Chapter Eleven
Rast
“That’s not strictly true,” Farren points out, “Fitz knew.” She looks at me, “And so did you. How did you know?”
I tense slightly.
That’s not something that I am willing to share with them just yet. I was hoping that I would be able to hold them off for a little while longer. It’s not a big deal, but it’s rare, and it’s something that I have only ever told one person about, and the secret went to the grave with him.
Farren smiles, understanding flooding her expression, “It’s okay. You don’t have to tell us if it’s not something that you want to tell us. Trust me, we get it.”
“She’s right,” Loki grins, clapping me on the shoulder, “don’t worry about it.”
“Thank you,” I reply, the shock clear in my voice. Because their kindness and understanding have shocked me, I feel inclined to add, “I will most likely share at some point. I can tell you that it isn’t a threat to any of you, it’s just personal.”
Storm nods, “Thank you for confirming that. Honestly, there is no pressure at all.”
I nod.
I’m not sure what else to say to that, so I go back to the previous point: “You could ask Laikynn himself to see if he knows anything, but I would be surprised if he did and he didn’t already tell you.”
“Plus, he has heard us speaking, and he’s not popped out of the darkness to chime in or anything, so either there’s a threat that we don’t know about yet, or he doesn’t have anything to contribute to the conversation and doesn’t think it’s worth stopping protecting us to tell us that,” Farren points out.
“I’m betting on that one. Especially since the ground is just buzzing happily and not in warning. ”
I don’t think any of us know what to do with that because we all fall silent as we carry on walking, lost in thought.
Suddenly there’s a low growl, and we all freeze as Poca melts from the darkness to stand protectively next to Farren. Laikynn is not too far behind him and is equally as tense.
The muttering that has become a constant companion again becomes louder, more frantic, but still completely indistinct, and is distracting me more than anything else.
The whole of my left side becomes cold, like I’m standing next to a block of ice. It’s particularly noticeable since the realm is actually pretty warm at the moment.
I’m not concerned, not about that. I know that’s a fragment of my broken mind, it’s not a threat to me.
It never has been, but that growl says that there is a threat nearby that we need to deal with.
“We’ve got company, moving in quickly from left.
From their scent, they are members of your compound, but considering what you told the others about them, I thought that it was wise that you were warned.
We will be fading into the background, where they can’t find and attack us.
We will be within hearing distance though, so if you need assistance, we will come,” Laikynn explains.
It doesn’t escape my notice that Laikynn wasn’t actually inside when I was talking about the compound, so he either is guessing from the other things that I’ve said about them or he somehow knows exactly what I explained to the others in the house.
Now is not the time to ask him about that though.
“Thank you,” Farren replies and then worriedly adds. “Now quickly, go and find somewhere safe to be. I don’t want any of you getting hurt.”
Laikynn nods once and quickly disappears.
Farren looks at Poca, “You too, go and keep them safe. I assume that Oryn is out there somewhere?”
Poca nods once and then reluctantly agrees and starts to move back into the surrounding darkness. Before he can get too far though, the little creature that Farren calls Meri flaps its tiny wings, launching itself off Poca’s back and then settling itself on Farren’s shoulder and under her hair.
“How do you want to handle this?” Storm surprises me as he asks me.
The cold spot that seems to be following me again practically hits me in the face. I have no idea what the fuck it is, but it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that there’s some sort of warning in it.
I mean, it pretty much slapped me across the face. That’s certainly what it felt like.
I’m going to ignore the fact that the mumbling buzzing, which sounds so much like voices far away and underwater, has also started to pick up again.
Quite frankly, I don’t have time for a mental breakdown, and I am aware that I have been saying that for years.
“Let me do the talking, and whatever happens, do not go with them,” I warn quietly.
I’m not sure why I told them that, but instinct tells me that it’s really important that none of them go to the compound that I came from.
In fact, they are screaming at me, and I’m not going to be stupid enough to ignore them.
That new magic, the one that was gifted to me when they did the ceremony, stirs within me, powerful and deadly.
The compound has been the governing body, the knowledge, and my home of sorts, at least for the entirety of my life, and because of that, I have always held a certain sense of fear toward them.
It’s not respect as such because I don’t respect them or anything that they have put people through, but there has always been a fear of going up against them.
That they are so much stronger than me, with more influence, and more backup and support than I will ever have.
My new magic completely crushes that fear.
I haven’t had a chance to truly explore it yet. I’ve only managed to test it a little bit while I was searching for the team that I was supposed to find, but I know that there is so much more that I can do.
There hasn’t been a true Ferryman for thousands of years, and the knowledge about them has been lost. At least, as far as I’m aware, the knowledge has been lost. I wouldn’t be surprised if it turned out that the compound leaders had all of the information hoarded in their fancy homes and marble-built offices.
“Just to be clear, I can’t kill them?” Farren asks, one of her brows arching in question.
I grin, “No. Or at least not unless they attack first.”
“Let’s hope they try to attack first, then,” she replies simply.
“I’m not risking anything,” Reaper says, his voice dark and full of suspicion. “I struggle to believe that it’s a coincidence that they have found us.”
Before anyone can agree with him, and I’m pretty sure that we would all agree with him, he shifts. We all watch cautiously as he simply steps into the darkness behind Farren.
“Well, that’s new,” Mayhem mutters.
“You mean the cloaking?” Loki asks. He narrows his eyes as he looks behind Farren. “I saw him step behind Farren, and yet I can’t see him at all.”
I am not ashamed to say that I jump when Reaper, or Ryu’s dragon eyes, appear above Farren’s head as his breath moves her hair and she looks up at him with a smile.
The sound of footsteps stops us from asking any questions that we may have, and I watch as Reaper once again disappears completely.
It’s fucking impressive and makes him incredibly valuable in a fight.
Putting it to the back of my mind for a moment, I turn to face the direction where I know they’re approaching from. They aren’t trying to be quiet, which is weird in itself.
They should be moving stealthily in order to avoid being attacked.
The mumbling gets louder, but I still can’t fucking tell what they’re fucking trying to tell me.
I block it the best I can.
I don’t want to risk getting distracted, not in this situation.
They have always felt like a threat to me.
Even when they were being perfectly nice and helpful, I still didn’t trust them.
Although it probably didn’t help that those moments quickly became few and far between as I grew up, and my magic grew with me.
The funny thing is, I’ve hidden most of it from them.
That feeling of utter distrust is now tenfold.
There is absolutely no way I could talk myself out of thinking they’re a threat, not like I used to do.
Plus, if I’m being completely honest with myself, I will not risk Farren.
I don’t know what to do with that. Thankfully, I don’t have to think about that for any longer because the voices of the compound guards reach my ears, accompanied by the sound of their stomping feet, which reached us first.
The fact that they are guards concerns me.
Although perhaps it shouldn’t. They couldn’t send civilians. They aren’t trained or equipped to handle the darkness. Only the guards are.
And me.
But I’m only trained because one of the guards trained me. I wasn’t allowed to be in the guards. I got in too much trouble and questioned too much for that, but the guards trusted me enough that they allowed me to train with them and go with them occasionally.
It probably helped that my best friend was a well-respected member and vouched for me regularly.
He believed what I did about the compound, although he was better at pretending he didn’t and being more covert about his investigations.
Now that I’m thinking about it, I’m glad that they have been sent and that the leaders themselves aren’t the ones who we have come across. It would be unlikely to be the leaders though, they rarely leave the compound.
Unless it’s to make the exchanges with the Others.
The guards may have let me train with them and taken me out with them, but make no mistake, that it didn’t mean that they liked me or I liked them.
It just means that they knew I could fight, and that my magic was strong.
Having me with them also meant that there was someone else there who they could use as bait or a sacrifice should it come to that.
There is no love lost between us.
In fact, they’re all arseholes.
Apart from one.
“Aldrastos, fancy seeing you here,” Ricollio greets with a smile that is anything but friendly.
Awesome.
Of all the people that it could be, he’s the worst.
He’s a prick, and that’s putting it nicely.
His eyes travel over our group, lingering on Farren for longer than I like. I have to force myself not to step between them and block his view. All that will do is make him more interested in her.
I try not to smile as I think of Reaper, looming in the darkness just behind Farren. I have absolutely no doubts in my mind that he will eat Ricollio if he gets too close to Farren, and I have to admit that it wouldn’t be a big loss.
“Ricollio, fancy running into you all the way out here,” I reply, my eyebrow raised slightly.
“It’s a shame, I know. We were all hoping you were dead,” he replies.
I shrug, a sharp smile twisting my lips as I reply, “No such luck. I’m harder to kill than that. What do you want? We both know it’s not a coincidence that you found us.”
He pauses and stares at me.
It’s something he likes to do, and I don’t know what he thinks it achieves.
I imagine he just likes to make people wait because he’s a dick like that or because he thinks that it’s intimidating.
It may be for someone else, but it just makes me think that he’s a few sandwiches short of a picnic basket.
“You always were a smart maggot,” he replies.
I roll my eyes. His response is so typical, expected, and boring that it hasn’t actually ever bothered me. He likes to think that it does, and occasionally I let him think that, so he fucks off and leaves me alone quicker.
I don’t have the time for this shit.
I have never had time for the bullshit that they try to cause. There is so much that’s going on that is more important than whatever the fuck that they’re trying to do.
I could have ended it, handed him his arse and watched him walk away with his tail between his legs, literally.
However, I have always needed to keep how strong I actually am hidden, and Ricollio is supposed to be stronger than I am.
For the time being, I need him to keep thinking that’s the case, even though it never has been.
The compound relies heavily on a strength-based hierarchy.
If for some reason I end up back there, I need them all to carry on underestimating me.
The sooner I can get rid of Ricollio, the better.
The rest of the guards stay silent and look somewhat bored behind him, although I know from experience that they’re all keeping an eye on the surrounding area to prevent us from being attacked.
Or rather themselves.
They would sacrifice us to save themselves. I’ve seen them do it before.
Farren
I don’t like him.