The Beast and The Brain.

“Shush, we don’t want to wake her.” The sound of hushed voices woke me, but I kept my eyes closed and listened while they still thought I was sleeping.

“What are we supposed to do then? Warren found weapons on the saddles, they could be dangerous, what will father say in the morning? Who’s going to tell him we allowed two complete strangers into his home? They could kill us and it would be weeks before anyone even knew. I’m telling you, it’s a bad idea to let them stay. We should force them to move on immediately.”

There were murmurs of agreement, but one of the girls spoke up, “Oh shut up Carson. You are always too quick to judge, did you not see the man? He looked as though he had been taken from a grave he was so stiff and pale. If I hadn’t felt him breathing myself I wouldn’t believe he was alive. Something ails him, and I believe she is trying to save his life. Who are we to turn down people in need? Do you real believe that a single woman would be able to kill you? She may dress strangely, but she’s still a woman. Your father will understand if we simply explain the situation.”

There was silence. “I still don’t like it.”

“Nor I.”

I finally opened my eyes and yawned. The room instantly became silent. I sat forward and rubbed my eyes and looked around, making it seem as though I had just woken up. “I’m sorry, I must have fallen asleep. Forgive me for the intrusion.” I yawned again, “I’m sure you have questions.”

There were five of them. Two older girls, who both had rings on their fingers, indicating that they were married and they each held shawls around their shoulders. Then there were three boys, one was the young lad whom had seen to the horses. I believe they called him Warren. The two older men also had rings on their fingers, which meant they were married to the women they stood by.

“Yes we do,” One of the men nodded aggressively, “And we want answers.”

I nodded calmly, “Of course. I would be the same way if a stranger had knocked on my door in the dead of night. My name is J, my partner and I are trappers, we left the southern city not too long ago, we thought we could get an early start this year, but we were caught in the blizzard, and we were forced to find shelter, but my partner fell off his horse and took ill. I’m trying to get him to a healer, I fear for his life.”

It was a believable story, already they were starting to look less suspicious, “What of your weapons? Can you explain that?”

“Certainly, furs can be valuable things, only a fool would travel unarmed. While we may not be adequate fighters, it still discourages any misgivings that could happen to two trappers out in the wilderness alone.”

One of the women turned to her husband, “I told you.” She looked triumphant.

The husband waved his hand at her, I gently tugged at their consciousness at found that the three boys were brothers, the two girls had married into the family, and they all lived under one roof, to support the farm and the family. It explained why they had such a large house. There were still three other siblings whom I had not met, they were currently sleeping. I pulled away from their minds, they were simple country folk, I knew the type. I didn’t need my power to manipulate them.

“You are fools to travel so early. The weather is unpredictable this time of year, the snow could melt in two weeks time or we could have another few weeks of blizzards. Learn to be less greedy.”

I dipped my head, “Well said, we knew the dangers we might face, but we had hoped to get an early lead.” I shrugged, “None of that matters now though, my partner is ill, he needs a healer and soon. Do you know of anyone that might be able to help?”

The five of them looked at each other and shook their heads, “Our mother used to be good with herbs, but she passed away last summer. There aren’t any healers around for miles. There’s a town, a half days ride from here, but last I heard there wasn’t anyone there that would be able to help your friend, I’m afraid we are on our own.” He paused and took a breath, “Bethany might be able to help you, she’s our sister, mom taught her everything she knew, she could take a look at your friend.”

I felt my heart sink, Asher needed more than herbs and medicine. He needed a Healer. He needed Grace. I wished with all my heart that the little curly haired devil would show up out of the dark cold night and save the day. It seemed she did that often. I let out a sigh, but Grace wasn’t out there now. We had to find our own means to help ourselves. “I would appreciate it.” There wasn’t any harm in having someone look at him. Maybe they could help….maybe.

The youngest boy ran off down a hallway to wake the sister. The other girls pulled me to the table and served me a hot cup of tea and some leftovers from dinner. “Thank you very much, if there’s anything I can do in return. Please don’t hesitate to ask. I have some money, not much I’m afraid but it would cover you services.”

“We’ll always accept gold.” One of the brothers said but his wife elbowed him in the ribs.

“That’s not necessary, only someone heartless would turn away a stranger in need especially in the cold of night.” She gave her husband a cool look and he shrugged the matter away. It had only been a half-serious attempt.

Warren appeared again sometime later, “Sister says you can come in if you’d like.”

I stood from the table, my muscled felt cramped and tired but the tea had been strong. I still had a bit of strength in me. I followed Warren down the hall and into a little room at the end. A younger lady was leaning over Asher, a small table full of medicines was next to the bed. The sight of Asher made my heart stop, he look dead. His face was ghost white, and his chest barely moved.

“Hello, my name is Bethany.” I already knew her name but I decided to act as though I knew nothing. People were less guarded when they thought they knew more.

“Mine is J, it’s a pleasure.” I introduced myself and briefly clasped hands with her. She was a petite woman, but she had a good amount of muscle. No doubt she worked the farms and got her hands dirty. I turned towards Asher and my stomach seemed to tighten. “How is he?”

Bethany sighed, “I honestly don’t know. I have never seen anything like it. He has no response to physical touch and his eyes won’t react to light either. I’m not sure I can do anything for him…” She clasped her hands together in front of him and bowed her head.

“No, thank you for taking a look at him, please don’t feel responsible.” I let out a silent breath. Even though I hadn’t thought she would be able to help it was still disappointing to hear her say it. I went and sat on the edge of the bed, “He’s been suffering from terrible headaches lately, I knew I shouldn’t have pushed him to travel so soon.” I stared at Asher. He didn’t look like he was in pain, that at least gave me some comfort. I took a deep breath. I needed time to think, I need to clear my head.

“Headaches?” Bethany asked. I turned; I had forgotten she was still in the room.

I cleared my throat, “Yes, I’m not sure why but he’s been suffering from terrible headaches. It came on quite suddenly too.”

Bethany frowned, “His headaches could be the cause of this coma, I could give him a drug that would help his brain to rest. It’s sort of like a sleep agent.”

My head snapped up, “Would it help muddle his mind?”

She nodded, “It works like a relaxer.”

“Do it.” If I were to somehow get the barrier around Asher mind to weaken then I could pull him out of his consciousness and bring him back to living world. “Give him a full dose.”
Bethany hesitated, “But there are some risks—“

I turned and faced her, my pushed myself into her consciousness, “Drug him.” Her eyes went out of focus as I tampered with her thoughts and emotions. She walked to the table and began mixing ingredients for the medicine. As she was working I saw what she was going to say, the drug was dangerous, it was very addicting, and over time if the user continued to take it, the drug would eventually work like a poison.

Bethany stood up; she held a small glass vial of a clear liquid, “Open his mouth.” I did as she instructed, then she slowly poured the contents into Ashers’ mouth. “Make sure he swallows it. I slowly rubbed my hand down Ashers’ throat to relax the muscles and ease the drugs passing. After the task was done, Bethany came out of my power grasp and she frowned.

“Thank you for helping him.” I spoke before she got the chance to, “If you don’t mind I’d like some time alone with him.”

“Sure.”

Once she was gone, I dropped my mask of innocence. It seemed for now at least I had the full potential of my power back. I looked to Asher once more, it made me wonder if there wasn’t a connection between my power and Ashers sickness. Only after he fell ill did I regain my abilities. I needed answers; something was brewing in the marshes to the north. They were after Asher, no doubt their leader wanted him on their side, he is a powerful Beast, but Asher would never join their cause. He loved people too much, but if he didn’t join, then they would kill him, or worse. Events were beginning to unfold, and I needed to know what was going on, I needed a plan. I needed Asher to be better and I needed to be able to rely on my powers. I needed knowledge of my enemies.

I smacked my forehead as the obvious course of action came to mind. I bent over Asher and put a hand to his forehead, “Come on Asher wake up.” I closed my eyes and brushed myself towards his consciousness, I was met with a wall, but it was weakened. I searched for a bare spot where I would be able to get myself through. Then I found it and without hesitation, I pushed through it.

Instantly I was swept into his thoughts and emotions. The pain was nearly unbearable as the pounding of his head pushed into my own. ”Asher!”

”J?” His voice was weak and in echoed around softly, like a whisper in the wind.

I tried to latch onto it but it was too weak, and he kept drifting away. Finally I managed to take hold of something, but as I tried to recede out of his mind I was met with a barrier. It was keeping him locked inside, and with a frightful realization, it was keeping me in too.

”Asher, I need you to focus, I need to focus on my voice, nothing but my voice.” This wasn’t the first time someone had tried to trap me inside their mind. Kegan had done in one a few occasions, each time I had overcome him. I felt Asher trying to focus, but the pain kept distracting him, so I found the source and took the burden from him. I took the pain and made it my own. It nearly blinded my focus, it was intolerable, but I Asher focused and I took his consciousness and together pushed through the mental barrier.

I opened my eyes and fell back with a great heave of air. My hand clutched my head as the last of the pain receded then disappeared as the tie with Ashers mind broke. “J?” I pushed myself off the ground and got to my feet, my hands were shaking but I balled them into fists so Asher would see.

“It’s about time.” I rolled my eyes, “You are such a pain, I swear if you keep passing out like this I’m going to leave you behind.”

Asher smiled at me, “You don’t mean that…”

“Oh?” I raised an eyebrow at him, “How would you know?”

“I just do.”

“Hmph.” I folded my arms, “We’ll see about that.”

“What happened? Where are we?”

I hesitated a moment, then decided it would be best if Asher didn’t know everything. “You passed out, not really sure what happened, but I managed to find a farm. They were kind enough to take us in and then I pulled out of your mind. Not sure why but you had a strong barricade around it.”

Asher frowned, “It felt like my headaches, only this time I couldn’t wake up.”

I nodded, “You’re ok now though.” I assured him, though really I didn’t know myself.
He was silent, “Get some sleep; we’re leaving in the morning. Oh, and one more thing, I told these people that we are trappers, and we got caught in the storm because we were trying to get an early start this season. So go along with it.”

He nodded and closed his eyes, “Thanks J, I owe you one.”

I opened the door and looked back, “No Asher…I owe you…” I whispered then left the room and allowed him to sleep.