Chapter 5

Ikhaya would remember that last glimpse of her mother forever. It replayed in her mind constantly over the next several days, and would flash into her head often after that. She saw her hand reaching out, could feel her mouth open in a shout, as she watched her mother lunge forward and then, just, disappear.

There was no sound, no whoosh of air, nothing, they were just gone. Everyone stared at the empty spot where two people had been a moment before in complete shock. Ikhaya kept staring long after the shouting started, realizing in a hazy way that there was a fight brewing and that Jessie was crying, but she couldn’t seem to focus. People don’t just disappear; she had to have imagined it. Her mom was just around the corner, or maybe she had fallen behind something. She can’t have just disappeared!

“Ikhaya.” Jessie was trying to talk to her, Ikhaya thought. She should talk back to her. She couldn’t make her mind work though, it just kept playing that scene over and over again.: her mom lunging and then empty space. Over and over and over again.

“Ikhaya!” Insistent hands grabbed her shoulders, gave her a shake. “Say something.”

Ikhaya raised her eyes to look into Jessie’s, opened her mouth to say something, but no sound emerged. Jessie’s eyes, already reddened from crying, filled with tears anew. “Oh sweetie. I’m so sorry.” She pulled Ikhaya in for a hug, petting her head, saying soothing words.

She didn’t want it. She didn’t want any of it and she thrust herself away. If she gave into it, she’d die. If she spoke, she’d spill grief out like a sieve and all that was her would disappear. Like her mother. Oh, Mommy! With a gasp and a small cry, she tore away from the proffered comfort and ran. She just ran, sprinting around obstacles and people and ran, stretching her legs, ignoring the shouts, just needing to escape.

“Ikhaya!” Jessie shouted after her disappearing form. “Wait!”

“Let her go, love,” Jamie urged, wrapping an arm around her. “She just lost her mother. I remember loosing mine, give her some time. She’ll be back.”

“Oh, Jamie!” Jessie, strong capable and never emotional Jessie turned to her wife in tears, burying her head in her shoulder, sobbing.

Jamie felt the loss of Sophie keenly, but her grief expressed itself as anger, not tears. Her eyes shot daggers at those miscreants across her firepit. They stood, not speaking, seemingly as shocked as they, but she doubted for the same reasons. The two moved closer together, seeking comfort in proximity with each other. They shared a glance and then started moving away from the wagons.

“Freeze!” Her voice carried all the weight of her rage and the two halted immediately. “You come back here right now and answer for what happened here today!”

Another shared glance, but Lily gave a half shrug. “We know nothing more than you,” she said calmly.

“I doubt that,” Jamie said. “Sit. Down.”

They sat, Lily gracefully, David fidgeting nervously. Jamie pulled back from Jessie gently. “Love? Do you want to go lie down? I want to talk with our visitors,” she shot said visitors a blistering look, “but I won’t if you need me. We can truss them up like hogs for all I care.”

Jessie laughed and Jamie smiled. They pulled apart from each other, but stood close enough that their shoulders touched. Jessie wiped her eyes with her hands, digging the heels of her palms into them in an effort to stop the tears. “Yes, I have questions, too.” And as one they stepped over the log that served as their seat and sat, shoulders and knees touching, one unmovable object.

“What the hell just happened?” Jessie asked, much more calmly than Jamie would have been able to. “Where is my friend?”

David shrugged and Lily shook her head. “We don’t know,” Lily answered, her voice betraying some frustration. “Robert…” she shook her head. “All I have is a guess, now,” she said firmly. “None of this is certain.” Both women nodded and Jamie inclined her head in a hurry-up type gesture. Lily let out a sigh and continued. “Robert had gone back to the Jewel, without us, several years ago in an effort to find the child’s father.”

“Her name is Ikhaya,” Jamie said sharply. “She isn’t ‘the girl’ or ‘the child.’”

“Even so,” Lily agreed. “Anyway, it was safer for him, since he’s human and not ten feet tall.”

“I’m seven feet tall,” David objected quietly.

“Shut up,” sighed Jessie, gripping the bridge of her nose with her fingers. “Lily, continue.”

“Well, that’s all we know. That’s the only time we were seperated for any length of time. Our orders were to wait for our employer, so that’s what we did, mostly.” Lily shrugged grandly. “He must have been captured. She...Ikhaya’s mother is powerful and lacks any kind of moral compass. Robert returned to us but, obviously, changed. Her daughter represents ultimate power for her and she wants her back. It would not surprise me at all if she used her laboratory skills on poor Robert in pursuit of that goal.”

The women looked at each other, each thinking the same thing. It was Jamie who gave hesitant voice to their hope. “So, Sophie could still be alive somewhere?”

Lily shrugged again. “It looked like a transportation spell. Some of the higher fairies are able to jump between places, it’s not unheard of. It is unheard of for a human to do it, but with Ikhaya’s mother involved...well, I wouldn’t be surprised. About anything.”

Ikhaya finally stopped running. Her lungs where burning, her legs shaking, and her heart pounding before she stopped, and that was the only reason she did stop. Her eyes cleared and she took in where she was and immediately felt tears fill her eyes. She had come to this spring with her mother every time they passed by here. They’re life was nomadic, but certain places were revisited, some once a year, others more often, and this one had become a special place for her and her mother. They would come and sit and talk and…. Ikhaya fell to her knees by the clear water of the spring, completely overcome, and sobbed. Her arms wrapped around herself and she rocked, trying to hold herself together.

“Ikhaya.” At first, for a split second, Ikhaya thought she heard her mother say her name behind her and the rush of relief and joy was overwhelming. She spun, feeling the damp grass and dirt seep through her skirt, only to find Jessie behind her. Disappointment crashed down on her, bending her shoulders under the weight of renewed grief. “Oh, Ikhaya,” Jessie said.

“I...She’s really gone.” It wasn’t a question; she wasn’t a child. “I just keep seeing her disappear; I can’t stop seeing it.”

Jessie sat beside her, ignoring the wet ground as well. “She is gone,” she agreed, wrapping her arms around her knees. “Not how you mean though. Maybe.”

“I...what?” Ikhaya asked, confused. “Not how I mean?”

Jessie explained what Lily had said. “So. It’s possible that Sophie…”

“She’s alive,” Ikhaya breathed. “I know it. She’s alive.”

“Maybe,” cautioned Jessie. “Your mother, your real mother, sounds like a piece of work to me. She may have been alive when she got there, but who knows now.”

Ikhaya nodded. “True, true, but the possibility. Jessie, I can’t not go!” Her face glowed with hope, such a contrast from a few moments ago. “If there is even a chance, I have to go get her!”

“You think about this, girl.” Jessie cautioned. “You know I’ll support you, but this also sounds like a trap.”

Ikhaya took a steadying breath, trying to calm down. Her mother was alive! “She wants me down there. But if I know it’s a trap, is it still a trap?” she asked.

“Hell yes. That doesn’t make you any less trapped when you get there,” Jessie said emphatically.

“But I could take precautions! I’d go in with eyes wide open, be safe, plan for contingencies….” Ikhaya’s voice faded as she started planing. As far as she was concerned the matter was settled. Unable to sit still any longer, she jumped to her feet, and groaned at how weak her legs were. “Damn, I ran too hard for too long. I’m going to hurt!” And without further ado, she turned and strode back toward camp, leaving a bemused Jessie behind her, trusting that she’d follow. There were so many things to plan and organize, but now there was a purpose. She was on a rescue mission.

Jessie followed slowly. She adored the girl, but she felt like Ikhaya was heading straight for a cliff and seeing only solid ground. This woman, her mother, seemed crazier than a rabid wolf and just as likely to bite for no reason. She was dangerous and powerful and Ikhaya had completely wrapped herself in the youthful pretense that she’s immortal. “Idiot children,” Jessie muttered. “Going to get someone hurt or killed.” But she’d go. She wasn’t about to let Ikhaya go into this fire alone. She’d better pack a bag.

Next Chapter: It Begins