Spirit Night

Fynn made the decision for me. In one swift motion, he grabbed me and hoisted me over his shoulder. I gasped as my chest connected with his shoulder, knocking the air from my lungs. He turned, and I could see the Huryl camp with the battlefield beyond it for a moment before he started to move. My head was still foggy, and I thought about whether I should cry out that I was being kidnapped by a Dyrel scout. I knew Mattis would be upset if I left, and maybe even Ellena. I smiled and giggled, raising one hand to wave goodbye to the camp.

“Halt!”

Fynn dumped me to the ground, and I landed roughly on my bottom. I glared at Fynn angrily, but his attention was occupied with something else. A young soldier stood in front of him, holding a sword at the ready. He had short brown hair and familiar looking brown eyes. I staggered to my feet and headed towards him with my arms open.

“Roric!” I exclaimed happily.

The solider looked confused as he suddenly found me draped around his neck. “You know my father?”

“Father?” I repeated, digging through my muddy mind. “You must be Jakob!”

“Now that we’re acquainted,” Fynn said, grabbing the back of my shirt and pulling me toward him, “we must be off.”

“I can’t let you,” Jakob said, holding up his sword again. “I have my orders.”

Fynn smiled easily. “Do you know me?”

Jakob nodded nervously, but his sword didn’t waver. I stared at Fynn, and he seemed suddenly larger in my eyes. I blinked, trying to swat away the mist that was clouding my perceptions. Both Fynn and Jakob were oblivious to me at that moment.

“You are brave,” Fynn said admiringly. “But I will kill you if you don’t yield.”

Jakob said nothing. Fynn shrugged and moved forward with incredible speed. I saw something glimmer in his hand, the dagger he had pulled on me before. My eyes widened as I realized what he planned to do. Rushing forward, I tried to prevent the murder of Roric’s son.

“No!” I cried.

To my surprise, and Jakob’s as well, Fynn stopped. He didn’t seem pleased at all, but he redirected his dagger throw so that it embedded itself in a tree just behind Jakob’s head. The guard was wide eyed and pale, and shaking with shock. He wasn’t staring at Fynn, however, but at me. I felt the mist intruding on my moment of clarity and pressed my hand to my face. I felt someone take my elbow and guide me away, and I didn’t resist. I knew we were heading into the forest.

“You are brave,” Fynn repeated to Jakob, “and fortunate. Remember this night.”

Fynn took me into the forest a little ways before stopping and pressing something into my hand. I stared at it groggily for a moment before realizing it was a nut of some sort.

“Swallow it,” Fynn instructed. “It’ll break the spell.”

Spell? I wondered. Obediently, I ate the nut and in seconds my mind was returning to normal. I could hear the night insects, and smell the sweet air of the forest. I thought back to the tent, and found I could remember little of what had happened, and I felt deeply betrayed. Roric had brought me to Mattis, and Mattis had given me to Ellena. The anger in my stomach that had previously been subdued now burned with anew. Fynn paid no attention and continued to lead me through the trees, holding my hand tightly as he had the first time I had met him. It dawned on me that I had no friends in this world, no one I could trust. Right now I found myself with this strange man, but I knew even less about him than I did about the other people I had met. I suddenly grew afraid.

The moon was still high in the sky when Fynn stopped and let me rest. I sank to the ground, exhausted after everything that had happened to me. The past two days had been the worst of my life, and I was desperate to go home. Fynn gave me some space and made a small fire that only deepened the shadows around me, making the forest more frightful.

“What do you want?” I asked in a small voice.

Fynn looked sharply at me. The fire cracked, but I kept my eyes on him.

“You truly don’t know?” he asked in a bewildered voice.

I shook my head. “I told you what happened to me. You laughed and abandoned me in the forest alone.”

Fynn smiled. “I was following you. I had to be sure. Forgive me.”

“Sure of what?”

The man thought about his answer for a long time. “How many spirits have you seen? You saw the marsh spirit, which brought you here, but since then?”

Images flickered through my mind. The face in the fire, the green girl, the striped figure, the face in the water… had they all been spirits? Fynn was watching me closely and nodded, not needing me to voice my answer. Apparently it was visible on my face.

“In this world, it is rare for someone to see a spirit,” Fynn said quietly. “Even more rare for them to see more than one. Something must be happening for the spirits to have brought you here.”

“I was just trying to get my umbrella back,” I protested.

“You are needed here.” Fynn insisted. He glanced up at the sky, barely visible through the canopy of the trees. “We’ll sleep here and head out at dawn. There’s much you have to see and learn.”

I nodded dumbly and gazed into the fire. The face I had seen before appeared, its eyes wide and white. It sparked and spat at me as if to get my attention, and then the face began to shake its head, like the water spirit in the tub had done. I glanced at Fynn, who had his back to the fire and was staring into the forest. Was the fire trying to warn me? Should I listen to it and leave Fynn?