29. Kit Broken Spells and Promises
Kit: Broken Spells and Promises
It was a dream Kit sometimes had where he knew he was dreaming, but he didn’t know how to get out of it. He’d found himself back at the river where he and Nelle had run into Gisborne and Scarlett, but this time, he couldn’t move his feet.
Voices he recognized but couldn’t name called to Nelle, and, looking in her eyes, he knew that they’d entranced her. He called her name, trying to break the spell they’d put on her, but she didn’t seem to hear or see him. She moved forward, as if pulled by an invisible string.
When she came to the water’s edge, he hoped that she would stop.
However, she kept moving, the water soaking the woolen gown she wore.
He called to her, begging her to come back to him, but she didn’t appear to hear him.
She kept walking. The water went over her head, and he screamed her name repeatedly, praying that she’d come back to him. She didn’t resurface.
The scene shifted, and now Kit was back in his bedroom.
He wasn’t alone, though. Nelle was there.
Pain wracked her face, and he longed to smooth it away, but he felt powerless.
She moved to the bedside, reaching for him, then pulling her hand back at the last minute.
Tears streamed down her face as he rolled over to face her.
For one blessed moment, Kit thought he’d wake up.
But he didn’t. Instead, he heard her whisper, “I will love you until the day I die. Goodbye, sweet prince,” before leaning forward and kissing him lightly on the forehead.
With those words, she turned and fled the room.
With a gasp, Kit’s eyes shot open, the remnants of the dream still lingering in his mind. He searched for the source of his sudden awakening and shifted in discomfort. He sensed that someone had been in the room just now. Was it Nelle? But why?—
Tingling all over his body startled him, like pins and needles that occurred when his foot fell asleep from sitting in a contorted position for too long.
He groaned, trying to get the discomfort to go away, but he couldn’t.
Slowly, with great difficulty, he forced his eyes open, and, to his surprise, he found his entire body was glowing gold.
“What in Afeyra—” He mumbled, but then the discomfort intensified, turning to pain, as the scales that had covered his entire body quivered and fell off.
Kit shouted in pain at the sensation, and then, as suddenly as it had started, the frisson stopped.
He lay still for a moment, trying to catch his breath before raising his hands to look at them.
They were no longer cruel dragonish talons.
He now had his own sun-bronzed skin and muscles, his talons traded for fingers. His spell had broken.
His hands fidgeted, turning this way and that as he tried to comprehend his transformation with a deep, shaky breath. “What? But how—” As soon as the question had left his mouth, he remembered the dream that had taken place in his bedroom. It hadn’t been a dream, he realized. It had been?—
“Nelle.” Kit threw back the covers and tried to propel himself out of bed, only to trip and fall, his body unused to the change in his center of gravity.
The door to his bedroom burst open and Kemma flew inside, with Zunig fast at her heels. “Kit! There’s—Who in Sheul are you?” the tressym demanded.
“It’s me. It’s Kit,” he said, panting as he tried once again to push himself to his feet.
“No, you’re not,” Kemma spat. “Kit is seven feet tall and a half dragon. You’re maybe six foot two, if that, and you’re definitely human.”
“It was Nelle. She broke the spell,” Kit said as he finally clambered to his feet. “It’s really me, Kem.”
Kemma frowned. “What? But that’s impossible. She did not know how?—”
“I don’t know how she did it, and at this time, we don’t have the time to question it,” Zunig said. “My liege, she’s gone.”
Kit’s world spun, and he had to sit down on the edge of the bed. “What? When? Why?”
“I don’t know why, your highness, but I saw her go. I do not think she remembered I was on guard, but I saw her leave through the front gate and head west. You said that was the way of the camp she came from, correct?” Zunig asked, his eyes glowing with bluish energy.
“The camp. She’s turning herself over to them,” Kit said, smacking himself in the head. He surged to his feet and started for the door. “I’ve got to stop her. I’ve got to go after her.”
“Er, dressed like that?” Kemma asked, eyeing him doubtfully. “You might accidentally frighten her off.”
Kit glanced down at himself. He was clothed only in a loose pair of breaches, ones that were barely staying on his body.
Quickly, he searched the room for his tunic, quickly finding it where he’d discarded it before bed.
He had no footwear, but he could create those.
He muttered the spell, and his favorite pair of leather boots appeared. That done, he began tugging them on.
“There. Are you happy now?” he asked once he was sure that he wouldn’t succumb to the elements.
“Not really. I should go with you. Nelle’s not the type to run off in the middle of the night. Something’s set her off,” Kemma said.
Kit shook his head. “I need you to remain here with the children and protect them. If the Sherwood Company’s forces attack the castle, it will be up to you and Zunig to keep them safe.”
Kemma scowled. “And how do you suggest I do that?”
“I don’t know. You’re a powerful tressym.
I’m assuming you can figure it out. But I’ve lingered here too long.
If I don’t hurry, Nelle will be back at the camp, and I’ll have lost my chance to find her.
I can’t lose her, Kemma. I can’t,” Kit said, desperately forcing his eyes to meet hers.
“Please. I can’t bring Hansel and Gretyl into danger, and the only way I can leave them behind is if I know you’re here, watching over them. ”
Kemma scowled but nodded. “Okay. But you owe me, dragon man.”
Kit nodded his thanks. “Protect the castle until we get back, Zunig. Don’t let anyone except for myself or Nelle inside without the password. Which will be ‘tressym.’” He winked at Kemma.
“I understand, your highness,” Zunig said with a formal bow. “I will protect the inhabitants, on my honor.”
“Thank you,” Kit said sincerely. “Tell the children we’ll be back as soon as we can.” Without another word, he spun on his heel and sped out of the room.
“Why would you leave, Nelle?” he muttered aloud as he fairly jogged down the hall. An idea popped into his head, and, before he could stop himself, he took a hard right, making for the Cracked Mirror’s room.
He threw open the door, but when he entered, he found that the room was now half-lit from the light in the hall.
He frowned. The last time he’d entered, the room had allowed no light inside, except for what the Cracked Mirror itself provided.
He took another step inside. The chink of broken glass drew his eyes.
Glancing down, he stared at a semi-circle of glass shards.
Kit bent to pick one up, then stopped. He couldn’t help Nelle if he accidentally injured himself messing with the shards.
Instead, straining his eyes to see through the darkness, he tried to perceive the Cracked Mirror.
Though seeing the broken frame confirmed his suspicions, the chilling, sharp scent of ozone and the scattered fragments of the once-powerful artifact told him all he needed to know about its destruction.
“Nelle…what possessed you to break the mirror, then run? I don’t understand it,” Kit mumbled as he backed out of the room. The only thing he could think of was that Nelle had made a deal with the mirror. But, if that was so, and she’d destroyed it, why had she run?
Realizing that he wouldn’t get any answers wondering in the castle, he muttered a curse and raced down the stairs, taking them two at a time. He had to find her.
The cool of the early winter night hit him like a physical blow.
Other than when he’d been under the Cracked Mirror’s influence, he hadn’t felt the sensation of cold on his skin in nearly two years.
He reveled in the feeling, then gave himself a mental shake.
You can marvel at the change once you’ve gotten Nelle back, he reminded himself. Right now, you need to focus on her.
As he made his way into the forest, he pondered the mystery of why she might have left.
She’d told him she trusted him to come back to her when they’d separated in the hall that night.
And clearly, she wasn’t afraid of him any longer.
From her physical responses, the dilation of her eyes, the way her breath had caught when they were preparing for the spell he’d created for her, he was fairly certain that she was as entranced with him as he was with her.
Even if the words he’d dreamed were just the product of his overactive imagination, he was fairly certain that these reactions were not those of someone who was afraid.
As he went deeper into the woods, he became more and more aware of how badly prepared he was for this situation.
He had no weapon, no form of armor, nothing that he would normally bring along with him if he had to go into battle.
If he came upon anything more dangerous than a chipmunk in these woods, he’d be in trouble.
And that pack of wargs was still out there somewhere.
Stop being a coward, he told himself sternly. It’s not like you wouldn’t face the very gates of Sheul for the woman you love.
Whoa. I love her? Kit stopped in his tracks, pondering the question. He liked her, to be sure. He loved how she cared for the children, how she still cared for the citizens of the Sherwood Company, though they’d mistreated her abominably when she’d lived there. But did he truly love her?
With difficulty, he forced himself to keep moving. He could question his motivations and hers once he got her back. He would not lose her now.
A voice somewhere nearby made him freeze for a moment, then dive behind a tree. “Well, well, well, what have we here? A little mouse, out for a morning stroll?”
“Stop the games, Guy. I know my mother sent you to find me.” Hearing Nelle’s voice almost made Kit cry out.
It was so weary, which made sense if she had traveled all night to get there.
And there was also a touch of resignation in it, breaking his heart.
No one should sound that defeated, but especially not her.
“So she did, Lolienna,” That voice was Scarlett’s, not Gisborne’s. “She’s quite irritated with you, you know.”
“So we’re not even going to keep up the pretense anymore? Did you two know who I was the whole time, and just thought it was funny to watch me wander around, wondering who I was?” Kit smiled at the bite in Nelle’s voice. Perhaps she hadn’t completely given up hope yet.
“No. I didn’t know who you were until we let you go,” Scarlett sneered. “If I had, I certainly wouldn’t have given you over to the beast of Sherwood Forest. My queen was particularly angry with us for that mistake.”
“Well, maybe that will teach you not to play with lives that aren’t yours,” Nelle snapped.
“Doubtful, but you can always live in hope,” Guy muttered. “Come on. We’ve got a long way to go before we get to the queen’s keep.”
“I thought we were going back to camp,” Nelle said, her voice faltering slightly.
“No, Lolienna. We’re going straight to your mother. And no funny business, or we won’t be as nice as we were the last couple of times we’ve met,” Guy warned.
Kit’s fists clenched, and he couldn’t hold himself back anymore. He burst from behind the tree, finger jabbing at the villains like a poisoned dart, the muttered spell a venomous curse born of seething rage.