Page 89 of The Shadow Wand

I fidget my foot away from the back of my shoe, where I can feel a blister forming, my mind a mess, unable to form a coherent thought. “Maybe...maybe I remind her of my grandmother?” I finally manage.

Lukas considers this as his eyes continue to bore a hole into me. “Elloren,” he says again, as if desperately trying to remain civilized, “how long have you known that the Kin Hoang are targeting you?”

I hesitate, realizing how terribly foolish it was to not tell him. “A few days now.”

He looks up to the sky as if praying for composure before bringing his gaze back to mine. “Perhaps, in the future,” he says, “‘Kin Hoang assassins are after me’ could be among the very first things you say to me. Just after your initial greeting.”

I nod in rattled agreement, the side of my head still throbbing from its collision with the carriage wall.

“Is anyone else after you?” he inquires. “Assassins of any type? Anything at all?”

“I don’t know,” I admit. I go silent, and Lukas’s jaw tenses as he stares me down. I can tell he knows there’s so much more that I’m not telling him.

Lukas lets out a measured sigh and rubs the bridge of his nose. Then he resheathes his rune-marked wand under his tunic and peers closely at me. “Come,” he finally says, gesturing for me to follow him back down to the road. “This is a main route. We’ll requisition the first carriage that comes along and set you up with a proper guard.”

CHAPTER NINE

PREY

ELLOREN GARDNER

Sixth Month

Valgard, Gardneria

It’s not long before a carriage comes along and I’m sitting across from an elderly Gardnerian couple, the two of them staring at me with unwavering dubious expressions during the journey back toward Valgard. Lukas is seated outside with the driver where he can keep watch, wand in hand.

As the carriage bumps along, the feeling of overwhelming shock that initially buffered my emotions gives way to a stifling terror that I won’t live to see another day.

I grip the Scarlet Elm of my seat’s edging in a desperate attempt to stop the full-body trembling that’s kicked up, my thoughts swirling in chaos. An image of the wood’s source tree unfolds in the back of my mind—red serrated leaves, deeply furrowed trunk. But the beautiful image is able to shear only a slim edge off my panic.

Before long I’m disembarking in front of a military post on the outskirts of Valgard, unsteady on my shaking legs.

The garrison is lit by torches set on long iron poles and is made up of a collection of dark structures with walls formed from Ironwood trunks, twisting branches weaving into tangled roofs. A well-guarded central tree-building lies just ahead. This building is larger than the others and has the distinction of Gardneria’s flag raised atop it, flapping in the evening’s warm breeze.

Lukas strides to this central building, his tall form illuminated by the torches’ wavering amber glow as he launches into conversation with a hard-eyed Level Five Mage who has come out to meet us, his uniform bearing the markings of a post captain.

The captain nods grimly as Lukas describes a significantly altered version of what transpired. In this new version, the Kin Hoang sorceress brutally killed our carriage driver and the horses, then attacked Lukas. Quickly realizing she was seriously outmatched, the sorceress turned and fled through a runic portal. Just before escaping, she threatened not only to come back for Lukas, but to come after me, his fasted partner.

Lukas tells the story smoothly, and it’s accepted without question with grave nods and growled murmurs. I’m both relieved and alarmed by the fact that Lukas can lie so well to others.

The captain turns toward a sentry and barks out a list of soldiers’ names. The sentry strides purposefully away. He soon returns flanked by a small contingent of young Mages, severe-featured Thierren among them.

Thierren’s gaze catches mine for a moment, a flash of caution in the look that roils my emotions even more.

Most of the young soldiers nod with solemn deference as Lukas gives firm orders. Thierren simply listens, his face now impassive until I see him exchange a private, blazingly intense look with Lukas.

I ponder the exact nature of Lukas and Thierren’s obvious alliance as I wait nearby in the night’s shadows, sleeves pulled low to hide my bruised forearms, no longer able to hear all of what Lukas is saying over the clatter of our rescuers’ carriage leaving and a new one arriving along with more soldiers on horseback. Six more soldiers emerge from the command structure, two of them wearing black cloaks bearing the five silver stripes of the magical elite.

They all make their way straight to Lukas with a determined cadence.

A young, expressionless soldier presents himself before me, momentarily cutting off my view of Lukas.

“Your carriage, Mage Gardner,” he directs, hard insistence in his tone as he motions for me to follow him to the newly arrived carriage.

I hesitate, my heart picking up speed as I look to Lukas to make sure stepping into that carriage won’t put me in more danger.

Lukas briefly meets my gaze and nods toward the carriage, his message clear.

---