Reckless

"I had no orders to bring her here."



The girl. What had she looked like? Will no longer knew. The blood had washed away her face.



"Bring her to me. Your King's life depends on it."



Will felt the fingers on his skin again. So soft and cool.



"A shield of jade. Made from the flesh of his enemies." Her voice stroked his face. "My dreams never lie."



34



Lark's Water



For a while, Valiant led them quite resolutely through the night. However, as the slopes around them became more rugged and the road they'd followed from the river petered out into scrub and rubble, he brought his donkey to a halt and looked around, obviously perplexed.



"What?" Jacob rode to his side. "Don't tell me you're already lost!"



"The last time I was here was in broad daylight!" the Dwarf retorted testily. "How am I supposed to find a hidden entrance when it's darker here than up a Giant's backside? It's got to be right here somewhere."



Jacob dismounted and handed the Dwarf his flashlight. "Take this!" he said. "Find the entrance. And sometime tonight would be good."



The Dwarf swept the darkness with the beam of the light. "What's this?" he asked incredulously. "Fairy magic?"



"Something like that," replied Jacob.



Valiant shone the flashlight down the shrubby slope. "I'd bet my hat its' down there somewhere." Fox eyed the Dwarf suspiciously as he stomped off down the hill.



"Better go with him," Jacob said. "He might get lost."



She wasn't too keen on the idea, but she quickly scampered after Valiant.



Clara dismounted and tied her horse to a nearby tree. The golden threads in her skirt shimmered even more brightly in the moonlight. Jacob plucked a few leaves from an oak tree and handed them to her.



"Rub these between your hands and then brush them over the embroidery."



Clara obeyed, and the threads dissolved under her fingers as if she'd wiped the gold off the fabric.



"Elven thread," Jacob said. "Very pretty, but any Goyl would spot you miles off."



Clara ran her fingers through her conspicuously fair hair as if trying to dull its color, like the dress.



"You're planning on going into the fortress alone, aren't you?"



"Yes. I am."



"If you'd been alone on the river, you'd be dead now. Let me come with you. Please."



But Jacob shook his head. "It's too dangerous. And Will would be lost if something happened to you. He'll soon need you a lot more than he'll need me."



"Why?" It was so cold her breath hung in the air in white wisps.



"You'll have to wake him."



"Wake him?"



It took her a few minutes to understand.



"The rose!"



And the prince bent over her and woke her with a kiss.



Above them, the crescents of the two moons looked like they had been starved by the night.



"What makes you think I can wake him? Your brother doesn't love me anymore!" She tried hard to hide the pain in her voice.



Jacob took off the coat that made him look like a merchant. The only humans in the fortress were slaves, and they definitely didn't wear fur-lined collars.



"But you love him," he said. "It'll have to do."



Clara was just standing there.



"What if not?" she said eventually.



"What if it's not enough?"



Jacob didn't have to answer. They both remembered the castle and the dad under the leaves.



"How long did it take Will to pluck up the courage to ask you out?" He slipped back into his old coat.



The memory wiped the fear off Clara's face. "Two weeks. I thought he never would. Although we ran into each other every day in the hospital, when he was visiting your mother."



"Two weeks? That was quick for Will!" Something rustled in the bushes. Jacob reached for his gun, but it was just a badger weaving its way through the brush. "Where did he take you?"



"To the hospital cafeteria. Not the most romantic of places." Clara smiled. "He told me about this stray dog he'd found. He brought it to our next date." Jacob caught himself envying Will the expression on her face.



"Let's look for some water," he said.



They soon found a small pond. Next to it stood an abandoned farmer's cart. The wheels had sunk into the muddy bank, and a heron had built its nest on the rotting wooden bed. The horses greedily lapped at the clear water, and Valiant's donkey waded in to its knees. But when Clara knelt down to drink, Jacob pulled her back.



"Watermen," he said. "The cart probably belonged to some farm girl. They love to catch themselves human brides. And around here, they've probably been waiting a long time for their next victim."



Clara backed away from the pond, and Jacob through he could hear a Waterman's sigh. They were vile creatures, but at least they didn't eat their victims, as the Lorelei did. Watermen dragged the girls into a cave, fed them, and brought them presents. Shells, pearls, jewelry from people who had drowned... For a while, Jacob had worked for the desperate parents of such abductees. He'd brought three girls back to the surface — poor deranged creatures who'd never quite returned from the dark caves where, surrounded by fish bones and pearls, they'd had to endure the slimy kisses of an infatuated Waterman. In one case, the parents had refused to pay him, because they no longer recognized their daughter.



Jacob left the horses to drink and went to search for the brook that fed the pond. He soon found it, a thin trickle that emerged from a crack in the nearby rocks. Jacob fished some dead leaves off the surface, and Clara filled her cupped hand with ice-cold water. It tasted earthy and fresh. Jacob only saw the birds after both he and Clara had taken their fist sips. Two dead larks, pressed against each other among the wet pebbles. He spat out the water and yanked Clara to her feet.



"What's the matter?" she asked, alarmed.



* * * * *



Her skin smelled of autumn and the wind. Don't, Jacob. But it was too late. Clara didn't flinch as he pulled her close. He grabbed her hair, kissed her mouth, and he felt her heart beating as fast as his own. The tiny hearts of the larks had burst from the madness. Hence the name: Larks' Water. Innocent, cool, and clear, but just one sip and you were lost. Let her go, Jacob. But he kissed her again, and it was his name she whispered, not Will's.



"Jacob!"



Woman and vixen — for one moment Fox was both. But it was the vixen who bit him so hard that he finally let go of Clara, though every fiber of his being wanted to hold her.



Clara stumbled back and wiped her mouth as though she could wipe away his kisses.



"Will you look at that!" Valiant pointed the flashlight at them and gave Jacob a lecherous smile. "Does this mean we can forget about saving your brother?"



Fox looked at him as if he'd kicked her.



Human and animal. Vixen and woman. She still seemed both at the same time. But she was all fox as she approached the stream and looked at the dead birds.



"Since when are you dumb enough to drink Larks' Water?"



"Dammit, Fox, it was dark!" His heart was still beating wildly.



"Larks' Water?" Clara didn't look at him. Her hands were shaking as she pushed the hair from her face. She did not look at him.