The Lost Endeavour

by Georgina Makalani

  © 2020 Georgina Makalani

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, events and incidents are the products of the authors imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Cover Design by Deranged Doctor Designs

  (www.derangeddoctordesign.com/)

  ISBN: 978-0-6487227-7-9

  Chapter 1

  Salima stood by the bars and looked over the witch lying in the small cell. The solid ice walls kept the entire space freezing, and the continuous bars gave no indication of a way in. The woman lay too still, her dark hair covering her face, her black dress shining silver with frost; and her hands were blue. Salima glanced around the space behind her, but there was no one else. Similar cage-like cells backed against the icy wall, with the same thick steel bars as the one the witch was locked in that ran from ceiling to floor and gave no hint of an opening.

  She squinted into the too-bright light, failing to find its source. It was likely that the mage had conjured something to create it, as he had with the cells. It was his private domain, after all, and she hadn’t seen any torches. She wondered if they might not survive in the freezing temperature.

  The witch murmured something as she curled tighter in on herself, shivering. Although she didn’t understand why or how, Salima knew she was the only one who could help this woman. Papa would kill her himself, if he knew where she was or that she had even managed to find such a place.

  Finding Ed was more important than her safety. Whether she was a witch or a mage or something else entirely, this woman was the only one who had stood up for him. She had demanded, in front of everyone of importance in the kingdom, that the regent step down and allow Ed to rule.

  He was a man, she had asserted, not a boy. Salima wondered, as she tried to find a way through the bars, if Ed would be forever known as the boy king whether he made it back to the capital or not. She blew out a long breath and rubbed her hands together. She could sense the cold, and yet she couldn’t feel it as keenly as the witch appeared to. She leaned in closer, trying to see if there was any hint the woman still lived.

  “I can’t just refer to you as a witch,” she whispered. “Ana,” she called softly, but the woman didn’t move. Salima glanced around again, half expecting a guard to appear at any moment. “Ana,” she called more loudly, and the woman half opened her eyes. “Thank the gods,” Salima murmured, squatting down and placing her hand on a bar to steady herself. “Are you alive?”

  A smile split Ana’s face, and her lip, and she winced. “Dragon,” she murmured.

  “What? No. I’ve come to get you out.”

  “They will find you,” she wheezed, still unmoving.

  “I could find someone to help. Papa won’t let anyone hurt me.”

  Ana opened amazing green eyes that held Salima captive. “He doesn’t know you are here,” she croaked. She tried to push herself up from the floor, but her arm failed and she slipped back with a sharp exhale.

  “Not exactly,” Salima admitted. “But after what you said about Ed, he will help. I’m sure.”

  “Get me out then, little princess.” Ana stared at her as though willing her to do it—or was she daring her?

  “Is now the time to be smart?” Salima asked. “And I hoped you could get yourself out,” she added weakly.

  Ana’s eyes fluttered closed. Every breath fogged before her, although Salima noted that they were small, shallow breaths. She blew out herself and felt a queasy uneasiness when her own breath didn’t do the same.

  Salima was sure that Ana was going to die, and if she didn’t find some way to get her out, she was going to watch it happen. She ran her hands over the cold steel, but it gave no hint at an opening. “There is no way I can get you out,” she murmured, desperation taking over as the woman before her curled in on herself again and her eyes remained closed.

  “Fire,” Ana breathed, the fog carrying the barely audible words up to Salima. “Use your fire.”

  Salima looked around her. What fire? There wasn’t even a torch, despite the bright light. Was there a different form of fire she wasn’t aware of?

  “There isn’t any,” she hissed, running her hands over more of the bars, trying to feel for anything that would indicate an opening. There had to be a mechanism or the like to help her. There must be a way for soldiers to get prisoners in and out of these cells.

  “You are f…” Ana’s voice trailed off, and the shivering stopped.

  Salima squatted down again, desperation fogging her thoughts. There was no way in. The witch, the one with the power, was slipping away. Salima didn’t want to think too much, hoping she had only lost consciousness. Ana couldn’t be dead. She was the only one who could help her reach Ed.

  “I am what?” Salima asked, her hands tight around the bar. “Ana? What do you think I can do?”

  A lone tear rolled down her cheek, and she was surprised when it didn’t freeze on her skin. It dropped onto the icy flagstones and sizzled. A small puff of steam rose from the ground.

  “I am fire,” Salima whispered. She looked at the woman in the cage, motionless and quiet, curled on the ice before her. She had never thought she would need anyone other than her father, but she needed this woman to survive. “I am fire,” she said more confidently, although the voice that flowed from her seemed unknown. The bars in her hands not only warmed, but moved.

  She fell back from the cage in surprise, pulling the soft metal with her, and then she pushed it away from her as she moved to her knees. It was a small opening, but it was enough for her to crawl through and tug the woman towards her. She was heavier than she appeared. Salima grunted as she jostled over Ana’s too-still body to get a better hold and hooked her hands under the woman’s arms.

  She pulled again, desperation running through her veins and causing her heart to race. Someone would find them; someone would know she had saved Ana. She tugged again, and then they were sitting outside the cell. She pulled Ana into her arms, the woman breathing out slowly before snuggling further into Salima’s body. Salima looked up from Ana to the bars and shivered.

  Reluctantly, she lay Ana down and crawled back to the bars she had twisted. She put her hands on them and willed them back into position. Nothing happened. “Come on,” she grunted, pushing them harder. She sat back, wondering if she had really moved them or if Ana had somehow managed to help her. She closed her eyes, put her hands back on the still-warm metal and blew out a soft breath. “I am fire,” she whispered, imagining herself as a ball of fire. She felt it burn through her, warming the world around her, and the bars slipped back into position.

  As she opened her eyes, the frosty world around her melted. Water ran in small rivulets down the walls, and a mist of steam rose from the floor. She turned back to Ana, who sat behind her, rubbing her hands together and then wrapping her arms around herself.

  “I think we should leave now,” Salima said.

  Ana nodded. Salima helped her to her feet and supported her weight as they headed for the door.

  “Where are we?” Ana wheezed.

  “Below the castle,” Salima said, struggling with the weight of the woman. She appeared so slender, but she was far heavier and harder to manoeuvre than Salima had expected. The stairwell was pitch black compared to the bright room they had left behind. The steps were narrow and slippery.

  “Can you help?” Ana asked.

  “I am helping,” Salima snapped, instantly regretting her outburst as her voice bounced off the walls above
them. They both staggered. Ana slipped from her hold and landed heavily on the stone. “Sorry,” Salima murmured, trying to find a purchase to lift Ana up again without groping her.

  “You could dry this out.”

  “I don’t know…”

  “I saw…”

  “You were unconscious and unable to see anything,” Salima said curtly, cutting off Ana’s words. Silence followed as Ana allowed Salima to pull her to her feet.

  She had taken too long to get Ana out. She had only found the entrance by accident. She had followed the regent around for too long, trying to discover what he might know of Ed, when he had entered an area of the castle no king or regent would go. And then she had found the secret door.

  Salima wasn’t sure if they would come back sometime soon. She had waited in the shadows as he had disappeared inside and then returned not long after followed by the mage. She had watched the door for hours, well into the night, to ensure there were no guards and that they wouldn’t return.

  She had taken too long, she thought as she worked her way too slowly up the narrow steps. Ana had been lying on the floor in the cold, for how long she didn’t know. When Salima had reached her, there was no one around, but that didn’t mean no one would come.

  She pushed on the door, and they were finally in the dimly lit cellar. She took a deep breath and lowered Ana to the floor. They might have made it out of the cells unseen, but there was nothing but open courtyard beyond. It might have been the middle of the night, but there was still the risk of being discovered.

  “I should go for help,” Salima said.

  Ana grabbed her hand. “Don’t leave me.”

  “Only going a little way to find…” She had no idea where she was going, or who would help.

  “Forest,” Ana whispered, leaning her head back against the wall.

  “I’m Salima Forest,” she said in return. “Oh no, Papa won’t like this,” she added quickly.

  Ana hugged her arms around herself. The shivering continued, and Salima was sure she could hear her teeth chatter.

  “Maybe,” she murmured, awkwardly lifting Ana back to her feet. She tried not to grunt as she made her way through the cellar, trying not to fall over any of the boxes while listening carefully in case anyone was coming.

  At the edge of the courtyard, she leaned into the shadows. She had snuck out often enough to know it was easy to make it through the courtyard without entering the torchlight, but doing so while holding up this woman was a different matter. She closed her eyes, listening for soldiers, and then heaved Ana forward and started for the practice halls. She only hoped they were unlocked. Papa never locked them of a day, but she had never tried to enter in the middle of the night.

  Chapter 2

  Ed moved cautiously through the forest, searching between the dimly lit trees ahead of him. The thick canopy overhead hid the sky above and kept them in a state of perpetual twilight. He only knew it was night when it grew darker. Otherwise, he had no idea how long they had been walking.

  Ende flinched at his side. Ed understood how eager the man was to be out of the trees. He had tried several times to lead them towards where he was sure they were close to the edges of the Near Forest. Each time something pushed them closer to its centre. A couple of times he had rolled his shoulders and appeared to brace for a leap, but no matter how big he became, Ed doubted he would be able to make it through the canopy.

  Ed sighed and rolled his shoulders. It was starting to get darker, and although they followed someone else’s path, he would soon suggest they stop for the night. He could hear Phillip Poales wheezing a little further back. The long days of walking had been harder on the older man. But they couldn’t slow. Captain Drayton Sterling had kept pace with Phillip, and several times when Ed had looked back, he’d thought Dray held the man upright or was readying to carry him if necessary. Ed knew the soldier was just as determined to reach the capital and find Ana as he was.

  He tried not to groan as Belle’s grip tightened. It dragged at him. She too was tiring from the journey. She would never admit it, and she never let him go. Not since that first morning when she had woken to find the bodies hanging from the trees around them. As beautiful and as bright as she was, he was struggling with her weight dragging on him and slowing him down.

  “We’ll stop,” he said, unable to carry the weight of the group any further. Not that they were a burden. But his focus was elsewhere.

  He was trying to make it through the Near Forest with a dragon, a soldier, a farmer and his daughter, and a very strong feeling that the inhabitants of the forest didn’t want him going anywhere but where they wanted him to go.

  “Do you think they will allow us through?” he wondered aloud as the group started to unroll blankets and prepare the fire.

  “Who knows what the Near Folk want,” Ende murmured, starting the fire with ease.

  Ed wondered just how he did that, and how Phillip and Belle hadn’t worked out what he was. Ed had only been told because Ana and Dray had thought he should know just who it was he had travelled all that way to find. And his mother had known. He watched the old man poke more branches into the flames, sighing with relief as he held his hands to the heat.

  His bent body, tattered clothes and long grey beard gave him the appearance of a hermit from the mountains. Before he had found Ana and Dray on one side of the Edge Mountains and Ed on the other, it appeared that was just how he had lived. But at some stage in his past, he had been Ed’s mother’s dearest friend.

  The old dragon glanced at Ed as he continued to stare, but his perfect teeth seemed out of place when he smiled. He wasn’t what he appeared to be; Ed knew that. He could become the dragon at any time. Which form had his mother known? Ed had almost asked the old man several times.

  Dray was at his side, and Ed struggled to drag his mind to the present and focus on what the soldier was saying. “Sorry,” he murmured, “say that again.”

  “I’d like to look for rabbit or deer.”

  Ed looked around. They had seen very little in the way of animals during their travels through the forest, but the idea that the Near Folk shadowed their movements made him more nervous than the lack of animals. He shook his head. The large man groaned and then bowed his head.

  “I understand,” Ed said. “I could do with something other than dry meat and biscuit myself, but we don’t know what is out there.” He held up his hand before the man could retort. “I know you can look after yourself, and you have done a wonderful job of keeping us all safe, but I can’t risk you.”

  Dray bowed his head again and moved to the fire and Ende. Ed wondered for a moment if they would gang up and overrule him, but they continued in quiet conversation, making no move to run through the trees.

  “Your Majesty.” Belle patted the blanket beside her, some dried meat and biscuits spread out before her. “Would you like something to eat?”

  “Ed,” he murmured, still watching the others.

  “I am not…”

  Ed rounded on her. “Don’t say that you are not comfortable to call me by name,” he snapped. “You are comfortable enough to hold my hand or arm or shirt all day long.” He instantly regretted it. Her face creased, and she looked down silently at the food before her, subtly trying to wipe the backs of her fingers over her cheek.

  Ed looked up at the faces staring at him. He turned and walked into the trees, leaving them behind. If they called after him, he didn’t hear it.

  It was darker beyond the reach of the fire, and the trees closed in on him as he pressed forward. Ed was unsure why he couldn’t face the others and frustrated with himself that he had hurt Belle’s feelings. She had volunteered to join them, and she wanted to find Ana as much as he did. Sometimes she even smiled when she looked at him. In some ways, he missed the sharp-tongued girl he had first met in this very forest. She had helped him, he thought, putting his hand to his shoulder. Only not as well as Ana had.

  He sighed, unsure where he was in relation
to the others. He looked behind him, but there was no hint of the light of the fire. He stopped for a moment, wondering if the forest was protecting them from him, or if it was separating them.

  He sat down with his back to a tree and shivered in the cool night air. Nothing moved; nothing appeared to live out here. He wondered if they would wander aimlessly through these trees forever, hoping they were close to freedom, close to finding a way to Ana.

  “Is this about her?” he asked the night air. “Do you not want us to find Ana?”

  Silence answered.

  “Do you think I can’t be King?”

  “What do you think?” the wind whispered back, and he shot to his feet. He looked around, but there was no sign of anyone.

  “I don’t know,” he answered honestly, although he was sure his voice shook.

  “Is it not what you were meant to be?”

  “I suppose,” he admitted, still unsure as to what he wanted or who had spoken. “I want to help Ana.”

  “By becoming King?”

  He shook his head.

  Icy fingers slipped across his cheek. He still couldn’t see anyone. Nothing to indicate that there was anyone there. He had no idea what the Near Folk looked like or what they could do.

  “What do you want from me?” he asked the darkness.

  The sensation disappeared, and the wind died down in the leaves above him.

  A small orange light glowed in the distance like a candle’s flame. Ed took a step forward as it lit up the space around it. It rose into the air, moved closer and then darted away between some trees. Ed raced after it, tripping over fallen branches and raised roots. He rested his hand against a tree, and the light reappeared, closer now. Then it circled a tree, flickered and darted away again.

  Ed gave chase, unsure what it might be and where it would lead him. Then he was standing in a small clearing, a blazing fire and his companions staring at him.

  “Are you alright?” Belle stepped forward, concern clear on her face.