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Chapter Seventeen

The next few days passed similarly. They walked as far as they could each day, trapping and eating what they could along the way.

They continued to sleep side by side every night, and every morning, they awoke entwined in some new, embarrassing way that they both refused to acknowledge.

Ena blamed the cold weather and the natural morning tendencies of the male physique for the bulk of the awkwardness.

She was fairly certain that they were now traveling parallel to the Western Road and were only a few days away from their destination, but she didn’t exactly know how to feel about the prospect of joining back up with Steig and Turner.

She and Ty had developed a truce of sorts.

He’d been kinder to her, more friendly, and less guarded.

She worried that joining back up with the others would ruin their newfound…

well, friendship wasn’t the exact word she would use, but it was certainly a new understanding.

But she also knew this feeling of…comfort with him was dangerous.

It reminded her too much of the way things had once been between them.

Ty saw their time together as a mistake, and for that reason alone, she needed to protect herself from dredging up old feelings, not to mention the whole mortal enmity thing.

So maybe reuniting with Steig and Turner would be for the best.

Either way, she’d come to accept that escaping wasn’t in the cards for her, and she was committed to seeing her plan through, but she dreaded leaving the safe anonymity of the forest and venturing into unfriendly Occidens territory.

She hoped to Gaia that she was able to keep her head down and get through whatever plan they had to steal the amulet without much trouble.

But in truth, that was likely a fool’s hope.

One night, when they were only a day or two out from Attax, Ena slept nestled into Ty like a spoon.

They’d pushed themselves to their limit the day before, walking even past sunset, so she didn’t have the energy to resist when Ty placed his arm over her waist and tucked her into him.

She gave herself over to the warmth and fell asleep instantly.

There were still several hours until dawn when her Knowing woke her. She couldn’t exactly say what was wrong, only that there was a sudden sense that something was not right.

Her eyes flew open, but she didn’t move.

She looked across the coals of their fire into the dark woods, but couldn’t make anything out besides the endless vague shapes of trees.

She reached down into her Knowing, focusing intently on any and all signs around her.

She heard a stick snap in the darkness, and then she Knew.

There was something nearby with a dangerous intention.

Ty’s arm was slung across her middle, and she squeezed it firmly, digging her nails ever so slightly into his flesh. She felt him stir awake just as the sound of a shuffled footfall echoed through the forest.

She felt Ty’s body go taut behind her as he, too, instantly realized that something was off. His muscles coiled around her, pulling her ever so slightly tighter to him. Then she felt his breath over her ear. “Don’t move until I say,” he whispered so quietly she almost couldn’t hear him.

Ena lay still, pretending to be asleep, even though her heart was pounding in her ears and her legs ached with the urge to jump up and run, run, run.

She couldn’t shut her eyes though. No—those she kept wide open, watching from the dark cave of her cloak’s hood, waiting in fear for what might emerge.

Slowly, out of the woods appeared several human figures.

It was nearly pitch black in the forest, the only light the glow of embers from their nearly burnt-out fire and the glimmer of the moon through the trees.

She couldn’t tell much about the figures, but by their size and gait, they appeared to be male.

And there were a lot of them. Seven at least. They moved quietly, slowly surrounding Ena and Ty’s campsite. Were they witches? Mortals? Her Knowing was screaming at her now to move, move, move. These men wanted to take, to hurt, to kill.

One of them was close enough now that she saw he held a knife in his hand. Its sharp edge glinted in the low light of the fire.

He approached Ena and Ty, clearly believing them to still be sleeping. With her hood up, Ena was certain she appeared that way, and Ty’s face was hidden, buried in the back of her neck.

Ena saw the man turn slightly to one of the others, gesturing toward the large saddlebag that lay next to Ty.

It was filled not just with food and supplies, but some of the metal goods they pretended to trade in.

And next to it lay his axe. Ena had admired it several times; it was elegantly designed and expertly made.

Was that what they were after? Were they thieves? All at once, Ena remembered what Perse had said in the days leading up to Samhain, about the group of bandits that had formed, and how they were terrorizing the region north of their village. Had they made their way south now?

The man drew closer to them and mimed dragging the knife across his throat to one of the other men. She saw the white of the other’s teeth flash as he smiled in reply.

Ena started to panic. Why wasn’t Ty doing anything?

Shouldn’t they be running? He’d told her not to move, but maybe she should call on the wind and knock them back?

Or start a fire to distract them? Ena was keenly aware that she was not a trained fighter, and she’d never used her magic against a mortal before. She’d never had to.

Then the man holding the knife began to lean over her, and everything happened fast.

Ty’s arm shot up and grabbed the man’s wrist, pushing the knife up and away from her. Simultaneously, Ty sat up and must’ve pulled his own dagger out, because he shoved it under the man’s rib cage, pushing up towards his heart.

The other man closest to them saw this. “Son of a bitch!” he shouted. Then he threw himself at Ty.

Ena scrambled away on all fours as Ty stood up and slashed out at him with his dagger faster than Ena could register.

He must’ve picked up his axe, too, because all of a sudden, it was in his hand and there was a loud thunk as he spun and embedded it into the skull of someone approaching them from behind.

He kicked the man back, pulling his axe from his head, and Ena stared dumbfounded at the rush of blood and gore that came pouring down the man’s slack face.

She was only broken from her stupor when she heard another attacker come at her from behind.

Ty threw his dagger, embedding it in the man’s eye just as he was about to grab her.

Ty whirled to face her and pulled Ena to her feet. “There’s too many of them,” he said quickly. “You have to run.”

Ena tried, but her feet didn’t move.

Sensing her hesitation, Ty gripped the sides of her face. “Don’t worry, I’ll find you. Go!”

Ena did as he commanded and stumbled blindly into the dark. Behind her, she heard Ty immediately engage with another attacker, the sound of his axe slicing into flesh followed by a scream of pain.

Ena ran, stumbling over roots, too terrified to move silently.

Her Knowing screamed at her again and she sensed the man right before he came at her from behind a tree.

Ena didn’t even have to think about it; her body thrummed with adrenaline and all of her magic was right there. She spoke her spellword.

{ Aeris }

A huge gust of wind shoved the man back into a tree so hard it nearly split. He was knocked unconscious instantly and slumped to the forest floor.

She didn’t pause to contemplate what she’d just done; Ena continued to run. She heard shouts coming from her left and saw through the darkness that there were three more men running, heading for the conflict.

How many more men were out there?

She needed to hide.

She looked around and saw a dense thicket of thorny blackberry bushes and ran behind it, crouching down so she couldn’t be seen.

She tried to force aside the panic that was flooding her. Her heart pounded and her mind was frantic. She tried to get a hold of a logical thought, but they kept slipping from her. She took one breath. Then two.

The rest of the men hadn’t followed her; they were clearly too focused on Ty.

Ty, who had told her to run and now was fighting against Gaia-knew-how-many men. Could he take them all alone?

No, she finally realized with a bone-deep fear. No, he couldn’t take them all. Ty would be killed.

Ena was shaking and she was so, so afraid. But the thought of Ty being killed terrified her even more.

Before she could think about why that was, she forced her body to move and ran at a full sprint back the way she’d come.

Back at the campsite, Ena saw five men already dead or unconscious scattered on the ground, while Ty engaged two more.

He dodged the point of a deadly sharp sickle wielded by one of the men.

The man’s face was screwed up in rage, and he lashed out blindly with his weapon, clearly overexerting himself.

Ty dodged him easily, then ducked as another one of them swung a fist at his face.

Ty struck out again with his dagger, which he’d somehow retrieved, hitting the man in the gut, then spinning around to slit the throat of the other.

Ena realized then that he must have been using his Power on them, making them careless with rage to gain an advantage.

But he didn’t see the three men who had arrived from the woods approaching him too. They were just running past the dying embers of their campfire when Ena spoke again.

{ Ignis }

The campfire blazed to life, the flames instantly reaching the height of a fully grown man and exploding out in all directions.

The three men who had been approaching Ty screamed as their clothes caught fire in the blaze.

They dropped to the ground, rolling around frantically and patting themselves to put the flames out.

Their screams echoed around the woods, and Ena smelled the burning of their clothes, the burning of their flesh.

But she knew it wasn’t enough. They’d get up in a few minutes, burned but alive. And they’d try to hurt her again. They’d try to hurt Ty.

Something came over Ena then—a feral feeling she had never had before.

She didn’t think she’d ever drawn on her magic this much, and it filled her from the crown of her head down to the tips of her toes.

Her Gift was there, too, thrumming under her skin, waiting to be used, but she ignored it for now and, instead, she crouched down and placed her hands on the earth.

She gripped the soil in her hands, feeling it push under her fingernails, and she spoke again.

{ Terra }

Her magic rumbled through the earth, splitting it in two.

Radiating out from her hands, a deep fissure cracked open through the ground.

The men she’d burned with her fire fell into it where it opened beneath them, and she barely heard their cries for help as it closed around them.

Soil and debris rained down on them, filling the crevice like a shallow grave.

Their cries became slowly muffled by the earth as it swallowed them, until she couldn’t hear them at all anymore, and she Knew they were dead.

She stood up and looked around, her heart pounding and her muscles twitching with adrenaline.

She turned just in time to see Ty, still locked in battle with the only two men who remained alive.

The blaze of the fire she’d started lit up the forest as she watched.

One of them had a large butcher’s knife that he swung at Ty’s head.

Ty kicked him away so hard that the man flew into a tree a horse’s length away and went slack.

But doing so exposed Ty’s side to the last man, who shoved his knife deep into Ty’s abdomen.

Ena felt the blow like it was to her own body, and fear flooded her anew.

“Ty!” she screamed.

Ty made a pained grunting noise before taking two steps back and yanking the dagger out. She watched him swing his axe into the chest of the man who’d stabbed him, then turned towards her, his face grave with pain and concern.

Some movement out of the corner of Ena’s eye caught her attention. Another figure was running out of the woods, his knife raised at Ty while his back was turned.

Ena was too far away to reach them and Ty didn’t see him; he was too busy looking at her. She felt her Gift growing inside her again, begging to be used, and she didn’t know what else to do, so she reached for it.

It grew through her like a vine, a torrent of power exploding through her like a blazing wildfire, and she gave herself over completely to the unknown of it. It didn’t matter if she lost control now; everything was already out of control.

All at once, she felt a channel open between her and the attacker and she felt the man’s intentions like never before; she felt his mind, his thoughts, his being just there for the taking.

The instinct came to her naturally, like she was finally learning to walk, when all she’d done before was crawl.

She latched on to it and spoke through the channel.

{ Stop. }

Ena’s voice sounded strange, even to her own ears. The tone wasn’t quite right. She sounded calm, even though she didn’t feel it, and even though it was only her speaking, there was a simultaneous echo, as if two of her were speaking at once.

The man running at Ty froze instantly, his knife poised to strike Ty in the back.

Ty whirled to look at the would-be attacker, his eyes going from the point of the knife, now placed right above his heart, to the man’s face, etched into a permanent snarl.

Then he turned to look at Ena. Horror and confusion played across his face, but he didn’t say a word.

The man was frozen like a statue; Ena wasn’t even sure if he was breathing. But she didn’t care. She knew what to do next.

{ Draw the knife across your throat. }

The man obeyed as if in a trance. He lifted the knife and drew it slowly, deeply across his own throat.

Blood spurted out frantically as it sliced across his flesh, leaving a bloody gash visible in the firelight.

Ena watched his mouth fill and gurgle with blood until his legs collapsed underneath him and he fell to the ground.

She watched as the light went out from his eyes, until he stared vacantly at the sky, and Ena Knew he was dead.