Chapter 15

Iwas stomping through the woods trying to find Sorcha. I told her to stay small, but she didn't exactly listen to me when she wasn't going through something as intense as this with no idea what was happening to her. I left to find her and explain, then I realized Tollam was missing.

Sorcha was tiny, but I already knew who would win that fight. We'd been teaching her to use her fists, but I didn't want to put her in a situation where she'd have to defend herself against him. Especially not now.

A horse came tearing through the woods and nearly knocked me over. I didn't like that one bit. There were wild horses in Nestran that we hadn't trapped and domesticated, but not in this part of the country. I had no hope of catching that horse, so I tried to find Sorcha since I suspected she had another magic accident like Frog.

I was a little irritated when I saw a Farkhi sitting in the clearing, but quickly hid it. The only details I knew about the tribes were what was in my ancestor's journals, but I knew enough about the color accents to know this one was important. I was worried about Sorcha, but I really didn't want to be offensive and start another war.

"I'm guessing you know why a strange horse just ran by our camp. Where is she?" I demanded.

The Farkhi raised his hands to show me he meant no harm, but before he could say anything, there was a rustling from the bushes. I heard Sorcha and a male voice. I wasn't really happy about it.

"I told her not to do this and stay hidden until the feeling passed! She's not ready for this! She doesn't even know what's happening to her. Sorcha isn't ready to be a mother. We need to get back on Idric for answers before she acts on these urges when she has them again."

"You understand so little, human. We know exactly what she is. The horse you saw was your man who keeps threatening her. We didn't know if we were going to have to take care of him because you wouldn't. We were only observing her and he tried to harm her. She changed him and we helped her change him back. He's forever changed and will live life as both a man and horse. Can you not see how special she is?"

"If you know how special she is, why is one of you back there doing that with her? She's not ready for it."

"You don't understand everything about our kind. This isn't going to go away. Our women can't just wait this out. Tempris women don't experience this because they don't have an animal and for one very key reason. If you had gotten your way, she would have gone feral. A Farkhi, Tark, or Theran woman who has gone feral can cause a lot of damage. Imagine a girl who is all three and Tempris. She could destroy all of Nestran."

Ah, fuck. I had been wrong, and I was hurting her. I felt terrible about it. I just hoped whoever was back there with her was actually explaining what was happening instead of just getting straight to the deed. I knew the Farkhi had spies. It was probably a little na?ve of me to think they hadn't figured out about her yet. They hadn't tried to hurt any of us yet, but I needed to know about her, and I didn't want to wait until we got to Idric.

"What do you want her for? A weapon?"

"Essos promised her to us. We didn't think she would ever come, but she played the Vudos flute and confirmed it. We still don't know why she didn't appear fully formed and was born a child, nor how that fool Belisarus found her and kept her hidden. We don't know why he didn't properly train her and kept her ignorant about who she is."

"Your god, Essos, promised this girl to you? For what? A weapon against the humans? Will there be another war? If you intend to use her in a way that may hurt her, I will kill both of you and make sure she gets back to Idric where you can't get to her."

"She's not a weapon. She's going to change the fabric of Nestran. We don't know how, but she's going to bring peace. Real peace, not what we have now."

"If she is who you think she is, why would she come now, when there is no war?"

"We don't trust you and you humans have never trusted us. When she changed your man, he told her he would make her pay and ran. He may be halfway back to the palace now to tell everyone about her. If they find out she changed him, they will hunt her down and every tribe would protect her with their life."

"You're telling me war is coming?"

"If your man goes back there and does not keep quiet about her, there most likely will be. And she will end it and bring peace."

"The war wouldn't have started if she hadn't shown up. How can she bring peace to a war she caused?"

"Human, war has been brimming for years. We know who you are, Tall Man. We know what your ancestors did to us under the castle. We also know it was you who put an end to it. There has never been peace between the humans and the tribes, even since the war ended. Even the Tempris feel the need to hide from the humans. We know the humans hope they will lose their abilities so they can seize the throne. We have been watching your Barons since the wars. She showed up now because war has been brimming for years."

"Do you know if she is the Princess Lisana? She swears she isn't, but I have my doubts. If you have been watching all this time, do you know who took her?"

"We know nothing about the Princess Lisana. There is no reason for us to watch you while you sleep and we need to sleep ourselves. We didn't take her. We tried to tell you that when we started disappearing again. We know you put an end to that, too. We watched for years after she was taken and none of the Barons spoke about her kidnapping. They either had nothing to do with it, or they never spoke of it again," Volaris said.

Just then, the sounds from the bushes changed. I could hear her moans and I really didn't want to hear this. I never had children or thought much about it, but this kid had wormed her way in, and I was pretty fond of her, even if she never listened to me and I was pretty sure she was playing some kind of prank on me constantly leaving me with Esylle when she was supposed to be learning to fight.

I didn't want any of this for her.

"I can't hear this," I said. "Can we move away and give them some privacy?"

Volaris nodded.

"You already think of her like your fledgling. That's a good thing. I probably shouldn't say this to you because humans have massive egos, but Joron isn't the only king who considers you a protector to their children. The other three kings consider you the same for all of our people since you stopped the humans twice on our behalf. That was a compliment and a warning. We'll expect you to do it a third time if they come for us again."

I sighed and mopped my face with my hand.

No pressure.