Changing Fate [Fate series] (27 page)

"Bow to the Queen, and take three steps backward,” Wesia's voice said in her ear.

Akila, numb from the drug and the shock of the severed bonds, obeyed. The third step carried her over the edge of the wall and then she was falling straight down, through the air beside the waterfall, splashed by the spray. Just before she hit the river she thought she heard a sound over the noise of the water, the scream of an angry eagle. Then she reached the river, the water closed over her head, and she heard nothing more.

She was being tossed about by the water and bouncing from rock to rock, she couldn't breathe, she was choking on water. This isn't right, a small part of her mind thought, I should be able to breathe. Then the responses she had trained into her body during her nights of practice took over. With no further conscious thought her body changed, and now she could breathe again. With a few flips of her tail she freed herself from the mass of wet cloth around her and let the current carry her downstream.

Yes, this was right, she had returned to the water as she had been commanded, now she was where she belonged. Her work was done; now she could rest. She settled contentedly into the nearly mindless life of a fish and lost all track of time.

A shadow blocked the light, and sharp talons fastened about her and tried to lift her out of the water. With what remained of her human mind she knew that some fish-eating bird held her.
No doubt it will give up once it finds I'm too heavy to lift out of the water
. Then, with a flash of returning humor, she thought,
Poor thing, how confusing for it—nothing my size is supposed to weigh this much!
She thickened her scales in case it tried to bite her, but it didn't. Instead, it dragged her steadily toward the river's bank, out of the rushing current, and held her there.

A pair of human hands reached down and replaced the talons, then hauled her out of the water onto someone's lap. Akila changed almost automatically from fish to wolf, rolling free of her captor as she did so, but then she had to devote the next several minutes to coughing up the water she had been breathing. When she could see straight again, she turned her head to look at what had pulled her out.

It was certainly strange-looking. The talons, still dangling in the water, were attached to human legs. The rest of the figure was human male, except for the head, which was animal. Akila had no difficulty recognizing that head; it had followed her about for months. It was Wolf, looking at her as he always had, with his tongue hanging out of the right side of his mouth behind his lower fangs, and therefore Wolf must be...

"Druscilla was right!” Akila said in astonishment as she shifted back to human form. The midday sun was warm, and skin would dry faster than fur. “It
was
you all along! And I thought it was just that whenever she saw a wolf she thought of you."

The talons changed to human feet, and the face shifted to Lord Ranulf's normal features.

"She probably does,” he said, laughing, “But yes, it was I. I wanted to be sure that you stayed out of trouble—or at least alive."

"Then why didn't you stop Briam from being Year-King?"

Lord Ranulf sighed. “I couldn't,” he said simply. “You know that I was once Year-King."

Akila nodded, “Ten years ago, right? Rias is your son and the Queen's, and he's a changer too—does this mean it's an inherited trait?"

Lord Ranulf nodded. “I strongly suspect so. It will be interesting to see what the Queen's daughter by Briam is like."

Uh oh, Akila thought. “But if he marries Druscilla..."

He grinned broadly. “What an enchanting thought! Seriously, though, I'm sure that Druscilla will love her children no matter what they are like. People tend to underestimate Druscilla."

"Yes,” Akila agreed, “it's one of her greatest weapons. But you were telling me why you didn't stop Briam from being chosen."

Lord Ranulf looked straight into her eyes. “Do you remember how you felt about the Queen at the Choosing?"

Akila remembered. “She was the center of the world, and everything moved toward her."

"Exactly. When she does the Calling, anyone who truly hears it is drawn to her. Fortunately, not too many people can hear on that level, but if you can hear it you're vulnerable. Last spring was the first time I'd been there for that Calling since the day I was Called, so that was when I learned that the spell still works on me. I would recommend that you and I and Briam all avoid that ceremony from now on."

"I certainly intend to,” Akila said, “and I imagine that Druscilla will make sure than Briam never goes near the place again—after all, he
is
supposed to be dead.” That brought her mind back to her current position. “And I'm supposed to be alive and at Druscilla's, so I had better get there fast, before someone comes looking for me. Besides, I need to make certain that Briam is all right."

Lord Ranulf shook his head. “I'm sure that Briam is just fine,” he snapped. “Really, Akila, how much more of your life do you intend to waste looking after your brother?"

"But he needs someone to take care of him!” Akila protested. “He's not very intelligent."

"Akila,” Lord Ranulf was clearly trying to be patient and reasonable, “I have just spent the better part of a year living with you and Briam. Briam is a reasonably intelligent young man; he's just not as brilliant as you are. You only think he's stupid because you keep comparing him to yourself. Don't you realize that most of the people in the world are not as intelligent as you are?"

"Well, of course the servants aren't,” Akila began, “But isn't that why they are servants? And the Queen and the Shield-Bearer and Druscilla are all intelligent."

"And you've lived such as sheltered life that you've not met many other people,” Lord Ranulf said grimly, “but tell me this: was your father as intelligent as you are?"

"Of course he was!” Akila replied automatically, then, as several unfortunate incidents rose in her memory, added, “it's just that he wasn't home enough to understand how some things worked out in daily life."

"You mean that he meddled in things he didn't understand when he came home.” Lord Ranulf had no difficulty translating that. “And what did you think of Stefan?"

Akila made a face. “I hated him. I had to push him down the stairs once—it was the only way I could get him to stop grabbing at me every chance he got. And I swear to you,” she added indignantly, “that I did nothing whatsoever to encourage him. Ever!"

"But your father trusted him and wouldn't listen to you."

The silence stretched out until Akila admitted, “Well, yes, I guess you're right.” Then she added accusingly, “But
you
were willing to work with Stefan!"

"He came to me with your father's body,” Lord Ranulf said, “and a story of a defenseless castle with only two children to hold it. He expected to be richly rewarded for his treachery; it was widely known that I wanted your father's plundering stopped, and Stefan doubtless thought my character like his own—I doubt he understood that viewpoints other than his existed. I didn't trust Stefan and I don't regret his death; he clearly earned it. I can't pretend to be particularly sorry for your father's death, either, except that I believed at the time that it left you without a protector."

He paused and smiled at her. “Now that I know you, I realize that you are much better off without him. I am even willing to admit that you can take care of yourself—most of the time. I do confess, however, to some curiosity as to how long you intended to remain a fish."

Good question, Akila thought. “How long
was
I a fish?"

"Six days,” Lord Ranulf replied. “And I've spent the last three of them trying to catch every fish in this river, looking for the one which weighed too much.” Akila blushed, but said nothing. “I care for you very much, Akila,” he continued. “I don't believe I have ever been as frightened as I was when I realized that you actually
were
changing places with Briam. And when I finally got out of those damnable nets you were already falling, and even in bird form I couldn't have stopped you—” he shuddered.

"It wasn't really all that dangerous,” Akila said. “I'd been practicing swimming in that part of the river for weeks."

"When you slipped out at night and came back exhausted. Funny how you never collected all those bruises in practice,” Lord Ranulf remarked dryly.

Akila took a good look at her arms and legs. She really did have quite a crop of bruises. “It was the drug,” she said. “That was the one thing I hadn't planned for, which was silly of me—after all, they'd have to have some way to get the Year-King to go into the river without making a fuss."

"And I never mentioned the drug to Rias, so he couldn't warn you about it.” Responding to Akila's surprised look, he reminded her, “I was under the bench in the garden the day he came, remember?"

Akila cast her mind back. “That's right, you were with us, and you disappeared while I was pulling him off Druscilla."

"I stayed out of sight until you left him alone, then told him to keep his mouth shut about my current form and location."

"He is pretty good at keeping his mouth shut when he wishes to be,” Akila agreed.

"True, when it suits his interests,” Lord Ranulf agreed. “But we're straying from the point of this discussion once again—I'm trying to ask you to marry me!"

"You asked me to marry you last year,” Akila pointed out.

"Yes, I did. I thought then that you were a defenseless maiden, who should not be driven from the only home she had known by her father's greed and folly.

"And now,” he continued, “I know that you are far from defenseless and could probably make a home for yourself almost anywhere, but I still want to marry you, and I shall count myself a very fortunate man if you will agree to marry me."

Akila stared down at her hands, totally at a loss for words. It was very strange to have a choice; she had always thought that if she married at all, her father would choose a husband for her and she would do as her father told her.

Oddly enough, Lord Ranulf seemed to understand something of her dilemma. “All I ask now is that you think about it,” he said gently. “I'm going home to Eagle's Rest. Briam and Druscilla made it safely to her estate, and the guards that went with them headed back to the city, apparently without suspecting anything; I watched them long enough to be sure of that. Then, when you hadn't turned up at Druscilla's after a couple of days, I went looking for you."

Akila felt her eyes fill with tears. “Thank you,” she said.

Lord Ranulf took one of her hands and kissed it, then released it and rose to his feet. “There's a chest of your clothing at Druscilla's, a gown and some undergowns in the extra clothing chest in Druscilla's room at the palace, and, of course, all the clothes you left at home are still in your room there. You'll have clothing wherever you decide to go. I hope, however, that I'll see you at home soon.” His eyes held hers as he changed to bird shape, then he spread his wings and flew away.

Akila stared after him for a long moment, then changed to eagle form herself and went aloft to find out where she was in relation to Druscilla's estate.

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Akila found that she had drifted down river much further than she had planned; none of the area around her was recognizable. But she certainly didn't consider herself lost; she had no doubt at all as to the direction she had come from. She began to fly up river, staying high enough to have a good view of the countryside.

In the fields below her she could see laborers gathering in the harvest. It was obviously a good harvest, and if her fall into the river, along with assorted bruises and sore muscles, had anything to do with that, Akila was glad of it.
And who's to say that it didn't help the harvest? There's certainly no way to prove it either way, and I do know that magic exists and works
.

She flew slowly, since her muscles were protesting her attempts to use them. It was infinitely easier to be a fish floating down river than a bird using its wings to stay aloft—or even a human walking around. But no doubt she would recover her strength in a few days.
Some food would help too
, she thought, suddenly aware that she hadn't eaten anything to speak of in days.
But I don't dare eat now; I'll have to change back soon, and I don't want a repeat of what happened the time I ate in wolf-form and then changed back. Well, maybe just one mouse....

She ate three of them before her stomach stopped aching, and she was convinced that they were the most delicious things she'd ever eaten in her life. Darkness had fallen when she was done, so she found a suitable tree to spend the night in.
This way I'll have time to digest the food, and besides, I don't think Druscilla and Briam want me bursting in on them in the middle of the night
.

She woke at first light, feeling less hungry than the day before, but much stiffer—she would have sworn that every feather in her wings had petrified.
Well, waiting won't make it any easier
, she thought, forcing her wings to beat and carry her aloft again. After a few minutes it hurt less, but she was still conscious that she wouldn't be able to go on for much longer in this form.

Fortunately she was beginning to recognize landmarks, and soon she reached the point where the road to Druscilla's estate branched away from the river. There was a rider on that road, and even from Akila's height she could see the uniform of one of the Queen's guards.

Coming to tell me that Briam's dead?
Akila forced an extra burst of speed from her tired wings so that she would reach the estate first.
Now where did Druscilla put my clothes?

The servants were up and beginning their daily chores, and Akila could hardly land in the middle of the courtyard and turn into a naked human, so she went in the window of Druscilla's room. She hit the floor with claws outstretched, changing as she landed. As she rose to her feet, the bed curtains were pulled aside from within and Briam looked at her crossly.