The Spirit of the Realm

by Rachel L Brown

  She let her magic swirl around her, two runes rose out of her pouch and hovered over the bucket of water. One was for dispelling magic and the other for ice. The runes glowed a bright blue. She snatched them out of the air and raised her hands toward the nearest building. Magic streamed out of the runes as she directed it toward the flames.

  The dispel magic reached the fire first. The magic in the fires fought back, sending a wall of hot air towards her. Thankfully, no flames followed the heat. Sweat dripped down her back and she poured more of her magic into the dispel rune. The fire screamed like a person possessed, and in a flash of light. The magic in the fire was pushed back.

  While the dispel magic spread over the village, the ice magic tugged the water out of her bucket and swirled around the buildings. The flames hissed as the ice turned into water.

  She dug her heels into the dirt and the magic in the fires did one last blow toward her. The air around her became hotter than a hearth fire, blisters began to form on her skin. She diverted a bit of the magic from the ice rune and into a shielding rune she pulled from her pouch. Once the rune was charged, the heat dissipated.

  Sade dug deep within the well of magic inside her. Her hands trembled while she held the ice rune. The light inside the rune was hard for her to look at. The blisters on her skin throbbed and the rune began to crack. She could not sustain this much magic for long. The buildings around her glowed a soft silver while her magic blanketed the entire village.

  The ice rune flickered while the last of the fires were put out. More cracks started to show in the stone, Sade dropped the rune and grabbed the shielding rune. A shimmering dome formed over the ice rune and it exploded into shards of light and stone.

  The magic within her stilled and Sade fell to her knees. She had used too much magic. She knew she needed to leave, but her body refused to move. Something heavy smashed into the back of her head, sending her into darkness.

  WHEN SADE AWOKE, HER hands were bound in chains and her rune pouch was gone. She squinted in the dim light of the dingy room. It smelled of manure and looked like a horse stable.

  “Hello?”

  She called out, but not a soul answered her. Her head throbbed, and her hands were still shaking. It was going to take her days to recover from the amount of magic she had used.

  If she lived that long.

  A door swung open, letting in a harsh ray of sunlight. A young man grabbed her by her shoulder and hauled her out into the village square. She was shoved onto the ground and she noticed a throng of angry villagers surrounded her. Henry stood near the well, his expression unreadable. Her rune pouch hung on his belt. Jerrick and his family were standing near him. All were staring at her with sorrow save for Adora, who radiated pure joy.

  “This woman used magic to stop the fires from spreading!” a man shouted. “It’s a miracle she didn’t cause more destruction with her unrefined magic. She also tricked our poor runesmith Jerrick into working for him and stealing runes that she has no business using!”

  “I didn’t use unrefined magic! Without me the village would have burned!” Sade pleaded.

  “Enough!” Henry shouted over the crowd. magic hummed in the air as he used a rune of calm to dampen the crowd’s emotions. “Sade’s words are true; without her, the village would have burned down to nothing, and you all would be scattered about like the famine-struck! You should thank her, not throw her into chains!”

  “How do we know she didn’t start the fire?” Adora asked. Esmelda tried to grab her arm, but she yanked it way; she stormed into the center of the crowd and held up a letter that bore the seal of Vestral Dirna. “I was wondering why a runesmith from such a prestigious place would have ended up here. Sade is not a runesmith; she is a formal Vestral to the God of Justice!”

  “And since she is a formal Vestral she is subject to the judgement of the High Vestral!”

  “The High Vestral has decreed if an exiled Vestral is found using magic they are to be executed and anyone who harbors them will share the same fate!” Adora shouted. Henry stormed over to her and snatched the scroll from her hands. His face turned ashen while he read.

  The crowd around Sade erupted into a flurry of angry whispers and shouts. She felt a few pebbles smack into the side of her head.

  “Yes, I am a Vestral to the God of Justice!” Sade said. “But without me, you would have lost your homes! The fire was fueled by magic, water would not stop it! Let me leave in peace! I will never come near your town again!”

  “Do you hear her? She swore she would never act as a Vestral and yet here she is, parading around as if laws don’t apply to her! We can’t trust her!”

  “Adora! Do not do this!” Jerrick shouted. Sade looked over at him and Esmelda. Their two boys clung to her skirts. She looked away from their pitiful stares. This was the price of her lies and deceit. How could she call herself a Vestral to the God of Justice?

  “Oh, you bumbling fool, why don’t you open your eyes? Why did the statue for the God of Justice suddenly reappear the moment he arrived?” she asked and pointed at Henry, “they must be working together!”

  “I was helping Farmer Brown with his damned cows!” Henry yelled, “go ask him if you don’t believe me!”

  “It’s true! I was there!” A meek voice called out from the crowd. Henry smirked and crossed his arms.

  Scowling, Adora turned away from Henry and faced Sade, her one eye blinking furiously.

  “The issue still stands that this woman lied to us and used magic she may not use! The God of Justice has been declared dead, and this woman is no longer a Vestral! Our lives and our families lives are at stake! We must get rid of this exiled Vestral and destroy the statue. Otherwise, we will wish our homes had burned in the fire!”

  A few people scattered in the crowd shouted in agreement. Sade stared down at her hands as despair filled her; she was too weak to call her runes to her and escape. She strained against the metal wrapped around her wrists, it was then she noticed tiny runes of dispel had been branded into the metal. She could not access her magic, not even the smallest drop.

  Her shoulders tensed and the crowd around her pushed toward the village gate. Perhaps they intended to let her go into the wilds? The hope within her faded when she noticed a rope had been hung from a scraggly tree just outside the gate.

  “What are you doing?” Henry yelled.

  “You have no power in this, Vestral; she broke the sacred law and has put our lives in danger,” Adora replied. “We are taking the matter into our own hands!”

  A gust of wind pushed a few of the villagers off Sade as Henry stormed over, his cloak billowed around him as the runes on it glowed a bright green. She only felt his magic, there was no sign the Goddess of Spring was witness to this. Had she lost the favor of the Gods completely? While she turned to face her death, she could have sworn she saw the rune for the God of Justice glow from her rune pouch on Henry’s belt. But no sudden burst of magic came.

  The God of Justice must truly be dead. There was no way he would’ve let one of his faithful die.

  “She will face justice in front of a court of Vestrals, this is not a matter for you to decide!”

  Runes hovered around him, one was for air, but the other was whipping around too fast for Sade to read it.

  A few villagers raised some pitchforks and started toward Henry, who responded by sending a sheet of ice onto the ground toward them. The villagers crashed into each other as they tried to stand, their pitch forks swinging wildly in the air.

  Another group started toward Henry; Sade cried out in alarm. Henry was still watching the men with pitchforks. She was too late; one hit his back with a piece of burnt wood. Henry crumpled onto the ground, and his runes fell with him. His magic coiled around him, forming a shield between him and the villagers encircling him, ready to beat him with the wood.

  Sade felt a tug on her arm and saw Adora was pulling her toward the rope. The frail woman was much stronger than Sade would have thought.

>   “What are you doing?” Sade asked. More villagers gathered around her and hurried her over to the tree. They had positioned a bucket at the bottom. Inscribed on the tree bark were some dispel runes. They sparkled with a small amount of magic inside them. Henry would not be able to use magic to save her.

  “Marius made this for us last year when we had to hang a thief,” Adora said, “and now we get to hang a law breaker and deceiver.”

  She struggled against them as they forced her stand on top of the bucket. They tugged on the rope and to her relief a part of the rope was snagged on a branch so it couldn’t be pulled around her neck. A few of them tried to climb up the bark, but it proved too slick and they fell to the ground with a thump. Sade would have laughed if her life wasn’t about to end.

  “I said stop!” Henry yelled and sent a gust of air magic toward them. The runes in the tree lit up, and the magic flowed around Sade like a gentle breeze. She could hear Henry curse in frustration while he fought off another group of pitchfork-wielding villagers. He batted them off with a burst of air magic, and with that, she noted he was taking extra care not to harm anyone. Sade’s stomach churned, she wondered if she could have done the same for Marius.

  Marius...was this her punishment for his death? Was death the only way she could atone?

  Gods, why did I kill him? He was likely laughing at her from the underworld, waiting to subject her to unimaginable punishment.

  “Tell your lover to stop or we will hang him,” Adora said, pulling her out of her thoughts.

  “He’s not my...” Sade trailed off. Adora wouldn’t believe her no matter how much she protested. She decided she would haunt Henry for the rest of his life for even suggesting that to Jerrick. Still, she didn’t want to be responsible for a second death.

  “Henry! Stop! I thank you for trying, but the villagers demand justice, and who am I to stop them?” Sade yelled. Henry froze right as he was about to send a villager flying into the dirt. His eyes widened in shock.

  The villagers around him followed suit.

  Even Adora was staring past her, her one eye brimming with awe and fear. Sade turned and nearly fell off the bucket.

  Hovering in the air not too far from her was a rune the size of a man that looked to be made of orange lightening. With one triangle facing up and the other facing down, it was the divine rune of the God of Justice and Mercy. Just beyond the rune was a swirling cloud of dust.

  “Who dares touch one of my followers? Who dares defame her act of Mercy as if she were nothing more than a common thief?” A voice boomed from dust cloud.

  The cloud of dust crept forward and the villagers around her took a few steps back. Sade jumped off the bucket, dropping to her knees when she felt a swirl of divine magic encircle her. Tears fell down her face, it was the same magic that had been stored in her tiny rune. But this energy felt more alive and had an electric sense of power to it.

  The chains on her wrists wavered, the magic in the dispel runes tried their best to hold off the intense pulse of divine magic. But it was no match for it and the chains turned to ash in a heartbeat.

  “Rise. my faithful one,” the voice said, and a figure appeared in the dust. They held up a hand, and the dust settled around them. The runes hovering in the air glowed brighter as the figure approached her. They pushed back the hood of their cloak and Sade stared at a pair of shining green eyes.

  “Corin?” She squeaked out and he smiled. Attrius and Leida followed behind him, they were now wearing cloaks with the triangle runes on their hemline.

  “I’m sorry I’m late. I overslept,” he said.

  “You’re the God of Justice?” Sade asked, unable to keep her voice from rising in pitch. Her head swam trying to think of any signs or clues, she might have missed.

  As if he sensed it, Corin nodded his head and patted her on the shoulder. Sade winced, she expected to burst into flames at his touch. She was not worthy to stand in the presence of her God. She was nothing, but a liar and a murderer.

  “Yes, I am the God of Justice, and no you missed nothing,” he smiled again. “I promise I will explain everything later. For now, what would you like to do to these... heathens?”

  The villagers glanced at each other and backed away, leaving Adora alone. She fell to her knees, her one eye wide with fear while Corin approached her.

  Sade saw Jerrick and Esmelda elbow their way through the crowd. Jerrick grabbed Esmelda’s arm, keeping her from rushing to her sister.

  “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t burn your entire village to the ground,” Corin said. A whirl of glowing orange magic danced around him like sparks. The rune hovering in the air flickered as the triangle pointing upwards faded, leaving only the triangle pointing downward.

  Corin pointed to it as he walked past Adora, his cloak brushing against her. He eyed the crowd of uncertain villagers with disdain.

  “Do you know what those two symbols mean? It means upwards for mercy and downwards for justice. My Vestral here did everything she could for your despicable village, and in return you demand justice in the form of her life. Well, you are about to get that justice,” he whirled around and pulled Adora upright, “starting with her.”

  “Wait!” Sade screamed in unison with Esmelda.

  “Corin... I mean God of Justice and Mercy,” Sade ran over to Adora and pulled her away from him with a gentle tug. “They are not incorrect; I broke my oath to not use magic. If you are going to punish someone, please, punish me.”

  “Call me Corin. God of Justice and Mercy is a mouthful,” he said, “you want me to... spare them?”

  “Yes, I am asking you to show them mercy in these times of despair. You have walked among us and you see how they are living.”

  Corin frowned, and for a moment Sade thought he was about to shove her aside, but then she saw the rune change. Now, only the triangle facing upwards was visible. The magic that crackled in it brightened and then vanished.

  “Take heed this day of this wonderful example of a Vestral interceding on behalf of the people to her God!” Corin shouted. The villagers fell to their knees while Adora ran over to Esmelda. Who gave Sade a grateful smile before she knelt.

  Henry, however, was not kneeling. He walked over to them, the runes on his cloak still glowing, and Sade felt a gentle divine presence hovering around him. Whatever presence it was didn’t speak to him; that much was clear from his eyes, which were not glowing.

  “Vestral Henry, I have no issues with the Goddess of Spring,” Corin said with a bit of coldness in his voice. Henry tossed Sade her rune pouch and gave Corin a hard smile.

  “Well, we’ve been wondering where you were, though I am curious why you are in a mortal form,” Henry said.

  “I’m afraid that is something I can only discuss with my Vestrals, and since you are a Vestral to the Goddess of Spring, why don’t you ask her?” Corin said with a dismissive wave of his hand. “Hurry along and inform your High Vestral.”

  Henry’s eyes narrowed, and he looked at Sade as if he were about to say something, but he turned on his heel and stormed back into the village.

  “Is he going to be a problem?” Leida asked.

  “I don’t think so,” Sade said then turned to Corin as he called for the villagers to return to their homes. “Why are you human?”

  “Let’s just say there was a war in the divine realm, and I needed a place to hide and recuperate,” Corin said and straightened his cloak. “Most Gods, aside from the Goddess of the Sea, prefer to stay in the divine realm and use their Vestrals as mouthpieces. The chances of them finding me here is... miniscule.”

  “War?” Sade asked and Corin raised a finger to his lips.

  “Another time my child, I have a task for you. You see my magic is not yet at full strength, the mortal world is weaker and its taking me longer than I thought it would to heal. And I can’t use it at its full strength anyways because the sheer power of it would tear your world in two,” Corin said and took a long breath. “So that’s
where you come in. I need you to help me attune the unrefined in my group.”

  “Attune them? Why do you need more Vestrals?”

  “Because I am building an army. We are going to take the Spirit of the Realm by force.”

  16

  Ashes of Peace

  EMIRA SAT ON A STONE bench watching a griffin keeper try to mount her griffin. She was back at Griffin’s Nest, and the arena was empty save for her, Archibald, and the griffin keepers below who were trying to tame her griffin. She had a week left before her coronation, and while Ambassador Hemsmark and the Marshmires were due to leave tomorrow. King Olric had decided to stay for the coronation.

  The Royal Council was busying completing the preparations for the coronation and Emira’s help was not needed. She did her best to stay away from the High Vestral, who had emerged from her isolation with the Spirit of the Realm. Lady Janel had been the hardest one to convince she needed to be alone, but she agreed when Emira sent her to ensure her parents’ quarters were ready for their arrival.

  “Your Majesty! Have you decided upon a name?” Archibald asked as he ran over to her, beads of sweat dripped down his forehead.

  “I believe Sindre is a good fit for him, don’t you think?” Emira said, watching the sunlight glint off the sea griffin’s feathers.

  “Aye, we’ll see if the name will get him to listen to us,” Archibald said. He ran down the steps and back down onto the arena floor.

  She watched as they used ropes to hold down Sindre and lug over a set of stairs. A man hurried up the steps and launched himself onto Sindre’s back. The griffin let out a sound that was part bird screech and part lion roar. Emira covered her ears. the man was flung off the griffin’s back and onto the stone. He laid on the ground for a moment to catch his breath before jumping back to his feet.

  “You asked for me, Your Majesty?”

  Emira saw Prince Felix standing a few steps away. He swept off the square cap on his head, letting his hair fall free and stick out at odd angles. He gave her a brief bow before patting down his unruly locks. She could have sworn he muttered something about cutting it off. She noticed numerous tiny scars on his hands, remnants of the battles he’d been in.