The small island that we mages called home, floated in the middle of a giant crater that held nothing but water below. It was connected to the mainland by a single land bridge that was just big enough for three horses to walk side by side comfortably. There weren't many people that dared to bring a wagon over it.
I had lived my entire life in this magical place. Our ancestors, while trying to avoid persecution, were searching for a way to keep their people safe. They had found this small chunk of land in the bottom of the chasm and lifted the Little Haven up and held it there with some of the most powerful magic ever wielded. Magic that was long ago lost to the mages of our time. By doing this, they'd effectively made an impenetrable stronghold for their people to find refuge from the prejudices of their time.
I reflected for a moment how I was similarly working on a way to free my people from the oppression that after centuries of peace had resurfaced over the past few decades. Only, since we had flourished so much in the past centuries, this tiny floating aisle wasn't enough to sustain us anymore, and we needed a new option. Where our island was great for fending off armies, it didn't stave off hunger and starvation.
The chasm was too wide to shoot an arrow across, let alone grappling hooks. And the water below was too far down to scale the island that way as well. The bridge being so narrow made it impossible for armies to be able to overwhelm the mages that lived here. It made for a perfect defensive stronghold, the original architects had seemingly thought of everything.
But they hadn't seen their current situation on the horizon. What they hadn't accounted for was more mages than could possibly flourish on this small section of land to seek refuge here and get stuck due to wars and humans that would kill them just to spite the magic wielding beings that called the island home.
Mages that were captured and forced to work for other Kingdoms gave every other Kingdom the same idea, that mages were just tools for their use. And more and more Kingdoms "claimed" a mage or two of their own, humans began hating and distrusting us mages out of fear of things they'd heard being done by those of us that were being held captive by enemy rulers. They didn't believe we should be free because we were too dangerous to be left alive or untethered to their courts.
Most of the kingdoms felt that us magic wielders were too strong to not be controlled or at the least allied to them, so many of them had taken it upon themselves to either enslave or eradicate us. A mage traveling alone these days was in more danger than a rabbit in a fox den. The numbers dwindling down lower than they had ever been in written history, with two of the seven Keystone Families having already been wiped out.
"Lyra..." The Queen began, breaking our silence, but I cut her off, painting one of my cocky smiles on my face.
"It's okay, mother. I'll handle this. I understand what needs to be done, what's at stake. I'll do everything in my power for our people," I promised and leaned against the banister.
She nodded, offered a smile of her own in return and put her palm against the side of my cheek. "You're so much stronger than I give you credit for, my Lyra," she bent and kissed the top of my head. I relaxed my shoulders and leaned into her embrace. "I'm going to hate seeing you leave, and the storm that will rack our island for days afterwards will be a firm reminder to our people to appreciate what you have sacrificed and continue to sacrifice for them," Sylvren said, a small smile pressed against my hair.
"Thank you, mother," I said, it was the only thing I could make myself say.
My mother straightened and slipped back into her role as Queen, "Come," she said, "We have a meeting to prepare for." She held her hand out to me, palm down.
I took a deep breath and nodded, keeping a small smile on my face as I pressed the back of my hand to the palm of her outstretched one, in the formal way our people communicated mutual respect. A mage's status or strength determined whose hand sat atop the other's in formal situations. In that instance, my hand would go atop her's as my power was stronger even though my title was still only Princess. However, my title alone still dictated that I was the future leader of our people, and as such had higher status than anyone else, aside from the Queen Mage and her Consort. But I knew, my power had me outranking every other mage I knew of. Even though I never used it.
However, despite my ranking being higher than hers, whenever we were alone together, I always submitted to her hand out of respect of her being my mother. The Queen shot me a loving smile and together, we walked from the room.
I glanced back over my shoulder as we walked away from my favorite view in the world. From everything I knew. And away from life as I knew it.
Why did the day have to start off so early? I thought annoyedly to myself. I had barely gotten more than two hours of sleep by the time Lilly had woken me up from my night terror. I sighed, thinking about everything else that still needed to be taken care of. There was the council meeting that mother was supposed to be letting everyone know about right now. There was the possible meeting with the man from Scepterfall, if he decided to show up today, that was. And I still needed to find Gil and break the news to him, hopefully before the time of the actual meeting. I yawned, figuring I should probably get started on that first one and pushed myself off the banister. My mother had told me I should get more rest, but I knew that wasn't going to happen. I headed out to the training field, where I figured I'd probably find Gil, but only Lorna, one of the oldest mages on the island who lived in and worked for her room in the Villa was there, fixing some of the leather pieces on the training
"Lyra!" My father hissed behind me, as he thundered through the trees on my heels. Branches whipped past me as I ran, stinging my cheeks and bared arms whenever I failed to block them. "We need to save her, dad." I shot back in a loud whisper. "We can't lose another one," I said, feeling panicky. The thought of us losing another life, just a single one if I could possibly stop it was too much. I pushed my legs to move faster. We paused, listening for Carmella's call for help again. "Carm?" I asked, tentatively and keeping my voice just above a whisper so as not to alert the nearby humans. I was hoping we could find her fast enough. Find her before they did. "Help!" Another scream, she still sounded far enough off that I knew she hadn't heard me call for her. "I don't think she knows a hunting party is nearby," my father rushed out as we took off again. I nodded in response, not wasting my breath with more words. I was already pulling my fire forward when we broke into a clearing,
I froze, my hands stilling where they were, I could feel a drip of blood escape my nose, a telltale sign that my power was waning. It was taking a lot to keep those walls burning. To keep them hot enough to hold the beast, thick enough and high enough that it wouldn't just rush through the flames or jump over them was taking an immense amount of power. "Girl, turn around. Let me see your face," the man commanded. "Man stays put and doesn't move or girl gets throat slit, do I make myself clear?" "Why are you talking like a caveman?" I asked, forcing calm into my voice as I turned around to face my attacker. He stood there, legs apart in an attacking stance, his sword pressed to my neck. Was he alone or were the rest of the hunting party hiding somewhere? If he was alone, that was incredibly stupid of him. Stupid to take on multiple mages single-handedly. Though, I guess the Blood Beasts kind would have evened up the score, normally. If he was dealing with weaker mages, that was. "S
I gasped and sat bolt upright. My eyes looking around frantically, trying to figure out where I was. Ellis swam into view, relief and awe both written on her face. Then I felt it. Like dark tethers that rooted out from me, connecting me to every life force around me. I looked up into Ellis's face and could feel her life force pulsing in front of me. I could feel all their life forces throbbing around me. One of them was so weak already... I flinched, pulling back the magic and slamming it down far inside me. Soon as I had, Ellis took a deep breath like she suddenly felt better. She shook her head as if she were confused by the feeling but offered me a small smile. "You know, a normal mage would've been out cold for days," she mused, pressing the back of her palm to my forhead. I waved her off, watching her face closely for signs of supsicion or something like it. "How long was I out?" I asked, throwing the blanket off, ignoring Ellis's attempts to get me to lay back down. I couldn't
"So, what's this meeting about?" A familiar voice asked and I turned to see Gil walking into the Council room. Apprehension rushed through me. How was he feeling about Wulfrud? How was I going to tell him about the alliance? How would he take it? He froze as he saw me, "You're up already? You used so much energy, Lyra. Are you sure you're ok to be here?" He asked, concern dripping from his voice. My mother had pushed the meeting back by a few hours while I slept, but after my father and I had found her, she had made sure to let me know exactly how displeased she was with how reckless I had been. How happy she was that I wasn't dead. And then, once again how angry she was that I wasn't still resting and recuperating after my ordeal. Once she was done ranting, we had come to the council room to wait for everyone else to arrive. I had avoided telling her or anyone else exactly how I had recovered so quickly. I didn't need my people looking at me like I was a monster. The Queen mage and
I could feel my mother preparing to jump in when finally, Triguni spoke up. "We've been waiting a long time for your birth. You'll accomplish much in your lifetime. As you've already shown, you understand the importance of calculated action rather than just relying on magic. Aeon would be proud of the woman you've become, Princess." She leaned back in her chair and resumed her silence. I swallowed back the lump that Triguni's words caused to form in my throat, my eyes once again flicking over to Aeon's empty seat. No one else said anything for a moment until Perrin, a little tentatively spoke up, "Yes, I see the appeal," the potioneer mused. "With those added supplies, we wouldn't have to keep stretching Kiell, Liza, Terra and Enid to their breaking points. The workload those four have been having to take on the last few months is beyond that which I thought they could even handle at first. But I do believe they're a little too willing to sacrifice some things for our future." "What
The healer set her shoulders as if she were steeling herself to say whatever it was that was on her mind and sighed loudly. "Humans? My lady, they don't care for their people. They OWN them. They shouldn't be our answer to our plight." She paused to guage my reaction to her claim and when I just nodded, allowing her to continue, she went on. Bolstered by the looks of everyone else around the table, except for Gil who was looking pointedly at me still. I, in turn, was still avoiding his gaze as I stared at Amnati. "By doing this, you're not only selling yourself into the ownership of the King, you're selling all of us. We'll lose our way of life, our independence, our beliefs and culture. The humans will drive everything that makes us who we are away and force us to replace it with their own ideals, thoughts and beliefs. And why should we trust these people? They've butchered us, enslaved us and tortured our kind for sheer amusement in the past. They make sports out of grotesque acts.
I stayed standing as the stranger halted just short of the table, keeping a respectable distance and bowed from the waist. "Queen Mage," he began but I held up my hand to stop him and he fell silent. I truly meant to show this man that he wasn't as important to us as his King had probably made him out to be. If I could unnerve him, all the better for me in what I hoped would be a negotiation. "Thank you, Malorie, for delivering our guest to us. Council, we shall end here for today. Everyone out besides our guest, please." There was scraping of chairs and the soft patter of footfalls as everyone walked towards the door. My father winked at me, clearly knowing what game I was playing, "I'll be setting some little Nature mage's in their place, but all you need do is scream, and I'll turn him to ash for you," he whispered in my ear and I gave him a genuine smile, his use of his pet name for me always seemed to calm me. My mother on the other hand looked furious as Regnald grabbed her