The Raven & The Wolf

Chapter Twenty-Six

It takes us a little over a week to get down the mountain. In our free time, Gedric uses every opportunity to get me to teach him earth magic. I force him to stick to the basics, having little to no desire to kick him again. He’s moving with the earth’s magic quite well, but he’s struggling to stay in one place. He keeps falling the earth line and touching everything he can, but he can’t force it to stop. He’s managed to search through the line for an entire league. That’s impressive in itself, but he’s allowing his magic to take him further than what he needs, and he has no way to stop it.

Stanya and Halthin would fall asleep the moment after we made camp, only waking for dinner, and then going back to sleep. I don’t blame them. Stanya is using a lot of magic to keep her illusions going. Halthin is still recovering from being infected by blood magic. Since this is the case, Gedric and I are spending a lot of time together; most of it is focused on me teaching him. It’s honestly keeping me pretty entertained. I love teaching, and teaching someone from the very beginning is making me feel like I’m actually helping on this trip.

When we’re at the base of the mountain, Stanya is over the moon excited. She’s spread out on the flat earth and is grinning. “You do know, if you got out of the snow, you’d be warmer.” I tell her while I smirk at her widespread form.

She lifts her head off of the ground. “You do realize that we’re off that forsaken mountain? This means we’re almost out of the snow.”

“Oh thank the Fates,” Halthin cries while helping Gedric move snow off of the ground. “I’m so sick of this wet stuff.”

“I think we all are.” Gedric agrees. “I’m tired of shoveling snow.”

“In that case, can I help?”

“No,” all three of them shout. Gedric may have told them how much pain my body truly is in. They’re trying everything they can to make sure I do not use my arm, and my time in the sling has been extended. Now I’m starting to regret that last battle with Ari. Then again, I did get to cause him to feel fear, so maybe it was worth it. It really depends on how much I rattled him. I hope I don’t find that out for at least a season. It’ll be warmer, and I’ll be further into my search for the Champion.

I shoot Gedric a glare, “You just had to tell them.”

“You’re the one that fell off the horse yesterday,” he argues.

“I was asleep,” I mutter darkly.

“Sure, that’s what caused it.”

I roll my eyes while Stanya takes out my little raven statue. She uses my magic to draw an illusion to protect us while they sleep. I’m still pulling night duty until I can get off my horse. “You’re more overprotective than Stanya.”

“Hey, I resent that.” Stanya says, setting down the statue. “The only one worse than me is your ex.”

I laugh while Halthin rolls his eyes and Gedric looks confused. “Ex?” he asks, not understanding the story.

“A couple of boyfriends ago, Nat was dating this one guy that was as proud as a peacock to be dating her. He wanted to make sure everyone knew they were dating, and anyone who got too close to her would hear about it. He didn’t even want her to be out of Brighton, and he didn’t want me anywhere near her. According to him, just because we grew up together doesn’t mean I won’t be attracted to her.”

I shudder. “So glad that relationship was only a few months.”

“Why did you date that ass anyway?”

“Because it was Malay’s nephew, and Brin and her were still dating. I was just being nice.”

“You were too nice if you ask me. The man made a scene because we were eating lunch together.”

I groan. “You should have seen what he’d do to Halthin. Halthin couldn’t even get within ten feet of me without him popping out of midair.”

“Oh he did worse than that,” Halthin says, flashing me a smirk. “He showed up at my house and threatened me. He told me if I come anywhere near you, he’d see to it that the Elders would have me banished. Considering you and Stanya are in the Elder Council, I told him good luck with that.”

“You never told me that,” I say, laughing. “Yeah, he was insane. I had to have Malay sit down with me and help me break up with him. He wouldn’t accept it.”

Stanya giggles. “Malay actually had to hit him upside the head and tell him not to be so stupid, just for him to accept it.”

Gedric chuckles, “Hopefully, that’s not an everyday occurrence.”

“Very rarely does it get that bad.” I tell him. “Now, lets get off my love life and talk about the plans for tomorrow. My knee is healed enough that I can start walking once we’re out of the snow. Since that’s the case, I was thinking we avoid Yuka, and keep heading straight. It doesn’t give us a chance to resupply, but it gets us out of the cold a day or so faster. We can always gather supplies is Bendra.”

Stanya groans. “I hate Bendra.”

“So do you want an extra day of cold?”

“Fine. You, however, are not allowed in the city.”

“Why?” I demand, surprised by this.

“Because they’re well known supporters of the Magicnites. You’ve had enough close encounters with them for the month. Especially since you’re too injured to help us if we really get into trouble.”

“But I love Bendra,” I whine.

“You love their chocolates. If you’re good, I’ll bring you some.”

Gedric grins, “Nat’s got a sweet tooth, huh?”

“That’s the mild definition of it.” Stanya agrees, sitting next to me. “Will someone please start a fire? The illusion should cover noise and sound as well.” She puts her hand on my leg. “One of the boys.”

I roll my eyes while Halthin moves to start the fire. Gedric nods to Stanya, giving her the all clear. “You’re good to go.”

Stanya pats my leg. “Stand up please.”

I stand up and watch as she touches the statue and then the ground. The ground pulses green while she dries the earth, making it much more comfortable to sleep tonight. “This is ridiculous.” I tell her, annoyed by her paranoia.

“I’m not chancing an overload, no matter how small the chance.” She then put the statue away and taps the ground next to her.

“You’re ridiculous,” I tell her again, sitting next to her, watching the boys start setting up camp. “Can I at least do the bedrolls?”

“You’re not moving that shoulder more than you have to.” Gedric says quickly, giving me an even look. “You’re lucky I’m letting you sleep without it.”

I take a defeated breath as I shift. I hate this. I feel so helpless that it’s driving me insane. “Fine,” I say, getting up. I head to my pack and grab my blanket before going to drag my bedroll by the fire. I sit cross legged and just ignore them as I start meditating. I want to help. I hate this. Why is everything so difficult? I just want to help. I don’t want to keep sitting here and do nothing.

I ignore all attempts to get my attention for the rest of the evening, and remain in my meditated state. I’m being childish, but I truly don’t care at this point. The only one who makes me feel like I can contribute is Gedric, and since yesterday I’m back to being treated like a fragile piece of glass. Granted a lot of things can break me right now, but I’m not just something to look at.

A slight shift in the air causes me to pause my meditation. It’s heavy, and it’s caused the surrounding noises to quiet. They’re not fully silent, but they’re not as loud as they once were. When I open my eyes, it’s almost daylight.

I quickly run to the nearest sleeping person next to me, which is Gedric. “Gedric,” I say quietly, shaking his shoulder. “Gedric.”

He groans, “what is it?”

“I sense something.” I say quickly. “Can you check to see if there is anything?”

He puts his hand on the ground and immediately sits up, “Magicnite. Get Stanya.”

I move over to her while Gedric keeps an eye on the south entrance. “Stanya,” I tell her while I shake her, keeping my voice low. I cover her mouth, aware she’s going to yell and accept the blow to my face that comes from her in response. I don’t have time to get her back for that. “Magicnite,” I tell her while her eyes grow wide.

I put my hand on my pulsing cheek and point to Gedric with my still slinged up hand. “Where are they?” She asks, putting her hand on the ground. “Get down!” She hisses, pulling me to the ground. Gedric reacts immediately, and we both just barely miss a ball of blue magic.

Stanya dives for the statue in her pack while I keep my head low. “How did they spot us?” I demand from no one in particular. I touch Halthin’s leg, waking him up while we both crawl to safety. We’re both not allowed to fight with magic. Gedric cannot fight with magic, and is still learning control. However, he is adaptive in physical weapons.

“Where the hell are you aiming?” A man yells out, sending shivers through me. Ari.

“I sensed a bright magic light.” That is definitely Stylus’s voice. It’s been awhile, and it somewhat nice to see that he survived Ari’s interrogation.

“You’re tracking that blasted raven girl, not a tree.” Ari barks.

“Then you track her. I have a sense of her, and that’s it. The light I saw belonged to her. I know that.”

Halthin and I exchange confused glances. “Did you?” He asks, just above a whispered breath.

“No,” I say, just as confused as he is. “I was just meditating.”

“If you saw her light, you would have seen her,” Ari growls.

“Then you look,” Stylus snaps.

“Look you prick, even if she was right in front of me, I couldn’t find her if she was using a concealing spell. Her magic is too strong. Now you be a good little tracker and find the girl. I’m not going to waste time arguing with you.”

“Her tracks are going this way. That’s all I know. It takes a minute for her concealing magic to fade. She could be hours ahead of us.”

“Then get searching. That bitch needs to be reined in now. You don’t know the amount of power I felt coming off of her. If I take her magic, then not even the Fates could stop me. Not even death can.”

I hear a dark chuckle, sending the hair on the back of my neck straight up. “That’s cute that you think that, you pathetic being.” That was coming from Stylus, but it wasn’t Stylus speaking. That is the disoriented voice of a Servant. Well damn it.

“Who do you think you’re talking to?” Ari spits, seconds before a loud explosion ricochets through our camp. Stanya screams while Gedric curses. The tree Halthin is hiding behind falls, a glowing red ball resting in the middle of it. The tree has landed on Gedric’s legs, pinning him. What is going on?

“Who do you think you’re talking to?” The Servant hisses, hitting Ari with a hard blast of magic. Ari is now knocked into our view. He’s landed on the ground and has blood coming from the side of his head. He’s in winter gear and his traditional Magicnite cloak.

“Come out, come out, wherever you are,” the Servant sings songs, prancing into view. “Come on out little raven.”

“Raven?” Ari grunts, trying to get up.

“I want to strike a deal with you.” The Servant sings while stepping on Ari’s chest. That’s definitely Articus.

Stanya holds her pose, keeping up her illusion while using my magic to funnel it. We’re all being quiet, and I really hope the Servant loses interest here soon. I’m still not recovered enough to fight. I look behind from the tree, and I can see Stanya relax, realizing I’m still covered. Thanks to my little fit, I never did change out of my traveling gear. It’s too cold for me to have changed anyway. I’m surprised she did.

“What deal?” Ari grunts, trying to push Stylus off of him.

“Not you, you pathetic being. The girl you so affectionately refer to as “the Raven.” You’re just a pathetic wolf.”

Offended, Ari screams, throwing a cloud of black magic towards the Servant. The Servant just chuckles and blows, destroying the spell. “You’re pathetic. Now, come on out Raven, before I tell Ari your true name.”

I tense, making everyone look back at me. Well shit. I step out from behind the tree and kneel next to Stanya. “Get the horses ready, we’re going to need to run. Halthin, get Gedric out from under that tree.”

“Don’t you dare go out there.” She hisses, missing my leg as I step past her. Gedric misses as well, and they’re both forced to watch me walk out of our protected zone. Before I’m visible, I take off my sling and toss it to Gedric. Can’t let Ari know I’m hurt.

Stylus’s eyes are pitch black as he grins, taking me in. Ari’s face fills with rage as he screams, but the Servant presses harder on his chest. “That’s a good little girl,” Articus tells me. “Now, I want to strike a deal with you.”

I lock eyes with Ari while I try to calm my heart. Ari is near foaming at the mouth, his anger nearly palpable. “What do you want?” I ask Stylus, still keeping a close eye on Ari.

“You know what I want. Now here is my deal. I’ll take care of this pathetic thing for you. All you have to do is agree to be a Servant.”

“You can’t kill on this plane,” I tell him, looking away from Ari. “It’s forbidden and impossible.”

“And how would you know this, little girl?” Articus hisses, then bares his teeth at me. “You don’t know what I’m capable of.”

“Articus,” I say.

“Don’t say it. I’m not leaving until we have a deal.” He hisses.

Ari grins. “Articus, let me go.”

Articus stiffens while every vain on Stylus’s body sticks out, trying to defy the order. He physically can because I spoke his name first, but it’s hard if the other person is powerful. “I will not listen to such a weak opponent.”

“Who are you calling weak?” Ari growls, touching Stylus’s leg and turning it black. “Why do you want her to be a Servant, but not me?”

“Because you’re a fool and tainted yourself.” Articus growls.

“I’m not pathetic.” Ari yells, shoving him off of him. “I’m going to destroy you Fates.” Ari growls then looks at me as he stands. “You’re mine.” He roars, racing towards me, his hands covered in black, ready to bring me to my death.

I stand still, locking eyes with Articus. His eyes widen and growls as he tackles Ari from behind. Ari falls to the ground as the illusion from behind me dissipates.

“Let’s go!” Stanya yells from behind me.

“Articus, never speak my name and leave us.” I shout while I lift my leg and swing my foot down on Ari’s head; knocking him out cold. I also do the same to Stylus, who is just coming back into himself after I had given Articus my order. I turn and race to Macy and get on her, getting as far from here as possible.