Blood of Half Gods: Kallen's Tale (11 page)

I am fuming.  I am surprised the raging inferno inside of me has not caught the carriage on fire yet.  “Xandra and I will continue as we are,” I say rigidly.  Who is he to make demands regarding Xandra?  Her true parents have given their blessing.  We do not need his.

He raises a brow.  “Considering I am both her father and the King of this realm, I believe I have the final say here.”

“We do not have to stay in this realm,” I counter in anger.  Xandra will feel the same way when I discuss this with her.

Dagda studies me for several heartbeats, sadness peeking around the edges of his eyes.  Perhaps he did not expect this response from me.  “No, I suppose you do not.”  I expect him to continue, but he remains quiet.  We sit in an uncomfortable silence for quite some time.

After a while, Sindri comes into the room.  If he notices the tension between Dagda and me, he ignores it and asks, “Any word, Sire?”

Rising from his chair, Dagda shakes his head and starts pacing, his drink in hand.  “No, word yet.  Please let the Giants know that we have yet again been unavoidably detained.”  He gives Sindri a fierce look.  “Do not tell them why.  Make up whatever you would like, but leave Xandra’s name out of it.”  Sindri nods and backs out of the room. 

Dagda and I do not speak.  We wait in this awkward silence for any word that Xandra has been found and is okay.  Or for her to turn up on her own which I expect her to do. 

The longer I sit here, the more I fume.  I am angry with Dagda for his plan to separate Xandra and me.  I am angry with Xandra for simply leaving when things got hard.  I am angry with the universe for everything else that has gone wrong today.  It takes everything I have to hold my tongue, for I would love nothing better than to tell my uncle exactly how I am feeling and what he can do with his opinions regarding Xandra and me.

Amazingly, all that anger temporarily dissolves when Xandra is suddenly standing before us again.  “Xandra, where the hell have you been?” Dagda shouts. 

I am out of my chair in a flash.  Placing my hands on her cheeks, I search her face for any sign of trauma.  “Are you okay?” I ask.  She nods and my heart lets go of the angry knot of fear it has been holding.  Relieved, I bring my lips to hers and give her a demanding kiss, a kiss filled with the worry and fear and love that I felt every moment she was gone.  “You had me going crazy,” I murmur against her lips.  “Please do not do that to me again.”

Her brows furrow.  “How long?” she asks.

I know what she means.  I check the clock hanging on the wall.  “An hour and a half.  We had no idea where you were.  Radella and her team have been searching for you.”

Her only response is, “Oh.”  . 

I step back from her and run an annoyed hand through my hair.  Now that I know she is fine, some of my previous anger washes through me again.  I find I cannot hold my tongue.  “I cannot believe you were gone so long simply because you wanted to avoid a difficult conversation.  That was not fair to me.” 

Her look is incredulous.  “You think I left because I was embarrassed?  You think I left you to deal with that because I was too much of a coward?”  Her anger is rivaling mine now.  “And you didn’t think for a moment that maybe, just maybe, I would be having a hard time controlling the teleporting just like all my other stupid magic?”

Guilt and shame creep over me.  She is right, of course.  All those thoughts did go through my mind.  “I apologize for thinking the worst,” I say quietly.

As if to prove the point that she had not run away out of embarrassment, she turns to Dagda and says, “Kallen and I didn’t have sex earlier, but we did come close.”

Now, it’s Dagda’s turn to look uncomfortable.  “Yes, we covered that while you were gone,” he says dryly.

Feeling awkward having this conversation again, I say, “When we were…otherwise occupied earlier, two hours had passed.”

She is even more incredulous now.  “That can’t be.”

I shrug.  “The clocks and stars do not lie.”   

Dagda turns to me.  “Kallen, please call Radella and her team back.  We need to get to the bottom of whatever is going on between you two.”  To Xandra, he says, “We are all anxious to know where you have been for the last hour and a half.”

Xandra’s face flushes.  “Um, dancing in the woods with Nymphs.”  When neither Dagda nor I say anything, she says, “What?  Why are you just staring at me?”

Dagda narrows his eyes.  “We are waiting for you to tell us where you really were.”

Her eyes flash.  “Um, are you guys deaf?  I said I was in the forest with Nymphs.”

This has to be a figment of her imagination, a part of whatever is making her magic malfunction.  “Xandra,” I say gently.  “There is no such thing as Nymphs.”

She does not believe me.  “You’re telling me that there are Fairies, Giants, Witches, Angels and Shadows, but there aren’t any Nymphs?  Why would I believe that?”

“Well, cousin-to-be-very-soon,” Kegan, who has reentered the room, says “you should believe it because it is true.” 

Xandra gives him a dirty look.  “Then who were the three women dancing in the woods?”

“A figment of your imagination?” Kegan suggests, speaking aloud what I am thinking.  “We are currently in an unpopulated area.”

She puts her hands on her hips and glares at him.  “Who says I was in this area?”

“Xandra,” I say, putting a hand on her shoulder.  “Tell us more about these women.  Did they tell you they were Nymphs?”

Her anger defuses slightly as she realizes we may be right.  “No, I guess that’s what I called them.”  There is a sigh around the room.  She is simply calling whatever creatures she met by the wrong name.  “What were they, then?” she asks.

“Come,” Dagda says, returning to his chair.  “Sit and we will try to figure it out.”  Xandra sighs and plops down on one of the couches.  Kegan, and I sit as well.  Dagda waves a tired hand at Xandra.  “Whenever you are ready.”

Xandra sighs heavily again.  “Like I said, there were three of them.  One blonde, one brunette and one redhead.”

“None with black hair?” Kegan asks, obviously trying to identify the women as Fairies.

Xandra shakes her head.  “They didn’t have green eyes, either.  They had brown and blue eyes.  And they were wearing these toga-like things in bright colors.  And they liked dancing.  A lot.” 

I frown.  “You are not describing Fairies.  Were they large, like Giants?”  She tilts her head and gives me a dirty look.  I guess she would have known right away if they were Giants, but I am only trying to get to the bottom of this.  Calmly, I say, “Fine, not Giants then.”

Dagda shakes his head.  “Xandra, you lost another hour and a half, and before that, you and Kallen lost almost two hours.  Before that, you lost six hours.  It is now coming close to midnight and I am tired.  Are you absolutely certain you did not fall asleep in the woods and dream these creatures you speak of?”

She bites her bottom lip and considers this.  Finally, she says,  “No, I don’t believe I was dreaming.” 

Standing up again, Dagda says, “We have the necessary items for the dream spell.  We should get on with it and discuss this more tomorrow.  As soon as the drivers are well enough rested, they will be resuming our southern progress this evening as we are so far off track now and need to make up for the shift in direction.  I am hoping they will make good time if you are in a dreamless slumber.”

Xandra nods.  “Okay, what do I need to do?”

“Sindri,” Dagda calls out.  Sindri comes into the room a moment later carrying a silver tray with several different plants on it.  He sets it down on the coffee table in front of the couch where Xandra is sitting.  Her expression is blank as she stares down at the unfamiliar items.

I chuckle.  “Would you like me to tell you what they are?”  She scrunches her nose and gives me a sour look, making me laugh again.  “I will take that as a yes.  The purple flower is wood betony.  It wards off evil spirits, headaches, bad dreams, and things like that.  The light blue plant with the skinny leaves is rosemary.”

“That one I knew,” she says proudly.

I point to the last plant.  “That one with the pinkish colored leaves is heavenly bamboo.  It is poisonous to most animals, and in large doses, it is poisonous to Fairies.”

She frowns at me.  “You guys want me to drink poison?”

I shrug.  “It does not seem to bother you when it is in Fairy darts.”

She does not appear to have as much confidence in this fact as I do, but she says, “Okay.”

Sindri comes back in the room and this time, he’s carrying a teapot and one cup on a silver tray.  He kneels down in front of the coffee table and puts several leaves from each plant in the teacup.  Then, he pours what looks like plain old hot water in the cup.  Then, he looks up at Xandra and silently hands it to her.

“Am I supposed to just drink this?” she asks, distaste clear on her face.  “I thought I had to say a spell.”

Dagda leans forward and puts his elbows on his knees.  “Sindri, the grimoire and the rest of the ingredients, please.”

Sindri nods and rises to his feet.  He disappears down the hall and comes back in a moment with the grimoire Dagda had earlier, and a small silver plate.  He sets them both down on the coffee table in front of Xandra.

“Thank you, Sindri,” she says with a half-smile.   She looks down at the new items.  The crocodile tooth is harmless but when she reaches out to touch the blue ring octopus, I grab her hand. “You do not want to do that,” I say.  “That is a blue ring octopus and there is no cure for its venom.”  I have no idea how Sindri was able to get one on such short notice.

She quickly pulls her hand back.  “Why is it here, then?  Am I supposed to poison myself to do the spell?” she asks again, looking even more concerned than before. 

Dagda sighs with impatience.  “Of course not.  Read the spell.” 

Ignoring his harsh tone, Xandra does and discovers that she is not going to poison herself.  Feeling more confident, she looks up at Dagda.  “Can I start now?”  He nods, impatience still all over his face. 

With a deep breath, Xandra kneels down in front of the grimoire.  The room is completely silent and all eyes are on her. She does a small shake of her head as if to clear her mind and then begins to perform the spell.  She picks up the crocodile tooth, and uses it to poke a hole in the octopus.  Then she carefully draws a circle around her teacup.  She is very careful not to touch the octopus each time she has to poke it.  Her hand is getting a little shaky the last couple of times, making me want to do it for her.  I would if I could. 

Setting the tooth down, Xandra says the spell.  “
Plagued by dreams of loss and pain, drowning in sorrow lived again, nightly torment, daily rage; I find peace written on this page.  Freedom sought from what time has forgot, my mind to be closed, no longer exposed, to the anger and danger wrought by the fingers of dreams unsought
.”

Pausing, she lifts the cup to her lips., “
Made of poison from deep within the sea, a circle of protection stolen by me, no dreams shall pass this safeguard, my mind remains unmarred.  Sands of nightmares forsaken, while others slumber and dream, for me unbroken darkness in the light of this moon’s beam
.”  She drinks and the lovely twisting of her face tells me how delicious it must be.  She shoots me a dirty look when I have to hold back a chuckle.