A Trickle of Soulfyre

Chapter 26: Disappearance

Nash shouldn't have stayed up so late, but how could he not have, when Lyrani called him, alone and looking so tempting? How could he have gone to sleep when all he wanted was to watch her doze off, imagining he was running his hands through her hair even though she was too far away for him to touch? How could he have done anything other than stay on the call for just a few minutes after she was asleep to make sure that she was, that she wouldn't wake up and feel alone, as though for all the protecting she did of others, nobody was there to protect her?

She didn't need Nash to do that. She could take care of herself, but he had wanted to stay on the call with her. And she had wanted it too if her eagerness to undress for him was any indication, if the way she had stared at him until her eyes started to droop with fatigue told him anything. She was ethereal in any season, any time of day, any stage of sleep.

That was why Nash didn't regret his late night, even as he rubbed his eyes, narrowly avoiding another unruly tree root that had risen in front of him. As if it wasn't bad enough that his enemies were attempting to murder him, his forest was trying to assassinate him too.

The shy morning sunlight descended through the trees. Agent G'vat strode ahead of Nash while Agent Kilg took up the rear, both similarly dressed in gleaming brown boots and dark cloaks.

They hadn't said anything about the previous night, but Nash was sure they figured out why he asked them to leave if they hadn't heard it all from the other side of his door, if they hadn't realised it from the time it had taken him to make himself decent before calling them back inside.

Even so, neither of them had commented on it. Then again, they had been escorting Nash to the river to bathe every morning and evening, so they were probably already more familiar with him than they wanted to be. What was one instance of overhearing him with Lyrani?

Nash smelt the wet mud flanking the water before he saw it. He and his protectors arrived at the river before his cheeks could get any warmer, before he could feel even more self-conscious about these agents, little more than strangers, being more intimately familiar with him than anyone else except for Lyrani.

Agent G'vat stopped at the edge of the forest where it gave way to a sandy slope, his boots crunching against the dirt. He cast his dark, intense eyes ahead, combing through the trees on both sides of the river. "As always, Your Majesty, call out if you need anything. We'll be behind this tree." He gestured to the wide, sturdy oak he stood beside.

Nash nodded. "Thank you, as always."

With quick, silent feet, Agent G'vat stepped behind the tree, out of Nash's sight but within earshot, as Lord Dundor had instructed him. Agent Kilg followed his lead, nearly tripping over one of those murderous roots that had nearly been the death of Nash many times that morning.

Nash couldn't see Agent G'vat to tell for sure, but he suspected that the senior agent had given Agent Kilg one of his looks because she glared at him.

"Well, I'm sorry that we all can't be as balanced on our feet as you are," huffed Agent Kilg as she joined her senior agent behind the tree.

There was a short pause, in which Nash imagined Agent G'vat eyeing his colleague coolly. "Perhaps I should speak to Lord Dundor about taking a new class at the academy to teach my skill. Clearly, you new graduates need it."

Agent Kilg let out an exasperated breath. The morning turned once again serene, brightening with more promise with every moment, tweets and rustles rousing the forest from sleep.

Nash untied his robe. He pulled it off in a smooth motion and hung it on a tree branch that hovered above the surface of the river, almost as though it had been specifically crafted for him to hang his clothing from it. He took the small bottle of soap from his pocket and opened the lid.