We made a great team on our mini missions. Parallel to his military training, he was also an incredible thief. So whenever we departed for a supply run, he’d ask the children if they wanted anything. Never made promises he couldn’t keep, but always said if he found what they were asking for, he’d make it happen.
I prayed he wouldn’t actually attempt to steal a saddle today. Going into Hava City was cumbersome enough, and I couldn’tenvision us easily slipping the patrol with something so clunky to carry.
“Please tell me you’re not going to try. I don’t need this today, T.” I massaged my temple, in part due to Tio’s anticipated antics, but also from the nature of our task, and the weight of being back on Windguardian soil.
I never liked returning here, to the land of my birth. Not only for the horrendous injustices that still take place, but for those early years of my childhood when I’d tasted true fear as my family prepared to run for our lives. When magic wielders being strung up in the streets started happening in droves, my father secured a job in the mines of Highcrest. Even though my mother was careful not to flaunt her magic in public, Dad wasn’t willing to risk it.
Highcrest didn’t openly execute magic wielders, but neither were they fully accepted, either. Social consequences hold just as much power as physical ones, so our lives didn’t change much in that regard. We kept to ourselves and didn’t speak about magical things.
The first time I could recall using my abilities, I was ten. A particularly chatty chicken in a pen outside a bakery shop kept repeating how awful her feed was every time she pecked the ground. I’d held my mother’s hand, waiting in line. After hearing “awful seed, just awful,” repeated for the fourteenth time, I’d found the source. I almost hadn’t believed it. None of the other patrons in line seemed to notice either. Not even my mother when I peered up to see her shimmering auburn hair in the sun. She cast her blue eyes down at me with her gods-blessed smile and seemed unfazed with the annoying string of complaints.
My biggest regret was never telling her about my magic. I should have told her that day as soon as we left, but part of me still carried that death-fearing worry of being found out. Maybeif my mother had openly wielded her magic at home, I would have confessed.
I wish I could have seen her expression when I admitted I had magic, the radiating joy she’d have knowing she’d blessed me, but she could have just as easily grown terrified for my future. It was easier to pretend like it didn’t exist, especially since my magic doesn’t manifest in flames or anything visible.
The secrecy of it all has left me plagued with questions, even years later. I was never clear what her power could actually do. She could grow plants really well, so one might assume she’d possessed herbalist abilities. But she also had a way with animals, which left me even more confused when I could hear a chicken’s thoughts and she couldn’t. With magical lines being diluted for a couple generations, it wasn’t a wonder why mine was so unique and inconsequential—unlike Rav, who could wield an element, meaning he possessed strong magical lineage.
Maybe that’s why I’d been so determined to train at Rahana. One might now consider my skills with a bow and arrow pretty magical.
“Can you call any wild horse friends, Ro? My leg ischafingsomething bad today. Stupid spider bite got me all swollen.” Tio rubbed at his left thigh where the prosthetic met his skin.
“You know I don’t know where every creature is at all times, right?”
“I don’t know how you shifters work.” He grunted and stretched his back.
I sighed. “Not a shifter.” It’d be cool if I had an animal form that I could morph into though.
“Yeah, yeah. Close enough.”
An ability like mine wasn’t technically listed on the hierarchy of magic, and the closest relation to it was a shifter. Simply speaking with animals? That magic had no name. On the scale ofHigher and Lesser magics, mine would no doubt be placed at the bottom.
Tio’s joking verbal jabs didn’t sting, since his magic was also ranked on the Lesser scale. Rav never commented on either of our powers, and I knew it was intentional. It wouldn’t be in his nature to gloat or make any other magically blessed feel inferior. He’d lived under Windguard’s tyranny for too long, and he and Radhak had risked everything to save others. He would never contribute to anything that tore any of us down, even in jest.
Upon discovering Rahana, following one of their thieving parties, I’d been a little intimidated to share my power with Radhak and Ravinder. Regardless of my limited magic, they welcomed me with open arms.
I didn’t know at the time what convinced me to find the camp. I supposed I still didn’t, but being a part of Rahana helped me feel like I had purpose, like I was on the right track.
“We can only stop once,” Rav declared, “so figure out when you want to do that. My informant is prepared to meet at exactly eleven o’clock tomorrow. Missing that meeting is not an option.”
Tio replied, “I don’t think stopping sooner or later will make a difference, but you can bet your ass I’m gonna be grabbing a tincture or lotion when we get there.”
We trekked until the sun was long buried beneath the horizon, finally stopping for a couple hours to rest. The air in these forests held onto more moisture than Highcrest. Something about the placement off the ocean and surrounded by mountain ranges created an unusual heat pocket, even though the mountain peaks glittered from snow.
It may have felt more humid, but it also felt constricting. My skin tingled with the memories, as if it wanted to peel itself from me and head back across the Splits. Eyes closed, steady breaths, constant mental reminders that I was safe, and my family…
Tula, at least, was safe back in Highcrest, living a respectable life. I’d always felt a little lost, but my father had been supportive of my endeavors to figure out where I belonged. Since I’d known for certain he had passed, it’d created some sort of internal barrier that I now stuffed any vulnerable emotions behind. Like the thoughts that questioned if I’d wasted the time I could have had with him, and if my instinct to depart on an unknown journey into Rahana had been nothing but frivolous and selfish.
The last time I’d ventured into this kingdom, I’d been nothing but confident in my mission. Now, I kept bumping into that wall of regret the closer we got. Braving the resistance I felt to this place would be going fine when all of a suddensmack,memories of my dad accompanied by the grief of losing him struck me hard, nearly stealing my breath as we’d trudged through the woods. Preparing now by a warm fire to see magic-wielders abused in Hava City andsmack, memories of my dying mother.
It was a battle to choke down the emotions. I wouldn’t let them win, wouldn’t let them swallow me whole. We were here for important reasons, to help feed our growing community. My concentration drifted to the laws of Windguard, to the injustice, to the wretched King who sat upon a throne built upon a kingdom of dead innocents. That familiar anger sparked in the dark corners of my mind, and I let it guide me to the place that honed my focus, sharpening it like a blade.
Stealth, speed, and invisibility. Those were the things I needed to center myself around.
Feeling like I’d adequately collected my composure, armed with the tools necessary to execute our mission come the morning, I loosed a breath and opened my eyes.
Tio and Rav each fell into their pre-mission ritual. Rav stood in a small clearing between the trees, stretching and practicing slow, deliberate movements with his sword. Tio assessed his prosthetic, sanding down parts of the wood and testing the durability of the straps.
We’d done this dozens of times before, yet we still readied ourselves. That gave me confidence in my team. Whatever came our way, we’d be able to handle it.
