“If you were not aware, your constant stopping to pick another weed is delaying our journey by the day,” Cassiel said. “We need to reach Landcaster soon to replenish our fares.”
He’d been too ambitious to estimate it would only take a fortnight to reach the port. They couldn’t fly like him, and she certainly couldn’t move as fast as her brute of a cousin. This excursion may take twice as long as he thought. And sailing to the island will take weeks if not months. He most certainly won’t return for the better part of a year.
“Please excuse the inconvenience, Prince Cassiel,” Dyna said as she wrote another line in her notebook. “It is necessary for healers to carry adequate medicine.”
Medicine for whom? With his regenerative abilities, he never fell ill. The fatal injuries for Celestials were those sustained to the heart or the head.
“And what, pray tell, is the use for grass?” He asked because she would tell him regardless if he cared to know.
She stood and put away her items. “Phyllon roots are good for pain and steeping the leaves can induce sleep. I’ll make a soporific for Zev tonight. He’s been having trouble sleeping.”
At the reminder, Cassiel searched their surroundings for any streak of black among the greenery. “The beast has wandered off again.”
Dyna frowned. “Zevis patrolling. He’ll find us when it’s time to make camp.”
Since the night at Lake Nayim, the were-beast had shapeshifted into a wolf and remained that way. He spent most of his time out of sight in the forest as they traveled, coming to check on Dyna throughout the day. At night, Zev waited until she fell asleep before he sauntered off to do whatever animals do. Cassiel hadn’t been able to sleep well knowing he roamed free.
The were-beast must be going mad. It would explain the strange behavior but Cassiel didn’t know him well enough to say.
An Other, the Pack had called him. They couldn’t have been referring to his ability to shapeshift at will during the day. WhateverOthermeant, the Pack feared him. It was obvious the Alpha had planned to have him killed in the glade because of it. But Zev had arrived at Lake Nayim alive with grave wounds and vague answers.
How had he survived against so many werewolves? The creatures were massive. Deadly. Survival should have been impossible, and Cassiel doubted the Alpha let Zev go free.
So, after Dyna and Zev fell asleep that night, he had flown back to the glade to investigate.
“He’s not right …” Cassiel stopped from saying more. What he had seen was too gruesome to tell Dyna.
“Your cousin has been a wolf for two days,” Cassiel said instead. “He may have already fallen into the Madness.”
Dyna shook her head, expression wistful as she gazed at the tree branches swaying in the gentle breeze. It passed over her, fluttering her tresses and ends of her sage dress. “Zev will shift back when he’s ready.”
Ready to face what he had donewent unsaid.
There was no way for her to know what happened in that glade, but Cassiel suspected she knew. He had thought her a foolish rube with nonsense in her head, but she proved far more intelligent than he assumed. He supposed she had to be intelligent to become a healer.
Dyna continued onward. “How much longer until we reach Landcaster?”
Cassiel picked up his pack where he had left it perched by the log and took out the enchanted journal. He flipped to the section of the map but the page was blank. He glowered at her back as she passed through a gathering of ferns. They had tested how far she could be away from the map without it disappearing, and a mere twenty paces was the limit.
When she had first revealed the map in his father’s study, he hadn’t stopped to think about how she came by it. He had assumed she found it, not that it had been passed down in her family.
Was there any truth to what she said about her lineage? A human wielding trueborn magic was unbelievable. Though that would explain how she could harness it.
Cassiel caught up to Dyna, holding out the journal. She said the passphrase and the blank page flashed with light as the map reappeared. It had occurred to him the other night that those words were of the native language of the mages before they became accustomed to speaking Urnian.Tellus, lunam, solistranslated to Earth, moon, and sun—respectively, representing the three Guilds that pillared the Magos Empire.
“We are not far from Landcaster. We should arrive by tomorrow morning,” Dyna said, studying the glowing page with a soft smile. She looked up and the sunlight graced her eyes, the striking, vibrant green color glimmering with flecks of gold. “Have I astonished you again, Prince Cassiel?”
He quickly looked away, realizing he was staring. “I’m not quite convinced you’re not a witch.”
But he had already accepted that she wasn’t. After he had time to think about it, he recalled having already seen her soul, and it was not marred by dark magic. That was proof enough.
Dyna’s eyebrows lifted in response. “Are you teasing me?”
He cleared his throat, resuming their hike. “I cannot deny you have use of magic.”
She followed on his heels. “I don’t have enough power to do much with it, and it’s difficult to use.”
Cassiel said nothing else as their footsteps crunched over fallen leaves and forest debris. He sensed her invitation to converse, then heard her sigh when he ignored it.
