Chapter 39
Thirty-Nine
A Friend
I sat on the rocky ground of the cavern, holding two handfuls of fire and watching the light dance on the carved murals over us.
I was sad to look at Nassir, imprisoned for so long.
His form was thin, but not enough to frighten me for his safety.
No thinner than myself most winters. But more nourishment would clearly do him good.
Was this what Mama Flori had seen when she’d looked at me?
Nassir sat quietly while I gathered my thoughts, which I was grateful for.
“I suppose this story starts with me being found in the mountains by a wonderful human named Bryn.”
And so I told Nassir about Bryn. Everything from his charms to his vices and how we went about our daily lives.
Then I told him about Mila. I covered my education with the witches. I talked about the villages, and our occasional trips to Sulls. I covered the uncomfortable memory of setting fire to Mila’s roof when my seal was first released, and then he stopped me to talk more extensively about my seal.
“Do you still have it?” he asked.
“No, it’s gone now. It was removed just before DuVarick’s guards took me,” I explained.
“Ah, and that clears up more of the puzzle. Do you know when exactly it was put on you?” Nassir asked.
“I had it when I was found,” I said. “It was off briefly when I, um, when the fire happened, but it was put back quickly to seal my magic and stop the fire consuming me.”
“Mmm. And this time, when it was removed for good, did you feel any different at the end?”
“At the end?” I thought about it. “I felt tired, I guess. Some things changed. I think I became more fae. My ears grew back, at least, and I feel a little disoriented, even now. It feels as though I’m not in my own body, and I’m still getting used to walking properly.”
“By the Stars, that’s what it was,” Nassir mumbled. “Go on, go on. Tell me how you came to be in the Wyldes.”
Then I told him about Thain. He snorted at the mention of the raiders that had burned Silver Lake and grumbled when the villagers didn’t save me from drowning.
He nodded approval for what Thain had done and listened intently when I described the little outpost I’d stayed at where I’d met Schula and Eberon.
I told him about my time in Thanantholl, the visit to Dwellonmar, and finally I told him about the magic training that had led me to the Winter Lands, where I’d been captured the moment my fire burned out.
I leaned over to drink my fill of water after all that talking. Nassir only sat quietly, contemplating my story.
I kept one hand free to hold fire. I could feel my resources depleting slowly, but I wasn’t ready to give up my sight again just yet. I pulled some more mushrooms free and began roasting them for later while I waited.
Nassir took a piece of plant from the earlier pile and gnawed on it, not really eating it but moving the stem around in his mouth. A fidget, I guessed.
Finally, I couldn’t take it anymore. “Did I say anything that might help you figure out why DuVarick would think I shouldn’t exist?”
“Yes.” He sighed. “Although I don’t want to say until I’m sure of what you are.”
“What I am?” I asked. “What am I? Am I not half fae?”
“Hmm.” He paused. “Let me try to remember something a little longer. More importantly, little Wren, I don’t think you are half of either thing you thought you were.”
“What do you mean?” I asked, panic rising in my throat. “I’m not half fae? I’m not half human?”
“I don’t think so, not quite,” Nassir said. “But I can’t place one of the scents on you. I know I’ve encountered it on a rare occasion before, but forgive my memory. It has been some time since I’ve encountered much more than this cavern.”
I took a shaky breath. “How would no one have noticed before DuVarick and Asher that I was something other than half fae? How could I have gone until now and not had a clue?”
“The answer lies in your seal. It would seem it suppressed far more than just your magic. You didn’t fully grow into your intended body until that seal was broken completely.
You were so locked down under its influence that I’m sure freeing your magic was quite painful.
I would assume you were so obscured by it that no one was able to detect your true nature.
Surprising, really, that Baeleon or Diamid didn’t scent it out.
A very powerful witch must have sealed you. ”
The breath vanished from my chest. I stared down through the magical fire dancing in my palm. My hands were now free of a few small scars I had gotten over the years, and it was unnerving to see my skin so empty of them. My fingers even felt a hair longer.
“What else could I possibly be if not human?” I mumbled, then I gasped. “I’m not something horrid like that unseelie wraith creature, am I?”
“I don’t think so, although I don’t know what creature you speak of.
But I’m growing more and more certain, with more and more dread in my belly, that I know one of your parents,” Nassir said.
“You have told me an important story, Wren. Now I’ll tell you an important story, and after both our stories have been told, I think we can give each other some answers. ”
I didn’t know what answers I could give him, but I burned the fire in my hand a little warmer, ready to settle in and hear his tale.
“A long time ago, when I knew the warmth of the sun on my face and the snow under my feet, I was the son of a farmer,” Nassir began.
“My father was forever butting heads with me over my carving. I would dig designs in our furniture, the windowsill, the doorframes. I would even draw designs in the dirt with rocks or sticks when I was supposed to be watching the goats. He never understood, and I never accepted the life of a farmer.”
I gave a small smile. Bryn had done both, and he’d loved his life well. Woodcutting by day and carving by night. I wished Nassir and his father had considered that an option, rather than fighting over it.
“It went on like that for at least a century. I traveled a bit here and there. A few months in the Summer Lands. Too hot for me, but the flowers are beautiful. I spent time in many parts of the Wyldes, but I always came home. Anyway, my days were growing stagnant again, and my father and I’d had just about enough of each other, when I felt an odd sensation.
A pull, as it were. Something in my bones ached, like they knew a storm was coming, but I wasn’t afraid.
If anything, I was excited. So once again, I left.
This time, I had a direction and a feeling, and I made my way to Icehold. ”
Nassir coughed and leaned down to drink. He was probably going to need several water breaks. I doubted he’d spoken out loud to himself in the darkness, and his throat probably wasn’t used to so many words at once.
“I arrived in Icehold, and it took no time at all to run into a young male with piercing blue eyes. I have forgotten much of what he looks like over the years, but I will never forget those eyes.”
“DuVarick.” I shivered. I had seen those eyes too. I wondered if they had always been so heartless.
Nassir gave a sad smile. “His father was already dead, and he was the new chosen ruler of the Winter Lands. The magic of the lands chooses who sits upon the throne, so this place must have seen something great in him at the time. A balancing of his father, perhaps, or none remaining within Icehold worthy enough to take the crown. His mother and uncle acted as regents until he came of suitable age, or so was their excuse. Personally, I can not believe you could be chosen to guide any corner of the Wyldes if not ready, but in grief and upheaval, DuVarick allowed it. You can imagine our surprise when we found ourselves running through the streets, searching for something but not knowing what, and bumping into our triquetram in the middle of Icehold.”
I gasped. “You’re his triquetram? And he imprisoned you?”
“Slow down now, I’m not to that part yet.
We’re still at the beginning, when we were young and optimistic, out to make a change in the Wyldes,” Nassir said.
“Now, before, when I said I doubt anyone knows I’m still alive?
I’m not certain of that. I know that I can tell DuVarick is alive, but he has not desired to see me in years.
I fear by now he is so consumed by his own lust for power that he has all but forgotten that a string of it is attached to me. ”
I ached for Nassir. Watching Schula and especially Eberon while Thain was off at the borders had been hard; I couldn’t imagine being imprisoned by your own triquetram. It must have been heartbreaking.
“Years passed, and DuVarick was properly crowned. It was a ceremony for the show of it, as by that time everyone had fully accepted him as the ruler of these mountains, and they loved his power. His power was their power. Icehold was stronger under him than it had ever been, and it grew. The Winter fae had never accumulated in such mass before. Unlike the other courts, Winter was an isolated land. Pockets of fae would live where they could, but the mountains are harsh, and the unseelie creatures that live here are deadly. Under his aggressive push for advancement, Icehold hungrily carved itself from the mountains around it into a large city. It was a time for inventors and builders of tools to thrive. We used to spend a fortune to buy food from the other lands, but DuVarick demanded we find a way to farm crops and not just livestock. He demanded it, and his people found a way. He demanded strong buildings, innovations to improve daily life, and combat prowess. His army grew strong and went on regular hunts to cut back the unseelie in his lands. Yes, DuVarick was well loved. At least, for a time.”
Nassir wheezed and drank deeply from the water again.
“Nassir, if you need to take a break, we can.”
“No matter what wrongs he has committed, he is still my triquetram. My responsibility. And I’ll have his story told. And mine.”