His happiness dims for a moment as he searches my eyes. He pulls me down to the sand, his arm draped round my shoulders, his gaze locked with mine, as if I’m the most precious thing in the world. ‘Tell me everything.’
I swallow, blinking up at him, and figure out where to begin. ‘As soon as you and Brielle left, a rival coven descended onPhantom…’
Our discussion continues as we traverse back to Ennor Castle, where Amma provides bread and butter and cold slices of pie, fluttering around Eli, who speaks to her quietly. I’ve brought him up to date as much as Ican, but I still know little of his time away. More people gather, some from Rosevear staying within the castle walls, some from the town of Ennor, needing to see with their own eyes that Lord Tresillian has returned.
‘It seems we have much to discuss,’ Eli says at my side as we enter the formal dining room where everyone has gathered. ‘I’m very glad to see you all.’
We take our seats round the table. Our inner circle of thirteen: Brielle, Caden, Lowri and Eli, then Agnes, Kai and I, Tanith, Joby, Merryam and Pearl, and finally Bryn and Feock. We gathered right here not so very long ago, all with a stake in the isles’ future. But now it appears that for the ruling council controlling the Far Isles and the Fortunate Isles is only the beginning of a bigger, more ambitious campaign. It began with their plan to bring us all to heel and for the watch to rule over us with a fist of iron. It may end with all-out war.
‘The ruling council mean to go to war if they do not get their way,’ Brielle says, spreading her hands wide. ‘The law controlling magic is only the start. Once they control the use of magic, they own the covens and apothecaries. And with the factories in the north, and what they are manufacturing,’ she pauses, ‘they will unleash forces with weapons of magic upon the continent and create an empire.’
‘And you learned this from the hunters of Coven Septern?’ Bryn says through a puff of pipe smoke.
Brielle nods. ‘The coven set in motion the rescue of Mira and Agnes from the Trials, and they had help froma young woman called Sember Lockswift of Skylan. She has an obvious interest in not allowing Arnhem to gain the upper hand on the continent, but I trust her,’ she says. ‘And, as for the rest of the coven, I’m told that Lessifur herself – head hunter of Coven Septern – went with a band of hunters to scout the wild north. She wanted proof to take back to her Malefant. She returned with a first-hand report of the factories, showing merchants delivering metals mined in Valstra.’
‘Which is one of the reasons they want to control the shipping route and scupper the use of the Straits,’ I say.
‘Exactly,’ Brielle says with another nod. ‘The ruling council want to control what is mined, how it’s delivered to Arnhem and the distribution of weaponry galvanised with magic. It’s war they want, and conquering the isles may only be the beginning.’
‘Is Lessifur going to Mother with this information?’ Caden asks.
‘Yes,’ Brielle says. ‘Well, she’ll already know by now.’
‘And yet she hasn’t tried to contact anyone? She hasn’t offered the coven’s support, or anything?’ Lowri asks.
Brielle smiles sadly and shakes her head.
‘Who is galvanising the weaponry with magic?’ Eli asks, leaning forward. ‘Did the hunters say?’
‘A rival coven,’ Brielle replies.
Agnes leans round Kai to look at me. ‘Perhaps the same coven that took us fromPhantom.’
‘Could well be,’ I agree.
‘Perhaps the same one that sent their hunters after me and the two fledgling witches I found on the continent,’ Brielle says. ‘We had quite the journey returning here after we found outPhantomhad been ambushed.’
‘This is building a worrying picture,’ says Feock, deep in thought. ‘Magic is power, and power can be intoxicating.’
We all fall into silence, contemplating the power the ruling council is gaining. The fact that they want me as their storm bringer, to wreck the Straits, to intimidate the other rulers and representatives from across the continent witnessing those Trials … they are not only interested in wiping us out. They want full control.
‘We learned more about the ruling council in the city of Fallow, where Eli and I traversed to,’ Lowri begins, looking to Eli.
Eli holds his hand out to me. ‘May I show them your gift?’
I nod, placing the snow globe in his hand.
He holds it aloft, and everyone cranes forward to look. ‘This is Fallow, where my father lived. And above it is this dark cloud that they call the fog. It drips down over the city of Fallow, leaching all the light magic from it. It means the world is now almost entirely black and white, with no colour apart from some little twists of light magic remaining. It’s a remnant of shadow magic, magic like mine, from a Shadow War that the Rexilium brothers started. We learned that magic is made ofstrands, mainly light and shadow, and if they are not in balance –’ he shakes the snow globe and dark glittering flecks rain down over Fallow – ‘the aftermath can be devastating.’
‘In this world, the Rexilium brothers are known as the ruling council,’ Lowri says softly.
I lean back in stunned silence, remembering what happened in the throne room, the shadow that they held round Agnes’s throat, constricting her airway until she couldn’t breathe … They really are just like Eli. Not only that, they’re from his father’s world. They traversed here. ‘And did they win the war they started?’
‘No, they lost,’ Eli says, placing the globe on the table. ‘And they were driven out of Fallow. They formed a portal, left their world and stumbled into ours. They are far older than they appear. The coup that formed the ruling council was, in fact, those same brothers, some hundred years ago.’
‘So these Rexilium brothers, the ruling council, they are repeating what they did before?’ Feock asks, folding his arms. ‘This is bad news indeed.’
‘The question is, will they first pursue Mira here to Ennor and return to establish their hold on the isles? Will they seek to recapture their Storm Bringer? Or turn to greater conquests?’ Tanith muses.
