Page 19 of Earth-Bound

“About mid-thirties, sharp suit, dark hair, very serious-looking. You’ll know him if you see him. He gives off strong creep vibes.”

Not my apparition, then.

“I’ll look out for him. But I’ve not seen him around.” I stood and tucked my chair back under the table. “I guess I’d better get back to work before the boss thinks of firing me.”

Randall snorted and Broadmire, who’d come to stand in the kitchen doorway, leaning on the doorframe, gave a grunt.

I left, waving at the two of them. I felt better already. At least I still had my two friends. I saw the fox waiting at the end of the street and walked straight past her without stopping to pet her. She followed me but I just kept walking. She wasn’t following me, she was just… going in my direction. And there was nothing weird about that at all.

Chapter 10: Terrund

It was excruciating to have to wait by my tree and build my strength, knowing my mate was out there, just out of reach. But it wasn’t as though getting frustrated would help me.

I paced around, feeling the earth and trying to pinpoint where they were. Just out of my range, I could feel the familiar footsteps, the weight on the ground, and knew they were near. As I waited for them to draw near, it was the first time I’d ever wanted to move away from my own earth. Earth spirits didn’t do that. We were connected to our land. It was just that, while my mate was out of reach, I felt so helpless, almost as though I were trapped in one place. But that was ridiculous. I had been trapped before, by Mulgrave’s spell, and this was nothing like it.

I felt the footsteps of my mate as they walked around and then a jolt of fear as they set off away from me. My mate was moving away from where I was and I actually stepped forward, trying to keep pace with them, stop the distance between us grow any bigger. But I soon reached the edge of my ability to walk and my mate’s footsteps kept going and going, getting further and further away.

I must have stood there for hours, but I hardly noticed. I kept my mind on the feeling of my mate, wherever they trod on the earth, and even though our connection was faint, I took comfort in it. They would be back. They had to come back soon. It wasn’t as though they would leave forever.

At last, my mate’s footsteps came back towards me. They grew firmer and I could feel them, their even tread, their solid weight, and I sighed in pleasure. It was only when it faded that I realised there had been a sharp ache in my chest.

Slowly, I became aware of two more footsteps heading towards me. Randall and Broadmire.

They approached at a leisurely pace and I was glad to see them strolling towards me. I raised my hand to acknowledge them.

Randall waved back. When they arrived, he gave me a proud smile.

“You’re really far away from your tree! That’s impressive. Are you feeling stronger?”

I looked behind me and, for the first time, took in the distance between myself and my apple tree. I was at least three hundred yards away, much further than I’d been before. It seemed the lure of my mate was enough to draw me out. Although, even they couldn’t make me go further.

“I am indeed feeling stronger, thank you.”

Broadmire grunted, “Can you sense theridirenearby?”

“I have not looked today.” I didn’t mention that I’d been focused on my mate all day and hadn’t even thought to look for theridire. Instead, I have them both a smile and said, “I would be happy to do so, but I will need to return to my tree first.”

We walked along together and I felt the life teeming underneath me and the broken places of magic where Broadmire’s feet touched the ground. When we reached my tree, I placed my palm upon its trunk and centred myself. My magic was coming back to me, slowly, in a trickle, but coming back nonetheless.

I focused and reached into the ground, delving down and searching for the magic of theridire.

This time, I could spread my senses out further. When I came back to the surface, I took a moment to compose myself.

“I still don’t have my full power so I cannot tell you if there is aridirewithin the vicinity, but I can tell you with certainty that they are not within two miles of here.”

Randall beamed up at Broadmire. “Do you think Laura will bring Marcia back now?”

Broadmire considered and I gave a delicate cough. “I doubt a dragon will consider two miles to be sufficient territory. Especially as theridiremay roam around and come back.”

“Is that likely?”

“If theridiresaw Laura, then they will most definitely come back. If they did not, then it is unlikely.”

“Thank you, Terrund. I’ll tell Marcia this evening. You never know, Laura’s Nana might let her come back if you can’t sense theridirenear.”

I was about to reply when I felt my mate’s footsteps again. They had been paused, as though my mate were sitting, but they began to walk towards me. Well, they began to walk this way. They were still a fair distance away yet but I turned my headtowards them and scanned the distant fields, hoping to catch a glimpse of them.

“Is something the matter? Is it theridire?”

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