The Crystal Tree (Song Magic Book 1)

by Imogen Elvis

  “I know. But it’s only for a little while.” Kade stepped back to look into Lara’s face. “Take care of Rowen, alright?”

  “I always do.”

  “We should get going.” Rowen swung his pack up, letting out a groan as he did so. “Did you pack a bear in here? This is almost as bad as carrying you, Lara.”

  “Haha. Funny.” Lara slung her own pack over her shoulder. “Come on. Let’s get this over with.” She grabbed Rowen’s arm and dragged him into the stream of outgoing travellers, bickering all the way.

  Briar watched them until they were out of sight. And then there were two. It was suddenly much lonelier without Lara and Rowen there. Now it was just her and Kade and miles before them. And not even a way of knowing if they were on the right road, maybe for days. But there was only one way to find out, and that was by taking the road north.

  CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

  The northern road was boggy after two days of heavy rain, but the sky above shone pale blue, and Briar hoped that maybe, just maybe they might be back on the trail of the Nameless Ones at last. Whether she and Kade were going the right way, or whether Rowan and Lara had taken the correct road, at least they had a plan. Briar glanced at Kade, who still wore his deep hood pulled down over his face until all she could see was his beard, even though there was no one on the road but them.

  “Do you think we’re going the right way?” Briar asked him.

  “Maybe.”

  Briar wanted so much more than a ‘maybe’. Something more solid and comforting. ‘Maybe’ did nothing to calm the nervous buzz in her chest. “They wouldn’t be travelling very fast with so many children with them, would they?”

  “I don’t suppose so.” Kade pushed his hood back and hitched up his pack. “It’s hard to tell with them. But we’ve made good time.”

  “Even with the river?”

  “It would have taken us days to go around.”

  Well, there was that at least. The shortcut caught them up just enough that the near-death experience was almost worth it. Almost. Briar was in no way keen to ever go through that again. “What happens if we’re wrong?”

  “Then Rowen and Lara continue tracking the Nameless Ones, and we’ll catch them up. They’ll have to stop eventually.”

  “And then?”

  “We’ll… figure that out when we get there,” Kade said after a moment’s pause.

  Briar blinked. They didn’t have a plan? But they seemed so confident, so sure of what they were doing following the Nameless Ones. And they were so disapproving of the fact she had no plan of her own. But in the end, they were no better than she was. It was almost funny.

  “I suppose we’re in the same boat then.” She smiled a little sadly. “I know what I want. I just don’t know how to get it yet.”

  Kade gave a short laugh. “I guess we are. Things never go quite the way you hope.”

  “They do not.” Briar sighed. Nothing about this trip had gone quite the way she wanted it to. “For one, I didn’t expect the soldiers to find us so quickly.” Bren hadn’t been looking for them when he left Osman before the attack, that much she knew, but the ones in Nestin were definitely searching for her and Kade. The fact that anyone could find them that quickly bothered Briar more than she cared to tell. “Do you think Bren knew of you because of Osman?”

  “I doubt it.”

  “Then why was he looking for you?” From what Lara said before, and Bren’s own behaviour on the ferry, it seemed that Kade was the one in trouble, not the rest of them.

  “That’s… complicated.” Kade ran a hand through his hair and sighed. “The short version is that the soldiers were already looking for me well before Osman was ever attacked.”

  “Why?” What could he possibly have done? The man Briar was getting to know on this journey was at odds with the image of a fugitive or outlaw. She should probably be more concerned about this news. But Kade had never tried to hurt her, and Briar was every bit the fugitive herself now. Anything could have happened. Who was she to judge?

  “Remember what I said back when we were in the woods?” Kade’s eyes focused intensely on the horizon.

  “People believe the easy story?”

  Kade nodded. “You have nothing to be afraid of while you’re with me, I promise you that much. Whatever I’m accused of, I only want to help you, Briar.”

  “I believe you.” If Kade wanted to harm her, he’d had plenty of opportunities to do it before now. And everything she read in him, everything her magic told her, said that Kade could be trusted completely. “Thank you, Kade.”

  “You’re welcome.” Kade smiled, just a little.

  Silence fell between them. In the quiet, Briar cocked her head to one side. Somewhere in the distance, little bells jingled. She glanced back to see a carriage rumbling along the road, coming from the direction of Purdur. Two brown horses pulled it, tiny silver bells on their harnesses jingling gaily as they trotted through the slush, announcing the carriage long before it reached them.

  “Looks like we’re not the only ones out here after all,” Briar said.

  Kade glanced back, then pulled up his hood again. “I suppose not.”

  They stepped to the side of the road, walking on the line where bare dirt met the soft, springy grass. The carriage caught up quickly, spitting mud from under the wheels as it trundled along. The coachman tipped his hat to them as he passed and Briar waved back. The carriage itself was rather fine. The paintwork gleamed, as did the brass fittings. A coat of arms was emblazoned on the door, though Briar didn’t recognise it. Curtains hung at the windows, shielding the interior from prying eyes so that all she could be sure of was there were two people inside. And then the carriage passed them and carried on down the road ahead.

  “This would be so much easier with a carriage. Or even just a horse.” Briar picked her way carefully back onto the road.

  “Check your pack. You never know, we may have stored one in there somewhere.” Kade shot her a teasing look.

  “It’s heavy enough.”

  “But at least we have food this time.”

  “For which I am eternally grateful.” They shared a smile. For a moment, Briar thought Kade might be about to say something else, but then he turned back to the road and silence fell again. A nice silence though. Warm. Friendly. The sort of quiet you could walk in all day without it becoming awkward. Briar could almost get used to travelling like this.

  The sun sank slowly towards the horizon, casting a golden glow over the late afternoon. The road wound its way into a scrubby, wooded area, not as picturesque as a typical forest, but overgrown and thorny. Their path twisted and turned through the trees, each bend hiding the way ahead. Briar sighed and shifted her pack, wincing as her sore muscles protested. Kade never appeared to be tired, which hardly seemed fair. Briar gripped the straps to take some of the weight off her shoulders and trotted a couple of steps to catch up with him as they rounded the next bend.

  There was the carriage again. It stood in the middle of the road, motionless, empty. One of the gilt-edged doors hung on a single hinge, swinging forlornly. Behind the carriage, a trunk had fallen off the back and burst. The two brown horses with their jingling harnesses were nowhere to be seen now. Nothing but the shell of the carriage remained.

  “Stay behind me.” Kade drew his sword.

  Briar followed close behind him. As they rounded the carriage, she caught her first sight of its former occupants. A young woman knelt in the dirt, holding the hand of a second who lay crumpled on the grass as if she had tried to flee and was cut down. Closer to the carriage, sprawled on his front, was the friendly coachman she’d waved to earlier. Briar clutched her medallion, eyes widening. Who would do this?

  The kneeling girl looked up with a small cry. Her huge eyes stared at them, bright with tears that threatened to spill over at any moment. Her lips trembled as she stammered, “P-please, don’t hurt me.”

  Kade slowed, sheathing his sword, and held his palms up in front of
him in a gesture of peace. “We’re not here to hurt you. What happened?”

  “Bandits.” The girl brushed a tear from her cheek. “They came out of the trees and ambushed the carriage. They took the horses. Grant tried to stop them.” She gestured towards the coachman, lying near the road. “They took my jewellery and money too. Everything. Mae tried to run away. They-they hurt her, and laughed like it was fun.” The young woman pressed a hand to her mouth, shaking.

  “Shh, it’s alright. You’re safe now.” Kade crouched next to the young woman. For a moment Briar thought he might hug her, but then he rested a hand gently on her shoulder. “We’re going to help you.” Kade glanced at Briar and nodded to the girl lying in the grass. “Can you heal her?”

  Briar moved carefully around him, trying not to appear like a threat. The young woman was terrified enough as it was. She curved her lips in what she hoped was a reassuring smile. “My name is Briar. I’m a soul singer. What’s your name?”

  “Glissando.” The young woman flinched as Briar knelt next to her.

  “We’re here to help you, Glissando.” Briar ran her eyes over Mae. She was dressed simply compared to Glissando. Probably a servant. Even at first glance, it didn’t look good for Mae. Her face was pale and tinged with grey. Blood soaked her clothing in a circle of deep, deep red. There was so much of it that it was hard to tell where the wound was.

  Briar squeezed the girl’s hand. “Mae? Can you hear me? Open your eyes.” But Mae’s eyelids didn’t so much as flicker, and Briar couldn’t see any signs of her breathing. She bit the inside of her lip, a feeling of dread growing in her stomach. It seemed unlikely that she was going to be able to do anything here. Still, Briar clasped Mae’s bloodied hand and took a deep breath, bracing herself to receive the pain. She reached for Mae’s life song, but instead of the intense pain she expected, there was nothing, just a profound, hollow emptiness. Briar looked up at Kade and shook her head. Mae was dead.

  “I’m sorry,” she said to Glissando.

  A tear trembled on the edge of Glissando’s lashes but didn’t fall. She turned her face away, lips pressed together hard. Briar stepped back. She looked like she needed some space. Briar ached to be able to comfort her, but what relief could she, a total stranger give?

  “What about him?” Kade gestured to the coachman.

  After Mae, Briar held little hope for the man, but still, she followed Kade to his side. “Help me turn him over.”

  Kade knelt and together they rolled the coachman onto his back. Briar bit her lip. Grant still visibly breathing at least, but that was about it. His once white shirt was now almost completely red, and his breath rasped in his throat, harsh, gurgling.

  Briar squeezed the coachman’s shoulder, willing him to respond. “Can you hear me?”

  His eyelids flickered. That was a good sign. Maybe there was still time before he slipped beyond the reach of magic. Briar clasped the coachman’s hand and reached for his song. It was thankfully still there, but only just. Notes faded in and out, harmonies dying away in unfinished cadences. Briar steeled herself. This was going to hurt.

  As the first notes left her lips, pain lanced through her chest, like a burning sword lodged between her ribs. Briar choked as phantom blood bubbled in her lungs. His song shattered into fragmented notes around her. She pushed on, trying desperately to catch those notes and weave them back together, but they faded faster than she could clutch at them. No matter how deep she drew from her magic, how desperately she sang, there was nothing she could do to stop the music as it slipped away.

  Briar pulled herself from the song with a jerk. Her stomach flipped, and she bent over, retching. It was hard to tell which was worse, the searing pain, or the overwhelming feeling of helplessness.

  “Are you alright?” Kade put a hand on Briar’s shoulder, looking into her face with anxious eyes. “You’ve gone very pale.”

  “I’m-I’m fine.” Briar wiped her mouth on her sleeve. “He’s dying.”

  “You’re a magician.” Glissando must have joined them while Briar was singing, for she stood behind them, her fingers twisted together. “Can’t you do anything for him?”

  Briar shook her head. Everyone asked the same question. If she had magic, why couldn’t she save every life? But that wasn’t the way it worked. She performed magic, not miracles. Even her songs had their limits. In the end, life always had its way. “I’m sorry.”

  Glissando turned abruptly, her skirts swirling around her ankles, and hurried away. Kade hesitated, then followed, leaving Briar alone with the dying coachman. She held his hand, stroking the back of it with her thumb. No one deserved to die like this. Sometimes, the only kindness you could do for a person was to sit with them and let them know they were not alone as they slipped away.

  Briar sat with the coachman, murmuring soft words of comfort until his choking breaths died away. A tear slipped down her cheek as she listened for a song. Nothing. She folded the man’s hands over his chest and sat back, rubbing her eyes with the heel of her hand. Mae and Grant were both dead. It took her a moment to be able to think past that. But there was still Glissando to take care of. Where were she and Kade? Briar climbed slowly to her feet. Maybe they’d gone round to the other side of the carriage.

  Sure enough, Glissando sat in the grass on the other side of the road, with her crumpled skirts spread daintily around her and her hands clasped together tightly in her lap as she stared vacantly into the distance. Kade leaned against the carriage, his hood pulled well down over his face. He straightened as Briar approached.

  “He’s dead,” Briar answered the unspoken question.

  No reaction from Glissando. Briar wasn’t sure if she hadn’t heard or whether she simply chose to ignore the words. Sometimes it was just easier to pretend none of this was happening.

  Kade stepped closer to Briar, shooting a glance in Glissando’s direction. “I don’t think we can just leave her here,” he said in a low voice.

  Briar nodded. “I agree. We should take her to the next town with us. Someone there might be able to help her.”

  “Actually, I promised we’d take her home.”

  Without telling Briar first? Alright. She paused for a moment before asking very calmly, “How far is that?”

  “Only a little way out of Granton.”

  Briar looked at Kade steadily. “You say that as if I actually know where that is.”

  “The town we’re heading for is Thorne, which at this rate we’d reach tomorrow. Granton is the next town after that. It shouldn’t take us more than a couple more days to get there.”

  A couple of days? But what about the Nameless Ones? What about Ava? There was no way they could up and leave all this now. Not when they’d already come so far. What was Kade even thinking? Briar struggled to keep her voice level. “Or we could take her to Thorne, and find someone there who could take her the rest of the way.”

  Kade blew out a breath. “Briar, we need to help her.”

  Briar folded her arms. “I’m not saying we shouldn’t. I agree, we need to make sure Glissando is safe, and well looked after. But there’s a huge difference between escorting her to safety and dropping everything to take her home. That’s so far out of our way it shouldn’t even be an option. Someone in Thorne would be more than happy to help her. With a carriage and servants, she can definitely pay for someone’s assistance. It doesn’t have to be us.”

  “It won’t take us far out of our way.”

  “It’s more time than we can spare. What about the Nameless Ones? We nearly died for a shortcut. And now you want to waste time we don’t need to?” Briar bit her lip to hold back a flood of frustration. Why did it feel like she was the only one thinking clearly?

  Kade glanced over at Glissando, who hadn’t moved in all the time they’re been furiously whispering. “I helped you, didn’t I?”

  Oh, so now he wanted to throw that kindness back at her? Briar's voice took on a sharp edge. “I will always be grateful for that. But you helped
me because we have similar goals. This is not the same.”

  “If I can choose to help you,” Kade went on as if he hadn’t heard a word Briar just said, “then I can choose to help her.”

  “So you can be the hero?” The words came out more bitter than she’d intended. “Fine. Do what you like. It’s not like you’ll listen to me anyway.” Briar turned and stalked around the side of the carriage, fuming.

  “Briar,” Kade called. But he didn’t follow, and that just made the lump forming in her throat all the larger. If he didn’t want to listen then fine. He could play the hero as much as he wanted. But all the time he was working to impress the rich girl, the Nameless Ones were getting further and further away. And there was not a thing she could do to change that.

  CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

  They dragged the bodies away from the road and laid them out under the trees. Night was falling fast, leaving them no time to bury the dead. Briar folded the coachman’s and servant’s hands over their chests, the only gesture of respect she could give them now. Then, despite the gathering dark, they walked on for a while before making camp.

  Briar woke before the sun rose the next morning, and lay there for a while, listening to the sleepy calling of the earliest birds. Despite the beauty of the dawn as the first touches of pink stained the grey sky, its serenity did little to lighten the crushing weight of frustration. She kept coming back to the fact that Kade was going to waste their precious time just so that he could feel like a hero. Was he that desperate for people to see him as anything other than a fugitive that he was willing to risk everything else they worked for? It was the only reason she could come up with for why he would act so out of character.

  Kade muttered a soft ‘good morning’ as she sat up, but Briar didn’t reply. She sat with her back to the camp, listening to the sound of voices behind her as Kade woke Glissando and organised the morning meal. This was petty, and Briar knew it, but that didn’t stop her from indulging in a sulk for a little longer. Unless she wanted to strike out on her own, she had to deal with this as cheerfully as possible. Or at least without snapping at everyone. Briar forced a stiff smile on her face and joined the others for breakfast.