by K. Ferrin
Leali and Tredon stood with Alekka huddled behind them. She was safe for now, and that was enough for him. He leapt back into the crowd, thrusting and hacking as he went. The creatures were thick on him—for every one he killed three more took its place. He’d expected them to flee when they realized they were battling mages, but the creatures were unfazed by the magic sizzling and burning members of their group.
“Ragers!”
Magicless looked up. Tredon was standing where Magicless had seen him last, but blood poured down his face and he leaned heavily against the boulder beside him. A shout ripped through the din of battle, clearly audible even through the enraged babbling of their attackers. Magicless spun to see Elisa pointing frantically toward the exit at the far side of the canyon. Spinning again, he saw Alekka draped over the enormous shoulders of a Rager that was running for the far exit. The other Ragers closed ranks behind him and Alekka vanished from view.
“Alekka!” Magicless roared, and began shoving through the creatures surrounding him, heedless of their attacks and not even trying to parry their spear thrusts. He was dimly aware that someone was trying to keep them off him as he fought forward. The attacks from the mages doubled in ferocity but more and more of the creatures spilled into the canyon, and the Ragers were all retreating now. “They have Alekka! Don’t let them out of the canyon!” He screamed at the others.
Over the heads of the beasts all around him, Magicless saw Ashier close his eyes and drop his chin to his chest. He held his hands out at his sides, muscles straining and tendons pulling. His face tensed. Magicless felt a sudden chill as if the all the heat in his body and in that of his companions had been sucked out of them. He watched, open-mouthed, as Ashier thrust both hands toward the walls lining the exit at the far side of the canyon. The walls exploded outward, throwing stone and dust high into the air and then falling back to the earth to settle at the mouth of the canyon and neatly block the way. Ashier dropped to his knees, unconscious.
Magicless sprinted for the wall, but by the time he reached it the Ragers were gone, a tunnel just big enough for one to squeeze through standing open at the base of the wall.
“Quick!”
It was Jobin, standing behind him. The two lunged for the opening, but with shocking suddenness the tunnel collapsed, shooting a puff of dust out into the canyon.
“Amentis,” Elisa said. “Had to be. Ragers don’t have magic like that.”
“He knew we were here. How long did he wait to spring this trap?” Ashier said as he stumbled toward them, leaning heavily on Tredon.
“I’m not so sure,” Tredon said one hand supporting Ashier and the other trying to staunch a cut that was bleeding heavily on his forehead. “She did this,” he said, motioning at his head wound with his free hand. “She struck me with a rock and ran right to them, not away from them.”
Magicless felt his stomach drop to his knees. “That is impossible. I’m sorry, Tredon, but getting hit by that rock must have scrambled your brains. She would never have given herself up to Amentis. Never.”
“I understand your reluctance, Micah, believe me I do,” Tredon said. “But she hit me clear as day—not one of those little creatures, not one of the Ragers. She went with them of her own volition.”
No one said a word at this pronouncement. Magicless thought of how Alekka had seemed to withdraw from him since their time with Anet and Freen, his increasing feeling that she was hiding something from him, was lying to him. Would she have gone with them to save us?
“But she always said, from the beginning, that we needed to do this together or we would fail.”
“Could she have joined them?” Ashier asked, his eyes on Magicless, his tone placating. “We need to consider it.”
“No way. Not possible,” Magicless said.
“Tredon, you are bleeding, sit. Let me heal you,” Leali said, pushing his hair back and looking at the gash Alekka had left behind.
“We have no time for that. We need to go after her now,” Magicless said, and began scrambling up the rock wall to get to the far side. None of the others moved, and he turned on them in outrage. “What is the matter with you? Get up and move. We can’t let them take her! Without her this entire thing is pointless. She must be there—this whole endeavor rests on her shoulders. We have to get her back!”
“Micah. Think about what you just said,” Jobin said. “She must have made that choice for a reason, brother. We have to trust her.”
Magicless’ chest swelled in fury. “You think we should just let the Ragers have her? Are you out of your mind? It is not supposed to happen this way! We were to sneak onto Nox Noctis together. As a group! Not send her in there by herself.”
“How do you know how it was supposed to be, Micah? Is there something in that map that tells you that? Or have you suddenly developed new powers that allow you to see the future?” Ashier said the words without malice. His tone was exhausted and subdued, even gentle. “If she is indeed the most important one out of all of us, then perhaps this is as far as we go,” he said, sitting with a moan and swiping some of the filth from his face.
“There is no way I’m stopping here. No way I’m not going after her,” Magicless said, pointing an accusing finger at Ashier. “If you didn’t want to see this thing through to the end then why did you even bother coming along?”
“Micah, we will go after her. We are not going to leave her to do this on her own, but they are right.” Leali spoke as she healed the gash on Tredon’s forehead. “It is likely they will bring her directly to Amentis. She will be in the center of it, right where she needs to be. We need to be ready to get her out of there once she does whatever it is she needs to do. We need to be strong, we need a plan, and we need to be ready or she might not make it out of there alive.”
Magicless struggled to push his fear and rage aside. He was so tired. It was so hard to think clearly.
Jobin came to him and put one hand on each shoulder. “Brother, we love her, too. We will not leave her there. Let’s rest tonight, heal our wounded, including you,” he said, gesturing at a sluggish stream of blood leaking from Magicless’ right arm, “and tomorrow we will finish the rest of our journey, scope out Nox Noctis, and determine our plan of approach. If he’d wanted her dead he would have had the Ragers kill her. He wants her for some other purpose, Micah. We have time.”
Magicless’ heart was still racing in his chest and his muscles trembled with exhaustion. Everything in him screamed at him to go after her now, but he knew Jobin was right.
“Alright,” he said and nodded, falling to his knees. He didn’t yet want to think about what “some other purpose” could mean.
“Rest. Let us heal your arm,” Jobin said. “Ashier, Leali, we could use a hot meal, and it just so happens we killed a deer earlier today.”
“What about the little creatures? They may attack again,” Ashier said.
“I don’t think they will,” Elisa responded as she pulled a large package from her bag. “They attacked desperately, refusing even to flee in the face of mage power. You saw their weapons—they would never have stood against us unless something they feared more forced them to.”
Jobin nodded agreement. “He seems to have what he came for.” Magicless flinched at that, but Jobin pressed on, sparing him a sympathetic glance. “I doubt they’ll attack again. Let’s have a warm night and a warm meal. We’ll worry about Amentis tomorrow.”
Magicless leaned his head back against stone and tried to slow his pounding heart as Jobin knelt above him. “You know, Jobin, you are unbound,” he said weakly.
“Yes. I discovered that awhile back,” Jobin replied, placing his hands over Magicless’ wound. “Though I’m pretty sure Elisa realized it as soon as she caught up to me. She started drilling me the instant she yanked my rear out of the deepest darkest cave I could find until seconds before we found you. I learned more in that time than in all the days of my life. She is quite a demanding woman, you know.” He chuckled, and Magicless coul
dn’t help but laugh a little in return. “We thought I should hide it. Not use it unless absolutely necessary. It might give us an edge going up against Amentis if he does not know I’m unbound.”
Magicless glanced toward Elisa, who was busy unpacking the rest of their bags and talking with Ashier.
“You are a lucky man, Jobin,” Magicless said.
“I know,” he replied.
[ 29 ]
Magicless was loath to admit it, but the others had been right. He’d fallen asleep while Jobin healed his arm, and they had woke him for dinner. He slept late into the next day and he was not the last one up when he finally did crawl out from under his bedroll. They had all needed the sleep. His mind was clear for the first time in days. He felt restored.
Every inch of him itched to get after Alekka, but it was clear Amentis wanted her alive. He just hoped it would remain that way until they were able to get to her. He didn’t like it, but some part of him—some tiny, glowing truth buried deep within the recesses of his soul—knew that she was exactly where she needed to be. He just wished he could be with her, wherever she was, whatever she was doing.
He sat in a small area they’d cleared in a nest of large boulders as he ate. The stones had kept the wind at bay and had held the warmth created by the fire, creating a bubble of balmy air in the larger winter chill. It was warm enough in this pocket that he was comfortable without the heavy winter cloak and without his boots. He stretched his bare feet close to the fire and luxuriated in the feeling.
He pulled out the map and studied it intently, but there was nothing complex now about where they were going. The large lake that housed the isle of Nox Noctis was on the other side of the wall Ashier had blocked yesterday. They’d have to scramble over the wall, but it was not far from there. They’d build a raft, float to the island, find Alekka and aid her in whatever she needed to do as best they could, and then get out of there. Simple.
They also had to get through who knew what sorts of traps a wizard such as Amentis could set for them, build a raft, which was something none of them had ever done before, cross open water where they could be clearly seen, infiltrate a tower surely filled with Ragers, and free Alekka from whatever prison Amentis held her in, not to mention kill Amentis himself. Yeah, easy, he thought, kicking a pebble loose from the dirt under his boot.
“The odds are still against us,” he said out loud.
“They’ve been against us from the beginning, and we’ve made it this far.”
He’d thought Leali was still asleep but he could see her eyes glittering at him from within the folds of her bedroll.
“We can make it the rest of the way, too,” she finished, pushing the cover back from her face and rubbing her hands aggressively against each other. She was pale, but her eyes were clear and confident. Somewhere in the night she’d found her way back.
“Hey,” he said to her with a smile.
“Hey yourself,” she replied, leaning forward to grab a chunk of venison off the fire.
“You really think we can pull this off? Even knowing that he knows all about us now?” He asked her.
“Noz believed we could do it, even knowing what he knows about Amentis, which is a damn sight more than what we know. Anet and Freen, too, even though he defeated their own people. Their confidence is not misplaced, Micah.”
He chewed and mulled over her words. None of them had expressed any doubt. But was that because they had none or because they didn’t want to discourage them from their path? Their not expressing doubt could not be taken as a sign they had none.
Jobin and Elisa walked into the clearing and settled near the fire, helping themselves to the food. Their faces glowed pink and clean. “There is water accessible over by that large white scar on the cliff face. You can wash if you want to,” Elisa said.
“What do you two think? Can we win this thing?” Leali asked them.
“Yes,” They said in unison, and then laughed. “We are six, seven including Alekka. He is one. We can beat him,” Elisa said.
“He is one, but he is the strongest wizard that has ever lived,” Magicless said.
Elisa shrugged. “Perhaps he was the strongest wizard that ever lived,” she said, looking at Jobin pointedly.
Jobin turned a brilliant shade of red. “Stop, Elisa. You have no way of knowing that.”
“True, I don’t. But our power is nothing to sniff at, either. And we are more than seven. We are all of the river people, too, all of the creatures of Dorine Lillith. I’m not saying it will be easy. But it is not an impossible task.”
“And besides, it is destined. She is the Oynnestre. Anet and Freen recognized her immediately. Her coming has been foretold,” Ashier said as he and Tredon also settled in next to the fire. “You cannot change destiny.”
“They didn’t foretell that she would restore balance, or how. Only that she could. Success is not guaranteed. Amentis will know the stories better than anyone and do whatever he must to stop any interference with his rule,” Magicless said.
“Let him,” Asher shrugged. “His age is done. It is time for him to pass into legend and for a new era to begin. His rein ends now. I know it.”
Magicless felt pride stir in his chest. They were united, perhaps for the first time on this journey. No questions or doubts about what they were about to do. No one left on the outside. All valuable members of a team focused on one thing. He felt something shimmer in the air around him—pass through them and out into world. Something had shifted, and he was certain the world was brighter for it.
“Then what are we waiting for?” He asked, his eyes glinting dangerously. “Let’s get the bastard.”
* * *
It was harder than Magicless had thought it would be to climb over the wall. The cliffs towered high here and the wall was still made of thousands of variously sized boulders and rocks covered with dust. He’d scrubbed before leaving camp, but was filthy again minutes into the climb.
As he reached the top, Magicless finally saw what he’d been hoping for. The path they followed sloped sharply on the far side of the wall, vanished into pine forest, and then cleared again into a vast lake. He knew it was a lake because Noz’s map showed it as such. Looking at it, though, it was less clear. The lake was large enough that he could not see the far side of it. He could, however, see an island far in the distance with the jagged finger of a tower pointing toward the grey sky right in the center of it.
Tredon smacked him on the back hard enough to almost send Magicless spinning down the far side of the wall. “Well done, Micah, well done. I doubted, I admit it, but I was wrong. You are a fine navigator. A fine fighter, too. And a skilled mage trainer, and a mage. Go figure that.” He smiled broadly at him, and Magicless couldn’t help but grin back.
“Thank you,” he replied. Simple words, but he could find no way to express how much they meant to him after all the bad blood between them.
They were only a few miles from the water’s edge and were all anxious to get there, so they found themselves jogging the rest of the distance once they’d cleared the rubble from the wall.
“Does that map give you any details about the island, Micah? Or about the tower itself?” Ashier asked him as they moved through the trees surrounding the lake.
“No, I wish it did. We’ll have to figure that part out for ourselves.” Magicless replied.
“Hmm,” Ashier grunted as he slowed at the foot of the lake. “Can’t see much of the island from here.”
Magicless laughed. “Can’t see any of it, more like.”
“Too far to swim,” Elisa said. “We will need a raft like we thought.”
As she uttered those words, a gust of wind shook the trees around them and sent waves crashing into the beach. As they looked on, the wind continued to rise, frothing the water into a white tumult of waves crashing ashore. They moved out of the way, narrowly missing the grasping fingers of the waves that seemed to want to drag them out into deeper water.
“Maybe not
a raft after all,” Elisa said, eying the lake warily. Jobin held her hand, staring out across the lake with an expression of equal concern.
Magicless studied the water. Something wasn’t right about it. Something in the way it moved was wrong. He watched it, tuning out the others as they threw possible ideas around for how to reach the island. “Maybe we should call Anet and Freen,” someone said. “If they could have brought us here, they would have,” someone else responded.
Magicless wasn’t listening. Instead he moved away from the group toward an outcropping of stone and stepped onto the rocks jutting out into the frothing maelstrom of water. He looked down as he walked, watching where he placed his feet, and then stopped suddenly.
The rocks were not wet. There was not one drip of water anywhere on the stone despite the raging water all around them. He wasn’t wet, either—not a splash of water hit him. He looked out at the water again and saw nothing but smooth black glass reaching out as far as he could see. Still. No waves. No water. Just flat glass.
He looked toward the others. Their loud voices and exaggerated movements seemed comical given the silence that surrounded him. No wind touched him and no waves crashed ashore. He moved back to the water’s edge, grasped a large hunk of wood, and carried it onto the outcropping of stone. He tossed it onto the smooth black surface. It landed with a thud and rested there. It didn’t sink, and no ripple spread from beneath it when it landed. He bent and touched the surface. It was smooth and glassy but felt hard like stone.
He stood up and took a small step out. Solid. He bounced in place to make sure it could hold him. It held without a warning crack. He knelt and rapped his knuckles against it but it sounded firm, not hollow. He shrugged and walked out across it toward his friends, placing each foot carefully at first, but soon he walked without regard. It was completely solid—a glassy black stone like nothing he’d ever seen, but definitely not water.
Ashier saw him first, and his shocked expression made Magicless burst out laughing. He continued laughing as the others stared at him in surprise. “You can walk on water?” Tredon asked incredulously.
