Nentarli [COMPLETE]

~ Eleven ~

We stepped out onto the dirt track between the first two fields and all eyes were on our surroundings. We looked like a pack of meerkats, searching for potential threats everywhere. Which I guess there could have been. I glanced back to Merkell and could see him muttering under his breath.

I turned to Blaike, "He's doing magic, isn't he?" I asked quietly.

He peered quickly to Merkell and then back to the surrounding fields. "Yes he is, most likely a protection spell for crossing this open area," he replied just as quietly.

Magic made me extraordinarily curious.

"Can't we have one on us all the time? Like the one Emy and I grew up with?"

I didn't know if he knew about that but from recent experience, it was likely he did.

"No, because that would presumably have been a specific spell for specific threats. Out here we don't know what we might run into and cannot account for them all."

"I think I understand, for example, if he protected us from all the types of creatures and animals out here and then we got into a fight with humans, we wouldn't be protected?"

I frowned, trying to form it into a coherent sentence.

He looked pleasantly surprised however, "Yes, that's almost exactly how it works."

I nodded in understanding, still thinking about all the possibilities it could cover out here and Blaike turned back to watch the fields.

"So why can't magic just take us to the village where our parents are? Seeing as you know where it is and who's going?" Emy asked out of nowhere, looking to Blaike and Kaleb and then Merkell.

"Because there are different magical protections set up all over the Sector and especially around our village, if we tried to get passed with magic we would be in grave danger." Blaike explained.

Confusion and horror were mirrored on mine and Emy's faces, I didn't fully understand what he meant but I wasn't sure I wanted to.

"It is also difficult to explain to you until you have a better understanding of how magic itself works," Merkell chimed in from behind. He must have sensed our confusion, "And that you will learn later, if you choose."

I sighed loudly, "More things to wait to be told."

I glanced over my shoulder at him, I didn't mean to get annoyed but it was getting so aggravating being told half truths and still having things kept from us.

"Yes, Cassandra, I am afraid so but our present situation demands our attentions much more than your understanding of magic," Merkell replied in a stern but not unkind voice.

I supposed he was right, the explanations could wait until we were somewhere safe. The first chance I got when we reached the village of Hawksend, I was taking it.

We steadily crossed the dirt tracks and passed field after field, we were coming up to a much wider and open dirt road. We turned right in a new direction and kept going without a word, though I was starting to notice changes in the landscape.

There were more bushes and trees around, much smaller than the giants in the forest which was dropping into the distance behind us. Fields still stretched for miles on either side of us but their content was varied, from corn and wheat, to fruit and vegetables.

The tension in the group lightened fractionally, civilisation seemed to be cropping up around us but I could tell they were all still wary. We walked the dirt road until it was dark and Merkell had said we would reach Hawksend by that night, had we already reached it and were just waiting for the buildings?