Page 55

Chapter 55

Saelyn

My mother stood in the field of fresh green grass to the west of the castle, and I knew she’d grown it. I could tell it was her work that covered what was once the Blight Line because of the yellow buttercups that bloomed all around, mimicking what I knew was her favorite field of wild flowers in Felgren .

Her back was to me with white hair messily strung into a single braid, playing with the wind. She wore her usual Baron’s black skirts and vest with a loose white top. By the deep wrinkles in the fabric, I knew she’d slept in it.

I sat myself in the tall grass, pulling at the base of a blade in search of one wide enough to whistle through. I kept my eye on my mother, training with five Wieldwryns —channelers she’d been working with back home. She had them take turns lighting a bundle of charred sticks on fire, shaped to represent a Blight beast. The flames would ignite for a moment and then the channeler would call the wind to extinguish or spread them to the next dummy, based on their Baron’s instructions.

I had seen her train before, though it wasn’t something I was invited to, but rather snuck closer to watch. With the Blightress able to feel large eruptions of my power, I understood more of why she wouldn’t let me train in Felgren . After all, the Blightress knew where I was kept, but if she didn’t know the extent of my abilities, she’d still be in the dark about who I was.

But it was all a farce.

The Blightress did know what I could do. Unlike anyone else I’d ever encountered, she did not forget when I turned back time. She could recall every single one of my uses of that power, and I feared what that meant between us. Perhaps the Blightress was more than just a dark entity on the isle who wanted my power, but a distant part of me I could not escape.

The wind picked up, blowing my hair across my face, and I watched my mother turn to the east at its origin, closing her eyes in a peaceful smile. I listened for my name on the wind as I watched her, but no whisper came as it had done so many times throughout my life.

“ Saelyn !” my mother called, realizing I had come to join her.

I swept the grass clippings from my lap and rose, taking her outstretched hand as she brought me to her side, planting a kiss at the top of my black waves.

“ Wieldwryns ,” she said, “move to the eastern wall. Commander Figuerah is there and will practice Simulair Solum with you over the Blight Line . Meet for lunch at noon and we will gather more Wieldwryns to practice some healing and lightning spells from there. Good work this morning,” she added, grinning broadly at each one.

All five gave mumbles of thanks and agreement, walking together back to the castle, laughing in the morning sun.

“ Will you teach me those spells?” I asked, stepping in front of her with my hands clasped behind my back.

“ Those and more,” she answered. “ However , it is tradition that before a channeler enters Viridis , they must first pass a test of power.”

“ Oops ,” I chuckled.

“ Oops ,” she returned, laughing with me. “ But even though you’ve spent more time in Viridis than anyone here, I’d still like to challenge you. Just to see what your power is capable of.”

She hesitated in the slightest moment, but I caught it having studied all her tells for years. She was feeling that deep sorrow again.

She continued, “ What would you say is where your power truly lies? What type of magic calls to you most?”

I took a moment to look south, knowing the tree line of Felgren was miles away, but somehow feeling its presence all the same. “ Agricola magic. I used to practice it. Secretly ,” I added with a rising blush. “ Pah - Pah caught me once or twice, but I enjoyed those winter months when I could melt the snow and bring life back to the green leaves of Felgren .”

Her smile broadened and she took my hand, guiding me to a certain patch of earth that looked the same as any other. “ This used to be the Blight Line ,” she said with a simple directness. “ Just this morning, I returned this blackened field to one of green grass again. This city used to be my home, and I will see it returned so that my daughter may enjoy its delights as I have.”

I nodded, taking part of my lower lip between my teeth.

She laughed, though I didn’t know why and continued. “ I , however, did not heal this soil. I merely planted grass atop what was ash and death, giving it a new chance at life, but not one guaranteed to continue. That’s where you come in.”

“ Me ?” I gazed out at the field—acres of land that sprawled across green hills leading down to the crumbled castle walls.

“ You , Saelyn . When I was just a few years older than you, I was asked to prove my power, and in attempting to disprove my worth, I instead further fueled my magic. It is not something you will ever be able to hide from.” She patted a hand over my heart. “ You will feel it here.” She pointed to the warm sun, a brilliant glow of the purest light in a cloudless sky. “ You will hear it there, a whisper of wind that refuses to deny the power you hold and the depth of magic you wield. When your name is called, hear it for what it is—a promise that you are a child of great power and fate, and your father and I believe in the path you’ll choose for your future.”

I felt the purest truth of her words about my name on the wind, more so than she could know. “ But how can I choose my own path if I am fated for another?”

She drew an arm across my shoulder, pulling me into her side. “ You are destined for greatness, Little Love . Of this, I am certain.” She leaned in closer to whisper in my ear, “ But how you choose to get there is up to you. Times will come when you must decide for those you love. It is not always an easy choice, and you will not make it for only yourself. Everyone you love will be affected, but”—she held up a finger, her smile beautiful, her eyes an emerald green—“the choice is still yours to make, and if there is anyone I believe in, it is you.”

“ I …” My voice wavered, swept away with the breeze across our faces. I thought of telling her everything. All of me I’d hidden from her, from Pah - Pah . The spells I could create on my own, including the one that had saved us twice now. I thought of telling her of what the Blightress knew, and that every time I had reversed one minute of the present, she had come with me to relive it.

I didn’t know what that meant. I didn’t understand how it could be possible. But looking into my mother’s eyes of leafy green, seeing the crinkle of lines across her face, I only wanted to enjoy her rare company. I wanted to soak in her love, though always given, not always shown.

I cleared my throat and returned her grin. “ I’m ready for your challenge, Mama .”

“ Sit with me.” She folded her legs underneath her skirts, tugging me down beside her. “ Now lay your hands down like this.” She spread her fingers wide atop the deep verdant grass, much darker than what we had at home.

I mimicked her movement, spreading my hands. My conduit ring caught the sun, winking at me over its many facets.

“ Close your eyes, Saelyn , and tell me what you feel.”

Pressing my hands to the earth, I took a deep breath. The Blight was still here, just under the surface. I knew because I could smell its decay and sense its consuming desire underneath my fingers.

“ I feel it. The Blight is under us. Dormant , but…here.”

“ Destroy it,” she whispered, her voice nothing more than a command from a Baron to her channeler.

“ I - I don’t know how.”

A few moments passed, but I kept my eyes closed, my hands pressed into the soil, sinking further, feeling the roots of the grass that ended just on the surface of ashen Blight .

Her voice wavered as she said, “ What makes you so powerful, Little Love ? Show me what you can do.”

I nodded with determination. I nodded without fear, ready to acknowledge the depth of the well of power I held when I had previously only skimmed the surface.

I sent my magic down deep, tendrils of white coursing through the solid ground, maneuvering through the roots of the Blight . The resistance came, as I knew it would, as a push back, a shove away, and a challenge to retreat.

The clear truth was, it was no challenge at all. My power widened, shoved through the ground in a long, deep line that I was ready to push forward, replacing the consuming roots of Blight with what could thrive here in the grasslands north of my home. My mind swirled with visions of life, the speech of magic forming words I could use to bring this land into a new age of growth and beauty, forever changing this landscape to the one I desired.

My mother asked what I could do.

So , I would do it.

“ Cresere en silvam .” My words, new and comforting on my tongue, spilled forth just as my magic grazed the land. A long, wide wall of white haze draped one hundred feet from each side of my arms stretched out wide. I stood, opening my eyes and taking my first steps forward. My wall came with me, buried deep within the ground while the roots of trees I could name sprouted from where I crossed the hillside.

Faster , I picked up my feet in a run. My magic was not something still, but wild and free, a pursuit of the warmest rays of sun across a forest I loved, and though I knew what grew behind me, I did not stop to look. I did not stop to see my spell come to fruition—a spell of growing a forest of trees, able to give power to those born to wield it.

My feet carried me across the tall grass, my laughter piercing the air in accompaniment to the groans of thick trunks and sprawling underbrush sprouting from upturned earth behind me.

My mother wanted to know what I could do.

So , I did it.

I grew her a forest.