So much had changed since then.
The response from the earth swelled around my heart. An answer to my thoughts – a reassurance that after all my heart may still be intact, unchanged.
Distracted as I was by the reunion, I had almost missed it. Like a guiding hand I was swept off my intended path. Dee took note, signalling to the others – a short walk onwards and we had entered into a clearing, a campsite recently abandoned.
The coals were still warm; dirt carelessly thrown over the charred logs. My head whipped towards the centre of the forest. Like a cry for help, I heard the silent plea from the canopy above. I rushed without thought. Knowing full well this was not something I would be able to take back or explain, my path ahead was being cleared by the forest itself and I took the lead.
Coming to a sudden stop, the soldiers that had taken my tail made no further movement.
The uniforms of the unknown soldiers closely resembled ours. They were black and made for movement and combat, though they differed in the way of no insignia to show their allegiance, no crest. No gold trimming that edged all of our uniforms. The starkness of the black amongst the green around us made them easy to track, just as I knew that once our presence became known, we would have no place to hide. They had yet to see us but it was clear these unmarked soldiers were the source of the pain I felt emanating from everywhere around me. It was like they were pulling the life from the very earth beneath my feet.
One of the soldiers behind me made a small movement but it was enough to reveal our presence. The soldiers before us all turned in unison.
Built similarly, they were almost indistinguishable from behind. Tall and broad with black hair, they moved immediately into a fighting stance. It was clear they were not Vyterran. Their colouring and complexion of pale skin and long, dark hair. Montreese. I felt the confusion flash across my features quickly before tucking that information away.
My attention went directly to their eyes. They were all black, just like Ainsley. All the colour had been swallowed by their pupils. Their skin devoid of its plumpness, its life, their eyes hollowing. Such a contrast to their stature from behind – they simply looked rotten. Not in the manner of decaying flesh, but in the air around them. They smelled wrong. It was like everything around them tried to move away.
General Simeera resumed the lead, wasting no time in charging them, but my world had been turned into slow motion. Like having my soul pulled apart, just as they were pulling from the earth, the energy they harnessed allowed them to produce the magic of the elements. My heart faltered at the horror.
Our gifts were just that, gifts. Bestowed on us to protect those who did not have the ability to protect themselves. Our histories made it very clear.
During my brief lessons where I learned of my heritage, I studied how the Gods intertwined the bloodlines of the royals with the elements. There was no rhyme or reason, it simply was just done. Often, children took after their parents, just as I had done with my mother, but when there was a need, when our world required something more, a child was so then blessed to fill such a need.
These men, they did not belong to any family of royal blood. To draw from the earth to produce and manipulate an elemental gift was unheard of. It had never been done. I could feel them take the magic from around us, see the life around us pale in colour and crumble. They simply willed it and it was so. What were these, these things.
The soldier farthest from us who had been leading the group of four men before we came up on their rear engaged with little hesitation. Summoning a flame in the palm of his hand, as he did a spike of lightening pain pierced my temple. He moulded the flame between both his hands, it grew with each rolling motion. Shooting it out with his palms thrust outward, he had aimed straight for the general.
Without thinking, I acted on instinct. Pulling from the earth with a swift flick of my wrist, a shield of soil so solid it was more inclined to be rock erected mere seconds before it was too late, absorbing the flame within its damp soil. An assault of the same fire balls continued within moments of the first. There was no longer hope that I would get away from this unidentified, so the thought left my mind with only an acknowledgment of dealing with it later.
Pulling up five more of the same shields for myself and the rest of my group, we took cover quickly. With no time to absorb the shock of what I had done, or what they had witnessed, the soldiers around me drew their weapons immediately. The other three men, one who wielded fire as well, and two who had stolen the elemental gift of water, undertook their own assaults.
Arrows flew past me, along with throwing knives, but no one moved from behind their shields of earth. The constant need to rebuild their walls was indeed a distraction, but it seemed the only man competent enough to use their magic in combat was the leader and his fire. The others could only summon but a single flame and a drizzle of water. Enough to slowly pull the moisture from the barriers of earth and allow them to crumble slowly.
Using the forest around me, what had already grown and existed, I moved from behind my shield.
Vines moved to hold them in place. I aimed for their wrists to stop them from using their magic so effectively. They didn’t really need their hands to manipulate their power, it was a common crutch for those who were only learning to use their elemental gifts. It was second nature to me to use my hands, or a flick of my chin, but I could use my magic without the gestures. But to know that you can was a power in itself. The mind often closed up when the rest of the body was restrained. I gambled on the hope they had only ever used their magic with the aid of hand gestures, that should they be bound they would be essentially rendered useless. Thrusting dirt and rocks from their places on the forest floor around us, I aimed them like small bullets and let them fly towards their targets. All four men ducked from the assault. With them caught off guard I began pulling tree limbs from their places above and hauling them towards the rotten soldiers.
While three of the four men were down, the leader of the group had managed to leap out of the way. With anger etched around his vacant eyes he centred his attention on me. As he began drawing more energy from the earth a ringing started in my ear, so piercing I was sure my eardrums would burst.
Then I understood; I knew what needed to be done. This forest needed help. The
soldiers before me were drawing their unnatural power from the earth. It was not replaced or regenerated, not shared as it was for those of royal blood and the naturally occurring elements around them. Used with a mutual understanding that magic could be given and taken, that it could grow and be shared.
But here, like this, it could not. Here, it was stolen.
I knew it would be okay, that I needed only to strengthen this place around me long enough for it to take back what had been removed from it and so, I came undone.
The vines that now held our opponents loosely wound tighter, while vines of my own surrounded my body. These would not hurt me, no, they were supporting me. Holding me up and giving me strength.
The pain was unbearable. To say I had never felt pain like it before would be wrong, but I had hoped to never feel it again.
As my magic flowed from me, supporting the earth beneath me and the forest around me, filling the spots made empty, there was rejoice. Even as my soul was blistering, being picked apart and burned to ashes over and over again a breeze of thanks washed over my clammy skin.
The forest began to work, pulling back its power. The soldiers taken out by fallen branches were being cocooned in vines and roots and drawn beneath the surface. As they began to disappear, I felt tokens of my magic sent back to me. The only one to resist was the leader. As the vines worked to bring him down, he set about lighting them on fire. The plan would have worked had it not been that for each vine he burnt to cinders another two took its place. In his haste and panic he set himself alight. A flame so hot, fuelled by his fear, that he burnt into ashes in mere moments.
It was only when silence settled around did I notice th
e screams that came from my own mouth, the rawness of my throat the only indication I had made any noise. No one dared come close. As the rest of my power bled back into me, the vines that had held me upright gently placed me down, just as Dee came into my view.
Placing a hand gently on my forehead she commanded “Sleep,” and so I did. Like many times before, I tumbled gratefully into the cool abyss of spring scented wind and morning dew.
Ten
Silas
The first few days after I awoke were full of stiff limbs and efforts to further shift the remnants of the fog that had since settled on my mind and clung to it like a life anchor. Perhaps the rest of that desperate magic that was so willing to grab at any sustenance took its time releasing me from its hold. It had pulled me down so deep that it was almost as if I had cascaded through the bottom of my consciousness and into another place.
I knew the time my friends had given me to get on my feet was not time we had to spare. Jude had come and kept me company while I ate, and Tashka walked with me through the halls below deck as I slowly – too slowly – got my strength back.
We sat gathered at the meeting table aboard our ship. We had sat at the same table many times since leaving the coast of Altrey. Terra’s empty seat across from where I sat faced me with such wrongness that I had to pull my attention away from it more than once. It was so easy to see her there, writing something down or listening intently, brow creased just slightly. Or even the insistent tapping of her fingers when sitting was not what she wished to be doing, when she would rather be out in the forest or training, or something other than what she was doing. A smirk marked my lips at the thought.
Perhaps seeing her in my mind made it once again fresh, her absence. A pang of guilt moved through me at the realisation that, though she had not left my mind, that I was spending every moment I could to think of a way to get her back, I had done what she wanted. I had moved on, moved forward with our plans. I had taken my feelings about her sacrifice and buried them. I respected her selflessness and marched on. I hated myself for it, for getting used to the situation. For accepting it and moving on.
As my focus was drawn once again to that space where Terra used to sit, it was almost like I was with her. Seeing flashes of the forest pass me by, like I were running through it, running towards something. I blinked back into myself, frowning at how real it had felt. Not like a thought, but a memory. I rubbed my eyes with my fingers before pressing with my thumb into the space between my brows, to try and release some of the pressure that still existed in my head. It felt like I needed more rest even though I had slept enough to sustain me for months these past few days.
My father cleared his voice from the head of the table. I had not noticed they were all staring at me until the room came back into focus. Absently I put my hand to my chest, rubbing at the uncomfortable sensation of prickling heat that spread under my skin – more rest, indeed.
Tashka spoke first, and I was honestly glad I didn’t have to begin the conversation. Not because I didn’t want to talk about it, but because it was hard to explain something to someone, multiple people, who had no idea what you were talking about. Like explaining the difference between blue and yellow to someone who did not know what colours were. Or perhaps it was like explaining to someone what it was to die, had they only ever lived. It wasn’t something I had ever had to put into words, so finding the right words was proving to be difficult.
“Prince, I will put it plainly as I am not sure how else it can be said.” She looked to Jude, again finding confidence in his gaze, and went on. “What we saw – even those who have no magic in our blood, we sensed it. It was old and – and angry.” Tashka cleared her throat. A flush had spread across her face as she moved to settle her hair behind her ears. I had not heard anyone speak of what had happened, I didn’t realise it could have been as horrific to witness as it was to endure. Tashka was clearly rattled. A General of one of the strongest armies in the four kingdoms was rattled.
“Silas, you were ripping yourself apart.” Tashka’s voice was a whisper.
I thought I would be shocked, but her words were only a truthful recount of what had been running through my own mind. When it happened, there were two minds in one body. But not another mind like my own. A being – magic – made up of thousands of minds all screaming out in pain. It was pushing me out, but as I turned to run I was connected to a tether; my own soul. I wanted to get out, even if it was my own body that had been invaded, even if it was mine to begin with I would have given it up, in that moment it didn’t seem like anything was worth the searing of my soul. So, I did my best to explain to them what had happened.
“Perhaps it is not known to everyone that the elements that run their course freely, the breeze outside, the forests that grow, the fires set alight, the very water we are sailing on, they are their own master of sorts.” My hand motioned to everywhere and nowhere, waving about in front of me. “Where my father may be able to speak the language of fire that was set alight by lightening, I can understand the whispers of wind that travel through our lands and race around the coastline of our kingdoms.” To demonstrate further I brought my hand before me, moulding the air into a vortex between them. “This – is made of me.” I released the wind and watched as it dissipated. The others at the table watched as well, a tad in wonder and a little in shock. Though they knew what we could do, we made a point not to flash around our magic recklessly. Self-preservation of sorts. “But the wind and air that floats along your skin as you stand upon a shore, that is of the world – maybe it is what becomes of us when we move on from this life, we’ll never know until the time comes. But when we reach out to our affinity, it is like being greeted by kin. Family. It’s not frightening, but calming. Since I was a boy it had always made me feel less alone in my power, having never met another with the affinity of wind in person. The King’s element is fire, and so it runs through the blood of my cousins too. There are some other nobles in Lygot who have royal blood, but none with wind as their affinity, at least, that I have met. My magic comes from my mother’s side.” My eyes flicked up to meet my father’s. It is not something we spoke of often. To talk about my mother was difficult for me, but I knew it pained him more. There was much about me that reminded him of her, least of all my affinity which had been passed to me from her. She was the only child in her family who had been graced with the affinity of wind. Where her wind was gentle and soothing, mine did not hold the same grace. It was though I had gotten my mother’s affinity with the fierceness that came with that of my father’s. Still, it pained him.
“I had not reached out since we left Lygot, I had not felt the need. But since we departed Altrey I had wondered if maybe, as it travels where it wishes and picks up the secrets of what it washes over – I thought it may have had information about the movements of Cander.” Jude looked at me then, an expression of shock flicked across his eye but was gone with his next blink. I knew they had spoken about the possibilities of what had happened while I was recovering, I suppose this was not one they had thought of. Tashka beside him had transformed her features into one of understanding. I met her with a warning look of my own and mercifully she said nothing about it.
“It was not like any time I had reached out before. Whereas usually I can intertwine my own magic with the source, like making a bridge between myself and it…” I thread my fingers through one another to show them what I meant, “… and it was then that it leaped out and grabbed a hold of me. I had no defences, no shield up. I had not anticipated the attack and so, I was left completely open.”
A soldier to the right of Jude spoke then, “We knew of the ability that royals had to have their own affinities mix with their mirrors produced by earth, but to have it attack you? It’s unheard of.” Everyone nodded their agreement. Some of the higher ranked men and women had joined us for the meeting, I knew their faces but was unfamiliar with all their names. The soldier that had spoken was familiar to me as I had seen him around the s
hip pretty frequently. He usually was accompanying Jude on one thing or another. I sparred with him a few times and often saw him training other soldiers – coaching or acting as a referee for their own skirmishes. He was tall and broad, built like most of the soldiers in the Lygot army. His hair was a light brown, edging towards a dark blonde and hung long, touching his shoulders. It was out now, but I saw him often with it pulled back. His features were all those that belonged to someone from Lygot, his eyes were a light hazel colour and his features were made up of strong lines.
Tashka answered my unspoken question with her reply. “Asher is right. We have never heard of an elemental host attacking before.”
My father spoke then. His voice like gravel. “There was once, long ago, when we had been turned away by the very elements that gave us our power. So long ago that it is but a whisper in our history books now.” My heart all but stopped. It couldn’t be. He looked at me then, disregarding the company around us. His face lost some of its colour.
“Silas, what happened?” An order from the king.
I looked back unflinching as I told him the truth.
“It was severing the magic from my soul.”
The look of horror that fell upon the faces of everyone at the table told me enough that, horrible as it had been to watch, they didn’t truly guess what had happened.
Heir of Vaashaa: The Lost Child of the Crown (The Lost Child of the Crown Series Book 2) Page 7
