She wiped the sweat off her forehead and tried to straighten her throbbing back. Her eyes stung as she made out the black smudge of Pegasus, who had slowed hispace.
Good. Angelique plopped back down on the ground and leaned against the boulder the wyvern had tossed her into, intending to make the most of this unexpectedbreak.
The pounding of her headache faded just a tiny bit as the shadow of a scrubby bush covered her.I’m going to have to think of a trap of some sort to ground that thing. Unless I want to try slinging spells at it from Pegasus’ back, but that seems needlessly dangerous and has too great of a potential that there will be innocents who are accidentally slain in thechaos.
She patted her troubled belly.Nadia said soldiers were sent after it. Maybe we could lure it to those areas. The scent of the soldiers might cover Pegasus’smell…
The loud stomp of footsteps made Angelique crack her eyes open, then sit upstraighter.
A man leading a horse marched not far away, heading in the direction of Swan Lake. It hurt to look at him, for he wore a burnished gold chestplate that threatened to blind Angelique in the unforgiving summer sun. His golden cape was barely any less eye-catching. Even so, there was something about him. Not cruel or dark, as the mage who attacked her in Zancara had been, but perhaps…shadowy?
It feels like he has magic, but I can’t be certain. Ihatemy shortcomings in magic sensitivity. It’s far more useful than my blasted coremagic!
Despite the possibility of magic, she was certain he wasn’t a mage. Given the heel-dragging the Conclave had already done, they wouldn’t let any mage within reasonable distance of Swan Lake. (They couldn’t risk any of their people. Although, it seemed Finnr and the others were perfectly willing to riskher!)
Angelique held her breath and pushed herself against the rock, hoping he wouldn’t notice her. Unfortunately, he glanced once in her direction, then immediately looked at her again and stoppedaltogether.
She stiffened, and suspicion made her magic bubble, though she forcefully held it incheck.
The maybe-magic-possibly-dangerous man raised bushy eyebrows at her. “You’re an enchantress,” he stated more thanasked.
Angelique stood, keeping her right hand hidden behind her back as she started weaving some of her magic. (Encountering and fighting the black mage in Zancara had not done anything to make her less paranoid and more friendly with strangers.) “I’m a mage—can I helpyou?”
He laughed. “You’re not a mage! You have far too much magic to be anything but anenchantress.”
…So it has come to this. A random man I encounter in the wilds of Kozlovka is better able to sense magic than I—a trained apprentice of many years—can.She would have stared off into the distance with grim reservation if she hadn’t been still suspicious of thistalentedstranger.
“I’m an Enchantress-in-Training,” Angeliquecorrected.
“Close enough,” the stranger said. “You’re here for the wyvern, Iassume.”
Angelique closed off the twist of her magic and held her prepared spell—lighting, again, though she was certain it would work better this time—in her hand. “Yes,” sheconfirmed.
“Good,” the man barked. “Those royal idiots should have taken care of it immediately, but they just proved their uselessness again andmissed.”
Angelique had to stiffen her back to keep from shifting. There was something about this man…he didn’t feelevil…but she wasn’t keen on letting her gaze wander from him either. “It seems to get stronger the longer it isfree.”
“Naturally—which is why they were supposed to take care of it quickly.” He sighed and lifted a hand to his head. “You try to plan well, but it seems one can never expect enough stupidity from those aroundthem.”
Angelique frowned. “What do youmean?”
“It means I am glad to see you are here to rescue all of us…helpless…common folk,” hesaid.
Angelique stared pointedly at his ornate chestplate. “You are considered one of the commonfolk?”
“Yes, Lady Enchantress…what is your name?” His smile was a little cloying, but Angelique didn’t feel any magic stir inhim.
“Angelique,” she reluctantlysaid.
“Very good, Lady Enchantress Angelique—oh.” He paused and met her gaze, studying her for several long seconds. “I would have expected someone a bit morecharming.”
A muscle twitched in Angelique’s cheek. “I beg yourpardon?”
“Just, he doesn’t seem the type to like sarcasm. Though to survive as long as he has, I suppose he might have a salty streak aswell.”
“Who are you talking about?” Angelique fed more power into her lightning spell and slowly drew her hand to her side—there was something about his cagey way of speaking that set off herhackles.
“You’ll figure it out eventually,” the stranger said. “And if you don’t, then you don’t deserve an answer anyway. Besides, I don’t really care about it except to confirm that you’re going to slay thewyvern.”
