Chapter 28

The nearest peaks in the Coastal Range were visible even from Circle Bay, and it hadn’t taken long to reach the foothills south of the city. Corec was setting up his tent when Ellerie and Boktar returned from climbing the nearest hill for a better look.

“Did you see anything?” he asked.

“The road curves around to the east,” Ellerie said, “but if my maps are right, we don’t want to go that way. There’s not enough land between the sea and the mountains for what I’m trying to find. There’s a trail that follows the western side of the mountains, so we’ll go that way instead.”

“We’re not going into the mountains?”

“No, I just need to get a view of the range from the side.”

“This would be easier if you’d just tell us what we’re looking for.”

She scowled at him. “We’re not looking for anything. You’re following along while I figure out this bloody banishing spell so I can undo what you did, and then we’ll each go our own way.” She’d been trying to teach herself a banishing spell from her spell book ever since they’d left the city.

“I agree, but in the meantime, wouldn’t it be easier to work together? I’m not going to steal your damned treasure, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“I don’t care about the treasure,” she said, “but I don’t need your help to find Tir Yadar.” She stalked off in the opposite direction.

Corec shook his head. He should have had Shavala or Treya speak to her—she seemed to like them.

Boktar gave him a sympathetic grin and a shrug, then followed the elf. The dwarf was friendly to everyone besides Bobo, and he had the competent air of someone who’d traveled a lot. He’d even taught Corec some things to watch out for when buying horses or mules. Boktar had suggested donkeys rather than mules, but Corec stuck to what he was familiar with.

He and his friends had pooled their money and bought five horses and two pack mules for the journey. Once they got back to Tyrsall, their plan was to give Treya and Bobo their pick of the horses, then sell the rest. Treya had sold her own elderly horse before they left, and although Bobo hadn’t sold Rose yet, she was too old to take on a winter trek to the north.

“I take it the conversation didn’t go well?” Katrin asked, coming over to stand near him.

“No. Even Treya doesn’t hate me this much.”

She laughed. “Treya’s too nice. If you hadn’t stuck that thing on her forehead, you two would probably get along.”

“And you?”

“Eh. You’re all right.”

He snickered. “Thanks.”

“What were you talking about?”

“I was just trying to find out what we’re actually doing here. She wants to look at the mountains from the west.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. She says they’re too close to the ocean to look at them from the east.”

Katrin crinkled her brow. “They’re not that close. There’s over a hundred miles between them.”

Corec shrugged. “I guess that means we’ll be going more than a hundred miles west. I’ll talk to Bobo and see if he has any ideas why she wants to go that way.”

“He’s out gathering firewood. And Shavala’s foraging, so Treya’s trying to set up all the other tents by herself.”

“Ahh, I’ll go help her, then.”

They didn’t go a hundred miles to the west after all, but continued following the trail along the foothills. When Corec asked about it, Ellerie had suggested she wouldn’t need to go that far out unless she found what she was looking for.

The third morning dawned chilly, and remained that way until the sun was well overhead. Corec was riding at the rear of the group. He and Boktar had taken to alternating their positions, with one of them at the front and one as the rear guard, since they were the only two with armor.

As they’d continued along the trail, Ellerie continually glanced at the mountains to their left, growing more frustrated each time. Finally, she dropped back to ride alongside him. “I don’t think this is the right place,” she said. “It should only take one more day to see enough of the range to make sure, then we can turn around and go back.”

“How can you tell?” he asked.

She hesitated before replying. “The shape of the mountains, and where they stand in relation to each other. I’m looking for seven peaks laid out in a particular way, but nothing looks right so far.”

“How do you know what to look for?”

“Like I said to Bobo, I didn’t tell him everything. I’m not going to tell you, either.”

Corec sighed. The conversation had actually been polite up to that point. “I’m not your enemy, you know.”

“We’ll see, but even if you aren’t, you need to get your magic under control. That spell you cast ... People have been killed for less. Why did your teachers let you go off half-trained?”

“If I’m even the one that cast the spell.”

“What, you think I did it?”

“No. I just mean ... I don’t know. I guess I felt something this time, but I was hoping that somehow this wasn’t all my fault. And I’ve never had a teacher.”

“If you didn’t have teachers, where did you learn to use magic?”

“It just started happening, about seven years ago. The lights came first—like the ones you put around the camp at night.”

Ellerie nodded. “Mage lights.”

“That’s what Deshin called them, too—he’s one of the human wizards we spoke to. The other spells came later, but I don’t know very many. Deshin gave me a book to try, but I was never able to cast the mage light spell the normal way. He said if I couldn’t, then I might never be able to learn any other spells. Though I did learn one more after that. It was in the middle of a fight, and it almost got me stabbed, but the spell itself seems to make my armor stronger.”

“You learned a spell in the middle of a fight? Without even trying?”

“I guess,” he said, keeping his face expressionless. Ellerie had been spending hours each evening hunched over her spell book trying to teach herself the banishing spell.

She frowned. “I know there are arcane mages who aren’t wizards and who don’t need to speak the words, but how did you make it do what you wanted?”

“I didn’t. I wasn’t even trying to cast another spell, it just happened on its own. I’ve never had any control over the spells I know, though after the first few times, I can usually learn to cast them when I want to.”

“That just ... doesn’t make any sense at all!” She sounded offended. “Magic is all about control! If you can’t control it, then who knows what’s going to happen?”

Corec shrugged. “Could you help me learn? Maybe if I can control it better, then I can figure out how to undo the binding spell.”

“I don’t—” Her eyes grew wide. “Look out!”

He looked to his other side to see men rushing at them with weapons drawn, wearing familiar black brigandine armor. His horse was startled and jerked to the side. The animals they’d bought in Circle Bay weren’t trained warhorses like Dot, and he didn’t want to try fighting from the gelding’s back. He quickly swung down and let the horse run off, casting his combat spells as he did so.

Ahead of where he’d been riding, Katrin’s horse bucked, knocking her from the saddle. She hit the ground hard and didn’t move. Next to her, Shavala managed to keep her seat, bending down to talk to her horse as she strung her bow.

Corec ran for Katrin, unslinging his sword as he went. One of the attackers was in the way, his eyes glowing red. Without stopping, Corec whipped his sword around in an arc, beheading the man.

Another group rushed toward the front of the procession. Boktar wheeled his horse to the side and charged at them, while Bobo’s horse ran away with him still on its back. Treya’s horse acted up, but she slid out of the saddle before it could run.

One of the red-eyes drew close to Corec just as he reached Katrin, but before he could do anything, a white beam of light shot past his ear, too close for comfort, and hit the man in the face. He dropped instantly, his features an unrecognizable mess.

“Katrin!” Corec knelt down, grasping her shoulders. Her head rolled limply, her eyes closed.

“Treya!” he shouted. “Katrin needs help!”

Treya danced back from the man she was sparring with to glance over, grimacing when she saw the redhead lying on the ground. She renewed her attacks, but then an arrow suddenly appeared in the man’s neck. He fought on for a moment more before dropping his sword. Treya felled him with one last punch to the face, her fist glowing.

She ran over to Corec and knelt down. “What’s wrong with her?”

“She fell off her horse. I think she hit her head. Is she... ?”

“She’s alive. I’ll take care of her.”

“I’ll keep them away.” Corec stood again, then charged at the closest of the red-eyes. Before he got there, three darts of light hit the man in the chest. He growled and flailed his arms but didn’t fall, so Corec barreled into him, knocking him to the ground, then thrust his sword down through the man’s armor and into his chest.

He ran to the next man, passing a dead red-eye lying on the ground with an arrow through his left eye.

As Corec fought, his armor felt lighter than usual, and swinging his sword seemed almost effortless. This fight wouldn’t be like the last time he’d faced these men. This time, he was fully armored, and his opponents wouldn’t be able to hurt him unless they got lucky. He didn’t intend to let them.

Ellerie twisted out of the way of the battle axe as the man with the glowing red eyes tried to kill her. The battle was eerie, with none of the attackers shouting, only growling.

She’d spent her magic early on the fight. The beam spell took a lot out of her, and then she’d had to make the choice of whether to stay on her horse or not. Shavala had remained mounted, using her bow and occasionally getting a lucky hit, but Ellerie didn’t have any way to fight from horseback. Her horse had been trained to not get startled during a fight, but wasn’t a warhorse like Boktar’s.