The Prince's Thief

17. Sapling

I stayed with Damians family for nearly a fortnight, and though it felt strange, I enjoyed not having to always hide my magic. Ashen struggled to light a fire, and I could feel the warm glow in my eyes as I started it from across the room. Ashen looked startled, and then laughed. Damian smiled, and for the first time since my mother died, I felt unconditionally welcomed.

It did not last long, however, for news soon reached the village that a party of knights from Calber had gone missing in the East wood.

"I have to look for them," I told Damian, who protested, but I cut him off, "Arthur convinced the King to spare my life. Tristan may be one of the missing knights, he nearly sacrificed himself for me. I owe it to them. I'm going."

Damian argued no further, but packed me some bread and cheese for the trip, and handed me an apple.

"Don't die somebody who would not die for you," Damian told me quietly. I smiled, throwing my arms around him, and releasing him after a moment.

"I'll be back before you know it," I replied. Damian searched my eyes a moment before hugging me tightly, and insisting I return after it was over.
Once more, I began down an unfamiliar pathway, unsure of where I was going, despite getting a somewhat detailed account from one of the villagers.

Nearly two days time had passed since leaving Damian's village by the time I made any real progress. Clanging metal, shouting, and sounds of battle rang through the woods, and I began to run towards the sound. I threw down my small pack, drew my sword, and crept to a bush to try and get a closer look, hoping to see the colours of Calber. Why are you hoping to see men who have orders to execute you? A voice in my head wondered, and I had no answer for it.
I felt relief as I recognized the colours, and then dismay at the number standing. Four men in red and gold, and more than twelve against them. They were losing, badly. I saw a man lunge towards Arthur with his sword, and instinctively the warm glow of my eyes sent the man flying through the air. The men of Calber were too busy to notice. I snapped the branch of a tree, watching it crush two men as it fell, and threw a third flying backwards. This, they noticed.
"Sorcerer! They have a sorcerer!" One of the attacking men screeched, and they began to retreat. The men of Calber looked utterly confused, and exhausted. I was about to leave, aiming to return to Damians village after seeing the men alive, but stopped at the sight of a dark red stain soiling Arthur's clothes. I took a breath, and stepped out from my hiding place.

"You're wounded, Arthur."

Three words brought three swords pointing at me, Williams hate-filled eyes boring into me as he raised his sword to my throat. I stared back, calmly, and watched the panic in his eyes as my own eyes surely flashed, filled with the warmth of magic, and sent him hurtling through the air, but landing on the soft forest floor.

Even Arthur looked frightened.

"I can heal you some, if you wish." My words were directed at Arthur, but he did not respond. He merely watched me, with an expression I could not read.

"Without magic?" He asked finally. I looked away from his face, down to his abdomen where a wound was slowly seeping blood.

"Not if you want to survive," I replied calmly. He would be an idiot to refuse, but I worried he would all the same.

"Very well, Faye," Arthur decided after a few moments.

"Your highness! You must be mad, this woman is a sorcerer, she is the devils child, she must be destroyed!" William shouted, rising from the ground.

"She has saved our lives, William-again, I might add," Arthur retorted, and William looked furious.

"Please, Faye, ignore him. I want your help, and would grateful for it."

I did my best to heal him as much as I could, but healing magic was trickier, it required learned spells, and I knew almost none, only what instinct told me. I read a book once suggesting no healing magic could be done without being learned, but then, my magic had never been ordinary. If I had learned healing magic, perhaps I would have been able to heal him completely instead of partially, but he was healed enough to live, in much the same way I had managed with Tristan.

"It still hurts," Arthur murmured, and I nodded.

"Because she's not healing you at all! She's cursing you with dark magic and a black soul!" William hissed. I lost my temper, Drew my sword and rounded on him.

"Listen here, you miserable little cur, I was BORN like this. I didn't learn it, or sell my soul or ask for any of this, especially not for the persecution and the hatred. But I use it anyways. I risk my own life time and again using magic to save your scrawny, ungrateful, close minded self, and do I get any thanks? No. And I wouldn't want nor need any, but instead of thanks or even gratitude, I get your hatred, condemnation and vocalizations from you that tell me just how much you wish I were dead. I could snap your neck with nothing but a thought-do not tempt me," I seethed, and returning to where Arthur lay against a fallen tree, steadied my tone, "I cannot heal you completely. Healing magic is complicated, it must be learned and practiced. I've never learnt, for there is nowhere to learn and nobody to learn from. I've done all my magic allows within its bounds. You will be in pain and need rest and healing, but it is healed enough you will not bleed to death. It's the best I can do."

Arthur took my arm as he did with the knights, and looked me in the eye.

"I owe you my life. You need not apologize for the way you saved it," Arthur replied. I nodded, rose, and began to walk away. It was then I heard rushed footsteps, a sword drawing, and Arthur shouting. I turned around, and my eyes locked on William, rushing at me with sword drawn.
He fell to the ground, screaming in agony. Arthur, Elyhas and a knight I did not know looked on in horror.

"She tried to kill me!" William hissed between agonized sounds. I laughed.

"If I wanted to kill you, you'd be dead. All I did was break your ankle. You'll be able to walk by the time Arthur is healed enough to do so."
I turned to leave, straightening my cloak, when Arthur's voice broke through the silence.

"You're not leaving, Faye?" He asked, his voice pained.

"I have been banished upon pain of death, your Highness. I won't tempt fate any longer. I heard the news of your missing party and feared for my friends, nothing more," I replied, and then hesitated before asking one last question, "What became of Tristan?"

Arthur's expression was not readable, and for a moment I feared the worst.

"He requested to stay behind....to care for your father, Faye. They are both grieving as though you were dead," Arthur admitted. I stared at my feet, heart aching with longing to see them again.

"I might as well be," I muttered. Something in Arthur's eyes flashed, and I took a step back upon recognizing it to be anger. I didn't realize it wasn't directed at me, until he spoke.

"It won't always be so, Faye. When my time to rule Calber comes, I promise you, you will be free to walk it's lands."

I blinked, and then stared in shock.

"Do...do you really mean that, Arthur?" I didn't even recognize my own voice, for it came out so soft and childlike, as though telling a peasant girl she was really a wealthy princess. Arthur nodded.

"You have my word, Faye."