With a frown, she put her hands on the ground to push herself back up. She widened her eyes as daisies shot through the turf around her fingers.
Oh, what the hell?
Trying to get away from the sudden sprouts of life growing all around her, she jumped up and snatched Tagra off the ground, cradling her in her arms. ‘Let’s get the hell out of here. This place is messed up.’
Tagra mewled in agreement as a nearby tree sprouted bright green leaves in an instant.
Spinning around, Malian studied the dead vines ahead. She headed towards them, planning to climb them to get out, but she didn’t have much hope since they only went about halfway up the incline. She reached for the nearest one to test how sturdy it was, but she quickly released it as it sprouted leaves and shot upwards, growing in length and creating a ladder of branches off it that led up, out of the ravine.
She glanced at Tagra. ‘This is getting ridiculous.’
Tagra gave a mew of agreement before jumping onto her shoulder with her tail curling around Malian’s neck.
‘You want me to climb this?’ She stared incredulously at the cat.
Tagra tilted her head as if contemplating the question before giving her a nod in response.
‘Okay, but if it comes alive and eats your fuzzy ass, don’t blame me.’ She reached forward and began to climb the ladder. Every time she touched a branch, it grew, expanding to create more branches and footholds out of the ravine.
‘This is the weirdest thing I’ve seen so far, and I’ve seen some pretty weird things in my lifetime,’ she muttered as she pulled herself out of the dead ravine.
Glancing back at it, she realised that it wasn’t dead any more. Vibrant green leaves and healthy trees stretched out of it, reaching up towards the sun.
She pulled herself out of the hole before flopping onto the grass as Tagra jumped off her shoulder and padded away.
She lay there for a moment, trying to gather her wits. Her guardian, Master Bink, wouldn’t believe her when she told him what happened today. Mind you, the mysterious gnome was more likely to believe her than the elders in the elven village were.
She rolled over onto her back and stared above her while expelling a slow sigh as she watched the clouds roll across the bright blue skies. She closed her eyes for a moment enjoying the feel of the sunlight warming her skin. It wasn’t as if her life wasn’t fraught with magical nightmares and all kinds of terrors, but this was the first time nature had attacked her.
That’s why she came out here. There were no snobby elves or higher beings frowning down on her in the forest. Here, she was welcome, barring the mob of cutthroat fairies who were trying to overrun it. The earth, the sun, the trees, they were her friends. She didn’t feel out of place here. Well, not usually.
Finding a ravine of crazy trees had sent her usual safe world into a jumbled mess of more craziness, and her life was already insane enough. It was hard being the only non-magical being in her village, especially since she was only a dirty human.
Sure Binks was trying to solve that problem by training her to be a mage, but she thought he was delusional if he believed she’d ever be admitted to a mage’s guild. As far as she knew, you had to master basic skills to get in, and she’d never mastered any spells.
The forest has always had magic in it though, but usually it’s the natural kind.
She expelled a sigh of relief to feel the sunshine warming her skin. It was moment of normality in an abnormal life.
As the light faded, she opened her eyes to see a dark cloud cover the sunshine. She sat up and shook her head.
Time to go home.
Reluctant to return to her master’s cottage, she rolled onto her knees and stood up while quickly scanning the undergrowth to find Tagra. The kitten was sprawled out on the grass a few feet away, washing her tail. She glanced up at Malian before resuming washing her tail. Then she froze.
The kitten slowly turned her head and stared back at Malian with wide eyes and her tongue lolling out of the side of her mouth.
Malian frowned. ‘What’s wrong girl?’
The cat jumped up, her hackles raised.
Malian glanced behind her, fearing another attack only to find nothing there. She turned back to peer at the cat, but a glint of light flashed in the corner of her eye, causing her to glance down instead.
She widened her eyes as she peered down at her hands. Her normally tan skin was glowing golden. She stumbled sideways, staring at her golden arm and glowing chest. ‘What the hell—’
She reached out for the trunk of a nearby tree to steady herself as she fell to the side.
The tree shuddered beneath her hand, the sound of groaning wood and branches cracking loudly around her. She looked up, gasping as the tree grew from six-feet to twenty-feet high in an instant. Releasing the tree, she fell back onto the ground before rolling onto her knees and scrambling away from it.
A patch of bluebells shot up through the ground, creating an abundance of flora around her.
‘Seriously, what the hell is going on?’ she asked Tagra, who was shuddering as she transformed into bear form.
Malian glanced down at her hands. At least they’d stopped glowing now. Scrambling to her feet as a trail of flowers sprang up around her, she launched herself onto the back of her bear. ‘Get us the hell out of here. Take me to Binks,’ she cried.
3
DORLENDELL
When they broke through the trees of the forest onto the rolling hills that led down to Dorlendell Vale, Malian pulled back on the shaggy fur of Tagra’s bear mane, slowing her down to a trot.
As they trotted down the vale, Malian stared ahead at the elven village of Dorlendell, which was nestled at the heart of the vale. She studied the village from a distance. It was a mess of elven architecture with crystal spires poking up through the throng of thatched roofs of quaint cottages from another time.
Studying the village as they trotted towards it, the familiar feeling of being an outsider filled her. She’d been found in Dorlendell Forest as a baby, but she’d never really felt as if she belonged amongst the elves. There were many differences between Malian and the elves who lived in Dorlendell.
Aside from the fact that she was the only human, and a non-magical one at that, Tagra made her stand out a little bit too. There weren’t any other shapeshifters in the village, certainly none that could become giant bears. There weren’t any other girls who were riding around on bears in the village, but Tagra had been the only thing that had been found with Malian as a baby. She knew the were-bear was connected to her past. Tagra was the only remaining member of her family that she knew of.
It was difficult to feel welcome in Dorlendell. The elves were okay, but the snobbery in the village was enough to drive anyone crazy. Regardless of how hard she had tried in her youth to fit in, she’d always just be a dirty human to them.
She peered at her hands as she neared the gates of the village, breathing a sigh when she realised that they were tanned and human rather than glowing golden. The last thing she needed was to not even have dirty-human status anymore. She was almost certain that humans didn’t glow golden. At least none of the ones who traded here did.
As she passed the guard tower, she nodded at the haughty elf sentry, who was guarding the gates. He flicked back his long white-blond hair and sniffed the air as if something nasty had walked by.
She scowled at him as he opened the gates. He refused to meet her eye when she passed. When she glanced back, she noticed him brushing down his red and golden uniform as if her presence had creased it.
Idiot.
Once inside the village, she jumped off Tagra’s back and patted her side. ‘Time to shrink down.’
The bear nodded, giving out a couple of snorts before transforming into a red-haired fox. The small fox scanned the path ahead before slinking off into a dark alley to the left of them.
Malian followed Tagra, shaking her head as the sly fox disappeared around a corner. Her bear form w
as too big for the narrow-cobbled streets, but every time she went into fox form, she snuck off, and no one could find her.
I bet she’s up to no good.
‘Be back home before nightfall,’ she muttered into the empty alley, certain that Tagra was already long gone.
With a shake of her head, she hurried down the winding snicket that ran behind the many stores in the village. The alley was empty, and her footsteps echoed on the cobblestones as she hurried past the quaint elven back gardens and yards towards her home.
She glanced at the washing line in one of the back gardens when a pair of bright red pantaloons puffed out in the breeze, blowing out sideways and brushing against the tall sunflowers growing near the wall while the pants strained against the little wooden pegs that pinned them to the line. She paused for a moment and frowned at the pantaloons when she noticed the words embroidered onto the seat of them:
Throne goes here.
I guess everyone wants to be a princess, except me.
Ignoring the familiar feeling of being an outsider, she continued down the alley and turned the corner, hurrying her pace when she saw her house ahead of her. It was an odd building, situated at the end of the row of quaint cottages. She eyed the metal pod that she called home. The bright sunlight reflected off the steel roof, as the rusted front door swung open in the breeze.
She frowned. Binks never left the door open.
After being found in the woods by Master Binks, he’d become her official guardian and a mentor of sorts, which was why she lived in a gnomish death-trap rather than a cute elven cottage. Master Binks was the local wizard. Well, he was good at shooting fireworks out of his hands. But the only reason the elves hadn’t shipped her across the Serpentine Sea as a baby, which would have been a death sentence, was because Binks had invented a reason for keeping her here. He’d claimed she had the potential of being a powerful mage, which was obviously crap given her lack of magical ability.
But she owed him her life for telling that lie, and he was the closest thing to a parent that she’d ever had.
She studied the swinging door.
Is he okay? Did someone break in?
She reached for the dagger at her hip, moving silently towards the door while scanning the area around it with narrowed eyes. Someone was here. She could sense it.
‘Tallyho!’
She spun around when she heard a cry from a nearby backyard. Widening her eyes as a lightning bolt flew at her, she threw herself onto the floor, landing face-first in a puddle of murky water as the bolt of electricity crackled over her head when it flew by.
‘Foolish child! Water will not save thee from electricity!’
She scowled as she lifted her head and quickly spat out muddy water before she swallowed any. Then she wiped away the rest that was dribbling down her face before she peered up to see Master Binks standing over her with his fingers still lighting up with little blue bursts of electricity jumping between them.
‘Don’t shoot me with it then!’
‘How else can I teach ye the fine art of defence?’ He brushed the feathered headdress back from his face then adjusted his white fur robe.
She propped herself up on one elbow as she stared up at the three-foot tall gnome. ‘Perhaps you could inform me that we’re training before you start shooting at me!’
‘But then I would not have the element of surprise.’ He rolled his eyes. ‘Do not think me so naïve.’
‘Can I think you dangerous?’ She used a mocking tone as she pushed herself up off the ground before she brushed dirt and water off her leather bustier.
‘It has been said before.’ He nodded as he turned towards to the metal pod. ‘However, it was said by an imbecile, so it does not count,’ he added as he glanced over his shoulder at her with a hint of amusement in his bright blue eyes.
‘Did the imbecile survive?’ she asked as she followed him into the metal structure.
The door creaked on the hinges when she pushed it open. She ducked as she stepped into the circular building.
After dutifully wiping her feet on the welcome mat, she headed over to the wooden table at the centre of the room before taking a seat.
She watched Master Binks hurry back to his armchair before sitting down in it and pulling his pipe out of his sleeve.
‘Something weird happened today.’ She broke the silence, unsure of how to describe her day.
‘Yes, yes, I know.’ He nodded.
‘You know?’ She gaped at him.
‘I don’t forget anything.’ He reached under his chair before pulling out a brown straw sack and rummaging through it.
‘What?’ She frowned at the sack.
‘Ah ha! Here we are.’ He pulled out a square object that was wrapped in a cloth and appeared to be tied up with an old shoelace. Then he offered her it.
‘What the hell is that?’ She stood up and walked over to his chair, eyeing the gingham cloth around it.
‘I read up on human customs when I found you. When you hit fifteen, you get this.’ He shook it at her.
‘What do I do with it though?’ She took the object and studied it.
‘Humans have a thing called a birthday. I think they get one every fifteen years. So, since you’re fifteen years old today, that’s your birthday.’ He nodded.
‘Er, right.’ She wasn’t sure how to break it to him that humans had birthdays every year, but since this was her first ever birthday present, she decided she should probably open it. She’d read about humans in the library a few years ago when she was trying to find out more about what she was. It turned out that Bink’s version of humans wasn’t entirely accurate.
She smiled as she untied the shoelace and pulled off the cloth. She felt a moment of relief when she found a book inside. With Bink’s take on humans, the present could have been a box of flesh-eating worms.
She read the cover of the old tome. It appeared to be an ancient gnomish magic book. ‘I love it.’ She smiled. ‘Thank you. But that’s not the weird thing that happened.’
He frowned at her. ‘But you’ve had your birthday now. What else do you want?’
‘Binks, I glowed gold!’
He narrowed his eyes. ‘What?’
‘I fell into this ravine, and there was green rune in it—’
‘What ravine?’
‘It was a dead one in the Dorlendell Forest. Anyway, it’s not dead now because I brought it back to life, which was really weird—’
He held up his hand to silence her. ‘What kind of rune?’
‘It was a sort of grey stone with green stuff glowing in it. After I broke it, the green stuff knocked me out. Actually, that was odd because the stone inside was like black granite and—’
He widened his eyes before jumping out of his chair and hurrying over to his desk. He flipped open the large book on the desk and began to read the pages with a frown.
‘What do you mean by you brought it back to life?’ He peered up at her.
‘Well, the trees weren’t dead anymore, and flowers kept growing in the places that I touched.’ She shrugged.
He shook his head. ‘No, that’s not possible. You can’t bring dead things back to life,’ he muttered. ‘It would put the world out of balance.’
‘Look at the forest.’ She pointed to the window.
He hurried over to the small portal before brushing aside the gingham curtains and gasping when he stared at the overgrown forest in the distance. ‘What the hell happened to the trees?’ Bink’s highborn accent fell away as he stared out of window in shock.
‘They kept growing as I passed them. It wore off after a while, but—’
‘This is not good!’ He spun around to stare at her. ‘Is this some kind of human curse?’
She shrugged. She didn’t know much about humans. Neither did Binks by the sound of it.
‘That’s it. You need to go see the witch.’
‘What, the one in the creepy cave? No thanks.’
‘Do you want us to end
up in Dorlendell prison?’ he asked.
‘No, but—’
‘Go see the witch. Find out what this is, and get her to stop it happening again. Hopefully, the elves won’t notice that you broke their forest,’ Binks said as he peered out of the window.
4
THE WITCH
With a feeling of dread, Malian peered up at the looming dark cliffs as she stood on the old pier at Dorlendell Beach listening the sounds of waves crashing against the shore behind her. A part of her wished she’d waited for Tagra to return before venturing out here. She’d certainly feel less nervous with a giant bear by her side, but Binks had been so adamant that she sorted this problem out quickly, and Tagra was off doing whatever mischief she did in fox form.
Binks had been pretty convincing when he explained that the elves wouldn’t notice their giant forest if she fixed it quickly. But in retrospect, she was almost certain that some of them had already noticed. The crowd of them appearing on the battlements earlier had confirmed her suspicions.
How the hell is a witch going to help me shrink a forest anyway?
She remembered the shocked expressions on the faces of the royal sun elves as they stared at their forest.
Maybe she can do a memory spell and make them all forget what size the trees originally were.
She shook her head at how ridiculous the situation was before jumping off the pier onto the pebble beach below and then hurrying towards the entrance of the cave.
The Serpentine Sea crashed loudly against the shore behind her as she peered into the dark cavernous tunnel ahead and swallowed a bubble of panic. She’d been here before with Binks, but she’d never actually met the witch before. In the past, she’d always waited outside on the beach.
She stared into the darkness. An integral part of her did not want to go into this cave. It was more than a gut feeling. Her entire body was telling her to walk away and never return.
She reached out for the side of the cave as she peered deeper into it. With no light, she couldn’t see anything.
Oh, screw this! I’m not going into a pit of darkness.
Something tickled her hand. She snatched it off the cave wall, glancing at the granite with wide eyes. Where her hand had been, a sprout of ivy had appeared and grown up the cliff.
Lost Sorcery- Mage of Myths Page 2
