Ice Burns (29 page)

In her mind, she focused intently on each individual plant, boulder and tree around her, as though she were leaning in as close as possible to examine them. Along with the details and colors of everything around her, her mind buzzed warmly. She felt as though each thing had a voice and sound like tiny buzzing bees. The more she focused, the more she felt there were different pitches and hums to each sound. Unlike her moments in the peristyle garden, nature did not seem malevolent toward her. Instead, it was as if they were tiny voices that whooshed and whispered with the breeze to become a resonate chorus with a heady tempo punctuated in shifts and cracks within the forest. Her body swayed where she sat. Side to side she flowed with the tempo that was suddenly broken with a familiar call.

Without intent, Chandra shifted her awareness high above. She saw Frostwhite looking down on where she sat. Her body was surrounded by a sort of colored breeze. Tendrils, like mist swirled around her in blues and greens. It was as if colored smoke snaked out of the forest to wrap around her or flow over her like a river. Frostwhite seemed to approve and released the connection so that she could no longer see herself.

Chandra reached back to him, wanting to feel what he did when he soared through the sky. He welcomed her in and she lost track of the feel of the ground and forest around her.

Instead she felt the rush of air streaking past. If she was her human self instead of flying within the great hawk, the rush of air would have suffocated her with its force, but in this form it flowed past her. Instead of being blunt with soft skin that caused the air to drag over her, she was more like an arrow with a fine tip. It was not cold but a caress as it found its way sliding along sleek feathers. It was a soft touch that held wings through a glide or contributed force with each strong beat.

A scent reached her, familiar while foreign; it was warmth and sweetness with an acrid tang, and she felt a rush within her avian chest. Wings immediately tucked, and the previous speed was suddenly not noteworthy. Fast as a beam of light, the muscled form dove toward the ground to a blazing speck that fled.

Chandra withdrew to herself and heard an almost-human chuckle in her head from Frostwhite. Meat may have always been part of her diet, but she was no hunter and was not sure she would ever be able to stomach the kill.

“What were you doing, just now?” A voice rasped from behind her, and she turned to see Edvard standing at the entrance to the cave. Before she could answer, he had moved forward and grabbed her arm. The moment his finger touched her flesh, he flew backward as if thrown.

“No,” he rasped, shaking his head back and forth.

Chandra opened her mouth to tell him she wouldn’t hurt him and hadn’t meant to throw him, she hadn't even tried or felt magic. Edvard was already on his feet and running into the forest screaming for Matta. Chandra rose and chased after him.

“Old witch! How did you find her?” Edvard had found Matta in a tiny clearing, resting with her back on a giant elm. “How? Where was she?”

“What is it that you're ranting about?” Matta opened one blind eye to glare in his direction.

“The princess! How did you find her?”

Matta opened her eyes and furrowed her brow at the old man. She looked him up and down as if unsure if he was himself at the moment. She poked at him and he swatted her hand.

“I'm not sure what game this is, Edvard,” she arched a white brow at him. He reached down to grab her arm as he had done with Chandra, but a branch from the elm came down and swatted. Chandra giggled as he tried to grab at Matta a few times with the same results.

Edvard stopped and glared at the tree for a moment before muttering something that sounded like, “Traitor.” Chandra was sure she saw a smile on Matta’s face, but it was gone before she could be sure.

“Her!” Edvard gestured at Chandra. His movement was so sharp that had it been a sword it would have caught her forcefully in the chest. Chandra rubbed at the center of her breast as if he had poked her.

“That’s a little far-fetched even for you, Edvard,” Matta leaned back and closed her eyes as if the matter were settled as idiotic and she was going to resume her rest.

“I felt her magic! It was as if her power was a great blizzard wind and that was after I touched her arm and was shown who she is!” Edvard’s voice had fallen to a whisper. His eyes darted from side to side and he covered his mouth. The strange old man looked both excited and afraid.

Matta’s eyes opened. She squinted at Chandra as if she were trying to peel away the layers of her skin and see what was inside. She dropped the milky gaze to her lap and stared at her open palms. Various expressions crossed her wizened features as if she was having an animated conversation. She pursed her lips, nodded, and lifted her head.

“I have to admit, it would explain a few things,” Matta said slowly. It was not a sign of support for Edvard’s accusations but it was not a denial. “The princess didn't go missing until recently and I know that's not where Chandra came from. Her magic is wrong for an heir in many ways.The entire lineage of Winterbournes never strayed beyond their elements but Chandra is not locked to water and ice. Second, her companion would not likely have sought a connection to the royal family and their penchant for killing mages.”

Edvard began to speak again, but Matta silenced him with a quick lift of her hand.

“Are you she, Chandra?” Matta asked, her face was soft and non-accusatory but almost sympathetic instead. “Are you the runaway princess?”

“Of course not,” Chandra said with a frown. “I don’t have parents. They died when I was young, and then I was dropped at the Estate.” Chandra fought to keep Master Dreys’ name off her tongue. She felt that if she said his name, her murder of him would project across her face.

“Hmm,” is all Matta said, though Edvard looked as though a vessel had burst under the skin of his face.

“She's lying, of course!” Edvard exclaimed. He moved to grab her but was thwarted by an angry Frostwhite. The white hawk dove toward him as he took a step, calling a sharp warning. Edvard cradled his arm though he was untouched and resumed his previous position, his lip out and his eyes glaring.

Frostwhite landed gracefully on Chandra’s outstretched arm and she turned her verdant gaze on the child in old man skin. She was angry at the accusations as much as she was that he tried to grab her again. She opened her mouth but was saved the effort by Matta.

“Chandra does not lie. If anything, she speaks a little too freely about what she thinks.”

Chandra blushed at the various insults and disrespectful behavior she had done, though in a lot of it hadn't realized how obnoxious she was being.

“Her face belies that compliment,” Edvard noted Chandra's blush.

Matta rolled her opaque eyes to the sky and stood, using the great elm for leverage.

“As usual, you're blind as a bat, Edvard,” Matta said her voice rich with mirth.

Chandra couldn’t fight the smile that softened her anger.

“Well, you are blind to your charge, old woman,” Edvard said, his voice harsh and heavy with anger. “Could you see her smile and expression; you would doubt your faith.”

The smile dropped from Chandra’s face as quickly as it had come. She waited for Matta to explain that she could see Chandra, but Matta did not disillusion the old man. Instead, she moved forward and grasped Chandra’s arm.

“A mind that is closed to trust and hope is blind to the future,” Matta said as she led Chandra away and into the forest, leaving Edvard to sputter in the clearing.

25

Chandra and her adopted mentor, Matta walked in silence for a good distance. Both women were lost in their own thoughts about what Edvard had said. Chandra's heart wanted to force the words of gratitude out through her chest, but she couldn't find the words to tell Matta how much it meant to her to be defended. Before she could clear her thoughts, they found a tiny spring of water running clear and fast as though it were in a rush to find its way back to the river. Matta knelt beside it but did not touch the water.

“Look at this spring and tell me what you see, Chandra.”

Chandra watched the rushing water for a moment, not knowing what Matta was asking. A test of magic on her most-favorable element wasn't much of a test. She thought about what Matta had taught her and closed her eyes. She pushed to see with her magic, but couldn't see anything.

Chandra opened her eyes to look again at the creek and saw it had almost disappeared. In its place was a shiny blue line of light. She frowned and looked around, as if the tiny spring had moved. She reached out and ran her hand across where the light now took its place, her red-lined nails glowing. The length on her nails had become red as well and turned an angry purple tint within the blue.

“Where did it go?” Chandra turned to Matta and frowned.

Matta’s eyes widened almost imperceptibly. “Do you see anything?”

“Blue light,” she said with a shrug. Other than that basic description, what she saw was nondescript. Despite that, Matta had a look of smug pleasure laced through the slight smile on her face.

“I really wasn’t sure what you would see, but that's impressive.” She met Chandra’s confused green eyes with her own colorless ones. “What you are seeing is magic, pure and undiluted. Edvard’s, in fact. The creek that you first saw was simply a marker on the border of his magical sanctuary. It was a sort of...” Matta paused and her face took on a flabbergasted expression. “Well, it is a line, really. It marks where his magic ends.”

“Why do I get the feeling that what I'm seeing isn't normal?” Chandra asked.

“Because it isn't.” Chandra nodded, but Matta continued.

“However, I see the same thing. My magic is tied to the earth elements because I am an earth element. The reason I see a blue line in place of a tiny creek is because the creek is not real. My senses pick up the color and identify it as magic and I see the same color in Edvard, so his barrier is obvious to me. He would also see it as a blue line.”

“I'm not a dryad, or Edvard," she paused to give thanks and Matta chuckled, "so why do I see it that way?”

“That's my question,” Matta said. “I don't know how to answer it. Questions like that are better posed to Edvard.”

“He’s not going to answer anything I ask,” Chandra imagined the jutted lip and glare.

“I think you'll be surprised. You may have to submit to a long line of questioning in return, though,” Matta said, stooping down to pluck a few purple flowers Chandra recognized as lavender. “I will concentrate on gathering some herbs to make us tea while you ask him.”

Chandra opened her mouth to protest, but Matta gave her a significant look that brooked no argument. Matta turned and, whistling, wandered off into the trees, leaving Chandra alone to decide what she wanted to do.

Chandra was tempted to find a way out of the magical clearing and away from Edvard. She didn't like the way he looked at her, and the things he said worried her. The urge to run away and let her curiosity remain unsatisfied was so strong that she turned away without thought.

The blue line of the border drew her curiosity so that it swelled over her like a great wave. It called to Chandra to move forward and see what she could learn on her own. It dampened her will and whispered that not all decisions are ours to make.

She shook her head. This was her decision to make. If she chose not to approach Edvard, that would be her will. The only thing that caused her to pause was the worry that her questions wouldn't have an answer. She wasn’t sure she would be okay not knowing.

She walked through the forest and arrived at the cave entrance faster than she had believed likely. Chandra stepped forward, unhesitant, through the threshold. Edvard was back at his seat with the several books around him, though he didn’t appear to be reading any. His piercing blue eyes were locked on Chandra as she entered.

“I want to know what you meant,” she said, lifting her chin and glaring at him.

“No, you want to know if it’s true,” Edvard said with surprising clarity.

Chandra’s eyes widened for a moment, but it was the only indication she gave of her surprise before she tamped it down. “Have it your way, then,” she replied with a shrug.

Edvard narrowed his eyes at her. “I'm right, and I have a hard time believing you don’t already know; it's too coincidental.”

Chandra held his gaze but said nothing. She could tell he was getting irritated with her indifferent act, but she had a feeling that he would tell her what she wanted if she just waited him out.

He huffed after the silence had dragged on for several minutes. He cocked his head and continued to glare at her for one more heartbeat.

“You are her,” he said. “I am never wrong about things such as this.”

“You often touch people and proclaim them royalty, do you?” she cocked an eyebrow at him. He hissed and stood, knocking the precarious books to the floor.

“My magic helps me find things that are lost and know things others do not, so in a sense...” he paused “...I am the only one who could find you.”

She started and recalled Matta referring to her as "Chandra the Lost", but managed to hold her tongue for a bit longer.

“I have it on good authority that the young woman who had been residing in Winterbourne Palace as their princess is an imposter,” he told her as he crouched down to pick up the books and settle them back on the tiny workspace.