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“Shh!”
“Why are we shushing?”
“Char’s asleep on the sofa.”
“Why isn’t he asleep in his bed?”
“Just hush. I’ll tell you in the kitchen.”
Three sets of footsteps crept through the living room toward the kitchen, and Char sighed. Stealth wasn’t Srot and Thrak’s strong suit, but Rath could do better than that. At the very least, he could’ve told their teammates to be quiet before he let them into the brothers’ shared living quarters.
Why were Srot and Thrak here, anyway?
Char sat upright and groaned. His sore muscles had stiffened while he slept, and the bruises he’d paid little attention to last night were tender and not to be ignored. A soak in a nice, hot bath later would feel great. After he figured out the reason Rath invited their team over for breakfast when they were trying to hide Iris.
Srot and Thrak wouldn’t tell anybody, but nobody came over for breakfast unless Char’s mother was cooking. He didn’t want to draw any suspicion their way.
Wait. Was his mother here? The smell of hot food drifting out of the kitchen was too good for his brother’s or teammates’ cooking. If she were here, she’d be fussing and worrying about Iris, and he’d have to try to hide his injuries from her, too…
He stood and stretched, wincing as he did so. That might not be possible.
But he didn’t hear her voice coming from the kitchen. He heard Rath, Srot, and Thrak loud and clear, having already forgotten they were trying to be quiet. If Iris weren’t in such a bad way, he’d worry about them waking her, too.
He peeked into his bedroom. She was still asleep in his bed, surrounded by fairies. The sight both disappointed and relieved him.
She’d wake up later, he reassured himself.
Then he followed the aromatic smells into the kitchen, where Rath, Srot, and Thrak were sitting around a table loaded with no less than fifteen platters of steaming food. A handful of fairies were flitting around the stove and oven, too quick for Char to get an exact count.
Rath looked up at Char and grinned through a mouthful of food. “Oh, hey. Thought you’d sleep longer.”
“Kinda hard when there’s so much noise.” Char dropped into a chair and surveyed the options on the table. “You’re making the fairies cook?”
Rath shook his head. “They want to. Hey, take your shirt off for a second.”
“Excuse me?”
Srot swallowed and gestured with his fork as he talked. “Yeah, heard you got beat up pretty bad. Let’s see those bruises.”
Thrak’s mouth was full, but he nodded with enthusiasm.
Char heaved a sigh. “Whatever.” He unbuttoned his shirt and held it open. “Seen enough?”
Rath whistled. “Wow. It’s like a rainbow.”
“You transformed inside a building, right?” Srok asked.
“A stone tower,” Rath confirmed. “Made of those big huge blocks of stone that are something like a foot thick.”
“That had to hurt,” Thrak commented.
“It did.” Char buttoned his shirt again. “Why is there so much food here?”
“I didn’t know fairies could cook,” Rath said, reaching for a plate of poached eggs. “Turns out they take requests, too. Try asking them to make something. I haven’t been able to stump them yet.”
“There’s no way we can eat all of this.”
Rath’s mouth was full of a poached egg, so Thrak piped up in his stead. “Sure, we can. Here, try these. I don’t know what they are, but they’re great.”
Char shook his head. “Don’t make any more food,” he told the fairies. “They’re just taking advantage of you.”
Not that the fairies seemed to mind. There was a lightness about them, a frivolity as they zipped to and fro. A stack of pancakes and an egg, cheese, and meat casserole joined the rest of the food on the table, and then the fairies hovered around the four men, pushing a plate of this closer, removing an empty plate of that. They took genuine pleasure in serving.
Char wondered how much of that came from their nature and how much came from gratefulness and relief at being out from under the mage’s thumb.
But if the king’s mage could track them and Iris…
“Okay, maybe we went overboard,” Rath finally admitted, leaning back in his chair and patting his stomach. “I am stuffed.”
The fairies were already filling his plate again.
“Oh, gosh, no, please, make it stop,” he groaned. “Srot, help!”
Srot shook his head. “I can’t eat another bite. Thrak?”
“Nope.”
Char laughed. “You all brought this on yourself.”
“Ugh, I can’t move,” Rath complained.
“Any idea when Iris will wake up?” Thrak asked. “I hate to let all this good food go to waste.”
Char shook his head. “No. Do you know?” he asked the fairies.
One fairy drew a straight horizontal line, back and forth.
Char frowned. “Is that a no?”
The same fairy shot straight up and dove back down.
“And that’s a nod?”
It repeated the action.
“Okay, I think I’ve got it. Guess we’ll just have to wait.”
“So, you gonna fill in the details for us?” Srot asked. “All Rath said was you took her somewhere you thought was safe; the king’s mage got his hands on her; and you just brought her back.”
“That’s about the sum of it.”
Although there was still the matter of the mage tracking everybody here. But Char didn't know what any of them could do about that, and he didn't want to bring that up or answer any more questions, so he stood to go.
Kelnor’s towering, burly form appeared in the doorway. His red eyes were dead serious.
A hush fell over the group. Char reclaimed his seat without a word.
“Thought I’d find you boys here.” Kelnor pulled up another chair. “The second team just got back, and I think you’ll be interested in what they had to say. No, thanks, I already ate,” he told the fairies dishing up a plate for him.
“Is this about Iris?” Char asked.
“Has to be. That’s the only way it makes sense. No, I really don’t want anything.” He swatted at the persistent fairies pushing a plate in front of him.
“You have to at least try something,” Rath said, cracking a smile. “After they went to all this trouble to cook for us.”
“You mean after you made them cook for us?” Thrak smirked.
“Can it.”
They all fell silent again at Kelnor’s barked order.
“That’s better. The second team was in battle yesterday with the army and the king’s mage. They said he was throwing out magic like five people. Most of it was his usual blue, but there was some white magic, too, and some other colors. They couldn’t get anywhere close to him and were getting ready to call it when he nearly got one of ‘em with a bolt of white magic. It happened too fast for anybody to do anything, but then it exploded a few feet shy of them, and white magic started getting sucked up from the ground into that spot and vanishing.”
“That had to be Iris,” Srot said.
Kelnor nodded. “It’s a little unclear what happened after that. They saw their chance and went on the attack, so none of them were watching too closely, but one of them said he saw the mage send out a red line of magic toward the spot where all the magic was disappearing. It got sucked up with the rest, and then nobody saw anything except blue magic for the rest of the battle. Sounds like whatever happened dropped the mage back to the power level we saw when we first fought him. Still no party, but doable, and they pulled out a victory.”
“That’s why she sent you and the fairies away,” Rath said to Char. “She knew she’d royally ticked the mage off, and she was trying to get everybody out of the way so he couldn’t use anybody against her.”
Char nodded. “Makes sense. And the fairies didn’t think she could handle him on her own, so they came here to get me.”
“I’m guessing she’s not up yet?” Kelnor asked.
“No. The fairies don’t know when she’ll wake up, either. I’m guessing by the time I got there, the mage had extracted all the magic she’d reclaimed during that battle and then some, because that wasn’t on the docket for this morning.”
“What was he gonna do to her?” Thrak asked.
Char just shook his head. He didn’t want to repeat those words aloud, let alone hear them echo in his mind. He wished he could wipe them from his memory—along with the image of that mage touching Iris.
All her flinching made sense now.
He gritted his teeth and clenched his fists under the table.
“Well, let me know when she’s awake,” Kelnor said, pushing back his chair and standing.
“Hold on,” Rath said, stopping him. “You have to eat something before you leave.”
Kelnor sighed. “Why’d you make them cook this much, anyway?”
“Hey, I didn’t make them do anything! I just asked. That’s all. And look how happy they are!”
The fairies twirled together and rose as one toward the ceiling, scattering like fireworks to all corners of the room. Then they zipped back to the table, darting in and out of the assembled dragons. A pair zeroed in on Kelnor and danced across the silverware they’d set beside his plate.
It was hard not to smile at their antics.
But it was, nevertheless, a long day for Char.
Kelnor sampled a few food items to appease the fairies before he left. Srot and Thrak hung around to talk for a little while, and then they were gone, too, and it was just Char and Rath. Waiting.
Char went to his room to change and use the bathroom, and the fairies surprised him with a steaming hot bath scented with a fragrance he didn’t recognize. It helped ease the ache in his muscles, whatever it was.
And when he finished his bath and stopped to look at Iris on his way back to the living room, the smooth, tranquil expression on her sleeping face eased the ache in his heart.
She wasn’t in pain anymore.
He rejoined Rath in the living room, and they whiled away the hours talking, reading, playing board games, and staring at the ceiling. Rath said something about telling their mother, and Char told him not to. She would insist on coming over, and there was nothing she could do except sit around and worry.
The hours ticked by. Night came again.
“Well, maybe tomorrow.” Rath stretched and headed toward his room. “Goodnight, Char.”9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT8XyWNJWH6
“Goodnight.”
Char sighed and went to his own room to change. The algae and moss on the cavern ceiling had dimmed and almost gone dark, leaving the fairies’ soft golden glow as the only real source of light. He scanned them, gathered on the bed around Iris as usual, and then he turned his back on the scene.
Maybe tomorrow, he thought, opening the bureau drawer for his pajamas.
“Mm…”
He froze.
His heart was suddenly pounding in his chest, filling the silence left by that quiet sound.
Had he imagined it?
He spun around, preparing himself for that disappointment, but no. Iris was sitting up in bed. She held her left hand to her forehead as if she had a headache, her face downcast to her lap, but she was awake.
He wanted to shout from excitement, but he restrained himself and kept his voice soft when he called to her. “Iris.”
She looked up at him, her brown eyes dull, her brow furrowed. “Char?”
He was already crossing the room to reach her. Her voice was rough, but she was awake, and he felt lighter than he’d felt all day. He sat by her side and reached out to brush her hair back from her face.
She flinched.
So did he.
He dropped his hand to the blanket and dug his fingers into the fabric, clenching his jaw as reality came rushing back to him. She was safe, but she wasn’t okay.
“Sorry.” She dropped her gaze to her lap and her bandaged right hand. “I’m so sorry. For… for everything. I…”
“It’s okay. I know.” He paused, and then he said, “You should have told me, Iris.”
She shook her head. “I couldn’t.” She seemed like she wanted to say more, but she pressed her lips together and shook her head again.
“What… happened to your voice?”
Her eyes flicked up to his and then darted away. “Screaming.”
“Iris…”
He stared at her, a renewed surge of anger making his blood boil. Her long chestnut brown hair hung around her face like a curtain, hiding her expression, hiding her pain. The fingers of her left hand traced the bandage wrapped around her right hand. She looked… guilty. Ashamed.
He couldn’t help himself. He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into a gentle embrace. She stiffened, and then her shoulders began to shake, and the tears came.
“It’s okay now. You’re safe.”
Her hands came up to clutch at his shirt. He hesitated for a moment, and then he pulled her onto his lap so he could hold her close while he maneuvered them both to lie down in bed.
“You’re safe, Iris.”
He wrapped one arm around her waist, pressing her head to his chest with his other hand, kissing her hair and nuzzling into it. She clung to him, soaking his shirt with her tears. Her fingers only loosened from his shirt after she’d cried herself to sleep.
He kissed the top of her head again and closed his eyes.
“You’re safe."9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQOgs0maVYT
