Davis stared, his face pale. "I'm sorry."
As though he had failed. He went to his knees, his hand still on the shield, but the faint flicker of magic no longer held the walls at bay and they began to move towards us with the grinding sound of rock against rock. I had to turn sideways and Lord Snow shoved up against me.
Davis finally dropped his hands and the last bit of the shield began to flare and disappear.
Three things happened.
First I got very, very scared.
Second, I got extremely angry.
And then I shouted.
"No! Get back!"
Lights exploded everywhere around me in a whirl of magic. Buildings retreated so quickly that one of them wavered and toppled on it's back, hitting the building behind it. I had the inane fear I was about to start a building-domino effect and watch lines of buildings go down around me.
I hadn't put power into the shield. I had simply ordered the buildings away and they had leapt away from us, going farther than they had been when this insanity started.
"Well, that was impressive," Lord Snow said.
I sat down on the ground by Davis. He gasped and looked around as though he didn't believe this any more than I had.
"What?" he said, and shook his head. "How?"
"Emotions," I whispered. My head was going to explode and I hoped my show had scared enemies away because right now I could barely think. "Emotions. All my life, hid my emotions. But needed them for this."
"Emotions," he said with a nod. I wasn't certain how much of the conversation he was following since his eyes kept closing and I thought he was going to pass out.
Lord Snow came over and settled down, leaning against Davis's back to keep him from falling over. I nodded my thanks.
"We'll rest for a bit," Lord Snow said. He scanned the area, his eyes narrowing at even the whisper of the breeze. "I believe there is no one around and after that display, hey aren't likely to come close very soon. You need to rest, Mark. What you just did would have been hard for a full fae. How are you feeling?"
"Hollow," I said. I moved so I could lean against the big cat. I hadn't realized I was cold until I felt the warmth radiating from his fur. "But -- we should go? This is dangerous. We need to find Maggie and Edmond."
"They're more likely to find us if we are here. Rest. I can't carry both of you anyway."
I started to protest that I could walk, but then realized it wasn't true.
"Why is all of this happening?" I finally whispered. I wasn't certain either of them could answer.
"Because you are clearly something special," Lord Snow said. He paused for a moment and I turned to see him eying me, looking contemplative in the way only cats can. "And that means you are a threat to what someone is doing, either here or on the other side."
"That doesn't mean that I'm on the right side," I said. "I don't know. Maybe my father made me as a weapon --"
"No," Lord Snow said.
"No," Davis echoed, a little more coherent now. He even lifted his head and focused on me, though he looked deathly pale still. "Actions."
"I don't understand," I said.
"He means that this is the fae world. Here magic, and the actions the magic produces, are the results of emotions. If those emotions were pure, then no one would be trying to kill you."
I shook my head. Life didn't work that way. If people thought they had a good reason to deal with someone --
But that was part of the human world and I already knew things didn't work the same here. I just couldn't quite get my mind to catch hold of the big difference. I had understood it for a moment when I made the buildings back off, but to me emotions were ephemeral and dangerous. I needed logic. I needed --
Something swept over head and I felt a welling of fear. Magic came to my fingers, and that startled me, which was good. Maggie and Edmond swept down into the open area and landed a few feet away. She rushed to us and knelt, her wings still fluttering as she reached to grab me in a hug. I could feel the dampness of tears on her cheek and felt the panicked beating of her heart as she held me.
"I went all the way to the council," she said and hiccuped, trying to get control. "They were worried about you, about the trouble you brought. I told them it wasn't fair to let the enemy kill you without stepping in, finding out what was going on. I feared -- feared we would be too late, though. I had nearly convinced them when -- when we felt your magic, Mark. I knew you were safe then, at least for the moment. But. . . ."
"But now they've felt his magic and they're even more worried," Edmond said with a sound of disgust. "They took off running again. We came to make sure you were all right. And we brought food, right Maggie?"
She gave a laugh and reached into the pouch she carried and handed me a sandwich. She gave another to Davis who nodded and then gave what looked like fish to Lord Snow and Edmond. Obviously the bag was bigger than it looked on the outside.
"What do we do now?" Davis asked.
"I'm going to take Mark on and see if we can't catch up with the Council," she said. I figured I didn't have any say. "I don't know if that's any safer than what's been happening, though."
"No where is safe," I said. I stood first. I felt as though something was closing in on us. "We better go."
The breeze had picked up again.
999 Words
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