Our Tough Traveling Continues

As Jinge and Donal saddled up their horses and consulted the map again, I walked over to Ciaran and stood next to him timidly, squeezing my hands together.

           After a while, he said “I’m sorry for yelling at you.”

            I nodded. “I’m sorry we’re not going with your plan.”

            “Yeah, I’m really not happy about it.”

“It’s an age-old argument,” I said. “When two people are unwilling to let the other be in danger, or make the sacrifice. It’s borderline cliché, in fact.”

“That doesn’t make it any easier.”

“No.” I sighed. “But you can’t protect me to the point of controlling me.”

“Controlling you?” he looked at me in surprise.

“I mean, if I say I’m willing to risk my life for something important, it’s my decision, not yours.”

“What about my decisions? You said yourself that I wasn’t allowed to come close to dying.”

“Oh, yeah, I did.” I scratched my neck, embarrassed. “Well, I can’t stop you either.”

“I still don’t like the idea.” Ciaran said.

I reached for his hand and held it. “I know.” We stood that way for a while.

“You’ll just have to be sure to save me.” I said. “Even if he hurts me, and even if he wipes my memory and sends me away, you can find me again.”

“Would it be worth it to you?”

“What?”

“If you forgot everything about the Faery world, and had a chance to start over without a regret, would it be worth it to remember all of this?”

“Of course it would! What are you talking about?”

“I just -- I’ve been really selfish. Plucking you from your ordinary life, dropping you back in, without even considering that you might want a normal life for once --”

“Yes you did!” I couldn’t believe this guy. “I don’t know what kind of warped person you think you are inside your head, but you’ve been really nice to me, and I really like you! I don’t know how this is going to end, but I don’t want to lose any of my memories, especially not the ones with you.” I held his hand tighter. “And if that happens, don’t let me miss you for the rest of my life without even knowing why.”

“Ashlyn,” Ciaran began in a quiet, strained voice. “That’s the least that could happen. You don’t know Brand. He’s had a very... cruel side to him, ever since we were children. It was years before I could protect myself from him. He’s always been stronger, smarter, and equipped with a silver tongue that would get him out of trouble. Next to him, I’m powerless.”

“Physically, or...?” I asked.

“In most ways. He’s always had the upper hand with me. If there was something I wanted, he’d be sure to take it, just to show me that he was the best. I left to live on my own just to get away from him.” he paused. “I didn’t want you to know this side of me. When I met you, you were so free of everything that I grew up saturated in. Look, I know this sounds petty, and it is petty, but... I never wanted you to meet him.”

Ciaran covered his face with his free hand. “I thought if he never found out about you, then he couldn’t take you away from me. He’s already tried, so it’s too late for that, but letting you fall into his hands like this is the worst idea imaginable. Still,” he turned to face me with a rueful smile. “That’s why it should work. I doubt he’d expect us to do something this stupid.”

“So you’ll go along with it?” I asked.

            “Unhappily, but yes.” he kissed my cheek and pulled me into a hug. “But I’m not sending you in unarmed.”

           "All right, no one said you had to." I replied.

           We joined Donal and Jinge. The sun had about an hour before it would set, and it was getting dim in the trees.

“We’re ready to go!” I said.

            “Good! We’ll be heading East.” Donal answered. “And quickly. It just occurred to us that someone may have noticed our sparring match earlier and may now be coming to investigate.”

“Yeah, I thought we were supposed to be hiding. What was with that?”

Jinge glanced somewhat sheepishly at the tree he’d cut down. “He wasn’t training seriously enough.”

“We should be all right. I did lock all the gates.” Donal said.

“There are other ways for him to find us.” Jinge reminded him.

“He'll still have to find a way to get to us. And I don't think he's worked out transportation yet.”

“Transportation?” I asked.

“It's sort of a new invention.” Ciaran explained. “We’ve developed a way to transport ourselves to various locations in both worlds. Although it was used by the faery king anciently, hardly anyone has done it since. It’s the technique we used to transport you to the cottage, since you'd been there before. It helps if the person has been to both locations before. Only a few people besides us have actually done it successfully. You're the first person to be transported long-distance.”

“You mean you experimented with me?” I felt alarmed. I hadn’t taken them for mad scientists.

There was a pause. “We knew it would work,” Donal said uncomfortably.

“Yes, I mean, it was our first time trying it with someone else long distance, but we'd practiced the basics so many times --” Ciaran added.

“Why are you two babbling on?” Jinge interrupted, and turned his rather frightening eyes towards me. “It worked, and you're not dead or captured. There's nothing to squawk about. Brand might know where we are, so yes, we should start moving again. If we stay away from the human town no one should notice me, and we'll make it to the gate in a few hours.”

“Fair enough.” I shrugged.

We mounted the horses again, and Ciaran pulled me up behind him. “You’re going to learn how to resist mind control before we reach the gate.”

            “Oh, am I?” I held onto him as the horse bounded forward.

            “Yep! And you’re going to learn how to hide and protect yourself as well.” he called over his shoulder. “I want you to be out of the way once the fighting starts.”

“How are you going to teach me on the back of a horse?”

“You can hear me, can’t you? That’s how you’re going to learn.”

           I sighed. All day, while we had been walking, planning, and being anxious, I was hoping to doze off and rest while he held the reins. No such luck. And sadly, no naps for the bait-to-be.