Tag: 2023 Writing Challenge

19. Cassandra

On By MaryIn 2023, WritingLeave a comment

We settled down and I slept early for once. As a result, I found myself waking when it was still dark out – only the slimmest bit of light to the east hinted at the coming dawn. Lyre had the last watch, and was awake and maintaining a fire – now that we were out of the desert, the night didn’t cool as dramatically as it had, but the fire still looked warm and inviting. I stood and stretched, went through my brief morning routine, and then walked over to sit near where Lyre was keeping his watch.

Lyre was staring back towards the desert. I studied him in the shifting firelight. His hair had gotten longer over the course of our trip and he had tanned a little under the desert sun, but was still very fair skinned. I realized he looked thinner too, and wondered if we all looked the same after so many days of walking and rationing our food.

I started to rub absently at the peeling skin on my shoulder, and then forced myself to stop. To distract myself from my discomfort, I asked, “What do you plan to do when you reach the Empire?”

His eyes shifted to me as I spoke. “I promised you I would protect you,” he said. “I’ll go where you go.”

I frowned. “You’ll finally be free, Lyre. I’m not going to hold you to that promise. You should do what you want.”

“That is what I want.”

I stared at him, and he gazed back at me so intensely that I wanted to avert my eyes, but forced myself not to. “Why?” I asked.

He hesitated for a moment, seeming to search for the words, and finally averted his gaze as he began to speak. “As a slave, I learned not to form deep attachments. I’ve… fathered children in breeding agreements. Children I’ll never see, with women I’ll never meet again. I’ve never made deep friendships. The humans never saw me as an equal, and my fellow elves could be sold off or killed on a whim. I could have been sold off or killed on a whim.” He paused for a moment in contemplation before continuing. “I admit, I made the promise to protect you quickly. Because I knew I wouldn’t be beholden to it for long. I did not feel any true responsibility to you. You were another human that would use me and then move out of my life.” He turned his eyes back to mine, the firelight almost making the pale blue glow. “But you weren’t… just another human. You freed me. For the first time… I can fight to keep a person I care for in my life. I am free to do that. And I want to go with you. You’ve become important to me.”

I stared at him, feeling a little breathless at what he was saying. I opened my mouth to speak – feeling that I should say something, but not knowing what – when his eyes shifted out past me toward the desert again. “What is that?” he asked. I turned, almost relieved for the distraction. It looked like there were three balls of fire hurtling towards us out of the dark. With a growing unease, I realized I could just barely hear distant barking.

I watched the glow envelope Lyre as I shouted, “Larina, Silden! Wake up!” I also reached for my own magic, standing to move forward to protect our other companions as the fiery figures bound toward us quickly.

They looked like dogs, almost like Rottweilers if Rottweilers were made of flame.  Silden and Larina were awake, but looked groggy and confused and completely unprepared for the flaming figures that set upon them with vicious growls. I could hear Larina screaming, but before I could do anything my attention was taken by the third dog that came barreling straight at me. I uttered a surprised squeal as it launched itself into the air at me. I attempted to dodge, but my injured leg tightened in pain and I ended up falling to the ground instead.

I twisted to look at the dog that had just jumped at me, saw that it had turned and was preparing to jump again. I also saw that Lyre had raised a hand to summon a ball of fire to blast at it. Internally I screamed at the idiocy of fighting fire with fire, but the force of the blast did catch it off guard and send it hurtling back past me several feet – I cried out as embers and sparks from the impact fluttered in the air around me. The flame hound did not appear to be hurt by the blast. As I pushed myself up, I raised one hand, summoning a wave of water to douse the creature.

The flames sputtered away, revealing an almost skeletal looking dog underneath, thin flesh pulled tight against the gaunt contour of its frame. It steamed and smoked and sizzled, but did not appear any more harmed by my efforts than Lyre’s – it pulled back the thin skin that covered its muzzle, baring sharp teeth at us as it growled. I immediately went diving back to where I had left my pack, intending to grab my dagger and cursing myself for not keeping it on my person. The hound lunged at me, and Lyre moved between us.

I could hear the sizzling of contact, and Lyre cried out in pain and terror, seeming to forget his magic for a moment as he struggled to push the snapping jaws away from his neck. I was panicking and having a hard time pulling the dagger free, but finally managed to unsheathe the blade and lunged forward with it.

The dog squealed and growled in pain as the blade pierced its flesh, and I cried out in surprise at how hot it was to touch. It felt like I was burning wherever my flesh met its flesh, and I was trying my best to pull away from it without losing my dagger. It turned to snap at me, but Lyre had a hold of its head between his hands. He spoke a series of words I didn’t fully recognize, and with a crystalline flash the entire head froze in a block of ice.

Lyre quickly pushed the still hot body off of him, letting the frozen head fall to the ground with a sickening thump. The body struggled for a moment longer, but then stilled and stopped. We stared down at it for a moment, both panting, when the screams and cries of our companions reminded us of the remaining dogs.

Silden was just finished freezing his attacker in a huge block of ice, but had been mauled badly, blisters rising up his chest and face from where contact with the fire hound had burned him. Lyre had his rapier out and, seeing that Silden was safe, moved forward to slash at the last dog, which had gripped Larina’s arm in its jaw and was viciously shaking its head as she screamed. It yipped and howled angrily, turning on him with snapping jaws. I moved forward to quickly heal Larina, watching the deep bites close over, the angry welting burns on her flesh fade back into clear fresh skin. I attempted to place my hands on Silden before he ran past me, but he broke contact in his haste – I watched in fascination as half of his burns seemed to vanish, but the healing was incomplete.

However, the third fire dog turned to run. We watched it go – the sun was rising now, the day brightening. We could hear more distant barking, more howls. “There’s more of them,” Larina panted as she handed me my pack. I took it absently, squinting to see if I could make out fire anywhere on the horizon, but even with the sun at our backs, it was hard to see in the bright morning light. We quickly gathered the remainder of our supplies, and made our way south along the edge of the ravine, keeping an eye out for a safe way down.

We froze when the figure stepped out ahead of us, Lyre throwing an arm out protectively in front of me as we recognized the lithe form of the Hunter, still dressed in black leathers. “There’s a way down over here,” he said. Confused, we continued to stare at him for longer than we really had time for. The sound of the dogs grew nearer – they were close now, nearly on us. “Are you coming?” he hissed at us angrily. He glared at each of us, and then with an annoyed sigh he began pulling out his blade.

I could hear Larina, Silden, and Lyre turning to face the dogs, summoning more ice to encase them. I didn’t want to take my eyes off the Hunter, not entirely trusting him, and I tensed as he approached. But he ran past us to help in the battle. I watched as he went sliding under a leaping hound and sliced up at it, then was quickly on his feet, swinging his blade at the next hound. Watching him fight, I understood why the Hunters were considered fearsome. We had nearly half a dozen of the flame beasts on us now, and he moved like a whirlwind through them with his sword, hardly touched by flames or teeth at all. I watched in awe as he used the symbol on his blade hilt to extinguish the flames of one of the hounds – their fire was magical.

Rousing myself, I realized I had to help. I summoned water to douse the flames of the nearest dog, and laid a hand on Lyre to help heal him of some of his wounds. The dog I doused growled and stepped forward, and I brandished my dagger and backed away from it, wishing I knew the ice spell the others were using. As I backed away, I nearly lost my footing – glancing back, I realized I had allowed the dog to back me up against the cliff face. The height was momentarily dizzying, and I almost felt like I was going to careen over the edge just staring at it.

The dog jumped and I tried to move out of the way, but it bit hard on my arm, causing me to drop my dagger. I cried out in pain and struggled with it briefly, when a blade suddenly pierced it – looking up, I could see the harsh, beautiful features of the Hunter’s scowling face and mismatched eyes. The dog slipped over the edge.

The Hunter had grabbed my other arm to steady me, but the dog still had its jaw locked on me and still weighed down the Hunter’s sword. His scowl slipped into a look of concerned surprise as he realized the animal on his blade had overbalanced him and was pulling him over the edge. In one heart fluttering moment, I attempted to lean back, to push us both toward solid ground. But my wounded leg gave way and the three of us went over the side of the cliff face.

It all seemed to happen in frightening slow motion. The dog finally died, its jaw loosening on my arm, its body slipping off the blade. The Hunter’s eyes – one black, one white – stared at the cliff face as it slipped away, his hand letting go of me as he reached helplessly up toward it, his mouth opening in silent surprise. I heard Lyre shout my name, saw his concerned face appear at the cliff as he watched us fall.

I grasped at my magic. I had a spell for this. I could survive this. I turned and watched the Hunter slipping further from me. And as I prepared to cast my spell, a voice shouted in my head. A new voice. Louder and deeper than any voice I had heard yet, and demanding. RESCUE HIM! it screamed in my head, echoing with such ferocity and volume that I winced in pain. And I realized from the look of shock on the Hunter’s face that he had heard the voice too.

I paused for a long moment, maybe too long. I stared at the quickly approaching ground below – we’d be bouncing off the cliff face soon if I didn’t do anything. I reached out and grabbed his hand, and cast my spell.

The glow wrapped around both of us and instantly our fall slowed. I watched the remains of the fire hound scatter across the rocks below, like a water balloon filled with visceral red, and closed my eyes at the gore. We shifted with the breeze, drifting away from the face of the cliff. When I opened my eyes again, I realized we were going to land in the water of the river. The Hunter sheathed his sword, his arms gripped me tightly as he stared at me, his eyes full of questions. But for now, he remained silent.

The spell gave out when we were still several feet up. I cried out in surprise as I found myself hurtling down to the river again. The water was deep enough that I wasn’t injured in my fall, but I lost my grip on the Hunter as the current pulled me along, surprisingly fast, surprisingly strong. I struggled to orient myself, hoping to aim myself at the shore, but I couldn’t break free of the tumbling water. I gasped desperately, flailed helplessly. I didn’t see it coming, but I could hear the crack of the rock against my skull, felt it jar my senses, saw a brilliant flash of sparks behind my eyelids.

I had a dream of drowning.

When I woke, I blinked slowly at a ceiling of low damp rocks. I could hear the murmur of the Hunter’s voice nearby, low and angry, like he was arguing with someone. I started to sit up, but the flashing pain behind my eyes stopped me. I gasped, reaching my hand up to my head.

I felt truly awful. My injured leg throbbed, and I wondered if the wound had been opened while I thrashed in the river. My arm felt bruised where I had been bit, and just glancing at my hands as they came up to my face, I could see that I was covered in scalding burns, blisters running up my arms where I had made contact with the fiery monsters before. I was still damp from the river, and my head…

I gasped again, barely able to process the pain. “Lay still,” the Hunter said quietly, his voice very close now.

“I’m going to die,” I gasped. I did not feel that was at all dramatic to say.

He was quiet for a very long moment. Then he placed a hand on my head, very near my wound, causing me to wince. My vision was blurred, but there was no mistaking the familiar glow of magic that enveloped him.

The pain in my head subsided. My vision cleared. I stared at him in shock.

I sat up slowly, gingerly – I wasn’t fully healed. My head injury was gone, my leg didn’t throb as badly. I had the feeling my bite wounds were no longer bleeding. The burns weren’t blistering, but still made my skin shiny, and my arm still felt bruised, and I was still generally sore all over. I stared at him, trying to wrap my head around what any of it could mean.

“You,” he said, his voice low and angry. The water from his golden curls fell on my face as he leaned in close. “You hear them too! Explain the voice to me at once. Why am I able to do this?”

I laughed. I couldn’t stop myself.

18. Cassandra

On By MaryIn 2023, WritingLeave a comment

Late in the afternoon we ran into a strange hole filled with water so clear and deep that it disappeared into turquoise shadows. Silden dipped his hands into the water and raised it to his face, sniffing and then taking a cautious sip. “It’s fresh,” he noted. Although we had no concerns about water, we lingered for a bit to dip our feet into the pool and washed up as well as we could. We were cautious to keep an eye out for our Hunter, but I hadn’t seen a sign of him at all. I wondered if Silden had really seen him or just imagined him, but didn’t vocalize that thought. When we finally moved on, we found another hole a few hours later, and another several minutes after that.

“Maybe there’s an underground cavern system?” Lyre wondered out loud, looking doubtfully at the shifting sands around us.

We didn’t spot any more until the next day, and we were a little glad to see it this time. They had become nice spots to take brief breaks, and we weren’t sure when we would see another again. “I think I’ll take a swim in this one. I kind of miss the ocean,” Larina said, dropping her pack and removing her shoes and clothes. She slipped into the water. Silden moved to join her, also stripping down.

I stayed back for a moment, half out of prudish embarrassment at the nudity but also to scan the horizon for any danger. “It’s strange that there’s no plants growing around these watering holes. You’d think there’d be something like an oasis. Or wildlife that’s drawn to them.”

I glanced over at Lyre. We had been around each other as a group so constantly that I wondered at taking this moment to ask him if I should share where I was from with Larina and Silden. I didn’t think I had a reason to hide it anymore, but I was reluctant to talk about it because it reminded me of so many things – of home, of my dog, of my parents – of why I might have been summoned to this world in the first place. But as I opened my mouth to broach the subject, the ground rumbled. There was a rushing sound of water and a massive splash as something came crashing up from the hole – I heard Larina screaming and Silden shouting.

Something huge had come rushing straight out of the hole, throwing Silden and Larina bodily from the water. It loomed in the air over them, far larger than the dunslyth. It was like a massive worm that opened on one end, displaying rows and rows of teeth. From within the cavernous tooth filled maw, tentacles reached out, tentacles covered in even more teeth. I gaped openly, watching as the tentacles closed around Silden, who was sprawled on the sand beneath it. The worm began to pull back into the hole, pulling a shouting Silden into its throat, disappearing under the water.

Screaming his name, a glow surrounded Larina as she jumped in immediately. Coming to my senses, I also began to rush forward to help, and felt myself stumble as I put too much weight on my injured leg. Lyre wrapped his arms around me. At first, I thought it was only to catch me in my fall, but then when I regained my balance and tried to push forward, I realized he was holding me back on purpose. He was trying to actively pull me further back from the hole where our friends had disappeared. “Lyre!” I shouted, but I couldn’t break free from his grip.

Lyre’s eyes were wide in shocked terror and he was shaking his head emphatically, simply saying, “No, nonono…”

I turned back toward the water, which had calmed into an eerie stillness. I dropped to my knees, mumbling their names. Everything had happened so fast. And now they were just… gone.

There was another rumbling deep within the ground. Lyre began to renew his efforts to pull me back away from the pool, but something was different this time – the water bubbled and churned, and turned red. “Oh my god,” I muttered, wondering whose blood it was. Chunks of gristly meat began to float to the surface.

And then there were hands splashing up, gripping the wet sand – Lyre immediately rushed forward to help, and I hobbled to keep up with him, and together we pulled both Larina and Silden up onto the sand and away from the water. Silden was covered in gaping wounds that instantly pooled with dark blood, so much more blood than when the Hunter had attacked him on the ship. I placed my hands on his head instantly and focused on closing the wounds. There were a lot of them, spread across his entire body. I could hear him whimpering as he regained consciousness.

Larina sat very near to me, shivering, one hand still firmly gripped to Silden’s shoulder. I realized she also had large gashes across her head and face and arms. “I had to let it swallow me,” she said through chattering teeth, “just enough to have the air to speak the spell.” Lyre rubbed her arms as though to warm her, and she leaned back against him and closed her eyes.

We moved further back from the water and decided to camp even though the day was far from over. When I was done healing Silden, I also healed Larina. This time the effort of the healing left me bone tired, almost like I had gone running, perhaps because their wounds were more extensive than anything I had healed yet. I needed to rest as well. Healing also didn’t replace the blood Silden had lost, nor remove the shock Larina felt. They sat awake for a long time, their heads pressed close together and their arms wrapped around each other until Larina had stopped shivering and muttering about the teeth. Eventually they snoozed in the warmth of the evening sun.

I wrapped the blanket around them as it started to get chillier and sat next to Lyre. I let my injured leg lay out flat on the ground. “Why didn’t you let me help them?” I finally asked, my tone a bit brusquer than I had intended. I closed my eyes to calm myself. I felt tired, which worsened the lingering anger I had over those few moments when I had thought our companions were dead.

He was silent. I opened my eyes and looked over at him. His eyes looked unfocused as he considered my question, and his expression seemed to say that he wondered why himself. Then he focused on my face, and a strange flicker of emotions crossed his features. “I thought they were dead. I couldn’t lose you too.”

I felt myself go very still, repeating his words in my head, and realized he was staring at me very intensely with those bright blue eyes that almost seemed to glow in the light of the setting sun. I turned to look back at the watering hole to avoid his gaze. “How do you think it gets the water?” I asked to change the subject. “Does it really dig that deep down?”

Out of the corner of my eye I could see Lyre shift his attention back towards the bloodied pool of water as well. “Maybe it can summon water with magic?”

I thought about monsters using magic and shuddered, wondering what else we’d run across.

Lyre took the first watch, insisting that I sleep since I had obviously worn myself out with the healing. When I woke, the sky was beginning to lighten on the eastern horizon. “Did you stay awake all night?” I asked Lyre angrily. “You should have let me take a watch.”

He smiled and brushed off my anger. “Then you can take a watch now. I’m going to catch a quick nap.” He then fell asleep with enviable quickness. I sat, carefully watching our surroundings, mindful of the fact that we were possibly being followed.

The full night of sleep seemed to be exactly what Larina and Silden needed at least. They both woke looking better, like the color and life had come back into their faces. We ate a very quiet breakfast, and Larina made a last comment at one point of, “So many teeth,” while shuddering in revulsion at the memory. Silden patted her on the back.

Once Lyre was awake, we continued on. We did not see any more of the watering holes on our way.

We had a lovely and uneventful day of travel after that. The dunes were starting to fade into more hard packed ground. We even spotted a very normal looking oasis at one point, but still decided to loop around it, not wanting any more surprises before we reached the ravine. We could see the mountain range that the river came from far to the north. First, they appeared as indistinct blue smudges on the horizon, but before we camped for the evening they had turned into larger purple shadows, and I could see the white shading of the snow along their peaks. We were close now – perhaps another day’s travel and we’d be out of the desert.

We were sitting close around a summoned fire, taking some sustenance from our rations. I noticed that Larina and Silden had grown quite close since their shared underwater experience, and they sat comfortably leaning against each other, his arm over her shoulder. Larina chewed thoughtfully on her jerky, staring at me for a long moment, and I tilted my head and raised an eyebrow in response. “We were so focused on fixing your injury, and you were so out of it when we found you, that I never got the chance to ask – how did you get away from the owl?” she asked.

“I electrocuted it.”

“But it had you so high up…” she drifted off, then shook her head.

I wondered for a moment how much I should share. Tentatively, I said, “I learned a new spell. A spell that slows falls.” Silden raised an eyebrow this time but said nothing. Larina frowned at me. I felt overwhelmed with guilt suddenly. They had done so much to help me, and I had no reason to distrust them. They were my friends. I looked over at Lyre, who was frowning at me curiously as he studied the look on my face. “I’m… not from this world.”

For a moment his lips thinned and his frown deepened, but he said nothing. I turned to look back at Larina and Silden, who both stared at me with widened eyes. And almost everything I had been holding back from them came pouring out. “And you’ve known this entire time?” Silden asked Lyre.

He nodded silently. They stared at each other for a moment and some sort of understanding seemed to pass wordlessly between them. “Lyre was the one that told me that there are stories about outworlders amongst elves. Since I can use magic and want to find out more about why I’m here, I decided that going to the Empire was my best bet.”

“It does make sense,” Larina said slowly. “So these moments when you learn new spells… they just come to you naturally?”

I paused and swallowed for a moment. I hadn’t even told Lyre about the voices, and this was the perfect opportunity to come clear about every last bit of it. When I had started talking, I had planned to let them know everything, to explain that there was something that was teaching me these spells. Instead, I nodded in response to Larina’s question. “Yes. I just seem to understand them naturally.”

Larina stared into the fire thoughtfully. “I’ve heard tales of outworlders, but mostly just what Lyre has heard, I’m sure.” She turned her head to Silden, nudging him slightly with her shoulder. “What about you?”

“Yes… tales of outworlders sealing shadows and sorrows.” Silden shrugged. “Mostly sounds like fairy tales. But I did hear the sailors talk about how you arrived in that beam of light. They were unsettled by it.”

“I saw it,” Larina said. “I was on duty that night. It lit up the whole of the sky, was almost so bright as to be blinding, and then tapered into streams of light that pulled away back to the sky. And then later when I saw you use magic… I was so shocked to see the light of it around a human.” She paused for a moment and grinned at me sheepishly. “I suspected you were not from our world, but I didn’t want to pry. I’m glad you’ve told us.”

I smiled but averted my eyes, staring at the ground. 

We took turns at watch and the night passed without event, much to my relief. When I woke, I went through what was now becoming a natural morning ritual for me – summoning water to wash my face and rinse my mouth, to drink and clean a bit. Although we had taken a few dips in the watering holes we’d come across, I hadn’t had a chance for a full bath in what felt like ages. I couldn’t wait to get to a place where I could really soak and scrub all the dirt and sand off of my skin.  And just to be out of the desert – the extra cover Lyre had given me helped immensely, and having constant access to water had been great, but I was still peeling from the sunburns I had sustained, and my leg was still sore. I wanted to be somewhere safe, where I could rest and heal.

We reached the ravine as the sun was setting. We approached a particularly steep area to stare down into the cliffs and canyons where the river far below had cut a deep swath into the ground over the centuries. We stared in awe at the colors of the sunset and the beauty and splendor of the striated rocks and verdant foliage, the glinting of the river twisting out of sight far below. It reminded me at once of the Grand Canyon, which I had seen in college when a friend and I had decided to make a road trip to see what all the fuss was about.

“How are we ever going to cross that?” Larina said, staring at the steep rocks.

Silden gestured south. “It looks like there may be a way to hike down over there. It’s getting dark though, so we should camp and try it tomorrow. Once we’re down, we can think of how to cross the river, and find a way up on the other side.”

Larina stared across the ravine and was silent for a long moment. “That’s Empire land over there,” she said at last.

“Yes… when we get across, we’ll finally be in the Empire.” Silden placed an arm around her shoulder and she turned to smile up at him. “And we’ll be free.”

17. Cassandra

On By MaryIn 2023, WritingLeave a comment

Through the next days of travel, we avoided the cactus forests and we watched the skies for giant birds – they seemed more active at night. I realized why the first time I saw one in the light of a setting sun. We ducked low when we saw the shadow, watching as it swooped over the sands very near us. It was an owl – a massive one, about the size of a plane, with dun-colored feathers speckled in blacks and browns and whites. Large saucer-like eyes studied the dunes. I could see a glow pop up around Lyre as he narrowed his eyes at it, ready to defend us if it came near, but it lifted into the sky and trailed off into the distance toward a dark splotch on the horizon that we could now recognize as another cactus forest. We watched it go in silence and I wondered if it had a nest somewhere there – another reason to avoid such places.

We moved forward, not wanting to be in its range when night fell, and camped later in the evening in the remains of a set of massive sun-bleached ribs. Although most of the flesh was gone and the other bones were already buried in the sands, a pair of vultures (thankfully normal sized) lingered. They perched on the ribs and watched us settle for the night. Since the ribs offered some meager protection, Lyre risked a fire this evening to keep us warm.

When it was my turn at the watch, I moved over to the edge of the firelight, placing my hand on one of the sand-smoothed ribs. I wondered what kind of creature it had been. From my understanding, the monsters of the desert were only vaguely described in old books written by bold adventurers in days past. If it didn’t linger near the edges of the desert to attack settlements, it was as mysterious as a deep sea creature. I stared up at the looming rib – it was easily twice my height. I hoped that we wouldn’t run into a living, breathing relative, but at the same time found the idea compelling.

I started to move back toward the warmth of the fire when some shifting of shadows caught the periphery of my vision. I turned my head to stare out across the dunes, squinting to try to figure out what I had seen. Something near the ground shifted. I froze, trying to figure out if it was just my imagination when the firelight glinted on the reflective cat-like eyes of a predator. Gasping, I began to shout a warning, when two things cut me off.

First, the eyes of the spiny cat shifted up, and it let loose a vicious screaming cry that gave me instant goosebumps – it rose, spines bristling as it made itself appear larger. Just as I realized this was a defense posture, the second thing happened. I felt the sweeping breeze of air moved by massive wings, could feel rather than see the darkness of the shadow that blotted out the moonlight just before massive talons closed on me, one almost carelessly piercing my leg as I was grabbed. I gave a short shocked yell as I felt myself bodily lifted into the sky. I hadn’t heard the owl’s approach at all.

I could hear my friends waking from all the noise, could see the glow of magic springing up and outlining them in the dark, the figures growing smaller as I was lifted higher up. I also reached for my own magic to be more visible to them. I could hear Lyre shouting my name as Larina and Silden chased off the spiny cat, could see a massive blast of fire hurtled in the direction of the giant owl that had grabbed me, but it missed, and then we were quickly out of range.

My leg burned where it was still punctured, and I panicked with indecision – I could attack the owl, but how far from the ground was I? Would I survive the fall into the sands below? But then I started to think about becoming owl food, my hair and bones undigested in an owl pellet, and without even realizing I was casting. I could feel the air crackle with energy around me and heard the owl’s surprised squeal as it was electrocuted. It dropped me instantly, and I felt a moment of weightlessness until gravity pulled me down.

I had one hope. I closed my eyes and fervently pleaded, oh please oh pleaseohpleaseohplease!

You get yourself into the most interesting predicaments, the voice said, almost like it was whispering right into my ear, and chuckled. But since you asked so nicely…

I knew instantly what I could do, and fervently shouted, “Thank you!” out loud. And then I cast my new spell. I turned to face the ground, which even by the pale light of the moons I could see approaching quickly. And then – I slowed. I didn’t stop completely – I continued down, drifting light as a feather. I even felt a slight breeze shift my landing. I held on to my magic the entire way, twisting my head around everywhere to see if there was any danger nearby. I had the feeling if I cast another spell, it would interrupt the slowing and I would fall at a normal speed again, but I didn’t want to be helpless either. Luckily, there was no sign of the owl. It must have decided I was too much trouble to eat after all.

When I finally drifted to the ground, I collapsed under my own weight as the pain shot up my injured leg. I lay for a moment in the sand, staring up at the sky, and then forced my breathing to slow until I took three long, controlled breaths. As I let the last one out, I reveled in one amazing thought: I was alive.

And then I was hit with the next, slightly more alarming, thought: I was alone.

I sat up immediately and tenderly touched the wound on my leg. Even knowing it wouldn’t work, I tried to cast my healing spell on myself, but the gaping wound remained. It wasn’t so deep that I was concerned for my life, but there was still a lot of bleeding that needed to be stopped and it was painful. I took off the black tank top I still wore under the loose, billowy shirts that I had managed to find, and tied it around the wound as best as I could. Then I stood up. I gingerly tested the leg – I could just barely put a little of my weight on it, maybe enough to hop along briefly. It would be easier if I had some sort of improvised crutch, but I doubted I’d just find something like that laying out in the desert.

Besides, I wasn’t sure which way I needed to travel to find my companions. The entire ordeal of being carried off and then falling had messed up my sense of direction. It might be better to wait for them to come to me… if they had seen which way the owl was even flying. I hopped up to the top of the highest sand dune I could see, finding it difficult to move with the sand shifting underneath me. I sat down at the top to take a breather, looking around to see if I could make out the massive ribs we had camped within.

I rubbed at the muscles around the wound, feeling the pain radiating, and debated the risk of visibility. I could make myself easier to find, but that would make me easy to find for anyone – and anything – nearby. “I don’t suppose you’ve got some handy way to get me out of this?” I asked out loud.

I paused to see if the voice would answer, but heard nothing. In the distance, I could hear the yipping cry of some sort of nocturnal animal, and felt like it was laughing at me. Frowning, I decided to take the risk – I reached for my magic, summoning water in my hands to splash on my face and clean up a bit, and untied the tank top to wash the wound out a bit. Then I summoned water into the tank top and twisted it to wash it out, and dismissed the summoned water to keep from freezing. I retied the tank top.

Maybe someone had seen the glow of magic. Maybe they hadn’t. But the next display would be impossible to miss. I pulled the same electricity that I had used to shock the owl, focusing it around me, and blasted it up into the sky directly above me, arcing streaks of crackling blue-purple light traveling straight up nearly fifty feet into the air. Even as the spell faded, I held my magic ready so that I glowed. If something came to attack me, I would need to be able to defend myself.

But I hoped my friends had seen.

I wasn’t sure what length of time had passed, but I could swear I heard someone shouting my name. At first I wondered if I was dreaming – I was exhausted from the events of the night and kept catching myself drifting off every time my head tilted forward on its own. I could feel clotting blood shift on my skin where it had dripped down my leg and dried. I allowed my grasp on my magic to drop, and scratched at the dried blood on my leg, idly watching it flake off into the sand.

Larina dropped down by me first, immediately reaching out to inspect my wound. The pain of her touch caused me to whimper, and she paused for a moment, then carefully continued pulling the tank top off. Lyre had knelt beside me, placing a hand on my shoulder. Larina tsk’ed as she looked at the large claw puncture, summoned some water to wash the wound and clean out the tank top like I had earlier. I watched absently as she twisted the liquid out of it, saw how much red the water carried with it, and passed out.

When I woke, it was daylight and I was staring up at the arches of the massive ribs we had camped under previously. One of the vultures was still present, staring down at me, a quiet patient specter of death. I glared back at it, annoyed. My mouth felt dry.

I sat up and summoned water, grateful for the ability as I washed my hands and then gulped mouthful after mouthful down. The wound on my leg felt strangely tight. As I started to pull off the tank top, Lyre said, “We had to burn it to get it to close properly. It’ll leave a scar.”

It looked awful. I laughed to myself at Lyre’s words, because it reminded me how the doctors had been so apologetic for the scars I had left over after my car crash. I examined the skin around the wound, and was satisfied that it didn’t look like there was any remaining bleeding pooling underneath. I moved my foot and each of my toes. I was still in pain, and would need to be careful with the wound until it was fully healed, but for now there didn’t seem to be any complications. I looked up at Lyre and Larina, who were perched nearby looking worried, and could see Silden keeping a careful watch on the horizon. “I’m not worried about scars. Thank you for finding me,” I said, smiling at them reassuringly.

We rested there the remainder of the day. Lyre and Silden were reluctant to leave the next day, wanting me to rest as much as possible. Scavenging through the sand, Silden had found a bone fragment that was a close enough shape to a crutch. He cut it down to my height and I practiced with it some. It was awkward on the sand, but did help keep some of the weight off my wounded leg. Larina took stock of our supplies on the second night, and Lyre and Silden examined the map, trying to guess by the size of the desert how many days we had remaining before we reached the ravine. “Maybe about 3 more days, barring any other events,” Silden said.

“We’ve got about 5 more days of supplies, if we’re careful. We should be fine once we reach the ravine. There’s a river, so it should be easier to scavenge for food,” Larina said, repacking our supplies. I noticed that she had repacked things to give me the lightest load, and felt a bit guilty at being a burden. They refused to let me take a turn at watch as well.

The next morning, we set out early at Silden’s insistence. “This desert is unpredictable and we only have enough supplies for one more major setback. Let’s push through to safety,” he said. The second vulture had returned in the night – the two birds watched us as we departed, and I flipped them the bird, glad to be rid of their eerie presence.

As we walked, Silden, who had taken the last watch, quietly discussed something with Lyre. I watched Lyre tense up and glance around, but then went back to walking forward as though nothing were wrong. Then Silden dropped back to talk to Larina, who also stiffened as he spoke, but then simply nodded and kept trudging on. I wondered what he was telling them, but was apparently going to get my turn as Silden dropped back to walk beside me. He spoke so quietly that I could barely hear him. Still, the words nearly caused me to come to a complete halt. I had to force myself to keep hobbling along on my crutch. “We’re being followed. I believe it’s the Hunter from the ship.”

“When did you see him?” I asked after a long pause, wondering why the hell the man was still after us after all this time. How had he survived the desert without magic?

“Last night. He was spying on our camp, and I pretended not to notice him. I don’t want to force a confrontation yet, if it can be helped. Maybe we can get into the Empire without another fight.”

“He killed Junel,” I muttered angrily, surprised to find how eager I was to confront him.

Silden nodded. “And he could yet kill one of us. I’ve come too close to tasting freedom to risk it on revenge.” I grimaced as I considered that, not sure that I felt entirely the same. “Besides, if we lead him into the Empire, we may not have to face him alone.”

I didn’t respond at all, only stared at the path ahead of me grimly. After a moment, Silden slipped back to take the rear, trailing behind me. As the afternoon wore one, he called for the others to slow a bit. I realized he was making sure they kept their pace close to mine, and felt bad again that my injury was holding us back, especially if we were being stalked by a madman.

16. Cassandra

On By MaryIn 2023, WritingLeave a comment

Once I finally met up with the others, I was out of breath and sweaty from hauling the supplies in as much of a jog as I could manage. Larina could tell something was wrong before I even spoke, and quickly took the supplies from me and divided them up so that they would be easier to carry. I gasped out what had happened to me in the town between heaving breaths. Silden and Lyre glanced at each other, frowning. “If it’s caused a panic at the base here, maybe the patrols will be called back. We should move into the desert now,” Silden said.

“It has to be now anyway,” Larina said, sounding exasperated. “Do you think they’re not looking for her this very moment? We’ve just poked an ant’s nest!”

“Yes, we need to go,” Lyre said, pulling on the moccasins I had bought for them. I pulled my own on, a little tight over the foot coverings I already wore, but the extra cushioning was nice for once. I took the pack that Larina offered me. I was still out of breath, but we needed to keep moving. We looped away from town, as far as we could manage before pushing into the desert. Maybe it wasn’t far enough, but we were desperate to get to where no one would want to follow us.

The hard packed dirt and scrubby brush was just giving way to softer sand dunes when I heard a shout behind me and the soft whoosh of an arrow narrowly missing my head, burying into the dirt in front of me. I gasped as I turned to see more arrows loosed at us, could hear Larina cry out and shout and wave a hand through the air, a sudden gust rising and knocking them off target. Lyre and Silden both turned, inexpertly pulling the rapiers from their belts, a glow surrounding them as they began readying their own spells, and I raised both of my hands, preparing to summon the lightning that came most naturally to me.

The soldiers were almost on us – a small patrol group, five men dressed in the blue and grey tabards, riding on horses. Just as the glow sprung up around each of us, something burst from the sand of the nearest dune, rearing up as an ominous shadow before snapping down on the hind legs of the nearest horse, lifting it bodily into the air and sending its rider sprawling as the poor creature screamed in pain and terror.

“Dunslyth!” I heard one of the soldiers yell, as they turned their bows toward the giant snake-like creature that had pulled back again, hissing loudly.

It looked almost like a cobra with spikes along the edge of its frill, only larger – much larger. When it pulled back it loomed at least 15 feet above the ground, a menacing hissing shadow. It screamed as the soldiers’ arrows pierced its skin. It moved to strike, almost lightning quick, but something about its movement must have telegraphed where because the soldiers moved expertly out of the way despite its speed.

That was a Dunslyth? “You could make so many shoes from that thing!” I said out loud, my brain hardly able to process my shock at its size. Lyre and Silden glanced at each other, then both turned, Lyre grabbing my arm to pull me along as we all began to run into the desert. One of the soldiers cried out and a stray arrow whooshed harmlessly past us, but then they were too preoccupied with the giant snake to follow.

Even though it was fall, the sun overhead was brutal. Larina summoned water as a constant drizzling mist over each of our heads, keeping us damp and hydrated. I glanced up when she had started the spell, almost expecting a cartoonish cloud to be hovering over my head, but there was no cloud – just droplets of water forming out of the sky in a hovering spritz.  It occurred to me that we should have also invested in better covering – I’m dark enough to tan nicely before I burn, but by the end of the day my skin felt like it was radiating its own heat and was splotchy and red.

It was also the first time that we traveled through the entire day, so we were all very tired when we settled down for the night. It was still early evening and quite warm, but I suspected that it would be nearly freezing once the sun set. “Could you dry us off?” I asked Larina. She seemed a bit confused until I explained why, but then quickly set about expelling the water. I set about performing the healing spell for the others – even if I couldn’t benefit from it, there was no reason for them to suffer from sunburns.

Although I had remembered the basic fact about deserts, I had never actually been in a desert at night. Knowing a fact is one thing, and experiencing the reality of the freezing cold is something else completely. Lyre decided to chance summoning a fire for us to huddle near, and we bundled together under the blanket I had brought, very similarly to how we had slept after that first night of running.

I had trouble sleeping at first, wondering about the Hunter that had followed us to the border. It didn’t sound like the soldiers were devoted to chasing us down, and I hadn’t killed anyone in my escape, so I didn’t think they would help him further. But would he continue to follow us into the desert alone? I thought about his mismatched eyes and the scar, about leaving Junel behind to fight him. At some point I must’ve fallen asleep, because I felt Larina grip my shoulder and shake me awake very gently. “It’s your turn for watch,” she said.

Nodding, I shifted a little apart from the group to let her slide into place between me and Silden. The fire had been put out at some point. I didn’t move far, not wanting to lose the warmth of the blanket, and stared out at the landscape around us. I heard something that sounded like a normal pack of coyotes, something I had heard a million times at home, and it was almost comforting until one of their calls was cut short in a series of frightened, pained yips. The night filled with growls and thrashing sounds, and I tensed, trying to gauge how close it was.

I stood carefully and moved toward the top of a nearby dune, keeping low to avoid being seen, and strained my eyes against the darkness. The light from the moons was enough to illuminate some of the desert in soft light, and I could see the shadows of the remaining coyote pack running off to the south. Something large shifted on the ground, and I ducked low, listening to the sound of ripping, a wet visceral sound of tearing flesh. I watched the shadowy silhouette of giant wings raise into the air after a moment, could hear the feathers fluttering against the ground, and watched the figure rise into the air.

Whatever kind of bird it was, it was larger than a coyote. I watched it easily lifting the remains of its kill in one large, taloned claw. I pressed myself close to the sand, feeling my heart thump wildly in my chest, wondering if it was loud enough to be heard. But it either didn’t notice me or was already satisfied with its catch – once in the air, it silently drifted away.

I lay very still and realized I wasn’t breathing. I forced myself to take a breath, shivering in the freezing night as I strained my eyes at the sky, searching for any other shadows. As my panic lessened, I realized that out here, the stars were quite beautiful, vivid and clear and unfamiliar. I hadn’t wanted to wander the ship abovedeck at night, not feeling particularly safe with the crew. And during our travel to the desert, I had been so focused on reaching our destination that I hadn’t spent much time looking up.

But now, here, terrified that something might swoop down on me from above, I was really studying the sky. I hadn’t thought I’d be able to tell one night sky from the other – the only two constellations I knew back home were Orion’s Belt and the Big Dipper, and it always took me some minutes of searching to find them. Despite that, I somehow knew that this wasn’t the sky I had been raised under.

I had noticed the three moons before. Two were smaller, misshapen lumps, floating close together, with a small ring drifting around the two of them, like a loose infinity symbol in the sky. The third was larger, rounder, and almost like our moon, though the craters and plains of it were different, the coloration just a little more coppery gold than silvery blue. Beyond the moons, I could even make out the dusty, sprawling loop of the galaxy we were in, realized that some of the stars were the far side of that loop – and there, small but still particularly bright, was what I realized was the center of the galaxy, a bright star set in a strange darkness separated from the ring of stars that surrounded it. It was hard to see, because the stars on the opposite side of it still filled the night sky, but on this clear night in the desert, the shape of it was just barely visible.

I gaped in wonder at the alienness of it and was finally struck by how completely separated from home I was. I studied the sky some more, but when the cold became too much to bear, I slid back down the dune and settled under the blanket again. For the rest of my watch, I kept a watchful eye on the sky above for any ominous shadows.

I warned Silden about the giant bird when I woke him for his turn at watch, and we let the others know about the danger when they woke in the morning.

As Silden began casting the water spell to keep us cool and hydrated, I shaded my eyes to look up at the sky, already bright and promising another blistering day. “We should have bought some head coverings to keep the sun off of us,” I mused out loud, knowing it was too late to really do anything about it. My face still felt warm to the touch from the sunburn I was just beginning to feel. Lyre frowned for a moment, looking at my reddened skin, and then pulled off his billowy yellow shirt, pulling it over my head and using the sleeves to tie it in place. I laughed, and tried pulling it off, shaking my head in protest. “You’re paler than me, you’re going to burn faster,” I said.

He grabbed my hands to stop me from yanking the shirt off. “You’re the one that can heal these burns. The rest of us won’t have to worry about what the elements do to us thanks to you, but you can’t heal yourself, so you should take any extra precaution you can think of.” I stared into his very blue eyes for a moment, and couldn’t think of an argument. He smiled, pulling my hands down away from the tied shirt sleeves, and then let go.

I rubbed my hands together briefly, frowning, then readjusted the shirt to offer better face covering and gathered my own supplies.

There was no sign that anyone was following us amid the shifting sands and dunes. We kept a wary eye out for anything unusual, and could see large shapes out far on the horizon, but for most of the day nothing approached us. Our pace to the desert had been set by our need to escape, to reach a place that we wouldn’t be caught and enslaved. We were still wary of the dangers of the desert and kept a good pace, wanting to pass through as quickly as possible. Still, the stress and tension seemed to have released – my companions talked very openly now, laughing and telling jokes and stories, and talking about what we might find in the Empire. From my understanding, the human kingdoms had very little contact with them.

Late in the afternoon, we were approaching a stationary dark blot on the horizon. We debated looping around, but since it was similar to the other shapes we had seen in the distance before, we decided to investigate. “At least we’ll have a better idea of whether we should avoid these places or not,” Silden noted. As we got closer, we could see that it was a forest of cacti – larger than any I had seen before, clumped together and on top of each other, a strange misshapen mass of fleshy green bulbs and spines. Closer now, we also realized there was movement, and dropped low to the ground to avoid being spotted. A large beast of some kind walked amongst the succulents, looking almost like a brontosaurus, except the legs were planted too far apart and it had feathers or fur covering it. It had a flat head and extended brow ridge that looked dense and bony. It stretched its long neck up and bit off the top corner of one cacti, chewing despite the spines.

“What is it?” I asked. Larina glanced at Silden and Lyre for the answer, but Lyre only shook his head and Silden shrugged. I watched it eat some more of the cactus. “Maybe it’s not carnivorous? Could be a safe spot to take shelter on occasion.”

Larina pointed suddenly off into the distance. We all turned to see what had caught her attention – a strange shadow was rushing in toward the giant animal. It was also large, though not as large as the creature we were watching. It had the lithe form of a lion, with little to no fur – in fact, it appeared to be covered in spines. It pounced forward, letting loose a growling scream that instantly gave me goosebumps.

For a moment I felt sorry for the large fuzzy lizard, until it turned to meet the spiny cat head first, letting loose a rumbling roar. It swung its armored head around and slammed the cat into the sand, then began using its large hind legs to thump down repeatedly, rapidly, faster than I had expected for a creature of its size, apparently not bothered at all by the spines. The stomping and thrashing raised the sand around it in a cloud. When the sand settled down, we could see that the spiny cat was a dark misshapen lump, could just make out the creeping shadow of its blood soaked into the sand.

Then the lizard bent its neck low to the ground, lapping at the carcass with a long green tongue. We watched in silence for a moment. “Maybe we should loop around…” Larina said in a loud whisper, gesturing for us to stay low behind the dunes. When we were well past the cactus forest, she spoke in a more normal tone to say, “We should avoid those areas, if they attract more creatures like that.”

“Plants could mean water,” I said, automatically voicing a survival concern that had always been ingrained in me back home. She gestured to the drizzling mist above her head and I grinned sheepishly. “Point taken,” I conceded, and we decided to avoid the cactus forests.

15. Cassandra

On By MaryIn 2023, WritingLeave a comment

We were nearly out of supplies again as we neared the border of the desert. “We could stop outside this town and you could buy some more food. Then we can sneak across the border in the night,” Silden said, pointing at the map. Looking down where he pointed, I could see the town was named Owassus.  It was larger than the last place we had stopped, less of a gathering place for farmers and more like a proper township. But of all the towns bordering the desert, it was the most remote.

Once again, a list of supplies was made up for me. This time, remembering the things that had made me seem so suspicious to the previous shop clerk, I made sure to summon water to wash up more thoroughly the night before, and washed and brushed my hair and tied it back into twin braids, my hair being too short for a single long one. I also washed the clothes I planned to wear the evening before and let them dry. When I made my walk into town, I carried only a little more money than I would need to buy the supplies, and even if I looked a little disheveled, I was still presentable.

I walked through as though I had every right to be there and smiled politely at people I passed, but still had the paranoid impression that I was garnering more attention than I wanted. At one point I heard a brief whispered conversation and turned to see a little boy running off across the street behind me. I paused, wondering if I should just turn around and leave town, but then decided that it couldn’t have anything to do with me and continued on to the store. Everything seemed to go smoothly while I was shopping, and I did not get any strange looks from the clerk as I recited my shopping list, aside from a brief comment that travelers didn’t come through often, as remote as Owassus was.

I spotted some foot coverings, very similar to leather moccasins, made from a slightly stretchy material. Shoes weren’t on the list, but I decided I had to have a pair for myself, and also felt the need to get some for the others as well. They weren’t as expensive as proper shoes or boots, but they would provide better protection. Besides, even if the others were used to walking in their bare feet, I wasn’t sure how they’d fare with the temperature extremes of a desert. As I admired the material, the shop clerk said, “That’s a local commodity. They make it from Dunslyth skin.”

“Dunslyth,” I said, aware that he was just trying to make the sale because he wasn’t aware that I was already sold. “What kind of creature is that?”

“Desert snake. They tend to live close to the borders of the desert, so they’re easy to hunt.”

“I see.” I ran my fingers over the stitching of the strangely smooth material, wondering how many snakes they had to kill to make this many shoes.

I was feeling extraordinarily proud of how well everything was going until I stepped out of the store to find a pair of soldiers waiting for me. They were wearing matching blue and grey tabards over their armor, with a pattern of a wolf’s long body stretched across the blue side. “Miss, would you come with us?” one of them spoke, stepping forward. I smiled nervously at them, wondering if I should just drop the supplies and run. Maybe cast a spell to get them off my trail? I weighed my options. We needed the supplies, and I couldn’t risk leading anyone back to the others.

But maybe, just maybe, I could find a way to escape from them with all my supplies at a later point?

I nodded, and plastered the most confused smile I could manage on my face. “Sure. What seems to be the problem?” I asked.

I was led to a building that was just outside of town, on what looked to be a small military compound that had training grounds, a couple of barracks, and a large communal building. Inside the back of the communal building, which seemed to lead to a cafeteria on one side and a row of offices on the other, there was a wide room with a table and chairs, some chests for storage, and a few small holding cells with bars. The soldiers placed the items I had been buying on the table, then had me sit in one of the chairs. Then they stood by the door and waited.

After several minutes, a woman arrived – a tall woman with brown hair that was greying in streaks. She did not wear the same tabard, but did wear armor that was in good working order, well kept if not entirely new looking anymore. She approached, sparing a casual glance at the supplies in front of me before taking a seat across from me at the table.

The silence stretched for a long moment. I stared at her evenly – I had no intention of talking first. Finally, a smile spread across her face. “That’s a lot of foot coverings for one person traveling alone.”

My eyes flitted over to the pile of supplies, the shoes settled on top. All different sizes. I did my best to not give anything away in my expression, but I could feel my jaw clench despite myself.

“There’s a Hunter that insists that a woman of your description is traveling with a group of escaped slaves. That she’s dangerous. He’s requested the help of the border guard in finding and detaining any suspicious individuals.” She eyed me carefully, as though to determine whether I seemed dangerous enough.

“And you take orders from Hunters?” I said, hazarding a hope that Hunters and soldiers might have jurisdiction issues.

The smile never left her face. “Not typically,” she said.

Remembering something that Silden had said before about Hunters, I asked, “And it’s just the one, working alone? How do you know he hasn’t gone rogue?”

“From what we’ve been told by his Guild, he’s not performing an official duty. They have decided that the individual he’s looking for is not worth chasing, no matter how many slaves she has in tow. A strange decision that they refuse to explain.”

I frowned, glad to know that we were being allowed to escape but frustrated that I had been caught anyway. “Then why detain anyone? I’m not the one you’re looking for, but apparently if I was, you have no reason to keep me here.”

She shrugged. “He’s been a long time friend of the border guard, and apparently someone higher up owes him a personal favor.” She paused, as though she expected me to say something more, but when I didn’t she went on. “We’ve just sent word to him that we’ve detained someone matching his description, and he is coming to confirm your identity. If you truly aren’t the individual he’s looking for, he’ll take one look at you and tell us to release you. You won’t be here longer than a day or two, and then you can go safely on your way.”

I squashed the panicky feeling that began to stifle my throat. “And what if I don’t have the time to stay in your town a day or two?” I said, lifting my chin and narrowing my eyes. I hoped I sounded more imperious and less scared than I felt. Had he chased us all the way to the border, or had he simply come out here directly and demanded his favor from his friend higher up? I had truly thought we were in the clear, and knowing that he had been out here, just waiting…

“You’ll have very little choice in the matter,” she said, unperturbed. She gestured to the soldiers still standing at the door. They both stepped forward – one began placing my items in a chest, and the other opened one of the cells and then grabbed my arm to direct me into it. “Do you have traveling companions that will be worried for you, stranger? We can let them know you’re being detained.”

I glared at her and shook my head. She glanced again at my supplies as they were being placed into the chest. “Curious,” she noted, and then she left the room.

The soldiers remained to stand guard.

I paced in the cell for several minutes, trying to decide how to handle the situation. I was mad that I had been spotted so easily. Usually I considered myself nondescript – I had shoulder length brown hair and brown eyes and was often mistaken for other people by strangers I’d never met. But then travelers didn’t come through here often at all. One of the reasons we chose Owassus as our last stop before the desert was its remoteness, and apparently that had worked against us. I wondered if the kid I had seen running off before had been the one to get the soldiers.

If I waited too long, Lyre might try to come into town to find me. Even if he had the sense to wait until the cover of dark, how would he know where I had been brought? If the soldiers were on the look out for runaway slaves because of me, that made it even more dangerous for them. I’d have to get out, soon, preferably with our supplies. I walked over to the front of the cell and gripped the bars as I leaned against them, studying the soldiers that had brought me here.

They stood by the door, staring back at me in an almost bored way that said they could stay at their post patiently for hours. I sighed and wracked my brains. The stereotypical escape plan for characters in my situation involved acting sick, but would that really work? Dad had always seen through my acting so instantly when I was a teenager.

(You could put them to sleep) the voice in my head said. I jerked so suddenly I slammed my forehead into the bars with a clunk, surprised to hear it for the first time in weeks. I pulled away, letting a breath out in a pained hiss as I rubbed at my head. Sometimes I wondered if I had simply daydreamed the voices, and had worked to put them out of my mind. I looked up at the guards – both were frowning slightly at my obvious surprise, and one shifted uneasily.

I turned away and closed my eyes. How? I thought.

Once again, similar to when I had learned to heal, it was like I simply knew. I turned around to face the bars again, could see the glow envelope me as I reached for my magic. Both guards moved instantly, surprised but recognizing the light for what it was, one moving to a weapon rack for a bow and the other letting a dagger fly with an underhand toss. They started to shout, and I felt my heart jump into my throat as I thought of who could be listening. By the time I stepped out of the way of the dagger, they had both dropped to the floor in what I knew was a magically induced slumber. I froze, my eyes on the door, trying to quiet my panicked breathing as I listened for any sign that others were coming at the sounds of the shouts.

After a very tense minute, no one else appeared. I forced myself to take three deep breaths.

I wasn’t sure how much time I had. I felt instinctually that this spell was meant to wear off by itself. I didn’t want to cause more noise and risk bringing the entire base down on me, so blasting my way out seemed unwise. I also wanted to collect the supplies. I finally settled for magically summoning the keys on one of the guards over to me. They were attached to his belt and didn’t want to come off, so I pulled harder, and his entire body started to scrape across the floor. I grimaced at the sound of metal against stone, wondering if being dragged across the ground would wake him, or if someone else would hear this noise, but soon enough he was within reach and still sound asleep. I pulled the keys off him and started trying them one by one until I found the one that unlocked my cell.

Once that was done, I gathered the supplies from the chest.

Then I stood, holding everything in my arms as I thought over my next step. The office was set in the center of the base, with the barracks arranged behind and the training grounds out front. I looked at the sleeping guards for a moment. The glow surrounded me again, and I prepared myself to cast my newly learned spell as many times as I needed to.

I opened the door to the holding cells and looked down an empty hall. So far, so good. I walked down the hall, careful of any rooms or doors that I might be visible from, but was lucky to find that all the doors were closed. At the end of the hall was the front room, where a bored looking soldier sat at a desk. I cast the spell at him before he even saw me, and watched him slump into a slumber.

I slipped into the room, staying close to the wall – the cafeteria on the far side was quiet for the moment, though I could hear the sounds of someone moving around out of sight in the kitchen. I stepped toward the front doors and glanced out. The training grounds out front was full of people, some sparring, some walking to whatever business they had next. In fact, some were approaching the building I was in.

I wondered at the limits of the spell. I closed my eyes again, focusing, trying to imagine casting the spell in a wave away from myself, for as far as I could manage. Behind me, I could hear the familiar voice of the woman I had spoken to earlier saying, “What are yo—MAGE!” I opened my eyes and pushed the sleeping spell out as I had imagined, could nearly hear a soft boof! like an audible pressure being released as a wave of light flowed out around me. I could see the woman, glaring as she stepped forward, a hand on the pommel of her sword. Her eyes widened, but before she could say anything or pull her sword, she stumbled and slumped to the ground.

I turned and pushed the door to the building open, and could see that the spell had taken effect more impressively than I could have imagined. The soldiers across the entire training grounds were all fallen over, asleep. I could hear shouting at the edge of what must have been my range, of other soldiers reacting to seeing their brothers in arms falling to the ground around them, but it was silent where I was. I quickly moved away from the base, and just as I stepped around one of the sleeping guards at the gate, I could see him begin to shift, heard groans and confused mutterings from behind me as others also began to groggily wake. I picked up my pace, moving away from the town in as much of a run as I could manage, to where I had planned to meet up with Lyre and the others.