Page 19 of The Alliance
Blaze shook his head. “We don’t mind. How long have you been interested in fire spirits?”
“I’ve always been interested in different types of magic but I haven’t been able to study spirit magic because there are so few of you who are known to witches. I’ve had to rely on old texts but they’re not very reliable. Some of the information is false.”
Blaze pulled a sympathetic face. “Yes, people don’t understand fire spirits well. There aren’t many of us any more. All spirits are fading.”
“Have you ever met any other spirits?”
“No, I never got to meet any.”
“Would you like to meet an earth spirit? He’s very nice.”
Blaze looked at me in amazement. “You know an earth spirit?”
“Yes. We all do.” I gestured round at Cuthbert and Matty. “He lives not too far from you, actually. I’m sure he’ll agree to meet you, if I ask. His name is Terrund and he’s very kind and very old. He’s telling me all about earth spirits.”
I called him up once a month and we chatted about all sorts of things, like magic and history and his memories and his mate. I hoped he liked talking to me as much as I liked talking to him. I did wonder whether he was just putting up with me but he always sounded happy on the phone and he always ended our conversations with, “Speak to you again soon,” so I guess he must be okay with it.
Blaze said, “I’d like that. Maybe one day soon, when we’re back at home.”
I nodded. There was no rush.
To begin with, I asked Blaze some questions. What it felt like to shift. What he could remember. How he kept his clothes when he burned. That one interested me, because it was different from every other shifter. It was unique to spirits.
I’d asked Terrund, too, because he kept his clothes when he became earth or stepped into his tree, but he hadn’t been able to give me a satisfactory answer. It fascinated me that Blaze could keep any clothes, even new ones. Terrund had been wearing the same clothes since the eighteenth century and I secretly thought he looked incredibly hot in them (speaking purely objectively) but also it meant he’d had time to let them become part of who he was. I’d assumed it had something to do with that, but Blaze proved that theory wrong.
We’d been out there for nearly an hour when Alfie suddenly asked, “Who’s that?”
The hardness in Alfie’s voice made me look up and step back into Cuthbert’s arms. I wasn’t frightened! Just startled, that’s all.
Alfie was pointing over my shoulder and I shuffled around to see. I couldn’t see anything. Just the clear blue sky with some white and grey clouds in the distance.
Cuthbert said, “That’s Daniel.”
I peered harder. “I can’t see him.”
“He’s quite a long way away.”
Turning back to Alfie, I saw his expression had gone tense again. He said, “I didn’t realise there were more of you.”
“Only Daniel,” I said.
“Really?”
Cuthbert was the one to answer this time. He had that particular note to his voice that spoke of understanding, and I was sure he understood exactly why Alfie was suddenly tense.
“Yes, really. He’s very shy around new people and didn’t want to meet you all at once. Nana gave him permission to stay outside while you were here. He often flies around the borders and doesn’t come home for days, so none of us thought it was unusual. That’s why we didn’t mention it before.”
“Why does he stay away?”
Cuthbert answered kindly but firmly. He used that tone of voice with me, sometimes, when I wanted to stay up and read some more but my eyes were hurting with tiredness. He made me go to bed and sleep.
He said, “That’s his choice.”
It ended that line of questioning and not even the dragon elder questioned Cuthbert further.
Alfie didn’t go back to looking relaxed and happy, though, so I thought I’d try to comfort him.
“I’ve never seen him in his human form. Even when he’s in the castle, he stays in dragon form. Nadia’s always complaining that he takes up too much room.”
