Chapter 8
They slowed down as the glowing ball left the road and headed into the woods on their right. They’d barely moved into the woods when the brush and trees became so thick that they were forced to dismount and leave their horses behind.
Gisela cursed as she ran through spider webs.
Pulling her to a stop, Xaydin helped her wipe them away.
“I hate these things!” She shivered in revulsion.
“Not as much as you should.”
She scowled at his odd words. “Meaning?”
“They’re enchanted to let someone know we’re here.”
Her stomach sank. “Wait? What? Seriously?”
Xaydin nodded. “They’re a unique species that only lives on this island. It’s one of the reasons the ataswere claimed this place as their own. Their webs form a conduit and the ataswere can monitor it.”
“Couldn’t they find something better as a warning? Like an infectious disease?”
He snorted. “Given everything I’ve learned about you so far, I wouldn’t have taken you for an arachnophobe.”
She should probably be offended, but she recognized the fact he was teasing. “We all have our secrets,” she said flippantly. “And our rational fears. Spiders are evil things best left far away.”
There was an amused glint in his eyes that warmed her a lot more than it should. He was such a handsome beast. Terribly so.
And that thought had barely gone through her head before an arrow went whizzing past her face. One so close that it barely missed hitting her.
To her even greater shock, Xaydin caught it and turned quickly in the direction it’d come from.
“Show yourself,” he growled.
Another arrow flew at them. Xaydin used his powers to create a large wood shield to catch it. The arrow landed in the center of the shield with a loud twang. He handed the shield to her, then put his hands together and made a pushing movement. The moment he did, she felt the air around them shift.
A few seconds later someone cried out.
Xaydin rushed toward the sound with her and Masakage hot on his heels. She wasn’t sure what they’d find until they broke through the thick growth to see an ataswere writhing on the ground.
Completely bald like the others she’d seen, the ataswere was at least seven feet tall with giant, bat-like wings. Writing covered every single inch of his body, including his eyelids and tongue.
He gave Xaydin a harsh, accusatory glare. “What did you do to me?”
“Returned your fire.”
The ataswere was indignant. “I shot arrows at you! This is far more painful!”
Xaydin snorted as he created a bow and nocked an arrow. “Shall we compare the two and how much pain each one causes?”
“No!” The ataswere held his hands up to shield his face. “I’m in enough pain. I’ll take your word for the rest.”
Just as Gisela expected Xaydin to fire an arrow anyway, he lowered his bow with a frown.
She was just about to ask him why when he spoke. “How old are you, boy?”
The ataswere froze at his question. With a panicked expression, he glanced about their group. “What does that have to do with anything?”
Xaydin let out a long, exaggerated sigh. “I don’t kill children.”
Gisela scowled. “What do you mean?”
He jerked his chin toward the ataswere. “He’s a kid. Fifteen, maybe sixteen years old. Far too young to be the one we’re seeking.”
With a gape, she turned toward the ataswere. “Is he right? Are you that young?”
“I’m old enough to have contracts!”
“But you don’t.” Masakage snapped his fingers and all the words disappeared from his flesh. “They’re all fake.”
“No!” the ataswere cried. “Put them back! They’re mine!”
She exchanged a shocked stare with Masakage. “How is this possible?”
He shrugged.
Xaydin wasn’t so kind. “It’s baby school magic. They occasionally masquerade as each other to protect themselves or others. Who told you to duplicate the contract between King Dash and Queen Meara?”
The young ataswere stared at him sullenly.
Using his powers, Xaydin lifted him up from the ground. “Do I really have to slam you down until you bleed? I’m really not into child abuse, but if the occasion calls for it, I can rise up when needed.”
The ataswere squirmed and growled in frustration as he realized that he was at Xaydin’s mercy. With one last glare, he whimpered, then stopped fighting. “Fine. Saress did it. I’m old enough and I can make my own!” Spoken in the tone of a surly teen.
Xaydin smirked. “And have you?”
The boy actually pouted. “They keep telling me I’m too young, but I know I could do it. If only someone would give me a chance. Saress gave me copies to shut me up. But I’m old enough. I know I am!”
Sighing, Xaydin shook his head. “Take your time growing up before you start courting someone like me who will most likely end your life because someone contracted with another to get their back scratched.”
That only made him angry again. “I know how to fight.”
Xaydin gave him a droll stare. “Ambushing someone isn’t fighting.”
Growling, the youth charged at the invisible wall that held him.
“Rage doesn’t win battles, my young ataswere.” He turned toward Masakage. “Release him.”
Masakage hesitated. “He knows where Saress is.”
That got Xaydin’s attention. “You sure?”
Masakage nodded.
The ataswere backed away from the invisible wall, but he couldn’t go far before he hit the one behind him that kept him in place. Realizing he couldn’t escape, he paused and became brave before their eyes. “I’ll take you to him…on one condition.”
By the look on Xaydin’s face, she could tell he was tired of bargaining. “And that is?”
“Each of you has to make a contract with me.”
“Hell no.” Xaydin’s tone was flat, but his eyes blazed with anger.
Gisela wasn’t so fast to dismiss his earnest request. “What makes a contract? How precise does it have to be?”
The boy shrugged. “It could be anything. A promise that you won’t insult each other to…” He shrugged. “Anything really.”
“That doesn’t seem so hard,” she said to Xaydin. “Why not do it?”
“Because if you contract to eat vegetables every day and you don’t, little guy over there will hunt you down and kill you.”
That left her with one major question. “How does he know if you don’t abide by it?”
It was the ataswere who answered. “It’s a spell. When it’s broken, my skin burns and the signature of the party violating the contract lights up. It’s actually quite painful and it won’t stop burning me until I kill the offending party. The longer it takes, the more the contract burns.”
Oh. That sounded awful. Much worse than the problems she dealt with. “Then why do you want a contract so badly?”
“I’m an ataswere,” he said simply. “If you don’t bear contracts, you’re an outcast. I want to be respected by my people. The youngest ataswere to bear a contract was only nine years old. I’m fifteen. If I don’t have my own contracts by the time I turn eighteen, I’ll be driven off our island.”
“That seems harsh.” And reminded her far too much of how her own mother had treated her.
Earn your keep with me or go beg or whore in the street. Make a choice. I don’t care which you pick. But I won’t keep you up for free.
The saddest part? Her mother had meant that.
No, her mother still meant that. It was a harsh reality when you had nowhere to turn, and that made her heart ache for the boy in front of her.
The last thing she wanted was to see him hurt.
“Can’t we help him?”
Masakage shook his head. “I never make deals with other wizards. It doesn’t turn out well to mix magic. Things tend to explode…in more ways than one.”
“Then I’ll make two.” Xaydin’s offer shocked her.
The ataswere was giddy. “What are they?”
“I swear I won’t kill my brother. No matter how much he annoys me.”
Masakage rolled his eyes.
The ataswere tsked. “You have to make a contract with someone for it to involve us. Those are the terms.”
He looked at her. “I promise not to kill Gisela so long as she swears not to kill my brother.”
“Nothing for yourself?” the ataswere asked.
“Don’t care about me. I only want to make sure my brother survives this.”
Nodding, he turned to Gisela. “And you, my lady? Do you agree?”
“Agreed. I promise not to kill Masakage. Not that I had any intention of harming him.”
Xaydin gave her a hard stare. “Today. But things change. Sadly, so do people and their intentions.”
Spoken like a man who knew the same betrayals she did. No one should be brutalized by those who were supposed to protect them. And she hated that he knew her pain.
Trying not to think about it, she turned to the boy. “So what do we need to do?”
Still excited, he pulled a medallion from his pocket. Gold and silver, it held an intricate pattern in the center unlike anything she’d ever seen before. Lines intersected and were surrounded by what she assumed were words in an alphabet she couldn’t read.
The most interesting part was the very center raised slightly to a sharp point.
He held the medallion out toward Xaydin. “Repeat your oath.”
Grimacing, Xaydin made a low growl in his throat before he spoke. “I promise not to intentionally kill Gisela so long as she swears not to intentionally kill my brother Masakage.”
The boy pressed Xaydin’s finger against the point until a drop of blood ran down, across the medallion.
Then, he turned to Gisela. “Now repeat your vow.”
“I promise not to intentionally kill Masakage.”
He pressed her finger against the point.
“Ow!” she hissed as pain went through her entire body.
The boy didn’t react as he watched.
Once their blood mingled on the medallion, it turned a deep, dark purple. As it did so, the blood rushed from the medallion to his finger and then words began to appear on the boy’s flesh.
He hissed in pain, but a slow, delighted smile curved his lips. Elated, he touched the words on his forearm. “Finally!” His eyes shining, he all but jumped in his bliss. “Thank you! Both of you!”
Gisela started to remind him that he’d bargained for another contract from them, but he was so excited that she didn’t want to dampen it with details. Let him bask in this moment. Happiness like that was all too rare in the world.