THE ASHES OF LIGHT ✔

Chapter Fourteen: Maythus

As soon as Valencia was dragged away, Maythus was filled with an intense feeling of panic. What were they going to do to her? He was facing away from the bonfire, unable to see anything.

"Valencia?" Maythus called out, hoping his voice didn't sound as distressed as he felt. "Are you okay? What's going on?"

He received no answer. He could hear mumbling in the distance, presumably from the people at the bonfire talking to Valencia

Maythus struggled against the ropes, trying to escape. In feeling around the knots, he quickly realized that one of the ropes tying his legs together had come undone, probably on accident when they were untying Valencia.

Flashbacks to his earlier conversation with Klara overtook Maythus's mind. She had warned him that if anything were to happen to him or Maddi, the kingdom would be in shambles. He eyed the two silhouettes, tied to a nearby tree. If one of them was his sister, maybe he could try and form an escape plan.

Maythus could use telepathy on anyone, but because Maddi was his twin, it was much easier to connect to her mind—especially from a distance. Everyone else required a physical connection in order for him to access their mind, or else it would be incredibly tiring.

Maythus shut his eyes, trying to concentrate. Everyone's mind had a different feeling to it, and he could tell that there were tens of them nearby. One of them stood out to him—it contained the same familiar coolness of Maddi.

He focused on connecting to her consciousness, the black of his vision slowly fading to white as he entered.

"Maddi?" he called out, hoping desperately that she would answer.

"Maythus?" Maddi's consciousness replied. It wasn't her talking, so to say, it was more of her thinking and Maythus sensing the presence of her thoughts.

"Can you see me? I'm tied to the tree beside you," he told her. He felt a pause as Maddi likely looked around.

"Yeah, I see you," she finally answered.

"They took Valencia, but if they know who we are, they're probably targeting us." Maythus said to his sister.

"What are we going to do?" Maddi asked. "We have to get out of here!"

"Are you facing the bonfire?" Maythus asked, a plan beginning to form in his mind.

"No, I'm facing the forest. Kane is facing the bonfire." she answered, a hint of confusion in her consciousness.

"Good," Maythus said, and began relaying his plan to her. Once Maddi understood, he left her mind, the dark world around him coming back into view.

His eyes took a minute to adjust to the sudden darkness, the only light being the flames from the bonfire. The stars were twinkling high above in the sky, but the treetops blocked out what little light the moon could provide them with.

Maythus kicked off the remaining rope that was attached to my legs, freeing them to be able to kick.

Out of the corner of my eye, he watched as Maddi began to shift. Her bones shrunk and hair grew shorter as she shifted into a younger version of herself—only a few years old. Much smaller as a child, the ropes didn't contain her and she was able to wriggle free.

The siblings locked eyes as she darted into the forest, following the plan that Maythus had formulated. Now, he just needed to free himself.

Maythus bent his knee, bringing up his leg close to his face. He sighed in relief as he saw that his hunting knife was still in his leg pocket. He was surprised that their kidnappers didn't check for weapons beforehand, but they probably figured that weapons wouldn't do much good if they couldn't be used.