Half Wylde | Book 1

Thirty Five: Icehold

We caught back up with Asher and not a word was said about our delay.

Instead of trying fruitlessly to stall any further, I let the full weight of my body sink onto the male carrying me, and I meditated. Under the circumstances I think my focus was pretty good, but with every step I had to fight for control.

In the little cabin in my mind, I had some cleaning up to do.

Whatever I did when it all came out of me, had disastrous effects in my head. The cabin was distorted, and I couldn't focus on any one part of it. I began the task of re-constructing it, until finally I could settle myself back inside.

But everything was different.

Just like my physical body, my magical body was more sensitive. Sounds, feelings, everything was amplified. I sat down in the middle of it and meditated.

One... Two... Three...

I could nearly hear Schula in my head, sitting outside Thanantholl and instructing me.

One... Two... Three...

And on the edge of my hearing was fluttering. The sound of a preening bird.

Still counting and doing my breathing, I carefully stood and walked to the window. Since I hadn't constructed anything around my little cabin but an empty field, so there on the ground with nowhere else to land was Puko, staring at me with his milky blind eye.

I opened my mouth to call out to him, but nothing came out. It dawned on me that I couldn't speak while in this form, so I went to the door instead and reached out for him.

He opened his beak in an empty caw, and hopped a few steps toward me, but he kept his milky eye trained on me, unblinking.

I reached out my hands to pick him up, but he pecked my wrist and backed away with another silent caw.

'I don't know what you want' I shook my head at him.

He shook his head back at me, and took off. I watched him go until he was a speck in the sky.

I retreated back into the cabin but left the door open in case he returned.

Then I sat on the floor once again, and focused.

One... Two... Three...

Then I felt the subtle warmth. Floating just above my shoulder was a tiny thread of fire. I almost didn't notice it, but as soon as I reached out to touch it I felt it sink into me.

My heart skipped a beat, it was my fire. It was a part of me. It was coming back.

I was jolted by a large bump in the road. My eyes, my real eyes, flew open. I blinked looking around. We had began to climb the foot of a mountainside at some point, because we were definitely traveling uphill. I craned my neck, trying to see Puko or where the brutes carrying Schula were, but they were nowhere to be found. There were trees and boulders here that blocked my view, and a cold wind that whipped my braid around me.

I tried to turn my head and see where we were going, but the guard hauling me like a sack of flour just prodded my ribs and grunted.

I sighed and dropped back down. But I still had a small smile on my face.

My fire was coming back to me.

I closed my eyes again, sitting and counting. Reaching around me for more tiny threads.

I slowly pulled little wisps of fire to me. Tiny bits of myself that were sinking back into where they came from.

When I couldn't find any more around me, I took inventory of what I was able to get back.