by Suzi Davis
“You are strong. You can do this. Fight it—for Sebastian,” Bridgette instructed, her eyes steady on mine.
Slowly I nodded.
She was right. Giving up was easy, but when was life ever easy? The easy choices were often not the right ones. I had to fight. I had to live. I had to escape. For myself and for the memory of Sebastian. I squeezed my necklace tightly and fought against the magic pulling at me.
“I can’t,” I grunted. It was too hard.
“You can,” Bridgette argued. “You’re doing it. Let me help you. Come on.”
She took my arm and slowly began turning me back towards the woods. Her faint ability to use the Lost Magic was flaring to its full extent, offering me the small amount of strength that she could. It wasn’t much magic but it was all she had. But it was they way she instructed me to rebel; I knew I had no other choice. I squeezed my necklace harder, focusing with all my might. I wanted to escape, I wanted to live and I did not want to go back to Aed. I loved Sebastian and I always would but Aed meant nothing to me. He was the enemy. He had killed Sebastian. And I must live so that I could make him pay. I must live so that I could destroy him. If I saw him again, I would kill Aed.
And with that thought, Aed’s power over me was broken. I felt his magic crack apart, shattering with an almost audible sound that splintered through the night air. His answering scream of rage echoed across the field, making my blood run cold. He sounded outraged and insanely furious; he sounded like he wasn’t that far away.
“Run!” Bridgette hissed in my ear, and we did.
“Where’s Clarke?” I asked as we neared the edge of the forest. I couldn’t see him anywhere but it was getting so dark that I might easily have overlooked him.
“Jai and Sylvia were close behind me. They would have found him, don’t worry,” Bridgette reassured me. I prayed that she was right.
A ball of fire as large as a beach ball suddenly hit the ground and exploded barely twenty feet behind us. We ran even faster, darting into the shadows and weaving our way between the trees, knowing that we were being chased.
The shadows were pitch black beneath the trees. We moved as quickly and carefully as we could, deeper and deeper into the woods. Bridgette led the way, surprisingly she seemed to have a better sense of direction in the dark than I did. I was only too happy to follow along without thought. I was exhausted.
It felt like hours later when we finally reached the rendezvous point; only five others were there.
“It’s us,” Bridgette called softly as we approached them.
“Who’s us? Not Jeremy and Aed I should hope!” Red laughed, his voice just loud enough to make me wince nervously.
“Grace and Bridgette,” I answered as we walked up. “Who’s with you?”
“Nathaniel, Sylvia and the injured one, Clarke,” he listed in a slightly softer tone.
“What about Ella and Jai?”
“Ella got hit by one of those fireballs,” Sylvia answered. I could hear the tears in her voice. “She… she’s gone. We had to leave her there.”
“And Jai?” I whispered.
“We don’t know. He’s either dead or he’s been captured,” Red answered solemnly.
“Aed will show him no mercy. He’s either dead already or he will be soon,” I pronounced coldly. I couldn’t afford to show any emotion; they had to understand exactly what it was we were dealing with. Bridgette gasped beside me. I felt numb, not allowing any sadness or regret to distort my thinking right now. “Where’s David?”
“Down there.” Nathaniel spoke for the first time and his voice shook with fury. I could just make out his gesture in the darkness as he pointed back down towards Aed’s camp. “He fought alongside Aed. The fireball that killed Ella came from him.”
“No,” I denied, shaking my head in the darkness. “No, he couldn’t have.”
“It was him,” Red confirmed angrily. “I saw it myself. He knew exactly where we were all supposed to be positioned and he made sure to tell the others. They would have picked us off if Bridgette hadn’t suggested we reposition ourselves after you left, just in case Aed realized who you were and got the information out of you. I don’t know why Ella didn’t listen… if she hadn’t been standing where David knew she’d be… but there can’t be any doubt that David has changed sides now. He killed Ella; he would have killed us all.”
“That’s assuming he ever was on our side to begin with,” Nathaniel added bitterly.
“Aed must have made him do it, just like he was trying to force me to return to him. He’s powerful, more powerful than I realized. David would be powerless against him,” I explained, not able to believe that David had betrayed us. He wouldn’t. He couldn’t have.
“Perhaps,” Nathaniel answered softly, he sounded doubtful. No one else spoke.
“Grace?” Clarke moaned from the shadows nearby.
“I’m here.” I rushed forward to reassure him, my fingers feeling for him in the darkness. As I blindly reached out for him, my hand brushed against his and his fingers immediately locked around mine, squeezing with a surprising strength considering his condition.
“I’m c-c-c-cold,” he stuttered. I’d almost forgotten his grave injuries. Though we had managed to rescue him, whether he would survive or not was still uncertain.
“We need to get you back to our camp. We’ll have to move to a new spot, just in case Aed gets more information out of David. We’ll need blankets and some strong branches that we can make a stretcher out of; I don’t think Clarke can walk far.” Clarke moaned weakly in response. “We need to move quickly,” I reminded them. I couldn’t believe Aed would just let me walk away this time. Not after I’d taken his prisoner and defied his direct order to return to him at sunset. “How many of their numbers were left?”
“At least three were killed and two more injured,” Nathaniel reported.
“Jeremy?” I asked.
“No.” He sounded as disappointed as I felt. “Jeremy, David and Aed were well-protected.”
“Next time,” Red promised with a growl. It was the fiercest I’d ever seen him. I was surprised by the anger in his voice but then I remembered how fond he’d been of Ella. We all had scores to settle with Aed, but for tonight, we needed to retreat and regroup.
It took us hours to hike around to the other side of the island through the dark woods. Red and Nathaniel carried Clarke on the make-shift stretcher for the majority of the trip but Sylvia and I also took brief turns. When we finally found a level area along the island’s coast that overlooked a small inlet where we could set up camp, we were all exhausted. Bridgette tended to Clarke’s injuries by the low light of a small fire. She rinsed and cleaned his wounds, and carefully bathed his body with her gentle, proficient hands. She bound and covered his cuts and sores with fresh, clean bandages and a soothing salve from her own pack and found a fresh shirt and pants for him to wear that had been Nathaniel’s. After forcefully making him drink some water and swallow a little bread—along with some pain-killers—she wrapped him in blankets beneath one of the lean-tos and watched over him until he fell asleep. A frown creased her typically smooth brow.
“What do you think?” I asked her when she came back over to the fire. Everyone else had gone to sleep except for Bridgette, myself and Nathaniel.
“Physically, I think he’ll be ok,” she answered, sinking down beside Nathaniel and leaning against him slightly. “He’s dehydrated, exhausted and half-starved. He has some pretty bad cuts and burns, and he’s covered in bruises but none of his injuries are life-threatening. He should heal and survive.”
“But mentally?” I guessed.
She shook her head, staring sadly into the fire.
“I don’t know. He’s convinced that Sebastian killed his pregnant wife,” Bridgette confessed, her voice a horrified whisper.
“You mean Aed,” I corrected sharply.
“No, I mean Sebastian. Clarke says this started with Sebastian. That the people who first held him here sai
d that they were acting under Sebastian’s orders. And the first time Sebastian came and… beat him, he called himself Sebastian still. It wasn’t until two nights ago that he started demanding everyone call him Aed.”
“That was when you thought Sebastian died,” Nathaniel commented.
“I know,” I snapped.
Bridgette frowned at me disapprovingly.
“You can ask him about it yourself tomorrow if you like, Grace, but for now, I think we all should rest,” Bridgette stated firmly. The fire abruptly went out, the scent of smoke left hanging in the air. I stared at Bridgette’s faint silhouette in the darkness in surprise. The Lost Magic still lingered in the air, radiating out from Bridgette. I remembered how easily she had added her strength to mine when I had been trying to resist Aed’s control.
“You’ve been practicing,” I commented.
“You were right. When your life is on the line, it motivates you, makes the magic easier to reach and control. I think we all learned a lot today.”
“I’m sorry you had to learn this way.” I meant it too. I wished none of us ever had to fight or cause pain to another and especially to not have to take another’s life. Unfortunately, the world just didn’t work that way. This was our duty, this was our task laid out by the spirits themselves.
“It’s fine. I’m going to take the first watch. Good night, Grace.”
“Good night.”
I heard Nathaniel quietly rise along with her. Against the distant backdrop of the stars, I thought I saw them walk away hand-in-hand, their heads bent close together as they whispered softly. I allowed myself one quick, sad smile.
Everyone was asleep. I was left all alone with my thoughts and they were dark and painful. I was faced with the truth that Sebastian was gone and Aed was a monster like I’d never imagined. Clarke was barely alive, Ella was dead, Jai was missing and David might well have betrayed us all. I suddenly could no longer bear to be awake, I could barely tolerate being alive. I crawled through the darkness over to the lean-to where Clarke was sleeping. He was snoring and rasping softly in his sleep. Needing some form of human comfort and warmth, I curled up against his side, pulled a blanket over my head, and fell fast asleep listening to the rhythm of his ragged breaths.
It felt like the moment my eyes were closed, the cold, gray fog started unfurling. I watched wearily as the otherworldly mist twisted around my ankles and thickened in the air all around me. In moments, I was encased in a cloud of soft, warm grayness. It was everywhere, it was all I could see, breathe and feel. An ancient voice whispered in my ear.
“We are displeased. Your ears are deaf to our voices. Your destiny is not fulfilled. You must guide them. You must destroy the dark power at their center,” the voice hissed from everywhere and nowhere. I shivered.
“I know. I’m trying, I just… I needed to see for myself that Sebastian was gone before I could…” When I couldn’t even say that I was going to kill him, how could I possibly go through with it? I wondered.
“Sebastian is beyond saving,” the voices chanted in unison, the sound strangely muffled by the fog. “Destroy the dark flame with light. It is your destiny.”
“But how?” I demanded, frustrated and afraid. “I don’t know how to defeat him.”
“The Lost Magic must be bled from his veins at the tip of the ancient blade,” the voices whispered back.
“What blade?”
“The dagger that once took Caoilinn’s life. Pierce his heart and destroy the magic that bred in the darkness there. It is the only way to kill him and to stop him carrying his dark power forward into his next life.”
“I don’t know if I can do that,” I whispered. The dark void inside of me felt like it was growing bigger, ready to swallow me whole.
“You must!” the voices hissed back at me, the shrill sound hurting my ears. “You will kill him or the whole world will be doomed, brought to kneel at his mercy. He must be stopped. You are the only one.”
The weight of responsibility was crushing my chest. I could barely breathe, let alone answer. Instead, I offered a faint nod of acceptance.
“I will do what you ask of me,” I gasped.
The fog started to thin and fade, the pressure on my lungs slowly relaxing.
“Mags?” I called out into the unfurling fog. “Mags? Are you there? Please, Mags, I need your help. Help me,” I cried but there was no answer. “Mags, you once said David was the key but can he still be trusted? Has he really changed sides? Mags, please!” The soft, gray fog evaporated like smoke and before I could utter another word, my eyes popped open.
I was staring up at the underside of the lean-to I was sharing with Clarke. I could hear him snoring softly beside me, his breaths even and more regular than they had been last night. A flush of fever had crept into his cheeks but it might have been from the extra thick sleeping bag we had wrapped him in. Either way, I gently pulled the sleeping bag back from his face, allowing a little cool air to reach him before I wriggled my way out of the lean-to.
It was morning and the day was awakening crisp and cold. The golden sun was rising up from the ocean, its weak winter’s warmth slowly melting the frost from the ground. It was still cold enough that my breath fogged up before me and I had to pull on my hat and gloves to stay warm. I was surprised to see that everyone else was already up, all five of them huddled around the fire and sipping from steaming mugs. Red waved as he saw me approaching.
“Look who’s finally up!” he teased.
Bridgette smiled and quickly fetched another mug which she filled with piping hot tea. I took it from her gratefully.
“Why did you let me sleep so long? And why are you all here, shouldn’t someone be on watch?”
“We couldn’t wake you, we tried but you wouldn’t stir. You were muttering in your sleep in a different language,” Sylvia informed me.
“It sounded like an old form of Gaelic. We assumed you were consulting with the spirits,” Bridgette explained with an apologetic shrug.
“Oh, I suppose I was,” I admitted. “Not that it was much use.”
“At dawn I went on watch by myself so that Bridgette could get some more rest. I decided to take a risk and head back towards Aed’s camp, to see what was going on there and if they had captured Jai,” Nathaniel told me.
“That was dangerous, you shouldn’t have gone by yourself,” I admonished.
He shrugged.
“I would prefer not to risk anyone’s safety but my own.”
I slowly nodded as I realized he had been worried that Bridgette would volunteer to go with him—which she probably would have—and then she might have been hurt. We exchanged a quick look, a mutual understanding. “They’re still there,” he informed. “Aed is directing the rebuilding of the camp. It was obvious even from a distance that he’s furious. Seven of them still live including Aed, David and Jeremy. I saw no signs of Jai.”
“Any signs of search parties out looking for us?”
Nathaniel quickly shook his head.
“No, Aed’s not looking further than his own camp. All of his attention is on rebuilding the camp and preparing for… something. He seems confident either that we’re not a concern, or that we’ll come back when he wants us to.”
“Or both,” Bridgette whispered.
No one was meeting my eye. We were a sad group with little hope or enthusiasm. We needed a plan; we needed a leader. It was time to step up.
“David is supposed to be sneaking out of Aed’s camp tonight and meeting us. We had planned to attack at dawn tomorrow but there’s no longer any reason to wait. If he truly has joined Aed then he would have already shared the details of our plans. Any information he might bring us tonight—if he even comes—would be compromised and we’d be hard pressed to trust it, and him. I say we attack today, this very afternoon. We end it now before Aed has a chance to recover or cause any more harm.”
“But how? We’re outnumbered seven to four, and with David now on their side do we even stand a chan
ce?” Nathaniel asked.
“Yes, we do. We have the spirits and destiny on our side, we are meant to defeat them and we will,” I declared. “We’ll catch them off guard and hit them hard. Their leaders will have to die. Aed, I will take care of; Red and Sylvia, I need you to go after Jeremy, and Nathaniel… if he truly has turned sides, then I’ll need you to take David down.”
“What about me?” Bridgette demanded.
“You’ll be with me when I go after Aed,” I informed her. Nathaniel’s eyes widened and he immediately began to protest.
“Are you crazy? She’ll die if she goes up against—”
“Thank you, but I can take care of myself,” Bridgette snapped, glaring at Nathaniel in a way that should have made him want to curl up and hide. I was impressed and a little amused. I tried to hide my smile.
“I’m going to need that knife Mags gave you, Bridgette. The spirits said I must use it when I kill Aed. His death requires that ancient knife through his heart, to bleed the magic from his veins to ensure his power won’t carry through to his next life,” I explained.
“What about the others?” Red asked.
“The leaders must die, it doesn’t matter particularly how Jeremy dies just as long as it happens. And David… if he is indeed a traitor then he must also die. The others we will try and spare. Once we’ve captured them all, we will ask them to swear not to harm any others, to live conspicuously and hide their abilities from the rest of the world, and to not abuse the Lost Magic in anyway.”
“And you shall bind them to their words with magic?” Bridgette guessed.
“Yes.”
“What if they won’t swear?” Sylvia asked.
“Then they will leave us no choice but to kill them as well,” Bridgette answered for me, her soft voice chillingly cold. It took me a second to realize I was gawking at her like the rest of them.
“You’re forgetting one detail, Grace,” Red spoke up. He squinted at me, looking apologetic. “How are we going to spring an attack on Aed’s camp? We can’t make the first move and he probably knows that. None of us have been able to gain any significant control over the Lost Magic unless there was a direct and immediate threat to our lives motivating us.”