Page 7 of Taloned Heart

And the grass... Oh, it was greener, wasn’t it? Everything here seemed to be so much more than what it was when they had left.

When they stopped to eat lunch, settling on Abraxas’s cloak while pulling out a small block of cheese and bread, she eyed the ground that was dotted with flowers she’d never seen in her life.

“Do things seem... different?” she asked as she sat down on the cloak.

“How so?”

“Just... more.” She didn’t know how to voice her concerns or what she was seeing. This wasn’t the world she had come to expect. There was more happening here, more growth and development than she’d left behind, and she didn’t know what to do with that.

Abraxas grunted and handed her the center portion of the small loaf. “Magic, yes. That’s what you’re seeing. There’s a lot more of it than when we left.”

“That’s what I thought.” She bit off a large mouthful and then said through the food, “Seems a bit odd.”

“More magic, more creatures, fewer humans. Maybe the earth is coming alive again after a very long wait.” He shrugged, and it seemed to be that easy for him to cast it aside.

She couldn’t.

Lore could feel the earth changing underneath them. Her magic stretched out, testing the boundaries of this new power that flowed. She could feel where it came from, and that was each individual who had finally been allowed to show who they were and what they could do. That didn’t make her feel strange. She enjoyed knowing that the land was feeding off the magical creatures. But where was everyone else?

Creatures could live like this while the humans were still there. They could all agree that there was magic in the world. It wasn’t scary. Humans could live beside them without feeling like they needed to destroy those who were different. That should be enough.

And yet, this had been taken too far. Now there were only magical creatures, and the earth was feeding off it. The trees, the ground, the land itself was changing, and she didn’t know if that was a good thing.

Lore took another bite of her bread, chewing and pondering her thoughts. She didn’t want to be left in the dark like this. She had to know at least what had happened already.

“I want to talk with someone,” she said, the words coming out of her mouth before she’d really thought them through. “A villager or someone in the next hamlet we come across.”

Her dragon shook his head. “We’re too close to the castle, and I doubt they’ve forgotten you that quickly.”

She hummed underneath her breath. He was right. She couldn’t afford to have Margaret find out she was here this early in their game, but there had to be a way for her to hide herself while still talking with someone about the changes here.

“I have an idea,” she said. “But it would require that I talk with someone on my own.”

“Absolutely not.”

“I can’t hide both of our identities at the same time without Margaret feeling the spell.”

He shrugged. “You probably could. But if it was too distracting, no one knows what I look like, anyway. If you want to wander over and talk with someone, that’s fine. But I’m not going anywhere.”

A woman only had to die once, and he suddenly felt the need to be attached to her like a leech. Narrowing her eyes, she muttered, “Fine. But you will say nothing.”

“I’ll pretend to be a mute.”

“They’re still going to be very suspicious of why I have a giant walking with me when I could very well be someone important. The only people with bodyguards are the rich.”

Abraxas shrugged. “Then say I’m your husband.”

“Little on the nose, don’t you think? A giant man and a small woman, wandering through the woods on their own?”

His eyes flashed with a bright heat. “I will not bend on this, Lore.”

She finished her food quickly after that. She hadn’t expected him to change his mind, but she had wanted to distract him from her talking with anyone. Threatening to do so without him had made sure he’d argued that he could accompany her, not that she shouldn’t talk with anyone at all.

The next hamlet they came upon, she let her power flex through her. It was a small bit of magic, sleight of hand really, but enough that she worried Margaret might feel it. Anyone who was sensitive to magic might feel the ripple. Hopefully, there were no enchanters in the hamlet or there would be questions she couldn’t answer.

Thankfully, it appeared to be a small cluster of satyrs. Most of the people in the village had tiny horns on their heads and cloven hooves that clopped along the stone streets that were hand built and gleamed in the sunlight.

Lore went to the farthest house. The one that stood a little aside from the others and was a bit more rundown. A single woman inhabited it, and she stood outside with her laundry in her hands. She wasn’t as powerful as some, so she had a wand in her hand to guide the clothing up the line.

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