Page 62 of Pure Magic
After another long look, Laura nods then pulls him into a hug. “Be well. Take care of your lady and yourself.”
Sad and resigned, he looks her in the eyes and says, “I will.”
Lynda packs a basket and gives it to him. “Food for the trip. You’ll be starved by the time you reach the Northshire woods.”
“Thank you.” He takes my hand. “We’ll need to stop on the way to have Jillian saddle the horses and bring them around. That will give us time to settle our bill and gather our things.”
With another round of goodbyes, we leave the coven house and rush back to the inn.
Thirty minutes later, we’re headed out of Birchover with the shield staff tucked into two loops on my saddle. The blue stone catches the light like an animal blinking out of the darkness.
I’m so engrossed in the staff I almost miss Adam speaking.
“How did she find us?” he finishes.
There was something about our having turned direction, but I missed most of it. “I don’t know. She must be able to sense you through our spells. Could that mean she’s gaining power?”
Picking up his pace, he leads us off the main road, but we stay pointed toward the fae forest. “It’s possible.”
Through the spring leaves starting to fill in the trees, the sun catches the stone at the top of the staff. I pull the staff out and examine it. “Maybe that’s why we need this staff. Maybe it will do as its name indicates and shield us from our enemies.”
“Perhaps you should cast a new spell and direct the magic through the staff.” He stops beside me.
Pilot throws his head and puffs at being forced to stop.
Zephyr moves her head, rubbing Pilot’s neck, and it appears to soothe the beast.
I hold the shield staff at the halfway point and raise my arm. “Goddess magic of the light, make our path unseen. Should our enemies search our flight, leave our markings clean. None shall find those with me, as I will, so mote it be.”
Clear white light rises from the top of the staff and expands like an inverted bowl around us. It spreads above the trees and wide until we can’t see it. However, the magic tickles over my skin.
“That was something one doesn’t see often.” Adam stares up at the sky where the dome of magic is like a clear film.
I wonder what else the staff can do.
My thoughts must have been loud. Adam says, “Time will tell, my love. Just as time will likely show us what the wand is capable of.”
“Perhaps this is all about what we’re capable of. These items are only tools.” It would be better if we could defend our lives without tapping into items we don’t truly understand.
With a sigh, Adam kicks his horse to a brisk trot. “If we didn’t need them, they would not have been provided. I know how you feel, Beth, but we have seven days to find the hallowed hart, be gifted part of his antler, and get to Stonehenge. We can only hope that’s the right location.”
It was lovely to be out of the saddle for a day. Now I wish I could have more time. I’ll never complain about walking again. My bottom and thighs ache like I’ve been beaten with a stick. Pushing the horse into a lope makes it slightly more comfortable, and the animals are happy to run.
Rather that yell over the pounding hooves, I think, “The stones feel like the right place.”
“Perhaps.”
“You know, wherever you go is where Ariana will make her attempt. Stonehenge was built in the light. It’s an advantage for us. And it just feels right.”
“Stonehenge it is then.” We find a small path through the woods, and Adam pushes the horses harder.
When the horses finally stop at a break in the forest, every inch of my skin, muscle, and bone aches. At least, I hope we’re stopping. So far, in these woods, every tree has looked like the others, and I’ve noted no change in the magic around us.
The rising moon lights a strip across a stream in front of us. On the other side of the stream is a field.
Adam searches left and right.
“What is it?”
