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THE FIRES BURNED LOWER as she felt the Elemental distance itself from her, the remnants of the Shadows pooling around the clearing looking for all the world like pieces of the night sky fallen to earth. Rebecca dimly heard William striding up behind her then his hand gently rested on her shoulder.
"It's alright Bec," he murmured softly. "It's alright."
She reached up and touched his hand with her own, wincing as the burns on her fingers flared up painfully.
"I let him go." she muttered. "I couldn't do it."
His grip on her shoulder tightened fractionally and he crouched beside her. His mere presence reassured her, his touch on her shoulder proving to her that he was still alive. While she didn’t want to admit it, seeing him battling Shadows with nothing but a knife had scared her. The Shadows had seemed so big and the knife in his hand so small a thing to face them with. Her Elemental had told her that he would be protected and she had trusted in that, forcing the thought from her mind while she had dealt with Terrence. Now that the battle was over she realised how much that thought had worried her. He was her father and she didn’t want to lose him so soon after finding him. His sigh broke her train of thought.
"We're not all cut out to take a life,” he said gently. “Even if it is one deserving of it."
She let her head fall in dismayed exhaustion, her hair drifting down to hide her face. "He is still out there."
"And we will catch up with him when we can," William assured her.
Tears overflowed her eyes and burned a hot line down her cheek. Rebecca furiously wiped them away and looked up at the skeletal smouldering trees. "I failed," she snapped, angry at herself. "I couldn't afford to fail and I did."
He turned her around by the shoulder and glared at her. "You didn't bloody well fail Rebecca," he said sharply. "Look what you've done tonight against so many of the Fallen. You think you failed because you couldn't kill him?" She nodded at his question and he growled angrily. "You've had so much thrust on you in such a short time and it has all overwhelmed you. These bloody Elementals should have understood that."
A flame kindled deep inside her, an anger that was not her own beginning to burn.
"He dares much!"
Rebecca scowled at her Elementals scorching tone, unthinkingly voicing her reply out loud. "He dares because he cares."
William’s eyebrow raised at her and she blushed.
"Sorry. My Elemental doesn't like being reprimanded."
He rolled his eyes and stood, gently lifting her to her feet. "It doesn't worry me what your Elemental thinks of me. So long as it understands that I do not like seeing you being used for their own agenda."
Taking a firm grip of her chin, William waved his arm to encompass the burnt out garden and the still smoking trees at the edge of the forest. Rebecca took it all in, frowning at the scene of utter destruction. A fan of ash and dimly glowing coals spread out from a point near the front door of the cabin, extending fifty yards in a one hundred and eighty degree arc.
“Your damned Elemental used you to do that.” William told her quietly. Releasing her chin, he bent to dust the knees of his trousers off. “I hate to think what price that has extracted from your body.”
The flame dimmed, the anger that was not her own fading into sullen apology.
"Perhaps he is right," her Elemental murmured. "We may be eternal but we forget that you are not. Forgive my lapse."
Her hands tingled and Rebecca looked down to see the burned flesh slowly knitting back together. The blackened edges of the burns sloughed away leaving fresh pink skin behind. Blisters burst to release clear fluid that ran down her fingers and dripped into the ash at her feet. The throbbing pain that had filled her hands dimmed to numbness.
"I can heal this for you now but I warn that you will need sustenance very soon.” her Elemental murmured. “While I use my own essence for this, it also depletes your own store of energy and it must be replenished."
She sighed and began walking back to the cabin, William walking by her side. Ahead of them, Katherine opened the door and came out onto the patio, a lit lantern held high against the natural darkness of the night.
"Is it over?" she asked warily.
William shook his head. "Not yet."
––––––––
REBECCA BARELY MADE it across the threshold before the first hunger pang ripped through her stomach with a violence she could never have predicted. She fell to her knees, groaning as she doubled over and hugged her roiling stomach.
"What...?" Katherine began before William shouldered her aside and picked Rebecca up gently.
"Food," Rebecca groaned weakly.
He looked back over his shoulder at Katherine. She nodded, though her frown left him in no doubt that she would be having words with him later. He carried Rebecca to the bed and laid her down gently.
She groaned as another painful cramp tore through her, reaching out to him as he stood. "Please..."
William crouched by the bed and took her hand, frowning as he turned it over and looked at the new pink skin. "It's healing you?" he asked.
She managed to nod briefly and he let her go, crossing the cabin in several swift strides to scoop up his saddlebag from near the door. Shoving things aside in it, he reached down to the bottom and withdrew a jar. He came back to her, ripping the cover from the jar and tossing it aside. "Drink this," he muttered, crouching beside her and holding the jar to her lips. "It'll taste like the inside of an old boot but it will hold off the cramps."
Rebecca grimaced at the smell but did as she was told, gulping down the foul concoction. It felt oily in her mouth and the bitter aftertaste almost made her vomit it up again immediately but Katherine knelt beside him and offered her a mug of water.
"Wash it down with this," Katherine said soothingly.
When Rebecca took the mug, Katherine turned to William. "Honestly, how could you forget the water? That stuff smells vile enough and I can only imagine the taste."
He shrugged and took the jar away. "It's not the worst brew I've made." He left the two women and went back to his saddlebags to bury the jar in their depths. Giving them a brief glance over his shoulder, he retreated to the fireplace.
Katherine groaned and looked at Rebecca pityingly. "Next time he tells you to drink something, make sure you get water first."
With the hunger pangs subsiding to a manageable level, Rebecca weakly pushed herself upright. "How do you know what he was giving me?"
Katherine chuckled and drew a chair closer to the bed, slumping into it tiredly. "William's concoctions have a reputation. There have been quite a few who have needed them over the years and the tales that have been told of them have never been all that complimentary." She looked over her shoulder to where William was now stirring the stew pot. "There were some that were glad he secluded himself up in the mountains. It meant his cures were taken away with him."
Sipping at the water, Rebecca glanced at him. "It might not have been pleasant but it feels like it worked," she offered.
Katherine chuckled again. "Oh no doubt. That was the only good thing about them. His herbal knowledge is second to none and the one thing that can be said about his cures is that they work."
This side of her father was news to her, hearing that he had a reputation as a healer. His large and scarred hands didn’t fit her image of a healer. His rough spun clothing and the revolvers strapped to his thighs fit that of a gunslinger far better. Her limited experience of healers brought to mind mild mannered men wearing neat clothes and white coats, surrounded by glass jars filled with herbs and tinctures. That image made her realise that her only experience was with the apothecaries in the city she had grown up in and it forced her to look at her father in a new light.
Taking her thoughtful silence for exhaustion, Katherine patted Rebecca's hand and helped her to lie down again. "You just rest for now. That Elemental is far from done with you and that sludge of his will probably only damp down the edge of what's coming."
Rebecca groaned at the thought of more bed rest but did as she was told.
Despite her unconvincing protests, they wouldn't let her leave the bed to join them for a late dinner at the table so William dragged the table across the room and they sat beside her.
"I saw some of what happened out there but I had plenty of Shadows to deal with for myself." Katherine said.
Breaking a loaf of bread in half, William slathered half of it in butter and honey and held it out to his daughter. "Rebecca did most of the work out there," he said. "There wasn't much I could do other than keep a few Shadows occupied."
Biting into the loaf, Rebecca rolled her eyes in ecstasy as the sweetness of the honey coated her tongue, driving away the last lingering bitterness from William’s cure. William smiled at her expression and shook his head as she quickly stuffed the rest into her mouth.
"Terrence wasn't as powerful as I thought," Katherine mused. "Either that or his Fire Elemental has dimmed."
Rebecca shook her head, swallowing the enormous mouthful of bread. It slid down her throat reluctantly as an uncomfortable lump and she reached for a mug of water to help it down quicker.
"We are an even match," she said once the hurried mouthful had gone. "He is wounded though and I think maybe the pain is distracting him."
With the loaf devoured, William handed her a bowl of stew. "Looked pretty even to me," he muttered. "If anything I thought you had the upper hand."
Rebecca shrugged indifferently, her concentration already focused on the bowl and the rich aroma rising from it. "If you say so."
William chuckled, knowing they wouldn't get any meaningful contribution from her until the bowl was empty. He let her be and turned to Katherine.
"If we can catch him, the biggest problem I see are the Fallen," he said slowly. "There were far more with him than there ought to be."
Rebecca frowned, her interest easily torn from the bowl in her hands at his remark. "Ought to be?"
Katherine turned away and he grimaced in disgust, unhappy that he would have to reveal some of their darkest history. "Terrence is not the first to have turned," William explained. “Though it has been a long time since the last.”
“Four hundred years,” Katherine interjected. “And William had a part to play in bringing her down.”
He sighed and nodded, his face clouding over. The old memories came to the forefront of his mind easily, as shockingly vivid now as that day had been four hundred years earlier. Time hadn’t dimmed what had been a terrible day for a ten year old. "That is a story for another night." he muttered.
Katherine nodded understandingly, quickly moving away from William’s past to answer Rebecca’s question. "The few that have turned have always gathered Darkness to them," she said. "Shadows and spirits are irresistibly drawn to them. But from the stories that are told, they only gather perhaps a dozen. Two dozen at most."
"Why is that?" Rebecca asked.
"Shadows will squabble amongst themselves.” William growled in disgust. “More than three or four in one place will lead to them fighting. Unless there is one of the Greater Fallen amongst them, something strong enough to unify them. If one were to be infused with an Elemental before they were to fall..."
"They would have the power to control them" Rebecca finished. She suddenly yawned, hastily stifling it before William could end the conversation. "And you say he had many with him."
William nodded. "I counted them as well as I could and I estimate he had three dozen Shadows at the very least." His lip twitched up and he looked at Rebecca as she stifled another yawn. "Your little trick with the wall of fire killed a good number of them. Losing them will weaken him unless he can replace them."
Katherine sighed and looked away to the half repaired door. In the century she had lived in the cabin nothing had caused it damage. Having her door blown in was a new and very unwelcome experience. "I doubt he will have too much trouble," she said sourly.
William shrugged, the smile still playing on his lips. "Me may attract more Shadows but how many of them will be Greater Fallen?"
Katherine jerked her head around at his question. "He had Greater Fallen with him?"
He nodded calmly, inclining his head toward Rebecca where she now lay with her head on the pillow, her eyes closed. "There were nine Greater Fallen out there when we faced him and she killed eight of them. I'd like to see him try to replace those."
Rebecca dozed while William and Katherine talked, the pillow feeling softer and softer until she fell asleep.
At her first soft snore, William looked over at her and smiled. "To be young again," he murmured.
"I don't miss it," Katherine replied. "That feeling after the surge of power." She sighed and shook her head. "I never got used to it. Every time it came I was completely exhausted afterwards."
He nodded and pushed his chair back quietly, not wanting to wake his sleeping daughter. The fire was still burning lowly and he pushed the kettle back over the flames, adding another small cut log to the coals. "She did good out there," he said, crouched over the hearth and staring into the flames. "I only hope the Elementals take care of her."
Katherine joined him, putting her hand on his shoulder. "You're worried about her aren't you?"
He nodded distractedly. "Would you believe me if I said I'd never had children before her?"
Katherine chuckled. “Four hundred years old and you've never had to look after a child?"
He turned his troubled face up to Katherine. "I wasn't there for her while she grew. Now she's a young woman already and I get the feeling that she doesn't really need me."
Katherine crouched to put her arms around him. "She's your daughter Will. She may never have known you until now but I promise you that she has thought about you her whole life."
He frowned and poked at the fire. "She's far more powerful than I am," he grouched. "There is little I can do to protect her if she comes against something bigger than her."
Shaking her head, she let him go and rocked back on her heels. William’s protective instinct didn’t surprise her. Finding his daughter had given him something other than his duty to the Path to focus on for the first time in four hundred years. That he had focused on how powerful Rebecca was compared to himself gave her a moment of annoyance at his belief that he needed to be the one to protect his daughter. He didn’t see that perhaps it was his daughter that would one day need to protect him. Katherine set aside her disappointment at him to point out the one truth she thought he might need to hear. "Now is when she needs you most, Will. We're going to have to hunt Terrence down and she will need all the help she can get."
He sighed and stood. "I worry about her Kath. I've never had to worry about anyone before and I suppose I don't like the feeling."
She smiled and stood beside him, putting her arms around him again. "You're feeling what it is like to be a father," she told him fondly. "It's normal for you to worry about her."
He frowned. "I don't think I'll ever understand it," he growled. "Or like it."
She laughed softly and let him go. "I can't help you much with that. I've never had children of my own."
He glowered at her and moved back to the table, sitting down and pouring a mug of cider.
Her smile didn't fade as she sat beside him. “I've never had my own but I looked after my nephews when they were young and I haven't forgotten what they were like, if that helps." She suddenly sighed and her smile dimmed. "I knew them their entire lives, from the moment they were born to the day I helped to bury them with my own hands."
She shook her head slowly, her smile fading to nothing. Her nephews had only been a few years younger than her and they had grown up playing together. Watching them grow old while she remained almost unchanged had been hard for her to bear. The day they had died was etched clearly in her memory, the feel of the blisters burning her hands as she had helped dig their graves and lay them into rest. "They were so proud of me,” she murmured. “So proud that I had been accepted. As they grew old their pride never wavered. Even on their deathbeds they told me that I must have done something right to be gifted with such a long life. The last things they said to me were how proud they were that I had looked after them, that the Path would be sure to lead them straight and true because of me." She brushed tears from her eyes and looked up at him with a trembling smile. "Even though they weren’t my own, after my nephews I have some idea what you're thinking every time you look at her."
He nodded, gently draping his arm around her shoulders. "Long life has been both a gift and a curse for both of us," he said softly. "I only want to do what I can for her but in the end I know that I will lose her. Whether it is to old age or the Elementals. Knowing it breaks my heart and there is nothing I can do about it."
Rebecca woke as the first light of dawn broke through the trees, the darkness of the night dying as the sun burned it away. She yawned, stretching and rubbing her eyes. When she looked around the cabin she saw William standing at the window, his revolver in hand. Katherine was asleep on a blanket roll near the door.
"You haven't been awake all night have you?" she asked William sleepily.
He turned from the window to look at her, a half smile creasing his face. "Morning," he murmured.
She frowned as he dodged the question. "Have you slept?"
He shook his head and crossed to the fire. Taking the kettle from the coals, he poured a dark stream of steaming coffee into a mug. Raising the mug toward her in offering, she hesitated then nodded. Swinging her feet out of the bed, she crossed the room to sit at the table, accepting the mug gratefully.
"You should have woken me so you could sleep." she grumbled half-heartedly.
Pouring himself a mug, he sat opposite her. "You needed sleep more than I did."
Her frown deepened. "I could have kept a watch," she returned huffily. She wasn’t entirely sure that she could have kept a watch, her sleep being so deep that she hadn’t even dreamed. She still felt that her father should have woken her to at least give her the choice. She inclined her head toward where Katherine slept on. "She's asleep," she told him pointedly.
William nodded lazily, sipping from his mug. "She went down an hour ago." He shook his head, his face softening as he looked at the sleeping woman. "She didn't want to but I insisted."
Rebecca shook her head at the futility of arguing with him. "At least let me cook you breakfast." she offered.
He shrugged, his head tilting toward the hearth.
She looked where he indicated and sighed. "You think of everything don't you?"
He shrugged again and stood. “I didn't think you'd sleep much longer and I suspected you'd be hungry when you woke."
Her stomach rumbled in answer, her face colouring in embarrassment when he smiled.
Moving to the hearth where an iron pot sat near the fire to stay warm, William loaded bacon, eggs and cornbread from it onto a plate, coming back to slide it onto the table in front of her. Taking his seat again, he lifted his chin toward the food in front of her. "Eat up. I'll wake Katherine when you're done and we can plan what we're going to do to find him again."
Rebecca looked at Katherine sleeping peacefully on her blanket roll and shook her head quickly. "Leave her be. He's long gone," she sighed. "We'll have time to plan after everyone has had a good sleep."
He chuckled and rolled his eyes at her insistence. "We'll see what the day brings."
Katherine woke near midday, yawning until William handed her a mug of coffee. She gave him a grateful smile and sat at the table with Rebecca. "Did you get him to sleep?" Katherine asked her in an undertone while William put food on a plate for her.
Rebecca shook her head unhappily. "He said he didn't need it," she muttered.
Katherine nodded distractedly, giving William another smile as he put the plate in front of her.
"I don't need sleep," he told them firmly. "At least not as much as others."
Katherine reached out and put her hand on his arm. "I'm awake now so go lie down for a bit," she told him. "We all had a long night."
Rebecca snorted softly. Her night hadn’t been all that long but what she had been awake for had been far more violent than she had expected. She looked at her hands, inspecting the new pink skin that had grown overnight to cover the burns Terrence had caused. She had tested it already while Katherine had slept, poking at it and finding it tender but not painful. More importantly the new skin hadn't burned when she’d conjured new fireballs with her Elemental’s help. She looked up when William spoke.
"I'm not tired,” he assured them. “And we need to make a plan to catch up with Terrence."
Rebecca sighed and looked away. Since waking up she had struggled to come to a decision about Terrence. His question about whether she was willing to become a pawn to the Elementals echoed through her head, strengthening her own doubt whether she could kill him. She knew he was still out there, still dangerous. She knew they had to do something about him before he caused more damage. But after feeling what the Elemental’s had done to her she didn’t know if she could face him again, not if it meant losing herself to their power again. Now that William was already talking about formulating a plan to face the rogue Ancient, it suddenly made her decision easier. "I don't want to catch up with him."
Katherine dropped her fork with a clatter in surprise, turning to William with an incredulous look. He didn’t bat an eyelid at her declaration, raising a calming hand to Katherine as he looked at his daughter’s pale face.
"You're not going to have much of a choice," he told Rebecca softly. "The Elementals..."
"Damn the Elementals!" Rebecca snapped, standing and pushing away from the table. Her chair tumbled over behind her as she glared at him. "I don't know why they picked me because there is no chance I can kill him. I’m not their executioner."
William bowed his head in silence. His calm acceptance infuriated her and she almost picked up her empty plate to throw at him. The whisper of her Elemental’s voice in her head stopped her.
"We chose you for a reason.” it murmured. “We do not expect you to kill him."
Rebecca paused, frowning at the revelation from her Elemental. "If you don't want me to kill him, then why?" she thought irritably.
Her Elemental’s soothing voice stripped away her anger and frustration with its answer.
"We chose you to rescue our lost Sister, to break the bonding between them. The human is nothing without her and we are willing to leave him to your justice if that is what you wish."
Rebecca breathed a sigh of relief at the Elemental’s news. "I can't kill him," she said quietly. "But I can do my best to capture him."
William glanced at Katherine, raising his eyebrow questioningly.
Katherine nodded and reached out to take Rebecca's hands, her half-finished plate of food forgotten. "We don't need to kill him," she reassured the younger woman. "If you prefer to capture him then that is what we will do."
William slumped back in his seat, his eyebrows drawn deeply together. "Any idea on how we're supposed to do that?"
Katherine shushed him sharply. "He's run for now so we have time to figure that out," she told him sternly. "There's no need to put everything onto her right this moment."
He scowled and looked away. "He hasn't run as far as you think," he muttered. "The Earth still feels his footsteps."
Katherine returned his scowl, snapping at him testily. "Then make yourself useful and keep a watch out for him if that's what you prefer."
The fire roaring up in the hearth broke their discussion, the flames spreading up the chimney and over the mantle in seconds.
"He is still here!" Katherine gasped, turning an apologetic look to him.
Rebecca kicked her overturned chair out of the way and leapt toward the fire, weaving her hands together. The flames died down as she exerted her will on them, confining themselves to the hearth once again and she turned away in relief. She'd only taken a step before the fire was once again out of control, licking at the ceiling and charring the beams in moments.
"Everyone out," William called. "We aren't going to win from here."
Katherine threw open the front door of the cabin, falling back as it was immediately crowded with Shadows. Despite the sun sitting high in the early afternoon sky, the Shadows tried to force their entry. The iron within the walls and roof answered their challenge and burst into incandescent flame, adding to the conflagration and filling the cabin with a blinding white light. William's revolvers roared and the door cleared of Shadows momentarily, enough for Katherine to scramble back to dubious safety inside the burning cabin. Through the open door they could see more Shadows flowing like water across the scorched ground between the cabin and the forest, the bright sunlight robbing them of the strength to assume humanoid shape.
Rebecca concentrated on the fire, pushing it back down despite an opposing force trying to stoke them higher. "I don't know how long I can hold this," she panted, sweat beading on her brow from the intense heat of the fire surrounding them.
"We are with you."
Elementals flooded into her mind like a tornado and the opposing force ebbed away. She drew on the feel of a Water Elemental, cooling the air around them and damping down the fire further. At the same time she imagined a vortex surrounding the cabin and several Air Elementals whistled approvingly at her idea. Moments later the dust and ash outside swirled up, leaves and twigs whipping high and sweeping into a raging tornado. The Shadows pushing through the door paused and pulled back. Their hesitation allowed Air Elementals to take hold of them and rip them off the patio into the maelstrom. The moment they were gone the white hot iron cooled, its brilliant illumination flickering out.
"Can you feel him," Rebecca asked distractedly, bending most of her mind on controlling the elementals.
"He's outside the vortex," William called in response, his fingers swiftly reloading his empty revolvers. "I don't know exactly where."
"Not near the river," Katherine answered from the rear wall of the cabin, peering through a gap in a shuttered window toward the river. "We are clear on that side."
Rebecca nodded, the simple gesture making a sharp pulse of pain tear through her head. It broke her concentration and she groaned, frantically striving to recover it. "We need to leave," she said faintly as the Elementals fell into place once more.
William took hold of her, steadying her when she swayed alarmingly. Katherine passed them to look through the front door again, picking up her shotgun from where it leaned against the door frame. Rebecca reached up to put her hand on William's arm.
"I can't hold them," she whispered faintly. "Too much."
He glanced at Katherine, jerking his head toward the back door.
"We take the river," he growled.
Katherine nodded and slammed the front door, crossing the cabin again and pulling open the back door. The patio was empty and she turned back to him. "What do we need?"
William lifted his chin toward his saddlebags. "That's all I brought. Throw it over my shoulder and I'll take Rebecca. You'll have to carry anything else you want to bring."
Katherine turned her gaze to Rebecca, horrified to see her pale and sweating heavily.
"She won't last much longer," William growled worriedly. “She’s burning up.”
Katherine wasted no more time, lifting the saddlebags and slinging them over William’s shoulder. She hurriedly stuffed a rucksack with a few things, tipping the two boxes of ammunition in on top. In only a minute Katherine nodded to him and he tightened his arm around Rebecca's shoulders. "We're going.” he murmured in his daughter’s ear. “You can let them go."
Rebecca sighed and nodded weakly. A moment later she sagged and went limp. Lifting her in his arms, the vortex outside slackened briefly and a gust of wind skirling through the door to ruffle Rebecca’s hair.
"She will wake when she can," William muttered gruffly to the breeze and it flowed back outside. "I hope they will guard us as far as the river," he said to Katherine. "We cannot fight Terrence here. Not without her."
Katherine paused, her eyes sliding to a cupboard that had so far been spared from the flames around them.
"The rifle.” she asked. “Will it kill him?"
William shook his head, grimacing as he realised he had almost forgotten it. Turning to the cupboard, he shifted Rebecca so he held her steady in one arm. With his free hand he quickly took out the rifle, sliding the leather sling over his shoulder. Settling Rebecca comfortably into his arms, he turned to Katherine. "Let's go."
The Air Elementals cleared a path for them to the river and Katherine stepped into the cold water, her eyebrows drawn together in concentration. While the wind howled around them, she swept her hands slowly through the water to form a raft of ice with the help of her Elemental. It wasn’t much to look at, a ten foot square of clear ice, the surface of which barely floated above the river. She frowned at it and quickly raised the sides of the floe to stop water sloshing over the edge and to give them more freeboard. Looking back over her shoulder when she was done, she jerked her head toward the ice floe. "Get on. We'll follow the river downstream."
Gently setting Rebecca in the middle of the raft, William turned to face the cabin as the vortex created by the Air Elementals died away. "He's coming."
Katherine hurriedly climbed onto the raft, reaching out to take his hand and pull him on with her. The last thing she needed was for him to stay behind to make a rear-guard stand. "The river will make our escape swift." she told him firmly.
William nodded and sat down, drawing a revolver in preparation. "Swift is good. And if we can get off on the opposite bank we will have the river between us and him."
Katherine nodded and dropped her hand into the water. Her Elemental needed no encouragement, the current taking hold of the raft and quickly drawing them away from the bank. She looked up once at her cabin, a single tear escaping to fall down her cheek when she saw it was well aflame.
"I'm sorry, Will. I know how much effort you put into building that cabin for me."
He gazed at the burning cabin calmly, the crackle of burning timbers loud in the still air. "It's only wood and iron Kath. If you want to come back here to live, it can be rebuilt." He turned his grey eyes to her, a grim smile on his face. "Terrence might burn it down now but it doesn’t mean he has won. You made it a home and you're still here. That is all that matters."
His easy acceptance of the cabin’s destruction was more than she could cope with and she let her tears fall. One hundred years of her life had been lived within its walls, many fond memories of sitting on her patio watching the river change through the seasons coming to the forefront of her mind. William reached across the raft to draw her into his arms as she wept silently at the loss. Looking back, he saw Terrence emerge from the smoke, striding across the wide strip of land between the burning cabin and the river bank. The river pulled them around a bend, hiding Terrence and the burning cabin from view.
"It was my home Will," she cried, unaware that their escape had been witnessed. "My life. I knew every squeaky floorboard and every protruding nail."
Stroking her hair, he murmured into her ear. “And everything that made it your home is in you. What he is burning is only the most solid expression of it. Those floorboards and nails were nothing more than a place to rest your memories."
She pushed him away, furiously wiping tears from her cheeks. “They were my memories, Will. A new cabin can never be the same as that one."
He nodded, undismayed by her anger. "No, it won't," he agreed. "But it will be a roof over your head and four sturdy walls."
She scowled at his pragmatism.
"It would be different," he persevered. "But I doubt it would take you long to make it your home." He reached out and put his large hand on her chest. "It's all in here Kath. Things may come and go. What we make of them is up to us."
He looked back at the smoke rising above the trees. "Perhaps he thought destroying your home would make you want to quit the fight." He turned back to her, a question written clearly across his face. "Are you going to let him frighten you into submission?"
Rebecca woke to the feel of gentle rocking, her head pounding through the worst headache she had ever experienced. She groaned and rolled over, the rocking quickening briefly before steadying again.
"Stay still, Bec," William said quietly, his warm hand gently stroking the hair from her face. "Rest. I've got something for your head if you can sit up a little."
Rebecca groaned again, unable to find words to express how much she wanted the pain to go away. Another part of her didn't want to taste his foul tonics again, regardless of how well they worked.
"They overtaxed her again," Katherine growled sourly from her opposite side. "The last twenty four hours have not been gentle on her."
William's grunt of agreement was followed by the rocking motion again and she groaned for a third time, reaching out for him.
"Please stop," she croaked. "Stop the world moving."
Katherine chuckled as William took Rebecca’s hand. "We're on a raft floating down the river."
Rebecca managed to ease one eye open, grimacing as the sun glinted off the water into her face. "Why?"
William let her go and Rebecca heard him rummaging through his saddlebag. In the condition she was in it could only mean one thing and her brain latched onto it immediately "Does it taste foul?" she asked hoarsely before he could return with whatever he was searching for. "If it does, it'll end up in the river."
Katherine rested her hand on Rebecca’s other shoulder. "If it is what I think it is, that tonic is probably his worst remedy," she sympathised. "But if you can keep it down you'll be alright very soon."
With a sinking feeling, Rebecca rolled gingerly toward William and opened her eyes completely. "Let's get it over with."
Katherine hadn't been lying when she had described the rancid smelling liquid William added to a cup of water. Rebecca could smell the concoction well before William handed her the cup. She tried not to breathe as she brought the cup to her mouth but the slimy feel of the liquid as she hurriedly swallowed it was just as bad as the smell. Her stomach tried to rebel as it slid down her throat, attempting to force it back up as she grimly willed it to stay down. The effort made her gag and her head pulsed white lights through her vision.
William was ready with another cup the moment she dropped the first, the cold river water chasing away the bitterly sour aftertaste of the tonic. He patiently made her drink it all, rinsing the empty tonic cup in the river as Rebecca lay back down again. "Ten minutes and you'll start to feel better," he assured her.
She nodded weakly and closed her eyes against the glare off the water. The gentle rocking of the river lulled her toward sleep again and she fought the feeling long enough to look at Katherine and ask. "Was he there?"
Katherine nodded. "Terrence was there. He stood back and let the Shadows come for us rather than face you again himself."
Rebecca sighed, disjointed fragments of memory coming back to her. "The fire?" she murmured, her eyes closing despite her efforts to keep them open. "What happened?"
"We couldn't stop it," Katherine told her heavily. "My cabin is gone because of him."
Rebecca groaned, reaching out blindly until Katherine took her hand. Rebecca squeezed it lethargically, trying vainly to convey all she felt at the news. "I'm sorry," she whispered.
Sleep overtook her again before she could hear whether or not Katherine replied.
They drifted down river for half an hour after Rebecca succumbed once again to sleep, the sun slowly lowering behind them as the afternoon drew on toward evening. The smoke from Katherine’s burning cabin was already lost in the distance, the thick forest marching uninterrupted to the river bank and blocking their view. William looked at the forest with muted interest, the autumn colours of the deciduous trees setting the forest aflame in reds and yellows. It made a difference to the tall evergreen pines he lived with. Now and then they passed little pieces of debris floating in the river, sticks and dead leaves being left in their wake as their ice raft moved faster than the current thanks to the assistance of Katherine’s Elemental.
"What are we going to do?" William asked softly, breaking their silence as his gaze returned to the sleeping form of his daughter. "She cannot continue like this."
Katherine nodded slowly. "She has been with her Elemental less than a week and already she has seen more than some do in a score of years. She has burned out twice since the ritual in the river yesterday." She looked down at Rebecca worriedly, rearranging the blanket that had been thrown over her. Most of their blankets lay beneath the sleeping woman, warding off the chill of the ice. "They have used her hard."
William nodded silently, reaching out to brush Rebecca’s hair from her face. His gesture made Katherine smile, wondering how such a gruff old man could show such tenderness without reservation. "If I could take her place I would," he said softly. "I don't like seeing her like this."
She reached across Rebecca to put her hand on his shoulder. "She is strong. I'm sure you can feel that as well as I can.”
He nodded distractedly. “She is," he agreed. "But is it enough for this?" He looked up at her, his weathered face distressed. "Do you think she can defeat him?"
She smiled encouragingly. "She has you beside her. That is enough for me to know that she can defeat him."
He managed a doubtful half smile. "She is going to need more than me." His gaze dropped back to Rebecca. "She needs sleep, time to rest and rebuild her strength. She cannot get that if he is hunting us so closely."
The truth of his words made her sigh. "Did you have something in mind?"
For a long moment he didn't move, staring down at his daughter in silence. When he did speak, it was slowly and with great sadness. "I need to leave her in your hands."
She frowned, surprised at his suggestion. "No Will. She needs you..."
He cut her off with a sweep of his hand. "She needs rest Kath. Terrence cannot follow you on the river without risking a confrontation with you in your element. If the two of you continue down the river I will cross to the opposite bank and lay a false trail for him. I may find a place to my liking where I can face him myself."
Katherine frowned. William’s plan left much to be desired, not least the fact that he would be leaving Rebecca in her care. Katherine doubted that Rebecca would understand why her father was pushing her away. She looked away, frowning as she surveyed the river bank. The trees hanging over the water had turned from the hardy mountain pines that grew in the higher elevations to a mixed forest of beech, maple and oak. The trees that surrounded her cabin were more pine than beech and no matter how often she went down river for supplies, it always surprised her how quickly the change occurred. She watched the trees pass by, trying to understand William’s decision. “Have you thought about this?” she finally asked.
"It’s the only way, Kath.” he answered immediately. “If Terrence finds a trail he will follow it. His servants know our scent and they will discover it if I leave it for them."
Katherine shook her head quickly. "I cannot let you do this, Will. She needs you more than she needs me."
William looked down at his daughter a final time. Rebecca’s face was as pale as the ice they drifted down the river on, her dark hair spread around her head like a halo. ”She needs something I cannot give."
Raising his eyes to Katherine, he smiled wryly. “She needs a teacher, Kath. And I have never had the patience for it."
Katherine rocked back and scowled at him. "You're afraid," she told him bluntly. "I never thought I would see you fall so low William. To be afraid of your own child."
He looked away, watching the trees pass as they floated by on their raft. "Some things are worth fearing," he told her softly. He glanced down at his daughter, a brief smile softening his face. "But she isn't one of them."
William’s hands moved of their own accord and Katherine found herself looking down at the rifle they held out to her.
"This however," he murmured. "This is something to be afraid of. I hate to leave it with you but you'll need it more than I will."
At his urging, she hesitantly stretched out a hand to take it. Just before her fingers could touch the dark polished wood of the rifle stock, she looked up into his earnest face.
“Are you sure?”
He nodded. "Use it as a last resort," he told her softly. "When all else seems dark, then you'll know it's time."
Her fingers tingled as they finally touched the worn wooden stock, the faint odour of dried blood coming to her. "Why are you passing it on to me?"
He sighed, his eyes dropping to Rebecca. "In case she finds something she can't handle."