JUNIPER
There weren’t any boats; the wind was too strong, the current too rough. Whatever excuse to be had, it was made. The fraud empire had to be right on our tails, it was suspicious that they hadn’t caught up to us yet. Maybe we’d moved faster once we’d lost more than half our people. It was difficult to move quickly with so many stragglers who were freezing, hungry, and exhausted.
Alric tried his best to haggle, bargain, and even plead but the more Alric spoke, the more the man’s gaze hardened before he slammed the door closed to his shop.
“What are we going to do?” Grove wrapped her arms around herself as she watched the few people that were left.
Alric let out a deep sigh. “We don’t have any options. We cannot swim. We have no way to cross. The closest point where we could cross is riddled with sea monsters and at least another three days' journey. We would also be traveling right into the Ender Kingdom territory. I don’t recommend that.” Wasn’t all of this continent the Ender Kingdom territory? How else would they be chasing us everywhere? How else would they be able to do everything they’d done? I kept my thoughts to myself and closed my eyes briefly.
“What if we take turns?” I rubbed circles on my temples, trying to get rid of my growing headache.
Leo took his massive fist and pounded on the wooden door. The man yanked it open, about to light into who I assumed he thought was Alric, when he stopped short and the blood drained from his face. The unhappy expression seemed to melt off when he was faced with the giant. Too bad he didn’t know that Leo was one of the sweetest men alive.
He grinned down at the man and it probably made him seem more menacing to a stranger. It was hilarious from our vantage point. “One boat?”
The man pulled his robe around himself a little tighter before he peeked back into the little cabin and closed the door behind him. He eyed the people behind us before he looked back up into Leo’s expectant face. “Just one? You will not be able to carry all of those people in one boat.”
Leo rolled his eyes. “Yes, I am aware, we will have to take turns.”
The man pinched his lips and his voice lowered. “My family was threatened. We are not supposed to grant any of you passage.”
It was late in the night and I wondered who else had seen us enter the small village. All the inns were full and shutters were boarded up tight. To anyone else, it would seem the town was closing for the harsh winter and blizzard, but now we knew better. They were warned against us.
“You will not accept gold?” Leo patted his chest and it clinked softly.
The man shook his head. “What is gold going to buy us? The fields are practically gone with winter, but it isn’t like they did much when we were in the spring. Gold will buy nothing.”
I stepped forward, even as Alric wrapped his hand around the top of my arm. I could offer these people something.
“What if I can fix your fields? What if I can get you enough food to last through the winter?”
The man’s eyes sparkled with greed. It was an unusual sight when you weren’t speaking about currency but I guessed it was a type of gold. If I could provide him with fresh produce, he would be the richest man in his village.
“If you can get me enough food to get through the winter and be able to sell some of it, I will give you enough boats to get you passage.”
The hood of my cloak pooled around my shoulders as I took a step forward. “Lead me to your gardens.”
The magicin my blood called to me before I was even remotely close to their gardens. The man watched me with cautious eyes as the snow crunched beneath our feet. This would be an impossible task without my magic. But with it, I could perform miracles. Alric followed close on my heels with his sword drawn while Leo, Reva, and Grove waited with the rest of the group. Even though they protested, I knew I could handle whatever was going to happen next. I knew my breaking point, I knew when to stop. I wouldn’t allow myself to get too far gone.
The fruit trees were the worst off. They hadn’t produced fruit in years. Their roots and dying limbs practically screamed at me as I grew closer. I ran my fingertips over them as I passed and immediately, they colored before our eyes and blossoms popped up around fresh leaves. Even in the cold, these plants would survive. They would thrive. He would know abundance.
The man’s brows pulled together in the center of his forehead as he watched the miracle of his fruit trees. “How?”
Even though I felt dead inside, I smiled at him. I wasn’t sure if it was warm or friendly but it was something. I was trying despite how I felt. Despite everything I’d been through.
“This is what the magic of the gods provides,” My whisper floated along the air and chills erupted over my arms. “They want the land healed, but they needed the right vessel, I guess.” I shrugged. I didn’t know how or why. I didn’t have reasoning or explanations. All the proof there was ran through my veins and was showing signs in the mark on my back.
I fell to my knees and dug my fingers into the ice beneath me. I couldn’t feel it. Everything was still so numb or maybe it was the magic protecting me, I wasn’t sure. Nor did I really care. I needed to get us across the ocean as quickly as possible. I needed to get us to safety then I could worry about everything else.
My magic did what it was supposed to do. There was a pulling and a tugging and I released all the pent-up feelings inside my chest. All the despair, all the anger, all the sadness went with my magic into the earth. With a snap, I was yanked backwards and fell onto my butt. All around me, the garden was flourishing with new crops. Bright green beans hung heavy from vines that still had a little bit of ice on them. Big red apples bent the limbs of the trees they were on. Everywhere I looked, fruit was growing before our eyes. The man blinked and rubbed his eyes with closed fists.
“What?”
Before I knew what was happening, words were spilling from my lips. “And if you betray us, all of this will be taken away just as quickly as you were blessed with it. Not only will you know famine, you will know a curse like no other. The Mage Queen has returned and she will not be thwarted.”
My mouth closed with a click and I blinked. Where did that come from? Alric helped me from the ground as the man nodded profusely. “I wouldn’t dream of it, but that doesn’t mean the others in the village will care. They will seek reward from Queen Ender.”
Alric looked down at me as he worried his lip between his teeth. His eyes were dark when he looked back at the man. “We will pretend to leave, Leo will yell and shout curses. We will meet you down where no one will see but the people will want to know where your boats went. You’ll have to tell them that we broke into your boat house in the middle of the night and lit fire to everything to enact revenge.”
