"Nolan? Lucian? What are you doing? And why do you have the kids?!"
They all scrambled over to me and I almost laughed at how pitiful they looked. Oh dear.
The old man screeched at me. "This is all your fault. I told you to get rid of those damn birds! By the way, have you seen your pup? She seemed upset when she left and we've been trying to find her."
"You met her?"
Nolan chuckled and made an odd comment. "Oh, he met her alright. Nia. Just remember to remain calm."
What? I'll dissect that later. "I see you're in a good mood. Why are you here?"
His eyebrows raised and he raised his voice. "You lied to me! She never asked about me at all, did she?" He shook the bracelet on his wrist and I laughed by myself.
I averted my eyes and decided to focus on the retainer. "Logan?" Maybe. Maybe not. Still made you come. Can't believe it worked that well. Stupid.
He snapped at me to regain my attention. "It's Lowell. Not Logan. Not Louis. Not Loaf. Lowell! Your Highness."
Oops. I may have gotten his name wrong a few times. "Why are you here? Why are the kids here and Ria's…with the others."
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed their stance. The triplets leaned against a tree and I raised an eyebrow. Wow. Even they're tired? They must have gone through it last night. Lin's going to be pissed. Maybe she'll save all of her ire for the kids. That just leaves her on the missing list. The newbies are going to have a ball looking for her...
Lowell probed."What about Eric and Kissae? Have you seen them?"
I sneered already feeling a fire burn in my chest."Erichean has my daughter and Kissae is…tied up." I say that last part quietly. Not my choice.
"..."
"What?"
"One of the elders thinks she's a spy or something from the High Court. I'll fix it when we get back. Lucian?"
I beg him with my eyes to take them the rest of the way. They're gonna have to camp out in the forest tonight though. The barrier only opens twice a day, and by now Efret is waiting for me at the entrance. We can't wait too long either. Miseria needs treatment now.
He roared."No! You need to take at least one of them. I'm not dragging all of them any further!"
The triplets jumped up and down. "Pick us." "Pick me!" "Pick me!"
I looked between all the options and settled on them. The rest are adults, they can handle it. It's just grassland and sparse trees, a little further. All the wildlife are herded to the back this time of year. "Sorry Lucian. I'll make it up to you."
Nolan tittered and I gave him a weird look. Ok…Did the forest finally drive him completely crazy? It's only been a few days.
Whatever. Now that he's here it'll be much easier to keep him here. No more coddling or hunger strikes. Once he's inside the barrier. He's mine. That's one less thing to worry about.
I smile to myself and pick up the kids. They hang on to my shirt and look startled. "She's right. You do look creepy when you smile."
My smile drops and I fly upwards. That little brat. I break the treeline and soar over the top. Small treehouses become more noticeable as we get closer. Clothes hang on the clothing lines and sway when I pass over them.
Moonlight dyed the trees in its celestial glow and small lamps lit throughout the night cast a warm glow on the wood. Pretty. I'll show it to her when she's better.
My little brat. She's going to bleed me dry for this, I just know it. My eyes glaze over with warmth and I can't help but feel a little anticipation. I wonder what she'll ask for this time. Maybe she'll come up with one of her great ideas again. Well...Mother's ideas. But she's the one who shares them.
She made luxury paper just for me.
"Wait! What about the birds?" I stop grinning and look down at the terrible three. I can't believe they were let loose in my forest. Where are their guards?
"Yeah, let's sell 'em!"
I crack a smile at the chatterboxes. "You hunted in my forest? You have to pay a fine for that, you know?" Eh, I'll probably wave it on account of Lin. She's had to deal with enough.
Yucheng shakes his head no. "Not us. Ria. She like looked at them and they went crr…And then they died! There's a whole bunch of them and if we hurry we can sell them in the market!"
The market? When did they go to the market? Nevermind. "She what? What are you talking about?"
I soar over a gust of wind as they chatter about the excitement of last night. "She cried after. I guess she felt bad for them but they were trying to eat us! So we were all trying to tell her not to feel bad…."
Yucheng continued his brother's sentence and used his hands to demonstrate the calming breaths Lowell asked her to take."When all of a sudden she like stopped breathing and Lowell had to like do his voice thing to make her calm down."
Yuchen played with his rodent and inquired casually."Then she ran away from us and the forest changed. Why does it do that?"
"It's for defense. Tell me the rest."
"That's it. After that, we all looked for her and then Nolan saw you flying and was like, hey. That looks like my sister!"
I roll my eyes. You don't say. But seriously. She killed something? That's out of character for her. She's so squeamish I would never have thought she could. The gift must be affecting her more than I thought.
No matter. We'll fix her down at Hawthorne. She just needs some fine tuning. Maybe I can drag this out for a little longer though. Per the law I have to remain at her side until she's ready. Which could take years if I slow her training down just right. Then I'd have time to visit the territory here and the islands.
So this can be a little vacation from the house. But I can't just do work...No matter how much I want to. I have to admit. I have to be there for her a little more. This was so not the plan.
They all said she wouldn't remember the first four years of her life and I should start bonding with her when she's older. Yeah right.
It'll be good for us. I could…eat with her. And…make money. Or...
What am I going to do with her again? Well there's always training. I could teach her how to shoot. That'd be fun right?
One triplet yawned and curled deeper into my arm. Then it caught on like a common cold and all three were yawning in tandem. "Sleep you rascals."
They giggled and closed their eyes obediently. Dangling from one of the triplet's hands is a trinket. I readjusted and caught it before he dropped it.
My smile became a frown when I gave it a closer look. Damn it. I crushed the stone in its center and pocketed the necklace. They're getting closer to places they should keep their noses out of.
Fine. I'll be here for a while anyway. I'll spare some time to go hunting. Home sweet home.
"So can we take a break now?" Lowell asked hopefully.
"A break?" Lucian bared all of his teeth and laughed loudly.
"Yeah, it's time right?"
"Oh, it's time alright." Lucian cracked his neck and started to shift into his wolf. Fur sprouted from his skin and bones realigned. Lowell and Nolan grimaced.
Lucian's paw stomped on the ground. He jutted his nose forward and the both of them groaned. He snapped his teeth at them and they jumped.
"I'm quitting!" Lowell took off in the direction Lucian was pointing in. Nolan clicked his tongue and picked up his feet.
Within moments he overtook the boy and left afterimages in his wake. Lucian howled appreciatively and continued herding them in the direction of the barrier.
The only place in the Sunless Forest unaffected by the defensive magic cast over it.