Feathers and Flame

Chapter 4

Faye stood back up and faced Tadhg, who was looking at her like she was a shiny new toy. 

“Now untie my damn hands,” said Faye, holding out her hands to him.

“Oh, I like you,” said Tadhg, catching her tied hands and pulling her close to him, “What else can you do?”

Instead of answering him, Faye raised an eyebrow and nodded at her tied hands. 

“She can tell when you’re lying,” said Colm, “She told me so. Now give us Sorcha back.”

Tadhg laughed.

“Good boy,” said Tadhg, “Go get your girl. No one will stop you. She isn’t worth the sword. Whereas this witch you’ve given me will prove very useful.”

Colm ran to untie his sister. Lorcan stayed standing where he was until she was free. Then he walked to his siblings, watching Tadhg the whole time.

“Now get out of my sight,” said Tadhg. Lorcan didn’t move. He stayed where he was and pointed to the cages.

“What are you going to do with them?” he asked. Tadhg narrowed his eyes.

“I’m going to sell them,” he said, “I’ll sell the ones smart enough to come out of the hall before I get bored too.”

Faye noticed how white Lorcan’s fists went. She noticed the way he clenched his jaw. She checked his aura and didn’t like the decision she could see he had made.

“Go,” dismissed Tadhg, “Before I change my mind.”

Lorcan nodded once, but not at Tadhg. He looked at Faye while he nodded. Then he started making the way through the crowd with his siblings. Faye didn’t like the way Tadhg looked after the siblings. She pushed her bound hands into his chest, drawing his attention back to her.

“Let my hands loose.”

Tadgh raised an eyebrow at her, clearly not used to people giving him demands. He huffed and cut the ties. Faye spread her fingers. The rope had been a little too tight and they had begun to get a little numb.

Faye walked to the table to pet the hawk, who only tried to remove one of her fingers. She carefully took the beads from it and checked it’s wings. Amazingly, nothing had been broken by the Guardian. The only damage Faye could see was that its beak was so slightly bent. The hawk watched her curiously as she checked it. As soon as she was done, the hawk took off. It circled her and Tadhg low, and showed its talons to some of the men near them.

Faye expected it to fly off, but it came back to her, landed on her shoulder and nuzzled into her face. It’s talons were sharp and she knew that under her shirt, her shoulder was bleeding. Faye barely noticed. Again she had tried to touch the bird’s emotions, but this time it didn’t push back.

Instead it showed her a memory of it returning to its nest, only to find that the Guardian had destroyed its home and eaten its chicks. Faye returned the favour and showed what had happened after the Guardian had knocked the bird out. Faye wasn’t exactly sure how she did this. Sharing memories was not part of her abilities, but it came naturally and easy to her.