Page 12

Twelve

A sher’s peaceful darkness was disrupted as he was dragged out of bed and forced awake. He cried and looked up at his mother. Her face was filled with panic, and she threw a blanket over his head. He heard screams and felt the flash of heat. He began to tremble.

“Stay here, Asher. Stay.” She set him down.

He pulled the blanket off and saw her set a wicker lid on top. He was in a basket. Where was his mom? Why was he in here?

He let out a growl and concentrated on transforming into his white tiger cub form, determined to follow her.

Why did his mom leave him?

The cub popped his head out of the basket and twitched his nose. He was in a storage closet. He could smell the earthy potatoes and dried meat. And then he caught the smell of his mother—the sweet smell of honey and lavender. He hopped out of the basket and crouched when he reached the door. He nudged it open a crack with his nose and sniffed the air again.

He smelled the smokiness of a fire, which almost masked his mother’s scent, but he finally caught it and scrambled out of the palace and outside.

His eyes widened. There were homes and trees on fire. The nighttime air glowed with a strange orange-red hue. This only momentarily distracted the toddler. He hopped down from the porch and sniffed the ground, following his mother’s scent south, behind the palace and then east toward the dry mountain.

Asher passed the funny-looking shed and the blue house with fish carved on its pillars. It was at the house with the red roof that chaos happened. He heard snarling that wasn’t any animal he’d heard before.

He stopped in his tracks and spun around.

A creature of shadows with glowing white eyes, long red teeth dripping with saliva, and long arms and claws charged at him.

He yowled and ran as fast as he could toward the gap under the red-roofed house.

No sooner did he reach it than the monster hit the building and tore at the wood with its massive claws and teeth.

Asher cried out, “Help! Mommy, Help!” Asher whimpered, shaking, lying amongst shredded logs and stones from the broken chimney.

“Come to me!” a woman shouted. She had long white hair, which whipped around her face in the wind.

The shadow jumped down and ran toward the forest, toward a group of people.

A woman with red hair grabbed on to the white-haired woman’s shoulders.

A white flash of light blinded him, and the smell of electricity permeated the air.

The memory cut off, and the white light from Asher’s memories became the white light of the sun stretching through the window and into the wizard’s experiment room.

He struggled to breathe as the memories faded away.

“I know her location,” Wester stated.

Asher tilted his chin up to see the wizard stand and walk past Lily to King Barith.

“I know where the tree is. It’s southeast of the palace.” Wester continued past the king to retrieve a parchment and quill and immediately began writing upon it. “Somewhere in this area. I do not know if the house was ever rebuilt.” He straightened and showed the king. “If you gather your men, you should be able to get in and cut down the tree within a couple of days.”

King Barith looked at the map, rubbing his beard in thought.

Asher tried to sit up, but his head pounded. Now that they had the location of the tree, now that they’d finally gotten what they wanted, what did that mean for him?

“You hesitate,” Wester pointed out to the king.

The king shook his head. “I do not know how to release her. Yoresh hasn’t answered that question as of yet. I think he wants to release Sraylin in order to release her.”

Wester scowled. “That information wasn’t passed to me.”

“Forgive me, I thought I informed you.” King Barith waved his hand dismissively. “It doesn’t matter. Now you know, and now we know the location. Regardless of how we move forward, we have the piece we were missing. Come. I need to share this information with Liam.” He took the parchment and walked from the room.

Wester turned to Lily. “You will practice out in the garden today.”

“But, sir—”

“No. Lily, there is so much you don’t understand.”

“I would if you told me!” she nearly shouted. “There are so many secrets you hold, and I don’t understand why you won’t tell me any of them! Especially if it concerns my future and the future of our kingdom.”

Wester shook his head. “I will not tell you in front of him. He doesn’t need to know our secrets.”

“And what will happen to him now?”

Asher watched the exchange and made eye contact with the wizard when he looked in his direction. “The king said he was going to execute me.”

Wester shook his head. “He hasn’t decided on that. Lily, we need to develop your powers. We do not know what may come in the days ahead. Go to the garden.” He took a book and tucked it into his robes before he walked to the door. “I will lock this so he cannot escape.”

Lily looked back at Asher. “You may as well get some rest.”

“How can I rest knowing what is about to happen to my people?” He grimaced as he slowly sat up.

“Lily, come.”

She bit her lip and obeyed.

Why was she so afraid of the wizard who had supposedly raised her?

Asher growled as he forced himself to his feet and stumbled on wobbly legs toward the door.

But Wester closed and locked it.

Asher fell on it, trying to turn the knob, but it didn’t budge. The door was too heavy to break, and Asher slumped to the ground. His entire mind ached as if someone had taken it in their hands and squeezed with all of their strength.

And Lily had not only made the potion, she had helped the wizard.

He had believed he’d found an ally in Lily.

How could he trust her now? She must have been trained to deceive him. To get close so she could weaken his mind with trust. And he had foolishly fallen into the trap.

He needed to get a message home. He needed to warn them that the humans would be coming and they needed to protect their borders. He needed to speak with his father and find out how dangerous these elves really were and whether they dared challenge the elves and humans or if it would be better to hide.

They needed help.