Shade of Destiny (The Foreseeing) (38 page)

    
They walked until nightfall, Wynn was sure the distance covered was substantial but Arabella seemed uncomfortable with stopping. Wynn wanted to argue with all she was worth that stopping was the right thing to do, her legs trembled and her muscles ached, but Arabella silenced her with her hand and they walked long into the next day. Arabella was driven by senses that Wynn had not acquired yet, how to survive in the open, if danger was near and Wynn could not argue with her. The forest all looked the same to her; she did not even know if they were walking north. For all she knew they were walking in circles. Wynn followed on silently; even her emotions had dwindled out into only exhaustion. She thought of nothing other than the pounding sound of her feet as walked.

    
It was around midday when Wynn collapsed to the floor. Arabella spun round at the sound, and quickly noted how pale and exhausted Wynn was. She sat beside her and handed her some bread smothered in honey, taking some for herself. Wynn took a large bite then realised that it was all she was going to have to eat all day, and forced herself to nibble at it.

   
 
They sat in companionable silence for some time before Wynn felt something strange. It was an animal she was sure, she had felt enough in her travels to be able to distinguish between animal and human, but what she felt now did not have typical animal characteristics. It did not solely wish for food, or the thrill of the hunt. It was not even like the beast they had encountered in Cratewood, a Bordin Boar Medea had called it, which was a beast of rage and fear; the animal Wynn felt now was different and was searching for something with an almost human obsession. Wynn turned to Arabella to ask if she had felt it but she had her eyes closed. A few moments passed and her eyes snapped open and looked at Wynn in fear.

    
“It is a creature of Aerona’s making. It searches for us. We must move.”

    
Wearily Wynn stood, her pack threatening to unbalance her. The heat of the midday sun beat down on her and closeness of the forest choked her; she could not see how she could go on much longer. Forcing herself she stepped forward and allowed her feet to fall into the familiar rhythm of walking. Arabella was further ahead listening intently, treading carefully. They walked for a few minutes when from behind them they heard the cry of an animal and fear instilled itself into Wynn. It was close, too close. In a few moments she was sure it would appear. Arabella spun at the sound, her hair flying around her head and stared in the direction of the noise.

    
“We have to fight,” she commanded, dropping her pack and drawing her daggers. Wynn wanted to laugh, she was so exhausted she could hardly stand let alone fight of a carnivorous beast of black magic. With an effort she dropped her pack and unsheathed the Dagger of Night, holding it tightly in her hand. She went for it automatically. The sound of wood snapping sounded from all around them, not twigs, but whole trunks. Wynn jumped fearfully on the spot, warming her muscles.

    
It leapt at them from nowhere, it had the body of a mountain lion, with wings and head of an eagle, it knocked into Wynn and bounded at Arabella, beak open in a nightmarish scream. Wynn lost her balance and fell into a nearby tree. The tree shook with the force and shed its leaves onto of her. She snarled in anger and jumped from where she had fallen and charged at the beast, tiredness forgotten; slicing it with the dagger in its side, but the creature did not fall. It instead roared in anger and swiped at her with its paw, catching her leg. Thick talons ripped into her skin and blood poured freely. Instantly Wynn went weak with pain, dropping the dagger into the forest floor and collapsing into the undergrowth. The beast turned its attention back to Arabella.

    
Arabella screamed at the beast, charging at it. The beast pawed the ground then soared into the air; Arabella took her chance and ran her dagger along the underside of the creature, sending her magic into its body which slowly dismantled the creature’s organs. The creature fell to the ground and tried pathetically to rise. Its insides sprawled along the ground. Arabella ignored it and ran to Wynn. She was unconscious in a pool of blood. Arabella turned her over and placed a hand on the wound. She sent her magic deep into the gashes, healing the veins and muscles. It took a few minutes, but soon the wound was knitted back together.

    
Arabella sighed with exhaustion and leant against a nearby tree. The creature died silently. Arabella felt its life extinguish and she laughed weakly with satisfaction.

Wynn and Arabella did not walk for five days. Each too exhausted to do anything more than eat. Wynn prodded her thigh curiously, expecting searing pain to explode through her; instead she felt nothing but her nail dig gently into her skin. If it were not for Arabella Wynn was sure she would have fared far worse, the necklace she wore around her neck protected her from magic and she could not die while it still worked, but it did not stop her from feeling pain and without Arabella she would have been in agony for days as her magic slowly healed the wound. The Dagger of Night had done nothing more than cut the creature, but then what had she expected to happen? She held onto the dagger because she knew it was powerful but she did not know how to use it. Groaning in irritation Wynn looked at her leg, all that was left from the creatures attack was three pink lines running the whole width of her thigh. Her trousers were ripped comically and loose fabric flapped whenever she moved. She might as well take them off and walk in her undergarments. Wynn laughed dryly at the thought, being attacked by Aerona’s henchmen and creatures in her undergarments. Arabella stirred at the sound of her laughter and raised her eyebrow at her.

    
“Sorry,” Wynn said quietly. Arabella snorted and pulled herself up and leant against a tree trunk. The creature’s corpse still lay a few feet away; they had not had the energy to move it, and did not want to touch the body. Wynn stared at it as she had stared at it for the past five days. It was beautiful in death, if she ignored the huge gash that ran all the way down its abdomen and the organs that were sprawled from it, bloody and rotting. Its legs were strong and its talons sharp and deadly, its wings half curled around its body, as though sheltering it from the world. The feathers were golden, with streaks of red running through them. Its beak still lay open as though it were screaming, and its huge eye, as large as a plate, was wide and accusing. It was the creature Medea had warned them about, a Hybrid, a creature of Aerona’s will. Wynn was not surprised that it had found them, danger seemed attracted to her.

    
Wynn wished they were further away from the rotting creature, but they had been too exhausted to even contemplate it. She had never felt such weariness before, when she was running from the Fallen, she thought she would die, but that was heightened by fear, but after her fight with the creature she had known true weariness. Brought on by lack of food, she had only eaten a few meals in over a week, lack of sleep and continual walking. She had never slept for so long, three days solid, waking only to relieve herself and felt better for it. The past two days had been spent drinking water and eating their supplies. They needed to be fit because their journey was nowhere near over.
 

    
“We should get moving today,” Arabella said suddenly, as she brushed herself down. Wynn sighed and nodded, the attack of the creatures had drained them of their strength, and combined with the hard walking they had done over the last month they had had no choice but to rest, but she could feel the strength returning to her muscles and could not justify sleeping anymore. Arabella waved her hands and water separated from the air, flowing as though from a pump. Once they had enough Arabella channelled half of it to Wynn who drank it hurriedly. As long as there is air we will not want for water, Wynn thought gratefully. Arabella stood, shouldered her pack and waited for Wynn to do the same. It felt heavy on her shoulders and she grimaced. They set off into the forest leaving the creature behind them to rot.

They walked solidly for a week, and the days were hard. Arabella was prickly for days after telling Wynn her story, but Wynn did not hold it against her, if anything it showed Arabella’s fragility, that she felt so vulnerable for telling someone of her childhood that the echoes of the pain lasted for days. After Arabella had established Wynn thought no less of her she relaxed into their friendship and Wynn felt her spirits lift. The nights were cold, and the supplies dwindled but something about Arabella made her feel secure and even though they sleep little and ate even less Wynn did not lose hope.

    
While they walked Arabella taught her simple combat techniques. How to block an attack without a weapon and take an enemies weapon from them; after seven days she still could not master them. As she walked she thought of the lessons; jumbled embarrassing moments. Arabella had started off with a stick, a thin long one that she hit Wynn with when Wynn failed the exercise. Arabella tried to poke Wynn with it, and all Wynn had to do was block it any way she could. At first Wynn had used her arm to block the stick, but as Arabella pointed out if it was a real sword her arm would have been severed straight off. Wynn tried something different, trying to dodge the stick, and it worked at first because Arabella had not been expecting it, but when Arabella knew it was all Wynn would do she changed her attack and ‘killed’ her instantly.

    
Wynn’s frustration grew until she forgot she was only dodging a stick, if she saw Arabella’s face drawn in a smug smile or heard her utter ‘dead’ one more time she would scream. She ducked under the swing, hearing the whoosh of air above her, and thrust her palm out; fingers curled and hit Arabella’s hand with the heel of her palm. Arabella’s hand instantly reacted, letting go of the stick and it flew through the air, thwacking into a tree. Arabella flexed her fingers and grinned at Wynn.

    
“Unconventional.” Arabella said, “in situations like that I would dodged the weapon and rendered the enemy unconscious with a kick to his temple, but your way worked just as well for sometimes it is not at all possible to move your legs in that way.”

    
Wynn had grinned, pleased with herself, but the smile was wiped off her face when Arabella had moved on to the next exercise, disarming and taking the weapon off the enemy. Wynn could not manage it. Arabella had retrieved the stick and was thrusting it at Wynn again; she could dodge it well, and had managed to disarm Arabella a few times, but she could not take the weapon from her. Arabella’s attacks became quicker and Wynn was forced to try and fight back, she swung at Arabella who ducked the attacks with ease, a smile on her face. To Wynn this was essential but to Arabella it was a game, she was good at this, her limbs moved like smoke, quickly and unseen, too fast to be touched. Wynn felt like a slug in comparison, easily hit and not at all graceful.

    
Arabella would not tell her how to achieve the exercise and as the days progressed Wynn was no closer to finding out. Arabella was just too quick to wrench the stick from, not that strength would have worked, because Wynn was nowhere near as strong as her friend. Wynn’s thoughts were occupied with the task and when she was not practising she was imagining it in her head. Arabella hid her pleasure at it because for the past seven days Wynn had not been morose once, her attention trapped with the task.

    
The journey was easier now they were both distracted but on the beginning of the eighth day something strange attracted their attention. They had remained vigilant for any more attacks, from the half breed Hybrid creature or the Charmer, but none had occurred. Now as the trees became progressively thicker – until they had had to cut their way through the foliage, leaving behind them a trail of destruction that could not be helped – the sound of footsteps sounded behind them.

    
“Someone is approaching,” Arabella hissed to Wynn as she drew her daggers. Wynn nodded; she could hear them, and feel them. They were human she was sure. Their emotions were clear to feel, which relieved Wynn, every person who had hidden their emotions or had no emotions at all had been strange and dangerous, at least these people approached were easy to read, she felt no malice but she also felt no mercy.

    
It did not take long for the unknown assailants to reveal themselves. Three emerged from the undergrowth. Two men and a woman from what their physical appearances demonstrated. The woman was small, with short silver hair cropped to her shoulders and amazing silver eyes that inspected them critically. She wore a short red skirt held in place by a gold metal belt engraved with intricate patterns and a red sleeveless top, cropped to just underneath her breasts. A gold choker held the top to her body. Her feet were bare. The two men flanked her, and were dressed in long trousers, one brilliant silver, the other dazzling blue, and completely topless. Their hair was brown and messily cut; boring compared to the woman they stood beside. Wynn viewed them with open amazement, they were the most unusual people Wynn had ever seen, but what confused her most were the markings over their bodies. She had heard people of other cultures had permanent symbols and markings etched onto their bodies. To see such a technique up close was remarkable.

    
“We are peaceful,” Arabella said slowly and laid her daggers down. Wynn pulled her jerkin down to cover the Dagger of Night, she did not wish to reveal it to the strangers, but unsheathed her other two weapons and placed them on the floor with Arabella’s. The woman cocked her head and nodded, stepping forward so she stood face to face with Arabella. Their appearances could not have been more different, Arabella with her olive skin and black flowing hair, the stranger with her crop of silver hair and pale skin. The stranger bowed her head to Arabella and pointed at her chest, “Wolf.” She indicated to the men that accompanied her, “Kylun and Hora.”

    
“My name is Arabella,” Arabella said pointing to herself, and then to Wynn, “and this is Wynn.”

    
Wolf nodded and indicated for them to follow. Arabella glanced at Wynn who shrugged helplessly. These strangers did not look like people to disobey, though Arabella certainly would try if need be. Wynn wondered why Arabella did not simply disable them with magic, until a single word reverberated in her mind, sent from Arabella straight into her conscious, “
Magus
.” Wynn did not question anymore and instead they picked up their weapons and followed.

    
They were led through the trees in a seemingly random way. Wynn felt her heart sink they moved further away from Berhandril and lost almost two weeks worth of progress. She knew Arabella was feeling the same as her hands were clenched and her emotions screamed out angrily. As they walked Wynn considered how her powers had developed, before everyone’s emotions had rushed at her, attacking her senses and even making her ill. She had hardly noticed that that had diminished. Now she did not even think about feeling what others felt, it was like breathing, like second nature. To lose this ability would be like losing part of herself. Now she was in control, if she wished to delve deeper into someone’s emotions she could, but ignoring it was just as easy. It pleased Wynn that in that respect she was competent.

    
“Halt.”
 

    
Wynn stopped unexpectedly and raised her eyes. Before her was a small camp embedded deep into the forest. At least three dozen tents littered the glade, made of a strong, waterproof material Wynn had never encountered. The people wore similar clothes to that of the strangers, but in a range of duller colours. Wolf seemed to be their leader, judging by the quality of her clothes. Wolf signalled something to the people and they stopped working and looked at Wynn and Arabella, who shuffled uncomfortably under their gaze.

    
“These are my people,” Wolf indicated to them. Wynn and Arabella nodded respectively unsure what to say. The inhabitants seemed stiff and formal and Wynn could not hold their gaze. Wolf turned to them, her silver eyes blazing, “You will train with us.”

    
Arabella started and Wynn knew it was not what she had expected Wolf to say, “We cannot, we must reach the Seminary of Berhandril,” Arabella replied, “We thank you for your offer,” she added hastily.

    
Wolf nodded, “If you train with us we will show you a shorter way to reach Berhandril, away from the creatures of magic. I cannot promise you will not encounter any but you will be hidden partly along the way. It is a way long forgotten to the traveller.”

    
“Why are you helping us?” Wynn asked softly.

    
Wolf looked sadly at her people; they had gone back to working. Weaving the clothes they wore, hammering swords against anvils, churning milk, making arrows, “They are my people, and we have suffered greatly from the creatures She sends.”

    
Understanding rose like the morning sun in Wynn’s mind. The half breed creature that had attacked them was not the only one of its kind. She thought of its black beady eyes, razor sharp beak open in fury, huge clawed paws rose in attack.
 
 
    

    
“The creatures attack you?” Arabella questioned.

    
Wolf nodded forlornly, “We are forced to move every few weeks, they hunt us. Why I cannot say but it has been so since I was a young girl.”

    
“That does not explain why you want to help us,” Arabella prompted.

    
Wolf smiled wryly, “I know of your travels, and who you are. I wish to help you defeat Her.”

    
Wynn knew ‘Her’ meant Aerona. She refrained from mentioning her name as Wolf seemed to want to avoid it. A strange custom Wynn thought but she respected it and made sure not to mention it in future conversations. She felt Arabella’s excitement; she had not practised her combat without the fear of death in so long and no matter how urgent their mission and need to reach the Seminary both knew that a rest – one that would also offer training – was something they could not pass up on.

    
“We cannot stay long, but we accept your offer,” Arabella said, her voice raised in excitement. Wolf smiled a half smile and walked off. Wynn looked around and sighed, she could almost hear her muscles crying out in protest at what lay ahead.