03 - Sworn (35 page)

“But you kept your family safe,” I said, a little louder in case anyone might be listening in.

A natural gift was an incredible thing. Even the greatest Sorcerers usually only had one, and other smaller talents and learned skills along with it. Severn had thought my own natural gift was mind-reading, and he’d instructed me to develop it into mind-control and extended awareness. It had been a small gift, greatly developed, and I suspected that the fact of its humble beginnings kept him from seeing me as a threat.

Is that your gift, though?
A dark voice, hollow and threatening.
Is that what’s come most naturally to you, what you’ve picked up without thought or practice?

I shut that line of thinking down. I was supposed to have forgotten about the other thing.

I was glad when Victoria asked me more about Tyrea and most people’s experiences with magic. She was nearly as curious as Rowan had been when I first met her, though the older woman knew more of the history between our countries than Rowan had. Rowan and I took turns answering questions, and it passed the time quite pleasantly.

If the others were listening, they didn’t add anything to the conversation. I hoped they were. They all had a lot to learn before they tried to make a life in Tyrea. The people there wouldn’t appreciate the pinched look that came over Lucilla’s face every time someone brought up magic.

She’s trying,
I reminded myself.

Ashe was surprisingly comfortable with the idea of magic, considering what Rowan had told me about him. After lunch, he rode beside us and asked Rowan a few questions about how she’d called the water and what else she could do. She answered with more confidence than I knew she felt, saying a little about the illusion that had helped her escape from Ardare. She’d really only discovered the two abilities so far, but it seemed to impress her family.

“So, Aren,” Ches said after she’d finished speaking. I cringed inwardly, knowing what was coming. “I’m sure we’ve all heard the rumors about you. What’s the truth about your magic?”

Rowan’s arms tightened around my waist. At first I thought it was a warning, but realized the gesture was meant to be reassuring.

Words she’d spoken to me back on Belleisle came to mind.
I like your claws.
I smiled at that, but decided not to share everything. Instead, I held out a hand and produced a flame that danced on my palm for a moment before disappearing into the air. “That’s my newest trick,” I said. “It comes in handy. I also change into an eagle.”

“We’d heard something about that,” Ashe said, clearly not pleased.

Awkward silence followed. I wasn’t entirely sure what Rowan had said in letters or in recent conversation, but she’d probably let on that I’d entered their lives in that form and spent time at Stone Ridge in secret.

No one asked outright about my ability to bend people’s minds, and I didn’t offer any information or explanation. Let them think what they wanted.

Tell them the worst thing,
whispered the voice in the back of my mind.

No. It’s irrelevant.
Even Rowan didn’t know about that.

“My sister is a Potioner,” I said a few minutes later. “Ashe, she’s the one who sent those herbs for you. She’ll be pleased to know you’re doing so well.”

“I find that fascinating,” Victoria said, helping to change the subject. My shoulders relaxed. “I’d very much like to meet someone who uses plants in that way.”

“Your skills would complement hers well,” I told her. “Actually, you might be able to meet her, if you’d like. Rowan and I will be meeting up with her and some other people closer to Luid. We could certainly use someone with your abilities, and you could learn a lot.”

Ches grunted and glanced back over his shoulder. “Take her back to help fight your battles? I think not.”

“She’d be well away from any fighting,” Rowan said. “I would never let you get hurt, Vic.”

Victoria didn’t say anything else. I hoped her silence meant she was considering the offer.

The road curved south, toward where the mountains descended to the ocean. It was a similar route to the one Rowan and I had taken the first time we left the country, but we avoided the little harbor town that would surely be crawling with Darmish soldiers, if not a Tyrean vessel or two in disguise. We climbed the foothills before we reached the sea, forced by the presence of the wagon to stick to an established road. The one Ches pointed out to us was not well-used, and the few people we met didn’t give us a second glance as they passed us heading the opposite way. We made camp for the night, and I changed to hunt. We had plenty of food, but I needed to get away from the group for a while, to feel the wind in my feathers. My left wing was only a little stiff now, and that worked itself out as I soared over the forest.

I suspected Rowan would want time alone with her family, but couldn’t say for certain. I’d never desired it with mine.

I saw no sign of other travelers on the road until I was well away from our group, and the ones I found were camped for the night. The sea to the south of us sparkled orange in the sunset. I turned that direction to look over the single trading barge that bobbed on the water, then looped back over a small port and flew back for the hills, feeling confident that no one was tracking us.

I didn’t like to say it to Rowan, but I was beginning to fear that we’d had too much good fortune lately. It was going to run out sometime, and though I didn’t think of myself as superstitious, I felt it was going to run out in a big way when it did.

I returned with a pair of pheasants and dropped them next to the fire before I landed.

Rowan’s family stared at me for a moment before anyone spoke.

“Thank you,” Ashe said, and took the birds and his knife into the forest.

“How lovely,” Victoria said. “Will you change back now? Let us see how it’s done?”

Rowan laughed. “I don’t think that would be appropriate. His clothes are back in the forest.”

I held my wings out in an apologetic gesture.

“I suppose you’d best get back to them, then,” Ches said. “Rowan, give me a hand with the fire?”

“But Aren can—”

“I’m sure we can manage it the old-fashioned way while he changes.”

Victoria met me after I dressed, out of sight of the rest of them. “I apologize if my husband seems rude.” She picked at the hem of her shirt as she spoke. “His relationship with magic has always been a difficult one. He knew about me, more clearly than I ever did, and he did what he had to in order to protect me. Out of love, you know. But we never spoke about it, even after the children, and I can’t say he’s comfortable with it. He knew about Rowan, I think, but again...”

“You never spoke about it.”

“No. He’s a historian. He’s aware of where our people came from, how our ancestors overthrew the Sorcerers who oppressed us and how they made this new land. I don’t say that our forefathers’ methods were right, or even that Ches agrees with all of our people’s beliefs. I know he’s against what the king is up to now, this new push to destroy magic. But he’s rooted deeply in our culture. We all are. Or once were.”

“I understand. I hope that doesn’t make things difficult for you wherever you settle.” It would, I had no doubt. But people could change.

She took a deep breath and looked up at the now star-filled sky. “You don’t think there’s hope we’ll come back?”

“Not for a long time. It could be sooner, if my father takes his throne back.” I explained the situation to her, and how we needed her help to feed the people who were traveling with my father and friends, who would in turn help him get back into the city to take back the throne peacefully. I left out the part about Ulric’s failing magic, but mentioned potions again, as it had interested her earlier.

“It does sound like your sister and I could be a good combination there,” she mused, “especially with Rowan’s help. I can’t make things grow spontaneously, though, and I have to be careful about the soil and water.”

“Just speeding up what’s already growing would be enough,” I assured her. “Imagine the growth you brought about at Stone Ridge, but used to feed people, or to grow medicinal plants.”

She smiled. “That does sound lovely. I’ve been cut off from the world for so long, and I would like to get back out and contribute something meaningful. But my family needs me, too. Much as I want to come with you, learn more, see more of the world, I don’t know whether that’s possible.” She let out a little sigh. “I might be too old for adventure.”

“It’s certainly something for you to consider, anyway.”

Victoria closed her eyes, face still turned toward the sky. “I will. Thank you.”

Rowan raced uphill from camp. “Aren, I’m—Oh, Vic. Hello. Everything all right?”

Victoria’s eyes sparkled as she turned to her niece. Hard to believe this was the same woman who had seemed a ghost when she walked the gardens months before. “Just fine, dear. Aren was telling me about this situation in Tyrea.”

A strange expression crossed Rowan’s features, tense and sorrowful and uncertain. “Quite the mess, isn’t it?”

“Sounds like it. And yet Aren has mentioned the possibility of me joining you.”

Rowan bit her lip. “Right. You know, it’s really not so bad…”

Victoria laughed. “No, I’m sure.”

We all walked back to the camp and waited for the meal to finish cooking. Ashe had done an expert job preparing the meat, and there were plenty of fresh greens to go along with it.

Victoria had brought along potted plants, and she settled in for the night among them in the wagon as the others set up their bedrolls on the ground. I’d packed one at the house, but offered my blankets to Rowan.

“Changing?” she asked.

“It’s easier. Less awkward.”

She only nodded.

I made the fire burn low, careful not to let the flames lash back at me, and transformed again. A branch not far from where Rowan had settled served as a reasonably comfortable perch. I watched Rowan after she fell asleep. She looked contented enough, pleased to be back with what remained of her family. She was safer with them now, or would be once we crossed the border. She’d be loved freely, and she’d find purpose in helping them settle in Tyrea—purpose my father was trying to deny her.

It’s the best thing for almost everyone,
I decided, and fluffed my feathers,
if that is her choice.

If only I could make myself understand that in human form as well as eagle. Though my emotions in that form were stronger than they once were, it still gave a small bit of distance.

Not enough, though.

Not nearly enough.

23

AREN

T
he night passed without incident, and we were awake and moving on before the sun came into view. The horses, as well-fed as the rest of us, gave us no trouble about the early start. They were good horses, for all that they were Darmish beasts with no magical blood in them. Not the most intelligent, swiftest, or strongest animals, but they got the job done.

I scouted the road ahead several times and didn’t see any threats. Being an eagle had the advantage of speed and mobility, but it did make it difficult for me to sense human presences, and I had to rely on my keen eyesight. I found a path that appeared to be an abandoned road. It would be difficult to get the wagon to it, but the one we were on now would take us straight past a huddled bunch of huts. Not a town, but a fenced-in compound, likely housing border guards. Perhaps magic hunters, as well.

Not a good time to take chances for the sake of convenience. We’d have to get the wagon through the woods and onto the path somehow.

When I re-joined the group, no one argued with the plan. We rigged the tracings so that two horses could pull, but we had to lift the cart several times when it became mired in mud or the wheels caught on rocks as we travelled through the thin forest.

“Levitating things isn’t one of your skills, then?” Ashe grunted, and threw his shoulder against the back of the wagon.

“Doesn’t look that way, does it?” I added my own weight to the push, and the wagon jolted forward.

Rowan wiped sweat from her brow, gave Ashe a dark look, and walked ahead. He followed and spoke to her. I hoped she would give him hell, but suspected she was attempting to be a bit more diplomatic than that with her much-loved brother. He put an arm around her shoulders, and she leaned in briefly before she broke away. Ashe returned to the cart and helped me push again as Rowan led us onto our new path and turned toward the border. The cart jolted and caught one more time, and we gave it another hard shove to get it into the thin wheel ruts leading through the woods.

Distracted as I was by physical exertion and my irritation with Ashe, I almost missed the feeling that something was wrong. I opened myself, and sensed danger. Human presences. Before I could call out a warning to Rowan, three burly men stepped in front of her from a thicket of trees.

“Border’s closed,” the one in the center of their line said. All three had their weapons drawn, two swords and one set of daggers.

Rowan took a step back. “Is that where this leads? We’re a little lost.”

The man who had spoken sneered as he looked back into the forest from which we’d just emerged. “Staying on the main road might have prevented that.”

She retreated farther. “We’ll go back the way we came, then, thank you.”

“I don’t think so,” the one on the right said.

Ashe stepped forward, but I placed a hand on his arm to hold him back. He shot me an indignant glance, which I ignored.

“Let us handle this,” I said quietly.

Ashe’s jaw muscles flexed in irritation, but he stepped back.

I took in our surroundings. Trees pressed in close on both sides of the path, leaving little room for me to maneuver if I transformed and attacked.

“Gentlemen!” I called in a relaxed, friendly voice. There was no time to dig out a weapon, but that didn’t leave me helpless. “Surely this is a simple misunderstanding. We don’t want trouble.”