Page 29 of Terragnata and the Heir of the Earth

“Nearly killing Dane is amisstep?” Sanah’s voice remained level, her brows raised. My throat tightened at her comment. She did not seem angry—only fair—though I wouldn’t have faulted her for the former.

“And I supposeyoucould teach her to command an element, Leuffen?” Dane jumped in. “Yes, that makes perfect sense. The Fae brute knows best about an Earth Witch’s ability to control such a potent force. Perhaps you wouldn’t be so quick to defend her if she had nearly killedLeiyain the attempt to call her power.”

Leiya launched back at Dane with a sharp retort about not being easy to kill, at which point I stopped listening and turned my focus to the lick of a candle. The flames flickered and the tension rose. Eventually, everyone talked over each other, and the chaos level of the tent escalated. I glanced at Jana, who was staring off into the distance, silent, as if her mind drifted elsewhere, analyzing some alternate solution.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake, shut up,” Ezren cut in, slamming his hand on the table and rising to his feet. The room quieted. Whether in deference or surprise, I could not tell. When he spoke, his voice was low and even, the trained tone of a warrior. “You’re all talking about Terra like she’s not here. Someone at least get her a gods’ dammed seat.” He avoided my eyes as if they would incinerate him. Parson stood and motioned me to take his chair next to Ezren. He seemed more than happy to fade into the background of the room.

“Jana, could you safely assess Terra’s ability to call her power? Perhaps by conducting a test of some kind?” Ezren asked, his voice measured and his gaze trained on Jana as I walked over to his side of the table. His words seemed to pull her back into the room.

“I believe there may be a way,” she said. “And I will do it regardless of if we go by land or sea.” She turned to me. “You will need to face this part of yourself, dear, whether you wish to or not.”

I slid into the chair next to Ezren, conscious of my body position in relation to his, where my feet fell under the table, where I placed my hands. I nodded in response, but images of flying branches and a tornado of debris flashed in my head. I looked at Dane, still cut and bruised, regarding me as if I was a bubbling volcano about to erupt at a moment beyond prediction.

“If it doesn’t work, if there is no way for me to control it, I mean, could you re-bind the magic inside me?” I asked, turning to Jana.

“It could be possible,” she considered. “But it would fight me, of course. I would need assistance, and it would likely be as painful as the cleansing, if not more so.”

“I would help you, Jana,” Dane said, eyeing me suspiciously. “Should it be necessary.”

“Et should be out a’ the question,” Leuffen bellowed. “Ye weren’t there Dane, but et was a right awful theng. I’ve seen suffering en me life, but nay like that. Ezren had te cover her whole damn body wi’ hes te keep her from thrashin’ so hard she’d injure herself. We canna allow et.”

“It is not our decision.” The quiet but firm comment came from the Dragon-shifter seated on my left. He looked at me now, his blazing eyes searching my face. For what, I did not know. It was the closest I’d been to him in a week, and I could feel a heat radiating from him.

I didn’t dare move as he leaned back into his seat, his attention cast toward the group once more.

“I’ll do my best to learn to control it. But if Jana deems me to be incapable, Iwilltake the necessary action to keep everyone safe,” I said, nodding to Jana.

At that, the discussion of “if by land or by sea” continued to unfold. Eventually, the council settled on a two-pronged approach. Jana deemed it the wisest course, though some opposed dividing our forces. A ship with over half the group would go by sea as a decoy for Fayzien, tempting him to gain advantage on the water. The best Fae warriors and battle-tested Witches would occupy the boat to fend him off long enough before he realized I was not on board. By which time, the smaller group, my company, would have already navigated through the Adimon Mountains. If all went according to plan, we’d be well on our way before Fayzien resumed his search for me. Then, the sea-faring group would slip into the Viri port of Panderen under the cover of night and wait for us to make the remainder of the journey together.

The Fae warrior twins were assigned to the ship. The idea of them fighting Fayzien on my behalf made me nauseated, and I wondered how they would defend themselves against a Water Witch on the sea.

“Didna worry, lass,” Leuffen said to me with a wink after the meeting ended. “Fae have some magic too, remember? Ye just havna seen et yet. We’ll give hem a run for et, promise.”

Sanah was also assigned to the ship, given she was the most skilled healer and they expected to need her abilities. Jana would lead my group, along with Ezren, Dane, Parson, and a few others not on the council. Twelve of us—three Fae, six Witches, and one half-breed, would travel on horseback through the Adimon Mountains.

I was bleary-eyed by the time we all stumbled out of the canvas structure, looking for cots on which to catch a few hours of sleep before preparations began in the morning.

I was so exhausted I hadn’t noticed a Fae warrior approach me from behind. Any trace of sleepiness vanished when Ezrenpulled me behind a tree, out of the torchlight, out of earshot from the rest of our group.

“You don’thaveto bind your power. There will be another option, a different way to keep everyone, andyou, safe.” He bent his head close to my ear, so close that I could feel the hot air of his words against my skin. My chest constricted. “You don’t want to spend a lifetime denying something that is you. Trust me. It’s painful, and it will eat away at you, bit by bit. The Earth will always call to you, whether you run from it or not. Rebuffing your nature brings only suffering.”

I opened my mouth to ask why he’d cared or what pain he’d suffered—but before I could utter a sound, he was gone, stalking off into the direction of his own tent.

Leaving me in the heat of a moment that had fled as quickly as it arrived.

I rose earlierthan the rest, no sign of life at camp except for those posted on watch. I found a clearing a few yards off and began my drills. I ran through the different combat combinations I’d learned the past week, picturing an opponent before me. Occasionally, a lone aspen became my adversary, taking the brunt of my beatings, the calluses that had formed over my knuckles protecting them from abrasions. I longed for the weight of steel in my hands. The feeling of power and the strength of it had come back to my memory. I swung an imaginary blade, whipping it around with force, fantasizing about the chime of metal on metal.

“Did ye really thenk I’d let ye train all alone this mornin’?”

I jumped, startled by Leuffen’s voice floating out from beyond a tree.

My mouth turned up in a smile at the gentle-faced, unarmed warrior, and I wiped the sweat from my brow with my forearm. “Well, if I’d waited for your lazy ass, who knows when I would’ve started,” I chirped back.

Leuffen let out a deep chuckle and then charged at me. We fell into a familiar combat. He tried to pin me in his signature position, with my back to him and my throat in the crook of his arm, his other hand placed on the top of my head to show he could snap my neck with ease. I didn’t let him. I was too fast when he tried to grab me, and I snapped the edge of my hand against his throat. He bent over and gasped for air.

A throaty chuckle came from behind me. “I think it’s time you let me take over, Leuffen.”

I whirled around to see Ezren making his way towards us at a casual pace, his hands clasped behind his back. The morning sun glinted in his soft waves, burnishing the dark auburn locks. His eyes were practically molten, purring with a royal green hue that I could have sworn glowed like the sun hitting his face—even from several yards away. The tips of two swords peaked out from above his shoulders. One of the hilts cased an emerald, casting prisms of light.

---