Aida
Over an hour later, Aida and Toma came to a halt in a clearing next to a small waterfall which cascaded down an craggy outcropping into a quiet pool. Aids was pretty confident that they had not been followed. Certainly they had done their best to confuse any pursuers that may have been clever enough to pick up their trail in the first place. Still, it would be better to get themselves out of sight as quickly as possible. She shot a concerned glance at Toma, who was currently leaning against a large boulder and using his cupped hands to drink some of the water from the pool beside him. He hadn’t said anything, but he looked much paler than he had when they first escaped. The combined exertion of flight and using his magic hadn’t been good for him. He badly needed to rest.
Aida lifted her head and sniffed the air one more time while reaching out with her magic into the trees, checking for living creatures with all of her senses. Birds, squirrels, the occasional rabbit or fox. That was all. Nothing larger. Certainly nothing human.
Good.
Satisfied, Aida turned to the waterfall. The rock wall behind it would have looked completely solid to any normal human who cared to look at it. To her, however, it shimmered slightly in that way that could only mean there was magic at work. The spell had been an expensive one, but it was worth every penny for the safety it provided. The mage that had cast it for her had had a hard time creating a ward Aida could activate with her unconventional magic, but they had finally figured it out. You could anchor a ward to pretty much any object, so Aida had finally suggested using a small doll she created of her own hair. Because it was a piece from her own body, Aida could trigger it. It wasn’t pretty, but it got the job done in the end.
That doll hung on a small peg at the top of the stone archway that was really behind the waterfall, protecting what lay beyond it from prying eyes. The doll was one of three separate wards Aida had commissioned to protect this place, just to be extra sure no one else could ever find it. Part of her hated to bring anyone else into her private space, but she had no other choice.
Besides, Toma was…
Unique.
Like her.
She shook her head, chastising herself before she started going down that road. Still really not the time to start thinking about that again.
She stole another quick glace at the dark skinned man behind her. His eyes were closed and his breathing was a little less labored than it had been a moment ago. She watched his chest rise and fall for a while before her eyes began to wander.
Hm. This was the first time she had really taken a good look at the man. The cell had never been anything but gloomy and dark. In the bright morning sun, he looked radically different now that she could see him clearly. She had, of course, gotten a good sense of the lean muscles of his frame while she was saving his life. Thanks to her magic, she was intimately familiar with each of the many scars and old injuries that covered his body. And his emerald green eyes had been…arresting, even in the gloom of the dungeon. But there was still quite a bit that surprised her now. His skin wasn’t just dark, it was an unusually rich, deep mahogany color that almost looked like antique bronze where the sun struck it. And his hair… she known his hair was long for a man’s, of course. But what she had believed to be simply clumps of matted dirt and dried blood were now very obviously braids. Hundreds of small, meticulously neat, braids. Of course, they were currently covered with dirt and blood, but she could still see how carefully they had been done.
As she considered him, she could feel an unfamiliar and frankly unwelcome warmth growing slowly in her stomach.
Oh no you don’t, young lady Aida thought, blushing furiously and turning back to the wall, Stop thinking about him like that. He isn’t THAT hot. And don’t forget, he’s also annoying as hell and an idiot.
Frustrated with herself, Aida quickly deactivated the ward. Toma hadn’t moved when she turned again, so she splashed some cold water from the pool directly into his face.
He sat up sharply, sputtering at her in surprise while she tried not to think about how the water was now traveling in little rivulets over the skin of his neck and under the edge of the worn leather vest that covered his chest.
“Come on, hero boy.” She called over her shoulder as she passed through the waterfall, hoping the water would help do something about the heat her body was experiencing “We can’t sit here all day waiting for Magnus to figure out where we went. We’ll be safer inside.”
Toma
“We’ll be safer inside.” Aida’s words drifted back to him from the other side of the waterfall.
Inside?? Inside what?
That woman really had a major problem with communication, Toma decided as he hauled himself to his feet again and dusted the dirt off his pants. He happened to catch a good look at the sorry state of said pants while he was doing it, and had to chuckle at the habit that had him trying to brush off a garment that was already completely covered in much worse than a few innocent twigs and pine needles.
Once they had a moment of peace, they were both going to need a bath.
The idea of Aida naked and wet had Toma’s breath catching in his throat. He paused for an extra moment under the waterfall, letting the hard pounding of the water knock that image from his brain. If he was being honest, it didn’t work terribly well, but it did keep him from embarrassing himself as he followed the healer through the stone tunnel…
And straight into a fairy tale.
On the other side was a small, pretty, stone cottage with a thatched roof that looked to Toma as if a family of dwarves ought to live there. He had never considered the idea that such a structure would actually exist in real life. It had little round windows with matching shutters, and window boxes full of tiny pink flowers in front of each one, for cryin’ out loud. Who in their right mind would possibly live in such a ridiculous building?
As if on cue, the front door opened and none other than Aida walked out onto the stoop, hands on her hips making her the perfect picture of female irritation.
Of course. That figured.
“Were you planning on standing there gawking all day?” Aida asked, sounding entirely too much like someone’s mother for Toma’s comfort.
“Nope,” he answered immediately “I was just wondering if Baba Yaga* was your next door neighbor.”
Aida grinned. “Sorry to disappoint you, but you’re lookin’ at the only witch in the neighborhood. And I never really cared for chicken legs as architectural elements. Now get in here before I decide I’m in the mood for smartass hero for dinner tonight.”
Toma’s fairy tale first impression of Aida’s home continued when he stepped inside. It looked like a witch’s workshop. Which was exactly what it was, Toma supposed.
The room he had entered contained a large table pushed to one side, covered with ingredients. It sat next to a fireplace where an honest-to-goodness cauldron hung, waiting for use. The walls were covered in shelves and cabinets that were all packed full of tiny bottles full of unidentifiable…stuff. On the other side of the room, some comfortable-looking chairs and a sofa surrounded a smaller table. Beyond that was a back door. The only other noteworthy feature was a set of stairs leading to a loft where, Toma assumed, Aida’s bedroom was located.
“You know,” he said to Aida “I was mostly kidding about the witch thing. But now I feel like a little bit of an ass.”
Aida laughed again. “Well, you only feel that way because you ARE a bit of an ass.”
“Touche,” Toma responded grumpily. “So what IS all this stuff, anyway?”
Aida looked at him like he had just asked what color the sky was. “I’m a healer.” She said as if that answered the question. When Toma just raised an eyebrow in her direction, she elaborated “I make medicines.”
Toma frowned as he considered that statement. “Okay, now I’m confused” he finally said. “I thought you use your kiss to heal people? Why bother making all of this stuff?”
Aida’s smile faded a little and she took a deep breath. “Let me ask you a question: If I asked you to hang a picture for me, and I gave you the choice between using a regular hammer or a sledgehammer to do the job, which would you pick?”
“The regular hammer, obviously.” He responded, puzzled.
“Exactly so. Because even though the sledgehammer might be able to drive a nail into the wall, it is hard to control and might just as easily make a big hole in the wall. Right?”
He nodded.
“The same thing is true for my magic. Yes, I could just use my kiss on everyone who sought my help. It would be much faster than all of this. But that is unruly and hard to control. When I kiss a patient, I just release a flood of magic into them and it overwhelms everything in that person’s body. In cases like yours, where there was a LOT that needed attention, that’s the best way. But for a person with one minor complaint, like a headache or something, a kiss might actually cause bigger trouble than it solves. So instead, I make these medicines, so I can give them a tiny bit of magic and direct it to exactly where they need it.”
Toma nodded again as he wandered around the room looking at the shelves. Then he paused and looked at Aida. “So what happens when you kiss someone healthy?”
*In Slavic folklore, Baba Yaga is a wicked witch who is said to live in a cottage that stands on chicken legs. She has a reputation for eating lost children and hapless travelers who come across her home.
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