Treeline

Chapter 13

We walked for days. I invited Zann back to my home but for some reason he didn't take me up on it. We headed the opposite way toward the mountains that I could hardly see the tops of. Coward.

I didn't explode Morai. That slowed us down immensely as she had little legs. I had little legs too, much little than hers but I didn't stop to complain about it every few minutes. I was also little enough to ride on Zann's shoulder so I had little need to. Every time she would cry out that she was too tired and couldn't possibly go another step, Zann would stop and let her rest for a while. This frustrated me to no end and I told him frequently that we should just leave her and keep going.

She never stopped talking either. Zann seemed happy enough to listen but started taking up the habit of pretending to sleep once we were stopped.

The feeling appeared mutual between Morai and I. I'd catch her looking at me strangely whenever she thought Zann wasn't looking. That look sent chills along my spine. She looked hungry. I didn't worry too much though, my magic could easily take care of a little human child; I was especially confident after the recent triumph over the baralich. That being said, Zann let me keep my magic in the chance of another freak monster sighting and I kept a few hummingbirds around me when I slept.

One day the salt just stopped and we were once again on dirt. I leaped from Zann's shoulder and hugged the nearest bush. It was prickly and uninviting but I had never been happier to hold something green. The landscape was still sparse, I guessed the salt wasn't far under the dirt which stopped any large trees from growing, but we would be closer to our destination wherever that was. I was sick of travelling.

Morai rolled her eyes when she saw me hug the plant and dropped to the ground. Zann followed suit a little ways away from her. He brushed some rocks away then lay down and was soon fast asleep. I was about to do the same under the inviting coolness of the bush when I felt the girl's eyes burning into my back.

I spun. "What do you want?" The words started off in accusing tone then died down as I realized it was no longer a girl in front of me. The beast was about the size of a large dog with thick black shaggy fur. It looked more like a cat though, an oddly proportioned cat with two very long pointed ears sticking up on the sides of its head. A purple hue drifted from the beast's mouth.

I wasn't fazed. The wind flickered around me and filled with hummingbirds. I looked at Morai with a bored expression. So what, she could change into a beastie. That didn't stop her from being one of the most annoying things I had ever encountered.

"We can work together, Treel." It still had her squeaky voice.

I glanced over to Zann. "I'm listening."

"You want to go home. I can help you with that."

She wasn't so annoying anymore. "How?"

The beast tore at the ground with her claws, big clods of dirt.

"Where Zann is taking us, they'll sniff me out in a moment. I need you to help get me in with your magic."

"How?"

"You need to figure that out."

She was being horribly vague. Most of my magic was for destruction so I had no idea how that was supposed to help her hide her foul stench at all. At the same time, if she could help me get home then the least I could do would be to try.

"Deal."

The beast's mouth opened in a wide smile showing rows of sharp teeth. Then with a swirl of purple she melted back into the girl and curled up in a ball to sleep.

I tucked myself under the bush but had trouble falling asleep myself. Grey told me about Pookas. It was yet another lesson that I hardly listened to. Who knew that all the information he had would actually come in useful. I wished he had've told me more.

As I lay under the bush thinking of Grey's lessons I couldn't help but think about Rowan and how much better it would have been if he were in my place. Of course I wouldn't wish anything horrible on him -- though I was reminded that he would still be struggling with the curse on his shoulder, all my doing. No, it would just be that he'd be so much better at it than I would be. I was always tugging him away from Grey's lessons while he sat, fixed with such sharp focus. He would know exactly what to do, if he could trust the Pooka, if she could actually free me. He wouldn't have been childish enough to blow up tables in the marketplace, bringing forth a baralich and making it so Zann had to walk from the market for days instead of just ride his bird. He wouldn't had stupid thoughts about changing a human into a faerie in the first place.

When he told me the regiment was leaving the following morning I had thought I wouldn't miss him. I was so mad at him that he wouldn't just blindly follow me with whatever I wanted to do. I didn't care what he wanted and yet he was always the one who knew what was best. I knew that. I always knew that yet I didn't care.

I wrapped myself into a ball, pulling my knees to my chest.

Tears carried me to sleep.