Sorceress (Book 2) (33 page)

Kayleigh nodded and smiled at him while allowing herself a sigh of relief as High-King Barris wheeled his steed around and broke into a gallop toward Talcosa.

She started to speak but General Jyslin held up a hand to shush her. They rode in confused silence for what seemed like forever before the general halted.

“Fifteen minutes,” she said. “No monitoring spell I know of lasts longer than ten unless someone is actively scrying us. You may speak freely now, Kayleigh.”

“Thank you, ma’am.”

“For what? The favor? The only thing I’ve ever wanted was what you gave me.”

Kayleigh felt a blush coming on. “But you got him to dismiss the edict.”

General Jyslin shook her head and said, “You didn’t listen closely enough. He stayed the edict. He did not revoke it.”

It took the young sorceress a minute to comprehend what her superior was saying. “Oh, so he could reinstate it if he feels like it.”

“Correct. He was quick to point out what your parents valued at your age without offering what he held dear. Do you know what I believe he values above all else? Control. If you prove useful to him, he’ll look for ways to control you, whether it’s magical training or the threat of the edict.”

She allowed the words to sink in. Kayleigh trusted General Jyslin. The same couldn’t be said of the High-King. “That thing he does with his magic – what is it?”

“When you meet Duke Tomas, he will be able explain it to you in greater detail. It requires willpower or powerful magic to fight against. Thanks to you, I no longer have to rely on just my willpower.”

With nothing else to discuss on that topic, Kayleigh instead posed a question she wanted desperately to know the answer to. “Ma’am, can I ask you what you valued most when you were my age?”

The old woman looked pleased. “I was a unicorn rider, much like you. For me, it was duty above everything else, but as I grew older I learned that feelings change and my sense of duty evolved into what I consider to be my personal code of honor. Duty does not define me now, but it was a place to start my journey. Your love of freedom may stay with you for all your days, but you may also find that it leads you to something you will find to be far more important.”

Kayleigh and her team of scouts were roughly twenty minutes ahead of the main body when they caught sight of the encampment flying the colors of the Duchy of Tomas. She motioned for Liz to join her while the others watched to ensure that this wasn’t some kind of ruse.

There was also a good chance Brian and Rahzir were in that camp and the opportunity to see both of them again made Kayleigh happy.

Spotting a falcon in the sky brought a sense of nostalgia to Kayleigh. It meant that Sir Aeric Tomas, Brian’s older brother, was here as well.

Two riders initially broke from the camp to meet them with a third joining them, riding hard to catch up. Kayleigh recognized Rahzir on a horse galloping next to a woman with bright blue hair. The strange woman glanced behind her and saw the other horse. Instead of slowing down, she urged her steed to ride faster with a wide smile on her face.

They arrived in a cloud of dust. Kayleigh waved her hand and used the little air magic she knew to push the cloud away.

“Kayleigh,” Rahzir said and nodded to her. “I am happy to see you are well.”

“Hello, Rahzir,” she replied. “It’s good to see you too.”

“So, you’re the elusive Kayleigh Reese everyone is talking about,” the other arrival stated. Upon closer inspection, the blue-haired woman was much younger. Perhaps the same age as Kayleigh, smaller and with a petite frame that reminded Kayleigh of the Blind Seeress. Those same pale eyes confirmed what she suspected.

“You must be Brian’s sister,” Kayleigh said. “It is a pleasure to finally meet you.”

“Oh yes, introductions. How unforgiveable of me. I’m Ashlynn Tomas, journeyman sorceress and you shall be my newest partner-in-crime.”

Kayleigh wasn’t certain what to make of that. She looked over at Liz, who shrugged and appeared a bit confused as well.

“I am impressed,” Ashlynn said with a smirk as the third rider arrived. “You’ve managed to cast some kind of spell over my brother already.”

“You’ll have to forgive my sister,” Brian said, slightly breathless as Kayleigh searched him for signs of a blush. “She’s a bit odd and takes great amusement in making people uncomfortable.”

“Oh, my poor deluded brother,” the sorceress said and dismounted. “You know I prefer the terms unique and whimsical to odd. How many times must I remind you?”

“Yes, and I noticed you did something to my horse. That wasn’t very nice.”

“Well I did promise mother that I would refrain from performing magic on you. The things around you were not part of the bargain.”

Ashlynn walked over to Kayleigh and regarded her until Kayleigh realized that the young woman wanted her to dismount as well.

“Yes, now I can bestow a proper greeting upon my future sister-in-law and my first student.”

As the smaller woman hugged her Kayleigh felt a tingle traverse her body, but was too concerned with her hiding her own blush from view.

The sorceress stepped back from Kayleigh and said, “Yes that’s lovely, much livelier.”

There was a sense of mirth coming through the bond with Iarisha and a little gasp from the air maiden. Rahzir had a slight frown and Brian smiled.

“What did you do?”

“Lavender is a good color for you. It brings out your eyes.” Kayleigh tugged a lock of her hair forward, so she could see it and her normally blonde hair was replaced with this new color.

“It’s very nice,” she said, suddenly recalling Alanna Tomas’s offhand comment about her hair when they met. “But I prefer my own color. Would you kindly remove the enchantment?”

“No,” Ashlynn said. “Your first lesson will be learning how to remove that novice bit of sorcery. If you’re diligent, it should only take you a few weeks. Besides, I understand we’ll be travelling north with so many unicorn riders that I needed a way I can quickly find my student with so many others about. Now back onto your absolutely darling unicorn. Come along! I’m supposed to take you to meet father.”

There was a tiny shimmer of magic and Ashlynn was sitting back in her saddle, as if she had never gotten out of it. She wheeled the horse around and made a clicking sound with her mouth and the horse broke into a fast gallop.

Frowning, Kayleigh returned to her saddle and began to follow the girl. Brian came alongside of her. “And that, dear Kayleigh, is why I don’t speak of my sister very often. She is rather difficult to describe. My words, any words for that matter, just don’t quite do her justice. Ashe is more like an event. You experience her and then find it impossible to convey what she is like to someone who hasn’t.”

“I think I understand,” she said. “I thought her magic wouldn’t work on you?”

“For the most part, it doesn’t. Instead of being discouraged, she considers it a challenge. Mother has a blind spot when it comes to myself and my siblings. She works around it by seeing the futures of those surrounding us.”

Kayleigh considered the horror of having the ability to see the future, but not being able to use it to protect the ones she most cared about.

Brian interrupted her dark thoughts. “Well, it is a nice color on you. Ashe does have an eye for such things.”

All Kayleigh could do was groan.

“I see you’ve already met my daughter,” were the first words Duke Desmond Tomas said to her.

“I like her, father. She’s interesting,” Ashlynn said from where she was perched on the edge of a table, moving her dangling feet back and forth. A diagram of a city covered much of that table.

“I’m pleased to meet you, sir,” Kayleigh said. “I sent most of my scouts back to let the rest of the battalion know where you are. I expect General Jyslin will be here shortly.”

“I should get ready then!” Ashlynn exclaimed. She touched her hair and mumbled a few words. Her blue hair paled and became the same shade of ivory as the respected warrior. Aeric laughed at his sister’s antics while greeting Kayleigh. Brian just whispered that she’d “get used to her eventually.”

“You didn’t say any words when you changed my hair,” Kayleigh said.

“Observant,” the odd sorceress replied. “But I actually did when I was getting out of the saddle and its part of your first lesson. Spells can be cast immediately or set to release on a certain trigger. In your case, it was when my hands touched each other when I hugged you. If I tap my left wrist with my right fingers like so – this happens.”

As Ashlynn did this a sphere, much like an air maiden’s shield of hardened air, appeared on her arm.

“Once the spell is used,” she said, tapping the shield and making it pop out of existence. “It’s gone. If I want to do it again, I need to recast it and set the trigger or just invoke the incantation as active magic. Trust me. You want to prepare as many spells as you can ahead of time.”

“Really?”

Duke Tomas interrupted by clearing his throat. “Ashlynn is correct in the broadest of terms. The downside is preparing so many triggers that you lose track and unexpectedly unleash a celestial bolt when bending over to lace your boots, which incidentally is why you always use a verbal trigger for your most dangerous magic. You have a unique circumstance. Battle Maidens can’t create a trigger and only have access to active magic. A sorcerer or sorceress has the luxury of preparing their magic ahead of time. Conversely, one of my kind is in danger of being overwhelmed when they’ve expended their prepared magic and have only the magic in them remaining. A Battle Maiden can stay in the fight for as long as they and their unicorns can stand.”

“Father, exactly how many times must you recount the story about my minor mishap?”

“Considering it destroyed the fountain in the courtyard and the statue of your great-grandmother, I believe I can speak as I please,” he replied and left the rest up to Kayleigh’s imagination.

His daughter rolled her eyes and said, “I think the new statue looks much better. As I was saying before we were interrupted, triggers are very important. A novice can generally carry three triggers at a time. Once you can perform five, you’ll be considered an apprentice. If you wish to rise to the level of a journeyman, such as myself, you must be able to maintain a minimum of ten triggers. A master, like my father, is expected to be able to maintain twenty triggers and demonstrate proficiencies in whatever mastery they are pursuing.”

“Proficiencies and masteries?”

Ashlynn scrunched her nose and said, “Let’s save that for another day. It’s long, dry, and not terribly interesting.”

“Which translates into my daughter has not decided what mastery she wishes to pursue,” the duke said and rubbed his chin. “I don’t expect you’ll get much done with Pinella under siege, but it is my hope that she can show you the basics of a trigger and get you equipped with a rudimentary defense or two and maybe a simple evasion. You already have your own manner of offense, so I recommend that we concentrate on those two areas first.”

“When do I start?”

“Well, we’ve got a few minutes. I could either discuss the theory behind a trigger or tease you about Brian. It’s your choice,” Ashlynn said, beaming brightly.

“So triggers it is,” Kayleigh said while the other members of the Tomas family laughed.

“And you can tell your children one day how Auntie Ashlynn first taught you magic,” she quipped.

“I thought you weren’t going to tease?”

“Oh, I have this extremely rare ability to do two things at the same time, novice. One day, if you’re fortunate, you too may be able to multitask. Until then, we’ll try to get by as best we can. It will be a struggle, for me that is.”

Casting a sideways glance at Brian, Kayleigh said, “I’m going to regret this aren’t I?”

“I should expect so. She likes shiny objects and is easy to distract with frivolous banter. That’s the best advice I can offer outside of run for the hills and never, ever look back.”

Given all the seriousness and dire circumstances surrounding her, the behavior of this family, including the absent Lady Tomas, continued to be a breath of fresh air.

The next few days fell into a pattern. Kayleigh led her scouts out on patrol for half the day and spent the afternoon struggling with Ashlynn’s strange lessons, which usually involved some form of odd humiliation.

Still, her new squad mates seemed to derive considerable amusement at whatever strange thing the sorceress would do to her. She also wasn’t any closer to learning how to dispel her enchantments either. Most mercifully faded away after a day, but the butterfly antenna really threw off her sense of balance and, oddly enough, smell.

The sole bright spot is that she’d learned to create the basic shield spell Ashlynn demonstrated. It worked much better than the air magic that continued to elude her. However, she could only actively cast it. Even with General Jyslin’s assistance her air dome was flimsy and her “endless” arrows usually ended the moment they left the bowstring.

Her inability to create a trigger blocked any further progress. Ashlynn could apply a trigger of her own to Kayleigh, and it would release using Kayleigh’s magic. Try as she might, she couldn’t take her magic and store it on her. Even Duke Tomas tried to assist to no avail. His techniques worked no better than his daughter’s had.