Page 39 of Somewhere down the Ley Line
Felix sneered at Elric. “Seems like it’s your lucky day.”
“Stop this!” Isolde blurted out, finally gathering the courage to do something. She pushed past Felix and Garren, stepping into the doorway. “Beorn overstepped. I defended myself. Luella had nothing to do with it.”
Elric’s sneer deepened. “Defended yourself? Against what?”
Isolde scowled at him. Did she really have to spell it out? “Against his refusing to take no for an answer when I rejected his advances.”
“Lies. Beorn wouldn’t –”
“You’re blaming the wrong person,” Isolde interrupted.
Elric opened his mouth to retort, before a familiar voice interjected. “What’s going on?”
Leif walked into view, clutching a spear with both hands. He looked at the people gathered in confusion.
“Stay out of this, Leif,” Elric snapped.
“Sure,” Leif said as he stepped closer. “After you tell me why you’re dragging four armed men to bully our guests.”
“You’d do well to remember where your loyalties lie,” Elric growled.
Leif pointed angrily at him. “My loyalties lie with our people, and our elder has been clear enough about the need to help the Aelithar! You’re the only one who keeps stirring up trouble; nobody else has objected.”
Elric’s hand tightened on his hilt, his jaw working. Isolde caught a slight movement from the corner of her eye – Felix shifting ever so slightly closer to her.
After a tense silence, Elric turned away. “You are lucky I respected your father as I did, Leif. We’re leaving,” he barked at the others, stomping off with his men trailing behind.
Leif fixed Felix with a mock-serious expression. “You’re welcome.”
“Thanks, Leif, but you shouldn’t have gotten involved,” Felix mumbled, his eyes still on Elric’s retreating form. “We could have handled it; you don’t need to get in trouble on our behalf.” His fingers flexed over the handle of his weapon. Isolde thought he almost looked a little disappointed. She was glad Elric had left.
Leif shrugged. “Oh, don’t worry. Getting into trouble is my favourite pastime! And Elric is just like that, always has something up his ass. All bark, no bite. Anyway, I’m getting some breakfast.” He wandered off the way he had come.
The rest of them went back inside. Felix slammed the door of the cabin closed behind him. Isolde flinched at the sound. She sat down, her hands still shaking, when Felix rounded on her.
“We need to leave,” he said flatly. “This is ridiculous.”
“I’m not ready,” she replied without thinking. “The elder –”
“The elder has told you nothing useful! Why would that suddenly change? You think she is sitting on some great big secret that she’s waiting to reveal at the right moment? You spent all day with her yesterday; if there was something of value to learn, you would have learned it by now.”
Anger surged inside her. “You don’t understand! And if you were not so hostile to everyone here, our stay would be more pleasant!” She knew it wasn’t entirely fair. He had not actually picked any fights or done anything to jeopardise their standing with the Crovan. If anyone had, it was her, with what she did to Beorn… But as soon as she felt slightly kinder towards Felix, the image of him smiling at Asara by the campfire surfaced in her mind. Smiling that sly, beautiful smile that she thought, or hoped, was for her alone, and her heart hardened.
“I’mhostile?” Felix said, waving his arms wildly. “Those assholes were out for blood! What if they hurt Luella – or worse! We should be on our way, instead of wasting time with people who don’t want us here and know nothing about your magic!”
Luella was looking between Felix and Isolde. “I don’t like to say this, Lady Isolde, but I think Felix is right.” Felix shot her a surprised look, but Isolde deflated. Was nobody going to be on her side?
“If there was anything more to be learned from the elder,” Luella continued, “or anyone else –”
“Iamlearning from her!” Isolde said, her anxiety flaring. She clutched the fabric of her clothes to keep her hands still. “Every time we speak she has some new insight, or an old story, and it is helping me to come to terms with everything that has happened…”
“You have plenty of insights yourself!” Felix said. “We know where we need to go. We know there may be more people after us, after you. You don’t have the luxury of sitting around listening to stories!”
“I am notsitting around!If you could stop being so stubborn for once, thinking you can handle everything by yourself all the time!” Isolde stood up, her fists clenched at her sides. Her magic was stirring. She did not push it down. “I know I have to go to the Nexus, but the more knowledge I have, the better our chances are! These people have traditions older than you can comprehend! But you would rather mock them than learn something useful! All you can do is be rude to everyone, and listen to nobody but yourself!”
Felix scowled. “And allyoucan do is follow others around like a lost child, hoping they will hand you all the answers instead of making your own bloody choices! You don’t even try to practice anymore. What happened to levitating rocks or creating fire? Instead, you’ve gone back to uncontrolled outbursts when you get a bit upset! How is any of this progress?!”
She flinched. “You… you don’t understand anything! You think you do, but you know nothing at all!”
