Page 20 of A Song of Air
The Resistance
“How many are you?”Bryson asked as they walked towards the general direction of where his camp lay. Her every sense was alert to anything nefarious, but so far, she’d heard nothing. Her fingers were tense, her magic poised just at the edge of her fingertips just in case.
“A lot of us,” Clay said. “There’s me and Basil here—”
“And mommy,” Basil interrupted.
“Yeah, her too.”
Had Bryson imagined it or had his voice gone wistful at the words?
“We’re quite a large group, actually. Are you sure it’d be okay for us to stay at your camp?”
She wasn’t, but she was still angry with Ev for keeping things from her. It didn’t matter, anyway. Arlo was always looking for more Fae to add to camp like they were something to collect.
“It’s fine,” she said tightly. “We’re a pretty large group, too.”
“That’s good.”
“Mhm...”
They walked the rest of the way in silence. She often caught his stare straying in her direction from the corners of her eyes, though it was hard to gauge what he was thinking.
Her thoughts were interrupted when there were shouts in the distance. A commotion and a clash of voices, some she recognized and some she didn’t.
“Mana, that’s my group...”
“And mine!”
She broke out into a run and Clay did the same. She didn’t hear Basil’s feet, so assumed he’d been picked up by the older male. They side-stepped trees, feet skidding against leaves, until they burst out into a clearing to the sounds of arguments and vicious threats.
Clay let out a curse. “I guess our groups found one another...”
“Yeah, I figured.”
There was a clash of steel hitting steel as swords met and bodies blurred in a vicious fight.
“Should we... stop them?”
Bryson sighed and started forward, following Ev’s daffodil scent and tall figure. “Ev!” she called out.
The sharp sound of her voice cut through the arguments, promptly stopping them. The closer Bryson walked towards the group of opposing sides, the more her skin began to itch. Just beneath the surface, the anxiety continued to press, tingling against every nerve. Her breathing grew labored, and deep inside her soul, her magic began stirring.
