Sorceress (Book 2)

by Jim Bernheimer

  “Captain Lynch didn’t explain very much to you, ma’am?”

  “No, she did not. She said it would be best to hear it from you.”

  Kayleigh frowned and looked at the nearby recruits straining to hear and said, “Let’s go over there.”

  “Santiago! Fall out and take over the exercises. If I catch you going soft on them, you’ll be spending time alone out here with me,” Sheppard barked. “Lead on, Kayleigh.”

  Walking close to the side of Pasha, Kayleigh tried to come up with a way to present the story in a manner that didn’t sound crazy. Finally, she settled on, “I’m riding Rheysurrah for the moment. The Portal dropped us off in the ruins of Mon Alder in the middle of a war. Annabeth died in combat about the time Danella Lynch took Majherri back, almost killing me in the process.”

  Both the unicorn and the rider stared at her in shock.

  “It gets worse,” Kayleigh continued. “Stop me if you don’t want to hear anymore.”

  “I’m sorry about your friend, Kayleigh. She was a good rider with a kind heart. Tell me more.”

  Waffling, but only for a moment, Kayleigh beat back her own fears. “Can I trust you and Pasha with my life?”

  “That’s a strange question to ask,” the woman replied. “I would never knowingly endanger your life.”

  “Even if it goes against an edict of the High-King?”

  “Is it that serious?”

  “Yes, ma’am. General Jyslin has issued a blanket order to prevent disclosure of this information. You can confirm it with Captain Lynch. If you don’t want me to say another word, I’ll understand.”

  “Go ahead, Kayleigh.”

  “I’m a sorceress, not really a Battle Maiden. I mimic the elemental powers.” She held her hand out and conjured a thin stream of water. “I’m not good with earth or air yet, too much time riding for my life. I bonded with Rheysurrah to stop his wasting. I was also able to force a bond between a riderless unicorn and a trainee who lost hers when Shiftla fell.”

  “You can prevent the wasting? That’s remarkable! Shiftla and Mon Alder have fallen? That’s not good. All this is interesting, but I don’t see how this could kill you.”

  “Jaruciax is also in enemy hands. Everything west of the Clef except for Salif has been conquered, but you’re right. I found out who I really am out there. Even I am still having problems dealing with it. My mother is really Brianna Nolan-West,” Kayleigh said and saw Lindsey’s eyebrows furrow as she tried to place the name.

  “She was the lover of Count Darius, who is apparently my father. He’s also still alive and leading that army. When I fought him and his manticore briefly in Shiftla, our magic barely affected each other.”

  “Oh,” was all the earth maiden could say for a moment. “There’s more isn’t there?”

  “Count Darius knows I’m out here. Captain Lynch and I were ambushed twice on our ride from Salif. He wants me out of the way one way or another, kidnapped or dead, and he has something that can turn a person, even a Battle Maiden, into a slave willing to kill for him.”

  Pausing, Kayleigh fought against the trembling feeling spreading through her body. “Lieutenant Townsend has been taken prisoner. We captured an enslaved rider and they were trying to cure her in Salif when I had to flee. He even did it to a trainee just to deliver a message to me. Now, Danella and Majherri are in the northern kingdoms from what the dying unicorn in the stables can tell me. Whatever they’re doing threatens that region. She gave me the impression that Majherri is fighting her control, but whatever she’s done to him has turned his coat black and his horn is missing.”

  Sheppard dismounted and wrapped her arms around Kayleigh.

  “Is there more?”

  “Probably,” Kayleigh confessed. “I’m sure I’m forgetting at least a hundred things, but...”

  “Take your time. It’s okay.”

  “No, it’s not!” Kayleigh said, struggling not to give into this breakdown. She sniffed loudly and stepped out of the hug. “I’ll be heading north. I need to track down my mother and find out how my fath…the count survived the battle with General Jyslin and stop Danella. If I stay here, my identity comes out and I’m either arrested or executed. Lynch even had to stop Sycroft from informing the High-King.”

  All her frustrations came pouring out to one of the few people she could confide in.

  “What can I do to help?”

  “I wish I knew. General Jyslin is a couple of days away from what Captain Sycroft said,” Kayleigh answered, still finding it difficult that the woman had listened to her story and planned to turn her over to the mercies of the High-King. “We’ll have to wait for her.”

  “Pasha and I will volunteer to go north with you. I’m from the Duchy of Rosha and know the area.”

  “Annabeth volunteered to come on a trip with me and she died. I’d rather not see that happen to you as well.”

  The woman shrugged and said, “Thank you for your concern, Kayleigh, but I am a Battle Maiden. Dying is always a possibility. It sounds like it is happening to too many people right now.”

  “I honestly think the Western Battalion is gone.”

  “Then we will avenge our sisters,” Sheppard responded and smiled at her. “So you must be pretty good if you fought a manticore.”

  “I was lucky,” Kayleigh replied. “I did manage to do a fireshade twice to beat some sand trolls and some nomads.”

  “That’s pretty impressive for someone who hasn’t had any training.”

  She was about to reply that it seemed like the story of her life when they were interrupted by a galloping Rheysurrah. Kayleigh detected a sense of urgency through the frail bond connecting the two of them.

  “That can’t be good,” Kayleigh said. “Can you get Captain Lynch and send her to the stables?”

  As Lindsey nodded, Kayleigh mounted Rheysurrah bareback and rode off. The image the unicorn showed her was Iarisha collapsing.

  “If they haven’t found another rider,” Kayleigh said, “I’m going to go ahead and break our bond. I’m sure when the others return you’ll have your pick of riders.”

  The unicorn agreed and she felt a wave of regret that mirrored her own.

  “We’re a really bad match, Rheysurrah. I’m sorry it didn’t work either. Take more time to get to know your next rider.”

  Inside the barn things were worse than she imagined. Iarisha was leaking blood from the bruises on her flanks.

  “You don’t want to see this, miss. It’ll be over in a few minutes. Go on and git,” the stablemaster said.

  “Not if I have anything to say about it,” she replied and dismounted. “Rhey, hold on! I’m going to try and do this cleanly and quickly. When Danella broke my bond with Majherri, it hurt so bad I almost passed out.”

  “What are you talking about, girl?”

  Turning around, Kayleigh looked at the burly man and said, “If I pass out, wake me up. Dump water on me, slap me, kick me, I don’t care.”

  “I ...”

  “Just do it!” she commanded and returned her attention to her bond with Rheysurrah. “Wait! Let’s do this outside of the building. Goddess only knows what damage I could do to this place.”

  Running out of the barn, she turned to the unicorn and took a deep breath. Danella had squeezed her bond with Majherri in a vice until it snapped. Instead, Kayleigh envisioned her magic like the blade of her Yar knife.

  “Alright,” she said. “Here we go!”

  Using her mental knife, she began sawing at the bond connecting them. Too many things in her life had already earned the distinction of being painful beyond description. This experience made the incident with the ground fire pepper seem like a refreshing splash of water across her face. It was like cutting off her own hand as she hacked away at the bond, which fought back trying to reattach the parts she was separating.

  She redoubled her efforts and in her mind, the knife became Annabeth’s scimitar. Using the new weapon, Kayleigh savagely attacked the bond until it
mercifully broke in two.

  Managing not to lose conscious while feeling she’d done something horrible, she opened her eyes and stared up at the sky. Rheysurrah was nearby. They were both in the middle of an oval scorch mark burnt into the ground that went for a dozen feet.

  “You okay?” Kayleigh grunted and pulled herself into a sitting position. Rheysurrah looked anything but. Still the unicorn shook his head and gestured to the stable with his head for her to hurry.

  “Easy for you to say,” she replied and stumbled to her feet. Pushing aside the confused stablemaster, she ran to the female unicorn’s side and knelt next to her.

  Iarisha’s breathing was shallow as she placed her hands on the female.

  The magic surrounding the severed remains of the bond seeped energy. Kayleigh threw her loose end of the bond against the other and started knitting the two together.

  Iarisha’s end remained limp, almost unmoving.

  “Come on!” she cried. “Don’t die on me!”

  Kayleigh was beyond the point where the bond had taken over with Rheysurrah. Instead, she was faced with hundreds of strands still waiting for her to tie them with hers.

  “Reese! Report!” Lynch entered the barn.

  “I broke my bond with Rheysurrah, but I’m not bonding with her. She’s slipping away!”

  Fresh tears of frustration emerged as she continued to fumble with the strands of the bond.

  “If she dies, we might not be able to find Danella before she gets to my mother! I can’t let that happen! I won’t.”

  She began feeling the effects of exhaustion as the hot tears rolled down her cheeks.

  “Reese! Keep doing that,” she heard Captain Lynch say.

  “What?”

  “Healing tears,” Lynch answered and pointed down to the unicorn.

  The bruises where her tears spattered were no longer oozing blood. She wiped her hands across her cheeks and placed them on the other wounds. Meghan dug a vial out of her pouch and began assisting.

  Sensing the bond, Kayleigh saw spurts of life from Iarisha’s side. The bond started knotting on its own, but stopped after a second. Then, it started again, in fits and spurts as she worked feverishly, feeling the life of the unicorn hanging in the balance. There was pressure beneath her eye and she opened them to see Lynch using her empty vial to collect Kayleigh’s tears. Lines of wetness ran down the woman’s cheeks as well.

  Another set of false starts pushed at the bond as their combined magic reacted erratically. There was a sudden gust of wind that swirled around them sending straw into the air and causing the stablemaster to retreat.

  The unicorn stirred and snorted loudly. “C’mon, Iarisha! That’s it! Help me save you.”

  The bond reacted, meshing and coming together. Kayleigh threw herself down on top of the unicorn’s bruised and battered frame and grabbed on for all she was worth.

  Squeezing her eyes shut did nothing since the blinding light of the bondspark shimmered in her mind and dazzled her.

  For the second time in only a few minutes, Kayleigh gasped for her own breath as she continued holding onto the female unicorn. Looking up, she saw the expressions of Lynch and Sheppard. The captain nodded her head slowly and her friend grinned at her.

  “She’s going to make it,” Kayleigh stated, partly to convince herself.

  “Well done, Kayleigh,” Lindsey said.

  “Yes,” Lynch said. “You’re getting better. There’s hardly any damage to the stables. Smart move breaking your bond with Rheysurrah outside.”

  Kayleigh smiled at the rare praise and focused on her new unicorn, trying to see what could be done to help Iarisha.

  “She needs water and some blankets. Could someone get those for her? Also, please make sure Rheysurrah is okay. I’ll check on him in a little bit, but right now she needs me.”

  The woman divided up the tasks and brought the things Kayleigh requested. All the while, Kayleigh stayed draped over the four-legged body and whispered reassuring phrases to her new unicorn. Before too long, both drifted off to sleep.

  “It is as we feared,” the Seeress said, coming out of the stall after conversing with Kayleigh’s new unicorn. “She confirmed what the other told me in Salif. Ian seeks to open a pathway to the Nether Realms. The tainted one, Danella Lynch, has been ordered to unleash the barbarians on the northern kingdoms. Unchecked, they will lay waste to towns and the crops in that region, upsetting the balance and spreading starvation far beyond those lands. New pathways are open to me now and I have seen the city of Pinella held by their forces.”

  “We must take this new information to the High-King,” General Jyslin said.

  “I will do it,” Duchess Tomas said. “I need to contact my husband and rally our reserves. Lady Kayleigh, give my love to my children and tell them all to be careful. And that goes doubly so for you Naomi. I feel that tomorrow evening will be your best chance for success.”

  The woman embraced the general before making her way toward the dock. General Jyslin turned toward Kayleigh and said, “I understand your path back here was not easy. How is your new unicorn?”

  “She’s recovering and will be ready to travel. Will we take the Portal?”

  “No,” General Jyslin said. “The Portals leading north are not near Pinella. It will be quicker to ride, but my original idea of having you and a few others travel north must now be revised. What of the unicorn you broke your bond with to save the female?”

  “He’s relatively healthy, ma’am. I see signs of the wasting beginning again. As long as we find a rider for him soon, I think he’ll be fine.”

  Kayleigh didn’t have to have the skills of a seer to know what was about to happen.

  “I will ride him,” the woman said.

  “I … I need some time to perfect the process,” Kayleigh stammered.

  “If I were ten years younger, would you still need this time?”

  “Ma’am?”

  “My question is irrelevant,” General Jyslin said. “We’ve already sent word to the Council of the involvement of the Nether Realms based on what we learned in Salif and the troops are already moving south and west. We will have very little to send north. I cannot ask the young women on this island to march into battle, if I will not take that risk myself. You are the only one who can make this possible, Kayleigh Reese. I could order you, but you could refuse. So, I will ask you as someone who knows what it feels like to lose a bond, for your aid.”

  Kayleigh thought about General Hawthorne’s words and weighed them against the savages in the northern kingdoms. She remembered the faces of the villagers in Miros after the Yar raid.

  “I’ll do it.”

  “Thank you, child,” she said. “If you’ll excuse me, I have much to prepare for and I should try to fit in some rest and meditation before tomorrow evening.”

  The woman straightened, becoming taller with newfound strength, and a look of resolve in her eyes. Meghan Lynch, the only other human present, moved closer to check both of them over. The small group of unicorns, including Iarisha, conversed in a rapid series of nonverbal communication mixed with snorts and neighs.

  “That was considerably more violent than I remembered,” the rider said, before reaching over and stroking Rheysurrah’s mane.

  “Are you okay?”

  “Yes, child, for the first time in a long time I can say that and truly mean it. I cannot begin to thank you for this.”

  Kayleigh confessed, “General Hawthorne asked me to talk you out of this. She was worried you wouldn’t survive, but after all you’ve done for me, I couldn’t refuse you this.”

  Naomi Jyslin smiled at Kayleigh and embraced her. “Althea is very protective of me, but you understood my position. To have this again after so long is a blessing from the Goddess. You have a precious and unique gift, young lady. Promise me that no matter what else occurs in your journeys you will do your utmost to see that no other unicorn must suffer death because their rider died.”

  “I wi
ll, ma’am.”

  “That is all I can ask of you,” the woman said and reached skyward with the hand that wasn’t touching Rheysurrah. A shimmering dome of hardened air appeared overhead and the regal old lady smiled. “I was worried I’d have to get a crash course in fire magic.”

  Slowly the old woman climbed into the saddle with a look of profound joy on her face. “Captain, Kayleigh, I’d be honored if you would ride with me. By the time we reach the main building on the other side, the entire school will be in the dining hall. There is much to do and hardly any time to do it in.”

  General Jyslin kicked her unicorn into a fast gallop, leaning forward and remembering what it felt like to ride at such a pace once more. Kayleigh on Iarisha managed to keep up, but Captain Lynch and T’rsa fell quickly behind and they waited for her for over two minutes by the entrance. Captain Sycroft waited at the double doors with her unicorn, clearly stunned to see General Jyslin in the saddle of a unicorn.

  “It’s a miracle. I’m glad it worked,” the third year commander said and saluted.

  “I am as well, but it’s really because of Rider Reese.”

  Kayleigh didn’t miss the falling expression on the captain’s face. The general had a way of saying a single sentence that carried paragraphs of meaning behind it.

  “Rider Reese,” the captain said. “I apologize for my rash actions and the harm it could have inflicted upon you. My poor judgment nearly prevented the scene before me and, on my honor, my life, and that of my unicorn, it will not happen again.”

  “Thank you, ma’am,” Kayleigh said, trying to be gracious, despite being slightly choked up and conflicted over her feelings toward the woman.

  The general reached behind her head and undid the ties holding her hair, allowing the long, flowing mane of straight white hair to cascade down to the middle of her back and framing her light brown skin. It reminded Kayleigh of the portrait in the woman’s office…done by her mother’s hand.

  “Open the door, Heather. I’d like to address my students from the saddle as befitting a Battle Maiden.”

  The doors opened and there were shocked gasps as the general rode in. Rheysurrah’s shoes clattered against the stone floor. Kayleigh and the two captains followed slowly behind her amongst the crowd who stood and watched a legend, now seated upon a unicorn, riding amongst them.