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 equipment.
"Lorna," I said in greeting and the old empath looked up at me.
"Oh, good morning, Lyra," she beamed, turning to face me on the bench she was sitting on.
"Good morning, have you seen Gil around anywhere?" I asked, gesturing around us. "Where is everyone?"
"There was trouble down on the mainland. Something about last night. They all left in a hurry, along with your father. I'm surprised you didn't know," Lorna said, her eyebrows scrunching up.
"Ah yes, well, I was rather busy in a meeting with my mother this morning. Thank you for telling me, I should probably go and see what's amiss," I mumbled, giving her a quick nod before hurrying off.
The day was brisk, winter just getting ready to set in, but it didn't bother me. Not when I could pull my fire forward and warm myself whenever necessary. I rushed through all the makeshift buildings, ones that had been erected within the last couple decades with efficiency and space in mind, rather than comfort as I hurried to the land bridge.
Nobody was there and I looked around for the nearest mage. "Gellert," I called the potioneer over and he came rushing over, one of his young children in tow. "Where is everyone?" I demanded.
He pointed out over the bridge towards the mainland. "Out there, Princess. A couple survivors were found," he breathed out. My head spun and without another word to Gellert, I rushed over the bridge. It was long, and by the time I had crossed the distance, I was breathing a little raggedly.
"Where are they?" I demanded as soon as my group of mages came into view. Gil was supporting a man who I couldn't recognize with all the blood and bruises all over his face.
"It's Hensley," Gil said, as if he knew what I was thinking.
"Lyra, what're you doing out here?" My father's booming voice sounded from my other side and I turned to see him approaching. His chest and arms were full of blood and my eyes widened as I rushed to him.
"What happened? Are you hurt?" I asked, looking him over.
"I'm fine. It's not my blood. But we need to get over the bridge, there's a group of humans not far off. Too many for us to handle without bottle necking them, come on," he said, pulling on my arm.
"Help!" A scream sounded from the treeline and my father and I both eyed the trees.
"Trap?" I asked.
"Could be," he murmured, tense.
I looked around, Gil with Hensley who was barely conscious continued to walk past. I looked past them to Ellis, one of the other healers that worked closely with our Keystone healer, was supporting Jin. I rushed up to them, seeing Jin's eyes looking around frantically. Ellis gave me a wary look, gesturing at Jin. "I don't know what happened to him," she admitted softly. I rushed on with my questioning. I could worry about that later.
"Jin, was anyone else with you?" I asked and his eyes darted around, as if he couldn't see anything.
"What? Who? Help me," he pleaded.
"We are, Jin. It's Lyra. I need you to focus," I said softly, encouragingly. Even as another scream rippled out from the trees. "Was there anyone else with you, Jin?"
"C-Carmella. Where's Carmella? She was right behind me. Hen, Hen, make sure Carmella is ok," he rushed out. His arms thrashing out wildly as if he were trying to fight someone off. Ellis did his best to calm the man's motions.
My heart froze. Carmella. One of the last of her kind. If humans got their hands on her.
I didn't think. I just ran.
"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
"Your Majesty-" "And stop calling me that." I waved a hand in his direction. "That's a made-up human title meant to bolster and feed the ego of the bearers of your also unecessary crowns. Real leaders don't need inflated egos or fancy accessories to prove their worth to their people. So for me to be called as such, is insulting," I finished coolly. Tross just stared at me, wide-eyed for a moment before he seemed to shake himself back to the present and cleared his throat. "Yes, Queen Mage. I apologize for any offense. But if I may, what do you mean, you don't want to be ruled by the King?" "I mean just that. We'll ally with him, we'll help when needed, when we can. We'll fulfill our part of the contract. But at the end of it all, mages will still be there own people, their own rulers. This alliance, between," I paused, almost saying "myself and the throne," but corrected it to hold up the ruse, "The Princess and the throne, will, as your King put in his letter, be a symbolic mar