The Iron Butterfly (Iron Butterfly #1)(41)

I glanced over my shoulder to see Faraway turn his head and look at me as if to say, “Me? Wild? Ha!” It was then that I really noticed his eyes. They were a solid blue, which was rare for horses. Not unheard of, just rare.

It was well past dark by the time I had finished and most of the workers had retired or gone home. The only lantern that had been lit was mine and Master Grese was nowhere in sight.

Giving Faraway a final pat down and the last of my cookies, I decided to head to the kitchens for some food. Closing the gate to Faraway’s stall, I turned just in time to see movement out of the corner of my eye as a cold piece of wire wrapped around my throat.

“HELP!” my mind screamed as the pressure around my neck increased. I had thrown up my hand in surprise as soon as I saw movement and was able to catch my fingers in the garrote. The more I struggled the more I could feel the wire cut through the flesh of my fingers coating them in blood, as I tried to pull it away from my neck the same time the attacker was pulling it toward.

A furious shriek assailed my ears, followed by massive pounding and the breaking of boards. As I was losing the battle to stay conscious, I saw a white being surrounded by light arise and lash out toward my attacker. The pressure on my neck released, and I heard a human cry out in pain as I fell into the hay.

Rolling over, I saw it was Faraway on his hind legs stomping the attacker into the ground in a bloody frenzy, his blue eyes wild, the attacker dead.

“Oh, Faraway!” My heart cried in sorrow, knowing that he was indeed a wild and dangerous beast and would surely be put down. I felt a bubble of blood spurt out of my lips and my hand went to my throat, knowing that this was the end of my life.





Chapter 15





“I swear this one has nine lives!”

It was Healer Prentiss talking to Adept Lorna. “She should be dead!” she exclaimed in disbelief.

“Wha…Wha...” I was trying to speak but couldn’t regain control of my simple motor functions. I was obviously still groggy from whatever medicine they had given me. I felt like I was moving slowly through molasses.

“Rest, Thalia! Let us do the talking.” Lorna with her calm demeanor came and sat on the edge of my bed, but never touched me. “You were attacked in the stable. And we wouldn’t have known you were in trouble if that wild horse didn’t about tear down the stable with his screams. We heard the commotion and rushed out to find a half-crazed horse standing over your body.” She looked away from me and out the window.

My hand flinched and I raised one finger toward her. My pathetic attempt to try and get her to continue speaking. She did.

“We actually feared the worst! You have to understand it wasn’t a pretty picture. When we saw the dead body, we assumed it was a student and that you were dead too, killed by the wild stallion. Master Grese started crying and blubbering that it was his fault, he encouraged you. But the stupid beast wouldn’t let anyone come near you until I arrived. Then the crazy horse finally moved away and walked back into his stall.

“It wasn’t until closer examination of the other body did we realize it wasn’t a Denai student but an assassin sent after you. The bloody garrote was evidence enough.” She looked back at me. “We haven’t seen anything like this before. Your throat had been slashed and you had lost a lot of blood, but you were still alive, when by all accounts you should have been dead.”

Healer Prentiss interrupted by bringing me a cup of herbal tea. “Drink it in slow sips,” she commanded; giving a look to Adept Lorna, she slipped out of the room leaving us alone.

Finally I spoke up, slowly. “Can a Denai control animals?” I asked, taking another sip.

“Some can, we even have a few Denai here that can.”

Using the back of my hand to wipe my mouth, I went on to tell her about the raven at my window, using the fewest amount of words as possible. Nothing I said fazed her.

“Thalia, I think you should know that Adept Pax and I have come to an agreement that you need to be trained in self-defense. You are still new to your powers and we don’t even know the full extent of them, but he was concerned that you should know how to protect yourself in case this happens again.” She stood as if to leave.

“And Thalia, until we catch whoever is behind these attacks, it may very well happen again.” She looked frustrated as if the news bothered her.

“Lorna? What did the attacker look like?” I didn’t want to ask the question but I needed to know if I knew the person. She reached out her long hand and grasped mine.

Closing my eyes I felt a shock, I was in her memories and I was looking at last night through her viewpoint. I could see Faraway fidgeting in his stall, my body being hefted on a stretcher and carried to the infirmary.

Lorna glancing over to the mangled, bloody form of the stranger in black, leaning down, she grabbed the shoulder and rolled the body over onto his back.

I wanted to close my eyes at the flood of images that was laid out before me but I couldn’t because these were Lorna’s memories. I watched as her eyes skimmed his body for damage and any signs of life and then came to rest on his battered face. Revulsion overcame my body as I recognized the attacker as one of the Septori; it was Crow.

The one whose robe I grabbed in the prison and told me that Cammie was dead. I wanted to pull away from the image of the pale, dead face, gaping mouth opened in a silent scream. A muted whimper came from my throat and Adept Lorna let go of my hand and the images faded.