The Wizards' War The Chronicles of the Midlands Book Two

Chapter 4

Within a few minutes they reached the cobblestones of the King's Road and they headed towards Ferry Loop Road making their way to the Western Ferry Dock where they would board the ferry and cross Glimmer Glass Lake to reach their destination of Sovereign City. It was a gloomy day and every now and again silent lightening flashed across the early morning sky as they rode along making Celine wondered if they would get caught in a thunderstorm before they were able to reach the ferry. As she went along, she occasionally looked up at the overcast sky which seemed to have a murky yellow tinge to it and she thought it looked kind of strange, never having seen such a sky before.

"I think we're in for some bad weather," she said to Brandon as she looked up and watched as a bolt of red lightening shot across the sky. "Did you see that?" she asked him excitedly. "The lightening was red!"

"I saw it," Brandon answered with a concerned look on his face. "Something isn't right. Lightening isn't red," he told her as he continued to watch.

Suddenly another bolt flashed, this time being purple and he immediately reined in his horse. "This isn't lightening," he said as he continued to watch another bolt flash in the opposite direction of the first two and this one was green.

"What is it then? Something magical?" she asked him as she watched the sky beside him.

"I don't know. I've never seen anything like this before. But, it isn't natural. So, magic must be involved," he told her. "Let's go. Haverty is getting too far ahead of us," he said as he started off again.

The strange lightening continued as they traveled down Ferry Loop Road and the feeling that she needed to do something grew stronger in Celine to the point where it was starting to bother her. "I need to do something! But, I don't know what it is and it's frustrating me!" she told Brandon as the feeling increased.

"What do you mean? Do you think you forgot to do something before we left?" he asked her as he glanced at her and saw that she looked disgruntled.

"I don't know!" she said frustrated. "I've been feeling like this all morning! But, I can't figure it out! And it's getting worse!"

"Maybe it has to do with the strange, magical lightening. Maybe it's aggravating the anti-magic within you since it's being blocked by your cloak," Brandon surmised, with a small frown on his face. "Go ahead and put down your hood and see if it helps."

She did as he suggested and the feeling did decrease a little. "That's a little better," she told him as they continued to ride. "It's a little more bearable."

"Okay, good. Try to hang in there. The strange lightening should stop soon. They can't keep it up forever," he told her giving her an apologetic smile.

They continued on for a few more hours with the colorful lightening streaming across the sky in different directions until all of a sudden the compelling feeling that Celine was experiencing became overwhelming to the point of being unbearable.

Suddenly a very small, strange creature that looked like a miniature woman with wings darted in front of Celine's face, then flew over to Brandon and followed along beside him for a moment before speeding back into the Royal Pine Forest as he reined in his horse. "What in the Midlands was that?" Brandon asked in shock.