The Misadventures of Annika Brisby (32 page)

“No time for chit-chat, my friends,” the mysterious knight said with perfect timing. “We need to get out of here as quickly and quietly as possible.”

Ghassan was pawing the ground anxiously when they stepped out of the stale cave air and into the clear, starry night. Midas was pulling on the rope that tethered him to his tree, and the other horses seemed just as eager to get as far away from the cave as they could. It was freezing cold outside, but at least the worst of the tension was gone, as everyone wiped the guano from their boots and untied their horses from the trees under the waning moonlight.

“When did you find the time to acquire so many friends, Nikola? I thought you were too busy climbing trees to meet people,” he rumbled in a great big voice, leaning his shield against a tree. He was downright cheerful, a welcome change from the fear that Annika and the nymphs were experiencing. The burly man walked up to Nikola and grabbed the horns of his helmet before jerking it over his eyes, laughing mightily as he did so.

“Are you going to introduce us, or not?” he asked, and when he saw Sariel standing en garde with her hand on her sword, his eyes shone even brighter. Nikola re-situated his helmet and made the introductions to the man and then turned to the group.

“This is my older brother, Justinian,” he said modestly.

“Your
brother
?” a few voices cried in disbelief.

“Yes, can you see the resemblance?” Nikola joked. The two men looked absolutely nothing alike. He turned his horned helmet up to the knight. “Now what are you doing, spending time with a crowd like that?”

“I can’t discuss that openly, but I was certainly glad to see Konstantin,” Justinian answered with a jovial smile and hefted himself up onto the back of the sturdy draft horse that had been waiting for him. “He told ol’ Vladi that you were going to need my kind of help. How can I say no to family?”

“I say we get as far away from here as possible. How do we know that those vampires won’t come after us tonight?” Zaven wondered. “They can follow our scent, can’t they?”

“There is no risk of them following us,” Konstantin assured them.

“How can I believe that, when you let Vladislav terrorize my sister?” Talvi demanded. “It’s bad enough that you left us alone in there.”

“I knew you were safe,” Konstantin casually replied before swinging into the saddle of his horse.

“Safe?” Talvi huffed, jumping onto Ghassan before he rode up beside the vampire. “We could have been killed down there, and you say we were
safe
?”

“Yes,” Konstantin said, giving him a dirty look. But then it melted into a smirk as he continued. “Nothing could have happened with Nikola standing beside you. He could have killed them all with a mere glance.”

While most of the party looked at Nikola with astonished admiration, Talvi just seemed that much more annoyed with the druid’s existence. But Nikola only offered a modest shrug and smiled mysteriously before he nudged his elk forward.

They rode for a few hours, but decided to make camp and continue on their journey after a solid night’s rest. So far on the trip the land had been either rolling hills or open plains, but now the ground grew rocky and unpredictable, much like Talvi’s attitude. It had gotten so cold that finally the tents were pitched to keep out the wind, one for the men, and one for the women and the fairies.

“So,” Sariel said, rubbing her hands together to warm them as the others lay out their bedrolls in a little circle. “What was Vladislav so angry about? Did it have to do with the bites on your arm?”

“Yes,” Yuri replied quietly, making sure the men couldn’t hear her through the tent walls as they stood outside swapping stories of their fiercest battles and greatest victories. It was amusing to Annika, that even among elves, druids, and vampires in a parallel world, that they acted so much like guys on Earth. “Basically he told Konstantin that…” She looked down at the ground and blinked vigorously. “He said that if his loyalty was compromised in any way because of me…he would…he would send my head back to my parents.” There was a fearful silence as the words struck the listeners’ ears.

“Are you’re sure he didn’t hurt you?” asked Dardis.

“Talvi was worried sick. We all were,” Hilda said.

“You have to stop whatever is going on with Konstantin right away,” Sariel hissed. “Is he really worth dying for?”

“You don’t understand what we have, what we are,” she insisted. “Neither does Vladislav. He’s afraid Konstantin will leave him, and then he’ll be alone with only the weaker vampires. Without fresh blood from modern humans, his army will continue to weaken until there’s nothing left of it.”

“What’s wrong with that?” Sariel asked contemptuously. “His era of reign has passed. Nikola was right…he’s an old dog with no teeth; a general over an army of invalids.”

“He looked to me like he had plenty of teeth left,” Annika said, shivering at the thought.

“He can’t stand the thought of losing the power he once held,” Yuri told them while she wrapped herself in warm wool blankets. “Konstantin said Vladislav used to torture the weakest, youngest ones. He would drain them and then only allow them a small amount of blood, and then leave them in the sun to burn. That was his idea of testing their loyalty. He needs Konstantin to help him rebuild his legion.”

“And you’re going to steal him away when he needs him the most?” Runa looked scared.

“You’ve got to stop this, Yuri,” Hilda warned, appearing more like Sariel in her intense gaze than ever before. “You’re too young to die.” Yuri looked at her friend skeptically.

“I’m not planning on it. Konstantin and I have other arrangements.”

“Such as…?” Sariel pressed, but Yuri made a gesture with her hand implying that she was through speaking.

“You know what I’m wondering?” Annika asked, happy to change the subject for Yuri’s sake. “I wonder how Justinian can hang around the Dark Horse, surrounded by a bunch of vampires and not worry about being attacked. Sure he’s a knight, but he’s still a regular human guy like Nikola.”

“Yes, give or take a hundred pounds of pure muscle, which Nikola does
not
have,” Dardis laughed.

“Nikola has muscles!” Chivanni defended. “He’s just not built like his brother. Justinian is like a great big ox standing next to all those slender deer out there.” All the girls laughed, imagining the comparison. Annika had to admit, Justinian looked like a professional wrestler or bodybuilder underneath all of his armor. Compared to the toned, lithe elves and Nikola, he looked like a brick wall.

“He’s not just a knight. He’s a paladin. It’s different,” Sariel said.

“What’s a paladin?” Annika asked. She had never heard of this word before.

“They’re sacred knights, and very skilled in magic. They have the ability to heal with their touch,” Sariel informed her.

“Like elves?” Annika asked.

“Even more so,” Yuri said.

“They can the harness energy from their surroundings to protect them, and anyone very close to them. They’re bound by loyalty and honor, they’ll fight to their death for what they believe in,” said Sariel.

“I wonder what he believes in?” Dardis said.

“I don’t know. I was meaning to ask,” Sariel said, looking down at her feet. There was definitely a pixie dust-free smile on her face, for the first time in a very long time.

the jealous boyfriend

Annika got dressed quickly the next morning and went to help Chivanni with breakfast while Dardis slept in. The sun was shining and the fire was already burning. Zaven sat on a blanket nearby with Nikola, who was sewing a leather chin strap into the side of his helmet to help keep it in place. Justinian was showing Sariel a few sword fighting techniques she didn’t know, and Talvi was shooting targets with Runa and Hilda. So far, he was in the lead.

“I didn’t notice how bright your hair is, Annika,” Justinian said as she whipped eggs, sugar and flour in a bowl. “I didn’t get a very close look at it last night. I don’t know what they say about redheads on Earth, but here on Eritähti they say redheads are more magical than others, besides being hot-tempered and feisty to boot.” He blocked a strike from Sariel’s sword and laughed. “Though it seems redheads are not the only ones who are so feisty.”

“I would like to know just who
they
are, since
they’re
always saying that,” Annika said, tossing her long red mane before she went back to making pancakes.

“She is definitely feisty, I’ll tell you that much,” Talvi agreed, shooting an arrow straight into the center of the target.

“For not being a natural redhead, you do have many characteristics of one,” Nikola observed as he lay back and examined his helmet, admiring his handiwork. Talvi slowly lowered his bow and glared at Nikola as if he were ready to shoot him next. “I mean, such intense red you see on fairies like Chivanni, but on people, it’s not natural,” Nikola said quickly, but it was too late to take back his words. Annika didn’t have visible roots just yet, and there weren’t too many other ways to know her true color.

“I dye it every other month or so,” Annika said quickly, hoping no one else noticed Talvi’s reaction to what Nikola had just said. “I think it suits me.”

“It does,” Talvi and Nikola both said at the same time. Their eyes met and the look Talvi shot him might very well have killed him if it weren’t for Nikola’s innocent smile. Sariel, Runa and Hilda exchanged glances as Talvi threw his bow to the ground. He was obviously livid, or he never would have treated his beloved weapon with such disrespect.

“Is there anything else you’d like to share with the group?” he asked, stepping over to where Nikola was lying. He didn’t bother getting up, and he didn’t seem too threatened either. “Well? Anything at all?”

“No, I’m fairly certain that was all I had to say,” he said in a calm, unconcerned voice, but he looked Talvi straight in the eye when he said it. Talvi on the other hand was seething, his fists curled at his side. He drew one of them backwards, and Annika winced, hoping that he would be more considerate of Nikola’s face than he had been of his kitchen door at home, but thankfully Justinian had rushed over to them, stepping between the young men just in time to save Nikola’s bone structure.

“I don’t know what’s going on between you two, but enough with it! We have a task to complete together, and we’re only as strong as our weakest link.” He waited until Talvi took a deep breath and realized it was probably pointless to take on a skilled druid and his brawny paladin brother. Justinian stepped back and ordered them to shake hands. Nikola held his out for Talvi to take, but the elf spitefully turned on his heel and walked past the others, stooping to retrieve his bow before he disappeared into the trees.

“I think we redheads are seriously overrated,” Chivanni said to Annika, looking towards the direction Talvi had gone. “If anybody around here is hot-tempered, it’s
that
one!”

“What’s his problem lately?” Zaven asked.

“I think he’s got a pine needle in his pants,” was Annika’s dry reply, and with that she returned her focus to making breakfast.

Talvi didn’t come back until everyone had eaten and was ready to leave. He kept them waiting almost an hour, and when he returned, he wouldn’t look in Nikola’s direction unless it was down his nose. He was still sulking when they headed out, and the others rode ahead while he intentionally lagged behind. Annika slowed down Galileo to walk beside him.

“You know Talvi,” she began with a heavy sigh, “When Vaj attacked me, I was still in the spring.”

“I’m not an imbecile,” he scowled.

“So…it’s not very common to take a bath with your clothes on, right?” she persisted, trying to be logical with him. He looked at her sideways, and she could have sworn she heard him say,
“You must think me incredibly daft to believe any of what you’re about to say.”

“I guess what I’m trying to say is that if you’re being drowned while you’re trying to take a bath, the person rescuing you might just happen to see you naked. That’s all that happened out there. I figured you’d put two and two together,” she said quickly.

“I figured it out long before you thought I did; I just thought he had more class than to mention it in front of everyone,” he said sharply.

“He didn’t mean to…it was an accident,” she argued. “And no one would’ve given it a second thought if you hadn’t made a big deal about it and acted like the jealous boyfriend.” Talvi bit hard into his lip and looked at her with suspicious eyes.

“How else shall I act?” he asked. He stopped Ghassan and she coaxed Galileo to stand next to him, still unsure of how skilled he was at reading her exact thoughts, at seeing what she had seen with her own eyes, and felt in the darkest pit of her desire.

“How else shall I act, Annika?” he repeated. “Would you prefer that I pay no mind to the fact that you and Nikola are both humans of the same age? Would you prefer that I not notice your matching amulets that I really don’t understand, and now you seem to be able to read his mind when even I can’t? Add to this the fact that he killed the vampire that I was only so fortunate to pull you away from,
and
he saved your life,
and
he has seen you undressed, and you want me to
pay no mind
?”

“He was just in the right place at the right time. I don’t know why you have to act so jealous,” Annika said, trying to make him see her point of view. “If Runa had been attacked, you would have done the same thing.” No sooner had she spoken her words, Talvi looked like he’d just been slapped in the face.

“If Runa had been attacked, I can assure you, there would have been quite a few things I would have done differently.”