The Binding (37 page)

Standing near the entrance, I look around the cave and find it cozy. I hear the water trickling down from some unseen crevice near the ceiling. I turn to look over at a far ledge and find Alorn and Mellis sound asleep on top of it as Phoris sleeps on the cave floor. Along the wall of our sleeping area I see a makeshift rack with our clothes on it. Our shoes and boots are closer to the fire. Also near the fire are Tolan and Tharin. They lay across from each other , and from where I’m standing it’s almost impossible to tell them apart in this light. I move closer and locate Tharin. I watch his breathing and again he looks so much younger when he’s sleeping. I almost jump when he startles awake. He sits up looking about him, then over to the drape d blanket, listening. I hold my breath , backing slowly into the shadows until I’m sure that he can’t see or hear me.
It’s a testament to his exhaustion that he doesn’t detect me. I know that any other time he would be able to see and hear me easily during the drift ing state. I must have focused on him just long enough for him to sense something while he slept . Finally relaxing, he looks over to the opening of the cave that leads out to the path that brought us here. Again he waits and listens. Finally satisfied, he lays back down and quickly falls back to sleep.

Even knowing that he can’t see or hear me, I tiptoe to the opening and out of the cave. I don’t remember the path being so long , but then again I don’t remember much after Tharin came for me earlier. The nagging feeling of something or someone calling me grows stronger. I near the opening that leads out to the ledge of the wall. The sound of the wind howling sends a shiver through me and I wish I had been smart enough to grab my boots . I stop and look down at my socked feet. I close my eyes and wish for them to be in my boots. I quickly open my eyes only to be disappointed to find my feet still in socks only . I sigh, maybe it doesn’t work that way, or maybe I just have a lot more to learn.

I make my way to the ledge and feel the pull of the wind as I come out into the open. I clutch at the blanket’s side, preventing it from flying open as I look out into the darkness. I stop to think about that. Do I really feel the cold? Is the blanket real , and do I really need to hold it to keep it from flying open? I let the blanket go and it remains flat against me. I look down at my feet and they no longer feel cold. In fact, I no longer feel anything at all. I continue to the ledge.

I know that
we’re high above as the wind echoes off the stone wall . Tharin said that I only have to think of where I want to be and I’ll be there. I see myself in the small alcove where Julia and I hid before Tolan came for us. I look around and the wind cuts off again as I stand beneath the tree from earlier. I look out to where our bags are, heavily covered with snow now. In the same spot where I last saw him is the big man, just sitting , but this time he has his head down.

I freeze where I stand as he lifts his head and turns toward me. I watch as he slowly gets up and casually starts walking my way. Once the panic starts, I quickly close my eyes and think of Tharin lying asleep in the cave. I call out to him and he’s up instantly. I see him run to the area where Julia and I are sleeping. When he pulls the blanket aside, Julia wakes and sits up pulling the covers around her. Tolan is instantly behind his brother as Tharin goes to where I lay. He leans in and whispers to me and when I don’t respond, he puts his head to mine and closes his eyes. When I open my own eyes again , I see the large man coming closer to the alcove. I turn as I feel Tharin next to me, pushing me gently behind him, his eyes on the man approaching us.

The man suddenly stops as if knowing Tharin is now with me. He pulls his hood back and I feel as if I don’t have the blanket on .
I automatically grab at its opening. His eyes slowly roam over me. I can’t understand how he’s able to see me in the first place . Without realizing it I grab hold of Tharin’s hand and though I don’t sense any sort of evil from the big man, he still feels dangerous.
His size definitely has something to do with it, as he’s taller and broader than Phoris. In fact, he looks just like Tharin and Tolan , but his eyes are a different shade of green.
There is something else that’s different about him, but I can’t figure out what that is. I sense the tension in Tharin as he lets go of my hand and takes a step forward. The big man looks at Tharin then and gives him a small smile. He looks back at me and bows , straightens, replaces his hood and returns to where he was sitting.

The next thing I know I wake with a jolt back in my sleeping bag with Tharin holding onto my head. I see Tolan standing in front of Julia who has her hand on his shoulder. I grab the covers that Tharin holds up for me , and then he steps back, a furious look on his face.

“What do you think you’
re doing? Y
ou could have been hurt or worse , killed. You put every one of us in danger by going off on your own like that. We’re all trying to keep you safe, but you risk all of our lives by taking off on your own ?
”
Even though his voice is quiet, I sit staring at him, unsure and scared.
He’s right and I don’t know what to say to him. I lower my head ashamed and a tear falls on the sleeping bag.

“Da
mn it,” he seethes, turning from me and walking out.

I feel a hand on my shoulder a nd Tolan says, “It’s okay, Lily.
You just scared him , that’s all. But he’s right. You’re new to your a bilities and until you’v e trained more , you should be careful with them. Promise me you won’t do that again unless Tharin or I are with you.” He looks at me, waiting for an answer, and I nod at him. He squeezes my shoulder again and then leaves.

Once the draped blanket falls into place, Julia gets up grabbing her blanket from within the sleeping bag. She wraps it around herself and then moves over to where I am and slips into my sleeping bag. I wrap my blanket around me and then snuggle up to Julia.

“Please don’t cry, Lil,” she soothes as she wipes tears from my cheek.

To hear her say that takes me back to the many sleepovers we shared growing up. All of them were at my place, except f or our first sleepover. I’ve no t stay ed at her house since the night Lucas disappeared.

She takes my hand, “I don’t know what happened, but it sounds like you did something that really, really scared Tharin .”

I shake my head at her, trying to stop my crying.

“Something woke me, Jules,” I whisper, “but instead of leaving physically, I did the drifting , something that I learned from Tharin. He showed me how to send myself out, like an out-of-body thing . Anyway , I felt this calling and I just followed it.”

She whispers back asking, “Where’d you go?”

I stare at her and sniff, “Jules , do you know that you just took what I just said about an out-of-body experience without blinking an eye?”

She rolls her eyes at me and says, “Lil, I’m in a relationship with an elf, what do you think?” She smiles at me, but I don’t feel like laughing, “So, come on. Where did you end up?”

“At the little alcove where we hid before Tolan came for us,” I answer.

“And?” she prompts.

I think for moment how to put what happened into words, “That big guy, you know, the one that came after we hid in the alcove?”

She nods, and I continue, “I think, I think it was him who called to me. I felt him, but I noticed that no one else felt it . And,” I hiccup before going on, “and Tharin said that when we’re in that state we can’t be sensed or felt or even be seen, except by a few.”

She waits until I correct myself, “Okay, when he said a few, I thought he was talking about him and Tolan, not a big Sidhe who looks just like them.”

Surprise
d to he ar that, she asks, “He’s a Sidhe who look s like Tolan?”

“Yes, but different. Anyway, I thought, why not?”

“Okay, then what?”

“I was in the alcove watching him sit there, but then he got up and came toward me as if he knew I was there, Jules.” My grip tightens on her hands and I tell the rest in a rush of words, “I was suddenly scared , so I called for Tharin and then he was there, but this guy kept coming toward us .
I guess he sensed Tharin at some point, so he stopped and then he took off his hood and he looked just like Tharin and Tolan, but bigger , and there was something different about him . W
hen Tharin stepped forward the guy just smiled and walked away.”

Julia hugs me to her and tries to calm me down, “It’s okay, Lil, it’s over now.”

I pull away from her crying, “No , it’s not, Jules. Tharin’s right . E
veryone is risking their lives for me. Look at Mellis and Alorn, they’re hurt because of me.”

“Hey,” she
whispers sternly, “You didn’t ask for any of th is, remember? They came to you.
I’m sure they all knew what they’d be facing by bringing you back with them, so stop blaming yourself.”

“But,” I try to interrupt.

“No,” she says firmly, “Tharin said those things out of anger , and I don’t think he would have said them if this guy out there isn’t dangerous. Lily,” she shakes my hands until I look at her, “he cares about you, that’s why he got so angry . Just don’t do whatever it is that you do. T
he whole drifting-out-of-body thing again without them, okay?”

I look at her through teary eyes and nod. She pulls me to her and lets me cry on her shoulder. I don’t remember falling asleep, but something wakes me again. No, I feel a presence, but I’m so tired now that I can barely bring myself to the surface from a deep sleep. Through swollen eyes I see Tharin, but then again , I must be dreaming because he’s not yelling at me.

*

“You were a little hard on her,”
Tolan says from just inside of the opening.

I stand on the ledge letting the wind cool my anger.
I pull in from out of the storm, making my way back inside . S
ighing and shaking my head, I’m not able to look at him.

“Give her a chance to make the mistake s we made as boys . W
hen we were first learning our abilities,” he says quietly.

I nod at him saying, “You’re right. But she should have come to me.
I would have gone with her.” Frustrated I step away from him leaning against the rocky wall, looking out at the wind.

“What’s really bothering you, Tharin? She made a mistake, but nothing that deserved how you treated her. I’ve never known you to speak to someone you care about in that manner .”

How can I tell Tolan that at some point in the night she woke me while in the drift ing state and I was too tired to notice? Lily was lucky that she had the sense to call me when she finally realized her immediate danger.
I can see Lily in my mind and how she looked when I yelled at her.
I was angrier at myself than I was at her and I unfairly lashed out.
How does someone make up for that? I look at Tolan and say quietly, “Ziri is here.”

I watch as my brother’s eyes widen .
“Damn him ,” he curse s quietly, looking out toward the opening. “
What is the Lithi doing here? It can’t be for the bounty, Tharin. That’s not his style, he can’t be bought.
How did he get here?
” He turns back to me, “Did you speak with him?”

I shake my
head sighing, “I can’t let him near her again, Tolan. He’s seen her while she was drifting.”

“Surely you don’t think he’s here for Lily? Like I said, he can’t be bought. He wouldn’t even be interested in a bounty reward. He’s got nothing to do with the treaty or Lily,” insists Tolan.

“I don’t know his motives for being here , but I’m certain it does have something to do with Lily.” I picture the way Ziri looked at Lily when he first laid eyes on her. It was as if he had found what he was looking for. I push down on my frustration and anger. I should have known she was the one who awoke me.

Tolan curses under his breath again, and then says, “
It doesn’t make any sense.” After a moment of thought, he continues, “
We leave before first light. It should give us a few more hours of rest. Mellis was up earlier saying he was hungry, a good sign, but he’s still weak. I ’
ll work on him again before we leave and he should be able to walk on his own.
W
e have another day before reaching the realm’s borders due to the storm .”

“We can’t afford the delay,” I reply. “
Once we’re within the realm, it’s another two days before we reach the borders of Oak Tower . What of Alorn?”

“Not good,” answers Tolan, “he’ll be out for a while. I didn’t realize he was poison ed . If it weren’t for Lily, we would have lost him. Misma ―
who would ’ve known?”

I look at him questioningly, “How did she know about that and know how to use it?”

He shakes his head, “I don’t know. I haven’t spoken to her about it. She was pretty distraught after you took off.”

“Yeah,” I sigh, “It was foolish of me. I should have taken your advice and stayed behind. We could have been at the borders of the realm by now.”

“Don’t beat yourself up over it. If you didn’t, we wouldn’t know about the o rc assassin waiting ahead of us. If there’s one, then there will be others. We need to plan our next move.
I t will be twice as dangerous now that the Lithi has entered the game .”