Spirit Sorceress: Spirit Sorceress: Book 1 Read Free Page B

he
already was.
    “I heard your call for help and I found you knocked
unconscious with a broken ankle.  Luckily, you stayed under while I set
it.  I don’t think you should try walking, even with that walking stick,
until tomorrow.  I assume you saw me drive off those three?  It’s just
over ten miles to the nearest forest ranger station, it will probably take us
two days to get there.”
    Terry nodded slowly trying to make sense of it, all that
happened.  I knew he would fail of course, I’d left out too much, but then
I wasn’t about to tell this human what I was.  Most likely he didn’t even
know those idiots were vampires, and just believed it was some weird group that
had kidnapped him and his wife.  No doubt mesmerizing had worked on them
just fine and his memories of the last two weeks were Swiss cheese.
    I wasn’t positive of that though, since his spirit had the
true account when I read it.  I didn’t have a clue what was actually
inside his mind.
    He moved his leg and hissed, after a moment he said, “Thank
you for what you did, even if I don’t quite understand how you drove off those
three so easily.  Something isn’t quite… right.  Will you go on ahead
and get help please?  Just leave me, my wife is still being held and she’s
been getting weaker every day.”
    I reached out and felt his soul.  He already knew his
wife was dead, he could feel it.  But humans tended to ignore that kind of
thing, they didn’t believe it, or didn’t want to believe it.  Some refused
to even notice what their spirits tried to communicate.  I don’t know why
I cared, I shouldn’t, but I sent comfort to his soul which mourned, while his
physical mind sat in confusion.
    I sighed and stood, and decided on the band aid approach,
“I’m sorry Terry, but Sharon is gone.  They killed her,” my voice wasn’t
unkind.
    I stalked away to the stream to clean up and get the blood
off of me while Terry cried.  I also didn’t want to be there to answer
questions, like how could I possibly know that?  It was going to be a long
day.  I wasn’t heartless, but I didn’t want to deal with my own grief,
much less his.
    I’m not particularly proud of it, but I ignored him the best
I could for the rest of the day, outside of making sure he had enough food,
water, and to help move him for his other physical needs, I stayed close by in the
forest.  It was so much easier to lose myself in the flow and ebb of the
life and spirit of the forest around me, and avoid the pain and loss that
dwelled in both of us.
     
    “Are you sure I broke my ankle?  It feels like a bad
sprain maybe,” Terry muttered the next morning as we started walking.  His
arm was around my shoulders and it was a little awkward because of my short
height, but it worked.  I had my arm around his back and supported him the
best I could.  I was strong enough, but it was difficult.
    I really didn’t like to lie, and felt uncomfortable with the
idea.  Spirit sorcerers generally didn’t get involved in the world to the
extent of others.  We were close to our families and mate, and protected
them fiercely, otherwise we took the long view of lifetimes.  Ying and
yang.  Evil existed, but it was part of the road of life, we didn’t get
involved unless as Terry did, someone asked for help.
    We were observers, and helped a spirit along if it got
caught, or again, we helped or hindered those foolish enough to cede their free
will.  I may have been over a hundred years old, but in a lot of ways I
was just a teenager with no experience dealing with others, much less lying to
mortals to keep magic a secret.  I felt awkward and out of my depth, not
really sure how to respond to his question.
    So my reply was quite wooden, “I suppose it’s possible.”
    He chuckled, “I hope so, there are no ERs anywhere around
here.”
    I laughed, and the sound shocked me, maybe I had been alone
too long. 
    “Nope.  But help isn’t that far.”
    It was slow