The Phoenix Series

Chapter 13

13

I opened my eyes and found myself back in Noiryn’s cave. My hands left the wing.

“Noiryn?” She let out a yelp.

“Phoenix? Are you okay?”

“How long was I out?”

“Out?” She was halfway across the room but hurried back to kneel beside me. “Out? Phoenix, I’ve barely made it across the room!” I let the knowledge sink in.

“So it was instant,” I spoke the words softly as I watched the fish swim in the clear blue water in front of the cave.

“Instant?... So you had a vision?” Noiryn asked, then as an afterthought she said. “That was fast.”

“No shit.” I started laughing, a full-throated sound. As the horrific parts of the memory came flooding back, my mirth gave way to tears. As I sobbed, Noiryn slid her arms around me, resting her face on my shoulder where my wing would have been.

“We live for so long, Watching all the time, the things we see can break you if you let them.” There was sorrow in her words and an emptiness that brought another image to my mind.

“I healed you.” She stiffened.

“Yes.”

I pulled from her embrace and took her face gently in my hands mirroring the memory.

“The wound was so deep; it took so much power to heal it. How did it happen?”

As I held her a single tear rolled from her third eye. I leant towards her and wiped it away with my lips. She sighed and sagged into me, but the eye remained closed. Her body was limp, but her voice strained, the words sharp.

“You don’t remember?” Noiryn asked.

“No, I’m sorry.”

She sighed darkly.

“I was trying to help some whales. Fishermen had harpoons. They were shooting at them. I was swimming amongst them. The harpoon cut across my back and into a whale. I wanted to do more, but I was losing a lot of blood. I woke up in The Void, and you were there.” Her voice relaxed. “Thank you.”

Noiryn smiled broadly at me, and her third eye blinked. The two that remained open were full of gratitude and devotion. It had been hard for her to tell me that story, even with omissions, but now she had such joy on her face. I couldn’t bring myself to ask about the golden rope I had unwound from her throat. I had seen the vision, and although I knew I really was Phoenix, as these Travellers had known her, I hadn’t totally embraced it. But I would try. I kissed her on the cheek and pulled away. Her arms trailed after me.

“No thanks necessary.” I got to my feet and began to pace. “I have some questions, Noiryn.”

“Ask me anything.” She was still smiling.

“In the worlds we Travel to…” She nodded. “If they don’t know we’re there how did you get hurt?”

“We are only invisible to them. We still can feel the happenings of their world and be affected by them. We are powerful creatures though, so most of the time our gifts keep us from injury.”

”Can you clarify that?”

“If I touch the whales they sense a slight pressure or presence but do not see me. If I swim near their tails as they swing, I will be moved by the current, unless I use my power to stabilise.”

“Oh... So the blood…” I continued the thought silently. The blood I had felt against my hands, had splattered across my face in that terrible place, was not my imagination.

“Blood… What blood?” Noiryn looked scared.

“Don’t worry; it wasn’t mine.” I squashed the memory down.

“Did you see why they forced you out?” Noiryn asked cautiously.

I assumed from the memory it had to do with my meeting with The Guard, but I couldn’t be certain. In the visions I was sure that my healing was secret, but The Archer seemed to suspect something. Until I knew more, I decided to keep it to myself.

“No. I didn’t get the whole story. I think I have to find the other wing for all the pieces to this puzzle.” I sat down on the cushions. “But I don’t know where to look.”

“I know.”

“What!” I must have looked frantic because she scrambled away from me.

“Not where specifically but I know who does. Sid told me after you touched the wing to take you to Benyst. He knows where the second wing is.” She looked pleadingly at me.

“Sid knew we would be separated?”

“He had his suspicions.”

I turned away from her. The wing lay between us. After seeing The Guard, I knew they could be harsh. I was so worried about Sid. I didn’t think they would physically harm him and Yeren, but I was worried they would put enchantments on them I couldn’t break. Hell, I didn’t even know how I broke the whole ‘Bound to the Ground’ thing they put on me. The wing hadn’t coughed up that particular memory.

“Phoenix?” Noiryn had crawled closer.

“I’m okay, Noiryn,” I touched her arm, and she relaxed. “Just worried about Sid and Yeren.” Involuntarily my touch became a caress, a spark of power flared in my hand. I had just become aware of it when my stomach growled loudly. I broke away. “And hungry by the sound of things!” We both laughed, breaking the tension.

“I’ll make dinner!”

Before I could comment that I didn’t know what time it was let alone what meal I ‘should’ be having, Noiryn was on her feet. She made a few long strides towards the water and then dived through the film of power that held it back. Once on the other side her quills shot out of her back and, acting as a dorsal fin, helped her slice through the water. She was more graceful than a dancer. She moved like lightening through the schools of fish. I could barely track the movement of her hands as she plucked fish from their schools. Within minutes she had enough and dived back through the field of power. She tucked into a roll as she did it, her spines retracting as she rolled over her back and then on to her feet. She turned to me with a huge smile on her lipless face, a giant fish in each hand.

“Wow.” I was stunned.

“Thank you.” She bowed and went to the kitchen area of the cave.

It didn’t take long for her to prepare the fish. She cooked it and a few vegetables on a small grill she kept at the back of the cave. I didn’t feel like talking during dinner, so I asked her questions about the water. It didn’t take long to get her going on a long story about following migrating whales. She also told me a great deal about sharks. Apparently, it’s hard to swim with them, which seemed obvious to me, but she explained further. Because they are such an old species they can sometimes see Travellers and, naturally, want to eat them. Yet another reason to be afraid of sharks. By the end of her story, I had cleaned my plate and set the empty dish down beside me.

“You look tired,” Noiryn observed.

“I am tired.” I let out a huge yawn.

“Then let us sleep and when we wake I will take you to Benyst.”

“Okay.” I wanted to know more about this guy but was too tired to question her. I yawned again, groaned, and got to my feet. I stretched my arms high over my head and tried to work the fatigue from my back. I could feel Noiryn’s eyes on me. When I looked down at her, the third eye was blinking but still did not stay open. She blushed a light blue and dropped her eyes.

I began the delicate process of wiggling the wing back into the sac without touching it. I had a feeling that would bring more visions, and I needed a good night’s sleep before I did that again. Once the wing was inside, I tucked the sack back in my tote. I turned around to find Noiryn standing behind me. We stared at each other.

“You can take the bed.” Noiryn’s voice was hushed.

“Where will you sleep?”

“I…”

She looked so beautiful; her scales gleamed in the candlelight and, as she cast about for an answer, I felt power rise in me like it had in the cave with Yeren. I closed the distance between us and cupped her neck in my hand. I could see the golden cord in my mind’s eye. She closed her eyes as I slid my hand across her shoulder and down her arm, taking her hand. I led her to steps before the bed and drew her up behind me, the warm pulse of power moving through my body into her hand as we climbed. I went to my knees and brought her down beside me. We settled into the cushions, her back pressed to my chest with my arms around her. The nubs of her quills felt very present against the patches of skin my jumpsuit left bare. I brushed my lips along her neck, and she nuzzled into me. I shifted my arm and brought the full length of our bodies closer together. The contact created a comforting wave of energy that flowed slowly up and down our bodies. Noiryn sighed.

“Goodnight, Noiryn.”

“Sleep well, Phoenix.”

I was asleep in minutes.