A Time of Darkness (The Circle of Talia) (13 page)

Bronwyn woke, the bitter taste of vetchus in her mouth—it felt like her tongue had been dried and coated in sand. Opening her eyes, she looked up to see the underside of a dark-timber bunk bed crowding over her. She heard breathing near her ear and turned her head, feeling the bed dip and rise. Slapping one hand over her mouth, she held her breath for a moment before she removed her hand. “Drakon’s balls!”

“It’s nice to see you too.” Corrille, the best friend she hadn’t seen since Sinjenasta had taken her away, leaned over and gave her a hug. “Are you okay? You’ve been unconscious for more than a day. Those bastards who kidnapped us gave you some kind of drug, I think.”

Bronwyn slowly sat and shifted her legs over the side of the bunk so her feet touched the floor. With her elbows resting on her thighs, she buried her head in her hands. “I don’t feel too well. Where are we, and how did you get here?”

“We’re on a ship—the gods know where.” Corrille sat next to Bronwyn. “The day after that giant thing took you, I had a fight with your aunt. I went for a walk, and that’s the last thing I remember before waking up in the back of a covered cart. Oh, my goodness, Bronny, I never thought I’d see you again.” Corrille wiped her eyes with her palm.

“I never thought I’d see you again either, or Aunt Avruellen. But I did see her before I was kidnapped. Do you know who they are?”

“The man is called Morth, and the ugly woman is his mother. I think she looks like a man, and she’s more scary than he is.” Corrille whispered, “She bosses him around. Sometimes I don’t know who’s in charge.”

“So now what do we do? I can’t stay locked up here. I need to find everyone; we’ve got things we have to do.”

“What things, and who’s ‘everyone?’”

As relieved as Bronwyn was to see her best friend, Avruellen’s words sounded in her mind, and she was careful about how much she said. “Guess what? I have a brother!”

This was news she could genuinely smile about. She wondered if he was worried about her.

“What, a brother? That’s wonderful news! How did you find out?” Corrille jumped up in excitement and hit her head on the bunk above. “Shit! Ow, that hurt.”

She rubbed it with her hand.

“Are you okay? That sounded hard.”

Corrille looked at her with a
what a stupid thing to say
look, and they both laughed.

“It’s so good to see you again.” Bronwyn stood carefully and hugged her friend. “Hmm, I think you’d like my brother; he’s kinda cute.”

“What does he look like?”

“A bit like me; we’re twins. He’s got dark hair, and he’s tall with green eyes.”

“Twins? This story just keeps getting more interesting. Do you think he’d like me?”

“Of course he would. What’s not to like? Anyway, that’s enough silly talk. We need to figure out how to get out of here.”

A knock at the door interrupted their reunion. Bronwyn tensed, resisting the urge to reach for a corridor to the Second Realm. She was getting stronger and quicker at linking with the Realm but decided it would be better to be patient—she shouldn’t to give her secret away to Corrille if she didn’t have to.

A man, who Bronwyn recognized as the person who spoke to her by the sea, entered; his shoulder-length, curly, blond hair would have been more suitable on a woman, and his thin moustache ensured he looked more like a foppish noble than a kidnapper. Bronwyn wondered if the sword at his hip was for show, or if he could really use it.

“Ah, good to see you’re awake. I’m Morth, and I’m here to insist you behave.”

“Or what? And incidentally, why am I here?” Her plan had been to be quiet and watch, but she always felt impelled to act in confrontations, especially when she felt someone—in this case, her—was wronged. She took a step towards Morth.

“If you don’t behave, we’ll make sure you sleep the whole way to where we’re going. As for why you’re here, that’s simple: Klazich has ordered it. Now there’s to be no more questions.”

Corrille grabbed her friend’s arm. “Just listen to him. I tried to get away once, and his mother attacked me.” Corrille lifted her hair and showed Bronwyn yellowed bruises around her neck.

“She tried to strangle you?” She really wanted to get her hands on Morth’s mother. Deciding it didn’t matter whether Corrille knew she was a realmist or not, she looked for the corridor to the Second Realm. As her speeding awareness reached the entry of the corridor, it crashed into nothing: an invisible barrier. Bronwyn fell to the ground, stunned.

Corrille bent over her. “Oh, gods, are you all right? Bronwyn, can you hear me? Bronwyn, talk to me.”

She tapped Bronwyn’s cheek with the ends of her fingers.

Morth laughed. “Didn’t expect that, eh? What do you take us for, realmist? For that indiscretion, you two can go without food today. How do you like them apples? Ha, ha. Get it?”

He exited, shutting and bolting the door.

Bronwyn’s eyes focused, and Corrille helped her sit up. “What happened?”

“I have something to tell you.” Bronwyn hoped her friend wouldn’t hate her for keeping such a big secret, or even for being a realmist. They had never discussed realmists before, and she had no idea whether Corrille hated them, liked them, or just didn’t believe in what they could do. “I’m a realmist. I just tried to get to the Second Realm, but they’ve put a barrier up, and I crashed into it.”

“What? What are you talking about? You can’t be a realmist; they’re old and have beards.”

Despite the headache digging its fingers into her brain, Bronwyn giggled. “Some do, but not all. They start studying when they’re young.”

“I don’t know if I believe you. How come you never told me before?”

“My aunt wanted it to be a secret. You don’t have to believe me—it doesn’t change what I know.” Bronwyn shrugged, disappointed. While glad that her friend didn’t hate her for being a realmist, she was hoping Corrille would be impressed, or even surprised—but not believing her? And when had she ever lied to her friend? “I’m not feeling well. I’m going to lie down.”

Corrille didn’t say anything and Bronwyn watched as she climbed onto the top bunk. How was she going to get out of here without Second Realm power, and who, or what, was Klazich? Did Avruellen know where she was? She worried because they only had a certain amount of time to find the ancient book and figure out how to do the second unlocking of her amulet by the next full moon. With no ideas materializing, Bronwyn gave up thinking and, lulled by the roll of the ocean, fell asleep.

Close to midnight, Bayerlon slept. Draped by night’s dark pelt, the dragons, Agmunsten, and Arie prepared to leave. In a training field behind the castle, the realmists took to their saddles, excited. Riding on a dragon was rare and so invigorating that even Agmunsten enjoyed the rush of gliding through the cold, fresh heights, wind lifting his spirits and reminding him how amazing life could be.

“Is everyone ready?” asked Arcese.

“Yep,” came the unanimous reply.

The dragons channeled earth magic, calling the heat from deep underneath Talia to come to the surface, thereby warming the air and creating additional lift. The dragons, heavy as they were, needed assistance to leave the ground—whether that was running off a cliff, jumping from a height, or invoking thermals. As they extended their wings, ready to take off, Queen Gabrielle ran out, yelling at them to wait. Both dragons stopped channeling and folded their massive wings.

Gabrielle reached them and spoke through winded breaths, “Boy’s missing.”

Agmunsten spoke, “How long has he been gone?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t been up to see him until now. I just wanted to check he was sleeping okay. I have a feeling he’s gone after Edmund, thinking he can help. You have to stop him. If you find him, take him with you, but look after him, please? I would ask you to bring him back here, but I know you’re in a hurry. If he runs away again, I can’t afford to send soldiers to chase him.”

“We’ll find him. Don’t worry. I forgot to mention I’ve also had a chat
with The Academy, and I have a realmist coming to help you. Her name is Astra. She’s originally from Zamahl but escaped across the sea on a trading ship when she was a teenager and found us, which was very lucky considering the rarity of Zamahlan ships coming this far west. She’s been with The Academy for forty years and is one of our best teachers, especially when it comes to manipulating the power to create lightning.”

“Lightning? What use am I going to have for that?”

“You’d be surprised how quickly it can cook food.” He winked, but no one saw it in the dark. “Astra can do other things too. She’ll keep you safe, and I can keep you updated through her.”

“I’ll take your word for it. Get going and stay safe.” Gabrielle hurried back to the castle, and the dragons channeled again. Arcese flapped her giant wings. Arie felt the resistance as she tried to leave the ground. For a few seconds, it seemed as if they were held fast by stretchy fabric. After straining it as far as it would go, it snapped, and they were flung at a great speed, up and forward. Arie decided he much preferred the “jump off a cliff” approach.

Once the dragons settled into smooth flight, Zim sent part of his awareness to the Second Realm and scried for Boy’s symbol. He soon found him—forty miles from the castle. “He’s managed to get a fair way. His symbol is overlapped with another; I’m assuming he’s on a horse. We’ll be on him in less than an hour. I’ll fly down while you go ahead. I’ll catch up.”

When they neared Boy, Zim descended, swooping low over him and landing in front of his plodding horse. Boy pulled hard on the reins and quickly pulled a dagger out of his belt with shaking hands.

Agmunsten jumped off Zim and reached Boy in a few large strides. “Boy, it’s Agmunsten. Put the dagger away.”

“Agmunsten?” His timid voice reminded the realmist that he was only ten. What sort of sabotage was he really capable of? He was just a child doing what his master told him. How could he know the consequences?

“Get down, lad. The queen is very worried. She sent us to find you. Climb up on Zim; you’re coming with us.”

Boy, stunned, slid off his pony and flinched as he walked past Agmunsten. “I’m not going to beat you, child. Just hop up on the dragon.” He was disgusted at
Boy’s reaction—how many times had the child been abused that now he expected it? Agmunsten decided there were a few adults he wouldn’t mind feeding to the gormons. He climbed up in front of the child. “Hang on around my waist, and whatever you do, don’t let go. Okay, Zim, we’re ready.” Zim channeled, flapped, and they farewelled the ground.

When they had been flying for a while, Boy spoke. “Will the horse be okay?”

“Yes, lad. He’ll find his way home, most likely. Even if a farmer finds him, the Laraulens brand their animals. Now tell me, what were you doing running from Bayerlon?”

“It’s not that I wanted to leave Bayerlon; I just wanted to help the King get Verity back.”

“And how do you think you were going to do that, eh?”

“I figured I’d think of something by the time we got there.”

“You bloody kids think war is glorious or easy, or, I don’t know. Chances are you would have died in the cold with no food before you even caught up to the king. You’re with us now, and I expect to be obeyed. I won’t think twice about using the Second Realm to make sure you can’t move if you even think about going against what I say. Have I made myself clear?”

“Yes, sir.”

They flew the remainder of the night; Boy snuggled against Agmunsten’s back. Agmunsten thought ahead to what they had to do when they arrived at Klendar. Whatever they did had to be done quickly, before Leon knew they were coming; two dragons couldn’t escape notice for long in the open—the terrain within one hundred miles of the castle was mildly hilly scrubland, thin forest with no caves or thick stands of trees to speak of. Pernus had filled them in on what to expect.

After a few hours flying northwest, Agmunsten noticed the black sky lightening to dark gray, the change so subtle it came without warning. “I think it’s time to land. We’re not far from the border, so there’s still places to hide. I’m sure there’s a cave around down there somewhere.”

Zim answered, “When was the last time you were in Inkra, my friend?”

“Hmm, about forty years ago, but caves don’t just get up and walk away.”

“I was thinking more of how good your memory is, and you could have crossed the border anywhere.”

“True, but it was west of Feldon, so I’ve narrowed it down.”

“Yes, great. You’ve narrowed it down to within one-thousand miles.”

There was nothing to say to that, so they descended in silence and searched for a place to hide. Two more nights of flying and they would reach Klendar. Agmunsten’s heart beat faster as he imagined confronting Leon. As much as they wanted to arrest him, chances were he wouldn’t come willingly. Someone would die, and the realmist didn’t think it would be him. He had known Leon since he was born, and even though he hadn’t turned out as he hoped, killing him was not something he was looking forward to. He would make sure it was quick. Maybe he should have brought Astra with him—delegating the job to someone who was good with lightning bolts sounded good to him right now.