by Imogen Elvis
“I know.” Lara’s eyes flicked around the street. “But there’s nothing we can do for them right now. The best thing we can do is carry on and stop Sachio before he does the same somewhere else.”
Briar bit her lip and nodded. Every town Master Sachio hurt was another reason to fight back. And these people, none of them had done anything to deserve this. He probably knew nothing about this town. Only that it was an easy target to attack. Briar doubted he even thought of how many lives he ruined on the way to the throne.
The market square, when they reached it, was even more packed than the streets. There was barely room to squeeze through the crush of bodies. Briar pressed close to Lara. It would be all too easy to lose sight of her friends here. There was something eerie about walking through this market. There were stalls set up with goods on display, and the square was filled with people, however, no one was buying or selling anything. Instead of hawking their wares at the top of their lungs, the stallholders talked quietly with the townspeople. The whole place had a funereal feel.
“We need a pack,” Kade said, his voice low. “And some food.”
“I think I see a stall over there that might have what we’re looking for,” Lara said.
The stall in question held a token offering of travelling equipment. Enough that the stallholder could serve people if anyone were particularly in need, but it appeared he wasn’t expecting to do much trade today. Instead, he leaned his elbows on his table, chatting eagerly with a thin-faced farmer, who gesticulated wildly as he spoke, his hair standing out around his head, and his eyes wide, as he described the state of the fields. Neither man noticed the three travellers approaching the stall.
Kade and Lara put their heads together as they examined the packs, talking in low voices. Briar turned away from the stall, letting them deal with the equipment. Her attention was drawn to a small gathering assembled next to the stall. An old man stood nearby, addressing a circle of townspeople, who hung eagerly onto his every word. Briar edged closer to the group. If he was telling them anything about what happened…
“-magic everywhere. Crops turned to dust right in front of me. One moment they was green and growing fine, and the next they just blew away.”
“What did you do?” a woman asked, her eyes huge.
“I hid me in a ditch.” A few of the men at the edge of the circle scoffed, but the old man fixed them with a hard look. “You’d ha’ done no less if you were out there. What would any of you ha’ done against a magic like that, with the air burning and the wind howling, and a hundred voices causing it all. No, I got me in the ditch and lay real still. And the whole time I was shaking and praying to the Tree that they wouldn’t find me.”
“Did you see them?” Briar asked.
The man glanced her way and nodded. “Not well, mind. But there was scores of them. An army.” He paused, more as if he was gauging how people would react to what he had to say next rather than for dramatic effect, before finally saying, “But the most frightening thing was, they was all children.”
Children? The magicians draining the life out of the countryside were children? A chill ran down her spine. Master Sachio had plenty of children, stolen from their homes by the Nameless Ones during their attacks. Like Ava. And at least some of them had magic. Briar swallowed hard.
”Pfft. No child could have done this,” a man from the town scoffed. “You were dreaming, old man.”
“I swear it on the Tree.” The old man shuddered, and a shadow passed over his face. “There were dozens of them, and they was the ones who destroyed everything.”
No one would send children to do a task like this. The very idea of it made Briar’s stomach churn. But at the same time, it was horrifyingly possible. A man as ruthless and single-minded as Master Sachio wouldn’t think twice about getting children to do his dirty work. Not if he was willing to kill so many innocent people as it was. And if that were true, there was every chance that one of those children could be Ava. But her sister would never do such terrible things. Would she?
Around her, the rest of the circle broke into smaller groups, discussing the event in a babble of loud, indistinct voices. Briar stepped closer to the old man, raising her voice. “When did this happen?”
“You don’t know?” A frown creased the old farmer’s brow.
“I’m just passing through.”
The old man cocked his head to one side, pursing his lips before answering. “Last night. During the big storm. Not that the rain did anything to help.” He shook his head. “Never heard of anything like it.”
“Where did they go? Does anyone know?”
“Kept following the road, as far as I know. Someone said they heard singin’ in the south woods. No one’s game enough to check though.”
“How far away are these woods?”
“Nearly a day’s travel. I wish it were further. I wish they’d marched right off the end of the earth.” The man shook his fist.
“How far does this go?” The grey dust stretched on well past the town. How far had the children gone, weaving their songs of destruction?
“All the way through the south fields and then some. All the crops are gone. Too late in the season to start again. We can’t even keep the dirt down.” The man heaved a heavy sigh and passed a calloused hand over his face. “But I’ve worked these fields for forty years. I ain’t giving up on them yet.”
His face might hold the lined, beaten look of a man who had lost his entire livelihood, but at the same time, he squared his shoulders and lifted his chin, ready to fight. Briar could only hope that the magicians would come quickly and coax the life back into this barren place. No one deserved this.
“I am so sorry,” Briar said. Her words seemed so little in the face of what had happened, but she couldn’t say nothing.
The farmer shrugged. “We’ll bring the land back yet.” He sighed and turned away. “Not that there’s much left,” he muttered to himself.
Briar’s heart ached for him. For all of them, really. No matter how tough these people were, it was going to be a long time before things could be put to rights. If only Master Sachio were here to see what his plans had done. Then again, if he was willing to sacrifice people in the first place, she doubted even this terrible sight would have any effect on him.
“Where did you go?” Lara asked when Briar rejoined her and Kade. “We need to stick together.”
“I’m sorry. I’ll stay close.” There would be plenty of time to tell Lara and Kade what she’d found out when they were back on the road. Besides, there was still the fact that it could be Ava out there, working this magic. Briar wasn’t sure she was ready to share that.
They moved quickly, buying enough food to fill the pack and, hopefully, get them all the way to Mizra. Briar’s mouth watered. It had been too long since their last meal. Between their travel today, and the time spent imprisoned on the barge, how long had it been since they last ate? Far too long, if the gnawing in her stomach was to be believed.
The sun was heading for the horizon as the group finally made their way out of the town and continued southwards. Briar waited until they were back on the road and well outside the town before she told Kade and Lara the story she’d heard from the old farmer. They were quiet as she recounted what she’d learned, and when she finished, there was silence for a while. Kade still wore his hood pulled down low, so there was nothing to be learned from his face. Lara frowned, and the twist of her mouth seemed sceptical.
“This has to be the work of the Nameless Ones,” Lara said. “A group of children couldn’t work magic this powerful, surely?”
“I don’t know,” Briar said slowly. “On their own, their magic would be far too weak. Master Sachio took a lot of children, but all the ones I know of were young and untrained.” Like Ava, who didn’t even know she had magic at first. “But if there were dozens of them working together, then who knows how powerful they could be?”
“Well, it’s hardly likely. What reason would child
ren have to do this?” Lara tossed her head. “It’s more likely the man was drunk and mistook what he saw, or made the whole thing up for attention. Why would he be in the fields in the middle of the night anyway?”
“I think he’s telling the truth,” Briar said. “Nothing we’ve seen suggests that this is the Nameless Ones, apart from the fact that whoever is attacking places is using magic. The attack on Lorholt was messy. The Nameless Ones would have destroyed the town hall, the warehouses, and all the important buildings first, instead of leaving them untouched.” They were ruthless and precise. She’d seen it before. “Here, the fields are destroyed, but again, not cleanly. Walls and fences were left half burned. If it were children, that would make sense. Together they might have raw strength, but they wouldn’t have the same skill.”
Lara’s frown deepened. “You really believe that these attacks are by children?”
“I don’t want to,” Briar admitted. The Tree knew she didn’t want to believe it. Not when one of those children could be Ava. “But I think I do.”
“We need to know more,” Kade said. “I think we should visit these woods that farmer mentioned.”
“Why?” Lara asked. “Even if it is children, wouldn’t it make more sense to go straight to Mizra? We should be trying to get ahead of them. Searching the woods would only waste more precious time. Not to mention, put us all in danger.”
“How far away are the woods?” Briar asked. “Are they on the map?”
Kade shrugged one shoulder out of the pack straps and dug out the map he’d stolen from the Done Wishin’. He shook it out, tracing their path with a finger. Briar watched over his shoulder as he tapped first the town they had just left, and then a little patch of trees “That must be the woods.”
“And?” Lara asked.
“It’s not far. The road even brushes the edge.”
“Conveniently placed for us to go marching through the woods looking for a group of children who probably don’t even exist, and potentially stumbling across the Nameless Ones who will capture us and march us straight to Sachio.” Lara folded her arms. “This sounds like an excellent plan.”
“We need information,” Kade said. “If they’re marching towards Mizra, then we need to know where they are and what they’re doing. How many there are. If it really is children, or someone else. The more of Sachio’s plans we know, the better chance we have of stopping him or at least warning someone of the coming danger.”
Lara was silent for a long, long time, her eyes fixed on the horizon, mouth pressed into a tight line. Briar and Kade exchanged a look. It might not be the safest idea, but surely it was better to go and see, and then enter Mizra with all the knowledge they could gather. Information was their most powerful weapon. But on the other hand, Lara had a point. They didn’t have that much time to waste. It seemed the closer they got to Mizra, the harder the decisions became. Before, it was a simple matter of deciding which town to stop at for supplies, whether to follow the well-travelled roads or to strike out into the safety of the trackless wilds. But with every decision they made, the next became harder. To take the road or the river? This boat or the next? Investigate the woods, or continue to Mizra? How were they supposed to know which was the best decision to make? There was no way of being sure, only trial and error. And there seemed to be a lot of error so far.
Finally, Lara sighed. “This is nowhere close to being cautious, you do realise that? Is this information worth trading our freedom over?”
“This information could lead to everyone’s freedom,” Kade said quietly.
Lara threw her hands in the air. “Neither of you is going to listen to me, are you? Fine. We’ll go and search the woods. We’re not going to find anything there, but if it makes you happy then certainly, by all means, we’ll go and hunt for people who don’t exist.”
“Thank you,” Kade said.
Lara shrugged. “It’s not like either of you is giving me a choice, is it? We’re a team, and splitting up is never a good idea. I would just like both of you to remember when we don’t find anything in there, that I said we should go on.”
Briar didn’t know whether to hope that Lara was right or wrong. What they really needed were answers to who was doing this, and why. But she wasn’t sure that she was going to like the answers they found. What if it was Ava? What was Briar to do then?
CHAPTER NINE
It was late afternoon the following day by the time Briar and her friends reached the woods. As Kade said, the road wound its way through the edge of the trees, and the map seemed to suggest that it was only a small patch anyway. Now that they were here, however, Briar questioned just how good an idea this really was. Her nerves buzzed, and her stomach clenched at the thought of potentially finding the kidnapped children. Or the Nameless Ones. She wasn’t sure which would be worse.
Under the shelter of the trees, dusk already pooled in the shadows, even though the sun still hung above the horizon and would for a while longer. A few birds sang lazily, lulled by the warmth in the air. They would head for their nests soon, and then it would be the turn of the little night creatures to roam the forest and rustle through the leaf litter, hunting for their dinner.
“We could just keep going,” Lara said, though her voice didn’t hold much hope for convincing Kade to change his mind. “It can’t be that much further to Mizra.”
“We need to know,” Kade said simply. He stepped off the road and into the woods. Briar followed at once, but Lara hesitated, pausing on the edge of the road, before finally stepping off, frowning to herself, and muttering under her breath. Probably still unhappy about abandoning the path that would lead them straight to Mizra.
Briar dropped back to walk at Lara’s side. “Are you alright?”
“I’m fine.” Lara’s words were clipped. “As fine as I can be on this wild goose chase. Kade certainly seems happy to be taking a detour.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, look at him.” Lara gestured at Kade. “Striding along like we’re not running out of time to reach Mizra and stop Sachio. We can’t afford to take detours like this.”
“You think he’s putting off reaching Mizra?”
“It didn’t take much to convince him to explore the woods instead.” Lara shook her head. “I don’t doubt his commitment to stopping Sachio. But I also don’t think he’s eager to return to Mizra. It makes me wonder if he’s eager to investigate the magicians just so that he can put off the moment when he has to go back.”
“And you?” Briar asked. “It must be hard for you too.”
“Not like it is for him. Mizra is my home. I might be coming back a fugitive, but I certainly didn’t leave as one. Besides, we’re here to fight against Sachio. What more reason do I need to be eager?”
Her words made sense. So why did Briar feel like Lara was trying too hard to sound as if she didn’t care in the slightest? “Still, going back without Rowen-”
“-is fine. He would want us to be here,” Lara said. “And I’m certain he wouldn’t have wanted us to waste time looking for this supposed group of children.”
“You really don’t believe that the farmer was telling the truth?”
“I don’t see why children would be doing this. Yes, Sachio had his Nameless Ones kidnap children. And I do understand that at least some of them had magic. But, what point would it serve to send children to do this, when he has the Nameless Ones at his command?”
Lara did bring up the question that gnawed on Briar. She didn’t doubt that it could be the missing children. But why would he choose to send young, untrained magicians when he could use the devastating power of the Nameless Ones? He had to have some reason. Master Sachio’s plans were horrifying, but they always made a certain amount of sense. Briar just couldn’t imagine any good reason for forcing children to commit such acts.
The shadows thickened as the evening drew in. The sun must be dipping below the horizon now, though the air still held the warmth of the day. Under the trees,
the darkness dropped quickly, making it difficult to see where they were going. Taking an unwary step, Briar caught the toe of her boot on a tree root and almost went tumbling to the ground. She steadied herself, pushing several loose strands of hair off her face.
“Shouldn’t we make camp?” she ventured.
“Just a little longer,” Kade said, without looking back. “It’s still light enough.”
Light enough? The darkness gathered around them, like a cool, velvety curtain. It was hard even to see the trees that surrounded them now. Briar eased her way past the low bushes in their path, the leaves rustling wildly, twigs catching on her habit, though she tried to move silently. If there were anyone in these woods, they would be sure to hear Briar and her friends as they approached.
“Kade, we should stop,” Briar said. “It’s too dark. We can look again in the morning.”
“Just a little longer. Please.”
“Admit it, Kade. There’s nothing here,” Lara said. “We should make camp for the night, like Briar says, and then head back to the road in the morning.”
“We haven’t searched for long enough to be sure.”
“We could have walked past six camps and never known it,” Lara said. “What are we going to see in this darkness?”
“What are we going to see if we give up?”
Were they even going to like what they saw if they found anything at all? Briar bit her lip, her eyes searching the shadows. Lara and Kade’s voices were the only thing that broke the silence, too loud in the emptiness of the forest. No, wait. There was another sound, low, thin, almost covered by her friends’ voices. Not an animal. This was something more human.
Briar threw out a hand to quiet them. “Listen. Can you hear that?” She stepped past her friends, ears straining to catch that faint sound. As Lara and Kade fell silent, she could hear it clearly for the first time.
“Singing?” Lara said.
“There is someone here.” There was now a note of triumph in Kade’s voice. “Do you still think we should turn back?”
