by A E M
Charlotte relaxed her face. “What will you teach me today, Melder?”
“What have you learned so far?”
“I can set leaves on fire.” It sounded pathetic even to her ears.
“Then today you will set something alive on fire.”
Charlotte fell to her knees. “I can’t do that.”
“Oh, you will.” He said. “Or I will light you on fire.”
27
When the Rescue Comes Late
David stared into the fireplace.
Vincent had finally cried himself to sleep.
It was the first night in a long time that he hadn’t told him that he loved him.
It was the first night in a long time that he probably most needed to do so.
He closed his eyes and put his head in his hands.
The memory wipes seemed to have a whiplash effect of sorts on Vincent, but it was hard to tell.
He knew of one person he could trust with this kind of secret. A weaver in the den of the dwarves.
He woke again to more light. He blinked. The ceiling was lower here, and the room was filled with soft hums and beeps. He blinked again. The room came into focus. He reached for the blanket that covered him and yanked it off his body. He shook with relief. He was whole. He stretched his toes and feet and legs and fingers and arms. He could move. He scanned the curtained room. David sat asleep in the chair by him, his clothes creased with multiple days of wear. Vincent sat up and took in a sharp breath of air. He ached all over.
“David.” He whispered and reached out his hand. “David, wake up. I need your help.”
David stirred, blinked, and then jumped out of his chair and sat on the side of the bed. His arms reached out, he pulled back, and then he finally hugged Vincent gently.
“Foolish man-boy; I almost lost you. How do you feel?” He coughed and wiped at his eyes.
Vincent gripped David’s shoulders. “I need to leave right now.” He looked around the sterile room. “Get me some clothes and help me get out of here. They took her.”
David adjusted the pillows behind Vincent and nudged him back. “I know. We are looking. Do you feel her?”
Vincent closed his eyes and breathed deeply, finding his favorite place. He focused on the bond. Was she okay? How far away was she? He groaned. How long had he been out? There. He probed it, but it was nearly lifeless. He opened his eyes. “It’s there. It’s weak. We need to hurry!”
David squeezed his hand. “We will find her. Can you give me a direction to give the patrols?”
Vincent sighed and closed his eyes again. He focused on the bond and let his mind travel along it as far as he could manage. “It’s close. West. Northwest.”
“Good. I’m going to get in touch with the Maguard.” David patted his arm. “You stay in that bed.” He looked at him sternly before he turned to leave.
Vincent looked around. He was in a large room with curtains separating beds. He heard groans from a patient, and the sound of feet softly walking through the room. A nurse stepped up to his bed. “I thought I heard speaking. How are you?”
Vincent looked and all the tubes he was connected to. “When can I get up?” He itched his arm. “Get these out of me, please.”
She flicked the screen on the Quire at the foot of his bed. “You need to have a scan before we let you up.”
“When can I do the scan?” He asked desperately.
“My, you are in a hurry.” She said with a frown. She tapped another couple of places on the screen. “You just had some pain medicine not long ago. Please keep in mind that you aren’t feeling the full pain of your injuries right now.”
Vincent pleaded with his eyes. “My apprentice, my young apprentice, was taken. She’s just a child. Please. Get me out of here as fast as you can. Please. I’m the only one who can lead them there directly and quickly.”
Her eyes softened and she nodded. “I’ll get the doctor and we’ll do the scan.”
“Thank you.” He said.
“But stay put until we are back.” She wagged her finger at him. “We have to be absolutely sure before we let you up.”
“No problem.” He leaned back on the pillows. How long had it been? What had she gone through? Had she maintained her cover?
The doctor wasn’t long. He was an old dwarf with a short, white beard and white scrubs. He mumbled as he worked, looking up at Vincent frequently. Two nurses brought in a machine and scanned his entire body. They pushed a few buttons and then held it up for the doctor to look at. He cleared his throat and looked at Vincent. “The scan looks good. You can get up, but I cannot stress enough that you should be careful for several more hours. If it weren’t for the sake of a life of a child, then I wouldn’t let you out of bed for another week.”
“I understand, thank you.” Vincent swung his legs over the side of the bed.
“I hope you understand with your life.” The doctor said. “Now get that child back.”
Vincent waited as the nurses unhooked him. He looked around the room and sighed. “Did my clothes make it through by any chance?”
One of the nurses nodded at a closet. “No, but your friend brought your things.”
He shuffled into clothes when they left, silently begging his body to warm back up to movement faster than it was. He changed the briefcase and duffel bag back into thigh packs and strapped them on his legs.
“You!” David stormed into the room. “Did I not tell you to stay in that bed?”
“I had a scan and a scolding from the doctor. And you know very well why I am out of bed. Come or stay, but get out of the way.” He shoved past David and strode into the hallway.
David grabbed his arm. “Of course I’m coming with you. I’m just trying to give the Maguard time to back us up, man.”
“Tell them to work faster. I’m going.”
David grabbed both of his arms and pulled him to a stop. “We will find her.”
He rubbed his forehead. “I promised her. I have to go, and I have to go now. It’s my fault she’s so little. I didn’t protect her.” He coughed back his own tears and yelled. “I—” He bent over and put his hands on his knees. “I have to get her now. David, he’s been torturing her.”
David paled. “You’re still ready to climb a mountain without being ready, you know that?” He offered him his hand. “C’mon, kid. Let’s go get your apprentice.”
“I’m not a kid.” Vincent straightened.
David laughed. “Talk to me in a hundred years about that.”
The wind howled and snow fell down on the already snow covered ground. Vincent shivered and focused on the bond. There. He could feel a small pulse now. Could she feel him? He tugged at the bond, but felt nothing in return. The small pulse remained the same. Was she conscious? He grimaced and pushed the worry that assaulted his stomach down.
“Anything new?” David put his hand on his shoulder.
Vincent shook his head.
“The Maguard is ready.” Alcott strode out of the den. “We have two units ready to go with you right now, and a third assembling.”
“Thank you.” David bowed, and then shook the dwarf’s hand. “Thank you for helping my friend.”
“I can’t believe they have kidnapped a child.” Alcott nodded at Vincent. “I’m sorry, sir, for your troubles. Our den is usually a safe place for all.”
“Thank you for your help.” Vincent managed. He looked at David and frowned.
David shook his head at him and fixed him with his later stare. Forty dwarves soon surrounded them. They followed the trail as quickly as Vincent could manage.
“Where’s Beau?” Vincent asked. “She’ll want him immediately.”
“I know. I couldn’t reach him, and I can’t leave messages for him with his people anymore.” He frowned. “Something has happened. I’ll have to find him personally as soon as we are done here.” David put his arm around him. “Put your arm around me and lean so I can talk to you. Act like you are having trouble walking.”
“That’s not much of a stretch.” He confessed as he let David help him.
“Only I know who you are right now.” David said quietly. “They know you are a weaver and that your apprentice was taken, but they think it’s random. You will have to keep your cover through this. Once we get her, take her back to your place.” He slipped a rock into his pocket. “Use the portal to get her there immediately.”
“Okay.” Vincent nodded.
“There’s more.” David said. “Your doubles are dead.”
Vincent stumbled.
David pulled him back up. “He’s still weak.” He said to the others as he looked around.
“Stay strong, young fellow.” One called out.
“Thanks.” Vincent croaked. He looked over at David with wide eyes.
“Charlotte first, then Vincent was found on the doorstep of the den with the message that she had died by the fairies’ hands.” He looked around. “They all think she’s gone. Another reason you have to get her out of here quickly. You are both supposed to be dead.”
“What will I do?”
“We will figure that out later.” David nodded over at Alcott. “Barnabas was taken, too.”
“Oh, no.”
“Maybe he was able to able to look out for her.”
Vincent shook his head. “I’m sure that he would have if he could have. Whatever happened, she has been hurt repeatedly. David, this isn’t going to be good for her apprenticeship. I wasn’t sure if she was going to trust me before and now—”
“Let’s work on one problem at a time, kid.” David said soothingly. “Right now we find the little girl. Then we work on making sure she’s okay. Just focus on those two steps.”
Vincent stopped and pointed at a mountain. “There. She’s in there.”
Charlotte breathed deeply as the cold winter air blasted her and the snow crunched under her feet. She set the bowl down at the entrance and watched as the wind picked the dust up and scattered it through the forest. She turned to the trees. The sun was setting. She had no idea where to go, but she wanted to be as far away as possible. It was cold. It had snowed since she had last been outside. How long had she been locked away? How long had she stumbled through the maze of a stronghold? She stumbled forward. A dwarf beast mumbled something behind her. She stepped to the side and let it crawl through the doorway. They were confused and almost senseless since—
She pulled the sweater over her hands and looked around. Perhaps she shouldn’t go out into the snow. It was cold and almost dark. But she had finally felt Vincent through the bond. He had been sending her soothing snippets of sunshine and laughter and warm summer nights when the stars sparkled overhead. He was coming for her. She took a step forward without a glance back.
Charlotte heard the crunching snow and men’s voices. She heard David’s voice and her heart raced. Then she saw them, and she fell to her knees in the snow. It was only a few seconds before Vincent picked her up. She buried her head in his shoulder and watched the dwarves as they continued to run in the direction she had come from.
“You know what to do.” David said to Vincent as he sandwiched Charlotte in a hug between them. “Go now. I’ll join you as soon as I can.” There was a twist of light and time and air.
28
The Woman Returns
David leaned up against the door. He couldn’t get to sleep leaving things the way they were.
Finally, he knocked and pushed the door open. Vincent sat huddled under his desk.
“Hey, I thought you were asleep.” David walked in slowly. “I’m sorry I didn’t tuck you in tonight.”
“When are you sending me away? Where will I go?”
David yanked the boy out and wrestled him until he was laughing.
“I’m keeping you, V. There’s not a thing you can do that’s going to make me stop loving you.”
Vincent wrapped his little arms around David’s neck. “I won’t ever stop loving you, either, D.”
Vincent carried Charlotte to David’s bedroom and placed her under the covers of the big bed. He quickly lit the two-sided fireplace in the middle of the cabin and returned to the front door to make sure again that it was locked. He returned to the bed and put another blanket over the small, shaking girl. It was colder here. The snow piled high outside. The wind screeched around the walls. The cabin was small and sparsely furnished. There wasn’t enough food, but he wasn’t going to leave her alone. She had already been alone for far too long. He sat on the bed for a minute before heading to the kitchen to scour the cabinets. He slammed one of the cabinet doors shut in frustration.
“It’s okay.” He called to her loudly. “It’s just me.” He sighed and looked back around the small room. It was a tiny kitchen with bare necessities. A table and two chairs were pushed against a window. He turned a half circle. The mudroom! He searched through the deep freeze and found a bag of broth. He quickly cleaned out a pot and set the broth in it slowly warm up on the back burner of the stove.
The cabin was warming up. Vincent dug out a couple of pairs of wool socks and ditched his shoes by the front door on the mat. He slipped one pair on and took the other pair to Charlotte. He pulled the end of the blanket up and pulled the socks up over her freezing feet.
“Are you warm enough?” He asked as he straightened the blanket back out.
She stared back at him quietly.
“Can I get you anything?”
She rolled onto her side and stared out the window.
“I have some broth warming.” He sat down in front of her. “David is going to get Beau after they search the stronghold and they will both be here.”
She remained silent.
“Say something.” He whispered. “Please. Anything. Yell at me even.”
Vincent pulled a book from the bookshelf and piled the rest of the pillows up against the headboard on the bed. He pulled another blanket over himself and laid his hand on Charlotte’s head, stroking it gently. “There once was a small boy.” He began to read. “He was called basket boy because he had been found floating down the river in a handsome basket when he was only a baby. The miller’s daughter found him one cold morning, squalling from his basket because he was stinky and hungry and cold and unloved. She was a simple lass, but luckily for basket boy, she bravely loved. She waded straight into the cold, clear water and fetched the boy from sudden doom, basket and all.”
Vincent put the book down in his lap. Charlotte was sobbing. She had burrowed under the covers until only the top of her head showed. There was so much he wanted to ask her. So much he wanted to say. But he didn’t know how to start. He wished David were here. David had been around enough kids that he would have a better idea of what to do. He wished Beau were here. Beau knew her better, and knew her as a child. He would know best of all three of them how to broach the distance.
He returned to the kitchen to stir the broth and think. Her wall was thicker, deeper, and higher now. He filled a cup with broth and another cup with water. Who knew what she had been given to eat or drink. He placed them on the nightstand and pulled the blankets down around her shoulders. “Sip some water or broth or both. Have you had anything to drink or eat at all?” He nodded toward a door. “There’s a bathroom there if you need it. You can take a bath or shower if you’d like.” He sat back down by her. “I have your pack. Would you like to pick a new outfit? I can get it ready for you.”
Charlotte nodded and pulled the book over to his lap. Vincent unstrapped her pack and laid it beside her. He opened the book and read more about basket boy as she picked out clothes. She set a pile of clothes in his lap and slipped off to the bathroom.
Vincent lay the book down at the end of the bed and changed the clothes for her. He grabbed a blanket and the book and went to into the living room to sit in one of the two recliners. Soon she peeked around the fireplace. He waved her over and sighed with relief when she came over with the two cups. She set them on the end table next to the recliner, but then she left t
he room and came back with the clothes she had been wearing. She dumped them in the fireplace.
“You were a good master. I’m sorry I wasn’t a good apprentice.”
He stood immediately and crossed the short distance to stand in front of her, his hands on his hips and his face ironed into a stern master look. “Protégé, stop the ridiculous talk immediately.” He picked her up and hugged her. “If I ever hear that kind of talk from you again, you will be dusting this place from top to bottom twice. Do you understand?”
She nodded into his neck. “Maven?”
“Yes?”
But she only cried. He sat down with her in the recliner and wrapped the blanket around her. She ate and he read to her and then he rocked her until she fell asleep.
David arrived at the cabin with two bags of groceries and supplies as the morning’s light broke the horizon. He found Vincent and Charlotte asleep in Vincent’s chair. He closed the door softly and set the bags down on the table. He pushed more logs into the fireplace and turned on a lamp.
Vincent opened his eyes and stretched out his legs. “She won’t talk about what happened. She wakes up screaming.”
“Give her time.” David rubbed warmth back into his hands. “Give her to me. Go get a shower and fix something for us all to eat.”
“Bossy.”
“You just regret being the better cook.”
David hugged the sleeping girl close and sat down in his own chair. He pulled the blanket over them both and rocked. She stirred and looked up at him, but she didn’t say anything. He hummed a song. She rolled her eyes. He sang the song out loud. She giggled. He kissed the top of her head and mussed up her hair. She playfully slapped his hand away.
“Sweet sister of mine. We’ve come a long way from gloves and glares.”
She gave him a half smile then. “You two are persistent.”
“How do you like home?”