Once Lost Lords (Royal Scales, Book 1) (35 page)

I had regained a small amount of awareness. There was a distinct
western twang that wasn’t entirely audible. Vague impressions
of an old man complaining about some little girl came to mind. Was
that Evan’s grandfather? Was everyone okay? My lips tried to
groan out a question, but it didn’t quite come out.

“Jay?” Julianne’s voice was distant. It sounded
worried and relieved.

“He is resting. It’s a good thing.” The response
came from Evan. It was hard to tell where he was, but I felt a
flickering heat nearby. I wanted to roll closer and bask in it. The
tree felt cold compared to the warmth being kicked off from the
flames.

“Are you sure?” She said.

“The tales say his people often rest after a fight. It is how
they regain their strength.” The voice was Evan’s. He
always sounded tired and didn’t use contractions. When he spoke
it was like each word was worth using in its entirety.

“His kind? What does that mean?” Julianne shuffled closer
to the crackling fire.

“I can not tell you anything else. It is dangerous to skirt the
binding like this.” Evan said.

“Binding?”

“The other elf, the female Speaker has bound my eyesight. It is
a terrible practice that is only enacted upon traitors of our kind.”
The young elf didn’t sound upset. Just resigned. As if he
expected something to go wrong or else it wouldn’t be business
as usual.

“You’re a traitor?” Thomas’ voice. Strained,
but whole. The arrow I’d felt must not have been fatal. That
was good since it meant Julianne wouldn’t fire me over her
brother’s death. Hearing him speak helped me to relax.

“Our clan was cast out from the old world a long time ago.”
The cowboy twanged voice said. Drowsiness kept my eyelids closed,
preventing me from seeing what was going on. Resting felt good
despite the mismatched temperatures to each side.

“Why?” Julianne was gathering information. Something she
always did. It was part of what kept her in business.

“Neither of us know. Only full Speakers are told.” The
cowboy answered.

“So is that what you are then, a Speaker?” The direction
of Julianne’s voice clearly changed. She was talking to Evan
now.

“Incomplete. As was my mother before me. Our clan hasn’t
had a full Speaker in generations.” Evan said. I almost lost
his words as the flames crackled wildly.

“Where is she?”

“Dead, with a tree planted for a marker, as is our custom,”
Evan said. There was a rustle of fabric as someone moved.

“Oh.” Her voice was sad at first. Then it changed. “Oh.
Oh, we should move him then.” Move who? Me? I was unable to
stir myself and say something.

“It is alright. She would rejoice, I think, to know the sins of
our forefathers were not absolute. To know that our arrogance did not
purge them all.” Evan said. The Purge was an elimination of all
of the dark races some two thousand years ago.

There was a hint in there. Candy had said much the same thing. I felt
little trust towards the female elf now, however, what she told me
prior seemed to be confirmed by Evan's words.

“Sins of your forefathers?” She missed the turn in the
conversation I was hoping for.

Silence answered her. The last thing I heard was Evan taking up a
wordless song. I wasn’t sure how I felt about a man singing to
me. Awkward I guess, but it sounded haunting. Like the wind across
the prairie. My mind slipped off again into a deeper dreamless sleep.

Morning sunlight peeked through the trees and woke me. Hopefully,
only one day had passed and not two or more. The jacket bundled under
my head served as a pathetic sort of pillow. Putting it back on was
difficult because my thumb insisted on getting caught in a new arrow
hole.

One night’s sleep made a world of difference. I found Julianne
and Thomas slumped out cold next to each other. They looked more like
siblings than ever. Evan should be nearby. This mess could be
salvaged by finding Arnold.

Locating him was frighteningly easy. Almost as soon as I thought of
the elf, visions popped into my head outlining where he sat. A carved
object in his hands was being spun about. Was this ease at tracking
because of giving him blood?

Sneaking was not one of my skills so I staggered over. He sat at the
base of a tree with his face turned towards sunrise. Even his irises
were a pasty white color.

“Lord?” His face turned somewhat. I blinked and looked
away.

“You promised me answers.” There was no good way to start
this conversation. I kept my voice calm. Clearly Evan hadn’t
conspired against me.

“I find myself unable to fulfill my part of the bargain. I
apologize.” He said gently. The object in his hand spun around
some more.

“No. Candy being here is my fault.” I should have stolen
money out of the bar till and taken a taxi. Anything would have been
better than getting into a car with her.

“Candy?” Evan asked.

“The other elf. Her real name is-,” I slowed my speech in
order to say her name clearly. “-Kanda’rila Ro’hal.”

“Ah.” His response came out as a sigh. His normally
serious demeanor was nothing more than pure exhaustion. “Do not
worry.”

“Why?” I asked.

“I felt the bond starting with her as well. She will not hide
the truth from you forever, and I doubt she wishes to keep this from
you, not really.” Evan shrugged one shoulder and ran his
fingers over the wooden carving. I stared at it. It looked like a
wooden ball.

“It seemed like she did.” I said.

“It is not you that she worries about, it is us. Time or
understanding will change her.” Evan said. A grimace of pain
crossed over his face and fingers locked around the carved ball.

“I’m sure calmly explaining I’ll keep it a secret
won’t work,” I said. We could pinky swear on it.

“You will not be able to hide it once you know. The knowledge
will release you. That is what worries her.”

It was time for a topic switch. There was a certain desperation for
answers, but his wording was also frightening. “Is Evan your
full name?”

“No. But I like it better. My old name would be my family name,
and my grandfather is all I have left.” The elf said.

“The others died?” I asked. Missing family members was
something I knew entirely too much about. To my knowledge, there was
no one related to me by blood.

“Murdered. By another clan.” He said.

“I’m sorry. I’d help if I could.” I really
would too. Family was one of my personal woes. There was an entire
story there that I didn’t have time to dwell on.

Evan started to say something to that. There was a quiet flash of
light in his eyes as he tried. It wasn’t anywhere near as
bright as what had happened last night.

“That topic’s off limits?” I asked.

He nodded weakly.

“What about Arnold Regious?” That was the other issue
that was pressing on us. I should have dived in and asked, but it
seemed rude to rush Evan. He was obviously wounded from my failure to
stop Candy.

“Some of it.” He said. Was Arnold related to this? How
was a rich heir to some family tied to the topic Candy didn’t
want to discuss?

“How about where he is?” I tried for something simple.

“Arnold Regious is very much dead. There was little doubt that
anything else would happen.” He said.

“Did you kill him?”

“I did not need to.” Evan was already extremely pale, but
that admission caused him to lose further color. His fingers ran over
the wooden ball’s surface in rough jerks.

“Please tell me you have his body at least,” I said.

“Yes. What little is left of it.” Evan stood up and
slowly walked off. He didn’t seem the type to ask for help
despite having a difficult time.

“Am I allowed to help?” I wasn’t sure if there were
any rules here to deal with. Elves and their addictions often created
weird, nearly ritualistic behaviors.

Evan paused and tilted his head. His hair seemed as dirty as it ever
had been, but at least it fit the woodland vibe. “I will be
alright, my Lord. If you would please follow me?”

The path we took was painfully sluggish. I tried to keep myself
distracted by looking at how he was walking. Stealth wasn’t in
my skill set, but both Evan and Candy were amazing at navigating the
woods. Even fumbling around he moved like he was a part of nature.

He could step on a patch of earth and be noiseless. I would step on
the same spot with noisy results. Asking Evan about the secret to his
footsteps didn’t enlighten me. The elf only responded with a
faint smile.

“You can see the ruins of our old home here. My grandfather
tells me it was positively beautiful once.” Evan gestured
before him. This piece of landscape looked a lot like everything
else.

“It must have been.” I tried to sound positive.

Evan kept moving while I searched for housing remains. Nothing stood
out under the ivy and other plants. Not to my untrained eye. My
tactile senses were picking up bits of information and outlined hints
of building foundations. Evan’s clan probably used natural
elements, and nature would have recycled it all promptly.

“I am too young to remember the details. My family has
deliberately been erased.” Evan faintly stared at one of the
building remains I had sensed.

“Why?”

“We are outcast from those who came over to the Americas,”
He said. His constant depression almost made sense now. The poor
elf’s family had been eradicated over time. His only remaining
relative was a grandfather who thought he was living on the frontier.

“I didn’t know elves got outcast,” I said.

“In many ways, elves and humans are roughly the same. We were
until…” A flash of light prevented him from continuing
the thought. He put out a hand and rested against a tree for a
moment.

“How much of this relates to what I am?”

“Much,” He said.

“You can’t just-” my brain hurt trying to figure
this out “-write it down and skirt the binding?”

“I never learned to write,” Evan said. That didn’t
explain his gambling debt with Julianne. At least topic one wouldn’t
be off limits.

“How did you end up owing Julianne?” I asked.

“I knew sooner or later you would return.” He stopped
walking to lean against a tree and catch his breath.

“Then the odd objects were a plant?”

“Yes.” Evan shuddered and took a breath. The man had
refused assistance before. If the elf collapsed I would sling him
over a shoulder and continue forth.

“Then why did you act weird when I found you in your apartment?
Why not tell me then?” I tried to distract him with easier
questions. Ones that shouldn’t trigger the binding Candy had
placed.

“I did not know you were back. I had never seen your face.
Also, you seemed like a thug.” He said it without any emotion
besides exhaustion. Evan pushed away from his resting spot and
started forward again.

“I am a thug.” It was a description that fit me to a tee
on the job.

“You are protective over what is yours and misguided,” He
said.

“Misguided how?”

He didn’t answer.

“You can’t talk about it?”

“I skirt the bindings as it is.” He looked tired, more so
than when we first started talking. “It is…draining.”

“Can you answer another question?” I wanted to shake him
and yell, anything that might get him to spit out an answer worth
hearing. I couldn’t bring myself to try. Bringing actual
violence toward him felt wrong. Was this part of The Lord thing?

“I will try.”

“This is all related, right? My tracking. The possessive
instincts. Kahina’s desire for my blood, your waking to it, all
of it?” I was shaking a little myself as a result of asking
everything at once.

He paused. Evan’s neck tensed up considerably and he shuddered
out a nod. His face paled dreadfully right in front of me. That one
answer had been pushing the far edge of the limit.

“One last question? I won’t ask anything about myself
this time.” I tried to sound happy about getting a yes. It was
difficult.

“That would be appreciated.”

“Who did the lipstick tube belong to?” The damned brass
container had been bugging me since the beginning.

“My mother.” He smiled sadly. The admission stopped me
abruptly. “Do not worry. We are where we need to be. Candy and
the other Speakers are right on one thing, time should not march
backward, as much as I might wish otherwise.”

We had paused in the middle of a cluster of tree trunks. Overhead was
a woven net of branches and leaves that could have once grown into a
roof of sorts. Evan leaned over into a hollow nearby that would have
once been a house wall.

His hand came out with a small ornate box. The container was just
over a foot long and obviously hand carved. I tilted my head to look
at the top. There was a creature with wings flowing from one side to
the other. It might be a bird or a serpent. There were men on the
sides that held up their hands as if they supported the scene on the
top.

“This will have to be sufficient for your friend. There is
nothing more left.” Evan was focusing poorly on the carving. It
looked sort of tribal, no, tribal was the wrong word. It was
primitive.

“What is it?” I pulled it closer to look at the wood.

“Ashes.” The elf responded. I shifted the box and felt
something slide around. One of my hands started towards the lock. “Do
not open it. They will know it has been tampered with.”

“He’s really dead?” I asked.

“His path had few alternatives.”

“Care to explain?”

“No.” Evan’s face grew solemn. His entire range of
emotions seemed negative except for one fleeting smile.

“Lord, one more thing if I may. Then I must rest.”

“Sure,” I said.

“Do not tell your friend about yourself. Do not tell him of
what you can do. Those he travels with will, must, kill you for what
you are.” He said. I had to bite my cheek to avoid asking
follow up questions.