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I found myself on the floor. Beside me were Elias, Kara, and Kalle. Woltan was behind us, against the wall. Next to him were Karsten and Cullen, shaking their heads and looking dazed. There was a short moment when I was afraid to breathe; I looked around, hoping everywhere to see life and consciousness.
I did.
They were all alive.
Woltan stood up. “Is everyone all right?” His eyes seemed to glaze over and I realized he was looking at everyone’s auras. I did the same. Everyone looked normal, but weak. All except Elias, who glowed a little stronger still than the last time I’d looked at his aura. It took me a moment to realize that I was looking at rage.
He killed my mother. He will pay.
I found myself holding Elias. He was sobbing softly and I didn’t know what to say, what to do, so I just held him. Then Kara was there, and she found the words that I couldn’t and put her hands through Elias’s hair, and I saw Elias’s aura soften a bit.
If anyone would know the words, it was Kara.
My uncle had killed her father too.
I put my hand down to my sword and felt a jolt. Next time, leave your sword hand free, or better yet, on me! You would have all been dead had it not been for Elias, and my cousin in Kara’s blade! She told him what to do, as Kara was paralyzed.
OK.
I let go of the blade. “I should have left my sword hand free.”
Woltan nodded. “We have not been nearly careful enough. Hopefully today will start us on a new, better path. I think that Kara and Kalle will agree with me that it is not a good idea to use your Kriek gateways right now.”
I looked at them and they nodded. He is perhaps one of us too, to our shame, and stronger than any of us.
There was a moment of silent thought as we all stood around. Then it was Elias who spoke. “I have spoken to the city and one gate remains open, for those who can read the runes. I will walk through it, and take with me those who would go.”
Cullen spoke first. “He is just a boy yet more connected to the ancient ways than any of us. If he says there is a gate, I will follow him through it. If the old stories speak true, the Kriek live but a three day’s journey away.”
Woltan nodded. “We must make haste, as we leave the city undefended. But I see no other option.”
Karsten smiled. “I will pack food for a two days journey, and we will supplement it with what we find on the way.”
Kara shook her head. “We will move fast enough to get there in two days. We must hurry, or we Kriek will not be able to help your city.”
III
We met in the city center, under dark clouds that rumbled at us and threatened worse. Everyone looked uneasy, and I could only hope it was the weather. The others had some kind of rain hat and green coats to repel the water. Woltan gave one to me and I put it on.
“Good both to avoid water and enemy eyes,” he said.
Elias seemed to have become our boy leader, or at least our scout. He arrived last and nodded at everyone. The sky darkened further and there was a rumble of thunder from far away.
Let’s go. We have about a minute more in this city, and the quicker we go, the better the chance we will see it again.
Then we were following Elias’s small nimble feet. We all wore small daypacks: we’d split up the provisions and each of us had a change of clothes and some cooking supplies. There was no camping here in the old city, since none of the residents had been out of the city in their lifetimes. But there was a small forest, inside the gates, and sometimes people would cook outdoors and eat the wild foods that grew in it; so much I had gleaned from Karsten.
We all bore a sword as well, and Cullen had a portable forge, ingenious in its design, but of course heavy. Elias had a dagger a little longer than his cousin’s Karsten’s hand; it was small but glowed fiercely when I opened my third eye. There were other magical blades as well — my own; Kara’s blade, which had proved its worth in battle; Woltan’s sword, which had never seen real fighting; even Karsten’s and the smith’s blades glowed in the darkening afternoon.
On one day of my training Woltan had told me: “Everything is magic in this city.” Looking at our weapons I had to believe this. The ground, the buildings, the path we followed: everything glowed with its own living energy. There was energy everywhere in the world, I knew, but here thing
s glowed brighter. There was so much energy all around – if only I could do as Elias did, and just reach out and grab it. Woltan had told me that some wizards with careful practice could learn to do what Elias did naturally, but it was difficult for the best of wizards and impossible for most.
As we walked along the stone cobblestones that shone beneath my feet, I reached out with my aura and grabbed; I felt a tug on everything around me and then there were shouts and everyone had stopped and they were all looking around, to see what had happened. And I felt energy buzzing in my ears and teeth and it had nowhere to go.
Then Elias was laughing. Not like that Anders, like this. An image flashed into my mind, reaching out and pulling at the stone, at the trees, deep into the earth; I realized that I’d grabbed indiscriminately, and everyone had felt their auras being manhandled. I only hoped most of the energy had come from the stones and the air around me; it felt unclean to steal energy from my friends, from anyone living. You need to have somewhere to send the energy — you can’t store much in your own body. You probably could put some in your sword.
“Be careful, Anders.” Woltan scowled. “And stop laughing, Elias, it’s not that funny.”
