Broken Aro (The Broken Ones) (23 page)

"Aro, come here," Avery called to her.

She drank quickly from the pool and washed her face
before going to him. She bit her lip as she approached. Would he say something
strange about the night before?

He didn't waste any time getting to the point. "We've
all been talking and decided you need to work off some of that anger. We're
going to give you further lessons in fighting."

She raised her eyebrows. "Um..."

Avery flashed his charming grin. "You'll be
practicing your knives with me. Bo will help you with hand-to-hand. Cain and
Prince will teach you sword-work, and Kei, scouting."

A grin spread across her face at his words. They were
going to teach her to fight? She could certainly deal with that. She nodded
quickly. "Yes!"

He drew one of his knives. "Ready?"

"Right now?"

He nodded and she grinned again.

They fought until the others called to them it was time
to head out. She drank from the pool until she sloshed and then moved out to
scout with Kei. The others would continue their slow travel near the road as
they foraged for food. She and Kei would roam further, keeping an eye out for
humans on the road, and Were and Fey within the forest.

She enjoyed traveling with Kei. He made her feel safe,
and even loved. He acted like one of her brothers, grinning and teasing her as
they ran through the trees. He began teaching her how to move quietly, how to
climb trees, and how to hide. He pointed out animal tracks and spore and taught
her how to identify not only what animal had made it, but how long ago as well.

Everything became a game and she found herself
relaxing and enjoying herself more and more. She almost wished their stay in
the forest wasn't coming to an end so quickly.

"Aro, come look," Kei called.

She quietly ran to his side and dropped to a knee next
to him.

He put a hand down to the ground, fingers spread. Her
eyes grew wide at the size of the print next to it. "Wither me! What made
that?"

Kei grinned over at her. "Were."

Her eyes opened wider.

"Look," he said. "See how large and
deep? There are normal wolves here, but their prints are smaller. The heavier
the animal, the deeper the print. Large cats usually don't have claw marks."

She nodded along, paying close attention.

He pointed to the degrading edges of the tracks. "Made
sometime yesterday."

Relief washed over her at that. She'd met a Were once,
and didn't really want to do it again anytime soon.

They set out again moving more slowly as they came to
an area that suddenly blossomed with larger and larger age-worn rock outcrops.

Kei stopped and rested his hand against moss covered
stone. She looked up around them, some of the stones rose twice as large as
her, and not far away she saw once that jutted up high into the trees.

"What's good, and what's bad?" Kei watched
her closely, waiting for an answer.

She looked at the rocks around them. This was easy. "Good,
we could hide in them. If we were attacked we'd have something at our backs. Bad,
we could be ambushed." She bit her lip, thinking. "We could use them
as shelter, too. There might be caves, or we could make something." She
paused, trying to think what else Kei might expect her to say.

"And food," Kei said finally. "Small
animals, snakes. Different plants grow here." He frowned. "We'll have
to ask Prince."

He didn't sound like he relished the idea and she
chuckled.

He made a face and mock growled at her. "Let's
explore. Stay close."

She nodded and followed carefully after him.
Eventually they came across another of the many small streams flowing through
the forest and they paused to drink. "Should we camp here tonight?"

Kei stood and looked around. It was getting late in
the day so she wasn't surprised when he nodded. He turned, sniffing the air. "They
aren't far." He looked back at her. "I can get to them quicker on my
own. You wait here."

"Sure," she said a little dubiously. She
didn't like the idea of being alone.

He rested a hand on her shoulder. "I won't be
long at all."

He paused again so she forced a smile and pushed his
hand away. "I'll be fine. Hurry, before it gets dark."

He frowned and let out a little growl of frustration
before dashing off.

She watched him run, moving swiftly and silently
around rocks and trees. She envied how graceful he was, and fast. But then
again, he wasn't human either. Strangely, she often forgot that fact.

She knelt and washed up in the stream, rolling up her
sleeves and running wet hands over and over through her hair. She would love to
have been able to bathe, but the chill weather wasn't agreeable to that.

She waited by the stream for a while before eventually
turning and looking up at the largest rock. It wasn't far so she made her way
carefully over to its base. She stared up at the top. It couldn't be that hard
to climb it. It would be interesting to discover what she could see from such a
height. Maybe she could check to see if anyone was following them.

She started climbing, easily finding foot and hand
holds. The rock wasn't at all crumbly, so she didn't need to worry about losing
her hold. She found climbing to be not at all as hard as she thought it would
be. The exertion felt good. She had almost reached the top when she heard Kei
down below.

"Aro! I said stop!"

She turned a little and grimaced down him. Silly Fey.
Did he think she would fall? She waved at him and continued up.

She wiped sweat off her forehead after she hefted
herself up onto the top. It was worn smooth and almost flat with bumps of
greenish-brown moss scattered across it. She wiped her hands on her pants as
she turned around admiring the view. She could see over the tops of most of the
trees. To the south she could see the hatched colors of the fields and pastures
Prince had mentioned. Kei had been right about how close they had come to
leaving the forest.

Turning her attention back to the forest she let out a
sigh. Unfortunately she couldn't see very well through all the branches. If
anyone else was out there, they remained hidden.

She took a deep breath of the fresh air before
preparing to head back down.

"Good afternoon."

She choked on a gasp as she froze, fear skittering up
her spine at the sound of the unexpected voice behind her. Her hand moved
slowly to a knife on her belt.

"No need for weapons. I intend you no harm,"
the voice said quietly. It was definitely a man. Not young, but not old either.

"Rot it." She squeezed her eyes closed
tightly. Fear enveloped her. She could hardly breathe. Had the slavers found
her again? Keeping her hand on her knife despite his words, she turned slowly
to face him. How had he gotten up on the rock? There had definitely been no one
else on the top when she'd climbed up.

She let out a little sigh of relief to find him near
the other side of the rock sitting on piece that jutted up like stool near the
edge. She regarded him carefully and bit her lip at what she saw. His black
hair had been cut short and showed slightly pointed ears. The points strangely
curved backward though, rather than pointing up like Kei's did. She stared at
the bizarre beauty of his eyes. They had no whites and thin vertical slits. She
didn't even know how to try to describe their iridescent color. They shone in a
wash of blues and greens dipped with hints of gold and red. He definitely
wasn't human.

Gah.
She had
no luck at all. Well, at least he wasn't a slaver. "What are you?"

He grinned and spread his hands. "What do you
think I am?"

Did he think this was some sort of game? "Elf or
Were?"

He chuckled. "No. Guess again."

She frowned. "Well you're not a Fey. Your ears
and eyes are different."

He shook his head with another laugh. "That is
true."

His game began to irritate her. "Then what are
you?"

He winked. "Something else."

She took a step backward as she remembered Prince
speaking of horrible things coming down out of the mountains. Could this
creature be one of them? "What do you want?"

"Just waiting for someone," he said with
another unnerving smile.

She squeaked as a rock clattered behind her and turned
to see Kei pulling himself up. Before she could speak he darted to her side,
grabbing her hand and pulling her close to him. "Aro?"

His closeness helped push the fear away. "What is
he?"

Kei shook his head slightly. "I don't know."

The man looked hurt. "Come now, Kei. You don't remember
me?"

Kei sucked in a sharp breath. "You were on the
beach. When I finally made it to shore." His brows drew together. "But…"

Aro looked up at him in surprise. He hadn't told her
that! She tightened her hand in his. Things were suddenly getting too strange.

"No, Kei. Think back further. It's been a while,"
the man continued. He imitated rocking a baby. "I suppose it's possible
you don't remember." When Kei didn't answer he continued, "How are
your parents?"

"Dead," Kei replied flatly.

"Ahh, I knew them. A long time ago," the man
said sadly. "Are you carrying on their quest?"

Kei blinked rapidly in surprise, glanced at her, and
then looked back at the strange man. "No."

The stranger frowned. "Do you know why your
parents went west?"

Kei nodded sharply, relaxing his arms around her a
little. "They had been searching for an artifact that would heal the Fey."
He frowned slightly. "There was a prophecy saying the artifact would come
from the west."

The man nodded. "Yes." He looked back at her
and she felt like someone suddenly started pushing down on the inside of her
head. "You've never heard of the prophecy."

"How did..." She bit her tongue.

He winked. "I read minds. You should learn to
guard yours. Elves and Were both mind-speak as well." His glance shifted
to Kei. "Though the Fey do not." The pushing sensation came again. "You've
experienced this with the Were already. You have not, however, seen the
artifact his parents searched for."

He looked back to Kei and she cried out as the Fey
winced and raised a hand to his head. "Get out!"

"What are you doing?" The anger rose within
her again, rising above the fear this stranger caused. She took a step toward
him but Kei squeezed her hand and pulled her back to his side.

The man looked back at her after a moment. "It
would be best if you stayed out of this, little one."

Opening her mouth, she snapped it closed again at the
dark look he gave her. No, she didn't want to anger this man, or whatever he
was.

He laughed suddenly, the loudness of it startling her
it was so unexpected. Kei put his arm around her, pulling her closer.

"I waited long for your parents return, Kei.
Though they did not, your presence is most interesting. Do you know why? Did
they tell you?"

Kei shook his head. "No, I was...stop it!"

She looked up at him; his eyes were squeezed tightly
closed, pain and anger harsh on his features.

"You were young, when they died," the man
finished for him. He frowned. "And you do not know what happened to the
book. That is...a great loss."

"What is he talking about?"

Kei grimaced and finally opened his eyes. They were
orange, but very close to red.

"Kei is very important, according to the Fey seer.
He will have strong connections to the queen. Unfortunately, I do not have the
book. So I don't know if there were further words on his future."

Startled at the man's words she looked up at Kei. His
eyes hadn't changed. At least they weren't redder.

The man turned his attention back to her. She decided
she preferred being ignored.

"I sensed magic over the sea. Fey magic. That
recently is something very rare. Most of the Fey are too wild to use it. Yet
there is was, and it led me to Kei." He smiled faintly. "You are
human and yet I sense, very faintly mind you, Fey. That is unexpected."

She gasped suddenly as the heaviness returned to her
head, and with it pain. Images, no memories, began flipping past her eyes. "Stop
it." She whimpered, sliding to her knees. He didn't stop. Scenes of the
slave ship, the wreck, the beach, the slavers, continued to flash by before
suddenly the scene of her taking Kei's fury hovered and then everything
disappeared as he withdrew from her mind.

She choked on sobs and leaned against Kei as he knelt
beside her, his arms tight around her.

"I see," the man said.

She flinched suddenly as a body loomed over her.
Glancing up, she was beyond surprised to find Prince now standing between her
and the stranger.