“What are you doing, Sunshine?” Xander’s gruff voice came from behind me.
I turned. He was holding a cleaned rabbit in his fist. The animal was comically small in Xander’s large hands. Gesturing to the cat, I raised a brow. “What does it look like I’m doing?”
He glared at the animal, sneering at the small feline. “Get away from that thing.”
I look at him, then the cat. “This? It’s harmless! It just doesn’t like you.”
As if to prove my point, the cat hissed at Xander before rubbing itself against my legs once more.
“Get away from that thing,” he growled.
I scoffed, petting the feline behind its ear. “I can’t say that I blame him for his character assessment.”
Xander shook his head, walking over and grabbing my arm. He dragged me away from the animal, who just stood there, watching us.
“It’s notjusta cat,” he insisted.
“Yes, it is,” I said, putting my hands on my hips. “In my towe…. when I was growing up, I had a cat that visited me nearly every day. It would stay with me and keep me company when no one else did.”
In fact, that cat looked just like this one. All black, except mine had a white moon under its neck.
“Aileana,” Xander started again, “this is a—”
Just then, hoofbeats came from behind us. Xander turned away from me, dropping the rabbit on the ground and grabbing his sword in a practiced movement. He widened his stance. “Arm yourself,” he hissed. “We will continue this discussion later.”
I bristled at the order, but after a moment, did as I was told. Daggers in hand, I watched and waited as the sound of hoofbeats got louder.
The cavern was surrounded by trees, and from the corner of my eye, I saw my feline friend scampering up a nearby tree. I made a mental note to ask Xander what all the trees were called. With every passing moment, my heart pounded faster in my chest.
Waiting was excruciating. Every second felt like an hour. As we stood still, the wind blew through the trees, whispering in my ear.
The spirits of old are waiting for you, Protectress of the Woods. Call upon us if necessary.
The wind’s voice was everything and nothing. A whisper and a yell. It sent shivers down my spine, but before I could reply, a pair of horses appeared. I relaxed as Jo and Daegal came into view.
“Hello there, you two,” the Fortune Elf called out. He rode up to us, his face drawn. “I’m glad to have found you both in one piece.” Daegal dismounted, coming to stand before us. “When we came back, and you were both gone, we had a bit of a scare.”
“We ran into some… trouble,” Xander said, glancing over at me. He sheathed his sword, reaching over to shake Daegal’s hand. “I figured you’d know where to find us. We weren’t expecting you two until tomorrow. I’m glad you’re here.”
Xander reached over, grabbing the reins of Jo’s horse and tying the creature to a nearby tree. The barmaid dismounted, a haggard look coating her features. Her long brown hair was flying all over the place, her face worn as she glanced between us.
“You two seem to be getting along better than when we left,” she noted. A wry smirk graced her tired features. “I’m glad to see you worked out your little lovers’ quarrel.”
A low growl escaped Xander, but I shrugged. “We did. We seem to have come to an understanding of sorts.”
Beside me, Xander’s mouth opened in surprise. Then his face softened as a rare smile graced his lips. “Yes,” he murmured. “I suppose we did.”
In front of us, a silver gleam overtook the Fortune Elf’s features as his lips tilted into a frown. I watched him carefully. I had to find out more about Fortune magic. Death Elves could shape their magic into different objects—deadly ones—but I had no idea how Fortune Elf magic worked.
A minute passed before the silver cleared from his eyes.
“I Saw what happened in the woods. The spirits are upset,” Daegal said abruptly.
The way in which he spoke and Saw things… that was going to take some getting used to. But I could already see how magic like his could be helpful in keeping us safe.
“Upset,” I echoed. “That’s one way to put it.” Personally, I could think of other words to describe Myhhena’s attitude. Curt. Strange. Bizarre.
I studied the Fortune Elf. Perhaps he could See something that would help me understand the things that were happening to me. Or at the very least, help keep me safe. “Can you See anything in my future? The spirit we met gave us a warning, but she was unclear about what was coming.”