The Witch: Book Two of The Sorceress Saga Taliesin Govannon (best free ereader .txt) 📖

Matthew!’ at times after destroying a target. I asked her about this, and she told me that it was the name of a boy who used to tease her in the old country. I told her that soon, she would be able to torment those who took delight in tormenting others.

                She liked that.

                                                                                                *                *                *

                “Are you ready, Sam?” Raina asked, her countenance deadly serious.

                “Ready when you are, Dean.” I wasn’t as successful at keeping my poker face, which made my friend smile.

                “Action!” she shouted, and we began.

                The path through the forest was narrow, and we could just stand back to back as we cautiously made our way.  There were shadows and movement all around us, but nothing solid to take aim at.

                Suddenly a round target with a picture of a giant spider on it floated up from Raina's side and flew towards us. Without hesitation, Raina made a motion with her hand and whispered a Fae word. A bolt of magickal energy flew from her hand and shattered the target into splinters and confetti.

                “Nice shot.” I said, still scanning the forest around me.

                “Thanks.” Raina replied, herself remaining vigilant.

                A flicker of motion to my left caught my eye, and soon I saw another target, this one with a human-shaped cockroach on it, rushed at me.

                I knew what to do.  I reached out with my senses to the heat within my body and projected it outward. Flames shot from my outstretched hands and incinerated the target.

                “Oh!” Raina grinned. “Stick a fork in it, roachie’s toast!”

                “One crispy fried critter, coming up!” I replied, grinning as well.

                One by one, our Fae friends sent targets flying at us, and one by one we destroyed them.  The air was humid, and sweat started beading on my skin, but I never stopped smiling.

                Raina and I had spent the past month working on our offensive magick, and I was finally getting to a point where I felt like I’d be more of an asset than a burden when the next fight came. I had mainly mastered fighting with fire, but wanted to try something else.

                “Check this out!" I said after Raina obliterated her next target. I watched and spied another target flying at us.

                I reached within, touched the earth within my body, and sent a flying cluster of bone fragments, sharpened to a point, slicing my target to shreds.

                I smiled, but a sharp cry of pain stopped me in my tracks.

                “Halt exercise!” Raina called out, but the Fae women were already rising to see what happened.

                I rushed over to where I heard the noise and found Gaia laying on the ground, clutching her shoulder. Bright green Fae blood covered her hand, and dripped on the leaves beneath her.

                “Gaia, oh my Gods, I’m so sorry!” I said, bending down to look at her wound.

                “It’s OK,” she said, wincing, “I forgot about the bone shards. My fault.”

                “Gaia, let me see." Drucilla said, her blue hair pulled back into a ponytail.

                “I’ll probably need to go back to Fae to be healed.” Gaia said, lifting her hand a little.

                “Ouch!” Drucilla said. “We should start back now… you know how twisty the path is.”

                “Wait.” I said, putting my hand on Drucilla’s shoulder.  “Let me try.”

                Drucilla moved out of the way, and I put my hands on Gaia’s wounded shoulder.  I focused on the cool, healing energy I felt running through the earth, and my hands started to glow with a greenish-brown light.

                Raina looked on in wonder, and even the Fae women’s eyes went wide.

                My hands continued to glow, and eventually, Gaia's face relaxed.  I could feel her tissue knitting itself back together and held my hands there for another moment before letting go and letting my hands return to normal.

                Gaia’s shoulder was pristine, only the slightest lines showing where the bone fragments had torn across her skin.  Even the excess blood was gone, and the lines themselves started to fade away.

                “Not bad.” Cordelia said, her eyes still wide and her jaw slack.

                “I’m more than a one-trick pony.” I smiled.

                I looked at Gaia. The same deep affection that I always saw was still there, along with something else. Something intense.

                I gulped.

                                                                                                *                *                *

                “I’m fine, really.”

                I ignored my Fae friend’s protests as I bent to put another log on the fire.  “I know, but I healed you, so you’re my patient.” I said, stoking the flames.  “So shut up and let me… patient you.”

                Gaia sat up, pillows sufficiently fluffed, in the bed that I had set up for her in one of our guestrooms.  She sipped her tea as I snuffed extra candles out until the fireplace was the only source of light.  “Fine, fine.” she grinned.

                “Besides, you’re my biggest success when it comes to healing magick.” I said, sitting down on a stool next to the bed.  “This isn’t just follow-up care, it’s also a victory lap.”

                “Mind if I drop the glamour?” she asked.

                “Feel free.” I replied, and I watched as she shifted to her regular green-skinned and black-haired form.

                “While it’s no effort to maintain,” she said, “It’s still nice to be in your own skin.”

                “I can understand that… " I trailed off.  Gaia had just slipped her shirt off and folded it without covering her naked Fae form.

                There is just something… exquisite about the female Fae form! I thought in awe.  If I were Raina, I’d probably wonder what it’s like to have that form hanging over me while I was naked as well, and… I cut myself off, mid-thought. No, Annabelle, I admonished myself, You are NOT going there!

                “You know… “ I said, my voice a little shaky, “… I’ve been doing pretty well not being neurotic about things with Angelique while I’ve been here. SO far.”