Page 34 of Vow of Magic
“How do I know who are the monsters I must eradicate then?”
You will know mindless evil when you see it. The magic in your body will react, will want to destroy, and when you feel that call you must unleash the wrath of the gods. Do not let the blight take over your home.
Grimacing, I asked the question I wasn’t so sure I wanted an answer to. “Are the dragons my subjects, as well?”
The magic vibrating in the air around me practically laughed. I could feel its amusement coating my body. Yes though I wouldn’t recommend seeking them out first. Find your other subjects and remember, just because they don’t look like you doesn’t mean they are evil. This isle is full of different creatures of magical ability and they did what they could to survive to get to this moment. To get to the time to meet you.
The bath wasn’t as exciting after that little magical conversation I had, but it gave me ideas. It gave me more excitement to fill my days. I thought I would have to explore to find my joy, but as it turned out, all I needed to do was go looking for my subjects. I still wasn’t so sure what that meant or entailed and it somewhat frightened me but once again, it gave me a purpose and I was beyond excited to explore it.
The next morning,as Alric was beating the seven hells out of me, I divulged the new information I learned from the day before. He stopped, lifted a brow, then smirked. “The magic spoke to you again?”
I avoided one of his punches, just barely and sighed. “Yes. How many times do we need to go over that? It spoke to you last time we were here, how is this so surprising? I’ve been begging for answers for weeks now and I finally have something.”
His leg kicked out and down I went. My head smacked the snow-covered ground and I groaned as I rolled out of the way from another kick. I wasn’t so sure this was training anymore and instead, it had morphed into some kind of torture. What did I sign up for? This was not how we trained back at the keep. He was definitely trying to kill me. I rolled in another direction as he stomped down and narrowly missed his foot in my ribs. I don’t know how I managed to stand, but as soon as I was up, his attacks became faster and harder. Death was imminent with this one.
“Maybe we should take a break from training tomorrow and go looking for my subjects.” Between gasping breaths, I was able to speak.
“That’s not a bad idea, but we will need to have our wits about us. These subjects don’t sound human. How are we going to communicate?” His fist flew for my face and I ducked at the last moment. How was I going to show face to these subjects with bruises covering my body? I was going to be an embarrassment, which pushed me harder to avoid his fists and feet but didn’t do much for me when I needed to attack back. My body trembled with exhaustion. Sweat was dripping into my eyes and I didn’t know if I would even be able to walk the next day from how many hits I’d already taken. I was losing this battle, I could feel it.
Alric’s punches came at me faster until one of them landed on my shoulder and I was forced right to the snow again. At least the cold climate helped ice my wounds.
“What was your question again?” I asked as I watched him gulp water from his jug. All I could do was scoop some snow from the ground, pack it into my shoulder, and then shovel the rest into my mouth. It didn’t taste the best but I didn’t have the strength to haul myself back up and face Alric’s fury. This was the worst. What was I thinking? What I wasn’t thinking was that I should have mentioned training with Reva. But did I really want someone to take it easy on me?
Internally I groaned. No, I didn’t. I needed to be the best so they could feel like they could trust my skills enough to leave me alone. They acted as if I wouldn’t lock myself into my chambers anyway. Another thought entered my head that I hadn’t considered before… My subjects weren’t just humans. There were other beings out there. There were magical objects in the Solarian Mountains. There was more magic than I’d ever known to be possible and someone could use that against me. Just because I locked my doors didn’t mean someone couldn’t make it through. I needed to be the best fighting-wise and magical-wise. With a sigh, my head fell back into the snow. I would have to endure this for a lot longer than I wanted to.
“How do we know we will be able to communicate with them? You said dragons?” He crouched down beside my broken body and poked me in the ribs. I hissed at him and tried to roll away. Were we done yet? All I wanted to be was done. Maybe I could stay here forever. I closed my eyes and breathed in the icy air. It made my body feel better, that was for sure.
I shrugged and it caused pain to radiate everywhere. How could my entire body feel like this? How would I be able to travel like this? I certainly couldn’t ride on one of the birds. I would be a limping mess by the next morning. “I’m sure the magicwill have some way to help us. It wouldn’t have mentioned it otherwise.”
“I would hope so.” He stretched to his full height and nudged my side with his boot. I didn’t bother to try to roll away from the motion. He could stomp on me if he wanted to and I wouldn’t care right then. I would tomorrow when I couldn’t sit up on my own, but for now, I would welcome death or unconsciousness with open arms. Unfortunately, neither one of those things happened.
Miraculously,the next day I could walk and sit up on my own. There were black and purple bruises all over my arms and my legs but they didn’t hinder me from getting dressed or doing what I needed to. I didn’t bother with a bath or a shower and dressed as quickly as I could manage. I opted for a fur-lined dress with knee-high boots beneath and a thick cloak. I left my hair down around my shoulders but passed a brush through it quickly. It sparkled in the light coming from the windows behind my bed. There was no crown that I’d found and I didn’t know if I felt comfortable wearing one just yet. Would my subjects even know who I was? I had to trust that the magic would help with that bit too.
Reva didn’t bother knocking as she barreled into my chambers. She held a leather thigh holster and a small dagger. “We don’t know what to expect out there. You need to have some kind of protection in case Alric and I can’t help you.”
My magic would help me if I got caught in a bind, but I couldn’t always depend on it either. There was no telling whatwas out there on this massive island. There was no telling what kind of creatures my subjects were.
Reva was dressed head to toe in dark brown leathers. Two shining swords were strapped to her shoulders while various sizes of knives were strapped down her legs. Her red hair was bound at the back of her neck with a sparkling silver pick and I knew immediately that it was a weapon also. I didn’t need to wonder if there were weapons tucked into her boots or even her leathers, I knew her better than that. She was deadly on every inch of her body. If she lost these, she would survive. She had literal weapons up her sleeves. There was probably even poison coating some of them.
Alric knocked before he entered and I dropped my dress around my legs. The cold metal of the dagger chilled my skin but I felt more comfortable with it there. My other friend was more conservative in his weapons. Most of his were hidden, which was more of his style considering he wasn’t a guard or a warrior, but a spymaster. He was just as deadly as Reva, but he didn’t look it. His eyes practically devoured Reva in all of her warrior get up and when his gaze passed over me, his eyes softened.
“Glad to see all of your bruises covered,” His statement was soft and I frowned at him.
“No thanks to you, I could have a black eye today.”
“Then we wouldn’t have decided it was a good day to go,” He pinched his lips together as his eyes narrowed. “Actually, a bruised face might do you some good. You’d probably get more respect from some of these subjects of yours, especially if they’re animals.”
I held my hand up. “No, that’s okay. I don’t want to ice my face today. I’m sore enough.”
Which was a lie, but I wasn’t going to admit that I wasn’t hurting as bad as the first day. I was thankful for the lack of hurting and didn’t want him to up the ante on our next trainingsession. Knowing him, it would happen as soon as we returned to the castle tonight. Or tomorrow. There was no telling how long this journey would take.
“Are we done with all the chit-chat? I’m getting antsy.” Reva eyed my dress and then the man across from me. I nodded and he swooped his arm forward for us to go first.
The long sleeves of the dress itched but I knew that I would need protection from the elements. I wouldn’t be freezing to death today.
Edna waited for us at the bottom of the stairs. Alric accepted the overloaded pack from her. “Plenty of food and water for your journey. When you get back, I’m sure the castle will have a big pot of spiced ale on the stove.” She winked up at the ceiling like she was sharing a secret with an old friend and I found my heart warming. The old woman was beginning to get under my skin and I found that I enjoyed her company when the castle didn't want to magically provide food for me at my table. I knew it would come soon when the castle no longer did that for me and I needed to get used to going to the kitchens. When I voiced this out loud in front of Reva, she scoffed and mentioned something about having a full staff eventually. I would never have to wait on myself again, but that thought was weirder than the magic waiting on me. I’d gotten so used to doing things for myself. I’d learned how to braid my own hair, do some of my makeup though that was completely experimental this morning, and even make something Edna called a sandwich. I didn’t know if I wanted an entire staff at my beck and call. I was fine just like this for a little longer. I didn’t want to have to adjust to another form of life so soon.
When we exited the castle, I could feel that whisper of magic at my back nudging me toward the path through the mountains that took us back to the beach. The easier route that we’d made it through before. “I think we should go that way.”
