Tyler's Story (Tales of Quelondain) (4 page)

John smiled and nodded.

Chapter Three

“
Is something wrong?” Mirah sat beside him and
looked into the fire. Tyler glanced at her and turned his attention
back to the fire. He shook his head. She shifted her position so
that her arm touched his. “You can tell me if there is.”

“
Nothing’s wrong, Mirah.”

“
Is it me? Did I do something?”

He frowned. “No. What makes you ask that?”

“
I just… I thought at first you might…” She
blushed.

Tyler took a deep breath. He’d gone out of his way
the past three days to make sure Mirah wouldn’t think he might be
interested in taking her on as a mate. She was beautiful, he
couldn’t say she wasn’t, but he couldn’t bring himself to try and
be interested. It wasn’t the fact that he might still love Jenna;
after four years away he wasn’t daft enough to think there would be
anything between them should he return to Sageden, if she was even
still there. It was his need to be alone that kept him from trying
to feel anything other than friendship for the women he met on his
travels. Of course, he’d be lying if he told her he’d never had the
company of one at some time.

“
Mirah, any man would be dense not to want you as
a mate.” He took a deep breath. “And at this time in my life, I’m
one of those dense men.” He looked over at her and remembered the
feel of her fingers as she’d let them trail along his arms whenever
she would walk by, or the way she’d sit next to him, just as she
was now. “I’m sorry, Mirah.”

Her big blue eyes blazed with anger and met his deep
brown ones. She clenched her jaw. “Well, then, what’s wrong with
me?”

“
Nothing. Absolutely nothing. You’re beautiful,
you can hunt… you’re exactly what I’d be looking for in a woman if
I was looking.” He put an arm around her shoulders and kissed her
forehead. “Trust me, Mirah. You don’t want me as a mate.”

She looked up at him, a frown wrinkling her brow.
“There’s nothing wrong with you.” Her head cocked to the side as he
burst out laughing.

“
There’s plenty wrong with me.” He got himself
under control. “I’m just very good at hiding it.”

Tyler groaned and the dream blurred as he pushed
himself out of it, though the memory of Mirah stayed with him. It
had been a year since he’d met her. He’d been working at a yoll
farm near her father’s. What was it that made women want to turn
him into their mate? He wasn’t interested in settling down. No
woman was going to change that fact.

John yawned and stretched under his blankets. He
lifted his head to glance at Tyler then promptly lay back down.

“By the moons, Tyler, do you ever sleep?”

Tyler grinned. “Not as much as you, it seems.” He sat
up and started to get breakfast put together.

“Do we have any big plans for today?” inquired
John.

“No. I think we should be safe to stay here another
day. Maybe we can find ourselves a few rabbits later on.”

John nodded and passed him a piece of bread. They ate
in silence and watched as the fire started to eat at the log Tyler
had tossed into it. Tyler smiled. It wasn’t so bad having John
around. With Bird gone, he was good company. Not to mention he was
in no hurry to get anywhere, much like himself.

Tyler stood, pulled his dagger, and turned it in his
hand. “Alright, John. Let’s see if you can disarm me this
morning.”

John grinned. “I almost did last night.”

Tyler laughed. “And that right there is the word that
makes all the difference. Almost.”

John grinned, pulled his own dagger and crouched low
like Tyler had shown him. In the past three days he had practiced
long and hard every time they had stopped to eat or sleep. The
practice was paying off.

Tyler stepped toward him and slashed with his dagger.
John countered and the blades clashed together, the ring sounding
through the quiet of the sleeping forest.

“You know, I thought I heard something last night.”
John’s comment cut through Tyler’s concentration and he paused.

“What?”

John’s leg swept under his and he fell onto his back,
his arm trapped under his friend’s foot. John increased the
pressure until Tyler was forced to let go of his dagger.

“What was the first thing you told me?” John was
grinning from ear to ear.

“I believe it was ‘never let anything break your
concentration’.” Tyler laughed. “Well done.”

John helped him up off the ground.

“Did you really hear something?”

John chuckled. “No.”

Tyler grunted.

John opened his mouth to say something smart then
stopped. “But I do hear that. Do you?” The two of them shifted to
better hear.

Tyler shifted back. “That’s crying.” They started
walking in the direction the noise was coming from. They’d been
walking slowly for ten minutes, taking turns shifting so they could
hear the sound, before they stopped.

“It was coming from somewhere around here.” John
gazed around the woods. Tyler closed his eyes and concentrated on
their surroundings. A branch snapped overhead and he looked up into
the trees.

His dark brown eyes locked with tear filled grey
green ones.

“Hello. I’m Tyler.”

John looked up and his eyes widened at the sight of
the woman holding on to the tree trunk for dear life. Her dark
brown hair fell just past her shoulders, her petite frame shook
with fear or cold, or maybe both.

“Are you alright?” He took a step toward the tree and
stopped short when she let out a small cry and tried to climb
higher into the tree.

Tyler noticed her clothing and things fell into
place. The short sleeved black tunic was what Aunt Hayden would
have called a T-shirt and the blue pants were jeans.

“John, back off. She just crossed over.”

“What?”

“You know… she’s one of the humans who comes from the
other world and gets stuck here.” He looked up at the woman and
back to John.

John gazed at the woman and back to Tyler. “Why don’t
I head back to camp and make something to eat? You’ll have a better
chance getting this girl to come down.”

Tyler frowned. “What makes you say that?”

John grinned. “Look at me and look at you. I’d feel
much safer listening to a man who’s in shape and has obviously
eaten a regular meal. If I was her savior, you know damn well she’d
be better off on her own.” He laughed and jogged away in the
direction of the camp.

Tyler leaned against a tree and looked up at the
woman. His head cocked to the side. “I’m not sure if you know this,
but you’re not where you’re from anymore.”

The woman wiped an arm over her face. “Really. I’m
not sure what was my first clue; the little blue person with wings
or the miniature mammoth with teeth.”

Tyler looked around. “You saw a tlarrison? When?”

“Which one is that?”

“The tiny meat eating mammoth.”

“About an hour ago.”

“Look, I don’t want to frighten you, but I’m coming
up your tree.” Tyler took three running steps toward the tree and
two more up the tree where he grabbed on to the lowest branch on
the trunk. He hauled himself up and climbed the rest of the way so
he was at the same level as the woman.

He frowned at the shocked look on her face.
“What?”

“It’s just…” She grunted. “You made that look
easy.”

“It’s amazing how much motivation a tlarrison can
give you, especially after you’ve just fought two of them.” He
gazed at her curiously. “How did you get up here?”

“I… I guess it was the same way you did, but I’m
pretty sure it didn’t look that graceful.” She wiped her hands over
her face and Tyler looked curiously at the black streaks that ran
from her eyes.

“Are your eyes alright?”

She looked at her hands. “Oh. Yeah, their fine. It’s
my mascara that’s smeared.” She used the bottom of her shirt to
wipe away at it. “Makeup. It’s supposed to make you look prettier.”
She shook her head. “I picked one hell of a day to put some
on.”

Tyler cocked his head to the side. By the moons, why
would black eyes make a woman look more attractive?

“Is your hand alright?”

Tyler hadn’t realized he’d pressed his burnt hand to
his chest in an attempt to ease the pain that climbing the tree had
caused him.

“It’s fine.”

She looked at him cautiously. “So if the mini mammoth
is a tlarr… um, what was it again?”

“A tlarrison.”

“Tlarrison. So what was the little blue person with
wings?”

“A Burrie.” He smiled.

“And you are?”

“Tyler.”

“Tyler. That sounds normal enough.” She took a deep
breath. “I’m Heidi.”

“Hello, Heidi.” He watched her for a moment. “Are you
alright?”

She swallowed hard and nodded then shook her head. “I
don’t know.” Her voice was just a whisper. “What happened? You’re
the one who yelled at me to run the other day, right?”

He nodded. “John looked for you afterwards but he
couldn’t find you.” He took a deep breath and gave her a small
smile. “There’s no easy way to tell you this. You crossed from your
world to ours. You’re in Quelondain now. No one here is exactly
sure how it works, but for some reason there are some humans from
your world who possess enough magic to cross over. Once they do,
the magic leaves them and they can’t leave.” He reached over and
touched her arm as the tears streaked down her face.

“You mean I’m stuck here?”

“Yes, no… it depends. If we could find you a cross
stone you could get back.”

She touched the dark green bandana tied around her
neck. “Where do I find one of these crossing stones?”

Tyler shook his head. “I’m not sure. But!” He kept
going rapidly to beat the rush of tears that threatened to break
through, “we could go to Growlen and I can see if anyone there
knows.”

“You’re willing to help me?”

“I am.”

“Why?”

Tyler frowned. Why indeed. He shrugged. “You know, my
aunt has a habit of picking up strays.” He smiled. “It seems it’s a
contagious trait.”

She finally smiled and his grin widened.

“Come. Let’s get out of this tree and back to camp.
John went to make you something to eat assuming you’d be
hungry.”

“I’m starving.”

Tyler dropped down to the ground and helped her ease
down. “How long have you been here?”

“Five days.” She paused. “Humans. You specifically
said humans.”

“That’s right. Why?”

“Does that mean you’re not one?”

He shook his head, all the while watching her
reaction. Heidi took a deep breath, her eyes closed.

“What are you?”

“I’m a Maj. We shift into dogs. You know… wolves,
coyotes, foxes, bears…” When she didn’t run screaming he continued.
“John, you’ll meet him in a few minutes, is a Maj as well. He
shifts into a coyote. Namaels are cat shifters. Tigers, lions,
panthers, cheetahs, that sort of thing.”

She opened her eyes and searched his face, looking
for some indication he was lying. Not seeing any sign that he was,
she took another deep breath. “What do you turn into?”

“A wolf.”

“Can I… I mean, can you do it? Just so I can see and
I don’t freak out when it happens later?”

He nodded.

“Wait!”

“What?”

“Is it… Am I going to be grossed out? Do you bust out
of your skin?”

He shook his head and smiled. “No. It’s magic, see? I
just think of it and it happens.” His head tilted to the side.
“Ready?”

Heidi looked up at him and took a deep breath. She
should have been terrified of this strange man, but his deep brown
eyes gazed into her grey green ones and she felt a strange calm.
She nodded. “Ok.”

Her heart jumped in her chest and her eyes widened as
Tyler’s form blurred, shrank, and became a large grey wolf.

Tyler looked up at her, trying to judge her reaction.
She bit her bottom lip and took a deep breath before kneeling in
front of him.

“Oh, god, you just turned into a wolf.” She reached a
hand forward and stopped short of touching the top of his head.
“Your eyes are the same.”

Tyler’s nose touched her hand and she ran it over his
face and behind his ear.

“Oh! I can’t believe I just pet you!” She blushed and
sat back on her heels, her face in her hands.

Tyler licked her hand and shifted back, laughing.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to lick you. When we’re in our animal forms,
we have a lot of our animal instincts. We’re still us and we can
think like humans, but the animal traits are strong.”

Heidi let out a nervous giggle. “I pet you and you
licked me. You weren’t tasting me, were you?”

Tyler burst out laughing. “By the moons, no!”

She visibly relaxed.

“Are you alright?”

“Yes, no… No. Absolutely nothing about this is
remotely alright.” Tears welled in her eyes and Tyler put a hand on
her arm.

“It will be. I promise.” He frowned and brushed some
of the stray hairs that stuck to the tears on her cheeks. “Look,
let’s go to the creek and you can clean up then we’ll go to camp
and you can have something to eat. Everything will seem much less
dismal once you’ve gotten some food into you.” He stood and pulled
her up.

“Now, Heidi from the other world. Tell me a little
about yourself.”

She shrugged. “There’s not much to tell. I’m twenty,
I work as a waitress at a bar, and I live with my boyfriend.”

“So you have a mate, then.”

She nodded. “I guess so. Do you?”

“No.”

She glanced sideways at him. “Why not?”

He shrugged. “I don’t want one at this point in my
life.”

Heidi looked at him curiously but left the issue
alone. “How did you get the scar over your right eye?”

He grinned. “I’d love to say there’s a fantastic
story behind that one, but there isn’t. I was trying to sneak some
jerky out of the jar when I was younger. The jar fell off of the
shelf and got me over the eye.” He frowned at the memory of how
Trent had seen the cut and told him that just wouldn’t do before
taking his dagger and giving himself a small cut over his own right
eye. They’d stared at each other and laughed until their mother had
come storming into the room, demanding to know what had happened.
After hearing Trent’s explanation that now they were identical
again, she’d shaken her head in disbelief and walked away.