Charmed Idol: Fated Touch Book 8

Chapter 2

2

The next day the snowstorm had settled, but not the storm between brothers. Marcus was a mess of sulk as we prepared the unicorns for the journey. “I still want to go. . .” he mumbled.

Caius knelt in front of him with a smile. “How about I bring you back something from Primium?”

Marcus frowned. “Like what?”

Sage came up behind him and paused. “Primium is known for its wonderful sculptures.”

Marcus wrinkled his nose. “Not that.”

“What about a book?” Sage suggested.

The young boy’s face curled back in disgust. “Definitely not that.”

“There are many fine weapons to be had in the markets,” Massada spoke up.

Marcus’ face lit up. “Yeah! What about a club? Or a really big sword?”

“What about a bow and quiver?” the good father offered. “It will help with the hunting around here.”

“Yeah! That!” Marcus agreed as he grabbed Caius’ shoulders. “You’ll get me that, won’t you?”

Caius nodded. “The best we can afford, and I’ll bring them back myself.”

With the promises made and unicorns packed, I walked over to the beast held still by Bee. Caius, however, grasped the reins above her hand and smiled at her. “I’ll handle this.”

Bee’s eyes twinkled as she bowed her head. “All right, but be good to her.” She walked over to Sage who frowned at Caius, but let Bee take a seat behind him on his unicorn.

Caius swung himself onto the unicorn and trotted over to me where he offered me his hand. “Ready for a fun ride?”

I arched an eyebrow. “Suddenly you’re a horseman?”

His eyes flickered over my shoulder. A wagon sat outside the parish house that belonged to our new acquaintances, and they sat atop the box with Massada holding the reins. Both of them were bundled up in their cloaked attire so that I couldn’t see Agacia’s face, though Massada stood proud and stern beside her.

I smiled. So that was it. I took Caius’ hand and he helped me behind him. Caius trotted us over to the wagon close beside Massada. “How far is it to Primium?”

“A good five hundred miles,” Massada informed him.

Caius grinned and turned the unicorn south. “Hardly a few days on this steed.” He pressed his heels against the unicorn’s sides and the steed took off.

I wrapped around my arms around his waist as we sped down the road. My grandparents hurried after us, and Massada rolled behind them. The cool wind nipped at my nose, but I buried my face into Caius’ hot back and was soothed by his warmth.

We traveled out of the northern hinterlands and back into the more urbanized empire of Sylvidia which bordered the Libritain Empire. Both of them contained our enemies, the Library and the Church of Gad, so we straddled danger along the borders of both, and avoiding the larger towns for the rustic villages with their bartering farmers.

A week of constant traveling took its toll on my rear, and one afternoon I found my butt whining for relief. I lay my chin on Caius’ shoulder and caught his eye. “How much farther do you think we have?”

“Another thirty miles or so,” he assured me.

My shoulders sank, but I lifted my face to the warm sun and sighed. “That far, huh?”

He half-turned his head to me and smiled. “We’ll get a break soon. We need to meet up with the rest of the canta parade at the next settlement.”

I gazed off into the distance and saw the place he mentioned. It was a small town of some five thousand souls that could brag about having a wooden sidewalk along the main street. The people were friendly and smiled at us as we road into town. Some of the kids ran up beside us and gawked at the wondrous steeds we rode.

“Is that a real unicorn?” one of the younger boys asked.

“Of course it is, dummy!” another older boy scolded him.

We stopped at the local general store and got down. Caius held out the reins to the younger lad. “Could you lead him to some water for me?”

His eyes grew as wide as saucers. “R-really? You mean it?”

“First you have to see if you can hold the reins,” Caius teased.

“I do?” the boy wondered.

Caius nodded. “Yeah. A unicorn won’t let just anyone touch it.”

The young boy reluctantly reached out for the reins, but his older companion pushed him out of the way. “Lemme try it!” He reached for the reins, but the unicorn flung his head back and whinnied. The boy was startled by the fiery show and stumbled back. He fell on his butt into the dusty street with everyone laughing at him.

“Stop fooling around and get in here,” Massada called to us from the doorway of the general store.

The young boy snatched the reins from Caius’ hand and grinned proudly when the unicorn calmed. “I’ll get her some water!” He raced off with another scamp to whom Bee had handed their reins.

We walked inside the large room where shelves lined the walls and stood in the middle of the floor to create aisles. People milled about doing their shopping. Massada guided us through a doorway on the right that led into a side room. A few tables stood in the room, and around them were rough-clad men who sported beards and a few tattoos, most of them on their arms but some of them on their faces.

One of them stood up, a man of sixty with far fewer teeth than that, and grinned at us. “It’s about time, Mass. We thought we’d have to go out and fetch ya ourselves.”

Massada clapped his hand on the man’s shoulder and grinned. “I’d never live down the shame of a bunch of mutts saving me, but you didn’t waste your time waiting for us.” He turned to face us and gestured to our group. “This is Caius and his friends Bee, Sage, and Jane.”

The bearded man gave us a flourishing bow. “A pleasure to meet you, I’m sure.”

Massada gestured to the man. “This is my right-hand man, Esau, and his boys.”

“And a better bunch of guards you won’t find on this side of the Rising Seas,” Esau boasted as he clapped his thick, grimy hands against his broad chest. “The roughest, toughest bunch of cutthroats-”

Esau froze when Agacia removed her hood and smiled at them. “I’m very glad to see you all again. Are you all well?”

The boastful puffery deflated from Esau’s chest, and all the scallywags who wore hats snatched them off their heads. Esau bowed his head. “Yes, Miss Agacia, we’re all fine.”

“Except me!” one of the men spoke up as he pointed at a nasty cut along his arm. A bit of puss oozed in the middle of the rough edges of skin that made up the gash. “I got cut on the boxes!”

Esau cast a glaring side-glance at him. “It’s just a scratch!”

“Let me see it,” Agacia requested as she walked through the rough boasters and over to the wounded man. “You should get this tended to immediately.”

The man raised his head and grinned at his companions. “See? I told you it wasn’t good.”

“Let me heal it,” Agacia pleaded.

The man blushed. “That ain’t necessary, Miss Agacia. I mean, you’ve got to save your voice and all.”

Agacia smiled at him. “My voice was given to me by Gad to help others, and I would be honored if you would let me help you.”

Agacia raised her hand over the wound and closed her eyes. She parted her lips and sang a soft lullaby.

Sweet little creatures, I pray thee come stay

Here my soft voice now, and wipe all wounds away.

A gentle blue light appeared from her palm and drifted like snow onto the man’s arm. The nasty ooze shrank beneath the blue light and disappeared. The ragged flesh knitted itself together until there was nothing left but a thin scar.

Agacia’s shoulders fell as she beheld the remnants of the wound. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to leave a scar.”

Esau set a hand on her shoulder and grinned down at her. “Don’t be sorry for nothing, Miss Agacia. You’ve probably saved the man’s arm, and that’s a sight more to behold than that ugly scar.” The men crowded around the pair and nodded in agreement.

“They’re really smitten with her, aren’t they?” I mused to Caius.

Massada slipped up beside us and lowered his voice to a whisper. “Don’t let that sweet face fool you. The lass has a head on her shoulders, and she knows that being nice to them is something they haven’t had much of in their rough lives and will get her farther with them than drinking them under the table.”

Caius gestured to the crowd of men. “Where’d you dig these guys up at? The local prison?”

Massada grinned. “Some of them, yeah. Others I found rotting away in bars and brothels. They’re all top-notch protecting what they want, mostly treasures and women, so I thought they could handle protecting someone like Agacia.”

“Does she really need that much protection?” I wondered.

He looked across the sea of men at the short figure and his humor fled. “She didn’t want me to tell you this, but she’s had three attempts on her life already.”

I started back. “What? But what? She’s supposed to represent the church and Gad at this Edict thing.”

He nodded. “She is, but that doesn’t stop people from disagreeing with the church’s choice. There were a couple of other older spiritus who wanted the canta job, but she’s the one who got it.”

Caius folded his arms and studied Agacia with new respect. “So that’s what she is, huh? I wondered why they’d pick somebody so young.”

“What’s a spiritus?” I asked Caius.

“Someone who can use their voice to call nature and do stuff for them, like heal wounds,” he explained.

“To be precise-” Sage mused as Bee and he joined us. “The word ‘spiritus’ means both breath and spirit, and so is aptly applied to a singer capable of using their soul to conjure the elements to their will.”

“So not all canta can do that?” I wondered.

Caius shook his head. “Nope. Most can just sing and make some lights appear.”

“Agacia’s got the talent to be a top-notch canta, but others don’t want to give her a chance to prove her stuff at the Edict,” Massada warned us as he looked over the crowd of men. “That’s why I got together so many. Without these guys she’d be dead already.”

“So have you connected the letters to the attempts on her life?” Caius asked him.

Massada shook his head. “No, and I don’t think they are related, but that just makes our job harder.”

“So who are these other prima donnas who want her dead?” I inquired.

“There’s really only two we have to worry about. Mia van Theano and Lamia von Hetera,” he listed.

Sage stifled a snort. “She is still a singer? Why, she was warbling her terrible tunes when Bee and I first wandered.”

Massada nodded. “Yeah, and she’s only gotten worse since you two vanished. Unfortunately, as high-ranking spiritus the church was obliged to invite them to the Edict, so all of our enemies will be there.”

“And most likely the creeper split-personality stalker,” I added.

“That’s why you guys are here,” Massada reminded me. He pointed his thumb at himself. “We can handle the obvious people, but this stalker is something else. I don’t like the feeling I’m getting from those notes.”

“Then we shall endeavor to keep our eyes open to such sinister and sneaky dangers,” Sage promised.

I looked out over the sea of men who surrounded the young woman and shuddered. God help anyone who lay a hand on Agacia. Their own would be ripped off.