by Dyan Chick
Heart racing, he launched fire in all directions in a frenzy of anger, determined to kill as many of them as he could. After a moment, he realized what he had done. Looking around, he noticed that he had created a perimeter of fallen bodies and he closed his hands, letting his fire die, then patted out the flames eating away at his scorched tunic.
In a flash, Master Flanders had his hand around Ashton's and grey smoke rose around them. Ashton squeezed the older sorcerer's hand, and let some of the tension release from his body as they teleported away.
8
Etta
We arrived at the barn after the sun had set. Madame Lyndsey created two fire orbs and sent them into the center of the barn to illuminate the space. I looked around for any signs of the other group but found the barn empty. Were they on their way back? It was my idea to send them in as bait, if anything happened to them, it would be my fault.
Holden and Anna settled themselves in a corner. Madame Lyndsey performed a protection charm to conceal us in the barn. I paced around the empty space, stopping on occasion to listen for any indication of a group approaching us.
"Etta, why don't you sit down. There's nothing we can do right now." Calder gestured to the corner where Holden and Anna sat. "Come on."
Reluctantly, I followed Calder and set my bow on the ground before sitting down across from Anna. I looked over at the doorway and saw Madame Lyndsey bent down to stare through a hole. Feeling too restless to sit, I stood. "Maybe I should go see if she needs help."
A tug on my sleeve brought my attention back to the group on the floor. Anna was pulling me back down. "I have to tell you something."
Curious, I sat back down. "What is it?"
"Your bow." She nodded to the ground where I had set it down.
"Why are you so interested in it?" I asked.
She opened her bag and removed a small, wooden box then handed it to me. I saw it before I even had it in my hands. Carved on every side of the wood was the flower pattern Sir Edward had carved on the bow he made for his granddaughter. The bow I had learned how to shoot with. I traced my fingers over the flowers. "Where did you get this?"
"My grandfather made it for me."
My mouth dropped open and I blinked a few times, stunned into silence as the meaning of my archery master's note became clear. After all this time, I'd given up on Master Edward's message. I never expected the girl whose name was written on that note to find us. "Annalise?"
She nodded.
"What's happening here?" Holden said.
Anna turned to him. "My real name is Annalise. I haven't gone by it for years." She looked back at me. "My grandfather sent me to live with my aunt and uncle. And he gave me this box. He told me that one day I'd need to give it to you, the rightful queen of Illaria."
I pictured the rolled parchment that Master Edward had left for me with the words Annalise Sutton, Greenville. Tears blurred my vision. I'd given up on finding that girl. We'd sent our best scouts and they had failed. "We looked for you. I wasn't even sure if you were real."
She sniffed and her words came out choked. "I'm real. I've been waiting a long time."
I ran my hand through my hair and stared at Annalise, trying to find the words. "I'm sorry I didn't come sooner."
"Somebody please explain this to me," Calder said.
Feeling giddy, I laughed. As relieved as I was to have found her, I couldn't help but feel stunned and a bit light headed. After the destruction of Greenville, the loss of Calder's family, and all the stress of not knowing where the rest of our party was, here was the girl I was sent to find. "Annalise's grandfather was my archery master. He left me a message before he died with just her name and Greenville written on it. We sent scouts, but they never found her. I can't believe it."
Anna's face fell. "He's really gone, then?"
The initial elation eased and my shoulders sunk. I hadn't even thought of the fact that she wouldn't know about his death. I leaned closer to her and rested my hand on top of hers. "I'm so sorry. He passed a few months ago. He was a great man."
She wiped tears from her cheek. "I'm surprised he lived that long, really, but it's still difficult to hear."
"We should return to camp soon," Madame Lyndsey said.
I passed the box back to Anna and stood, crossing the barn to the front door. "What is it?"
Madame Lyndsey shook her head. "I'm not sure, but I have a bad feeling. I don't think it's safe to stay here much longer."
"We can't leave yet, the others haven't returned," I said.
"If they aren't here soon, we should go. We agreed to an hour after sunset. We shouldn't wait much beyond that time."
I nodded. It wasn't safe to stay in one place for so long, even with a protection spell around the barn.
Pacing again, I wondered what Ashton and the others were up to right now. Had they run into trouble? It was well past sunset and the longer we waited, the worse my imagination got. I pictured my friends surrounded by black-robed sorcerers or being overrun by a hoard of undead.
Calder joined me on my pacing. "It's going to be fine. They'll be here any minute. Come sit down."
I glanced at the front door where Madame Lyndsey still stood vigil. There wasn't anything I could do while we waited so I relented, finding a seat next to Anna and Holden. After a few minutes of silence, I turned to Anna. "What is in the box?"
"It's a map, I think." She turned the box around in her hands. "It's supposed to show where the king hid the Stone of Morare."
A chill ran through my whole body and I stared at Anna in disbelief. "Are you sure?"
She nodded.
I recalled my encounters with the king's Reapers, nose crinkling as I recalled the stench. They were terrible creatures who were often sent to target individuals the king wanted to eliminate. So far, I'd managed to use my arctic fire to send them away, but it wasn't without a price. The energy required for me to gain that kind of power took its toll on me and I ended up unconscious from the effort. I didn't even want to think what happened to most people when they were ambushed by the monsters.
The Stone of Morare. If we could get that stone, we would finally have an advantage. The king might have the Skystone, but we could take his Reapers away. We could destroy those monsters.
"Another stone?" Calder looked a bit green. "How many of those stones are there? And what terrible thing does this one do?"
Calder had helped us try to find the astral projection stone. Instead, we'd found the dragon stone, which was of little use to us. I looked at him, feeling sympathetic. He'd only been with us for a few weeks but after all we'd been through together, I felt like I'd known him for years. "There's five different stones. The Stone of Morare controls the Reapers."
The color drained from Calder's face. "As in, those monsters the king sends after his enemies?"
I nodded, then turned to Annalise. "Wait, wouldn't the king just keep that stone with him?"
The dragon stone we had found was on a chain and Celeste wore it all the time. It seemed the safest way for us to keep track of it.
"He used to," she said. "But people kept trying to steal it from him. He figured it would be safer to hide it, I suppose."
"How do you know where it is?" Calder asked.
"I don't. I just know the map in the box shows where it is." She tucked the box back into her bag. "I'm the only one who can decode it now that he's gone." She busied herself with the ties on her bag, seemingly finished talking for now.
I could almost feel Anna's pain as she struggled to keep it off of her face. She was forcing herself to be strong, it was an expression that was too common in the faces of those I met. Everyone in this room had lost so many they cared about. I glanced over at Calder. He was staring blankly in front of him, eyes unfocused. He'd lost all of his family in the last few weeks at the hand of the king and he never stopped to grieve. None of us had. I pried his fist apart and laced my fingers between his, squeezing his hand. He looked over at me, then looked away again.
"Get ready to go," Madame Lyndsey walked over to us. "We have to head out in the next couple of minutes."
"No, it can't be time already." My pulse raced. Ashton wasn't back yet. After everything we'd been through, there was no way I was going to lose him again. "Not yet, they have to be coming soon."
She frowned. "I know how you feel, I do. But something doesn't feel right."
My stomach turned as visions of Ashton, Celeste, Saffron, or Master Flanders hurt and alone filled my head. "Maybe I should go after them."
Madame Lyndsey lifted an eyebrow. "What good does it do anyone for you to go out after them?"
"What if one of them is hurt and they need help?" I never would have sent them away if I thought they would encounter danger. I thought that if they saw trouble, they'd teleport right back here. If they weren't here, something was wrong.
"Then perhaps they are resting in the woods or waiting a few hours before they come here. Maybe they were followed and chose to go straight back to camp," she said.
My shoulders dropped. She was right. It was possible that going after them could end up doing more damage if they were in a bad situation.
"Etta, they can take care of themselves. I mean, they have Celeste with them," Calder said.
"That's true." I smiled at Calder. He'd never seen the others in action and though I would consider Celeste to be the least powerful sorcerer of the group, she was a force on her own. That thought helped ease my mind. "I'm sure they're fine. They probably just got held up somewhere."
Out of nowhere, a faint tingle began in my fingers, the same feeling I got when magic was being used near me. My heartbeat quickened.
I jumped to my feet. "Somebody is here, and they're using magic."
Madame Lyndsey bolted back to the door and peered through the hole in the barn. She turned to me and placed a finger over her lips. My heart beat faster and the uncomfortable prickle of fear radiated from my chest. The tingle was stronger now, spreading up my arms.
I looked back to Anna and Calder, mirroring Madame Lyndsey's motion for silence. Anna had both hands on her bag, gripping it so tightly that her knuckles were white.
I tip-toed across the barn to the hole in the door where Madame Lyndsey was standing. She shifted so I could look. When I peered through the hole, my insides felt like they had ice running through them. Max was outside of the barn. A sharp pain shot into my fingers and traveled up my arms, taking my breath away. I stepped back from the hole and took a moment to catch my breath. The tingling settled as the most intense reaction to magic I had ever felt.
My breathing was rapid as I looked back out the hole, already knowing what I would see. Reapers. All four of them were floating around the barn with Max. I stepped back and nodded toward the hole. Madame Lyndsey looked through quickly then pulled back, face drained of all color.
Madame Lyndsey grabbed my hand and led me to the center of the barn then let go of my hand. She motioned for Anna, Holden, and Calder to join us. They stood, and walked to the center of the barn. The building shook as someone worked to break through the ward Madame Lyndsey had set up. The ward only had one sorcerer worth of magic so it wouldn't last long.
Madame Lyndsey pulled a red coin out of a pocket and held it in her hand. She looked at me. "You have your coin? Think you can take someone with you?"
My stomach twisted and nausea overtook me. This would be the farthest I'd ever teleported and it would be the first time taking someone besides myself. I found the coin I had hidden in a pocket and held it out for her to see. The barn shuddered as magic hit it again. There wasn't time to worry.
"Annalise, Holden," I whispered. "Hold on to Madame Lyndsey's hand. Don't let go no matter what."
They nodded at me and each took hold of one of her hands.
"You first," Madame Lyndsey said.
I swallowed against the lump that had risen in my throat. You can do this. Reaching my hand out, I grabbed Calder's.
He nodded. "It's going to be fine. You have been training for this."
Calder had heard stories of my shaky first attempts at teleporting. If he was still willing to take a chance on me, he either really believed in me, or he was really worried about the Reapers. Either way, it was our only choice. "Hang on."
"Dropping the ward now," Madame Lyndsey said. "Go!"
The room around us shuddered as the protection charm was dropped. The door to the barn exploded in a mass of flames and black smoke, heat causing me to turn my face away.
I closed my eyes as I called to my magic, focusing on the Raven camp, imagining the two of us dissolving into nothing and reappearing. Heat rose around me, the flames had to be getting nearer. Too afraid to open my eyes, I let out a little breath of relief as I felt the tugging sensation take hold. Focusing on getting us home, I squeezed Calder's hand. When my feet touched down on solid ground, we both tumbled forward, Calder landing on top of me, knocking my breath from my lungs.
He moved off of me and started laughing. "You did it."
Struggling to catch my breath, I looked around. We were on solid ground. "I did."
A moment later, Madame Lyndsey landed gracefully next to us with her two charges.
"You just need to work on your landing," Calder said.
My head was spinning as I processed what had just happened. We left so quickly I didn't have a chance to consider the consequences of our actions. We ran away, leaving an ambush for the other group. For a moment, I considered teleporting right back there, then I realized how stupid that would be. There was no way that Madame Lyndsey and I could have taken on Max and the Reapers alone. I had to hope that my friends would see the destruction of the barn before they were too close. Maybe they'd teleport straight here instead of going back.
I had to keep myself together, focus on my responsibilities and take care of the people here with me. With the discovery of Anna and the map to the Stone of Morare, things had changed.
"Is everybody alright?" Madame Lyndsey asked.
"I'm here, but I think I'm going to be sick," Anna said.
"We won't have to do that again, will we?" Holden asked.
I couldn't help but smile as I remember my first time teleporting. "It'll pass, you actually get used to it after a few times."
"I don't think I want to try it again," Anna said, clutching her bag with both hands.
"Don't let her fool you, it's still awful and I've done it a few times," Calder said.
In the starlight, I could just make out the dummies we used for archery practice. We were back at camp. Nobody was out here in the dark and I was thankful for the moment of peace. I focused on taking deep breaths and pulling myself together.
"Where are we?" Anna asked.
"Welcome to the camp of the White Ravens," I said.
Madame Lyndsey took a few steps toward camp then turned to look at me. "They'll be waiting for an update from you, I'm sure somebody will have noticed our arrival by now."
I looked toward the darkened camp. People were settling in for the night, but there would be enough lamps still lit to notice us walking through. "We'll have to wait until morning. The others should be back by then and I'm sure our guests are tired."
Madame Lyndsey nodded. "Why don't you get some rest, your highness. I'll check in with the watch, make sure everything is normal."
"Thanks." I was grateful that Madame Lyndsey had chosen to stay and help us after the trials. She and Ashton were the only fire sorcerers we had on our side and we were going to need their power to stop the king. "Please come and get me if you need me. I'm going to find Anna and Holden a place to sleep."
As we walked toward the camp, I realized I didn't know where to put the two of them. We'd need to make a tent for Anna and Holden if they were going to stay with us long term. In the end, I led them to my tent, it was the largest one in the camp and we'd all be meeting there in the morning, anyway.
"Where are you going to sleep?" Calder asked after we closed the tent flap on his friends.
I glanced to the tent across from mine. It was empty right now because I'd sent its occupant off as bait.
Calder walked over to Ashton's tent and silently lifted the flap for me. I paused at the doorway, fighting back the worry that was occupying my mind.
Calder gave me a kiss on the cheek, then nudged me toward the tent. "Get some rest, Etta."
I walked into the darkened space and the flap of the tent dropped closed behind me. Somehow, I found my way to Ashton's bedroll and curled up into a little ball. Please come home soon. Please be safe. I wrapped his blanket around me, breathing in the smell of him.
9
Ashton
Ashton collapsed on the ground when he landed. He blinked a few times, trying to clear the double vision and regain his balance. It took all of his willpower to force himself up. He took a few tentative steps then turned to vomit in the bushes behind him. He wiped the sweat from his brow then wiped his mouth with his sleeve. He stood straighter, feeling a little better, though still fighting for his balance.
"Are you alright?"
Ashton turned to see Saffron and Celeste staring at him. He smiled at them to try to hide the screaming pain in his head.
"I'm fine," he said, "just a bump on the head."
Ashton looked around in the twilight. The sun was already below the horizon line, it would be dark in minutes. Was Etta already waiting for them? He looked through the trees, expecting to see the barn in the distance. All he saw were trees. "Where are we?"
Master Flanders was speaking quietly to Saffron. He paused in his conversation and turned to Ashton. "We're about two miles away from the barn. I didn't think it wise to show up right in front of it, we'd draw too much attention."
