Moirai

“Alnya, you’ve got to leave, now!” Kasanda hissed as quietly as she could. Suddenly she was no longer nervous and jumpy, but focussed.

I was not focussed. I couldn’t move. My limbs locked in place as the banging continued. My mind screamed at me to run, but my body would not obey. I felt someone grab my arm and try to pull me towards the back of the room just as the door fell inwards, crashing to the floor.

In the doorway stood two of the most hideous creatures I had ever seen. At first they were silhouetted but as they stepped forwards into the room their appearance was revealed. They looked vaguely human, but the resemblance only extended to shape. Both were a foot taller than normal humans, and their skin was tinged with green. Most horribly of all, both had a third arm sprouting from different places on their monstrous bodies. The one on the left was leering around the room with limited intelligence, its thick brow hanging over its eyes and giving it a Frankenstein’s monster-ish appearance. It’s third arm was sticking out of his stomach. The other, who was slightly thinner and seemed to have a bit more of an intelligent spark in its livid green eyes, had its arm curled around to the front, originating somewhere behind the right shoulder. Both carried fierce-looking axes in their third hands.

I felt like my feet were glued to the floor, my eyes fixed on the axes, their sharp points glinting ominously in the light from the fire. A cold horror filled me at the thought that Indina was evil enough to use, or possibly even create these creatures for her dirty work.

The world around me receded into one image; the axes, as the two creatures took a step closer. Everything around them had faded into a hazy greyness. All I wished was that they were unarmed. I knew that then, maybe, I wouldn’t be quite so scared and then I could leave with Loni and Mayran. The image of the axes disappearing flashed through my mind. A hysterical laugh bubbled up in my throat and I briefly wondered if Kasanda could actually do that using her aura.

Then, just as suddenly as the idea occurred, the bubbles of laughter turned to heat, rising and growing inside of me and obliterating all other thought. My chest tightened. The heat grew, but not to an uncomfortable level. I felt warmed from the inside out. The edges of my sight seemed to glow with a pale green light.

Then, my chest released and, at the same moment, the axes burst into flames and disintegrated.

I gaped, staring wide-eyed, as a wave of dizziness fell over me. I swayed, breathing heavily and just generally stunned. It dimly registered that it had only been about ten seconds since the door had been broken down.

Everyone else froze, staring at me. Then Kasanda tugged on my arm harder, yanking me towards what I dimly realised was the back door.

“What just happened?” I heard someone ask, but I couldn’t tell who it was. My mind had shut down…because of that exact question.

What had happened…simply couldn’t happen. I refused to believe that it had. I didn’t even dare think the words. I barely felt it when Amber and Roald hugged me goodbye, when Mayran pulled me up behind him on a horse and instructed me to hold on and when we sped out of Nerome at a gallop.

My brain started working again almost ten minutes later, when Mayran had obviously decided we had gone far enough. He jumped down off the horse, pulling me down after him. I saw, out of the corner of my eye, Loni get down off her own horse, and a third that had been tied to Mayran’s.

I stood there, staring out across the lightly wooded area where we had stopped, still trying to come to terms with what I had done. Everything seemed slightly blurred, as though seen through glasses that weren’t right for my eyes.

Mayran’s face appeared in front of me and his hands rested on my shoulders. “Alnya, are you alright? Do you feel light-headed?’

I blinked several times and it took me longer than it should have to understand his words. I answered his question as honestly as I could. “No, I’m not really alright, but I don’t feel dizzy anymore. I’m just…in shock.”

“You need to tell me exactly how you feel. What you did back there…” he shook his head as though impressed, “Well, I didn’t even know that was possible. I’ve never heard of anyone doing that, let alone on their first time. You may be feeling…well, you should be feeling…”

I recoiled at his implication, although I had already admitted to myself that it was true. “Just…stop right there.” I said, stepping back. “I don’t want to talk about it and it will never happen again.”

Mayran frowned deeply, but his expression quickly changed to one of understanding. “What do you…oh. Of course, Kasanda told me. You fear magic.”

I turned away, annoyed that he thought it was so simple that it could be summed up in those three words. He probably thought I was being stupid, but he hadn’t gone through what I had as a child, then to grow up and find out that magic was actually real…

“Trust me. It won’t happen again.” I repeated.

To my surprise, his hand touched my arm. “We’ll see. Your attitude may change. And surely, even you must admit that without what you just did – however you did it – we would probably be in a much worse situation right now. You distracted them enough for us to get out of there. Kasanda would have taken care of them afterwards.”

“‘Taken care of them?’” I quoted back anxiously.

He shook his head. “She wouldn’t have killed them. She would have probably teleported them far outside of Nerome, and placed a barrier outside her and Loni’s houses so they couldn’t return.” He then asked his earlier question. “So do you agree that what you did was helpful?”

I nodded reluctantly, but added, “We could have gotten out of there without magic, so just because it helped, that doesn’t mean it’s a good enough reason for me to do it again.”

Mayran opened his mouth to continue his argument, but I was rescued by Loni, who tapped him on the shoulder. “Leave it…at least for now.”

He looked at her and nodded, moving back to allow Loni to approach me while he went to check on the horses.

“Sit down and at least have some water.” She instructed gently, but firmly. I almost laughed. Due to the fact that I had believed her to be an orphan, I had always perceived her as being the one to be taken care of, yet whenever I had been injured or sick and mum wasn’t around, she would always look after me. Whether it was a grazed knee at school or a cold that sent me home while mum was at work, she was always there.

“I’m fine.” I protested, but did as she said.

“No you’re not.” She insisted. “I don’t pretend to know much about auraics, but I understood what Kasanda told you. What just happened took energy out of you. You’re still quite pale.”

Despite what I told Mayran, Loni was right. I did in fact feel light-headed still, but it wasn’t because of the reasons she thought. Telling her this, however, would be pointless. As much as she understood my fear of magic, she did not share the same view.

I heard her sigh quietly. “Look, all I’m going to say is that I know you’re scared of the aura and what those who have one can do, but that’s what Mayran’s here for. He’s going to teach you. He’s an aurae, too.”

“How do you know?” I asked, surprised because I had presumed she knew as little about our third travelling companion as I did.

“Kasanda told me as we left.” She answered. I realised it must have been during the period where I had been unaware of my surroundings.

I looked over at Mayran, who had gotten the map out and was studying it intensely. I wondered if this was just a ruse and he was listening to us, or if he truly was trying to give Loni and I our time to talk. His hair was now even messier; the wind of the fast ride was the culprit for that, but it wasn’t an unattractive look.

Instantly I berated myself for such a silly thought.

I took one last drink of water before getting up and walking over to him. “So, where are we going first?”

“Well…there’s a homestead that we should be able to reach by this evening. Friends of Kasanda. She would have told them we were coming.” He replied. I couldn’t see a label for the homestead on the map, but had to trust that he knew where it was. His last words reminded me of something.

“Kasanda said you could contact her to let her know we’re alright. How can you do that?” Now that Loni had told me he was an aurae, I realised that he would probably use magic to do so.

“It is done by summoning what is known as a spectrum.” He explained.

“With magic?” I asked.

He nodded. “With my aura. Basically, I can bring up a two-way…portal, if you will…of anyone as long as I know what they look like, but they have to be an aurae themselves. Then I, you or anyone else can talk to them through the portal and they can talk back. It takes up a fair amount of stamina, which is why when I do contact Kasanda we should limit the length of time to a few minutes, as I can’t use too much energy in case of any threats we may encounter.”

Conflicted thoughts arose inside me. What he was suggesting was incredible and also slightly comforting because it would be nice to see Kasanda and possibly Loni’s parents now and then. But it was done with his aura and his words about using up energy concerned me. It reminded me too much of when Kasanda said that auraics have died from overestimating their power.

I said no more as we mounted our horses and continued on our way. Luckily, Loni and I had both done horse riding at a young age; it had been Loni’s suggestion, and now I suspected why. The horse Kasanda had chosen for me was a quite beautiful silver mare with a black mane and tail. Loni’s was the colour of honey, while Mayran’s steed was a tan gelding. Riding came so naturally that it allowed my thoughts to wander again.

I refused to think about the events directly before our departure, because if I did I knew I would just become angry and frustrated that Kasanda had told the truth about me. I was content to go as far with this as I could, but I would do it my way, without magic.

That led me to another train of thought; there was a constant tug from somewhere near my heart that felt like it was pulling me towards the south-east. Without having to consult the map, I knew it was precisely the direction of Indina’s castle. I couldn’t work out what could be causing it and felt a jolt of panic as it occurred to me that Indina could already have some spell surrounding me, leading me into a trap. Who knew what she was capable of? It had been nearly twenty years since she had left Kasanda, and by Kasanda’s own words she was already an accomplished mage by then. There was no telling how much she had increased her power over the years.

But then I remembered how confidant Kasanda had been that I would accept this journey. Surely she knew something about what this pull was inside me. I briefly considered asking Mayran about it, but decided against doing so; he might not have any idea and if he did, would probably tell me not to worry about it.

We reached the homestead he had told us about late in the evening, having stopped a few times to rest the horses and eat. The entire trip had been mostly silent, each of us lost in our own thoughts. Every time I would glance over at Loni and Mayran, I couldn’t help but notice the stark differences in their expressions. Loni’s face was determined and focused, staring ahead intently. I knew her well enough to see that there were as many thoughts flying around inside her head as there were in mine.

Mayran, on the other hand, had the haunted look back in his eyes. He clearly was not focused on the path ahead, but was lost somewhere in his mind. For the second time I wondered why he seemed to have such dark memories and what they were. I also noticed that he was very good at hiding those memories and the effect they had on him, because as soon as we stopped for the night the dark look vanished as though it had never been there.