Grym Prophet (Song of the Aura, Book Three) (13 page)

Then Gramling realized what had happened, and his terror increased. They had both tried to Stride… and
nothing had happened
. Nothing. Their powers were gone, both of them!

“What’ve you done?!?” roared the urchin, springing up- too fast, again. Gramling kicked up his legs and leaped to his feet in one fluid motion, but his foe was already there, swinging an arm out and grabbing a fistful of his hair.

“Let
go!”
Gramling grunted, sending a claw-fist into the urchin’s stomach. The hold on his hair broke and the Sand Strider stumbled back, coughing and cursing fouler than Gramling would have expected of even him.

With lightning speed, the Pit Strider sized up his situation. There was a power of some sort within the Swaying Willow, and now he knew that it somehow prevented the use of Striding. That left him without a weapon, as he had never been able to recover his sword.

Flight, then, instead of combat. A hand-to-hand battle with the urchin could go either way, and if the urchin had brought any friends… It was too great a chance to take.

All of this was thought through in a second; Gramling dodged a weak punch from the quickly recovering thief, responding with a spinning foot strike that took the urchin’s feet out from under him.

“This isn’t over!” Gramling snarled, pointing at his fallen foe. Then he turned and sprinted off into the shadows, never looking back.

~

Elia wanted to follow the innkeeper, to help Gribly somehow- she even tried, but a small arm snaked through hers and held her back tightly.

“No, no, no Missy,” Leafly whispered, “There’s nothin’ you can do yet, not when the ‘keeper has ‘is mind on throwin’ your manfriend out…”

“Manfriend?”
Elia answered incredulously, shaking her arm free of Leafly’s grip. “Oh, fine… but what’ll I do now?” The innkeeper, Swaying Willow-
What an odd name,
she thought- stalked past angrily, having thrown both Gribly and the Pit Strider out the door. “Leafly, you don’t understand- that boy in the black robes is a Pit Strider! He could be burning Gribly to death right now!”

Leafly just shook his head. “Not likely. Near the ‘Willow, all abilities used for violence are, well…
inoperable
… meaning they don’t ‘xactly work how they is supposed to. The aura of this place makes it so no one can ever hurt another with Striding… or magic… or anything but their fists.”

“Aura?” Elia asked, shocked, too used to hearing the term used for the Spirits of the World.

“Little ‘a’,” Leafly explained with a shake of his head. “Meaning, of course, that this place has a will of its own… sumthin’ that drives it, gives it power…”

“You’re just confusing me like you did before,” Elia said, rubbing her forehead with a palm. Leafly gave an apologetic shrug.

“Hard to say it right, Miss. I’m sorry, I am.”

“That’s alright. I…” but a tap on Elia’s shoulder shocked her into silence. With a startled jump she spun around, ready to defend herself from attack. There stood a person in nymph-made gear she recognized all too well.

“Easy there,” the young man chuckled deeply, holding his open palms out in a gesture of surrender, “I’m not going to hurt you, Elia… In fact, I’m glad you’re here. I didn’t think you’d catch up to me this fast.”

He tried to put a hand on her shoulder, but she pushed it away, glaring at him.

“Lauro,” she spat.

~

“I’ll be fetchin’ the innkeeper, now, if it pleases you, Miss,” Leafly stammered, clopping off conspicuously on his over-large hooves.

“Well… Lauro
what?”
the Wind Strider asked, still smiling benignly, but with a cold glint in his eye. It suddenly occurred to Elia just how volatile her situation was. Making the prince angry could well get her thrown out, jeopardizing all the progress she and Gribly had made so far.
Gribly- Seas, I hope he’s all right…

“Well, what are you doing here?” she took a deep breath and did something she had rarely done before: lie. “I had no idea you were here.”

“No? Well, the answer’s easy enough. I came here searching for the Aura, just as you did.”

“And have you found him?” She couldn’t quite keep the excitement out of her voice.

Lauro looked at her sharply, obviously wondering how much she could be trusted. Finally he shrugged.

“No. The innkeeper here knows something, I’m sure of it, but he won’t tell me anything or even get near to me if he can help it. A strange fellow, and I don’t trust him.”

“Oh.” Only now Elia fully realized two things: that the common room had finally got back to normal around her, and that the commotion no longer bothered her as much as it had, now that she had something serious to focus on. With that encouragement, she went on. “When did you get here? I have to admit, we- I- was worried when there was no sign of your… ship… near any of the cliffs.”

“The Chariot sunk,” Lauro began, continuing to give her an appraising stare. He opened his mouth to continue before realizing something and snapping it shut again. His eyes narrowed. “You just said
we
. Who else is here with you? Gribly? That Frost Strider? Another Reethe?”

Blast.

“I… I came with Gribly. We wanted to find you,” she told the prince, and her voice took on as pleading a tone as she could give it without seeming false. “We didn’t want you to die trying to do this quest alone.”

All throughout their conversation the two had been drifting closer to the edge of the room. Now, suddenly and uncomfortably, Elia found her back up against the wall, Lauro in front and to the side of her. To her right was a table, preventing her from walking away. She was forced to look him straight in the face as he frowned slowly and deeply.

“I
told
you…” he said, the hint of a growl in his voice.

“But didn’t you just say you were glad to see me?”

He blinked, and for a second Elia thought he was going to step away. Instead, his cold smile returned. “I
am
glad to see you. You haven’t left my thoughts this whole time we’ve been separated. I have no memories of you other than joyous ones… It’s Gribly who makes me angry. It’s
him
I don’t want around.”

Oh no,
Elia thought,
he’s talking like he loves me… this is worse than I thought. He’s getting stranger… angrier.
Aloud, she stammered, “Wh-why? I haven’t been any better to you than he has… and he hasn’t done anything to anger you. Why did you run away?” Lauro edged a little closer, and she tried to keep the distance between them.

“I’d tell you, if I was sure you wouldn’t go right back and blurt it all to
him
.” Lauro sounded genuinely hurt, genuinely concerned for her, but Elia ignored the tone. He was manipulating her, that was all. “I could help you,” the Wind Strider continued. “I’ve got a room here, and supplies… if you joined me, we could continue the quest and let Gribly fend for himself.”

“What?!” she exclaimed, anger replacing her fear, “What’s come over you? Don’t you remember all he’s done for you? All we’ve done for each other? It’s supposed to be the three of us doing this, Lauro! How could you forget so fast?”

The prince became quietly menacing in an instant, leaning on the wall so that he was less than an inch from her face, his smile replaced with a sneer.

“You have no idea what my life has been like,” he whispered, but his voice was painfully loud so close to her ear, and she winced. “I’ll tell you the story,” he continued, “So that you’re satisfied, and we can get on to the real problem.”

“No…” she said in a shaky voice, but he kept going and there was no way to stop him. Her body seemed frozen in place with fear, her tongue thick and speechless in her mouth. She shivered from the prince’s breath on her neck.

“I have to do this alone,” Lauro hissed, “Because unless I do, my father… the blasted King of all Vastion… will never, ever take me back. You and everyone else call me Prince… it isn’t true. I am no prince… not anymore. Larion Vale stripped that title from me when he exiled me in the desert north of his realm. Yes, Blast Desert, where I met Gribly. I know you’ve heard him talk of the royal order I carried. What even
he
doesn’t know, though- what
no one
knows, is that I forged that letter.”

“Why…?” she tried to say, but it came out almost inaudibly. “Why?” she tried again, stronger, and “Why did you- why were you…”

“You don’t need to know,” he cut her off, breathing heavily with emotion. “Except this: I
will
learn what I need from the Aura. I
will
find out how to save the kingdom… I will save it
by myself
… and then my father
will
respect me. He’ll have to! He’ll…”

The prince’s voice died off abruptly as a wrinkled hand the size of a dinner platter took his shoulder and spun him around. Elia breathed a sigh of relief. It was Swaying Willow, the innkeeper.

“This is a night for idiocy like I have not encountered in many a year,” drawled the huge man, frowning his dried, crinkly face until it resembled the knotted bark of a tree. His stringy gray hair flailed about as he shook his head and spoke. “It is a rule here, as I must constantly repeat tonight, young Wind Strider, that no violence
of any kind
is permitted in this place of rest. That includes, as any and every honorable man should know, violence that is threatened. Threatening expressions… motions… words…”

The tree-like face and deep yellow eyes turned deliberately to take in Elia where she stood stone-still against the wall. She couldn’t meet that gaze, not even if she had wanted to, so she looked away into the rest of the room. She thought someone should have noticed the enormous innkeeper preparing to expel another patron, but it seemed no one did. The attendees of the inn went on with their drinking, eating and merrymaking, never pausing even for a moment to glance at the scene in the corner. Soon the innkeeper was speaking to Lauro again.

“You have threatened this young woman’s safety and honor, in however subtle a way,” Swaying Willow pronounced solemnly, “And for that you must forfeit the time of peace you should have gained here.” Elia couldn’t see Lauro’s face, but his back was rigid and his ears were red. With a shock she realized that he was deathly afraid. His right hand clenched and unclenched nervously, white at the knuckles. She gulped, wondering what would happen next.

What happened was simple: the innkeeper threw Lauro out, just as he had done to Gribly and the Pit Strider, Gramling. She vaguely saw the willowy man standing in the door, waiting for the disgraced young Strider to scamper off before returning to her.

“Now,” the innkeeper began, but before he could say any more darkness rushed up on Elia and she felt herself falling forward in a faint, the exertions of the past few days finally catching up to her in spite of the short rest and food.

Arms caught her: steady, soft arms that could belong to none other than the innkeeper. A deep voice, like Swaying Willow’s but richer, more soothing, seemed to come from all around her in the void, urging her to drift away and regain her strength; to rest, and grow healthy; to sleep without dreaming.