by Karen MacRae
The big man’s aura looked more solid, but it was less than a third of its original width. She knew her head would allow her only a few more minutes; the pain would make her pass out. She pressed her hand around the crystal and made one last pull, opening herself up more than she had ever done before. Again, she visualised the walls swelling and strengthening, filling the empty space that called for them. She felt serrated knives thrust through her eyeballs, her head on the verge of exploding, and then nothing.
She came to lying next to Sy and Spider in the dark. Both were snoring. She could hear Jaxom talking quietly to new arrivals in the stables, then the weary travellers make their way over to the inn. As ever after a major Healing, she was sweating and feeling sick and jittery. Nothing new. She rolled over to go back to sleep, lulled by the gentle sound of Jaxom clucking to his latest charges.
CHAPTER 5
A nna woke early, the anticipated ‘headache hangover’ in full flow, her stomach demanding she replenish the fuel she’d used up yesterday. She decided to creep away without waking the others. It would be better to escape questions than try to explain her collapse.
Before she left, she checked her patients’ auras. The wound was healing nicely. The depleted aura was about half width but looked strong and healthy. She was confident both would survive. She wondered at the way she’d instinctively forgiven the big man’s violence against her. Wooed by his friend’s gorgeous bronze shimmer perhaps? Or maybe there was more of her mother’s need to Heal in her than she’d thought? Either way, there was no reason for her to stay. They could get on their way to rescue their friend and she could finally make a start on her own journey.
She tacked up Blue and diffused the grey cloud that had reformed above his forehead. She ignored the ache in her temples. He allowed the girl to guide him from the inn and they made their way sedately along the near empty streets towards the Western Gate. She was nearly there when it occurred to her to check her new crystal. She could sense there was no change to the one under her shirt. The one in her pocket, however, was ruined. Once perfectly clear and brilliantly reflective, it was now a misty grey. Used up completely. Anna felt a quiver of fear run through her. A whole, large crystal depleted in a single Shaping. She was amazed the man had survived. She was amazed she’d survived.
She turned Blue towards the market. She needed food and the crystal would have to be replaced. Dawn had not long arrived and vendors were only just beginning to appear. She wrapped Blue’s reins around the hitching post and followed the delicious smell of frying eggs and ham to a small diner, her stomach rumbling loudly. She ordered a full breakfast and a jug of caffe, devouring the meal moments after the plate hit the table in front of her. Her hangover began to wane with the last mouthful and she sat back in relief to sip a second mug of hot caffe and luxuriate in the sensation of a full belly and the early morning sunshine on her face.
She watched as the market came to life. First were the traders and their well-practised routines. Their movements sure and fast, they unloaded their wagons and sent the drivers away to wait until the end of the trading day. Next, they turned bare tables and crates into multi-coloured displays of wonder. Anna noticed a merchant she’d dealt with before who sold goods of excellent quality. She was reluctant to buy from the same person twice, but she remembered him as fair and extremely knowledgeable.
“I bought these yesterday and I can’t place the beads,” she told him. “Do you know what they might be?”
The elderly man brought out a magnifying glass to inspect the bracelets. Anna watched as he turned them in the light. All of the stones were striped with a golden sheen but were otherwise a different colour. Like a rainbow, they glinted in red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet and the palest lilac.
“Well, by the light!” he exclaimed. “I’ve only read about these. They’re peristone beads. I don’t rightly know what they’re supposed to be good for, but they’re pretty enough. Come from Shae, I recall, although I’ve no idea where that is. Somewhere up North. Yes, I’d put money on it. Peristones from Shae. Nearly a full set too. You’re only missing the white and the black. A nice set. I’ll give you two gold pieces for them, if you’d like to sell. I have a customer who’d buy them from me.”
Anna declined his generous offer, instead distracting him with a request to tell her about some of the other stones in his display. “Have you ever heard of red Aurovian crystal?” she interrupted. “I thought my friend was pulling my leg when he told me about it.”
“Blue, red, green, it comes in lots of colours. They’re all much of a muchness, to be honest. Cost the same. Everyone around here seems set on clear though I’ve no idea why. Stupid ideas about it warding off evil spirits or some such.”
Anna thought the man needed to work on his sales pitch but valued his honesty.
“I’m looking for a gift for a friend,” she lied. “What would you recommend? I know Aurovian crystal is a favourite.”
He rummaged around under the table and came up with a handful of beautiful crystal earrings and matching necklaces. “I don’t keep these on display. Too attractive to thieves. They make a lovely gift though. See, here’s one in different colours, like I told you. Pretty, isn’t it?”
“They are absolutely gorgeous, but I think Jaxom might take offence. He’s not that way inclined,” the girl laughed. She needed a bigger crystal.
“I know just the thing,” the merchant exclaimed, ducking back under the table. This time he reappeared with his arms full of knives. The blades were plain steel, but the handles were made of various different types of polished stone. One dagger sported a handle striped with different shades of grey and snaked with scars that gaped to reveal crystal.
The man noticed the young woman’s interest. “Raw Aurovian crystal. It’s a stunning piece, isn’t it? Great grip and balance. Flawed, of course. That’s why it hasn’t been worked. If it could have been cut and polished, it’d probably have made eight or nine good-sized stones.”
“Oh, it’s perfect,” she sighed. “He’d love it, but I suspect it might be out of my price range.”
“I tell you what,” he said, “I’ll give you your choice of a jewellery set for yourself and the dagger for your boyfriend for two gold coins.”
Anna let him see her face fall. They both knew how this game was played. “No, it’ll have to be a plain crystal. He’ll understand. Maybe that one?” she said, pointing at a large, clear Aurovian crystal.
“How about I give you all three for two gold coins?”
“How about all three for one gold and ten silvers?”
“Make it one gold and thirty silvers and you’ve got a deal.”
Anna had no idea what use the jewellery would be to her, but it was much too pretty to pass up. She chose the set with different coloured stones, a rainbow of Aurovian crystal to go with her rainbow of peristone bracelets, and handed over the one gold and twenty silvers the two had finally settled on.
She was feeling positive as she got back up on Blue, excitedly mapping out her route in her head, thinking about her final destination. As a result, she managed to forget the effect of the gate on her mount until, once again, he ground to a halt. “You have got to be kidding me! What is it with you and this gate? He’s not even in town!” she harangued the horse.
He looked at her with a perfectly placid expression, as if he’d done nothing wrong, but was equally certain that he would do whatever he deemed best.
“You again?” a guard growled at Anna. “Move that damn horse or I’ll have him impounded.”
Her mouth gaped. How did one impound a horse that wouldn’t move? She got the message though. She was about to turn Blue and try another gate when an unwelcome voice intervened. “Allow us to assist a lady in distress.”
Anna swivelled in the saddle, looking over her shoulder to see Spider and Sy.
“Perhaps the horse simply needs a bit of company to reassure it?” Spider suggested. The guard took a step back, allowing the two men
to come alongside the girl and her stubborn horse.
“Pass me your reins,” Spider instructed. Anna was tempted to say no but realised she would only be inconveniencing herself. There was no need to stay with them once she had Blue on the other side of the town walls so she had nothing to lose.
Spider was talking softly to Blue. “Come on, old friend. Do you not recognise my voice? Let’s go find your master, eh?”
Blue whinnied softly then paced on the spot, tossing his head.
“That’s right. Let’s go. No more time to waste. He needs us.” Spider urged his black gelding into a trot and, with Blue in the middle and Sy at the back on what looked like a carthorse to Anna’s town-raised eyes, the small group finally left Straton.
They came to a halt fifty yards away from the gate. “Thank you for your help,” Anna said in a stilted voice. “Now, if you’ll pass me my reins, I’ll be on my way.”
“Are you recovered from what ailed you last night?” Spider asked politely as he returned her reins.
“Yes, thank you. The stress of the day brought on a migraine. I’m better now.”
“Perhaps we’re going in the same direction?” he suggested, apparently happy with the girl’s explanation. “It’s always better to travel with company, especially if you’re a woman on her own.”
Sy grunted what sounded suspiciously like a disbelieving, “Huh!”
Anna turned to look at him. His hand was on the axe strapped to his thigh and his eyes were full of suspicion. They were fixed on her like a hawk on a fledgling.
“I’m fine on my own, thank you. Anyway, you’re heading for Tullen and I’m not. I appreciate the offer though.”
“Well, if you’re sure.” Spider nodded at Sy and the two of them took off at an acute angle to the road, heading towards the Kydrum Pass and the main road south into Tullen.
“Just you and me now then, Blue,” Anna told the horse, clapping his shoulder. “Come on, let’s go.”
She supposed she shouldn’t have been surprised when he wouldn’t stick to the road. Every ten feet saw them a foot to the left so they ended up riding in zig zags. He wasn’t out and out disobedient. He didn’t refuse to move. He just wouldn’t go due west towards Bovey.
For someone relatively easily persuaded, Anna could be very stubborn if someone else was trying to impose on her. And this was a horse, for light’s sake. She knew what her mother would say. “Think it through objectively, Anna. Get past the emotion.”
Yesterday, she’d decided to see if she could find Kai on her own. Getting strangled and finding herself in the company of a shimmering bronze aura had changed her mind. It was hardly surprising given that neither had happened to her before. She supposed she hadn’t given the giant a chance to explain. Perhaps he was too stupid to realise his own strength? Perhaps he’d thought she’d been involved in the disappearance of his friend? Perhaps he was overwrought with a friend disappearing and a friend being badly wounded and wasn’t thinking straight? A niggle at the back of her mind also reminded her that he’d likely been letting her go when she’d exploded his aura. Perhaps, it dawned on her, she was simply scared that she’d done something so horrendous without even thinking and she wanted to avoid it happening again?
The fact was that Blue was no good to her in this state. She either had to wipe his memory, walk or give in and go the way he wanted her to. Perhaps someone would buy him in Bovey and she could buy another? It was unlikely, given the size of the village, but the idea had merit. Any sensible person would buy a new horse in these circumstances. Why, then, did she feel so reluctant to get rid of Blue? She acknowledged that she admired his loyalty. It would be infinitely better if he was attached to her rather than someone else, but the fact he was so staunch and unwavering in his dedication to Kai was a huge credit to him. It would be a sin to erase it.
She shook her head. All this introspection was getting her nowhere. She’d discovered she was scared about her Shapings yesterday, that she liked and admired Blue and didn’t want to muck about with his memories, that a certain bronze aura had unsettled her and that she had a lot of questions about Sy’s behaviour. None of these discoveries answered her dilemma. The sensible option was to zig zag to Bovey and get herself a new horse. Why then did her heart feel so heavy?
Anna and Blue were midway through a zag, heading back to the road to Bovey, Anna fighting Blue every step of the way, when it occurred to her that her life and time were her own. She had no commitments, no one to answer to and no one waiting for her in Ionantis. She could do whatever the light she liked. Blue kicked up his heels in joy when he felt the girl’s mood shift. Anna laughed out loud as he eased into a canter and they headed towards the Kydrum Pass and the main road south into Tullen.
CHAPTER 6
B lue led Anna straight to Spider and Sy despite the declining light. Spider laughed and Sy scowled as they rode into the clearing. “I told you!” Spider whooped at Sy. “That’s ten silvers you owe me.”
“Blue seemed set on joining you,” the girl confessed. “I’m in no hurry so I thought I’d ride with you until Sienna, if that’s all right. If you buy me a new horse there, you can keep Blue for Kai.”
“That sounds like a good plan. Don’t you think, Sy?” Spider asked the big man.
Sy appeared to be ignoring Anna completely, intently nursing the fire, uncertainty written all over his aura. He abruptly stood up and lifted a pan, striding off through the trees. “Water,” he explained to Spider over his shoulder.
“Is he all right?” Anna asked his partner.
“I would say yes, physically, but he’s not himself yet. Whatever laid him low seems to have got under his skin… What happened between you? He won’t talk about it.”
“In a nutshell, he nearly killed me then bashed his head on something and keeled over. I didn’t wait around to see if he was alive. I ran. I thought he worked for the Graysons and had seen me spying on them.”
“He bashed his head?”
“I guess so. I wasn’t exactly paying attention. He had his hands around my throat and was squeezing the life out of me then suddenly he was lying in a heap on the ground.”
Spider shook his head, looking apologetic. “I’ve warned him about overdoing the squeeze. It’s a technique we picked up in Rosarty years ago. It subdues but doesn’t kill. He just doesn’t get that his fingers are sometimes too big to pinpoint the right pressure points. I’m sorry it happened to you. It must have been scary.”
“I thought I was going to die.”
“If you have the opportunity, would you explain this to him please? Perhaps he’ll listen to you.”
The topic of conversation returned just at that moment. He raided the heavy bags by the carthorse and began mixing ingredients together in a pot, his aura warming with contentment. Mouth-watering smells began to permeate shortly afterwards.
Spider smiled as he spotted Anna unconsciously lick her lips. “The man is useless at delicate combat techniques, but he’s a wizard in the kitchen. Come on, let’s see if you two can make friends.”
Sitting around the fire gave Anna the chance to look properly at both men’s auras. The discolouration over Spider’s belly was almost invisible, but his aura was just as distracting with tiny whorls pulsing through the deep bronze shimmer almost as if it were breathing. Sy’s aura was also improved, now about two thirds its original width and looking once again like a stone wall. A few days should see it back to normal.
“How’s your side?” Anna asked Spider.
“Much better, thank you. Those herbs are amazing. What are they?”
“They’re a concoction my mother developed.” She paused, not used to speaking of her mother in the past tense. “She was a Healer. She swore by them. She often used just them when she was Healing. You know, without anything from her.”
“She’s not with you any longer?”
“No. Her Healing well reached its limit a couple of days ago.”
“I’m so sorry. That must have been ve
ry difficult,” he told her sincerely.
Anna croaked a small, “Thank you” and blinked back tears. “Difficult” was a widely used euphemism for Healers breaching their limits. A more accurate description would be “an overwhelming eruption of the deadliest, concentrated poison causing tearing, excruciating agony in every part of one’s body and mind until, finally, every cell implodes and the Healer dies”. Some died slowly, some quickly, but all suffered an agonising end. The momentary bliss named “the Healer’s reward” that left all with a smile on their face was a pathetic compensation for the hours of torture that preceded it never mind a lifetime’s dedication to Healing all and anyone who needed it. Publicising the truth might make a significant number of Healer trainees rethink their profession and maybe even reduce the number of patients so it was forcibly discouraged by the Healers’ Guild. Anna would love it to be because Healers were valued and rewarded appropriately so there was no need. The fact was that the Guild cared only for its own power and wealth and most Healers were treated little better than lowly servants, their sacrifice belittled so their patients might feel less guilty.
Anna had tried to explain to her mother how she diverted energy to crystal, but her mother had never been able to do it. She couldn’t even grasp how it might be done. Healers didn’t use auras. They didn’t even see them. They were Empaths. They sensed sickness and drew it into themselves, burying it deep within the psychic well they were taught to hold their life’s work within.
Her daughter could achieve the same results but didn’t have to retain any of the illness. It all went into crystal. Now, apparently, she could knock someone out by nearly wiping out their aura and use fresh crystal to renew and strengthen debilitated aura. She wondered what else she could do.