The Last Druid (2 page)

“She
spends more time on your sisters, eh?”  Marrin looked highly skeptical.

“That’s a severe understatement,” she said with a bit of a laugh.  “She spoils them so much it’s sickening to watch
; even they can’t stand it.  No wonder they ask me if they can tag along on market—they want to get out of the house and away from her as much as possible.”

“Your father still supports you then?”

“Oh yes, without hesitation.  I don’t call him the ‘Voice of Reason’ for nothing.  Last week she told me right to my face that I spent all my time with lowlifes, that I was a whore and a disgrace to the family, and so forth.  Father happened to walk in at that moment, and he went and reprimanded her for it with volume and language that could’ve frightened the dead out of their graves.”

“How
he’s been able to maintain his sanity all these years while living with her is beyond me.”  Marrin shook his head.  “How he’s been able to just live with her is beyond me.”

“He thought she might have been drunk
when she said it; apparently she told him later that she went for only a sip of wine from one of the barrels in the cellar and it went on from there.”

“I doubt that, since she says similar things to you when she’s
perfectly sober.”

“Imagine, though, being
treated like that by someone who holds a grudge against you for no good reason.  I don’t think anyone around here understands her reasoning.”

“Heck, anyone would say you’re one of the best people around
without hesitation.”  Marrin’s smile was back.  “Besides, if you weren’t, you wouldn’t have so many friends looking out for you.  I mean, I was probably the one who gave you the best advice when you needed it.”

Cal
la punched him playfully in the arm.  “Best advice, huh?  I seem to remember an instance back when I was eleven where you told me I could win the endurance race if I took a shortcut that happened to cut across a bog; I ended up sinking to my waist in mud thanks to you.  Lucky for me Kira happened to notice me fall in and ran over to get me out, else I’d probably still be there right now.”

“Speaking of Kira, are you still going to join us and the others down at the tavern tonight?”

“What, you think I was out looking for an excuse not to go?  Kira made me promise to be there for when you two make the big announcement.”

He seemed
genuinely shocked.  “How’d you—”

“Kira told me herself, genius.  She doesn’t believe in keeping secrets from me.”  Kira and Ca
lla had grown up together and were incredibly close friends.  Calla wasn’t jealous about Kira falling for Marrin; Kira was probably the best match for him, as she was able to help him get back under control whenever he got a little too dramatic.  “Don’t worry, I’ll act surprised like everyone else.  But I promised Kira I’d be her moral support if she got nervous, so I’m not planning on missing it for anything.”

“All right then.
”  He was overly lively again.  “See you at the party then?”

“Do you have a heavy wax buildup in your ears?”

“All right, I’ll see you later!”  Marrin turned and started dancing down the street the way they had come.  Calla stood for a moment and watched him go before turning to head for home.

“What a
clown,” she said to herself as she walked away.  “Kira’s definitely going to have her hands full with that one.”

Calla and her family lived on the outskirts of the city.  It was a nice, quiet spot close to the eaves of the Canu Forest away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life.  It had two floors, lots of wide windows, and a very large garden full of various flowers, trees and shrubs.  It was a lot of space, more than the family needed, but none of them complained.

Ca
lla opened the gate and walked up the front path.  A few vines and a couple weeds stood out of place, but she wasn’t going to worry about that right now—she’d pull them out later, maybe tomorrow.  The sun was already starting to dip towards the horizon behind her, and she should probably get changed for the party.  She was still in thought when two small figures darted out from the bushes to her left, almost crashing into her.

“
Ouch!  What in the—oh, it’s you two.”

Her half-sisters were beaming as they looked up at her
.  Mia was the older of the two at ten years old, but was quite small in stature for her age.  At eight years old, Melna was taller than her sister and quite slender, but was very shy.

Ca
lla patted both of them on the head.  “Seriously,” she said, “don’t just jump out like that without warning.”

“We’re sorry, Calla,” said Melna.  Without waiting
the two girls turned and skipped up the main path to the door of the house.  Calla followed after them slowly, shaking her head.  They were at the right age for causing mischief, even if they were girls.

Suddenly Ca
lla stopped.  Her body immediately tensed as the sound of voices reached her ears.  These weren’t voices she knew—the pitch was too low to be the girls or any of the other children, and definitely too high to be someone else she knew.  The thing was there was no wind blowing this time.  She started thinking about what they could possibly be as she continued to hear them over the other evening noises.  The voices seemed to be a little chirpy, like the songs of birds…

Night’s coming—it might be cold.

Calla struggled to keep her nerves steady.  Crickets…She shook herself awake and ran the rest of the way up the path and inside the house.

III

Mika

Mika stared out the kitchen window at the three girls as they gathered at the end of the walkway.  She could feel the corners of her mouth pulling down; she didn’t like this. 
She glared at the red-haired girl standing with her daughters, the monster, the one that would destroy everything that was promised to them.  Mika cringed as her stepdaughter touched the heads of the other girls, who promptly gave a small hop before running up the walkway.  She ducked back behind the curtain so she could still see without being seen.

What did her girls see in that…thing?  Mika scoffed quietly, grateful Morlan wasn’t there to see her disgust.  He hated it when she said or did anything against his firstborn child, and
he didn’t hesitate to make the fact known.  She could still remember the time she called the girl a drunk and a whore; after Morlan cursed at her she used drinking as an excuse and barely managed to save herself.  Things like that he couldn’t stand.  He stubbornly defended that girl, showering her with more affections that should have been given to his younger daughters—
their
daughters.  He didn’t care about how she felt about it, refusing to see that he was protecting a nightmare.

But worse, the children of her flesh and blood didn’t care
either.  They never saw their father keeping all attention and favor from them deliberately, just to spite their mother.  They were completely blind to their half-sister’s true identity.  They didn’t care—they interacted with the girl constantly, loving her, their strange fascinations with her growing stronger when she gave them love in return.

Mika turned away from the window as her girls came running up to the house, unable to bear looking at
the scene anymore.  They should have been more like her: strong, gifted, able to see the truth about their half-sister.  They had less of her, and more of their father’s blood in them instead—they had inherited his blindness.

Perhaps she shouldn’t blame him so much for it. 
Morlan was the girl’s biological father—the parental bond that held him to her was too strong for him to ignore.  Whatever Mika said to try to convince him she was right would fall on deaf ears.  He saw only his child, and would defend that girl despite what was hiding right under his nose.

Mika quietly walked out of the kitchen
and down the hall, turning in to the sitting room and heading over to the large loom standing at the far wall.  She sat down before it, running her fingers over the rough strings of twisted wool as her agitated brain kept up its course.  Her stepdaughter was clever, charming everyone she met so they wouldn’t suspect anything about her nature.  She had to know she was gifted, though if she did it was to be hoped that she wouldn’t know how to truly use those gifts.

Ca
lla was a monster in disguise, a demoness that sought to destroy the new world foretold in the prophecies of the ancient days.

Mika knew it—she was the only one
here who had this knowledge and could take action.  But as a result she was left to act on her own.  No one else believed a word she said, so entranced were they by the girl.  There was no doubt she had always been that way, rather than being taken by some other creature.  That power she possessed was strong, growing stronger every day.

The shuttle flew back and forth between Mika’s hands; she hated weaving, but it was the only thing that could he
lp her think at times like this without raising her husband’s suspicions.  She heard Mia and Melna run down the hall towards the back door of the house, probably to play in the back yard.  She gathered a few strands of yarn in her hand.  Her stepdaughter was elsewhere in the house, hiding, probably for her own safety.

Mika scowled deeper. 
The little enchantress had to know she was on to her by now.  Why else would she be so determined to keep to herself most days?

Still, Mika had to smile.  Her day was coming, her chance to reveal to the world the secret the little witch kept hidden for so long.  Her master had given her the authority to take action herself when the time came: the girl had to be eliminated.  She was a threat, a force that could destroy everything they were working for if she was allowed to live much longer.  She couldn’t be harnessed, she was too strong to be contained or controlled by any spell Mika knew.  If there were some
other way they could use the girl, twist her to serve their interests, the master surely would have said something long  before now.

The shuttle rattled across again, but this time Mika just let it go.  She felt better about everything already.  Let the girl try her tricks, if she could; her fate was sealed, and by the time she realized she had been caught it would be too late.

Don’t rush it,
Mika told herself.  If she moved too fast she would certainly fail.  She had to take her time with this, to ensure that the girl’s power wouldn’t influence everyone else to come to her aid, especially her father.  Mika would have to be subtle about it, and not just out of choice: her own master preferred that she do everything in her power to turn everyone against the girl first, and then act.

T
hat other window had to be kept open, she knew, but it was turning into the only window.  There was some chance—however small—that the girl would escape the net and come after her.  But Mika would be ready for that moment, that instant where the girl’s overconfidence in herself would lead to her own demise.

Mika stood up and left the loom, crossing the room to sit on one of the cushioned chairs instead.  “Soon, you will see,” she said quietly.  “You will all see.”

IV

Ca
lla

The tavern was probably the best place for getting together with friends—there wasn’t much around town for older children like Calla and her friends to do, so they would come here.  It was a rather small building, with more than a few scars from the bar fights that broke out on occasion.  For some of the more private gatherings, the various owners that came and went had added several private dining rooms in the back; the change in construction was obvious—the dark brick of the old building ended sharply in a line of lighter-toned wood—but the additions kept the patrons coming back.

This wasn’t some formal occasion
like some would expect; that was a good thing since Calla decided to wear her usual fitted shirt, a lightweight tunic over it and pants with her low-heel boots, having nothing else in her closet that she felt would be appropriate.  If there was one thing Kira hated it was a highly formal gathering, with the exception being special occasions like weddings.  She wanted this to be like any other night when they all got together.

Ca
lla wasn’t waiting long.  She was led around tables and stools to one of the back rooms personally by the tavern’s current owner, Etan; his self-given duty fulfilled, he quickly slipped back out into the main tavern.  Calla didn’t really have a chance to notice his departure, for at that moment her attention was caught by a loud shriek, followed by something slamming into her hard.

“You made it!” screeched a voice in Ca
lla’s ear.

“Calm down, Kira!  You do that any louder and you’ll make me go deaf.” 
It was difficult for Calla to get the words out since her best friend was squeezing the air out of her.  “You live only three streets away from me, yet you act like you haven’t seen me in years.”  It took another few minutes before she was able to pry Kira off of her.