by Terah Edun
Now as time sped up again and the latest bellow came out of the beast’s mouth, Mae cringed and waited for the impact she was sure was coming.
But it never came.
Realizing she had become so terrified that she had closed her eyes rather than see death barreling down on her, Mae opened one eye in a squint and then the other. First, she had expected to see that the one-horn had elected to stop, standing just before her pillar for some cruel reason.
That it was staring her down even now with one beady eye as it turned its head to the side.
But she saw no such thing. Instead, Mae looked up to see two booted feet standing above her atop the pillar itself.
Astonished, she wriggled what she could of her torso up to get a better look. The column was blocking most of her view, but as she used her fingers to paw at the stone ridges that lined it, she was able to lift herself up slowly.
That was when her eyes finally managed to get a good look at the much lighter form than expected now standing atop the same pillar that was pinning her down.
Mae had the thought that she would never be so grateful to see an annoying, derisive saboteur like Rivan again.
He was a sight for sore eyes and wasn’t paying her the least bit of mind at the moment. Rivan had one hand outstretched and he was conjuring a fair bit of visible magic. She could actually see a protective shield raised in front of him, extending from one end of the room to the other so that the one-horn couldn’t bypass him and get around to its prey.
Though it did try.
The shield seemed to be blocking sound from the other side, but Mae didn’t need to hear the thing to know it was bellowing its rage with its mouth wide open, tongue straining, not to mention when it wasn’t trying to yell them into submission, it was lowering its head to charge again.
Which it did with such force that Mae felt the ground shake on its impact against Rivan’s shield. But the protection casting he was doing held strong even as ripples of force reverberated across the shield itself from the center point of the massive creature’s horn digging in.
It did that once then two more times before Rivan grunted and turned to look down at Mae with a bored expression on his face.
“Well?” Rivan demanded. “Aren’t you going to say anything?”
Mae blinked. Then blinked again.
She’d lost her voice the moment she’d realized he’d appeared like some avenging spirit.
Ungluing her mouth Mae tried to speak. But what came out was more an unintelligible croak than anything else. Embarrassment rapidly took over from the sheer shock that had been riding her emotions for the last few minutes, until Mae felt her brain relax and actual questions proceeded to pour out.
“How?” Mae gasped out in astonishment. “Where did you come from?”
Rivan raised a caustic eyebrow at her. “After all our travels together you have to ask that?”
Mae blinked and gaped at him like a fish.
He appeared to be still waiting for a response.
She turned to look this way and that but there were no doors on this bottom level of the staircase, just another staircase on the opposite wall leading to a different wing of the greater holding and she knew he hadn’t come running down that one. He just wasn’t that fast. No one was.
Hesitant to be wrong but feeling the answer bubbling up inside her, Mae guessed, “The Aether Realm?”
Rivan gave her a quick smile.
“Right you are lass,” he said smugly. “And not a minute too late, that beast over there was about to crush you like a bug.”
“I had him on the run for a bit,” Mae said defensively.
It wasn’t a lie. She just didn’t say she’d been running from it.
Rivan didn’t even seem to hear her words as he jumped down, and looked at the column that still had her pinned with disapproval.
“I see you’re in a bit of a jam,” Rivan said.
“Just a wee bit,” Mae said as she held up two fingers and displayed them a tiny width apart.
“Well, I guess I could help you out,” Rivan said with a mischievous look.
Wary Mae tried to ease back but there was no give. She was as stuck as a too-fat cat in a mousehole and not moving.
“If you would please,” Mae said cautiously, trying not to say anything that would have him doing something she regretted.
Not that she could stop him if she tried.
Rivan however seemed to be in a good mood.
Using the hand that wasn’t currently occupied with holding the shield steady, he began to mutter words under his breath.
A casting she thought.
As his words died off, his hands seemed to shift in her eyes.
His fingers grew larger like fat sausages and visibly longer too. It was unsettling to watch as they stretched and it seemed as if more joints appeared out of nowhere, going from the standard three to at least five. These new highly prehensile digits began to spread themselves wide and on the ends of each one Mae saw long, sharp claws emerge. They were so wickedly dangerous looking that Mae was sure he could have carved meat up like a steak with them. But there was no carving done today. Instead Rivan lifted his newly re-shaped hand far above his head and then slammed it down into the pillar’s stone face at a high rate of speed. Mae flinched expecting his new, longer fingers to snap back as the bones broke. But that wasn’t what happened.
Instead the digits each bored an individual hole into the stone as easily as if the pillar was composed of cheese instead of hardened rock.
But he wasn’t done yet.
With a short grunt, Rivan lifted the hand that was now encased in stone and with a fierce grin held it high above his head like it was some kind of prize.
“That’s some heavy magic,” Mae said in awe.
Rivan didn’t spare her a glance as he took one step under the weight of the pillar still balanced up high, then he took a second step, and on the third step he heaved hard and tossed the entire column against the far wall.
It landed with a crunch and immediately cracked into three separate piles.
As for the newly-strong young man in front of her, he’d barely broken a sweat as he kept the shield wall up with his opposite hand.
For Mae, it was more than amazement at seeing him lift and toss what amounted to a building in front of her. It was the fact that she was now no longer trapped. The instant relief of having her legs free brought tears to her eyes.
As Rivan refocused his attention on her, he walked over and then quickly reached under her armpits and pulled her out of the little dip she was stuck in, by her shoulders.
Mae clutched at his arms as she tried to lift herself up by her waist. Her legs still felt numb from the previous weight on them but she was already feeling the tingle of blood flow returning to her limbs as she readjusted to no longer being completely flat on her back.
But her movements had Rivan stiffening as he stood over her.
“Stop, don’t move,” Rivan said cautiously. “Your legs might be damaged.”
Mae experimentally twitched her toes as she released her hold on him and leaned back on her hands to look down at her feet.
“I feel fine,” she said faintly in surprise.
“That’s just shock,” Rivan said dismissively. “It masks pain.”
Mae rolled her eyes, “Yes, healer.”
Rivan ignored her quip and knelt down until he was head height with her as she leaned back on the ground.
She noticed now that his hands were in front of him instead of wrapped around her from behind that they were back to normal, like they’d never been elongated and twisted in the first place.
It was fascinating to watch the transformation but Rivan looked as equally fascinated with her body’s functions or lack thereof since she wasn’t doing anything at the moment. He lifted his previously gargantuan left hand and softly placed the soft human fingers atop her closest knee. Then he closed his eyes.
Mae was nervous as she frantically l
ooked over his shoulder to see if the shield wall was affected. It didn’t seem to be changing at all. The wall had transitioned from transparent to a more opaque baby blue that moved with ripples every time the one-horn tested it with its strength. But Mae noticed as she stared some more that each new charge seemed to be shorter than the last.
Maybe the one-horn is growing weak, Mae thought with glee. Served it right.
She could have watched it struggle to penetrate the barrier and give up in frustration all day, but her concentration was broken by Rivan swearing beside her silently as he opened his eyes and turned an accusing gaze on her.
“What’s this? You had another mage working on your knee?” he asked, in what almost sounded like a jealous tone.
“No,” protested Mae. “Of course not.”
He raised an eyebrow.
“Well, there’s a healing net above your kneecap that says otherwise,” he explained sharply.
Mae looked down at her knee in surprise, as if suddenly whatever he was talking about would become visible to her naked eyes. But just as before, there was nothing but air and frayed fabric held together by rapidly thinning strings above her flesh.
Confused she shrugged, “Well, I don’t know what to tell you. I haven’t seen a healer or a hedgewitch in the short hours since we parted.”
Then she rubbed her back with one hand she groused, “I wish I had…my whole body feels like someone’s punching bag.”
“Stop,” Rivan snapped. “This is no time for joking.”
She glared up at him, finally getting tired of his attitude.
“Who’s joking,” Mae complained. “I’ve been tossed, kicked, and thrown down several flights of stairs. It has not been easy.”
Rivan rolled his eyes at her explanation.
“Welcome to life on the run,” he said dryly.
“I don’t think I like this life very much,” Mae replied back just as acerbically.
She couldn’t help it as laughter flashed in his eyes and a giggle escaped her mouth.
Soon enough the previously empty bottom landing was filled with the sounds of mirth as they both expressed relief at coming out of another scrape alive.
Back together once more.
24
Laughter continued to flash in Rivan’s eyes as they shared a bit of levity together but soon enough he was back to being serious.
“Well, whoever did your healing net did a horrible job,” Rivan said. “It’s leaking more magic than its retaining.”
Mae looked down at her knee as if it would give her the answers that they both sought. It was at that moment that she remembered her effort to ease her bum knee’s failings while fighting the mercenary.
Gasping aloud Mae flushed and said, “It’s leaking you said?”
“Yes,” Rivan declared.
“Why?” he followed up with suspicion. “Now you know something?”
Mae shrugged. “I wasn’t thinking of it in terms of a healing per say, more like a patch, run and ask questions later.”
“What did you do?” groused Rivan.
“I just put some heat on it and asked it not to give way while I was running,” Mae explained.
Rivan sighed and rolled his eyes.
“Well, for now it’s holding up,” he said darkly. “But I can’t fix it properly until you drop that weird net you’ve put up.”
Eager to get off her butt and put as much distance between her and the one-horn as possible, Mae reached down to her knee and slowly drew away what magic she felt hovering in her bones.
By the end she felt weaker and in far more pain but Rivan swooped in quickly to mend the wound.
Fondly she looked down on his bent head as he healed over her patch job and thought, He may be all bristle and bite but he’s there when I need him most.
At the moment that was all she could ask for.
Well that and the rescue of her family after she got rid of the foreign mages and mercenaries who had seen fit to invade her home and her lands.
They had tried again and again to get rid of her.
But Maeryn Darnes was proving that she was harder to kill than one would suppose.
It was almost overwhelming to think about as she flexed her now healed knee and prepared to stand up and put weight on it. When she was able to do that successfully as well, she felt true emotions welling up in her eyes.
“Don’t start crying tears of joy just yet,” Rivan said sarcastically. “It’s not going away.”
“The knee pains?” Mae asked confused. “It’s all better already. You mean that’s temporary?”
“No,” Rivan said shortly as he too stood and pointed in the opposite direction at the massive beast. “I meant that.”
“Oh right, I can see that,” Mae hastily said as she tried to wipe tears from her face.
She couldn’t show weakness even to the young man who had just saved her.
Maybe especially to him.
But right now both of their attentions were firmly turned on the one-horn that was pawing and presumably, bellowing in front of the shield wall that Rivan had erected. So she was safe. Rivan didn’t even seem to notice her faltering still, instead he grunted under the pressure of the one-horn crashing into his protective shield once more and Mae flinched back even though she knew it couldn’t get through.
“Why isn’t it just leaving off?” Mae asked. “It has to know it lost.”
“It knows no such thing,” Rivan grimly countered. “Its job is to seek and destroy. It has to finish the mission.”
“But how does it even know I’m behind the shield wall? Can it see me?” Mae wailed as she clutched her arms and wished anything that she’d done to it was half as effective as Rivan’s magic.
“Even if the shield wall wasn’t dampening its visual capabilities,” Rivan admitted. “The one-horn’s eyesight is notoriously poor so I’d say no.”
“So then what are you not telling me?” Mae asked in exasperation. “Something important I take it.”
Rivan shot an ire-filled look over his shoulder.
“What?” Mae snapped. “I’m not allowed to ask questions now? The damsel in distress must be a silent statue in order to be worthy of your aid?”
Rivan rolled his eyes.
“Don’t be so dramatic,” he sniped as the massive creature came back again for more. “That look was an answer.”
Despite his banter, Mae could see the sweat building up on his brow as the one-horn hit his shield over-and-over again. His arms were trembling too. She had no doubt that Rivan could hold his shield up, he’d proved pretty resilient in the past. But at what cost?
“What do you mean?” Mae asked in a low voice, drawn in to his secrets despite herself.
“I mean that it doesn’t need to see you, it can feel your presence behind my shielding,” Rivan said nastily.
“That’s…that’s impossible right,” Mae said with uncertainty. “It’s just flesh-and-blood like us. No extra senses?”
“Presumably,” Rivan said dismissively. “But it’s not its senses I’m worried about. Somehow Donna Marie has managed to place a tracker casting on you and a good one too.”
“How do you know?” Mae asked in a low voice.
“I know,” Rivan said flatly. “It’s all over your aura for anyone who cares to look and it wasn’t there when I picked you up after your incident falling from a chandelier.”
Mae started feeling guilty.
Trying to push past that she said desperately, “Well I haven’t been in Donna Marie’s eyesight since she first captured me so I don’t know what to tell you.”
Rivan didn’t look convinced and truth be told, she wasn’t telling the whole truth. She had seen Donna Marie after all but Mae didn’t think spying through a peephole while the woman paced around would have given the foreign mage enough time to work secretive magic on her.
So she didn’t say anything.
“You didn’t happen to run into any of her mages did you?” Rivan asked.
“No,” Mae quickly said.
Rivan gave her an unbelieving look.
Mae spread her hands wide in counter as she replied, “Would I be alive to tell you if I had?”
Rivan grunted in answer.
“Fair enough,” he said.
Guiltily, Mae continued weakly, “But I did meet one of her mercenaries.”
Rivan’s jaw dropped. “That’s just as bad! All she had to do was give him a prefabricated casting in a lodestone to lay on you and it’s the same scenario.”
“What scenario is that?” Mae asked in frustrated snarl. “You’ve yet to explain what you’re being so nasty about.”
“A tracker casting is self-explanatory one would think,” Rivan growled out.
Mae shook her head fiercely.
“You’re talking to the girl who grew up in the middle of nowhere and was denied even basic mage training,” she said through tight teeth.
She didn’t like admitting that to herself, but she’d do it if it would get her the information she needed out of it.
Rivan sighed in disappointment.
“Right well,” he said with irritation. “A tracker casting broadcasts your location to a specific scout or set of scouts if the mage is good enough. To place it all that mercenary had to do was touch you…which I presume he did?”
Mae grimaced and nodded in confirmation.
“Well, that’s that,” Rivan said with grimace of his own. “The creature will now be able to find you anywhere. No matter where you hide.”
Mae’s shoulders drooped in defeat as she looked at the massive beast bellowing outside the shield.
“Perfect, just perfect,” she whispered to herself.
Rivan must have noticed her suddenly downtrodden face which seeing as it was his fault, made sense.
Because he suddenly quipped, “Aw, don’t look so glum. It’s not killed you yet.”
“But it’s going to,” Mae said bitterly.
“Not if I kill it first,” Rivan said in a complete about-face to his previous tirade.
She glanced at him askance.
“Oh so you’re done berating me now?” Mae said dryly.
She was hiding her worry behind a barrier of sarcasm but she didn’t expect him to know that.