Born of Water: Elemental Magic & Epic Fantasy Adventure

Chapter 23

  DECISIONS

  The wooden sword cracked against his with force but Darag held his ground. Laireag was quiet when he sparred, his concentration a turbulent cloud difficult to predict. Darag had not often fought with Cuileann or Laireag. They were younger than him and had grown into their own while he had traveled to the Sea of Sarketh. He was finding himself enjoying the afternoon far more than he had expected.

  “You know you have to go tonight?”

  Darag was so startled that he paused. He ducked a thrust just before it would have connected with his head. He glared at Cuileann. The second moment of inattention lost him the match. Laireag didn’t look pleased about it though.

  “Damn it, Cuileann. I wanted to beat him for once.”

  “You did,” Darag said as he pulled himself upright from where he'd fallen to the forest floor. Laireag had downed him with a sweep to the legs that had sent him sprawling.

  “Fairly,” Laireag growled. The air around Laireag threatened a scorching. He sighed as he swung the tension of the match out of his arms. “He’s right though, you have to go tonight.”

  Darag decided to stay where he was sitting. “I don’t know what I’m doing,” he said, rubbing his fingers across his eyes. He only just caught the look Laireag and Cuileann gave each other. Laireag offered Darag his hand and pulled him to his feet.

  “I don’t think that is a phrase I ever thought I’d hear from you.”

  “Though I’m not surprised it would be due to a woman,” Cuileann added with a grin. “They make your head spin.”

  “Don’t worry, I intend to go,” Darag said irritably. “I’m even considering having fun, but haven’t decided on that yet.” He gave Laireag and Cuilean a wry smile.

  Laireag chuckled deeply, giving Darag a sideways jab to the shoulder. Darag's gaze dropped downward, serious again.

  “You know she’ll be gone in a week? There is no point to this. We’ve agreed to just be friends.”

  “That may be what you’ve said in words,” Laireag said.

  Darag sighed. "You are both too young to choose. This is a serious thing."

  "True," Laireag agreed, his teasing fading.

  "It is easy to forget you are older," Cuileann added.

  As they walked back to Lus na Sithchaine, Darag broke the silence. “You are wrong,” he said to Laireag. “I’ve never known what I was doing. I’ve just known what direction to go in.”

  “What direction should you take now?”

  Darag frowned, looking into the gathering shadows. “I don’t know. Day is night to me when I’m around her.”

  Cuileann gave a snort. “Then, my friend, do the opposite of what you think you should.”

  As the evening thickened, Darag paced. He found himself walking to the door of his house nestled high in the trees, turning on his heels, and walking back in. Indecision was not like him, nor anxiousness. He felt both now. He wanted to see Lavinia. He didn’t think he should.

  There was no one to ask counsel of. His father had been gone for the last thirty years. Laith Lus had taken him in and understood the restlessness he felt while everyone else seemed content in the Forest of Falin. But he sensed this was not a time where Laith Lus would give him advice even if he asked it. This was something he had to work out on his own.

  He stopped in his door, gazing out as he leaned against the door jamb. “Why did you have to come?” he whispered to the night wind.

  The breeze died, leaving silence in the trees. Emptiness contracted his chest. He remembered before, the feeling of restlessness rising again. For the last week it had been pushed aside by the warmth Lavinia's laughter brought.

  Darag pushed himself away from the door, running his hand through his hair. He could hear his sister’s voice ringing in his head. He was late.

  The evening meal had been pushed aside to become an open banquet. The grassy expanse of the clearing stretched in the light of the greater moon. It thronged with people. Dancers twirled in the center, spiraling in a vortex of motion marked by motes of light. Along the outskirts, he found Cuileann.

  The camaraderie of the afternoon was gone. Cuileann glanced up, eyes connecting with Darag’s. Cuilean shifted, causing Lavinia, who stood before him, to turn her back on Darag. She had not seen him. Cuileann flashed Darag a grin and wink. Darag returned a feral smile. Friendly rivalry promised to add to the night.

  Darag slipped into the crowd. He saw that Laireag was dancing with Ria. She was laughing as he spun her around, a small orbit within the galactic swirl of movement. To the side now, Darag saw Lavinia better. Her cheeks were flushed and breath quick. She had been dancing and, by the smile, enjoying herself. Niri was nearby talking to Beite. Lavinia’s eyes left Cuileann’s to search the crowd, but did not travel toward Ria. Darag's smile was gentler this time.

  The game of it went out of him. He did not want to compete with Cuileann or Laireag. He just wanted to spend the evening with Lavinia. Preferably every day and evening until she left. He did not even notice who else was around him as he walked to join the small knot of four friends.

  Laireag and Ria returned before he was close enough to be noticed. Flushed and excited, Ria looked almost an older sister to Beite. Before he'd even joined them, Laireag’s eyes fell on Lavinia. Cuileann braced his shoulders, glaring at Laireag over Lavinia’s head. Beite sighed.

  Lavinia shifted, maneuvering Beite next to Cuileann with the skill of a swordswoman. Beite faced Cuileann and asked breathlessly, “Would you dance with me?”

  The move had been obvious. Cuileann opted to be gracious. “Gladly.”

  Cuileann and Beite turned to go as Laireag gave his attention to Lavinia. Before he could speak, Lavinia shifted, her gaze finding Darag.

  The warm smile that bloomed across her face was answer enough for Darag.

  “You’re late,” Beite piped, nearly identically to how he'd imagined it earlier.

  “Not very,” he said, never looking away from Lavinia.

  “I think we are about to be ignored,” Laireag said to Ria and Niri with a sigh. “Perhaps we should see what they are serving?”

  Darag hardly noticed when the others left them. His vision was caught in sky blue despite the night skies.

  “You have been having fun?”

  Lavinia nodded. “Yes, I almost forgot to wonder if you were going to come.”

  “I didn’t want to claim all of your time,” Darag said with a laugh.

  “Are you so sure I will give it all to you?” Her sarcastic tone was ruined by the flash of happiness his words sent across her face.

  “Well, I know you are the only reason I am here,” he paused for the space of a heartbeat. “I see you were dancing earlier. Will you dance with me?”

  The only answer Lavinia gave was to put her hand in his.