by Todd Herzman
Lightning crackled but did not fire at the shield wall, instead it looped around the sky, above the heads of the archers on the mountain. Ella watched as the archers stared at the display, then moved from their positions.
‘Good thing I didn’t show them all our tricks.’
Aralia thrust her hands forward. Sparks shot from her fingers and slithered up the cliff walls. Rocks began to fall. Ella took a step back. The rocks smashed down, crashing into the invaders.
They were being crushed, but none of them screamed.
‘Thralls,’ Aralia said. ‘Where is your master?’
Those that weren’t crushed by the rocks sprinted down the path, shields to their sides—either they’d noticed the arrow fire had stopped, or they didn’t care.
‘Now would be a good time to call that fire of yours,’ Aralia said.
Ella stopped. She realised she’d backed away a few steps, leaving Aralia alone at the mouth of the mountain. Ella shook. She wanted to run, like she had back in Billings. She remembered watching her brother slip into the smithy and come out with a hammer, remembered watching him head into town while she fled into the forest.
She’d abandoned him, and he’d been taken. If she abandoned Aralia, the same thing could happen again.
But what could she do to help?
Ella stared at her hands. Thunder boomed and light flashed around her. She closed her eyes and ignored it. The warriors would be closing the gap soon, protected by their master, Aralia’s magic wouldn’t be enough to defeat them on her own.
Ella took a deep breath and let it out slow. She needed to be in control, but she didn’t have to be in full command of her emotions. She could use them. Channel them. She was afraid, but part of her was angry, too—angry that another place, a peaceful place, might be destroyed because of a blood mage, just like her village. How many lives would this blood mage take? How many people would they capture?
How many hearts would they break?
She breathed in all her emotions.
Then let them out.
Ella opened her eyes. She reached for the power inside. Fire. Sparks. Light. She didn’t have the focus to narrow it down—she walked forward and called upon them all. Magic danced from her hands, just as it had on the Serpentine, only now she wanted it to.
Ella copied Aralia, matching her stance as she would match Reena’s when practicing the sword. She raised her arms, facing the oncoming attackers, and thrust the energy toward them.
Nothing happened.
The magic still danced from her fingers, but it wouldn’t launch at the enemy.
‘You have to focus, girl.’ Aralia shot another bolt of lightning at one of the attackers. They were protected, but this was the third bolt she’d shot at the man. He crumpled to the ground.
Two others overtook him. Ella tried to focus her energies. She thrust her palms out, once, twice, three times—still, the magic wouldn’t budge from her hands.
One of the warriors ran straight past Aralia and slammed into Ella. Ella crashed to the ground, the warrior’s writhing, armoured mass on top of her. The man dropped his weapons and reached for her wrists, pinning her arms against the dirt. She tried to move but couldn’t. Spittle flew from the man’s mouth. She could see his eyes through the helmet, hard and determined.
She wasn’t strong enough to get away. In that moment, she remembered something Reena had told her to do if someone tried to restrain her. Ella stopped resisting. She relaxed her muscles as best she could and waited for the man that held her to do the same. She was still only a few seconds when the man relaxed his grip.
Ella yanked a hand free. It sparked and burst with ravenous energy. She aimed her thumb for the gap in the man’s helmet, jabbing her nail, flames, sparks and a blinding light into the man’s eye socket. She watched the man’s eye melt and waited for a scream. Whatever protection from magic the warriors had mustn’t work up so close.
The man never screamed. Dead men don’t make a sound. His body fell on top of her small frame. He must have weighed twice as much as her with that armour on. She struggled to breathe, the dead man’s body pushing on her chest. She shifted its weight one inch at a time.
The weight lifted. Ella could breathe again. Her vision blurred, and she could barely see the hand reaching down. Aralia grabbed Ella’s forearm and dragged her up.
Ella’s hands shook. She looked around. Dead men littered the ground. All the warriors who’d come through the mountain pass had been taken out by arrows, rocks, lightning or all three.
She stared down at the man she’d killed. She hadn’t noticed before—she’d been a bit preoccupied—that the man had a scar on his neck.
‘He was being controlled. What he did it… it wasn’t his fault.’ Ella thought of Ruben. Had he been turned into a monster like these men? Sent to hunt and kill and capture?
‘You’re right. It wasn’t his fault.’ Aralia put a hand on Ella’s shoulder. ‘You still did the right thing. Sometimes, there is no good choice but doing what we must to survive.’
‘I’ve never killed anyone before.’ Ella stared at the dead man before looking at the witch. For a moment, Aralia seemed older. Her eyes downcast, worry lines creasing her otherwise unblemished face. Then, her expression became hard, and she turned to face the mountain pass.
‘We mustn’t linger here. This blood mage is a powerful one. We must take the fight to the source.’ Aralia walked through the pass, stepping over bodies and fallen rocks.
Ella ran to catch up to the woman’s long legs. ‘I thought your priority was protecting the village?’
‘It is. But if the blood mage has captured Reena and we wait too long, he’ll break her. He’ll turn her into one of his thralls and she’ll tell him everything about this place.’
Ella wondered why Aralia had waited till now to mention that. There was worry in the woman’s voice that hadn’t been there before—perhaps it was about more than protecting her village, perhaps she’d grown afraid for her sister-in-law.
The rain cleared as they walked. The pass had become muddy, and Ella’s boots squished on every step. She looked down at her boots. Reena had given her a new pair when she’d first boarded. She was glad to have them in this fight—a strange thing to think amongst all the chaos.
She stepped over the body of the first man they’d killed during the attack. The tall man with the large sword, now littered with arrows and smoking from where the lightning had struck. Aralia had been right, of course. They didn’t have a choice, but she wondered if the man had a family. A brother, a sister. A wife, children. Were they off in some faraway village, wondering if their father would ever return? Were they in Albion, under the control of a blood mage? Or would they find them on the ship, if they made it that far?
‘Light your hands, Ella,’ Aralia said over her shoulder.
Ella blinked at her hands. When had the magic stopped? She was almost surprised she hadn’t needed to go unconscious first. Ella brought back the feeling she’d had in the cave and summoned only the fire. It did nothing for the chill in her heart.
The pass was eerily quiet.
‘Maybe we scared them off,’ Ella said.
‘Maybe.’
They walked in silence. They must have been quite a sight, Aralia’s sparks, Ella’s flames. Ella hoped it would be enough to frighten anyone they came across, but she knew better. Thralls don’t get frightened.
When they made it to the beach, Ella gasped. There were two ships on the water. One was on fire.
The Serpentine.
Chapter 39
Marius
‘There it is.’ Peiter pointed at the mountain’s peak.
Marius, Peiter, and Lilah stood on a ridge. They’d travelled for hours to reach this height. They could finally see the Tahali mountains—they stretched higher than Marius had thought to imagine.
Marius squinted, looking where Peiter pointed. ‘I can’t see it.’
‘Y
ou will.’ The monk looked at the seeker, who’d hung behind them, alert as always. ‘You’ll be the first seeker to set foot in the Tahali Monastery,’ he said, a hint of sharpness in his voice. ‘They could kick me out of the order for something like that.’
Lilah, who’d been glancing about at the trees behind them, glared at Peiter. ‘Leave me behind if you don’t want me there.’
The monk sighed. ‘I do not think you understand me. I simply wish you to know how much trust I am putting in you. You have helped the two of us a great deal, we would be captured or dead if not for you—I trust you.’ He turned his head to look back where he’d pointed. ‘They may not. The Tahali Monastery is not just where we train new monks, it is not even just our home—it is our sanctuary, away from a world that does not understand the things we do. Away from a world that might want us gone if it were not for how useful we are. A world that, once upon a time, hunted us down. We are a peaceful people. We do not have enemies.’ He lowered his head. ‘But if we did, it would be seekers.’
‘That blood mage hunting you is the enemy. I don’t care if your brothers and sisters turn me back at the gate, I’m not doing this to earn your trust—I’m doing it because protecting people is what I do.’
The trees’ shadows crept long across the ground. The sun would soon fall behind the mountains. Neither the monk nor the seeker would look at each other. Marius stepped between the two of them. ‘It’s getting dark.’ He looked pointedly toward the sun.
Lilah grunted. ‘Time to move.’
She took the lead again and they were on their way. Marius kept peering at the mountain, searching for any hint of the monastery. With the sun’s glare and the distance, he couldn’t make it out. He’d be there soon enough. He was no longer as impatient as he once was. After what he’d done—his little power outburst—he worried what the other monks would think of him.
He looked over his shoulder, back down the path they’d cut up the mountain. He wasn’t impatient for the training or being judged… but it would be nice to feel safe again.
The mountain they were on was far smaller than the one they walked toward. It looked to be an hour’s trek down to the other side, while the Tahali mountain might take them the better part of a day.
When they made it to the bottom of the ridge, the trees stopped. A flat desert with no sand stretched before them. A long length of hard, cracked ground.
Marius stepped onto the hard ground and peered back up the hill they’d descended.
‘Come back here, Marius,’ Lilah commanded.
The seeker and the monk stood under the trees. Marius walked back to them. The sun was minutes from disappearing.
‘It takes a good hour’s walk to reach the other side.’ Peiter peered across the pale expanse. ‘If we are still being followed—’
‘We’re still being followed,’ Lilah interrupted.
‘—they will spot us in seconds.’
Marius glanced up at the disappearing sun. ‘Not in the dark.’
Peiter leant against a tree. He touched a hand to his back. He walked easier now, though if they needed to run he wouldn’t be able to, and he still used a hiking stick, one he’d found the day after Marius had injured him. ‘It’s a clear night. We should make camp, try again tomorrow.’
Lilah sighed. Her hand gripped the hilt of her Starblade, like it always seemed to when she grew wary or frustrated. ‘If we rest, we’ll lose whatever lead we have. Marius is right, it’ll be dark soon. We’ve a better chance crossing without being spotted in the night than we do in the day.’
‘In the day, we’ll be fully rested and ready to tackle the Tahali mountain climb. In the night, our way will be slower. And if they spot us…’
Lilah paced in front of the monk, shaking her head. ‘The sooner the two of you are safe up there, the sooner we can all get on with our lives. If we wait here, they’ll definitely catch up to us.’
Marius hated it when the two of them argued. It reminded him of when his brother and sister argued. He also found himself agreeing with Lilah, which felt like something of a betrayal. Peiter was his mentor, the one he’d trusted to take him on this journey. But Marius didn’t fancy the idea of spending another night struggling to sleep on hard ground, worrying he might wake up to an attack. Worried he might end up using his powers again and hurt one of his protectors.
He looked at the Tahali mountains again. He couldn’t see the sun anymore, but its red-orange glow backdropped the peaks, defining their lines. The monastery was a day’s climb. If they pushed, by the time the sun came up in the morning, they could be at its gates.
‘I’m with Lilah,’ Marius said. ‘I’m sick of running, and I’m sick of sleeping in the dirt.’
Peiter didn’t look swayed by his words—Marius didn’t expect him to. The glow disappeared from behind the mountains, darkness settling across the expanse ahead.
Marius walked out of the trees and onto the cracked earth.
‘Marius!’ Peiter called. ‘Marius, come back, you might be seen!’
Marius didn’t stop. They would never know if he’d be seen or not, but every step increased the chance. He heard quick steps behind him and turned to see Lilah.
She called back to Peiter. ‘Looks like he’s made the decision for us.’
Marius didn’t look back to see what the monk was doing. He knew he’d only find a disappointed face. He just kept walking, with the seeker beside him, until he finally heard the monk’s soft steps and the thud of his walking stick reach them.
Lilah tapped Marius’s shoulder. ‘That was brave.’
‘Reckless,’ Peiter said, spitting the word.
Marius hung his head in shame and walked faster. A chill set into the air. It seemed colder out here, away from the dense tree cover. Marius hugged his arms. It was too late to wonder whether he’d done the right thing. Peiter could be mad at him all he liked, there would be plenty of time to be forgiven when they got to the monastery.
Despite their pace, Marius noticed his legs no longer got tired. His feet, though once littered with blisters from all the walking, were no longer sore but heavily calloused instead. His body had adapted.
They were halfway to the Tahali mountains when Lilah spotted someone coming out of the trees behind them.
‘We’ve got company, way back.’
Marius and Peiter turned to look.
‘I don’t see them,’ Peiter said.
Lilah pointed. ‘See those shadows moving down there?’
‘How many are there? Six?’ Marius asked.
Lilah nodded. ‘If not a couple more.’ She sighed. ‘At least they can’t ambush us here, we can see them coming.’
Marius looked over at the base of the mountain, where the trees started again. They were halfway. ‘We’ll make it to the other side before them.’
Peiter cleared his throat. ‘If we want to, we better move.’ He strode away, hiking stick digging into the ground on each step. ‘They are running toward us.’
‘This doesn’t make sense,’ Lilah said as they caught up to the monk. ‘Why would a blood mage sacrifice so many people to come after you? It’s very rare they go after Tahali monks at all. It’s too risky.’
Peiter didn’t say anything for a good while. He breathed hard, pushing himself to walk faster. When silence set in and all Marius could hear were their steps and Peiter’s stick stabbing the ground, the monk spoke, ‘I don’t think they’re after me.’
‘I tracked them and found them tracking you, monk. They are after y—the boy?’ Lilah paused. ‘You think they’re after Marius?’
Peiter glanced at the seeker. Marius opened his mouth, but no words came out. It was all he could do just to keep walking.
‘You saw what he did, how powerful he is. No one taught him how to do that—he just did it.’
‘But how would the blood mage even know to look for him?’
‘They can sense his power,’ Peiter said. ‘Just as I can.
I think that’s why his town was attacked. Power like that… it runs in the family.’
They talked about him as if he weren’t there, as all adults seemed to. He wanted to say something, scream I’m right here! but he couldn’t. He was too worried the monk was right.
‘His brother,’ Lilah said.
The monk nodded. ‘We need to get him inside the monastery. They wouldn’t dare attack us there.’
‘I thought your order was non-violent.’
Peiter smiled. ‘We are. There are other ways to protect ourselves.’
Marius listened to them talk, no longer taking in much of what they were saying.
Why would they be after me? He knew he had powers—he’d felt them, used them. But could he really be so special? So noteworthy that someone was hunting him across the empire?
He wondered then about his sister. He’d tried to stop thinking about Ella, and what might have happened to her when she’d left Billings to go after Ruben. She’s probably been captured, he thought. Taken like Ruben was. He glanced at the seeker, the monk. She wouldn’t have had people like this to protect her.
The two still talked as if he weren’t there. Which was fine, he was no longer listening. Marius looked at the shadows gathering behind them, spilling onto the cracked earth from within the trees. There were more than six now.
Peiter and Marius hadn’t been able to manage two, though that was before Marius had gotten his powers. The three of them together, a twelve-year-old boy, a pacifistic monk, and a seeker. Only one fighter among them. How would they take on a dozen thralls?
The shadows were catching up fast. With Peiter injured, they couldn’t run. Not all together. If Marius were able to use his magic, maybe they could win. But the last time he’d used his magic to fight a thrall he’d attacked his own protector.
It was all his fault, too. If the monk was right, they were after Marius. Marius, trying to be brave, had walked out of the tree line, letting them be spotted. Peiter and Lilah were at risk because of him. He couldn’t stop what had happened to his village, but maybe he could stop what was about to happen here.