| |
Considering the turmoil of the day, Katana fell asleep relatively easily. When they arrived back at the lodge, close to two a.m., she unsaddled Altair, shoved him in the paddock, and stormed upstairs to bed, slamming the door shut behind her.
Ashley set about lighting the fire and curled up in one of the small flower-patterned chairs, accepting of the fact he was not going to sleep well. He didn’t want to even risk going upstairs in the fear he might lose his head; literally.
He finally nodded off but was soon jolted awake from a sharp bite to his right knee. When he opened his eyes, he cursed out loud when he saw Jacques staring back at him.
“Outside,” Jacques said. “Now.”
“Oh, come on, man. We’ve all had a long day. Let’s just leave it for now, hmmm?”
Jacques lunged forwards and bit him again; harder.
Ashley yelped in pain and grumbled his agreement to going outside. Fighting a wolf after such a day and little sleep didn’t score too high on his ‘want’ list but if needs must then needs must.
“Shut the door behind you,” Jacques said, padding out onto the grassy ground. The moonlight faded overhead, ready to give way to dawn and a new day. “We don’t want to wake her again, do we?”
Rolling his eyes, Ashley closed the door behind him and strolled out into the chilly early morning air.
Altair, munching through his haylage, kept an ear focused on the two beings stood in front of his paddock.
“Right, come on then,” Ashley said, sighing. He patted his left shoulder with his right hand and leaned over. “Give me your best shot.”
Jacques gave him a withering look and snorted. “I don’t want to fight you, you imbecile. I want to talk to you.”
Ashley stood back upright, surprise filtering through his sleep deprived eyes. “Oh. What about?”
“Not a word of this to Katana. Do you understand?”
Narrowing his eyes, Ashley looked at Jacques and said, “Well that depends.”
Jacques flew at Ashely with such force, his lithe body managed to knock the man off balance, sending him crashing to the earth. The thud he hit the earth with made sure he lost his breath for a good minute.
Stood with a paw on each shoulder and his nose touching Ashley’s, Jacques said, “No, it depends on nothing. This is between me and you. Katana doesn’t need anything else on her plate at the minute. Are we clear?”
Seconds of silence ticked by as Ashley regained air in his lungs. When he finally got his strength back, he sat up, pushing Jacques off him. “Fine. But only because I agree Katana has enough on her plate. What do you want?”
Sitting down a few feet away, Jacques sighed and said, “Does anyone in your family have any powers left?”
Ashley frowned. “You mean magickal powers?”
“No. I mean psychic powers,” Jacques replied, his voice laced with sarcasm.
“Don’t get narky with me, lover boy, because it really won’t work well in your favour.”
Jacques narrowed his eyes and growled. “You know what? Forget it. This was worse than a bad idea. I can’t believe I was even stupid enough to think that you might have a wish to help anyone but yourself.” Jacques turned and walked off but threw a steely glare back at Ashley over his shoulder. “You can bet your sorry ass I’ll be waiting for you to make one slip up, just one, and I’ll be in there faster than a bolt of lightning letting her know.”
Ashley pursed his lips, then let out a shout of frustration. “Alright, I’m sorry. What do you want to know about my family’s magickal powers for?”
Jacques stopped dead in his tracks. He debated over his options for a brief minute. There was no point in going to the coven attached to the family business—they were paid by Malaceia and would be loyal to him until the end.
Even though Erica was Katana’s best friend, Jacques still didn’t want to risk her knowing too much and accidentally letting something out. It was common knowledge she was still learning her powers and shielding techniques. Realising that actually, his bad idea was the only idea of answering his question, he turned around and ambled back over to Ashley.
“I wanted to know if there is any way Gregory’s work can be undone,” Jacques said.
“Undone? As in reversed like it never happened?”
Jacques bit back the sarcastic reply he wanted to respond with and simply nodded.
“Are we talking for you, for someone else, or for everyone? Are you trying to figure out if there’s a way to kill me?” Ashley peered down at him with suspicion. “Because I can tell you now, that man tried everything he could think of to kill us, and nothin—”
“I mean for me, you self-absorbed idiot.”
Ashley fell silent for a second, ignoring the urge to violently answer the wolf’s curt insult. “I don’t know. I’d need to know the details of how he made you...you, if that makes sense? Was it all science or was there some magick involved?”
“Honestly, I couldn’t tell you. I was so young and whacked out on sedatives most of the time, life was just a great big blur back then. Until she came along.”
“Who?”
“Katana.”
Ashley rolled his eyes. “Please, man. Cut the love crap. It’s making me feel ill.”
“I didn’t mean that. Katana was the one who let us all out. How else do you think we escaped Gregory’s insufferable prison?”
“She what? You got out?”
“You really know nothing, do you?”
“What gives that away, hmmm?”
“Alright, time for me to tell you a story.” Jacques motioned to the compacted earth floor in front of him. “Take a seat.”