Halvor would say magic isn’t always the best tactic—but against another magic, I think it must be.
Rakel closed her eyes and stayed in the shadows, trying to hold her head up as she struggled.I need to talk to someone.Rakel’s gaze was drawn to Farrin, and then Oskar, but she shook her head. She needed someone who loved her but would be honest and open. Farrin, Oskar, and even Steinar and Halvor would refute her questions out of sheer loyalty and love.
I need someone who understands my heart…Coming up with an answer, Rakel leaned forward to see if she could find her, only to realize Phile was already standing next to her.
Phile’s eyes glittered in the fading sun. “You alright, Little Wolf?”
Rakel smiled. “Phile, would you walk with me?”
Phile threaded her arm through Rakel’s. “Of course.”
They turned their backs to the camp and meandered to the edge, nodding to patrolling soldiers as they entered thawed fields that were soft and held the promise of green.
Phile sat down on a tree stump. “What’s on your mind?”
Rakel pressed her hands together. “Am I like Tenebris?” She was a little surprised by her own words, as she had planned to start by asking Phile about ending the war.
Phile blinked. “I’m assuming you don’t mean physically—because I have yet to see him don a dress and run around in a wig.”
Rakel smiled wryly. “I mean in power. I’m fighting for innocents, but the more I hear about him, the more I see similarities between us. He charmed Farrin to his side, just as I charmed him to mine. He won over magic users by saving them from dire straits, and I have won over the people of Verglas by freeing them. He has immense power that I canmatch, and his people are loyal to him to a point of dogma. The more I think of it, the more I am frightened. There was a moment, when he attacked Gerta and Kai, that I would havekilledhim. Gladly.” She wrung her hands and cringed, waiting for Phile’s judgment.
“There might be a few similarities.” Phile said.
Rakel turned away from her and had a hard time swallowing.
“But, Little Wolf, you’re missing something very important.”
“What?” Rakel whispered, afraid to hope.
“Tenebris let the darkness of the world get to him. He chose to meet hate with hate. He seeks power and crawls in the darkness.” Phile got off her stump and moved to stand in front of Rakel. She took her hands. “You, however, my brave friend, have chosen love. I know you, and I know you will never turn your back on that.”
Phile gave her such a glowing smile Rakel could feel her heart warm.
“So my answer is no, you aren’t anything like him. You were given a very similar set of situations, and you reacted in the exact opposite way. That is why your magic is so good and beautiful and pure enough to stand up to his twisted powers.”
Rakel hugged her. “Thank you.” In the back of her mind, though, the comparison still lingered. She trusted Phile, and the Robber Maiden would never lie to her, but she had only known her a short time. What if there was a hidden darkness in Rakel that Phile had not yet seen? What if her anger at Kai’s mother and the rage from Tenebris’s attack on Gerta and Kai weren’t anomalies?
Phile squeezed her tight. “Anytime, Little Wolf. I am happy to be your compass in the dark.”
Rakel released Phile and opened and closed her mouth, wondering if she should voice the lurking hesitation. She was instead, struck by the memory of Phile’s own words. “When we first started our morning practices, you said I am powerful because I love my powers.”
“Yep,” Phile said. “You never let anyone’s fear and hatred twist the potential for the beauty you saw in your magic, and the capacity of your soul is shown in the way you’ve stepped up and reacted to this war, to the invasion, and to the people who used to hate you.”
“What does the capacity of my soul have anything to do with magic?” Rakel asked.
“Ahh, it haseverythingto do with it. You naturally have a lot of magic—that’s something you’re born with. But thestrengthof your magic—the pureness and your ability to wield it? Who you are as a person greatly affects that.”
Rakel tipped her head. “Forgive me if I am prying…but how did you learn this?”
Phile grinned. “You mean why does a thief brat know so much about magic?” Foedus appeared in her hands, and she tossed it up and down a few times. Her smile faded. “My father had magic. Not very much—it was little more than a pinch. He was the one who found Foedus on a research trip to Ringsted and gave it to me.”
Phile held the ugly dagger above her head and stared up at it. “It’s a relic—you can get them ridiculously cheap in Baris.”
Rakel was afraid to breathe, lest it would make Phile stop sharing. This opportunity was rare indeed. “My father was a scholar at heart, and he loved researching magic. He would tell me stories when I was little, and he taught me for years—even though he knew I didn’t have a speck of it. He told me the world—Baris included—was missing out on the great potential of magic users…that they could be heroes and change the world.”
“He sounds wise.”
“Yes, but he would have been lost without my mother. To begin with, he would have starved. Scholars don’t make much, and Father spent every cent he had on books. Being the husband of the robber queen of Baris, though, kept him well fed!”
