by Cox, Craig
Alex watched the scene back again in his head, now he thought about it, he could see the signs that something was wrong. The birds had gone quiet, Magnus had sneaked off, his body low to the ground. It did make sense, but they had been daydreaming in their own little worlds. Alex was thinking of Farnshire and of how it was before working with his dad in the forge. It had happened so quickly, first the scream, then men charging forward, Braden had sprung into action right away. It was still strange to see his friend react with such frightening speed and efficiency. He had once been a calm, gentle person who had helped everyone who asked or needed it. Now, whenever anyone had threatened them, he drew his sword and ran into battle, he was a completely different person. Alex had been struggling with one of the thugs, when the fire erupted. He still couldn't tell where it had come from, he couldn’t fathom it at all. Alex could still feel the heat in the air, it felt like standing by a furnace on full heat. He stood with his arm shielding Troy as he watched Braden force the women to the ground, the point of his blade hovering a couple of inches from her chest. The tip of the blade was glowing red, as if it had come straight from a blazing fire. Alex could see the confusion in Braden’s eyes, the straining of the muscles in his arm. He was pushing the blade with all his strength into the women’s body but it would not budge. Troy squirmed past his arm but Alex caught his shirt and pulled him back.
“Let me go Alex."
“No Troy, it’s too dangerous.”
“Don’t let Braden hurt her.” Alex dropped the boy as he saw Braden hesitate.
“Why not, she attacked us.” Braden asked.
“No, she saved me.”
Alex knelt grabbing the boy’s shoulders and looked into his eyes.
“What do you mean saved you?”
“Those men, they attacked when you were both fighting the others, you didn’t see them but they were charging straight at us. Then she jumped out of the tree and woosh, the fire came and it blocked them from getting to me. She did it, she created the fire, she’s…”
“An Arcane.” Branden said surprised.
Alex turned around to face Braden, he had stepped away from the women lowering his sword which was still red hot. He could see his friend was still wary of her, not offering her a hand up. Alex stood up from Troy and slowly walked towards them, he still had a hand on Troy’s shoulder just in case something happened. He watched the woman slowly get to her feet, her raven black hair was covering her face. She raised her hands to brush it out of the way, Braden tensed slightly before his jaw dropped slightly. Alexander didn’t know what was up until he got closer and saw the women for himself. She was incredibly beautiful, the black hair framed her lightly tanned face, warm auburn eyes switched from Braden, to Alexander then to Troy then back to Braden.
“What were you expecting, an aged old witch with boils?” She blurted out.
She observed the shock in Braden’s face and was still angry at being dropped on her back and almost skewered, but a small smile drifted across her face as she looked at him.
“Jaw up please.”
Alex watched Braden snap back into reality, she turned to face Alex and Troy. His arm was still in front of the boy, he didn’t know what the women was capable of. He had heard stories of how some Arcanes were able to summon a shower of thunderbolts from the sky, others who could create a tsunami from the smallest river and those who could split the earth in two, creating a chasm large enough to swallow cities. The boy however pushed past him, he was still day dreaming about how many ways the women could kill and didn’t notice until Troy was standing right in front of her.
“Thank you miss.”
She giggled, kneeling down in front of him.
“You’re welcome little one.”
“Troy, my name is Troy. Are you a magician.”
She laughed, as did both Alex and Braden tensed.
“I wish everyone had as much enthusiasm as you. Technically I am an Arcane. But you could call me a magician.”
“So what’s your name, magician?” Braden asked.
Alex looked at Braden, he had finally sheathed his sword and now looked considerably more relaxed. He was shocked at how quickly his friend had gone back to looking his regular self, calm and carefree.
“Ashe Del Gray.”
She smiled over towards Braden before screaming and jumping to her feet. Alex spun around to see what happened, Braden had hardly moved and Alex realised why, as Magnus stalked out of the long grass.
“Don’t worry.”
The lion cub walked past Alex, who patted him on the head, and skirted round Ashe who was visibly on edge, before stopping at Braden’s side who knelt down next to him rubbing both hands up and down his side giving him a good scratch. Magnus responded with a loud purr before looking back up at Ashe, he seemed to enjoy Ashe being on edge.
“This is Magnus, he is our friend.”
Ashe looked shocked and Alex could guess why, if a black lion cub walked out of the tall grass, before walking straight up to someone, without any hesitation to be scratched like a well behaved dog and he didn’t know any better, Alex would be shocked as well.
“You have a pet lion?”
“I guess you could call him a pet, I don’t put a leash on him but he has followed me around for the best part of a month now, never really leaving my side for more than a few minutes.”
The look on her face told Alex she didn’t believe it, but the evidence was right in front of her. At that moment, Alex heard a grumbling voice. He looked around to see one of the men he had knocked around the head with the butt of his mace was slowly coming to his senses. Turning back to the others, he began to walk to where he had dropped the bag of supplies.
“We should probably go, Braden.”
“I agree, Ashe it’s up to you if you want to come with us or go your own way, but once he wakes up and gets back to the town, the guard will be out on the hunt.”
Alex glanced over at the three men who had been caught in the fire, one was moving slightly but the other two showed no signs of life.
“Perhaps a little cross country, just in case.”
Braden nodded to him, Ashe quickly ran back towards the tree on the far side, jumping up a couple of times and finally pulling down a small bag. She threw it over her shoulder before running over to Alex who stood at the edge of the wood. She looked down at the men she had killed and he watched the colour drain from her face. As she went past, he took one last look at the rising man to make sure he hadn't seen which way they ran before following the rest of them into the underbrush.
Chapter XVII
Ashe
They walked for a few hours after the sun had set before finally stopping, Ashe was exhausted, she had been up since dawn and had spent much of that time running. She fell to the ground, in the clearing just to the side of the road, Alexander had been carrying Troy on his back for the last hour. He had fallen asleep and she watched the big man place him down carefully before sitting down himself, Braden was the last one standing, he looked out into the darkness as if he was checking for something. Magnus was at his side, she was astonished at how attached the cub was to him. Some dog owners would pray for an animal so obedient. He turned and looked at the group.
“The capital is that way. We should be able to make it in another three days, I think.”
He pointed back the way, he was facing, Ashe laughed. He glanced down at her, at first he seemed angry but she realised it was just the exhaustion.
“It’s actually that way.”
She pointed in the opposite direction.
“How, how do you know?”
“I have spent the last four years in and around the capital, and on occasion I have had to disappear into the surrounding lands to lay low for a while.”
Braden shrugged.
“You can get turned around quite easily by the woods, some people say it is the reason they built the capital here. I just think it’s because people don’t pay too much attention to the stars.”
She looked up, the sky was completely clouded over Ashe made sure not to look straight back at Braden she could feel herself blushing.
“Well, you can show us another night perhaps.”
Ashe could hear the suppressed laughter in his voice, which only made her redder. Luckily for her it was almost pitch black and no one could see. Alex stood up stretching out his back.
“We need a fire, I’ll get some wood.”
“No, don’t worry.”
She could just about see his curious look in the darkness. Raising her hands out in front of her she concentrated on the patch of earth in between them all.
“Accio.”
A fire erupted out of thin air, at first, it was a little too strong, she had pushed too much and was met by a growl from Magnus. She let the fire burn itself down pushing less of her power into the flames until it became to a small burn. It was enough to light the surrounding area and keep them warm but little more. The two men were staring at her, both with looks of wonder. The redness crept back across her face, Alex finally broke the silence.
“Well, saves me having to slave away rubbing sticks together.”
Alex and Braden laughed before Alex curled up on the floor and fell into a deep sleep.
“Looks like I’m taking first watch again.”
Braden sat down near her, Magnus curled down into the grass a little further away from the fire. She could see the flames dance in his golden eyes. They sat in an awkward silence for a couple of minutes with only the flames of the magical fire and the sounds of the creatures of the night breaking the silence. She kicked off her boots, her feet ached after a day on the road. Her body wanted to sleep but the energy of creating the fire had woken up her mind and she knew it would take at least another twenty minutes for the drowsiness to creep back in.
“So, why the capital?” She asked.
He didn’t answer for a long time, Ashe peered across quickly to see if he was still awake, but he was just staring into the darkness.
“To find my father, he lives there, or that’s what I was told.”
“So you have never met him?”
“Nope.”
He sounded rather light hearted about it, but the look in his eyes as he stared into the darkness told another story which Ashe really didn’t want to delve into. She looked over at him, he wasn’t really paying much attention, which allowed her to look over him closer. She had spent the entire afternoon staring at his back and this was the first time she was able to look at his face without the point of a sword staring back. He was handsome she would give him that and maybe if he cleaned up a bit, shaved off or at least trimmed his ragged beard and got a haircut oh and a wash wouldn’t go down too badly either, then he would make a fine catch. She caught her wandering thoughts, shocked at what she was thinking of.
“Why were you up that tree?” He asked.
She didn’t reply for a while, forcing him to turn away from the blackness and look at her snapping her back from her thoughts.
“I was running.”
“From?”
“Those men. They lost at a game of cards and accused me of cheating.”
“Did you cheat?”
“How do you think I would pay to live? Food isn’t cheap you know.”
“I know, those prices in Talbot were rather ridiculous.”
“They probably realised you weren’t from around here, but you didn’t seem to do so badly.”
She nodded over to the pack of supplies that Braden had been carrying, she had seen it was full when they opened it to grab a quick bite to eat earlier.
“Well, you can thank Alex’s dad for that. Anyway, how does accusing you of cheating lead to a group of thugs chasing after you into the woods.”
“Well they assumed I was an Arcane and when I used some magic to help myself escape, their assumptions were confirmed. My guess is they wanted the money.”
“Money? Do you have a bounty on your head?”
“Don’t you know?” The dumb look on his face answered the question for her.
“Where are you from? Is Farnshire in the middle of nowhere? Arcanes are rare now, any Lord would sell half his land to get one in his service. They are a symbol of power in upper ranks of nobility, only King Rupert and two other lords have one in their service for over the past twenty years. They could have gone to any Lord in the realm and sold me for any amount they demanded.”
He looked rather concerned, but whether it was for her wellbeing or for the others, she wasn’t sure.
“How have you made it so far?”
“Staying near the capital helps, this is the most heavily patrolled part of the Kingdom, it keeps bandits away and as long as I’m smart and move around often, I’m fine.”
He seemed to relax a little, though his eyes now darted around the edge of the clearing a little more frequently. It went silent again, Ashe was worried that she had said the wrong thing. Or maybe even given Braden an Idea, she sat still, worrying thoughts rushing through her head. Her mind was racing, she didn’t realise it but she had began to rock slightly as she sat.
“Do you want to come into the capital with us? I mean it will be a lot safer for you, as you said with all the patrols.” Ashe let out a breath she didn’t even know she was holding, and smiled.
“Yeah. That would be, smart.”
She caught the corner of his smile as he turned away from her and back into the fire. As he moved, Magnus came into view again, he looked so innocent just like an oversized cat.
“Braden, how do you expect to get a lion cub into the capital?”
“Umm, I haven’t thought about it yet.”
“I have an idea.”
Chapter XVIII
Ashe
The sky was still dark when she heard voices. Ashe kept her eyes closed trying to concentrate, she couldn’t tell how many of them there was or even if they were close. Turning her head she slowly opened her eyes in the direction of the voices. There was nothing but darkness, the fire had gone out whilst she was asleep. She looked over to Alex, who was supposed to be on watch and keeping the fire going, but he was curled up under a blanket fast asleep. As she looked around to see where the voices came from the world went silent, even the crickets had gone quiet. It was eerily quiet, she tensed ready and waiting for something to appear from out of the darkness, but nothing came. Ashe moved to Braden's side to wake him, but as she knelt down a light appeared from the forest in front of her. Slowly, the noise began to return from behind. The light behind the trees was bright and inviting, she stepped over Braden and then Troy, advancing closer to the light. At first she thought it was a fire, but as Ashe got closer the colour changed from the oranges and reds of flame to a white pure light like the sun. With every step the tension in her body grew, the silence made her step sound like a crack of lighting in the darkness. She finally reached the tree line, the light was coming from a clearing only five trees in front of her. Creeping around each tree she kept her palm open and in front of her ready to strike at the sign of any attackers. Stepping past the final tree and into the light she was stunned and not by the light, which was gentle like a morning sunrise. It was by the sound of the forest coming alive as she had stepped into the clearing. The crickets were back, two owls were hooting between each other in the branches overhead, the wind whipped through the trees and the footsteps of a doe, on the other side of the clearing, echoed around her ears.
She looked up to the light. It was warm, soaking through her body like a gentle fire. She took a step closer, her hands outstretched, the built up tension seemed to flow out of her body like a river. Ashe looked closer at the light trying to see what caused it. Finally, the light shifted, causing her to almost fall back in shock. From the light people began to form, at first a single body but from it eight others emerged. Each of the eight was a woman, more beautiful than anyone Ashe had ever seen, their features perfect, their bodies the perfect balance of muscle and grace. Finally, the first body turned to fac
e Ashe, the man was older than the rest an elegant beard outlined his chiselled features, his body was perfect Ashe was falling in love at just the sight of the man. Ashe took another step forward towards the man, she wanted to be closer to him. As her foot touched the grass his eyes flung open. His eyes were dark and powerful and bore straight into her. Then the woman next to him spoke, Ashe couldn’t comprehend what she had said, she wasn’t sure it was even a word. It just felt like bliss, and everything she ever wanted seemed to come true in that moment. The woman’s hands were open showing Ashe the stone. Then it went dark.
"Ahhh." She screamed.
Ashe sat bolt upright, the light of the fire forcing her to cover her eyes. She looked left and right and saw Alex sat looking out into the darkness. He turned around to face her, his eyebrows raised.
"You ok, Ashe?"
She looked around, eyes stopping at the tree line, she tried to see through the trees towards the clearing she had been in, but saw nothing. She couldn’t say what had happened, but whatever it was she wouldn’t forget it at any time soon, the dream was so vivid, so real. She looked over at Braden, has he seen the light before.
"Ashe?"
"I'm fine, It was a nightmare."
She rolled back over, waiting for Alex to turn back around into the darkness before she rolled back to face Braden. She must have been staring for nearly an hour before she finally drifted back to sleep. Still thinking about the light and the voices.
Chapter XIX
Braden
As they came over the hilltop, three of the four stopped in awe. Only Ashe was smart enough to move out of the way, as the procession of merchants, farmers, wannabe adventures, servants, monks and the odd group of soldiers barged past. Braden was almost pushed face first into the stone road Alex grabbing him at the last moment and pulling him to one side. He had already pulled Troy free and the boy sat with Magnus to one side. The lion cub looked almost comical, he had Ashe’s cloak draped over him with only the front of his face showing. If you looked closely you could still see the cat like features, but at a glance Magnus looked all dog. Ashe had used her magic to alter the perception people had of Magnus, it was a basic trick she had used on countless cards, in taverns around the capital. It worked for the best part and hopefully with the large amount of traffic and being sandwiched between all four of them the guards wouldn't pay much attention. Braden turned back to the road, as the steady procession of people continued on down the slope towards the capital. Down the hill, fed by two great rivers, sat Alton. It was the largest city on the continent, over half a million people lived in the city and its surrounding slums. Its famous giant red walls towered over six storeys above the grey, black and dirty buildings that surrounded it. From Ashe’s stories over a fifth of the population lived in the four hundred foot deep slums. Here the poor, who begged for scraps from the city, lived. Sat in the middle of Alton was the great Citadel, a rocky fortress rising above the city ringed by low red walls, allowing the full grandeur of the royal palace to be on show to anyone who entered the basin. Its white stone shone in the early morning sun, the ceiling glinting as the suns rays bounced off the golden roof tops. It was a true sight to behold and Braden stood in awe for several minutes. More people stepped off the road and joined them to staring out at the city.
