The Raven & The Wolf

Chapter Forty-Seven

“Natasha!” Stanya calls, finally breaking through the crowd of onlookers, and interrupting Gedric’s response. Relief hits her face when she sees that I am okay. “How are you still standing?”

“I wrapped the earth’s filter around the core of my magic. I’m not out of the woods yet, but it seems to have helped.”

She pulls me into a gentle hug and pulls back before looking me over. “What was that magic? I’ve never felt something that strong, that wasn’t you.”

“That magic belonged to the Servant Gordon.”

Her jaw drops. “The healing prodigy?”

“Yep.”

“No wonder I couldn’t fight it.” She says quickly, grabbing my arm and pulling me inside. “Why did they do this?”

“My guess was to kill me.” I tell her, pulling her along this time. It’s best to talk about this inside.

“What?” She yells, drawing attention to us.

I give a nervous laugh. “Yeah, that’s all you had to do. I’ll teach you how to do it.” I say these words a little louder than necessary so they can hear. When they look away and resume talking amongst themselves, paying attention to something other than us, I speak in a low voice. “They’re planning something, that I’m sure of. My death is part of that plan.”

“So why don’t they just kill you?”

“They can’t physically kill me on this plane. However, they can cause circumstances that do. Gordon was trying to push me to exhaustion. That way I go past my overload phase and straight to death.”

“So I was right not to trust leaving you alone?” Stanya demands.

I give a heavy sigh while she gives me a critical look. “Yes.”

“I knew it!” She cries in a low tone. “Why go after a six year old?”

“I’m assuming it’s because I was supposed to be six when I died.” I answer before we step into the crowded infirmary. They’re all surrounding Maya, who is still sleeping in her mother’s arms. “I was not expecting her to be the patient Drew asked us to look at.”

“I know,” Stanya agrees. “I felt sick just looking at her. She’s so small. She should be playing. Not sleeping in here. I hope she doesn’t remember what happened.”

“Only parts,” I tell her, sliding down the wall to sit and rest against it. I cannot get to the beds because of the crowd.

Stanya sits next to me while I look for Gedric. Where did he go? “What did you do Natasha?” Stanya hisses at me. “You did not just remove a six year old’s memory.”

“Only her interaction with the Fates, and waking up earlier.” I tell her, shuddering at that memory. She was so scared, and they barely paid attention to her while they watched me trying to heal her. Maya asked Mikal,” I roll my eyes at the name, “if I was going to die. He told her that I’m going to die trying to save her. I’m just grateful her little mind didn’t understand that means she would die too.

“When she told him to help me he yelled at her; “She’s who I want, and I will kill her how I want.” Then shoved her towards Articus. That’s when she realized that the man who is going to be the cause of my death was standing right next to her. She started to cry, and Mikal silenced her with his magic. She spent the rest of the time crying and being terrified that he was going to hurt her.

“So yes, I did remove that part of her memory. She will remember the attack, the fall, and waking up here when she does wake, but not the in-between. It’s bad enough she got hurt because of me, but I’m not going to leave her with that fear in her life.”

Stanya sits in silence. “You did the right thing Nat, but this isn’t because of you. It’s because the Fates are inhuman and have no morals. I can’t believe they went after a child.”

“They killed unborn children to gain Articus,” I tell her in an angered tone. “I can believe they would do this. They do not care who, or what you are. They do not care of the cost. They’re willing to put me into an overload, wiping out thousands of people, just to force me to serve them.”

“That’s disturbing.” Stanya says, looking me over. “Can you show me what she saw?” She leans against me and rests her head.

Silently, I draw her magic and touch her forehead, playing the events in her mind. She stiffens and I can feel her fear. It’s amplified because she can feel Maya’s at the time.

Gedric comes into view, carrying two plates of food, making me smile. He looks over to Stanya and sees her wide eyes. “What’s wrong with her?”

“She’s watching what happened to Maya.” I say, taking the plate when he offers it to me. It’s not a salad, but fried meat with sliced apples cooked in a sweetened glaze for a side dish.

“I figured you’d be hungry,” Gedric explains. “And we still have yet to go on a proper date.”

I laugh, a little manically from my stress, but mostly wholeheartedly. “We seem to keep getting interrupted.”

Stanya sits up at that moment and gives me wide eyes. “That was horrible. How could they treat a terrified child like that?”

“Because they don’t feel remorse, only greed.” I tell her, taking a bite of the meat. My body warms at its taste, making me instantly smile. “This is so good!” I tell Gedric before taking another bite. He laughs, watching me eat with a bit of amusement.

“Okay, I officially support you taking that memory. That was terrifying.”

Gedric gives me a hard look at that. “Nat, you did what?”

I take a deep breath, frustrated that I must explain it again. “I removed the girl’s memory of her time with the Fates, and when she woke up. Nothing else, I swear. She’ll remember the fall and waking up here.”

He looks over at Stanya, seeing she’s still pale from the memory. “Was it that bad?”

Stanya shudders. “When you feel it from her point of view, and with your mental understanding of things, it’s worse than any nightmare that little girl could conjure. That girl would be scarred for the rest of her life. Trust us. It was the right call.”

I shake my head. “I still hate that I did it. It’s against my morals, but sometimes it’s necessary. If she wants any shot of a normal life, it had to be removed.”

“Did you tell her mother?”

“Hell no,” Stanya and I say together. I answer his confused look. “When people who do not understand the Sheika, or magic, find out we can alter their memory, their response is always fight. They’ll attack us to protect themselves. They become overly paranoid and will not trust anyone with access to magic.”

“It’s happened a few times,” Stanya adds on. “We’ve lost a few of us for that exact reason. The Magicnite have used this ability as a weapon against their victims, while the Sheika refuse to since it’s against our values. That is the main difference between us. We use magic to help or to defend us. Only people who do not know this, always go straight for their initial reaction, which is to get rid of the threat.”

“So you’re not going to tell the mother?” Gedric asks for clarification.

“No!” We nearly shout at him.

I touch his hand. “Gedric, what was your reaction when I told you I took your memory?”

He thinks back. “Yeah, let’s not tell the already hysterical mother that you did that.” He gives me a thoughtful look. “Can you show me?”

Stanya quickly pulls my hand away from Gedric. “Lets not make her do more than she already has. Here,” she says, drawing her magic and touching his forehead.

While he watches, I eat the meat while Stanya snacks on the apples. After a while, we switch off and she finishes my meat while I eat the rest of the apples. We were both pretty hungry, and I had forgotten she hadn’t eaten.

After we’re done, we both look at Gedric. He’s still sitting there with his eyes unfocused. “Shouldn’t he have snapped out of it by now?” Stanya asks while taking the plate from me.

“He’s still getting used to magic,” I say, turning towards Gedric. I touch his cheek and turn his head towards me. “Ged, are you okay?” I ask him softly. His eyes snap towards me, panic still in his distant eyes. My raven mark begins to tingle, sensing Fate magic. “Articus?” I ask him.

I see his eyes move up and down slightly. “Say his name and tell him to release you; or I’ll come in there and do worse to him than what I did to Gordon.” I still don’t know what it was, but I know it hurt.

Gedric grabs my arm, my magic automatically reacting and diving towards the safety of the earth’s filter. He suddenly lets go, but his veins are standing out on his arm. I touch him after coating my magic’s core with the earth’s filter.

I jump into Gedric’s mind, seeing what he’s seeing. Articus is talking to Gedric. “You can’t let her help. You have to make her immobile.” Articus tells him with urgency in his voice.

“I will not hurt her,” Gedric growls.

“You’ve proven that, but you’re being an idiot. If she fights, she’s going to die, regardless of the deal. There is one deal she’ll make, no matter what it costs her. You can’t let her. They’re going to do it if she wins. I can’t lose this. I can’t. She’s my only hope out of this.”

I picture myself in Gedric’s mind, taking over the conversation. “Articus, if you do not leave Gedric alone, I will be forced to harm you. Is that what you want?”

“Natasha, leave us.” Articus growls.

“You see, I’ve had a very long day thanks to your demented masters, so I’m inclined to say no. In fact, I’ll shout it. No! How about you leave? I can remove you the same way I did Gordon from that innocent little girl, or you can peacefully leave.”

“You wouldn’t.” Articus says, mentally taking a step back. “He can’t even see out of his eye, Natasha. You even hurt the Fate that was inside him. Mikal is pissed.”

“Good,” I snap. “They deserve it after what he did.”

“It’s not like we have a choice Natasha. You cannot go against the Fates. It’s impossible. You fight it harder than you ever thought possible, but your body still does it. It’s like you’re a puppet, and you can’t fight it. It’s horrible. Gordon fought this one harder than he ever has. They took over his body and forced him to do it. He didn’t have a choice. We’re not monsters. This is hell for us. I’d rather be in hell than doing this.”

Okay, now I feel bad. “Fine. I’ll heal Gordon if you punch Mikal for me.”

“Deal, now leave.”

“I’m not leaving you alone with him.”

“Nat, leave.” Gedric tells me, his voice hard.

This honestly hurts me, sending shock through me. “Gedric…”

“Now,” he snaps.

“If you hurt him, or trick him into a deal, I’ll destroy you.” I threaten Articus as I retreat from Gedric.

When I lower my hand from Gedric, Stanya touches me. “What happened?”

“He’s talking to Articus,” I say, my voice concerned.

“What, why?” Stanya demands as she turns me to face her.

“When I showed up, he was trying to get Gedric to hurt me. I think Articus was going to force me into another overload, because Gedric told him that he won’t hurt me. Articus wanted to incapacitate me.” I look over my shoulder to give Stanya a pained and confused look. “He told me to leave, Stan. Why would he do that?”

“I don’t know,” Stanya answers, her face concerned.

“There you are,” Drew calls, catching our attention. “It’s a bit crowded. Come to my office and I’ll fix your leg.” I nod and stand, leaving Stanya to keep watch over Gedric.