Page 29
Story: A Cage of Magic and Darkness
TAELYN
I sense the mood of the group becoming despondent.
They say the Mage has been living out here for a thousand years. How can anyone survive for so long? Just a few days is enough to know we’re taking our lives into our hands.
The ride was supposed to have taken us a day and a half, and we’re at that now, which means we should be close. But how will we even know when we’re at the right hillside? It’s not as though the Mage will have a sign outside, pointing us in the right direction.
The wind whips around my face, pulling whisps of my hair from the braid that Skylar had done the day before—there had been no reason to undo it last night.
I scrunch my shoulders under my cloak, trying to escape the worst of the cold.
My fingers are dry and red around my horse’s reins. Why didn’t I bring any gloves?
I keep sensing Ruarok watching me. Every time I think of us in the tent, a heated pressure condenses between my thighs, and I have to force my mind away from it so I don’t make the most of the rocking of that particular spot against the saddle.
It wouldn’t do to have the future queen climax among so many men while riding her horse. Just the thought mortifies me.
Ruarok brings his horse level with mine.
“Can I ask you a question?” he says.
I shrug. I’ve got no reason to say no.
“Why did you not marry, Princess? Surely in all these years you’d have had suitors. Other princes from distant lands keen to offer their hand in marriage. Did you never want to start up your own home and family far away from here? You’ve stayed at Highdrift Castle the whole time.”
He’s right. I have had many suitors, but none ever seemed right. I wouldn’t have left Highdrift to start a home elsewhere, however. Highdrift is my home, and, if I were ever to marry, my new husband would have to accept that I’m the ruler of Askos and would never even consider leaving.
Was that the reason I’d never accepted a man?
Or was it that I’d been waiting? Waiting for what, exactly?
Him?
My heart stutters at the thought. No, surely not. We’d only shared that one dance, yet the memory of his intense dark eyes has lingered in my heart and mind. He was like no one else I’d ever met, and he made quite the impression on me at the time.
I still recall the plunge of disappointment I’d felt after hearing he’d been banished.
I hadn’t wanted to believe it. After the dance, I’d gone to bed with my heart racing and my blood feeling as though it was on fire in my veins for the first time in my life.
I’d never known my skin to be so sensitive, as though merely his presence lit up a million nerve endings.
Then I found out he’d been plotting to kill us, and that he was no longer allowed anywhere near Highdrift, and I’d been forced to re-evaluate my impression of him.
It had never occurred to me that both the story that he’d been banished, and that he’d been plotting to kill us, might have been untrue.
I lift my chin and focus on the ground ahead. “Some people are not made for marriage.”
He lets out a small laugh. “I would have said the same about myself. Interesting.”
I cock my head. “You never plan to marry?”
“Who would marry me?” he says. The corners of his lips quirk in a not-quite-smile. “I’m definitely not marriage material. Besides, up until a few days ago, I believed I would spend the rest of eternity locked away alone, so it’s not as though I’d planned for any long-lasting relationships.”
“What about before then?” I can’t help it, I’m curious. “Did you have any longer relationships?”
“No, Princess. I never met anyone who interested me for long enough to want to stick around.”
“I see.”
Does he plan to stick around now? Highdrift is his home. Where else would he go? Perhaps he could leave for another kingdom, find someone of royal blood there who he could make his own.
The thought jabs spines of jealousy into my heart.
I hate how much I want him. I should be focusing on our mission, and instead my thoughts are crowded by his face and his touch and his filthy words. They set my nerve endings alight and warm my skin. I’m craving more, but I can’t give in to my desires.
The cost is too great.
“Princess Taelyn,” Balthorne says, interrupting us, “look ahead.”
I do. In the distance, beyond the flat expanse, the ground rises sharply. It’s like a woman’s breast risen out of the moorland, several of the strange, stacked granite rocks at its peak, like a nipple.
“Could that be it?” I ask in wonder. “The place where the Mage resides?”
Balthorne nods. “I believe so.”
I draw a breath and kick my horse’s flanks so she breaks into a trot.
Those around me do the same. My heart beats faster in anticipation.
Will the Mage even be able to help us? I have no other plans if this one doesn’t work.
I’ll just have to accept I will lose Askos to the rot and do whatever we can to save as many of my people as possible.
The horses cover the ground quickly, seemingly happy to have picked up the pace. Plumes of white breath snort from their nostrils, and hooves pound the moorland, the rhythmic thudding filling the air.
Will the Mage have used magic to protect themself? It’s possible. There’s a good chance I won’t be able to simply walk inside. My stomach churns with anxiety. I know I need to do this, but I’m allowed to be nervous.
The distance is farther than it looked, and it’s still another hour before we reach the hillock.
We dismount and tie the horses up on one of the gnarled trees that has somehow managed to cling to life despite the thin, rocky soil of the moorland.
The horses seem uneasy, eyes rolling to show the whites, hooves pawing the ground.
I reassure my mare with a couple of pats and then stroke her long, velvet nose.
Intelligent brown eyes study me in return, and I could swear she’s silently asking me if I really want to do this.
“Search for the entrance,” Balthorne tells the other guards. “It most likely won’t be easy to find.”
Ruarok comes to join me. He sees himself as too high up to be searching with the guards.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” he says.
I shoot him a look. “You sound like my horse.”
His brow furrows. “What?”
I give a small laugh. “Nothing. Yes, of course I do. We haven’t come all this way only to turn back again when we’re so near.”
He stares up at the hill. “If the Mage is in there, they’ll be living in total darkness. No light can get in. Think what that can do to a person.”
“Can the Mage even be considered a person? I’m not sure. I think they might be something else entirely.”
He grimaces. “They say the Mage has all of the world’s knowledge. How is it possible to have that sheer volume of information inside your head and not be completely insane?”
A shout comes from the west side of the hill. Ruarok and I exchange a glance, and then we hurry in the direction the shout has come from.
Balthorne is waiting for us. “We’ve found something.”
I step closer for a better view.
The entrance to what appears to be a deep cave is hidden by hanging green fronds of moss and weeds. A tangle of briar bushes, their spines long and sharp enough to go straight through a man’s foot, should he stand on one, also protect the cave from being seen.
“This is the only entrance?” I ask Balthorne.
He nods. “That we’ve found.”
I stand at the mouth of the black hole and stare into it. “I should do this alone.”
Ruarok steps closer. “No, Taelyn. It’s not safe.”
“What is, these days?”
I don’t understand fully why I feel I need to be alone, but something deep inside of me knows. Perhaps it’s magic—mine or the Mage’s.
Beyond the foliage is pure darkness. It’s as though even the faint rays of daylight out here are unable to penetrate the black. If I step inside, will it swallow me? What if I can’t find my way back again?
My heart feels like it’s in my mouth. Fear leaves me dizzy, but I can’t back out now. We’ve come all this way, and, besides, what choice do I have? If we go back, I’ll be abandoning Askos to the rot, and what kind of ruler would that make me?
I force one foot to lift and take a tentative step toward the cave. The sooner I’m in and find the Mage, the sooner I’ll get back again, and then we can all go home. I lift my arms to protect my face from the thorns of the bushes and duck my head to push through their scratchy branches.
A part of me wants one of the men to stop me, but no one does. I tell myself that’s because they respect my choices, and that’s a good thing, but the coward in me hopes one of them will grab me and refuse to let me go any farther.
I take one more step, and then another, and a third.
Cold, damp fronds of vegetation brush past my face, and I shiver.
It was cold outside, but in here it’s close to freezing.
I wrap my wings around my body to form a kind of cocoon and pull my cloak tighter.
I grip it at my throat and reach forward with my other hand to try to find the way.
I’m concerned I’ll bump my head against a low hanging piece of the cave roof and knock myself unconscious, but, so far, the way has been clear.
The skittering of many sharp little legs comes from high on my right. In my mind, I see the creature the noise might belong to—a multilegged centipede, perhaps, or a huge, hairy spider with fangs as long as my little finger.
Now my shivering morphs into a shudder.
I keep going.
How far into the hillside have I walked now? In the soupy black, I’ve lost all sense of time and distance. It’s as though Ruarok and Balthorne and all the others no longer exist. There is only me and the cave. When will this end?
I fight the urge to turn and run back the way I’ve come, straight into Ruarok’s arms.
I catch my breath at the thought of him. I can’t let myself be distracted now, and he is my worst distraction.
Placing one foot in front of the other, I carry on.
Table of Contents
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- Page 28
- Page 29 (Reading here)
- Page 30
- Page 31
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- Page 47