Fire Weaver (Fall of the Fey #1)

Chapter 29

The next morning Mel experienced, for the first time, what it was like to wake up on the damp ground. She was shivering, her skin a pale blue instead of its orange hue. The night chill still clung to the wind that drifted through the trees. Mel rubbed her hands while she considered the path ahead.

The mist made the swamp lands positively gloomy and Mel admitted to herself, in the quiet of the morning, that she had severe reservations about going through it. She heard a noise to her left and figured another of her group had woken up. She turned when no one spoke and instead saw the silhouette of a woman walking through the swamp.

'Lucius,' Mel whispered while her eyes tracked the ghostly figure. 'Lucius, wake up.' The figure paused, as if it could hear her, she felt a hand on her arm and  figured Lucius had woken up. 'What is that?'

'Swamp woman.' Lucius responded quietly. The woman faded away.

'I don't think we should go in there.' She told him. Mel had read about swamp women and how they lured their prey into their swap lands to mate with them, which wouldn't be too bad if they didn't consume those they mated with. She glanced up at his face to see him nodding.

'We'll skirt around when the other two wake up.'

***

The horses failed.

Dazzen and Revard had been riding hard for the Red Sea, maintaining the same speed for hours. They had been due to make a rest stop when the horses collapsed. If they had been paying attention they would have noticed the horses decline but they were too busy bickering as bothers often do.

At the sudden stop, the rear end of the cart jumped up and slammed back down; breaking the axel and loosening the wheels. Both brothers were thrown from the front of the cart and landed in a heap on either side of the dead horses.

Tobi screamed, tears in his eyes, blood rushing down his face from his broken nose. Faux had not been hurt and he lacked any surprise at what happened. He watched Tobi for a moment before he spoke. 'don't worry, it was just the horses.'

Tobi rubbed his bloodshot eyes. 'what?'

'It was the horses.'

'How do you know?'

'Inadvertent magic.'

'What?'

Faux squeezed his eyes closed and let his head bang against the wall. He had no control over what happened when someone asked for a wish but he always knew, on some level, what would happen as soon as the spell was cast. He half-heartedly wished that the idiots who had dragged him out of the cart had just left him on the side of the road.

'What do you mean?' Tobi asked again his voice so high Faux winced against a sudden onset of a headache.

'I mean, I inadvertently killed the horses.'

'How?'

'Magic.'

'What kind of magic?'

'The inadvertent kind.'

Tobi glared petulantly at Faux who was too distracted by the yelling outside to really notice.

'What the hell are we gonna do now?' Dazzen yelled as he kicked one of the dead horses before turning on his brother who clutched his arm while staring into the distance. 'Revard, it was your job to look after the horses.'

That caught Revards attention. His head whipped around so he was facing his brother with a scowl. 'I looked after the horses yesterday. It was your turn this morning.'

'No, it wasn't.' Dazzen yelled, his voice cracked painfully before he took a deep breath and blew it out loudly. 'What do we do now?'

'We should wait for the others...' Revard trailed off, thinking about the road ahead and where the closest town would be. They had been avoiding the road that wound through the towns, because it took longer to go that way, so they hadn't been through one since they left. 'We've been travelling four, five days...' Revard sighed, his eyes roving the road and the forest around him while he calculated the distance in his head. 'The next town should be about another day and a half's travel.' He looked questioningly at Dazzen.

'Well, I'm not walking that far. Screw that.'

'The others are about a day behind us.'

'So we wait for them.'

'Suppose so.' Revard said as he sat on the wooden bench of the cart, still clutching his arm. Something was bothering him and he wasn't quite sure what.

***

The king was rubbing his jaw staring at the table before him. It was strewn with maps and the candles had burnt down so much that the only illumination came from the roaring fire beside him. His eyebrows knitted together and he leaned back.

'They should be here by now.' He told his right hand man, General Reginald. He refused to refer to Reginald as an adviser, as if the king needed help to think.

'Mmm.' Reginald responded.

'Are you hearing me?' The king said sharply. Slowly Reginald's head turned toward him, his milky eyes seemed to gaze through the king who felt the muscles tense in his shoulders every time Reginald looked at him. 'They should be here.'

'They are running behind schedule. It's no trouble.'

'I thought it was important to have everything ready as soon as possible.'

Reginald turned back to whatever had taken his attention outside. As though he was gazing at the people outside who sweated and bled for the kings dream. 'They will be here in time.'

'How do you know?' The King demanded.

'I have been preparing for this for long enough.' Reginald said, his shoulders thrown back, his head held high. 'Everything will go according to plan.'

'But this will be my army.' The king reminded Reginald.

Reginald waved a hand dismissively rather than verbally respond.

'Do not forget your place.' The king told him, his chair scraping back across the floor as the king stood.

'The army is yours. Our agreement holds.' Reginald said.

The king stared at him for a moment before he walked out of the room. The door slammed behind him.

Reginald smiled, his cracked, pale lips turned into a tight line. He had discovered the trick to immortality. He had uncovered all manner of magic and mysteries all for this one moment.

Reginald remembered the first night he had performed magic. He remembered the tainted sickness that followed more. How he had been in bed for weeks, unable to move but it had been