by J. M. Kearl
Her body begins to shake when she shouts to herself, “Stop!” the magic closes off at her request.
Panting like a dog she falls to her side on the ground. She’s never lost control like that. Even in Hesstia it was only one quick burst. Daelyn looks up and sees Victus face down on the ground at least fifteen yards away. She gets to her feet runs to his side and touches him tentatively, then pushes him over so he faces up. “Victus?” she whispers. “I’m so sorry.”
He blinks a few times and slowly sits up. “You weren’t joking.” He presses his palm against the side of his head. “I have a major headache.”
The horse that was attached to the wagon gets to it’s feet and gallops away. Daelyn glances over at the men lying unmoving, in strange positions against the house. She slowly rises to her feet, afraid to get close, fearing they are dead. Another thief comes out of the house and looks around. “What the hell happened?”
The thief brushes glass from his shirt and shards clink to the ground at his feet. Daelyn hadn’t noticed that the windows blew out. He looks to his friends on the ground and touches each of their necks. “They’re all dead.”
“You should leave before you die, too,” Victus says getting to his feet.
The lone thief takes off, jumps over the small crater that Daelyn left in the stone pathway and is down the road as fast as a man can go.
Victus shakes Daelyn’s hand. “You’re officially the strongest magic user I ever heard of, apart from the queen.”
“They’re dead and you’re shaking my hand?” Tears sting Daelyn’s eyes. Taking life isn’t something to be proud of.
He drops Daelyn’s hand with a frown. “I’ll take care of them, okay?”
Daelyn can’t bring herself to look at the bodies. They were going to leave and she still killed them. They didn’t deserve to die. “I can’t believe I let that happen,” she says quietly. She wishes Boaden was here. He would have been able to help her. More likely just seeing Boaden and his impressive size those men would have left without a fight.
“I don’t know you or how you are so powerful but you shouldn’t be afraid of your magic.” Victus puts his hands in his pockets. “That’s why you can’t control it. You’re afraid of it.”
“How can I not be when this happens?” Daelyn flings her arm angrily toward the dead men.
Victus twists his mouth. “Think of it this way, if you weren’t afraid this wouldn’t happen.”
She mulls that over in her mind. He’s right but something else came into play here. Daelyn glances up to the tower window. She should have never opened that book. Those whispering voices made her lose control. Evil had been let out and now she needs to figure out how to put it back.
35. Boaden
Boaden, Presten, and Kendoa stand in the war room with Lord Everon and a few of his advisors. Boaden had been eating lunch with the two when he was called to the castle. The Hesstians have made it to the city Filda which is where the northern Warlord Colden lives. He’s holding the city, and the nearby villagers have sought refuge there. At the moment they have no choice but to be in the fight and Kyria is sending more troops to help them instead of the other way around. Lord Everon now thinks Boaden and his crew will need to head west right away, and convince Warlord Asger to bring her forces to the front.
Boaden picks at a stubborn, dry piece of skin on his lip, in deep thought. He had counted on going to the north first to find his sister. Boaden doesn’t know if he should trust Lord Everon to negotiate the exchange or disobey his orders to go west and instead go north to save Ehvas himself. One choice could lose him his sister and the other could lose the kingdom.
“So you’ll leave in the morning,” Lord Everon says.
Boaden clears his throat. “Have you been in touch with King Enden about getting my sister released?”
“I have,” Lord Everon says and pauses. “He said that they need her and will not be doing any exchanges.”
Boaden’s face suddenly feels like it’s on fire as his frustration begins to boil over. “Need her for what?”
“I assume to heal his men.” Lord Everon taps his fingers on the map with figurines placed strategically. “But he did say that she won’t be harmed. In time, we will devise a plan to get her back.”
Boaden tries to keep his expression placid but he doesn’t know if he can leave Ehvas’s wellbeing to the promise of the enemy king. Enden could change his mind at any time. He could send one of his slaves in her place and kill her. She’s on borrowed time.
Lord Everon pulls Boaden out of earshot of the others. “If Asger doesn’t relent and join us, I give you permission to use whatever means necessary to lead the warriors to the front yourself. There are over three thousand highly trained soldiers there and we need them.”
He bows and then leaves with Presten and Kendoa beside him. None of them speak, not even Presten, he probably can sense Boaden’s anger. When they cross the bridge into the city of Delmar, Boaden has made his decision. “We go north.”
Presten adjusts himself in the saddle. “Maybe I heard wrong but Lord Everon told us to go west.”
Kendoa stares ahead, he’ll do whatever Boaden commands, he always had. “You didn’t hear wrong, Presten,” Kendoa says.
“As soon as we have my sister we’ll go west, to meet with Warlord Asger. It will only take us ten days out of the way.”
Presten clears his throat. “But if Lord Everon finds out we were in the north…”
“He won’t,” Boaden says, knowing he’ll have to answer for the delay somehow. “We’ll sneak into the enemy camp without alerting anyone in Filda. No one will report to Lord Everon that we were there.”
“I mean, I’ll go,” Presten says half smiling. “You know I’m loyal to you, boss. I just hope you don’t get reprimanded for disobeying orders.”
Boaden hopes that as well. The only way Lord Everon will know of his disobedience is if he finds out Ehvas is with them. So they’ll just have to keep her identity a secret.
“Have you figured out how you’re going to convince Warlord Asger to join us in battle?” Presten asks.
Boaden has not but he doesn’t want to say. He hasn’t met the warlord and briefly wonders why she goes by her last name. “All you need to know is that I’ll make it happen.” He hopes he won’t have to kill Athena Asger and that somehow he’ll find the words to bring her to the fight.
∞∞∞
They’re almost to the Magnevera’s new home when Boaden sees the broken pieces of a wagon scattered on the roadway. He looks to the house; the shattered windows make him kick Hess and they race through the front gates. Boaden jumps down and his heartbeat fires up seeing the three dead bodies lined up on the side of the house and the small crater in the pathway. He shouts for Daelyn unsure where to look first. A young man comes from inside. “She’s back with the horses.”
Boaden jogs to find her standing against the fence, her back to him. “Daelyn,” he says sharply.
She turns and he can tell from her face that she’s upset. She must have killed those men. “What happened?” he asks slowing his pace toward her.
Daelyn’s eyes fall and she pulls at her sleeve in silence. Boaden grumbles, irritated that she doesn’t answer him. “I asked what happened.”
The young blonde man speaks for her. “Those men over there tried to steal items from the house, and well, she stopped them. Who are you anyway?”
Boaden turns to the young man, eyes narrowed. “I’m her husband.”
His knuckles go white when he tightens his grasp on the shovel. “Oh-- she didn’t say she was married.” Boaden doesn’t have to read feelings to know he’s disappointed. “I’m Victus. I live nearby—my family and I tend to the house and property.”
Boaden isn’t in the mood to chat with the kid. He turns back to Daelyn and softens his tone. “You lost control of your magic?”
Tears spill down her cheeks. “And I killed them. It was an accident.”
Boaden wraps his arms aro
und her and holds her firm against him. It's not the first time she’s killed people and if they were robbing the place they deserved it, so he’s not sure why she’s so upset. “I’m just glad you’re alright.”
“They surrendered and were going to leave and—and I couldn’t stop it.”
Boaden wipes the tears from her cheeks with his fingers. “Were you scared? Why do you think it got out of control? You seemed to have a better handle on it and judging by the crater in the pathway…” he trails off. It seems she had only tapped into her capabilities.
Daelyn shrugs as she takes in a deep, cleansing breath. “No, I wasn’t scared.” She wipes the tears that keep falling. “I heard these voices, it’s like they were inciting my power.”
Boaden raises an eyebrow. “Voices?” He briefly wonders if he’s married a crazy woman.
“I found this book of Hexes upstairs, at least that’s what I think it was. I only opened it, I couldn’t even read it but I think something evil came out.”
Boaden sighs and clenches his teeth together. Of course something like this would happen when they need to leave. It’s probably some evil spirit that was connected to the book somehow and now it’s attached itself to the person who set it free.
Victus shuffles behind Boaden. “If I may,” he says getting their attention.
Boaden turns and Daelyn sniffles nodding. Boaden just hopes this kid has something useful to say or he’s going to tell him to leave.
“The woman who lived here hung herself in the tower room. I’m fairly certain she was into dark magic.”
“The book looked new,” Daelyn says through sniffles. “No dust like the others.”
Victus shrugs. “It was just a thought.”
Boaden supposed that he might know something to be of some help. He takes Daelyn’s hand. “And through my wife this curse could do a lot of damage. We need to banish this.”
Victus nods in agreement. “Yeah, I was quite surprised when I was thrown fifteen yards back.” Victus stabs the shovel into the ground and it sticks. “Maybe we should burn it.”
“If it will burn,” Kendoa says as he and Presten walk closer. “Things like this are tricky.”
Boaden purses his lips. “We need to leave at first light tomorrow so we figure this out today.”
“And if we don’t?” Daelyn asks.
“We will,” Boaden assures her.
Presten pats the neck of one of the horses. “Is this a bad time to ask about the huge crater and the shattered wagon? I only heard a little bit of the conversation.”
Daelyn begins walking towards the house frowning. “It was me.”
36. Madison
The Gap of Freeole is always the hardest part of the journey from Delhoon to Hesstia. There are dangerous creatures and the food is scarce but they were lucky enough to get through most of it without much delay. They killed an ogre and ran off some wolves but it was an easy ride through the gap. What concerns them is the camps of at least a thousand Hesstian soldiers waiting at the edge of Hesstia. Madison, Jordane and Nebba had to find a way around without being seen and that took an extra day. Jordane sent a note to Kyria warning her, but there isn’t anything else they can do.
Now they sit atop their horses with the gray clouds overhead threatening a storm. Madison stares at the farmhouse, and the overgrowth of weeds in the garden and pasture bother her, even though she doesn’t know why. It’s not as if she ever planned to come back here.
Nebba chomps on an apple before he says with his mouth half full, “Do you want me to wait here while you take care of him?” Nebba had been friends with Midlan too, but after hearing what happened he quickly resigned to killing him.
“You can just wait outside the house,” Jordane says. “No need for you to stay here on the hill. And if somehow he escapes out the window, grab him.”
Nebba takes a swig from his canteen. “Fair enough.”
“I’ll go in the house first through the front door,” Madison says. “Jordane you go to the side door.”
Pulling a dagger from his waist, Jordane nods. “Don’t kill him before I can get inside. I want him to see my face.”
Madison kicks her horse forward and they surround the house. Dismounting, she pulls a sword and pushes the door open slowly. A quick peek inside tells her he’s not in the front room or kitchen. She steps in the house, careful not to make any noise and tiptoes lightly toward the back bedroom.
Jordane comes through the side door and they nod to each other. Silently moving, Jordane goes for Daelyn’s room and Madison kicks open her old bedroom door to find it empty. “Jordane,” she shouts. “Is he in there?”
“No,” Jordane says, coming up behind her.
Madison slams her sword into the sheath. “I’ll have to do the spell again.” She grabs a bowl from the cupboard and pumps water into it. Jordane brings Midlan’s sword to her and Nebba follows him inside.
The loud chewing of Nebba eating nuts is irritating her. He always seems to be eating. “If you could quit with the munching while I do the spell that would be great.” Madison takes the sword into her hands and is relieved when the crunching stops.
Jordane folds his arms and peeks toward the window. “He might just be out for a couple hours but if he sees the horses out front when he comes back, he’ll run.”
Madison sticks the tip of Midlan’s sword into the water. “Well, we’ll find out where he is and decide what to do.” She quietly says the spell and the water begins to swirl, developing an image of his location.
“It’s just a room,” Nebba says, holding another nut in hand.
Madison watches Midlan pace, trying to find something distinguishing about the room he is in. Whoever owns the place has money. The fancy fixtures and décor give that away but it could be any rich fool’s estate. Then the door to his room opens and a royal Hesstian guard stands on the other side, it’s clear by the white and blue uniform. “King Enden wishes to see you.”
Madison’s breath catches in her chest and Nebba says what they are all thinking, “That traitor is at the castle.”
The hope of finding and extinguishing Midlan flies out the window. It will be impossible to get him within the castle. They’ll have to wait until he comes out, and he will have to sooner or later. “Well, this was a waste of time,” Madison mumbles, walking out the door and dumping the bowl of water outside. “Damn it. To think I actually hoped it was going to be easy. I should have known better.” After being let down so many times, she knows nothing ever goes smoothly.
“He’ll get what’s coming,” Nebba says, “Don’t be disheartened.”
“Oh, we’ll get him,” Madison says, walking back into the kitchen. “Make no mistake about that.”
Jordane sits at the kitchen table glancing about the place. “It’s been ten years since I’ve sat at this table.”
Madison hadn’t thought about this being his first time back. She supposes there are some sentimental memories from this home. It makes her think of pain, of loss and constant anxiety at the thought of being caught-- she doesn’t want to be here.
“We should get moving. Lanloc is seven—eight days from here.” Madison watches Nebba and Jordane’s faces fall. They don’t want to leave just yet.
“It would be nice to sleep in a bed,” Jordane says. “I vote we stay for the night and leave in the morning.”
Nebba agrees and since she’s outnumbered she can’t argue. So she goes outside to see to the problem of the weeds overtaking the garden. They’ve even begun climbing up the house in a swirling fashion. The chickens are gone, likely one of the neighbors took them when they realized the house was abandoned. They were kind enough to leave everything else inside.
The familiar sound of hooves coming up the road draws her attention away from the herbs. They’ve only been there all of ten minutes and already the neighbor lady Nella comes to nose about. Madison goes to the road to greet her.
“Madison is that you?” the woman says, sliding off her horse.
“Your hair.” She gestures toward Madison’s long dark braid.
It had slipped her mind that her hair is a different color. “I thought I’d try something new. It’s a wig.”
Nella’s eyes inspect the hair a moment longer. “Must have been expensive. Anyway, I wondered what happened to you and Daelyn. We’ve been worried.”
Madison turns on her charming side and gives her a grin. “Oh, we just met with some family out of town. How’s your boy, Mury?” She and Daelyn had saved Nella’s boy months ago. His infected leg almost cost him his life.
“Mury is just fine thanks to you and your daughter.” Nella wraps her arms around Madison who tries to relax though she hates when most people touch her. “You left the chickens so I took them, but I’ll bring them back.”
“Keep them.” Madison brushes some of the dirt from her shirt she just noticed was there. She also realizes she’s still wearing her riding clothes, with pants and not a skirt. “We are leaving for good.”
Nella’s face scrunches up in an awkward way. “Leaving Kezington? To go where?”
Madison hears the door slam, turns and silently wills Jordane to go back inside. Too many questions as to how he’s suddenly back from the dead. Nella’s eyes follow Jordane as he walks around the side of the house.
“Was that…” She pauses seemingly confused. “Never mind.”
Madison keeps the smile plastered on her face. “Nella, I’d love to talk more but since we’ve been gone so long I have a lot to do.” She pauses. Nella’s home is small and run down compared to this one. It has a leaky roof and with four children and one bedroom it had to be difficult. “You can have our house. We’ll be gone tomorrow.”