Dirt (The Dirt Trilogy) (16 page)

“Now what will you do my brethren?” Venom pours from
Ruis’s words. My predicament has gotten everyone’s attention, and
their swords come to a rest at their sides.
“Take your hands off of her,” Rowen says.
“Now, why would I do that?” He pauses.“My lord, I have a
gift for you.”
“Ahhh,” Straif sighs. “The brethren has its weaknesses.” The
words slither across his grey lips.
I place my hands around Ruis’s arm, trying to pull away his
trembling blade as it teases my throat.
“Don’t cut her…we
need her alive,”
Straif reminds him,
reaching out his hand toward me, as if I’m a piece of fragile crystal.
Ruis is as green now as a Thorn as he was as a sentry. His hands
tremble as good and evil battle for his soul. My heart breaks for
Ruis as he struggles because I know deep down within him is an
innocent boy who is genuinely merciful.
As I
hold tight to his forearm, I
feel him
fighting
my
relinquishment, when he abruptly lets go. He pushes me away
throwing me with all of his strength into the stone wall. I hear the
cracking of bone when my arm hits the surface. I agonize in pain
and the arm feels broken. It hurts but at least I’m free. Alder, Coll,
and Rowen pull their swords and place themselves in front of me.
Ruis runs from the room, shamed in front of his new leader.
Straif and his two sidekicks engage what is left of the brethren
and Rowen. Alder keeps Straif at bay. Rowen and Coll make
mincemeat of the other two which leaves Straif standing alone, his
back to the exit. He realizes his predicament and fleas the room, his
long black cloak picking up the wind as he speeds away up the
stairwell.
Rowen scoops me up and carries me out with Alder and Coll
following behind us. My arm is definitely broken. I can’t move it
and it’s disfigured. I support it with my other hand as we rush out.
Now that we’d lost Ruis we’ll have to leave without the sister
key. The paintings have been destroyed and for now that’s as far as
we’re going to get.
As we run, the pain in my arm is overwhelming, and I bite my
lip to keep from screaming. Rowen cradles me in his arms as we
rush through the corridors. The roaring of the masses in the distance
moves toward us. Alder leads the way and Coll cover us from
behind. The crowd gains on us when we get to the exit and a huge
man with scraggly blond hair stands at the exit door. He’s gigantic,
probably seven feet tall and as wide as a mobile home. We aren’t
going through him, so some way or another we’re going to have to
take that tree down. Alder goes blade to blade with the giant, when
Coll takes his sword and whacks him at the knees bringing him
down a couple of feet. We step over him as he bleeds to death
without waiting to see what is left.
We sprint toward the valley where the horses wait for us. I
brace my right hand around my left forearm to keep it from rattling
the fracture.
As we fly over the mountain, Ruis looks up at us as he stands
perched on a rock with his black robe fluttering in the false serenity
of the wind. His palomino soars the sky alone. We’ve lost him, and
he’s lost himself. A feeling of emptiness fills my heart as my hope
for him dies.

Every time we hit a bump in the wind, pain shoots through me,
making me want to pass out. We’re headed to Ivy’s. “Hang in
there,” Rowen encourages as he holds me close to his chest.
“Whenever we’re together, you get hurt. I may not be so good for
you after all.”

“
Don’t say that. It’s our circumstances. Things won’t ever
settle down for us. Not until Straif is gone.” I strain to speak under
the searing pain.

Ivy
’s house comes into sight and not at all too soon. I dread the
landing knowing it’s going to hurt. I think Ruamna senses my pain.
Her demeanor is much calmer than usual and her landing much
smoother than ones I can remember.

Rowen carries me inside. Ivy has returned from Congramaid
and she meets us at the door. Arcos along with Cy and a couple of
other dignitaries sit in the living room
dressed in white robes,
except for little Cy who’s wearing purple burlap. Rowen lays me on
the couch as gently as possible.

“
Her arm is broken,” Coll
answers
looking me over
like
livestock.“This is going to hurt.”
I’m not at all prepared for what Coll is about to do. “Squeeze
my hand,” Rowen tells me.
“What ….AHHHHHHHHHH!” I scream at the top of my
lungs. Coll quickly jerks my arm and I hear the crisp sound of bone
snapping back into place. This is more than I can handle.
“Sorry, sorry,” Rowen recites as he holds my face with his
hands trying to get me focus on something other than my arm.
“Oh, my God! You could have at least warned me!” I scream
with tears rolling down my face.
Coll’s expression is flat and disconnected. It’s as if he’s only
doing his job. How can someone with such a wonderful gift be so
uncaring and cold? The healer continues holding my arm with his
hands wrapped firmly around the break. The pain slowly subsides
and the swelling is gone a few minutes after Coll releases his grip. I
still have some stiffness and soreness but overall it looks as if I’ve
been healed.
“Thanks,” I say for lack of words. Coll doesn’t respond. He
hates me. He only healed me because he had to. If he had his way,
I’d be
dead and nothing
would’ve
happened
to his precious
brethren, which has dismantled. Only two are left in his group,
which is all because of me.
“He really hates me doesn’t he?”
“He’s confused,” Rowen says pulling the stone key from his
pocket and putting it around my neck. “I believe this is yours.”
“The key!” Cy shouts. “It should not be in her possession.”
“It belongs to her,” Arcos says.
“But my lord, she doesn’t even know what it is, or how to use
it.”
“Then we will teach her.”
“Pardon me, my lord,” another of the dignitaries chime in, “but
it’s much too powerful. It puts all of us at risk.”
“She is the only one that has any use for it. And after all, it was
her mother’s.” Argos is firm in his decision.
For a moment, the silence in the room is deafening.
I sit up on the side of the couch, Rowen beside me. Alder gives
Arcos, Cy, and the others a run down about what took place in the
caverns.“We don’t have the sister key and that could present a
problem. If Straif locks the door from this side, it will make it
impossible for Ashe and Henry to return to the human world.”
The conversation soon turns to my sudden abilities in the
caverns. “It seems she possesses the gift with the living as well as
the nonliving,” Alder comments.
“Interesting,” Arcos muses.
“She has inherited your gift, Arcos,” Ivy says.
My grandfather poses a small grin and a bit of pride makes his
face glow. “Her gift goes far beyond mine.”
I’m starting to think my gift is invisibility because everyone is
talking about me as if I’m not here, so I interject. “Excuse me a
second, but can anyone tell me what’s going on?”
Arcos has to think about what he’s going to say.“Ashe Leigh.”
He pauses in thought. This is the first time he’s called me by name.
Actually, no one ever calls me by my full name and it’s kind of
awkward.“Transference is a rare thing. It can be good or bad. If
you and I aren’t careful, we can destroy things we cherish along
with things we detest.”
“Like when I destroyed Duir?”
“You destroyed one of The Thorn?” Alder asks.
“Yes, but I didn’t mean to.” I thought destroying The Thorn
was a good thing, but the expressions on their faces make me
unsure.
Rowen sees
my
confusion
and jumps
in. “During
our
confrontation with Duir, Ashe turned him to stone…well partially.”
“When Ruis had you at knife point, what were you thinking?”
Alder questions.
“Well, I wanted to get free. I remembered my concern for Ruis
and the heartache I felt for him. I wasn’t angry, I was empathetic. I
wanted him to choose good. I wanted him out of his predicament. I
know deep down he is kind-hearted. Really, I care for Ruis and
want him back.”
“That is why he let her go,” Rowen adds as he has a revelation.
“You see, my dear Ashe Leigh, my gift of transference only
allows me to affect inanimate objects. My feelings and emotions
inflict action only in the nonliving. You, on the other hand, seem to
have the power to affect living things as well,” my grandfather
explains.
“Isn’t that dangerous?” I ask, unsure.
“It can be,” Cy says. “It can be deadly.”
“My
lord, would you
approve
of
testing?”
one
of the
dignitaries asks reverently.
My skin crawls. “Testing?” I ask. “What kind of testing? Don’t
you guys think I’ve been through enough today? I mean I broke my
arm.”
Maybe, Arcos is going to care for me as his granddaughter and
keep them from using me as a guinea pig.“It is very important we
see what you are capable of. Wolfsbane, you may proceed.”
Okay, he’s going to go through with it. He’s going to let them
do God knows what. I turn to Rowen. “What are they going to do to
me?”
“I’m not sure, but I do know Arcos is not going to let them hurt
you,” he whispers.
Everyone gets up as we follow the one they called Wolfsbane,
outside. He’s an awkwardly tall and slender man. I trust Rowen, but
I have to admit I’m scared to death. I guess it’s not knowing what
they’re about to do to me or make me do.
Everyone watches as Wolfsbane stands in the middle of a
flower garden, closing his eyes and putting out his long slender
robe-covered arms. His white hair is wrapped tightly in a bun. He
stands there motionless, like a statue. He looks ghostly as his snow
white robe glows in the sunlight. Then, suddenly a huge violet and
yellow butterfly lands elegantly on his shoulder, then another, and
another. They swarm around him in a frenzy. In a few moments,
he’s covered in butterflies. They are the size of blue jays and every
color you could imagine, their wings moving in slow motion
keeping them balanced. Wolfsbane’s white robe now looks like a
moving patchwork quilt as a menagerie of multicolored butterflies
envelops him. It’s magical.
Wolfsbane looks straight into my eyes. “Come here.”
I approach him with uncertainty. He moves slightly and the
butterflies flutter off in unison into the wind, except for one which
sits quietly in the palm of Wolfsbane’s hand.
“Hold out your hand.” I do as he instructs. He places the red
and white butterfly in my palms, its wings moving up and down to
steady its oversized body. “Now, think of something that makes
you happy.” So, I thought of Rowen. Our first kiss, his hand in the
small of my back, him holding me. I remember times with Taylie.
When we were young. Growing up together. Slowly, the butterfly
glows and shimmers in the sunlight. It lies in my hand as if asleep,
tranquil and content.
“Now, think of something that makes you angry, something
that infuriates you.” That wasn’t hard. Straif’s vile and distorted
face immerges from my mind. I think about my house burning
down, about him trying to kill me, about him torturing Rowen.
Suddenly, the butterfly grows sharp fangs and spikes emerge from
its back, puncturing my hand. Its wings become pointed and its
color turns to black and brown. It screeches as if it is in pain. The
shrill pierces our ears as the poor creature endures a horrific
mutation.
“Enough!” Arcos demands with a regal authoritative tone.
Wolfsbane brushes the suffering creature from my hand and it lands
on a rose bush, morphing back into its natural state.
Everyone is speechless as we walk back to the house. “How
did I do?” I ask Rowen, unsure about what all of this means.
“You did great. Remind me not to cross you off,” he says with
a grin.
“Don’t ever leave me, and you’ll be fine,” I say, as if I’m okay
with what happened. I don’t really know what I’m capable of. I
don’t want to hurt anyone: I don’t want to hurt Rowen, or anyone I
care about.
Then it all comes back to me, Ruamna’s unexpected outburst,
the broken desk in the dormitory, and my paintings bursting into
flames. I have to be careful. First, my blood is wanted by the
darkest of beings and could destroy the universe. Secondly I can
kill people by getting angry.
I study my hands. What am I? I want to go back to being
simple Ashe Leigh Fair from Darby, Montana. I don’t want to be
this…this thing. I sit on the couch next to Rowen, hoping I’m not a
monster, wishing I could simply be in love like a normal human
being. I’m reminded I’m not human when I hear my name.
“Ash-a-Lei-eigh,” Wolfsbane speaks my name as if he has a
speech impediment. I think he has a hard time saying my name
because by doing so he is acknowledging me as a real being and not
a bithling. “Now, that you have become of age your powers are
being revealed. This is a huge responsibility. You must be aware of
your feelings at all times and you must learn to control them.
Otherwise, you could hurt the ones you care about as well as those
you despise. It’ll be a long lesson learned. Be very careful. This
isn’t something others can teach you. It’s something you’ll have to
learn on your own and unfortunately, at the expense of others.”
It would probably be best if I left and hid myself away like a
hermit. I’m a danger to everything and everyone around me.
The leaders continue to discuss me and the predicament the
world is in. I’m taken aback by all I hear. I’m in my own deep
thought as the sound of their voices became indiscernible distant
mumbling. I’m not sure what to do with all I’ve learned about
myself.
Coll stands on the other side of the room with his back against
the wall and hands slid into the front pockets of his jeans. He stares
at me with a smear of abhorrence across his face. I stare back at
him. I understood now why he hates me. I can be deadly. I have
destroyed his whole world, taken his brother, and now I can destroy
him with a single thought and the touch of my hand.