Page 97 of Bound Paths
They were almost to the village of Eris. Rose could see the mist hanging around it as they rode. “We’ll have to see if we can move it from the outside,” she said. She hadn’t had time to make a weapon for Darren though she would eventually.
“Let’s give it a try,” Carter hedged.
The Compass Points hopped off their horses outside the gates. It was easy now for Rose to make the internal connections of their magic. In a matter of moments, she was at her internal lake, the power of the Compass Points flowing through her. She focused on Eris. This wasn’t holding a god, but it was shifting a god’s power. She let the stream of their combined elements flow from her. It acted as a strong gust of wind, sweeping the mist away from the village.
“That was easy,” Rose said, watching the mist dissipate under their magic’s pressure.
“Let’s go see if it worked,” Juliette said more cautiously.
“These are the spirits I’m most worried about,” Carter added. “I’m not sure all of them will be able to find their way back to their bodies after having been separated for so long.” He’d explained to them that the longer the bodies lay in the endless sleep, the more likely it was their spirits left them. Carter was still convinced they weren’t dead. The spirits weren’t trying to cross beyond the veil. They simply ventured while the physical body slept.
Rose nodded. This first village taken was one Aurora had initially noticed. The reason the remaining gods had come together and taken the test Zrak had laid out for them under Mount Bury. Rose was trying to do the math; that must have been three hundred years ago.
The mist plague rapidly increased in its presence once Aterra took the Norden Point seat through Aiden, but its origin point, the few villages hit in the first few hundred years, might be more challenging to correct than most.
“I can see some,” he said as they entered the village gates. “They haven’t all returned to their bodies,” he mumbled quietly. Plenty of other villagers seemed to have immediately awoken and began to approach the Compass Points.
Rose and Luc surveyed the village and the approaching residents hand in hand. The questions started immediately as the people woke.
“What happened?”
“Is it over?”
“Who are you?”
These villagers had been asleep so long, they wouldn’t even recognize the names of the Compass Points. Rose let Juliette speak first. She wasn’t Osten Point when this village fell, but she had the most history of the Compass Points to offer them.
“We’re here to help. We know this has to be incredibly confusing for so many of you. We are the Compass Points. You are likely only familiar with our predecessors.” Juliette offered introductions and then took a breath. “I don’t know how much you realize, but it’s been hundreds of years since the mist plague took Eris.”
Rose watched the crowd of villagers and noted a sea of nods at Juliette’s words.
“Why do some of us still sleep?” someone asked. The crowd made noises of agreement at the question.
Carter glanced around. Rose knew enough to realize he was watching the spirits’ movement. He looked at Rose, who shrugged. She knew what he would do. It would cause more questions, but if he was comfortable, the rest would be, too.
A moment later, Carter had shifted, and a veil cat stood before them. Juliette raised her voice and continued explaining things as Carter worked. Rose watched him growl at the sky. Her confidence in his abilities told her he was directing spirits back to their bodies, but those in the village didn’t know that as they began to shrink back in fear.
“What is he?” someone yelled.
“That’s no animal I’ve ever seen,” another said.
“He’s helping.” Rose held out her hands in a gesture of peace. “Some of the spirits need help getting back to their bodies. The Vesten Point can shift into a veil cat. He can guide the spirits.”
“I thought they were extinct!” someone shouted in the crowd.
More villagers woke with Carter’s gentle growls. Until finally, everyone stood.
“We’re rare but not extinct,” Carter said standing before them again as a fae male. “You’ll see more of me in that form, so please don’t fear it.”
The villagers looked on with hesitation. Rose thought that was fair. They had thrown a lot at these people in a very short time. As the remaining villagers woke and joined the group, the joy increased, and suspicion dimmed.
Action was how they would win this village’s trust. They would be Compass Points who proved willing to do what they said.
Luc’s hand slipped into Rose’s as they walked through the village. He squeezed their interlocked fingers, and she smiled at him. He’d only been back for days, and they were on the road again, but she would never get used to the hum of her magic when they touched.
His magic thrummed in appreciation of her reaction and wrapped around the two of them. Their display may be visible to some villagers, but most were too concerned for their loved ones to notice the bound pair’s flirtation. And Rose wasn’t hidingthat they were bound. She would continue her tenure as Norden Point the same way she’d started it—with as much honesty as she could. In the session Walter had organized with the Norden before Rose left Compass Lake, she told them about her and Luc. The continent’s people needed to know relationships like hers and Luc’s weren’t impossible. Bound partners might be rare, but love between members of differing fae courts was something she intended to highlight.
While the others couldn’t see their magic, they could smell it. Darren rolled his eyes in feigned exasperation as they walked the streets. “You two are the worst.”
