“What, Ruby?”
She giggled. “How did you know it was me?” No one else is that annoying. “Can I come in?”
“No.”
The water streamed from the tub and out the back window. Ugh. “Fine, I’m getting dressed.” I dried off and put on clothes from a pile I had assumed was for me, too large for Ruby’s petite frame.
I opened the door and knew right away I would regret whatever they were about to tell me. Ruby commanded me to sit. Chevelle straightened and cleared his throat, “Frey, we need to talk with you about something.” Oh great. I waited. He proceeded carefully. “You know you are bound.”
“Yes,” I agreed, even though I wasn’t clear how I was partially bound. I could use some magic, I had lost some memories. No, that wasn’t true, was it? I couldn’t really remember anything from before the village. Anything but the dreams.
“And I’m sure you want to be unbound?” Why was that a question?
“Of course.”
He nodded as if he were going down a checklist. “We know council has bound you.” I waited for the next bullet point. “And we know they must be the one or ones to unbind you.” I was starting to realize the seriousness of this conversation. “They are, obviously… unwilling.” I took a deep breath. “I know some… about the binding. I’ve… studied it.”
He had stopped here. “Okay.” I didn’t know what he was getting at.
“The problem is… meddling with the bindings, meddling with your mind is… well, it’s dangerous.”
And there it was.
“Dangerous,” I repeated.
They let me consider that for a moment. They were being careful with me, didn't want to upset me. I tried to ease them… no big deal, just dangerous mind meddling. “So we go back to the village and…” And what?
They glanced at each other before they looked back to me. “Not High Council, Freya. Grand Council.”
Oh, right. The ones that were trying to capture me. The ones that wanted to burn me. Their cautious demeanor made more sense now. I nodded, understanding. The council had sent trackers. The pair Chevelle had choked and released. And the other. The broken, limp corpse in the clearing by the ridge. We had killed him. And they were worried about my stupid binding? The circling cloaks from my dreams were back, filling my head. My thoughts were twisting, getting out of control. They’d be hunting us all down now. They would kill us. That was why I needed training. To protect myself. Because they intended to kill me, not capture. They intended to kill us all. And without magic, bound as I was, I didn’t stand a chance.
The anxiety must have shown; Ruby looked uncomfortable. I saw her shift her jaw.
“No.” I held my hand up to her. “No more dust.” I stood. “Let’s just get back. Back to training.” They didn’t argue, though they were plainly concerned.
We went to the ridge with the others but we didn’t train. Ruby and Chevelle were avoiding me, I was fairly certain. I waited on them through the morning and then, finally, around midday I gave up on them and relaxed back onto the ground, staring up at the sky. It was warm, the sun was shining brightly. I watched as a bird flew high overhead. It was gliding, slowly.
As I shielded my eyes with a hand to better see, I noticed the ink on my wrist and smiled. I suddenly knew the soaring creature above was a hawk. I closed my eyes and relaxed my arm at my side, imagining flying. I breathed deep and conjured the image it would see, looking down on us. The picture was sharp, even at the distance, but the colors weren’t as clear, and the outlying shapes not as defined. I laughed at myself for adding that detail to my daydream, imagining a bird seeing differently.
My vision sailed over us, past the ridge, south. I imagined seeing the twins, perched in two trees, watching. They wore bows on their backs. The dogs were mostly concealed but on the ground, vigilant. One glanced up at me… at the bird. I saw someone approaching, robe and tassels blowing in the cool breeze. The second wolf looked forward, he saw it, too, and abruptly pointed, calling out.
As I realized the howl was in my ears, not in my imagination, I jolted upright. The field was in motion, rushing in response to the warning. In seconds, they were set again, the same protective positions they had taken the last time. The last time a tracker had found us.
It was all I could do to steady myself as he was brought forward, he was the same one from my vision. He knelt, not under his own power, and then he was frozen there before us. Chevelle mumbled something and my ears began to ring, it was a few seconds before recognition came.