“We will pass,” Kalan states.
“Wait,” I step forward. “Your brother. I raised him from the ground. I meant him no harm, even though I woke him,” I can’t think of a politer way to put it, and the word death isn’t going to pass my lips in this situation. “He protected me. Would that be the same for you? Would you protect a Fifth?” I ask, swallowing the fear and clinging to Lyle’s hand like the lifeline it is.
“Protect?” The Jarkoreth questions. “Why?” It lowers its jaw and snarls at me, inching closer.
“War is coming,” I say.
“Hmm. We sense a shift in the balance.”
“I want to know if you’d take a side in the fight. Would you fight for Aslendrix?” I answer.
“We are protectors of the forest.” The voice rings loudly around us.
“But will you fight?” I push, ready to force an answer.
“Leave.” It growls, and the wind howls in agreement, as if the question has angered the trees, too. “Leave!” It roars.
My heart freezes, as does the rest of my body, as I stand in its path.
“Time to go.” Kalan turns and heads towards the edge of the forest. Lyle’s hand tugs on mine, and we follow, moving as quickly as we can. The glowing ball in my palm still lighting our path.
Leave. Leave, do not come back… You will do harm.
It seems the trees are cross.
“Kalan?”
“I heard.”
As soon as we can see the edge of the trees, we slow our retreat, keeping to the shadows. I flick my hand, releasing the light’s glow, and it extinguishes.
“What was that about?” Lyle questions.
I catch the slight shake of Kalan’s head before he takes off. “We’ll explain later. Come on.”
We follow Kalan, only just able to keep up, and I have to relinquish Lyle’s hand as we race, silently, towards the training residence.
I hadn’t been a resident for long enough to have explored all the ways to approach the resident building, but maybe the fear of the forest kept all the trainees from exploring this one. As we come to the familiar curved building, we see the wall of Warrior camps just beyond the training rings, but there is nobody protecting the residence. At least, not from us.
“What did Aslendrix tell you?” Lyle asks. We’ve been quiet since the Jarkoreth, and I’ve been happy to gather my nerves.
“She gave me my power back.” My easy words hide the enormity of them.
“I thought… your magic was coming back? I saw it at the table. You made us invisible.”
“It’s… complicated.” How do I explain that my magic now belongs to both Novandia and Aslendrix, and that there is a tug of war between the energy flowing within me, wrestling for dominance?
We keep to the shadows and sneak in through the main residence door. Ten and Calix should already be here. I hope.
“Ten?”
“Food hall.”
“Any problems?”
“Not so far. You?”
“I’ll explain in a minute.”
