Blood Reunion Read online

  "Dad, don't you think we know better?" Tory looked hurt.

  "Son, don't go there, things are bad enough as it is."

  * * *

  The only thing not working against Toff at the moment was the light. It wasn't dark and wouldn't be getting dark. Not completely—not on this side of the planet. He was tired, hungry and a light rain was falling, making him cold as well. He couldn't understand why he'd run away like that—he should have stayed and talked with Nissa. Perhaps she was right and the Queen wouldn't harm him, though Redbird had insisted over the years that she would. Now, Toff had no idea where he was and couldn't really say what direction to take to get back to the barrier.

  Corent would come looking for him when he didn't show up for dinner, but what would he find? Nothing. Toff couldn't explain how he'd gotten through the barrier—the protection jewel must have done it. Corent would assume that Toff was still inside the barrier and would exhaust himself, looking for something he couldn't find. Toff kicked miserably through deep piles of soggy red and gold leaves—he was walking through a stand of bare maples, the fallen leaves thick and wet around his feet. He was grateful he had his old boots on; they were made of spelled and weatherproofed canvas and wouldn't allow dampness to reach his feet.

  Toff frightened a deer a short while later. The deer had been foraging for acorns in the stand of oaks he now slogged through on his journey to find food and shelter. The misty rain had gotten heavier, Toff had gotten hungrier and he felt as if the world had already forgotten that he'd ever existed. Mist and fog were now rising from the ground and Toff worried that it would get so thick he wouldn't be able to see after a while. "Must be going through a low spot," Toff mumbled and the sound of his voice in the muted quiet almost made him jump. He only wore a thin jacket, which was well on its way to getting completely soaked.

  * * *

  "It took you long enough," Mother Fern snapped when Nissa walked in with Toff's two canvas bags filled with clay and the shovel tucked under an arm.

  "My apologies, Mother Fern." Nissa had gotten the name by Looking, in addition to other information on her trek back from digging clay. Nissa would have to be extremely careful—she'd been thinking about Toff and determined that the farther he was away from these people, the better off he was. She was buying time for him to find a safe place. At least that's what she hoped was happening.

  "Dump the clay and start working on the roots and gravel," Mother Fern grumbled, leaving her potter's wheel to examine what Nissa had brought. Nissa was frightened that Mother Fern might discover her disguise, but Mother Fern didn't notice a thing except the clay Nissa dumped on the table. "Where are the roots?" Mother Fern demanded.

  "I uh, pulled them all out," Nissa felt a flush creeping across her cheeks.

  "It's about time," Mother Fern snapped. "Leave that there to dry and go pound what you brought in two days ago. It's dry enough, now." Nissa hurried to do as she was bid.

  * * *

  "Son, did you happen to see Gren, Clover or Laral today?" Corent was seated across the table from Nissa, eating a vegetable stew. Nissa had almost balked at the food—there wasn't any meat in it.

  "At school," Nissa told the small lie. Toff would have seen them there and she was taking Toff's place.

  "They had to be treated by Mother Rose when they got home today," Corent went on. "They said they fell, but had too many bruises for a mere fall. I was just wondering if you'd seen anything."

  "No. I don't think I've ever seen Gren fall."

  "Don't worry about it—Rose just wanted information, that's all."

  Nissa didn't realize she was holding herself stiffly, waiting for discovery to come. Redbird, Toff's adoptive mother didn't seem to notice anything, either. Nissa had no idea how that could happen—her mother would have sniffed out the disguise in less than a blink. She forced herself to relax.

  Toff's closet was tiny and Nissa only found work clothes inside it later—mostly hand-woven items in natural colors. Nissa found three dyed shirts with pants in coordinating colors—certainly nothing compared to what she normally wore—even to work. Sighing, she pulled pajamas from the small chest beside Toff's narrow bed and went off to get a bath before going to sleep.

  * * *

  Toff's teeth were chattering and he was shivering, his arms held tightly against his thin body. He kept walking—he knew that if he stopped now, his body temperature might drop too low and he could die. He'd been walking forever, in his estimation, and hadn't come across anything—no people, villages or even signs of life. Daylight was still with him, however, so he knew he hadn't wandered across to the darker side of the planet. He didn't realize that not only was he headed in the wrong direction now, he might have to walk for days to reach that portion of Le-Ath Veronis.

  Hunger was also gnawing at him—supper would have been long ago and he missed it with an intensity that surprised him. He hadn't gone without a meal before—Corent and Redbird always made sure he was fed. Fear also kept him going—he knew that eventually he'd have to stop and rest, and in the falling temperatures, it could be fatal. Many times over the past few hours, he chastised himself for running away.

  He should have stayed. Nissa would have gone to find someone who could bring him back inside the boundary. Now, he wasn't sure which way the boundary might lie. Toff was in alien territory and completely lost. The leaves he slogged through were so completely soaked with rain that they no longer crunched beneath his feet and he hadn't seen a nut tree anywhere since leaving the boundary line. He knew the deer ate the acorns he'd passed through earlier, but he'd never thought of them as a food source. He might have to rethink that if he found another oak grove.

  Toff was nearing exhaustion later, his mind wandering. He realized at times that he was muttering to himself and considered more and more often finding a large tree to huddle beneath and sleep for a while. His steps were slowing, the cold and dampness were taking over and he was ready to succumb to the temptation when he heard something. Thinking at first he was imagining things, he trudged on for a few more weary steps.

  "How in the name of the skies did you get in here?" The voice was right in front of him as a hand reached out and grabbed his arm.

  * * *

  Toff huddled inside the blanket he'd been given after the woman ordered him to remove his wet clothing. She'd taken him to a small house that was so warm inside compared to what he'd been walking through, it felt like the sun on the hottest of days. He'd been given soup with small chunks of meat in it and Toff was blowing on the hot broth before sipping it carefully so as not to burn his mouth.

  The woman sat at the tiny table inside her kitchen, watching him eat. She looked older to him, with the beginnings of gray in her auburn hair. Her eyes fascinated him, however—they were nearly gold and he'd never seen anything like them before. The house was cluttered and not very clean—what he could see of it, anyway, but the woman appeared to live there by herself.

  "Where am I?" Toff ventured to ask, happy that his still-chattering teeth didn't cause him to stutter on the words.

  "You are here, inside my little island of solitude," the woman replied. Her tone made Toff blink—she wasn't happy to be on that island, he could tell.

  "How big is it?" he asked, sipping more soup.

  "About half a day's walk, one end to the other, in every direction."

  "Are there any others here?"

  That question caused the woman to hmmph and clear her throat. "There's nobody until you get to the Green Fae boundary on the south, the Elemaiya village to the east and the comesuli farms west of us. The comesuli bring me food once a week, but I've had to learn to cook. How's the soup?"

  "Good. I like it." Toff nodded and took another bite. It might have been a bit too salty, but he wasn't about to complain.

  "How did you get in here?" The woman repeated her first question to Toff.

  "I don't know," Toff hedged. "An explosion came and knocked me right through the boundary."

  "Pro
bably had some power in it—you wouldn't fly through a boundary any other way," she muttered. "What's your name?"

  Toff hesitated for a moment, deciding not to make something up on the spot. "Toff," he replied. "What's yours?"

  The woman stared at him for what seemed an eternity to Toff before she came back to herself. "I'm Narissa," she told him. "Do you know how to cook and clean, or do anything else of value?"

  "I can clean. I cook a little, but I only know how to prepare vegetable dishes."

  "You would," Narissa breathed, causing Toff to look up from his food. It had cooled enough that he could eat it without blowing on it or burning his mouth. "Go on, eat your food before it gets cold," Narissa pushed her wooden chair back and stood up.

  "Tomorrow is laundry day. I hope you know how to wash clothes since it looks like you might be here for a few days. And wash your dishes when you're done." She nodded toward the sink. "I'll see if I have anything you can wear." Narissa disappeared through the kitchen doorway. Toff heard her walking down a narrow hall into another portion of the house. He ate while he pondered just what it was he'd gotten himself into.

  * * *

  Do not fail me again. Zellar's words came to Gren as he lay miserably on his bed. Mother Rose had removed the headache, but his body still felt the aches and pains from the blast. How had the little eunuch managed to do that? Gren was too frightened to say anything about it to Zellar, who'd sent mindspeech, asking if Toff had been eliminated. Gren had been forced to say no, though he and his disciples had made the attempt. Zellar cut off the communication, too, after telling Gren not to fail next time.

  Gren had carefully planned this attack and now the little ground crawler would be looking over his shoulder, watching for the next try. Gren ached and wanted to call for his mother to help but thought better of it. This should have been accomplished already. Zellar told Gren on several occasions that Gren had more power and ability than anyone else in the village. One day, Gren planned to be the one taking Tiearan's place. Gren was looking forward to that day with an anticipation bordering on obsession. "I'll get the baby," Gren whispered the promise to himself and painfully rolled over on his bed to sleep.

  * * *

  Narissa hated doing laundry. That was the only conclusion Toff could come to as he hefted another basket of clothes into the wash water. He'd already done four loads by hand and was now starting on the fifth. Narissa sat near the fire inside her little laundry shed, sipping hot tea and watching Toff work. He was glad he'd helped Redbird with laundry from the time he was tall enough to bend over the washtub.

  He scrubbed the sheets and towels with his hands in the soap Narissa handed to him. Toff hadn't seen anything like it before—the soap was a powder instead of the cut blocks Father Bark made. The soap was in a container Toff hadn't seen before, too. Narissa looked at him as if he were ignorant, called the container plastic and told him to get on with the washing. Toff got on with the washing.

  It was a clear day, thankfully, and warmer than the day before as Toff hung the latest load to dry. Every line that Narissa had strung across her backyard was filled with clean laundry. Redbird didn't have half as many lines up, but then she tended to do laundry more often, Toff figured. Narissa cooked meat later, setting Toff to peeling potatoes for mashing and snapping green beans for cooking.

  "What is this?" Toff cut a bite of meat with a knife as he'd seen Narissa do.

  "Pork. The chops are good if you broil them," Narissa said, taking a bite of the meat. Toff watched her chew for a moment before putting the bite in his mouth and chewing.

  "This is good," Toff said, busily cutting another piece.

  "Of course it is. What have you been eating? Don't those humanoids you live around cook meat?" Toff couldn't decide whether Narissa's words were meant to ridicule, but they sounded as if they were.

  "I've only been allowed to eat vegetables." Toff's reply caused Narissa to hmmph annoyingly.

  "It's a good thing you're the way you are—eating meat after so many years of eating only vegetables would make anyone else sick." Toff jerked his head up at Narissa's words, but she didn't elaborate. "Tomorrow, you'll clean the house and put some things in the storage shed out back," she said instead. "I haven't been able to do it for myself and you look strong enough." Narissa was already planning his day.

  Toff had been thinking about going back toward the boundary to see if he could get through it again. He'd been foolish to run away like that. Unfortunately, Narissa didn't seem to have any plans to let him go and didn't seem concerned that he'd been separated from his family. He missed Corent. He might have missed Redbird a little, but Corent was the one uppermost in his mind.

  * * *

  Nissa was bored the entire morning. Classes were woefully behind her current level and parts of the geography lesson had been incorrect. She was afraid to offer suggestions—that would only make her stand out, which was the last thing she wanted right then. Instead, she worked on mindspeech. Her father had muted it, true enough, but then she shouldn't have been able to fold space, either. Nissa practiced mindspeech, sending out messages to her mother and both her brothers with the small hope that she might get through to them. When she received nothing in return, especially from her mother, she knew she'd failed during this attempt. Perhaps if tomorrow's lesson were just as boring, she'd try it again.

  "There's the little eunuch now," Gren had a nasty smile on his face as he blocked her path outside the school building. The other two—Nissa had learned they were called Laral and Clover—stood behind Gren. They almost looked frightened, though, and that gave Nissa some satisfaction—her protection jewel had made them afraid. Good. The more afraid of her they were, the better off she was.

  She didn't want any of them coming after her with a knife again, either. She had permission to protect herself, but she'd taken an oath at Grey House never to use her power to attack anyone except in defense of her life. These three could certainly push that oath to the limits, however.

  "And there's the little bully," Nissa retorted at Gren's gibe. "Stay away from me." She marched away from them.

  "Better keep looking over your shoulder," Gren taunted as Nissa hurried away.

  * * *

  "Sweep out the pottery shed," Mother Fern handed Nissa a broom the moment she walked inside the shed. The other apprentices were giggling as they turned plates on potter's wheels. The wheels were foot-powered and Nissa wanted to watch how pottery was made, but Mother Fern was keeping a sharp eye on her, so she began sweeping the floor as she'd been told.

  "Now, go out and draw water to wash down the flagstones," Mother Fern set Nissa at another task as soon as the floor was thoroughly swept. "Then go out and see if you can get more clay. You can sift tomorrow—that last batch should be dry enough by then." Nissa didn't say anything; she just grabbed the rope-handled bucket by the door and went toward the well between the shed and Mother Fern's small house.

  It took seven buckets of water and plenty of scrubbing with the broom to get the remaining clay dust and clumps off the flagstone floor to Mother Fern's satisfaction. Nissa's shoulders ached—she wasn't used to this much physical labor—most of her work at Grey House had been accomplished with mental ability. She grabbed the shovel and two canvas bags and headed toward the old streambed.

  Warily watching to make sure Gren and his followers weren't anywhere nearby, Nissa began digging not far from the boundary line. She'd gone Looking again, and discovered clay there. Thankful that her mother had taken the time to show her how to focus her mind on a single bit of needed information and locate it with power, Nissa focused on Gren while she dug. She found him at his lessons with Tiearan, Head of the Green Fae village. Gren was helping adjust the yeast for the winemaking and seemed very happy that he'd been the one chosen to perform that task. "Showoff," Nissa muttered to herself as she turned up another shovel full of clay.

  All the clay inside the canvas bags was cleared of roots and other impurities before she ever headed towar
d Mother Fern's shed. It was getting late, too, and Nissa knew she'd be scolded for holding up dinner. That was the feeling she'd gotten from Redbird, anyway.

  * * *

  "Where have you been?" Sure enough, Redbird was trying to scold the moment Nissa walked through the door.

  "Mother Fern gave me extra chores," Nissa muttered, hanging her head.

  "And what chores were those?"

  "Sweeping and washing down the floor in the pottery shed, and then going after more clay." Nissa didn't look up to meet Redbird's eyes.

  "Tell Mother Fern next time that I do not like holding dinner." Redbird stalked off toward the kitchen. "Get cleaned up—you're covered in filth from hair to heel."

  Nissa lifted her eyes to follow Redbird's retreating back. She wanted to stick out her tongue but thought better of it. She headed toward the washroom instead.

  Using a bit of power to clean the clay from beneath fingernails and then a bit more to clean off most of the muck from her clothing, Nissa arrived at the dinner table a few moments later. "You can do the dishes after dinner," Redbird announced. Nissa jerked her head toward Toff's foster-mother, biting back a retort. Corent came in, then, sitting down in his usual seat.

  "Finally got all the maple trees tapped today," Corent sighed and dipped into the sliced turnips and greens that Redbird set on the table. "The syrup making is going well this year. The early frosts helped with that."

  "Are we going to trade some of it for wine corks and the metal nails we need?" Redbird asked as she ate. Nissa watched Redbird as she dipped into her own meal. Redbird was always dressed better than either Corent or Toff, gauging by the clothing she'd found inside Toff's closet. Today, Redbird wore a red blouse and tan pants with red shoes. She was beautiful, with her hair gathered back and tied with a scarlet ribbon. Something bothered Nissa about Redbird, however, and Nissa couldn't quite put her finger on it. She kept eating as Toff's foster parents talked over dinner.

  Nissa wiped the countertops down after all the dishes were washed and dried and then put a hand to her right shoulder—it ached. She wished she could have taken a class or two with Selkirk at Grey House—Selkirk was the best healer they had. Now she had no idea how to go about using power to eliminate the aches in her body.