Page 3 of Anywhere

Swiping the tear, I held it on the pad of my finger. Moving my other hand over the droplet, it shimmered and lifted into the air. The tear spun like a small storm, and Keeva gasped as it burst, and a small blue stone settled into the palm of her hand. Removing my knife, I made a tiny slice in my palm and gripped our hands together.

“Dion. Rabhadh. Gaol. Cleachd m’ fhuil mar iobairt. Dion. Rabhadh. Gaol.”

I said the spell again, and this time Keeva joined in. We closed our eyes as the heat developed between our hands. On the third round, our skin was shimmering in the sun as the spell reached its peak. When our hands began to cool, I removed my palm from hers, and two red stones now existed. I pulled a thin piece of sinew, usually used to stitch my worn clothes, from a small pouch. Then I took one of the stones from her hand and held the two pieces up. With a flick of my wrist, the sinew reformed to fit around the small stone, making a necklace. Repeating the process, I created a twin set, and Keeva smiled widely.

“Dare ya see now. If ya eva need me, ya hold dis tight and tink a me. Mines wit glow a bright red, and I’za do da same. Ya will always know if I’za need ya help,” I said, tying the necklace around her neck.

She gripped the stone hard in her hand and closed her eyes. Mine immediately started to glow.

“And I tell ya another secret. Ya can think a me whenever ya want, and I’za will answer back. I luvs ya, Keeva.”

“I’za luvs ya more,” she said and tucked the necklace inside her tunic before giving me another hug.

“Ya mind Azula. She take good care of ya,” I said.

“She smell of old cheese.” Keeva made a face, and I laughed hard as I stood. “But, aye.” Keeva ran her small leather-clad foot over the dirt, making a rainbow shape.

I laid my hand on her small shoulder and gave it a squeeze. Turning, I grabbed my pack and my knife, shoving the blade into the sheath on my waist. It was the only thing the coven found me with when I was not much older than Keeva. Eight, maybe. I didn’t know how long I’d lived in the wild, but it was all I could remember.

Making my way to the edge of the forest and the security of the boundary, I lifted my staff in a wave goodbye to the small coven I called home. Keeva jumped on a log and waved her arms in the air like a wild little bird. Her bright red hair waved along with her arms in the wind. My heart hurt to leave her here, but this was something I had to do. Twice a year, I journeyed to find the discarded babes in the forest before some predator—animal, human, or otherwise—could hurt them.

The first village was a half a day's walk away, and as I got a little closer, I pulled my red hair back with a piece of leather and made sure it was all hidden under my cloak’s hood. This was one of the better villages. They would time leaving the babes for when they knew I’d be passing through. I didn’t go into the town limits but stayed near the forest, watching the villagers as they worked or played outside in the sun.

A boy kicked a brown ball in my direction. I held as still as a skittish deer, but as he picked up the ball, he noticed me standing among the shadows. Even though he couldn’t see my red hair, which would tell all the villagers what I was, his eyes went wide. He ran, yelling for his friend before they both ran for the group of adults.

All heads turned in my direction. One of the men stepped forward, raised his pitchfork in the air, and shook his head no. At least he wasn’t chasing me with the sharp end. I had the scar from that happening before. The women in my coven told me we were feared because we had magic, and the villagers didn’t want anything to do with it. They thought we were cursed by darkness and pretended magic didn’t exist or truly believed that it didn’t. Anyone thought to have magic was cast out, no matter the age.

There was so much I didn’t understand. Why did all those who lived in the villages hate the idea of magic? Why was a red-headed female believed to be a curse on the town? No one seemed to have answers for me. They would say it was from times of old when there was dark anger in the world and things called armies marched across the land. The number of men they talked about who lived, fought and died seemed impossible, yet their hard stares told me they were serious.

The villagers also seemed to think that we wanted to attack them. Again, this was a mystery to me. For as long as I’d been with my coven, all we wanted was to be left alone to live our lives in peace. It was the villagers who were the threat.

The shadows were getting longer, and I looked up at the thick grey clouds that seemed like an endless wave rolling across the sky. Even the spirit of wind and air was angry.

My necklace glowed and caught my eye, making me smile. Picking it up, I thought of Keeva and knew her stone would glow in return. I remembered clearly the day I found her. No older than a couple of months, she’d been left out by a tree in the middle of the woods. Keeva hadn’t been left for a coven to find. No, she’d been left naked and was screaming, her little arms and legs kicking as she wailed in the early winter air. Keeva became mine, or as much mine as possible, in a coven where everyone was seen as a sister.

I had just put the necklace down when I caught a movement in the shadows from the corner of my eye. It instantly had me on high alert. Not wanting to let whatever it was know it had been discovered, I didn’t stop walking.

I kept my pace even and listened for what was following me. I quickly realized that whatever it was, there were two of them, and they were not as stealthy as they thought they were. Which meant they were human and most likely thieves. Only humans were that stupid and greedy.

Glancing up, I saw a bend in the trail with a blind corner and prepared myself, knowing this would be where they would attack. As soon as my feet started around the turn, the one who was now a little ahead of me jumped out to block my path, while the second stepped out behind to block the way I’d come.

“Hey, lass, where ya be headin’ all alone?” the man asked.

I didn’t respond. There was no point. They were either after money or something of the female body variety, and they weren’t getting any from me.

“Are ya deaf, lass? I asked ya a question.”

My power prickled as the threat behind me moved closer. I squeezed the walking stick tighter, the wood firm in my hand. The guy behind me shuffled a little closer, and I waited until he was close enough that I knew he would grab me next. In a swift movement, I jabbed the end of the walking stick into his stomach. The eyes of the man in front of me went wide as I stepped forward and cracked the wood down on the hand he’d slipped inside his cloak.

With a wide, arcing sweep through the air, I brought my stick down and caught the guy behind me across the side of his face. My staff had split his face open from the top of his cheek to his chin, leaving him with a grotesque, monstrous look. He collapsed in a heap, screaming as he gripped at the open, bleeding wound.

My cloak fanned out as I spun like a dandelion seed in the breeze, but far deadlier. I dropped low and caught the man who had spoken to me in the side of the knee. He hollered in pain as he fell from the force.

“Ye fuckin’ cunt,” the man on his knees growled out as I jumped to my feet.

“Aye.”

Like a dark spirit, I swirled and danced between the two men, landing blows in soft areas that would render them incapable of following me. No part of the body was safe, not a knee, a throat, or even the thing they had dangling between their legs.