The Spirus Page 3

  “If I was lying to you, my hair would be red now and not black, like it’s always been. I didn’t call anything to her.”

  “I’ll get the answer out of you eventually,” he said, giving up with the tinctures. “How is it you have pale skin, but can fly like a Farkhi and you can turn into a swan and a hawk?”

  “I can only turn into a hawk. You saw with your eyes I turned into a hawk. When did you see me as a swan?”

  “Are you calling the princess a liar?”

  “I overheard you when I was trying to find a way to approach the princess to give her Belisarus’ message. I think she’s upset over choosing a husband and she’s wanting me to be someone I’m not because I also know Belisarus. I told her when she asked I am not her daughter.”

  “Then where did you come from? Who are your parents? You sound like you are from Idric Island, so you shouldn’t be able to do anything you can do.”

  “I was raised on Idric Island.”

  “And the rest of what I just asked you?”

  “What does it matter? I’ve already told you my hair is always this color and I can only turn into the hawk you saw me turn into. You’re thinking I can do things that I can’t and asking questions I don’t have answers to because I can’t do those things.”

  “The princess saw you! I have better reason to believe her than you. I don’t trust you and you shouldn’t be able to do what you can do. You shouldn’t even look the way you do if you’re Farkhi. Your robes are white and not yellow and that alone tells me you’re not part of that tribe.”

  “Then what are you going to do to me? Hurt me? Cut me up so that you can understand me? That’s what your family does, right?”

  He was fuming and really trying not to hurt her. “The only reason you’re being treated the way you are right now is because Esylle thinks you are a blood relative and you manipulated her into thinking you are her daughter. She doesn’t want you hurt. I have other ways of getting you to talk and finding out who you are.”

  “And what is that, if you aren’t going to hurt me?”

  This girl was just toying with him now. She had no intention of telling him anything. At most, he may be able to get her to tell him Belisarus’ message. He couldn’t imagine why Belisarus would send someone this dangerous.

  “How well do you know Belisarus?” he asked. If Belisarus knew her well and sent her here, maybe that could give him a hint of how dangerous she was.

  “He raised me. He sent me here with a message for the princess. I didn’t want to come.”

  “Then why did you?”

  “Personal reasons.”

  “To hurt her and her family?” he demanded, towering over her and cracking his knuckles.

  “I don’t want to hurt anyone. I just want to give her the message and go back home. I don’t like it here. Being here with you makes me like it even less.”

  “Why would you like Idric Island so much, being what you are, when there is no magic?”

  “You don’t even know what I am!”

  “I have some who can tell me exactly what you are and what else you can do!” he snapped, leaving her alone.

  She wasn’t going to cooperate with him. He didn’t know if she just wanted to give her message to Esylle and they would never see her again or if she had something worse planned. He couldn’t risk it and he knew she was hiding being Tempris. Esylle wouldn’t have lied about seeing her as a swan. Esylle would have screamed for him to come find her if she had been approached by a hawk. She would have let her guard down for a swan. Esylle wasn’t lying and had no reason to. This girl did. He hadn’t even found out her name.

  He stormed off to the palace guard and informed them that he wanted a Farkhi, a Tark, and a Theran brought down to him immediately with no questions asked. He stomped back downstairs and the girl was sitting calmly in the chair he had left her in, but she had pulled her knees up to shield some of her nudity.

  “Do you have a name? Will you at least be honest about that?” he asked.

  “My name is Soryn.”

  “If you were only raised on Idric, where are you from? Who are your parents?” he asked. Leodos was a very tall man and he moved closer to tower over her in the chair, but it didn’t faze her. She wasn’t scared of him. He was getting even more frustrated that she was refusing to answer when he heard a soft knock on the door. He didn’t think it would be the guard with the tribe members because they would have knocked harder. When he opened the door, he was surprised to see Esylle with a small, strange man.

  Esylle had never come down here before. She peered around the door. “This strange looking man was just picked up by the guard demanding to know where a Soryn was. He showed up around the time she did. She didn’t tell me her name, but I thought they might know each other.”

  He looked at the girl as her eyes widened, and then she looked angry at the small, strangely shaped man who stormed into the room. “I told you to stay at Idric!” she hissed at him.

  “Where are her clothes?” both Esylle and the strange man asked at the same time. In addition to looking strange, he had a strange, raspy voice.

  “I’ll deal with you later,” he said, pushing the strange man towards Soryn. He pulled Esylle aside.

  “I told you I didn’t want her hurt! Why is she naked?” Esylle was angry with him.

  “I removed her robes so she wouldn’t hurt me. We don’t know what she can do. She must use something different than you do to darken her hair because nothing I’ve tried will get it out. She’s done nothing but lie to me since she woke up. I know you don’t want her hurt, but she’s not going to tell me anything if she’s not scared of me and right now, she’s not.”

  “Then get it out of her another way. Make her think you want to help her. She doesn’t want to hurt me or she would have by now. I need to know who she is.”

  “And I want to know what she is. Go back up to the castle. I’ll try to get something out of her.”

  “I don’t want her hurt,” Esylle reminded him. “Get her some clothes.”

  They both turned when they noticed the air start to move around Soryn. He placed himself in front of Esylle in case she was turning into something to kill the both of them. They both looked on in surprise when the air settled and she had green robes on like the white ones he had removed from her.

  Soryn looked directly at Esylle. “I can take care of myself. If me having no clothes bothers you, I can make more. I’m not here to hurt anyone.”

  “Do you see now how dangerous she is? This is black magic and we’ve never seen this before.”

  “You heard her. She doesn’t want to hurt anyone. Please just find out about her,” ‘she said, leaving.

  When he shut the door, he got a better look at the strange man who was standing in front of Soryn. He was not the height of a normal man and his body was large and almost triangular shaped. His arms and legs were both too thin for his body.

  “And what are you? Another product of dark magic like she is?”

  “She’s no product of dark magic. I’m a man and I have been for years. I’ve never left her side and I couldn’t let her leave without me.”

  Esylle didn’t want him hurting Soryn and he didn’t really want to hurt anyone, but if she refused to talk, he may have to hurt this strange man to get her to talk. He grabbed the man by the scruff of his collar and yanked him away from her. Soryn was screaming at him to leave him alone.

  “I promised not to hurt you. I made no promises about him. If hurting him gets you to stop lying to me, don’t think for a minute I won’t hesitate.”

  “You’ll let him go this instant and not harm a hair on his head.”

  “What makes you think—” he said, stopping as he turned to look at her. She was standing now and a little frightening. The black hair was gone and now a fiery red. Her blue eyes had changed to violet and there were flames flickering in them. She had her hand outstretched and there was a flame dancing in it. He shoved the strange man away. “Now that
I’ve gotten one lie out of you, put that out and sit down. I have more questions.”

  “If you hurt him, there are several ways I can kill you and I don’t want to hurt anyone.”

  “You think I do? It was the only way to get you to reveal yourself to me.”

  “Why would I reveal anything to you? I don’t know you. I wasn’t told about you when I left. I have no reason to trust you,” she said, sitting down. He watched, confused as her red hair changed back to black as she calmed down.

  “How do you do that with your hair? I told you the princess does it with herbs. You could help her since you want to talk to her so badly.”

  “I just think it and it changes. It took a long time to learn, but now it’s easy. I don’t know if it’s the same way she does it with her eyes.”

  “Could you stay and teach her if I’m ever able to figure out anything about you? You say you don’t trust me, but I’m asking for her. She asked me to find out everything about you and tell her. She wants to know how you called her blood and if you are related somehow. She wants to know what message you have for her.”

  “I’m not staying here. I’ll tell everything directly to her, as I was instructed to do.”

  “You think after that stunt you pulled with the fireball and everything we know about you so far, that I’m letting you anywhere near her?”

  “I don’t know how many more ways to tell you I’m not here to hurt anyone. I only came here to give her a message. I told you I didn’t want to come. I knew this would happen if one of you found out about me.”

  “Then why did you come? If you thought someone would hurt you if they found out about you, why did you come?”

  “Personal reasons.”

  “You’ve already said that! I don’t know what it means!”

  “All you need to know is that I risked my life coming here to give her this message because of something that was promised to me. Belisarus could have sent anyone to give her this message. I don’t know why he insisted I come knowing what might happen to me. I know you have questions, but I don’t have answers.”

  “You don’t have them or you refuse to give me?”

  Before Soryn could reply, there was a hard knock on the door and he knew it was the guards. He saw a panicked look in Soryn’s eyes as a Farkhi, a Tark, and a Theran were brought in in chains. He dragged all three of them in front of her. He demanded they change and approach her. He demanded they find out everything they could about her and change back and inform him. He sat back and waited, then sat there shocked when they turned back to their human form and all bowed before her and kissed her hands. Soryn looked down at them, bewildered.

  “What are you doing?” Leodos asked, pulling them away. “What is she?”

  All three of them answered him separately, but they all gave him the same riddle. “I do not know what you have shown, but she is someone all will know.” None of them would answer when he asked what that meant and they kept wanting to touch her. Soryn looked uncomfortable. They weren’t going to answer his questions, so he had the guard remove them.

  “What was that about?” he demanded.

  “I don’t know. I’ve always been told to hide from the tribes because they would hurt me, not kiss my hands and want to touch me.”

  “You mean something to them. What is it?”

  “I don’t know!” she cried, tugging her ear. “You keep asking me things I don’t know. I don’t know how I ended up at Idric Island. I don’t know who my parents are. I don’t know how I ended up with Belisarus. I don’t know how I can do what I do. Don't you think I’ve been asking these questions my entire life? The only reason I came here was because I was promised answers, finally! I’m not here to hurt anyone. I’m here to deliver a message and go home and finally get answers about myself!” she said. Tears were springing to her eyes and for a moment, her wide, tearful eyes reminded him exactly of Esylle at that age when she was upset. He thought for a moment maybe she really was Lisana like Esylle thought, the resemblance was so strong. Then he came to his senses. There was no way the Princess Lisana could do what she could do. Her mother was a Tempris and her father was a hunter. Maybe the only reason she could call to Esylle’s blood was because she had so much magic, being what she was.

  “What else can you do?” he asked. “All three tribe members saw something in you. Can you change into anything?”

  Soryn was crying now. “I can change into whatever I want. It doesn’t matter the tribe. I’ve asked for years why and I haven’t gotten an answer. I asked if it would change my tenth year and if there would be a ceremony. I wasn’t given answers then either. Nothing changed my tenth year. No one has ever told me why I am the way I am, just that it always had to be hidden. I grew up in a house with large walls where no one could see me and I was never supposed to leave. I don’t know why that suddenly changed when this message was supposed to be delivered. I don’t know why I was told to touch her and call her to blood. I didn’t feel anything when I did, so we are not related in any way.”

  “Can you call the blood of any Tempris?” he asked, still trying to figure out who she was and remembering seeing Esylle in her. The more upset she got, the more her mannerisms were Esylle’s and he couldn’t deny the resemblance in her face.

  “I’ve never tried because I’ve never been around any. I’ve always been taught it can only be done to a blood relative. I thought he asked me to because we might be distant relatives, but I didn’t feel anything, so now I don’t even have that answer about who I am. I know she thinks I’m her daughter, but I can’t be or I wouldn’t be the way I am.”

  “What was the message that you have for her?”

  “He wants me to bring her back to Idric. He said things are going to happen here and it’s not safe for her. There is another message that he has for her, but he only wants to give it to her in person.”

  “What makes you think she would be allowed to leave with you? To Idric no less?”

  “I don’t know if that’s why he asked me to call to her. He never tells me anything. He teaches me how to control myself and how to be what I am. He teaches me how to hide because he’s always told me people would hurt me if they found out what I can do. Now I don’t know what is true and what is false. You think I’m bad and the only reason you haven’t hurt me is because you’ve been told not to, but the tribes didn’t want to hurt me at all.”

  “I don’t know what you are, but you’re possibly not as evil as I thought. I don’t understand the tribe’s reactions and if they intend to use you as some sort of weapon knowing what you can do. I think I need to keep you under my eye so they don’t find you. I don’t know what they intend on doing with you. If you’ll come up, I’ll let you give your message to Esylle.”

  He was still conflicted about her, but he had become convinced she wasn’t here to hurt anyone. If she didn’t know who she was, then Belisarus did and he sent her here for a reason. He knew Belisarus loved the princess because he watched the two together when he gave her lessons. He wouldn’t have sent someone here to hurt her. He knew Soryn was telling the truth about her past being kept from her because sometimes Esylle would ask him questions and he would refuse to give her the answer no matter how much she begged. Belisarus always kept his secrets until he thought they should be known. What else had he hidden from them?

  Soryn

  Soryn was confused and upset. She hadn’t meant to tell the tall man anything, but hearing the riddle the tribes gave and their reaction to her upset her. Now it wasn’t just that Belisarus refused to tell her things. He lied to her. They didn’t want to hurt her at all. They almost seemed in awe of her and kept wanting to touch her. She got upset and told the tall man things she wasn’t supposed to tell him.

  She was surprised when she did start telling him her secrets, the fear she had been smelling on him since she woke up started to lessen. She knew even if Esylle hadn’t told him not to hurt her, he wouldn’t have. He didn’t want to touch her and she could smel
l his repulsion when he tried to rinse her hair. She wasn’t expecting Frog to follow her and he was her only friend. She had to show Leodos because she couldn’t risk him being hurt.

  She was smelling something different from Leodos now. The fear was still there, but it was faint. She could smell concern coming off him. She was used to that smell. She smelled it on Belisarus when she lost control. She didn’t know if Leodos was actually concerned for her since he now thought she could be used as a weapon or if he was concerned for Esylle since he promised to take Soryn to deliver her message. She didn’t like the smell of fear. It reminded her of peppers that Belisarus had fed her from the market that made her heart race and upset her stomach.

  Leodos finally asked her about Frog and she wasn’t sure if she should tell him how Frog came to be. She decided she couldn’t or he might become afraid of her again. She only told Leodos she was never allowed to leave her house and Frog was her only friend. He didn’t ask further questions about Frog’s strange appearance.

  Leodos told her to stay behind him and he snuck Soryn and Frog through the castle. There were two guards outside an ornate door and they asked who she was. Leodos made something up and they were let in. The doors led to the princess’s chambers. She was pacing the room and looked like she had been since they had been down in the dungeons.

  “Is she Lisana?” she asked, wringing her hands.

  Soryn was confused why she still thought she was her daughter when she felt nothing when she called to her. Soryn spoke before Leodos could. “I’m not your daughter. I felt nothing when I called to you. I don’t know why I was told to touch you. I thought we might be related somehow and maybe he asked me because it would answer some of the questions he never answers for me. Or that you would answer and trust me with the message he sent.”

  “You felt nothing because I was fighting you! I could feel you calling and it was strong. You are related to me somehow. If you aren’t Lisana, who are you?”

  “She doesn’t know who she is,” Leodos said, finally speaking. “She can do things no one should be able to do. I think she may be able to call to you because she is so powerful. She tells me she was taught she can only call to blood relatives, but she also knows nothing about herself. Belisarus keeps secrets from her the way he did with you. The tribes had an unnatural reaction to her and they all gave me the same riddle when I asked them to approach her. She is somehow important to them. I don’t know if they intend to use her as a weapon, being able to do what she can, but she’s just a girl who doesn’t know who she is. She said she came with a message because she was promised answers and didn’t want to come here.”