Chapter 10

CHAPTER 10

WREN

Wind tore across the treetops, not a breeze this time, but something focused and determined. It almost took Wren off her feet and she stumbled into Finn's arms. They huddled together as the wind abruptly subsided.

Below them, the horsemen reeled around and galloped off south. They didn't hesitate, just tore down the road.

Wren's heart thudded against her chest and she felt the knot of panic in her throat thicken.

Finn let her go as if reluctant to do so. ‘That wasn't natural,' he said.

Of course it wasn't. Wren knew that. Her every nerve was tingling with alarm. That was a warning and she had a very good idea of where it was coming from. But there were no words. It tasted of Elodie's magic, but it was oddly dulled.

A warning though, it had to be.

She needed to get out of here. That was what it told her. Head into the forest, as deep as she could, hole up there and wait. Just as Elodie had always told her. If she stayed out of the patches of darkwood, she'd be safe enough.

‘Give me the telescope again,' she said and Finn obeyed at once. A man used to taking orders, she realised, and filed that away for later.

Wren swung the telescope around and caught a glimpse of more smoke, this time to the south. In the direction of the tower. Elodie's tower.

‘No!'

She was running before she even knew what she was doing, scrambling down from the ridge, Finn's telescope still gripped in her hand like a talisman or a weapon, her knuckles white. She didn't know how or why, because the Ilanthians couldn't have been anywhere near it, not yet, but her home was burning. And the horsemen were heading right for it.

‘Wait!' she heard Finn call after her. ‘Holy light, wait!'

But she didn't. She couldn't. Elodie was in trouble and those men, Ilanthian soldiers, were heading straight for her. Were there already perhaps. Because the smoke meant fire. And the fire meant?—

If they wanted to find a witch they wouldn't find one more powerful than Elodie. What would they do with her? Kill her? Torture? Worse?

She couldn't picture Elodie enslaved, broken, but she'd heard too many tales of what the Ilanthians did with witches.

If something like this ever happened, Elodie had been clear. Run and hide. I will find you. Never put yourself in danger.

But that presumed that Elodie herself would not be in danger. And Wren couldn't abandon her now.

Wren threw herself through the trees, relying on her own instincts to lead her. The forest itself seemed to respond, sensing her urgency, peeling back out of her way. She blessed it and thanked it as she ran, unable to waste breath on the words. But it knew, it had to know. The shadows beneath the leaves moved, surging around her, and it felt like the whole of the forest was an ocean, roaring around her, billowing in waves, tempest-tossed and wild.

By the time Wren stumbled out into the clearing on the edge of the lake, the tower was already in flames, a torch burning high into the sky. Smoke and soot swirled around her.

This couldn't be happening. It couldn't.

As she stumbled to a halt, she heard the panicked whinnies of horses, the shouts of the riders and she turned, ready for their attack.

Four of them fanned out ahead of her, emerging through the gap in the trees from the road south. So she had been right, they'd been coming here. For Elodie. For her.

And suddenly she remembered why she was meant to hide. Not come back here.

‘Take her,' the leader shouted, his voice cut by the storm she had brought with her.

There wasn't time to think. All she could do was react.

Elodie had always warned her not to reach out to her power in anger or in fear. Control was key. Measure out what was needed, control the flow and by all the Light keep a handle on it once released. Use the othertongue sparingly. It had to be done that way because otherwise the magic that threaded through her body and the world around her could run out of control. And it had on more than one occasion. But Elodie had been there to help her, to counter it.

But not this time… this time…

Elodie was gone. Elodie could be dead. She could be lost. They might have already taken her or she could be up there, her body burning. What choice did Wren have?

Wren felt the magic locked deep in the earth underneath her and reached for it blindly. It surged in response to her touch, winding itself around her, draining shadows from the trees and the rocks, from the depth of the water, from the rising column of smoke. It rose like a wave around her and, as the horsemen charged towards her, she made ready to unleash it.

But the shadows weren't ready to release her. They clung to her, smothering her, dragging her down. She pushed harder, tangling herself with them, trying to gain the upper hand. It wasn't working. Normally just a nudge or a request would do it, but this time…

Shadows ignited in her blood, rushed along her veins and she breathed it in. Something dark and powerful, dangerous, which threatened to sweep her away.

She wanted… she needed… she burned…

The weight of it crushed her, ground her to pieces. She had to break through whatever it was doing to her, to get hold of herself again and?—

Her legs went weak and she heard her heart thundering inside her.

No… not just inside her. Everywhere, all through the forest, all around her. Old magic, dark magic, the touch of the Nox…

Something struck her middle, lifting her off her feet and carrying her away.

Too stunned to react, she struggled to keep hold of the threads of darkness, dragging them to her core, but they spilled loose regardless, as if they had a mind of their own.

Something tangled, snapped. And she felt it like a punch in her guts, driving all the air from her as her spell fell apart.