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  “You are all I have left. If you go...” her voice was thick with unshed tears and desperation. “If you go, what is left for me?”

  Alekka did not hear a reply to that final plea. Instead, she heard Tredon snort from right behind her.

  “She should be celebrating the fact Jobin has finally started acting like a man, not treating him like a sniveling child.”

  Alekka frowned but kept her eyes forward and her mouth firmly closed. She heard Jobin’s mother speak one last time as they moved further away.

  “Vengeance is for the young. None other desire it.”

  The sorrow in her voice was fathomless, and it tore at Alekka’s heart to hear it. She squared her shoulders against the grief that fluttered in her chest and focused her mind on setting things right. She couldn’t return Locke to the land of the living, and she couldn’t promise that Jobin’s mother wouldn’t lose Jobin as well, but she could do her best to destroy their common enemy.

  Alekka heard the others fall in behind her and Leali. She scanned the landscape ahead, still hoping to catch a glimpse of Micah. She wondered again whether or not she should have spoken up last night in favor of him going. It was too late now, though. She could not change what had already passed. She set her sights forward, pushed Micah from her mind, and moved toward whatever their destiny held for them.

  * * *

  They walked all day in silence. Alekka set a fast pace and everyone followed without complaint. They were all running from something. Or maybe they were running toward something. Jobin and Tredon were running toward revenge. Leali, once she emerged from her shell of sorrow, would seek to slake her misery in blood. Elisa was apparently running from boredom, but Alekka knew it was more than that. For herself, Alekka was running toward redemption. The only one she wasn’t sure of was Ashier. He was levelheaded; a trait the rest of the group was woefully short on. But the man had hitched himself to Tredon when they were young boys, and despite Tredon’s harshness, they’d never grown apart. He was loyal to a fault. He kept his feelings to himself, and for all she knew he had no more motivation for coming than to keep Tredon company. Whatever their reasons, they were each consumed with their own thoughts and fears. They moved as a group, but each in isolation from the others.

  At least it was a brilliant day, and the forest was alive with celebration. The rain had lasted for too long without reprieve. The forest creatures relished the sudden warmth of the sun and the opportunity to dry out fur or feather or skin. Alekka could not help but take pleasure in all the joy she saw around her. Despite the fearful and desperate nature of their quest, she soon felt herself smiling. She was in the wood, it was a warm and beautiful day, life was celebrating all around her, and she was sweating lightly as she moved smoothly across the landscape.

  Though no one spoke, it became clear the others were similarly affected. The deep lines of grief and guilt on Jobin’s face smoothed, the frustrated anger and lightning in Tredon’s eyes faded, the tears that had streaked Leali’s face since they found her on the road to the cave stopped flowing, and Elisa finally let her arms fall to her sides as she walked instead of holding them tight across her chest.

  Alekka felt a stirring of affection in her breast for every one of them. A feeling of pride in what they were doing. They were all wounded, and deeply, but they would heal. She wished that Micah were with them, however badly things had gone at the cave.

  She also felt a stirring of disquiet—as much as she might want to, now was not the time for bonding, not when they were moving toward a meeting that surely not all of them would survive. Alekka knew that they didn’t really have any sort of plan of attack, and no amount of high spirits would change the fact that the odds were stacked heavily against their success. This was a journey born of desperation, and they all knew it.

  They travelled for hours through the wood and the shoulders of the mountains loomed close as the sun began its fall toward dusk. Without exchanging a word they stopped at the edge of the wood, still within the protection of the trees, and set up camp.

  “I’ll get a fire burning,” Leali said, the first words spoken since they left the cave that morning. Jobin joined her in collecting wood. Tredon dropped his pack and headed back into the wood, Ashier following close behind. Ashier was a good man by and large, Alekka thought, but she wondered if his loyalty would lead them into trouble. Alekka felt a moment’s irritation with them but forced herself to shrug it off. They would do as they would do. She couldn’t control them, but she could control the extent to which she allowed their actions to get under her skin.

  “I am going to assume the two of them have gone hunting. I’ll go for water,” she said.

  “I’ll join you,” said Elisa.

  Alekka was taken aback. She and Elisa rarely spoke. She found the woman’s arrogance nauseating and her blaming of the women who were kidnapped was infuriating. Ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous, Alekka thought. Only someone oblivious to the world around them could ever feel that way. It would be needlessly rude to reject her company when it was freely offered, though, so she shrugged and inclined her head in Elisa’s direction.

  The two moved off toward the open ground where the mountains began their inexorable march upwards into the wide blue sky to where a river crashed down from those lofty heights and delivered water to the woodland below.

  Alekka had never been able to relate to Elisa, and frankly, she’d stopped trying when they were still very young. It didn’t help that they were opposites in every possible way. Elisa was loud where she was quiet, was bawdy and flirtatious where Alekka was reserved—Elisa always wanted to be the center of attention, particularly male attention, where Alekka sought solitude and peace. They were as different as two people could be.

  Alekka considered how they’d worked together to contain Jobin while Aclay burned around them. She had been impressed at how deftly Elisa had handled the situation and she sensed the other woman had felt the same of her. They both had known that, even together, they had no hope of containing the rage boiling out of Jobin. They had both come very close to immolation. Elisa would likely never admit it, but Micah had saved both their skins. She respected the woman’s power. Perhaps that was enough to build a bond to carry them through this journey if nothing more.

  “You handled yourself quite well yesterday, Alekka. I was impressed.” Elisa’s voice startled Alekka from her reverie and she glanced guiltily toward Elisa, her comment so on-target with what Alekka had been thinking she half wondered if she’d read her mind.

  “Thank you,” she responded. “I felt the same of you.”

  Alekka lapsed into silence, uncertain how to carry the conversation. Small talk was not one of her strengths. Elisa appeared to be in an amiable mood, however, and walked quietly beside her, seemingly content with the silence. The day cooled around them as the sun drifted toward dusk, the fields they moved through were peaceful and lulling. The grass reached to her waist and Alekka pushed her hands out to her sides, allowing her palms to gently touch the bushy tops of the stalks. They meandered, enjoying the quiet and the coolness of evening.

  “He has enormous potential,” Elisa said. Alekka didn’t have to ask to know Elisa was speaking about Jobin.

  “Yes. If he can learn to wield it,” she agreed.

  “He is passionate. That is his problem. He must learn to control his thoughts and his feelings.”

  The two were quiet again as they continued their walk through the tall grass. Alekka didn’t have to mark agreement. This was a part of all mage training, beginning long before their powers developed and grew in strength, and Jobin had never learned the lessons. His passions blazed clear for all to see, and everyone knew of his inability—or unwillingness—to control them. Alekka thought that Jobin knew it was true as well, yet he seemed helpless to do anything about it.

  “We could teach him. You and I,” Elisa said.

  Alekka hid her surprise behind a sudden need to bend and inspect a stone in their path. Elisa? Helping som
eone other than herself? She peered up at the other woman from her crouch. Elisa met her gaze with a frank stare.

  “Jobin is handsome, don’t you think?”

  Alekka laughed, realization dawning. “Yes, I suppose he is. But he’s been bound, Elisa. Who knows if we’ll ever be able to unbind him? He has as much power now as Micah does. Less so, actually, since Micah has his metal weapons. Jobin can’t even light a fire now.”

  Instead of continuing, Elisa’s fine, high brows knit together and she glanced up at the trees around them as if they held the answer to Jobin’s struggles. She had that look on her face that Alekka knew meant she’d set her sights on a problem that she intended to fix. She didn’t know what that meant for Jobin and the rest of them, but she did know that once Elisa set her mind to accomplish something, she rarely gave up. Silence fell between them again for many breaths.

  “Why did you come on this fool’s errand?” Elisa asked, turning to face Alekka with that same piercing stare.

  Alekka didn’t know quite how to answer that question. Dozens of possible answers bubbled up in her chest, but none of them seemed adequate.

  I came because of the dreams.

  I came because of my guilt, my shame…my grief.

  I came because I don’t know what else to do.

  She didn’t have a need for power or a need to prove herself or to exact revenge as the others did. She certainly didn’t feel comfortable discussing this with anyone, let alone Elisa. Conflict welled up inside of her. She didn’t want to lie, but could not tell the truth because she didn’t know it herself.

  “You know my mother was one of those taken. I…I harbor no love for the Dark Wizard,” she settled on at last.

  “Yes, yes, I know, of course. But you have never spoken about the Dark Wizard or his actions in anger and you spoke openly against Leali’s resistance, yet here you are. On a quest the sole purpose of which is to seek him out and kill him.”

  If we can, Alekka thought. If that’s even what we’re supposed to do. Her vivid dream about the talking spider and the flower came back to her, reminding her of the sudden sense of purpose and determination she’s awoken with this morning. But purpose for what?

  “He has pushed too far, Elisa. He must be stopped. I see that now.” It wasn’t the answer either of them wanted, but it would have to do.

  “It will be dangerous. Despite Tredon’s hard-headedness and Leali’s blind confidence, it is quite likely we will fail. We need all the power we can get, and that includes Jobin’s, don’t you think?”

  Alekka studied Elisa with another small jolt of surprise, reconsidering her opinion of the other woman. Elisa had always seemed silly to Alekka. Always looking for the next thrill and the next way to increase her power and influence in Aclay. She was showing a different hand now, though, one that Alekka hadn’t realized she’d held. Still, she’d never known Elisa to act on anything but her own self-interest.

  “What about you?” Alekka asked, eyeing Elisa steadily. “Why are you here? Why risk your own life to save women too stupid to save themselves?” It was a bit of a jab, Alekka knew, but she couldn’t—wouldn’t—hold it back.

  Elisa laughed, a rich and throaty sound. “Yes indeed, why risk my own life? I have always believed the women themselves are to blame. We are powerful mages. The Ragers and Ghosts have no more magic than we do, and there are more of us than there are of them. The women could spell themselves elsewhere and avoid being caught. I’ve always felt you’d have to be an idiot to be caught by those beasts.”

  Alekka had believed she was impervious to any additional astonishment at Elisa’s arrogant opinions, but she could feel her cheeks growing hot at the woman’s casual abuse of the women of Aclay, and of Alekka’s own mother. Not to mention her ignorance in the matter. Magic was finite. Even the most powerful mages in history had limits to what they could do. That open channel of magic between a newborn and its mother was essential for the infant to survive. It fed the child’s sawol, its life force, until it was strong enough to ignite and sustain its own power. Such a thing was no easy task. It took substantial power from a new mother to sustain that connection. An enormous outlay of power to defend herself against a Rager or to avoid a ghost would likely sever that bond—at least temporarily. The women were not weak. They chose the life of their child over their own. This was not openly discussed, but was well understood, Elisa’s willful ignorance left Alekka frustrated and angry.

  “But now I wonder,” Elisa continued, clearly not having seen the complicated play of emotions Alekka was sure had just passed over her face. “My sister was no coward. She was strong, too. We sparred frequently. She was easily as powerful as I. Maybe more so.” Elisa forged ahead, not paying Alekka’s barely concealed irritation any mind. Her eyes were fixed in front of her as she walked.

  “Also, I come because none of you are capable of this on your own. Tredon is a muscle-bound fool with no clue what he is up against, and Ashier won’t say anything to disabuse him of that fact. Leali is consumed with her desire to protect and is blinded by her grief and her rage. You are the only one with a lick of sense on this ill-advised adventure. We have little hope without Jobin. And this quest has no hope without me.” She tossed her long, thick braid over one shoulder as if to emphasize her last point.

  Alekka almost laughed out loud, still irritated by Elisa’s almost willful obtuseness but strangely touched by her honesty. The two kept walking side by side, and Alekka found herself contemplating the power that Jobin had released in his attack. She still remembered the magic he’d unleashed on his mother so many years ago, even though Alekka had only been a child herself. She had felt the wave of power from deep in the Oakwood, miles away. Jobin’s power was deeply hidden and rusty from years of disuse, and, as the events in the square had proven, dangerous in its unpredictability. He was, however, without a doubt the most powerful mage in Aclay—possibly in all of Dorine Lillith.

  Alekka knew that Jobin’s problem was that he felt too deeply and had never learned to control his emotions. He was too scarred from what had happened with his mother to ever really practice. Without controlling his emotions, he would never control his magic. Alekka sighed and kicked a pebble. Could Elisa—despite all her ridiculous bravado and complete inability to not offend with every word that came out of her mouth—truly coax Jobin into learning how to control the torrent that raged beneath his calm exterior?

  They had reached the water. “Aedra awellan,” Alekka mouthed in silence, and watched as a slender stream of water siphoned from the river and flowed along her arm until it curved into an anchor around her hand. The water continued to flow up toward her hand where it collected in a bubble at her side. Beside her Elisa did the same. When they had enough water to rinse the grime of travel from their bodies and prepare dinner they turned back to camp, the water-filled bubbles floating beside them as they walked along in the increasing dark.

  Alekka knew deep in her core that she and the others would do whatever needed to be done to defeat Amentis if and when they reached him, but there was a great distance between where they were now and that point in time. No one knew what challenges they’d face along the way. They would need all the help they could get. Elisa was right. They needed to at least try with Jobin. He’d volunteered to come along, after all. And perhaps it was time. Alekka stopped walking and faced Elisa.

  “You’re right. We need Jobin. He is a liability as he is now. If we can teach him to control his power, though…few can match him in raw strength. I will help you, but I think this will be much harder than you expect. He might not be open to even attempting this after what happened yesterday.”

  Elisa reached out and squeezed Alekka’s arm gently. “Thank you, Alekka, really. And as for the difficulty of the task…leave that part to me.” She giggled. Alekka looked at Elisa out of the corner of her eyes and saw an almost childlike excitement in her face. Alekka shook her head, but couldn’t help but smile slightly back.

  The smell of roasting
meat hit their noses as they neared the camp. They picked up their pace, Alekka’s stomach growling loudly in anticipation. They had not stopped for a midday meal, and she was starving. As they walked in to camp, however, she drew in a sharp breath and almost lost control of the awellan holding her water.

  She’d expected to see Tredon and Ashier returned from hunting and sitting around the fire. Instead she saw Jobin and Leali to one side of the fire, wearing twin expressions of discomfort plastered across their faces.

  Micah sat calmly across the fire from them, slicing meat off a haunch of venison roasting over the fire.

  “Micah!” Alekka swiftly tied off the awellan, anchoring it to a tree so it would not float off. She ran to the fire, surprising herself, and doubtless Micah as well, by throwing her arms around him in a tight hug. She drew back, keeping her hands on his arms and looking up into his face, grinning.

  “What are you doing here? I am so happy to see you.”

  She hadn’t realized how much she’d missed him. Clearing her throat, she dropped her hands and took a step back, but she couldn’t wipe the grin from her face. She was glad for the dark, as she was certain she’d flushed up to her ears in embarrassment. It was only when she drew back that she realized he wasn’t smiling back.

  “I said I was coming,” he said simply.

  “Yes, I—I know. I searched for you this morning and I didn’t see you anywhere. I thought…” She trailed off, his gruff expression and stoic stance finally sinking in through her excitement at seeing him there.

  “You thought I’d decided to stay. Well. I didn’t.” He looked away, returning to slicing steaks and tossing them onto the fire.

  Alekka didn’t blame him for being angry. They’d mistreated him. They always had. But she was suddenly angry that he seemed to have put her in the same camp as everyone else. Jobin, Leali and Elisa sat quietly and looked away from the two of them, but clearly now was not the time to have this discussion.