The Goblets Immortal by Beth Overmyer (read 50 shades of grey .TXT) 📕

The coast is far from here, and few will have ventured hence.” He finished his apple and Dismissed the core, wishing to leave no evidence behind of their passing through. “You were traveling with a larger company, but were waylaid by bandits. You, myself, and a few others escaped.”

Slaíne spat out a seed and chucked the apple’s core deep into the underbrush. “Where are the others, then?”

“I doubt anyone will inquire this deeply into your affairs, but for caution’s sake, tell people they are on the road south.”

She nodded. “The vaguer the better?”

“The less said the better. If you get caught in a lie, don’t lie further to cover it. Stick to the truth as much as you are able. Such as your name.”

She raised an eyebrow at him. “Right, keep my name. And what about you, sir?”

Aidan grinned. “Refer to me as little as possible.” He waylaid her misgivings with a wave of the hand and a quick reassurance that people were not so nosy in larger towns, which is where they were headed.

The girl frowned. “All right. So I pretend I’m a lady, keep me name, you’s my servant, and then what? How do I get the map from Lord Thing?” Now her feet were crunching, and she was minding the way more than she had previously. Her shoulders hunched forward, and her face creased against the slight breeze that reached down among the low-hanging boughs. Her hair became ensnared by one of those woody hands, and Aidan was forced to stop and help her untangle herself.

After some time, having freed her, Aidan spoke again. “I need to know where the map is in the house. If I can find its Pull, Dismissing it will be nothing. But since it’s unfamiliar to me….”

“That’s where I come in.”

“This is going to be dangerous, Slaíne. Are you sure you’re equal to—”

“’Course I’m equal,” she snapped. “What else?”

Aidan let loose a laugh and finished the crumb of cheese he’d allotted himself.

At this point in their travels, the area became marshy, and Aidan refilled his water bladders, Dismissing any harmful elements. His spirits were hopeful. The weather was fine enough for traveling: not too cold as to numb, but neither too warm as to cause him to work up much of a sweat when moving. The flies, however, were intense in this area. They were of the biting variety, and Slaíne cursed like a sailor as they swarmed her.

“Can you nay do nothing about these blighters?”

Aidan shook his head and stoppered the last bladder. “No. For whatever reason, I cannot Dismiss any living creature…save for myself.” The moment the words were out of his mouth, he was surprised that he did not wish them back. It had been his secret, his safe-hold. Secrets had always been his escape route, and to throw important ones such as that around – and to a strange girl above that – was most likely the worst thing he had done since selling his estate to Tristram. And yet, regret did not follow.

* * *

It was nearing dusk when they reached the main road, which Aidan had been hoping to avoid. His travels rarely took him this far south, and the way was unfamiliar to him. For a moment he stood on the precipice. The wind shifted, and he regained his bearings. “Tanderine blossom.”

“What?”

Aidan looked around and, sure enough, spied the yellow blossoms pushing up through the thick underbrush. He smiled a real smile for the first time that day. “Tanderine blossoms grow thickly in a small area outside of town. I haven’t traveled there much since my twenty-fourth year, but I am quite certain we have just stumbled upon it.”

Slaíne wrinkled up her nose. “Smells pretty, I suppose. Why have I never seen ’em before?”

“Because they’re specific to this part of the world. They’ve been cross-bred again and again, to get that sweet a smell.”

“They’re sort of ugly…like shriveled up-old hags with a skin fungus.”

Aidan chuckled. “Appearances are deceiving. There’s great healing in their nectar.” After a beat, he reached down and plucked one of the blossoms from the earth and studied it. Then, reflecting further on their goodness, he picked with fervor, stuffing the flowers in his hat. If he’d had these when he’d run into the Romas…. Upon further reflection, that was what the antidote was most likely made of.

He didn’t have to look to know that Slaíne was following his example.

The glowworms had already made their appearance, and Aidan knew there would be no more traveling that day. They would eat their supper – a heartier slice of cheese and two more apples apiece – after building some structure against the night, which looked to be a cold and wet one. This close to town, he did not wish to light a fire, and with the dampness, it would smoke something terrible.

“Care to help me?” he asked, setting the overflowing hat on the ground.

Slaíne added her handfuls to the heap and waited for him to Dismiss the whole lot, which he did without show this time. “Right. What’re we doin’?”

He pointed to a cluster of trees and asked her to gather brush and any large sticks she could find. Aidan went about, trying to find branches on the ground, and he thought Slaíne would follow suit. But soon he felt a strange fluctuation in the tension between their two Pulls, and turned around to find her scurrying up the side of a tree…without actually touching the trunk. Amused, he stopped his work and bit his lip so that he would not laugh.

Slaíne had found a thick branch and was standing astride it. She looked down at him, and though he could not be certain, she might very well be smirking at him. “Watch out below.”

“Be careful. Perhaps you ought to find another— That branch looks too thick to be of use.”

She appeared not to be listening as she floated up another two feet, then four, aligning her feet with that branch below.

Time to