Chapter 4 #2
“He has a point,” I interjected.
That earned me a glare from Kason before the witch-hunter regarded the Urgan once more. “You will unhand him.” Power crackled in Kason’s eyes. “Now.”
The dragonet squalled, clearly unsettled by Kason’s show of power. The Urgan smacked it again, hard enough that it nearly fell off his shoulder, and shoved me closer to Kason. “Fine.”
“Aww, Mellak, you could take ’im!” one of the watching traders shouted, cackling.
In response, the Urgan—Mellak—held up a pair of fingers in a rude gesture I was more than passingly familiar with. It had been aimed in my direction many times.
“Carry on,” Kason ordered again.
Grumbling, Mellak climbed aboard his wagon and did so.
“Bye,” I called out cheerfully as we passed. “Try not to be such an asshole in the future.”
Kason jerked the tether. “Can you not just leave well enough alone?”
I widened my eyes innocently. “What? Kason, I thought you knew me.”
“Right,” Kason groaned. “Stupid me.”
Night came. Normally, I would have felt the rise of the Sister Moons, my magic reverberating with their presence, but tonight, the only reason I knew the sky wasn’t empty above the trees’ canopy was the flashes of silver I spotted through the leaves.
I hated these damned bindings.
I knew I had to rest, but vowed to allow myself only catnaps, since Kason crashed so heavily in the late afternoon. Not that I would be able to sleep deeply even if I wanted to—knowing I was our only defense against beasts and would-be marauders would make anyone wary.
I was in the midst of one such catnap when something jerked me awake. I remained motionless, propped against a tree near the campfire, and tuned my ears to the woods around us.
Nothing…which was disturbing in and of itself. There should have been the rustles of nighttime rodents, soft birdcalls, but my sharp ears picked up no sounds other than the gentle popping of the unimpressive fire, intermittent now that it had burned down to little more than coals.
“Kason,” I whispered. I wasn’t surprised when this elicited no response. Kason slept on, oblivious, and unless I wanted to shout or shake him awake, he would continue to do so. Even then, he might not awaken. That was the price to be paid for using Tisin’s stamina potion.
Something shifted over my head. I jerked my gaze up, trying to see into the night-black leaves of the tree, but there was nothing but dancing shadows. Then I heard a soft sound that tickled my memory. Where had I heard that before? No, something similar, not quite the same. It had been?—
A dragonet wearing an iron collar dropped out of the tree and squawked loudly.
“Shit!” I scrambled back, but my movement was hindered by my bound wrists. Before I could even make it to my feet, someone grabbed my hair and jerked me to a halt.
“Ah, ah, no running off now.”
Mellak the Urgan. I hissed as Mellak twisted his grip in my hair and dragged me over to Kason, who slept on.
“Never thought I’d get this close,” Mellak admitted with a grunt. “What’s with him?”
“Sleeping draught,” I said. “Nightmares. You know.”
Mellak scoffed. “Like I thought. All that magic, but no balls to match it.” Still holding tight to my hair with one hand, Mellak pulled out a nasty-looking knife with the other.
“Wait, wait.” I placed a palm on Mellak’s knife arm and gently exerted enough pressure to encourage him to lower it. “He won’t wake up. You have plenty of time to get out of here before he even knows I’m missing.”
“Zat so?” Mellak eyed Kason, then started forward again. “Be safer still just to put him out of his misery now.”
“Except he’s the queen’s cousin!” I lied, almost tripping over my tongue to get the words out.
“I’m kind of his dirty secret. See?” I held up my bound wrists.
“He, uh, enjoys my company, if you know what I mean, but he doesn’t trust me.
But whatever, the queen will still be pissed if her favorite cousin turns up dead.
You don’t want to be worrying about that, now, do you? ”
Mellak glared at me but lowered his knife. “He’ll sleep the night through?”
“He does every night,” I confirmed.
Finally, Mellak put the knife away. “Fine. But if I catch you leaving a trail for him to follow?—”
I shook my head and held up my hands again. “If you free me, you won’t have to worry about anything.”
Mellak grunted and eyed the bindings, lifting my hands up so he could see the underside.
“I don’t suppose your blade is enchanted? That should cut through the bindings like butter.” At least that was the tip I had gotten from another witch-thief a year or so back. I had laughed off the advice, insisting I’d never get caught.
Never say never .
Mellak pulled out his knife again. “The only enchantment it has is to never get dull.”
“That should do it.” I hope . “Get these bindings off me, and I can help.”
Mellak slipped the blade under the leather.
The sharp edge nipped into my skin, but there was no pain—the blade was too sharp.
Blood welled up from the cut, but not so much that I worried.
Mellak worked the blade back and forth, sawing through the leather, and my heart quickened as I saw the bindings begin to give way.
A few more strokes and the strap snapped, releasing my hands—and my magic.
For a moment, I simply closed my eyes and embraced my magic, holding it close, caressing it with mental fingers. I hadn’t realized how empty I’d felt. Now, I was like a mug topped to the brim with ale, foam sloshing over the side.
It was glorious .
Mellak grabbed my hair again. “Come on, then, we’ve got to?—”
My stun bolt slammed into Mellak’s chest and threw him to the ground. He was unconscious before he landed.
I shook my head and rubbed the back of my scalp, where a few hairs had been pulled out. “Thanks,” I said to Mellak’s motionless form. “For reference, I never said I would help you .”
I knelt by Kason’s side and shook him. Hard. “Wake up. Wake up, damn it.” I leaned forward, right into Kason’s face, and gently slapped his cheek. “C’mon, Kason, you need to get?—”
My words were cut off by Kason’s lips colliding with mine.
It took me a moment to understand what was happening—that Kason had reached up, tangled his fingers into my hair, and tugged me downward. I froze—but then Kason’s tongue slipped along my lips, a silent question, and my brain took a holiday while my body answered, More .
Kason tasted like the electric tang in the air before a storm. He tasted like sweet rain, like summer afternoon sun-showers—fresh, invigorating, rejuvenating. I pressed against Kason, suddenly wanting, needing more?—
The dragonet squawked. I jerked back as though Kason had hit me with a bolt.
Kason looked up at me with bleary, unfocused eyes, licking his lips like he wanted to keep tasting me.
“Wake up!” I all but shouted at him, and was gratified to see Kason’s eyes pop wide.
“What?” Kason demanded. His limbs were uncoordinated as he attempted to push himself up.
“That,” I said, waving a hand at Mellak, still motionless where he’d fallen.
“What in the hells’ depths—” Kason blinked. “You knocked him out?”
“Stunned him.” I held up my free hands. “He cut off my bindings.”
“And that’s how you repaid him. Nice.” Kason eyed me. “You didn’t run.”
I started. It hadn’t even occurred to me. Why hadn’t it occurred to me? It had been the perfect time.
Except it would have left Kason vulnerable, particularly if Mellak awoke before Kason did. And hadn’t I vowed to Rhianough in my rant during the storm that I would not leave Kason, even if that made me a fool? It was my choice , damn it.
“I will stay with you until we—you—solve your problem,” I declared.
“My problem, huh?” Kason tilted his head. “Fair enough.” He let out a long, heavy sigh and shook his head. “I suppose we should get moving, shouldn’t we?”
“That would be ideal. I’m not sure how long that stun spell will last.” The dragonet squawked, stealing my attention. “Though we need to free this fellow first.”
I approached the dragonet as Kason got his bearings and sipped his stamina potion.
I was amazed the creature could move with the iron collar so heavy around its neck.
On closer examination, I could see it had rubbed against the dragonet’s scaly skin for so long that it had permanently worn away a portion of the scales.
“Poor thing.” I held out a hand, tentative and cautious. “I’m not going to hurt you, little dragon. Let me see if I can get that collar off you.”
“It’s probably spelled.”
I rolled my eyes at Kason’s input. “No doubt. But it would help to know how, wouldn’t it?”
I whispered the words of a survey spell, much like the one Tisin had cast on Kason, though mine was all about determining the type of magic instead of the type of ailment.
Unsurprisingly, the spell absorbed by the iron had its origins in fire, since fire magic settled excellently into that type of metal.
To craft such a collar, a witch would weave their compulsion magic into a fire spell, then lay the fire over it.
The fire would heat the iron, melding it together with the compulsion magic.
I imagined the witch-hunter bindings were created in a similar manner, probably with water, since leather was more compatible with that element.
At any rate, that meant the spell on the iron was easy enough to break.
I whispered comfort to the dragonet as I focused an ice spell on the metal.
The dragonet whimpered at the sensation of bitter cold, but there was nothing I could do to mitigate the pain the creature had to be feeling.
I could do elemental magic, kinetic bolts, what have you, but healing magic was well beyond my capabilities.
After another few seconds, the collar finally shattered. It crumbled to the ground, and the dragonet shook its head, clearly reveling in the feeling of nothing around its neck. The dragonet ruffled its scales, then chirped at me.
“Do you want to stay with him?” I indicated the still-unconscious Mellak with a tilt of my head.
The dragonet squalled, a low, mournful sound, and edged away from Mellak. A second later, it was airborne, wending its way through the forest.
That done, I extended a hand to help Kason stand. The witch-hunter staggered upward and ended up pressed against my chest. Part of me insisted that I should step back, but another, louder part reminded me of the kiss we’d shared. The amazing kiss.
“Was I…?” Kason caught his lower lip between his teeth. “Was I dreaming? Earlier?”
“Yes,” I said hurriedly. I cleared my throat. “Whatever you think you were dreaming, you definitely were.”
“Was I?”
“I just said you were.”
“You don’t know what I was going to ask.”
“It doesn’t matter. You were dreaming.”
“Mo—”
I stepped back. “Only friends call me that.”
Kason stared at me for a second, then nodded. “All right.”
“And you were definitely dreaming.”
“Sure.” Kason turned and slowly began gathering his bedroll and gear.
“And don’t even think about putting bindings on me again. I’ve given you my word.”
“I won’t.” Kason flashed me a smile. “Besides, I don’t have another set.”
“Oh. Well, good.” I flicked my hair over my shoulder, then set to folding my blanket and putting out the fire.
“Mokido?”
Godsdamn it. I already missed Kason calling me Mo . “What?” I snapped.
“I’d like to dream that again.”
Blushing, I forced myself to not look at Kason and instead headed off into the woods.