The Dreamer's Curse (Book 2) Read online

  I take it back. There’s still someone here to wake me up, she grumbled internally. Cracking open one eye, she glared at Hinun. “What?”

  He gave an anxious whine and did a half-step toward the door, clearly wanting her to follow him.

  For a moment, she didn’t follow. If Hinun wanted out, he could do that himself. He knew how to open doors. So why…? She sat up, and as she did, her gaze fell on the narrow bed on the opposite end of the room.

  The empty bed.

  Oh sweet mercy…really? Had Sky really taken off sometime during the night?

  Groaning, she flopped back onto the bed, making the springs squeak. This was ridiculous. She’d been nice to the kid, hadn’t she? Or at least, she’d fed him, and bought him good clothes, and hadn’t yelled at him. Considering the treatment he was used to, that surely qualified as ‘nice.’ So why had he taken off?

  But she knew the answer to that question before she even asked it.

  Street rats like Sky learned very early on that no one offered a free meal. The cold, merciless world they inhabited took more than it gave, and if they weren’t quick or careful enough, then someone would eventually take advantage of them. Better to take what they could and run rather than trust anyone or anything. Really, she should have known that not giving him a definite reason why she helped him would make him wary of her. Well, warier.

  Now that he had taken off, what was she supposed to do? Most would probably shrug, thinking he had made his choice, and let him go. But Sevana knew good and well that if she let the kid be, he’d be right back in the same situation she’d found him in tomorrow. It wasn’t enough to save him for just one day.

  Hinun let out another whine, impatient at her stillness.

  “Wait,” she told him without taking her eyes off the ceiling. “I’m thinking.”

  He let out a disgusted huff.

  “Unless you want the kid to run off again, let me think.”

  That got her nothing but silence.

  What could she possibly do with a nonmagical child? If he’d had any sort of magical talent, she would have taken him straight to a master of some sort and bought him an apprenticeship. But as he didn’t, that couldn’t happen. So what else…hmm.

  Her own thoughts sparked something, a memory of a promise that she had made months ago. A nonmagical child.

  A young child that no one wanted? Check.

  A child with a certain attractiveness to them? With all that dirt and grime gone, he had proven to be fairly cute. So, check.

  A child under no magical influence whatsoever? Check.

  Sevana grinned in feral satisfaction. Perfect. She could kill two birds with one stone this way.

  Throwing back the covers, she came quickly to her feet, reaching for her clothes as she did so. “Hinun, you got his scent?”

  The wolf looked at her as if she had asked a particularly dumb question.

  Which, granted, it had been. “Sorry I asked. Alright, let me get together a basket of food and then we’ll go after him.”

  ~ ~ ~

  By the time she finished buying breakfast, Hinun was dancing with impatience. He’d apparently attached himself to the kid. But then, he thought of all children as little creatures he had to protect, so she should have expected this reaction. When she signaled that she was ready, he promptly led her straight out of the ‘nicer’ section of town and into the slums.

  Sevana had been in a variety of places in her life, everywhere from dragon’s lairs to castle dungeons, with sometimes very hostile creatures to keep her company. She and danger were more than nodding acquaintances. But this place unnerved her. The buildings were in such sorry shape that only the fact they leaned against each other kept them upright. Nothing had window panes, rotting boards were nailed over the window frames and most of the doorways. The place had litter and refuse of all sorts strewn in the streets and stacked up in the alleyways. It stank like rotting fish and horse piss. Her nose curled up at the smell and it took considerable effort to not gag.

  How Hinun could bear to put his nose against the ground was beyond her.

  After several minutes of wading through trash, her nose shut down completely, which actually gave her some relief. Hinun lifted his nose, sneezed, then bounded off in a fast sprint.

  Sevana felt absolutely no need to try and follow. Anyone that tried to keep up with a wolf was foolhardy. Besides, it would have been unnecessary. Hinun showed up a few minutes later with the boy in tow, tail wagging happily.

  Sky, having experienced this before, didn’t look terrified this time. He did look bewildered and somewhat angry, though, if that narrow-eyed look at her was anything to judge by.

  Hinun dragged him straight to her and then dropped the arm, tongue lolling in amusement.

  Crossing his arms in front of his chest, Sky demanded of her, “You keep sending him after me! But you don’t know what to do with me, right? Then why hunt me down?”

  “For the fun of it?”

  Sky’s eyes crossed as if he couldn’t even comprehend this answer.

  “But I do have a plan,” she admitted cheerfully.

  “…You do?”

  “Sure. Master’s the reason why I have this bad habit. So he gets to deal with you.”

  Sky gave her a weary look.

  “Not a plan, eh?” Sevana chuckled, enjoying the teasing. “Well, I’ve got another one but first you need to answer a few questions for me, verify some things.” She looked around and found a pair of stone steps that were relatively clear of refuse. She put a hand between his shoulder blades—thereby encouraging him to not run—and more or less forced him to go that direction. “Why don’t we sit, have breakfast, and talk.”

  His eyes fell to the covered basket in her free hand and his tongue darted out to wet his lips. Sevana actually didn’t have the habit of eating breakfast regularly, but she figured if she fed him, Sky would be more willing to hear her out. If she approached this right, she might even convince him to trust her, and then she wouldn’t have to send Hinun after him again.

  (Of course, she still intended to spell the door and window shut tonight.)

  They sat on the cold and uninviting stone steps without a word passing between them, Hinun sitting at her feet. She passed bread and cheese around, then carved the hunk of cured ham into three equal slices. Hinun gulped his down, as usual, and Sky seemed intent on imitating him.

  With him chewing, she started asking what she needed to know. “Alright, Sky. Do you have family of any sort? Anyone that would miss you?”

  He shook his head in short, jerky motions.

  She hummed to herself again thoughtfully. This just might work. “Sky, what do you know about the Fae?”

  “The who?”

  “The Fae are a magical race that live deep within enchanted woods. They are beautiful, talented, and very strong people. Their magic is some of the most elegant and the most deadly ever seen by man. They are known to be wonderful allies and terrible enemies.”

  “Have you met them?” he interrupted, fascinated.

  “I have,” she answered, glad to see his interest. “The rumors don’t do them justice. In fact, I made a promise to one and I think you can help me fulfill it.”

  His eyes crossed and he pointed at himself incredulously. “ME? But you said I don’t have magic!”

  “It’s a good thing, too.” Smirking, she paused for a second and bit into the ham. Hmm, not bad.

  “You see, the Fae, for whatever reason, are unable to have children of their own. So they adopt them—they take human children, and over the years of living with them, the child slowly becomes a Fae like their adopted parents. By the time they reach adulthood, they are fully Fae, as if they had never been human in the first place.”

  It started to connect with him. She could see in his eyes that he suspected why she’d told him all of this. “W-what kind of children?” he asked in a trembling voice.

  She ticked the points off on her fingers. “Any child that is unwanted
by humans, is physically appealing, and is not under any magical influence. You fit the requirements perfectly.”

  He looked down at himself. “Appealing?” he asked doubtfully.

  “It’s just a matter of feeding you,” she assured him, not unsympathetic. “Trust me. You’re not ugly, just neglected. That said, I made a promise to one of the Fae months ago that if I ever saw a human child that didn’t have a family and met the requirements, I would bring that child to him.” Well, actually she’d promised to bring Bel back, but close enough. “He and his wife are desperate for a child of their own, you see. Now, the question is this: do you want to go and meet them?”

  He looked up at her with eyes wide. He looked…terrified. And hopeful. And anxious, all at once. “W-what if I don’t?”

  “I take you with me, find you a master that you can apprentice under, and you can make your own way in life,” she answered steadily. “No matter what you choose, I’m not leaving you here. My master would come down on me like a hammer if I did.”

  He hesitated, mouth opening and closing without making a sound. She could see the thoughts flashing over his face, everything she had told him about the Fae conflicting with the view he had of himself. “I-I can’t become like that.”

  “Sure you can,” she denied easily. “Their magic will take care of that. Question is, do you want to? I warn you, if you go to them, they won’t ever let you go. The Fae are a very tightknit community. They are very loyal to each other and they never, ever leave home.”

  She might as well have described a utopia to the boy. He looked so wistful that it was nearly painful to see. “You…you sure they’d take me?”

  “In a heartbeat. And they’d be quite cross if I tried to take you back.” Actually, they’d probably string her up by her toes and leave her for the wolves if she tried.

  That settled it. He might not fully believe her, but he wanted to at least try. He nodded slowly. “T-then I want to meet ‘em.”

  “Good enough for me.” She took another bite of her breakfast. “Now, I should tell you, I can’t take you to them immediately. I’m in the middle of a very important job at the moment. So you’ll need to tag along with me for a few days, perhaps longer, before I can take you to the Fae.”

  He seemed oddly relieved, as if he wanted a delay to let all of this settle in his mind. “What kind of a job?”

  “There’s a village in trouble on the Windamere-Kindin border. I got transported out here accidentally, so I’m just waiting on my friend to come fetch me back again.” In fact, while they were waiting, she might as well put the time to use and buy the kid some more changes of clothes. Right after she dumped him into another tub of hot water. “We’ll work on getting some meat on you and some decent clothes before I take you to Noppers Woods. That’s where the Fae live.”

  Food, at least, he could understand and he nodded happily.

  Definitely needed those locking spells tonight, huh. She gave an internal sigh of resignation and kept eating. Well, if he did escape again, Hinun would find him.

  Sevana actually felt glad after a certain point that she’d picked Sky up. Not just because it got her out of potential hot water with the Fae, but because it gave her something constructive to do while waiting for her ride.

  In the time it took for Master to come fetch her, she made sure that Sky had multiple baths, ate at every opportunity, and bought two sets of clothes. He really needed more than that, but that’s all her limited purse could afford. He looked better after two days of care. Still far too scrawny, and with traces of bruises and cuts here and there, but overall much healthier. She didn’t worry about him putting some meat on, not with the way he ate. He could put Kip at his most hungry to shame.

  To her surprise, now that she had given him a definite reason for his rescue, he seemed willing to trust her. If she had known that an excuse would work this kind of miracle, she’d have made something up on the spot when he’d asked her the first time. He still didn’t trust the idea of becoming some fantastic, mythical creature, but he did trust that she had a plan in mind for him. Really, that was all she needed him to understand at this point.

  By displaying consistent kindness in feeding him, Sky opened up to her bit by bit until he hung about and pestered her with questions. That was, until she hit upon the bright idea of sending him out with Hinun to “get some exercise.” In spite of Hinun tracking him down twice and towing him back like a wanted criminal, the two of them had become friends. Sky liked the idea of having the responsibility of seeing to his wolf friend. Hinun, of course, could see to himself perfectly well without a human’s interference. But he’d also spent the last twenty years with Master and a string of apprentices young and old. He knew how to look out for Sky.

  Really, watching them interact, she couldn’t figure out who was protecting who.

  But they went out of the city for several hours at a time, romping and playing with each other, only coming back for dinner. It worked out perfectly as it got Sky out of her hair and let her have some peace to think.

  She needed to think.

  Master’s hypothesis of how the gadgick worked made sense, but until this point, half of it had been deduction and guesswork. But now, experiencing things as she had firsthand, she knew exactly how it worked. And knowing that, she knew precisely what to do once she returned to Chastain.

  Three days after her distress call, Master showed up early morning in his self-navigating box-on-wheels. He looked (and smelled) as if he had travelled straight there. Clothes beyond wrinkled, hair wispy and standing on end, beard fully started, and dark circles under his eyes. He looked like some sort of half-formed ghoul, really.

  She met him at the inn door, smile wry. “Master.”

  “Sweetling.” He wrapped her up in a strong bear hug that lifted her off her feet and made breathing a tad difficult.

  “What is wrong with everyone?” she protested, trying to shove her way out of the embrace. “I’m not huggable!”

  He ignored her, as he usually did during such protests, and sighed against the top of her head. “I’m glad to see you safe.”

  “I told you I was, didn’t I?”

  “Your definition of safe and mine are worlds apart,” he countered dryly, finally letting her feet touch the floor again. “Oh? Who’s this?”

  Oh, right. She hadn’t told him about Sky yet. Turning, she found the boy standing at the foot of the stairs. Hinun went directly to Master and pressed against his leg in greeting, which Master returned with a scratch behind one ear, but he didn’t take his eyes off the nervous former street rat.

  “This is Sky,” Sevana introduced, not quite sure how to explain the semi-complicated relationship forged between them. “Sky, my Master, Tashjian Joles. He’s come to take us to Chastain.”

  Sky relaxed a hair and gave the older Artifactor a deep bow. “Sir. It’s an honor.”

  Master, putting on that charming smile of his, crossed to Sky so that he could sink to one knee, putting them on eye level. “The pleasure is mine, young sir. Tell me, how are you and Sevana acquainted?”

  “She, uh, rescued me. Sir.” Sky couldn’t quite meet those penetrating eyes and he kept dropping his own gaze toward the floor. “I was…ah…in a bit of a pickle. She picked me up and promised to find me a home.”

  “I see.” Master half-turned to beam at her. “Sweetling, I’m proud of you. You did learn to help people after all.”

  Sevana rolled her eyes expressively, putting one hand on her hip. “With you drumming it into my head day and night, did I have a choice? At any rate, I think Sky can smooth some ruffled feathers for me.”

  Master cocked an eyebrow. “Oh?”

  “The Fae.”

  “Ohhh. Right, they’re quite cross with you since you took Bel from them.” Seeing Sky’s confusion, Master patted him on the shoulder and said in a confidential tone, “You see, last fall, Sevana was helping to break a young man’s curse. But the Fae picked him up and tried to adopt him. Sevana h
ad to go and retrieve him, which upset the Fae. The only reason they let him go was because of the curse warping his body. Fae don’t understand human magic, so they couldn’t do anything about it. Still, it left bad relations between them. Sevana had to promise that if she found a child who was in need of a family, one without magic already on him, that she’d bring that child to them.”

  “Yes, sir,” Sky managed neutrally. “So she told me. I don’t think these Fae will take me, though.”

  Master cocked his head in question. “Why not?”

  “'Cause I—” Sky bit his lip, cutting himself off.

  “Child, you seem to have suffered through hard times, but all of the Fae are people who had a rough childhood.” Master gave him a nod of reassurance. “I have no doubt they’ll take you in and consider themselves blessed for it. But you’ll see that for yourself soon, no doubt.”

  Sevana had already issued these assurances several times and had frankly gotten tired of the repetition. Hoping to cut it short, she cleared her throat. “Master, why don’t you get a bath and a hot meal? I think we can leave after that.”

  “Are you suggesting I stink, sweetling?”

  “You do,” she responded promptly. “Hinun, back me up on this.”

  The wolf let out a whine of agreement.

  Master put a hand to his heart in mock-hurt. “I go without sleep or comfort to get here and this is the thanks I get?”

  “This and that are separate matters. Bath.” After being cooped up in the carriage for three days, he’d probably enjoy one, so she knew he didn’t really mind the order.

  Chuckling, he pushed himself back to his feet. “It seems I’ve been outvoted on the matter. Then I shall. But let’s leave soon. I want to hear about your experience. I trust it gave you some valuable insight?”

  “Yes, because tromping around in primitive woods in the dead of night always pays off in the end,” she snarked, only to smile when he laughed out loud. Waving him away, she headed for the door. Time enough to explain her findings later, when they were all cooped up in that carriage on the way back toward Windamere. For now, they both had preparations to see to.