“He won’t be the only one,” Pascal said as I carefully unstrung the cloak and took apart the frame of my loom. North waited by the door, holding my bag.
“Wayland,” Pascal said. “You must do it now, before Dorwan catches up to you, before the battle begins.”
I hastily tied the wood together, feeling North’s eyes burning into my back.
“There won’t be a battle if I can help it,” he said sharply. I came to stand beside him, gently prying his fingers from my bag. Pascal remained on the floor, kneeling by the fire.
“I won’t lose you like I lost your father!”
“If you really think I’m capable of such a thing,” North said, “then you already have.”
“Wayland!”
North pulled me in front of him, ushering me out of the small cottage and slamming the door shut behind us. We didn’t stop long enough to say good-bye to Lady Aphra. I tried to glance back, but he wouldn’t allow me to. He led me down the long hill, and I felt the familiar warmth of his fingers as they threaded through mine.
“Are you all right?” I asked. “What happened?”
His dark eyes were fixed solely on our joined hands. “I’m going to twist us as far as I can, but we’ll have to go by foot some of the way.”
“What were you fighting about?” I asked, gripping his arm with my free hand.
“Something that’s in the past now.”
He pulled the black cloak over us, and the mountains of Arcadia disappeared from sight.
CHAPTER EIGHT
For the first time, our landing was actually painful. We hit the ground too fast and at a strange angle, coming to rest in a tangled heap. I was still weak and sore from the illness, and North’s weight knocked all the air from my lungs.
“If you’re done getting comfortable,” I wheezed, “now would be a great time to let me breathe.”
In a single, fluid movement, North rolled off me and was on his feet.
“Sorry,” he mumbled as he helped me up. He didn’t look back toward the mountains. “I thought I could go farther.”
I pulled the map from my bag and let North hover over my shoulder as I considered our options.
“We can pick up a wagon in Middleton,” I said, showing him on the map. “It’s a short distance by foot from here. If we can cut through the mountains near Sapienshire, we should be in Provincia in no time.”
North tugged on one of my loose curls, though his smile was somehow sad. “What would I do without you?”
“Are you worried about Dorwan following us?” I asked.
“He’d follow us to the seven hells if he knew it would prevent us from getting to Provincia,” North said.
“Is he still working with the hedges?” I pressed.
“Even they couldn’t stand him.” North made a slicing motion with his fingers. “Who do you think took his eye and ear?”
I shuddered.
“The Wizard Guard needs to do something about him,” I said.
“He’s unranked,” North said. “There was never a trace spell put on him because the Guard refused to admit him.”
“Because he didn’t have the proper schooling?” I asked.
“Because he had dangerous schooling,” North corrected me. “I think he once really did want to prove himself everyone’s equal, but now I think he wants Auster to destroy the wizards.”
“What will he do?” I asked. “Won’t he be destroyed along with the rest?”
North took my hand in his own and helped me navigate the rocky path. “Let’s not find out, shall we?”
We heard the groan of the wagon’s wheels long before we saw the two boys come around the bend in the mountain path. They were wearing plain clothing and their faces were surprisingly young. North held out an arm and drew me closer to him as the wagon slowed. The horses still had snow in their manes, but it was the word carved into the side of the wagon itself that caught my attention: ARCADIA.
North brought a hand up to his eyes, squinting against the setting sun’s light. “Well, if it isn’t little James and little Peter, all grown up and making the deliveries!”
The young man with blond hair waved, a huge smile on his face. “Mr. North! Didn’t realize you’d left!”
“Just an hour or so ago,” he said. “Where are you headed?”
“Mariton,” the other boy said. “If you’re going our way, we’d be happy to take you.”
North looked at me, and I looked at our map. “Are you taking this path down to Mariton Pass, by any chance?”
We would be able to pick up Prima Road from there, and then it would be about a week until Provincia came into sight. North must have been thinking the same thing, because he favored me with a smile.
“We sure are,” James said. “Hop in back. You might need to do some rearranging.”
I saw what he meant. The wagon was filled with burlap sacks of apples and bundles of newly sheared wool. North pulled himself up first, piling the bags of fruit onto one another until there was enough room for both of us to sit. The wagon trembled to life, and while it felt good to be off my feet, I doubted we were moving any faster than before.
In front of us, the two boys chatted amiably, looking back every once in a while when they thought North or I might not notice. They quieted down as night came and the chill settled in, but I could still hear them whispering about us. I almost wished we were walking, both to get away from them and to warm my stiff, cold limbs.
“I was thinking,” North whispered. I blinked my eyes open, rubbing them tiredly. He was looking at the half-eaten apple in his hand. “That once we got to Provincia, I would find you a nice place to stay while I take care of things.”
“You don’t have to do that for me,” I said, sitting back up. “I want to be with you. This is really important to me.”
“I can tell you’re unhappy, you know,” he said. “Please, I just want to do something nice for you.”
“You did something very nice for me the other night, remember?” I said pointedly. The two boys chuckled.
“Oh, grow up!” I said. They simply waved me off, not even bothering to turn around.
North snorted with laughter, letting his heavy arm fall around my shoulders.
“You should rest,” he said, his fingers threading through my hair. “We have a very long day tomorrow.”
“I’m not tired,” I said stubbornly, trying to shake off his arm.
“Well, I am!” North said, removing his arm. Before I could say a word, he had his head resting in my lap and his eyes squeezed shut. I wondered if he was waiting for me to hit him.
One of my hands came down to rest on his forehead, and all the lines of worry and tension seemed to give way. He was warm to the touch, as always.
“Gonna sing him a lullaby, now?” James asked.
North’s foot lashed out, missing the younger man’s back by mere inches.
“Oi!” North growled. “You’re wrecking my peace! Just be quiet and drive!”
I swatted him on the forehead.
“You’re being ridiculous,” I sighed.
He turned slightly, as if trying to get more comfortable. “I need to feed you more, you’re awfully bony.”
“Go to sleep,” I warned him, “before you say anything else and I decide to drop you off the side of the wagon.”
He grasped the hand resting on his forehead and entwined his fingers with mine, pulling them down to his chest.
“What were you and your magister fighting about?” I whispered. “You were so upset.”
“About whether,” North said, “any man or wizard has the right to be selfish enough to want to save his life.”
“Of course they do,” I said. “It’s only human to want to save your own life.”
North dropped off into a heavy sleep, and there was no waking him after that. I sat straight up, watching the dark landscape roll by and trying to recall every word of their conversation. The only unfamiliar word had been jinx, and North had spa
t the word out so heatedly that it had goaded my curiosity.
Carefully reaching for my bag, I retrieved Proper Instruction for Young Wizards and flipped it open to a list of words in the back.
Jinx, I read. A man or woman able to exude magic, as opposed to conveying it, said to appear once a millennia. Jinxes are very dangerous. Their inability to harness their magic is seen in their ability to cause, but not control, storms as they interrupt the natural balance of magic that exists in the world.
The book slipped from my hand, thudding against the wagon bed. North shifted in his sleep. I felt shocked, almost as if the book had burnt my fingers.
“All right, lady?” Peter asked, looking over his shoulder.
I nodded my head. “Yes, I’m fine.”
It was a long while before I could touch the worn leather binding again. By then, the words had settled into some dark recess of my mind, hanging there until I acknowledged them. I opened the book and realized there was still a bit left to the entry: However, no records of jinxes reside in the capital, and many believe them to be nothing but popular lore.
“A man or woman able to exude magic?” I mumbled. And able to cause a storm—like a snowstorm, or a rain shower? No. This definition didn’t fit me at all; it didn’t touch on the strange threads of light. Exude magic. From everything I had learned, wizards could only channel magic, not create it.
It wasn’t possible—it couldn’t be—because Astraea never would allow it. Never.
I snapped the book shut on the impossibility of it all, tossing it down into my bag. But the words weren’t banished from my mind, and it was nearly sunrise before I was tired enough to rest.
I never had the chance to drift into sleep. The wagon came to a sharp halt that threw me forward, and James turned around and shook North awake.
“I think we have a problem,” James said, as North and I stood for a better look.
Standing at the opening to the valley, hands shoved into his pockets casually, was a wizard, and his smirk was visible even from our distance. North shook my arm roughly to get my attention, but I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the flashes of sunlight against the other wizard’s long dagger.
CHAPTER NINE
I’ve been waiting for you, Wayland,” Dorwan said.
Both boys turned to look at North, but he only let out a disgusted snarl, jumping over the side of the wagon.
“Take her back up to Arcadia,” he said in a low voice. “Tell Pascal what’s happened.”
The boys nodded, and before I could protest, the wagon began to turn around on the narrow path. He’s leaving me behind again, I thought. Watching him walk toward Dorwan, I felt sick, but not paralyzed.
I climbed out of the wagon, and Peter reached for my arm. I pulled away.
“Go back to Arcadia and tell them what’s happened,” I told the boys. “I need to stay with North. Lady Aphra will understand. Tell Pascal.”
I waited until the wagon had cleared the pass before I took a deep breath and walked toward the two wizards. Dorwan’s eyes bore into mine, just as penetrating as I remembered.
“Why are you here?” I asked, already knowing the answer. My hand came to rest behind North’s back.
“To see you again, of course,” he said. Oh, that disgusting smile, that thinly layered malice. “I was so sorry to lose you in Dellark.”
“Sorry enough to poison me,” I said. I looked at North, but I couldn’t read his expression.
“The poison wasn’t meant for you,” Dorwan said in his quiet, silky voice. “An unfortunate mistake. If he had taken it, we could have been together without this trouble.”
North finally moved, blocking me from the other wizard’s view. “You’ll have to find your own assistant, Dorwan,” he said.
Dorwan clucked his tongue. “Assistant? I take it she doesn’t know, then?”
“Know what?” I asked.
“If I had your affliction, I would have experimented, too,” Dorwan said, crossing his arms over his chest. “Though I don’t think I would have stopped so short of a cure. Your magister had the right idea.”
“You don’t even know what you’re talking about!” North’s voice exploded through the pass. I winced.
“So you deny that you took her because you wanted to study her?” Dorwan peered around North’s shoulder.
Don’t believe that, North’s look seemed to say. But why couldn’t he just say that aloud? What did he mean, study me?
“Sydelle, you’d better come with me now,” Dorwan said. “It would be a shame for you to witness what I’m going to do to Wayland if you don’t.”
“You disgust me,” I spat. “I’d lie in a bed of snakes and spiders for all eternity before leaving this place with you. We’re going to Provincia to stop this war, and there’s nothing you can do about it.”
“Are you honestly stupid enough to think you have a choice?” Dorwan said. “There’s no stopping the wheels of chaos now that they’ve been set in motion. It’s a glorious time to be alive in this world! I’ve seen to it that the wizards will be destroyed in this war, and you, dear girl, will help me to establish the new regime.”
North’s fingers tugged at the knots holding his cloaks in place, and time slowed around us. All of the cloaks fluttered down silently, ripples of color in the air, landing in a puddle of fabric between the two men.
“What are you doing?” I cried.
“What makes you believe I’d ever agree to a wizarding duel?” Dorwan’s smile made my skin crawl. “Those rules are antiquated and useless to me.”
“But you love a challenge, don’t you? You’d love nothing more than a chance to use whatever dark magic you’ve created to end my life,” North said. “If you give me time to take Sydelle to safety, that’s the only rule I need.”
Dorwan nodded, obviously reluctant. “There’s no room for nobility in battle, Wayland. You’re too soft.”
“If I win, you’ll leave us be. You’ll never look at Sydelle again, or think about her, or try to stop us from going to Provincia,” North said.
“If I win,” Dorwan said slowly, looking straight at me, “the same terms apply, only I demand the surrender of your talisman as well.”
“Fine,” North said. “Are we in agreement, then?”
“Don’t you request my talisman if you win?” Dorwan asked, seemingly confused.
“Why would I ever want such a piece of rot?” North said. “No, thank you.”
Dorwan was silent, pulling a long, thin dagger from its sheath. Its hilt, worn with use, was wrapped with blue string; one long braid of strings, ranging in color from midnight to sky blue, hung down from the hilt.
Dorwan opened his hand, letting the dagger fall on top of North’s cloaks. A palpable buzz of energy filled the air, touching my skin with a slight shock. When the sensation finally faded, Dorwan bent to retrieve his talisman.
“I’ll let the two of you say good-bye,” he said, and turned, walking back into the sunlight.
“Great gods,” North grumbled as soon as Dorwan was out of our sight. “Oh, bloody fantastic! I hate that rotting misericord, and he knows it!”
I stared at him helplessly.
“The mercygiver?” he clarified. “The dagger? Used by sodding tricksters and sneaks because they can’t fight with a real weapon? Great. Oh, bloody great.”
“You’re worried about…the dagger?” I asked incredulously, wondering if I had misunderstood him. He shrugged his shoulders slightly. “Are you insane?” I said. “You just challenged him to a duel! What’s gotten into you? We have no time as it is!”
“It was the only way to make sure he stopped chasing us,” he said, stooping down to pick up his cloaks. “I didn’t see another choice.” He shook out the cloaks to clean the dust from them.
“Besides,” he continued, “I’m much stronger than he is. He just doesn’t know it yet.”
“What good is strength if you have no sense?” I asked. I grabbed his forearms. He took the opportunity to wra
p the black cloak around us; when it fell away, we were back at the head of the mountain pass.
“No!” I said, turning to run back into the pass. “I won’t let you leave me behind, not again!”
“Syd!” he said, catching me in two strides. “Listen to me—you have to get away, all right? Stop!”
“No!” I said. “I won’t!”
North gave me a hard shake, forcing me to look him in the eye. “Just for a little while,” he said quietly. One of his arms wrapped around me, and his other hand came up to touch my hair. “Until the fight is over.”
“What was he talking about?” I asked him. “When he said you took me because you wanted to study me?”
“Because…,” he began.
“Don’t lie,” I warned. “There’s something you’re not telling me. After hearing you and Pascal, and now Dorwan—”
“You can’t believe a word he says, Syd.” North pulled away. “He’s full of deceit.”
“Then why would he want me?” I pressed.
North dropped his bag unceremoniously over my shoulder. “Keep this safe for me, will you?”
“It’s not because there’s…something unnatural about me? About my magic?” I asked.
“There is nothing unnatural about you,” he said sharply. “Nothing.”
I nodded.
“Just wish me luck and let me go,” he said.
I looked down. “You don’t need luck.”
He laughed, bringing my hand up to kiss it.
“Try to find a place to hide, or get as far away as you can,” he said.
“What about you?” I said.
“I’ll find you, as soon as I possibly can,” he said, wrapping a loose curl around his finger. “You’re a bit hard to miss, you know.”
He backed away, pulling his cloak up and leaving me trembling and alone.
The path we had taken down the mountain wasn’t difficult to follow, and the walk back was made easier by the fact that I had left our bags and my loom in the wagon. I was supposed to be with them, of course, but I didn’t care what North wanted—I wasn’t going to sit there and wait for him to return.