by Olivia Ash
But her life would never be “normal.” She would never make friends, never go to school, never go to a ball during the courting season. Girls her age were even courting now, soon to be married off for power or profit in exchange for a life of comfort and status. While that prospect had never struck her as particularly interesting, she had a pang of jealousy that “normal” was a life she would never get to have because of her untamed magic that no one, not even the great and wise Professor Matthew Grindel, seemed to understand.
Thinking about her upcoming eighteenth birthday and the party and presents she would never receive, Sophia finally passed out.
Chapter Two
Edric
As was his nightly custom since becoming the youngest commander of the elite castle guard at twenty-four years old, Edric walked along the top of the fortified, white wall of Nighthelm to inspect his squad as they performed their security duties.
But this night, something else brought him here to the wall.
His eyes scanned the Witch Woods surrounding the city as a terrible sensation ripped through him. It took his breath away and he had to put a hand onto the wall to steady himself. It was a combination of worry and hopelessness, anger and fear, something he’d felt every now and then throughout his life. It always seemed to come from the woods, and every time—
Yes, there it was. A burst of light at the center that lasted for only a moment but destroyed everything in its path. He’d seen the aftermath of this event one time, years ago. A fifty foot radius of scorched earth and burnt trees, and nearby was the tiny body of a wood sprite fried to death. He gritted his teeth, determined to finally find out what this magic was… and why he seemed to be connected to it.
In a city of superstition and magic, he didn’t dare tell a soul about his connection. The elite guard had enough to worry about with keeping the king’s peace without the presence of the king. Nighthelm had been without a king for over a decade. It was believed the creatures of Ripthorn Mountain, which loomed over the kingdom, killed the royal family and stole the heirs, who had been locked away in the castle since birth to protect them from any and all threats. No one in the city had ever seen them. No one even knew how many heirs there truly were, not their names and ages, or even if they were male or female or both. Some believed the heirs were still alive, but with every year that passed, the kingdom had less and less hope that they would ever be found, and the people’s hatred for the creatures of Ripthorn and the Witch Woods grew ever stronger.
No one truly knew about all the things that lurked inside the dark and dangerous forest. Or knew what magic resided there. Rumors spoke of plants that melted human flesh, beautiful sirens in the lake who dragged gullible men to their watery deaths, and of a wizened, old hag who hunted children with an axe and ate them piece by piece. All of it was folly, of course. There were certainly creatures that lived in the darkness that deserved the fear they incited, like grimms, but most were harmless if undisturbed. But tonight, he was going to finally get real answers for himself and for the city he was sworn to protect with his life.
Edric rushed down the stone stairs of the tower and to the gatehouse to gather troops. Two of his soldiers, Graham and Hale, stood at attention and saluted him.
“Commander Axton,” Hale said.
“Gather the men to meet me at the stables. We’re riding out to the woods.”
Hale hesitated, his face turning ashen. “The woods, sir?”
“Yes. Is there a problem, soldier?” Edric asked.
Hale gave a quick shake of his head, then he and Graham rushed off to do as he commanded. Edric knew there was a lot of fear surrounding the woods, but there was no time for it. Not on his watch.
EDRIC
In the stable, the grooms had their horses saddled and ready to go. Edric put on his dark red leather armor as his men suited up. There was a lot of nervous laughter and fleeting looks to one another. The fear was palpable in the stable, but Edric knew his soldiers would ride into hell with him if he asked. And he was.
He stood in front of his men. “For as long as I can remember, the Witch Woods have been a source of dread and wariness. In the academy, they taught us to never go into the forest at night. That we’d be attacked by spiteful wood sprites or eaten alive by grimms.”
That sent of wave of panic through the stable. Even the grooms who weren’t going out to face demons shook in their boots. Grimms were everyone’s worst nightmare. Part of the training at the academy was learning about the horrific smoke wolves that traveled in packs and feasted on human flesh. The alchemists had even taught them about the creatures’ anatomy and physiology, so they were all prepared for an encounter. Although, no amount of training could ever prepare someone for a grimm encounter.
Never mess with a grimm. Edric had learned that the hard way. A scar the length of his entire right arm, from index finger to shoulder, was the result of that lesson. A gift from a grimm as payment for Edric’s bravado. Still, he wasn’t afraid of the beasts. Somewhere inside their vaporous forms was flesh. And flesh could be cut and sliced and slain.
“Those are tales for young boys. Stories to instill fear into our hearts and minds. But we are not little boys anymore.” He looked directly at each of them. “We are men. Warriors of Nighthelm.” He thumped his fist against his leather chest plate in the customary salute of their home.
Each of his men responded with the same gesture.
He thumped his chest again, harder. The thunk echoed through the stable. “We are Warriors of Nighthelm!”
They echoed him, chanting the words like an incantation, growing courage and morale among the troops.
Edric slid his broad sword from the scabbard around his waist. The polished steel glinted in the firelight. He hefted it into the air. “We are hard flesh, and stout hearts, and steel bones. Nothing can cut us down. We are the defenders of the city and protectors of the people. Nothing can cut us down. We are Warriors of Nighthelm.”
“Nothing can cut us down!” The men shouted together, thumping their fists against their chests.
Edric nodded to them, as one by one, they mounted their horses. He was the last one on his horse, leading his squad out of the stable and to the main gate. Their horses snorted and stamped as they waited impatiently to ride out. Edric felt the same. He was eager to ride, to storm into the forest, to find the answers that had eluded him for years. He wouldn’t let whoever was responsible get away this time.
When the gate finally opened like the jagged jaws of a great dragon, Edric and his men shot out like streams of righteous fire and flame.
Chapter Three
Sophia
The darkness tried to suffocate Sophia, but she struggled against it, eventually blinking open one eye, and then the other. At first, her vision was blurry. She spotted Haris in the shadows of the giant oaks, watching and waiting. Haris paced back and forth, eager to come to her aid. She gave him an indiscernible shake of her head. Grindel couldn’t see him. Not in a world of kill first, research later. Sophia didn’t want her forest spirit friend to end up a casualty of ignorance.
The stink of burnt grass and weeds filled her nose. She was still on the ground, in the middle of the scorched circle she made, covered in a wool blanket, and surrounded by strong arms. Slowly, she turned her attention to Grindel holding her, his usual scowl even deeper than normal. A sigh escaped her lips, full of relief. She relaxed farther into her mentor.
“Don’t look so relieved,” he said, nearly growling the words. “If it wasn’t for your pending birthday, I’d give you ten lashes for disobeying my orders.”
He always threatened punishments like the whip, but he had never delivered. There was always an excuse not to, a just this time approach that she appreciated. Even though he was a hard ass, she appreciated that deep down, he at least cared a little.
Clutching the blanket to her body, Sophia sat up, and then tried to stand. Her legs were like melting wax. Grindel reached for her arm to help steady her. Although,
she was determined to stand on her own, she accepted the help. He always knew when she truly needed it.
Once standing, she surveyed the damage. The ground was black with soot and ash, leaving no living thing intact. She saw that it made a perfect circle around them, some trees were cut in half and charred to dust. Even the rocks hadn’t survived the blast.
“You were instructed to observe only.” Grindel kicked at a charred bush, causing it to crumble. Then he whirled on her, his stern, green eyes narrowed. “You deliberately disobeyed, like an insolent child.”
She flinched at his tone, although accustomed to it. This wasn’t the first time he chastised her for something she had done, and she suspected it wouldn’t be the last, but his words hurt a little more than usual. She hated when he used the word “child.” She was far from that scared little girl he first took in all those years ago.
He threw up his hands. “This is exactly why I tell you not to engage, just to observe. You don’t have enough control. It’s been a while since you last had an incident, but we both knew it was inevitable.” He shook his head. “You must believe in the training, Sophia. Headmistress Mittle and I are working diligently to find a way for you to finally master your magic, to heal your soul.”
Sophia was tired of being frustrated with her training. Grindel and the headmistress of Nighthelm academy—who trained soldiers and sorcerers—talked and acted like they knew what they were doing, but she suspected that wasn’t true. The past ten years had been a series of trials and errors, trying to truly understand her and the broken magic bubbling inside her.
“You have been promising me that for years. To fix me.” She brushed at the hair that had escaped her braids. The ends were singed a little. “But you haven’t helped me. Not really.”
“Sophia—”
“You don’t know anything more now than you did twelve years ago.” Her hands trembled, and it wasn’t from the cool night. Frustration and anger at her continued circumstances bubbled to the surface. “You put me through hours of sword training until my arms shook. You made me run through the woods until I retched. You made me stand on one foot on a rock for a day without food or water, and for what?” She spoke the last few words between clenched teeth. Anger swirled inside her belly again. “You don’t know if those things are helping. You don’t know what it’s doing to my fractured soul.”
He lifted one of his withered, old hands toward her. “Sophia—”
“Bloody nothing,” she said. “That’s what it’s done. Nothing except piss me off.”
He stared at her with one white eyebrow raised. “Are you quite finished?”
Her shoulders slumped following a giant exhale. “Yes.”
“Good.” He pulled his brown cloak tighter around his body. “It’s getting cold, and I’d like to get home before nippers come out of their burrows looking for a meal. They make the most horrendous noise when they hunt.”
They walked toward the tree line, in silence. Sophia glanced at the spot Haris had been hiding, but he was gone. She sighed, thankful that he had listened to her. Sometimes he wasn’t so obedient, instead choosing to be obstinate and insist upon risking his exposure. She was sure he toyed with her on purpose; to give her a heart attack. Then she glanced at her teacher, noticing how old he looked in that moment. His frame was usually thin looking but strong. She’d seen him battle a minotaur once with his long broad sword. But tonight his cheeks appeared sunk in, like the events of the evening had sucked the life out of him. When he turned his head slightly, in a rare swath of moonlight, his face seemed more like a skull. A shiver rushed down her spine, and she looked away.
“Did the girl get back to the city safely?” she asked, hoping the change in subject would eliminate the dread she felt.
“Yes, but with imaginative tales about a giant, glowing dog and a girl with a flaming sword.” He shook his head. “I’m not sure how we are going to be able to spin that into something reasonable and not have every city guard coming out here to investigate.”
“She’s a scared, little girl. No one will believe her.”
Grindel mumbled something indecipherable under his breath, then nodded. “Yes, maybe.”
She sighed, annoyed with his brusqueness, but she knew she did what was right. At least the girl was safe. She opened her mouth to ask more about the girl, but the sound of horse hooves pounding the nearby dirt path made her pause. Grindel was already on the move to the safety of the shadowy trees. She joined him in the thick darkness of the woods, cloaking themselves in shadow and magic, just as seven riders burst into the black circle.
The horses snorted and stamped the ground, likely agitated by the residue of her magic or wary of the woods themselves. It wasn’t often that horses and riders came into the dark forest. The riders were no different. Their gazes shifted from the trees to the burnt grass to the trees again, expressions of awe and fear on their faces. All except one. Edric Axton, commander of the elite castle guard. There was not a single ounce of unease on his face as he rallied his men to focus.
When Edric dismounted and stepped into the orange glow of the lit torch one of the soldiers carried, there was no mistaking the cut of his cheekbones and the hard line of his jaw. Under his leather jerkin was a body of smooth planes and hard muscles. Out of all the soldiers in the city, he stood far above the rest. And it wasn’t just his good looks. There was something about him that called to Sophia. Her body always reacted traitorously to his nearness.
She rubbed at her chest, as her heart thudded harder. During her secret visits to the city over the years, she had studied him. One of her favorite things to do was to watch the soldiers work out and practice different disciplines in the training yard near the castle. Because she’d been denied access to the academy, she chose the next best thing: to observe from the shadows of the nearby buildings and copy the moves later when she was alone in the forest.
During those training exercises, Edric had always stood out. He was faster and stronger than even bigger men in his troop. Sophia wasn’t surprised when he was promoted to commander. She was deeply attracted to both his handsome features and his bravery, but a few of the village bimbos had been chasing after him and she figured he would marry off to one of them this summer. No point in wanting what she couldn’t have.
As Edric walked around the burnt area, toeing the ground with his boot, inspecting the charred remains of a large oak, Sophia wondered why he was there. The city guards rarely came out into the woods at night. In fact, she couldn’t remember a time when they had. Something had piqued their interest. Had Edric seen her magical blast from the city wall? She didn’t think that was possible, but the commander did seem more observant than most.
His gaze flicked to their hiding spot. She knew he couldn’t possibly see them. Something about the way his eyes narrowed as he stared in their direction told her he sensed something. She suspected he had enhanced abilities, especially hearing, as she’d seen him react to something she’d done months ago during one her secret trips to the city.
She had followed Edric from the soldier’s barracks to a tavern. Through the window, she watched him drink mead with his fellow soldiers. While others laughed and joked around, he just sat and drank and watched the revelry around him. A very buxom tavern maiden, set more tankards of drink on his table, then plopped herself into his lap and said, “You’ve been looking at me all night, haven’t you handsome boy?”
Sophia hoped that he would push her away, but Sophia knew better. He was a man, after all, and the woman had her enormous breasts in his face. She’d seen Edric with other young women. They literally threw themselves at him. She thought it was pathetic, and tried to deny the pang of jealousy in her heart. She would likely never know the pleasure of a man. It wasn’t part of her life’s path to have a husband.
Disgusted at the brazenness of the server, Sophia had murmured out loud, “Of course, he’s looking at you, silly cow, you’ve got the biggest udders he’s ever seen.”
Edri
c’s head had whipped toward the window, and he had laughed so hard, the woman fell off his lap. Sophia had taken off after that, and returned to the cabin in the woods, but the whole time she questioned how he had heard her.
Jostling her from the memory, Grindel placed his hand on her arm to get her attention. When she turned to him, he gestured for them to leave. She nodded, and they quietly fled the area back to the cabin. Sophia had occasionally glanced over her shoulder to make sure Edric wasn’t following them. She knew it was impossible that he’d seen or heard them, and there was something unnerving about his arrival.
At the cabin, while Sophia dressed, Grindel made maca soup. The root was known for its vitality properties. Sophia ate a bowl with a one-day-old barley roll while Grindel drank tea and watched her from his perch by the fire. She was surprised he hadn’t chastised her about now needing a new set of clothes, as the ones she had been wearing were burned away to nothing. He’d probably get her more hand-me-downs from the academy.
She supposed it was difficult to keep the cabin, his work, and her secret. He lived a double life. One as a well-respected professor, and the other as a trainer of a broken soul. If he was ever caught, his life would be in danger.
“I have to teach at the academy tomorrow, so there won’t be any training.” He finished his drink. “You could use a day of sleep anyway. After your episode.”
“Yes, sir,” she said, as she retreated into herself and finished her soup.
She wondered how much longer her life could go on like this, how much longer the training would continue. What did Grindel and Headmistress Mittle really want for her? There was so much she didn’t know about her future, and she hated not knowing.
