Disclaimer: Sometimes I wished I owned something. But alas this is a poor girl's dream.
After her terribly graceful start, the walk was silent. Cain, it appeared, had not gotten anymore effusive in the time they had spent apart. It took two hours for her to lose the battle and ask a question.
"Cain?"
Glancing at her out of the corner of his eye, she had the feeling he had been giving himself odds over how long she would remain silent. "Yes, princess?"
Irksome man! If he wanted to play this game, then fine. Mock civility suited her. She had lots of practice working in the diner and more recently with politicians.
"Why are we still whole and unmolested? We are in the Papay fields. We should be running for our lives by now."
"That's probably true."
She waited. He wasn't going to elaborate. She felt her eye twitch.
"Then why haven't they attacked?"
"Either they remember what you did before the eclipse or they know what you are. They have a deeper connection to the land than we do. Besides, there is a runner pack tracking us."
"Oh, awesome," She went quiet again, thinking. If the Papay could tell she had been marked then who else would be able to? Her magic was strong, but it certainly wasn't the only type found in the O.Z. She had read more than one book about the specialized magic the tribes here possessed.
She wanted to ask about that but paranoia had set in. After the attack on Jeb she was worried that more Shadows could be lurking near enough to hear any conversation they had. She would just have to wait until they made camp. No matter, she had other curiosities that could be satisfied.
"Why were the three of you out here without the rest of Jeb's militia?"
Cain's posture changed. He went stiff as if he were expecting a blow to fall out of the sky. "Jeb's fighters and a group of reinstated Tin Men have been herding Longcoats out of the north country. We'd been picking them off for weeks. Once we made it back here I decided to take a detour. Jeb and Raw insisted on coming along."
"A detour? Cain, you don't do detours." His gun hand twitched and his pace sped up almost imperceptibly. If she didn't know better she would think he was running. She just couldn't figure out why. What did Cain have to worry about? Then their location hit home.
She reached out to grab his arm before thinking better of it. "You went to destroy the suit." It wasn't a question. She hadn't said it as one.
"Let it lie, Kid."
In that moment she would have done anything to comfort him. She even forgot to be mad at him for leaving. For using that hated nickname. So she did what he asked, feeling like an intruder in his life. Worst of all, she felt helplessly responsible.
He must have felt that last thing because he stopped dead and turned fully to face her. Realizing what had happened, she frantically thrust every emotion she was feeling to the back of her mind. She did not want to have this conversation. He wasn't the only one with an open wound.
"What's going on in that head of yours?" His eyes pierced hers and she put on her blank expression. It was her last defense against him.
Before she could come up with any form of response, Ajax neighed happily ahead of them. She sidestepped Cain and saw an end to the trees. She thanked her lucky stars for that. They had made it to the western edge faster than she had thought they could.
Before she went more than a few steps he grabbed her arm. Her head whipped back.
"You need to talk about this." Great, he had pulled out the worried eyes. Before she could fall under their promise of comfort, she twisted out of his grasp.
"No, I need to heal the fields." It was flat and tired and her coldness worried her a little.
His eyes told her this talk they were having was far from over but, for the moment, he let her go. "Best get started then."
Settling herself cross-legged between two of the outermost trees she tried to relax. Cain pulled his six-shooter from its holster and stood at her shoulder, alert and ready. Ajax took position as rear guard and waited between them and the small meadow that separated the orchard from the forest.
Clearing her mind, she focused fully on her magic. Falling into her light she felt the Outer Zone watching her. Her tattoo sent warm waves through her body. It took her a moment to realize what the O.Z. was suggesting. She started sending her light out in soft but insistent pulses.
Once she got used to the feeling of her magic ebbing out of her, she opened her eyes languidly. Even as her body started to slump she found the process fascinating. Ripples of silver energy moved through the fields. As they slid past the untouched trees, part of the energy was absorbed at the base. Then the trees began to glow silver that melted into green. They were starting to bloom.
Seeing it happen on such a large scale was breathtaking. She nearly lost control of the spell but the O.Z. gave her a mental poke and she turned back to her task. As the last of her magic was drained away the smell of the new blossoms filled the air.
"You never cease to amaze me, Princess." She could hear the smile in his voice.
"I aim to please." Uncrossing her leg she pushed up, or tried to. Her arms felt like rubber bands. "Crap."
The next thing she knew two arms were placed under hers and she was tugged up. Cain held her back to chest while she tried to get her legs to work. "Come here, Fleabag!" There was no malice in his voice.
Ajax trotted over and stood stock still as Cain picked her up and threw her on the saddle. "Hey! I'm not a sack of potatoes!"
"How true. Potatoes don't talk."
The sarcastic response she had planned never left her lips. Cain's eyes froze behind her and he raised his gun. He got off two shots as he leapt onto Ajax behind her. Turning she spied one hooded figure twitching on the ground and a second rising up next to it.
"Go, Horse!"
To his credit, Ajax did try but two more figures blocked their path. Wheeling hard to the left he spun them around and kicked the closer of the mages in the head. Cain kept his bearings. Lifting his hand to get off another shot she managed to throw her weight on his arm. His shot hit the ground close to them but missed the sprinting Papay that hit the mage he was aiming at with its full weight.
The remaining mage stayed up for only a second more before it too was tackled to the ground by a snarling bug bush. She had never particularly wanted to find out if Cain's story about the gnawing Papay was true. But she found out anyway.
Half a dozen more of the creatures came out of the blooming trees. The one that had attacked first lowered its blood soaked face to the ground in one of their spindly bows. He gave a barking whistle and the others proceed to drag what was left of the Shadows into the now shaded orchard.
"Cain, can we go? Please." Her voice broke half way through the request. She was fairly certain that if they didn't leave soon she was going to be sick.
"Yeah, Kid, we sure can." He tapped Ajax with his heal and the horse cantered into the woods. Cain had the reins in one hand and his other arm was wrapped firmly around her waist. He guided the horse with small tugs. Just enough to let Ajax know what direction they needed to go.
"You alright, Darlin? You're shaking like a leaf." He wasn't wrong. She was exhausted and sickened by what she had just seen. But she still had her pride.
"I'm fine." It was the most coherent thing she could come up with. Her mind was slowing down as her adrenaline crashed. Wait, had he just called her darling?
Cain snorted and pulled her closer. "It won't take us long to get to the hide."
She didn't answer she figured it would be smarter to try to stay upright in the saddle. After ten minutes she stopped trying to control the tremors. Twenty minutes after that she stopped trying to avoid using Cain as a backrest.
By the time Cain pulled Ajax to a stop her head was tucked snugly beneath his chin. The forest was blurring in and out of focus. With what energy she had left she tried to remain conscious. So tired.
Cain kept an arm around her as he dismounted. She listed dangerously to the side and would have fallen despite the hold he had on her if Ajax hadn't been paying attention. The horse swung his head around and pushed her back upright.
"Alright, Princess, time to get you to bed." He pulled her out of the saddle and into his arms. He carried her bridal style to a rocky outcrop and set her down. She thought she should be offended or flattered by this act but just felt numb. He then straightened and reached up to a small rock protruding from the hill.
When he touched it she felt an alien magic scan him. She felt a momentary panic and tried weakly to yank him away from it. He shot her a surprised look.
"Calm down, Princess, its hedge witch magic. It's making sure I'm part of the resistance."
As soon as the magic started it stopped. The rock wall gave an odd hum and melted away. Cain bent over and picked her back up. Struggling to keep her eyes open, she saw that the wall had been hiding a large cavern. It looked a great deal like the inside of a one-room house except the walls were made of stone instead of wood. Wow.
"Come in, horse. The wall's gonna close soon."
Ajax stuck his head in cautiously before entering fully. He sniffed the air and sneezed when he inhaled too many dust bunnies. Behind him the wall closed back like fast growing ivy.
Cain moved to the back and laid her down in a small cot. He removed her boots and pushed her short hair away from her face. Her eyes fluttered open and closed. They were just so heavy.
"Go to sleep, Princess. We can talk when you wake up."
She wished she had enough energy to reply. Instead, she felt sleep drag her under its spell.
Author Note: Special thanks to my new beta Rose! She has kindly offered her assistance in this little adventure and is going through previous chapters to fix my mistakes. Hopefully I will be able to repost previous chapters and they will be all new and shiny. Woot!