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Three
Kelia
Even with my eyes closed, I felt the fae’s gaze on my back. He unnerved me in an odd way. He didn’t react to my provoking, and by now I had pushed him enough to elicit a response to better gage him. During my years at the Magi Academy, I’d been exposed to plenty of men of many races, except a dark fae. They kept to themselves, and those that traveled the surface lands were mercenaries, hunters, or emissaries. One or two may have passed through the High City, but they were old and withered.
I glanced over at my charge.
He leaned against the side of the building while we waited for Oscar to bring us the horses. Callum’s magenta hair reminded me of wild magic, and I wondered what his silver eyes would look like when he cast. From what I had read, he controlled two out of the thirteen elements, though the scrolls didn’t say which ones. It seemed he had altered his magic making it difficult to know what he used other than fire, and no one had any record of which elements he controlled.
There were thirteen identified elements of power: earth, water, wind, fire, lightning, ice, force, time, flower, shadow, light, moon, and aura. Mages were born with their gift. It was not something that could be learned, though certain stones and crystals impacted the elements giving them altered effects. In some cases, users could twist the way their power worked and then there were others like me who had a mutation. My blue flame had been found by the magi to contain the elements of light and force. No other caster had my mutation, and it was another reason the magi considered me for most missions.
My skin itched to test Callum’s abilities against mine. Could I control a mage of his level? What capabilities did he possess? Wouldn’t it be better to find out now? The council wouldn’t be pleased if I removed Callum’s dampener, and they’d be more furious if I didn’t retrieve the prodigal child from the Starlit City, but after . . .
Oscar arrived with the two horses. “Are you sure you don’t want me to accompany you?”
“I’ll be fine. Return to the council and let them know I’ll make contact when we reach the city.”
“Very well.” Oscar bowed and handed me the reins. “If you ride all day, you can reach the first peak before sunset.”
“Thank you.”
I waited for Callum to mount his horse. He glanced at me once he was ready and nodded. With a slap of the reins, we left the port and rode out onto the highway. The enormous mountains filled the skyline. Peaks topped with snow disappeared behind the puffy white clouds that circled them. I’d memorized the maps and trails and knew exactly where we needed to go to reach the first underground caverns. It wasn’t the easiest or safest route, but the quickest from the port. I was lucky that the magi prison island was so close to our destination.
Riding under the sun, I thought of my caretaker, Mr. Assan. He had the duty of raising me in the order, mainly because his power complimented mine well and he could handle my outbursts . . . if he were still alive, he wouldn’t be happy about me being out here all alone with a male, a wild one at that.
Mr. Assan reminded me day after day that people like us had to focus on controlling our powers and emptying our mind in order to hold the magic at bay. Relations of any kind were forbidden.
And I had never desired anything but to protect and serve.
The dark fae gave me an odd feeling, one I didn’t quite understand, but it had me questioning many things. He was smug and had an answer for everything. He was my captive, yet at every command, he challenged my authority, and questioned my abilities. Was he capable of magic with the collar on? Was he a moon element capable of charming and enchanting?
Whatever it was, I didn’t like it.
We made our first checkpoint an hour or so before sunset. A farm sat at the base of the mountain. Behind the long farmhouse, the path wound into the rocky cliffs, disappearing behind the bend.
“Are we staying here tonight?” Callum asked as we slowed the horses.
“No, we’ll leave the horses here and go on foot. The farmer expects us.”
“Do you plan to hike the cliffs at night?”
I jumped off the horse and grabbed the reins. “Only until we can’t see.”
Callum’s brow furrowed, but he said nothing else.
A man in blue overalls and a wide straw hat waved at us. “Hello!”
We walked the horses over to the barn where he patted mine before taking the mare’s reins from my hands. “You’re early.”
“We’re in a hurry. Do you have our stuff ready?” I asked.
He nodded. “George is ready to go. I got his saddlebags packed with what you asked for.”
“Thank you.” I followed the farmer around the back of the barn to where George waited, nibbling on the grass.
“We’re taking that?” Callum pointed to the mountain goat, whose large curled horns seemed more menacing than the charge beside me.
“Yes. He’ll carry our supplies and knows his way across the mountains.”
