Page 67 of Somewhere down the Ley Line
Mia laughed and mimicked his sigh with dramatic exaggeration. “Would that I could, Felix, but those clever hands of yours…”
“Shut up, Mia,” he grumbled.
“Lighten up,” she said as she poked him in the shoulder. “Tell me about her. What is she like? What’s with the magic? Does she like you back? Surely not. Someone like her… Oh, but this is wonderful! Think of the ballads I can write! Grand emotions. Forbidden love. Heartbreak! It will be exquisite.”
“I could stab you and leave you here to die.”
Mia scoffed. “Do it, then.”
Felix sighed again. “Go to sleep.”
“Weaver, Felix, you used to be fun. Tell me something about her.”
“No.”
Shelooked at him intently, then frowned and touched his arm. “Please?”
He absentmindedly shrugged her hand off. How could he begin to tell her about Isolde? He stared off into the distance. “She’s smart,” he heard himself say. “Smart and stubborn and braver than she has any right to be. Kind, too, even to those who don’t deserve it. And gorgeous.” The memory of the strange mind-sharing experience surfaced, and he smiled. “And yeah, I think she does like me back. Don’t ask me why.” His head felt fuzzy. Why was he telling Mia all this? He twisted to look at her. Her grin was diabolical.
“Did you use your… your mind magic shit on me?”
She made a face and shrugged. “You could have told me like a normal person would. What about your oblivious, dog-loving friend? In what backwater did you find him? He seems sweet, though. You think he’s a virgin?”
Felix gave her a dirty look. “Leave Leif alone.”
“Why? I could show him a thing or two. Or three…”
“Please, go to sleep.”
Mia huffed. “Ugh. I hope the other people you travel with are more fun.” She got up and shuffled around for a while, settled on a spot, rolled herself in her cloak and eventually drifted off.
Felix wondered with some wry amusement just how fun Mia would consider Garren and Luella to be.
23
The bard's tale
As evening fell on the second day that Leif and Felix had been gone, and Isolde was about to combust from the stress and worry, they returned.
Luella spotted them first, of course. She jumped up from where she’d been sitting and all but ran to the end of the gully. Isolde followed behind, hope surging in her chest. But Luella halted abruptly, and her hand moved to the sword at her hip.
“You were supposed to gather information, not pick up stray women! Where are your horses? What thefuck,Felix?”
Isolde barely heard Luella’s complaints. Felix was back. He was safe. She almost fell to her knees with relief at the sight of him. His eyes found her right away, dark and stormy. It had only been two days, but missing him had been like an ache she couldn’t suppress.
But he had brought a woman…? Not just any woman, either. She looked like a storybook heroine, effortlessly pretty and graceful, but sharp around the edges, and there was something strangely familiar about her that Isolde could not quite place. She carried a lute; was she a minstrel of some kind? A thick braid of golden blonde hair draped over her shoulder, with a few loose strands artfully framing her face. Her large green eyes swept over the people assembled and landed on Isolde with a warm smile.
Leif, meanwhile, produced a squirming puppy from the folds of his cloak with a sheepish grin. “We, uh… met Mia in the city,” he babbled. “Um, and I found this little guy! His name is Biscuit!”
“You also got adog?”Luella sputtered. “Is the rest of the travelling circus following behind?”
Garren crossed his arms and scowled. Felix gestured at the newcomer. “Mia, Luella. Luella, Mia,” he said. Then he paused, his eyes still on Isolde. The silence stretched, and the woman – Mia – grinned in Felix’s direction. He cleared his throat. “That is Garren. And this is –”
“Lady Isolde,” Mia finished for him, then stepped around Garren. When she got closer, Isolde drew back reflexively. Mia was not a mage, but she unmistakably carried a small, tightly coiled reserve of magic within her. Her own power wanted to reach out to it, and she had to forcibly restrain herself from doing just that.
Mia kept a careful distance. “It is so good to meet you, Lady Isolde,” she said smoothly. “I apologise for arriving uninvited. Like you, I travelled north from Azuill. I am a bard, and I trade in… information. I have a lot to tell you.”
Isolde stared at her. Finally, she gave her head a little shake. “Forgive me,” she said, “but… how did you end up here? I can’t imagine Felix and Leif told you about me…”
