Darkness in Appalachia

Robyn woke up the next morning a soon as dawn began showing in her window just like every other morning for the past three years. She didn’t linger in bed but jumped in the shower and grabbed some random clothes from her closet before heading out of her room.

Puk was waiting for her at the bottom of the steps. “I kinda thought that you would sleep in to day. Or should I say that I hoped you would be too worn out to get up this early. So tell me, did you dust off the cobwebs and jump on that hunk of a man?”

Robyn brushed past her and headed towards the office. “Cobwebs, really? No, I didn’t jump on that. He’s not my type and he had suffered a concussion earlier in the day.”

“Not your type? At this point your type should be breathing. You could have at least done it for me. How am I supposed to live vicariously through you if you won’t do anything fun?”

At her desk, Robyn loaded up a web site that she and a few others had set up for guardians to ask questions of other guardians. It had a lot of security and you needed to pass a test in order to become a member which was pretty effective at weeding at the fakes or curious. She wanted to describe what she had seen in the morgue last night and see if anyone had any ideas as to what it could be.

“Puk, even if I was that hard up, I would probably call in that one guardian that is always offering to visit. No chance of him getting bound to this location and he already knows the full score with the entities so I won’t have to protect him. David is too much of a risk.”

Puk scoffed. “Life is a risk. Besides, that guardian you are talking about is definitely not your type. Way too smooth and slick. He’s a playboy and doesn’t take his duties as a guardian seriously.”

Robyn finished up at the computer and turned to her. “He’s still a better option than David. Puk, he has a life and a family outside of here. If he were to become bound, he might not be able to visit them again or to have a normal life. That’s too much to ask of someone, especially someone we just met. And, he’s a danger until he’s caught up to speed on the entities and what they are capable of. I can’t worry about him and try to figure out what did that to that child at the same time. So, please, drop it and don’t encourage him to stay any longer.”

Puk drew herself up to her full height and looked down at Robyn. “I just wish that you would listen to us. I do understand where you are coming from but it’s also dangerous for you. Where would this place be if you ran into something that you couldn’t handle alone? You can borrow power from us and Walker and I routinely allow you to but we may not always be enough, or around. Both of us have a good feeling about him and, while I may joke about you getting laid, we’re not actually suggesting that you marry the guy. Just let him help you if he is willing. We can help get him up to speed and there’s always a chance that he might not become bound.”

Robyn sighed and stood. “Considering how stubborn he is, I might not have much of a choice. He says that he won’t leave until he is satisfied and if I try to make him I risk being arrested. Between you two trying to keep him around and him refusing to leave, I’m outnumbered. But you need to understand that I’m against this. If something happens to me, the demon will have to choose a new guardian and they might be able to make a more favorable arrangement than what my ancestor did. But I don’t want to be responsible for binding someone else to this place without their consent or complete understanding.”

Puk’s eyes lowered and Robyn knew she was thinking about why this was such an issue for her. Robyn’s parents had been happy together as guardians but the firstborn child, Maria, hadn’t been. She wasn’t very strong in magic and didn’t care much for the entities. She spent most of her time reading about foreign places and imagining what it would be like to live anywhere but here. She even convinced their parents to send Robyn overseas as a teenager to live with other guardians because she wanted to hear the stories of other places and people. When she came of age and took over as guardian from their parents, she was overwhelmed with the responsibilities and attempted magic that she simply didn’t have the power for. It killed her and, when her parents tried to save her, it killed them as well. Her brother, Edward, had married young and became the next guardian after Maria died. He and his wife were forced to abandon college and the life that they had built outside of here and come back. He was more suited to the tasks of a guardian and quickly picked up the things he needed to know but his wife had hated it. She hated Tennessee and hated living so far from town. On top of that, she believed that the entities should be her personal slaves and that they were little more than animals. None of them would willingly help her and she had to constantly threaten them with breach of the contract to get them to do anything. She didn’t believe that they couldn’t leave and wanted to prove to him that nothing would happen. Her and Edward ended up having a huge fight so she hopped a plane to New York, telling Edward that she would be waiting for him thereafter the forty eight hours had passed. He was on the phone with her begging her to come home when they both passed. Robyn had been in class in England when she felt the burning on her neck. She had left class and gotten the first plane back, barely making it in under forty eight hours. She had been the one to discover her brother’s body and had to fix all the problems that had been created by her sister-in-law. No one had expected Robyn to become guardian so she hadn’t been trained like the other two. She had known only basic magic and very little about most of the entities on the property. I had taken her an entire year to gain the trust of most of the entities and get her magic close to where it needed to be and that was with Puk and Walker’s help.

Robyn interrupted her reverie. “I’m going to make breakfast. Are you eating with us this morning?”

Puk shook herself, getting rid of the uncharacteristic melancholy that remembering Robyn’s family caused. “What are you making?”

Robyn had started towards the kitchen and spoke over her shoulder as she walked. “Eggs, bacon, fried potatoes, and biscuits. I might even make a gravy. Depends on who all is eating and how hungry they are.”

Puk disappeared and reappeared ahead of her in the kitchen. “Well, you know that Walker always eats a lot and I am willing to bet that Officer Michel can pack it away, too. I’ll eat some but you know that human food doesn’t really sit well with me.”

Robyn went to the fridge and began pulling things out. “He said to call him David.”

“Really.” Puk’s voice made it sound like that was real suggestive. “And what did you tell him to call you. I’m partial to ‘Hot Thing’ myself.”

“Not funny. How long has Walker been out? Should he be getting back from his rounds soon?” Changing the topic didn’t normally work with Puk but she always tried anyways.

“He should be back soon. Unless you’re trying to get me out of the house so that you can be alone with David. Then, I could stall him for him if you promise to give me all the details later.”

“Don’t you ever come out of heat?” Walker’s gruff voice entered the room a second ahead of him. “Why don’t you get your mind out of the gutter, at least while I’m around?” He climbed onto a chair at the table while Puk huffed indignantly. “You know she only does this because of the way you react, Robyn.”

“That’s not true. I’m just trying to help her realize that there is more to life than being a guardian. She needs to have at least a little bit of a life.”

“Not everyone is a sex starved skeleton. Some of us have morals and a sense of responsibility.”

Robyn tuned them out as they bickered and focused on getting breakfast ready. She loved to cook and it was one of the few hobbies that she allowed herself. She could tune everything out while she cooked and almost meditate over the stove.

She was jerked out of her mediation by an alarm going off in her head. She jerked her eyes towards the ceiling and narrowed them in anger. “Puk, can you take over until I get back? There’s something that I need to check on upstairs.”

Puk heard her tone and silently took over as Robyn headed upstairs. She went straight for a door at the end of the hall that should have been closed but wasn’t. Inside, she found David reading through a handwritten journal that had been left out on the desk. He was so engrossed in what he was reading that he didn’t look up with she came in.

“Do you have a warrant to go through my personal papers?” Her voice was harsh and she had to catch herself before she jerked the journal out of his hand.

He jumped and turned to her. “I’m sorry. I was looking for the washing machine and found this room. You’d said that my clothes would be done this morning.”

She nodded her head towards the book in his hands. “And you thought that you’d find them in there?”

He flushed and put the book down, leaving it open to the page he had been reading. “Well, no. I opened the door and saw all the bookshelves and the journal and was just curious.”

“This room is private. It has journals, mementos, and records of all the previous guardians. It’s nearly a shrine and only other guardians are allowed in here.” She moved out of the doorway and waited for him to go past her into the hall then shut the door. “The washer and dryer are in this room over here but breakfast should be nearly ready if you want to eat before getting dressed.”

He nodded and followed her downstairs in complete silence, taking a seat at the kitchen table and acting almost like a chastised child. Puk and Walker looked at him as he came in but decided not to ask questions when they saw Robyn’s face. She went to the stove and checked on the different breakfast components before turning and addressing all three of them.

“Before we start eating, we should figure out what we are doing today. I need to do my rounds and I want to check in with a couple of the entities that have been around longer. Maybe one of them has seen or heard of something like what happened last night. That’s going to take me until at least dinner time.”

Walker spoke next, hoping to get the conversation over with quickly so that he could eat. “I want to check the perimeter barrier. If that entity came from outside our reserve, I will find where it came in from so that you can patch it up. I also want to send the other dogs out to search for more victims beyond the barrier. There is a lot of forested land around here that we don’t normally check because it’s beyond the boundary.”

Robyn nodded. “That works. Just make sure that they don’t go so far that they can’t make it back tonight. We can check further out tomorrow or the next day but keep them close for now. I would hate for something to happen to one of them.”

“I will keep an eye on things close to home and let you know if there are any issues.” Puk reached over and laid a hand over David’s, “David can stay with me today. I can make sure that he stays busy.”

The look on his face was somewhere between confusion and embarrassment and it forced a laugh from Puk and Robyn while Walker shook his head in disgust. He slowly moved his hand away, placing it in his lap. “Actually, I was hoping to stick with Robyn. I have some more questions that I didn’t get to ask last night.”

Puk leaned towards him. “I could answer any questions that you have. About anything.” It was obvious that she was trying to make him squirm and that it was very effective. “I know way more than Robyn and have more personal experience, too.”

Robyn took pity on him. “Are you sure that you don’t want to go home? I told you last night that there is a lot of risk if you stay here. Not just to you but to me as well since I will have to keep an eye on you. You could just go home and forget about all this.”

All eyes turned to him and seemed to consider the question carefully before answering. “I thought about this last night before I fell asleep. I’m not concerned about the risk of physical injury. If I was, I wouldn’t be a cop. You told me that there was a risk of being bound to this location and not being able to leave for more than forty eight hours and I read what happened to your brother and his wife in that journal upstairs.” Puk sucked in a breath when she heard that and shot a look at Robyn. “But I don’t want to leave.” He met Robyn’s eyes and she could see that he had indeed made up his mind by the stubborn set to his jaw. “I want to know what happened to that girl in the woods and I think that you are more likely to find the answers than traditional police work. I’m willing to take the chance of being bound here and I can guarantee that I won’t get in your way enough to be a liability.”

Puk and Walker looked at each other, almost impressed and Robyn shrugged in consent. She was about to start serving when Walker addressed David. “Would you be willing to do a temporary binding today? It would give you some idea of what you risk by staying around by allowing Robyn to tap into your natural abilities.”

“Absolutely not.” Robyn nearly shouted at the same time that David asked. “What would I need to do and what would that do to me?”

The three of them ignored Robyn as Puk answered. “It’s a simple spell. A chant and a rune drawn around your wrist. Like Walker said, it would bind your and Robyn’s powers together and allow her to borrow yours if she needed it. Technically, if you knew magic, you could borrow hers as well. It also creates a telepathic link that can be a little uncomfortable at first but once you realize that you have to actively try to send a message it gets better. Also, you would share the pain that she feels when she does magic.”

Walker continued. “Normally, I would go with Robyn on her rounds to offer protection against some of the more dangerous entities but I feel that it’s necessary to check the boundary today and Robyn isn’t the type to wait around for assistance. Puk has gone with her before as well but she’s not very good at offensive magic. Robyn is really good with magic but it hurts when she uses it and takes a lot of energy so she doesn’t use it often. We could lend her some of our power but, like she touched on last night, we can only use certain types of magic and she may need a different type.”

Robyn spoke up. “But it’s really not necessary. I’m not only checking on most of the entities and not planning on messing with the more dangerous ones. And, there are no entities here that aren’t under contract with me. If they try to harm me, they will be stopped.”

“They actually have to attack you for the terms of the contract to come into play and that one attack could kill you. Also, did you forget that this binding will offer him the same protection as you. If they harm him they will immediately be punished.”

David’s eyes followed the conversation closely and at this point he shrugged. “I really don’t mind as long as you promise not to read my mind without my permission. This sounds like a good way for me to be of some use to you while I get the answers I want.”

Outnumbered again, Robyn turned from the three in frustration and began preparing plates of food. “I will take care of it later. Just so you know, we don’t discuss work while we eat. Any other topic is OK but not work. And Puk, try to keep it clean while we eat.” She heard a muttered ‘killjoy’ behind her but ignored it.

Breakfast started out as an awkward, silent affair. Robyn was still annoyed with the three of them and Puk was sulking about not being able to tease David. Walker actually got the conversation going by asking David about his family and soon they were listening to him tell him funny stories about gatherings at his house. He was one of three boys and all of them learned to love playing practical jokes from their dad. They were always trying to one up each other and their mother was their favorite target because she was so easy to scare. Puk shared some of her favorite pranks, making even Walker laugh. Neither Walker or Robyn had any relatable stories but they did enjoy listening to them.

When everyone was finished eating, Puk volunteered to wash the dishes so that the rest of them could get on with their work. David started upstairs but Robyn stopped him halfway up.

“If you are going to follow me around today you probably shouldn’t wear your uniform. There should be some clothes in the closet of the room that you were in that will fit you and socks are in the dresser. Take whatever you need.” He nodded and continued on his way.

Robyn and Walker walked out together so that she could spend a few minutes checking out the dogs. Every morning when she fed them she checked them for injuries, administered any medicine that they might need, and spent just a bit petting them and giving them attention. After that, she headed to the barn behind the house to feed the hog and check on the other entity that she had out there at the moment. The hog liked to run in the woods with the dogs but ate separately in the barn since he needed a different type of food.

Currently, she also had a unicorn in the barn that had been injured. He was only staying there until his injury was healed enough that it wasn’t an immediate danger and could be very skittish around humans. When most people thought of unicorns, they thought of the docile, solid white, magical version that is found in fairy tales and children’s movies. In reality, unicorns were strong, proud, and intelligent warriors that resembled normal horses in coloring and size. They used their horns to fight and gore their enemies and the horns were often stained with the blood of other unicorns and predators. This one had had a run in with humans and didn’t trust any of them. He only allowed her to treat him because of the contract that he had with her and because she spent months gaining his trust. She really wanted to keep David away from him just to avoid any conflict.

As per usual, the hog was eager to get his food and get out of the barn with the dogs. She made quick work of feeding him and made sure he didn’t have any injuries, talking to him the entire time. She began moving slower once it she was approaching the unicorn’s stall. He didn’t like quick movements and she always made sure that he could see her hands. She also wouldn’t enter his stall until he had nodded his head in assent. Once inside, she continued to move slowly, telling him everything that she was doing as she moved up alongside his shoulders and checked out his wound. She had been using magic to heal him so she let him know how the wound looked and that she was about to touch him. The process was taking longer because he would only allow her to touch him for a few minutes a day. She gently placed a hand on him and almost immediately a green light began to emanate from it causing him to shiver and a sharp pain to begin in the pit of her stomach.

This is what David saw when he entered the barn. He was surprised to see a unicorn but was even more surprised to see the green glow from Robyn’s hand. He moved towards them too fast causing the unicorn to shy away from her. That’s when she noticed him. She held up her hand to him telling him to stop and spoke to the unicorn but couldn’t get him to calm back down. Backing out of the stall, she kept her eyes on him and made sure to securely latch the gate between them before moving to stand between him and David.

“I’m sorry that he surprised you but he isn’t going to hurt you. His name is David and he’s a friend of mine trying to help me with a situation that has come up.” Her voice was soft and soothing which confused David.

“Why are you talking to it like he understands? It’s a unicorn, right?” David’s voice was far too loud and agitated the unicorn even more.

Robyn didn’t even look at him. “Yes, he’s a unicorn but don’t make the mistake of thinking that because you can’t understand him he can’t understand you.”

“It’s still a unicorn. Aren’t they gentle creatures that wouldn’t hurt a fly. You read about them all the time in fairy tales.” He moved up beside Robyn to get a closer look. “It doesn’t look like the pictures I’ve seen before but that doesn’t change what it is.”

“You need to show him some respect. He is nothing like what you have read about in fairy tales. This unicorn is a fighter and can understand what you are saying.” Robyn’s words seemed to have an affect on the unicorn and he held his head up with pride and stared straight into David’s eyes. “Lower your head and don’t look at him until I say that it’s OK.”

He wasn’t trying to be difficult but he still couldn’t see what was basically a horse with a horn as a sentient creature deserving of that kind of respect. “What happens then? Will it let me ride it?”

The unicorn screamed in anger and charged the gate, breaking it apart and heading straight for David. Robyn moved in front of him, throwing up her right hand and trying to get a shield in place before he reached them. The unicorn veered to one side, not wanting to hit Robyn but unable to turn fast enough to completely miss her, knocking into her shoulder and throwing her to the ground. She scrambled back to her feet, trying to keep herself between the unicorn and David as the unicorn turned for another charged, head slightly lowered. Too fast for her to react, he was nearly on top of them again. David wrapped his arms around her and spun around, presenting his back to the unicorn and curling himself over Robyn, hoping to offer at least a little protection. They waited for the impact but it didn’t come. David turned his head to find the unicorn in his face, so close that he could feel and smell it breath. He froze unsure of what to do.

“Bow your head.” Robyn’s voice urgently commanded him and, this time, he listened, lowering his head and eyes until he was staring at the unicorn’s feet and not lifting them again until the feet disappeared from his field of vision. When he looked up, the horse was running out the open barn door heading for a field where he could safely spend his day.

Robyn broke loose of his grip and stalked out of the barn, too angry to speak with him. He followed calling out apologies that she couldn’t hear. She was almost to the house when he caught up to her, grabbing her arm and spinning her around to face him.

“I said that I’m sorry. I messed up and should have listened to you.” He was slightly out of breath from chasing her and the adrenaline still running through his system.

She was furious and made sure that he knew about it. “Fuck, sorry. Is nearly getting me killed your idea of staying out of my way? What kind of idiot sees what you’ve seen in the past day and still tries to treat this like he knows what’s going on? You just kept running your mouth after I told you to stop and wouldn’t listen to anything except your preconceived notions that you’ve gathered from a lifetime of fiction stories. These entities are real and they demand respect. You can’t walk into this thinking that you know anything about any of what you are going to see and you have to listen to every word that comes out of my mouth as if it were gospel. Otherwise, you will get someone killed.” She tried to pull away from him and go to the house but he wouldn’t let go. “I told Puk and Walker that we shouldn’t let you hang around and I was right. You should leave before you get someone killed.”

She continued ranting and he let her, knowing that she was on an adrenaline high and needed to burn through it. He decided to stop her when she just began hurling random insults at him though. Leaning towards her, he stopped her words with a kiss, deepening it when she opened her mouth in surprise and pulling her against him. She responded by wrapping her arms around his neck and raising up onto her toes to reach him better. He ended the kiss before it could go any further but held her close a moment longer catching his breath.

When she got over her shock, she pushed him away hard. “What the hell do you think that you’re doing? That’s a good way for you to get yourself hurt?”

He smiled, the first real one that she had seen since they met. “My dad always told me there are two ways to deal with an upset woman, smack her like they always do in the movies or kiss her. Either one will shock her long enough to calm down.”

She stared at him before turning towards the house. “And both options will get you hurt if you try them with me again.” She walked towards the house, unwilling to admit that the kiss had had the desired effect of making her calm down. The only problem was that without the adrenaline running through her, she could now feel where the unicorn had rammed her shoulder and where she’d hit the ground. There was no doubt that she was at least bruised in several spots and might have worse injuries.

Puk opened the door before she could reach it. “What happened to you, Robyn? Your pants are ripped and there’s blood. Are you hurt?”

For the first time, Robyn looked down at herself. The left side of her pants was gaping open and there was just a little blood oozing through the fabric. She tugged at the pants and nearly hissed as it pulled away from her skin, unsticking from what felt like a large scrape on her hip and upper thigh. She wasn’t sure how bad it was but she didn’t want Puk to get worried.

“I’m fine Puk. Just took a fall in the barn and got scraped up a little. I just need to change clothes and then I will be back down and on my way.”

Behind her, David came up close and spoke to Puk. “It’s my fault, Puk. I was stupid and the unicorn charged us and knocked her down. She’s probably got some bruises and, just looking at her pants, she’s probably scraped up. I don’t think that she was actually cut or stabbed.”

Robyn kept walking past Puk, trying to hide a limp and wanting to get upstairs before the adrenaline completely left her system and she felt the full pain of her injuries. Puk watched her concerned but stayed back to speak with David.

“She can’t heal herself. That magic doesn’t work like that. Do I need to call Beryl to come in and treat her?”

Robyn had reached the stairs and called back. “Don’t call Beryl. You know how much she hates being bothered over little injuries and she can’t stand treating humans.” She could hear them discussing what to do as she continued up the stairs but tuned them out. She knew that Puk wouldn’t call Beryl unless she said that it was alright unless it was a serious injury. By the top of the stairs, her hip was screaming at her and the feel of the fabric rubbing against the scrape was enough to bring her to tears.

She made it to her bathroom before collapsing on the toilet, struggling to her clothes off without aggravating her injuries anymore. When she tried to pull her shirt over her head, she nearly screamed at the pain in her shoulder and thought that it might be a little worse than she had originally thought. Checking herself in a mirror, her hip, shoulder and upper chest were already turning an angry shade of purple and the scrape started at the top of her hip and went almost to her knees. It wasn’t very deep but it was oozing and burning. She dreaded cleaning and dressing it but knew that it needed to be done sooner rather than later. Under her sink, she kept a fully stocked first aid kit for just this kind of situation. It took several minutes and there were times that she wanted to scream when she moved one of the affected areas but she did get it done. She sat on the toilet for about fifteen minutes, trying to let the ice packs she had placed on her bruises take effect before she took them off to head downstairs. What she really wanted to do was take a soak in a hot bath but she decided that would need to wait for tonight when she had more time.

Standing, she winced a bit but the pain was manageable. She knew that it would get worse the more she moved around but that was just something that she needed to deal with. At her closet, she found a button down shirt so that she wouldn’t need to lift her arm and a pair of loose pants that would slip easily over the bandages on her thigh and, hopefully, not rub against it too much. She headed downstairs, allowing herself to limp until she reached the bottom floor. She wouldn’t let on how much she was hurt to the other. She needed to get things done today and their worrying would make things harder to get it done quickly. She heard voices coming from the kitchen and headed that direction, stopping outside the doorway when she heard David’s voice.

“The unicorn rammed her but he was aiming for me. I insulted him and wouldn’t show him respect even after Robyn told me to. She jumped in front of me and prevented me from getting hurt.”

“You idiot.” Puk’s voice was shrill. “You were supposed to help her not get her killed. Why would you insult a unicorn like that? And what sense does it make to go into an unfamiliar situation and not listen to the expert? And here I’ve been telling Robyn how smart you seemed to be.”

Walker’s voice sounded like he was trying to speak and growl at the same time. “You nearly cost three individuals their lives. Robyn’s, yours, and the unicorns. I spoke to him when I heard that there was an incident and he would have killed you if you hadn’t protected Robyn like you did. If he had tried, he might have succeeded and Robyn could have died trying to stop him, then he would have been killed for harming a human. He only stopped because he respects Robyn and you protected her. He thought he might give you another chance.”

“Well, that’s lucky.” Puk’s voice was no longer shrill but she was still very annoyed. “Maybe we were wrong when we pushed Robyn to accept him. This wouldn’t have happened if he wasn’t here.”

David defended himself. “I’m sure that this is not the first or the last mistake that I will make but I can promise to listen from her on. I was just so caught up in meeting an actual unicorn, something that every child hears about and loves from a young age that I forgot myself. It’s not an excuse but it is an experience that I won’t forget and I will be more cautious in the future.”

Walker’s voice was calmer. “So you still want to stick around? Even after nearly getting killed. You do realize that there are things out there much more dangerous than the unicorn. Why? And don’t tell me it’s just because you want to solve that child’s case.”

There was the sound of a chair pulling out and a heavy thudding as David plopped into it. “You’re right. Robyn had mentioned yesterday that state would take over this case and she was right. I probably won’t have more than minimal access to the case file once I go back to work. I do want to know what happened to her but it’s no longer my case. More than that, I want to know about this place and Robyn. I never imagined that...entities could be real and it completely changes the way I look at the world and the previous cases that I’ve worked on. I originally worked in a much larger city and there were cases that didn’t make any kind of sense. Now, I have to look back at those and wonder if I could have solved them if I had known there were things besides humans capable of doing it. And then there’s Robyn. I read a journal upstairs that her sister-in-law wrote and the way she describes entities and how she talks about treating them is completely different from what I’ve seen from Robyn. And the way you two act towards her makes me think that she’s something special.”

The room became silent and Robyn could imagine Walker and Puk looking at each other, considering what they should say. Then, two more chairs scraped out and she heard the clacking that she associated with Puk sitting down and adjusting herself on a hard chair.

Puk’s voice was soft and serious. “You’re right. Robyn is not like any other guardian we’ve ever met. When she came home after her brother died she was appalled by what she read in the journals. In her childhood, she had always been kept away from what it meant to be a guardian and, when her parents sent her overseas to study, she rarely ever came home so she didn’t get to experience this life except for what her family would tell her. She didn’t know that the contract the previous guardians made us sign meant that they could do whatever they wanted to us and take whatever power they felt like the needed whenever they wanted. Most of us agreed because most of the guardians didn’t take too much of an advantage and they weren’t normally deliberately cruel. There were exceptions of course but, for the most part, this was still better than where we had come from for most of us. When Robyn became guardian, she rewrote the contract. Every entity is required to offer a certain amount of power to help maintain the reserve and some of the individual habitats but they can choose whether or not to offer more. Robyn can’t force them to help her if she feels like she needs more power, they have to be willing. Also, she set up different punishments for different infractions and created almost a prison on the property that is completely maintained by the individuals within. It means that they have an option besides death or banishment back to where they came from. The prison isn’t cruel. It is set up so that it leaves them enough of their magic to function but not enough to cause any problems and the magic that is taken from them is used to create an individual habitat for them. She spoke to every single entity on the reserve, even the dangerous ones, explaining the new contract and asking them to willingly sign the new one, even going out of her way to make sure that the contract was presented in a way that each of them could read for themselves. Once they signed the new contract, the old one became null and void so most jumped at the chance to sign it. Walker and I were the first to sign new ones. We had known Robyn as a child and had always stuck close to the family, though not always by choice, so we were naturally the first she went to. I can’t speak for Walker but I was so impressed by what she was trying to do that I wanted to help her, whether she asked for it or not. The more time I spent with her, the more I liked and respected her and we became good friends. Something that would never have been possible with previous guardians.”

Walker spoke up. “It was the same for me. She treats us with respect and like equals. Entities are not less than human to her and aren’t just tools for her to use as she sees fit. She talks to us, helps us with problems that arise, and helps to keep us safe and healthy if it’s within her ability. Most of the entities on this reserve hold a deep respect for her and she has fought tooth and nail to earn that respect. What’s more, she doesn’t ask for anything in return.”

Robyn felt herself flush in embarrassment that only got worse when David spoke. “So she’s a saint.”

Puk laughed loudly. “Not even close. She’s stubborn and has a bad temper when pushed too far. But she believes that if an entity is able to feel and is sentient it should be treated with respect. Normal animals are just animals to her. She eats meat and sees nothing wrong with killing animals for that purpose. The way she looks at it, we are just another race of humans. We look different but we feel and think the same way.”

“Is she going to get pissed that you told me all this?”

Puk’s tone became mocking. “I figure that if she had a problem with it she wouldn’t be eavesdropping outside the door and would have just come in and stopped us.”

More chair scraping and David’s head popped through the doorway before she could move to go through. His eyes were full of concern as he asked. “Are you OK? Puk made some tea that she said would help with any pain.”

She moved past him. “Just a couple of bruises and scrapes. Nothing that anyone needs to worry about.” She headed for the cabinets. “I just need to make up a bag for us since we’ll be gone most of the day and then we can leave.”

Puk appeared blocking her path. “You will sit down and drink the tea that I made. Beryl sent it with Walker and says that it will knock any pain out for at least twelve hours. That should be enough for you to get through the day. I will make the go bag for you.”

Robyn wasn’t up for arguing with her so obediently turned to the table and the chair David pulled out for her. Walker sat across from her, studying her every move as if he could determine her pain level by her movements. “Drink your tea and perform the binding that we talked about earlier. Then you can head out.”

David took a seat next to her. “And maybe you could tell me about what happened at the morgue last night. I mostly want to know about that scream I heard that knocked me to my knees. Did you do something that caused that or was it something already there? And is there a risk that it can happen to someone else?”

She wrapped her hands around the mug in front of her and took a sip. “We went to the morgue to inspect the body to see if we could identify whatever had attacked her by the wound and to perform a rite that releases the soul from the body. Sometimes, when the soul leaves the body, they speak to the person performing the ritual and I had hoped to find out something. Even her name would have been good enough for me. Instead, what happened was that scream that you heard which has never happened before and I don’t know what it means. “ She remembered how frustrated she was and it made her voice harsher than she intended.

“So, where do you go from here? How are we going to figure out what did this and what to do about it?”

Walker spoke up as since Robyn was in the middle of a drink. “Normally, Robyn will check the journals upstairs to see if one of her ancestors has noted something like this and check with the other guardians that she has contact with. We will also speak to some of the entities that have been around for a while.”

Robyn turned in her seat to look at Puk. “That reminds me. Can you pack a doll in the bag? I’m going to try and get out there today and you know how much she loves dolls.”

“Already done.” Puk walked over to the table with a backpack and set it down. “I thought that you would want to speak with her since she’s been all over the world before settling here. And she’s ancient so she’s seen a lot that no one else has.”

Robyn nodded and finished off her drink, moving to stand when she was done. She was stopped by all three of them. David put his hand on her arm, Walker growled lightly, and Puk said, “Not so fast.” She looked at them, confused.

“The binding Robyn. You need to perform the binding on David.”

“Right.” She turned to David. “Are you sure about this?” At his nod, she took his hand in hers and traced a rune onto his wrist, winding it around and around as she chanted under her breath. David was surprised that he could see the symbol that she was drawing as she chanted. It looked like interconnected triangles and glowed a dull yellow before sinking into his skin when she finished chanting. He could still feel it though, almost like a heavy bracelet weighing his arm down.

Robyn released him. “From here until I remove that binding you will feel it whenever I use magic. It’s going to hurt and feel like something is being drained out of you. You can also speak to me telepathically but that will hurt, too. I will teach you how in case of emergencies while we’re out but you should use it sparingly.” She turned to the other two. “Can we leave now?” No one spoke so she stood and grabbed her bag, heading towards the door. She stopped just short and turned. “Thanks for the tea and the help, Puk. And Walker, be careful. If there’s a breach in the barrier we don’t know what could have gotten in or how dangerous it could be. David, if you’re coming, let’s go. We have a lot of ground to cover today.”

Everybody started moving to their individual tasks. David caught up to her and took the bag, slinging it over his own shoulder as he followed her outside and back across the yard towards the side of the barn. There was a small shed attached to the barn that housed two 4x4s and other vehicles that she used to get around sometimes.

“I’m going to let you drive today. No sense in aggravating my shoulder any more than I have to. But you need to go exactly where I tell you and slow down when you are told. Some of the places that we are going to go into have entities that aren’t fond of the noise this thing makes.”

He loaded the backpack onto the back and climbed on. “OK. I learned my lesson earlier so your word is law for the day. But, am I allowed to ask questions of you or the entities?”

“Some of them don’t mind and some of them do. I will let you know at each area and give you a rundown of anything that you need to be aware of. We won’t see most of the entities on the property since they can be pretty reclusive. I set up safe places in each area that they can leave messages letting me know if there are any problems or if someone wants to speak directly to me. Just so you know, the map may say that this is twenty acres but it’s actually a lot more. Magic is used to make areas larger than what they seem from the outside and you will see some areas that shouldn’t be possible where we’re at.”

He started the engine. “Fair enough. Where are we going first?”

“Head down the driveway and take it slow. I need to check on Tristan and he is normally about a quarter of the way down but he wanders sometimes. I want you to hang back while I talk to Tristan. He’s kinda a special case around here and I’m not sure how he will react to someone new.”

“Can you tell me about him?” He had started down the driveway and was watching as Robyn scanned the woods for the entity.

“It’s actually a really sad story. Tristan came through the gate eons ago with his mate and the locals thought that he was some type of god. I don’t know the name of what type of entity he is but they can control the bonds between humans. Tristan ties the bonds together and his mate would weave them into a tapestry, making them stronger. The locals would come to them before marrying and would ask for their blessing on the union. Tristan’s type isn’t very physically strong so they decided to go along with them and pretend to be gods. That way they would be safe. One day, a man came and asked for their blessing but they could sense something wrong. The woman he brought seemed scared and wouldn’t meet their eyes. They refused to offer their blessing and the man got extremely angry. He waited until he found Tristan’s mate alone in the forest and killed her, cutting off her head and delivering it to Tristan. Tristan went insane. He cursed the man and his entire line, tearing apart the bonds between all of them. They became unable to maintain relationships, even with their own children and died out. Tristan never completely recovered. It’s almost like he has Alzheimer.” She motioned for him to stop. “We’ll walk from here. Just remember to stay back and, if he notices you, be as respectful as you can.”

She hopped down and walked into the woods, knowing that David would be close behind her. She thought that she might know where Tristan was and headed straight there. Moving quickly down the trail until she got close to a clearing. She looked at David over her shoulder and mouthed for him to stay put while she entered. In the center, Three large boulders were stacked on top of each other and symbols covered the majority of the surface. Kneeling in front of it was an entity whose back alone was taller than Robyn and who was wearing nothing but a loin cloth over and extremely muscular body covered in very fine brown fur. Looking around, she saw a cloak on the ground made of moss and grasses woven together. She picked it up and walked towards the figure.

“Tristan, it’s Robyn. You dropped your cloak.” She placed the cloak over his shoulders and he reached up with one hoof and pulled it around him before turning and standing. He stood over twelve feet tall and carried a magnificent set of antlers on his head with extreme pride, even though they were covered in leaves and vines that he had gotten stuck in them. He had the face and hands of an old wrinkled deer while the rest of his body appeared to be human in the prime of youth. The only clothing he would wear was a loincloth and the cloak his mate had made for him years ago. Behind her, she heard David grunt in surprise and hoped that he wouldn’t do anything to draw attention to himself.

Tristan’s voice was very soft, bring to mind wind chimes moved by a gentle breeze. “Have you come for our blessing? You will have to wait until my mate returns. Until then, leave my presence.” He turned his back to her, lifting his chin and refusing to acknowledge that she remained.

Robyn lowered her head and backed out of the clearing, nearly running into David who was frozen in shock. “Let’s go. I just wanted to make sure that he was OK so we can head to the next place now.” She pushed him back the way they came, knowing he wanted to ask questions but hoping he’d wait until they were out of earshot.

“What the hell is he? I’ve never seen anything like that even in fairy tales.”

“Most of the entities you will see won’t be found in the fairy tales that you probably know. Some might be found in some form or other in mythology or folklore but they rarely get the details right.”

“That’s amazing. I was kinda thinking that everything would be on a relatable scale, like Puk and Walker. I never expected something so big to be here and this close to the house. How do you keep people from noticing him when they come up the driveway?”

They’d made it to the 4x4 and remounted. “There’s a boundary that he can’t cross about five feet inside the woods. That and I don’t have many visitors and the ones that come aren’t looking for things in the woods. They might see part of him but they always convince themselves he’s some type of animal.”

“OK. Where are we heading next and what are we going to find once we get there?”

“Head around the house and I will tell you on the way. But take it easy on those trails. They can be pretty rough and I’m not sure how much bouncing around I can handle today.”

He took off at a steady pace, trusting that she would let him know where he needed to go and any information that was required before they got there.