Page 55 of Stormlost

Her good humour evaporated. Jon was also making the shapes Finn had been trying to get her to copy.

‘You too,’ she asked, trying for lightness. Jon’s glower was quelling.

‘I’ll join you,’ she offered suggestively. If even Jon needed to know these shapes, then why shouldn’t she learn them with him? Quickly, she settled on the ground beside him. His sigh was softer this time, and she smiled once more, enjoying being close to him.

He offered her some branches, pebbles and long pieces of grasses. Carefully, eyes narrowed, she copied what he did, making the grasses curl and placing the pebbles where he’d put his. The shape looked familiar, and yet she couldn’t place it.

‘Ah-ha,’ she exclaimed much later. ‘Look, I have it.’ They’d been working in silence, now Jon looked at her efforts.

‘Well done, Sereh. Now, go on. It’ll be night soon. We’ve been working at this all day. You need to get back or Emma will be looking for you.’

‘I’ll only go if you come with me,’ she announced. She saw reluctance on his face, and her smile dimmed.

‘No. I’m to stay here. Emma says I must.’

‘Fine. I’ll make my own way home then,’ she surged to her feet, anger replacing her pleasure at being with him. Only as she stalked away from him, through the lush grasslands shrouded in shadow, did she quickly realise she was quite lost.

‘Which way?’ she demanded.

‘Now I’m lost,’ she wailed, reaching out to touch the tree trunk she stood beside. She’d been walking, hands extended to prevent from colliding with the branches. Defeated, she considered sitting there and sleeping, only it was cold and she was hungry.

‘Sereh,’ Jon’s voice eventually called to her.

‘Here,’ her reply was sullen, but she was pleased to hear him.

‘Come on. I’ll show you the way back,’ and without pausing to ensure she would follow him, he walked confidently, a lantern held before him.

Without speaking further, Jon began guiding her back to the common room, along the curling path that brought her to the top of the mountain.

She grimaced at the blast of cold from the high peaked ledge.

‘What by the Gods is that?’ she cried, terrified. A huge golden beast stood before her. She backed away.

‘Sereh, be careful or you’ll fall,’ Jon instructed. She couldn’t help noticing that he wasn’t upset by whatever the creature was. Neither could she deny it made no move to intercept her, but still, to reach the common room she needed to walk around it.

‘I can’t,’ she gasped.

‘Sereh, come on. It’s not far now,’ but her legs were leaden. Right now, she’d sooner fall from the height than go anywhere near the creature.

‘Have it your way.’ Jon stamped his way back to her, and picked her up. ‘Don’t look at him,’ he ordered, while Sereh, still terrified, welcomed Jon’s strength and his delightful scent as she buried her head into his neck. She sensed Jon enjoyed protecting her, and she enjoyed it too, if nothing else.

But he deposited her on the ground again, as Emma’s angry shout of ‘Jon’ reached her ears, and Arrow rushed to smell her with an inquisitive nose.

Sereh offered Emma a defiant look.

‘What is that, that thing?’ she exclaimed to cover her dismay of Jon abandoning her.

‘That’s Skald Drekki, and you know him well enough, most of the time. Now, where have you been?’ Not that Emma allowed her time to answer. ‘Come on. We’ve kept some food for you. And then it’ll be time for sleep, after you’ve studied the symbols again.’ With that, she found herself being marched into the common room, where Elen watched her with angry eyes, and even Finn looked startled.

She ate, hungry, and glowered at the symbols.

‘Why do I need to know these?’ she complained again, but did manage to copy them with the sticks and stones Finn offered her. As well as some old pieces of cloth.

Arrow slunk to her side. She brought with her the feeling of cold air from the ledge.

She grumbled her way to bed, filled with resentment. She just wanted to be with Jon. There was no need for them to be parted. For Emma to be angry with her. For Pal to be fractious with her. Or for Finn to look at her with barely concealed worry.

She slept. But her dreams were fitful. They began with images of Jon, which she shuddered away from. And then Erann appeared in her dreams.