Breaker of Rings

Chapter 6

"Why did we even bring the horses?" Charlotte griped as she struggled to coax them onto the ship. After Finn's departure, the Four Horsewomen had spent most of the day strategizing—first amongst themselves, then with Drew alone while Paige dozed in the afternoon, and finally with both the rulers of Scotland and England. Their minds had been whirring, but a day of physical inactivity made them all rather cranky. Sasha had worn off her excess energy by swimming against the evening waves while Bex and Bayley sparred on the shore; Charlotte, on the other hand, had opted to find a willing partner among Drew's retinue to spend the night with. Bex was fairly certain she would have preferred the company of a particularly handsome English knight who had caught her eye, but she didn't want to give Paige any sort of hold over her.

"Because we weren't sure if we were going to have to visit each monarch separately," Sasha reminded her, steadying the waves around their ship. Bex hadn't needed much time to reassemble it, and fortifying it was almost habit now, as natural as breathing. "We could have just ridden to the border and asked the guards where the queen was in residence."

"Her spring palace is near the border, isn't it?" Bayley chimed in. The horses all liked her best, perhaps because of her affinity for the earth, and as soon as she hugged their neck or patted their back, they started to settle. "The winter one must be on the southern coast. Paige hates the cold almost as much as our Bex does."

"Not nearly." Currently having nothing to do but maintain the ship's form, Bex kept going over the ship's oars, making sure they were sea-worthy. She and Sasha had both been prepared to cast their magics to hasten their journey home, but Bayley and Charlotte insisted on rowing as much as they could to conserve their magical energy as much as possible. Though she didn't want to admit it, Bex knew they were right. The Skull King alone was too formidable to face without all the magic they could muster; if The Shield also wielded magic, as the Four Horsewomen suspected, even that might not be enough. "But of course she just tells me to build a fire. If it were only that easy."

And there was the great contradiction of the Four Horsewomen. Bex forged flames but couldn't be easily warmed by them. Sasha could weave with water, but was almost always parched. Though Bayley could command the earth, none of the crops on her family's farm ever prospered. And Charlotte called to air, but it kept the sweetest sounds from her, making all compliments sound flat and hollow. It was why Bex sought warmth and Sasha craved fruits, why Bayley felt like she could never go home and why Charlotte could receive all the accolades in the world and still feel empty and unworthy. As sisters, they did their best to help patch up each other's weaknesses, but such was the price of magic.

Bayley finally sighed and nudged Charlotte out of the way. "Go check the sail," she said. "I'll get the horses." Her own horse followed her gladly, settling into its favourite spot, and it didn't take much for the other three to follow, each rubbing their heads against Bayley's shoulder as they passed her. "Bex, Sasha? Go sit. Charlotte and I will row for a while."

Sasha aimed a sharp look her way. "We can row too. We'll get home faster if all of us are helping."

"You are helping," Charlotte reminded her. "You too, Bex. You guys are working right now and you don't even feel it. We have to remember that—all of us. We're so used to being the only ones with magic. We don't know how to fight other magic users."

Bex shrugged, trailing her fingers over the handle of an oar. The physical exertion would be a gift, especially after spending most of yesterday at a table, debating strategies. "I want to row," she said, "at least for a while. It will help with momentum." Then she glanced over at Sasha. "Once we've got a good rhythm going, if it looks like it's safe to rely on the sails, we can do that for a while. As for fighting, we know they have at least one fire-forger, so. . . ."