Page 14

Chapter 14

Rev

Lythglyn lay out below us as our carriages crested a small grassy hillside. Lanterns glowed as tiny specks of flame, beckoning us to follow for warmth, food, and a bed.

It was the town at the halfway point between the Spire to the east and Hyrithia to the west. The Attatok Mountains sprawled jagged across the distant horizon as our next destination. We would leave Clairannia here as we headed north to Radyx , and after a few days, we would head to the Spire to gather the last two channelers.

Our carriages entered the city gates, passing through the mostly empty streets. We pulled up to the cleverly named Lythglyn Inn , all of us hopping down to stretch our legs and eat one last supper together before Clairannia would go her own way. We talked, we laughed, we ate, and we listened to the music before saying our goodnights and heading to our rooms upstairs.

In the morning we met again for breakfast in the much quieter common room. Karus stared at her porridge, hands in her lap, only able to take a bite or two and mostly sipping tea. Clairannia spoke of the Spire and all the places she wanted to show us of her home. By the time breakfast was over, the three best friends were struggling to say goodbye, so I gave them some space, helping Mychael and Talon with the horses.

When I returned to the common room, I found Karus , Clairannia , and Figuerah somehow embracing in a three-way hug. It was perhaps the one thing Heimlen got right. He’d hunted for two other channelers whose personalities would suit what he knew of Karus , and he’d done well.

Clairannia watched them go to the carriages, her lip trembling. I approached, bringing her in for our own goodbye embrace. “ We’ll see you very soon.”

She squeezed her arms around my chest and let go, wiping under her eyes. “ I know. Just …make sure Karus is eating. I know she won’t stick to the foods I’ve encouraged, but make sure she’s eating something, Rev .”

“ I will.”

“ She told me.” Her gaze cast downward and she folded her arms at her chest. “ About every terrible thing Baron Adaynth said to her. I’m worried about her going so far north. It feels wrong that she’s headed right toward the Blightress’s lands.”

“ She’s got protection,” I murmured, then nudged Clairannia’s shoulder with my elbow. “ Besides , she’s close to the most powerful thing on this isle.”

She nodded, twisting her lips. “ I know, but she hasn’t found her limits yet. And we don’t know if Saelyn is weakening her or providing her with more magic. Ilyenna’s babe is certainly pulling from her. When I examined her, she told me how much her magic has changed.”

“ Is that common? That the child changes the mother’s power?”

“ Yes . It varies by channeler or conduit, though. Some are almost completely drained. Some become far more powerful for even months after they give birth. No two are ever the same. I won’t be able to tell with Karus until she is a few months further along.” She looked up to me with hardened eyes. “ I’ll be there. When Saelyn comes, I promise to be there.” She reached out and patted my shoulder.

I gave her one last hug, planting a kiss on top of her thick black hair and left, joining the nine others, leaving Clairannia behind.

* * *

The Carrow Road was a bleak place. We’d left our drivers in Lythglyn , and I drove one carriage across the rutted road while Nyeimah drove the other. Mychael sat next to me, taking a lesson on tree growth while Karus worked inside the cabin with Philius , Renn , and Rell . Figuerah was at the back of their carriage, giving special attention to Talon , training him to call different types of birds to his outstretched arm while Ilyenna picked up some extra sleep.

“ Good shape on that one,” I praised to Mychael sitting beside me. “ And what about a chestnut leaf?”

He waved off the image of an oak leaf, cupping his hands together, then spreading them apart to reveal a wisp of white magic in the shape of five long ellipse-like leaves with lacy veins and jagged toothed edges.

Mychael closed his hands, chuckling. “ I don’t think I’ll be pursuing agricola magic, Baron . I don’t seem to be particularly adept at it. Why is it so important to learn about the types of trees in Felgren if that’s not the path we’ll choose after the trials?”

I called my power to hold the reins and folded my arms at my chest, sitting back against the carriage bench. “ I’ll tell you a secret.” I winked his way, then closed my eyes, laying my head back as well. “ It’s not really about what tree leaves you can identify or remembering which trees have the most growth in the summer months. It’s about knowing the place your power comes from. The better you understand all parts of Felgren , the better you can harness what it gives to you. Part of Philius’s struggle is that he cannot let go of where he believes he and Karus should be. He doesn’t accept what she accepted long ago, and so the channeling line of connection between him and Felgren is stunted. It’s part of why you have become stronger than he in the little time you’ve been training.”

Mychael sat with that truth for a moment before clearing his throat. “ When I first saw you and Karus in Hyrithia , I thought of how great it would be to live your lives. To live in Felgren , training in magic, riding enormous wolves.” He paused again, letting the clop of hooves hang in the air. “ Before your offer, I didn’t think I held enough power to ever be chosen, so I forgot about it most of the time. Solla was always so much better at it anyway.”

I opened my eyes and looked him over. He rarely spoke of his companion who had been killed by the Black Fever seven years ago. “ I’m sure she would have made a great conduit,” I encouraged.

“ She would,” he chuckled. “ She always kept that little hope that she’d be given an Offering . Even as we got older and knew people our age are never taken to Felgren . Even as we were deciding if we wanted a family, she still insisted she would go if asked.”

“ And did you? Start a family, I mean.”

“ Neither of us ever really wanted children. We thought of adopting for a little while, but decided it wasn’t something we were missing in our lives.”

“ I’m sorry you lost her,” I found myself rasping, surprised at my own sudden emotions.

He eyed me with a small smile. “ Thank you. I’ve found peace in remembering I got to know her. I got to be in her life and witness her living it. It took a few years, but then I was able take comfort in that. She’ll always live in here.” He pointed to his chest. “ Pompeii likes me to talk about her. He says talking about her life will help me keep moving forward with mine.”

I quirked a brow. “ If Pompeii gives you advice, I’d take it.”

He smirked. “ Oh , I do. I didn’t expect to…to find someone like him. But just like I told him before we left—we don’t know what our future holds when we take the uneasy step of moving toward the unknown, but we do know what our future holds when all we do is stand still.”

“ And what’s that?”

“ The same life we’ve always lived.”

I nodded. “ I’ll have to remember that one.”

A loud bang erupted from the cabin, followed by shrieking laughter. I pulled the horses to a stop, signaling to Nyeimah to stop as well behind us.

The door flew open and Philius ran from the cabin, dousing the flames at his shirt sleeves. Mychael jumped off the bench, running to his side to help.

I hopped down, brushing against Karus who tumbled out of the cabin and fell to more laughter against my chest, Renn and Rell still cackling inside.

“ What was that about?” I asked, checking her over for burn marks before looking over the twins.

“ He was practicing—” she wiped at her eyes, bursting into laughter again.

“ He’s alright!” Mychael announced. Tendrils of white rose from his fingers, wrapping around the Prince’s arm while he murmured a healing spell Clairannia had taught him.

Karus took a deep breath, her lips still spread wide, her laughter still contagious as I found myself chuckling too.

“ He was practicing Illuminare with Renn and Rell and said he’d be able to make a larger orb of light if I’d just channel some of my power to him.” She sighed, shaking her head. “ So I did, and obviously, he couldn’t hold it. It burst into flame instead. Thankfully , it only got him.”

“ His spell lit on fire?” I questioned, beckoning Philius over so I could have a look at his wound.

“ Not at first,” she replied, pulling back his burned sleeve. Philius winced with his arm outstretched. She looked up to him, in approval. “ You held that spell for five minutes straight. That’s a record.”

“ What’s the point if I can’t hold it without lighting myself on fire?” he gritted as Karus ripped the rest of his sleeve and healed the welts further.

“ Philius ,” I called, “ Light that bush on fire over there.” I nodded toward a lonely withered shrub along the side of the road.

“ Now ?”

“ Yes , now.”

He summoned a ball of orange light, small as a button above his hand. Huffing a breath, he flicked it toward the bush. The glow died out inches before it hit the dry stems. I placed my hand on his shoulder, letting my power flow through his vest, his shirt, all the way to his skin, using Cosensian Magic to give him more of what he needed to produce the same flame as before.

I nodded for him to try again and he did, this time producing a much larger ball of light, the size Karus and I used for the same Illuminare spell. He tried again, flicking his wrist toward the bush. Once again the light dispersed into nothing but orange smokey tendrils.

“ Mychael ! Renn , Rell !” I called. “ Come place your hands on Philius and focus your power to him.”

One -by-one they touched his back, and I joined them as we sent our magic through him. The orb of light grew to the size of his head and his brows shot up in surprise as all of our power aided his own.

“ Try again, Philius ,” I ordered. “ Make the flames and light that bush on fire.”

He nodded in silence, focusing intently on the light he held. Once again he flicked his hand, sending the orb to the bush where it splintered in a flash of light, a slight spark flaring before disintegrating into nothing but gray smoke.

The scent of burning barely filtered through the air as Renn and Rell whooped and hollered, patting him on the back with words of praise.

“ I almost had it,” he shrugged, a smile pulling at the sides of his mouth.

“ You’ll get there,” Mychael encouraged, slapping his back.

I nodded his way. “ Well done, Philius . Let’s take twenty minutes to stretch our legs. Mychael , inform the other carriage please.”

I slid my hand into Karus’s and led her across the frozen brush away from eyes and ears. She was quiet, head down and frowning.

I slid my hand into my pocket, palming the rhyzolm, acknowledging what I’d already suspected.

When we were out of earshot, Karus finally spoke, “ Saelyn’s giving me more power, isn’t she?”

She stopped with her hand over her growth band.

“ Clairannia said it’d be one or the other. Our child will either make your magic stronger or weaker.”

“ That’s what you were trying to find out, wasn’t it? It wasn’t whether Philius could light the damn bush on fire, it was whether a Baron and three channelers could help him do what just one Baron could.”

I nodded slowly. “ If the Blightress finds out how even more powerful Saelyn has made you?—”

“ She won’t. I - I won’t do that again. I’ll be more careful.” She chewed on her lip, hands on her hips as she turned to keep walking. “ Philius thinks he has her cornered in his mind. I told him exactly what Lia told me, and he said he’ll concentrate on that, but…we need to be careful.”

I grabbed her hand. “ Our daughter might be far more powerful than either of us. The Blightress cannot know that. Saelyn will need to be hidden while we train channelers to destroy her heart. It will just give the Blightress more reason to take you both.”

“ She’s determined enough now. I can’t imagine there’s more she’d try to do.”

“ Think of it this way; if the Blightress knows how much more powerful you’ve become, she might do something drastic, knowing we really have a chance to destroy her heart with what you can now wield. Our only hope here is that she doesn’t know our numbers, and she doesn’t know our strength. She doesn’t know when we’ll attack either. In fact, I’ve been thinking…what if we use Philius as bait once the time comes?”

Her head twisted to me. “ Use him as bait?”

“ Yes . Let him think we’re somewhere else and then go for her heart. If she can read his thoughts, she’ll think she’s safe. If she can’t,”— I shrugged—“we’re no worse off.”

“ But he can’t know. We’d need to lie. And lie convincingly.”

“ We have time to come up with something, but this might be in our favor. Till then,”— I pulled on her waist—“maybe I should be the one to work with him.”

“ I’ll give you Philius if you give me Mychael ,” she bargained.

I laughed into the damp cold. “ Alright , but keep in mind, he’s already fairly smitten with Pompeii .”

She pinched my arm. “ Your teasing about how handsome he is never gets old.”

I chuckled, kissing the top of her head.

“ How much longer do you think we have for today?”

“ The foothills are just an hour’s ride ahead. It will be much slower then because the Tectus Trail is no longer used.

“ Can I handle the cart for a bit?”

“ You want to?” I asked in surprise.

“ I’m in the mood to try something new.” She shrugged.

I pulled her all the way into my arms, lingering at her ear. “ Do you think you’ll feel the same tonight?”

I felt her heart begin to race through our bond. “ If you’re teasing me again, Revich? —”

“ I’m not. I’ve been longing to love you under the stars since that night after the Baron trial.”

“ What do you have in mind?” she purred, sliding her hands across my chest, my stomach, lingering her fingers through the band at my waist.

“ Now , why would I go and spoil the surprise?” I tilted her chin up to face me, watching her black eyes hint at a Felgren green.

She reached for my lips, steadying there and whispering, “ Which one of us caves first, Rev ?”

I snorted. “ Now who’s teasing who?”

“ Hey , Barons !” An echoing call came from the carriages behind us. We both turned to look, though I was sure to let my hand linger across her waist.

Philius had his hands cupped around his mouth, shouting, “ We need to move! Look at those clouds!” He pointed north at the dull gray billowing ahead.

I waved a hand to signal we were headed back while Karus pinched my backside. “ Looks like a chilly night ahead.”

I jumped, laughing with her and swinging my arm underneath her legs. She kicked in mock protest as I ran us back to the carriages, replying, “ I’ll be sure to keep your bed warm.”