“You must stay and eat with us!” Tom nodded, not wanting to cause offence and they followed the citizens back inside the town.
“It might be wise to stay here tonight,” Keolan whispered to the twins, “in case those rebels decide to come back.”
Or Aurora, Kiræ thought, gazing towards the darkening sky.
The Birrien citizens put on a lavish spread for the group that evening and it seemed as if the whole town was taking part in the celebratory festivities. Kiræ left the banquet early and returned to her room. She found herself sitting in the window staring at the softly falling snow, she wished, she prayed to the Gods that a dark shadow would sweep across her vision but it remained clear.
She woke hours later still sat in the small window, her neck sore from the position she had slept in and found it was nearly dawn. She stretched, washed, changed and wandered quietly into the bar where the Innkeeper was cleaning up after the previous night; he smiled to her and gestured that she sit at one of the clean tables. He brought her some porridge and water, sensed she wasn’t in the mood for small talk and returned to tidying the bar. She sat in silence, stirring her food but not eating it until her brother appeared in the doorway. She forced a smile as he joined her and the Innkeeper set out another bowl of porridge before returning to his duties.
“She’ll come back,” Tom assured Kiræ through a mouthful of porridge but she refused to look up.
“I just don’t know how she could do it Tom.”
“I don’t either,” he replied softly, “maybe it’s hard to return to the human form.”
“I feel like I pushed her into this,” Kiræ blurted out, “I’ve been making her try to change, I thought I was helping her control it, but maybe I just pushed her away.”
Tom shook his head and squeezed his sister’s shoulders, “You didn’t push her to do anything, I think the dragon part of her has been trying to resurface ever since we left Caan, but she will come back, of that I’m certain.” Kiræ nodded and half smiled though Tom wasn’t sure if even he believed his words.
Eventually Keolan and Tana joined them and once they had eaten they said farewell to the Birrien citizens who were desperately trying to convince them to stay. Tom was doing his best to be diplomatic and although he knew the others would have liked to stay longer, he and Kiræ needed to continue their journey as quickly as possible. The snow had ceased and the sun was high as they left the small town behind and Tom worried they had wasted their day.
Tom pushed them hard over the next leg of their journey; he felt they were already taking too long to reach their destination and he worried for Vala, who was by now already at war. As they continued towards Eriba, he allowed them little rest and ensured he and Kiræ were on watch so she could practice her protection magic. So far she had been unsuccessful in creating the shimmering bubble and he could see she was panicked and worried. He tried to reassure her as much as possible but felt his words were hollow, since he knew she was there best hope at coming out of this alive.
They passed through the town of Wegoraz with little trouble and were able to replenish their seriously dwindling supplies. The citizens were pleasant and eager to trade, some even remembered the twins from the first time they journeyed there.
“I think we should remain to the east of the Yanin Wood when we enter Eriba,” Tom called to the group as they left Wegoraz, “the more distance there is between us and Yutshan the better.” The others agreed and they continued in silence towards Lake Ohu, the large body of water that straddled Baja and Eriba. Kiræ remembered learning in one of her history classes that the lake used to be a part of the ocean but had eventually been cut off; Ohu literally meant, ‘stranded’ in one of the ancient languages and that was what the lake now was.
They had been making their way to the Eriban border, from Wegoraz through alternating harsh storms and clear weather and Kiræ was beginning to feel exhausted. She and Tom had continued to practice with their magic and although they were becoming confident with the elements as a whole, Kiræ was still struggling to create the protection shield. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t seem to find the trigger that would push the combined elements out of her. She was becoming very familiar with some particularly vile curse words and Tom raised an eyebrow at her.
“Perhaps we should return to the individual elements,” he suggested, much to her relief and frustration.
It felt as if they had been travelling for the entire winter season when they finally reached the large, frozen body of water. Kiræ squinted at the surface as the winter sun reflected sharply off. The land was more fertile here, which was made evident by the increase in trees and shrubs, though they currently wore their winter attire. As they crossed the invisible border into Eriba, Kiræ thought back to the only other time she had visited this area, just over a year ago, before any of the chaos she now found herself surrounded by had begun.
My life could have been so different, she thought while staring blankly at the bland landscape, if Tom and I hadn’t discovered our magic then none of this would be happening, we wouldn’t be on this stupid journey, Aurora wouldn’t have abandoned us and maybe Tino would still be alive. Her thoughts trailed off and she took a deep breath to steady herself, ahead of her Tom and the others were riding close together, talking in hushed voices but Kiræ, preoccupied with her own inner demons failed to notice.
“I shouldn’t be telling you this,” Tom said, speaking in a hushed tone, “but Kiræ blames herself for Tino’s death.”
“That’s crazy!” Tana said forgetting to keep her voice down, she glanced nervously behind her but Kiræ hadn’t noticed, she breathed a sigh of relief and continued, in a loud whisper. “How can she think it was her fault? We’d all be dead if she hadn’t created that protective shield.”
Tom sighed, “I’m not sure why she blames herself but she does, and now I think she’s doing the same thing with Aurora’s departure.”
“That’s ridiculous,” Keolan said, “Ror once told me that when she changed she could hear the call of the dragons and the urge to visit them was strong. I’ll bet that’s where she’s gone and if she has then that Dragon Lord will bring her back.”
“I hope you’re right Keo,” Tom said slowly stealing a glance at his sister, “because I’m worried about what she might do if Ror doesn’t come back.”
They were still in sight of Lake Ohu when night arrived and seeing how tired her friends were Kiræ offered to take the first watch. She gathered some wood for a fire while the others erected the tents. Her brother approached and she took a deep breath.
“Are you okay?” he asked and started helping her gather wood.
“I’m fine,” she replied.
“Do you want me to stay up with you?”
Kiræ shook her head, “Do you mind if we take a night off, I think I’m mentally exhausted,” she smiled grimly and he returned it.
“Are you sure you’re okay to take watch?”
“It’s only for a few hours I’ll be okay.”
“Wake me in three hours to take over.”
Kiræ sat quietly for a couple of hours, lost in her own thoughts as snow filled clouds skidded playfully across the sky, frequently blotting out the light of the moons. The fire burned brightly by her feet, and the icy breeze caused its light to flicker around her creating ominous shadows in the undergrowth.
She tried to ignore the uncomfortable feeling in the pit of her stomach and instead thought about their journey ahead and the possible dangers they might encounter. She was surprised at how easy their journey had been so far, barring the event at Birrien and she worried that things would become far more difficult for them. Suddenly feeling hilariously unprepared and with the fire still throwing shadows round her, Kiræ decided to try and control earth.
Thinking back to the only time she had attempted it she decided to move further away from her friends and the tents they slept in. She stood in a small clearing still in sight of the camp and began to concentrate on feeling for the deep sl
ow vibrations of earth. It didn’t take long for her to identify them and she held them to her. Unsure what she should do next, since the last time she had tentatively pushed on earth she had caused the ground to shake, she stood for several minutes simply allowing the element to flow through her.
After a few minutes Kiræ decided to try and combine earth with air. She took a deep breath and coaxed the two elements together, she found that unlike previous elemental combining they merged easily, flowing and subtly changing the overall vibration that emanated from them. She took another deep breath and gently, using the air she nudged earth away from her.
A deep rumbling sounded beneath her feet and the ground around her began to tremble violently knocking her to the lightly snow covered ground. She managed to keep her hold on the elements and immediately thought of her friends in their tents. Kiræ glanced towards them and instantly the shaking ground moved rapidly in their direction.
She hurriedly released the elements, which threw her backwards as they pushed away from one another. The rumbling eventually fell silent as the ground stopped shaking but not before it had reached the tents causing them to collapse on their inhabitants. Kiræ ran towards them as her friends emerged confused and armed.
“It’s okay, we’re not under attack,” she said as she reached them and looked guiltily at the crumpled mass of fabric. “I’m so sorry, I was practicing my magic and it got a bit out of hand.” Tom shot her a look and she tried to avoid his gaze, moving instead to help re-erect the tents. When Keolan and Tana were once again sleeping soundly Tom dragged her a safe distance away and hissed in her ear.
“What in the Gods were you trying to do?”
Kiræ flushed and pulled her arm from his grasp, “I was trying to control earth.”
He stared at her in disbelief, “Didn’t you learn anything from the last time you tried?”
“We might need it Tom,” she raised her voice in annoyance, “Brean was going to teach us, if we hadn’t left we would probably be learning it now, it’s obviously useful.”
“There was a reason he taught us to control the other elements first,” Tom pointed out, “it’s easy to manipulate but unpredictable, which makes it more difficult to control.”
“I did it!”
Tom scoffed, “Are you telling me you intended to collapse our tents?”
She shook her head, “I combined earth and air,” Tom looked at her incredulously, “then I used air to push gently on earth, that’s when the ground began to move and I panicked. I looked towards the tents and earth moved in that direction, that’s when I released it, but the tremors had already reached you.”
“You’re leaps ahead of me with this gift Kiræ,” Tom said sitting on a tree stump that had survived the small quake.
“What do you mean?” she asked sitting next to him, “we both know you’re stronger.”
“Strength doesn’t help as much when you haven’t got the skill to control it.” Kiræ shot him a confused look and Tom sighed, “you seem to be able to manipulate the elements far more easily than I can.”
Kiræ put her arm round her brother and squeezed, “It seems we both want what the other’s got,” she said laughing, “I guess that’s what makes us so powerful when we work together!” Tom looked at his sister and saw that she had a genuine smile on her face, something that hadn’t happened recently.
“Why don’t you get some sleep,” he suggested, “I’m pretty much awake now so I’ll take over for a few hours,” Kiræ hugged her brother and made her way to the newly erected tents where she crawled under the warm blankets and fell asleep.
Chapter 31
Vala sat at the edge of the camp staring towards the town gates that were becoming more difficult to see in the fading light. She sighed as the sun finally slipped out of view and squinted as the sounds of battle reached her, praying to the Gods that Alten would return unharmed. She was startled by a noise beside her and turned to see Julen seating himself next to her.
“I’m sure he’s okay.”
“He was exhausted when we arrived,” Vala said starting to fidget again with the bandage on her arm, “Julen, I’m scared for him.” Julen nodded and placed an arm round her shoulders for comfort. They sat in silence for some time, Vala staring at the town while the cold winter breeze tugged at her hair playfully, trying to pull it from its clasp. When the moons finally began to rise a small group of warriors emerged from the town, carrying an injured warrior. Vala got to her feet and her heart stopped when she saw who it was.
“Alten,” she gasped grabbing Julen’s arm as cold dread flowed through her. Julen removed her hand and ran towards the warriors, he chatted to them briefly before they continued towards the healing tent.
“He’s alive,” Julen said as he returned to her and Vala let out the breath she had been holding.
“What happened?” she asked as they walked towards the healing tent.
“He was helping some wounded towards the gates when they were set upon by a group of mingual; Vala he looks in bad shape.” She froze but he urged her on, hurriedly finishing his sentence, “the men assure me it’s superficial, he’s battered and bruised and he took a blow to the back of the head but luckily our warriors were able to get to him before the mingual had their way.” They entered the tent where medical warriors were bustling round their comrades; Vala spotted Alten at the far end and headed urgently towards him with Julen following a few paces behind.
She held her breath as she approached, seeing several warriors, including Jenna crouched by him, bandaging more wounds than Vala would have liked. Alten’s head was tilted to the left and a young man was cleaning an obvious laceration at the back. Alten’s eyes were closed and his breathing seemed slow and shallow.
Vala approached as a middle-aged woman completed her task and moved to another patient. She sat beside him and took the hand that had just been treated. She breathed deeply, trying to remain strong in front of her warriors but seeing his helpless form was almost too much to bear and she felt the slight tickle on her cheek as a tear rolled down. When Jenna seemed satisfied that they had done all they could she rose, spoke a few quiet words to Julen and moved away.
Julen approached Alten’s other side and crouched so he was facing Vala, “Jenna seems confident he’ll be okay, she agreed that most of the injuries were superficial. At least this way he’ll get some rest.” Vala smiled at his attempt to cheer her, and hurriedly wiped away the tear. “It’s getting close to the switch, do you want to-”
“I think you’ve proven you’re more than capable of leading this army.”
Julen smiled, “I’ll be heading back in myself,” he smiled grimly, “I’ll pray Alten is awake when I return.” And I’ll pray that you do return, she thought as he left.
Vala woke the next morning, her head perched on the edge of Alten’s bed, her hand still holding his, she jerked upright and looked at him intensely; seeing he was still breathing she relaxed, letting out a sigh of relief.
“You can’t get rid of me that easily,” came a slurred voice; Vala looked at Alten’s face, and noticed a crooked smile on his lips, then he slowly opened his eyes. “I feel like I lost a drinking match,” he coughed as Vala laughed with relief and ran her fingers through his fringe.
Alten being injured had probably been the best way for them both to get some rest and for Vala to keep away from the raging battle. She stayed by his side for several days while his wounds healed, only leaving to get updates on the battle’s progress from Julen who thankfully continued to return. Julen joined them one snowy morning in the healing tent having been told some positive news from a returning warrior.
“Shila’s just informed me the mingual’s numbers are severely depleted,” he said sitting across from Vala.
“I told you we would get the better of them eventually.”
“However we still have the problem of the citizens to deal with,” they fell silent as each tried to think of a solution.
“Well we can’t kill th
em,” Alten said shifting his position and wincing.
“So far we’ve been knocking them unconscious but it’s not enough, they don’t stay down for long.”
Vala was silent throughout this discussion, biting her lower lip in thought, “We’ve got to shut them in,” she said interrupting whatever it was Alten had started to say. She looked between the two warriors and continued, “it’s the only way we can ensure they won’t come after us.”
“But how?” Julen asked almost in despair, “the town gates fell not long after we arrived, there’s no way for us to shut them in.”
Vala fell silent again, her brow furrowed and Alten picked up where she had left off, “We need to disarm them,” he said shifting position once more, “remove all possible weapons from the town, then we have to find a way to block up the gates; they may have fallen from their hinges but they’re more or less in one piece aren’t they?”
Julen nodded and got to his feet, “I’ll spread the word, we need materials to block the gate by the next changeover.” Vala nodded and watched him go as Alten shifted position for a third time; the majority of his injuries had healed sufficiently, though the medical warriors had insisted he remain because of his head wound and he was becoming restless. Vala knew how he felt, her own injuries seemed minor now, though she found it difficult to use her left arm as efficiently as before. She stared after Julen. Alten read her expression and sighed heavily.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, her voice full of concern.
“Nothing. Perhaps you should go and help Julen and the warriors. I’m okay now, and as touched as I am that you’ve stayed by my side we both know you want to get back out there and help.” A guilty look crossed Vala’s face but Alten just smiled, “I’ll still be here when you come back.” Vala stood to leave, leant back down, and kissed Alten, feeling the emotions she thought had been buried years ago come flooding to the surface.
“I love you,” she said quietly.
Forgotten Magic (Elementals Book 1) Page 27