Fantasy Quest (9 page)

~~~

Astiria crouched behind a tree and tried to remember everything Lerik had tried to teach her about hunting in the last hour.
 
All she’d managed to do so far was cut herself with her dagger.
 
But on a bright note, she’d gained a healing level, which brought her up to level four as both a healer and an assassin.
 
Only six levels to go before I can lock Lerik in his room and not let him out for a week.
 
Arousal tingled through her body, and she purposefully pushed it aside in order to concentrate on the task at hand.

Movement in her peripheral vision startled her, but her body acted on instinct, her twin daggers suddenly flying through the air and finding both marks.
 
She turned to see two small hares pinned to a tree, her daggers protruding from their necks.
 
“Holy shit.
 
I did it.”
 
She resisted the urge to jump up and down in celebration since it would scare the rest of the local prey away.

A twig cracked behind her and she whirled, her hands held out in front of her in a defensive posture.
 
Pink tendrils of power flung outward and hit Lerik square in the chest knocking him back a few steps.
 
He shook his head as if to clear it, then a wry grin twisted his lips.
 
“So, you’ve figured out your stun spell, have you?”

Astiria looked down at her hands, then back up at Lerik.
 
“Oops.
 
I’m sorry, did I hurt you?”

He stepped forward and took her hands in his.
 
She wasn’t sure if it was to keep her from spelling him again or just to touch her.
 
“I’m a master warrior, a low level stun will only startle me for a few moments, but remember that spell well,
it
will be enough to allow you to escape if you find yourself in a bad situation.”

It’s a good thing I didn’t have the daggers in my hand when he startled me or I might have ruined a prime piece of male flesh.

Kneeling, she pulled her daggers from the carcasses and handed the animals up to Lerik, which he deposited in a leather pouch tied to his belt.
 
Unease prickled along the back of her neck and without thinking, she turned, still crouched, and let her daggers fly.
 
Another small hare and a gnarled goblin were shoved backwards against another tree as her daggers pinned them fast through the throat.
 
“What the hell is the damned Goblin doing here?
 
They aren’t supposed to interfere.”
 
A shimmery column of silver light flowed around her and her palm itched.
 
She absently rubbed it against her thigh.

“Marsoon isn’t much for rules.
 
I knew he’d be a problem.”
 
Ignoring her level, Lerik closed in on the dead goblin before she could even force herself to move.
 
He pulled a small blue stone from his tunic and pressed it against the goblin’s head.
 
The stone strobed blue and white, and in the next instant, the goblin disappeared.

“Where’d he go?”
 
She pulled her dagger from the tree and replaced it in her hip sheath.

“Ocam knew Marsoon would cheat, so he gave me this stone to send back any minions we find.
 
Call it a collection of evidence that will keep you from being defaulted, as you put it, back to Marsoon.”

“Damn.
 
I haven’t even done the quest pieces yet and we’ve already had two incidents from Marsoon.
 
I’d really like to kick that guy’s ass.”

Lerik smiled wolfishly and pulled her into his arms for a soul-searing kiss.
 
“For some reason it fires my blood when you curse like a serving wench.”

Still breathless from the kiss, she couldn’t muster enough outrage to be angry with him.
 
“Remind me of that once I reach level ten, will ya?”

“Most definitely, my declared.
 
But right now, we should probably go and cook dinner.”

~~~

The warm glow of the fire relaxed Astiria and she took a large bite of roasted hare, ignoring Max’s crunching in the background.
 
Apparently, her bedroll had been spelled to have a never-ending supply of Max’s favorite delicacies.
 
She shuddered, glad she hadn’t slipped into the bedroll—she’d most likely be dead or at least extremely sick from the poison.
 
Somehow, when all this was over, she vowed to make Marsoon pay for all the trouble he’d caused both her and Lerik.

“I’m a bit concerned that we haven’t had word of your first task by now.”
 
Lerik’s chocolate brown eyes glinted in the firelight.

“Is there supposed to be a note or a messenger or something?”
 
Unease snaked through her causing her to rub her hands over her forearms to chase away the gooseflesh.

Lerik chewed and swallowed before answering.
 
“Usually this clearing is where the message is received.
 
Not always, but usually.”

“So should we wait here until it arrives?”

“No, we must move forward.
 
This is a world of
magic,
the message will find us wherever we are.
 
Mayhap the lateness of the message is part of the trial.
 
I don’t think Marsoon is strong enough to waylay Ocam’s magic.”

Astiria thought over what the seer had told her and sighed.
 
It was entirely possible that there would be no actual quest tasks, and that this entire trek up to the portal was to ensure she’d made peace with
herself
.
 
But since the seer had advised she couldn’t share that information with Lerik or Max, she kept her council and bit into the
hare,
letting the spicy flavor of the ale they had basted it in burst inside her mouth.

She chewed deliberately as her thoughts turned back to her conversation with the seer, and she frowned.
 
She’d spent her entire life not quite sure who she truly was and now in a handful of days she was supposed to suddenly smack her forehead and have some grand epiphany?

And yet, if she didn’t, Lerik and Max would die for failing to safeguard her.
 
What choice did she have but to move forward and trust that things would work out all right in the end?
 
After all, her confidence had already improved along with her assassin and healing abilities.
 
The only thing holding her back was her fear that Lerik only wanted this body she’d borrowed and not the true woman beneath.

She smiled grimly as an idea formed.
 
If Lerik knew the real woman underneath the hot body and stripper boobs, and accepted her, faults and all, then maybe she could put her fears behind her.
 
Hell, it was worth a try, wasn’t it?

“Astiria, what troubles you?
 
You seem sad.”

She glanced up from where she’d been staring into the fire, her half eaten hare suspended part way to her mouth.
 
“Sorry, I was just thinking.”
 
Laying the food aside, she licked the juices from her fingers and smiled when Lerik’s eyes darkened in response.
 
If he ever could accept the real Astiria, then maybe she could be truly happy here, whether she was insane or not.
 
She was sure there would be no lack in the horizontal extra-curricular activities department.

“Lerik, do you think we can take some time on this trip to get to know each other?”

His seductive smile zigzagged arousal through her veins, arrowing straight between her legs.

She shifted in her seat against the fallen log and held up her hands to keep him for reaching for her.
 
“I meant talking.
 
You know, getting to know each other—
hopes
, dreams, favorite colors, that sort of thing.”

His rumbling laugh answered her.
 
“I would like that as well, Astiria.
 
I know much about you from speaking with Max, but I realize you haven’t had the same time with me, what with recent events.
 
What would you like to know?”

“You grilled Max about me?”
 
All thoughts of her plan fled before her under the curiosity of what Max had told Lerik.

“He told me of your love of reading and of gargoyles.”

Heat flooded her face at the blatant revelation of her secret vices to this Adonis sitting before her.

“I didn’t know about it when I sent Max, but it seemed to work out well for all.
 
Saile, the Seer, promised that whomever I sent would be successful since you and I were destined to be together.”
 
He took a last swig of ale from the pouch on his belt before stretching out his long legs before him, and crossing them at the ankles.
 
“Max also told me how unhappy you were in Earrath and of your past with the one you call, asshole ex-husband.”
 
His eyes darkened with sudden anger, and his fingers tightened into fists.
 
“It is a good thing I did not go into Earrath, for he would’ve paid dearly for treating you so callously.”

Shock slapped Astiria like a sudden open hand, and she decided to study her boots so she wouldn’t have to meet Lerik’s gaze.
 
“I can’t believe Max told you all of that.”

Firm fingers found her chin and gently raised her face until her gaze was captured by his.
 
“There is no shame in your past, Astiria.
 
We all have one, even I.
 
He was not worthy of you.”

The tenderness she saw in his gaze threatened to shatter her into a million pieces, and sudden panic surged through her.
 
The small clearing closed in around her and she had to get away somewhere where she could breathe.
 
She bolted to her feet and when he reached for her, she pushed her palms forward, and the now familiar pink tendrils of her stun spell snaked out to hit him squarely in the chest.

His grip loosened, and before he had time to recover, she turned and fled into the darkened forest.

Her feet had a mind
of their own
and carried her until her adrenaline ran out.
 
Then finally, mercifully, she collapsed in a bed of pine needles on the forest floor and cried until sleep took her.

~~~

Astiria woke to the sounds of soft snoring beside her, mingled with the soft shushing of the wind playing through the tops of the pines.
 
Even before she opened her eyes, she recognized the warm fuzzy lump she cradled in her arms as Max.
 
She sat up slowly, careful not to wake her tiny protector and came face to face with Lerik, who sat watching over her.

She knew she should be embarrassed for her behavior last night, but she was too spent from crying to feel anything.
 
Instead, she walked toward him, relief washing through her when he opened his arms and allowed her to sink into his embrace.

He smelled of forest and man, and she inhaled imprinting the scent into her memory.
 
Grabbing two handfuls of his tunic, she allowed the comfort he offered to seep into her, until she found her voice.
 
“I’m sorry, Lerik.”
 
She wasn’t sure he heard her whispered words until he kissed the top of her head and stroked her hair.

“There is no need, Astiria.
 
I realized that my intrusion into your past overwhelmed you.
 
I have no excuse but that I have waited for so long for a woman like you.
 
A woman who is caring, and loving, yet strong and resilient—a woman who is a force to be reckoned with and who can love me for something besides how I look or what I have…”

She stiffened in his arms and leaned back to look at him.
 
Could it be true?
 
That this man had the same fears she herself had?
 
Instead, she asked, “How can you know any of that about me after only a few days?”

He traced a callused thumb over her bottom lip and searched her gaze.
 
“You were brave under attack from Marsoon’s minions and even braver before his lies.
 
You were willing to stop and heal me in the desert when you were still in danger, and you’ve shown nothing but tenderness and honesty toward both Max and
myself
, not to mention my damned opinionated wood-elf, Oopec.”