Chapter Eleven

CHAPTER ELEVEN

MUSCLE MEMORY

I called for him. I stood there stunned for a moment, not comprehending his words. I opened my mouth and then closed it. Thinking better of continuing that conversation, I turned and ran, leaving Ezren in the water. Rogue thoughts bounced through my mind. Did I call for him aloud? Or in thought? I certainly didn’t remember releasing a cry for help.

I made it back to camp in much less time than the trip out, searching for Leiya. I needed something to do with my idle brain. If I wanted to find Fayzien and prevent a war, I had to get involved in the meetings Jana held. I needed to learn more about these people, or rather non-people, their kind, their motivations and capabilities.

I needed to not think about the Fae male I just left in the creek.

The camp was not as I had left it. People were buzzing around, but the tents were gone. Fae were sharpening blades, Witches were grinding powders on stones, or boiling small pots over various fires. I found Leiya with her ax in her lap, a sharpener in hand.

“When are we leaving?” I asked.

She regarded me with one eyebrow subtly raised, then looked back down at her blade. “Yer scent es very overbearin’ right now, Terra.”

I gaped at her, horrified, and sniffed my underarm. “Okay, well, I tried to clean myself in the creek, but I had no soap, and this place has no proper bath, and there’s no?—”

“That’s not what I meant.”

“Then what do you mean?”

She just chuckled. “Well, when a female, eh, feels the pull te another, ye know the one, deep en the low belly, she gives a scent, te call the male, or female, te her. Ye have a very strong one, now. Ets a wonder ye canna smell et, because ets stuffin’ me nose right up.”

Heat rushed to my face, my mouth hanging ajar, and Leiya just laughed. “Ye shouldna worry, lass. The smell es, well awful te me, but from what I’ve heard, the right male or female well feel the need te feast en the scent like a traveler needs water en a desert,” she said, a mischievous look in her eyes. Then she cocked her head at me. “Ye know, I actually thenk I smelled et on the cliffs before I knocked Ezren en the head. But I didna thenk too much about et, I was a wee bit focused on somethin’ else at the time.”

I shut my gaping mouth and turned on my heel, leaving her deep chuckle and the scrape of her ax behind me.

I found Jana surrounded by Fae and Witch alike, accepting her orders. I approached her, self-conscious of whatever odor I was apparently omitting. But if she could smell it, or if anyone else could, they did not comment. Jana picked me out of the crowd and waved me over.

“Terra! Good, there you are, dear. We have to move today. We will do most of our traveling by night, on horseback. Given the Fae cannot portal and we Witches can only take one passenger at a time, we’ll conjure mounts. Fae with flight or long-distance enabled shifts will shift, except Ezren of course. How are you with horses?”

I cleared my throat. “Em, descent, I suppose.”

“Excellent. You will ride in the middle of the caravan, next to Dane. He’ll be in the medic cart.” She paused and snapped thrice, and Sanah appeared out of nowhere next to her, as Dane and Ezren once had in the meeting tent. I marveled at the trick; there seemed to be a mist descending off her skin as she transitioned from a blur to a clear image in the blink of an eye. “Sanah will show you to a horse and accompany you and Dane. Leiya will fly above, and Leuffen will take his cougar form by your side. Sanah, make sure to get blinders for the horse’s bridles. You know how the beasts start at Leuffen’s shift.”

The afternoon passed in a haze. Sanah put me to work preparing the horses with supplies and loading Dane’s cart with blankets, pillows, and crates of dried herbs or pre-mixed potions. When the sun began its nightly descent, we set out for Viribrum—the Kingdom of the Fae, and my supposed childhood home.

I chose a sturdy jet-black gelding with a long, waving mane and a diamond of white on his forehead. Blackjack, Sanah called him. He gave an anxious prance when I mounted him, but I laid a soothing hand on his neck, and he quieted.

“Why do we go by night?” I asked Sanah, daunted by the impending sleep deprivation.

“It’s much harder to be found at night,” she replied. “No wandering traveler will spot us, nor one of Fayzien’s Witches on lookout. The horses and shifted Fae can see perfectly well, so they will guide us. Even those in Fae form should be able to see okay. Your Witch heritage doesn’t do you any favors with sight, but you’ll likely be able to see better than I, given the Fae blood you also have in your veins.”

She was right. I’d never thought about it, but I’d always been able to see better than my brothers in the dark. On this clear, crisp evening, the moonlight served as enough of a guide, and it shone through the occasional openings in the sky as we rode northeast through the dense forest.

The entire camp was not privy to our route—Jana preferred to keep that intelligence to her council. But Sanah told me we were heading to the southernmost border of the North Sea, a week’s journey by horse caravan at night. Our pace would be slowed by the limited dark hours—summer approached, which meant longer days and shorter nights. Then, Jana and her advisors would decide whether to cross through the Adimon mountains or go by boat through the North Sea. They deemed both treacherous, and it would be a grueling expedition.

Eventually, in the early hours of the morning, before the light crawled its first fingers up the horizon, we found a clearing and set out to make a small camp. Sanah left my side to attend Dane, whom they had immediately moved from the cart to a tent. We were forty strong, so the camp was tight, and quarters were close. My body ached from the long ride, but everyone else hurried around me with purpose, unloading here and setting up there. I felt awkward and out of place, waiting for directions no one else seemed to need. I wandered about, attempting to look busy, aware of every suspicious glance thrown my way. What did they think of me? Did they think me some pathetic rescue? Or an unremarkable, surprising key to stopping a war?

“Terra!” A familiar voice came from behind me. “Yer with me tonight. Just me luck, bunkin’ with the stinker,” Leiya said, more friendliness in her tone than her word choice suggested. She steered us to a tent on the eastern edge of camp, guarded on all sides but one, for escape access should we need it. Our tent was of equal proportion on the outside as the inside—just how the Fae liked it, or so Leiya said. Only Witches with sufficient power to distort space slept in the luxurious accommodations.

We settled into the hard cots, canvas draped over our heads, wool laid over our bodies. “Leiya, can I ask you something?”

“Oh gods, are ye gonna require a bit of pillow talk?” she replied.

I ignored her retort. “Is… is it likely that Fayzien will find us?” Will we get a chance to kill him?

She paused, releasing a low exhale. “Yes, et es. He likely heard the Earth splet, and we still didna know ef he left a bit a’ his magic en ye. The Wetches have been usin’ every ounce a’ magic they can spare te conceal us, ye see, from findin’ spells and such. But he, well… ets a good sign he hasna found us yet. I know ye’ll want te take yer revenge—but he es one a’ the most powerful Wetches living today. I wouldna recommend et just yet.”

“You all promised to help me bring him to justice,” I growled. “Wouldn’t it be better if he just… showed up here?”

Leiya snorted. “I dinna think so. Fayzien doesna show up unless he has some advantage—leavin’ ye en the defensive. He’s calculated, cunning. He es not te be underestimated, Terra.”

She said the last words with a heaviness that hung in the small space between us. “Do you know him?”

Her lip curled. “Aye, no en mind, but en combat. He es a Wetch by training, but he es half Fae, like ye. And like ye, hes mixed blood didna cower at the combination—et made ‘em stronger. He did a stint en warrior trainin’ at Valfalla. He was me student.”

I gaped. “You taught him?” The thought nauseated me.

“Aye. He wasna always as he es now. I recognized the potential for darkness en him, te be sure. But he was just a young male, a few years yer junior, when he came te me. Et was me hope te make him strong enough te beat et. I didna succeed.”

“When was this?” I asked.

“Oh, about three decades ago. Maybe more.” She offered no more, giving the distinct impression she’d finished with the topic.

“How old are you? And Leuffen? He is your brother, right?”

“Me an’ Leuffey, well, we’re a wee bit of Fae anomaly as well. He es not only me brother, he’s me twin. That’s a rarity for the Fae—twins. One Faerie babe es hard enough te get. We come from the north, near Panderen, but were selected to fight en the royal armies. They called us the prized warrior twins a’ Viribrum,” she snorted. “As for our age, we’re close to a century—several decades younger than Jana. Though we don’t show et, a course, since we’ll outlive her by another lifespan or two,” she paused. “And Ezren, ef yer curious, es the oldest Fae amongst us. He’s past a Wetch’s life, and though he doesna act like et, he certainly fights like et.”

Tightness bloomed in my chest—and lower—at the mere mention of his name. I fought to keep my breath steady, to reveal nothing of my reaction.

“Leiya, would you train me?”

“Train ye en what?”

“I know I trained to fight when I was younger. My muscles remember more than I do, but I am certainly not a warrior. And magic doesn’t seem to be safe for me to explore at the moment… I want to defend myself, for if, or when, we meet Fayzien again. I want to be able to fight. Ezren was supposed to train me, but I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”

She waited a moment to respond, for what seemed to be contemplation or holding in laughter, and then said, “I have te scout durin’ most a’ the days at camp. But ye definitely should learn some skills en combat and the like. Leuffen will do et. Ye’ll meet tomorrow, at high noon. He’ll find ye,” she promised, a hint of satisfaction in her voice.

I woke after a few hours of restless sleep, Leiya gone from the tent. The sun streamed in at a high angle, indicating the lateness of the morning. It had been just over a week since Fayzien blasted into Argention, since he’d turned my world on its axis. Just over a week since I saw the life leave my mother’s eyes. Just over a week of remembering.

A week felt like a lifetime.

It was time for training, but I almost stayed there—weighed down on the small cot. It took a considerable amount of effort to force myself to rise and track down some food. I painted the image of Fayzien’s face—cruel blue eyes sneering—to the back of my mind.

As I wandered around camp in search of Leuffen, something reached around me from behind. Suddenly, I was in the crook of a bulky arm, struggling for breath, my hands pinned behind me.

“Leuffen—What. The. Hell,” I croaked out.

He laughed, a deep barrel from his chest, and released me. “Aye, Terra, yer easy te sneak up on! Leiya told me te spare ye nothin’. I’m te push ye hard, like I would any other Fae. Canna ye handle et?”

I turned to him, facing his broad smile. “I’ll certainly try.”

On day one, my will was tested. He took me deep into the forest, away from our small camp, for ‘conditioning.’

“Ye mighta been a lil’ Fae warrior once, but yer weak as a fawn now. Ye need te build strength. Dinna worry, yer Fae blood will hurry along yer muscle build. Ef ye were trained properly en yer youth, which me thinks ye were, et should only take a few weeks fer ye muscles te remember.”

At first, I ran. I ran carrying a pack full of rocks while he barked at me to go faster. I ran over logs and up small hills, through streams and thick brush. And he ran beside me, shifting into his cougar form, teeth barred and maw nipping to give me a fright, and back to his Fae form to add more rocks to my pack. The Earth gave me no aid while we trained, as if it knew the purpose of my running and wouldn’t interfere. Once I’d soaked the fresh training clothes Leiya lent me well and good with sweat, Leuffen wrapped my hands in cloth. He brought me to a small sapling, no wider than a potato, and made me strike it. He bellowed at me to strike it again, in the same location, over and over. And I did. I didn’t stop until I broke the sapling in half.

Throughout the afternoon, he alternated me from running and striking various hard surfaces, to ground exercises for abdominal strength, to climbing fear-inspiring rock crevices, to running again. He allowed me breaks to sip from a canteen, just long enough to ensure I didn’t vomit, and then we started again. It ended when my knuckles were raw underneath the cloth, and my clothes were heavy with perspiration.

“To the gods,” I breathed on our walk back, holding Leuffen’s arm to remain upright. “Is Fae training always that brutal?”

He smiled down at me. “Aye, but et usually esna that long. Ye have a shorter window te rebuild strength than most. Dinna worry, ye’ll feel like right shit tonight, but yer Fae muscles will heal quickly an yer strength will come weth et. If ye can handle et, I’d show ye the bow tonight, after we eat, but before we set out te ride again.”

A small chuckle escaped through my lips. “If my arms can bear to spread the string, I’d like that.”

That night I tried my hand at the bow, and though I struggled to hold it, my aim was decent in the dusky light. Afterwards, we rode until early morning, and I slept until midday. And then we did it all over again: him yelling at my muscles for several hours under the afternoon sun, and adjusting me with the bow or throwing knife in the early evening. It took little to improve my shot, for I must have been quite good at a young age, Leuffen mused.

On the fourth day, he said my muscles were progressing and prepared for combat training. Instead of pushing me with his words and feline growls, he struck me and sent me to the ground. I earned a smattering of bruises and cuts—highlights on my cheekbones, elbows, and knees. I learned fast to minimize our contact, to leverage my swiftness, to duck more than strike, and to let him tire out. He taught me combination moves—tricks to outwit his hits and gain an advantage. It was all about gaining the advantage, he said.

When we rode at night, I no longer noted my surroundings. I ran through fighting combinations in my head. By the sixth day we were actually sparring, set in a dance of our own, one where I knew some of his moves, and he mine. I surprised him, finding little openings to add my own unique tactics, an unexpected roundhouse here, use of our environment to gain favor there. We never used weapons, and I never went for his manhood. Leuffen called that desperate. I pushed off nearby aspens to gain leverage and slid away from his strikes in soft dirt and led him to unsure footing.

“Yer early trainin’ es clearly coming back te ye,” he said as we walked back to camp that afternoon. I grinned to myself, not knowing if he meant to reassure me or himself.

“Terra, Leuffy!” Sanah yelled when we approached the small clearing. “I found a small pond just a few hundred yards northwest of camp. Leiya already scouted it and said it’s clear. Thank the gods, we finally get to bathe. I thought I would smell of horse permanently!”

We chuckled and followed Sanah through camp to her discovery. The late afternoon sun glittered on the water, and willows draped over the edge as if to kiss the surface. Other Fae and Witches were splashing in the water already, male and female alike, fully nude. I learned that Fae rarely shied from nakedness, and it seemed the Witches had adopted the same practice. I could tell them apart now—noting the slight difference in build. The Fae were generally larger, with ears that came to sharp points. The Witches looked more human-like, save for their eyes. Despite varying shades, their eyes were like that of the Fae—unnatural and striking.

Sanah ran over to Dane, who had gained mobility just yesterday. He perched on a large rock, dangling his feet in the water. I gave him a small nod, which he returned. We had spoken only pleasantries since the accident, and though Sanah said he would recover fully, I’d avoided bringing up that day with him. If he harbored anger against me, I would not blame him.

Leuffen shed his clothes and dove into the water, joining a rowdy gaggle of Fae males at the far end of the pond. I removed my boots and squatted next to the water, splashing my face—a heavenly act after the days of sweat that had accumulated.

I looked up again, surveying the revelry. Near Leuffen, at the far end of the pond, my eye caught on a Fae male standing half out of the water on the shallow end, his glistening back turned to me. I instantly knew it was Ezren by the broadness of his shoulders, and the ripples in his arms as he lifted his hands, running them through his hair. I indulged myself in the stare, letting my eyes linger on the long muscles that traveled down his back, ending with two little dimples just above where the water covered the rest of him.

And then, out of nowhere, a hard shove smacked into my back, and I went face-first into the pond.

I re-surfaced to see Leiya, still clothed in casual trousers and a linen vest, on the pond’s edge, chuckling once again. “Didna Leuffen teach ye how not te let anyone sneak up on ye?”

I rolled my eyes at her and extended my hand up to request a lift out of the deeper end of the pond. And I suppose I had been rather humorless with her until now, because I caught her by surprise as I yanked her into the water with me.

This sent Sanah into hurls of laughter, and she jumped in. A moment later, we were splashing each other like young girls, basking in the novelty of play after a sleepless week. Leuffen joined in as well, taking pleasure in making Leiya the victim of our endless water torments. Eventually, Leiya held up her hands in surrender, which was fine with the three of us, for we were breathless from laughter. I felt joy for the first time in weeks.

We hoisted ourselves out of the water one by one, the warm spring air clinging to our sodden clothes and wet skin. As I climbed out of the pond, I felt the searing heat of emerald eyes trained on my back. And though I only caught his image in my peripheral, I could have sworn I saw a rare smile on Ezren’s face.