Witch Queen (16 page)

“So, which clan do you belong to?” I asked
after a moment of silence.

“The Elemental clan,” he answered.

I could see a tightness in his jaw, but he
continued, “My magic is like yours. We are bound to this world,
this land. All elemental witches channel our powers from nature,
from the four elements: earth, air, fire, and water. Ours is the
purest kind of magic.”

“Which explains how you can bend fire to
your will and do what you want with it.”

“It does.” Fawkes raised his eyebrows. “But
the fact still remains that it would be unwise for the humans to
accompany us to Witchdom.”

“Why?” My voice was flat, and I didn’t try
to hide my frustration at talking about this again. This whole
prejudice thing was starting to really piss me off.

“Humans are
not
welcomed in the witch
realm, just as witches are not welcomed in Arcania. The long and
brutal history between us makes it so. Trust me, the humans should
stay behind—”

“They’re coming with us,” I growled. I was
surprised at my own conviction after all that had happened.

I looked Fawkes straight in the eyes and
added, “It’s time to change that history. They’re coming, and
that’s final.”

I wouldn’t be intimidated. Witch or not, I
was the head of this quest, and I wasn’t going to let him bully
me.

Fawkes shrugged. “As you wish.”

I almost smiled at my little victory.

We sat in silence for a while. The murmurs
of conversation from the men had died down, and I could see that
they were all stretched out on their bedrolls. All except for
Nugar. He leaned against a tree with his arms crossed on his chest,
and although I couldn’t make out his face in the dark, I could feel
his eyes on me.

I turned my attention back to Fawkes. “Why
aren’t you in Witchdom with the rest of your clan?”

I waited, but Fawkes’ lips were tight and
his shoulders had tensed.

“Are you exiled like Ada and the other
witches?”

He said nothing for a while, and I didn’t
understand the reaction I saw on his face.

“You seem to know a lot about me,” I
pressed. “It’s only fair that I know a little about you. Don’t you
agree?”

“You should get some sleep.”

And with that, Fawkes stood up, turned
around, and walked away, but not before I saw a shadow pass over
his face. I stared at him until he disappeared into the night.

I was annoyed that he still chose to be a
stranger.
What had happened to him? Why was he on this side of
the realm?
Fawkes was a mystery. He was fierce, and yet I saw a
genuine kindness in him.

I could hardly keep my eyes open.
Reluctantly, I left the comfort of the fire and dragged my feet in
search of Torak and my bedroll.

Over the next weeks, we rode past sunset and
well into the night, when our breaths came out as white mist. We
made sure to give our rides enough rest with plenty of food and
water. Every day was the same. We rode with a new sense of urgency,
and our conversations were limited. If I spoke to any of my men, it
was usually Leo or Will, and even then it was only because they had
instigated housekeeping conversations about food, fire, or how many
days we had left. Our conversations felt forced, and I still could
not forgive them for their prejudice against witches, against me. I
didn’t know if I could ever really trust them again.

We crossed the entire northern tip of the
Romilian kingdom without any further encounters. If my men had been
surprised at our luck, they didn’t mention it. For weeks we never
once came near a road or any visible trail at all. But on the
thirty-first day of our journey, as we neared the border of
Girmania, I heard the distant sound of hooves. If I could hear
them, then they could hear us, so Fawkes took us deeper into the
woodlands. It was a pity that we spent all our time so deep in the
forests, and I couldn’t get a glimpse of the two kingdoms.
Were
their cities as grand as those in Erast?
I would never
know.

I was glad of Fawkes’ company, however, even
though his arrogance and spiteful remarks about humans still made
my blood boil. As we rode side by side, I asked him about the
current state of Witchdom.

“How is it governed? Who else is in power
aside from the king?”

“The witch king rules all of Witchdom,”
Fawkes had answered. “There is also the Coven Council, which
consists of the top ranking high witches from each clan. They act
as advisers to the witch king. But ultimately, he has the last
word.”

“Will this council receive me as a friend,
or will they view me as an enemy?”

“It depends,” he said carefully. “The fact
that you were born outside of Witchdom and that your blood may be
human complicates things. The Coven Council has been around for
centuries. They are as old as the wind, and they wield a lot of
influence over the witch realm.

“Some of them are stuck in the old ways,
before the time of men, but they are reasonable. If the black magic
has been felt in Witchdom, the Coven Council will have sensed it.
Their first priorities are to the land and to magic. If they feel
threatened, I have no doubt they will advise the witch king to
act.”

Although Fawkes answered each of my
questions, I couldn’t help but sense that he was being very
prudent, and that each answer was heavily edited. Still, the little
information I got was better than nothing. I also learned that
Fawkes thought the king was a cruel ruler, and that his rule had
lasted for over three hundred years.

My rebel companions still gave me and Fawkes
a wide berth, but I didn’t care. I rode alongside him with a new
sense of pride and purpose. I was frightened and excited at the
same time. It was a glorious feeling.

I hadn’t even noticed that we’d left
Girmania and crossed into Fell Forest. All the forests were the
same to me—big, beautiful, and treacherous. But then the trees
started to look bigger. The pine needles were a darker green, and
their trunks were black.

Finally, we arrived at the borders of
Witchdom. The mountains I had seen in the distance that morning
towered over us by the late afternoon. They disappeared into the
clouds of the Goddess and the Creator. The dark gray granite had
hues of blue in it and the rocks were sharp. The mountains
terrified me. It would be impossible for anyone to climb over them,
and my heart sank to my feet. There had to be another way…

“If you think we can climb this, then the
entire journey has been a waste of time and lives,” said Leo.

He looked at Fawkes. “The horses cannot
climb. We’re not witches, we can’t
fly
.”

Fawkes raised an eyebrow, but he didn’t
correct him.

“Without experience and tools,” continued
Leo dejectedly, “it would take a lifetime just to climb up one
side. Hell, we don’t even have rope. We’re not mountaineers. We’d
never survive that climb. It’s a death trap.”

“It can’t be impossible,” I said, and I
hoped I was right. “If the witches said that we could cross, there
has to be another way.”

I looked at Fawkes but I couldn’t read his
expression.

“No witch would be foolish enough to climb
or
fly
over the Mystic Mountains,” growled Fawkes. “There is
always a way, but your human eyes won’t allow you to
see
.”

“Your point being?” I asked impatiently. “If
you know how to cross the mountain, please enlighten us.”

Fawkes lifted his arms and spoke an
incantation of some kind in a language I didn’t recognize. Suddenly
there was a burst of wind, and the sweet smell of wildflowers and
pinecones filled the air. Torak the other horses shifted nervously,
and there was a boom, like the crack of thunder. The ground shook
and the trees and boulders around us trembled.

I watched Fawkes. His gaze was fixed on a
jumble of shrubbery. My heart slammed against my chest as the
shrubbery and trees began to move.

The tremors lessened, and the shrubbery
swayed back and forth with a clatter of cracks and pops. Their
roots broke from the earth, and they crawled and carried themselves
off to the sides as if they had feet. They swayed one last time,
and then the earth was still. The wind dissipated, and the sweet
tang of the witch’s magic disappeared.

But where the shrubbery had stood, a large
gap between the mountains was revealed. It was wide enough to fit
ten horses.

No wonder no one could ever find the
entrance to Witchdom. It was the witches’ secret, and you needed
magic to find the way in. We’d never have found it without
Fawkes.

Fawkes pointed to the gap. “This is Severed
Hill Pass, and it will take us directly into Witchdom.”

The path between the mountains was clear,
but I couldn’t see an end to it. The mountains seemed to go on
forever. And I knew without a doubt that once we had entered the
pass, there would be no turning back.

Before I realized what I was doing, I
straightened, steered Torak around, and faced the men.

“I will not force any man to go any
farther.”

I swallowed and looked at all their faces.
Their expressions were hard and fierce, but they appeared to have
softened a little.

“No matter what transpired between us,” I
continued. “No matter what beliefs we share or don’t share, I will
not force any of you beyond this point. I have no right to ask it
of you. I’m no queen, no princess, and no lady. I hold no lands,
and I have no titles. I have no coin to give. I have nothing.”

I looked into their eyes and saw some
brightness and strength in them.

“Although you may think I am different from
you, if you look deeply enough, you’ll see that I’m not really. I
want the same as you. I want to stop the priests, and I want to
stop this world from withering before it’s too late. If that means
I’ll have to cross that pass into Witchdom and face the
unknown—then that’s exactly what I’ll do.”

The confidence in my breast rose with every
word.

“I know some, perhaps all of you, have come
on behalf of Jon,” his name burned my throat, and I swallowed hard
again, “and I respect that. But I won’t hold you to it. You’re free
to go back. I will not think the less of you, of any of you, if you
do. I thank you all for coming this far.”

Fawkes leaned back on his bull elk and gave
me an approving smile. I suspected, however, that he mistook my
intention and thought I was trying to get rid of the men.

I waited. I feared I’d made a mistake in
addressing the men as I had, but then Leo spoke.

“We might be a bunch of ignorant bastards,”
said Leo, with a hint of a smile. I could see a spark of
forgiveness in his eyes. “But we’re not quitters. Never. We’re in
this together, Elena. And we’re going to see it through. For Jon.
For our families. For everyone.”

His eyes turned to Fawkes, and I could see
disappointment on the witch’s face. I knew he was irritated. But I
felt relieved and smiled back at Leo.

“We’re all going with you,” said Will and he
moved his horse closer to me. There was something in his expression
I couldn’t identify, but I liked nonetheless.

“Are you sure?” I searched their faces, but
all I could see was their determination to continue.

“Beyond this point,” I pointed to the pass
between the mountains, “there’s no guarantee any of us will make it
back alive. You need to be sure.”

“We are,” chorused Leo and Will.

I found it extremely hard not to smile.

Nugar gave me a tight nod that I took
gratefully as a
yes
. I didn’t linger too long on Lucas. I
could never really tell with him. He looked as twitchy and
withdrawn as ever. I just prayed to the Goddess that he wouldn’t
stab me in the back.

Fawkes looked cold. He steered his elk so
close to me that Torak had to move his head away from the
antlers.

Only I could hear when he whispered.

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you. Their deaths
will be on your hands.”

I opened my mouth to retort, but his growl
of annoyance discouraged me from saying anything.
Witch
prick.

I refused to let him discourage me. I knew
that I needed Fawkes more than the others. His displeasure at my
decision annoyed me, but I knew I was right to include the others.
No matter what or who we were, we were all here for the same
purpose. Besides, I couldn’t go into Witchdom alone with Fawkes.
There was strength in numbers, and I felt a company of six would
definitely look better than a company of two.

I felt the men’s eyes on me, waiting for me
to take the lead.

Fawkes had already entered the pass. I felt
that he was almost too eager to get to the witch realm and away
from us. I knew there was no turning back after this point. We were
not just entering another kingdom in Arcania with its bastard
priests and nobles—Witchdom was a new world—a world of witches.

In spite of my growing fear, I lifted my
chin, tapped Torak’s flanks with my heels, and we followed Fawkes
into the pass.

CHAPTER 13