Chapter 11

The morning after leaving the forest, Corec woke to find the elf girl—Shavala—calmly sitting on a large rock in the middle of the camp, near the remains of the fire. She waved at him and smiled brightly.

He pushed aside his blanket and stood. “What are you doing here?” he asked, before his mind woke up enough to realize how rude he sounded.

“It was too boring to keep following you.”

“What? Why were you—”

“Shavala?” Katrin asked. “Why are you here? Did Meritia send you?” She, too, was clambering out of her lean-to, but she sounded like she’d already been awake.

“No. I—”

“Why, hello!” Bobo said as he stood and stretched. “Welcome to our camp.”

“Have you two met?” Corec asked.

“I saw you with the scouting party,” Bobo said to the girl. “I don’t know your name.”

“Bobo, this is Shavala,” Corec said. “She helped us find someone we could speak to about our little problem. Shavala, this is Bobo. He...” He trailed off, not sure how to finish that sentence.

“If Meritia didn’t send you, why did you come?” Katrin asked, looking suspicious.

“Meritia decided I was ready to begin my travels,” Shavala said.

“Travels?”

“When a druid has completed her training, she goes out into the world to learn more about it. Some of the other dorvasta do so as well, out of tradition.”

“Druid?” Corec had heard the word before, but wasn’t sure what it meant.

“Druids are mages of the natural world,” she said. “We follow the elder magic.”

“You’re a wizard?” Katrin asked, looking a little nervous.

Shavala shook her head. “No. Do you remember when Meritia spoke of the four types of magic?”

Katrin nodded.

“Druids follow the elder magic—the first magic. We look to the plants, the animals, and the elements.” The elf girl held a finger up and a tiny flicker of flame appeared at the tip, then disappeared a moment later. “Wizards follow arcane magic, which is different. Meritia is my teacher, but she couldn’t help with your sigils because they’re not part of the natural world.”

“What are they, then?” Corec asked.

The girl shrugged. “I didn’t ask her before I left, but perhaps arcane, since she suggested speaking to wizards.”

Corec nodded. “But why were you following us?” he asked.

“To see if I could,” the girl said, as if that was the only answer that was needed. “But you never once heard me or looked my way, no matter how close I got. And it was boring not having anyone to talk to, so here I am.”

“What direction are you heading?”

She shrugged. “I’d like to see the big cities and the ocean before I return, but I can decide for myself. I will accompany you until it’s time to go elsewhere.”

“Wait, you want to come with us?” Katrin asked.

“Why not? There are no rules that I must travel alone. Meritia once spent a month traveling with a demonborn man, until he got a job in a circus.”

Corec considered it. The elf girl’s bow was propped up next to her. If she knew how to use it, and could sneak through the forest well enough that he’d never seen her, she’d be of more use on the trail than Bobo, at least.

“You can stay with us until we reach the West Road,” he said, absently scratching an itch on his left arm. “After that, we need to move faster, so we’ll be riding.”

“The West Road is the one that goes east? The big road at the end of the little one?”

“From here, it goes west and east. It’s just called the West Road because it leads west from Tyrsall. At Dalewood, it splits into the Trade Road and the Old Road.”

“I thought we were already on the Trade Road,” Katrin said.

“We’re on a trade road. The Trade Road is the main road between Tyrsall and Larso.”

“I will go to the big road with you,” Shavala said, then pointed to a cloth-wrapped bundle resting on top of her pack. “I brought mushrooms if anyone’s hungry.”

Katrin rolled her eyes but Corec grinned. If she could find mushrooms in the middle of summer, she’d definitely be more helpful than Bobo.

“I can’t make this work,” Katrin said a few days later. They’d made camp for the night and she was sitting across from Shavala, who was helping her learn to hide her mark. “I don’t understand what I’m supposed to actually do.”

“Just... think about it,” Shavala said. She’d found a hawk feather earlier that day and was tying it into her hair, hanging down in front of her left ear. “When you want magic to do something, you must make it do something. Unless you’re a wizard, and then you have to speak funny words instead.”

Katrin wasn’t sure what to make of the elf girl. Shavala had been with them for several days now, but still hadn’t given any more reason than she had the first day—that it was time for her to go on her travels, which meant leaving the forest and seeing the world. She’d pitched in around the camp at night, but often ranged far away during the day, while they traveled. She would come back at night with rabbits she’d hunted, or with berries and mushrooms, and once with some wild sweet potatoes. Corec seemed happy enough to have her help, but it didn’t explain why she’d chosen to travel with them. Katrin felt uneasy when she saw the way the girl watched Corec, though she wasn’t sure why.

She realized the girl was staring at him right at that moment, and looked over to find that he’d taken off his armor and was changing his shirt.

“Are you going to try, too?” she asked him.

“I might as well,” he said, coming to sit near the girls. “I can hide mine easily enough under my clothes, but it would be good to know if I can do it.” He rolled up his right sleeve so the mark was visible, glowing in the twilight.

It was just the three of them in the camp. Bobo was off searching for herbs again—he’d spent the last two evenings boiling some foul-smelling concoction until it had the consistency of paste, explaining that the salve was good for burns. He was still searching for ingredients for others. Sometimes Shavala helped him, but this time she’d stayed in camp.

The elf said, “Close your eyes if it helps, then think of the sigil. Imagine it to be hidden, so nobody can see it.”

“Can we imagine that it’s gone completely?” Katrin asked.

Shavala shrugged. “You can try. Maybe it’ll work.”

Katrin shut her eyes and tried to focus on the mark, imagining it to be gone, then imagining it to be hidden just for good measure.

“Hey, you’ve got it!” Corec said in surprise.

“What?” she asked, opening her eyes to see him idly scratching his left arm.

“Oh. It’s back.”

“But it worked?”

“It faded away when your eyes were closed,” Shavala said, wrinkling her brow and rubbing at a spot on her forehead. “Then it came back when you opened them.”

“But ... that was easy!”

Corec laughed. “Would you prefer if it was hard?”

They practiced for another hour, with Bobo returning to camp halfway through.

Unfortunately, it turned out it wasn’t easy after all. Katrin could do it if she closed her eyes and concentrated on the mark, but the moment she tried to think about anything else, it returned. Corec hadn’t been able to hide his at all.

“You might get better if you practice,” Shavala said. “That’s how it usually works when I’m learning a new spell.”

“Learning a spell?” Katrin said, surprised. “I thought you weren’t a wizard?”

Shavala gave her an odd look. “I don’t have to speak the words like a wizard, but I still cast spells. When I lit the campfire tonight, that was a spell. It just means I’m making the magic do what I want it to do. It’s a trick of concentration.”

“Is this a spell, then?” Corec asked. “Hiding the rune?”

“No, but it’s similar,” she said, before rubbing her forehead again.

Katrin’s blood ran cold and she stood up in shock. “You!” she said, pointing. “Your head!” She turned to Corec. “Your arm! It’s happening again!”

Shavala just looked confused, but Corec glanced down at his left arm, which he’d been scratching again. There was a look of recognition on his face as he jerked his hand away.

“No!” he said. “I mean, I thought it was just a coincidence. I didn’t even really think about it.” He rolled up his left sleeve, and there were no marks.

Shavala’s eyes were crossed as she tried to look up at where she was poking her own forehead with her finger. “I don’t think so,” she said. “My head itches, but I don’t feel any different.”

“Neither did I!” Katrin said. “That’s how it started. But if you ... if he...” She faced Corec again. “You did it! You’re some kind of wizard!”

“No, I’m not!” he said. Then, after a moment, he looked concerned. “Well, not really. I can’t do much.”

“I knew it! It was you all along! You did it to me, and now you’re doing it to her!”

“No, damnit! I can’t do anything like that. All I can do is make lights, and a couple other things.” He waved his hand, and a ball of pale, silvery light floated up above his head. The night was getting darker and they’d let the campfire die down after cooking the evening meal, so the light helped to illuminate everyone.

“A mage light!” Bobo said, surprised. “That should come in handy.”

“It has a name?” Corec asked.

“Of course. It’s a common spell for wizards. You can only use it when you’re not wearing your armor?”

“What? No—I can do it anytime I want. Why?”

“Wizards have problems casting spells if there’s too much metal around them. And you didn’t cast a spell, you just waved your hand. I don’t think you’re a wizard.”

“I don’t have to move my hand. It just makes it easier to put the light where I want it.”

Katrin shouted, “Why are we talking about lights when you did this to me?”

“I didn’t do it! Or, if I did, I don’t know how, and I didn’t mean to. All I can do are the lights, and I can make a sort of shield during a fight. But I don’t know where the runes come from, I swear!”

He’d gone from insisting he hadn’t done it to saying he hadn’t meant to do it. Katrin realized she was about to cry, and stalked off into the darkness so nobody would see.

“Katrin!” Corec called after her.

“Leave me alone!”

The moon was bright, so she could make her way if she was careful, but she couldn’t walk fast. Shavala caught up to her before she’d made it far.

“What’s wrong?” the elf girl asked.

“What do you mean, what’s wrong? He pretended that he didn’t know what was going on, but all along, he did this to me!”

“You don’t believe him? About not knowing?”

Katrin thought about that. It had been Corec’s idea to go see the elves when she hadn’t wanted to return to the city. It seemed like a long trip out of their way if he’d been lying to her all along, but she just didn’t know anymore. “How could he do it to both of us without knowing, or without meaning to?”

Shavala shrugged. “Maybe someone else did it.”

“Then why would they do it to him twice? Why would they do it to anyone?”

“I don’t know. Humans never make any sense.”

“Why aren’t you angry at him? He did it to you, too.”

“It hasn’t happened yet. Maybe my head just itches because it itches. But if it’s going to happen, aren’t you seeking out a wizard to help get rid of it anyway?”

“I guess.” Just then, Katrin saw a pair of yellow eyes crouched low in the darkness, fifty feet away. She gasped and stepped back in fear.

Shavala followed her gaze. “It’s just a wolf. A lone male—young, I think. He’s been watching us all evening.”

“Wolf?” Katrin barely managed to keep from shrieking the word. Shavala had known it was out there this whole time and hadn’t told her?

“He won’t hurt us. He’s just curious and hungry. I’ll take him that last bit of rabbit after we return to the camp, and ask him to leave us alone.”

“Ask him? Are you insane?”

“It’s part of being a druid. He’ll understand what I say, mostly. It depends how smart the animal is, but wolves are smarter than most.”

Katrin had been a city girl her whole life. She’d never had to deal with magic, or wolves, or—except for the harrowing trip from Tyrsall to Circle Bay when she was younger—sleeping outdoors in the wilderness. She just wanted to go home. She stared at the elf girl, not sure how to respond.

Shavala took her by the arm and led her back to the camp, the elf more surefooted in the dark.

When they got there, Katrin refused to speak to anyone. Just when she’d started getting along with him, Corec had betrayed her. Again.

“We’ll reach the village tomorrow,” Corec said the next day. “Katrin, this isn’t the one we stayed in last time, since we’re following the trade road all the way back rather than cutting across like we did before.”

She just looked at him with red-rimmed eyes, not speaking. He felt sick to his stomach. The more he thought about her accusations, the more they made sense. The only likely way for the runes to affect both Katrin and Shavala—while affecting him both times—was if he was the one causing them. He and Katrin were the only people who’d been present both times, and she certainly wasn’t faking how she felt about the whole thing. Shavala’s rune hadn’t appeared yet, but his left arm felt exactly like his right arm had felt the first time, and she’d mentioned that her forehead still itched. If he was the one responsible for the problem, he didn’t know how he’d make it up to them. He didn’t even know what the damned things were, much less how he’d created them—if he’d created them. Meritia had said that they bound two people together, but she hadn’t explained what that meant. So far, they seemed like nothing more than decoration.