Mage- The Guardian's Oath

by S A Edwards

  I smiled half-heartedly. The village at the bottom of the mountain was close, and so far, no Seekers had shown up. Still, it wasn’t too late.

  My fingers tugged nervously on my cloak, unwilling to use my flames so close to the village. A huge mountain towered in the distance, the top hidden under mist and snow. Lush growth bloomed lower down the slope, thinned to shrub, and then bared to rock at the bottom. Cold air drifted down, chilling the land.

  My stomach sank at the thought of climbing it. I had never dreamed anything could be so high. Or white. It actually reached the clouds.

  With my fatigued legs and raw feet, my hope diminished each time my focus fell upon it.

  The water in my canteen was low, and we hadn’t passed a river for some time. I’d drawn some from the soil, but it always left me feeling drained.

  The wall of the village appeared ahead, and my stomach fluttered. How easy would it be to find the person we needed to meet? I hadn’t found my guide back at Karandar, and the Seeker had chased us to the Forbidden Pass. I didn’t relish the thought that something might go wrong again.

  Charlie slowed until I fell into step beside him, and we slipped into the cobbled street.

  The village resembled the others I had seen but brought with it little comfort knowing of the approaching danger. Villagers bustled between stone buildings, their clothes thick against the cold. My cloak barely kept out the chill and judging by the size and appearance of the mountain, we would need warmer cloaks.

  Stalls edged the road with people flitting between them. A large cart sat in the centre of the street, piled high with food.

  Tingles shot through my body, and my gaze fell on a young woman standing before the cart. Light blue, almost white robes adorned her slim body, and a matching cloak with fur rimming the collar rested on her shoulders.

  Charlie tugged me. “A Preserver.”

  Ice shot from her fingers and palms, locking the food in a glittering hold. The sunlight on the ice mesmerised me.

  “Cool,” Charlie grinned, and then laughed. “Literally, cool.”

  “Just don’t draw attention to yourself.”

  “I know, I know.”

  Charlie split off from me and headed toward the nearest food stall. I resisted the temptation to follow and roamed instead to the opposite side where piles of material covered one of the stalls. I sifted through them, impressed with the quality and feel of the material. Thick and soft, fur lined the edges of most.

  Wearing a plain robe and a thick, dust-covered cloak, the elderly stall-keeper smiled at me. “What are you looking for, dear?”

  “Warmer cloaks.”

  “Ah, you’re heading up the mountain.”

  My surprise must have shown in my expression because she said, “We don’t often get newcomers here. When we do, they’re heading for the Capital.” She gazed behind me, and I thought I saw a little longing in her eyes.

  “Are you –?”

  “A Preserver? Goodness, no.” She moved to the adjoining stall and picked up a bunch of fur-lined fabric. Deep blue and pure white, they shimmered in the morning light.

  I ran my fingers over them, caressing the silky material. “They’re beautiful.”

  “Thank you, dear. It’s always nice to know someone appreciates my talent.”

  My eyes widened. “You made these?”

  “Of course.”

  Charlie sidled up beside me, stuffing a bag of food into his pack. “Clara, I’ve got –”

  “Clara?” The stall-keeper clutched the cloaks to her chest. “You’re Clara Vedette?”

  The hair on my neck stood on end at the cries through the village. Surely my name wasn’t so rare that they’d know me this easily?

  “Call the Seekers! Hurry!” Someone shouted.

  “No, wait,” – I gripped Charlie’s shoulder and backed away – “I don’t want any trouble. Please.”

  Charlie shifted out of my grip and someone grabbed my arm. I gasped and twisted to the Preserver. Her dark hair hung straight beside her gentle face.

  “Clara.” Urgency shone in her eyes. “I’m Kyra. Glacies sent me to meet you.”

  A shout caught my attention, and Kyra’s grip on me tightened.

  Three figures strolled down the cobbled lane. Their arms were bare, and swirling marks rimmed the muscles of their forearms.

  “Over here, quick!” Kyra yanked me sideways into an alley with Charlie close beside me.

  27

  The villagers had shifted their gaze to the strangers, and many fled indoors with the children.

  “We can’t hide in here. They’ll sense us,” I said.

  Kyra shook her head and shrunk further into the shadows of the alley. “They aren’t Seekers.”

  I peeked around the corner at the three newcomers, noticing only now their lack of cloaks and staffs. “Okay. Then who?”

  “The Corrupted,” Charlie whispered.

  “Bad Mage? How can you be sure?”

  “The marks on their arms. They were branded when they gave in to the darkness.”

  “How could you possibly know that?”

  “Sil told me.”

  I peered at him with tight lips, but he kept his focus on the three intruders. “Remind me to ask you what else Sil mentioned.”

  “They must not see you,” Kyra hissed. “If they find you, they’ll try to take you for their own.”

  “Why? What would they want from me?”

  “You have all seven gifts.”

  I gaped at her. “You know about that?”

  “Course I do.”

  There had to be a way out of this. “We have to go. The Seekers are coming.”

  “They won’t get you,” Kyra said.

  “Why are you helping me?”

  Her lips twitched. “Glacies wouldn’t allow you up the mountain if you were an enemy.”

  The Corrupted paused between the stalls, and the largest of the three frowned, his dark hair dipping to his eyes. “Where’s the rest? This is barely half our order.”

  An elderly fellow shifted in a doorway. “There wasn’t enough. Once we sent the produce to the Main City –”

  Dark Hair strode toward him and grabbed him by the collar. “You sent our food to the City?”

  “Please. It … it isn’t yours.”

  “Have you learned nothing? You send them food, why? So, they can sit on their thrones all day, sending Seekers to hunt us down like animals!” He shook him.

  “Clara.” Kyra touched my shoulder. “Have you mastered your flames?”

  I stared at her.

  “Yes or no?”

  “Yes,” I said.

  “Good. On my mark, I want you to ignite the food on the cart.”

  My eyes widened. “And leave them with nothing?”

  “Your flames won’t damage my ice.” She squeezed past me and approached Dark Hair.

  His gaze fell on her when she neared. He dropped the man, and he scuttled back into the building.

  “Release him,” she ordered.

  The two flanking Dark Hair shifted their stance.

  “Kyra. How nice to see you.” He held his arms out to the side. “Have you given any thought to my offer?”

  “My answer remains the same.”

  “And yet, I am determined to have you.”

  “Leave, Kooja. Now.”

  Kooja chuckled, and his followers began to circle Kyra and the cart. “We will take our food, or we will do the same to your village as has been done to others.”

  Memories of the burned flesh and cries of pain in Fluvios tore at my mind, and anger boiled within me. If it hadn’t been for Yithan, many of them would be dead now.

  “You haven’t worked or paid for this food,” Kyra said. “I won’t let you take it.”

  Dark Hair cocked his head. “Kyra, Kyra. It grieves me to see you resist me so.” He nodded at the two, and they approached the cart.

  Kyra held up her hand. “You’re not taking that food.”

  Dark
Hair raised his hand, too.

  Tingles filled me.

  Flames leapt from his fingers, shot across the square, and slammed into a young boy. He screamed and dropped to the floor, fire tearing at his arm. Two men raced toward him, using their cloaks to put out the fire.

  The two Corrupted reached the cart, red hair and blue eyes flashing under the cold sunlight.

  Kyra swivelled and nodded to me.

  I snapped my fingers, and flames leapt to life, covering every inch of the food.

  Red Hair cried out and staggered backward, eyes wide.

  “No!” Dark Hair directed his next attack at Kyra.

  She blocked it with a flick of her wrist and a wall of ice that lasted only long enough to extinguish his flames.

  Red Hair and Blue Eyes attacked.

  Kyra spun, knocking aside the icy blast and freezing the stream of water mid-air. It dropped, inches from her face and shattered on the ground.

  My heart lurched, and I raced across the cobbles to help, ignoring Charlie’s panicked cry behind me.

  Red Hair’s attention rotated to me. Ice shot from his hands, sharp needles hurtling toward my unprotected body.

  Adrenaline coursed through my blood, and a shield of bright blue flames burst up around me. Heat washed over me, flicking my hair. The ice collided with them. Pressure built, grinding against my strength, but my flames held until the needles melted.

  The Corrupted gaped at me.

  “Ha. Didn’t expect blue fire, did you?” I said.

  Blue eyes recovered. Water rushed.

  My fire leapt up again, heat battling the cold, the pressure building.

  I called the water from the ground, the walls, the roofs. It surged through my feet, legs and body. It plunged from my hands, burst through my flames and slammed into Red Hair and Blue Eyes.

  They soared backward and crashed to the floor.

  I stood over them, inhaling the crisp air. My body buzzed with power. And I liked it.

  I spun to Kooja. Kyra slumped in his arms, her eyes closed, a cut on her cheek. “Well, well,” he said. “Isn’t this an interesting turn?”

  “Let her go.”

  “I don’t think I will. But you,” – His eyes narrowed – “you’re something new.”

  My spine prickled, and his cheeks paled, fear flickering in his eyes. “It seems my Seeker has arrived.” His grip tightened on Kyra.

  Panic rose within me. “Let her go!” I needed her. This couldn’t happen. Not now.

  He flashed me a crooked smile.

  Purple smoke puffed beside him, revealing the murky figure of a Shade with long, purple hair. Her hand clamped on Kooja’s shoulder, and the smoke engulfed them.

  I leapt forward, but it was too late.

  Charlie grabbed my arm.

  “Let’s go,” he said.

  I hurried after him, half-expecting fear to grip my senses, but none manifested.

  The boy Kooja attacked lay on the ground, cradling his arm. Tears streaked his face, and his whimpers cut over the voices of those around him. Kooja’s flames had devoured his clothes, and the reek of burned flesh seared my nose. His anguish tugged on my nerves, his growing weakness spreading.

  I paused, shock paralysing my flight.

  “Clara?” Charlie’s voice shook.

  “Go ahead,” I said. “I can’t. Not yet.”

  I ran toward the boy and knelt. No one touched me as I surveyed his wound. It had spread across his body and up his neck. His laboured breathing snapped at my mind, and the truth hit me: he wouldn’t have long to live. “It’s okay. I’m going to help you.”

  Charlie knelt beside me.

  “What are you doing?” I asked.

  He returned my gaze with steely eyes. “I’m not leaving you.”

  “Charlie –”

  “I’ve made up my mind.”

  I bit my lip and drew water from the ground. It curled between us, mimicking the pattern I had become so familiar with. The particles connected with me. I allowed compassion to flood my body, to encompass every emotion, to drown out my fear and all thoughts of the Seeker.

  The molecules separated, and the purified water curled around the boy’s arm.

  Pressure built within me. The sting of the burn manifested in my mind. I cringed. Tears welled.

  Then, it eased. Before my eyes, his skin became smooth, untouched by time, and the water, dormant.

  The boy surveyed his arm, eyes wide, his tears still clinging to his cheeks.

  Satisfaction coursed through me. My power was growing. Before long, I would be unstoppable.

  “You healed him.”

  I twisted before the face of a man, his face sheltered under a black hood. My heart leapt into a sprint. A staff rested in his hand, a purple stone atop it.

  “Why?” he asked.

  “Why what?”

  “Why did you heal him?”

  “Because that’s what I do. And because he shouldn’t be left to suffer.” I stood, unsure that fleeing was possible, and tried to shift in front of Charlie. He sidestepped, leaving his view open. I grabbed him but couldn’t pull him back.

  “You’re Clara Vedette,” the Seeker said. His hand stroked his staff, his brow furrowed. “You’re not supposed to help people.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because the Council wants you dead.”

  “You’re a Seeker,” I said. “Why don’t I feel afraid?”

  “Because I am not hunting you. Only those who are will play on your fear, and they won’t be far behind. I could take you, but …” He dropped his staff. “Go.”

  “You’re … letting us leave?”

  “I don’t know what’s going on, but you aren’t who I thought. And I won’t take those who walk in the light.”

  “Wait!” The stall-keeper shoved past the crowd, two fur-rimmed cloaks in her grasp. “Take them. You’ll need them on the mountain.” She shoved them into my arms.

  “I … don’t know what to say …”

  “Don’t give it a second thought, dear. Go.”

  “Clara.” Charlie tugged on my arm.

  I gave a small smile, then sprinted from the village with Charlie.

  The forest engulfed us, filling my nostrils with the sweet scent of pine. We didn’t stop. The mountain was only a short distance from the village, and the sooner we got there, the sooner the Seekers would have to give up the chase. For now, at least. The protections surrounding the Capital would deny them access.

  Just one other problem remained. Only a Preserver could reach the Capital alive. And we had lost our guide.

  28

  Cold air stung my nose when we arrived at the start of the mountain’s slope. Large rocks jutted out from the rough ground, forcing us to weave around them. The cloud-covered top disappeared from view beyond the rocks, and my legs ached with the increasing incline.

  Charlie clambered over a weathered bulge and peered down at me. “How are we going to get there? Without a Preserver to get us past the protections …”

  “We’ll be okay. I have my flames to protect us against the cold.”

  “But what if the cold isn’t the only thing up there? The Healer Capital had the Praesidio, remember?”

  The thought had already occurred to me but worrying about it wouldn’t help us. I hoped my flames would be protection enough. “We don’t have a choice, Charlie.”

  Little conversation took place over the following few hours. The ground changed to cliffs and sharp stone, much of which required the use of hands and feet to manoeuvre. Sweat clung to my forehead and back, sticking my tunic to my skin. My muscles ached, my hands turned raw, and I struggled to watch Charlie and prevent myself falling at the same time.

  Charlie stayed ahead of me, his breathing laboured, and paused periodically to glance back at me.

  Eventually, he sank down on a flat shelf and lay back with rosy cheeks.

  I crawled next to him. “Break time?”

  He nodded and closed his eyes, feet hang
ing over the edge. “It’s harder than it looks.”

  My gaze roamed the scene below, the bottom of the slope no longer visible, and I slipped off my pack. Forest covered every inch of the land, with the occasional break for a winding river and the village. Dizziness touch my consciousness at the sheer height, so I shuffled further back from the edge.

  Mouth dry, I grasped my empty canteen and pulled on the moisture in the air, drawing it inside. It gathered in threads, filling the canteen within a minute, and then I passed it to Charlie before drawing more for myself.

  “Want some?” Charlie held out the green packet we had discovered shortly after leaving the boat at the cove. White, sweet and minty, one mouthful had filled my body with energy, and judging by Charlie’s wide eyes, it had done the same to him. We decided we would save it for the mountain climb, and considering my waning strength, we made the right choice.

  We didn’t rest long, and my aching muscles protested when we resumed our climb. My legs screamed whilst we climbed, hand over hand up the vertical cliff until it gave way to rounded land. We crawled on our knees on the softening ground, only standing when we reached a good distance from the cliff.

  Another hour passed, and the rocks were replaced by shrubs, thickening into tall trees. Pine needles littered the ground, and without the need to climb, the chill crept in, making my sweat turn cold. Pausing only to swap our cloaks, we continued on.

  “It’s heavy,” Charlie said, swishing the bottom across the ground.

  “But it should keep the cold out.”

  He rubbed the fur across his skin, his dimples teasing his cheeks. “I like it.”

  The level ground brought relief to my legs. The temperature dropped, and I called on my flames. Something in the air fought them, cutting through the comforting heat.

  Charlie pressed close, his fur-lined blue cloak trailing along the dirt. “Look!” He pointed ahead where the trees broke.

  Specks drifted from the grey sky and settled on the dirt in fluffy whiteness.

  He skipped forward and reached out to catch one of the specks. “It’s snow.” One landed on his nose, melting on contact, and he giggled.