Fearless Warrior: Isaacson Trilogy Book Two

6

"Thank you, brother. I'm pleased to learn your ears are working, but your hearing was never in question."

"Well, maybe it should have been. I was hit in the head after all, and my ears rang for quite some time after."

Piper gave a short laugh, "I don't believe this. Shouldn't we be making sure we're no longer in danger of being killed by those outlaws?"

"I'm pretty certain your little trick took care of them," Ulric snapped.

"It's always best to know for certain, though, wouldn't you agree?"

Ulric turned his fierce stare on Elsie and motioned her forward, "Elsie...care to enlighten us as to what your friend here is?"

Elsie's gaze darted from Piper—who gave her head a furious shake—to Ulric, who stood unrelenting in his demand for an answer. "I don't know what you mean. Piper and I are simply women who've had a terrible scare. It really is rather remarkable none of us are damaged after all we've been through, other than my bullet wound, of course, and the fact Piper has a few cuts and bruises. At least, I imagine she does. I haven't looked at her well, but who wouldn't after what she's been through? I'd be surprised if she didn't have any scratches."

"Are you done yet?" Ulric asked with a calm, polite tone, belying the irritation evident in his demeanor. At her hesitant nod, he asked, "What is she?"

She swallowed twice before saying, "I suppose you could say she's not an ordinary woman."

"I could say that, yes, but it doesn't answer my question, now does it?"

"Well, that would depend entirely upon you. It would be a perfect answer for some people, and there would never be any need to expound further upon it."

"I'm not 'some people.' I prefer direct answers."

"Yes, I have noticed that about you, but wouldn't you rather be satisfied with a simple answer in this instance? My uncle often complained about us women and our peculiarities, leaving the room if someone mentioned the topic of femininity."

"Would that be the same uncle who shot you six times?"

Piper made a choking sound and gave Elsie a frantic look as she whispered loudly, "You told them-"

Elsie shook her head and cut Piper off before she could finish her sentence, "No, they guessed. I promised you I wouldn't tell anyone about us, and I haven't, but I didn't know what else to do when I got shot earlier today and didn't stay dead like they expected me to. Perhaps if you weren't a witch and were a Femina Feles, you'd understand just how diff—" she gripped Piper's upper arm with a look of horror.

Even in the dark of night, Esmund could see Elsie pale. She closed her eyes and gasped, "Oh dear. I've said it, haven't I?"

"You're a witch?" Ulric said with a dubious frown. "Which type of witch?"

"She's definitely a bad witch," Elsie blurted out with a brisk nod.

Ulric and Esmund shared a look of skepticism and turned their attention back to the two women.

Piper groaned and covered her face with both hands as Elsie rushed to explain, "But not bad as in evil bad. She's simply bad at being a witch, as in she's not good—just like how she's bad at cooking, and I'm terrible at sewing-" Piper covered Elsie's mouth with her hand, stopping any further words.

Piper's lips bent in grimace-smile as she said, "I'm not really a witch if you must know the truth."

"Oh? Then what are you?"

She shrugged, "I believe I'm more of a fairy godmother."

Ulric nudged Esmund, "Aren't they the same thing?"

Esmund shrugged. "From what I've read, they both deal with magic, so in my mind, they are."

"Oh, no, they're nothing alike," Elsie stated as she pried Piper's hand from her mouth. "At least not in my experience, they aren't. Why, just last year, I had a...bit of a...uh, a run-in with The Matron, who I soon discovered was a witch, which explains so much about why she is the way she is. It really is a wonder I didn't realize it before."

"Witches," Piper said with authority and a nervous look at Ulric and Esmund, "are either evil or good and can use their power for themselves or others if they wish, but we fairy godmother types can only use our magic for the good of others."

"Well, yes," Elsie said with a nod. "But, I think you're forgetting about Maribel Ackley. She told me she's a fairy godmother, yet she's more evil than The Matron. Of course, Maribel is also a compulsive liar, but she is still quite evil. And we mustn't forget you're not even capable of using your magic for the good of others, which is why I said you're not a good one." Elsie turned to Esmund, "When I first arrived at Briarwood, Piper attempted to cheer me up after a particularly harrowing night only to have it end in disaster."

Against his will, Esmund found himself asking, "What happened?"

"Nothing," Piper murmured as she picked leaves and twigs from her braid. "Just your typical accident prone to happen when dealing with magic—it's a very temperamental element, as you can imagine."

"I don't believe it's as difficult as you make it, Piper, but in fairness, I also don't believe sewing should be as difficult for me as it is. My mother was marvelous at it, after all. You see, Piper attempted and briefly succeeded, I should add, to produce a flower out of thin air. But just as I reached out to touch it, the flower burst into flames and became a gigantic fireball which nearly killed both of us."

"It did not," Piper hissed. She swallowed and said with a weak smile, "It wasn't gigantic, and it certainly wasn't going to kill us."

"I beg to differ. As I remember, it was larger than both our heads combined."

"No, it wasn't."

"Yes, it was. I had to throw the contents of my chamber pot on it to put it out. I'm lucky it wasn't my month to have it emptied, or we wouldn't be standing here talking about it."

"You're exaggerating," Piper clapped her hand on Elsie's mouth again, looking at Ulric and Esmund when she said, "She's exaggerating."

Elsie pulled Piper's hand away, "I'm not, though."

"Enough about us; we should make certain those men are dead." Piper took Elsie's hand firmly in hers and walked away from Ulric and Esmund.

The brothers stood in confused silence, watching the women climb over the fallen trees and heaps of shredded debris in their path toward the McCreedy's camp.

Six minutes passed before Ulric turned to Esmund and murmured, "If I hadn't spent the day in Elsie's company and seen those two with my own eyes, I would think they were insane and needed to be institutionalized."

"You believe her?"

Ulric walked a few feet ahead, "About her being a fairy godmother?"

Esmund walked up beside him and nodded.

Ulric took a deep breath and narrowed his eyes. He turned to watch the women again and stepped forward when Piper tripped and pulled Elsie down with her. "I believe what I saw."

At Ulric's strange tone, Esmund's brow creased, "What did you see?"

Without hesitation, Ulric looked Esmund square in the eye, "A gigantic fireball, just like Elsie described, and when it exploded, it leveled the area." Ulric quickened his pace toward the two women struggling to stand amidst the tangled mess of branches they'd landed in.

Esmund rubbed the back of his head and winced when he touched the tender goose egg, marking the spot where he'd been hit. What he wouldn't give for a berry right now to take the pain away—how did ordinary humans deal with bodily infirmities without going mad? Out of habit, he checked his pockets, hoping to find a single berry.

Muttering a curse when no berry magically appeared, Esmund shoved his hands deep in his pockets and walked forward to join the others.

He hadn't taken more than ten steps when he abruptly stopped and stared in horror at the strange, thickening cloud around Ulric.

Understanding pierced his pain-filled brain mere seconds before he opened his mouth and shouted, "WATCH OUT!"