Page 25

Twenty-Five

“ H ey! Quiet, you.” Seamus banged his sword against Asher’s cage.

Asher growled louder, the fur on the back of his neck rising. He was the very definition of a cornered cat, and Lily didn’t blame him from being furious.

“You’re scaring the kids. Stop it,” Seamus barked at Asher. He reached in and grabbed Asher by the scruff of his neck and slammed his face against the side of the cage.

“Leave him alone!” Lily shouted and took off running. Her arm was immediately snatched by Torbjun and she was jerked to a stop before she could get far.

Asher turned his head in her direction.

He didn’t deserve to be some spectacle for the sake of entertainment, even if he hated her.

The boy with the stick had moved to where Asher’s head was and crouched to poke him again.

This time, Asher grabbed the stick and chomped it into pieces.

“That was mine!” the boy protested. He withdrew the short sword tied to his hip and positioned his arm back as though he were going to stab Asher with it.

Lily jerked her arm away from Torbjun and ran. She shoved the boy away from Asher. “Leave him alone. How would you feel if someone was poking you?”

The boy scrambled back to his feet and looked her up and down. “Who do you think you are? We always rile them up before they fight!”

“He is not going to be fighting,” she insisted, turning her stern gaze to Seamus and then to Torbjun, silently informing them both that she meant it.

Torbjun folded his arms and chuckled with a slight shake of his head.

Lily lowered herself to her knees and reached her arm into the cage to move some of Asher’s fur to check for any wounds. She gnawed on her lip and finally looked into his stunning eyes. “Did they hurt you?” she asked softly.

Asher transformed into himself and threw a glare at the boy, whose eyes widened and jaw dropped. “I’m fine. You?” He finally shifted his gaze to her, and it softened as he looked her over in turn. She could tell, even though his eyes were on her, he was actually watching Torbjun behind her.

“I’m...I...” She pressed her forehead against the bars, hesitating because the barbarians were still so close. “Don’t be shocked by what might happen in the next little while,” she tried. She understood it was vague, and the rising of Asher’s eyebrow told her as much. “I’ll be okay. I have a plan to get us out of here,” she whispered quickly.

“Time’s up,” Torbjun said. He placed his hand on her shoulder and gave a squeeze, commanding her. “We need to get ready for our wedding.”

Both of Asher’s eyebrows shot up and he straightened as much as he could in the short cage. “Wedding? Lily?”

“It’s just for...” She wished she could tell him it was all part of her plan, but Torbjun began dragging her away.

“Tradition orders me to leave you in the home of one of our elders,” the barbarian continued, completely unaware of Lily trying to mouth to Asher that everything was going to be okay. “And since you need to meet Gitta anyway, you shall stay with her. Chief Brogen should have arranged it by now.”

“What else do your traditions demand?” she asked, finally getting her feet to catch up to her.

“The virgin women your age shall help you wash in the traditions of our people. You will eat and rest in Gitta’s home. At dawn, the same women will prepare you in our clothing and paint.” He looked down at her. “And then I shall come and take you down to the arena, where we will be honored in watching my new pet fight. When he wins, we shall go to the ceremony and be bound together for the rest of this life.”

That meant Lily had to get herself and Asher out that night. It was her only chance. If she was staying in Gitta ’s home, she needed to be ready for an escape. All she had to do was wait for the woman to fall asleep and she could slip out. Though, Lily imagined, there would likely be a guard. That’s what Liam would do if she were at home. She knew the perfect potion that would knock someone out, but she wouldn’t have time to prepare for a potion.

Lily chewed her bottom lip, trying to stay calm and focused. As they walked, she thought of different spells she could potentially use, routes they could take, and whether or not she had noticed where they kept the horses.

They stopped in front of a hut with particularly dark animal hides stretched over the logs. Each one portrayed scenes from what must have been their history. Great battles, hunts, people, and chiefs were portrayed. They weren’t painted on, but stitched.

One particular scene caught Lily’s eye.

A woman, sewn in black thread, with long nails and sharp teeth was surrounded by shimmering mist. In that mist were orange and red eyes. Across from her stood humans of various heights, elves, and animals—which appeared to be glowing. The next group of pictures showed the evil woman standing before a woman with red hair, who had her hands outstretched and an odd mark on her arm. From her extended hands were shimmering green squiggles. Magic? Bodies lay at their feet, and in the background were shadows of people fighting. The final two pictures showed the evil woman becoming a strange tree, and the magical woman gone.

Lily looked over the pictures again. This was the same story Wester told her growing up as a child. The same story displayed in the tapestry hiding the entrance of wizard tower. This story appeared much darker.

She jumped when she heard a voice say, “So this is the girl?”

Considering the size of all the other barbarians, Lily was expecting a towering woman. Gitta was elderly and slightly hunched, but no taller than most other woman Lily had met. She leaned on a staff taller than herself. It was thick and black, the tip splintered. Inside that tip was a beautiful turquoise stone.

“Why is she chained? Have you been raised by wild beasts?” She whacked Torbjun on top of the head with her staff. “Unchain her now.”

“Ow.” He rubbed the tender spot but didn’t object before turning to face Lily. He removed the key from around his neck and unlocked her wrists. He lifted his gaze to meet hers before he released her though. “Be good,” he warned.

“We will see you tomorrow, Torbjun,” Gitta said. She looped her arm through Lily’s and pulled her through the door. “Don’t mind him. When people have been without families as long as he has, they tend to forget basic manners.”

“Without family?”

“Have a seat.”

Lily was expecting the inside of the hut to be simple. But Gitta’s home was pressed up against a mound of dirt, which provided an open cave-like space for dozens of shelves packed in disorganized bundles of bottles, various dried herbs and animal parts, and all sorts of other things Lily couldn’t identify. There was a fire pit in the middle of the room beneath a chimney, and Gitta pointed for Lily to sit in one of the cushions beside it. The small space was filled with the scent of an herby tea. Various trinkets hung from the ceiling, some of which glowed, and Lily wondered if any of them were enchanted.

She sat and turned to face Gitta. “I do not wish to be Torbjun’s wife.”

Gitta used her apron to lift the tea kettle’s lid before sprinkling one of the bottles from her pocket into it. “I can tell. He is a good man, though. He is one of the best hunters in our clan and will provide for you. His parents were killed in one of our wars, but he was raised well. In spite of his foolish exterior, he is one of the finer of the available men.” She poured the tea into a mug and held it out to Lily. “Drink up.”

“Certainly you don’t approve of him stealing any woman to be his wife,” she said, looking at the woman with disgust while accepting the tea.

“You aren’t just any woman. You are a conduit. I can feel it practically radiating off of you.” Gitta smiled. She was missing some teeth.

“Shouldn’t he be with one of your people?” Lily asked, looking down at the swirling tea in her mug.

Gitta shrugged. “He has courted a few of them, but they get snatched up by others before he can. Drink up. It will calm your nerves.”

She wouldn’t accept that this was to be her fate. Not when they were so close to Vasha. Not when they were so close to getting Asher home and her free. She would not spend the rest of her days as some barbarian’s wife, casting minor spells to help with their harvests or whatever conduits did in a place like this. This wasn’t the life she was meant for.

Lily took a sip of the tea. It was minty with lemon and an undertone she couldn’t quite identify. But it was delicious and she felt it warm and tingle from her head to her toes. And then a dull ache began at the back of her skull and spread across her mind.

“Are you ready for some dinner?” Gitta walked over with a plate of food in her hands.

Lily opened her eyes.

Her head ached and she massaged her eyebrows.

She didn’t feel right. Her mind felt fogged, like when she tried to remember something from her early years and couldn’t. Her body wanted to do nothing but sleep. Even the air she breathed somehow tasted wrong. It was thick with a scent burning in the fire. Some kind of root.

Lily didn’t remember Gitta handing her the plate of food.

She didn’t remember eating it either, and yet when Lily looked down, her plate of food was empty and her stomach was full.

She looked up at Gitta. “What is going on? What are you doing to me?” She rose to her feet and stumbled to the door.

Gitta wrapped an arm around her waist and turned her toward the bed. “Now, now, you just need some rest.”

“No.” She pulled away and pressed the heel of her hand to her head. “You’ve poisoned me. Something is wrong.”

“I can’t have you using your magic here, darling.”

Lily looked at the old woman, unable to comprehend for far too long what she meant. Whatever was in the tea or food or even burning in the fire had been designed to make her unable to use her magic?

“H-How long? No. I have to get fresh air.” Lily managed to pull away and ran to the door, which tilted awkwardly before she pulled it open.

The fresh air washed over her and with it came her inner voice, the one she relied on for everything. It was begging her to run.

But Lily couldn’t convince her feet to obey, and then three young women near Lily’s age came into focus.

“You must be Torbjun’s wife!”

“At least you’re pretty. We thought he was settling.”

“What are you staring at?”

Lily blinked several times before she tried to leave the hut, but the girls pushed her back inside.

“Oh Gitta, you’re using that smelly valerian plant again. Is she truly so terrible she needs to be drugged?”

“You three were supposed to be here half an hour ago,” Gitta replied, ignoring the girl.

“Gitta thinks certain people shouldn’t be allowed to have their minds when they’re smarter than her. You must have intimidated her,” the girl to Lily’s right said in her ear.

“It’s because I’m a conduit,” Lily replied. “Help me get out.”

“What is a conduit?” the same girl asked.

“Someone who uses magic,” Gitta answered.

She gasped. “You’re a shaman? No wonder Torbjun chose you!”

“You’re so lucky,” another said.

“Let’s get out of this stinky tent before we all go hazy,” the girl on the left stated.

Once the three of them got Lily outside and away from whatever Gitta was burning, she began to feel slightly better. She could at least comprehend what she saw in front of her.

The girl on her right had the same vibrant red hair as the chief with the same amount of curliness to it. She wondered if the young woman was his daughter. The girl opposite had hair as black as the night, and it was wrapped up in a bun on top of her head. The third girl followed behind, but Lily felt too dizzy to look.

She was led into a small hut with a large tub of steaming water waiting inside.

“I’m Stora,” the redhead stated. She pointed to the black-haired girl. “That’s Alruna. And the mute is Sif.”

“She’s taken a vow of silence until she finds her husband,” Alruna said with a dramatic eye roll.

Sif scowled.

Stora shrugged and grabbed the bottom of Lily’s shirt to lift it up. “I don’t think the gods would care whether we were silent or not, as long as we pay them our respect.”

Lily snatched Stora’s wrists. “I don’t need you to remove my shirt.”

“We’re only trying to help,” Stora said. “It’s our tradition.”

“If you want to help me, you will get me out of here before I become some man’s slave just for being in the wrong place at the wrong time,” she countered.

“There’s no such thing,” Alruna said, stepping forward. “You being in the wrong place, I mean. The gods do everything for a reason. They put you there to be found. You must be destined to be Torbjun’s wife.”

Lily laughed a high-pitched, annoyed laugh. “You want me to believe that your gods put me there to be captured?” She shook her head furiously and backed away from the strangers. “The tiger who was captured is actually Karasha. He is their prince, and you have him caged like some animal you found in the wild. If you want to help me, let me go to him and help us escape. Otherwise, I don’t need the kind of help you’re offering.”

The girls blinked at one another and Stora whispered in a language Lily didn’t understand.

Alruna answered, eyes darting to Lily and back.

Lily wished she understood.

Stora sighed.

Alruna lifted her chin. “Because you aren’t technically part of our clan yet, we will allow you privacy to bathe on your own.”

“But don’t think about running,” Stora added. “Torbjun is the best hunter and will catch you before you get far. And we’ll tell him if we return and you’re gone.”

The three of them walked to a spot near the front door and sat down on the ground.

“I thought you said you’re giving me privacy,” Lily muttered.

“We can’t leave you alone,” Alruna said with a big smile. “With how insistent you are about escaping, you’ll undoubtedly try.”

Lily turned her back to them.

Just to see if she could do a little bit of magic, just to ignite a flame in her hand even if it would burn out, Lily tried to reach out to life around her. Only, she felt nothing. When she used magic, she felt it deep in her soul. It was a part of her. Magic came as naturally to her as the feeling deep in the gut that warns of danger. It was almost that same sensation she could reach into and grasp to use magic. But now...

There was only a black hole.

Lily could neither feel nor access it.

Her bottom lip trembled and she closed her fingers into her palm, making a fist.

She was getting out of this, with or without magic.