Twelve - Ranulf
Considering the dayI’d had, the last thing I wanted was to find Grandmother waiting for me on the path to the cottage when I finished laying a false trail for the hunter.
I had woken up with an unexpected smile on my face before I realized I was alone in bed. I wasn’t surprised that Scarlette had woken before me, but that she had slipped out stealthily enough that I hadn’t even stirred did not bode well. Then she ignored me over breakfast.
Clearly, she thought last night had been a mistake.
After that, it had taken too long—again—for me to spot the hunter and lead him toward the mountains. I had spent two days in a row flying for hours, something I almost never did. My wings had disappeared along with my tail, but I still felt the ache of overtaxed muscles. I couldn’t even heal them, since the muscles didn’t actually exist in my human form.
Oh, and I hadn’t eaten anything since this morning, and it was nearing suppertime.
I tried to skirt past my grandmother, but she refused to let me. She pointed toward a different path, one that led away from the cottage. “Walk with me.”
“Nana, I’m tired and hungry.”
“Then it is in your best interest to get this conversation over with quickly. Now, Ranulf.”
I sighed and fell into step next to her. “What did I do?”
“You lied to a very sweet girl.”
I frowned. She had to be talking about Scarlette, but what lie?
“I know you don’t want her to leave,” Grandmother continued, “but that is no excuse. The charm Rosalia made will only last about two more weeks, and it will take Scarlette a week to walk home. Her mother’s health is at risk. That needs to be taken care of before you try to convince her to make her home here.”
I stopped walking. “What are you talking about?”
I wasn’t surprised that Grandmother had figured out that I enjoyed having Scarlette around. But the rest of her admonishment made no sense. I knew Scarlette had to go home. I wasn’t going to try to change her mind. Even before she snuck away from me this morning, I had known I couldn’t pressure her to stay.
Grandmother reached into her pocket and pulled out a simple glass cube. “You lied to her about working on the charm all week.”
I pinched the cube between thumb and forefinger. “This is not sufficient for what she needs. I could spend a month channeling as much node power as possible into this, and it would probably last a year or two at most. At which point Scarlette and her mother will be in the same situation as now, struggling to afford healings that don’t solve the problem.”
Grandmother began to smile. “You are finally using that ruby, aren’t you?”
The gem, carved into a perfect cube, resonated not only with the node’s healing power, but with me. No one knew why some mages worked better with certain gemstones, but every mage could feel a difference in how easily the power adhered to different materials. Any gem worked better than glass, but for me, rubies made the most powerful charms. They weren’t worth the extra expense for most of the charms I made, but for Scarlette? The cost didn’t matter.
My mother had gifted the gem to me years ago. An apology of sorts, one that showed how little she understood my anger. I didn’t want an expensive gift; I had wanted my mother to be there for me as I grew up. I had ignored it for years but had known as soon as Scarlette explained her problem that it was time to make use of the ruby. When I finished, the charm wouldn’t last a couple years, but a couple of decades.
“Of course I’m using the ruby. You didn’t really believe I would lie about making a charm, did you?”
“People make unwise choices when driven by feelings they aren’t used to. I know you don’t want her to leave.”
“What I want doesn’t matter. She has a life to get back to. Her mother. Her job.”
“She isn’t like your mother or sister, you know,” Grandmother said, reaching out to place a hand on my shoulder.
I wanted to claim I didn’t know what she meant, but I did. Nana understood why I was angry at my mother. She felt the same pain when Mother or Rosalia visited. I loved them, but every time they came to Drakona Forest, I was reminded that they’d never stay here. The forest was too small for them.
“She’ll leave too,” I said. “She has to.”
“But she isn’t driven by the need to wander. She wants to put down roots. She yearns for a place to call home.”
I spun away, breaking free of Grandmother’s touch. “She has a home. And it isn’t here.”
She clucked her tongue, the sound a familiar chiding. “The only thing she has in that village is her mother.”
I didn’t answer. I couldn’t. I wanted Grandmother to be right, but even if Scarlette didn’t see her village as home, that didn’t mean she’d want to make a cottage in the middle of the forest home, either. She didn’t even have family here, only me. I wasn’t convinced she wanted more than last night from me.
I wanted to be wrong.
The hard edges of the cube dug into my palm. It was a good thing the glass was solid or I’d have shattered it by now. I eased open my hand and looked at the unused charm. Maybe Scarlette’s mood this morning had nothing to do with regretting her decision the night before. Maybe she had seen the charm and decided, like Grandmother, that I had lied.
I turned and rushed past my grandmother, down the path and up to the cottage.
“Scarlette?” I called as I opened the door. “I need to talk to you.”
She stood at the kitchen counter, slicing bread. She stopped halfway through a slice and looked at me with wide hazel eyes. After a taut moment, she blurted, “Supper is almost ready.”
“Supper can wait.” I was starving, but this conversation was more important. Nana was wise enough to stay in the forest for a little longer, but she’d be back soon. I needed to talk to Scarlette now.
She finished slicing and set the knife down. “What do you need to say?”
I invited her to follow with a gesture and led the way to the sitting area. I placed the clear glass on the top of the tiny table set between the two chairs. Barely wide enough to hold two mugs of tea, the table also had a drawer too small to hold much of anything. I pulled it open and plucked out the ruby.
“This is your charm,” I told Scarlette, handing her the gem. It was smaller than the cube she had given me, but still large enough that I had never dared to ask how much it had cost. “It isn’t done, but I have been working on it.”
She studied the stone, tilting it to see how it caught the light. “This isn’t glass.”
“No. Glass is fine for most charms, but gems work better. I wanted to make sure your charm was as powerful as I could make it.”
She pushed it back toward me as if burned. “I can’t afford something like this! I can never repay you for it.”
I took the ruby and set it next to the glass on the table. I reached out, but stopped when Scarlette flinched. “It’s a gift. You don’t have to repay me.”
I wanted to curse when I heard myself. I sounded angry. I was, but not at Scarlette. No, my anger was directed at a fate that had put her in a position of feeling that she owed everyone, that she was undeserving of kindness.
“It is too much,” she whispered.
“It’s not enough,” I countered. “It still won’t heal your mother, only hold the tumor in check. I wish I could do more, but this charm is the best I can manage.”
I lifted my hand once more, moving slowly, begging Scarlette with my eyes not to flinch away again. I tucked a strand of hair that had come free of her kerchief behind her ear. “Scarlette—”
A bright light illuminated her face, casting her features with a blue tint. “Damn it.” I slapped my hand over the summons crystal hanging from my neck, blocking the glow. There was an emergency in Ortfel. The timing couldn’t be worse, but I couldn’t ignore it. “We are not done with this conversation, Scarlette.”
I lifted my hand, and the light once more shone through my shirt, bright enough to wake a person from a dead sleep. I ran to the guest room and found Grandmother’s basket of remedies. She always brought herbal mixtures when she went to the villages. Healing power could only do so much without overtaxing the body being treated. Tinctures and salves often helped ease the process or offered an alternative to healing the entire injury with magic.
I ran back into the main room of the cottage. Grandmother was already there, her own summons crystal glowing just as brightly.
Scarlette put together a packet of bread and cheese, wrapped in a napkin. When she saw the basket, she slipped it in next to the jars without comment.
“Thank you.” I wanted to reach for her, to pull her close and kiss her, but now wasn’t the time.
I walked over to my grandmother and showed her the basket. “Do you need anything else?”
She shook her head. “No. Let’s go.”
We hurried out of the cottage. I looked back over my shoulder, just before the trees hid the building from view. Scarlette stood in the doorway, watching us go.
“I want you to stay close,” Grandmother told me as we approached a clearing where I could shift. It was a tight fit, but closer than going all the way to the river. “There’s a greater chance of the huntsman seeing you if you fly back and forth. You can wait in the village square until I know how serious the emergency is.”
I handed Grandmother the basket, went behind the tree I had hollowed out here, and began undressing. “You are afraid you’ll need to return for more medicines or charms.”
Grandmother had her eyes on the sky, facing away from the tree where I stashed my clothes and the meadow. “I was in Ortfel for over a week. They had the supplies needed to deal with just about any emergency. They wouldn’t have risked calling us with the summoning crystal unless something terrible happened.”
I walked out to the middle of the field, slipping my necklace off to let it dangle from my wrist. The light had gone out about halfway to the clearing, which was good, since I didn’t need to carry a beacon along, showing the hunter exactly where I was going. I shifted. With a single stomp of my forepaw, I told Grandmother that it was safe for her to look. She joined me in the center of the clearing, and I knelt in such a way that she could use my front leg to climb onto my back.
“Ready,” she called a minute later, once she and the basket were secure.
I beat my wings and took off.