Silverglen: A Young Adult Epic Fantasy Novel

by E. A. Burnett

  Kitt shook his head. "We need shifters out there who aren't afraid to kill wizards."

  Ember scowled. "I'll kill a wizard if I have to. You know I'm the only one who can sense their spells."

  Kitt's jaw bulged as he ground his teeth. "Fine. Let's go."

  At once the group shifted into wolves, shedding their clothes like skin. Ember clutched her spear and jogged behind them, probing for spells as she left the camp boundary. She sensed nothing beyond impending rain.

  Please don't rain, she wished at the dense clouds overhead, following the wolves around a patch of brambles as they searched for a scent trail. But rain would deter the wizard's dogs, too, who were perhaps already searching for the camp. The man said they were waiting for the others to return. Had those others been here? Had they found Loria? Did she tell them about the camp?

  She had meant to tell Seabird of the men in the Lachian village, had known that their only real option was to move camp. But now the wizards might be near, and moving was no longer a viable option. The children would be too vulnerable out in the open. And Lexy.

  But they must find Loria first. She quickened her pace.

  They picked out a scent trail and followed it, only to lose it at the river. They searched up and down the banks, stretching further with each sweep until Jinni barked for them to come.

  A light rain began to fall as Ember scrambled up the steep bank and into a clump of ferns. She considered shifting, but dismissed the thought. The dulled senses of the human allowed for easier spell searching, although whatever spells were out there might have begun to fade with the rain.

  The wolves milled ahead, veering here and there as they picked up new scents. Multiple trails. Were they Loria's?

  Bent oak seedlings and broken fern fronds pointed her down one trail. The duff looked disturbed at the base of a sycamore, and just past that Ember spotted a snapped sunberry branch.

  Kitt raced by, snuffling with head thrust to the ground, already on the scent.

  Ember reached further with her mind, straining to touch even the smallest, weakest of spells. Far away, like the sight of a torch on the other side of Mirror Lake, Ember felt a cold flicker.

  She grabbed it and held it in her mind. A familiar spell.

  She ran past boulders painted by lichen, over fallen logs that reached to her waist, up mossy mounds spurting with delicate orchids and fading trilliums, and skirted around a murky pool.

  A potent spell. Complex. She worked through the strands in her mind, poking them and separating them, categorizing the weaves.

  Her foot suddenly met resistance, and she plunged onto a grassy mat, toes throbbing.

  She gasped at the pain, but scrambled up. The wolves surrounded her, all tracking different trails, ears back and tails raised high in aggression. She saw Kitt, standing as though waiting for her, and in that moment heard a cougar's fierce growl.

  The juvenile cougar rolled and lashed wildly, her paw strung taut in a snare attached to the base of an alder tree. Another part of Ember sensed that the cougar was a shifter. Loria.

  Ember couldn't ignore the rhythmic pulse of the spelled snare.

  "I need you to calm her," she told Kitt as she tossed her spear aside.

  Kitt whirled into the form of a cougar, twice the size of Loria, his sudden purr thrumming in the air like a swarm of bees. Loria stood as he approached, and something about him calmed her.

  They touched noses and he lay beside the snare, his tail hitting the ground like a rope. Loria, after another frustrated yank of her paw, lay next to him, only relaxing when Kitt started grooming her head with one wide, pink tongue.

  Ember hardly noticed the proceedings. The spell throbbed in her mind, strange yet familiar. Kneeling before Loria, she peered closely at the snare.

  Fine strands of metal twisted to form a loop that tucked into the snare lock to prevent slack. Arundel's work. And a strange Binding spell, most certainly not cast by Arundel's precise hand, but of a complexity that made her think it really was Arundel's creation. She had seen it before, on a collar...

  The bear.

  Her stomach rolled.

  A Binding spell, interwoven with a bit of Freeze, a bit of Blinding, and a bit of Stupification that would dull the mind. The slight spell strands suggested mental rather than physical effects, but the Binding looked strong enough to effect mind and body.

  She sat back, feeling numb. "It's a Binding spell," she said to no one in particular. "Meant to keep shifters from shifting."

  A dangerous spell. And entirely unlawful. The Council, though allowing the killing of shifters, still held up the notion that it was wrong to control others through spells, shifters or not—

  "So?" Jinni's voice broke Ember's thoughts. The woman stood over her with arms crossed, her figure cutting straight toward the drizzling slate sky. "Can you fix it?"

  Ember bent over the snare, willing her fingers to steady. "Even if I can... Do you know how long Loria was missing?"

  "Etty saw her to bed last night, but she may have left while others slept. I don't see why that matters, wizard-shifter."

  Ember separated the different spells mentally, imagining the signs she would have to make to undo them, and hoped they would bend to her will. "Have you ever stayed in one form for too long?" she asked.

  No one answered.

  Ember pushed into the spell, twisting her fingers to the left, then up and over the strands. She undid the smaller strands with one hand, but the dominant spell, the Binding, required two hands. Each coming from either end, unwinding, unraveling, convincing the spell to release and let go, to dissolve back into the air. She reached the center and gave a quick flick of her fingers outward. The residue burst into hundreds of silvery sparks before fading back to air's invisibility.

  Grasping the snare with careful hands, she wiggled it down inch by inch until Loria's paw slipped free.

  Loria pulled her paw close and licked her raw skin fiercely, ears back and tail tapping the ground.

  "Loria," Ember called. How long had the girl been in cougar form? She was young, perhaps inexperienced with being an animal. Would she know enough to suppress the instincts?

  The cougar gave no sign of recognition. "Loria, you are a human. Do you remember?" Ember continued. "Do you remember Kitt? And Vinn? You live at camp."

  Nothing.

  Desperate, Ember met Kitt's steady gaze.

  "Her sister," Ember heard herself say. "What was her sister's name?"

  "Evelyn," Jinni answered from behind.

  Ember nodded. "Loria, do you remember your sister, Evelyn? She was with you..." Ember swallowed. "Evelyn was with you that day when the patrol attacked camp. You hid with her, but they found her. They found Evelyn."

  Loria's ears swiveled at full attention, and the cougar's molten eyes froze on her as though catching sight of prey. A sudden shiver swept over fur, and it blurred, curled, and whirled, and skin took its place, with dark hair tumbling over shoulders and chest.

  The girl bent over with a sob before slumping to the ground, unconscious.

  Ember cursed. "Kitt—"

  But he was already shifting, snapping back to human form. He scooped Loria up in his arms, worry and anger hardening his expression. "Let's go."

  Ember grabbed her spear, heart thumping as she half-ran beside Kitt's long strides.

  "The stench of wizard was all over that place," he said through clenched teeth. "Including that one you didn't kill."

  Ember walked on, knowing that an apology wasn't enough. It would never be enough.

  "The trails were old, but by no more than a day or two," Kitt continued. "They should still be near. I'm going to find them and kill them."

  Fletch would slaughter him. "No. Kitt, you mustn't. You'll be risking yourself—"

  "I'll take others."

  "And risk them, too? Please, think about it. They have weapons and this new spell—"

  "I have thought about it," he spat. His walk had turned to a near jog, and he cradle
d Loria as if she weighed no more than a stick. "I've thought more than enough in my lifetime, and shifters died because of it. They know we are here and they won't stop looking until they find us."

  "Kitt..."

  He no longer listened. His jaw set, he picked up his pace to a full run, nimbly missing stones and sticks, and swiveling beyond touch of snagging vines and brambles.

  Ember clenched her spear and ran after him. The raindrops thickened and spattered her cheeks with cold kisses.

  chapter thirty-five

  Ember pushed through the crowd gathered in Riggs' hovel to where Seabird spoke with Jinni, his arms clasped behind him in a forced stance of calm.

  "I need to speak with you," she told Seabird in a hushed voice. She glanced to where Kitt sat with crying Loria to be sure he still comforted her. She turned back to Seabird, ignoring Jinni and the others. "In private."

  Jinni bristled. "What you tell him is our—"

  Seabird lifted his hand. "It's alright—"

  Ember spun away and leapt through the hovel door without waiting for more useless chatter. The camp appeared empty, with everyone having ducked into their own hovels or gone to Riggs' to see Loria. The noise of the rising river and the sound of rain hitting leaves filled the air. It would have to do.

  She strutted to the river, startling a half-dozen doves who took cover in a sunberry shrub to burst into whistling flight. She bent to suck up water and swish it vigorously before spitting it out. The vile taste of rotten flesh lingered on her tongue. Dunking her head into the river, the cold water drove against her, beating her ears with its roar and tugging her hair downstream as it would a clump of river-weed. She let the water carry away her memories, willed it to strip her clean until the cold sank into her skull and numbed it.

  But Loria wouldn't leave her, or Kitt, or the bear. The spell throbbed in her mind and she still felt Fletch's presence looming over her as it did in her dark bedchamber. Did I really believe I could escape him?

  Water surged up her nose, and she pulled out of the water, sputtering.

  "You wanted to speak with me," Seabird rumbled from behind her. "We can talk in my hovel—"

  "No." Ember pressed her hair back. "I like the rain." She stood without facing him, letting the water from her hair soak whatever dry spots remained on her dress. "You mustn't let Kitt go looking for the wizards."

  "I don't want him to go, but I have little sway over what he does. He'll do what he thinks is best, whether I like it or not."

  Ember's chest tightened. "They have powerful spells and weapons. The one that bound Loria was dangerous. Kitt will be killed, and whoever he takes with him."

  "Perhaps you underestimate him."

  Ember spun around. "You are underestimating these wizards! They will stop at nothing to find shifters. They will capture Kitt or anyone else, and torture him until he reveals the camp location. Then they will end him."

  Rain coursed along Seabird's scar from temple to chin. "Kitt would never give us away."

  Stubborn, stupid man.

  Ember swallowed her anger; she had no right to it. There only remained one way to convince him.

  She took a shaky breath. "I am Ember Thackeray."

  Seabird froze for a moment before taking deep, steady breaths. His nostrils pinched, and his hands remained clasped behind his back. The scar twitched.

  "You mean to say that you lied to us about who you are. That you have come here knowing that you risked everyone's lives."

  Ember repressed the urge to look away. "That was never my intention."

  "Are you a spy for Lord Arundel?"

  "No." Ember folded her arms. "I came here to escape a wizard who found me out. And to find my real father." She wouldn't admit out loud that she had failed in both those regards. Her stomach churned. "Lord Seago, I must be allowed to find the patrol on my own. For everyone here. Please, call off Kitt and the others. Do whatever you must to stop him, even if you have to Freeze him."

  Seabird considered her with black eyes. "The others will be glad to see the back of you once they know the truth."

  "They'll have other things to worry about," Ember said, not entirely convinced that he would try to stop Kitt and others from going after the patrol. "Some wizards are in the village where Jinni's group traded. They hung the woman who has been helping us."

  "When did this happen?"

  "I found her this morning. What's more important is that the wizards spoke of plans. The others in their group would come back to the village from wherever they were—presumably around here, after Loria's incident—and they would wait in ambush for Jinni's group to return. If no shifters come, they have dogs."

  "They would track us," Seabird stated. His hands broke free from behind his back, and he rubbed the scar on his left cheek. "We could still move camp."

  "If the patrol is here for me, they might not come. I will try to distract them, to make them think that there aren't any others. But warn the shifters of this new spell. A Binding spell that Freezes and stupifies the mind, one that will prevent them from shifting. It could kill them." As it must have done to the bear.

  The sky rumbled.

  Before Seabird could say anything further, Ember shifted into a hawk and grabbed her deer-hide dress with talons. She drove through the sodden canopy and into the rain without looking back, thinking of Riggs, Loria, Lexy, and Jinni. She wished she could apologize to them all, to tell them the truth, and to beg for their forgiveness.

  And Kitt. No words would ever be enough.

  With a knotted stomach, she sped southward. Her wings beat against the pummeling rain as her hawk-eyes searched the ground for sign of wizards. She cast out her mind for spells, for any slight glimmer through the dull, watery world beneath her.

  I will find you, Fletch.

  chapter thirty-six

  Lightning arced across the sky, snapping close to the trees that hid Fletch's camp. Ember sensed the heavy Glamours stretching beneath the canopy, and as she flew closer, patches of white canvas appeared where the spells had begun to fade from the rain. Other spells pulsed down there, no doubt from weapons.

  Near the camp, Ember descended to the ground and shifted back to human form, weariness stretching through her limbs. The camp must have moved recently, as she had found them in a place she had already searched, west of the burned clan village.

  Ember tugged her dress on and tied a secure knot over her shoulder. Fletch knew what she was; the others in the camp might not. Or at least, they had no proof. Had Fletch told the others what he saw back in Silverglen? Had he told Arundel as well? Or was this a rescue mission because Arundel thought she had been kidnapped?

  Gray sheets of rain obscured the camp and washed out the noises of horses and men. Ember curled her empty hands, straightened her back, and forced her legs to move toward them.

  A man's shape appeared in front of her, probably a guard. He faced the camp, where other men milled under the white canvas. Horses and a small rickety wagon stood in the rain on the opposite side. Beneath the heavy canvas, a low, wide fire pit glowed.

  "Guard," she called out.

  The guard turned and saw her, but the man wasn't a guard. He was Gregory. Shorter and younger-looking than she remembered, with eyes like rain and sodden hair clinging to his temples in tight ringlets.

  His mouth formed her name, inaudible beneath a pulse of thunder.

  Rivulets of rain channeled down her back and curled around her shoulders like a cold snake. Her stomach hardened, and her legs trembled like the leaves overhead.

  Fletch's shout rose through the noise of rain, and two men jogged toward her, one with a sword drawn and pointed at her neck.

  She let them come.

  Had Gregory told Arundel about her? Had he told Fletch? He seemed as frozen as her, a look of surprised dismay playing tug-of-war with his brows and lips. She remembered loving those lips.

  A wizard grabbed her wrists to Bind them in front of her, while the other kept the sword leveled beneat
h her chin. They followed orders, with expressionless faces and the quick, efficient movements of a trained patrol member.

  "Lady Thackeray." Fletch emerged from the canvas at a slow amble, unheeding of the rain as it soaked head and cloak, unblinking as it coursed into his eyes. He gave a white-toothed sneer. "I have finally found you."

  No, I found you. She wanted to smack that sneer off his face. She inhaled. "You think I will escape," she said, lifting her bound wrists. "I came to you willingly." The Bindings throbbed into her mind with that spell—the same one that had caught Loria and bound the bear—dulling her senses and wrapping her in what felt like a wall made of cotton-lined stone.

  Fletch tilted his head, as though curious about what she said. "It's assurance my dear. I don't want to lose you again." His fingers twitched. "And now we have two delicious prizes for all our efforts," he said, a grin pulling lips to ears.

  Ember's heart thumped. She lifted her head, pushing through the spell's haze. "Who could be an equal prize to myself?"

  Fletch stepped close to her, easing his mouth to her ear. "A firebird, my dear, though never so pretty as you."

  Norman?

  Long, spindly fingers touched her arm. Cold and bony.

  She forced herself not to shudder, not to lift her arms and shove him away. "I'm disappointed, Fletch. I thought you would be smart enough not to try capturing a firebird."

  Fletch stepped back, his eyes somehow dancing and empty all at once. "Hmm, you know the rhyme? 'Capture naught the bird of gold, for selfishness is freedom sold.'" His half-singing voice slithered through the rain and rumbling clouds. "Yes, it's true. But I'm testing some other ways that you might find quite clever, my dear."

  KEERREEEEEE!!!

  An unmistakable scream shot overhead. Not Norman, but a hawk. Familiar and strange and burning with vengeance.

  A tremor swept down Ember's spine.

  A burst of air hit her cheek as the hawk dove. The wizard who held her cried out and released his hold as talons sunk into his eyes like knives into butter. He flailed his hands, but the hawk was gone, and watery blood seeped down his cheeks as he fell to his knees and screamed, “I can’t see! I CAN’T SEE!!”