Puddles covered the dirt road as we continued towards the mountain. I swept my gaze over the landscape ahead. By the time we had woken up, the skies had cleared. But traces of the storm remained. The grasslands around us looked like they were still trying to recover from the battering they had taken yesterday, and broken branches littered the ground every time we had passed a copse of trees. I glanced over at where Henry was riding next to me.
His parents had been reluctant to let him leave again, and I knew that it had pained him to say goodbye too. But I also knew how he felt about being back in that house after everything that had happened. Even after all these years, his mother still kept Nick’s room exactly the way it had been. I couldn’t even imagine what it must have felt like for Henry to live there during those months before he left for Malgrave.
“Not to be the person who keeps asking stupid questions,” Paige began, pulling me out of my somber thoughts. “But how far is it to this mountain?”
“The storm slowed us down a bit,” Audrey replied. “But we’ve made good time today, so we should reach it before nightfall tomorrow.”
“Huh. Not sure if I should be scared or excited about that. One thing I do know, however, is that I can’t wait to get out of this saddle. Damn, my ass hurts. And my legs. I don’t think I’ve ever spent this much time on a horse. Ever.” She flicked a glance towards Henry. “Though, my ass got a nice little reprieve last night.”
Henry choked on the water he had been drinking. Red crept into his cheeks as he coughed furiously while trying to put his waterskin back.
A chuckle escaped my chest. I was actually beginning to like Paige a bit.
While Henry mumbled something under his breath, I rode my horse around to the other side so that I was next to Lance instead. The Binder continued glaring at the empty grasslands around us as if that would bring the fields and farms back. But we were far from any civilization now. The people who grew crops for Castlebourne kept their distance from the mountain, so no one dared to live within a day and a half’s ride from it.
“When we get the Enhancer, you’re gonna dismantle it for us,” I said without preamble as I rode up next to him.
He dragged his sullen glare to me. “What makes you think I even know how to?”
“Because you’re a Binder.”
“Yes, but it’s not like they have a course on how to dismantle mystical tools at the academy. No one even knew if the Enhancer still existed because it hasn’t been seen since the last dark mage uprising.”
I had been about to say something else when that last word registered. “Uprising?”
“Well, yes.” He gave his head a small shake as if that was a really stupid question. “The last time the dark mages tried to take over Eldar.”
A surprised laugh tore from my throat. “You do know that’s not what happened, right?”
“Of course it is. All the history books say so.”
I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, because the history books are always so impartial.”
“Yes.” He stared at me as if he couldn’t believe that something so dumb could have come out of a person’s mouth. “That’s literally what they’re for. They record history without any bias so that they can be used in schools and academies and research about past eras.”
Shaking my head, I gave him an exasperated look. “If that’s what you truly believe, then you’re even more stupid than I thought.”
“You can’t seriously—”
“Enough. I’m not going to waste any more breath on you than I have to. Now, back to your orders. When we get the Enhancer, you’re going to dismantle it for us.”
“But—”
“If anything other than the words ‘yes, sir’ come out of your mouth right now, we’re gonna have some serious issues. So, are you going to dismantle the Enhancer for us?”
Narrowing his eyes, he glared back at me in silence for a few seconds before finally pressing out, “Yes, sir.”
“Good. Now, tell me about your friends.”
Lance blinked at me in surprise. “What?”
“Don’t make me ask again.”
“I, uhm… Okay.” Frowning, he met my gaze once more. “What do you want to know?”
“Names, magic, skills, traits. Anything that’s relevant.”
An afternoon wind blew across the grasslands, making the puddles on the ground ripple slightly. The trees on our left shook their branches, but the sun had already dried their leaves so no lingering water fell down to splatter us. Lance drew his hand through his black hair, pushing it back out of his face.
“There are three of them, right?” I prompted.
“Yes.”
“Tall girl with long blond hair and blue eyes?”
“Jessica.”
“What type of magic?”
“She’s a shadow mage.”
My eyebrows rose. Lance just looked back at me expectantly. I studied every twitch of his muscles and every shift in his gaze.
A sharp smile spread across my lips. “If I find out that you were lying about their magic when we run into them, I will cut off their limbs one at a time and make you watch. So, is she a shadow mage or would you like to change your answer?”
Hesitation flickered across his features. Then he averted his gaze and cleared his throat. “She’s a water mage.”
“Thought so. And?”
“And she’s kind and sweet and she’s always there for her friends.”
Amusement pulled at my lips. “She’s your girlfriend, isn’t she?”
Red splotches appeared on Lance’s neck and cheeks as he forcefully shook his head. “No. We’re just friends.”
“Uh-huh.”
“We are!”
“I don’t care. And kind and sweet isn’t really helpful. Is there anything else that’s relevant? Is she skilled with her water magic?”
He jutted out his chin. “Of course. They are all skilled.”
Since I had a feeling that I would never get a proper assessment of their abilities from Lance, I abandoned my efforts and instead focused on the basics. “Alright, next one. The girl with curly brown hair and brown eyes?”
“That’s Leoni.”
“Magic type?”
“Lightning.”
“I see. And the guy, also with brown hair and brown eyes?”
“Darren. He’s a wind mage, and he’s really skilled with it. So you’d better hope that we don’t run into them.”
I snorted. “You keep telling yourself that if it helps you sleep at night.”
“I mean it. They’re really good. And they still have their specialized magic, so they’re just the same as dark mages.”
“It takes a lot more than just specialized magic to be a dark mage.”
“Right. You also need to be a coldblooded psychopath with absolutely no sense of morality.”
Releasing the reins, I touched my hands together and called up a force blade. It vibrated in the air as I leveled it at Lance. With the tip of it under his chin, I made him tilt his head back while flashing him a malicious grin.
“Well,” I said in a voice brimming with threats. “You’re right about that one. So remember that the next time you decide to be disrespectful.”
To his credit, he didn’t flinch. He just kept watching the road ahead as best as he could.
I blew out a chuckle and let the force blade dissipate.
Oh I was really starting to look forward to the day when we ran into his precious band of friends. Because then I would show him what a coldblooded psychopath I could really be.
