Page 65 of A Touch of Stars and Stones (Kirrian #1)

“Er, no. We might have gone to the edges of the woods before it got too dark, but never in the forest. It’s haunted by more than just magic. So, we’ll need to watch our backs for not only the other team but for the Jarkoreth as well,” Raiden states.

“What is a Jarkoreth?” I ask, not wanting to know the answer but unable to stop my mouth from asking.

“I’ll tell you later,” Micah offers in his best reassuring voice.

“Later? This thing starts in minutes. We don’t have later, Micah.” My panic bursts through, lashing out at the wrong person.

“This thing won’t last until nightfall, so you don’t need to worry. The others will pick us off before then.” Ravi’s optimism is encouraging.

“Hey, that’s not helping,” Raiden scolds. “We are not going to let them intimidate us before we’ve even started. Now,” she looks at us, “we have the advantage that I’m a Natural, and so is Capella. With us and Ever on our side, we’re equally matched.”

“We grew dead branches when we connected,” I remind Raiden, not seeing that as any advantage.

“And you turned invisible with Capella and Micah. At the very least, you three can just walk right over to them,” Raiden counters. “We don’t know what’s possible with the three of us,” she says, as if reassuring me.

I’d forgotten that. Between the five of us, there were still so many possibilities for our power.

Some connections needed something else for the magic to manifest. When Calix, Capella, and I tried, nothing happened until Capella touched a plant.

It began to come apart, the very sinews and fibres that held the plant together unwound before our eyes.

Perrin suggested that we repeat the experiment on a body, which turned us all a little green.

The pit in my stomach had opened back up because it forced the one question back into my mind, the one where my magic—being a Fifth—seemed to be a gift of death.

That’s what we did to that plant, so if we touched somebody, would we kill them?

Taking apart their very flesh and organs, like un-mending them.

It would be a formidable weapon against enemies.

That night, I had trouble sleeping.

Capella’s magic lent itself to healing. Alone, she was able to make things grow, knitting things together. Until I connected with her. And poisoned her.

“What’s the plan?” Ravi asks, and thank the stars, he looks at Raiden.

She seems to be a natural to take the lead.

Capella is still quiet, as she usually is, her dark eyes keen and observing.

She’s unassuming, but I like her. She offered to help train with me, but only on her terms, which I respected.

“We find a suitable place to hide that’s protected from sight. Capella and I can see to that when we’re deeper into the forest. We’ll need high ground, too, a defensive position.” We all agree as if this were just another lesson.

“They’ll attack. They’ll come looking to take us out.” Ravi’s back on the optimism drive. “We can’t just sit and wait for them.”

“Don’t discount Ten,” Micah starts. “He sounded pretty sure he’d keep Ever safe.”

My cheeks warm with embarrassment that he heard that.

“Are you willing to bet your life on that?” Raiden questions.

“Hey, these trials aren’t life or death.” My voice is sharp, betraying how strongly I feel about this. We are not going to die here. This is training, that’s all.

“Huh. Depends on how you look at them,” Ravi adds.

“What do you mean?” I turn to him. “Ten said they wouldn’t let us die.”

“Oh, not here, no. But the trials will form the basis of what your life will be outside of training. If things don’t go well, you can kiss goodbye to the life you might have wanted.

So yeah, if we make the wrong judgment, if we make the wrong call, and it ends badly, it’s more than training.

You’re a Fifth, so have no fucking worries.

” His words sting because, in a way, I know he’s right.

“Okay, okay. Plan now, political debate later.” Micah raises his hands between us as if he needs to keep the peace. “We’ll be dismissed any second.”

“Hang on. Do we start from here? Can’t we just run?” I ask.

“And beat two speed Warriors?” Micah gives me a look.

“I could,” I mutter.

“They’ll be transported to somewhere on their side of the forest because it’s a day’s trek to reach the other side, at least. This is about strategy for the Warriors as well as outright battle.”

Battle? My stomach flips at the thought. And I’m suddenly thinking of those visions in my mind. Ascella. With Ten. I shake them off. We aren’t going to battle. So, I pick another question. “Transport? How?”

“Really, Ever? We’ll explain later,” Capella finally speaks up. “Can you project your magic?” She sounds bored.

“Project? I’m not sure.” I’m not telling her I can speak to Ten in his head.

“Okay. We can work on that when we experiment. We’ll have some time unless Crimson literally comes for you out of the gate.” She offers me a tilt of her head, telling me she thinks it’s a possibility.

“The Ten-effect will stop her,” Micah says again, and I’m confused about where his sudden belief in Ten comes from.

“Ladies and Gentlemen. Trainees.” Orion’s voice booms over us. “The final preparations are in place. The first trial begins now.”

I look back to find Ten, one final glimpse, a last reassurance, maybe.

But Portia and two others stand in a circle, their arms outstretched, encompassing Ten and the rest of the trainees.

And then they’re gone.

Transported.

I wonder what other gifts of magic are amongst the people here, the Heads of each Order and The Chamber members—picked for their talents and gifts, according to Ravi.

“Come on. Time to go,” Raiden slides back into command, and we all fall in behind her, following into the dark and gloom of the forest. We keep the river on our right as we start our journey.

It will act as a natural guide to help us back out and keep us on track.

I think it’s an obvious position for anyone coming for us, but I stay quiet, adjusting to the light and hoping that my mind and fear don’t get the better of me like before.

Soon, I’m too distracted to focus on the terror that grips me.

The forest is beautiful. It sings and dances with the wind as we walk through its dappled cover, and the darkness I glimpsed on the way to the Transference spot doesn’t materialise, not in the same way as I’d imagined.

The air is heavy still with a hint of salt mixed with cedar and earth and pine.

You can feel the majesty here, the age and wisdom, as if the trees see everything. Know everything.

The breeze picks up as my thoughts bloom in my mind, a little in awe of the forest. Faint whispers of chimes or maybe voices travel on the breeze, and I pick them out.

“Do you hear it?” I ask.

“What?” Everyone stops as if I just raised the alarm.

“No, not a person. Something on the wind… sounds, notes… like the forest is talking.” I sound like I’m going crazy, but the breeze curls around me at my thought as if answering my question and soothing me.

“You hear the forest?” Capella repeats from behind.

“Maybe?” I say, “It’s like I feel it, too. Is that bad?”

She doesn’t answer, and Raiden looks back towards her before we start walking deeper in.

“The forest is sacred among Naturals. All Kirrasia, really, although it’s become more fit for fairy tales these days, but we still believe,” Capella starts, seemingly happy to explain all the gaps in my knowledge.

“Naturals, while gifted powers from Aslendrix, believe that our power also comes from nature, the earth and the trees around us. There’s an energy within all living things, which we’re more attuned to than others.

It’s how we can make things grow and prosper and heal people, amongst other things. ”

Until you touch me, and I bring death. My wayward thought shocks me, my fear seizing hold and twisting my perception. My influence, my power, does that.

The trees rustle at me as if shaking their head at my thoughts, or am I now completely mad and sensing things from trees?

Capella continues, “It is thought that a Natural’s magic is returned to the earth, and in particular, the forest after they die, like a seed of knowledge and truth that they never return to Aslendrix.

Over the years, it’s believed that all that power created the Jarkoreth that now guard the forest. There used to be Naturals who would watch over both the forest and the Jarkoreth like shepherds.

They could talk to the forest as if it were a sentient being, but it’s been years since there was anyone who did that.

They used to wear these beautiful leaf brooches, a mark of their job and skill. ”

My feet stop dead, and I swing my gaze to Capella as a shiver races down my body, right into the ground beneath my feet. “What did the brooch look like?” My voice is urgent and sharp.

“Er, I’m not sure. Thin metal, shimmery green, well, not green, they’re meant to be variscite, the colour of the forest itself, infused and made here with the essence of the trees and the earth in the brooch, bearing the wearer protection and the gift to hear the forest.” She finishes with a slight shrug of her delicate shoulders as if it doesn’t matter.

My blood runs cold as I picture my brooch, one of the only things I held dear, and it seems it could be from Kirrasia.

I remember the markings, the fine gold edge, the knot in the stem and the green that seemed to shift and dance with light, the notes and noises I’d heard now whisper loudly, Yes, yes, yes, come…

This time, there is no mistaking actual words.

“Ever, you look a little pale,” Micah states. My finger rubs over the ring on my finger.

“Micah, you’ve been in my room. Do you remember the items on the bedside? The few things I brought from Estereah?”

“Um, no?” His face contorts as if he’s trying to remember and doesn’t want to admit he paid no attention.

“Ever, what is it?” Raiden asks.

“I have a brooch. A beautiful green leaf brooch that a stranger gave me as a child. It’s been something… special to me since then.” My eyes sting with tears as I think back to the window ledge in my old room, those items the only decoration. “It’s with me here. In the training residence.”

Raiden and Capella share a sceptical look, and I read the doubt in their eyes.

“You’re a Fifth. Who knows what you can do here?” Ravi dismisses me. “Maybe it’s the Jarkoreth waking up.” He chuckles.

“Don’t say that. Nobody’s seen them for years.

” Raiden rounds on Ravi. “Okay, fairy tale time is over. No more scaring Ever. We have a plan, and we need to carry it out, or we really will be finding out if the Jarkoreth still hunt at night,” I can see her smile is brittle, and my nerves clench around my gut.