The Binding (22 page)

It took me three days to fi nd Cessa and when I did, she was badly beaten and wounded. Lying next to her was Mareck. She was even wors e off than Cessa , but she had a protective arm wrapped around Cessa as the big cat lay asleep, weak and bleeding from a deep cut to her side. As hard as I tried, I was unable to send her back to Malainisi. I was not strong enough at the time , and without Cessa’s help, I was unable to transport her through the onyx portal. When Mareck woke, despite her wounds, she pounced up in a low crouch standing between Cessa and me . If Cessa had not risen and limped over to me , and as fast as I was even then, I knew that Mareck would have slain anyone who would hurt the cat, including me. Trusting in Cessa, Mareck let her guard down and collapsed at my feet. Slowly limping, Cessa moved back to lie next to her, one of her large paws on Mareck’s prone body. That was enough for me.

I stayed with them through the night doing what I could. Finally, when morning came I called my brother asking to meet me in secret. Even as boys , Tolan showed sign s of a healer, a trait that was of our mother’s. Between the two of us, we nursed both Mareck and Cessa back to health . I n the meantime , Mareck told us of how she was captured and imprison ed in a cave with the badly wounded cat. The Culo’oug ogres thought the cat would finish her off , but somehow Mareck and Cessa found a way to communicate with one another. They were able to overtake the remaining renegades and escape. The remaining five, however, didn’t go without a fight. It seem ed that both the ogre and the cat carried each other to safety before collapsing. I found them a few hours later, unconscious and on the brink of death.

In the years
that follow ed , every now and then I would release Cessa. On those nights she disappear ed she would always return with a new wound or two and I knew that she had been out hunting with Mareck. I never denied them their need to hunt together as I knew it made Cessa as happy as it did Mareck. That lasted until Mareck decided to retire her warrior ways and make an honest living in the world of man. Well, as honest as a crime lord is capable of being.

“Give me your message for my father, Tharin,” she says continuing to stroke Cessa lovingly. The cat is beyond heaven. I really need to do something about this “girl time” with that cat. First , Lily now Mareck, I shake my head disgustedly at Cessa. She opens one of her eyes and glances at me as if reading my mind. So much for loyalty, as she closes her eye and gives Mareck’s hand her full attention.

“You were right,” I start slowly, “Senestra’s daughter has been found. Her brother was caught four years ago and is being used by an unknown enemy, a very dangerous enemy.”

“Huh,” she interrupts, “nothing your father can’t handle.”

“I’m not sure about that, Mareck.” At that she raises a brow at me again.

“Whoever is pulling Lucas’ strings is more powerful than we’ve anticipated. The civil unrest among the Thirteen Clans has been simmering with a few skirmishes here and there, but the Alliance throughout Velesi has seen well laid out plots on the brink of actual battles. The smaller regions have whispered of uniting against the Alliance and going to war. This puppet master behind Lucas is the key and the catalyst of it all. I know it, and most of all, my father knows it.”

“
The Alliance .” The snarl on Mareck’s face isn’t pretty, and Cessa shifts her head on Mareck’s lap, feeling uneasy at the ogre’s displeasure.
“You mean your secret council of old elves conspiring against everyone who isn’t Sidhe?”

“No, Mareck
,” I say pointedly at her.
“I’m speaking of the Alliance that my father leads, and that Tolan and I stand behind.”

She plays with Cessa’s ear to calm the cat down saying, “My father owes your k ing an allegiance. His reasons he’s never shared with my brothers or me . And I, well , I owe you my life , Tharin , and to Cessa as well,” she leans down and touches Cessa’s nose with her own.

“I’ll give my father your message. You should know, however, that Maluk has severed ties with my king and seeks to find his own tribe to lead.”

Great, one more enemy to worry about. Maluk is the oldest of Mareck’s brothers. The meanest one of the bunch, including King Mahl.

“Thanks for the warning,” I reply as I get ready to rise.

“There is still the matter of the bounty,” says Mareck quietly, stopping me from rising completely. I sit back in my chair slowly, eyeing her curiously.

“Tharin,”
calls Mellis from out in the lobby, “heads up, we’ve got trouble.”

~
*
~

I step out of the circular room onto a leafy platform. I look at the leaves below my feet and realize I’m standing on a branch.
I’m startle d at the idea of having nothing under me but leaves weaved tightly together , and I reach out for a smaller branch to hold on to. As I tightly clutch the tree limb , it slow ly moves me away from its trunk. It rises and straighten s itself out, giving me a high perch that overlooks the City of Lights . Everything that I imagine Las Vegas to be is spread before me. The lights of the valley go on forever and surround me .
The brightest of the lights comes from the Strip, of course, and it’s as if I’m standing above Sodom or Gomorrah .
It’s breathtaking in its alluring promises of riches, debauchery and sin.

I feel a warm breeze in the air and I slowly let the smaller branch go. I want to feel the breeze cool my warm skin .
I let go of the limb completely , putting my trust in the young oak to keep me from falling.
Young oak?
I think to myself. I look down at my leafy platform again and then at the entire branch I’m standing on.
How do I know she’s young? Or better yet, how do I know she’s a she?

“Because you know of such things, Lilianethia, daughter of Senestra,” says a soft voice beside me, “and yet, you don’t .”

Standing on a nearby branch is a small child.
She’s cover ed with dirt and her hair is made of dry crumblin g leaves. The brown sheath she’s wearing is made of tree bark. Her soulful brown eyes stare ahead, looking at the lights that dance around the valley.
I’m shock ed to find that she’s the same little girl from m y dream , but in my dream she’s clean with beautiful blonde hair and eyes that dance with mischief. As I stand on my own branch , I realize tears are running down my cheeks.

She
turns to me and says, “Cry not for the dryads of this land, Child, for we have lived for millennia before man and Sidhe were even a thought in the Great Creator’s plan s . We are the children of Mother Earth and we shall survive even as man and Sidhe alike parish.”

I fall to my knees , crumbling before this beautiful child. She seems to glide just above the branches as she approaches to stand inches before me.
She’s so small that even though she’s standing, we are eye to eye with one another .

“I’m sorry,”
I say trying to control myself.
“I don’t know what I’m feeling, but I do feel something. I just can’t explain it. All I know is that it hurts me to see you, to see you like this and not like in my dream.”

“Dreams are stages where lies and truths intertwine in an endless dance. It is in the waking world that you must decide what is real and what is not.”

“Are you real?” I ask staring into her eyes.

“Yes, Lilianethia, I am real , ”
s he replies . W
ith a small smile , she offers, “My name is Asi.”

“Lily. Please, call me Lily.” Again she smiles as if she already knows my preferred name.

I stay kneeling before her as I reach out slowly. I touch her small face and feel the dryness of tree bark .
I reach up touching her hair of dry leaves.
At my touch the leaves crumble and fall . Appalled, I pull my hand back quickly horrified at what I’ve done . Before I can pull away completely, she reaches out and catches my hand. Her tiny hand barely wraps around my wrist, but there is strength there and I l et her pull my hand back toward her.

Holding my hand only inches from her face she says, “You can heal me, Lily, but you must believe in your heart that you can do it. The Binding has set you free. All you need now is to believe you have the will to make it work.”

I stay my hand and ask, “The Binding? What’s the Binding?”

She reluctantly releases my hand and say s , “Your betrothed has used the Binding to save your mind from the pain of the oak. S
he’s slowly dying and you have felt her fear and anguish over the prolonging of her death. If the young prince had not used the Binding, you would have been driven into madness and you too would slowly die like the oak.”

I look down at the leaves that support me and I stroke them with my fingers . The oak trembles throughout her branches at my touch. I quietly smile at her and a deep sorrow overcomes me. I bring my hands to my chest trying to hold back my emotions. Tharin had saved me from the oak’s anguish?

I finally look at Asi and say, “How? How do I shut it off? I don’t want to feel her pain anymore. It’s too much.”

“I’m sorry, Lily. Since the Binding, your mother’s blood has been fully awakened within you. You will feel all of nature around you and you have to learn how to filter it. Tharin will help you. He helped you through the Binding and brought you back from your sorrow.” Reaching out she touches my shoulder and the oak’s anguish disappears, “You are stronger than you realize.”

“My sorrow?” I ask wiping at my eyes and swallowing hard.

“Yes. The place you run to hide , a place that has kept you in the dark and has kept you from realizing who you truly are.”

I look away from her toward the light. After a moment, eyes still on the city, I ask , “This Binding you’re talking about, what is it?”

“Don’t you remember?” she asks.

“No.” I respond turning back to her.

She tilts her head to the side looking at me , “That is interesting. You wi ll find your answer with Tharin.”

I throw up my hands in frustration, “Then what can you tell me, Asi?
What?
”

“I can tell you that you are a descend ant from a great line of healers. That you are not only a healer of man, but of Sidhe and all denizens of Velesi, including Mother Earth. I can tell you that you hold the key to the most powerful of h ealers himself, Death.
I can tell you t hat you hold the will to all living things in both man and Velesi realms because you carry the blood of both of our sister Senestra and the human John Michaels.
I can tell you that you will be tested for the sake of a loved one. I can tell you that Tharin is your destiny and only he’s able to reach you. I can tell you that you will rule by his side and together you will oversee both realms of man and Sidhe. And, I can tell you that if you don’t do all that I have said, Tharin will be lost to you forever, and the realm of Velesi will be no more.
”

M
y mouth open s , stun ned to hear all that she’s saying . I don’t know what to say so I keep quiet, nodding.

She laughs at me saying, “You are a strange one, Lily. Here,” she takes my hands into her small ones, “close your eyes.” I do as she commands, taking in a deep breath.

“Good,” she continues, “now I want you to picture us in your mind as we are right now, on this branch, together.”

Asi goes on to build the image into my head and I see us as if looking into a mirror. Then she continues to build the oak into a fuller, greener version of itself until we are surrounded by nothing but oak leaves, green and lush. The sky has disappeared including the Las Vegas Valley and the leaves are so full , I can’t even see the oak’s trunk.

“Open your eyes, Lily,” she quietly commands, and when I do, we are in the cocoon made of the lush leaves. I rub at my eyes to make sure they aren’t s till close d , t hat I’m not still sitting in the image that Asi created in my mind.

I look around in awe and breathe in the full scent of the oak, laughing at the wonder of it all.

“Am I still awake, Asi?”

“Yes, Lily, you are …in your mind . This is the power of your kind, the Sidhe. It’s your heritage, a part of your destiny.
This is a shield to protect you from any attacks against you emotionally, mentally and physically.
You will come across many like this oak in the world and in Velesi , dying and full of pain. You must build a shield, a barrier around you to protect you from their pain. This is the simplest of defenses that I can now show you . You will learn to create stronger defenses against unintentional attacks, whether from those who suffer it or those who will create it. Even against the evil one who has taken over your brother.”

“Evil
o ne?” I turn to her quickly, “Asi, do you know who it is?”

“No, but Lucas isn’t your brother, Lily.”

I nod already knowing that he wasn’t , at least not at the moment . I have to find some way to r elease him from the hold that this “e vil o ne”
has over him. I knew from the moment I saw him at the park that he couldn’t have wanted me dead, not my Lucas.

I stand looking around me , then down at the dryad and ask , “
Please show me how this is done, Asi. Teach me how to protect myself.”