Patricia Briggs (32 page)

“Hungry,” gasped Nahag, his voice shaking. “I'm so alone.”

Rook stepped forward, but I raised my palm and shook my head. I wasn't sure Nahag couldn't use the raider for something—I knew I could have. Rook met my gaze for a long moment and stopped.

Nahag still held part of the berserker. I found it mainly because he was trying so hard to hide it. I don't think he understood who was attacking him until I took it away.

He looked at me as if I'd betrayed him. Then he attacked with the remnants of his magic.

Damaged as he was, he was stronger than I, and better trained. And I was so tired. His probings hurt deep inside my head, and all I could do was keep plucking foreign essences off him like a demented cook. One at a time now, because the damage inside of me was growing.

“Finish the job, Aren,” insisted my father, his face stern as he stood above my six-year-old self crying over a half-plucked goose. “Everyone has something to do here.”

I'd dropped my staff somewhere. It was hard to fight off the visions.

I ripped and tore until the only thing left of Nahag's spirit was a shredded, sorry thing—all Nahag without any extra fragments. He'd quit fighting me for the last few pieces; either he was too tired or he just didn't care anymore.

I stopped because I didn't know what else to do.

We stared at each other, Nahag and I.

I don't know what he saw, but I saw what I'd nearly, very nearly, become. He'd been someone's son once, who hadn't had a friend to save him as Kith had saved my brother. He hadn't had Caefawn to teach him.

His cringing soul expanded abruptly within the bonds of spirit. For a brief moment it hesitated, but the fragile spirit could not hold it and the soul drifted away. The spirit lingered an instant, then was gone.

The mage closed his eyes. I looked at Rook and nodded my head. Rook's blade slid into the mage's neck. I wouldn't tell anyone the bloodmage had been dead before the knife slid home. The raiders needed all the credit they could get.

“People,” snapped Wandel. I turned and saw the harper holding his shirt over Kith's abdomen. “If we don't get him sewn up, he's going to die.”

I felt a jolt of incredulous joy that cut through the numb exhaustion and
wrongness
. Kith was alive? I crawled toward them, then remembered Wandel was supposed to kill Kith. I stared stupidly at the harper, who met my gaze and frowned.

“This village needs him.” He sounded defensive.

I smiled at him with sudden euphoria. Wandel wasn't going to kill Kith. Not ever. He knew it, too; I could tell by the self-disgust in his voice. Neither Caefawn nor Kith was dead. At least not yet. There was an awful lot of blood on Wandel's shirt.

Caefawn staggered to Kith, favoring his injured knee. He sat beside the Wandel and touched Kith briefly. Without taking his eyes off Kith, he held a hand back to me. “Aren, I need your help.”

I reached out and took his hand. He stiffened, as he had under the bloodmage's spell.

“Aren?” With the explosive swiftness I'd seen in him before, he turned toward me. The horror on his face made me want to cower away from him, but my body chose that moment to quit obeying me again.

Could he see how close I'd been to becoming something he hated? Could he see the taint left on me? I tried to pull back, but my body moved toward his gentle tug.

He took my face in his hands, and I could feel the touch of his claws resting against my skin. He'd taken his earring back from the bloodmage and rewoven it through his ear.

“What did he do to you?” There was fear in his voice, and something in me relaxed when I saw I didn't disgust him. The familiar grip of his tail reassured me.

My hand reached out and touched his jaw. His skin was smooth against my fingertips. He moved one of his hands from my face to catch my hand and flatten it against his cheek.

Wandel said something I didn't catch.

“I can heal his wound, but I need Aren to mend his spirit. Keep the pressure on
here
, while I try to undo whatever the bloodmage did to her.” But I could see that it wasn't worry for Kith that drove Caefawn.

I'd always thought his flirtation was an attempt to obey the wishes of the mountain. The mountain who wanted him to mate so his race would continue and she wouldn't be alone. Motives I understood, both the mountain's and Caefawn's. I understood about loneliness.

I stood by the too-shallow grave as the men piled half-frozen dirt on Quilliar's body. He'd always wanted to be buried in the winter because winter graves were heaped high with rocks and stones rather than the sunken places where those buried when the earth was soft rested.

Warm lips touched my mouth gently. “No, Aren, don't go away.” I was wrapped in Caefawn's arms, cuddled against his warmth. His skin felt soft against my hands. The warmth of his tail, still curled about my ankle, made me want to smile.

I opened my eyes and saw stark dread in his.
He loves me
, I thought.

And I was dying.

In my haste to regain control of my body, I'd ripped the ties between my spirit and my body. Nahag had already broken the bindings holding my soul. With Caefawn and Kith safe, I lacked the strength to hold myself together anymore. And, like Nahag, soon I would just drift apart.

“If you go,” Caefawn said, “Kith won't live. He needs you to mend his spirit.” His hands moved subtly on my back and neck, giving pleasure. He was doing it deliberately.

“Not just any emotions,” he said with a speculative look, as if he could read what I'd thought about him. “Only things that make your spirit want to stay with your body.”

The soft, fluffy end of his tail caressed my cheek playfully. Faran take it, he knew I'd used the half-frightening desire I felt for him. It hadn't worked as well against the fetch as it had against the ghost. But it left me feeling things that were frightening, embarrassing, and…wondrous.

“Aren.” He crooned my name in a husky voice that spoke of dark nights and shared passion, calling me back. But his eyes were desolate. He believed I was going to die, too.

“What's wrong?” asked Merewich's voice.

I knew I was dying. And I was.

But…what if it was like with the fetch? What happened if I didn't believe it? What if—I thought, settling peacefully into Caefawn's lap—what if I was too stubborn?

Caefawn tucked my head under his chin, presumably because his tears weren't something he thought would hold me, body, spirit, and soul. Listening to his shuddering breath, I decided he was wrong. I would not die and leave the hob alone. Slowly, because it was all I could manage, I pulled a bit of magic from the land and began repairing the damage the bloodmage and I had done. It surprised me how little time it took.

“So,” I said diffidently and a bit hoarsely, “How can I help you with Kith?”

H
ARVEST

A
t Merewich's insistence, Fallbrook held a festival to celebrate the peace between the raiders and the villagers. It was outside the town near an old snag the children decorated with brightly colored scarves.

Tolleck the priest opened the celebration by hailing the rich bounty the land had brought to us and our ancestors. The people caroused, danced, and sang to convince themselves that they'd survived. Wandel sang a lot of old songs praising the earth. The innkeeper played a fine fiddle, and the smith drummed. Poul danced with me.

I
COULD STILL HEAR THE MUSIC, THOUGH THE FESTIVITIES
were hidden by a rise in the land. After happening upon Kith and Danci holding their own celebration, I avoided the private places and walked in the open with a silly smile on my face.

Kith, it turned out, had known from the first that Nahag had not been killed with Moresh because of the connection binding him to the bloodmage. When he'd kissed me in the stables, he'd meant it for good-bye because he knew Nahag was coming. With Nahag dead, Kith's body and spirit mended quickly. He'd been loosening up quite a bit, though I hadn't known how well Danci had been doing with him—hence my silly smile. The hug Poul had given me when we finished the dance added to my light mood. There were still a lot of people looking askance at me, but the death of the bloodmage had done much to raise my status—and that of the raiders. Besides, I had Caefawn.

“'Tisn't exactly what I had in mind,” commented the earth guardian, striding beside me as if he'd been there all along.

“Come, now,” I scolded him lightly. “I just passed two people celebrating earthy things in the most traditional manner, and I'd be surprised if they were the only ones.”

The Green Man laughed—a good thing. I didn't think he was the kind of person—well, elemental, then—to laugh if he were still planning to destroy all the crops in the valley. Caefawn told me he thought the earth spirit might overlook the irregularities in the festival because I had proven the village's good faith by killing the bloodmage.

“We'll do a proper ceremony after harvest,” I promised. “Tolleck is already paving the way for it. If you have any suggestions, I'll be glad to take them to him.”

“Nay, nay,” he said, slowing his stride when he saw me skip to keep up. “I'd rather be surprised.” He slipped me a sly grin. “But I think your fisherfolk better be careful or the river will be jealous.”

I looked at him to see if he was joking, but I couldn't tell. We climbed to the top of a knob of land that jutted above the field of rye and the decorated snag. I found a seat on the ground.

“Are you going to mate with the mountain's servant?”

He didn't look at me when he spoke, his attention on the festivities below.

“If we survive until next summer, I suppose I will.”

I didn't hear him approach, but I was relaxed enough that I didn't jump when Caefawn's hands touched my shoulders.

“Such enthusiasm from a bride-to-be,” he commented dryly.

I widened my smile and leaned back against him. His feathered cloak dropped about me, bringing warmth against the slight chill of the night wind. He crouched behind me, his knees resting lightly against my arms.

“With hobs,” observed the Green Man, “you seldom get exactly what you bargained for.”

“I suppose I'll find out next summer,” I answered cheerfully.

“If you survive 'til then,” added the hob as his tail twined itself about my waist. He didn't sound worried.

I looked across the night at the fires below where the raiders drank cautiously with the villagers. If I let my eyes unfocus just a bit, I could see a few wildlings scurrying about.

“In the meantime,” said the earth spirit, “there's a fetch to send on its way and a troll on Wedding Pass.”

Caefawn sighed in contentment, and his arms slid over my shoulders until they were crossed in front of me and his chin rested on the top of my head. “That sounds like fun,” he said.