by Logan Jacobs
“These are my favorite weapons,” Cinis swooned and snatched the throwing star from my belt. “I haven’t seen one in years!”
“Really?” I asked with a grin. “Your favorite weapon is a throwing star?”
“They’re so cunning and beautiful,” the priestess sighed, and she sent me a dreamy smile as she clutched it against her ample cleavage.
“Well… it’s yours, then,” I said at once. “Only it didn’t come from me, okay? I’ve gone against protocol enough for one day, so promise me no one will learn your assassin handed you a throwing star as a gift.”
“Yes, Dex,” Cinis chuckled and grasped the weapon in her slender hands. “I promise. But promise me something, too?”
“What is it?” I asked as her smile fell, and she grew serious.
“Travel fast from here,” Cinis warned. “You are no fire being, and I truly wish you no harm. Leave the fields and return to Ocadia as quickly as you can.”
“I will,” I said without hesitation. “But what about you? This could all go very wrong for us all, but especially for you, and if--”
“Hey,” Cinis cut in, and she sent me a devious smile. “As long as my embers aren’t flooding the kingdoms, trust me, I’m fine.”
“Okay, but be care--”
Before I could finish, Cinis was storming toward the castle once more, and as much as I wanted to follow her, I knew she was right. I was no fire being, and the ember fields were no place for anyone to be right now, least of all a human mage.
I turned and ran out of the fields and into the forest, and the dense foliage did nothing to bar my entrance. It was still just before sunup, so the trees were barely lit with the blue light of dawn, and my eyes refused to adjust to the sudden darkness.
“I’m going back to Ocadia,” I gasped to the trees encroaching around me. “Please, can you light the way? I must travel quickly.”
A breeze rippled through the woods, and then the wind got stronger and louder. Then, one by one, the glowworms lit up, and so did the fireflies.
I let out a breath of relief and ran to make my way back along the same trail. This time, my body was my own, and it easily jolted forward while I gained as much speed as I could. I didn’t know what was in store for me or the kingdom, but I couldn’t spend another moment out here.
Any second, Cinis would confront Ignis, and I was the man who’d let her walk free.
I reminded myself that at least I came out of the fields alive, which was not something I expected when I first caught a glimpse of the most beautiful woman I had ever laid eyes on.
Cinis was so much more than I’d been led to believe. She was clever, powerful, and had the confidence to defy the world in which she lived, and yet, she understood I was only doing my job, and she held no ill will toward me for it.
I was truly glad I’d seen her for myself, with her soft skin and eyes that looked like they held galaxies in them. I counted myself lucky in many ways after this, and as I raced through the shrubs, I couldn’t help grinning at the memory of her.
Then I heard a deafening bang.
It was not an explosive bang, but more of a heavy thud, like something had been set aflame from inside the ground.
My body tensed up, and I came to a quick stop before I whipped around.
Behind me, I saw the violent, flashing light of flames coming from the ember fields in the distance. Then the forest edge was engulfed with the fire, the sky lit up amber, and creatures began to scream as the first trees fell.
Chapter 9
My legs couldn’t keep up with my body, but I still ran faster than I ever had before. Birds dashed above my head, and I could hear creatures jumping from branch to branch among the treetops. I stumbled over the glowworms and continued at a breakneck pace, and my only thought was to get back to the kingdom before the fire caught up to me.
I risked a quick glance behind me and saw the orange light getting more distant. It seemed like Ignis’ wrath was mostly confined within the fields of the Ardere, but the titan had to be furious.
For all I knew, it was only a matter of time until we all felt the full extent of his anger.
But the Forest of Hud was strong, and as I continued to run, it began to shield itself from the burning threat. The vines that hung around the trunks of the trees started to tighten their hold and thicken like armor, and the trees themselves grew upward. The trunks seemed to cluster together, and their leaves started to form a dome-shape above, as if they were making sure everything within the forest was protected.
Then new plants started to break through the forest floor and rose until they were more than fully grown. The shrubs knitted together and formed barriers of holly hedges as another defense, and all around me, the forest became denser and stronger than ever.
It was like it refused to be burned by Ignis’ wrath.
Despite all of this upheaval, though, I felt a glimmer of relief in my chest, because there was no molten, golden flood behind me. The ember fields hadn’t begun to seep over the land, which meant Cinis was still okay.
For now, at least.
I leapt over the stout hedgerows, fumbled around the growing trees, and barreled onward through the shielded forest, but the closer I got to Ocadia, the harder it was to get through the thick woodland.
I continued to sprint anyways until I was almost crawling through the foliage, and I did my best to hurdle over the roots of the trees as they sprawled outward and upward. Eventually, I had no choice but to slow down, but as soon as I did, the vines started smacking me out of the forest.
I wasn’t far from the edge of Ocadia, but the vines seemed eager to force me out, and with each whip, my heart skipped a beat.
“I’m almost there!” I growled as two more vines snapped at my calves.
Then, with one quick thwack on my ankle, I fell to the forest floor. The vines wrapped around my feet before I could even stand up, and they started to twist around my body. I kicked and grunted to break free, but within a matter of seconds, I was completely engulfed by the thick, green vines.
With one quick surge of energy, the Forest of Hud hurled me out of its grasp, and I crashed out onto a cobblestone street of the city. My swords clanged as I rolled to my feet. Then I scowled at the overgrown tree line and felt its anger permeating the air.
A thick wall of hedgerows extended along the entire perimeter, and spiky holly leaves the size of my hand barred anyone in the kingdom from even trying to enter.
“Alright!” I scoffed and straightened my rumpled attire. “I understand your frustration, but I did try to warn the woman about the repercussions of her actions--”
The trees hissed at me, and I jumped a few inches away.
“I’ll fix it!” I hissed back. Then I stood there for a moment and readjusted my tone to a more respectful one. “All of this aside, I am eternally grateful to you for allowing me safe passage through your enchantments--”
A hissing vine shot out to thwack my leg.
“I’m going!” I snapped, and I turned on my heel and left the pissed-off forest behind me.
The forest may have been annoyed with me, but after spitting me out the way it did, I was pissed with it, too. I let out a harsh huff and side-eyed the trees that continued to creak and grow, and I wrenched at my garments to remove my disguise.
Once I stuffed the borrowed knight’s uniform in my satchel, I checked for any broken skin from the hissing vines, but there were no visible injuries.
“Hmm,” I muttered with a scowl.
It was just after dawn in Ocadia, and I was still in the southeast part of town. I had a bit of a walk ahead of me before I would reach my estate, so I continued north at a quick pace. I needed to speak with my Master about the morning’s events, and I hoped he could give me some insight.
Master Abbot was an intelligent man who had the water gods to give him clarity, and he would have seen what was happening by now. Even if he wasn’t able to watch over me in the ember fields of the Ardere, he would have a
t least seen the smoking skies, and I knew he would tell me to be logical about this. I knew he would tell me that the only being to blame for this mess was Ignis.
The fire titan had deceived us both, and in my opinion, not even Cinis was to blame for any of this. She may have acted rashly, and out of some desperation and anger, but she did what she thought needed to be done. She confronted the titan who wanted her murdered, and who was willing to cause irreparable damage to our world in the process.
I looked around the kingdom to see if any more fires had sprouted, and there now seemed to be five patches of black smoke in the distance. I concluded there was still no immediate danger to our people, but I still had to act quickly.
It only took ten minutes of walking before I started to hear the first few outbursts from the people within the kingdom, though. Everyone who was strolling around seemed to notice the smoke shafts in the distance all at once, and many others started pouring from their estates.
As I broke into a jog, I noticed a cluster of elves in the street, and they were heading toward the castle with haste. Other members from several more estates rushed in the same direction soon after, and I saw conjurers, elementalists, wizards, warlocks, and sorcerers among them.
I knew which house they all belonged to by the garb they wore, but they seemed to be dressed in their finest fabrics today.
The elementals wore colors to signify which element they belonged to, and they were all richly pigmented and made of satin. The warlocks had thick, gray, cotton robes that looked rough and sack-like, and the conjurers wore a softer style in a deep plum. The goblins wore a mint-green robe, and all members of every estate wore some variant of a brooch to signify more clearly what house they belonged to.
Dressed in so much finery, they could only be going to see the king.
The king held an assembly anytime something in the kingdom was out of place, and it could be for anything from minor instances to peace-threatening issues. There was a drought last year that killed off the crops, and an assembly was called over it, and another time, it rained so heavily that most of the southern quarter got flooded. Then there was the month when one of the necromancers accidently brought back three-hundred dead beings all at the same time.
The city didn’t stop reeking for weeks.
The more severe the issue, the more magical beings the king summoned to the assembly because he was only human. He only ever appointed human lords, human ladies, and human treasurers, but after the threat of a magical uprising many decades ago, he made a deal with the more powerful beings.
In return for them keeping the peace and not overthrowing the monarchy, the king would listen to their complaints and call upon them when he needed help. The king made up a council of magical advisors, and it brought peace to the kingdom, but it also worked in his favor, too. In times like these, when he knew no ordinary human would have the knowledge or power to stop such a force from spreading into the land, the king could always rely on his magical advisors.
Even if the process of assembling them was a bit… chaotic.
Herds of people rushed past me, and I grew wary of their anxious faces and frazzled behavior. The king was certainly competent, so I hoped he would calm everything down a bit, but I couldn’t be sure. Things could get out of hand quite easily in a place like Ocadia, and nobody knew these fires were from Ignis. They didn’t know this was on account of his plot to murder his own niece, and they certainly didn’t know my estate was in any way involved.
But I did.
I knew all of the necessary details, and I’d feel a lot less anxious if I knew how the council of magical advisors, and the king, were planning to handle the attack.
I changed my course and banged into the first person I could see. My body immediately mirrored into a boy who was much younger than I was, but luckily, he was tall for his age. I rushed past the people and bounded through the streets. My attitude seemed normal since everyone ran in different directions, and some called on their neighboring estates to check that they were okay.
Then the griffons, dragons, and other flying beasts started to circle in the sky above. Luckily, they were not allowed beyond the borders of the forest, so they couldn’t descend on the city and cause more chaos, but they could probably see where the fires were stemming from.
I neared the castle grounds not fifteen minutes later, but then I quickly realized I was in the wrong body to enter.
Only advisors of the king would be permitted to sit in on the assembly. Everyone else out here was clustered with their families and in their night garb, and I stood among them with a young face and no invitation to enter.
I had to come up with a quick plan.
I looked around the area to see if there was anyone I could mirror who was able to go into the castle, but nothing stood out at first. All I could see were crowds of humans and other beings who just came to see if they could pick up on the news quicker. I started running back against the current of the crowd, and they pushed to the side when they saw me coming toward them. I ran away from the castle, and through the town centre, until finally I was by the abandoned stalls. There were less people here, but it gave me the opportunity to look more clearly at the beings rushing toward the castle.
And then I spotted a perfect target.
A druid leader was cautiously running toward the castle, and he had a look of panic on his face. He wore a fine robe like the other advisors did, but instead of long fabric that dragged behind him, his outfit was more modest. It was simple, made of beige cotton, draped at the shoulder, and was held together with a brown belt.
I guessed the simplicity was so he could still do his healing work if he needed to. After all, helping and healing others was the druids’ job in this kingdom, but what he didn’t know was that he was about to help me.
I hunched down by one of the stalls, and then I pretended to have a bad limp.
“Druid!” I called out in a childlike voice. “Druid, help!”
I was away from the paths and the crowds, so the druid looked all around to figure out where the sound was coming from. Then he halted and twisted in a circle until he finally found me, and he rushed over for help.
I had never been too close to a druid leader before, mainly because, as an assassin, I did the exact opposite of what he did for a living. The paths of an unknown killer and a natural magic healer rarely crossed, but when he got closer, I saw the lines on his forehead were severely deepened with worry. He kept looking at the castle and then back at me, as if he had a debate going on in his head, but then he must have concluded that helping a young, injured person was more important.
I made sure I stayed somewhat hidden in a shadowy area so nobody could see us, and I started to huff in pain and hold my leg like it was broken.
“Are you okay?” the thin, hooded druid asked.
“I think I’ve hurt myself,” I said in my most pained voice.
“Okay, let me have a look,” the druid said and dropped to his knees to get to work.
I pressed my body against the wooden wall and rolled up my pant leg, and I pretended his touch hurt. I flinched every time he pressed on the “pained” area that apparently was somewhere near my ankle, and the man furrowed his wiry brow in concentration.
This simple touch meant my transformation could begin, and it was time for phase two of my plan.
I looked from left to right to make sure the coast was clear, and while the druid was hunched over my leg, I swiftly clamped my fingers on the arteries at the sides of his neck. Five seconds was all it took, and I resisted his yanking around until he slumped to the ground. Then I checked his eyes to see if he was completely out of it, and I let my transformation begin.
Within a few seconds, I grew the druid’s same face, my body got taller, and even my fingers became thinner and grayed on the ends. Before even waiting for the transformation to be completed, I was already swapping my travelling cloak with his outer robe, and I reattached my weapons underneath the flap of fabric.
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I was prepared to enter the assembly.
The only problem was that I now had a druid strewn at my feet who looked dead, and he was in nothing but long underwear.
I couldn’t just leave him there.
I checked the surrounding area once more to make sure nobody had seen me going about my work, but everyone fleeing down the paths toward the castle seemed highly preoccupied with panicking. I thought about the stalls in the area, and I tried to come up with a place close enough to drag him to. It would need to be somewhere where the shopkeeper would understand the situation I gave them and be tactful about it.
Lekran, the herbalist, wasn’t far from here, but his stall had no walls, and he wouldn’t be too pleased about me hauling an unconscious druid into his care. Druids were some of his best customers. Then I remembered one of our closest allies, the alchemist named Xerzor, had a walled-in stall in the centre of town.
Even though Xerzor’s magical practices weren’t exactly permitted this close to the castle, he had a discrete amount of work going on at his private meeting place in the area. In turn for our estate keeping his secret, he always kept our secrets as well, and he was a fiercely loyal friend to the Master.
I gathered my satchel again, and then I hooked my arms through the druid’s armpits so I could drag him to the alchemist’s shop.
The shop was only a stone’s throw away, and it was in a derelict area that was rarely busy. The structure itself was simple, wooden, and made to look discreet. There were three windows, one on each side of the cabin-like structure, and it had a decked area out front with a simple railing surrounding it. There were no signs to suggest that an alchemist worked there, but this was because he didn’t want to draw attention to it.
Much like my own estate house, Xerzor’s customers had to know how to find him in order to seek his services.
I grappled with the incredibly tall man for a couple minutes, and then I pulled him up the wooden-slatted steps of Xerzor’s stall before I dropped him and knocked on the door.