Born to Magic: Tales of Nevaeh: Volume I Read online

  Timon remained silent for several long seconds, “Thank you for the trust. We will stay here, on the river, tonight.”

  “I do not want to keep you from your work,” Areenna said.

  “You keep me from nothing,” he stated. “I will heat some food. It has been a long time since the last meal. Then you should sleep.”

  Pausing, he turned to Mikaal. “You walk into much danger, Mikaal. No man has ever returned from the Island.”

  “We will have to change that, won’t we?” Mikaal whispered.

  A short while later, Mikaal and Areenna were alone on the deck while Timon went below to prepare the cabin. “This is fortunate. It will be better to travel by the sun.”

  “Yes.”

  Areenna sent Gaalrie for a final flight around the area. When she saw and sensed all was good and there were no sensations of the darkness pursuing them, she called Gaalrie back. The giant treygone settled onto the railing of the animal pen, near where Areenna stood.

  Leaning forward, Areenna stroked her aoutem’s back. Thank you my sister.

  <><><>

  There was not a single cloud above, and the moon hung low. Stars spanned the sky with such brightness shadows were cast from the trees. Insects chirped their rhythmic nighttime calls. The air was crisp and scents of pine and cedar were strong as Enaid stood on the east tower of Tolemac’s keep and gazed outward.

  Shortly after Roth’s surprising words, he’d asked her to send for her brother, Darb, to sit in their absence, which she’d done immediately. While Darb would not rule as high king, the day to day life of Tolemac had to be overseen, and Darb was well suited to the task. The heir to Brumwall’s throne and brother to Enaid was more than capable.

  She had spent the last hour working her senses, seeking Mikaal and Areenna, trying to locate them, but her powers were not strong enough to find them. Until the two had gone east, Enaid had never tried to push her seeking ability past its limits, but now, with so much danger ahead, she kept trying.

  She suppressed the impulse to stamp her foot in frustration, knowing it was as fruitless as trying to push her seeking, but failure was not something she was used to. How do I find them?

  She laughed and shook her head. She would not give in to defeat. As her father had often said, ‘there is always another way to accomplish a task—always!’

  And for now, she would accomplish what she needed by another means. Turning, Enaid walked along the parapet until reaching the south tower and the aviary. When she opened the cage door, she sent a push to the small gray traimore on the center roost. The bird left the roost and settled gently on Enaid’s forearm.

  Outside again, Enaid transferred the traimore to the ledge while she wrote a note on a piece of fabric she carried in her pocket for just such a purpose. When she finished, she placed the rolled fabric into the leg holder attached to the bird and sent it aloft. It circled once before flying into the darkness, speeding through the night to Aldimor and Queen Atir.

  CHAPTER 20

  AREENNA AWAKENED WITH the first hint of the new day. It took a moment to remember where she was. While she did, her eyes adjusted to the low light in the cabin.

  Sitting, she looked around. Across the cabin, Mikaal’s shadowy form lay within sleeping silks on the cabin floor. But when Areenna rose, he stirred and sat.

  “Morning,” she called.

  “Exactly what I was afraid of.” His voice was husky with sleep.

  “We need to move.” She walked over to where he lay.

  “No,” he said, looking up at her. “We need to take a few breaths before facing the day. Sit and talk with me.”

  Areenna stared down at him then sat next to him on folded legs. “What?”

  Mikaal started to speak, but before he could form the word, an excruciating pain ripped through him. His body arched, spasms ripped through his legs. His body went numb.

  He saw Areenna’s eyes widen with fright. He tried to speak, but could not.

  “Don’t move. Not a hair’s breadth. Don’t speak,” she ordered and bent close to look at the dark, snuck-like thing that had slipped from beneath his shirt and wrapped around his neck.

  Seconds later, Mikaal was unaware of anything other than the blinding, all-consuming pain tearing him apart. He fought this unknown thing and a moment later felt Charka join him and become trapped in what was happening. Somehow, within a hidden compartment of his mind, Mikaal knew if he did not fight with every inch of his strength, he would die.

  “Master Timon,” Areenna shouted even as she heard Charka cry out in pain and saw the kraal lying on the deck through Gaalrie’s eyes, its body arched like Mikaal’s.

  Seconds later Timon was standing above her, bending over to look at Mikaal’s neck. “Damn, a river craget…it lives on blood. Very bad,” he said almost to himself.

  Pulling his knife from the sheath inside his boot, he turned to Areenna. “It has to be taken off. Much longer and he will die. This thing has hundreds of legs. Each one punctures the skin of its victim and injects poison. If we do not pull it completely free, it will keep poisoning him and death is but a short time away.” He placed the tip of the knife next to the craget’s head in preparation for sliding it between Mikaal’s skin and the creature. As he did, the craget pulsed and a band of iridescence flowed from head to tail.

  “Stop,” Areenna commanded. She placed her hand on his forearm. “Let me.”

  Timon withdrew the knife.

  “Be ready. If I am able, you will know when.”

  “Hurry,” he whispered.

  Areenna did just the opposite. Taking a deep breath, she sat back, re-crossed her legs and leaned forward. She took Mikaal’s fisted hand into both of hers, closed her eyes and sent out her thoughts. When she touched his mind, he opened and drew her in. As they joined, Areenna’s back arched and burning lances of pain shot through her. Carefully, she damped off the pain and forced her muscles to relax until she was free of the paralyzing effects. She tried to communicate with Mikaal, but he could do nothing except fight the intense pain attacking every inch of his body, inside and out.

  Carefully, slowly, she blended with Mikaal, letting her senses meld into his skin and then deeper into his veins and arteries until she was traveling through him searching for the entry point where the craget’s head was burrowed into his carotid artery.

  After too many long seconds, she found its mouth and the hair-like tendrils extending into the artery, sucking out Mikaal’s blood while its legs secreted the poison to keep him paralyzed. Areenna took all of this in while she studied the thing, looking for its weaknesses, her sense of urgency growing with each heartbeat.

  Slowing her breathing as much as possible, she surrounded the tendrils with her senses and let herself be drawn into the craget. Instantly, emotions of pleasure and greed overwhelmed her. The taste of Mikaal’s blood and the pleasure of its richness started to consume her. The blood made her body vibrate and flush with warmth. Overwhelming pleasure flowed through every inch of her mind and body, holding her prisoner until she realized she was caught within the craget’s blood lust.

  She started to withdraw, stopped and, without thinking, sent a harsh cold wave of emotion into the craget, attacking it as fiercely as she had the wraith at Tolemac.

  Leaning over her, Timon watched this silent battle, his knife a quarter inch away from the craget, waiting, his attention totally focused on the point where the craget’s head dug into Mikaal’s neck. The instant the craget’s iridescent color went flat, he slid the knife under it and pulled it from Mikaal’s neck. He carried it out of the cabin, to the deck and flicked it over the side.

  When he returned below deck, he found Mikaal sitting up, the bloody pinpricks of the craget’s hundreds of legs a red enflamed band around his neck. “How are you?” he asked the prince.

  Mikaal cleared his throat. “Woozy.”

  “It will take a while for the poison to filter out,” Timon said.

  Areenna remained cross-legged next to Mi
kaal, holding his hand. “We need water…a lot of water.”

  When Timon left to get fresh water, Areenna released Mikaal’s hand, rose on slightly unsteady legs and went to her travel bag. She dumped its contents on the floor and searched until she found the vial she was seeking. Opening it, she sniffed its contents and nodded to herself. She would use the herbs in the vial to make a tea that would help ease the pain and reduce the swelling on his neck as well. Thankfully the bite had closed the instant the craget was pulled free. The herb infused water would flush the remaining poisons from his body.

  Three hours later Mikaal was able to move freely. The pain had eased to a bare reminder of what it had been and the three sat around the table, eating the bread Timon had brought with them.

  “You need to rest here today. Leave tomorrow,” Timon suggested.

  Both Areenna and Mikaal shook their heads. “We have not the time to spare, Master Timon. We are already behind time because of the route we have been forced to take.”

  “Riding a kraal after what has happened…” Timon shook his head with the thought.

  “I will be fine,” Mikaal said. “Charka is an easy ride.” Trying to explain why would be impossible, he knew, so he said no more.

  “You know the animal far better than I,” Timon said. “I still believe your strength more important than the need to regain the time lost this day.”

  Mikaal reached across the table and gripped the river man’s forearm. “I will be fine. There is more at work than can be explained, but I will be fine, of that have no doubt.”

  Timon stared into Mikaal’s eyes. “As you say,” the river man nodded. “Then we had best be moving, the sun is well up and the boats have left to fish.”

  They rose and, as Areenna put their belongings together, Mikaal and Timon went topside where Mikaal’s first action was to go to the pen where Charka was already waiting for him. When he reached his aoutem, Charka nuzzled his chest. Mikaal’s arms went around the kraal’s neck and they stood like that for several minutes while Charka’s emanations soothed Mikaal’s pain-stiffened muscles.

  Less than an hour later, with the sun almost at its zenith and their belongings packed on the kraals, Areenna and Mikaal led them off the boat. On the dock, Areenna turned to Timon. “We cannot thank you enough for your help, Master Timon. Without you…”

  “There is no need for thanks,” Timon said, looking first at Mikaal and then at her. “But you must take care on your journey. If what you fear is happening, there will be those… I am afraid there will be much danger ahead.”

  “We are aware,” Areenna replied softly as she looked up at the river man and saw his eyes turn distant in sudden thought.

  “Until we meet again,” Mikaal said, nodding formally and clasping Timon’s forearm with his hand.

  Timon looked at the prince’s hand and gripped Mikaal’s forearm with his own hand. “May your feet be swift, your sword true and your way safe,” he said in the warrior’s farewell to one who goes into danger.

  <><><>

  Mid-morning in Tolemac was hectic as Enaid prepared to leave. A short message from her mother assured her Darb was on the road.

  Roth left written instructions for Darb for those things that needed immediate attention, and then went to the stables to prepare their kraals and make certain their supplies were set properly. That done, he walked to the barracks, where he spoke to a small contingent of his special guards before returning to find Enaid just arrived.

  While he wore no armor, his longsword hung at his side. Behind their kraals was a kralet—a pack animal smaller and broader than a kraal, used by farmers, merchants, and armies to carry supplies and goods. They had opted for the kralet because both he and Enaid had agreed to avoid towns and inns, just as she had advised Mikaal and Areenna. This kralet was loaded with food, water, sleeping silks, his armor and their personal belongings.

  “We are ready?” Enaid asked when he entered the stable.

  Roth smiled at his wife. She was dressed as he was, in a tunic and pants tucked into high boots. Her hair was pulled tightly back; a smile curved her mouth, denying the tension lying just beneath the surface. “Yes, My lady.”

  Turning, he signaled the two guards who stood to one side. “Take the kralet to the Aldimor road. We will be there shortly.”

  Without a word, the two guards took the reins of the animal and led it out of the stable.

  “Have you received word from Atir?” Roth asked his wife.

  “Not yet. The traimore will find me on the road.”

  “We have one stop to make before we leave.”

  Enaid raised her eyebrows. “For?”

  “You’ll see,” he replied as he mounted his kraal. Enaid stared at his back for several seconds before mounting her kraal.

  Roth led them along the main avenue, to the small shop belonging to Tolemac’s master arms maker. He dismounted and motioned her to do the same. When they entered the shop, the shopkeeper turned and, seeing who his visitors were, gave them a formal head bow before saying, “Welcome, Solomon, Lady Enaid.”

  “It is good to see you, old friend,” Enaid said, grasping his forearm. The man returned the greeting then turned to his bench and lifted a short bow.

  The weapon was carved from the wood of an ebony gazebow tree, and gleamed in the low light of the shop. Its double curved shape was highlighted by the dark wood, and had the look of a powerful weapon. “For you, My Lady, finished this day.”

  Enaid took the bow from him and held it up. It was lighter than she expected. Turning it in her hands, she felt the strength of the wood and knew it was a magnificent creation. She looked at Roth in question.

  “It was to be a present, for your birthing day, next week. But given the circumstances…”

  “It is…wondrous,” she whispered. Her long, slim fingers gripped the leather wrapped center and she drew back the thin string of gut. She felt a vibration within the wood and sensed the bow’s full power.

  “My wife has blessed the bow, My Lady,” the shopkeeper said. “She is an artist with weapons.”

  “Yes,” Enaid said, feeling the power. “Please thank her for me.”

  “I shall. Enjoy the bow; there will no other like it. It is the last of the wood from a tree I cut twenty years ago. The wood has been dry aged since then. I knew not why I had kept that piece until Roth came to me.”

  “There are not words,” Enaid began, placing her hand on his shoulder, “to express my feelings.”

  “Nor is there a need, I see it in your eyes.”

  “Thank you, Master Halan,” Roth said. “Your work, as always, is of great value.”

  “Thank you, My Lord. Enjoy the remains of the day.”

  Carrying her new bow and the quiver of arrows, Enaid smiled broadly at her husband. “You do have a way of warming a woman’s heart.”

  They both laughed as the door closed behind them. “Would you have expected something frilly for a gift?” he asked. “Perhaps a flowered basket of fruit? Or perhaps you wanted sparkling jewels?”

  “The fruit perhaps, but what use have I for the jewels?”

  He smiled and offered her a hand to mount her kraal, which she rarely accepted but did so then. “No, I learned my lesson about jewels a long time ago and have no need to be reminded of it again.”

  “Good,” she said as he mounted his kraal. “Are we ready now?” she asked, a single eyebrow arching skyward.

  “We are, My Lady,” he replied with a smile that did not betray his writhing emotions. For days a premonition of impending dangers had been building. The need to go east, to be ready, to be available to help his son and Areenna, had become overwhelming. His only hope was to be in time.

  <><><>

  Sitting before the fire Areenna stared into the flames. It was dark; the moon was a quarter into the sky. Mikaal slept in the lean-to behind her, getting the rest his overworked body so badly needed.

  It had been close to sunset when he had called a halt to their riding. They�
��d crossed the border of Northcrom into Aldimor and a short while later had reached the point on the old road where it turned southeast. During their ride, they had passed only a few lone travelers, none of whom had shown interest in them.

  Flying above, Gaalrie had found a safe place to camp for the night off the road within a stand of trees. “How are you feeling?” Areenna had asked when they’d reached it.

  “Very tired, but I am better. The poison is gone.”

  “A full night’s sleep will fix the rest,” she had said, “along with another cup of tea.”

  They’d entered the open area within the trees and looked around with the help of the few rays of remaining sunlight. Areenna had cast her senses about to make certain there had been no one nearby. “It’s safe here,” she’d declared.

  When Mikaal lowered himself from Charka, she’d watched him grasp the saddle to steady himself and had seen just how weak he still was. She’d looked up at her aoutem and sent a thought. Gaalrie had wheeled in the air and voiced a sharp cry.

  “Let’s get ourselves settled and a fire started,” she ordered, knowing he would fight her if she’d asked him to sit and rest while she set up camp.

  By the time they had everything ready, Gaalrie had returned with a rabt for dinner. After they’d eaten, Areenna had forced Mikaal to the lean-to and into the sleeping silks. He’d protested, but barely as the exhaustion from the poison and the ride had taken control and led him into a deep, recovering sleep.

  Areenna blinked herself back to the present and looked away from the fire and at the sky. Threads of wisp-like clouds so thin the stars shone through them floated above. She wondered how the evil could threaten them all and gain strength within the beauty of Nevaeh. Why? She asked herself, not for the first time.

  Then she reached outward with her senses, seeking any touch of the vileness they were trying to evade. For as far as she could reach, she found nothing, and in the finding, was able to relax enough to attempt to learn and study Ilsraeth’s gift.