by Candy Crum
Nathaniel sighed, nodding as he lifted his bags. "Sorry. This just makes me nervous. I know the deal between Cella and Arcadia is good, but it doesn't make me worry any less about our people. You giving up experienced guards and taking on a bunch of inexperienced men and women while I'm gone doesn't sit well with me."
His father clapped him on the back, turning him gently toward the door as he escorted him out. "Then I guess it's a good thing you won't have to be here for it, right? Go. Learn. Enjoy yourself… make the best out of the situation. I’ll send letters, and if anything happens, I’ll send a rider out immediately. Okay?"
Nathaniel nodded, stepping forward and wrapping his father in a hug. "Take care of yourself. Don't be stubborn."
The governor smiled and helped load Nathaniel’s bags into the carriage. "You do the same. On both accounts. Have fun and learn something good. Help Amelia when you can."
Nathaniel nodded once, looking around the city one last time before climbing into the carriage. The governor closed the door and waved to the driver.
As the carriage took off, Nathaniel found himself both excited and nervous about the future. He knew little about magic, but there was so much more for him to learn. And after all they had been through, he planned to bring everything he learned back to the city, to help teach them, as well.
CHAPTER FIVE
Deciding to leave the forest when everything seemed so vulnerable was a big decision, but even with an impending battle, the Chieftain, Elysia, Cathillian, and Arryn all decided it was well worth the risk. They needed new weapons, or they wouldn't stand a chance.
Their battle would not and could not be fought entirely with magic. Both sides would be exhausted if they relied too heavily on it, and it was possible no outcome but a stalemate would come from engaging in such a battle.
They needed to be prepared for anything that might happen, and going in with torn up equipment was not the way to do it.
Arryn and Cathillian had decided to go out on their own, not wanting to risk taking anyone else with them. They each felt confident they would be safe in their travels, as the bandits were primarily south, and there wasn't much up north, except for Cella.
After a day of traveling, they came across a cabin big enough to hold a large family.
"I smell cattle. We should stop and see if they will allow Snow and Chaos to drink," Arryn said.
Cathillian nodded. "Maybe we could grow something for them in return. In your experience, are people in the Valley very hospitable?"
"Surprisingly, yes. However, there were ass loads of snobby nobles that left the city when Adrien was killed, so the place might be owned by one of them. Who knows?"
"Hey," Cathillian said with a confused, yet intrigued tone to his voice. "Total change of subject, but did you get a good look at Dante before we left?"
Arryn looked at him with wide eyes, nodding. "I don't know what the hell has happened to him in the last week, but since the last attack, when he was stuck up in a tree, shaking and scared, he has been growing like a weed. He's grown over a foot since then. When we were in the mountains, he grew very quickly the first couple days, and then stopped completely. He hasn’t grown an inch since, and even a normal tiger cub would have grown in the last couple months. Not a ton, but certainly a few inches, I would think."
"Yeah, I figured Dante would come into it, but he never did. I just assumed your magic had caused Snow to grow exponentially, but had somehow stunted Dante and kept him the same size. Do you really think it's everything that happened with you and Corrine?" Cathillian asked.
Arryn sighed. "Honestly, I don't see how it could be anything else. He was petrified and stuck in a tree during all that. Corrine damn near died—a couple of times—and so did I. He was tiny, and unable to do anything about it, and I know he felt my emotions. He probably even saw what I saw.”
She shook her head. “I think about how terrifying that must have been for him. There is no one more important to him than his mama and me and, to a lesser extent, Corrine. Corrine and I were both in danger, and he was too little to do anything. I know the animals don't have magic of their own, but something definitely happened. Regardless, if it keeps up, he's going to be huge. The good thing is we won't have to worry about him so much anymore."
Cathillian laughed. "And we won't have to pull him out of trees anymore."
Arryn groaned as she rolled her eyes. "Thank the Bitch for that."
They quieted as they rode closer to the house. It seemed rather quiet, which was either a good thing, or a very bad thing. They decided to be cautious.
Arryn climbed off Snow’s back and slowly made her way to the door. She had one hand behind her back, wrapped around the ram’s horn handle of her dagger, in case she was met with danger. With her free hand, she reached out and knocked.
Several moments passed before the door opened just a crack. "Who the hell are you, and what the hell do you want?"
Arryn was taken aback by the harshness in the woman's voice, but she blew it off, opting for a smile as genuine as she could manage. "Hi, my name is Arryn, and that back there is my traveling companion, Cathillian. We wanted to see if it was possible to let our animals have fresh water before we continued farther north."
The old woman eyed her suspiciously for a few moments. "That hand you have hidden… What exactly do you plan to do with it? What are you hiding?"
Arryn held her smile. "It's a dagger. No offense, ma'am, but I've met my fair share of assholes on the road. I wasn't about to knock on the door without preparing for the worst. Now, it is in fact your door, and I am a stranger, so I can't blame you for anything you might be hiding, but I didn't come here to fight. I only came for water. So, I'll take my hand away from my daggers as soon as I know I'm not gonna get one shoved in my chest."
Arryn saw the woman's body jerk with a small laugh as a wry smile spread across her lips. The door opened fully, and Arryn saw a sword at the woman's side.
"I appreciate honesty," the old woman said. "Seems to be in short supply around here these days. Now, I'm gonna put my sword against the wall over here, and I expect you to remove your hand from that blade. Do we understand each other?"
Arryn nodded. "Yes, ma'am."
As promised, the woman put her sword aside, and Arryn moved to a more natural, non-threatening position. The woman stepped outside and closed the door behind her. As she looked around Arryn, her eyes widened.
"I don't mean to point out the obvious, but are you aware there is a tiger standing back there that’s damn near the size of the black Shire horse it’s standin’ next to?” She got a better look at Chaos, and her surprise renewed. “Bitch and Bastard… That damn horse is several hands oversized, too!"
Arryn laughed. "The tiger is Snow. She's my familiar. The horse is named Chaos, and he belongs to Cathillian’s mother—also a familiar. That’s why they’re larger than normal."
The woman once again looked at her with curiosity and then looked to Cathillian. "Pointed ears. Familiars. Both of you are druids, yes?"
Arryn looked back to Cathillian for a moment before turning back to the old woman and giving a nod. "Yes, ma'am. Well, I was born in Arcadia, so I don't have the pointed ears, but he does. And just between the two of us, he uses those to listen in on anything and everything.” She leaned in a bit and whispered, “He's nosy, and he likes to think it's funny."
"Hey! Not fair! We just met her, and you're already making me look like the bad guy here."
With a knowing smile, the old woman turned to him and said, "I have a feeling you don't need her for that."
Cathillian gave the old woman his famous fictitious offended expression. "My goodness. Fast friends, I see."
The old woman turned again to Arryn. Her hand was quick as she reached out to flip Arryn’s long, dark hair behind her shoulders. "And you might've been born an Arcadian, but there's a slight point to those ears of yours. I saw just a flash of them when you turned to look at your friend earlier."
Ar
ryn's brows creased as her fingers darted up, feeling along the top edge of her ear. It was very slight, but her ears had begun to change.
Her eyes widened. She had seen more and more emotional change in herself as of late, but this was a physical manifestation of how far she had come and how much she had changed.
The first druids to settle in the Dark Forest had seen the small changes in their ears after a few years. Like the rearick in the mountains, it was their way of adapting to their environment brought on by the nanocytes in the blood.
Each generation since, the feature had become more and more pronounced—like Cathillian’s. It was hard to say just how long hers had been in the process of changing, but she certainly hadn’t noticed until then, and neither had anyone else.
Though, they were almost always too busy planning war to notice such subtle changes.
The old woman nodded toward the back of the house. "Follow me. This way. The name’s Elsie."
Cathillian dismounted and urged Chaos to follow him with little effort. Snow was already by Arryn’s side, sticking close in case of an emergency. As they rounded the back of house, she saw several young men rebuilding a broken fence. It didn't seem to have been broken by natural means; something seemed off to Arryn.
"What happened here?" Arryn asked.
The woman gave a sarcastic chuckle as she shook her head. "What happened here? Well, a lot of shit. That's why I don't just answer my door like a normal person anymore. I'm always armed."
As Arryn got closer, she saw blood on parts of the broken fence, and it furthered her curiosity. "Did someone try to hurt you and your family?"
Elsie pointed toward the men working on the fence. "Those are my sons. I had four sons, and three daughters. Now I have three sons. There are groups of worthless bandits wandering around and taking whatever they want. Two nights ago, they came for the livestock, and my youngest son, Garrett, paid the price."
Arryn's brows furrowed as she looked to the woman with sympathy. Elsie’s eyes were locked on her sons repairing the fence. "I'm sorry to hear that. We've heard about bandits lurking around, even fought some, but we thought they were limited to the southern part of the Valley because they seemed to mostly be after the rearick. They'd been attacking their parties and stealing the amphorald crystals used for creating magitech."
"Well, that ain't all they’re takin’. They're stealing livestock to feed themselves and tearing up farmland all over. They take whatever they want. The ground here ain't been good for a while now, so I haven't been able to grow a damn thing. The cattle are all we have for income. Milk and meat. And now, two of them are gone, and I have another two knocking on death’s door."
"Where are they?" Cathillian asked. "If you take us to them, we can heal them for you. It won't make up for the ones that you lost, but at least you won't lose them, too."
The woman sighed, nodding. "Thank you. I know you came here looking for water for your oversized critters, so it seemed rude to ask. But I do appreciate that."
Elsie yelled for one of her sons, Robbie. As he ran up, his eyes widened just as his mother’s had. She waved a hand as he approached. "They're druids, dear. That's her familiar, Snow. She's tame."
The man got a large smile on his face. "Can I pet her?"
Arryn laughed. “Be careful. She might not bite, but she snuggles pretty hard. She’s like one of those needy cats that thump your hand when you try to pull it away. Only her paw is like getting smacked with a tree trunk.”
In a movement that she was more accustomed to from Zobig than Snow, the big cat growled before pushing against her, nearly knocking her over.
Exasperated, Elsie said, "Robbie, you can pet her all you like while taking her and the Shire down to the pond. Let them get a drink. I'm gonna take these two to the barn."
Realization crossed his face. "Are you guys going to heal the cows?"
Arryn and Cathillian both nodded. "I'm going to look at your land, too," Cathillian said. "I'm betting something in the soil is off, and that's why you can't grow anything. Arryn and I might be able to fix that for you."
As Elsie led Arryn and Cathillian to the barn, the old woman couldn't stop apologizing for bringing them into her family’s mess, and thanking the druids for their kindness.
Arryn could tell the old woman was feisty, but losing her son had made her desperate for stability. Experiencing a loss was enough to knock anyone off their path, and having their very livelihood threatened only added insult to injury.
If Arryn and Cathillian could right some of the wrongs that had been done there, they would. But Arryn wanted to go further.
"Do you have any idea where these bastards are staying?" Arryn asked as she laid her hands on the side of a black and white cow with a large gash in her abdomen. How she had survived for two days, Arryn had no idea.
Elsie shook her head. "I heard rumors they were staying farther north, in a large cabin on a lake, but I don't know if that's true. My farm isn't the only one that's been hit. All of us around here have small plots of land; not enough to do much with. We’ve had to turn to one another for survival."
Arryn smiled. "Well, that ends today. We’re heading north once we leave here. If we come across them—and by ‘if,’ I mean ‘when’—you won’t have to worry about that anymore. We'll find that cabin and put an end to this."
Elsie’s eyes widened as they began to glisten with tears. "You have no idea what that would mean to me, to all of us. Losing my baby, though he was nearly thirty, was the hardest thing I've ever had to do. Losing my husband wasn’t even that hard. Those men took our cattle, killed my son, and took our coin. We had quite a lot saved up, and they took every bit of it. If you find a brown leather sack with our brand on it, the same brand on that cow's rear end, you can have it. All of it."
Arryn shook her head. "We're not doing this to get paid. We're doing this because you’re good people, and you've lost a lot. You deserve to have someone fighting on your side instead of against you."
Arryn pulled her hands away from the cow, and the animal groaned as she rolled onto her feet, standing up for the first time in two days. The large cow shook her entire body from head to rear, and Arryn could tell she already felt better. Not wanting to waste too much magic, Arryn healed the life-threatening wounds and the infection, but the healing wasn’t complete, and further time would be needed. She would still be sore for a couple of days, but she wouldn't be in real pain.
"Young lady, I mean no offense, but those men took that money. It was gone anyway. I would give you that entire sack of coin—and more, if I had it—for what you and your friend did here today. If you go and take care of those men, you deserve every last one of those coins. Like I said, it was gone anyway. Might as well go to whatever it is you're trying to accomplish on your journey. You're obviously far from home."
Arryn nodded. "We're headed north to find a blacksmith that I met there. We need new weapons in the forest because there’s a war coming. Dark druids are threatening to take our land and kill our people. That's why we want to help you—because we understand."
Elsie smiled. "And just how do you expect to pay a blacksmith for enough steel to arm the druids of the Dark Forest?"
Giving an awkward laugh, Arryn twisted her hair and tossed it behind her shoulder. "Well, that part was a work in progress."
Elsie stepped forward and took Arryn's hands in hers. "You are a blessing. Take the coins. Buy your steel. If you feel that guilty about it, bring whatever is left back to me. But please make sure your people are taken care of first. You have already taken care of mine; let me do the same for you."
Arryn was overwhelmed by the woman's kindness, and she could see how much it meant to her. Finally, Arryn nodded. "Let's go take a look at that soil of yours. Maybe before we leave here today, we'll actually be able to grow something. I’m betting we can get some vegetables and fruit trees started for you, if you have the seeds. You might even be able to harvest something."
Elsie’s eyes wi
dened again. “Really? I prayed for an answer to our hardships, and here you are. Thank you. It’s time to start storing up for winter again, and we haven’t even been able to grow anything. That would get us through the hard times we’d have coming.”
Cathillian nodded as he took a step forward. "Absolutely. I’ll take on that task. Arryn needs to conserve the rest of her magic for the journey, but I’ll get you going. And then—we’re heading north for a hunting trip."
CHAPTER SIX
Arryn and Cathillian traveled well into the night, stopping at a couple of other farms on the way in the hopes of finding out more information on the men they planned to hunt down. The farms were sparse, but they were able to locate them easily enough.
Everyone they asked repeated the very rumors Elsie had heard almost verbatim. They believed them to be in a large cabin on a lake farther north.
That sounded very familiar to Arryn, and she wondered if it might have been one of the many places Talia had stopped with her in tow on the way to dumping her in the Frozen North.
The trip with Talia had been made in several jumps using teleportation. There was no way she could have used so much magic without rest, meaning she had been forced to stop several times. One of those stops was made at what appeared to be a cabin, and Arryn had smelled water close by.
Deep down, she sincerely hoped this cabin was one of those stops. She wanted nothing more than to exact vengeance on them for what they had done to her.
Those monsters had allowed the group of teachers and students to slit her wrists repeatedly to drain her, allowed her assailants to rest and regain strength before allowing them to continue heading north. In truth, Talia was weak enough when stopping at any one of those points, that whoever was there would have been strong enough to overtake her. It pissed Arryn off that no one had tried.
So, she hoped there might be a tiny bit of revenge in this for her, as well as for the old woman, Elsie.
