What Phinneas Saw, Part 2
Part 2 of our peek into what Phinneas thought the first time he met Mairead and Connor...
Hello, threes of fans!
As promised last week, here's part two of the scene from Ravenmarked where Phinneas first meets Connor and Mairead. This part of the scene was originally written from Connor's point of view, so it largely concerns how Phinneas viewed our reluctant hero the first time he saw him.
If you didn't catch last week's post, you can check it out here.
Enjoy!
It was a test he had given few women before. Usually, he found something else—something smaller, such as stealing a valuable item or telling a lie that could ruin their chance of escape. It didn’t have to be much—just something to test their mettle. With this woman, he needed to see if his visions were accurate. Is she as ruthless as she seems?
She stared at the knife, looked back at him, and nodded once. She stood, wavered, then recovered her footing and took the blade, tucking it into her breeches and covering the hilt with the torn tunic. “I’m ready.”
Phinneas stared at her. Disheveled, beaten, traumatized, she still managed to stand with her shoulders squared and chin high. And no reaction to the blade. Who is this woman? “What is your name, child?”
“Does it matter right now?” She gestured around. “Get me out of here before we trouble ourselves with niceties.”
He inclined his head and opened the door for her, offering one hand on her elbow. She shook his hand free and walked out of the room on her own shaky, tentative strength.
They met Allyn in the corridor; he walked next to another man, clearly escorting him to the room Phinneas and the girl had exited. “What’s this, Allyn?” Phinneas asked.
“This one wants to buy her. Says he can outbid you.”
Phinneas looked at the other man—a large, dark-skinned warrior with an aura of Sidh magic about him. Sidh? But he’s enormous—how is he Sidh? And how is he so powerful? Over the Sidh aura was something else—a dark, powerful spirit of vengeance. By the All-Seeing Lord—he’s a raven!
“Well? She’s bruised, but if ye can outbid a thousand, she’s yours,” Allyn said to the other man.
The warrior stared at the girl. “Eleven hundred.”
Phinneas looked back and forth between the warrior and the girl. As the girl’s eyes met the warrior’s, she drew in a small breath, and her chin quivered slightly. Oh gods—they know each other! It’s them—they are the ones! “You want this girl?” he asked.
The warrior gestured to the woman. “May I?”
Allyn nodded. “Go ahead.”
The warrior approached the girl and touched her face, and the moment he did, every tendril of spirit in the room blazed so brightly that Phinneas was tempted to shield his eyes. As he watched the warrior offer a perfunctory examination of the woman, his eyes never left hers. “She seems healthy except for the beating you gave her. You swear to me no one has used her yet?”
“I can’t be sure she’s a virgin, but I’m the only man who’s been in a room with her, and Phinneas here stopped me before I took her.”
The warrior turned back to the men. “I want her. Eleven hundred.”
“No.” Phinneas took a step toward him. “Pay me. I’ll sell her to you for a thousand. Don’t pay him.”
Allyn laughed. “You think you have some kind of authority here, eunuch?”
Phinneas turned to Allyn. “She’s my property. I paid for her. You hold my coins in your hand right now. It’s my choice what to do with her. I choose to sell her to this man for one thousand gold pieces. Until he pays me, she’s still mine.” He stepped closer to Allyn. “Do you wish to challenge me? Even you would not risk drawing the slavers of Tal’Amun into battle.”
Allyn folded his arms, and a muscle twitched in his jaw. “A thousand won’t buy me a son.” He grabbed the woman’s arm and yanked her away from the eunuch. “Two thousand. Which one of ye will pay it?”
Before Phinneas or the warrior could answer, the girl’s hand flicked out from her side with a flash of steel. She spun and thrust in one motion, driving the blade upward under Allyn’s ribs, all the way to the hilt. His eyes widened in pain and surprise, and he gasped for air, but she pulled the blade out and stepped away from him. He fell forward. She kicked him onto his back, spit in his face, and shoved the dagger into his eye and twisted it. His legs twitched and jerked, then stilled.
The guards drew swords, but the warrior was already in motion, blocking swings and punching back. He pounded one guard’s head against the wall and then twisted his neck until it snapped, then performed the same action on the other guard.
All around the corridor, tendrils of time and spirit converged around the warrior and the girl, nearly driving Phinneas to his knees. The warrior pulled the girl into the shelter of his arm and turned to Phinneas. “You have the Morrag in your eyes,” Phinneas whispered. “You are her raven.”
The warrior flinched. “Are you going to cause me any trouble?”
“No, I swear. I seek only to help you.” He gestured toward the exit. “Forgive me. I didn’t know she was yours, raven. I would not have bought her—” He stopped. Oh, ancient gods—she is the one. She will lead your ravens. “Spirits, she is the ravenmaster.”
“Ravenmaster?”
“Yes. The woman who will gather all of you. Don’t you know of her?”
“I thought I was the only raven.”
“No, there are others.” How can they be unaware? “Why don’t you know this? Have none of them found you?”
“How would they?”
“This girl calls them. You will have to work with her to defeat the Forbidden. It’s written in the Second Book of the Wisdomkeepers.”
“You don’t know that. The second book has been missing for centuries.”
They don’t know—they haven’t heard what they are supposed to do. All-Seeing Lord, there is more to do here than I imagined. “I’ve read it in our library in Tal’Amun. The Forbidden are rising again, and only the ravenmarked can kill them. We must meet somewhere—there is much to tell you.”
The warrior’s arm tightened around the girl. “We’ll go to the palace. Can you go to the Golden Goose?”
“Yes, of course. It will take me a few days to win free of my camp, but I will come.” He pushed them down the hall. “There are horses behind the house in a small stable. Take two and go to the palace.”
Outside the house, the warrior picked up his weapons. “We worked out a bargain,” he told the guards. “Thanks for your help.”
The three of them walked around the side of the house, and Phinneas pointed toward the stable as the warrior put on his sword and slung a pack over his shoulders. The woman kept one hand on the warrior the entire time, as if to let him go meant to lose him entirely. “Horses are over there,” Phinneas said, gesturing. “The palace is about a three day’s ride from here.” He looked at the girl. “She’s weak.”
“I’ll take care of her, don’t worry.”
Phinneas nodded. “The One Hand hold you both.” He walked away, found his horse, and rode into the darkness just as the guards started to shout about the bodies in the house.
Phinneas drove his horse into a gallop, reaching into the folds of time and spirit as he did until he had created a large enough hole for himself and the animal. They flashed out of the hole at the gates of his camp, and Phinneas quickly spoke the Tal’Amuni words that would open the gates and allow him through the wards.
Shen met him inside, taking the reins of the horse as Phinneas dismounted. “Was she not worthy of the call, holy one?”
Phinneas shook his head. “On the contrary—she is the one—the lioness, the ravenmaster. She is the woman we’ve been seeking.”
Shen drew in a sharp breath, and several other eunuchs turned toward him and fell silent. “Then—where—I don’t understand—”
“She is under the protection of another,” Phinneas told them all. “But I will need to join them.”
Shen frowned. “Join them? But, holy one, what of us? This camp?”
Phinneas looked around the assembled faces. “I will have assignments for all of you. We will need a network of eyes and ears across as much territory as possible. Each of you must prepare to travel alone. I’ll give you more instructions in the morning.” He looked at Shen. “You—I have a particular role for you.”
I hope you've enjoyed this little peek into Phinneas' perspective. I intend to write more about his particular magic and backstory. The man is over 700 years old; I'm sure he has some stories to tell. Not sure what form those will take or how I'll release them, but watch for them in the future.
In the meantime, I'm working on Soultainted again and hoping to have an update on that for y'all fairly soon... Stay tuned...
Have a great week, y'all!