by D. R. Rosier
Alea looked up and said, “Fine, how are you doing that?”
“The wind is too strong to block straight on, it would break right through my ward, but I have it flat like the ground, and it only needs to slightly deflect the wind. It’s all about the angle. Same with the hail, my water ward is acting like a pond’s surface, and the hail is like skipping rocks across it. What’s doing this?”
Claire replied, “A storm fae.”
“Storm fae?”
Alea nodded, “Most fae are of a single element. Some are not. This one is wind and water, so we call those with that mix storm fae, because they can stir up storms. Very concentrated, powerful, and deadly storms. Thank you for this… shelter.”
I nodded absently as I closed my eyes and concentrated for a moment, “Karana and Saria are about twenty yards to the south, there’s no way they can get to us here with that wind coming out of the north.”
Claire tilted her head, and studied me a moment, “They’ll be fine, they are both mages, and Karana is well accomplished. Even before our princess became a mage, Saria would know how to survive this storm. The fae will run its temper in a few hours, and it will be time to set a camp, we’ll go no further today.”
She rubbed her ankle.
“Claire, can I check on you?”
She looked nervous about it, but then nodded minutely.
I reached out with my magic, and then checked her over. She’d be fine, and had only twisted it slightly, it wasn’t broken. I singled out the muscles and surrounding inflamed tissue in her DNA, and then sent a surge of magic into her body.
Claire held up her leg, and circled the ankle, before looking down, “Thank you, Sculptor.”
“Your welcome, and you can call me James, if that isn’t too familiar?”
Alea shook her head, even as both of them sat as far away from me as possible.
It made me want to sigh, but I held it in.
“How about you two, you’re both being quiet.”
Regina smiled wanly, “Fine, just worried, and trying to calm down. If you hadn’t grabbed me like that…” she trailed off.
Sianna snuggled in tighter, “I’m okay too. Just… shocked I think.”
I nodded, “Think you can do that water spell for us all? We’ll feel better if we’re warm and dry.”
I actually had it in my ring. Except, I didn’t want to do even more magic on the elves that were terrified of me, and I also wanted to give Sianna something to focus on. Something she could control. Perhaps it was slightly manipulative, but I knew with just that little push her usual fierce personality would recover itself, and I hated to see her so timid.
She nodded, and closed her eyes a moment, and then said the spell in a focused calm voice. All the water soaking our clothes, and several pieces of ice, flew off our bodies and into one the corners. She snuggled into me again, and I held her gently. I immediately felt better too, warmer.
“Thanks.”
I went ahead and cast two more spells, one to warm up our hole in the ground, the cold from the storm wasn’t getting through anymore, but it was still cold. It was the one I had designed to use at home, so it would keep it a perfect temperature for comfort. It was capable of both removing heat and adding it if necessary, as needed.
The wind and the rain didn’t stop in three or four hours as Claire predicted, nor in five. We wound up having to break out the trail food we had in our packs for dinner. Sianna cast a spell to widen our pit in the ground so we’d all have room to lie down and could get some sleep. I wanted to lay between my mates, but apparently one warm body separating me from the elven females made them too nervous to sleep. I wound up sleeping against the dirt wall, with Sianna half on my body with her head on my chest, and Regina spooned her from behind, with her hand resting half on my stomach and half on my side.
I thought it would be impossible to get to sleep, but with Sianna’s warm supple body warming mine, and the screaming wind and sound of hail on the ground and trees around us actually lulled me to sleep with its rhythmic pounding…
Chapter Twelve
“They look so cozy, why didn’t your magic make something that nice.”
My eyes snapped open to see Saria giving Karana a faux angry gaze, then she looked back at me and smiled.
“To think we were worried about you, and here you were in the lap of luxury. All this one did was make a two-foot-high dome to lay under, to get the wind and ice off of us at a steep angle of deflection. I like your idea better.”
I laughed, “Is everyone okay?”
Karana nodded and scowled at Saria.
“Fine, we had two scouts unaccounted for, but not anymore.”
I nodded, “They fell in. The hot tub was the first spell that came to mind, to get us out of the wind I mean. My protection spells were only blocking air and water, so others could join us if they could reach us. Should we be talking?”
Claire replied as she got up and hopped out of the hole.
“It’s fine, the storm fae’s storm will have chased off all the wildlife in the area, and they won’t come back for a day or two. Once we get a mile or two away from here though, we’ll have to watch for them and maintain silence again.”
I was a little shocked Claire answered, and so was Alea. Maybe she just doesn’t feel trapped anymore?
Saria nodded, “Let’s check it out before we go, I’d estimate the fae is about a half mile north of here based on the strength of that wind, let’s see what set it off.”
A half a mile away? How strong would the wind have been at a few feet? Damn.
“Is that a good idea?” I asked a bit nervously.
Karana smirked, “Yes, that fae is the safest fae in the forest right now. It’ll be exhausted magically, and its temper has been spent which means it’ll be calm. We need to make sure it wasn’t a human fae hunter that set it off, we weren’t close enough to disturb it, and animals wouldn’t have. Plus, if it was another elven patrol they might need our assistance.”
I nodded, and we all got up. Once we got out, I filled the hole back in with dirt. The forest was a mess, if mess is a word that could be applied to a forest. It looked like a hurricane had passed through, with broken branches lying around, trees without leaves, and other signs of destruction.
I looked around a little shocked, but then smiled, “Even I could track the fae down with this trail.”
Sianna giggled.
Karana took care of a fire, and we wound up eating a warm breakfast, it was fairly safe at the moment, and we’d missed a warm meal last night.
At first, I thought it was just me that was horny as hell, from the danger of the storm, adrenaline, and the fact we missed all our usual hookups yesterday. I also got the idea my mates were spoiling me, and I was probably more than a little addicted to sex at that point keeping five female beings sated on a daily basis, but it was clearly all my mates as well. I’d caught more than one look that was quite familiar on all my mates faces, and Karana’s flirting during breakfast was over the top even for us.
Still, that kind of thing would have to wait until later that night, when we reached Lelmalond, assuming we could make up for the time lost and didn’t spend another night in the forest. Not that I was worried about it, it was just something I took note of. One day without sex wasn’t going to kill any of us, not even Oceana.
After breakfast we went north through the path of destruction for just about half a mile as Saria predicted. We could see that about thirty feet away the line of destruction stopped at a waterfall with a small pool at the bottom of it. It looked like a nice place to relax and take a swim, except for being the home of a powerful fae that is. Then we started to look around. It didn’t take long, there were three humans, and black panther about half the size of a tiger. They normal ran max a hundred sixty pounds or so back home, this one would have been at least four hundred pounds of pure muscle.
It was a beautiful animal, or it had been, before being pulverized by ice. Just past that fa
rther away from the pool, we saw three humans lying on the ground, similarly pulverized by hail, their bodies soaked and bloated. The smell wasn’t all that great either, but as a doctor I’d smelled some pretty bad shit in my time so I managed to keep my breakfast where it belonged.
Saria frowned in thought, “I bet the panther was hunting the mages, and the mage missed with his spell and hit the pool instead. That set off the fae who killed both.”
There was a mewling sound from the panther, and I saw all the elves freeze. I stepped a little closer, ignoring Saria’s glare, just close enough to use my magic. It took me a minute to realize what I’d found.
“The panther is dead, but it’s dead body is crushing its cub. I don’t think it was hunting the mages, but it was protecting its young. It shielded it from death.”
I used a levitation spell, and lifted its mother into the air, and the cub managed to limp about two paces before it collapsed. I dropped the mother back on the ground, and then connected my flesh sculptor magic to the cub. It had nasty internal injuries, and it wouldn’t live very long. It was also a female.
It was probably dumb, but the cub didn’t look all that dangerous, she was barely bigger than a house cat. I sent a large surge of my magic into her to heal her, and she whipped her head around and stared right at me as she hissed. As if she knew she was feeling my magic, maybe they were attuned to magic, or saw flows like a mage?
I pulled my magic away, and it hissed and glared at all the elves around it with drawn weapons, and then disappeared mid leap into the bushes as it ran away.
Saria asked evenly, “Why did you do that?”
I shrugged, “Her mother died for her, to save her. I’d hate for that to be in vain. I just hope she doesn’t eat me in thanks.”
Karana laughed, and so did some of the other elves.
Regina and Sianna kissed my cheeks with amused looks on their faces.
“Will we make the city today?”
Saria nodded, “Unless we run into another fae like last night, we will. No more talking from here on out until we reach it.”
We all nodded in agreement, and then moved out again to the northeast.
The second morning was a lot like the first. Lush forest, pretty dark vivid greens, larger trees, bushes, and of course other predators. Fortunately, the only one we’d ran into so far on our trip had been a dead one, I wasn’t counting the cub at that point, although in hindsight I probably should have.
We also continued to avoid the dangerous magical plant species, I didn’t see anything that stood out, besides the forest looking healthier and bigger than its variations in the normal woods.
The only real difference was we moved at a faster pace. Not that much faster, the elves were very cautious, but I guessed there was a trade off in dangers. A little faster was less dangerous than spending another night in the dangerous forest.
The lack of talking seemed to be getting on my mates’ nerves as much as mine, my human ones at least, but Karana and Saria were used to silent patrols through Laya. Still, we occasionally squeezed hands for a moment, or exchanged glances. I could tell they were uneasy, and so was I.
When we stopped for lunch we ate quickly, and the first indication of trouble were the elves. They froze, and even Saria was looking around sharply. Something had spooked them.
Then I felt something bump into the back of my leg. I’d been wound up as tight as a guitar string, and it snapped. I jumped up spastically with an alarmed squeak that would have been a scream if my throat hadn’t been closed up. It was also something that would take me years to live down. My mates still delight in telling this part of our tale to this day.
Still, they were more than worth a little teasing every now and then.
I spun around with my heart in my throat and my heart drumming in my chest, and looked down at a familiar panther cub, who was eyeing my venison wrap. I took a deep breath and didn’t move. The elves looked surprised, cautious, but not overly alarmed just yet.
She warbled at me, it was cute, and sad, so I tossed her half my venison sandwich, which she caught in her mouth. She turned, tail up, and slunk back into bushes. I know, bad to feed wild animals, but I was still pretty freaked out, and small cub or not she could have hurt me pretty badly, instead of giving me a head bump like a house cat.
Nothing else could have illustrated just how dangerous this forest was, that a small panther cub could sneak so easily past thirty-six scouts and through my powerful and protective mates, and head butt me on the back of the leg.
I looked guiltily over at Saria, who looked exasperated, and a little amused. At a guess the magical panthers were bright enough that she figured out I saved her with magic, and she’d come to me for food. Like… she would with her mother.
I shrugged sheepishly, and then finished my half sandwich. Then I grabbed some dried venison out of my pack as my stomach demanded more food. I wasn’t too worried about it, the cub would have to stop following us when we got to the city’s ward, and she’d either fend for herself or starve. That sounded cruel, but it was nature, and that’s just how it was. I wished her luck though, she might make it, and I’d healed her to give her that chance.
Regina gave me a soft and silent butterfly kiss, and she looked relieved. I wanted to reassure her, but we still weren’t allowed to talk. I smiled reassuringly instead, gave her hand a squeeze, and we started through the forest again.
Chapter Thirteen
It was late afternoon, or early evening when we reached Lelmalond. The wards around the city couldn’t be felt, not by me, but it was more than obvious when I walked in and was assaulted by several voices and the sounds of elves. I’d been aware they warded to keep the magical predators out, but I hadn’t been told they also kept their sound in, like those small one-way privacy domes we could make. I assumed they did so to avoid luring in a predator, even if that predator couldn’t enter.
The thing was, I couldn’t see any elves, or buildings, not for another quarter mile or so, and it still looked like forest to me, until my eyes started to discern the buildings that were so well blended into the forest they were hard to see. Both on the ground, and in the branches above in huge trees with twelve-foot-wide trunks.
Saria said, “Welcome to Lelmalond, it’s about a twenty-minute walk to the palace from here. We can talk, but don’t expect anything you say to go unheard, keep that in mind.”
Karana looked over her shoulder and winked at me, then said softly to Saria, but loud enough for us to hear, “Wasn’t our husband’s war cry just… intimidating.”
Saria struggled to hold back a laugh, since we were in public. That she had to struggle to do it wasn’t a good sign, for me that is.
Sianna said sultrily, “It sent chills down my spine,” and then she giggled and took my hand with an impish grin.
Regina bit her lip, and didn’t say anything, but her bright green eyes were dancing with amusement.
I sighed, and I knew then that I’d never live that squeak of fear down as I jumped up spastically. Not even if we managed to live another eight hundred years. Fortunately, all the other elves had split off already, and it was just my mates nearby as we walked the path through the city. Of course, that didn’t mean they didn’t hear it, just that I didn’t have to hear their titters. Honestly, I was a little annoyed about it, poking fun at me in private is one thing, but Karana was mocking me in front of a whole city of elves, playfully or not, it stung. It also wasn’t something they did a whole lot of, so it kind of blindsided me.
They were usually more respectful than that, and so was I in public where we could be heard.
One of my sins normally wasn’t pride, and my sense of humor did allow self-deprecation, but I came awfully close to losing it in that moment, but I swallowed my prideful anger and decided to let it pass. I knew they all loved me, and that they knew I’d die for them, fight for them without hesitation, they were just blowing off steam from the stressful trip through Laya. Still, I’d have preferred a dif
ferent outlet. I needed to blow off steam too, and I was feeling just a bit oversensitive about it.
Because more than one biting comment died on the tip of my lips. Mostly having to do how said kitten got past thirty-six scouts and her vaunted powers as a mage, and they went downhill from there. Better left unsaid.
I sighed, I needed to get a grip, the stress did have me out of sorts, and I knew I was being a jackass, even if just in my own mind. Of course, if I hadn’t been so angry in that moment, and determined to hide it, my first meeting with Saria’s brothers may have gone better.
Maybe, but they were both assholes. So, I wasn’t entirely sure it would have mattered either way in truth.
“War cry? In the forest?” said a male’s arrogant and condescending voice.
Two identical elves stepped from the tree line, and to this day I wasn’t sure which one had said that.
One said, “Sister, we didn’t expect to see you back here. Maybe you should have gagged your human, if he doesn’t know what silence means.”
Saria flinched, and Karana looked back at me with a guilty expression. I wasn’t really mad at her, well I was a little, but not because of dickhead overhearing it, his comment was his responsibility, not hers.
Saria’s voice was even, “Arun, is that how you greet our guest after all he has done for us, and my mate besides? Or have you two not come all the way here to grovel for the opportunity to touch the ring he created before anyone else?”
Damn. That was… I kind of wanted to kiss her in that moment, and a whole lot more.
Sudryl, the other brother, replied, “We have greeted no human in our forest, we do not deign to acknowledge his presence in our city, but speak to you. It’s a mystery how you lower yourself to sleep with a human sister, has he stolen your will? Are you a puppet, like our poor broken future queen?”
I took a step forward, but then froze when Saria held up her hand.