Page 80 of A Fractured Song

Zev’s grip on her wrist stopped her from falling, and she allowed herself a shudder as she passed a hand over her face.

“I don’t like this place.” The honest words slipped out before she could stop them, but thankfully Zev didn’t seem inclined to laugh at her.

“Nor do I,” he acknowledged. “Open fields and peaceful orchards for me, thanks.”

“I’d even take barren canyons over this jungle,” Marieke said. “Come on, let’s give it a wide berth.”

They’d barely gone a dozen paces, however, when Zev stopped again. Marieke’s eyes darted nervously around, but there was nothing sinister in the trees this time. Zev knelt down, shifting a large fern frond with his hand to better reveal a clear print in the mud.

“What animal made that?” Marieke asked, the skin on the back of her neck prickling.

“I don’t know,” Zev admitted. “I don’t know anything about jungle creatures. I could track a wolf or a fox without problems, but this doesn’t look like either of those.”

“Definitely too big for a fox,” Marieke agreed. She knelt next to him, studying the print. “It must be reasonably fresh, if it hasn’t been washed away by this drizzle.”

“I’ll be honest, I don’t like the idea of continuing without knowing what’s nearby,” Zev said. “I wish there was a way to know for sure.” He glanced at her. “I don’t suppose magic can tell you?”

“Actually, maybe it can,” said Marieke. She stared unseeingly at the closest tree, thinking of Instructor Oriana’s song at the burned field of wheat. “Storytelling song would be able to tell us what’s near.”

“Storytelling song?” Zev sounded intrigued. “Is that something you can do?”

Marieke sighed. “No, not really. I learned only the very basics. I didn’t get to pursue it. But…”

She bit her lip. Kaine had said she had a strong natural aptitude, at least for one branch of storytelling song. She knew the basic concept. And the magic here was so strong it wasn’t asthough she’d struggle to find enough for the demanding task. It was worth a try.

Marieke cleared her throat, not trying to form the enchantment until she’d finished pulling magic into herself. It took all her concentration just to do that step. Then she cautiously sent magic out from her. In employing the magic, she copied the formula she used to test the nearby terrain with her agricultural songcraft. But she replaced the words with a simplified version of what she’d heard Instructor Oriana use at the wheat field. Not testing the environment itself, but the temporary elements currently at play within it.

Her song was cautious and short, and when she let it die down, she saw Zev watching her avidly.

“Well?” he asked. “What did you sense?”

She shook her head slowly. “Not much. I mean, there’s a lot, but I couldn’t identify much. I got a sense of plenty of creatures in the area, but nothing felt big enough to match these prints.” She drew a deep breath. “I’m going to try the harder kind, where you ask the magic to tell you what happened rather than what’s currently in place.”

Zev looked lost, but she didn’t try to explain to him. Instead she screwed up her eyes so that her normal senses wouldn’t muddy the waters of what her magical sense was telling her. Then she sang soft and low, asking the magic to tell her the story of this patch of land.

Nothing.

Marieke opened her eyes, disappointed. She shouldn’t be surprised. It was a complex area of magic, and she had no training. But she’d hoped the land would give hersomething, even if she didn’t have the skill to properly decipher it. She met Zev’s eyes reluctantly, disappointed to be unable to justify the faith she saw in them.

A memory flashed through hermind, from when they’d been cornered by Rissin and the other elves in the cave in Sundering Canyon. Zev had gripped her arm and told her that he knew she could do it, and the magic had instantly become more responsive to her.

“Zev,” she said suddenly.

“Yes?”

“You believe in me, right?”

He blinked. “Of course I do.”

“Can you…can you put your arm around me?”

Zev stared at her, and she fully expected him to ask for an explanation. But he didn’t. He just shifted toward her, one strong arm sliding across her back and around her waist, pulling her in just enough so she sat snugly against him.

Marieke was already overheated from the humid air, and the contact only increased that sensation, but it wasn’t off-putting. In fact, she was now at risk of a different kind of distraction.

Pulling herself together, she murmured her thanks before focusing back on her song. The magic here wasn’t like the magic in Sundering Canyon—it was overwhelming in volume, but not chaotic and unpredictable—and it didn’t pool around Zev or travel straight through the ground at her direction.

Still, as she raised her voice in a song, she could feel that the magic was more responsive to her now, in a way she couldn’t describe. It just felt…happy with her. Cooperative and malleable. It was bizarre, but useful. An image flashed through her mind, of a dark and sleek shape traversing the same ground they now occupied, its movement silent in the sleepy jungle.

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