by Ashta, Lucia
I didn’t think he believed a word he said. If I’d been desperate to get outside before, it was nothing compared to how I felt now. Trixie had delivered me to safety, and I was determined that the beautiful white mare not come to harm.
What if she already has? I swallowed hard, pushed the thought away, and pictured her alive and waiting for me.
When the swell finally started to move forward, and those in the front walked out the castle, I had to refrain myself from pushing. Come on, come on, come on, I thought, as I sidestepped rubble from the blast.
I shuffled forward as quickly as the masses allowed all the while thinking only of Trixie. Everyone else would have to wait.
Chapter 5
“Isa, stop! Wait,” Walt said while I struggled to break free of his grasp. “Just wait a second.”
But I wouldn’t. I hadn’t even fully crossed the threshold before I made out the panicked whinnying of the horses. They were frantic, which suggested that some of them were very possibly injured.
“Wait, I’ll come with you,” Walt said, vying to get out the door right behind me, but a couple of anxious firedrakes cut him off. I felt badly for leaving him behind, but not as worried as I felt for Trixie and the other horses.
I shot him a quick glance over my shoulder that said “Sorry” before racing out of the castle and toward the horses.
I drew to a stop. I wasn’t the only one whose thoughts had gone to the horses. Marcelo and Brave were there too, but neither was making much progress with them, even though they’d been calm and obedient before.
More than a dozen horses reared and bucked against the straps that tied them to the hitching posts outside the castle. They whinnied and snorted and pawed the ground with their hooves.
“Are they all right?” I asked shakily, my eyes raking across the splintered chunks of door and rubble that surrounded the animals.
Marcelo flicked a quick glance at me, but didn’t otherwise divert his attention from the chestnut horse he was trying to calm. Brave, however, took a step backward toward me. “We’re not sure yet. There are no obvious injuries that we can spot at the moment.” He shrugged. “It’s hard to be certain when they won’t stop moving.
“What can I do to help?”
“Nothing, really. When they’re like this, the best thing is to stay away. Marcelo is trying to calm the lead horse. If he manages it, the others should follow his example and begin to settle down as well.”
Marcelo had both hands up in a gesture of surrender while he stared at the horse. The stallion shook his head, snorted heatedly, and refused to meet his gaze.
“And if he can’t settle him?” I asked.
“He will.”
When I bit my lip with concern because it didn’t look like Marcelo was making much headway, Brave added, “Either way, they’ll have to calm down eventually. They can’t keep this up forever.”
But that could take a long while. These horses were strong and in great condition. “They could hurt themselves with all their jumping around.”
“That’s definitely a risk. Let’s just hope my uncle manages to get things under control sooner rather than later.”
“Hmmph,” I said as I moved away from Brave and noticed Gertrude and Clara positioned beneath a nearby tree. Gertrude seemed to be holding Clara up, but I didn’t make my way over to them.
I circled the horses, giving their hind legs a wide berth, trying to get a better look at Trixie.
“Isa!” Walt was running toward me.
I smiled at him. “I’m all right. Sorry for leaving you behind. I was worried about the horses.”
He swallowed visibly, his Adam’s apple bobbing up and down, before nodding. “Are the horses hurt?”
My ears still rang, but at least I could make out words above the whining sound. “It seems like it... so far.”
He exhaled loudly, and I immediately liked him a little bit more than I already had. He’d been worried about the horses. I connected to animals more easily than I did people, and I couldn’t stand seeing horses mistreated, not an uncommon sight. Uncle, for one, had no use for the animals beyond having them pull his carriage.
Walt moved to my side, but I stopped him with a hand to his arm. “Just give me a minute.” Trixie was in the middle of the fray. Her white coat made her easy to spot among the darker backs, but either she wasn’t looking for me, or she wasn’t sensing me.
I angled off to the side and looked beyond a couple of jumping horses to try to make eye contact with Trixie. But she didn’t turn toward me, not even once. Her eyes were glassy with fear, and she was breathing heavily. “Oh, Trixie,” I whispered. Seeing her like this was horrible. She’d been so steadfast before.
Her eyes roved in every direction, seeking perhaps to land on something calming, when she finally found me. My heart soared for an instant when I believed she might actually connect with me and allow me to comfort her. I didn’t have much serenity or strength to offer, since I’d only barely ceased shaking myself, but I clearly had more than she did.
But Trixie met my eyes for just long enough to give me hope... then quickly whisk it away as she gave over to the panic that fueled the horses.
My shoulders slumped when a hand rested on my back.
I didn’t even need to turn around to figure out whose it was. Nando’s. I’d recognize his kind of comfort anywhere, and I leaned into his chest. I sought out Walt and found Marie next to him, engaged in vivid conversation. He looked up when he felt my gaze on him, smiled, then returned his focus to Marie, saying something to her.
“Has she seen you?” Nando asked, and even though he’d barely joined me, I was sure he was referring to Trixie. My brother knew me well.
“She did just now, but it wasn’t enough to get her to stop.”
Nando rubbed at my shoulders. “Don’t worry. It looks like she’s all right. They’ll settle eventually.”
“Yeah, but what if they get hurt with all their jumping around? All it would take is one broken leg.” And the horse would have to be put down. I didn’t say that aloud though. Nando would realize it as easily as I, and I wasn’t giving any more energy to the fear.
“We’re in the company of some great magicians.”
“And you think they could heal a broken leg?”
Nando stopped kneading my shoulders and I instantly wanted him to continue. But he was already fiddling with his sword, running his hand across the hilt in what I believed was a comforting gesture. “I don’t know what they’re capable of doing, but I suspect it’s far more than I’ve imagined.”
“Yeah, I suppose you’re right,” I said distractedly. Marcelo seemed to be making headway with the chestnut stallion, who’d stopped jumping as high, and now snorted and shook his head. Brave stood behind Marcelo, ready to help.
“What do you make of my being able to see in the dark like that?”
I tore my eyes from Trixie to look at my brother, which was probably good anyway. Every time Trixie reared, my heart clenched. I studied him, from top to bottom, and smiled.
“What?”
I chuckled. “You look like you were pounded into submission by a hurricane.”
“Ha.” He smiled too. “You should take a look at yourself.”
We both ran hands across our heads. My fingers tangled in my hair right away, and I brought them to my sides. There was no fixing the disaster that was my hair without a brush and a whole lot of patience.
We smiled easily. We’d come close to losing each other far too many times lately. I could allow that to freak me out, or I could allow it to encourage me to appreciate the moments I had to share with my brother all the more. Today, in that moment, it was easy to choose the latter.
“I don’t know what to think about your improved eyesight.”
“It’s more than improved eyesight, Isa. It’s... amazing. I can see ants crawling across the ground all the way by the caves. I could make out every single thing in the dark castle. Everything. The cracks in the walls an
d the floor. Every hair on your head.”
“That’s.... well, I really don’t know what to say, Nando. It really is amazing.”
“What do you think it means?”
“That you have magic, I assume.”
“Hmph.” He brought his hands to his hips, and I could’ve sworn he looked at Marie. But when I went to confirm, he trained his eyes back on me. “Maybe you’re right.”
“Of course I am,” I said, ribbing him out of habit. After what we’d experienced that day, I wasn’t sure of anything.
“If you’re sure you’re right, then are you back to feeling your normal self?”
“I think so.” I rubbed at my temples, even though the problem with my head hadn’t been physical.
Nando pulled in a really long inhale and let it out just as slowly. “I’m so relieved. I didn’t want to let on how much it scared me, but seeing you like that, forgetting basically everything a second after you heard it, was... totally terrifying… totally awful.”
One look at his face suggested that even though I’d be the one to suffer from the loss of memory and a notion of myself, it truly had been as bad for him as it’d been for me. I rushed forward and held him in a hard embrace. “I’m sorry,” I mumbled.
“For what? You didn’t do anything. That”—he steeled himself and I had the feeling he was running through a string of curse words in his mind—“that despicable duke did it. You did nothing wrong.”
I didn’t think I had, though I still occasionally wondered if I was to blame for Nando’s part in all this. If I hadn’t agreed to join the academy, he might not have either.
“Why don’t we let Marcelo and Brave deal with the horses? I want to see how the others are. I’m sure you do too.”
After one lingering look at Trixie, and another sinking feeling as she thrashed about, I nodded and let Nando lead me away. I didn’t much care where he took me—I was relieved to be outside, experiencing the sunshine against my face—until the ringing in my ears suddenly ceased... bringing the havoc that had surrounded me all that time into sharp focus.
My first reaction was to run from it—the stimulus was too great. But no one else was shirking their duties. Everyone who was able to help appeared to be doing so. I wouldn’t single myself out as the one coward. I’d do better than that.
So I embraced the screeching cries of freedom of the many firedrakes instead of cowering from them. I began to process the calls and shouts between friends and relatives. I sought out the faces that broadcast a need for help.
“Let’s see if we can help Clara,” I finally said, rubbing my ears to alleviate the lingering pain and buzzing in them.
“You read my mind,” he said and led the way.
Right away, I sensed the gaze of the sisters on us. After what we’d experienced, I had a new appreciation for the girls’ gifts, especially Clara’s. I couldn’t even fathom harnessing something as powerful as that wind.
“How are you feeling?” Nando called ahead as soon as we were within hearing range.
“I’ll be fine,” Clara called back, but her voice was too weak to reach us in anything beyond a whisper.
“But you’d better take it easy,” Gertrude warned, and it was clear from the look on her face that how easy Clara should take it had been a source of contention before our approach.
“I’ll take it as easy as I can, but we still have to get back to Acquaine, and we have a whole host of creatures to take with us.”
“And there are plenty of witches and wizards here who can deal with them, especially if Grand-mère and Great Uncle Gustave are back to themselves.” Gertrude shot a glance at us. “Are they?”
“We haven’t seen them, but if you two are all right, we can go look for them now.” Nando had to raise his voice to be heard over a fresh cacophony of firedrake cries. “What’s going on?” he asked as he and I turned to look at the castle again.
“I’m going to guess that Humbert is about to exit,” Clara said, the weakness too evident in her voice. It was easy to understand why Gertrude would be hovering around her older sister. “You’d better go see if anyone over there needs help. It’s only going to get crazier after Humbert gets out.”
“If you’re sure you’re well enough,” Nando told Clara, but his eyes asked Gertrude the question.
Gertrude nodded surreptitiously. “We’ll be fine. Go. And look for Sir Lancelot. I haven’t seen him.”
Oh no. The owl. The small, light as a feather, bright, intelligent owl.
With a final glance at Trixie, whose protests had only renewed as the firedrakes began to circle overhead, screeching and cawing as they went, I started walking toward the castle again. This time I was more alert. I scanned the horizon left and right, searching for the survivors of our mission, looking for a need to alleviate.
I saw neither the pygmy owl nor a single spirit. Not even Albacus roamed the hillside with us, though I spotted Mordecai and Giselle on the far side of the hill.
I picked up the pace and aimed for the blown-open doors. If a dragon was about to come out, I needed to make sure nothing and no one was in his way. Because if the ferocity of the roar that preceded Humbert was any indication, the dragon would mow down anyone who stood in his way, no matter how large... or how small.
“Come on,” I said to Nando, while starting to trot.
“What do you see? What is it?” Walt called after me.
I didn’t answer. A sense of urgency drove me. I didn’t understand where it was coming from, or what might cause it, but I didn’t want to find out too late.
I picked up the pace, and heard several sets of footsteps setting off after me.
Chapter 6
I spotted Arianne and Gustave as soon as we neared the hole where the double doors had once been. They were off to the other side of the castle, away from the horses. They sat on the ground amid the rubble from the explosion, huddled together.
I rushed to their side and bent over them, hands on my knees, working to steady myself. “Are you both all right? How are you feeling?” I didn’t suppose either question was particularly useful. Of course they weren’t all right. Arianne’s eyes were glassy and focused on something far away.
Gustave was the first to look up at me when Nando, and then Walt, skidded to a stop next to me. “Gustave?” Nando said. “Can you understand us?”
“Hmph?” It was only then that I realized that he hadn’t actually been looking at us, but through us. “Oui, oui.”
I didn’t take his affirmations as a particularly good sign. Arianne was the one who occasionally reverted to their native French, not her twin.
Still, there was no time to worry about that—or much of anything beyond a very large and very enraged scarlet dragon. Humbert roared right then, and it was the kind of roar that threatened to bring down walls and punish his captor.
Nando, Walt, and I spun around to view the exit to the castle. Humbert roared again. The volume of his complaint was so great that it altered the rhythm of my heartbeat. I swallowed uncomfortably and tried to regain control of my body.
Then the ground we stood on shook, and I imagined that Humbert was stomping his way through the final bits of the alcove that enclosed him. Even with the double doors blown open, the hole still didn’t look large enough to accommodate Humbert’s massive frame.
“What do we do?” Walt asked.
“Stay out of his way, for starters,” Nando said.
That seemed like a good idea to me. Though I wasn’t a particularly small girl, I was pretty sure the dragon could squash me with one clawed foot if he aimed it right.
But then I had a sudden thought, one of those that appears to come out of nowhere, but when it does, it arrives with a sinking knowing. “Sir Lancelot,” I whispered.
“Sir Lancelot?” Walt turned toward me. “What about him?”
“He’s not here.” I hadn’t actually looked closely since I was still hazy and there was too much chaos surrounding us. But when I said it, I just knew.
Sir Lancelot was inside—with Humbert, the dragon whom the pygmy owl swore was out to get him.
I didn’t believe the dragon actually had it out for Sir Lancelot; I figured it was more of a mischievous streak that urged him to mess with the little owl. But Humbert wasn’t calm. If anything, he was as frantic as the horses—only he was many times the size of any horse, and he had claws the size of my forearms.
“That doesn’t necessarily mean he’s inside with Humbert,” Walt said. But Nando didn’t say anything like that to attempt to appease me. He knew better. Even before magic had shown up in our lives, knocking on the door of our uncle’s house in the shape of a grumpy old wizard, I’d had... feelings about things. Neither he nor I gave them an overly great amount of credence, nor did we question where they came from. Regardless, they were rarely wrong. In fact, I didn’t think one of my feelings had ever been wrong.
And it didn’t feel wrong now either.
“I think he’s inside,” I said, aiming my words at my brother, who’d understand the background to my certainty. “And I don’t think he’s going to make it unless we go in there to get him.”
I hadn’t realized that’s what I thought until the words were out of my mouth. The very last place on the entire planet I felt like going right then was back inside that blasted castle.
I felt Nando and Walt’s gazes on me before I forced myself to meet them. “You’re sure?” Nando asked.
I shrugged because I felt uncomfortable under Walt’s scrutiny, but I nodded at Nando anyway.
“Then let’s go.” Nando reached for my hand and started moving toward the castle’s entrance.
“Wait,” Walt said. “You can’t be serious. We only just got out.”
“It’s not about what we want to do, it’s about what we have to do.”
“I’m not shirking my duty,” Walt said, a little too harshly. “But Sir Lancelot is a brilliant animal. In fact, he’s barely an animal at all. Humbert is a big, lumbering beast. Sir Lancelot can simply fly around him... or do something, anything, to evade him.”
