Unbound (9 page)

The Sprite flew off.

“Roo, it’s time to go,” Gannon hollered.

“Now, wait just a minute,” she said, coming up behind him. “What gives you the right to call my dog?”

“Because I know what’s going on and you don’t.” He brushed past her.

Glaring daggers into his back, she wished she knew where her blades were.

11

The thumping at the Gate grew
more insistent. With his idle morning blown to hell, Gannon felt irritable as he stuffed things into his pack. He noticed Jubi come in, followed by the dog. Gannon felt something brush against his legs. He turned to Kayla with a warning.

“Brace yourself.” Not pausing to see if she’d followed instructions. He closed his eyes to concentrate. Clearing everything out, he saw the workroom in sharp details. Willing it so, they stood in the center of a low lit room surrounded by books and scrolls.

“Whoa, boss,” he heard Jubi say from a distance.

When Kayla gasped, he opened his eyes to see her staring at the blood smeared floor. He didn’t know what was trying to get in, only that it was very old and very strong. Strengthening his wards, he opened his mind’s eye and tried to see what slammed into the other side of the Gate. A terrible darkness covered the alley and, past it, laid the dead MoonSkin returned to human form.

Time didn’t pass the same in the T’ween. What had been days in his world had only been moments in this one. Somebody wanted this girl dead, he thought.

* * *

Kayla sensed that something wasn’t right. She felt a constant pounding in her skull. She saw the floor soaked in blood and spotted her jacket and what must have been her shirt off to the side.

Her weapons lay jumbled together, her pack close to the table. Everything fell into place; she realized if her things were here, then that meant…the blood covering the floor must be theirs, hers and Roo’s. She felt grateful to Gannon that he’d found her, but that didn’t explain where they were now, nor how they’d gotten there.

It didn’t feel like a transport spell
—
not that she knew much about magic. Magic users were hunted like dogs where she came from. She wondered how he’d escaped the Mage Hunters.

Then she remembered the pouch and how she was supposed to deliver it unopened, and how it had seared her mind when she’d opened it. A flash of pain dropped her to the floor. Maybe it wasn’t only the blood loss affecting her memories, she thought.

Crouching there for a moment, she looked at Gannon and noticed he seemed to have relaxed. The unbearable pounding had left her mind. She opened her mouth to ask, only to have him shush her.

His face went blank, “What did you want?” He rubbed his forehead.

She thought he looked worried. He headed towards a stove, putting a kettle on and sat down at the table.

“What was that pounding just now?”

He looked up at her, his expression wary. “You
felt
that? What did you feel?”

“It was like a pounding in my head,” she answered, walking to her pack, not caring for his excitement. She picked up her shirt and looked at it in disgust. Wrinkling up her nose, she tossed it aside. “I guess I won’t be wearing that again.” She picked up her pack, feeling dirty. “You got a bathroom in this dump?”

“No.” He poured a cup of tea. “Gather your things,” he said, holding his cup in both hands.

Something in his voice made her hurry. He had that same faraway look in his eyes, and she didn’t want to lose her things. She clenched her pack to her chest, the world shifted, and she stood in a beautiful apartment.

“What is this place?” Gawking, she made a slow circle.

“I live in a T’ween, a place between all worlds, a part of none.”

“That’s…interesting.”

“The bath is through here,” he said, leading the way. He pushed open a door, and revealed a floor level tub that took up half the room. Not knowing what to say and afraid to get the place dirty, she placed her pack on the corner of the marble countertop. Maybe he wasn’t a barbarian after all. If he could will this into being, she wondered why he chose to be in that rustic cabin.

He went to the tub and turned on the faucets, then sprinkled into the water something from one of the various containers that lined the ledge. A bouquet of aroma mixed with the steam and filled the room. He got out thick lilac towels from a cupboard. Setting them onto the edge of the tub, he left without saying a word.

She wondered what he’d put into the water and picked up the bottle. The label read, “Healing Jasmine.” Not one to take luxurious baths, she shrugged and stripped off her filthy pants. If he wanted to put scent into the water, who was she to complain? She unwound the sarong, laid it in a pile next to the pack and slipped into the tub. Turning off the taps, she leaned back with a sigh and, feeling divine, she floated.

* * *

He leaned against the door, smiling as he heard her splash. He could use his own shower, maybe a cold one, he thought, heading off for the master bath.

He called Jubi as he went. “Settle in as best you can. There’re some flowers on the window and some honey in the larder, though I don’t want you stuffing yourself.” Taking a few steps, he stopped. “Oh and, Jubi, one more thing.”

“Yes, boss?”

“I need to see Kayla when she gets out.”

Jubi nodded and flew away in search of the promised treats.

12

Kayla stepped into
the hallway and found Jubi floating in the air beside her door.

“What are you doing
here?”
she asked.

“Waiting for you. Gannon wants to see you.”

“Oh.”

Jubi landed next to her ear, pushing her hair out of his way to do so.

“Where to?” she asked.

He pointed to the right.

She took a few steps, taking in her surroundings. “Hey, Jubi?  How’d you and Gannon hook up? Why are you working for him?”

“I’m
not
working for him.”

Feeling him shift on her shoulder, she stopped. “I’m sorry.  I just thought…”

“He and I are both charged with watching the Gate.  Well, he’s in charge, but I am responsible, too, as the chief of my clan.”

“You’re the chief? I didn’t know that.” Reaching a crossway, she wiggled her thumb in both directions. “Which way?”

Kayla felt relaxed as she followed Jubi through the apartment, though it should have been called a house. Her musings got cut short by the sight of Gannon half naked, working out on a bag. His back muscles rippled in time with his jabbing fists.

He shifted positions and she could see a fine sheen covered his flexing biceps and chest. Damp hair ringed his strong face. With his total concentration focused on the bag, she didn’t think he’d seen her come in.

Her breath caught in her throat as she watched him work the bag. He became a thing of beauty as he completed a roundhouse, sending the bag rocking on its chain. He caught it when it swung back.

She smiled at him when he looked up and wiped the back of an arm across his brow.

“You wanted to see me?” she asked.

He grabbed the bag, stilling it as it bumped into him, then he approached her. “Aye, I did.” Picking up a towel, he dried his face and neck before continuing. “What do you know about an awakening?” His eyes broiling with emotion, he brushed her hair from her face, his powerful hands now gentle. With his gaze focused on her, she shifted from foot to foot, discomforted.

“Not much,” she replied. “There’re some myths floating around about bound children with latent magical talents. I don’t believe the claims,” she said, though a twinge of memory disturbed her. “The hunters always find the strong. Why?”

“I felt an awaking spell a few evenings ago right before a Guardian and a hurt woman burst into my solitude.”

She shifted against his unblinking gaze. “I’m not sure what you’re talking about. What’s a Guardian?”

“A Guardian is a guide sent to protect some bound children.” He kept his gaze locked on her. Unnerved, she turned away, unsure if she should tell him about the pouch.

“I don’t know anything about a Guardian, but I opened something I shouldn’t have a few days ago.”

Watching his eyes narrow in concerned interest, she felt the words of confession pouring out of her. “It was something I was told not to open, but couldn’t stop myself no matter
how
I tried.”

Her fingers touched his chest, then pulled away. “I don’t think it was an awaking spell at all. It was just a booby trapped pouch with a compulsion spell on it. Meant to weaken me enough so that MoonSkin could catch up with me, or signal him where I was,” she said, sure of herself. It was better than the alternative.

He stared at her in disbelief. “How did you come by this pouch?”

“Well, my boss… that’s the rotten liar who set me up,” she fumed. “He told me I had a run. He said to take the bag to some address in the Drifts before midnight, and he’d strike my debt clean.” Thinking back to the battle, she felt a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach, unable keep the realization from showing on her face. She’d used magic to kill the MoonSkin.

They would know how he died. The Hunter’s were already looking for her...an outlaw. In her panic, she almost bolted, jumping when she felt a warm hand on her arm.

“Kayla, look at me. It’s going to be all right. I won’t let anything happen to you.”

She didn’t know which of them he tried to convince
—
her or himself
—
that he could keep her safe.

“No, it
isn’t
ok! Magic users are sought-after slaves, collared to render them powerless. How is that going to be ok?” Stepping back, she searched the room as if there were hunters hiding in the couch cushions.

“Maybe that had been his intention all along.”

Without hearing him, she ran towards her room, desperate to get to her weapons.

“Kayla! Stop!” Gannon spun her around to face him, shaking her, breaking through her panic.

Letting his presence steady her, she wondered if she might be safe in the T’ween. “You’re a magic user, unbound from the look of it. How did you manage that?” she asked, wrapping her arms around his neck. She leaned up, her mouth a breath from his.

“Kayla, what are you doing?”

“Nothing,” she said, nibbling on his lip. “This
is
what you want for our protection, isn’t it?”

He unwrapped her arms from his neck. “No, not like this. I don’t take payment from a woman in favors. And I can’t believe that you think I would.” Pausing for a moment to send her a hurtful glance, he added, “Come see me when you want to learn the truth about yourself.” Stalking off, he slammed the door behind him.

Kayla slumped against the doorway, sliding to the ground. She put her hand over her mouth, ashamed at what she’d done, what she’d been about to do if he hadn’t stopped her, something she’d vowed never to do, no matter how bad it got.