41. Faylinn
Chapter 41
Faylinn
“ N o! Holt!” I screamed, standing as close to the barrier as I dared.
The rebels holding Holt regained their footing after the sudden burst of wind.
The one holding the knife pulled Holt’s head back, the edge now digging into his neck. Blood trailed down his beautiful brown skin, mirroring the tears tracking from his eyes.
“Deal’s off.”
The blond man and I took steps toward Holt at the same time, but it was a futile action.
“I lov—” Holt’s words were cut off as the man dragged the knife slowly across Holt’s throat, pressing so deep he nearly severed his head from his neck. Blood spurted straight from the wound, hissing as it hit the barrier. All the while, Holt’s eyes stayed trained on me.
“NOOO!” My scream came out a broken plea that morphed into unintelligible sobbing. “Holt! I love you. I love you. Father! I should’ve told you earlier, I should’ve told you earlier. I love you. Holt, Father,” I blubbered numbly and incoherently as I watched his body fall to the ground, his blood pooling to match the stain of the Librarian’s blood from yesterday. Holt’s eyes were open and unblinking, still staring at me as if I was the world.
My breaths were coming in choked gasps, my body shaking. At some point my legs had given out and I was lying on the ground, facing the only parent I had ever known.
Gone. He’s gone.
I woke with a start, my body jumping on the bed in the back of Sharol’s inn. My eyes were gritty and my tongue was heavy. I groaned and rubbed the heels of my hands against my eyes.
Of course I would dream about Holt dying .
I laid still in the bed, taking a moment to gather myself. I was alive, but incredibly drained—so drained that I could barely hear the faint hum of the magic in my blood. Whatever I did to Sol nearly took me along with it. I still had a pounding headache, though I wasn’t sure if that was from the use of my Blood Magic or from the lack of food and water over the last week.
I wasn’t in the worst shape, either. The children were starting to look gangly and bony, some of the women’s faces were drawing gaunt.
We needed food, and quick. I knew that we still had time before people started dying from hunger and thirst—we still had rain barrels in the back we could use for drinking—but it didn’t change the fact that healthy bodies helped fight infection. And we had a lot of infection right now.
I pulled my hands from my eyes, running through my mental list of to-dos.
Find General d’Alvey.
Figure out how long I was asleep.
Get the people food and medicine.
Clear the village.
Find the Librarian’s body.
Find Holt’s body.
The list was endless, and my headache mounted with the vastness of the tasks in front of me. I pulled myself from the bed, knocking my foot against the small crate that held the cactus from Holt and the two books from the Librarian. The crate had sat in here for a week, the books unopened, the cactus un-watered.
Though the cactus looked just fine. I remembered Holt telling me that it was a desert plant, equipped to survive long droughts and intense heat.
Of course Holt would give me a prickly plant that could survive anything . It was often how he described me as I grew up, and I smiled at the memories despite the circumstances .
I tore my eyes from the box and cracked my neck before rising from the bed. I sniffed the shirt I wore and nearly retched at the smell.
When was the last time I bathed? Or changed my clothes?
I reached up and touched my hair, only to feel it sticky and matted, the bun a permanent fixture now.
Great. Let’s hope I don’t have to cut it all off .
I shuddered at the thought.
There was no extra water for bathing and no additional clothes for me to wear, so I kicked the box under the bed, promising to read the books later, when I had time, before leaving the room.
When I had time . I snorted at the thought.
The people in the inn were relatively relaxed today now that the threats of the Warlord’s Mages and then the rebels were neutralized.
How strange that we were once disgusted by the Warlord’s Mages and are now accepting their help .
I chewed my lip at the thought but didn’t have long to dwell as one of the Henshaw kids—Tal, I thought—came barreling toward me, a leather sack clutched in his hands.
“Fay! You’re awake!” The normally reticent boy threw himself at me, wrapping my body in the type of hug only a child could give. I clutched him back eagerly, relishing the warmth of another body.
When was the last time I hugged someone? The morning Ben and I separated . . . My mind trailed off when my heart panged at the thought of Ben. I didn’t want to think about him, not yet, not when I had so much to accomplish here.
“Here! The General brought you back some of the things from your house!” Tal pulled back from the hug before shoving the bag at my chest.
I caught it with an oomph before opening it and peering inside. “No Cotton?” Tal frowned at my question.
“We can cut up our shirts if we need to.” He pulled at his ratty and dirty shirt as an example, and I laughed. A true, joy-filled laugh.
“No, silly.” I ruffled his hair. “My cat, Cotton. I promised him a new book and I haven’t gotten to see him.”
Tal smiled sheepishly. “I don’t know nothin’ about a cat, Fay, but you can ask that General! He seemed to like you. He carried you back here and everything. Set you down in your bed and tucked you all in like a princess or something.”
My cheeks heated a bit at his confession, realizing that the body I burrowed into when I was unconscious was the General’s . I winced slightly and closed my eyes briefly.
“Well, I’m no princess, Tal, but that was really nice of the General, hm?”
He nodded enthusiastically. “Yes! And then his friend Sasori came and played games with me and my sisters. They didn’t really understand because they’re little, but I did because I’m bigger. And then one of her friends came in, I think it was her boyfriend or something, and then his palm got all glowy and now we all feel really happy again! Isn’t it so nice to feel happy again?”
I smiled at his enthusiasm, though I was a little taken aback by his admittance to the use of magic at the inn. “Everyone was okay with that?” I asked hesitantly.
Tal nodded again. “Oh yeah! We all want to feel happy again. Old man Jerome said that it’ll help us all get going and back to our lives again.”
I thought about that for a moment, realizing that Jerome wasn’t wrong. The boost from the Pleasure Magic would inevitably help everyone get moving. If they wanted to clear their village and farms to start over, that was completely up to them.
Tal bounced on his toes, a ball of endless energy, and I smiled softly at him.
“You can go play again, if you’d like, Tal. Thank you for bringing me my bag,” I said, bending to give him another hug. He squeezed me tight before turning to run off.
I smiled as he ran to his sisters and another woman dressed in the black tunic and pants of a Mage. I guessed that was Sasori since she was playing little hand games with the Henshaw girls. I nodded at her in acknowledgment before exiting the inn in search of the General.
My mission was momentarily forgotten, however, when I saw Market Street and the village. I didn’t recognize the landscape in front of me. What was once decimated and reduced to ashes was now cleared of debris, the streets scrubbed of blood, the bodies removed. The villagers were taking stock of their livelihoods, deciding what to keep and what to toss, discussing how to rebuild. And all around, the Mages and Vessels worked with the villagers to repair buildings, wash away the evidence of battle, and offer condolences.
This is not what I expected .
“Fascinating what a little magic and cooperation can do, isn’t it?” the rumbling voice of the General sounded from my left and I jumped a few inches, my heart thundering in my chest.
“Don’t scare me like that!” I yelped, whirling to face him.
A ghost of a smile crossed his face before it was replaced by one of worry. “Are you alright? Saving Sol seemed to . . . take a lot out of you.”
“I’m fine, just overextended myself is all.”
“Well don’t do it again,” he barked and I raised my eyebrows at him in response. He gripped the back of his neck before replying. “I mean, these people need you to help make decisions. It was inconvenient that you were incapacitated for so long.”
“Riiight.” A smile pulled at the corners of my mouth at his obvious discomfort before I mentally slapped myself.
You’re flirting with the General of an army who came in and killed the Librarian in front of you, all while Ben lies dying in a bed in the capital . Floozy. You don’t deserve Ben .
Instantly the smile fell from my face and I took a step back from the General, my blood running cold at the thought. He cleared his throat as if he was going to say something, but one look at my less than inviting posture had him second-guessing.
“How long was I asleep? What’s been done in my absence? Where are the bodies buried? When will you be leaving?” I rapid fired questions at him, ready to put whatever that previous interaction was behind me and get to work for the people who needed me.
General d’Alvey blinked at me a few times, obviously processing my slew of questions before he answered in a clipped tone, “You were asleep four days. Obviously, cleanup has progressed well, people are returning to what is left of their livelihoods and homes, the deceased were identified and buried up there.” He pointed to the hill that I could just see the tip of from where we stood in the center of town. “We will leave as soon as we are no longer needed. Many of my Mages and their Vessels have sacrificed their reserves to help rebuild your town, and they’ve taken some of Lord d’Refan’s own funds to purchase food and other necessities. ”
I chewed my lip as I listened, choosing to look anywhere but at him as he spoke. I didn’t want him to see the embarrassment shining in my eyes. “Thank you,” I murmured quietly.
He gave a sharp nod before stepping away from me, his hands behind his back.
“If that is all?” His gaze was searching, but his tone didn’t invite any further conversation.
I nodded once, folding my arms across my chest as I gazed at the place where I was raised.
Who will stay and rebuild? Will any choose to leave with the General’s men?
As if he heard my thoughts, the General spoke again, though this time his tone was softer. “I don’t anticipate that many will leave here, Faylinn.” My head snapped to him, and he gave a thin smile. “This is their home, reduced to rubble or completely rebuilt, this is everything to them. Many were born here, and many will die here, their children and grandchildren following their paths. It takes an immense amount of courage to separate oneself from their past.” I glanced at his expression, noting the faraway look in his eyes as he spoke.
“You speak from experience?”
“I’ve seen it more times than I can count.”
I nodded at that. He paused before continuing.
“We did find the body of a Keeper buried on the hill next to another fresh grave. The Keeper’s grave was marked, and we reburied his body after confirming his identity. While I don’t agree with the methods the previous Mages used to exact justice, the outcome would have been the same for him.” His tone was hard again and brokered no argument. I rolled my eyes instead. “You disagree?”
“I think there’s a lot of grey area in the world, General, and to simply operate under the guise that Keepers are ‘bad’ and the Warlord is ‘good’ puts the world and our existence into too small of a box. You limit the possibilities of life and provide yourself with only a narrow-minded view. Was he a Keeper? Apparently, yes. But he was also the Librarian—a man who gave without thought of return to those who required it, always knowing exactly what each person needed at any given time. He saved a few babies, like the Henshaw girls, when their mother was too weak to push them out and I was unavailable to assist. He . . . he gave a little girl access to other worlds and information beyond her wildest dreams. Allowed her to question and become curious, introduced her to a mentor who shaped that girl into the woman she is today.” My voice broke at the last part, thinking of all the people I lost in the past week. “So, in answer to your question, General, yes. I disagree.”
The General remained quiet after my admittance. After a few minutes of increasingly awkward silence, he finally spoke again.
“I will not inform Lord d’Refan of the Keeper’s existence here. There could be...further consequences for these people, and I think they’ve already suffered enough.” With that, he turned and stalked toward a group of his Mages, barking orders as he went.
Grumpy git.
I blew a wayward curl out of my face as Tal approached me again. “What did you say to the General to make him so angry?”
I laughed despite myself, and General d’Alvey spun on his heel to glare at me before quickly turning away again. “Nothing, Tal. Just gave him some things to think about. Information can do that to people.”
“You’re always so great at telling us stuff. You’re like . . . smart or something like that.”
I laughed again and ruffled his hair.
“Well, thank you, Tal. Shall we go pay our respects to the dead today?” The boy grabbed my hand, and we walked together toward the gravesite.