“We need to get Alesso to a wizard,” Milla said then, keeping her voice down. So that Alesso wouldn’t hear us.
“How?”
“I know someone in a village close by.”
“Isn’t it risky to go into a village…?”
“We can keep our hoods down, and we can wrap him in blankets, so nobody knows if it’s not some old man we’re taking in for cold medicine…And be quick.” Lyria put her hands on her hips, glancing at Alesso grunting as he turned on the other side. “He’s not going to make it otherwise. I’m not so worried about villagers. What we should fear is the fae around here.”
“You mean, the raiding groups? Aren’t those attacks rare?”
“No, you don’t understand…Normally, they are. But see, we’ve done something, now. We’ve killed one of them.” Lyria looked like she was clearly expecting me to understand more than I could. “On their own lands, Milla. We’ve intruded fae lands and killed one of their own. We are the intruder. We are on the wrong side of law, here. We shouldn’t have done this, but I couldn’t stop Alesso in time. And I can’t really even blame him, he’s used to fighting fae…He didn’t know we should leave fae well alone out here.”
“But they’re the ones that—“
“Attacked us, yes. But would they have killed us? We have no way to prove it. In fact, we have no way of knowing how they would have treated us, if they’d have won.”
“What are you saying? Of course we know! They were clearly attacking, and we would be dead if—“
“We can’t prove it. We are on thin ice here, Milla. I definitely don’t want to explain this to a fae court of law.”
“Well, I guess you would know their ways, if anyone…But they didn’t exactly approach us as friends?”
Lyria pulled a short breath. “The irony of it, Milla, is that you’re not scared. I can tell you’re not half as scared as I am. Isn’t that ironic? I’ve actually lived with the fae, I’ve even fallen asleep surrounded by these people, knowing full well I could be dead in the morning. But I lived. I’ve eaten their food, too, knowing it could poison me, and breathed that air, knowing I’m not full-blood fae, and no-one really knows how it’ll affect me, long-term…But again, here I am, still kicking. I’ve seen them go through their brutal, brutal days, only biting my tongue, crying silently in my mind, to avoid attention, silent, because I wouldn’t be able to change their ways, anyway. And after all that, I don’t have a scratch on me. You’d think I would have developed some trust in my abilities to survive? But now…”
I pulled her in a hug, though I was shocked over myself. But she didn’t push me away. She seemed as if this was the most natural thing, and only pressed me close too. She laid her head against my shoulder, breathing calmly.
I thought of brushing her hair aside. But too soon, she loosened her grip, gave me a glance, lit up with a brief smile, and slowly let me go, pushing past me.
Chapter 6
“Morning.” Lyria’s softly spoken greeting made me look up. Lyria stood wrapped up in her cape, arms crossed around her, with a frown on her face. She was up early, it seemed. I held onto my warm blanket around my legs, not wanting to let go of the warmth; it was chilly. Here in the desert, the days were scorching and the nights freezing cold.
“We have to hurry and get him to that wizard,” Lyria said.
“Is he worse?”
“I don’t think he’ll make it on his own. I’m surprised he’s made it this far with a wound like that. Fae venom is harsh. There’s so much magic in it too, it messes with your mind. If you’ve heard Alesso grunt and sigh during the night in his sleep, that’s the nightmares and night terrors.”
No, I hadn’t. I had slept dark, deep, dreamless sleep. It was as if the fae magic from the battle had left a weary haze over me, and was only now slowly leaving me, my head clearing.
“And it only gets worse with time,” Lyria said. “Like I said, I’m surprised he’s still here. But all the better reason to get him to a wizard. He’s resilient. It’s looking like his odds to survive could be high. Normally, there’s no hope, and that’s why I didn’t suggest it at first. He asked me to help him finish it all…Did you hear him? That, too, made me think he was in worse shape. But he’s holding on, and of course we have to take him to a wizard.”
“Of course…You said something about a wizard close by, yesterday?”
“There’s a village not far from here. I think I know someone there.”
I nodded, feeling some of the guilt ease up.
“We won’t need to make much of a detour, even,” Lyria said. “But we will have to cross more fae lands. What else.”
“And when we get him to the wizard, what’s the plan…?”
“Then we leave him to be tended to, of course, and keep on.”
“By ourselves? Do you believe we’ll make it to Galandea?”
“Of course!…What are you saying, Milla? How can you even ask? We’ll be fine. With all that I said, these are just fae going on about their lives, these are…They’re not deliberately attacking us.”
“Two women trying to make it through fae lands—”
“We’ll be fine,” Lyria cut me off.
“What if they do attack again?”
“Let them. We both know magic. We’ll talk to them, of course, that’s always the first thing. But if that doesn’t help, we do know magic. We won’t go down without a fight, right?”
“Oh, that’s for sure…”
“And, by the stars Milla, am I glad you’re with. You change the odds. You change everything. I wish I could tell you how much it means.” She looked a me slightly tense, serious, expectant. “I knew you were good with spells, but you’re a total superstar. No wonder everyone wants you to be a wizard.”
I laughed, feeling embarrassed, so I turned my eyes for a moment before daring to meet them again. I didn’t know what she meant to say with that. “For a human?” I muttered, since I couldn’t come up with anything else. Lyria only laughed.
“Imagine if we’d had a soldier convoy, instead,” Lyria said. “There would now be nothing but reddened sand, blood, and gore where we met with the fae.”
That made me quiet. “Listen. I hope I’m not being too curious, but why did you ever pick me?”
I had wanted to ask it for a long time, and almost opened my mouth, even, but had kept quiet after all. Now I had to know.
“I’m a chambermaid,” I stated the obvious. “And I’d imagine you hardly knew me, though I’ve spent time in the background, quite a lot…? I feel like I’ve spent a lot of time with you, but to you, I must be just one face in the crowd, and you can’t possibly even remember me that well among all the maids and help and guards and all the rest of the staff?”
Lyria gave a secretive, mischievous smile. “Do you remember one summer day, end of last summer, when you were walking past the well in the yard with a friend, and your friend got picked on by the horsemen? They started bullying you. I was worried for you. I was watching from the tower, the second floor balcony—“