Stormchild: Emeline and the Forest Mage

49. Apart (II)

With a gasp, Avétk came to. Eyes filled with shock, he inhaled like a fish in a puddle, as if he couldn't suck in the oxygen he needed no matter how hard he tried. Denirya's dance was done and she stalked off to the shadows again. Emeline and Ketiya kept warming Avétk's limbs until lucidity returned to his eyes and he gently, blushingly, shoved them away.

Stumbling away from him, Emeline felt as if she had returned from the dead. And she felt unsteady of a sudden. She was so strong now, so much command in her, but she was terrified of what she might do if she didn't keep her focus. Her hands trembled as she tried to tie the laces at her hips while Avétk sat staring into the fire huddled in furs, Guiseila fussing over him and handing him a cup of soup.

She sighed. Thoughtful as ever, Ketiya came to help Emeline. She reached to tie the laces on her hips. Emeline tensed. What if she hurt Ketiya accidentally? Just thinking about the red haired woman, Emeline sensed her blood pumping through her body.

'I'm scared,' Em whispered as Ketiya tugged on the strings.

'Of what Dearie?'

'I did that to him.' Both looked over at Avétk for a while, stringy hair dangling over his face while he sipped soup.

'Holy Fathers child. How'd you manage that?' Ketiya gave Em a reassuring smile and straightened her top.

'I was angry, and...' She thought of the right words to say and frowned. 'I could hear the blood.'

'The blood?' Ketiya cocked her head. She turned Em around and started combing her fingers gently through her wild hair.

'All of it. Yours, his. Everyone's. Rushing and throbbing and pulsing. Like a migraine, Kit. Like those headaches that make you feel like you're gonna die, and before long you're hoping  you die just so the pain stops.'

Ketiya's fingers tugged at a tangle in her hair, and for a chilling moment she remembered the rotten fingers from her dream tugging in the same way. She turned and took Ketiya's hand in her own. 'Do you understand? I can hear your blood. Feel it. Talk to it. And then I- I don't know what I did. I just wanted the noise to stop. I blocked my ears, then I heard a cry.'

'He was talking to the Apprentice one moment,' Ketiya said, 'standing at the door and waiting for you, and the next moment he hits the floor like a boulder.'

'Ugh' --Emeline rubbed her hand over her face-- 'I'm dangerous to be around.' Even as she said this she felt Ketiya's heart rate pick up the slightest bit. What did that mean? Was she afraid? Nervous?

Ketiya smiled reassuringly. 'No, you're fine. We'll be fine dearie. This is why we came all this way after all. Now you've got these powers to help us kill that devil woman.'

'Heh.' Em smiled. Ketiya had this way about her; anyone felt scared or hungry or tired or, well, anything at all, she'd welcome them in to her warmth and share the load.

'Tell you the truth,' Ketiya said, 'I suspected there was something off about you at first you know. What with the canterash acting so strangely around you, and then there was that blast of snow when those dark creatures attacked us that one night. You remember? Before the river.'

'I'd never forget. You know, it's strange, but back then that terrified me. I had no idea what I was. How can a person be so entirely apart from themselves, Kit?' Emeline folded her arms over her chest and glanced away. 'Do you understand what I mean?'

'Not really,' she said. 'But I can see the change in you. Can't say I know the feeling. I've always been me. But you...you're different now Em. Drastically. Suddenly. It's as if the real you had been buried inside this shell of another person, hidden under the mask of a shy farm girl.' Ketiya smiled and took Em's shoulder. 'The important thing to know is that this is the real you. The farm girl is gone. The fearful child. She is not you. This is you.'