The Protector

Chapter 10

Thank you to Creepingdarkness for the cover! :) Hope you all enjoy.

Chapter 10

Exhaustion doesn't even begin to describe how I'm feeling after a month of little over three hours sleep a night. Every spare moment I had I was spending researching Magery in an attempt to come across a spell that matched my description of the one I felt within the Queen.

Luckily I had stumbled across a restorative spell that put your fatigue at bay for a time. I'm pretty sure this is the only reason I am still going but it also meant that when I slept it was a good quality sleep, almost like what I would imagine a coma to be, deep and dreamless.

"I know what you are up to." Edmon whispers to me as a break in our training.

"What do you mean?" I ask bumping shoulders with him as we follow Jamie out into the stables. I was more tired than normal today and Edmon had commented on it more than once already. I had been up studying yet another spells book lord Dray had lent me, attempting to find this spell and I think I may have found something. It looked complicated and I'm unsure how to get rid of it without killing the person or getting them away from the Queen but it was a start.

Today we would be spending our first night out in the forest south of the city. We will be expected to survive and make our own way back on foot before the end of the second day. I recall the instructions that had been given to us by Rohann just that morning.

"You all have six months remaining of your training. This challenge will test you in your survival skills. If you are unable to survive out in the wild you won't make a very good knight. You will be blindfolded and dropped somewhere from the city in groups of four. Your task is to make it back to the castle before night fall on the third day. That will mean two nights out with only the equipment you can carry on foot. You will not be provided with horses."

We were in the process of being put into our groups and thankfully Rhoald, Leon, Edmon and myself had been placed in a group together. The other sixteen who's training will end in six months had been split into another four groups of four. We would be travelling in a cramped cart with no windows according to Jamie. This was something I wasn't looking forward to. At least I had Leon to cover for me and help me explain why I wouldn't do certain things.

"You're running yourself into the ground with this research, you need to look after yourself."

"You're wrong. The Queen is the most important one, not me, I'm not important. The more time I spend researching the closer I come to finding out what is going on. The Mage doing this is in this very building, they could be around us both on a daily basis, talking to us, training with us and we don't even know. I have to do everything I can." I remind him for the third time today. Rolling his eyes at my little speech he grabs me unceremoniously by the elbow and pulls me over to an empty corner, away from any prying eyes and ears.

"How long would this person have to be gone for the symptoms to decrease and it look like she was making a recovery?" He asks in a calculated but rushed whisper.

"You think the Mage could be coming out with us?" I ask knowing this would be his line of thinking and I would be lying to myself if I said that I hadn't already had this idea earlier in the day. In fact I had already had a short meeting with Lord Dray and the King about my theories.

"Ahead of you Edmon. I spoke to your father and Lord Dray this morning they agree with my theories and are going to keep an eye on your mother and let us both know if anything happens upon our return. They also have said that it is alright for us to use our Magery in order for us to get back." I add as an afterthought. It was true though, their reasoning was that if we were out alone and it was life or death we would use every resource we had, including our Magery.