Chosen Sister

by Ardyth DeBruyn

  Austyn glanced back at Reina, who shrugged, and then turned back to the lady. “Okay, I’ll try.”

  She started giggling again, but covered her mouth with her hand. “Well, then, Child Knight, let us move forward. Sadly, the favor I must ask is that you carry me across the river with you to the fountain.”

  Austyn looked her up and down. “How heavy are you? I’m kind of small.”

  The lady fiddled with her hair for a moment. “Yes, that’s the problem, isn’t it? But I have so longed for a drink from the stream, and it’s only a small river—let me show you.” She led the way through the arch.

  Austyn followed, and Reina after that, and they found themselves on the banks of a small stream. The water was black and moving quickly but didn’t look deep. It seemed narrow enough that a lady as big as the one showing them around could probably just jump over it. Across the river and up a small hillside, the roof of the cave had vanished. The top of the hillside was lit in brilliant sunlight. A fountain glittered in the center of it, spraying water droplets into the air, turned golden by the light for a second before they rained down again into the darkness. In the center of the fountain sparkled a sword stuck into a block of stone. Reina stared for a moment, totally captivated.

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  Chapter Nineteen: The Sword of Chivalry

  “Well, it doesn’t look really far; maybe I can do it.”

  Austyn’s words made Reina drag her eyes from the sword and the fountain back to him and the lady. Here he was, almost at the sword, and he was still worried about her? If she couldn’t walk through the tiny stream, couldn’t she just jump over it? But Austyn seemed oblivious to both sword and fountain as he put his little arms around the lady and tried to lift her. He grunted, but she didn’t even budge from the ground.

  The lady giggled yet again. “I’m much too heavy for a little boy like you.”

  Austyn stared up at her and shook his head. “No, there has to be a way we can help you. You can’t stay down here forever. It’s not a nice place to live.”

  “How sweet!” The lady beamed at him. “But I really don’t think you can.”

  “I can … if Reina helps me!” He turned around and gave Reina a beseeching look.

  She resisted the urge to roll her eyes. “But the Gold Wizard told me not to interfere with your test.”

  “But helping this nice lady isn’t part of getting the sword,” objected Austyn, pointing to the fountain and sword sparkling across the little black river. “You can just help me get her across so she can drink the water, and then I’ll get the sword on my own, just like we promised.”

  Reina sighed, not really thrilled with the idea, but then it wasn’t the lady’s fault she was so ditzy. Maybe there was some reason she couldn’t just jump over, and the marble room they had gone through was rather cold and dull as a home.

  “Fine,” she muttered, stepping forward. “I’ll help her.”

  The lady seemed to notice Reina for the first time as she came up to Austyn. A frown creased her forehead, and she peered at her, looking a bit annoyed. “Who are you?”

  “She’s my sister,” Austyn said. “She’s gonna help me get you across.”

  “I don’t know if that’s allowed….”

  “Why not?” Reina asked, unable to keep silent. “If Austyn was big enough, he’d have picked you up by himself, but why should you have to be left behind just because he’s small? You want to get out of here, right?”

  “I do, but….”

  “Well, then let us help you!” Austyn broke in, his face beaming with excitement. “Reina and I do everything together, and together we can get you across. If you want, you can journey with us, too, only I don’t know if you’d want to, since we’re going to go defeat the Red Wizard and save the country and that might be scary.”

  “Oh?” The lady looked amused again. “Well, if you insist, but I don’t know what the consequences of it will be.”

  Reina frowned again. Her words reminded her of the dragon’s. Could this lady be part of the test after all? Reina glanced across the river at the sword in the fountain. All of this looked entirely unnecessary to get to the sword; it shouldn’t hurt anything. “Sure, let’s do it,” she said to Austyn, and he smiled at her.

  They each took a side, Austyn the front and Reina the back. Reina wrapped her arms around the lady. “On three. One, two, three.”

  They both lifted and managed to raise the lady a few inches off the ground. Reina backed into the stream, letting Austyn be the one to walk forwards. The water tugged at her ankles, trying to trip her. She gasped at the coldness of it. The lady made her arms ache, but Reina gritted her teeth and kept moving. Now Austyn was in the water as well, and she was almost through it.

  The water swirled harder around her legs, now up to her knees. Confused, Reina peeked around the lady’s body as she continued to stumble backwards. The water was rising.

  “Reina?” Austyn’s voice came disembodied around the lady.

  “Just keep moving. We can do it.” Reina tried to sound reassuring. The water pushed against her knees and kept moving higher. She wanted to look behind her and see how much farther they had to go, but she couldn’t and keep her grip on the lady.

  Water splashed up against them, soaking Reina and getting the lady’s feet wet. She shrieked like she was dying, and Reina half-felt, half-sensed Austyn would lose his grip. She hurtled backwards, stumbling out the water and falling backwards on the ground, the lady on top of her, and Austyn on top of that.

  “My feet, my feet!” the lady wailed. “I can’t walk!”

  Reina pushed her off of her and got up. The lady lay on the ground, wailing, although her feet looked just fine to Reina, or at least the fine little white shoes with gold embroidery didn’t look anything but slightly damp. Austyn’s face was the picture of concern; he knelt by the lady.

  “You’ll be okay,” he soothed. “It’s just a little water—you only got a little wet.”

  “But it means I can’t walk up the hill and reach the water,” she wailed.

  Reina ground her teeth together to prevent herself from muttering that she thought the lady had done it on purpose. She caught Austyn’s beseeching expression and shook her head. “We barely moved her three feet—we couldn’t possibly carry her all the way up there.” His face fell, so she didn’t make the heartless suggestion that they leave the lady there on her own. “We’ll have to find some other way,” she told Austyn instead.

  He looked around frantically for a moment, and his eyes brightened. “Lady, if you take off your cloak and sit on it, we can pull you up the hill.”

  The lady quieted, nodded, and undid her cloak. She dragged herself on it, and Reina wondered if perhaps the water had really hurt her somehow. Her pity, however, was short-lived. The lady was as heavy as a pile of rocks, and dragging her upwards exhausted her. Covered in sweat, she wiped the hair out of her eyes and glanced up at the fountain behind them, the sword still glinting in sunlight. They’d only gotten halfway up the hill.

  We’ll never make it at this rate. What happens if the sun goes down here? We won’t be able to see a thing! Still, leaving the lady here did seem a bit heartless, no matter how tempting it was. She took a deep breath and nodded to Austyn for him to start tugging on the cloak again. Finally they reached the top.

  The fountain sprayed them in a cool mist, and Reina shut her eyes a moment, savoring the wonderful cool of the water as it gently sprayed her face. She opened them to stare at the fountain in wonder. The light had deepened, making her guess it was evening, and everything shimmered in red-gold light. The sword, stuck in a white granite block in the center of the fountain, had jewels set all throughout the handle; it sparkled and sent colored lights all over the water. Water sprayed out from all sides of the marble block, arching upwards into the air and raining back down in the marble basin of the spring. On the other side, the water reached a low point where it flowed over the edge and down the other side of the
hill.

  If we’d only known that, we could have dragged her around the hill instead of up it.

  “Oh, if only I could but drink of it,” moaned the lady.

  Austyn hung onto the woman’s arm as she continued to moan and groan.

  “Please.” His big brown eyes pleaded with her.

  Reina sighed, thinking this pushy woman wasn’t worth it, but somehow, Austyn seemed to turn the whole thing around and make it about him. She grabbed the woman’s other arm.

  “On the count of three, let’s haul her up to sit on the side of the fountain,” she grumbled.

  They hauled her up, but she leaned expectantly towards the water, pushing them all off balance, and all three of them fell into the water instead. The Fountain of Eternal Pouring was cold, but not a bone-aching cold like the black river, which had felt like it wanted to suck her life out. Instead, it invigorated her. Reina sat up with a laugh, ready to forgive the annoying lady anything.

  She was nowhere to be seen. Puzzled, Reina stood up and searched all around her. It was as if she had vanished into thin air. Then it occurred to her that the Unicorn Sword might be wet. Her hand flew to her side, but somehow, the scabbard was already drying off, and when she drew the sword it was completely dry. Reina shrugged and sheathed it.

  “What’s this?” Austyn asked.

  Reina noticed him still sitting in the fountain, his wet curls plastered to his head. He lifted a sword out of the water, the golden drops falling off it as it glistened in the evening light. It had a handle of white and gold, and unlike the Unicorn Sword, Austyn didn’t seem to have any trouble picking it up. He held it out, his face showing wonder and confusion at the same time.

  Reina glanced at the fountain. The jeweled sword still glistened there. She waded over to it and, when she touched it, realized that it wasn’t real at all, but stone sculpted to look just like a sword! The sparkle of the jewels had distracted from the reality that what showed of the “blade” wasn’t really reflecting light like metal, but just polished gray stone.

  “It’s a fake! You’ve got the real one. That’s weird!” She turned and held out her hand, helping Austyn to his feet.

  He held the sword with both hands and swung it a couple of times. “Wow! My own sword.” But his face clouded again. “I hope the lady’s okay.”

  “I’m sure she’s fine,” Reina said quickly. “She was just there to test your chivalry. And you know, it’s a good thing it was your test, not mine, because she got on my nerves, and I don’t know that I would have helped her like you did. So you really did it! You passed your own test.”

  Austyn beamed at her. “I did!” he shouted. Then he grew more serious. “She was just lonely. If you’d stopped to really look at her, you would have been nice to her, too, Reina.”

  Reina just nodded and didn’t comment, thankful the annoying lady was no longer there. She could just imagine what a disastrous combination the lady and the Gold Wizard would have been.

  “Come on. Let’s get back to the Gold Wizard, before it gets dark.”

  They wound their way back down the hill and through the now darkening marble room, back to the cave. The water from the entrance reflected moving patterns across the cave wall—and across the Gold Wizard, who sat on a rock with his eyes closed. He looked more peaceful than Reina had ever seen him.

  “I did it! I did it!” Austyn waved the sword back and forth as he dashed up to the Gold Wizard.

  The Gold Wizard congratulated him. Reina stiffened and bit her lip. Part of her wanted to yell that she’d done most of the hauling of the stupid lady, but if she did, the Gold Wizard would just light into her over having helped at all. She gripped the Unicorn Sword so tight it cut into her palm. Reina looked away from them to the entrance to the cave. Water still dripped down in front of it in a quiet pattering, soothing her feelings. She walked over to it and held her hand out under the water. Cool drops landed on her palm, and she put her fingers into one of the constant streams, feeling the flow of the water.

  Beyond the water, she glimpsed hills and fields. The air had turned colder, and the sky was getting dark.

  After a few minutes, Austyn joined her, looking radiant. “We’re going to win, aren’t we?”

  Reina put a hand on his shoulder, her jealousy dissipating. “Of course. And after the Red Wizard is defeated, Mama and Papa and all the village, and all the other villages, even Port Town in the south, will gather at the castle to hear our story…. “And just like that, she got caught up again in making a story out of what might happen if all went well. Austyn looked up at her, soaking in every word. It seemed just like old times back home, and Reina filled with warmth.

  “We should get going.” The Gold Wizard’s voice broke into the silence when she had finished the story. She almost jumped; she hadn’t realized he was listening.

  She turned to him, surprised. While she’d told the story, night had come, cloaking the rolling hills before them in darkness. The moonlight reflecting off of the water dimly lit the wizard’s face.

  “If we travel by night, we can avoid the harpies,” the Gold Wizard continued. “I know you both must be tired, but it would be safer to travel by night and hide during the day. Otherwise, the Red Wizard will know we are coming and send out his creatures to attack us.”

  Reina nodded. This was the most sensible plan she’d heard from him yet. Then she realized he might not see her agreement in the dark. “Yes,” she said. “We can travel tonight for a while. It’s a good idea.”

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  Chapter Twenty: Night Journey

  The Gold Wizard stepped through the waterfall, and, taking Austyn’s hand, Reina followed him. The night was warm down here, unlike in the mountains. A half-moon shone brightly above them, and while they traveled pleasantly in silence, they could see easily. Reina hummed to herself quietly, swinging Austyn’s hand back and forth while they traveled. For a while, it felt like walking in a magical dream.

  As the night wore on, she grew more and more tired, until she could barely drag one foot ahead of the other. The Gold Wizard ended up carrying Austyn, whose head lay across his shoulder and peacefully slept away. Finally, the Gold Wizard found them a grove of bushes to hide in, and they went to sleep.

  On and off, Reina woke during the day and peeked out at the countryside around them. Sometimes, she glimpsed the dark shape of harpies flying across the sky, but the creatures didn’t notice them. They journeyed several nights in this manner towards the Red Wizard’s castle.

  The hills flattened out, and the farms increased. They tried to avoid them, since the dogs would bark if they trod too closely to the farmhouses. Tree cover grew scarcer, but the Gold Wizard seemed to know this area and found them shelter every dawn. One night, they passed by a larger village, and Reina gazed longingly at the fires and lights that made her think of home.

  “We can’t trust the towns,” the Gold Wizard explained when he saw her looking wistfully at it. “The Red Wizard has spies everywhere.”

  “People would tell him about us?” It shocked Reina that someone could do that to another person.

  The Gold Wizard nodded grimly. “Some of them for money, but others he makes his servants with threats. They would do so to try and protect themselves or their families.”

  Sadly, Reina turned away from the comforting lights of the town and walked on. She sighed and looked up at the many stars above them, distant lights. They seemed so far away, like the lights of a far-off village, calling them to come home. She thought of her parents, how her mother liked to laugh at her jokes while cooking over the fire, how her father would tell her stories in the evenings. And she thought for the first time in a long time of Kylen, Lilia, and Bryan. She wondered what sort of trouble Kylen might be getting into, what new clothes Lilia might have sewn with her mother, or if harpies had found and taken all of them.

  She grew so wrapped up in her thoughts that she didn’t notice the dark shape flying between her and the stars until it ca
me quite close. She threw herself to one side as sharp claws hissed by the side of her head. The Gold Wizard, off to her left, gave a cry, and Reina scrambled to her feet again. Several more dark shapes moved across the backdrop of the stars. She drew the Unicorn Sword.

  “Austyn, use your sword, keep them away!”

  Two creatures swooped at her. The sharp claws had seemed very much like harpy claws, but as the animals neared, she realized they weren’t the right shape for harpies. They had smaller heads with sharp beaks, like a bird, but something was wrong with their wings. She couldn’t see properly, because of the dark and having to concentrate on keeping them from hurting her. She slashed at them, forcing them to flap backwards. One slipped in front of the moon, revealing its wings were not feathered, but leathery, like bat wings.

  “Bathawks!” called the Gold Wizard.

  A bathawk dove straight down at her, another at her side. The unicorn sword jerked her arm upwards at the very last second, and the bathawk above her pulled up and flew past her. The Unicorn Sword swung her around just in time to cut into another bathawk, seconds before its claws would have struck her. The sword cut it down, and the creature fell to the ground with a strange shrieking noise.

  Austyn yelled, and Reina turned just in time to see a bathawk dodge his sword and rake him across the shoulder. She winced. Apparently, the Sword of Chivalry didn’t help Austyn move the way Unicorn Sword did for her. She jumped forward, and the Unicorn Sword guided her stroke to cut down another bathawk diving at him.

  “My shoulder hurts,” Austyn said, blinking back tears.

  “If I stand next to you, we can do this together,” Reina said, blocking another attack.

  Austyn sniffed and swung wildly at the bathawks, missing them completely, but forcing them to back off.

  There came a bright flash of light and fireballs exploding into the air, driving more bathawks away with their high-pitched, squeaking calls. It appeared the Gold Wizard’s spell had worked properly, although the flash of light made everything seem darker afterwards. Spots flickered in front of Reina’s eyes. Only the Unicorn Sword pulling her arm forward let her protect her and Austyn from the next attack; she couldn’t see a thing.