Nox looked around us and began to gather twigs. A glance at Fallon told me he was gathering larger sticks and fallen branches for a fire. Building a small mound between us, Nox took what looked like flint and tinder from a pouch at his belt and began striking, then answered, “His people were locked in a building and burned. Who started that fire, Fallon?”
I shook my head and looked between them. “No… he wouldn’t—”
Fallon lowered his head.
Closing my eyes briefly, I took a deep, steadying breath. I didn’t care what they said, I wasn’t prepared to believe he was capable of that.
“Okay… all that aside, I agree. I do need to get some magic practice in,” I blurted, ready to change the subject. “I just haven’t had time or anywhere safe to do it. I left the fortress after a few days of taking over, and I don’t even know how many days it has been now… how long have I even been here?”
“I believe about two weeks, from the information I have,” Nox said.
I glared at him. “And what information is that?”
“I hear all kinds of things from all kinds of people,” he said, shrugging. “Glinda can’t stop the birds from singing.”
I looked to Fallon who nodded his agreement.
“Two weeks? Is that all? Feels like so much longer… how far is it to… where are we headed?”
“The western villages. Glinda calls it Munchkinland, which is nothing short of insulting. It was her sister’s doing. She mocked the people for their short stature, naming them Munchkins and treating them like children. They never once complained, but my people hated the witches for it. I still hate them for it.”
I nodded. I knew what he meant. My great grandma had described the people of the west in much the same way as it seemed Glinda had addressed them. Even though it was over a hundred years ago and I tried to tell myself people were less respectful of anyone with differences—my great grandmother’s mental state making her one such person—it irked me. I tried not to focus on it too much and questioned, “How far away are we?”
“From here? A half a day’s walk to the town. The Quartz Tower is half a day’s walk northeast of there, plus the climb, so it’s probably best we spend the night in town and set out first thing. The largest of the villages is likely to have buildings we’d be more comfortable in.”
He seemed to know a lot about these places, more than I would have expected, but I let it go. I’d find out soon enough and I didn’t want to start second guessing his honesty. I’d been complaining enough about the lack of trust going around, it would be hypocritical to start doing so myself. “So, we should stop here?” I asked, looking around.
The place didn’t look like a suitable place to light a fire. The trees were sparse, not as old as the ones deeper in the forest, and these had a few sick-looking leaves clinging to their branches. The ground was muddy, not good to sleep on, so I turned to Fallon and said, “I’m going to create something for us to sleep in, okay?”
He glanced to Nox for his reaction, then nodded.
Nox cocked his head.
“What?” I queried, looking at an open space beside him.
“You can propel yourself on a breeze and build shelters well enough, but that isn’t going to be enough to protect your people, you know?”
I narrowed my eyes, trying to ignore him as our accommodation for the night materialized. I was aware of my shortcomings. Painfully aware. But it wasn’t as though the new abilities I’d gained came with a manual.
“You say you want to help,” he continued, “but so far you haven’t really done much, have you?”
I didn’t like his tone one bit. He was talking to me as though I’d volunteered for this. Sure, I’d agreed to help, but I didn’t receive a formal invitation or anything.
“Where are you going with this?” I snapped, walking toward the little wooden house I’d made. Fallon did the same and we left Nox standing in the muddy clearing.
“Just stating facts, Ella. You can’t win a war without training. If the people could have won it without your help, they’d have done it by now, don’t you think?”
I pushed open the door and stepped inside. There was a stove on the right hand wall, and three beds lined up opposite. Along the rear wall was a table stacked with necessary utensils, with three chairs pushed in around it.
“Right. So what do you want me to do?” I called, as Fallon kicked off his boots and lay on the bed closest to the door.
I glanced back and saw Nox had followed us into the house. He was leaning against the doorframe, staring at me. “I think you need to find out what you’re capable of.”
I laughed as I sorted through the utensils on the table. “You’re going to teach me magic, are you? What do you know about it?”
I put the iron pan on the stove.
Hearing movement behind me, I turned to come face to chest with him. I tried to step back but the table was in the way so was forced to lift my head.
His amber eyes were narrowed and his jaw was set. “I knew a sorceress once. We trained together. She provided me shots to dodge, I provided her a target. I considered offering you the same.”
“You’d help me?” I asked skeptically.
Fallon snorted and I shot him a look. I hadn’t meant to sound so incredulous.
Nox folded his arms across his chest. “I’m already helping you.”
Fallon’s mouth turned down in the corners and he shrugged.
“Well, yeah,” I stumbled, feeling a bit like I’d been called out for being a brat. “I just didn’t expect you to want to help me like that.”
Nox took a deep breath and sighed. “It’s really in everyone’s interests that I do.”
I frowned. “So, you believe me?”
He smirked. “I suppose I must. Get yourself something to eat and we’ll have a try out.”
I glanced back at Fallon. He’d picked up the pack and was looking through whatever food we had left. I didn’t know why, it would be the same cured meats, cheeses, and bread. After two days of eating that stuff, I was missing Orla’s gourd soups, as macabre as they were. I was starving. “Okay,” I agreed, holding out a hand for Fallon to pass me the ham from the pack. “But don’t complain if I hurt you.”
Nox laughed as I inched away. “Just don’t singe the mane.”
I frowned. “Fire?”
“If my assumptions are correct, you control air and fire elements. Tatiana possesses earth, not that she uses it at all, since she prefers her sword. That leaves—”
“Water,” I finished, interrupting him. “That explains her going everywhere in bubbles.”
Nox laughed again. “Don’t underestimate her bubbles. They’re her shields and are damn hard to pop.”
“But they can be? Popped, I mean.”
“Needs to be something very sharp, or I expect heat would damage them, but yes.”
I cut three generous slices from the ham and placed one on each plate, then turned to look at Fallon. He’d left the pack on the bed closest me and lay back down. He seemed comfortable enough, and not at all concerned about the conversation I was having with Nox.
Without a word I continued to serve dinner, thinking about the issue of Glinda having shields. I didn’t know enough about them to have a plan in place. It seemed I was working on the fly there.
Finally, I took a skin of ale from the pack and poured three cups before packing the bag and sitting down. “Okay, let’s eat and get the training over with.”
Fallon seemed distant as we ate, and I wanted to ask him about it but wasn’t sure how to raise the subject with Nox in the room. So, we ate in silence and when we were done, I asked, “Do you want to get ready and I’ll come out when I’ve cleared this away?”
Without answering, Nox took my plate and Fallon’s, and placed them on the table. “Leave them. Are you coming out, Fallon?”
He lay back on the bed and put his hands behind his head. Apparently not.
“Fair enough. Ready, witchy?”
<
br /> I scowled and walked toward the door. “Do not make that my pet name,” I warned, already feeling nervous and irritable.
Nox laughed behind me and I looked down at Fallon. “We won’t be long. I’ll stay in view of the house.”
Fallon smiled but didn’t bother to open his eyes. I shook my head and stepped out into the woods. He’d gone from being entirely untrusting of Nox, to relaxed enough to just doze while Nox helped me work on my magic.
A few meters from the house, I stopped walking. My boots were sinking into the mud, and I hoped I wouldn’t have to move too much.
“So, you’ve got big gusts of wind covered, and the general use of magic for day to day necessities,” Nox noted from behind me.
“Yep,” I replied, not turning around. “But I think that’s the shoes.”
“Witch of the East shoes?”
I nodded. “They attached to my feet the second Sayer began moving me here. And they were silver. They were silver for Great Grandma Dorothy, too, she only used them to get home, but apparently they let me do what I want, more or less. And they change. Like, when I arrived at Glinda’s place they were more something I’d wear… well, they weren’t appropriate. Now they conform to my needs, they’re red, and... they just change.”
He was quiet for a moment, then inquired, “What did you do when Tatiana attacked?”
I thought back to that awful day and looked down at my hands. “I stopped time. Or at least, that’s what I tried to do. Whatever it was, the whole scene was frozen.”
“You didn’t attack?”
I shook my head. “I’m not really a fan of violence. I’d rather sort things out diplomatically.”
“So you stopped the battle and talked it out?”
I shrugged. “The monkeys, they were being slaughtered. I made sure Tatiana knew how I felt about her stunt, so the air’s been cleared, but it wasn’t until a while after when we really talked everything through.”
He was standing right behind me. I didn’t need him to touch me for me to be aware of his presence. He was large and imposing enough.
“This can’t be done diplomatically,” he informed me, his voice a deep hum in my ear. “You have to fight. You’ll have to defend your people using whatever force is necessary. People will die on both sides, and you’re going to be partially responsible for that, but the alternative is to hand Ozacia over to Glinda and allow her to rule as she sees fit.”
“How will she rule?” I asked quietly.
Nox stepped around me and lifted my chin with a finger. His amber eyes searched mine, and I turned my head away. There was an intimacy in his actions that I wasn’t ready for. Not with him. Sayer and Fallon were more than enough, weren’t they? “You really want to know?”
I nodded.
“Totally. Cruelly.”
“What proof do you have of that?” I countered. The more I learned of Glinda, the more it seemed she’d manipulated, well, everyone. My great grandma, the people of Oz. She’d planned murders to take Oz over and the one person who could challenge her didn’t have the confidence. At least with Tati alive, the people had someone to rally behind.
He stepped back from me but didn’t lower his gaze. He held me there, forcing me to give him my attention.
I shifted from one foot to the other, waiting. There was something in the intensity of his amber eyes that made my stomach squirm. I swallowed. I didn’t want to feel that, not now. Not with him. But I couldn’t look away. A couple of seconds ticked by and he looked down at the ground and explained, “When her attack came, it was swift. She swept down on the city with no notice, setting the outlying residences ablaze. The people panicked and ran to the center, seeking aid from the wizard.
“Of course he wasn’t as powerful as he was purported, and when her army closed in, the palace was packed with helpless lambs and few able to protect them.
“My people, black and yellow alike, were the only defenders they had, and defend them we did.
“We were brutal. But she even more brutal. We were fierce, but her numbers were great. Her Horners were front line, boiling us in our skins if their lightning bolts made contact. Her Hoppers crushed the skulls of the little folk. And her soldiers... many of my people were traumatized by what they were forced to do to them.
“We were outnumbered a hundred to one, and it wasn’t long before she overpowered us. She made us watch as she drowned the wizard in a pretty bubble of water. His loyal and loving people watched him writhe on the ground as his body fought for breath, powerless to help him. Children wailed, men and women alike wept for him, but they couldn’t stand up to her. None of us could save that man.
“She took up residence in the palace and waited for her sister, but Tatiana didn’t come. We were separated. We were brought before her to swear fealty. The weakest did. The strongest stood silent before her and were tortured for our insolence.
“When Tatiana finally arrived, the people were broken. They were mourning. They were afraid. They fled the moment the sisters began to fight.
“The seismic force of Tatiana’s power brought the city down. A number of us remained, initially to allow the escapees to gain a head start, but in the end, we were simply watching and waiting for the victor to decide our fate.
“The fight raged for hours with no clear result. Evenly matched, there couldn’t be a winner. It was Tatiana who called for a pause.
“She proposed the truce, promising never to stray over the southern border, provided Glinda kept out of the North and ceased her attacks. Glinda demanded control of the East. Tatiana agreed, stipulating she gained guardianship of the West.
“Then came mention of stewards. Tatiana had never claimed one, declaring the practice outdated and unnecessary. Glinda’s steward had fallen in the first wave of attacks, and she called for all those born to a steward to step forward.
“Fallon came first. He was bloodied and exhausted, without a single arrow left in his quiver, his sword notched and bent, but he wasn’t beaten. When Glinda approached he spat at her feet. When she struck him he looked straight into her eyes and told her he would rather burn than spend a day in her service.
“With that silky smile she has, she extended a single finger and prodded him in the throat, she said, ‘You will never speak to me with such disrespect again.’ We all watched in horror as he began to choke, blood spurting from his mouth. Fallon fell to his knees, clawing at his throat, and Bree broke from the gathered stewards and rushed to attend him.
“Glinda was pleased with her response and told her to leave him and come to her. But another stepped forward and said, ‘Lady Glinda, good Witch of the South, most beautiful of the rulers of Ozaci, all my life I have trained to serve but never believed the opportunity to serve you would ever present itself. I beg of you not to choose her. Take me, I will better meet your needs than she ever could.’
“Glinda has always fallen for flattery, but flattery from a pretty boy with golden hair and a dashing smile was sure to win her over, and so she took her steward and returned to her lands, her forces turning and marching south the instant she was gone.
“Tatiana remained, assisting Bree in treating Fallon and then the other wounded, and eventually we went our separate ways. Fallon returned to the East, I followed my people into the forests, Tatiana returned to her lands with Bree, and Glinda planned her next move,” Nox finished, as I stared at him with wide eyes.
“Which was?” I prompted, even though I didn’t really want to know. I was already close to tears from hearing his recount of her despicable treatment of the people of this world, but I had to know.
“She came for us, and won,” he replied simply. “So, you see, Ella, without you we’re doomed. Tatiana can’t stop her. The people can’t stop her. You’re the last hope this world has for being free. It’s a lot, I appreciate that, but many weaker than you have made greater sacrifices. Your great grandmother, for instance. Her innocence was taken from her. A young girl shouldn’t witness what she did. It was cru
el. But the people of Oz have lost far more. They’ve witnessed far worse. We can’t survive her destruction much longer.”
“What if I’m not enough?” I questioned, suddenly unsure of our quest after hearing the amount of power Glinda had.
His expression changed and his eyes softened as he looked at me, with a small smile tugging the corner of his mouth. “You’re more than enough,” he murmured, and the expression on his face told me he believed his words.
I looked away, brushing my hair back from my face and changed the subject. “So, you think I can make fire?”
He smirked, aware of what I just did. “I know you can do far more than just make fire. Hit me.”
Fallon was still on the bed where we’d left him when we returned. He did manage to push himself up on his elbows and give me a questioning look when I collapsed on my own cot in the center of the room.
“I can do fire,” I announced, staring at the ceiling. I was exhausted.
Nox laughed and edged around the room to the cot behind mine. “She’s a natural, now that she knows what she’s feeling for.”
Natural was stretching things a bit, but I had managed to create fire and I was very happy with myself. What surprised me was how much Nox seemed to know about the process, especially since he had no magical ability himself—shifting excluded.
“Yeah,” I agreed, taking a deep breath. “It’s about feeling for it. Thank you.”
His cot creaked as he lay down. “Happy to help.”
I turned over to face Fallon. He was still leaning up on his elbows looking down at me, and raised his brows once.
I could tell he was asking me if I was okay.
I smiled. He seemed much less concerned about me spending time with Nox now. It appeared our little practice session was enough to set Fallon’s mind at ease. I was glad. I clearly needed both of them to help me get this done, and they needed me if they wanted a chance at freeing Oz from Glinda.
He nodded once then lay down, and I curled up tighter where I lay, relieved to have some kind of harmony between us. We needed it if we were going to succeed.
The Quartz Tower (Kingdoms of Oz Book 2) Page 7
