บท 7: Ender
Ender had not used the language of his childhood since he was human. He had almost wholly phased it out of his vocabulary even though his accent still lingered. Somehow the beautiful woman who fell out of the sky had recognized the word the vampire had called her-brundah, a witch.
He held the knife aloft, pointing it towards the young witch still seated on the ground. Ender knew he wouldn't need it if he wanted to dispatch of her but was hopeful it would frighten her into not doing anything stupid.
Still sitting atop his horse Murf, he studied her as she sat on the forest floor. She was beautiful in a way he hadn't seen in many decades. She was lithe, but he could tell she was also strong, likely from some manual labor. Her hair was long and the color of a hayfield in late summer, unadorned with any dyes or intricate braids that the witches of Ibudal were inclined to.
There was a wholesomeness to her. Her smell was of apples and lilacs and wood smoke. The blood coursing quickly under pale skin was not spoiled with bitterness or resentment like so many in Ibudal. It was tantalizing. Still, like all witches he had encountered in his two hundred years, there was a darkness there he could see behind those blue eyes. Witches kept secrets. It was how they stayed alive for so long.
Ender watched her in silence for a moment longer, breathing in her scent and trying to discern her intentions. She looked more like a lost lamb strayed from the herd than a powerful witch who had just levitated in mid-air. He could not immediately tell who held her contract. The geometric neck tattoo all witches had, was not visible from his vantage point.
The shape and color would identify who she worked for, at least. Having never held a witch's contract himself, he was admittedly a little fuzzy on the details. It would undoubtedly give him a better idea of what he was up against, though, should she become hostile. Witches rarely left their holders keeps. Ender had only encountered them at court functions or in his father's castle. He therefore concluded, she must be out here in broad daylight for a reason.
"Where am I?" he heard her ask in a soft voice. She was looking up at him from her seat on the ground. The young witch still appeared disoriented but more frightened than anything else. He didn't answer. Ender could still feel the wound slowly closing at his side, and his mind was having trouble processing the absurdity of the situation.
Why was she not attacking him? What was her plan here? he mused. She must be one of Astrophel's witches. He had never seen any of the magical women who served him. The clan was often trying to encroach upon the province Ender and his brother Lucian ran for their father.
"-And I'm not a witch." She continued, almost flippantly, ignoring the fact he didn't answer her question. The girl got up from the ground shaking off her dress, and picked up the blue ribbon she had lost off the ground a few paces away.
Ender felt his muscles tighten. The last person who had lied to him so brazenly had met a relatively swift and untimely end. He wasn't sure if the girl had a death wish or was toying with him but felt his temper rising none the less. Murf could feel his master's aggravation growing and began to walk in place. "Yes, you are," Ender told her through gritted teeth.
The young witch looked at him, meeting his eyes from her place on the ground, defiance ringing in her voice, "No. I'm not." He wouldn't have been surprised if she had stamped her feet with the protest, her fists he noted were clenched at her side, knuckles almost white from the tension.
She tried to revert the subject to her previous question. "Would you kindly tell me where I am? The sun doesn't look quite right from here," she asked in an almost too polite voice while shielding her eyes from the light and surveying the treetops. She was clearly dazed, hair swaying in the breeze as her small form rounded in tight circles through the clearing.
Ender wouldn't be distracted from the girl's ridiculous claim. "Aye brundah, you just fell through those trees," he said, pointing above them "at an alarming rate," he mimed with his hands her body falling from the sky, "and all of your brains are still sitting inside of your pretty blonde head. Sounds like magic, no? So answer me now, who holds your contract?"
"You don't have to speak to me like I am a child," she said. "I don't know what you are talking about. I've never signed any contract in my life. This is ridiculous, I really should be leaving now," she told him, starting to turn away but after a few steps, changed course. Ender watched with mild amusement as the witch repeated the same turn-about a few times. She was hopelessly trying to discern which direction to begin her departure.
In truth, it was the most he had spoken to anyone in some time. The utter shock of the situation had must have loosened his tongue. The girl must be daft, he thought, or luring him into a trap. Either scenario seemed equally likely at this point. If she was doing the latter, she was succeeding. The confused damsel act was quite convincing.
Still, no matter how alluring the witch was, he was not going to be caught off his guard again today. Ender was becoming frustrated. In addition to the mounting evidence of her abilities, he knew without a shadow of a doubt the woman was not human, as she claimed. He could feel it. Humans didn't have the capabilities to sense a when a witch was using magic, but Ender's vampire senses could register the soft electricity emanating from her. It was like standing next to bottled lightning.
"Show me your neck," he ordered. His patience had worn thin.
"What? Why? No." she fired off in succession, her voice rising with each word. Losing any modicum of decency, Ender decided to act instead of continuing the conversation. A calculated risk, if she wasn't a witch or a witch who had no idea how to use her powers, as unlikely as those two options might be, then there was nothing she could do.
If she was luring him into a trap, then he figured angering the girl into showing her powers brazenly would at least speed along with the conversation at the very least. At most, he would meet an untimely end at the hands of witch fire, and there were worse ways to go, the vampire thought.
He moved his hand to his waist, feeling the cold hilt of his dagger. With a motion so quick no human eye could detect, he drew the blade and threw it at the witch.
The sharp point landed with a soft thunk inches from her face in the tree trunk just beside her. Ender relished in smug satisfaction as he watched her face contort into a wave of shock. The surprise faded quicker than he had hoped, her blue eyes narrowed into an expression that could only be described as pure rage. "You're a vampire, aren't you?" she spat the words out at him.
Ender shrugged, "I don't see why that is relevant." She must be dense, he thought. He was beginning to weary of the interaction. His muscles still ached from the recent battle at the beach, and he could feel a headache brewing behind his eyebrows. The elk had not been sufficient in speeding his recovery. The scar at his temple began to throb.
Angrily she continued, "That's why you want to see my neck, don't you? You want my blood!" She was nearly shouting at him now.
"What? No, I want to check-" he trailed off as he felt the air around him suddenly go still. All forest life had ceased in their activities. The wind had stopped rustling the tree branches, Murf cantered back away from the woman with a distressed whine.
Ender could feel the magic pulsating off of her, more potent than any spell he had ever sensed. The electricity in the air was growing steadily by the moment. He watched on as she seemed to be resolving herself for something, her blue eyes staring daggers at him from across the clearing.
He braced himself for the imminent magical impact, unsure if even his supernatural ability to heal would be able to withstand the force of what the girl was summoning, already weakened from the loss of blood earlier that day. His skin tingled all over, becoming almost unbearable. He saw her lift her hands and reach behind her.
In a huff, she grabbed the knife lodged in the tree trunk behind her and lobbed it with all the force her small arms could muster, missing him by several feet. Just as quickly as the air changed, it returned to normal, birds chirped again in their nests, and a few faeries poked their heads out from behind the trees.
Ender erupted into peals of laughter. Doubling over, he braced his nearly healed wound as he steadied himself on his horse. It was clear to him now that the witch did not know what she was. "All the magic in Ibudal and you throw a knife at a vampire? Get on the horse brundah," he said as his laughter ebbed.
The anger from her face drained as well as most of the color. Stunned, she asked Ender, "Ibudal? Did you say that we are in Ibudal?" her tone low and unbelieving.
"Ibudal," Ender confirmed. "Now, get on the horse." He began to wonder just where the girl had fallen from. He might as well take her to the castle now that he determined the level of threat was low.
"I am not getting on the horse with you," she replied resolutely. "I need to get home. There was an army... and Nim. I need to get home." she repeated, starting sound more frantic.
"You need to get on the horse before the fae come out," Ender told her, pointing to the spot in front of him on Murf's saddle. This witch was a stubborn thing. This could be a problem, he thought. He didn't understand her hesitancy. It wasn't like she had a host of options at the moment.
"I'm not getting on a horse, with a man I just met, who happens to be a vampire, that probably wants to eat me and is also notably bleeding through his shirt," she told him, the words tumbling out of her mouth, her arms still crossed across her chest. This time she did stomp her foot for emphasis. He couldn't help but chuckle. "I'll take my chances with the faeries."
He didn't think he was that intimidating, although his appearance still looked ruffled from the recent skirmish at the beach. Vampires were natural predators, and humans were typically drawn to them. The girl wasn't human, though. Maybe her instincts were warning her rightly of the danger.
"Suit yourself. Don't complain to me later when I find you wandering the forest after the Fae have confused you and cut off your hair," he said.
"My hair?" she asked, unconsciously running her fingers through the loose strands. Ender was losing her attention. She pulled her hair back and began to braid it since it had come loose during the fall. He could now see that her neck was free of all markings. She had no contract, just as she had said.
"Yes, they will sell it to travelers, lass," He replied quickly. "Now get on the horse, and I will take you to Castle Mont with me. Stay out here long enough, and the Fae will be the least of your worries. We'll sort you out from there." Ender told her.
It was true the forest was dangerous, mostly to humans and an utterly untrained witch as well, he supposed. He had never seen a witch unbound from the agreement. He wondered if she had somehow broken her contract and escaped, but he did not how that could be possible. It seemed she did not know her powers at all. Had she not gone to the Academy?
He would take her to the castle he shared with his brother. Indeed someone would be looking for her, and Ender imagined a profit could be made from the transaction. Lucian would know what to do with her.
She stubbornly remained where she was for a few moments until a few of the Fae began to gather around the small clearing. Blue in color with pointed ears and wings that resembled those of a bat, they began to venture closer to the girl curious about the disruption in their forest home. Ender watched the apprehension grip the witch before she turned and started moving towards him.
"Okay, fine," she grumbled. "I'm Caroline." She said, holding out a tiny pale hand. She looked up at him with clear blue eyes, set proportionately above high cheekbones. Ender felt his heart thump a single beat loudly against his ribs. The witch blinked, "Are you going to drink my blood?"
"Ender," he replied shortly, pulling her up to sit in front of him. "This is Murf. he said, patting the horse on its neck. "No brundah, I'm not going to feed on you, I had an elk about an hour ago." He assured her in a measured tone. He felt her shiver as she positioned herself in front of him on the horse.
Clouds moved in overhead, obstructing the sunlight filtering through the trees as the pair began their journey to Castle Mont.
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