Guardian of Calandria | ✔️

Chapter Four

           The earth seemed to rock and sway, bringing unease to Kira's stomach. Her senses were vaguely aware of the chill pressing through her tunic and pants. A rock pressed on the mid of her back, digging into the flesh. Kira was sure it would leave a bruise, but she didn't care to move at first.

She lay on her back, listening to the soft pops of a fire. Smells of smoke and damp wood filled her nostrils while pinpricks reverberated through both legs. Exhaustion made her afraid if she opened her eyes she might explode to dust or nothingness. Her body felt off to her, like a part of her soul had gone missing.

A voice she didn't recognize muttered low enough she couldn't make out the words, though his tone suggested his irritation at something. Fear gripped her heart. The last thing she remembered was watching the guard slit Emma's throat. His manic smile would forever be burned on her retinas. Inside her head, his dagger repeatedly sliced her aunt's throat with no sign of the hell ending. Tears welled in her eyes as she fought back the rage boiling in her. If she was captured, she wouldn't go down without a fight. The bastard cursing beside her would pay for what he did. She dug her fingers into the damp soil and tried to call out her magic to entrap the man until she questioned him. Nothing came. Deeper her fingers continued to sink, but all it gave her was a muddy hand.

"I know ye be up," the foreign voice said.

Kira opened her eyes in time for a piece of wood landed on her chest. Her fingers released from the soil before removing the wood.

"If yer hungry, too bad. Yer food in yer bag didn't last long. Clearly it wasn't meant for more than a single person."

"That food was supposed to last me a week." Kira pushed up on her elbows and looked around. Oak tree's sheltered them from the sky. Darkness swallowed what little she could see through the thick branches and trunks. Moonlight illuminated rocks enough to suggest a dirt road stood within feet of the grove she found herself in.

Her eyes turned from the road to examine the camp. She recognized her horse tied to a tree, nibbling on the dead grass at its base, but not the man sitting by the fire. He sat close to the flames, warming his hands on them, with his knees pulled tight to his chest.

"Ye eat like a bird if a single loaf of bread was to last a week. I'm Addrick, before ye ask," he said. Her mind formed an image of the young man exchanging his body for that of the leopard. The image was hazy at first, trapped behind layers of particles floating in the air, until it came into focus.

"You shifted from the leopard . . ."

"Aye, I did."

"You have magic?"

"Aye."

Kira shrieked when Addrick reached into the fire and pulled out a hand full of flames. They curled over his fingers and snaked his forearm before vanishing in a puff of smoke.

His cheeks dimpled with his grin. "This fire was created by me. It cannot harm me as it would harm ye, or yer friend. Magic harms the world surrounding us, but not the caster of the power."

"My fri . . ." Kira's eyes widened as she looked around the grove again, she jumped to her feet, ignoring the nausea feeling in her stomach, exhaustion evaporating with her racing heart. "Ry! Where's Ry?"

"I sent him to a village half a day's ride east of here. We needed supplies."

"You sent him alone? They're after us!"

Addrick waved a dismissive hand. "Nay, they're after ye. Not him. And I will not let ye out of my sight now that I've found ye. If he dies, I don't care. Ye are the priority, not him."