Away with the Faerie - Naomi M-B (bookstand for reading .TXT) 📗

reply. Sounds faded away as a steady green light began to glow before him. It rippled, wavering, changing. Now it seemed to have shape. A face. A woman’s face looked down on him, glowing with that eerie green light.

*

Weeks passed and the village managed to fall into a routine. Everyone knew what they were doing. In the mornings Tarentell would help either on the fields, making sure the ground was just right for whatever crops were growing or would be growing there, or with the village defences, constructing charm circles and shields to ward off Færie attacks.

In the afternoons, he would train with Alora and Etielle. First they began with meditation then with each of the six elements in turn. First water, then fire, then air, then plant, then energy and then earth. While he had found fire the easiest to master, they were fondest of water and earth, making little mud dolls to show Myah when they returned home.

The animosity between Rowan and Tarentell had increased exponentially and the pair argued often. They didn’t seem to even need anything to argue about. It seemed whenever they were in close proximity with one another, one of them would make some snide remark the other would take offense to launching them into arguments that could last up to an hour.

At first Myah would try and intervene. But after a while she gave up. Then, she admitted to Tarentell that in some ways the arguments were a good thing.

“What?” He stared at her. “How?”

She looked downwards. “It’s the only time you ever seem to get emotional,” she said at last. “You never raise your voice if you don’t have to unless you’re with Rowan. In fact, most of the changes in your expression are when you’re arguing with Rowan. I think it’s a good thing. It’s not healthy to keep your feelings all bottled up. I think you’re each other’s way of venting frustration.” She stopped, obviously expecting some reply. Instead, Tarentell had frozen.

While the majority of his brain wanted to instantly scoff at the very idea… there was no denying that the fluttering in his chest only happened when Rowan was around.

Damn.

“That’s ridiculous,” Tarentell said finally. At that exact moment, Rowan walked through the door.

“Oh there you are,” Rowan growled. “Slacking off as usual. There’s work still to be done you know!”

Automatically, Tarentell opened his mouth to snap back some furious reply. Then he caught Myah’s expression. “Whatever,” he muttered, pushing passed him.

After that he did his best to avoid Rowan. But this didn’t really seem to do any good. Whenever he caught Rowan’s, the other boy instantly seemed to look annoyed. It was like he was taking offense to being avoided. What the hell did he want then?!

By the middle of winter, tensions between the two had grown so thick it was hard to be in the same room as each other without feeling the need to glare.

It changed when the storm approached. They could see it, huge and vicious like a massive bruise across the sky. From the speed of its approach, they could pretty much guarantee it had magical origins.

“Can you send it away?” Myah asked, as she stood atop the wall, brow creased with worry.

“Not one that big,” Tarentell sighed. “My masters could but… I, however, have not had enough training. You see a storm like that is not only a combination of air and water but also fire.” As he spoke lightning flashed through the thick black clouds. Seconds passed and then the boom of thunder rumbled through the sky. “We need to get everyone inside,” he said. “Get everything metal inside or covered up. Lightning is drawn to it.” Around him, the others nodded and hurried away to sort things out. “Hopefully it will only last a day at most.”

It didn’t. By the second day it was still sending rain pounding down upon them. Lightning was becoming more and more common. If anything the storm was growing worse. Trees were being struck down, crushing roofs beneath their massive girth. The livestock as well as the young children were in a constant state of terror, panicking at every thunderous boom.

“We can’t go on like this,” Rowan muttered as the candles flickered. “We’ll be flooded soon and half the wood is too wet to be off use. If the food store’s flooded then we have nothing, it’s the middle of winter, there won’t be anything to harvest.”

“It’s okay, Ro,” Alora assured him, patting his face. “We can grow food, with magic!” He just patted her head.

There came a sudden, terrible crashing sound. The thunder was louder than it had ever been, ripping through the air.

“The stables,” Myah yelled, bursting through the door. “They’ve been hit. The animals have gotten out. We can’t lose them!”

Rowan leaped to his feet. “We need to get all of the animals inside!” he shouted to the others. “I’ll go after the ones that got out.”

“No, it’s too dangerous,” Tarentell told him. “You have nothing to protect you.”

“I have to!” he shouted back. “If those animals die then we have nothing. It’s my responsibility to look after these people!”

For a second, Tarentell was silent. Then he pulled up the hood of his robe. “I’ll go,” he said, striding towards the door. “Don’t follow me, it will be dangerous.”

“No.” Rowan grabbed hold of his arm. “You can’t- I know how to handle the animals, I’ll be there and back in no time. Let me-” A blast of air from Tarentell’s palm forced him to let go.

“Don’t follow me,” he repeated before walking out into the tempest.

“Tarentell!” Rowan yelled after him. But he was ignored.

Outside, the extent of the damage from nature’s fury was immense. Trees were uprooted, buildings destroyed, the ground was sopping with water, brown earth mixed into a muddy sludge that clung to everything. Animals were scattered around, panicked and stampeding, racing with no real place to go. Taking a deep breath, Tarentell closed his eyes and held out his hands.

He could feel the storm. Feel every part of it, every swirl of cloud, every drop of rain, every ripple of energy as the lightning built.

Lightning. That was the biggest threat after that was the rain. Another deep breath calmed his pounding heart. He’d done this many times. Redirecting lightning was easy. Repurposing the energy was… less easy but still possible. If he could draw the lightning into him, he would be able to use that energy to change the path of the rain.. If he did it for long enough, hopefully the storm would dissipate.

He raised one hand into the air, two fingers extended. His other hand went to the side, palm facing outward. Draw the lightning in. It took a calm mind to draw the raw energy into your body and intense concentration to harness it.

“I can do this,” he whispered and unleashed his power.

The first bolt of lightning drove him to his knees. Gasping his eyes flew open, white light pouring from them. His mind was blinded, torn, in turmoil. It crackled through every nerve every fibre of his being, this power, this energy.

Get it out.

Get it out.

The thought flared through his brain. It was Rowan’s voice. Get it out, idiot!

Face gripped with concentration, he forced the lightning along his arm, changing it as he did so, forcing it to obey him. When it reached his palm, it was now energy under his control. Barely under his control but bound by him none the less. It arched into the air, crackling back upward, sending a layer of rain of course, falling outside of the village. One down.

Three days.

That’s how long it took. Three days for the storm to finally dissipate. Burns covered the skin of his arms and torso now, where the lightning had ripped through him. Furious at his commands. As the last cloud dispersed, his arms dropped. Chest heaving, he collapsed forward onto the wet, muddy ground.

“Tarentell!” His name echoed through the air. Rowan’s voice. It was always Rowan’s voice. Hands grabbed him, flipping him over. Warm fingers slammed against his throat searching for a pulse. When it was found, he heard sighs of relief.

Stirring weakly, Tarentell cracked open his eyes. Above him, Myah and Rowan, illuminated by the light of the rising sun stared down at him, face twisted with anxious worry. “I did it,” he croaked.

Instantly Myah let out a gasping laugh. “You idiot!” Rowen yelled, smacking him. “I would have taken ten minutes. You almost died! Don’t ever do that again!”

“Ow,” Tarentell mumbled but he smiled.

Everyone was safe.

*

The green light had now taken the form of the whole woman. She lay beside him, impossibly long fingered hands, caressing and stroking along his body. At every touch, he could feel his strength fading away.

His mouth opened. He needed to tell them. Tell the others. They couldn’t be touched by this woman. If they were… she would kill them. Warn them. He needed to warn them.

“Rowan,” he rasped, mouth and throat too weak to say much else.

“I’m here.” That precious voice was hushed now. Those warm fingers encased his freezing hands. “I’m always here.”

*

The clean-up took weeks. Most buildings here were made from wood, they were ruined by both the water and the wind as well as lightning strikes.

In some ways it was good, all water reservoirs could be easily filled now. Tarentell and his two students spent most of their time doing just that, moving the water draining it of impurities and storing it in large butts and barrels. However, there was only so much water they could store and the ground was still sodden.

It was Alora’s idea in the end. “Let’s make a lake!” she chirped, bouncing on her heels as her sister moulded the water into little horses. “Then we can swim somewhere when it’s warm!”

“That’s-” Tarentell began, searching for a reason it wasn’t a good idea. “Uh… Actually that’s quite a good idea. Let’s do that.” It was good practice for them. Their powers were growing quickly and with his guidance they effortlessly carved out a large hollow. The water flowed into it easily, filling up the depression.

It would take time and effort to perfect it. To bring rocks to the surface of the earth, encourage plants to grow and make the thing permanent.

As he slowly healed, he let the lake become the centre of his attention. The slow moulding of its shape and evolution of each stage was methodical and relaxing for his mind. His muscles still ached whenever he moved too much, the burns stinging him.

Most of his other responsibilities could still be looked after by humans. So, his lack of presence wasn’t particularly detrimental to the village’s recovery. About a week and a half later, the lake was pretty much finished. He sat on a mound over-looking the water. Cross legged, eyes closed and arms outstretched. Breathes issued slowly from his nose as his mind shifted the elements beneath him. After a while he became aware of someone striding towards him. They came to a halt a few feet away.

“Rowan,” he guessed. “How may I help you?” While the whole business with the storm had helped the two connect their relationship was still extremely rocky. Tarentell had been making doubly sure to avoid the red head. Whenever they were together he became distracted. Why had he heard Rowan’s voice, why not one of his masters or even himself? It wasn’t logical. It didn’t make sense.

As before, the avoidance had caught Rowan’s attention and he didn’t like it.

“I’m here to talk about money,” Rowan said, voice terse. “All of that stuff you’ve ordered for the repairs is costing too much. We won’t be able to afford new livestock when summer comes if we continue at this rate.”

Tarentell opened his eyes and folded his arms. “I assure you, I double checked my calculations and they plainly said we could afford it.”

“Oh really?” Rowen was clearly growing more and more annoyed. “What’s this then?!” He shoved the expenditure book