Black Blood

I don’t know how long we will be in this position but my tears seem unstoppable. I’ve barely been able to fly on Rave for the past few months, but there was a time when I could. The time when my mother helped me get out of the castle and stay away for hours.

That was the time when my life was a lot more carefree. The time when I still had all my magic and enjoyed it. Now the time has come to find a solution to all the problems that have come my way in recent months. It is time to continue our journey.

Slowly, I push Novak away from me a little. His two deep red eyes look at me compassionately. I am still not used to the new colour, but it doesn’t look out of place on him. The new hair colour also takes some getting used to, but not in the wrong way.

‘It’s time to go,’ he says softly, wiping my wet cheeks. I nod and wipe away the last remnants of tears myself. We turn to Alisha who is standing at the edge of the village with two horses. We had agreed to meet here at sunset. Travelling in the dark is not necessarily safe, but it is safer not to be seen by Christiaan and my father’s army. I said goodbye to Nalu yesterday. She gave me several pieces of advice but one has stayed with me the most so far.

Never underestimate the power of a woman.

I have developed great respect for that woman. Although her husband has chosen that she is not his only wife, she is far above the rest. Not through violence or aggression, but through the use of her brain. We have played a lot of chess in recent days and I also took something away from that.

‘You have to see life as a board game. You throw a dice and you move forward. Sometimes you are lucky and get to advance several squares. Sometimes things don’t go your way and you only make a small step forward. There are also times when you land on the wrong square and have to go back. Each time you take a step forward, you learn something about the rules of the game and improve your strategy. Sometimes it takes a while and the path is not easy, but in the end you arrive at the end ten times more trained than you were at the beginning.’

‘Earth to Celeste.’ I jerk up from my memories and look at Alisha’s grinning face. Novak has now taken the horses from her and taken a step to the right.

‘Vera will meet you at the house. You know the route and the map is in the bag. Together with some food and drink. The woman doesn’t talk much but is very warm-hearted,’ she says. She holds out her hand to me, which contains a bag. I am too curious not to immediately take the bag and look at the contents. Bread, fruit, water and the map. We should be able to get through the last two days with this.

‘I don’t know how to thank you for your help,’ I say softly. I don’t know if I would still be alive without her. Novak and Alisha have got to know each other better in the last few days. They seem to know each other from Novak’s time here. They knew each other by name, had exchanged a few words, but that was it. At least that’s what she told me and I still wonder if that’s the whole story.

‘It’s fine, really. Make sure you write and keep me posted on where you are. I’ll come and see you,’ she says, smiling. I pull her into an embrace and let the last few weeks slide through my mind. They have been hectic, emotional and physically demanding, but most of all, they have been very educational. I have learned more about myself than all the years in the castle put together. Alisha, Novak and I talked a lot about the situation with my father. If there’s one thing that’s high on my list, it’s wringing that man’s neck.

‘We will, thank you again,’ I say as I let go of her. She nods with a smile and takes a step backwards. When I turn round to Novak, I see that he has already sat down on a horse. I follow his example and take a seat on the other horse. I send Alisha one last grateful look before we disappear into the forest.

-----

‘Me, a magician, can you believe that?’ Novak asks, smiling as he holds out the cigarette to me. I take the cigarette from between his fingers and shake my head. Smiling, I take a puff from the cigarette.

‘No, and I don’t want to. You and magic seem like a terrible combination,’ I say, laughing as I blow out the smoke. I hold out the cigarette to him again and look around me. The sun has risen, the birds have woken up. We have been talking and driving through the forest all night. By now, the forest has given way to long swamps full of water and life. I don’t know exactly how many insects flew past my head, but there were more than 50. The grass is dark green, the water clear blue and here and there are white pieces of stone. The paths are bumpy and the landscape has more and more structure. You can see that we are starting to approach the mountains, which stick out of the ground like tall towers in the distance. We made a small stop at sunrise to eat. Sleep we did not take, that will come naturally.

‘You should see my dad’s face when he finds out about this and what about Myles,’ Novak laughs on. I laugh but not for long. There’s a subject we both seemed to prefer to avoid in recent weeks, the blood bond. Since Novak is awake, I do feel a lot more connected to him. I can read his emotions and mood as if written on his forehead, they are almost tangible. I feel drawn to him as if there is a rubber band between us that is getting tighter and tighter. I feel a connection that is so strong it is indescribable. We talked about it once and that was nothing more than the announcement that it was there. I would like to deny it, but I don’t think that’s possible anymore.

‘We never talked about the blood tie,’ I tell him, staring ahead.

‘That’s right,’ he replies simply. I get a tap on my shoulder and look at him. He smiles and holds out the cigarette to me. I take the half-smoked thing and take a puff. The smoke in my lungs seems to ease the discomfort a little, take away the sharp edges.

‘Do you think we should talk about it?’ he asks. I don’t know. It feels like something we should talk about. It’s not nothing and it certainly wasn’t meant to be. But talking about it won’t make it less or disappear, even if we want to.

‘No idea,’ I reply, sighing. I take another puff from the cigarette and hand it back to Novak.

‘We can’t change it even if we wanted to. The way I look at it right now, it’s an irreversible thing that I’m not necessarily unhappy about. I feel good, like you and don’t want you out of my life for the time being.’ I smile at his words. Neither Novak nor I are big talkers when it comes to feelings. I don’t need to. We seem to understand each other well enough. I don’t want him out of my life either. Without him, I would not survive or want to survive the situations we have been in so far. I like him, really like him. He is the first man I have ever really liked or found attractive and, as it looks now, the last.

‘I agree,’ is the last thing I say and that concludes the subject for now.