Tyler's Story (Tales of Quelondain) (9 page)

The snap of a branch put them both on alert. Heidi
pulled her dagger. Tyler shoved himself onto his feet so he could
stand by her.

“If you have a fire going, then we have a rabbit we
can cook on it.” John appeared, his grin lighting up his face.

“John!” Heidi ran and hugged him tightly.

He chuckled. “Hello, Heidi.”

“What are you doing here?” Tyler limped over to him,
smiling.

“I came to make sure you’d gotten out.” He looked his
friend over. “I’m glad you did even if you are a little worse for
wear.”

“Tyler! You’re alright!”

He stumbled back on his hurt leg as Mina hung on him.
He caught Heidi’s frown.

“I’m fine, Mina.” He wiggled out of her hold and
limped back to the tree so he could sit. “What are you doing here?”
he asked the sisters.

“We decided we want to join your pack, but John said
we had to ask you first.”

John shrugged.

“And why would you tell them that?” Tyler
inquired.

“This is your pack. You’re definitely the alpha
here.”

Tyler grunted and turned back to Mina and Maddy. “And
did John tell you what we’ll be doing in the next little
while?”

She shook her head.

“We’ll be travel about until I can find a way to get
Heidi home.”

“You’re letting her stay?” There was no mistaking the
malice in Mina’s question.

Tyler frowned. “What do you want me to do? Just leave
her out here? Why did you think I was going into that camp
for?”

“She’s human!” Mina spat out the word.

“And?” He stood and took a step forward so that he
was standing between Heidi and the others. “She just crossed over.
She had nothing to do with Braw and his idiotic plan.”

“They’re all the same! They’re…” Mina stopped short
at the look of pure fury on Tyler’s face.

“Mina, if you’re to run with this pack, you’re going
to watch your mouth.”

Everyone stared at him in amazement.

“It wasn’t that long ago when we would have been
enemies instead of a pack. Namaels and Majs didn’t run together,
they killed each other.”

The women looked into the fire and John grinned.

Tyler glared at him. “What’s so funny, John?”

His grin widened. “Alpha.”

“By the moons, John!” He took a deep breath and the
anger left him. “Mina, I’m sorry. You’re entitled to your opinion.
I was raised in a pack where everyone was given a chance to prove
themselves. If this is going to be a pack, that’s the kind it will
be.”

Mina looked in his direction.

“Can you do that for me? Can you keep an open
mind?”

She looked back into the fire without answering
him.

Great, he thought to himself. “Here. Why don’t we set
your blankets up over here?” He took the blankets and laid them out
as far away from Mina’s as he could then got some cheese and went
to sit beside Heidi. He broke the cheese in half and handed it to
her.

“Thanks.”

He noticed her shiver as the night breeze blew
through the trees. “Come here.” He held his arm out and pulled her
to his side.

“Well?” John was looking at them with raised
eyebrows.

“Well, what?” Tyler frowned.

“What happened?”

“What do you think happened? I got to Heidi and got
her out.”

“And I suppose a very nasty blade of grass is to
blame for all of those cuts…”

Mina rolled her eyes. “Obviously, the humans were
opposed to losing one of their own.”

“Actually, it was shifters that did this to me.”

Mina paled. “Vic?”

Tyler nodded. “And four others.”

John swore under his breath. “So they beat you to
teach you a lesson and just let you go?”

Tyler shook his head. “If it had been up to them, I’d
be dead. It turns out, however, that Heidi saved my life.” He
looked pointedly at the sisters. “We took care of the guards and
let the humans escape then made our way here.”

Everyone was quiet, all of them staring into the fire
as they sifted through their thoughts. Tyler leaned his head back
against the tree and closed his eyes.

Heidi looked up and smiled at the small snore that
escaped him. Stubborn man; she’d known he was exhausted. She fought
the urge to wipe the bangs out of his eyes. Her gaze moved to his
lips and her heart jumped at the memory of their kiss in the camp.
It had all been an act, she knew, but she hadn’t been able to stop
her head from reeling as she’d been engulfed by the taste of
him.

Blake’s dark blue eyes flashed through her mind and
she wiggled out from under Tyler’s arm to get away from the guilt
that overwhelmed her.

John handed her a piece of rabbit and the two of them
sat together.

“Are you alright? You looked like you were going to
be sick.”

Heidi nodded. “I’m fine. I think I’m still a bit
shocked about the fact I killed someone.” She took a deep breath.
“I thought he was dead. I thought they’d killed him. I just… I just
jumped on the one closest to me…”

John wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “He’s hard
to get rid of. I’ve seen him live through things another being
would never survive.” He looked back to his friend. “Thick skull,”
he explained to her and smiled when she laughed.

She noticed the sisters were watching them. John saw
her glance and gave her a squeeze.

“Go get some sleep. I imagine Tyler will want to make
it to Growlen tomorrow.”

Heidi smiled. “Have a good night, John.” She got
Tyler’s blanket and went to lay by him. She tried to make her last
thought be of Blake as she drifted off to sleep.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The air was cool and a soft fog covered the camp. The
birds were starting to chirp, poking their heads out of their
nests. A buck ventured close to investigate then bound off toward
the creek. Tyler sat up a tree and watched the campsite as everyone
started to stir. Maddy and Mina were talking in whispers, glancing
in Heidi’s direction every now and again. John snored as only John
could. Tyler’s eyes moved to Heidi and he smiled at her little
wave. She lay completely covered, the blankets pulled over her head
so that only her eyes and the tips of her fingers peeked from under
them. He stiffened as Mina stood and made her way to Heidi’s side.
She sat and Tyler noticed something in her hands.

“Heidi? Are you awake?”

The blankets pulled back to reveal the woman under
them. Her grey green eyes flicked in Tyler’s direction then back to
Mina.

“I wanted to apologize about yesterday. I was
thinking that when we get to Growlen today, you’ll stick out like a
Burrie at a Wedelven party.” She passed something to her and Heidi
smiled.

“Thank you.”

“Come. Maddy and I are going to the creek to wash up.
You can get changed there.” Mina looked back at Tyler and
smiled.

Thank you, he mouthed to her. She nodded. He waited
until the three of them had disappeared into the woods before
climbing down. Every muscle and bone in his body ached and he
couldn’t wait to get on the move again so he could get the blood
flowing to where it was needed. He made his way to John’s side,
ready to scare him awake.

“Don’t even think about it,” mumbled his friend from
under the blankets. “You know, it wouldn’t kill you to sleep in
every once in a while.

Tyler grinned and sat beside him.

“Did the girls go to the creek?”

Tyler nodded then realized John couldn’t see him.
“They just left.”

“Are you really keeping Heidi?”

“What do you mean, keeping?”

“Well, you found her. Are you keeping her?”

“By the moons, John, she’s not a pet. No, I’m not
keeping her. I told you, I’ll try to find her a cross stone to help
her get home.”

John pushed the blankets down so he could look at his
friend. His blond hair stuck out on one side of his head and lay
flat on the other. He ran a hand over his face and yawned. “Can you
really do that?”

Tyler shrugged. “I can try.” He looked up as the
women came back into the camp. He blinked at the sight of Heidi in
tan deerskin pants and a light blue long sleeved tunic with a hood,
his dark brown tunic tied around her waist.

John reached for the pack designated for food. He
passed around the loaf of bread and everyone took a piece. Once
everyone was done eating, Tyler put his pack on his back.

“If we leave now, we’ll be in Growlen just after
lunch.”

“Do you really think you’ll be able to help me get
home?” Heidi looked up and searched his face.

“I’ll get you home, Heidi. I promise.” He ignored the
sceptical looks Maddy and Mina were giving him. “Let’s get
moving.”

No one argued.

“So, Heidi, do you have a mate?” Mina looked ahead at
the newcomer.

Heidi glanced back and nodded. “His name is Blake.
He’s going to school to become a special effects technician.” She
noticed the puzzled looks the others gave her. “For movies.” She
looked to Tyler to help her explain. He smiled and changed the
subject.

“Did you feel it when you crossed over?”

She shook her head. “I had no idea. I was just
walking along, stuck in daydream land, and the next thing I knew I
thought I was lost. I tried going back the way I had come but
nothing looked the same. That’s when the, uh, that little blue
person with the wings…” She glanced at Tyler.

“Burrie.”

“Right. That’s when I saw the Burrie.” Tears filled
her eyes and she wiped them with her arm. “That’s when I got a clue
that something was wrong.” She swallowed hard, trying to get the
lump in her throat to go away.

“Hey,” Tyler put a hand on her arm. “It’s alright.
I’ll get you home.”

Everyone walked in silence; the shifters wondering
how it would feel to find yourself in a completely different world
and the human secretly hoping that Tyler would turn to her and say
‘Just kidding! This is all part of a new tv show!’.

When it became obvious he wasn’t about to do such a
thing, her thoughts turned to her surroundings. It was beautiful
here. Quelondain. The forest wasn’t unlike the one near her
apartment building, though there were marked differences. The tall
pines were littered with drooping red flowers instead of cones, the
ferns growing along the forest floor held an orange tinge to them,
and the grass lining the creek was blue.

A chirp overhead drew her attention toward the tall
branches of an aspen looking tree.

Tyler grinned. “Hello, Bird.”

Maddy and Mina gasped and glared at John. Mina wagged
a finger at him. “I can’t believe you tried to eat her!”

John blushed and looked up at the bird. “I’m sorry. I
didn’t realize you were Tyler’s.”

Tyler shook his head. “She’s not mine, John, she
travels with me.” He noticed Heidi’s confused look. “Blue birds can
talk to shifters. They use mind pictures and emotions to relay what
they’re trying to say.”

Heidi blinked, trying to let this new bit of
information past the barriers in her mind that told her it was
impossible for birds to talk. Of course, she told herself, the
barriers also told her men couldn’t turn into wolves, mammoths
didn’t eat meat (they were extinct for god’s sakes), and daggers
weren’t a part of regular everyday wear, but she’d seen proof that
such things were true.

Tyler looked at the bird that had landed in his hand.
“Are they all well?”

She bobbed her head and lifted her wing to reveal the
note attached to her leg. He untied it carefully and put it in his
pocket.

“Thank you.”

She looked pointedly at the four beings around him
and cocked her head in question. Tyler burst out laughing, not
needing pictures to know she was asking what in the world he was
doing with a pack.

“Yes, well, you’ve already met John. After you left I
found him trying to take down a buck by himself.” He turned to
Heidi who was watching the whole procedure with awe. “This is
Heidi. She just crossed over.”

“Ummm, hello.” Heidi gave a little wave and the blue
bird bobbed her head.

“The sisters are Mina and Maddy. They’re friends of
John’s.”

A picture of Growlen flashed in his head and he
nodded. “That’s still our destination.” He looked at the human and
smiled. “I promised Heidi I’d get her home.”

The next picture was of his Aunt Hayden. Though it
had occurred to him that the simplest thing to do would be to go
see her, he was hoping to avoid heading home just yet.

“It’s a last resort,” he said curtly and frowned. One
of his aunt’s powers as the Chosen One was to be able to go back
and forth between Quelondain and the other world without the help
of a cross gem. She could also bring anyone she wanted along with
her so long as they were touching her during the journey. He
started walking again and everyone followed.

“Who was the woman the bird showed you?” asked
Maddy.

“My aunt.”

“What can she do to help Heidi?” John was looking at
him curiously.

“She knows a lot of people, that’s all.” He walked a
little faster then slowed at the feel of a small hand on his arm.
He glanced down and looked into Heidi’s grey green eyes.

“Are you ok?” she asked quietly.

He looked back and found the rest of the group had
fallen behind.

“I’m fine.” He shook himself mentally. “I’m
fine.”

They crested the top of the steep hill they were
climbing and Heidi caught her breath.

“It’s beautiful!” she whispered in awe. In the valley
below them, still a distance away was a small village. “It looks
like a little medieval village.” The stone buildings were lined
along dirt paths.

Mina laughed. “It’s Growlen. I don’t think beautiful
is the word that pops into my head.”

Tyler raised an eyebrow at her. “What do you consider
beautiful, then, Mina?”

She blushed, embarrassed, then decided to answer.
“Pinsaber. Pinsaber is beautiful.”