Half Magic | Book 2

Nineteen: Redemption

I sat by Kai, watching with increasing nerves at the approaching shapes of the riders and hunters. Thanks to the wrappings they riders wear, I couldn't see Tali's expression and Meon's was as blank as it usually was.

"Do you think they know we fixed it?" I asked sheepishly.

Kai snorted a laugh. "Yes, Wren. They know you did something anyway."

"I couldn't have done it without you," I said. "All of you, actually."

Kai didn't respond to that. He actually just sat in silence as we watched the approaching Khusuru. I sensed Schula and Nassir above me, likely making their way back over the stone since we were split up after the fixing of the witch's mark.

Hooves in the sand kicked up small clouds as the horses drew near. I waited with bated breath as Tali finally got close enough to slow her horse, letting it come to a stop in front of us.

All I could see under the cloths that kept her face protected was her eyes, and they were wide and bright.

"Aoyi'ka. What have you done to the stone?" she asked.

My eyes met with Kai's. She wasn't asking about him, not yet anyway.

I stood from where we were sitting on the sand as Tali dismounted, followed by her riders and the hunters.

"The stone should be fixed now," I said. "If I'm right in my assumptions, a witch helped one of your shaman bind the stone in the first place. It's back up and running."

I think.

Tali made the symbol of evil over her chest, but in a reverse motion. The other Khsuru did the same.

"We thank you for what you've done for us, aoyi'ka. The Khusuru are in your debt. Please come to the village if you ever need us," Tali said, then turned to Kai. "But you, I will need you to come back with me."

Instant panic filled me, and was reflected in Kai's expression. Tali and a couple of the other Khusuru began to round on Kai when I reached out a hand to stop them. I opened my mouth to say something, but my friends beat me to it.

"Wait!" A wall of sand and dirt shot up between Kai and Tali, cracks of ice frosted over it as well. The Khusuru immediately backed up, and the hunters drew their atlatls.

My eyes shot to the top of the Stone of Souls where Schula and Nassir both stood. Puko, who had been with me until I stood up, had flown up to land on Nassir's shoulder.

"Your curse is broken only because Kai was here," Schula said.

"Without his knowledge we would not have fixed it," Nassir added.

"And," I said, drawing their attention back down to me. "His very blood is in the spell that binds it."

Tali looked sternly between me, the wall, and the two fae that stood on their sacred stone. Her expression revealed nothing, not even a hint at how she was going to take this information.

"You have lied to us." Tali spat in the sand, turning on her heel to leave.

"They have rescued the stone," One of the riders whispered to her as she too a few steps away.

Tali's jaw clenched as she whirled back around at us with a hurt expression. "I believe this nature from the aoyi'ka. They know no better than their own nature. But you, Kai, are still descendant of a Manaaban'tu and an jadaama and should know better."

"And you would punish the one who helped us heal your stone?" I asked.

A vein in her temple pulsed as she scowled at me. "You would not understand, aoyi'ka."