Page 19 of Their Trials

She pulled back as if slapped, her mouth hanging open in shock at his words. “At least I'm not an asshole to everyone I meet.” Her reply was weak in comparison, showing just how rattled she was.

“If you'd been through what I have, then you would be the same exact way. Trust me. You have no idea what you're up against. You'll find yourself in over your head, expecting us to bail you out when you do, just like the trouble you are,” he continued harshly.

Arryn pushed Callum away from Rhowyn. “That's enough, Callum. You've gone too far.”

“Not as far as Lennox and his mother,” Callum snarled, approaching Lennox as he spoke the words. Lennox barely responded, still reeling from his earlier words. “What? Nothing to say? Just like always with you. You speak when you shouldn't and stay silent when you should speak up.” Callum lobbed the insult at Lennox as he pushed him back, trying to provoke him.

I stood there in shock, watching the entire exchange, still convinced something wasn't right. Instead of diffusing the situation, they only seemed to be escalating it. This was not the behavior I expected from these men. They wouldn't act this way, purposefully trying to hurt each other with words. If they didn't stop, this would come to blows.

As if my thoughts conjured the actions, Lennox pulled his dagger, getting ready to use it. Rhowyn grabbed Lennox's arm, holding him back from lashing out at Callum. A dark whisp winding its way around them both.

Callum stepped forward, continuing to advance, challenging him, and getting into Lennox's face, the smoke wrapping around him as well. “What are you going to do with that? As if you could hurt me after what I've been through.”

“If you don't stop, I'll have no choice but to stop you,” Lennox threatened Callum.

“Like mother, like son,” Callum said stone-faced, calling his bluff.

Those words did something to Lennox, though. His composure, or what was left of it, snapped. He lunged at Callum with the dagger, dragging Rhowyn along with the motion, slinging her in between them accidentally. She stumbled over her feet, and the dagger cut along her arm.

She hissed and reeled back in shock, the dark whisps growing in intensity. I needed to do something quickly before they killed each other, but I didn't know what I could do. Normally, I could ease a tense conversation or emotion with a well-timed joke, but I had a feeling that nothing I said would make a difference.

I glanced over to the other group, hoping to find some help, only to discover them all in the same situation, each of them at each other's throats. Something was here with us.

I wasn't the best with lore, but I searched my memory for anything that could cause this kind of discord among the group. My thoughts raced knowing I didn't have much time before this all devolved into a bloodbath. I couldn't allow that to happen.

My memory wasn't coming up with anything that could cause this sort of animosity in so short a time, so I did what I could do. I formed a shield around our group and the other, trying to prevent whatever outside force from being able to manipulate them any further.

Rhowyn continued to hold her arm with one hand, blood dripping through her fingers as the guys continued arguing. Anytime Rhowyn tried to step in, they'd lash out at her verbally, shutting her down. Maybe that was normal for Callum, but it wasn't for Lennox and Arryn.

The dark whisps continued swirling around the guys, though it was no longer growing in intensity. An idea came to mind, and I used my air magic to blow the whisps outside of the shield I had placed around them.

The whisps didn't respond like smoke would, easily blown away. Instead, it seemed to be struggling to hold onto the group. I pushed harder with my magic, the air blowing their hair and clothes all around, causing them to duck away from the force of it inside the shield.

Slowly, the whisps were forced from the bubble I had created, and almost immediately I saw the change. They all looked at each other inside my bubble with shock and devastation at the words that had been spoken. Arryn was the first to notice Rhowyn's arm, immediately placing a hand over the wound and healing it.

His eyes met mine outside of the shield. “What happened?” he demanded, his commanding presence taking over to evaluate the threat that we were still under.

“I don't know,” I told him. “You guys were not thinking clearly, and I started to see dark whisps of smoke. At first, I thought it was Lennox's magic, but none of you seemed to notice it. So, I made a shield and pushed the whisps away and outside of the shield.”

“An Ankou is here,” Arryn said on a whisper, his eyes immediately scanning the area. Callum and Lennox both came to stand at attention, also searching for the creature.

A cry reached my ears, and my focus jumped to the other group. Their fighting was starting to escalate, while they remained inside my shield. Again, I used my air magic and pushed the smoke away from the group until I could no longer see anything, with the same result. The other group looked around confused, Charity crying among them as they met my eyes.

Arryn called to them. “There's an Ankou here, somewhere.”

“Shit!” Eoghan spat out the curse, pulling his own sword and scanning for any sign of it.

Tinkling bells reached my ears, and I threw up a shield around myself, remembering that the bells preceded the arrival of an Ankou. “It's here,” I called out to everyone. “I can hear the bells.”

Everyone held their weapons in hand, pushing their Chosen to the middle of the group. Sweat started to bead on my brow, the exhaustion from using so much magic starting to get to me.

A disembodied laugh sounded around me, and I spun trying to find the source. “You're getting tired, fae of spring. It won't be long until I get the meal I so want. I just have to wait you out.” It hissed the words with a lisp, taunting me.

It was right. I couldn't hold the shields for much longer. I made my way to our group, hoping that by dropping one of the shields I could hold out until we could deal with the Ankou.

Before I could get there, the smoke thickened, surrounding my shield until I couldn't see and halting my progress. I could blow the smoke away with my air magic, but that would only drain me further. The Ankou was ensuring that I would tire more quickly.

The smoke started to press against my shield, testing the boundaries and looking for cracks. I could feel the whisps slither against the shield as it prodded every square inch of the bubble, causing me to focus even more on my shield to reinforce it.

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