Taken (4 page)

A tingling sensation flowed over Channie’s skin, raising the hair on her arms.
Magic.
Raw power scorched her veins as Josh’s energy flowed into her body.

This was not the warm soothing glow that usually flowed from Josh. She’d thought that Valor’s magic was like Enchantment’s — turning even negative energy into positive magic. But this power was stronger than Chastity’s had ever been. The pain intensified. Channie’s body felt as if it were on fire, but she still wanted more.

“Channie.” Aunt Wisdom’s voice was quiet, but authoritative. “Stop.”

Channie let go of Josh. His magic fled her body and left her feeling
empty
.
 

Aunt Wisdom opened the door of the live-trap and said, “Come on, let’s give the little critter a chance to recover,” then led everyone back around to the front of the shack. She put a hand on Josh’s shoulder. “I’d appreciate it if you would refrain from killing Hunter. He’s a rather valuable asset.”

Hunter heaved a huge sigh of relief.

Aunt Wisdom said, “But, there’s no reason you can’t practice on him, if that’s less objectionable to you than cursing animals.”

“Now hold on just a dang minute!” Hunter swallowed then licked his lips. “You don’t expect me to just stand here and let Mr. Josh curse me. Do you?”

“I expect you to do whatever I tell you to do. But no, I don’t want you to just stand there. You need the practice as much as he does.”

“Aunt Wisdom?” Sparring with magic was forbidden except under the strictest supervision. And for good reason. Instead of casting curses with premeditated intent, mages fought with raw power. It was still a curse, but without the tempering effect of guided magic, it was extremely dangerous.

Aunt Wisdom was a master-healer, not a soldier. She wasn’t qualified to monitor a sparring session. Or was she? Channie’s lips parted as she realized she had no idea how long Aunt Wisdom had been planning this rebellion.

She sounded more like a drill sergeant than a healer as she lectured Josh and Hunter. “Don’t use more than half power and keep your shields up. Pay attention and stay focused. Serious injury is a distinct possibility.”

Hunter’s eyes widened to the size of silver dollars. “You saw what he did the night the night he got his powers. He ain’t got the best control and he already wants to kill me.”

“He’s not going to kill you.” Aunt Wisdom took Channie’s hand and included her inside her own shield.

The air around Josh shimmered like heat-waves over hot asphalt then surrounded him with a golden glow. The shield Channie had created for him had been invisible. His true shield, created with his own magic, was every bit as beautiful as he was.
 

Hunter’s shield glowed green. He squeezed his eyes shut and curled in on himself, obviously expecting a horrendous blast of power.

Channie said, “Remember, he’s on our side,” then held her breath and waited.

Josh narrowed his eyes and furrowed his brow.
 

Aunt Wisdom let go of Channie’s hand and crossed her arms over her chest.
 

Nothing happened.

Hunter opened his eyes, one at a time, and raised his eyebrows. “Go ahead. I’m ready.”

Josh groaned and said, “I’m trying.”

“You are?” Hunter uncurled his body and cocked his head to the side. “Well, what exactly are you trying to do?”

“I’m
trying
to knock you on your ass!”

Aunt Wisdom said, “Focus on
why
you want to hurt him.”

Josh’s knuckles looked like drops of white paint on his fists. Beads of sweat ran down his brow.

Still, nothing happened.
 

He sighed and shook his head; unfisting his hands and slumping his shoulders. “It’s not working.”

Aunt Wisdom spent the next hour trying to explain the theory of magic to Josh. It was basic stuff. Channie had heard it all before. She sat on a wooden apple crate, held her chin in her hand, and drew geometric designs in the dirt with a stick.
 

Hunter still had his shield up, but he was sitting on a fallen log, cleaning his fingernails with a pocket knife.
 

“…Magic responds to each mage according to their nature, natural abilities and power-name. Stop trying to control it. We aren’t casting spells now. You don’t need to form it into a specific curse. All you have to do is take the energy in your power-well, focus on your target and release it.” Aunt Wisdom put one hand on her belly and one on Josh’s. Channie knew she was only trying to guide him, but she didn’t like anyone touching Josh in such an intimate manner, not even Aunt Wisdom.

Josh batted her hand off his stomach and locked his jaw but that didn’t keep him from yelling through clenched teeth. “You already said that. It’s not helping!”

Aunt Wisdom pressed her thumbs into her temples and rubbed her forehead with her fingers. “I don’t have time for this. I need to meet …” She dropped her hands and sighed then took a deep breath that expanded her already ample bosom. “I need to be somewhere else. I’ll check on your progress in a few days.”

She was still doling out information on a need to know basis.

Josh said, “Hey! What about our bond?” He nodded towards Channie.

Aunt Wisdom put her hands on her hips and pressed her mouth into a thin, hard line then sighed and said, “You need to save your strength for training. Once you manage to curse Hunter, you can do whatever you want.”
 

~***~

After hours of trying to curse Hunter, and failing, Josh leaned against the trunk of a sycamore tree and slid to the ground.
 

Hunter said, “It’s gonna be getting dark soon. I’d like to get on home if you don’t mind.”

Josh used the tree’s trunk to pull himself onto his feet. “No. Not until I curse you.”

Hunter sighed and sat on a log. “Look, I know why this is important to you … but you obviously ain’t gonna be able to curse me today. It kills me to say this, but maybe Ms. Wisdom’s got it all wrong. Maybe you need to lay with your wife and strengthen your bond before you can curse a man.”

Josh looked at Channie and raised his eyebrows.
 

Heat crept up her neck and into her cheeks. She hated discussing this in front of Hunter. She hunched her shoulders and shook her head.
 

Josh smiled and dropped his chin. “I didn’t think you’d go for it. But you can’t blame a guy for trying.”
 

Channie stood up and grimaced as the blood rushed to her legs. The wooden apple crate she’d been sitting on all afternoon had tattooed a series of two-inch-wide indentations across her backside.

Josh trudged across the barren ground and draped his arms around Channie. She could tell by the way he held her that his weariness was bone-deep. No wonder he gave up so easily. He kissed the top of her head and inhaled deeply.
 

Channie blushed. It had been three days since either of them had bathed. But even a bucket bath required hours of work. Haul the water from the quarry, build a fire to heat it, lather, rinse, repeat. It was a lot harder to work up the energy for all that when they knew a bath was just a bath.

Channie missed Josh’s clean, lemon and sandalwood scent. They’d run out of the shampoo, conditioner and shower gel he’d bought in Muskogee. The lye soap they used stripped everything away including his scent. It took a full day for it to return. After two days, he still smelled like himself, just muskier.

“Josh, you’re exhausted. Hunter looks like he’s about to collapse. Let’s call it a day and try again tomorrow after a good night’s rest.”

He nuzzled her neck and whispered in her ear. “I haven’t had a good night’s rest since your meddlesome Aunt told us we couldn’t have sex.”

“Maybe if I slept on the floor—”

“Absolutely not.” He leaned back and said, “If anyone’s sleeping on the floor, it’s me” then pulled her closer and kissed the top of her head. “But I’m not sleeping anywhere except next to you for the rest of my life.”

Channie gave Josh a squeeze then released him and stepped back. “I need to add another can of tomatoes to the stew. It’s getting a bit thin, but hopefully we’ll get a rabbit soon.” It was a shame Josh was so opposed to possum stew.

Josh licked his lips and said, “If it’s not too much trouble, could you make another batch of cornbread?”

Channie smiled and said, “It’s not too much trouble.”

“Do we have enough to share with Hunter?”

“You want to invite him to supper?” Channie couldn’t keep the incredulity out of her voice.

“No. But if he’s half as tired and hungry as I am, he’ll never make it all the way back to your parent’s cabin alive. And your aunt seems to think he’s a valuable asset. The last thing I want to do is piss her off even more than I already have.”

Channie grinned then gave Josh a quick peck on the lips. “Hey, Hunter, you want to eat supper with us?”

Hunter cocked his head to the side and lifted his eyebrows. “You sure that’s okay?” He nodded at Josh.

“It was his idea.”

“Oh.” Hunter blinked then grinned. “Sure, that’d be great.”

“I’m going to mix up a batch of cornbread and add a couple of cans of veggies to the stew. Do you mind fetching some water from the quarry so y’all can clean up a bit while I cook?”

“I’d be happy to.”

Josh stretched as he yawned, archer-style, one arm straight out to the side, the other bent with his fist next to his ear. “I guess I should go give him a hand.”

He was too tired to be running back and forth from the quarry to the shack. “Why don’t you go check on the fire. Stir the coals a bit and be sure there’s enough heat to cook the cornbread?” All they had was a hotplate, so Channie did all her baking in the Dutch Oven over a bed of coals.

Josh pursed his lips and shook his head. “You expect me to sit by the fire while everyone else does all the work.”

Channie smiled and kissed his stubbly chin. “It’s a nasty job, someone’s gotta do it. Come on, I’ll sit with you and wait for Hunter to bring up the first two buckets of water. I need to wash my hands before I start cooking.”

~***~

Channie set the twenty-gallon washtub in the fire pit, across from the cooking grate, then pushed a bank of coals around the bottom perimeter with a stick. She sat next to Josh and braided her hair while they waited for Hunter. If she’d still had the ability to use magic she would have just cast a disinfecting spell on herself. It was a skill she’d mastered the first month of her apprenticeship to become a master-healer. Life without magic was down right inconvenient.

Hunter emptied the two buckets into the tub. The water hissed and steamed as soon as it hit the galvanized tin, but the thin, hot metal was no match for the frigid water from the quarry. Channie could have waited for the water to warm up, but she knew the boys were even hungrier than she was. She plunged her hands into the tub for a split second then jerked them back out with a gasp. Damn that water was cold.

She grabbed the bar of lye soap sitting on the stone shelf bordering the fire pit and rubbed her chaffed skin for as long as she could bear it, which wasn’t quite long enough to get her hands completely clean, then dipped them back into the icy water for an even quicker and less effective rinse.
 

Josh stood up and walked around the pit to stand beside her. He took her hands in his and frowned as he examined them. “Babe, we need to tell your aunt to get some lotion for your hands. This looks painful.”

“And ugly.” She tried to pull her hands back, but Josh refused to let go.

He lifted them to his lips and kissed the cracked and bleeding skin over her knuckles. “There’s not a single ugly spot on your entire body. I should know. I’ve checked.”

“Josh!” Channie’s gaze darted towards Hunter, but he just rolled his eyes, picked up the buckets and headed back down the trail towards the quarry.

Channie said, “I need to get started on that cornbread.”

Josh kissed her hands again and said, “Do you need any help?”

“No thanks.” He’d just get in the way.

It was getting dark, but there was enough light to make out the general shape of things so Channie didn’t bother to light the kerosene lantern. She’d been making cornbread since she could peek over the top of Momma’s kitchen table and didn’t need a recipe. She grabbed the mixing bowl with one hand and the bag of cornmeal with the other and turned towards the table.

The bottom of the bag split open and emptied the cornmeal onto the floor with a sudden
whish
.
 

“Shit!” Channie rarely used such foul language, but that was their last bag of meal.
 

Josh flung open the door and rushed inside. “What’s wrong?” Hunter was right behind him.

“It’s these damned mice! They nibbled a hole in the bottom of the bag, right across the seam. The whole thing split open when I picked it up.” Channie gave the empty bag a shake then threw it on the floor, on top of the cornmeal. “Damn it to hell and back!”

Josh stepped over the mess, wrapped his arms around Channie and pulled her against his chest. “It’s okay, babe. It’s just cornmeal.”

“I hadn’t even opened it yet.” Channie knew it was ridiculous to be so distressed over such a minor mishap, but her homemade cornbread was the only thing in their simple diet that Josh enjoyed. Everything else he merely tolerated and ate to fill his belly.

Hunter said, “You have a mouse problem.”

Channie sighed and nodded. “Apparently.”

“Do you want me to take care of it?”

Channie brushed the tears out of her eyes and smiled as she thought of a way to boost Josh’s confidence.

“No. I want Josh to do it.”

Josh bit his lip and furrowed his brow. “With magic?”

Channie nodded. “A pest-be-gone spell will chase the mice away without actually hurting them. But it uses negative energy.” Other than his initial, and involuntary, release of pent-up magic the night Josh became a mage, he had no experience with negative energy. All the spells he’d cast had been beneficial.

 
Hunter said, “They’ll just come back when the spell wears off. You need to—”