Aerisian Refrain, page 8
part #1 of Beyond the Sunset Series
Rising, the Simathe strode toward the streambank and walked along it, casting his gaze up and down both banks and even into the water. All the while, he kept turning to glance behind him, keeping watch over the girl who now sat with her face pressed against her knees. He would have rather have stayed with her, but this bag, whatever it held, was important to her. The warrior began to think he’d not locate it; that it must have sunk when he sliced it loose. Even as he was ready to give up for the time being, he glimpsed something long and dark and sinuous floating atop the water. The strap from her bag, the very strap he’d cut. Carefully, he waded back into the icy creek, finding the bag had floated a little downstream where it had become wedged. Luckily, the strap had floated to the surface, without which he may not have located it. After retrieving her possessions, he crossed to the opposite streambank for his boots before re-crossing back to the girl.
He’d finished pulling on his boots when he heard the sound of someone moving through the trees. Branches parted, and Torrin appeared. The warrior felt his comrade’s astonishment upon seeing the strange-looking woman, albeit his face betrayed nothing.
“Your orders, my lord?” his warrior asked, passing him the supplies.
At the sound of another voice, the girl’s head lifted slightly. When she saw Torrin, her deep violet eyes registered surprise.
“Th—there’s even m-more of you.”
She’s not seen Simathe before, Torrin observed silently.
I think she has. But she knows not what we are.
To her, he said simply, “Torrin brought help.”
Back to his warrior, quietly. “Take the prisoners to Laytrii. Hand them over to the Ranetron High-Chief. We’ll follow when she is able.”
Torrin nodded.
“Another thing.”
“My lord?”
“Not a word of this—any of this—” He nodded significantly toward the girl, “Except to the High-Chief or Lord Norband. It will not do to let our quarry know we’ve gained an upper hand. All of this stays silent.”
“Understood.”
Cole nodded his dismissal. Flicking a final glance at the young woman, Torrin left, melting back into the woods, while the Simathe lord carried the supplies back over to the girl. His first act was to build a fire. Aside from shivering, the stranger didn’t move, not until the flames caught and began hungrily devouring the wood. When the heat touched her, she slowly raised her head, looking around.
“Y-you’re still here.”
He nodded.
“I thought—thought maybe I dreamed it all. This wh-whole crazy thing.”
This whole crazy thing…
His suspicions grew. The way she spoke, similar and yet dissimilar to Lady Hannah, the Artan. The odd color of her hair and eyes. He cast a glance over her. Even her strange attire—some sort of heavy trousers. Shoes with vividly colored soles and orange laces. Aerisian women did not dress like this.
“Do you hail from Earth?” he said at last.
Chapter 13
From Earth
“Do you hail from Earth?” the man asked.
His voice was low and deep. Calm—so calm. There was never a moment since he’d pulled me from the icy creek that he hadn’t radiated calmness. As if he were fully in control, knowing exactly what to do and how to do it. But that question—from Earth. As if there were anywhere else to be…
I struggled to make sense of it.
“I-I don’t know what you mean.” My voice still trembled from the chills. “Where else w-would I be—be from?”
He shook his head. “It matters not.”
I let the remarks go. I didn’t have enough energy, mental or physical, to grapple with them right now. The heat promised by the fire was drawing me in, but I was stiff from the cold and being banged up against the rocks. My ribs ached, and my back throbbed mercilessly. I tried to scoot closer but found I could barely move and that it hurt to try. A moan escaped, and suddenly the man was there, sliding an arm around my shoulders. Without a word, he carefully eased me closer to the fire, where I extended my shaking hands over the blaze, soaking up the warmth.
“That feels g-good,” I breathed, feeling the shivers start to subside. “Th-thank you.”
He drew back, giving me space, but I clutched his arm, stopping him. “I m-mean it. Thank y-you. For everything.”
He nodded and went back to his side of the fire. There was a pack on the ground, and he rummaged through it, pulling out what looked like clothing.
“When you are able,” he said, handing it over. “Dry clothing to wear.”
That was it. No insinuations or creepy jokes about helping me change. Just a simple, “When you are able.” I appreciated his reserve, as well as his thoughtfulness. After what I’d just been through—kidnapped, groped on the leg, and threatened with possible rape as well as being sold into some stranger’s harem—his formality was weirdly comforting.
“Sounds g-good. Just let me w-arm up for a minute, first.”
He continued with what he was doing, building up the fire.
“Are y-you going to change?”
His head came up. “I will survive wet clothing.”
It was true that he wasn’t shivering at all, not like me. Almost as if the freezing water hadn’t bothered him a bit, which was nuts, because it had been like ice.
Now that I was coming out of the fog, I watched him, trying to figure him out. In many ways, he looked like the other Simathe I’d seen. The firelight pushed back the shadows of the forest, and I could see he had the same impossibly black hair and those spooky eyes: eyes so full of blackness they glittered in the night, seeming to absorb the darkness around us. The flames reflected on the bronze of his skin and danced off the gold hoop in his ear. When he turned his head his hair shifted, revealing that the left side of his neck was scarred. His left hand was scarred too, badly. I couldn’t help wondering what had happened to him.
Since I couldn’t inquire about that, I summoned up my courage to ask instead, “Are you…Simathe?”
Those deep eyes flicked toward me. “Aye.”
It wasn’t like me to ask tons of questions, but he was the first person I’d had a chance to talk to since arriving here. Thankfully, the shivers had subsided and so had the stammer in my voice.
“I hope you don’t think this is rude, but what is a Simathe? I can see you look—different, than most people around here. Heck, some kid was making fun of his brother saying he’d seen a girl with black hair when he saw me. His brother asked if I was Simathe, then said there was no such thing as a female Simathe. I didn’t understand it.”
The man took his time before replying. His facial expression never changed, yet I got the feeling he was debating what and how much to tell me.
“We are warriors,” he said at last, “created by the Scraggen, or witch-women, ages past. The lad was correct: no female Simathe. We are born of human Aerisian parentage. Scraggen magic makes us what we are.”
I stared at him. None of that made any sense. I wouldn’t have believed a word of it if I hadn’t already witnessed so many inexplicable things the past couple of days. Instead of requesting further explanations, I said, “Earlier, you asked if I was from Earth. I am. I am from Earth. Somehow, I’m beginning to doubt that you are. From Earth, I mean.”
He looked at me levelly. “I am not.”
His dialect alone should’ve told me that.
“Then can you tell me, please…where am I—where we are—if we’re not on Earth anymore?”
“You are in Aerisia,” he said gently, as if breaking bad news, “the land beyond Earth’s sunsets. Welcome.”
Aerisia…the land beyond Earth’s sunsets.
When he said that, I had a wild urge to laugh.
I’ve lost my mind. This isn’t happening.
That was what I wanted to protest. All that I’d seen, all that I’d survived, restrained me.
I’d known I wasn’t in my own time period or homeland for a long time now. I hadn’t considered the possibility I wasn’t on Earth. Not really. That defied too much imagination. However, what this man, this Simathe, this warrior said made sense in a really sick, crazy way. I wished it didn’t, but it did. Furthermore, something about his odd phrase, the land beyond Earth’s sunsets, clicked in my brain. A flash of memory, of being up in the air…
I glanced out of the window and saw a sea of clouds, a sea of fluffy, floating cotton balls painted all the colors of the sunset: red, gold, purple, orange, pink. It looked so peaceful out there, so at odds with the shuddering plane…
“Lass, are you well?”
The man’s voice jolted me out of the memory. I turned to him, swallowing hard. “I—I think so. I don’t know. I mean, I just…I can’t…”
I trailed off, staring at him helplessly. He’d saved me from drowning. He couldn’t save me from this: the fathomless truth that I’d crossed into another world. I desperately needed something to ground me back to Earth, back to reality as I’d known it.
“Did you find my bag?” I blurted out.
“Aye.”
Reaching behind him, he lifted it and handed it across. I grabbed it, mindful of my sore ribs, and clutched it close for a second. Stupid, but it was my sole link to who I’d been and where I’d come from. I needed that right then to remind me I wasn’t going crazy.
“You will be well,” the Simathe said now. I looked up at him, forcing away the tears burning the backs of my eyeballs. “There is someone in Laytrii who can help you.”
“Who?”
“Lady Hannah, our Artan. She, too, is from Earth.”
Chapter 14
Cole
So many questions. They wanted to bubble out one right after the other, but I didn’t know where to begin. I clung to what the man had said, however. I clung to it with all my mental strength, determined not to fall apart.
“There’s someone else here from Earth?”
He nodded.
“How did she get here?”
“The Moonkind fetched her.”
Moonkind. I hadn’t heard that one yet.
“Who’re the Moonkind?”
“Folk who fled to Aerisia when their homeland was laid waste.”
“Their homeland…the Moon?” I ventured.
Again, he nodded. “Aye.”
My mind was whirling.
This is ridiculous. This is a nightmare.
A nightmare, yes, but there was someone else here from Earth. Someone who could help me make sense of it all.
“I think…I need to talk to this Lady Hannah,” I faltered.
“She will help you,” the man promised. He looked me over, questioningly. “When you are ready, we can depart for Laytrii.”
Was I? Was I ready?
Part of me screamed yes. I wanted to find this Lady Hannah, this Artan, whoever she was. I wanted answers. I wanted her help. The other part of me wanted to retreat, if only for a few minutes, to let my mind grapple with this new reality. Here in the dark forest, shrouded by trees, huddled next to a warm fire with this abnormal looking man who’d saved my life. I never would’ve dreamed such a setting could feel almost peaceful, but there was something about him, despite his bizarre appearance, that put me at ease. I couldn’t believe I was admitting that to myself, but it was the truth.
“I need to change first,” I said finally, stalling. “I don’t remember how far it is to Laytrii, but I don’t wanna make the trip in wet clothes.”
I summoned up a weak smile. He didn’t return it.
“You visited Laytrii?”
“That’s the first place I came to after I…woke up, here.”
Technically, that wasn’t true. That odd clearing where I’d seen the ravens was the first thing, but I bypassed that part of the story.
“I woke up in the forest, and I followed a stream to a river until I found a path. I followed that out of the trees, and I saw a road—the main road. It took me to Laytrii, the city. That’s where I saw the other Simathe,” I added, because I abruptly remembered babbling to him about the Simathe I’d seen kill someone in the streets and asking him if he was going to hurt me.
“I see,” he said thoughtfully, rubbing his chin. “You were in Laytrii, you saw another Simathe, and no one saw you?”
Clearly, he doubted I could pass unnoticed in that city, especially by his fellow Simathe, and I knew why. I hadn’t seen anybody in Aerisia that looked at all Native American. Ironically, the Simathe were probably the closest, but they didn’t even look completely human.
“I know this will sound crazy,” I said slowly. “But…”
Briefly, I confided the details of my newfound ability. He listened without interrupting, without changing facial expressions, but I got the impression he wasn’t convinced even though all he said was, “I see.”
“Look, it’s nuts, I get that. I swear I’m not just lying or making this up. That first Simathe, the one who-who killed that guy right in the streets, he was the only one it didn’t seem to work on. Or didn’t work as well, I should say. It was like he knew I was there, but he couldn’t quite spot me. He reacted to my presence. I know he did.”
The man looked me dead in the eye. “Try me.”
I felt my brows lift. “What?”
“Try me,” he said again. “Make yourself invisible.”
“Okaaay…” Accountably nervous, I brushed my wet hair behind my ear. “Okay…don’t see me.”
No reaction. He stared directly at me.
“Don’t see me,” I ordered again. “Don’t hear me.”
He continued to stare, his face giving nothing away. Was it working?
“Well?”
Finally, he shrugged. “Though you did not disappear, you did…dim. Also, your voice was difficult to hear.”
“Wait…” That didn’t make any sense. “You mean the first Simathe I saw maybe knew I was there but didn’t see me. For you I only dimmed? I didn’t disappear entirely?”
“I could see you.”
“Nobody else could.” He simply stared at me. “They couldn’t!” I said defensively. “How do you think I managed to get in and out of Laytrii without being seen if I’m making this up?”
“I doubt you not,” he said carefully. “When you spoke, you dimmed. But I do not understand—”
He broke off. Pressing his hands to his thighs, he stood, towering over me. He was a tall guy, at least six feet and probably a little over. Like the other Simathe I’d seen, he was well built. Athletic. Broad shouldered. Muscular. I was suddenly aware of my utter vulnerability here in a strange land and a nighttime forest with a man like him. Strangely, I wasn’t scared. Maybe I should’ve been, but I wasn’t.
What is wrong with me?
“We should make for Laytrii,” he said. “Perhaps Lady Hannah can assist in finding answers.”
He extended a hand toward me, which I took. He drew me carefully to my feet, but I couldn’t hide a grimace, which he noticed.
“Injured?”
“My ribs,” I said, a hand to my side, my teeth gritted against the pain. “Got slammed up against a rock when I was in the water.”
“Can you travel?”
The pain was subsiding. I released a breath. “I think so.”
I looked up into his face which was closer now, now that we were both standing.
“What’s your name?” I asked softly.
“Cole.”
That was it. No last name. No explanations. Simply, “Cole.”
“And yours?”
For a split-second, I was tempted to lie in order to remain anonymous. Then, with a stab of bitter humor I realized I didn’t have to. I wasn’t on Earth anymore. Nobody here knew who Annie Richards was and probably wouldn’t care if they did. As long as I was in Aerisia, that part of my life—being a worldwide celebrity—was finished.
“Annie,” I replied. “Annie Richards.”
“Annie…” He repeated the name as if testing it out. I guess, to him, it probably was unusual.
“Can you change, Mistress Richards?”
I stepped back, frowning. “I think so, but please—don’t call me that. We’ve been through way too much already for you to call me that. I’m Annie. Just Annie.”
A quicksilver smile, so fast I almost missed it. “As you wish. Now, are you able to change?”
I nodded shakily, looking around. “Yeah, just let me find a place…”
“Stay by the fire. I will go—”
“No, don’t go.”
The words slipped out before I could stop them. The warrior’s dark brows lifted slightly, and I felt my cheeks heat. Embarrassment, sticking my foot in my mouth—that wasn’t typical of me. I had too much training, too much practice playing it cool for the media. What was it about this Simathe, this strange man that had me both flustered and trusting him at the same time?
“I didn’t mean that. I just meant I don’t want to be alone. Those creeps who kidnapped me…what if they’re still around?”
“My men have them.”
“Your men?”
Another flashback to right after he’d pulled me from the water. Another Simathe, like him. I couldn’t remember what they’d talked about, but I remembered him being there.
“I travelled with two others. They have your assailants.”
“All three of them?”
“Aye. You are safe.”
I still didn’t want him to leave. I’d been through too much. Way too much. He was the one thing keeping me sane, and I had this wild feeling that if he left, if I lost him, I might fall to pieces.
Probably some kind of survivor’s emotional dependency. I’m sure Dr. Weathers would have something to say about that.
Wait…Dr. Weathers.
Her face flashed into my mind. I tilted my head, trying to grasp the memory, hold onto it. Why was I seeing her? I remember seeing her. She was my therapist. But why? Why did I need a therapist?
The warrior, Cole, noticed my pause. “Lass? Annie?”
His voice shook me from my reverie.
It’ll come back eventually. It’s got to.
