1.5 True of Blood: Kallen's Tale (11 page)

“You’re a jerk.”

“So you have said.” 
Angry now, I could not care less if she follows me.  Let her sleep out in the cold if she likes.  I certainly am not going to, which is why I start walking towards the cave again. 

She does not come into the cave for several minutes.  I am already pulling out a lantern, as little sunlight filters into the cave, and I start setting things up.

“How did you notice this?”
she asks
.

“Because of the ice,”
I say as I pull out some food for our dinner.

“What do you mean?”

Looking up at her, I
try to keep my voice even as I
say, “T
he ice there at the opening of the cave.  I caught the sun reflecting off from it.”

“This is where we’re going to stay?”

Considering until two days ago I lived in a mansion, this is not exactly ideal for me, either.  But, you do not hear me complaining. 
“Yes.”

“For how long?”
 

And how, exactly, am I supposed to answer that?
“For as long as it takes.”

“And how long do you think that will be?”
Her voice has an edge to it, now.

I put the stuff in my hands down and stand up.  I cross my arms over my chest and ask,
“How long do you intend to take to learn to control your magic?”

“I don’t know.” 

I raise my eyebrows, waiting for the logic to kick in.  I can tell the moment it clicks in her head. 
Instead of admitting it, she kneels down and begins to unpack her sleeping bag.  I chuckle silently as I go back to making lunch. 

Lighting the small camp stove we brought, I heat the soup in its can.  I have never eaten food from a can.  I cannot imagine that it will
in any way
compare to Tabitha’s
homemade vegetable soup
,
made with
the fresh vegetables grown in her garden
. 
I read the can as I am waiting for it to cook, and I
am surprised that I
do not know what
most of the words are.  But, I am sure they are not things naturally grown in a garden. 

When the soup begins to boil, I pour it into two bowls I had pulled out
the backpacks
.  I hand one to Xandra and we begin to eat in silence.
  As we eat, I
pull magic and
raise
a protection circle
around the cave
,
and a fifty yard perimeter
,
to keep us safe. 
Maurelle
and
Olwyn
will not be able to detect us as long as we stay in the circle.

Out of the blue,
Xandra
asks,
“Why don’t you have wings?”

Yes, b
eing coherent and rational seems to come and go between even and odd hours with her. This must be an odd hour, because
I
am seriously doubting
her sanity
. 
Again.
 
 
“Because I am not in my raven form
,
”
I say slowly.

She rolls her eyes. 
“I mean right now
,
when you’re not in your raven form.  I thought Fairies had wings.”

I want to snap at her for believing those stupid old stories, but instead, I take a deep breath and say,
“That was a legend that was started a very long time ago because some of the
Fae’s
animal forms are birds
,
such as mine.  When we are not in our animal forms, we do not have wings.”

“Oh.”  She looks disappointed, which irks me more.  I am not sure why.  Perhaps I want her to be smarter than this? 
Though, truly
,
there is no reason at all that she should have any knowledge of the Fae other than folktales and legends.
 

After a moment, she asks,
“Do I have an animal form?” 

I nod. 
“You should, but it will be a while before you discover what yours is.  As you begin to use your Fairy magic more, your magic will decide which animal best suits you.”

“Okay.” 

We eat the rest of our lunch in silence as I try to figure out where to start with her training.  From what I felt earlier, her magic is wild
,
and she has not the slightest
clue
how to control it.  The more I think about it, the more I dislike her mother. 
The Witch should be brought to my realm and made to answer for the gross neglect she perpetrated in this situation.  She left Xandra almost defenseless against her enemies.  If Isla had not sent me here, I am sure
Xandra
would already be on her way to Dagda. 

To get my mind away from those thoughts, I take both bowls and bring them out to clean them in the snow.  When I am finished, I
return to the cave and
ask,
“Are you ready?”

She looks up at me. 
“Ready for what?”

How can someone seem so bright, yet so stupid, at the same time?  Perhaps I need to explain things more slowly
again
. 
“To practice.”
  I enunciate each word carefully.

She gives me a dirty look, but she says,
“Yes.”

Finding a spot that will be perfect for practicing, I r
emov
e
my hat and gloves,
as the weather is decidedly warmer today. 
“
We need to start with something smaller than you tried before.  We don’t want you to inadvertently start an avalanche.”

“
Hey, great way to make me nervous
,” she grumbles and I can barely hold back a laugh.  She is ju
st so cute when she does that.

“I had intended to start with the tenets of Witch magic and work up to Fairy magic, but I do not think that is going to be possible.  Your Fairy magic seems to want to be dominant so it will be important for you to learn to control it before we try any type of spell or incantation.”

Her brow scrunches together. 
“How do you know so much about Witch magic?”

“Because the best defense
is knowing
the tricks of your enemy,”
I explain
.

“So you really do consider Witches your enemy?  Where does that leave me then?”
she
ask
s
defensively.

I sigh.  I do not want to have this conversation.  I want to train her, and then get off this mountain. 
“It leaves you half Fairy
,
and we are wasting daylight by having this conversation.”

“Fine, what do you want me to do?”

Before offering her my hand, I check for her amulet.  I am surprised to note that she did not put it back on.  Could that mean she is beginning to trust me?  Offering her my hand, I almost jump at the shock of electricity that travels up my arm.  What was that?  Trying to ignore the sensation, I say,
“I would like you to focus on simply bringing the magic from the earth inside of you.  I do not want you to direct it anywhere.  I just want you to hold it.” 

She nods and closes her eyes.  I feel magic flowing into her again, and damn it, she is not controlling how much she is taking!  When it begins to overflow into me, I feel like my blood is boiling.  I tell her to let it go, but it is as if she cannot hear me.  I try shaking her and yelling her name as I use my own magic to keep hers at bay, but it is getting harder.  She seems determined to shove it into me. 

When I finally have all of her magic out of me, I give a final push, sending her magic back within her.  As soon as it hits her, I say, “Sleep.”  She falls to the ground in a heap, and I sink to my knees, trying to regain my strength.  How is she doing this?

After a moment, her eyes open,
which startles me.
  Any other Fairy would not be able to wake until instructed to do so.  Now, I am even
more perplexed.  Not to mention, a bit angrier as well
.

“What happened?”
she asks.

“You attempted to burn me from the inside out,”
I growl
.  “You channeled too much magic to hold yourself
,
so you pushed it inside of me
. 
I had to force it out with my own magic.  You kept pushing
,
and as our magic worked against each other, my body was caught in the cross fire.”

“That must be why my head hurts,”
she says, making me want to
put
her
to
sleep again. 
Or worse.
 
Her head hurts?  The entire inside of my body hurts. 
“Should we try again?”
she asks, as if she does not understand what just happened.  Or she does not care.

I need a few minutes to get myself under control before we have another go at her controlling her magic. 
In an attempt to gain more insight as to how much she really knows,
I question her more about odd sayings and such that she learned growing up. 

It turns out that her mother may have taught her more about the tenets of Witchcraft than I thought.  I still do not like the Witch, though.  This tiny bit of knowledge does not make up for leaving her daughter defenseless.

W
hen I am feeling better, w
e practice for several hours, and not once can she control her magic.  My insides feel as if they have been shredded, yet, she looks as if she could continue to do this all day.  Why is her magic not waning with overuse?  Mine is.  The harder I fight her off, the more exhausted I become. 
This is not possible.

Anger seethe
s
through me
when I finally
call it a day. 
I am physically unable to take any more of her magic within me without being seriously injured. 
Stomping back to the cave, I light the stove and we have more of the disgusting soup we had for lunch.  Xandra must sense my mood, because she does not ask me any of her annoying little questions while we eat. 

W
hen we are done
,
Xandra takes the bowls and washes them out.  E
ven with her being so quiet and helpful, e
ach minute in her presence is making my temper boil
more and more.  I have to get out of here.  While she is still outside, I change into my raven form and fly away.  I need to burn off some of this anger, and flying is always a good way to do that.

This evening, though, it does not seem to be doing the trick.  I have been out here
now
for
a few
hours
,
and I am not any less angry than I was when I left.  As I soar above the trees, I think about the amount of power she has.  I have never felt magic this strong.  Not even my own. 
I figure out
that is what
is
bothering me.  If she is more powerful than me, then how do I stop her when the time comes?

No, she cannot be stronger than me.  There is something going on, some sort of trick, that I have not figured out yet.  Is it a spell?  Did the Witch do something to temporarily increase her daughter’s magic?  That must be it.  And Xandra knows it.  She must.  I am such a fool
believing her to be an innocent all of this
.

Determined to get to the bottom of
whatever is going on
, I head back to the cave, my mood becoming increasingly
black
as I near.
Xandra
is asleep when I fly into the cave. 
Shifting back to my human form, I dress myself and then straddle her in her sleeping bag.  She is not leaving this cave until she tells me what is going on.

Waking, she practically screams,
“What are you doing?  Get off me.”

Not until she tells me the truth. 
“You are not stronger than I am.  You can
no
t be.  I am full blooded Fae and you are a half-breed.”

She glares at me.
“So you’ve said several times.  Will you get off me now?”

“I do not know how you are doing it.”

“Doing what?”

“There is no one in the realm of Fae who is stronger than I am
,
save the King and my grandmother.  That’s why I had to come.”
  I had to come to save this girl who is lying to me, keeping secrets.

“Good for you.  You still haven’t gotten off from me.” 

She is not going to
trick me
any more
.  Putting my hand on her jaw, I hold her still as I try to sense the Witch’s
spell
. 
“This power of yours, it must be some kind of trick.”