Page 84 of Whisper Woods

The time has come.

My instincts are confirmed when I check Brydon’s desk. Amongst the towers of books and papers and the charred remains of spells, there is only one thing missing.

The book.

In its place are pages and pages of half translated spells and rituals, each more dangerous and volatile than the last.

The ringing in my ears has reached deafening levels, vibrating my eardrums with violent force.

Kitchen.

The voice in my head is staggering, considering it is not my own. The familiar yet strange whisper is a desperate echo. I follow the instruction, body tense and hypervigilant for attack.

But the kitchen is empty, too. I’m unfamiliar with the space, never having reason to enter it, but nothing seems odd or out of place. The benches are orderly; the stove is off… Nothing is amiss.

Thunk.

Just when I’m about to leave, something heavy falls behind the pantry door. Turning back on my clawed feet, I carefully—silently—cross the floor.

There is something on the other side of the door. Something that shouldn’t be there. Tensing, ready for whatever is about to come, I wrap my clawed fingers around the handle and twist. The door yanks open with ease and out falls Sed and Eldrid. Bound, physically and magically, kitchen rags tied around their mouths.

On their knees their eyes are wide, their pleas silent.

Unfettered rage pours through me that someone hasdaredbreach my home and abused my staff in such a manner. It should be impossible.

Unless… unless the intruders were invited in.

Unless I wasbetrayed.

A shudder wracks through me, and the beings on the floor shrink back infright. I don’t particularly help matters by reaching out with my claws to shred the physical bonds tying them. The magic binding their voices I am less certain how to remove without possibly causing more harm.

Sed and Eldrid at least look relieved and thankful for their release, rolling their limbs and standing shakily.

“What happened here?” I grind out. I'm shaking with fury, making it hard to speak.

Sed starts talking at a rapid fire pace, with his arms flailing for emphasis but there is no sound. He tries again and again until he throws his hands in the air in frustration. Then Eldrid takes over. That voice once again pressing inside my head—Eldrid’s voice. It is a skill I had truthfully forgotten he possessed, seeing as it has been largely unused since I am no longer an obstinate teenager refusing to listen.

“Heylor came. He sent Seff away under the order of the High Council. Guards saw him to the border, and they closed the portal.”

The world turns black as the words sink in and Eldrid nods sympathetically, his pale eyes watering in sympathy. He reaches out to pat my arm but I can barely feel it.

Seff… is gone?

It feels as though I have been dropped into the endless ether. I need to go. I need to get him back; I need to find him. I need—

Eldrid’s hand tightens around my arm, an anchor returning my focus to him.

“There’s more.” His eyes bore into mine.

I don’t want to listen, but I do. Impatience buzzes inside every cell in my body.

“Heylor spoke with Brydon. I think—” Eldrid hesitates, not wanting to say what’s next. He visibly steels himself. “I think Brydon was working with Heylor. He offered him that book.”

I shake my head violently, as though I can remove the truth of the words, jerking back out of Eldrid’s hold. He lets me go, nodding sadly.

“No! Brydon wouldn’t do such a thing! Not with his father. I refuse to believe it!” I snarl and growl, slamming my hand so hard on a bench the stone cracks beneathmy fist.

Sed winces but nods too, stepping cautiously forward. He does not have Eldrid’s alternative communication methods, so he mouths his emphatic defence. “It’s true. We heard. I’m sorry, Rafe.”

---