Tales of the Feisty Druid Boxed (Books 1-3): Age Of Magic - A Kurtherian Gambit Series (Tales of the Feisty Druid Boxed Set)

by Candy Crum

  Arryn swallowed, regaining only the smallest amount of control over her body. She tried to speak and failed, but Scarlett seemed to take notice. A fraction of the pain lifted again, allowing Arryn a bit more control over her mouth, but the rest of her body was still unable to move.

  "It's been you all along." Arryn choked out.

  Scarlett smiled again. "What can I say? We mystics are master illusionists. But it’s time for you to go now. Good night!"

  Pain once again tore through Arryn, her entire body tensing before she finally fell the rest of the way to the ground. The very last thing she saw before her eyes closed was Talia stepping into the alley with a smile on her face.

  "Well done," Talia told Scarlett.

  Scarlett's eyes never left Arryn's, allowing her to see the mystic wink one of her snow-white eyes in her direction. "Thanks, boss."

  And with that, unconsciousness took Arryn.

  Epilogue

  Cathillian found his way to Amelia, climbing over several bodies as he went. Luckily, most of them had been remnant, but several of their own had been lost as well.

  At that moment, the Guard was busy piling up the remnant, readying them for transport out of the city where they could be burned.

  “We did it!” Amelia cried, a triumphant smile on her beautiful face.

  She was covered from head to toe in blood, but so were the rest of them. It would take quite a lot to clean up this mess and restore the city to order.

  “We lost quite a few,” Cathillian reported, “but we made it, mostly because of that plan of yours. It was dangerous to use her like that, but it turned out okay. If she hadn’t been so weak by the time we called the lightning, she’d have killed us all, with or without that shield.”

  Amelia nodded, her eyes wide. “No shit. That’s not a mistake I’ll make again.” She chewed on her lip. “We really need to work more with her. Damn, that girl has a lot of potential.”

  “Just a couple o’ Chatty Cathies over here,” Samuel remarked as he wandered up. “Ye act like we didn’t just slaughter an army o’ remnant. That’s pretty normal fer the rearick, but yer people always seem weird after battle.”

  “Good point,” Amelia shot back. “But we’re happy! We survived! And we didn’t lose a ton of men.”

  Samuel chuckled. “That’s because of our girl. Speakin’ of which, where is she? Last I saw her, she was headin’ inta ground combat with Amelia.”

  Cathillian and Amelia looked around, seeing no sign of her anywhere.

  “Arryn!” Cathillian shouted.

  “Do you have enough strength to find her with magic?” Amelia asked, clearly worried.

  Cathillian thought for a moment before nodding. He knelt and placed his hands on the ground, doing his best to sort everything out. Echo’s call from overhead caught his attention.

  He stood then, running toward her and jumping over bodies in the street to reach the area Echo was circling from overhead.

  Striding into an alley, he saw that it looked largely untouched. It didn’t seem to be affected as much as the rest of the city was, but he saw the bodies of several remnant lying on the ground just on the threshold of the street.

  Farther in, he saw two puddles of blood.

  Stepping over them, he knelt and placing his hands on the ground. He could tell it was Arryn’s blood.

  “She was here,” he told them. “All this blood here is hers. There’s no splashing or spattering, so there wasn’t a fight. I’m going to guess she was unconscious when this happened, and they bled her out to weaken her.”

  He turned to see Amelia shaking her head, a look of terror on her face. “How can you be so calm? She could be dead! I’m getting the Hunters.”

  “No!” Cathillian warned. “You can’t trust them, remember? And believe me, this isn’t enough blood to kill her. Not by a long shot.”

  “I don’t care! I have to do something. I’m going to find a Hunter we can trust, then I’m going to go through the minds of anyone who fought in this area.”

  “Look around, lass,” Samuel snapped. “Do ye see the Dean or the mystic anywhere? I don’t know what the mystic looks like, but Talia is unmistakable. I ain’t seen either. They took ‘er.”

  “What do we do now?” Cathillian asked. “I can usually think of an answer for things, but this… I can’t lose her.”

  Amelia took a deep breath, squaring her shoulders as she steeled herself. “I need to meditate like Julianne taught me. If they haven’t gotten too far, I might be able to connect to her. It’s possible I could see something through her eyes, make sure she’s okay. Fair warning, though… I’m not that great. I’m a novice.”

  “If we can get even a hint of the direction they’re traveling in, we can send Echo to scout after them,” Cathillian offered.

  “Sounds like this is the best plan we’ve got,” Samuel confirmed.

  “We’ll find her,” Amelia declared. “And when we do, we’re not wasting any more time. We’re ripping Talia’s fucking head off.”

  ***

  Arryn’s eyes fluttered open several times, and each time she caught a glimpse of some new surrounding before someone knocked her out again. She had no idea where she was or who she was with, though she was sure she’d seen Talia at least once.

  What had happened? Had they won the war? The situation had looked promising last she remembered, when she came off the wall with Amelia just after having called the storm.

  As Arryn slowly began to awaken again, she was painfully aware of the drastic temperature change. Her face felt as though it was burning from the cold.

  She became aware of someone carrying her, someone warm she curled into as she fought the pain in her head. Even the throbbing behind her eyes and in her temples was nothing compared to what she’d felt when Scarlett had taken over her mind.

  And there it was.

  Her eyes snapped open as she remembered everything that had happened. Looking up, she saw that it was Jackson who had been carrying her.

  “Well, good morning, sleepyhead.” Talia’s smooth, sing-song voice was both horribly loud and quiet at the same time.

  Unsure how that was possible, Arryn pushed against Jackson, frantically looking around as she did. He set her down, and she toppled over into more than a foot of snow. Her eyes took in everything around her.

  Talia’s voice had seemed so loud because it was quiet there in the mountains of the Frozen North, and she’d seemed quiet because the sound had been absorbed by the thick snow and vast openness.

  “Oh, hell,” she muttered, fear in her voice. Not much scared Arryn, but at that moment she felt afraid.

  She lifted her arms and threw them out in front of her, conjuring only enough power to shove Jackson back a few inches. As she stared at him, slack-jawed, she noticed the red-stained cloths that were wrapped tightly around her wrists.

  “Oh, you don’t want to move too quickly or forcefully, dear,” Talia offered. “You’ll tear open your stitches.”

  Arryn looked at her in confusion. “My stitches?”

  “Well, we didn’t want you waking up before you got to your new home, and we had to keep bleeding you along the way because, as it turns out, you have the ability to heal relatively fast even without actively calling your magic. I assume that’s a druid thing?”

  Arryn shook her head, unsure how to respond. “I… I don’t understand.”

  Talia smiled as she leaned forward, her thick, black cloak fanning out over the untouched snow. “That’s probably a side-effect of the blood loss. You’re gonna be a little loopy for a while. I’ll make things easy for you and explain.”

  There was a pause as Talia stood and walked over to Arryn, blocking the intense morning sun as she looked down at her.

  “I need you out of my way if I’m going to accomplish what I want to. Killing you seemed like just letting you go. It would be too easy, so we decided it would be fun to bring you all the way up here.” Talia motioned around her. “This is the Frozen North. Te
mperatures here are so cold that nothing can live. In other words, even if you waste your energy healing yourself—and it’ll be at least a couple days before you can do that because your body will be fighting the cold—you’ll end up starving to death.

  “If you heal yourself enough to travel, you’ll waste your energy. If you use enough magic to create food, you’ll be forced to stay here because you’ll be weak. If you create fire to keep warm, you’ll be stuck here. Do you see a pattern? You’re doomed, no matter what you do. You’re going to die here. It’s going to take a while, though, because you are one of those people who refuse to give up. You’re going to use your hatred for me as fuel. But in the end… you’ll die up here, cursing the day you shook my hand.”

  Arryn couldn’t believe it. Talia hadn’t only kidnapped her, she’d really gotten the best of her.

  Talia and Jackson weren’t the only ones present. There were several others from her group. She would have needed them to teleport as far as she had. They’d collectively used their powers to move Arryn north.

  Memories of the other times she’d awakened started to come back. The random places. The random faces.

  “How long have we been traveling?” Arryn asked.

  “Three days,” Talia replied. “We made it in six jumps. Every night we had to stop for food and rest and to make sure my dearest sister received proper care after the attack in Arcadia. Everyone was so concerned for you.”

  Arryn shook her head, her anger bringing with it a bit of comfort. She didn’t feel quite so weak now that she was coming around to her situation.

  “You bitch,” Arryn spat.

  Talia laughed, but it immediately cut off when she suddenly became excited about something. “Oh! I nearly forgot.”

  Reaching into her cloak, Talia pulled out the very box Arryn had risked her life to steal. Like the knife from Amelia’s office, Talia had managed to find it and steal it back.

  “Look familiar?” Talia asked.

  Arryn nodded, enjoying feeling a bit more like herself. “Well, would ya look at that? It sure as shit does. You found my lockbox. Thanks! I’ve been searching all over for it. I can take it off your hands.” Arryn completed her sarcastic remark by extending one of her weak arms as if she actually expected Talia to give it to her.

  Talia shook her head and laughed. “You know, if you weren’t completely against everything I stand for, I think I’d like you. You’re quite funny.”

  Arryn snorted. “You should see me after having some of the Chieftain’s wine. He makes it himself, the drunkard.” She leaned forward, putting a hand next to her mouth as she quieted her voice for a moment. “He drinks too much with the young people because he says we think he’s cool. Actually, if I’m honest, he is pretty cool.”

  Arryn laughed for a moment, leaning back and putting her weight on one hand in the snow like it was the most natural thing to do.

  Never losing her smile, she said, “Hey, I have an idea! I’ll bring you back some of his wine after I stop into the Dark Forest to grab an army of pissed-off, blood-thirsty druids on my way back to Arcadia. You’ll love it. Really. It’s delicious.” Arryn placed her fingertips against her lips, kissing them before pulling them away and wiggling them in the air.

  “One would assume you were drunk on it now,” Talia told her, her voice reflecting slightly less amusement.

  “Damn, I wish! You know, it’s only been a few weeks since I arrived in the city, and I hadn’t really expected to move again so soon. But you know? I think I like my new apartment. It’s cozy, and it’s a lot comfier here in the snow than in that lumpy-ass bed in my jail cell. Talk about bedhead! I looked awful! But from the looks of it, you know exactly what I’m talking about. Am I right?” Arryn smiled and pointed at Talia before motioning around her head at her hair.

  Several of the group behind Talia had to stifle their laughter at Arryn’s comments.

  “That’s enough,” Talia snapped. “Even though I shouldn’t because you’re having such a good time here already, I’m going to show you something.”

  “Oh!” Arryn exclaimed excitedly. “I can’t wait.”

  It was taking every ounce of energy she had to be a smartass, but once she saw how much it was getting to Talia, she couldn’t hold back. It wasn’t like she could attack her—

  Or could she?

  Arryn closed her eyes as she tilted her face up into the sky, acting as though she were enjoying the early rays of sunshine. It was colder than she’d ever felt before, but she shoved her hands down to the frozen dirt beneath the snow.

  Cathillian had once told her that he could kind of recycle energy, using the naturally occurring energy in nature to pull into himself. Sure, it took power to pull it, but what was used was far less than pushing power out to heal.

  He’d said that he could sense her ability to do it, but she’d never tried—until now.

  It was slow at first, but after the first couple seconds, Arryn could feel a small amount of her energy returning.

  “Did you pass out?” Arryn heard Talia’s hard voice ask.

  Arryn quickly pulled back, allowing her eyes to revert to their normal dark brown before opening them.

  “No, but I wish I had. So, what did you want to show me?” Arryn asked.

  Talia closed the box, a white envelope in her hand. “This is what you were after, I assume?”

  She eyed the envelope. “Is that the letter Doyle delivered to you right around the time of the Battle for Arcadia?” Arryn asked.

  Talia nodded.

  “Then it is indeed what I was looking for. Again, I can take it off your hands. Really, it’s no trouble.”

  Talia shook her head. “You’re an idiot. What would you even do with it? You’re stuck here, you…idiot.”

  “Oooh! Someone has a big vocabularyyy!” Arryn stretched out the last word, her voice soft and high-pitched as if she were talking to a baby.

  Talia lifted her arm, rage on her face.

  “Ah, ah, ah!” Arryn cautioned, wagging a finger in the air. “If you throw so much as a single fireball, you’ll be stuck here with me. You need all your strength for jumping. I might not have the skill to do it, but I know how it works. You used a lot to get me here. Would you like me to tell you how we’ll be spending our time if you stay?”

  Talia growled. “No.”

  “Oh, but it’s super-quick. Not gonna lie… It also sounds pretty fun. You see… You’ll be spending your grand adventure here dead, and I’ll be spending my time using your frozen corpse to sled down the side of the mountain.” She put her hands in front of her, lifting and dropping them as if she had reins in her hand for emphasis.

  “Have fun dying here in the wasteland,” Talia said flatly, turning as she placed the lockbox in one pocket and the letter in the other.

  “Oh!” Arryn exclaimed. “I almost forgot! One more thing…”

  “What?” Talia sighed as she turned, her eyes widening as she found Arryn standing behind her.

  “This.” Arryn threw her arm out and quickly yanked it back, causing Talia to hurl toward her by virtue of Arryn’s telekinetic power.

  Arryn spun out of the way just in time, punching Talia in the face and taking her down. They wrestled for a few moments before Talia grabbed Arryn’s wrists. The wounds had closed, but hadn’t yet fully healed, and Talia was easily able to jab her thumb through the stitches so that blood poured down her forearms.

  Lashing out, Arryn quickly headbutted Talia in the face, who loosened her grip enough that Arryn could punch her one more time before rolling away. She needed to reserve her energy for what was to come.

  She’d gotten what she was after.

  “You crazy bitch!” Talia exclaimed as she stood, stumbling back to her group.

  “I’m a crazy bitch? Fuck…” A confused expression crossed Arryn’s face as she looked at the snow-covered ground before looking back at Talia. “What’s that make you then?”

  Talia stomped forward, but was quickly pulled back by t
he others. “You’re going to die here. Alone. Freezing. Starving. I want you to think all about the people you left in Arcadia, because they’re next. I’ll kill them with my bare hands, and I’m going to watch their last breaths slowly escape them. Then… I’ll go for the Dark Forest. I’ll burn that motherfucker to the ground.”

  Arryn smiled—and judging by Talia’s expression, it was not the response she’d expected.

  “Good luck with that,” Arryn said, amused. Talia shook her head, stepping back into line with her terrible friends. “I’ll be seeing you very soon. When I do, I won’t be alone. Promise.” Arryn winked, and the group vanished in an explosion of magic.

  It would take a few minutes before she could draw enough energy to stand, but she was confident that she could.

  Reaching into her cloak, Arryn removed the letter Talia had shown her. “What an idiot,” Arryn remarked out loud to herself as she opened the letter to find it addressed to T and signed by A.

  It wasn’t exactly proof, but it would go a long way toward doing what she needed it to. She just hoped her friends had been smart enough to continue their work on the city and would keep everyone else safe. She could take care of herself.

  After about ten minutes, Arryn put her hands back in the snow and healed herself a bit more. Though it used less energy than a normal healing, it still used far more than she could risk, but it closed the wounds on her wrists and would allow her to stand. That was all she needed.

  Tucking the letter away in her cloak pocket, Arryn stood and looked around, finding the south side of the mountain using the sun. Once she did, she took her first unsteady steps.

  I don’t give up that easily, Talia. And I’m coming for you. She took a few more steps, her eyes flashing.

  I’m coming for ALL of you.

  Author Notes - Candy Crum

  Written August 8th, 2017

  Wow! Book two is now in the hands of JIT, and I can’t believe it. Tomorrow is both release day for The Undying Illusionist as well as my boys’ first day of school.

  Brandon will be in sixth grade. And that will be in the 6th Grade Center—which is in this weird “in between”, year-long purgatory between elementary and middle school. It’s super weird and something I’ve never experienced, but from the sound of it, I think it will do him some good to have a transition!