Chosen Sister

by Ardyth DeBruyn

  Slowly, he improved, making light or fire or wind. Often Reina felt the magic rushing around him, and it excited her. If she could feel Austyn’s magic, then perhaps Eleia was right, and hiding somewhere deep inside her was the magic she longed for. Yet when she sat by herself and tried to copy what he had done, nothing happened. She didn’t see how not going with Austyn would help her find her own magic—whatever Eleia had said about “giving him up.”

  The Gold Wizard, however, seemed ecstatic. With each new magical success in practice, he grew more and more animated.

  “I have it!” he cried one evening, startling Austyn so much he dropped his spoon into his soup and splashed it over the table.

  “I’ve been doing some extra reading.” The Gold Wizard pulled out the prophecy paper and put it on the table. “I thought ‘with heart’ meant something slightly different, but after looking at this other reference…. “He waved a book from Eleia’s bookshelf. “I think it means the Red Wizard has used a spell to take his own heart out and protect it, so no one can kill him.”

  “What?” Reina frowned at him. The prophecy had been a bit obscure before, but what the Gold Wizard said now made even less sense.

  “Austyn must use the medallion and the sword to magically open the chest where the Red Wizard keeps his heart and destroy it, and that will end him! See, it’s even easier than we first thought. Austyn doesn’t have to fight him—he just has to have the special magic to open the case and destroy the heart…. So, we’ll get the sword, then sneak into the Red Wizard’s castle and work the spell, open the case, and destroy the heart. Nothing easier!”

  Reina’s frown deepened. It didn’t make much sense, and it certainly didn’t sound any easier. What, did the Gold Wizard think that they could march right up to the Red Wizard’s heart and destroy it before he noticed them? In a way, it sounded harder than just fighting him and killing him. But, before saying so, she glanced at Austyn. He stared at the Gold Wizard, his eyes wide and his mouth open in a little round “oh.” She didn’t want to discourage him.

  “Sure, sounds like it’ll be easy,” she said, stuffing her fears deep inside her. “Hey, Austyn, isn’t that good news? You don’t have to actually fight him. We can have, um, something else happening to distract him while you do it too.”

  “Brilliant! A diversion. Just what we need!” The Gold Wizard stabbed his hand up in the air. “We’ll set out tomorrow morning, first thing.”

  While eager to get on with their quest and see the Red Wizard destroyed and get home to Mama and Papa, Reina felt a pang of sorrow the next day saying goodbye to Eleia. The old woman hugged her.

  “Be yourself, Reina, and you’ll see it all through to the end. You have more in there than you know.”

  Reina giggled. Eleia’s words made her sound like she was stuffed full of strange items she couldn’t see. She gathered the bag of food Eleia had given her, slung it over her shoulder, and joined the Gold Wizard.

  Austyn buried his head in Eleia’s skirts, his body shaking with silent tears. That made Reina feel uncomfortable for several reasons—not just because he was upset, but because he clung to Eleia, not her. She sighed and walked away to avoid the mess of feelings inside of her, turning back to see Eleia talking into Austyn’s ear. He wiped his eyes, nodded, and finally came to join them.

  “Well then, off we go!” The Gold Wizard sounded downright cheery.

  Reina frowned. “He should have asked her for more help,” she muttered darkly to herself.

  “Eleia says he’s ‘exerting his independence,’” Austyn said, copying her manner and words.

  Reina grinned at him. “Well, I wish he’d do it with someone else’s lives, not ours. Eleia actually knows what she’s doing. She’d make a better Gold Wizard. I wouldn’t have to keep fixing everything she did.”

  Austyn smiled and took her hand in his. It made her feel warm all through.

  “What did Eleia tell you?”

  He gave her a mischievous grin. “I’ll tell you after we defeat the Red Wizard.”

  Reina shrugged and didn’t press him, even though she was curious. The Gold Wizard led them out of the sheltered little valley, and once again they followed dangerous mountain paths. The drop-off made Reina feel woozy when she looked down, so she didn’t. She kept her focus directly in front of them and put Austyn on the side of her away from the drop-off.

  When they stopped for lunch, the Gold Wizard seemed confident that all was going well, but Reina, wary of harpies, couldn’t help scanning the skies. Things seemed too peaceful. After the meal, they continued down the mountainside.

  Something reddish on a far-off rock made Reina squint at it. What was that? She blinked, and the reddish thing disappeared. She shook her head to clear it. Suddenly, below them, something reddish moved through the bushes. The hair on the back of her neck stood up. She hurried forward and tugged at the Gold Wizard’s cloak.

  “Look.”

  He peered down. “A manticore,” he whispered. “I don’t think it’s seen us yet.”

  The Gold Wizard pulled them back against the mountain and signaled to them to go quietly. They crept around the next bend and out of sight of the creature still below them.

  “I think if we turn this way, we can avoid it,” the Gold Wizard said in a hushed voice. He eased around a big rock.

  There, standing in the middle of the path and grinning evilly from ear to ear, stood another manticore. Its long, razor-sharp teeth glinted in the sunlight. Reina heard a growl from behind and whirled around. Two more manticores stood behind them, looking just as pleased. Another two appeared above them on a rocky ledge and crouched, waiting to pounce. She glanced around wildly. They were trapped!

  Austyn squeezed her hand, and she looked down at him, amazed at the confident expression on his face. “I can do this!” he said.

  “Don’t—” Reina tried to hold onto him, but he dropped her hand and dashed out in front of the Gold Wizard. She darted forward and grabbed his shoulder, but the protest died on her lips. Magical power surged around them. Light flashed from Austyn’s hands as he held them up. The manticores roared and pounced. The one in front of them disappeared in a ball of fire. Reina gasped, falling backwards in surprise.

  Austyn turned in a circle, yellow-white light flashing from his hands to destroy the other manticores. Reina’s jaw dropped, and she felt a twisting in her stomach. Austyn had learned to use his magic! Instead of joy, she felt a rush of intense jealousy. His magic was right there, ready for him to use, while hers was somehow hidden. Eleia had given her only riddles, nonsense she couldn’t even begin to understand. Austyn, the Child Warrior, had a gift she could never compare her own to.

  Austyn turned back to her, his face beaming. Looking into his excited and proud face, she swallowed the huge lump in her throat and attempted a smile. Her eyes stung with unshed tears. The Gold Wizard scrambled to his feet with a whoop of joy and grabbed Austyn up in the air, twirling him around in excitement. Austyn laughed, beaming. Reina had never felt so alone. Her brother didn’t even need her anymore.

  She stood up and brushed off her clothes, trying to squelch the bitterness. Austyn dashed up to her, throwing his arms around her.

  “I did it! I did it!”

  “Yes, it was a very good job.” Her voice sounded flat and unconvincing. She struggled again with herself. Austyn had every right to be proud. Her envy would hurt him if she didn’t control it. She tried to smile at him again and did a better job of it. “Those manticores won’t bother us again. Let’s get going.”

  Austyn skipped off down the path, making up a song about manticores and the Child Warrior. He looked back periodically and waved at them. The Gold Wizard, in a jolly mood, waved back and hurried to catch up to him. Reina walked behind them, still struggling with her bitter feelings. As the day wore on, she walked slower and slower. Perhaps Eleia was right—she needed Austyn more than he needed her. Maybe coming with him hadn’t been the right thing.

  But I saved him so many
times! If it weren’t for me, I bet the Gold Wizard would have gotten him killed. I’m important too! But the Gold Wizard would never see it that way. Her jealousy at Austyn, her guilt for feeling that way, and her frustration at herself for not managing to stop feeling that way all turned into anger at the Gold Wizard. He’s a stuck-up idiot! I don’t know why Eleia couldn’t make him behave. He can’t do magic, he can’t read very well, and he won’t take any advice from anyone. She watched him twirl Austyn around again and play with him. He was stealing Austyn from her too! It wasn’t fair. She walked slower, glaring at the beautiful blue sky. It had no business being such a nice day while she felt so rotten.

  Reina knew she was being stupid and should let go of her anger, but somehow she couldn’t. She wanted to rant and rave at everyone at how unfair it all was. No matter how many times she saved Austyn or helped the Gold Wizard out of one of his fixes, Austyn and the wizard would get all the credit in the end. Maybe next time she’d just let them suffer without her. They deserved it.

  A shriek rent the air. Reina stiffened. That was Austyn! He and the Gold Wizard were nowhere in sight. She broke into a run. What has that idiot done to him now? Fear propelled her faster. What if she didn’t get there in time? The thought that her last moments with Austyn might be angry ones was more than she could bear. How could she ever have thought he could properly face danger without her?

  She rounded the bend and skidded to a halt. Austyn and the Gold Wizard were pressed flat against rocks that went straight up behind them, and between them and her stood the shadowsoul—in human form. It towered over them, its long, indistinct fingers reaching out towards them. At her arrival, it turned, and Reina’s heart thumped heavily. Cold stung her cheeks. It reached out towards her, stopping inches away from her face. She couldn’t move. Its desire to consume all of them tugged at her mind. It dissolved again into a large black blob and started expanding toward the Gold Wizard and Austyn.

  Reina drew the Unicorn Sword, her hand shaking. What could she do? It wasn’t a solid enemy. Unicorn, help me! Where are you? Light burst from the sword, too bright to look at. The sword yanked from her hands, and she couldn’t see what happened to it. Out of the whiteness, the unicorn appeared. The shadowsoul shrunk into a small, black lizard-like creature that backed away from them, and the unicorn charged it. It kept shrinking, and then disappeared with a bang.

  Reina ran across the open space to Austyn, and he threw his arms around her, sobbing. The Gold Wizard still looked pale and white. She heard a shrill shriek, and Reina looked up to see the sky black with harpies.

  The unicorn moved in front of them, but the harpies dived at it. It slashed its horn at them, driving them back. But there were so many of them, and they kept coming. Rocks fell, just missing Austyn and Reina. Above them, harpies knocked the rocks off the side of the cliff, trying to hit them. They were surrounded. She didn’t think that even the unicorn could protect them now.

  The Gold Wizard waved his staff and mumbled something. The end of it exploded with a bang, hitting the cliff above them and showering them with more rocks. Reina winced. His next spell sent a huge boulder crashing down, and she threw Austyn to one side, both of them hitting the ground rather sharply, in order to avoid it.

  “You’re going to get us killed!” she screamed at him.

  Austyn looked too terrified to try working any magic. The unicorn circled them, fending off another harpy attack. They were hemmed in against the rock with nowhere to go. Despite her warning, the Gold Wizard tried another spell on the harpies, and the ground shook, rocks fell down all around them, and the cliff behind them cracked open, revealing the gaping black opening of a cave.

  Reina jumped backwards to avoid another falling boulder and stumbled into the cave. She peered into the darkness; it seemed to keep going back, farther and farther. Austyn ran to her side, and the Gold Wizard joined them. The harpies hovered at the entrance; the unicorn fought them off with its horn, preventing them from following. The Gold Wizard raised his hands.

  “No!” screamed Reina.

  The Gold Wizard’s next spell missed the harpies and hit the top of the cave entrance, sending rocks down in a huge shower. The light vanished as the cave entrance collapsed in front of them. Reina, sobbing, dragged Austyn farther back to avoid getting buried in the avalanche.

  “You idiot,” she sobbed. “The Unicorn. You’ve separated us from the unicorn.”

  The pitch black all around them offered no answer.

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  Chapter Seventeen: The Caves of Sorrow

  They stood for a long moment in the suffocating darkness, listening. There was no sign of the Gold Wizard, and a small piece of Reina was angry enough to hope he had been caught on the other side of the rockslide. Austyn’s ragged breath made it clear he was terrified, so she kept her thoughts to herself.

  “Is he dead?” Austyn sounded at the brink of tears.

  “A rock probably just knocked him out,” she replied. “Stay close—I don’t want to lose you. Let’s feel around for him.”

  Reina tried not to imagine the harpies tearing the unicorn to shreds outside. She could hear nothing of the battle. The avalanche wall was too thick. As she tried to feel her way forward, she tripped over a rock and banged her knee on another one. She hissed in pain, and tears started flowing. She gasped several times, trying to stop them, but it was too much. Once they’d started, they couldn’t be stopped. She sat down in the dark and cried.

  Austyn patted her arm over and over again, whispering, “Don’t cry, don’t cry, you’ll be okay. Don’t cry.”

  But it wasn’t okay. They were trapped in a dark cave, and she’d lost the Unicorn Sword. In the short time she’d carried it, everything had seemed easier. She’d felt confident and safe; it had looked out for her, not unlike how she looked out for Austyn. She didn’t know how she’d manage without it. And to make matters worse, perhaps the Gold Wizard was dead, under the pile of rocks. While he wasn’t very useful, she realized she didn’t want him dead either. He could be kind of endearing at times—sillier than Austyn, and just as bashful.

  The darkness didn’t clear, but eventually Reina cried herself out. She had no more tears left. Sniffling, Austyn curled up on her lap, and she leaned against a boulder and just sat. In the quiet, she felt a part of herself, deep within, gathering itself together. She couldn’t move yet, but she knew that soon she would. She would get up and look for a way out, because it had to be done, and if she didn’t do it, no one would.

  Reina stood up stiffly and with more care this time.

  “Austyn, you stay right here, I’m going to feel around again for a way out.”

  “I’m scared.” He grabbed her arm. “Don’t leave me.”

  “I’m not leaving you, but I don’t want to crash into a rock and get us both hurt.”

  “Don’t leave, don’t leave.”

  Although annoying, his panic steadied her. She had to be strong not just for herself, but for him too. Reina took his hand.

  “Okay then, hold onto me. Don’t you want to find a way out?”

  “Yes,” he whispered.

  Reina put his hand on the back of her shirt and used both her hands to feel her way forward. She took several cautious steps into nothingness and encountered nothing. She kept going until her hands brushed against stone. She’d found the collapsed wall of the cave. Working her way along it, she felt it from the ground to as high as she could reach. Austyn’s constant grip on her back slowed her down.

  After what seemed forever, her hand touched something soft. Exploring it carefully, she discovered it was the Gold Wizard’s tunic.

  “I’ve found him, Austyn.” She tried to sound calm.

  Reina shivered, afraid of what her hands might find next. Taking a deep breath, she followed his arm up to his face. Something wet and sticky met her fingers, perhaps blood. Her hands found his face. She leaned over, putting her ear above his mouth, and let out a sigh of relief when a faint puff of ai
r moved across her ear. He was alive, but unconscious.

  Reina gently shook his shoulder, and he groaned. “Wake up,” she ordered.

  “Ouch, ouch, ouch,” he cried. “My leg! It’s crushed.” She felt up his leg as he kept moaning and discovered it was buried under the rocks.

  “Austyn, get on his other side, so I don’t hit you.”

  She heard Austyn move and started removing rocks and tossing them into the darkness on her other side to get them out of the way. The Gold Wizard screamed when she rolled a big one off of him and dragged himself backwards. He was finally free.

  “Ugh,” he muttered. “I hurt all over.”

  “Yeah, and you’ve trapped us in here,” Reina snapped. She felt her way over to him. “How’s the leg? Can you stand on it?”

  The Gold Wizard gasped in pain. “I can’t touch it,” he said. “Owww, oww, no, I don’t think I can walk on it.”

  “Then what do you propose we do?” Reina took a deep breath and counted silently to five, trying to get her temper under control.

  “Let me try to get up. Can you help me?”

  They missed each other a couple times in the dark before their hands connected. “Austyn, get his other hand. Okay, on three try to stand up, and Austyn, you pull with me on three. One. Two. Three.”

  Reina hauled on his hand with all her might, and she heard him stand up, scream, and sink back down.

  “No.” He gasped. “I can’t. Hurts too much.”

  “Great,” she mumbled. “Well, do you have any tinder or anything? Maybe we can light a fire.”

  “Lost my bag in the avalanche. At least we know this is a big cave we’ve been trapped in.”

  “We do?”

  “You heard how it echoed when I yelled. And the air is still fresh. If only I could walk, we might be able to find another way out.”