“Use the cookpot,” Animir suggested, loosening the ropes on one of the litters to retrieve it.
Placing the stone in the bottom, Ami stared down at it. “Now?”
Leaning over it, Meena whispered inaudibly, and water began to bubble out of the rock, putting about six inches into the bottom. “Remove the stone,” she commanded.
Reaching in, Amicia pulled it out, holding it in her dripping hand. “It feels cool,” she observed, amazed at what she had seen.
“Yes,” Meena replied, dipping her hands to wash them, then moving to her face. “When we are settled, I will teach you how to use it,” she promised.
Kneeling beside her once more, the Mate pulled her hood back, examining her face and hair. “You’re all right, love,” he soothed, his lips close enough to kiss her if he had wanted.
Glaring at the display, fire burned within Ami’s chest.
“How tenderly he holds her,” a deep, growling voice said within her head.
Looking around, her heart smoldering, she replied, “He is free to hold whomever he wishes. He has taken no vow with me.”
“Lie to yourself, but you cannot lie to me,” the gravelly tones replied.
Standing abruptly, the girl announced, “I need to be alone.” Stomping away from the group, she picked her way through the large boulders.
“Don’t go too far!” Rey shouted after her, distraught to see her go.
“Let her be,” Piers instructed. “We’ve all just had our understanding of life adjusted. Let her have a moment to let it sink in.”
Scowling after her, Rey did as he was told but wasn’t happy about it.
Across the way and out of sight of the others, Amicia leaned against one of the large rocks. “Who are you?” she demanded, searching her mind for the one who had spoken to her. “Uscan? Is that you?”
“Uscan,” the voice laughed. “No, I am much closer to your heart than that fur-covered traitor.”
“Traitor,” she breathed, turning her back to the stone and sliding down to sit. “Who are you then? Have we met before?” she demanded, pulling her merdoe from her cleavage and grasping it tightly.
“Silly child, have you not learned you do not need the siren’s toy? You are stronger and more powerful than all of them combined,” the stranger declared.
Blinking rapidly, the girl fought to process his words. Who the hell is this? “Please, give me your name,” she begged.
“I am called Lamwen. Captain, if you will.”
“Captain,” she panted. “You command a ship?” a moment of excitement gave her heart a flutter.
“Hardly,” he laughed. “I need no vessel to wander where I will. No bonds can hold me, as I am as free as the open air.”
“Oh,” she breathed aloud, the realization coming to her. “No, please go,” she begged, then screamed, “Please go!”
“Ami!” Rey’s voice echoed through the rocks, drawn to her by the loud cry.
“Rey,” she whimpered, finding her feet and running to him.
Catching her, he squeezed her against him. “I heard you crying.”
“I…” she stammered, unsure what to say about the voice between her ears. Could it have been real?
Of course it was real. She knew it in her gut. “I just needed a moment,” she sobbed. “Please, don’t tell the others.”
“It’s ok, love. They understand,” he soothed. Turning her towards their friends, he held her against the side of his chest. When they reached them, he pulled her down to sit next to them, where he continued to maintain his grip on her.
Not pulling away, she cried against his white shirt, thinking of the day she had wet Rupert’s best suit. The day we buried my mother. Her would-be mother. Shit. Her life was wrong. Nothing in it fit. Not when strangers stole her friends, men tried to kill them, and dragons whispered within her head.
Lying upon the sand, her temple resting on her arm, Amicia watched as the others stirred around her. The sun hung low in the sky, only a small sliver of it left.
“I killed him,” Zaendra lamented, standing a few feet from the man she had impaled.
“Aye,” the Mate agreed, “but be assured he would have done the same to you, given the chance.” Holding out the spear, which he had cleaned, he offered it to her. “You did well for your first time to use such a weapon.”
“It was fear,” she replied, cutting her eyes up at him but still wearing the pout. “I will never be the same.”
“No,” he shook his head, resting his free hand upon her shoulder. “None of us will. But life is dangerous, both here and in the rim of mortals. You have no cause to mourn what you have done,” he offered with a small smile. Holding the shaft before her, he waited for her to decide.
Slowly, she raised her hands, folding them around the hard wood. She had been pleased when she first saw it, on Meena’s porch. Now, standing over a corpse with the sun glinting upon the blade, her stomach ached. “Thank you, Mate,” she offered, gazing up at him once more. “Things might have been different if all I had was a limb from a tree.”
“Aye,” he nodded, smiling more fully. “Which is why I have given you this. I always want you to be able to stand up for yourself. It’s a big world out there.”
“Aye,” she smiled back, forcing her sadness away.
Sitting up, Amicia glared at her. She had hidden under a rock while the girl fought to protect them. Her stomach turned at the stench the bodies had left hanging in the air. “When can we move?” she gagged.
“As soon as everyone is ready. We’ll work our way across, to the end of the boulders. There, we can have a bite to eat. Meena secured us a few rations, and the boys have brought everything edible from her stores,” the Mate supplied.
Flushing, the older woman knelt beside her. “They have even packed me a bag, as if I were away on a holiday,” she laughed, then sighed.
Taking pity on her, Ami frowned, placing her hand upon her knee. “I’m sorry. We did not mean to remove you from your home. From the only life you have ever known.”
“Tis quite all right,” Meena replied, patting her gently. “It wasn’t much of a life. I can’t believe they thought to bring my hairbrush,” she laughed, putting a smile on the girl’s face.
“They are accustomed to caring for a woman,” she grinned. “They will have you spoiled by their devotion in no time,” she added, flicking her gaze over at the Mate, who watched them covertly.
Standing, Meena offered her hand and helped Ami to her feet. Rummaging around, they secured all that needed to be added to the litters and then put their packs upon their backs. Carrying their weapons, in case anyone else cared to stop their departure, they followed the mate as he led them through the maze.
“I scouted while the lot of you rested, so I’ve marked the path for us,” he explained, pulling his hood up to protect his head. “These robes are nice. Hard to believe being all covered up would make you cooler.”
“You don’t spend centuries in the desert and not learn a few tricks,” Meena laughed.
Arriving at the spot he had picked out for their break, the group formed a circle, and Meena provided them with a pot of water to share. “I will miss my plants,” she observed as they passed out the fresh fruits and vegetables she had had on hand.
“Did you grow much of your own food?” Bally asked.
“A fair amount,” she agreed. “All of the pots on the patio provided something that could be eaten. It would have been a waste of the water if they had not.”
“What about your magic rock? You have all the water you could ever want,” Rey observed, indicating the kettle full of the precious liquid.
“I’m afraid not,” she laughed. “It is enchanted, but there is a limit to the amount it can produce. Eventually, it will run dry.”
“Oh,” he grunted, pursing his lips. “Will it last until we clear the sand?”
“I believe that it will. I only ask for what we need each time, and that will stretch the supply a bit,” she reassur
ed.
“Just the same, let’s pour the leftovers into one of the waterskins,” the Mate suggested.
“Oh, it won’t keep,” Meena countered. “It will go sour in a few hours.”
Scowling, he clipped, “What kind of magic is that?”
“I don’t make the rules,” she sighed with a shrug. “But it feels good to use my powers in front of others. I’ve lived a very secret life. I kept few friends for fear someone would discover it.”
“What could they do about it? I mean, if you were born that way,” Bally informed her angrily.
“Oh, it was forbidden just the same. Girls who showed signs were removed, probably killed. For centuries, it has been so. My parents hid me, hid my talents. It’s the only way I survived,” she informed him sadly.
The sun gone and the meal eaten, the Mate advised, “We should get moving. We’ll follow our usual routine and make camp as the sun rises. If it takes us six days to get to the northern edge, we will spend seven because of the walk to the east.”
“Do you really think that’s necessary?” Rey asked, gathering his things before lifting his end of their litter.
“We can’t risk someone catching us. It’s the best way to hide our direction. We’ll walk until midnight to the east, then turn for the north.”
Forcing down his grumble before he let it escape, Bally hoisted his end as Animir got the other. Falling into line, Piers and Rey took the front, their four girls walked in the center, with Amicia carrying the siren on her chest, while the two younger men brought up the rear.
Her head covered, Meena walked behind Ami. Watching the back of her head as they moved, her mind turned over what she had learned of the girl. Things had moved so fast since she met this unlikely group of travelers, and already they had left death and chaos in their wake.
She would like to think that things were going to get better, as she feared that they wouldn’t. They were headed into the realm of the trolls; a right nasty group of creatures. So bad, in fact, they would make what happened in Whitefair seem like that holiday they were talking about.
Dragon’s Breath
Three days into crossing the desert, the group came across what had once been a great tree growing in the middle of the sand. “What an odd place for a sapling to take root,” Reynard observed, as it had fallen over and rotted from the base.
“We should salvage some of the wood. We can carry it for a fire tomorrow night if we want a small one,” Piers suggested.
“Or hold on to it in case we get drenched again,” Amicia suggested, resting her hand on the massive old trunk.
Using the axe, the men took turns, each of them removing one of the dead branches and paring it down into suitable logs, then finding a place for them on their litters, wrapping each one in a section of the leather in case it did rain on them.
“How did you come by all these hides?” Piers asked of the elf. “You said you had no coins when we were taking up the collection,” he observed, cutting Animir a doubtful glare.
“I didn’t trade it for gold,” he replied, not meeting his gaze. “I had a family heirloom. The couple in the shop were dancers,” he explained.
“From Jerranyth?” Amicia gasped. “Did you know them?”
“No. They left before Lady Cilithrand came to power, so they have been gone from our homeland for centuries.”
“What type of heirloom,” the Mate frowned.
“The sacred kind,” the elf snapped, glancing at the girl. “Hamar gems come in many sizes. My family held one, a very small one, that I kept upon a necklace. They were eager to have it, and I the hides.”
“What are we going to do with them?” Amicia asked, her features doubtful about the value of the trade.
“When we reach the north, it will be colder,” the elf supplied, standing tall as he finished securing the load. “We will need protection, and we can use them to constructs coats for everyone, and even have a few pieces to spare.”
Smiling, Meena grasped his arm. “How kind of you to care for the group so, providing us with this thoughtful gift.” Her words to the point, no one could argue with his logic.
“Well then,” the Mate interceded. “Since we are at a pause, we should discuss our direction.” Stepping over to a smooth area they had not disturbed with their tracks, he used a thinner limb to draw upon the sand. “This is Whitefair, and we are here. These are the edges of the desert, and I presume out here somewhere is the coast and the ocean,” he explained, referring to the east and west sides of the map.
“We can’t reach the eastern coast,” Animir observed. “The mountain range on which the elves have settled runs far into the north, with dwarves on the other end. We would have to go completely around, and that trip would take months.”
“What about the west,” Meena observed, taking the stick to add a few details. “The wizard villages line this side of our continent, and there are many, but none extend into the forest of the north,” she explained, adding a jagged line for the boundary.
“Afraid of a few trees, are they,” Rey snickered.
“The trolls own the forest of Yilaric. Only those who wish to die invade their lands,” she explained in a subdued tone.
“We’ll stay on the coast, then,” Piers pointed. “We’ll cross the rest of the desert, then turn west and visit the northern most city to stock our supplies. We can march over to the coast and make our way north, stopping as soon as we find a suitable location for building our vessel and getting the hell out of here.”
He neglected to point out that not all of them would be leaving, nor did he suggest what would happen to those left behind. Instead, he commanded, “Let’s finish packing and get a move on. We still have a few hours left this night, and we shouldn’t waste them.”
“Are you certain we will be able to leave once our ship is built?” Bally asked as they enjoyed their dinner the first evening off the sand. They had spent the day lying about the creek to rest and would sleep through the night to get back on a normal schedule.
“I’m not certain of anything,” Piers laughed, devouring a fresh bowl of stew. “I’m glad to see your hunting skills are still sharp. This rabbit is delicious.”
“I’ve never eaten rabbit,” Meena informed him, taking a small bite. “It does taste appealing,” she agreed with a smile. The connection between them had grown at every stop, and they sat side by side, toying with one another as they dined.
Across from them, Amicia’s gaze smoldered. Plunking down on her log next to her, Rey bumped her shoulder gently.
“Leave them be,” he whispered. “He’s happy, and her age suits him. Let them have this, love.”
“Is it that obvious?” she growled, digging at her meal, pulverizing the chunks of tuber and meat.
“Always,” he laughed, “but you will heal.” He didn’t say the rest, afraid doing so would spoil his hopes and dreams.
Across the way, Zae and Animir played along the edge of a brook, while Oldrilin squatted down, examining the rocks that lined its shore.
“I can’t believe we found this place,” Piers breathed. “In a few days, we’ll have reached the sand of a suitable beach.”
“Are we building shelter or setting straight to constructing the boat?” Reynard asked, hoping to cover Amicia’s foul mood.
“A shelter will be in order. It will delay our departure, but should the weather turn cold before the craft is ready, we will need protection from the elements. That and I’m certain we don’t want to all sleep under the tent from now on,” he laughed.
“I bet,” Ami spat, drawing a few glances from the others. Dropping her bowl, she stood and marched down the bank, to a wide stretch where the water pooled. The edge there protruded above the water, hanging over the top with the ripples a few feet below. Sitting, she dangled her legs, her boots only inches above the gentle waves.
Pulling at her braid, Amicia let her hair down, enjoying the cool air as she ran her fingers through it. Leaning back, her arms stiff behind
her, she gazed up into the growing darkness. Searching the sky, she saw nothing; no sign of the beast she felt certain followed them.
Lamwen had not spoken to her since they departed Whitefair, and she had not said anything about it to the others, not that any of them would care. Piers was too wrapped up in Meena to deal with such concerns. Kicking her feet, her boots made contact with the earth beneath her, knocking small bits of dirt and rock into the water below.
“You should not let their affair trouble you so,” the familiar voice echoed within her mind.
“Lamwen,” she replied. “I’d been wondering when you would return.”
“I never left,” he laughed. “Come further down the shore. Let us rendezvous as lovers,” he hissed.
“Certainly not,” she spat, outraged at the idea of it.
“Come then, child. Let us share a few moments face to face.”
“Why? Is there something you can’t share with me here?” she asked, her face twisted into a crooked grin as she toyed with him.
“I wish to lay my eyes upon you,” he growled. “What would it take to bring you to my side?”
“I doubt that you could convince me,” she dug at him deeper, considering if she could hurt him with her words and enjoying twisting the dagger she used to impale him.
“Shall I threaten the lives of your friends? Their wellbeing is so fragile, you know,” he groaned.
That got her attention. “You wouldn’t,” she declared, sitting up straight, her feet still.
“Do not tempt me, princess. Mortals of the rim and vagabonds of the realm are hardly worth a second thought.”
Looking around, her heart pounding, the sun had all but disappeared, and she knew the others would be looking for her. “I can’t stay long,” she offered, getting to her feet. “I don’t want them to know that you’re here.”
“Ah, a secret between us. Splendid. Come to the bend, then walk into the trees.”
Doing as he asked, she crept gingerly along the shore. Stones of all sizes littering the path and her footing often unsure, she was careful not to fall over any of them in the near darkness. Leaning over a particularly large one, her hands splayed across the cool surface, giving her a chill as the smooth and roughness pressed against her palms. Working her way around, she straightened, catching her hair and holding it out of her face as she peered the way she had come, measuring the distance she had placed between her friends and herself with an inkling of fear.
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