by B. T. Narro
“That was the other matter I wanted to address. She told me that you asked, last night, if she sensed anyone in your room, and she did not. It was soon after that she did sense someone. Is that when the cloaking spell came to an end?”
“Yes.”
“So the invisibility spell must not only work on our eyes but our mana as well. Aliana also mentioned that she only sensed one other person with you, even though Valinox and his sorcerer made three.” There seemed to be a question to his tone.
“Valinox has a natural resistance that makes it impossible, or perhaps just difficult, for Aliana to sense him even when the cloaking spell is not active. The same thing happened when she tried to sense Eslenda when we first saw the elf in the forest. Aliana’s spell didn’t work.”
I wondered what had happened to Eslenda. She had returned to the castle with us after the battle but had left the next morning. I hoped she and the king had contact, but his majesty was in contact with many people I wasn’t aware of. It wasn’t my job to know of everything, and I was thankful for that. I had enough going on without keeping track of all of our possible allies.
“So it does seem crucial for Aliana to be nearby,” the king said. “Your window will be repaired before nightfall. You and Michael will share your room from now on, while Aliana and Eden will share Aliana’s room next to yours. That is how it must be until we find a way to counter the permanent illusion. I’m also providing bells in each of your rooms. They are to be wrung loudly if Valinox comes back. Lastly, I’m putting a couple of armed guards in the hall outside your rooms. If it’s deemed necessary that they guard you through the night in your room, I will arrange that, but I believe now it will just make it more difficult for you to sleep.”
I agreed; I didn’t like the idea of someone watching me while I slept. “Thank you, sire, but what about you?” I had to assume Nykal was as much of a target as I was.
“A sorcerer will be here today, a fire mage who won’t leave my side.”
“Are you sure he or she can be trusted?”
“I will earn his trust, as I have yours and everyone else’s. But in the meantime, I will have his loyalty through an oath.”
“Is he coming from the army of the Chespars?” I asked.
The king didn’t look too pleased by my question. “Kataleya has been speaking with you, I see.”
“She shared her concerns about her father and was looking for advice.”
“I’m already taking care of it. Your added worries couldn’t possibly help at this point. I want you thinking more about yourself from now on.”
I decided to trust him in that regard. Besides, he already had Kataleya looking out for him. She was better than I was at knowing what to do in these political affairs.
“Then in regard to myself, sire, a few of us would like to visit Curdith Forest today.”
“Jennava will be in charge of your training regimen from now on, so it is up to her. Leon will focus on combat while he is further trained on battle tactics. He seems to have a knack for it, from what I’ve heard, but he’ll need to be an expert.”
I had heard from my peers that Leon was not only an unstoppable force on the battlefield, but he seemed to have eyes in the back of his head. I hadn’t spent much time fighting near him, but the others had. They all had experiences to share of Leon helping them, possibly even saving their lives.
“Have breakfast and inform the others of their new sleeping arrangements,” the king told me. “When I have figured out what to do about Valinox, you will be among the first to find out.”
I gave a quick bow and then headed into the dining hall.
I was the last one to join the table of the other sorcerers—my peers. There was too much chatter for my ears to pick out anything specific. I noticed Eden at the far end, her head down as she ate. I let my gaze linger to see if she might look up and give me some kind of clue as to what was going to happen in her room after breakfast, but it seemed clear to me that she didn’t want to address it.
I took the open bench next to Michael on the other side of the group from Eden. Charlie still hadn’t returned from Koluk. I was hoping he would soon, and with armor for us. Someone had taken my measurements the last time I had spoken to the king, before today. I already had a new sword made out of Valaer steel. I looked forward to the armor the king had promised me as well.
Then again, did he expect me to wear the armor throughout the day, up until the last moments before I got into bed? That sounded terribly uncomfortable, and I wasn’t sure it would even help. Had I been wearing a helmet when Valinox surprised me, he or his dteria sorcerer would’ve suffocated me just the same as if I didn’t have one. The armor wasn’t going to save me from a surprise attack, but it should help in battle so long as it wasn’t too cumbersome.
I didn’t fear battle. I trusted myself as I did Leon and most of my peers. I did fear, however, something happening to one of my friends and me being too late to heal them.
I had no idea what our next task would be for the king. Rohaer was hundreds of miles away. It would take them a while to get here, but I figured the king would do a lot more than order his army to be trained as we waited for them to arrive.
I noticed Hadley’s eyes on me, a questioning expression on her face. She sat across from me, next to Remi.
“The king’s fine with it so long as Jennava is,” I told her.
“Then I’ll ask her.” Hadley got up and walked over to the other table, where Jennava and Leon ate separately from everyone else.
“Ask her what?” Reuben wondered. He was on the other side of Michael.
“Do you want to go to the forest and help us hunt? Hadley needs ingredients, and we figured you do too.”
“Why not Aliana?” he asked.
I noticed the ranger looking up at the sound of her name. She sat across from Eden on the other side of the table, Kataleya beside her.
“It’s fine if you don’t want to come,” I told Reuben.
“What’s going on?” Aliana asked.
Everyone quieted.
Remi spoke. “Hadley and I are going into the forest with Jon. Reuben, we thought you might want to practice your tracking skill there where it’s most likely to improve. There’s no better place than the forest.”
“What about Valinox?” Reuben asked.
“That’s why Jon and I are going,” the fire mage answered him.
“What will the rest of us be doing?” Aliana asked. I was a little surprised that she’d asked me.
“I don’t know,” I said.
“You don’t know or you don’t want to share?” Reuben asked.
Now everyone stared at me. They seemed to assume that I knew more than they did, and perhaps that was usually right. The king did speak to me more often than he did the other sorcerers. My friends probably didn’t know that he often didn’t share much with me, though. Usually the only thing I found out was something they would learn a moment later, after the king was done discussing it with me.
“I don’t know anything about what we’re doing today, but the king did tell me that some of us are going to have different sleeping arrangements.” I looked at Michael. “We’ll be sharing my room.” Then I glanced across the table. “Aliana, Eden will be staying with you. That way you can sense if Valinox brings another sorcerer into either of our rooms. The king says he’s also going to have a couple of armored guards in the hall.”
Aliana had a sideways look at Eden, who barely lifted her gaze from her plate. She seemed embarrassed as she met Aliana’s gaze, looking away quickly.
“I’m sorry you have to share a room with me,” Eden muttered.
“It’s fine,” Aliana said, and sounded like she meant it.
It was Michael who seemed the most displeased by the news, as he glowered at me. “How long are we expected to be sharing your bed?”
The beds were gigantic. It was almost like no one else was there, with Michael and me on either end last night. “You can sleep on the fl
oor if you don’t like it,” I jested.
“Pfft.”
Hadley returned, and Jennava was with her.
“Reuben, we need to know something.” Jennava spoke somewhat sternly, considering she usually had quite a friendly demeanor. “If our sorcerers go with you into the forest without Aliana, will you be able to track anything for Hadley to shoot?”
“I can, but I still don’t understand why Aliana doesn’t go with us.”
“Because this is your chance to improve,” Jennava answered. “You spend most of your time working on enchanting and practicing your swordsmanship.”
“I practice my spell of earth as well,” Reuben said with a bit of an attitude. “I don’t need extra time in the forest. You should just take Aliana.”
“I’d like to go,” Aliana chimed in.
“You can, Aliana,” Jennava said. “But Reuben, I’m trying to understand where your skill level is at. We need to know going forward.”
He raised his voice. “I’m never going to be as good a ranger as Aliana. Is that what you want to hear? I’m never going to be as good of an enchanter as Eden, either. And I’m never going to be as good a swordsman as Jon, all right! Now will you leave it alone?”
A tense silence passed.
“The hell are you complaining about?” Leon shouted as he got up from his table and marched over. “I’ve seen you stand against Rohaer’s best and come out without a scratch on you. You compare yourself to Aliana, but she tracks like her skill was bestowed from Basael himself. Then you compare yourself to Eden, and she’s been enchanting for years before you could even reach the notes of ordia. Then you compare yourself to Jon!” Leon laughed snidely. “Jon was born in Bhode with nothing to do but swordfight with his father, one of the best swordsmen in Lycast. Of course you’re not going to be better than these three people at what they’re best at, but you’re the only one of the group who can do all three. So I ask you again. What the hell are you complaining about? Take this chance to improve one of your three skills and stop being such a daisy about it.”
Reuben had a quiet voice as he replied. “I just don’t see the point in learning to track with Aliana here.”
“Have you ever thought that you and Aliana might not always be next to each other as this war presses on? Hmm? Have you ever thought that having two trackers might be extremely valuable to all of us?”
Reuben didn’t reply as he looked down. It seemed pretty clear to me that Reuben just wanted to be the best at something. The rest of us were, mostly because we didn’t have overlapping skills like Reuben did. The king had probably arranged that purposefully, recruiting each of us not so much because we were all incredibly talented right away but because we were different from each other. We filled a role.
Michael was the only wind mage, Kataleya the only water mage, and Remi the only fire mage. The three of them specialized in erto, though Kataleya and I had both learned a simple fire spell since we’d come here. Considering how often we burned ourselves, I didn’t think we’d ever have as much control over fire as Remi did.
Charlie was the only metal mage, which meant he specialized in the single note of mtalia. Similar to Charlie, Aliana couldn’t reach any other notes besides her specialty, llB, which was earth.
Eden had specialized in ordia long before coming to the castle, with a focus on enchanting. Thinking of that reminded me that Reuben, on the day we all first met, had announced that he would also specialize in ordia but wanted to be a harbinger, like Barrett—the king’s councilman. Reuben wanted to create magical contracts like the ones we signed when we took an oath to protect the king. I hadn’t heard anything about his progress. Perhaps he had given it up for now, because Barrett already filled that role and we didn’t need two harbingers.
The more I thought about this, the more I realized that Reuben had probably struggled with figuring out his identity. It must be clear to him that he was recruited mostly because his family was rich. I imagined this had been getting to him more and more as he had expected to show improvement more than the rest of us, when really his skills with sorcery hadn’t seemed to change all that much since he'd come here.
“I’ll go to the forest,” he mumbled. “But don’t expect tracking like Aliana’s. My range is short.”
“That’s fine,” Hadley said. “I can’t curse the animals from very far anyway.”
I could see by everyone’s expression—except Eden’s—that I wasn’t the only one who was confused by Hadley’s statement.
“You don’t need their hair or blood to curse them?” I asked.
“Always I do, but in this case the hair is on the target still, not in my hand. I can use and dissolve the hair with my curse without actually holding it. It’s because of this that witches are prone to accidents when they are first learning the craft, often cursing ourselves. I used to do it all the time.”
We all looked at Eden. She had cursed herself with the same curse that she had performed on Aliana. After, both of them had verbally attacked Kataleya. I never heard Eden give an explanation about this, but that didn’t mean she had kept it from her closer friends. I had always figured Valinox had wanted her to practice cursing, and Eden had told Kataleya and Aliana the specifics of the demigod’s request. I had also hoped she had apologized to them personally.
Kataleya, as if sensing our thoughts, said, “Eden already apologized.”
“Profusely,” Aliana added.
Eden blushed. She seemed to be having trouble meeting all of our gazes.
“Oh, I didn’t know the same had happened to Eden,” Hadley said.
Wanting to change the subject, I asked, “So you can curse anyone without taking one of their hairs or some of their blood?”
“I can, but the curse is weaker the farther I am away,” Hadley replied. “That doesn’t matter much when I’m cursing small animals. I can cause them to be drowsy or have a false sense of security from up to fifty yards away.”
“Oh shit.” Michael spoke with dread. “What can you do to people, then?”
It sounded like he had something in mind. When he noticed many of us staring at him he spoke defensively.
“Whatever she can do, Valinox can do worse. It’s good to know.”
“He’s got a point,” Leon said. “Maybe the next time Valinox strikes, it will be through a curse.”
“There isn’t much that curses can’t do,” Hadley said. “But certain curses are stronger than others. I wouldn’t worry too much about Valinox using a curse as a means of an attack, though. He would have to have the target’s hair or blood in hand to perform a curse as debilitating as knocking them unconscious. Blood is always stronger. Without either, he might just be able to harmlessly sway your mood.”
I noticed many gazes on me after her comment.
Leon asked me, “Is there any chance he got some of your blood?”
“No. He was too busy fighting, then running.”
“But none of it ended up on him?” Leon pressed.
I tried to think back to how much blood I had spilled when he had run his blade down my spine. I was too busy trying to catch my breath after he cracked my ribs to really tell.
“I’m not sure,” I answered.
“It shouldn’t matter,” Hadley said. “Even when Jon fought Gourfist and got a whole lot of Gourfist’s blood on his clothes, I was only able to squeeze out enough for one spell. So it’s unlikely that Valinox was able to collect enough of Jon’s blood.”
Michael chuckled. “Is that all you were able to squeeze out of Jon?”
“Shut up,” Leon said with a smack to Michael’s chest. “This situation is shit,” he complained. “We hardly know what we’re going to be fighting against. How many witches do you think they have, Hadley?”
“The king of Rohaer had several lesser witches when I left two years ago, but they didn’t have the gift like I do. They could still be too weak to pose a threat to us.”
“What about other kinds of mages?” Leon asked. “Fire
, wind, water, and what about rangers and metal mages?”
“I’m afraid I can’t help you. I wasn’t privy to the kind of information.”
Leon drew a long breath. He took a quick glance around. There was no one near our section of the table. “Then we have to hope the king’s spy gets back to us.”
“He has a spy?” Michael asked cheerfully.
“He does. A man in the army who is loyal to us, I think. I’ve never met him.”
“Finally, some good news,” Michael said.
“If all of you are done eating,” Jennava said, “we should be leaving soon. There’s time for chatting on the way to the forest.”
“Your instructor’s right,” Leon said. “No time to waste.”
It sounded like he was perfectly fine with the new arrangements.
“Unless any of you have pressing business to attend to,” Jennava said, “then you’re all to spend the day in the forest. It’s unlikely we’re going to have much time to train before the king sends us off. We have to make the most of today.”
“Where are we going?” I asked.
“Nobody knows yet, but I’m sure you’ll all be needed.”
I caught Eden’s gaze. I was about to nod to tell her that I remembered her note, but she looked away as if wanting to avoid the issue completely.
CHAPTER TWO
Most everyone returned to the apartments, as was common after breakfast. I would take my sword made out of Valaer steel, but I had no armor yet. With Remi and Hadley there, I felt I would probably be safe. With more of us around, we would be even safer.
I had looked forward to training today. My power with dvinia had surprised me recently. I was beginning to wonder if I could do more than just lift myself into the air. Perhaps I could start attempting to fly today. I figured learning to do so would be a slow and painful process. It was better to start sooner rather than later.
It would be good to know if the dark mages in Rohaer could lift themselves, or if they chose not to train this ability at all. It was no wonder that the dark mages in Lycast had practically been able to fly. They’d had Cason around to heal their injuries, a necessity to improving such a skill. But there had been no news of a healer in Rohaer, which may have made it too difficult for dark mages there to train this skill. Otherwise, many of them would be taken out of the fight with broken bones. This was why Cason was so valued by Valinox, and why Valinox had gone to such great lengths to protect him.
