Radiance - The Alight Archives Book #1

90. The Sorcerer I Choose

With her hands before her, fingers interlaced with one another, Elaine sat slumped atop an aged stump of wood, her mind buzzing with worries, thoughts, and emotions. The night breeze felt cold, whistling against her skin, messing her hair mixed with twigs and leaves, drying the lines of tears running down her face.

They had arrived far quicker than she'd anticipated. Then again, you'd have to be a special kind of sulmo to defy the direct orders of a Professional Sorcerer, let alone a Strix. She watched them, men dressed in their military blue uniforms, runerifles pressed against their chests as they filed into the forest edge in organized units. These men, they showed no mercy or compassion as they slapped the metallic cuffs on the wrists of the rogue sorcerers in their custody.

Men in ragged, battered clothing, bruises, and blood marks marring their skin marched in a single file towards the seven parked vehicles awaiting them in the distance, their massive rear doors propped open, awaiting the prisoners that would assuredly be shipped off to the Obsidian Tower, once they were given a trial in the Capital, of course. Elaine didn't see much of the point in doing so. These rogue sorcerers were guilty; she held no sympathy for anyone who would use their magic to bring needless harm to others.

They moved like shadows in the night. Had it not been for the Twin Sisters hovering silently in the blackened sky—one aglow with the light of a full moon whilst its sibling beside it took on a darker shade—they would have been drenched in total shadow. Elaine pulled the blanket tightly around her to fight the coldness, tired eyes fixed ahead, concentrating not on the imprisoned rogue sorcerers or the squadrons of military officers but on the five sorcerers—Medical Mages, from the looks of it, each of them donning their brownish-colored uniforms—standing in a circle around the young man laying below them.

Ellend. He was strewn out on the ground atop a thin blanket, his shirt having been pulled from over his chest, revealing the darkish wound digging its way into his skin. Elaine had remembered it viscerally, the sight of the spell colliding into her brother, blowing him off his feet. The sight of blood shooting out of him in a crimson splash. She had once resigned herself to the thought of not having him in her life anymore. However, the sudden arrival of the Military and Medical Mages brought a spark of hope she hadn't dared to entertain. Perhaps, just perhaps, his chances of returning to her life could be restored. Would Aeris be so kind as to grant her such a wondrous gift?

A figure appeared next to her, standing tall and unyielding, her light brown hair blowing gently with the breeze. Delilah Harwood had been swift in eradicating the threat and even quicker in summoning reinforcements once she realized how severe Ellend's wound was. According to her, these men belonged to a division patrolling in a neighboring town a good ways from the opposite end of Gallow Forest. 

Aunt Delilah had contacted them via radio before she'd chased after Ellend and herself, although Elaine wasn't certain where the small team of Medical Mages had come from. Not that that mattered, of course. She was more so grateful that they were using their talents of Abjuration to heal her brother.

Elaine brushed a hand over her eyes. "Aunt Delilah...will Ellend...will he...?"

"He'll live," she said in a very matter-of-fact tone, though Elaine recognized, deep down, that she cared for her nephew greatly. Given their company, her aunt needed to maintain an air of professionalism, and Elaine wouldn't fault her for that. "Luckily for him, it wasn't an advanced-level spell, only a mere attack spell. It could have been much worse had the latter been the case. Regardless, he's in good hands now," she said, glancing over to where the Medical Mages were continuously casting their healing magic on Ellend, muttering out low, concentrated chants as they became aglow in green-colored light.

"Who are they?" Elaine asked.

"Friends who owe me some favors," Aunt Delilah replied nonchalantly. "You meet a lot of different sorcerers as a Strix, traveling across the country on your missions, and Rosal City has some of the best Medical Mages in the business. It'd be remiss not to acquaint myself with some of them while I was there. I suppose it worked out for the better, though. There have never been many doctors or Medical Mages in these parts, not since I was a girl. You'd best pray to Aeris tonight for her small yet powerful miracles."