away from there.

  ***

  The mallet slammed down over and over. Derek didn’t notice how hard he was hammering until Caspin cleared his throat.

  “Cracking it defeats the purpose, Mate.”

  Derek spared a glance to the board he was hammering into place on the roof; the small circles from where the mallet had hit it instead of the nail.

  “Pain in the arse!” He growled.

  “Just trying to help.” Caspin chuckled.

  “Not you! Her,” He jabbed the mallet in Elanor’s direction. “She hasn’t moved or said a word since I went and got her. Even though she broke one of my rules, I told her she could move around the village, but has she?” He started hammering the mallet again in frustration.

  “She doesn’t seem as,” A moment’s pause, “hostile, as she was earlier.” Caspin observed. Derek glanced at her again, her hand smoothing King’s shiny black coat.

  He snorted. “Turning my dog against me too! I go to collect her from the path and he barked!”

  Caspin laid the new plank of wood down turning to him in surprise. “Really? Was he aggressive?”

  Derek shook his head. “No, she didn’t realize I was coming up behind her. She was just standing there staring off and King the big lug, he lets out a few barks. If she were planning to run away, he‘d be her look out!”

  Caspin kept grinning. “He’s protecting her. That’s why I got Apollo for Leelah and the children. He’s doing his job, you should be praising him.” Caspin regarded him with a quirking expression. “You’re not jealous of your dog are you?”

  The mallet lifted again, banging at the new plank and nails. Derek stopped to glare at his friend.

  “I thought once we got here, she’d see. I built the house we wanted, I even have the dog we wanted.” He admitted. “Everything changed so fast when she left me, but on the ship… I don’t believe that she doesn‘t want all this anymore. I can tell Caspin. She’s just fixed on going back to Inglid. Some grand magical idea that she can find her sister. Magic can’t bring back the dead.”

  “I remember when we’d sail to Inglid before she left. She was there every time. Without fail, stars in her eyes for you. Though,” Caspin chuckled. “I remember her being a timid burde, barely saying anything. I never believed you when you said she was outspoken as quiet a girl as she had been.”

  Derek felt memories punch him in the stomach, recalling sailing back to Inglid and knowing she’d be there waiting for him.

  He would leave to come here to build on the house and the life he would provide for them as soon as they were married. It had been almost ready that last time he’d sailed into Port. Caspin had just married Leelah and had agreed to sail one more time to Inglid to help Derek collect his own bride. That night they’d met her Grandmother to hand-fast. Then they learned about the accident.

  That one night had erased everything they’d built in one fell swoop.

  “She was always there waiting.” Derek repeated.

  He stopped hammering, watching her again from the roof they were repairing. He glanced at his friend and sighed. “She’s not the same, not since her Mother and Sister died. She’s scared of everything and yet, not... I’ve never seen her like that. And she‘s more stubborn then she used to be.” He banged the mallet against the wood in frustration. “It hasn’t gotten better like I thought it would.” His fingers squeezed the mallet, turning his knuckles white. “She’s holding back from even seeing anything around her and she won’t be reasonable.”

  “Well I can’t say you’ve been reasonable yourself, Mate.” Caspin looked up from his work.

  “What?” Derek pinned his friend with a glare. “I put up with her demands all the way to the island and even gave her a chance to give her word she wouldn’t try to run away.”

  Caspin shrugged. “All I’m saying is, if you want to gain a woman’s favor, you don’t shackle her leg for it. Most give flowers and presents, Mate, not chains.” Caspin shrugged his shoulders. “Unless of course, she’s asking you to but that’s a whole di
fferent kind of restraint I think.”

  Derek shifted his weight, slamming the mallet down on the wood to tap it into place. “I gave that a try, gave her a choice and she left me for years, Caspin. I didn’t have time to woo or ask since she’s been hidden for that entire time. Her father wasn‘t exactly pushing her back to me or the life I’d built. I had to take her off that ship to set things right. It was the only way.” His muscles tensed, bulging them in his arms thinking about the time wasted.

  “You don’t have to tell convince me. I’ve been right here helping you with the plans to do that. She’s the one you need to reach.”

  “I just don’t know how to do that anymore.” Derek forced his muscles to ease, calming the coil inside his stomach with the hope of another idea possibly making Elanor come around. “Whens Leelah coming back? I was thinking another woman might make Elanor see reason. Maybe help her settle a bit.”

  Caspin barked out a laugh. “You’re planning on using my wife to soften her up? Poor choice Mate, poor choice.”

  Derek scowled.

  “Leelah adores me.”

  “Aye, she does. But I don’t know how she’s going to take the thing attached to Elanor’s leg. You know how she feels about that.”

  “I think she’ll understand when I explain what’s been going on.” Derek said looking down at Elanor whom still hadn’t budged from the spot he’d left her at. Caspin chuckled at Derek’s fresh scowl.

  “You hope she‘ll understand. Too bad Leelah wasn’t here for Elanor’s stand against your slave trading.” Caspin gave him a toothy grin. “She’d have warmed up to any woman brave enough to shout like that in favor of the enslaved.”

  “I can’t believe she thinks I’m a pirate and a slave trader! We‘ve done some risky deals over the years, yes, I’m- we are smugglers. Pirates, no.”

  “She doesn’t trust you.” Caspin reasoned again. “It’s easy to think the worst of someone you don’t trust.”

  “Trust isn’t possible for either of us right now I guess.” Derek agreed.

  “If neither of you trusts. Maybe that’s where you need to start.”

  They pounded at the remaining nails to finish the roof. Derek knew he was right. He just wasn’t sure how to approach it with her. Before he could consider it further his friend spoke up again.

  “For the record, I like her brassy side.” Caspin said, watching Elanor, finding something funny. Derek stopped hammering to stand up right to look down at her. She had a stick in her hand, waving it mouthing words he couldn‘t hear, then smacking the links with the end.

  “She’s trying to provoke me.” Derek said, grunting at Caspin who belly laughed.

  Caspin nodded though his words weren‘t completely agreeing.

  “Since you’re clearly the one who has the upper hand right now, maybe you could be the first to bend. Give her a reason to trust you?”

  They stood on the roof watching her a moment.

  Derek whistled sharply to get her attention. He watched her jump and turn her head with a bounce of long brown hair. Her brown eyes sparkled with defiance, shooting him a withering look. Tossing the stick away, she didn’t watch King run to fetch it instead definitely glared up at him.

  “I think I’ve got a long rocky path ahead of me on this trust idea.” Derek muttered to Caspin crouching back to the work.

  “It’s funny, I was just thinking that too.”

  “When’s your wife going to be here?”

  Chapter seventeen

  “It’s nice to meet you.” Spoke the most beautiful woman Elanor had ever met.

  Long black hair framed a lovely dark brown face. Her lips full and proud, her nose slightly wide and flat gave away a proud heritage. Her name, Leelah, and she was Caspin’s wife…he’d married an Aprican goddess.

  “I don’t know if Derek told you this, Elanor… we work in this village or we don’t eat.” Her tone held contempt, bothering Elanor out of her stunned stupor. She sat straighter as the woman continued. “Sitting and watching does not contribute to the Island.”

  “I have a-” She got to her feet, pointing to the shackle ready to explain to the woman about her predicament, but was cut off abruptly.

  “You can not be serious. Plantations full of slaves who are fully shackled. They’re expected to work from morning til night without complaint or they get more lashes.” Ebony eyes regarded her coolly. “If all you are is Derek’s pampered pet, then take yourself back to his house and wait for him there. I have no patience for, useless, spoiled women.”

  Elanor mouth fell agape, she could only stare speechless for a moment. She’d always envisioned most goddesses sweet and serene. This one was full of wrath.

  “I am not his pampered pet, he‘s keeping me prisoner…”

  “All the more reason to find yourself useful?” Leelah spared her an uncaring glance. She would receive no sympathy from Caspin’s wife as she’d hoped when hearing she’d be arriving back soon. After an awkward silence, Elanor felt obligated to ask.

  “What can I help with?” Her question answered with a shrug of slim shoulders. Leelah passed Elanor to join her husband coming down from the roof. “How should I know? I just got back.”

  A young girl and boy skipped over to them as well, hugging Caspin and greeting Derek with child joyfulness. She watched them and their familiarity with each other with the smallest twinge of envy. She felt so out of place and alone suddenly.

  Why did he bring her here? She thought for the thousandth time.

  Derek caught her eye and they locked gazes. For a breath of a moment she knew what he was thinking without having to hear it. They could have a family now too. A pang of sadness and loss washed over her. But she’d hoped he’d move on and maybe started another family after realizing she couldn’t go on with their lives after what happen.

  If she and Constance had been there; maybe the five of them could have changed the outcome. Elanor knew she didn’t deserve the happy moment presently in front of her.

  They had talked about having many children, her and Derek. She did mourn the loss of that but then guilt mingled with the sadness of her older sister’s miscarriage. It had taken Araminta months to recover from the carriage accident but Elanor felt sure she had never recovered from losing the baby.

  The battle of emotion storming inside her felt raw and muddled sudden and intense.

  Derek had no idea what she felt and gave her a quirking expression. He always insisted on making jokes. She turned her back on him sharply, limping towards the others working about the small houses that made up the village. She had never shirked work in her life. Even when they lived in Port NewLlyn, she’d helped in the kitchen. She loved to cook.

  Just like people had green thumbs working in the garden, she seemed to have a natural thumb for cooking. She’d never made lizard before, and though the thought of cooking one of those green odd creatures made her a bit squirmy, she wondered how they did it.

  Approaching what she assumed was the prep area and the fires they used, she saw an elderly man cutting a plant she didn’t recognize.

  Elanor limped over to stand near his table, watching the steady process of his knife through the plant. She remembered Leelah’s warning of watching which helped her bravery to shyly get the man’s attention.

  “May I help?”

  He stared, pausing in his work. At first, she thought he purposely ignored her question, but then saw the lift of his shoulders and a confused movement of his head. Of course she’d found the one person on the island who didn’t understand her.

  She pointed to the table and then herself, trying to communicate with him that way. He lifted his elder hand to scratch at his jaw, still not answering. It occurred to her that even if she did get the message across to him that she wanted to help, she didn’t know this food well enough to do it on her own. Without being able to ask questions, it probably would turn out to be a disaster.

  Elanor had no idea what else people did about the village though. So she tr
ied one last time to speak to the man by gentling touching the hand that held his knife to chop and then pointed to herself.

  Understanding lit his dark eyes; nodding saying words she had no idea in their meaning. He pointed the knife at a nearby crate.

  She limped to it to looking curiously in.

  Fish! He did understand.

  She lifted one of the bodies from the crate smiling triumphantly. He again nodded, saying more words she didn’t understand. She set it back down, trying to think of how to ask the next question.

  There were so many ways to prepare fish. She cheered silently seeing pots and pans laying near him on the ground. Leaning forward, she let out a soft cry of surprise when a rat weaved its way around the pots and pans. It stopped to stare up at her with dark liquid eyes.

  A sudden surge of tense energy knocked the air from her lungs.

  It was the same feeling she’d gotten on the path.

  Someone had trapped a very powerful entity in the rat. After a long stare off, the slinking body moved quick. It climbed up the man’s leg and perched on his thigh. Elanor prepared herself to ward with magic; ready to defend him from the little beast. The elder man said something else she didn’t understand and the rat dropped something into his lap.

  A sudden dizzying realization that she’d found the source of the energy and another caster made her stomach do odd things. It jolted with electric currents, mingling hope and fear together. Dark magic. Had he trapped the shadow within the rat for nefarious reasons? If he was an experienced caster…….he could help her leave the Island. But then, the type of entity he’d drawn in for a familiar told her his magic could be dangerous. And he may want more to trade than she could give. When Derek had told her there were other casters on the Island- she never dreamed it would be a dark magic user as well.

  There wasn’t a doubt in her mind that the rat was possessed by a dark entity. She’d never been around one but its tense energy pulsed like a throbbing sore. She knew the rat knew of her ability to sense it because it masked its presence until reaching the man.