AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Holly followed Synora’s soothing voice and did as she instructed, letting her magics fill each hand until a light sheen of sweat broke out on her brow.
Synora held Holly’s wrists in front of her and turned them so her palms were facing each other. “Now weave the two magics together,” she said.
“What?”
“Weave them together like you would weave a basket or a flower crown.”
“What if they don’t want to merge together?”
“You can convince them,” Synora said, with no hesitancy in her voice, just an unwavering belief Holly could do this. “Take it slowly and coax them along. Trust yourself. Because it’s your magic—you’ve already mastered it. Let yourself believe that and weave them together.”
Holly took a breath and sank deeper into her magic. The Empath magic felt wild and uncontrollable, while her earth magic felt solid and steady. The two shouldn’t mix, but maybe Synora was right. Maybe they would temper each other.
Taking another breath, she moved her hands closer together, letting the magics mix and mingle. The Empath magic lashed into the earth magic, but the earth magic barely reacted. It stayed strong and steady and ready for whatever the Empath magic did. A small bit of tension fell from her shoulders. Maybe Synora was right. Maybe she could do this. Holly focused on the imagery that Synora had described, and bit by bit, she painstakingly wove the two magics together until they were almost indistinguishable. The earth magic did exactly what Synora had said—it tempered her Empath magic until it no longer lashed at Holly’s center. She had done it!
“Excellent,” Synora breathed in her ear. “Now use it to find the feeling.”
Holly didn’t know if it was the combination of the magics that made it easier to pinpoint the off feeling or the addition of her earth magic as a guiding force, but this time, she was able to pinpoint the off feeling not to a specific direction, but to a general area that was only about thirty paces wide.
“I think I did it,” Holly said, opening her eyes in surprise. She had mastered her Empath magic instead of it mastering her. Elation filled her, and she grinned up at Synora.
“Knew you could.” Synora returned her grin, and Holly felt the breath catch in her throat.
“Good job.” Kieran broke their stare with an easy smile, and Holly blushed as Synora released her.
“Which way?” Kallan asked.
“That way.” Holly pointed. “It’s still not exact, but it’s definitely in that direction.”
“An excellent first try,” Synora said, then squeezed her hand.
They fell into an easy but brisk pace that had Holly’s calves burning after an hour, but she didn’t complain. They started off talking among themselves, but as they proceeded down the trail, the off feeling got stronger and the group fell silent, the forest creaking around them.
Another hour of walking and they were cresting a small ridge with Kallan in the lead. Holly’s calves were on fire now, so when Kallan peeked over the ridge and then stumbled back quickly, grabbing her hand and yanking her to the ground, she collapsed in a heap.
She struggled to right herself without making too much noise as Synora and Kieran crawled up the ridge to see what Kallan had seen. They crawled back just as quickly, and the group retreated twenty paces to deeper cover. Synora lifted her hands and spun them, casting an air rune that circled them, cutting off the noise from the outside world.
“What is it?” Holly asked, her voice a frantic whisper. Was it the escaped prisoners? The hoard? What?
“Dragon,” Kallan answered. “A green dragon. There was a large cave behind it. That has to be where the hoard is, and likely the missing ingredients.”
* * *
They had kepthim like a pet—a mindless creature blinded by dark magic, singularly focused on protecting this treasure. He fought back some days, trying to break his beast free of the hold they had on him, but he was unsuccessful every time. Most days, he didn’t even bother looking out his dragon’s eyes anymore, wallowing in his despair and wishing someone would come along and end it all. This was no way for a dragon to live—chained to the ground with the mountain air whipping against unusable wings.
His beast raised his head and let out a growl. Someone was coming. Multiple someones, actually. Maybe this would be the day…
* * *
“What’s the plan?”Holly asked, happy to defer to Kallan on this one.
“Synora and Kieran will distract it while I sneak around it and confirm the missing ingredients are there. There’s no way we’ll be able to carry them all out. Well, we might…” Kallan dumped his pack, littering the contents on the ground. “I’ll grab as much as I can before the dragon notices.”
“And what will I be doing?” Holly arched an eyebrow. It sounded like they were going to leave her behind, and that wasn’t going to work out well for them.
Kallan and Kieran exchanged looks, and Holly bit the inside of her cheek. “Stay here, please,” Kallan said softly, staring into her eyes. “For me? Trust me on this.”
Trust extended both ways, and he was communicating his needs from her in this situation, so Holly nodded. “I’ll watch only,” she promised, “but if one of you needs help, I’m going to jump in.”
