Wolfsbane

Wolfsbane, Chapter 19, By Ruth Nalio

Autumn…

I slipped away from the crowd of people when I saw Trystan turn and head toward the woods. Where could he be going? I wasn’t about to let him sneak away that easily. I was having fun and I wasn’t going to let him ruin it.

He was a good ten yards ahead of me so I sped up as quietly as possible. I was right behind him in no time. I could hear something too, it sounded like a horse. “Trystan, where are you going?” I asked when I was but two steps from him.

“Go back to the party Autumn.” He said calmly. “I’ll be back in a few moments.” He never even stopped walking and the way he was holding himself told me something was wrong. I continued to follow him.

“You should listen to him and go back to your party, Autumn.” Cold chills ran up and down my spine as Howard's voice registered in my head, and then he stepped out from behind a tree between Trystan and me.

Trystan whirled around and his anger was like static crackling in the air. My own anger rose. What was he doing here, now, when I couldn’t do anything to him? I looked at Trystan; his face seemed to have changed somehow. He was openly grinding his teeth and his eyes were a deep gold. “Don’t talk to her.” He said in a deadly voice.

Howard laughed, “It’s alright, Trystan, is it? I meant no harm.”

“Leave, Howard,” I said in a cold voice.

“Go back, Autumn,” Trystan warned me.

“No.” He had no idea what I was capable of.

“We don’t want any trouble, now do we, Autumn? You should listen to him.” Howard said.

“I told you not to talk to her!” Trystan practically snarled as he took a step toward him.

Just then Ian and Anna walked up with a few other people. “There’s no trouble here, is there?” Ian said as a man next to him pulled out a knife.

“No, I was just leaving,” Howard said as he immediately backed away. That’s when I noticed his horse, only two trees away, tied to a low limb.

“Trystan, Autumn, let's go,” Anna said as she walked between us, touched Trystan’s arm, and took a light hold on mine. My skin tingled where she was holding me. Trystan backed away, never taking his eyes off Howard.

“Autumn, would you excuse Trystan and me for a moment, I have something I would like to tell him that I don’t think he would like for you to hear,” Anna said as she let go of me. I shook my head and walked back into the dancers, unable to deny her request. My head was spinning and I felt like I was sort of floating.

Once I got among the dancers and started dancing again my head stopped spinning and I felt like my feet were firmly on the ground. It was almost as if Anna had put some sort of spell on me. I started toward her and Trystan to ask her about it, but I just couldn’t seem to get to them without starting to feel dizzy again.

I watched them talk as I danced with people I didn’t know. Then Anna looked at me and smiled and motioned for me to come over to where her and Trystan were. I didn’t get dizzy this time. When I got there I looked at Trystan, his eyes were brown again.

“I’m sorry about that, Autumn. You wouldn’t have listened to me if I hadn’t.”

“You made me do that?” I asked in disbelief.

“Yes, well, in a way. I simply requested in a way your mind couldn’t refuse. Don’t worry, it's nothing bad. I did the same to Trystan. It’s an elf magic long buried in my blood.”

“It’s no use getting mad, either, Autumn, she’ll just ask you to calm down.” The way he said ask told me what he meant; she would make me calm down.

I sighed, “What couldn’t you talk to Trystan about in front of me?”

“He said no predictions, so I had to tell him something instead of you. He hasn’t figured it out yet, but he will in time.”

“She does that. You wouldn’t like anything she told you because none of it would make sense and she would never tell you what it meant. Sometimes you don’t find out what it means until it happens.”

“We should all enjoy the music and the wine eh?” Ian said as he walked up behind us.

Trystan smiled at me and shrugged toward the dancers. “This is a party, after all, let’s not be the ones to ruin it.”

“In a minute, my legs are tired, go ahead without me.” Trystan shrugged and disappeared into the crowd of dancers. I turned to Anna and was about to ask her if Trystan had looked funny to her but she held up a hand to silence my words.

“You hold yourself as a strong woman and think of yourself that way as well. Even the weakest women are strong and the strongest are weak. You will hear these words again in your head when it is time. No questions tonight, come back on the next full moon and I will do my best to answer your questions. Dance now.” She smiled, took my elbow, and lightly pulled me into the dancers.

What could her words mean? A weak woman can be strong and a strong woman can be weak. Was she saying that I was a strong woman or a weak one? Before I could sort through these thoughts Trystan was in front of me asking me to dance again.

The music was faster than I was used to and it wasn’t as hard as I had thought to keep from stepping on someone else’s feet or keeping them from stepping on mine. I was lost in the music and the fun. The only time I stopped was to get a drink of the wine. Trystan was full of energy, and slowly lost the tension that had built up earlier.

Trystan pulled me out of the crowd and gave me a sad smile, “It's time to go Autumn.”

“But the party isn’t over, how can it be time to go?”

“They all live here, we don’t, it’s time we head to our own homes.”

I looked around and saw no homes, just traveling wagons lined along the side of the festivities. That’s when I remembered that gypsies never had set homes and that they frequently traveled. “How long will they be here?”

“Some of them stay here and others leave. Anna and Ian stay with a few others and wait for other gypsy bands to pass through.”

“Why do they not have homes?”

“They have been forced to move in the past, and it has taught them not to live in anything but a wagon.”

“Why would anyone drive them out?”

“Because not all gypsies are like Anna and Ian.” We were halfway back to our wagon now.

“Some are like the ones you hear about in the town, they steal, they curse people, and they do other bad things.”

“Are any of the gypsies here like that?”

“I’m sure some are, but not a lot of them. You never want to get on the wrong side of a gypsy, even ones as nice as Anna and Ian, they are capable of things I’d rather not tell you.” He said as he lifted me into the seat of the cart.

“Why not?”

“You wouldn’t like them anymore, and you wouldn’t sleep for a week or more.” He smiled at me, walked around to his side, and got up.

The rest of the way back was filled with a comfortable silence. I was lost in my thoughts the whole way. Gypsies were whirling around and dancing in my head. Trystan’s rich deep laughter flooded my thoughts. Questions seemed to melt away before they even came close to being answered.

Trystan pulled to a stop in front of my house and got out to help me down but I was down before he could get to my side. He walked me to the door and it was opened before we even reached the steps. Father looked at Trystan then me. “Can you tell me now where you have been?”

“It was amazing!” I said before Trystan could answer. “He took me to a party with the gypsies and they were all so nice to me, and they all danced and sang.”

“Gypsies!” Father was outraged.

“Yes, but I know them personally and told them that we were just there for the celebration and nothing else,” Trystan informed him.

“Don’t worry father, none of them did anything wrong.”

“I know what this is, this is another one of your schemes to get me to call this off, well, all you did was lose a bet. The two of you came back happy, now you can’t argue about this engagement anymore.”

“He really did take me to see gypsies though.”

“Yes, well I don’t think he planned on winning the bet Autumn, I think he planned on angering me so much that I would call this entire thing off.”

“I seem to have changed my mind. I don’t want you to call this off.” Trystan informed us, shocking me.

“What?” I turned and looked at him in shock.

“Don’t worry. I still don’t think this engagement is a good idea, I just see no point in fighting them any further. They don’t seem to be giving, so let’s give them what they want. Good night to both of you.”

“That’s not going to work either Trystan!” Father called after him. “If the two of you think that if you give me what I want I’ll give up, then you’re wrong.” Father turned and stormed down the hall to his room. I’d never seen him this mad!

“So much for knowing what’s going on,” I mumbled to myself as I walked to my own room.