Unchained Hearts

by Ash Night

  “We had a drink that night to celebrate the latest victory, Kal’s soldiers had just taken over a government stronghold. It was one of the last times I saw my friend smile. The last time was when he was telling me he was going to be a father.”

  I smiled. “He must have been excited.”

  “That he was. He had so much fun that night. The whole town was one huge party with lights and dancing, all to commemorate the upcoming birth of our hero’s son.” Master Cisco grinned, reveling in the memory. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen him that happy, other than his wedding day.”

  I stood up, extending my hand. “Would you like to meet him?”

  “Yes, very much. Thank you, Serena. Meeting him will be a treat. He and Liam should be done scuffling by now. Most of Kal’s fights never lasted long.”

  My heart raced at the thought of seeing Kalden Crossfire use magic. Cam’s magic was beautiful. His dad’s must have been just as breathtaking. On our way back, I asked question after question about Kalden. When I suddenly stopped and realized how much I was talking, he brushed it off and encouraged me to ask all I wanted. He said reliving the memories was a delight. No one asked much about the old days anymore since Kalden’s name had been banned.

  “Cam has burns on his wrists,” Liam reported as soon as he saw me. He was sitting on the ground, panting, and I saw a few bruises starting to form on his face.

  “Burns? Did you use fire magic?”

  He rolled his eyes. “Why do you automatically assume it’s my fault? He had them before we started fighting.”

  Cam glared at him from his seat on a giant mushroom cap. “Way to be a sore loser.”

  “Blow it out your— Oh, hi ya, Master!” Liam jumped as soon as he saw Master Cisco.

  The old man chuckled. “Nice save, kid.” He approached Cam. Cam jumped up and stepped forward to shake his hand.

  “Pleasure to meet you, sir. Serena has told me a lot about you.”

  “All good things, I hope.” Master Cisco winked at me and shook his hand. “You’re Kalden Crossfire’s son all right. Spitting image. Goddess rest his soul, and your mother’s.”

  Cam looked genuinely surprised. “Thank you for the kind words. From what I’ve heard, my mother was an amazing woman. My father was just a hellraiser.”

  Master Cisco roared with laughter. “He was! But then, from what Serena has told me, so are you.”

  Cam smirked. “You aren’t wrong, sir.”

  “Those burns look bad. Shadowsilver, eh? Nasty stuff. How long did it knock you out for?” Master Cisco took Cam’s arm gently, inspecting the burns with a trained eye.

  Cam shifted uncomfortably, looking away, but he didn’t pull away. “Two days. I woke up in pain. Glinda, my foster mother, had taken me to a small hut outside the city to recover. Now whenever I use too much magic or raise it too fast, these burns appear and they don’t go away for days. I won’t be able to use magic for quite some time until they heal. If I try, the pain is intense enough to bring me to my knees…”

  He bit his lip when Master Cisco lightly touched the burn but didn’t pull away. It probably took everything in him to stay still. I moved closer to get a better look.

  The burn was an ugly shade of red, like a deep sunburn that had bubbled, with black spots in places where the burn seemed worse. It was painful to look at. I’d thought my burn had hurt. This looked like pure torture.

  “I know the pain. It’s like being Sealed all over again. Only, the pain doesn’t stop.”

  I flinched, remembering the master’s story. I, like many others, had been a baby when my Seal was placed on me so I didn’t remember the process or the pain. But his story had been so raw and emotional, it was as if I’d been there. Suddenly, I understood why the master hadn’t reinstated Liam’s Seal.

  Cam nodded. “So, this is what a Seal feels like.”

  Master Cisco’s brow furrowed. “You never had one?”

  “The forest fairies protected me. I grew up with them and I didn’t cause trouble for them—well, I stayed enough under the radar—so they never gave away that I didn’t have a Seal, or whose kid I was.” He smiled a little at the memory. “They’re truly good people.”

  Master Cisco smiled and retrieved a salve from the pocket of his robe. It was a green gel that smelled like strong medicine.

  Cam flinched away instinctively. “Fuck… My apologies.” He looked embarrassed and resumed his position.

  “It’s quite all right, boy. Your instincts are correct. This will hurt more than you can imagine, but it will heal the burns almost instantaneously.”

  Putting on a stone mask, Cam nodded and braced himself for the worst. Trying to be as gentle as possible, Master Cisco applied the goopy gel. Cam stomped his foot and nearly collapsed, but didn’t pull away or cry out in pain. A small squeak was all I heard.

  Once Master Cisco had applied gel to both wrists, being extremely careful of the cuffs, Cam turned his back to us and sat down, twitching every once and a while but still refusing to make a sound.

  Master Cisco put the gel away and nodded in approval. “I’m impressed. I’ve seen grown men twice your age weep like children when this stuff was applied to war wounds.”

  Cam barked out a laugh. “It’s…not that bad.” He coughed. Master Cisco just smiled.

  Liam stood up and stretched. “Show-off.”

  “Shut up, Snowflake.” There was his usual bite.

  Liam smirked. “Make me.”

  I sighed. “I’m going to have to deal with you bickering all night, aren’t I?”

  “Afraid so, Sunshine.” Cam wrapped an arm around my shoulder. I blinked, surprised by how fast he moved. Looking at his wrist, I saw the burns were completely gone, his skin its normal honey-gold color.

  “Wow, that’s amazing!”

  Master Cisco nodded. “An old family recipe, made from cocoa butter leaves.”

  Cam bowed his head. “Thank you so much, sir.”

  “You’re welcome, my boy. It was an honor to help out the offspring of my dearest friend. Your father meant a great deal to me as a friend and fellow companion in arms.” He turned to Liam. “I’m sure the thunder spooked the horses so let’s go home and feed them, okay?”

  Liam sighed, reluctant to get anywhere near them. “Yes sir.” I watched them head back home.

  “Master Cisco’s home is further away from the center of the village so the flooding shouldn’t affect his house,” I said. “That’s good.”

  “Flood?” Cam asked.

  Sighing, I sat down, suddenly feeling how tired I really was. “There was a flood in the village. Everyone is okay though.”

  “The knights…” Cam growled, sitting beside me, his fists clenched. “They were here for me, but everyone else here was affected. I need to leave.”

  “No one got hurt. You don’t need to be so hard on yourself. Besides, you haven’t asked anyone if they wanted to join you. Isn’t that why you came here in the first place?” I rested my hand over his in an attempt to get him to look at me. He was staring up at the sky, an intense expression on his face.

  “Except you. But you can’t leave everyone. I told you, I understand.”

  Blowing out an annoyed breath, I cupped his chin in my hands and made him face me. My lips met his and everything melted away. All my fears about him leaving. The fear that I may never get my magic back. The fear of knowing he may meet the same fate as his father. The fear of knowing my next words would seal my fate.

  “Take me with you.”

  Chapter Nine

  Cam’s shocked expression over the kiss slowly turned into a huge smile. “As you wish, Sunshine.”

  “I haven’t broken my Seal.” I felt very weak in comparison to Liam and Cam, but for as much as I wanted to break my Seal, the thought made me nervous. What would I tell my parents? How would I tell them their little girl, their only child, was leaving to fight the king? My stomach hit my toes at the thought. The magic of the kiss was gone. The fear was very real once ag
ain.

  Cam held my hand. “It’s okay. I can give you some time.”

  “D-do you think it’s possible to just not tell them?” I asked nervously.

  He chuckled, squeezing my hand. “Somehow I think they’ll figure out their only daughter is missing. And then your dad will put my head on a stake. Who knows? Maybe it’ll attract customers.”

  “Very funny.” I giggled. Cam spun me around and kissed me. My heart skipped a beat and my thoughts stopped. The kiss seemed to last forever and only a single moment all at once. I gripped Cam’s jacket as the kiss deepened into a passionate one.

  He smiled before finally parting for air. “That was for getting the jump on me. You’re a great kisser.”

  I blushed. “You’re better.”

  “I’m better at everything, Sunshine.”

  Morning came way too early and when I woke up, I still felt tired. How long had I slept? It hadn’t been long enough, apparently.

  “Serena, are you awake? We need your help today! We’re going to bring a loaf of walnut bread to every person in the village while everyone helps with the rebuilding.”

  “Okay, Mom, I just need to get dressed!” I called, throwing on a purple cotton shirt along with my favorite pair of jeans. I smelled baking bread when I walked down the stairs. My stomach let out a huge growl.

  “Good, you’re hungry.” Dad handed me a stack of pancakes on a plate. “Eat up, we have a big day ahead of us.”

  I nodded, pouring syrup on my pancakes. I scarfed them down in record time. “The pancakes were so good! Thanks, Dad!”

  Dad smiled. “I’m glad you liked them. Ready to roll?”

  The oven dinged and my mom pulled out two more loaves of walnut bread. There were twenty loaves wrapped in wax paper and ready to be bagged already on the counter. After helping bag them, I walked to the bakery with a basket and saw there were dozens of loaves ready to go on the counters. My parents must have been up all night baking these.

  The bakery smelled amazing. Everything here was magic-insured so it was good to know nothing had been damaged and that my parents wouldn’t be losing any business.

  My mom and dad had split the twenty loaves already at our house between themselves and were out distributing them to everyone. I did the same once I finished filling my basket. The first stops I made were the houses nearest the bakery.

  Liam was hard at work, helping patch a roof. He waved to me and jumped down without using the ladder.

  “You just love giving me heart attacks, don’t you?” I teased, handing him a loaf of bread. “If you hurry, Mom might have a sweet roll for you. She’s passing those out to the little kids.”

  “Of course, I saved a sweet roll for my favorite little boy in the village!” Mom said, walking over and handing him a sweet roll.

  His face lit up. “Thank you so much, Mrs. Roseheart!” He ate the sweet roll in three bites. “Yum! Good as always! Now I have enough energy to get back to work!” After setting the bread beside his lunchbox, he grabbed a box of nails and raced up the ladder.

  Passing out the bread was also a nice way to have an excuse to check up on everyone. Ms. Abbernack, one of the older villagers, was struggling to hammer a nail into her chicken coop. Her hand was shaking so badly, I was worried she would hurt herself.

  “I got it, Mrs. Abbernack!” I called, setting down my bread basket and rushing to her rescue. She looked relieved.

  “Bless your little heart, Serena. My eyesight isn’t what it used to be and neither is my aim, I’m afraid.”

  I smiled, taking the hammer from her. “I’m glad I can help. Do you have any other repairs you need help with?”

  She nodded. “Yes, but are you sure? You look like you’re in the middle of something.”

  Hitting the nail into the board alerted her chickens and all seven of them started squawking at me like I’d woken them up from a nap. I laughed. “No, it’s all right. I can always stop to lend a hand. What do you need done?”

  “Confounded Seal…If I had my magic, this,” she gestured to the mess of tree branches and debris surrounding her yard, “would be gone in a flash and I wouldn’t have to bother you.”

  I gave her one of my brightest smiles. “It’s okay, really. I don’t mind at all.”

  “You really are a good kid, Serena. I’ll have to tell Tom and Kate they raised an excellent daughter. You and Liam moved me to tears with that speech of yours.”

  I busied myself with clearing away small branches so she wouldn’t see the blush lighting up my face. “Th-thank you. I was hoping it would have an impact on someone.”

  “Oh, just thinking about getting my magic back makes me as giddy a schoolgirl again!” She chuckled and then let out a sigh. “I’m afraid to hope… What if it’s all a lie again? The day Kalden died, the light in everyone’s hearts went out. I don’t ever want to feel that…total despair again.”

  My heart sank as I heard the pain in her voice. “I’m so sorry. I can’t even imagine.”

  “It’s all right. Do you really think this friend of yours will come through for us?”

  “He promised he would,” I said confidently. After clearing all the twigs and leaves away with a rake and fixing up the chicken coop, I went inside to get to the roof by crawling through a window. There was a big hole in it from where a big oak tree had snapped in half and the free half crashed through it. How was I going to fix this?

  “Need a hand?” Liam asked. He easily scaled the small house without the use of a ladder or even the window and stood beside me. “Hmmm… We’ll need lots of nails and wood to patch a hole that huge. After we move the tree…”

  We watched in awe as the oak tree floated off the roof and sailed safely into the woods as if an invisible arm had picked it up and tossed it. The roof itself creaked and groaned as the hole began to seal itself.

  Liam looked at me. “Did you do that?”

  “And how exactly do you think I would have?” I laughed.

  “Thank you so much! I thought I’d be sleeping with fish when the next rain came!” Mrs. Abbernack exclaimed. I walked to the edge of the roof and saw Cam smiling sheepishly, his hand behind his back, as she hugged him.

  “It’s really no problem, miss. I was happy to help. It’s the least I can do. The knights caused the flood to try and kill me, after all.” Exhaustion weighed down his smile. Did he overdo it again? Had he even recovered from last night? Worry spread like icy tendrils in my chest.

  Liam scooped me up and jumped off the roof. He chuckled at my expression. I’d closed my eyes and was clinging to his chest. “Scardy cat.”

  “Would you stop jumping from high places? You’ll break your neck!” I snapped.

  “But it’s fun. And it’s not like I would have dropped you. You’re, like, two pounds.”

  “And even if he did, you have me to catch you,” Cam replied. “Nice jump, Snowflake.”

  Liam smiled at the genuine compliment. “Nice patch work. Your magic is pretty useful.”

  Mrs. Abbernack turned toward us. “Thank you all. Would you like to come inside for some apple juice and cookies?”

  As I was about to decline because I didn’t want to impose, Cam and Liam responded in unison, “Yes, please!”

  I sighed and shook my head. “Thank you.” I noticed my feet still weren’t touching the ground. “Um, Liam, you can put me down now.”

  Liam laughed and set me down. “Oops, sorry.”

  “Well, jumping is faster than using the window,”

  “Of course, it is! The bread was really good, by the way.”

  Laughing, I made my way into the house. “Why doesn’t it surprise me that you already ate the whole loaf and now want cookies?”

  “No way, you got bread?” Cam asked. “I’m starving. Because of those damn Shadow Knights flooding the area, I couldn’t find any fish for breakfast.”

  Mrs. Abbernack’s home was simple. The main room was the kitchen with one room extending off of it that led to the upstairs. My bread basket
was on the kitchen table. Mrs. Abbernack set out a huge plate of cookies and a pitcher of apple juice. She poured us each a glass. “Eat up! My chickens aren’t a big fan of chocolate chip cookies.”

  “Thank you so much!” Liam said as he ate a cookie in two bites. “Yum!”

  Cam was already pouring himself a second glass of apple juice. “This juice is amazing,”

  “My own special recipe.” Mrs. Abbernack winked, sitting down. “I really appreciate the help and I love the company so feel free to stop by anytime for lunch.” Her eyes twinkled mischievously and she looked twenty years younger. “So, Cam, tell me about this plan of yours.”

  Wiping his mouth with a napkin, he smirked. “I’m planning to get an army of about three thousand and then we’ll storm the Castle of Seven and demand they allow everyone the freedom to break their Seals.”

  She nodded. “As crazy and determined as your father, I see.”

  “Would you like to join the fight? I sure could use the cookies!”

  Laughing, she placed her small, withered hand on top of his. Her face became serious. “I’d lived with my magic for two thousand years before the government all of a sudden up and decided one day that it was dangerous. I want you to give King Artemis a message for me.”

  Cam looked into her eyes. “Yes?”

  “Tell that bastard this old woman is sick and tired of his shit.”

  I stifled the urge to laugh. This was a serious moment and Celeste Abbernack meant every word she had said, but I’d never heard her swear before. There was no doubt in my mind that she had been quite spirited in her youth.

  “I’ll be sure to tell him that to his face.” Cam grinned. “You can count on it.”

  Chapter Ten

  We left Mrs. Abbernack with a patched roof and an empty basket of cookies. Cam, who hadn’t been letting his exhaustion show, offered to help me pass out the rest of the bread. I still had ten loaves to deliver.