AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Lo’zar doesn’t have a lot of coin left, but it’s enough. The afternoon of our departure, he puts on the amulet and flicks the switch. All at once, he transforms. And even though it’s just an illusion, I’m terrified by what I see.
As a human, his skin is a medium brown, and he has wild blond hair like he was bathed in sunlight from an early age. His eyes remain the same, though—orange and lively, just like my troll.
Hmm. It is very disconcerting,I tell him.I see what you mean now.I don’t like this version of him, but at least his internal voice still sounds like himself.
When we board the ship together I can feel the end drawing nearer, and my hope that something will stop this starts to die.
* * *
Lo’zar
It is unnerving to look down and find a five-fingered human hand. I don’t like wearing the amulet, but if this is what it takes to be near Rimi for just a while longer, I’ll do it—even if it means another long voyage across the sea and back again.
I don’t know what I’ll do after. I have to find somewhere to go where the tendrils of Gusak’s power can’t reach me. I’ll miss the life of organized crime, but anything above pickpocketing is a dead-end for me now.
We spend more time in the quiet, both of us tense and steadily drawing inward. One evening, she starts to tap her finger impatiently, and I join her, making a little rhythm between our hands. At first, she’s pleased, and we create a symphony of percussion between us. But soon her eyes grow sad and she slows down, until we’re both back to keeping our hands clutched tight at our sides.
It feels like both forever, and no time at all, when we finally arrive at our destination.
We’re standing at the top of the ramp, other human passengers pushing past us, when I realize I can’t possibly let her go. Not yet. I just need a little more time with my clever, perfect girl, even if it means surrounding myself with humans in this bustling port town.
We walk down the ramp together, and she gives me a questioning look at the bottom.
I want to make sure you get there safely,I tell her.
She tilts her head, studying me curiously, then nods.All right. Thank you.All of our conversations have become like this: stilted and formal.
Using my last few coins, Rimi finds a carriage that will take us to her home in the countryside. Everything is so very different here, from the brick architecture to the golden trees to the smell of lavender in the air. It’s almost pleasant being somewhere so clean, so neat, every edge tidily tucked in. I have never seen a place this alien, and yet it’s beautiful. No wonder she came from here—it’s just as otherworldly as she is.
The carriage takes us across even more lovely landscape, through valleys and meadows, and over quaint wooden bridges with burbling brooks passing underneath. Even as I enjoy this mysterious place, now the moment is coming when I finally won’t have a choice but to say goodbye.
When we arrive, it is like some sort of palace, gargantuan and sprawling and painted a prim white, with green hedges around the outside acting as a wall to the world. The sky is a perfect blue, spotted with a handful of clouds. Everything is quiet save for the occasional chirping of a bird.
So this is where Rimi grew up. Suddenly I understand a good deal more about her.
My home, she says, as the carriage comes to a stop. She climbs out, and I’m about to follow her, when I realize that I have nothing left to say or do.
There’s a questioning look in her eyes when I don’t exit the carriage with her.
Lo’zar?she says, fear creeping into her voice.
This is your stop,I tell her, and try my hardest to smile while everything inside me shatters to pieces.
But what about you?Her hands clench together tight.
I’m going home,I say.We both knew that.
Right.
The driver of the carriage looks annoyed that we’re taking so long, nothing but silence between us.You should go, I say.
But she doesn’t turn to walk away, not yet.I’m so glad I met you, Lo’zar.Those familiar silver-gray eyes find mine, and when she looks at me, sheseesme. I know then she can feel the bond between us, too. Maybe she doesn’t have a name for it, but she understands that we will both be torn in half.
I’m glad I met you, too, Rimi.Her name hangs in the space between us. Her last smile is like a rare piece of art, one that I would steal and hoard next to my bed for the rest of my life.
With that, she turns around and starts towards the house, down the neatly-trimmed pathway. When the driver rouses the horses, I stop him with one hand and shoot him a deadly look. He seems to register that there’s something not right about me—I’m going to guess it’s the eyes—and so he obeys, dropping the reins.
I watch and watch until Rimi reaches the house, where she stops to knock on the door. I’m not breathing as she waits, and then, the door opens.
