PRELUDE
For as long as time could remember people had fought.
They fought over many things.
This particular battle had carried on for generations.
It was not over land, or food, or who would rule where. At Least it wasn’t in the beginning.
It began over the laws that govern this country specifically the legality of a certain gift called magic.
This country was divided into three kingdoms. They all bare a unique name, given to them in the original language known simply as Tal. But for sake of convenience, they were often referred to as Higher Class, Centre Class, and Lower Class.
Higher Class believed that magic was a gift, a talent and that all should be welcome to use it.
Lower Class believed that magic was a danger and should be illegal.
And Centre Class simply wanted the waring to end.
CHAPTER ONE
Arrows came down in waves overhead.
Some were flamed and most were poisoned.
The people of Lower Class were poor but never let it be said that they were not resourceful and so they stood strong against the rain of fire.
Roman took a deep breath. So long as he kept his yellow cape fastened he would be safe.
He was playing neutral. If you could call it playing.
Though Lower Class and Higher Class fought Centre Class made an effort to keep peace in their kingdom.
They helped as they could through the battling times, providing medical aid and transporting food and weaponry.
But they were under orders to stay out of the fighting.
Both sides had agreed to leave the yellow coats be. So long as hey bore their kingdoms color and kept to their terms they would be safe.
Roman clutched a bundle of arrows. He was to deliver them to people in need of supplies, but he found himself full of fear, simply standing in the safety of the stronghold and watching chaos break free outside.
Darkness had fallen over the field and many good men had fallen with it.
Somewhere out there Roman’s best friend was doing her duty, being brave in the face of danger and assisting the wounded soldiers.
Thinking such thoughts he was filled with a sudden will. A will to help. He would never make a difference in stopping this bloodshed if he stood idly by in fear.
He would not be called a coward.
With his newfound motivation, he decided to walk outside.
Keeping his head low he was able to reach an Archer in need of his assistance
Though he was too young to fight he was able to act as a third party and hand out bundles of arrows to soldiers.
Off in the distance, past the wall the Archers manned, were the front line swordsmen, fighting for their lives in the heat of battle.
Capes of blue whisked past him, climbing up the wall to report for duty.
Each with a bow in hand, set to fire.
Roman followed them up a ladder to continue his job.
Many who were firing did not have time to accept more ammunition, so the easiest way to operate was by slipping arrows into their quivers.
Eventually, he had run out of arrows to hand out and was forced to return to the stronghold for more.
Suddenly shouts broke out, all at once.
It hadn’t been quiet before, far from it in fact, but compared to the sounds erupting now, before had seemed like silence.
Reinforcements rushed to towers and to the front line.
Shouts of the enemy advancing were all that could be made out.
This was Romans queue to get away. When things get violent it’s hard to tell what side anyone is on. Even if you wear a yellow cape you could still be caught in the madness.
The rain of arrows increased. More and more were hitting their targets.
Several good men fell from their posts on the wall down to the land below.
Roman pushes past several soldiers trying to make it to the ladder.
An arrow missed its mark and nearly struck his left foot.
He walked faster, which was perhaps not the safest idea.
Before he knew what had happened a pain filled his arm and he was struck to the ground.
A loose arrow must have hit him.
Luckily he did not tumble off the wall, which could have made his injury much worse.
He was in a daze, struggling to his feet. He’d never been shot before, and never wished to again.
He needed to find his way back to the medical team, they would no doubt be in the area anytime soon.
Around this point in thought is where the pain hit him. It stung like nothing he’d felt ever had before.
He wanted badly for it to be over. And that was the last thing he remembered before losing consciousness.
CHAPTER TWO
Roman opened his eyes to an unexpected brightness. It was morning.
For a moment he was rather disturbed by the movement of the ground under him before he realized he was riding on the back of a wagon.
His shoulder hurt, but not nearly as much as it had. It was bandaged and the sleeve of his shirt was torn.
He could see hills and lakes passing out of view from the back of the wagon.
A few people rode beside him. Some visibly injured, some presumably dismissed from the battle for other reasons.
He couldn’t believe it was the last thing he thought of. But finally, he realized the lack of his best friend.
“Where is Clara?” He panicked.
Someone a girl nearby to him hurried over to see if he was alright. “Is everything ok?” She questioned.
“No, no, it’s not. I’ve lost my Pairing. She should be here!”
“Calm down,” She confronted. “She’ll catch up with you when her duties are fulfilled.”
Roman nodded. Trying to calm down. It was true she would be back. But it was still odd being without her.
At the age of thirteen each child would be taken and paired, that is buddied up. Then sent to a place to live.
Roman and his pairing lived at a school in Centre Class.
So it was a very relatable thing to feel unsafe without ones pairing.
“See. Calm isn’t so hard,” The stranger remarked. “Your friend should meet you back at wherever it is you live.”
“Centre Class,” He said, finally composed.
Roman sat still for a moment. Thinking of the war he’d left behind.
The kingdoms were peaceful places, they contain their wars, which means he would be safe outside of the assigned area.
It felt so strange to suddenly be in a safe and quiet environment.
The girl sitting next to him spoke up. Pulling him from his distracting thoughts. “I’m Emily. By the way. I’m on my way back to my home in Lower Class.”
“I’m Roman. I pleasure to meet you. Though I wish it could have been under better circumstances,” He laughed.
It was true. It was a rather unique meeting.
They continued a light conversation until they arrived in Centre Class, just outside Romans school.
Roman got out and thanked the driver. It was probably an inconvenience for him to have to drive out of his way to a different kingdom.
It was good to be home. It was good to see familiar faces greet him, though all he wanted at the moment was to retreat to his room and sleep for a couple hours.
And so that’s what he did. He rested for the night and got something to eat in the morning.
Most classes at this particular school were training in weaponry and survival skills.
So it made sense that Roman would be given a few days off to recover from his injury.
And just like that, in less than a week, he went from life-threatening danger to the most dangerous thing being boredom.
Or at least it was all boring, until the third day back from his adventure.
He’d been at this school for two years, which meant he knew most everyone.
So when a mysterious figure showed up in the middle of the day, he couldn’t help but feel something was up.
Roman peered out of a hallway into the open entryway to the school.
The strange guest was standing and speaking to someone who headed the school.
The first thing he spotted was the boy's hair, it was silver, the mark of a skilled magician.
He hadn’t seen many magicians in his days. Magic was not illegal in Centre Class, but that didn’t mean it was as common as it was in High Class.
The woman he was speaking too turned to look down each hallway before spotting Roman not far away.
“Roman, could you come here for a moment?” The woman asked.
Roman nodded, afraid he was in trouble. He walked slowly approaching to join the conversation taking place.
“This is Roman. The boy you were looking for I believe,” The woman introduced, putting a hand on Romans shoulder. “This, Roman, is Peter Suroon,” She continued, motioning to the magician, who in turn bowed slightly.
“I suppose I’ll leave you two to talk. I’ll be just down the hall if you need me!” She concluded, walking away calmly.
They sat in silence for a moment, before the woman was fully gone.
“A pleasure to meet you! I’m sure you’re very confused. Before I get to the point of this conversation, I first must ask where your pairing might be,” Peter said, speaking in a polite tone.
This stranger was rather odd, to say the least, odd things are not as likable as familiar things. They often bring danger and misfortune.
“I could ask you the same question,” Roman replies.
“And I could ask you to kindly answer my question first, as I have asked my question first,” Peter scowled, having seemingly no tolerance to the hindering of his mission.
“If you must know, she’s aiding in the Great War. Though she will be sent home as soon as possible.”
The magician nodded, paying close attention before speaking again. “To our next order of business, I believe you are the person I’m looking for.”
“For what? What would you need me for?”
Peter thought for a moment. “Well, as you probably noticed, I am a magician, I have many gifts I have learned, and I have a certain knack for knowing the destiny of others.”
“Oh, yes? And what do you think of me?”
“I think that my job is to gather representatives from each kingdom and take them to a certain place. Don’t ask me how I know this, I just do.”
Roman couldn’t help but laugh a little. “That’s no good reason to go with you. I don’t trust you. Please just leave, whatever adventure your selling I’m not buying!”
Roman turned around Peter shouted back at him. “I have nowhere else to go. I know it’s dangerous, but I need you. This will aid in the war, this could help save hundreds of people!”
Roman turned back around. Perhaps there was a way he could help bring peace to their kingdom. Maybe he could even redeem himself for failure back at the battlefield.
“Ok, fine. I’ll need to ask my pairing when she returns. But for now, I do agree.”
CHAPTER THREE
Promptly the next morning Clara returned.
They were both happy to see each other, it had been the longest stretch of time they’d been apart since they’d met.
After they’d greeted each other Roman felt it necessary to ask her as soon as possible about the offer he’d received the day prior.
“Clara, I must tell you, I might have signed us up for some kind of adventure,” Roman said, honestly. There was no point trying to hide it.
The more he thought about the offer the more appealing it was to go out on an expedition. Even if it was with a stranger, it was not unheard of and it would be safe so long as his pairing joined him.
“Roman, how could you? I left you for only a few days and you’ve gone off and volunteered to do something else now!” Clara protested.
“Please, just hear me out. This will be great! The leader who approached me is a magician! A mage I think. Have you ever seen a mage before? Have you ever accompanied one on an adventure?”
“No, and no. I suppose the idea can’t be all bad. But nor is it all good.”
“But you’ll give it a shot? I can arrange for us all to meet!”
“Yes, yes. I will. But only after I’ve rested, it’s been a long day of travel,” Clara agreed.
Roman nodded happily, allowing Clara to leave the situation and sleep for a few hours.
Immediately after the exchange, he went to find Peter to tell him the good news and ask when they could meet to talk.
After a quick conversation, they decided to meet the next evening to talk, after Clara had had to time rest.
Roman spent the rest of the day doing practically nothing. Looking out the window and imagining what kind of things he could do with his life.
He recalled a famous story, about a group of eleven great magicians who set out to illuminate hunger in the Lower Class to prove that magic could be helpful.
They made many hybrids of fruits and vegetables that would grow in rough terrain and through lack of water.
Suffice to say Lower Class denied their offer and drove them back to their land.
In short as an attempt to help a people group they instead made the situation worse.
The model of this story is that helping people isn’t worth it.
Or at least that’s how others viewed it. To Roman the morel was something along the lines of sometimes bad things happen to good people, but that shouldn’t change them, bad people.
No one knows for sure if that tale was real, or if it was just a way of scaring people out of trying to help Lower Class, or risk facing whatever happened to those magicians.
Whatever the reason for this tale being passed through generations, it had made it to Roman and had encouraged him that even if the adventures he went on were dangerous he could always make an effort and at least be remembered for trying.
The sunset, just as it always did. And so the people in the school went to sleep, as they always did, then rose again the next morning.
Roman was excited to wake up and so he did rather early, which didn’t do him much good for waiting until the evening.
He ate breakfast and headed to the courtyard back behind the school.
In the distance, several kids in his class were paired off dueling with dull swords.
Roman had already realized the fact that if he were to leave he would be behind in his studies.
Though he would already be behind by the time the worrisome teacher would let him duel with an injured arm.
Seeing people sparring in the distance reminded him that the journey again may be dangerous, perhaps he should bring a weapon along with him.
Back in his bedroom, he searched through a chest of clothing and other items until he found what he was looking for.
The weapon they had been training to use. A blade that harnessed magic and some of the finest craftsmanship.
Roman gripped the handle and pulled it from the sheath just enough to see a red glow emanating from the blade of the sword.
The longer the sword was used the more the blade would heat up, making it even more dangerous to handle.
He tossed the sword onto his bed and pulled his backpack out of the oak chest.
He thought about packing, but in the end, he wasn’t sure where he was going, or how long he’d be there, or if he was even going.
But it was the only thing to think about while he waited for the sun to set again.
Finally once Roman thought he could wait no longer evening came and before he knew it he was able to sit down in the library with Clara and Peter to talk about their availability on the magician upcoming exposition.
“I’m so glad you haven’t given up on my cause yet!” Peter was saying. He was pacing around on the floor, while Clara and Roman had taken a seat.
“We haven’t agreed yet either,” Clara reminded.
“Yes, well. I hope in time you will come to senses with the fact that if you will end up fulfilling this as your destiny whether I escort you there or not,” Peter said, calmly.
“Where exactly are we going?” Clara questioned.
“Higher Class, ever been there? It’s lovely!”
“And why are we going there?”
“There’s a very valuable relic there, I need your help to activate it,”
Roman had been sitting silently but now interrupted. “You said this had to do with the Great War. This doesn’t make sense, why do you specifically need us?”
“Honestly, I’m not sure I have to answer to you. I’ve been tasked with taking you and that’s what I’m going to do. We can leave at sunrise if it’s all the same to you,” The mage replied.
“That’s all? I thought we got a choice in this,” Clara said, crossing her arms.
“There is one more thing, I’m going to need people from each Class to come with me, you know how destiny is, it’s possible that you’ve run into them recently,” Peter explained.
Clara thought for a moment. “I’ve seen many people in the past few days from Lower Class, none stood out all too much, not many of them were conscious.”
Peter frowned at her in displeasure, that wasn’t the answer he wanted to hear.
Roman thought for a second, there had to have been someone he met. For the most part, he hadn’t spoken to many people, at least never holding a full conversation.
He searched through his mind until finally, he found what he was looking for. “I met a girl on my way home. Her name was Emily and he spoke together for a while before I was dropped off here.”
“Perfect! What can you tell me about her?” Peter asked.
“I’m not sure what to say. She had brown hair, but most people around here do. She wore it in a ponytail,”
“I will try my best, if she doesn’t work out we could always find someone else. Now go get a good night's rest. I’m going back into town. I’m staying at an inn, but I will return tomorrow morning,”
Roman nodded. It was fairly straight forward, all that needed to be done now was a bit of packing, convincing the principal to let him leave and try to suppress his excitement long enough to sleep the whole night.
CHAPTER FOUR
Light flowed through the window, Roman recalled being told to awake at sunrise, and so there he was.
Everything had been arranged. Once Clara got up they grabbed their things and went to wait outside of the school.
It felt a little sad having to leave their home, but he knew that they would be back soon.
Whatever it was they needed to do it wouldn’t take to long.
Roman put on his backpack, his sword was tucked away inside, he had decided not to wear it for the time being, so not to seem threatening.
Clara, on the other hand, had worn her sword by her hip from the very beginning of their journey.
Since the school had not officially opened yet, they hadn’t had a chance to eat breakfast, so they were counting on Peter to bring food.
The magician approached them through the darkness of morning bearing with him a walking stick, with a twisted decoration atop it.
Only a few rays of sunlight had broken through the thick gray clouds that morning.
“Good morning,” Peter greeted. “I stayed up last night and was able to locate your friend. I think we can travel by foot and find her by nightfall.”
“How exactly were you able to find her?” Clara questioned, skeptically.
“Magic,” Peter excused. He began walking down the path, Clara and Roman followed him after sharing a quick glance.
Before long the dark clouds began to pour down on them in sheets of cold rain.
Peter pulled his cloak over his head and Roman did the same
The mud under their feet slid ever so slightly as they walked, making Clara nervous of slipping.
The pairing simply walked where Peter walked, following his every step and staying on the path.
Eventually, they grew tired and hungry and couldn’t stay silent anymore.
“We’ve been walking since sunrise, and I’m certain it’s nearly noon. Can’t we rest for a while? I’m hungry,” Roman complained.
Clara nodded, she agreed with everything he was saying but was too tired to say so.
“Alright. I guess we could rest for a little while,” Peter replied, tipping his walking stick against a tree by the past.
Roman set down his pack under the shade of the same tall oak and took out his water bottle.
Peter passed out something for them all to eat. Roman looked down at the red-ish cucumber-like vegetable that had been placed in his hands.
“I don’t even know what this is,” Roman said, in confusion.
“It’s called a tuble. It’s a hybrid vegetable, they grow all over the place in High Class. Very filling. Don’t worry, it tastes like chicken,” Peter laughed, taking a bite out of one.
Roman took a bite out of the odd vegetable. It did not taste like chicken.
“It tastes like a weird turnip!” Roman complained.
“Yes, well. I’m a very good liar. But don’t worry, you get used to it,” Peter replied, finishing his tuble.
Clara took a drink of her water, she wasn’t very hungry anymore.
They continued walking, with Peter still in front leading the group.
The rain settled down, but the sun still refused to show itself.
Peter kept his hood up. His cloaks royals blue tail trailed behind him.
On his back was a sort of simple. On Romans back was the seal of his kingdom. But Peter’s was different, he didn’t recognize it. It must’ve been of some smaller lesser known group.
“What does the symbol on your cloak mean?” Roman finally asked.
“It’s the Silver Star guild. That’s where all mages come from,” Peter said.
“Why?”
“Because we get our powers from a relic there, that’s why. Unlike sorcerers we’re just gifted our powers, then we have to learn how to use it.”
Roman nodded before remembering that Peter was walking ahead of him. “Good to know.”
CHAPTER FIVE
Roman then walked for several most miles without saying a word. His feet were starting to feel sore and the lack of scenery was making him feel just as bored as he had been back at the school.
Until finally Clara decided to speak. She started telling them stories of her adventures over the past few days and of the medical procedures she had learned through apprenticing.
It wasn’t the most interesting thing to talk about but it was more exciting then nothing.
It started raining again after several hours.
Roman felt stiff from walking but didn’t speak up for fear of sounding weak. Of course, he could walk a few miles, he was certainly fit and ready for any task thrown his way, even if that task is hours of seemingly endless walking.
All morning people had been passing them on the road, not often, but often enough for them to feel they weren’t alone.
But as they grew closer to the border of Lower, and Centre Class, the frequency of people dwindled.
Clara and Roman ran out of things to talk about, they’d already filled each other in on all they had missed while they were apart and reminisced on a few fond memories.
But eventually, no amount of speech could dull their pain and exhaustion.
The rainfall slowed to a drizzle, and for the first time that morning they were able to see the sun to its fullest extent.
“I say it’s about five-thirty by the sun,” Peter spoke up, clearing his throat from having not spoken in a good while.
“You said we’d reach our destination by nightfall. Are we still on track?” Clara inquired.
“I’d say so. Though there is only one way to find out. We should be nearing the border within the hour,”
True to what Peter had said they did reach the border before long. It was a short wooden fence, it didn’t do much for keeping people out, it was more of a marker that the laws would change past that point.
“Pitiful,” Peter scoffed, stepping over the fence and waiting for his companions to follow.
Clara stepped over next, but Roman hesitated.
“Are you allowed to go into Lower Class? Isn’t magic illegal?” Roman questioned.
“So long as I keep my hood up and we keep our mouths shut, it should be fine. Our biggest threat is that your friend Emily will freak out and call the palace guards on us,”
At this point, Clara chimed into the conversation. “But didn’t you say yourself, you wear the mark of the mages guild on your back.”
“That’s not exactly common knowledge. You didn’t know, but now you do, so I must once again remind you to keep your mouths shut, only speak when spoken too and even then keep it brief.”
Roman nodded and stepped over the fence.
It was only a short walk into town. It was good to see civilization.
“Where exactly are we going now?” Clara wondered aloud.
“Assuming we’ve walked into the right village, we’re heading to an inn not far out. Just hold on a little bit longer,” Peter replied.
Roman sighed, it was good to know they’d nearly arrived, but it was hard to push himself into walking for the last while.
The people in the city were settling down for the night. Thought they lived near the border they eyed them strangely as if they’d never seen foreigners before.
Roman kept his head down and tried to avoid eye contact with anyone.
It wasn’t long before that leg of their journey had come to an end.
They came to a paved pathway, and at its end was a cozy looking inn, with a brick chimney atop it puffing out white smoke.
Peter approached the door and slowed to a stop to wait for Roman and Clara to catch up. They were lagging behind several paces.
They walked inside together. It was very warm from the fireplace on the far wall, which was quite a pleasure after walking in the rain for several hours.
After standing in the doorway for several moments waiting for Peter to take action he finally did.
The mage reached into his bag and took out several coins.
“Get yourself something to eat, I’ll see if I can find our candidate,’ Peter said, placing the coins in Romans hand. They were cold and a bit wet, since most everything they’d brought with them was.
Peter slipped away back out the door, off to find Emily if he could.
Roman led Clara through the crowd of people over to a counter and sat down in an empty seat.
They ordered something to eat and paid the woman working behind the counter.
A few moments later she brought them back their food and set it in front of them. It was good to eat food that wasn’t some kind of mutant vegetable.
Peter came back not long later and checked them into rooms at the inn. He refused to tell them what information he’d gathered and insisted that they simply went to sleep for the night. Roman wasn’t always the best at taking orders but that was definitely one he could adhere too.
CHAPTER SIX
The next morning Roman got up, got dressed and ate breakfast.
He spotted Peter outside and went to go speak to him.
“Good morning,” Roman greeted.
“Good morning,” Peter replied. “Where is Clara?”
“Still sleeping.”
“That’s good. We have quite a journey ahead of us.”
It was true, they would need to be both physically and mentally rested.
“Any luck on finding Emily?” Roman asked.
“I think she works at the stable back behind the inn, but no one was there last night.”
A chill blew past them and Roman regretted not putting his cloak on. Peter, on the other hand, had his cloak on with his hood pulled up.
They conversed for a while longer before deciding it best to go ahead with their mission of finding Emily instead of waiting until Clara woke up.
Back behind the inn was a shaded structure connected to a building, and a fenced-in area a little ways back. Horses were dancing about in both areas.
No one seemed to be around at first glance, but upon stepping closer they spotted a boy sitting on the fence of the pasture watched over the horses.
They approached him confidently and greeted him with kindness. For it was rather likely that he would know where to find Emily.
“Excuse me, sir. You wouldn’t happen to know someone named Emily would you?” Peter inquired.
“I know several people named Emily. Who’s asking?” The boy replied. He was holding an apple in his hand and looked threateningly at them as if he might throw it at them if they said anything he didn’t approve of.
“I’m asking and that’s all you need to know. Perhaps it will help freshen your mind if we were to tell you that she recently was dismissed from the current battles of the Great War.”
“Do you mean Emily Calf? Dirty blonde hair with the ponytail? She’s my pairing.”
“Yes. I do believe that’s who I’m talking about,” Peter nodded. Shuddering slightly at the fact that he might have to bring this child along.
“If you could show me where she is it would be greatly appreciated,” The magician continued, holding his anger at the inconvenience of this child.
The boy agreed and hopped off the fence to led them to his pairing.
They came to a stop inside of a stable full of stalls of horses.
“Emily!” The boy called into the barn. “Two strange boys are here to see you. But if they try to kill you I’ll kill them first,”
Emily peeked her head out from behind a horses stall, then proceeded to come all of the ways out to greet them.
“Thank you, Jesse. But I don’t think that will be necessary, I know these people.” Emily said.
“I didn’t know you had friends who weren’t me,” The boy said, dramatically offended.
Peter cleared his throat, he seemed to be on a tight schedule and had no time to waste.
“Roman, right?” Emily confirmed, shaking his hand.
“Yes. It’s good to see you again, though I didn’t expect to see you so soon,” Roman laughed. He was a bit nervous about recruiting these people. He didn’t want to scare them off, or worse bring them along into a dangerous situation.
Peter took over the conversation, quickly getting down to the point and explaining to them what they were needed for.
The pairing posed similar questions as Roman and Clara. Including wondering why they had been chosen and if there was any way they could get out of it.
“It’s honestly the best decision to join us. I’m convinced that that’s what you’re meant to do and I hope you will make the right choice,” Peter concluded.
“That’s a very nice offer sir. But I’m afraid I have a job,” The boy excused.
But Emily spoke louder than him and more enthusiastically. “Yes! That’s sounds amazing. I would love to go!”
Peter seemed pleased by this. But he knew that if he wanted to take Emily with him her pairing would have to come through. Higher Class was most strict about who they let in and didn’t take kindly to people traveling without a pairing.
“Listen, I’m going to need both of you to come with me, or neither of you,” Peter explained.
Emily shared a glance with her pairing and in turn, he took a bite out of his apple.
“I want to go,” She said sternly.
“And I have a job. I work with these horses and I don’t want to leave them,” He replied.
Peter chimed in. “You can bring the horses with us. We’re going to need some anyway,”
“I’ll consider.” The boy agreed. “Though I would be more inclined to go with you if I knew who you two were.”
“I’m Roman,” He introduced. “My pairing is Clara. But she’s still at the inn sleeping.”
“Good to meet you. I’m Jesse, and you’ve already met Emily,” The boy said, shaking Romans hand.
Eyes turned on Peter waiting for him to introduce himself. He sighed and pulled down his hood. “I’m Peter Suroon. Please don’t arrest me.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
Emily gasped. Having live in Lower Class she’d probably never seen a magician, except for on the battlefield when they were shooting at her.
“Are you a wizard or a mage?” Jesse asked, calmly taking another bite out of his apple.
“A wizard would imply I am a master in my craft. I am simply a mage. How did you know?”
“My brother is a sorcerer, he lives in Higher Class and when we meet together in Centre Class he tells me about all that he’s learned,”
Peter nodded. He liked Jesse a little more after that.
Emily still stood there in shock. She looked confused. But she was slowly processing everything in her mind.
“You said earlier we were going to Higher Class, right? Can I visit my brother while we're there?” Jesse questioned.
“Of course. We might actually need him to come with us. We’re going to need people from each kingdom,” Peter agreed.
Jesse smiled, he seemed pretty committed to coming now.
Roman turned to Emily for an answer from her. They needed her to agree to come. He only hoped that hadn’t scared her off.
Emily hesitated. “I suppose it would be rude to say no now. It doesn’t seem right to treat you differently just because I know who you are,”
“So, when do we leave?” Jesse said, excitedly.
They spoke for a few more minutes and agreed on the following morning. That would give Emily and Jesse long enough to pack.
In the meantime, Peter went into town to buy supplies for their journey, while Roman returned to Clara to tell her of all she had missed.
By the next morning, everyone was awake and ready for the new day.
The crew gathered around outside of the inn.
They were waiting for Jesse who arrived with five horses in tow.
They were beautiful. There was a verity in color but for the most part, they were similar in size and in shape.
“Allow me to introduce you to Pip, Jill, Speckles, Rosemary, and Mahogany,” Jesse smiled. He looked very proud of his well-groomed companions.
“Thank you for the introduction, but I’m not sure it matters much. All that matters at the moment is that we start moving, otherwise, we won’t make it too Higher Class on time,” Peter said, selecting a horse that pleased him.
“These are all legally rented, right?” Clara asked, before mounting her horse.
“Yes, of course,” Emily laughed. “We rent them out all of the time, they always find their way back home again. Though you don’t need to tell the innkeeper that we’re heading all of the ways to High Class.”
They saddled their horses and set out down the path.
After wandering a bit away from the city they were able to cross the borderline again, sending them back into Centre Class.
Riding was faster than walking so their journey wouldn’t be too long. Though they were still crossing all of Centre Class and crossing part of the way through Higher Class.
Peter assured them that the journey there would only take a week or so, so long as no complications arose.
Roman rode silently, though his companions conversed with each other. Mainly on basic information that Clara had missed out on, but also on their interests and on Jesse’s brother who they would try to bring along with them as a representative of his kingdom. Whatever that meant.
A good bit of conversation was dedicated to Emily and Jesse’s archery endeavors and to them bragging of how quick and accurate they were with a bow on hand.
Though Emily insisted she was the quick one and her pairing was more skilled in his accuracy.
Clara found that fascinating as she had only ever been trained in the skill of a sword and not of any ranged weapons.
Roman rode up alongside Peter and inquired as to where on the schedule they currently were.
The magician informed him of their plans to make camp along the path by nightfall and break away from the path in the morning.
All went well for their first day of travel. As the sun started to set the crew grew more and more exhausted at the thought of continuing any longer, until finally, under the light of the moon, they set up camp for the night.
It was still mid-spring and the air grew very cold at night.
Roman and Clara had been assigned to keep watch until the moon hit its peak in the sky.
After that, they woke Emily and Jesse and they took their turn on watch, while Roman and Clara rested for a few hours.
Roman didn’t quite understand why they needed to keep watch. In all his time of living in Centre Class, he’d never heard tale of anyone getting robbed while traveling. But perhaps there were other threats than that of being robbed. Perhaps in the woods just beyond their camp there lay something worth looking out for.
Whatever the reason it didn’t seem a proper thought to think as he drifted to sleep and so he shut it down then and there.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Peter woke everyone up the following morning.
Roman had brought materials to sleep on but could still feel the hard ground under himself all night. That added with the fact that he was already sore made for a rough start to the day.
The sun was already in the sky, shining warmth and hope down in the weary travelers.
“What’s the plan for today?” Jesse asked. Finishing his breakfast.
“We’re heading off of the path for a while, into the woods. We may be in there for several days but when we come back out we should be at the border of High Class,” Peter replied.
“How do you know this? Do you travel this route often?” Jesse continued
Peter laughed. “No, never. I’m just going the same way back as I used to get here. Though this time I might actually know where I’m going.”
“You’re pretty far from home, aren’t you,” Emily chimed in.
“Yes well, aren’t we all right now.”
Jesse put out the small fire they had going, while Emily showed Clara and Roman how to saddle their horses.
They set out a few hours before noon and were deep in the forest a few hours after.
They stopped to rest every now and then.
Though it was easier than walking, riding horses did take a certain amount of energy to continue.
“Isn’t this funny, us meeting again and going on an adventure,” Emily commented to Roman. She’d been very talkative ever since the journey started, which was a nice change from the silent ride to Lower Class
“Yes, I suppose it is odd. But you know how our destinies can work. Some fates cross before they fully meet,” Roman replied. Though he wasn’t sure if he believed what he was saying.
The idea of having a destiny seemed rather disturbing, and it had so many unanswered questions that followed it.
“Do you suppose you could ever defy what you are destined to do? Or would that just be what you were meant to do?” She asked. It was a confusing and deep question, to say the least.
“I guess whatever you do will be what was meant to happen, even if it’s not what was expected.”
Emily seemed to like that answer, for she nodded and ceased her questioning.
At some point in the day, they stopped to eat lunch and drink some water.
Roman day down by a tree next to Clara. She looked a little uneasy which was a strange site.
“Is everything alright?” Roman questioned sincerely.
Clara hesitated. “It might be nothing, but I keep hearing things moving about in the woods. And I could have sworn I saw the figure of another person standing in the trees.”
Roman listened carefully. It was true what she said, it might be nothing, but it might also be something.
He stood up and went over to speak with Peter, he too was staring off into the woods whilst leaning on his walking stick.
“Clara says she saw somebody in the woods. Do you think that’s possible?” He asked.
Peter didn’t break his gaze into the woods to reply. “That’s ridiculous. No one lives around these parts. I’ve seems maps, no one lives around here for miles. It’s probably a deer or a passing traveler.”
His words did not comfort Roman, but still, he would not let his imagination get the best of him.
They set back out, making the most of the sunlight they had.
For three more days they traveled without interruptions through the bright forest.
They rationed through food as best as they could, but their main problem was feeding their horses.
Little-to-no grass grew on the forest floor, certainly not enough for five horses to eat their fill.
Peter was at first unsure of what to do with this problem as he had traveled by food along this path previously. But after some thought, they elected to find their way out of the woods in search of a grassy patch for the horses to feast on.
They dismounted their horses so as not to exert them, and also to navigate through the thick groves of trees.
Roman was tired of traveling. He hadn’t slept well on the uneven forest floor and didn’t expect to anytime soon.
Emily was carrying on the conversation as always when suddenly Peter motioned for them to quiet down.
The mage halted where he stood and held tightly to the reins of his horse which stood by his side.
Roman heard a rustling if leaves in the distance and caught a glimpse of several people walking their way.
The crew stood completely still as if frozen in time.
In the time it took for the strangers to approach the Lower Class pairing had strung their bows and taken out a few arrows.
Roman recalled his blade which still sat in his bag but chose not to retrieve it.
A woman appeared from behind the trees, bringing with her three companions. Two dressed in chain mail and one who stood just out of site.
“Brooklyn?” Peter questioned. Staring the girl dead in the eyes. She smiled and returned his greeting. “A pleasure it is to you too Peter.”
The figure who stood concealed approached, though he hadn’t been hiding he surely was unnoticed. To Romans surprise, they too appeared to be a mage. In fact, he bore a significant resemblance to Peter.
“Markus, what are you doing here?” Peter demanded to know. He seemed to be suddenly stressed, as opposed to his usual calm self.
“Do you know these people?” Emily asked, knocking an arrow on the string of her bow but still pointing it at the ground.
“Yes, yes I do. This is my older brother Markus and his pairing Brooklyn. Though I’m not sure what they’re doing here,” Peter replied, sending a sharp look Brooklyn’s way.
“A pleasure to meet you all, though I’m simply here to speak with Peter. Would you mind telling me where you are off too?” Brooklyn smiled.
Something about her didn’t seem right. She looked friendly enough, but something in the way Peter and her stilled eye contact make Roman uneasy.
Though all had been quiet Clara finally spoke up. “We’re headed to High Class to fulfill our destiny. Peter is escorting us.”
“And surely you have with you a binding agreement. Someone must have hired you to fulfill this task,” Brooklyn said. She stood confidently with the two armored men in either side of her, they seemed to be some kind of hired guard of little importance. Roman wondered if she had expected his crew to attack her.
“Surely I do, but what I don’t understand is why you left the Silver Star guild with her, but refused to leave when we tried to escape together,” Peter asked, changing the suspect and turning to Markus.
“If you must know, she came to me and offered something you couldn’t. An actually plan. An actually future. I was unwilling to leave a safe place with our sisters if I was unsure of whether or not I would be putting them in danger,” Markus replied. Most of his sentence made little sense to Roman but he tried his best to understand.
“And what plan is that?” Peter questioned.
Brooklyn replied. “I have offered him an opportunity to reclaimed what is rightfully mine, and I stand here today to offer you the same. Abandon this silly expedition and join us.”
Peter thought for a second before responding. “No way. I have a duty to fulfill and I’m going too. I’m loyal to my task and to the people I have brought with me.”
“And what is that task?” Brooklyn insisted, looping back to a question she had asked earlier.
Peter stood silent and the rest of the crew followed his example. Clara had told them all they needed to know.
“Show me your official agreement and I’ll be on my way,” She continued to demand. It was no longer a question. The tone of her voice made the demand border on being a threat.
“No. You have no right to intervene. Leave now, reclaim your throne for all I care. Just go away,” Peter spat.
All at once several things began to happen. First and foremost they discovered Brooklyn’s abilities in magic, as she used it to take Peter’s backpack from him. He resisted using his own magic.
Several arrows were fired, all of which were deflected by the guards' shields.
Clara watched in confusion as Peter bag floated in mid-air, until finally, Peter stumbled back, supposedly releasing his magic.
Brooklyn used her magic to pull something out of the bag. She then dropped the backpack onto the ground.
What she now held in her hand was a small scroll, which she unrolled and studied for a moment.
“Oh, so that’s where you’re going,” She smiled. “So, Peter, Darling. Do they know and didn’t tell me, or are you just lying to them? Either way make sure you make the right choice, keep in mind if magic is illegal the world may be more dangerous. You’d best choose Higher Class if you know what’s good for you,” She concluded.
And with that the mysterious figures walked away, leaving the scroll on the ground.
Peter sat down on the ground for unknown reasons and took a deep breath.
“Is your whole family this weird?” Jesse wondered.
Peter scowled. “We need to keep moving, the sun is setting and we can’t waste daylight.”
Clara wandered over to the rolled up paper on the ground and picked it up. Peter reacted and stood up to take it from her.
“Don’t touch that, it’s not yours!” He insisted. He took the scroll from her and then paused for a moment. Re-contemplating balance.
“Are you all right?” Clara asked.
“Yes, I’m fine. Just dizzy.”
Clara looked at him skeptically. Nothing quite added up for her.
“Have you ever heard the story of the mage who defeated the ten-foot tall beast?” Peter asked, only adding to their confusion. “The story goes he defeated him with magic, once it was dead the mage collapsed and no one was able to revive him. He died because magic takes a toll on people.”
“Was that woman stronger than you? Are you going to die?” Emily questioned.
Peter shook his head. “I’ll be fine. And she’s not stronger than me. At Least not at everything, we specialize in different things in the realm of magic.”
Those explanations cleared a few things up, but not everything. Roman still did not understand what Brooklyn had said about Peter lying to them, about what? Why would he lie to them? He brought them out of their homes onto this adventure, the least he could do was he truthful.
But before anyone could propose any more questions, Peter insisted that they keep moving.
They guided their horses North for another hour or so, before heading Eastward, in hopes of getting out of the dreaded woods.
By nightfall, they had traveled to a clearing in the trees.
The horses grazed while the crew set up camp.
Peter had fallen asleep before they could assign someone to take first watch. Roman and Clara volunteered.
After their encounter that day they now understood the importance of keeping watch. Just Incase crazy sorceresses come out of the woods and try to bargain away your guide.
CHAPTER NINE
The next day the crew woke up were able to hang around their campsite for a few hours before heading out again.
Roman sat by the fire and looked across from him at Jesse. His messy hair was drooping in his face and he was poking the fire with a stick despite Peter telling him not too.
Clara and Emily had gone over to saddle the horses and Peter was laying on his back by the fire.
“You suppose we should put the fire out and pack up?” Jesse suggested.
“I’d rather go back to sleep,” Roman yawned. He knew that everyone else probably felt the same.
After a few more minutes of waiting around Jesse decided to start packing up, and Roman followed his example.
By the time the girls got back they’d finished putting all of the blankets away and were putting out the fire.
“The horses seemed to have rested well,” Emily commented. “I think we can ride them again today.”
“That’s good to hear,” Roman said, stroking the mane of the horse he planned to mount.
The smoke from the fire dwindled and Clara declared it safe to leave. Insisting that they would not to be responsible for starting a fire in the forest and burning down all of Centre Class.
They set out along the path in single file. Peter leading as always.
They carried on this way for two more days until they neared the border of High Class.
It was exciting for Roman, he’d actually been born in a small village in High Class, but was chosen to be sent away to Centre Class.
Perhaps after all was said and done he could visit his parent and brother who lived elsewhere in High Class.
He explained this to his traveling companions and Emily told him of her five sisters who lived in Lower Class and how she missed them.
It was easy to miss people you loved, but it was hard to carry on with what you're meant to be doing without them.
Alas, the border wall was in sight. It was more heavy duty than that of Lower Class.
It seemed that Higher Class had time and money to build a wall and hire guards.
The wall was made of stone and it was at least ten feet tall.
“Whatever you do don’t let them know you’re from Lower Class,” Peter whispered.
The magician stopped his horse and dismounted. “This is where we need to let them go. They’ll find their way back.”
They followed his orders and hopped down from their horses as well.
Though Jesse was reluctant to let them go, he knew better than to make a big deal about it. The time had come for them to stay focused on the task at hand.
At the end of the path was a large gate. Guards stood at the gate and forbid them from passing.
“Where do you hail from,” The guard demanded to know.
“They are from Centre Class, and I am returning home,” Peter lied.
“Where is your pairing, child?” The guard questioned Peter.
“I’m on my way to meet her again. We were sadly separated, as she has duties to attend too.”
“And you will reunite with her as soon as possible?”
“Yes of course.”
“Then you may pass. But you’d best not get into any trouble.”
Peter thanked him and walked through the gate into Higher Class.
CHAPTER TEN
Once they had made it several feet away the silence was broken.
“Is it true what you said?” Emily wondered. “Will you be meeting back up with your pairing?”
Peter laughed. “Of course not. I haven’t seen her in several years. She left me because I was in a guild. They wouldn’t let me leave to be with her and she wasn’t allowed to join.”
“Right, now we’re headed to find Jesse’s brother. Hopefully, I will be able to locate him. Jesse, if you could do kindly tell me what you can about him that would be greatly appreciated.” Peter continued.
“Well, seeing as I’ve never been here, I don’t know where exactly he is. I know he does live at a school of magic. His name is Erick Acres and he has dark hair,” Jesse replied. He seemed glad to talk about his brother. “His pairing’s name is Violet. But I don’t know much about her.”
Peter nodded and they continued walking.
The roads of High Class were rather elegant. They were paved with stone and the area was quite populated with beautiful buildings and homes.
Many of the trees in the area had been cleared to make space for extravagant structures.
People walked by them smiling. Many of them wore their kingdom color of red with great pride.
Most of the people they encountered were women and children, presumably because the men had gone off to aid in the war.
Which brought Romans mind back to the question of how were they going to aid in the war?
In fact, he had many more questions. Like why the strange woman in the forest showed up to recruit Peter, or why she had said he was lying to them.
These were all good questions, but there never seemed a proper time to pose them.
After a few pleasant minutes of walking, Peter interrupted their silence. “Hang on. We need to stop for a moment.”
“Why?” Emily asked.
“Because, I have no idea where I’m going,” Peter replied, veering off the path.
Roman waited patiently nearby.
Peter put his walking stick down. He whispered something to himself and moved his fingers in a large circle. He stood for a moment and stared into the space he’d marked out with his fingers as if it had revealed the secrets of the universe to him.
“What are you looking at?” Jesse questioned, after a few moments.
“I’m trying to find Erick,” Peter explained briefly.
“You're looking at nothing.”
“Just because you can’t see something doesn’t mean it isn’t there. It just means you don’t know how to look for it,” Peter said, moving his fingers backward across the same pattern. After that, he seemed to know exactly where they were going.
Peter motioned for them to follow him back along the path, and so they did.
They walked without change for an hour, or more, before taking a sharp turn right.
By evening they’d begin travel down a path that leads to nothing but their destination.
The path was steep. Higher Class was a rather mountainous location.
“I am so tired of walking right now,” Jesse complained. It wasn’t the first time on this journey that he’d whined about the long hours of walking.
The light of several fires was, finally, visible in the distance. Which was quite a relief.
They knew better than to try and seek refuge from the night in a busy school, so they stopped where they were and set up camp.
Roman had grown rather accustomed to sleeping on the ground by this point and thought he might even miss it once he was returned to his home.
The following morning the completed their journey down the path.
The school was magnificent. It was an older building, made of blue and purple colored stone. High towers with fires atop them lit the areas that the sun had not yet reached.
Several students were about, playing in the fields. They marveled at the strangers who approached them.
Though the sights were distracting, the magician kept on track and pulled his team along with him.
They made it through the front door into a wonderfully lit entryway.
It made Roman think of his school, though in classic High Class fashion they taught more magic than hand-to-hand combat and swordsmanship.
Peter went off to find someone in charge, leaving everyone else behind to wait.
“This is ridiculous,” Jesse said, crossing his arms.
“What is your problem?” Roman questioned sincerely.
“Nothing, I just don’t want to be placed here, like an object, until I’m needed.”
“Maybe you should get over yourself long enough to realize it isn’t all about you.”
“Maybe you should shut up,” Jesse said, aggressively.
Roman was quite tired of hearing him talk and was more than happy to take the opportunity and tell him so. “Do you know how many times I’ve considered saying that to you along this trip. You complain every thirty-second.”
“Take that back, you’re just being an idiot.”
Roman stood up and looked Jesse dead in the eyes. “You think I’ an idiot? Have you tried taking a look at yourself recently?”
“You guys need to calm down. You’re being so petty,” Emily intervened.
“No, no. I’d like to hear more of what else you think you know,” Jesse challenged, standing up as well.
“Shut up, both of you,” Emily shouted, standing between them and pushing them away from each other.
Jesse pulling his fingers into a fist.
Roman took a step back. He was tired. Surely neither of them were thinking correctly. But he didn’t care at the moment.
Clara got up and stood in front of Roman, making sure he didn’t go anywhere.
Peter came back around this time and was quite confused. “What are you children doing? I left you alone for five minutes!”
“We’re doing nothing,” Clara insisted, sitting down and pulling Roman by the wrist to sit next to her.
Emily sat back down too, but Jesse stayed standing with his arms crossed.
“I’m going to assume that whatever happened here you’ve now dealt with maturely and now we can now carry on with our task,” Peter said, sternly. “Let’s go find Erick now.”
Roman nodded and followed Peter down the hallway and out the back door.
According to what Peter had just learned, Erick was usually around somewhere outside.
“Do you see him anywhere?” Jesse asked impatiently.
There weren’t many kids outside but it still took them a few moments to spot who they were looking for.
“Oh, my goodness. I think I see him,” Jesse declared, running off into a nearby cluster of trees.
Roman watched from where he stood as Jesse ran over to hug his brother. He would have been happier to see them together was he not infuriated with Jesse at the time.
Jesse ran back over and dragged his brother with him. “Let me introduce my brother. This is Erick. Erick, these are my new friends!”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
“What are you doing here Jesse? It’s good to see you and all, but you’re kind of not allowed in High Class since you’re from Low Class,” Erick questioned.
“We’re on a very important mission,” Emily informed him.
“Why did you bring a mage?” Erick asked, motioning to Peter.
“He actually brought us. He's the one who’s telling us where we need to go.”
Erick nodded. He seemed to understand so far, though that didn’t mean he approved.
Erick looked a lot like Jesse, except the fact that his hair was a few shades darker and he was just a bit shorter.
At this point, Peter spoke up. “We’ve come to recruit you. I’ve been assigned to take you to the palace of High Class. So that’s where we’re going”
“We are?” Roman questioned. Up until that point, he hadn’t known exactly where they were going.
“Yes, we are. There’s no point hiding it. Better to tell you now than wait until we reach the king’s front gate,” Peter replied, before continuing. “We need you to trust us because we need you to come with us. And your pairing needs to come too.”
Erick looked at him strangely. “I have heard of people going off on adventures, I even had a friend who did, but I never thought it would happen to me.”
“Is that a yes?” Emily asked, excitedly.
“I’m not sure. See, you’re not supposed to be here,” He responded, motioning to Jesse and Emily. “Which means that this is most likely outside of the law, and I’m not really ok with that.”
“You don’t have to be ok with it, if we get caught I’ll take the fall for everything. Besides this is in order of the king, if I’m in trouble he will be the one to blame,” Peter explained.
“Why haven’t you just told everyone you’re with the king? Then maybe we could have gotten here faster, and we would have been more likely to come,” Clara asked.
“This mission is kind of on the down low, in case you hadn’t noticed,” Peter excused.
“How long will this journey take? I don’t want to be behind in my studies,” Erick asked, pulling them back to the topic at hand.
“No more than a few days. You’d best talk your pairing into this, we would like to leave as soon as possible,” Peter concluded.
Erick had all but agreed by then, they only hoped that his pairing would feel the same, sadly they would have to wait to hear her decision, as she was busy in classes until the evening.
Jesse spent the rest of the afternoon introducing everyone to his brother and hanging out with them.
“You must tell us because I’d love to know. Which of you is older?” Clara inquired. Jesse and Erick glanced at each other for a moment.
“Guess,” Jesse replied.
“Are you older Jesse? You’re an inch or so taller.”
“I must admit, it was a bit of a trick question, you see, we’re actually twins,” Erick laughed.
Roman liked Erick, he was pleasant to be around, he was like Jesse but more tolerable and sensible.
Peter chimes into the conversation. “My younger sisters are twins.”
“Yes, I have heard that was fairly common around certain areas,” Roman nodded.
Emily thought for a moment. “If you two are twins, and pairings are always the same age, does that make us all the same age?”
“I’m fourteen, so is Erick and through an extent our pairings as well,” Jesse offered.
“We’re both fifteen,” Clara said, motioning to Roman. “How old are you, Peter?” She continued.
Peter began to speak but was interrupted by Jesse. “He can’t be too much older than us, maybe seventeen?”
Clara spoke up. “Don’t let his freckles fool you he’s really nineteen.”
“Perhaps we could set a compromise at eighteen,” Roman smiled, he was eager to hear if he was right.
Peter smiled, he seemed to be amused by their game. “I’m sixteen, and a half.”
“No way. Don’t lie to us!” Clara said, crossing her arms.
“No, really. I was born in the year 420.”
Roman erupted laughing, and so did everyone around him. They were at a point of exhaustion where most anything was worth laughing at, and Erick was simply an amusable person.
The sun was setting and though they didn’t wish to they had to return to their camp for the night and get some rest.
Erick promised to speak with his pairing as soon as possible and introduce her to them the following morning.
Roman had had so much fun he’d nearly forgotten why they were there. He’d forgotten as well his argument with Jesse and any bitter feelings, which was for the best.
After making it back to the place they had camped the night before and having something to eat, an argument broke out of whether or not someone should stand guard.
After all, they were Higher Class, it was safe there and no one wanted to hurt them. And if anyone did they could easily run to the school just down the road for help.
But Peter argued that you cannot run down a road for help if you have been murdered in your sleep.
In the end, they all agreed to go to sleep. They were too tired to argue any longer about things that might not even matter.
The following day brought sprinkles of rain and dark clouds which hid the sun from few.
Peter woke everyone up that morning, though no one knew exactly what time it was.
They left their camp set up, In case they needed to spend another night there. Though they did make sure to leave it all under the shade of several trees.
They made the relatively short walk down to the school and found Erick waiting for them. He had a girl standing with him, she looked similar to him in shade of hair, though hers was most certainly black.
“Good morning,” Erick greeted.
Peter replied the same and continued to ask him how he was doing. But Erick was too distracted to answer.
“I want you all to meet my pairing Violet, I told her all that I know, and she seems pretty up for an adventure,” Erick said, excitedly.
Violet smiled and Peter shook her hand.
Peter filled her in on a few details, just to make sure she knew what she getting into.
Violet was a person of few words, and when she did choose to speak she spoke in quiet soft tones. Peter seemed a bit frustrated at that, but he learned to listen carefully and quickly and was able to carry out a conversation with little problems.
In the end, she seemed to agree to go with them.
“Alright then. Do you think you could pack up and inform your teachers you will be gone for a few days by noon? I’d like to leave as soon as we can,” Peter questioned.
“I think we can manage,” Erick said, turning to Violet who in turn nodded.
“We’ll be down at our camp when you’re ready to leave, just come down when you are,” Peter offered. He pointed out to them the cluster of trees that they had camped under.
They were true to their word and after the conversation had ended they walked back to their camp.
CHAPTER TWELVE
There wasn’t much to do while they waited, they couldn’t even start a fire with the rain.
So to pass the time Roman joined Clara in climbing up a nearby tree. It had been a while since he’d had time to talk with her. He’d found over the course of their friendship that she was less talkative with larger groups of people around. And so he found it a pleasant experience to sit on a tree limb and talk with her.
“Are we just going to forget the portion of our journey where a strange woman in the forest came to us?” Clara questioned. An interesting choice in conversation starters.
To be honest Roman had forgotten at the time. It didn’t seem an important fact, seen as they’d already discovered that no one would answer the questions they asked.
“Of course we haven’t forgotten, there’s just nothing we can do about it right now,” He replied, situating himself so that his feet could hang from the low branch they had sat on.
“Can’t we talk about something more pleasant?” He asked if her.
She thought for a moment. “What do you think we’re having for lunch?”
Roman laughed. “Same thing we’ve eaten since this whole thing started, hybrid vegetables that Peter either brought with him or found in the woods.”
Clara laughed too, it was a rather amusing thing to think about, though not amusing to eat.
“Oh, what I would give to eat some meat right now,” He remarked.
“Would you give up this stupid quest?” Clara asked she’d stopped laughing and looked a bit more serious.
He scowled at her. “You know that’s not what I meant. And no I wouldn’t, I want to be here, this is a chance for me to do something good.”
“Wow, what a hero,” She said, sarcastically, hopping down from the tree.
He hadn’t wanted to make her upset, but she didn’t make it easy.
Roman wondered if it was his fault that people were mad at him or if everyone was just too uptight and sensitive to be spoken to at the moment. Whatever the reason there seemed to be nothing he could do about it at the moment.
An hour or two had passed before Violet cane walking down the path. She stopped and stood on the path looking over at their campsite.
No one seemed to notice her, and so Roman hopped down from his tree to greet her.
“Hello!” He said.
“Good morning,” She replied.
“I’m Roman, by the way, we haven’t really spoken yet.”
“Yeah, Erick told me about all of you. I’m Violet.”
He stepped closer to her to better hear all that she was saying.
They made eye contact, her eyes were very blue, which complemented her dark hair nicely.
They talked for a while longer before Erick arrived down the path.
“Are we ready to go?” Peter asked, putting on his backpack.
“I’m ready if you are,” Erick replied.
Roman locates his belongings and equipped his backpack. Sure enough, they were ready to set out.
Once they’d made it down the path and back into populated areas it seemed like it would only be a short walk to where they were going.
It hadn’t rained since the early morning and so the clouds retreated, revealing the bright sun.
They walked through a neighborhood full of people. Many of them seemed skilled in magic and were using it openly.
A woman was hanging her clothes to try without the use of her hands, and a few children seemed to be practicing the art just down the street.
Erick and Violet told the crew of their adventures in magic, though they were just beginners they seemed to be quite talented and planned to continue attending their school in order to become more advanced.
The sun was just starting to set when a magnificent palace came into view. It was made of white stone, and the light of the setting sun seemed to shimmer off of it.
“It’s beautiful,” Emily commented, and they could all agree to that.
They followed Peter along the winding roads, through marketplaces and through rows of homes, though they didn’t seem to be making it any closer.
The sun set completely and darkness fell over them. But still, the mage was determined to make it to their destination.
It must have been nearly midnight by the time they reached the surrounding walls of the palace.
Peter took a deep breath and approached the guards outside, prepared to convince them to let him in. But instead, they silently opened the gate.
There was a bridge for them to walk across, over a motte of water, before reaching the inside of the grand castle.
Guards showed them the way to the throne room, a marble-floored room with a gorgeous glass dome overhead.
Inside was who they suspected to be the lord of the land.
It was a rather strange experience, something Roman never expected to happen to him. He was just a child and yet he was now about to meet the king of one of the most beautiful kingdoms in all of the land.
“Suroon. Alas, you have returned to me. I have been waiting, each morning and each night, I have been waiting for you to return,” The king declared.
Peter stayed silent for a moment before thinking of something to say. “I’ve kept up my end of the deal. But I happen to know that you can’t keep up yours. So take your staff, return to me what is mine and I will be in my way.”
“Ah, so you know about your siblings and their little escape from Silver Star. Simply because our deal is broken does not mean that you are not still needed. I do not trust you to stay here out of your own free will so I will have to keep you guarded.”
“You can’t do that,” Peter said, sternly. Though he didn’t seem to resist as guards came up behind him and took his backpack and cloak. They tried to take his walking stick from him but he would not allow it. “ Can’t we trade our tokens back, you can have your stick back and in exchange, I want my pin.”
Nothing anyone was saying made sense to Roman. Just as he thought he understood what was going on something new came his way. He’d had it in his mind that Peter and the king had made a friendly arrangement, but now they were yelling at each other and Peter was being arrested.
“I do not want that walking stick back. Take it as a gift from one friend to another,” The king smiled.
“I’m not your friend. Give me my pin now, or I’ll be forced to take out your guards,” Peter argued, though anyone could tell that he was not nearly as strong as the trained palace guards and he could not resist them.
“If this is all you want I suppose you can have it,” The king replied, tossing something small and silver across the marble floors. Peter reached it to grab it but was too far away.
“Please, take him away to the prison, before he makes more of a fool of himself,” The king ordered, and the guards did as he said. Peter struggled against them. He threw down his staff and it rolled across the level ground.
Before long silence had spread through the halls again and there was no sign of sound that the mage had ever been there.
“Now that that’s settled, we’re free to talk. First and foremost I am lord Bren,” The king declared.
“Why did you take Peter away. You’re not a very nice man,” Emily stated. She held her anger fairly well. Deep inside she wanted to punch the nicely dressed man on the nose but she restrained herself for fear of being arrested.
“Yes. I suppose I’m not a very nice man. That’s what war can do to people and believe me I’ve seen plenty of war,” The man replied.
“Why did you do that? All he did was talk to you?” Roman spat. He was quite angry as well.
“Leave the official business to the adults. You mustn’t worry about such things,” Lord Bren excused. “Before I send you away, I must make sure. There is a pairing from each kingdom, yes?”
Roman didn’t want to answer. The king's attitude brought out an uncooperative side of him.
“Yes. Yes, there is,” Clara confirmed.
“Good. Tomorrow morning at sunrise you must be awake and ready. I’m taking you to the time star. The rest I will tell you tomorrow,” The king said to them.
Bren turned to his guardsmen. “Take them to the East wing, and make sure they stay there until I send for them.”
They followed the guards for fear of what would happen if they didn’t.
While walking through the throne room Roman managed to pick up the piece of
silver on the ground, though he didn’t get a good look at it.
They walked all of the ways across the palace to the East wing, the door to the hall was then locked and they were trapped with little hope of getting out before anyone sent for them.
Emily set to explore the hallway. It was mostly spare bedrooms a few sitting rooms. There was a music room and, finally, a library.
They settled into the library. It was a feat of wonder. Roman had never seen so many books on such high shelves.
“If we want any questions answered. I think this is the place to be,” Erick smiled.
And so they set to work.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Roman looked down at the small silver object he’d picked up. It had warmed up while it was in his hand. It was shaped like a star with rounded points. In the centre of the star was Peter last name, carefully engraved. Judging by its backing it looked like some kind of pin for a cloak or a shirt.
He stashed the object away in his pocket and turned his attention back to his friends.
“You wouldn’t happen to know Talian script, would you?” Violet asked him. He shook his head. Of all the skills he’d learned in his life, never once had he learned a single word in the language of Tal.
“Then I suppose it’ll just be me and Violet decoding most of these books. Don’t worry though, there are several books written plainly that you can read through,” Erick stated.
Roman agreed. He followed Clara over to a shelf of books and started looking.
“Think through anything you’ve heard of and didn’t understand. Particularly the conversation we just witnessed and the conversation with the sorceress in the woods,” Roman said, loudly enough that everyone in the room could hear him.
Many of the old history books were written in Tal so Roman would have to read up on more recent history.
“I want to know what a time star is. What it can do, and why we’re going to see it tomorrow morning,” Clara declared.
“I’m going to try to find everything I can about this sorceress. Do you suppose there’s a listing of names somewhere?” Roman said, inquisitively.
“I doubt it,” Jesse chimed in. “There are tons of people who practice magic, it would be hard to keep track of them all.”
Most of the books Roman looked through were stories of great feats and wars, mainly ones concerning the kings of old.
After several hours he got to a point where felt he could read no more.
It was all the same characters rearranged with boring punctuation and the same few words of posh speech.
He closed the book he was reading and wandered over to where Erick was sitting on the floor.
Erick had been reading book after book as if his life depended upon his reading, only he enjoyed it very much.
The book he was reading was comprised of shapes and dots and dashes, it made no sense to Roman whatsoever.
“You can read that?” Roman questioned.
“Well, sort of,” Erick responded. “Magic is written and spoken in Tal, so I know the letters, but there are a few words that we simply don’t have in our language.”
Roman continue to study the pages of the book, searching for a pattern.
“Why are some of the words crossed out?” He questioned.
“This is a list of names. Mages I think. I believe the ones that are crossed out are either deceased or arloched,” Erick explained.
“What does ‘arloch’ mean?”
“It’s when you use magic to block magic. The person getting their magic taken has to give consent and you need a special relic for it to actually work. Though I’m not sure why you’d ever want your magic taken away, especially if you’re a mage. It’s such a wonderful gift.”
Even if the rest of Romans research yielded nothing, at least he had learned the meaning of a word in Tal.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
He walked back over to Clara to see how she was doing.
“Found anything yet?” He asked.
“I have a little bit about the time star. But the beginning of this book is in Tal,” Clara sighed.
“Well, what do you know?”
“I know that it has basic control over time. It can allow people to see the future and the past. But like all helpful relics it takes quite a while to master, unless, of course, you’re a mage.”
“What makes mages so special?”
“They get their gifts from a relic, it makes sense that they should be talented in using them.”
“I suppose that makes sense. And that might explain why lord Bren still needs Peter,” Roman remarked.
Roman was just about to sit back down when he heard Emily shouting from across the room. “ I think I found something!”
He ran over to find her. She was sitting on a fancy looking chair next to Jesse who had fallen asleep.
“What did you find?” Roman asked, hastily.
“Brooklyn Meadow. The daughter of Grace Meadow. I think that’s who we met,” Emily said, pointing it the names in her book.
“Grace Meadow used to be the ruler of Lower Class until a guy named Alexander Pond took over. Grace Meadow was assassinated and no one really knows what happened to her only daughter,” She continued.
“Remember what she said to Peter? Something about reclaiming what was rightfully hers,” Roman added.
“I think she means the throne. What if she’s trying to take over. Maybe she’s trying to bring back magic in Lower Class.”
“She can’t do that. The people there have the right to live without magic in their lives,”
“Well, what could we do. We can help, we can’t even keep ourselves out of trouble, let alone save a kingdom from a harmful ruler,” Emily concluded.
Roman sighed. The conversation seemed to be over, and so we went over to speak with Erick and Violet to tell him what they had learned.
Violet had fallen asleep on the floor and Erick was barely staying awake.
“I’m not even sure I’ve been reading for the last few pages, just looking at all of this confusing stuff,” Erick said.
“It’s alright. We’ve tried our best, but now the sun is almost up and we will leave this place shortly,” Roman replied.
He explained to Erick, as best he could, what Emily had discovered. Though it wasn’t all that helpful to them, it was interesting to know. Perhaps it was something they could follow up on later.
After concluding his conversation, Roman continued to gather everyone up, including waking those who had fallen asleep.
They sat down in a circle together and reviewed the information they had learned that night.
“At least we got somewhere. Don’t worry about what we didn’t find, just be glad of what we did. I suspect any minute someone will come and take us to lord Bren, but don’t worry, whatever is happening here we’re in this together and we’ll make it through,” Roman said, confidently. Through his confidence, he was able to project comfort into his friends and that was a good sight to see.
Just as he had said, a moments later palace guards came in to escort them somewhere else.
Roman stood behind the armored men and led his group down the hall. Since Peter was not currently with them he felt it his job to look after everyone and make sure they were ok.
The guards led them to an unexpected location. He’d expected to be in some kind of relic hall, but instead, they were in a nicely decorated dining room.
It was close to where Roman remembered the throne room being.
Lord Bren sat at one end of the table and motioned for them to sit at the other.
Several people dressed in neat white aprons came out and served them plates of food.
“Please, eat something. I’m sure you’re hungry,” The king invited.
They hesitantly started eating. The food tasted very rich with many flavors and spices mixed in.
Roman decided that it was some kind of meat and perhaps the egg of a chicken, though it was hard to tell by the way it was cooked.
Once everyone had nearly finished eating lord Bren chose to speak with them again. “I’ve heard you children were up to some research, but I imagine you didn’t learn much. It’s a very big library, much of it is stories and false information which makes it rather hard to find what you’re looking for.”
“We saw enough,” Roman said. He wasn’t sure what response was best and so he chose something short to say.
“After breakfast is finished I’m going to take you to the time star. Once we are there I will allow your mage to explain the rest. This is a once in a lifetime experience, so you must your full cooperation, do you understand?”
“Yes. We understand completely,” Roman nodded. Though in truth he didn’t. But it appeared he understood all that the king wanted him too.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
True to their plan they were taken from the room as soon as they’d finished eating.
This time lord Bren was leading them. They walked down several halls of the palace until they reached a staircase down to a cellar. It was lit with candles, but still fairly dark.
The room was mostly empty with the exception of a table in the centre with a strange object on it and for two guards who stood at the far end of the room with Peter, making sure he didn’t go anywhere.
Roman took another look at the object on the table. It was about the size of a watermelon, but it was shaped like a star with, at least, a dozen points. The color was the most fascinating aspect of all. It seemed to be made of pure light, but it did not make a dent on the darkness of the room.
Roman took a step closer. It looked almost as is it wasn’t even there. Perhaps it was just pure light. But yet it looked tangible. He reached out to touch but before his fingers could he was interrupted.
“Don’t touch that,” Peter whispered aggressively.
Roman pulled his hand away. “Good to see you’re alive too,” He greeted.
“I spent the night in a prison cell, that doesn’t make me dead,” The mage replies, still speaking I’m a lowered tone.
Emily walked up beside Roman and stared into the bright relic. “It’s so beautiful. Why is it hidden away?” She asked, turning to lord Bren.
The king in turn replied. “It’s very valuable. I’m sure many people would like to get there hands on it. There are hardly any relics this powerful, as they were all enchanted by the wizards of old.”
“Still, it seems a shame. They’re a gift that everyone should be able to see,” Emily remarked, looking into the stars mesmerizing glow.
“What are we going to do with this?” Erick wondered.
“You’re going to see the future,” The king answered.
“That’s crazy,” Jesse declared. It was true. Roman knew what the time star could do, but it’s one thing to know something and something entirely different to experience it.
“When is this going to happen?” Jesse continued.
“As soon as possible. As soon as our mage here can figure out what he’s doing,” Lord Bren replied, glancing over at Peter.
Peter in turn replied. “I don’t know I can even control this. It’s so powerful, I can feel it without even touching it.”
Erick nodded, he seemed to understand, though Roman surely didn’t. All of this talk of magic was rather new to him.
“We have to try. The whole point of doing this is to know who will win this war. Whomever it is then, so be it. I simply want this bloodshed to end,” The king said. He seemed rather sincere.
“Reasons and motivations don’t make me a better magician in a skill I’ve never tried. I’ve never even seen the time star until today, and you think I could control it?” Peter responded.
“Just try. It won’t hurt to try.”
“Correction, it won’t hurt you to have me try.”
Roman chimed in. “I don’t think this man will let you go until you do what he wants.”
“Fair point. I suppose I could make an attempt. But I’m not doing it for you Bren. I’m only doing this so that you’ll let me and my friends go,” Peter agreed.
Peter took a moment to think, before stepping closer to the table in the centre of the room.
Everyone stood in silence to see what would happen as he reached out to touch the table, and then to touch a point of the star.
For a second the room filled with light. But as soon as the light arrived it all flooded back out, leaving them in the dimness of the room once again.
“Did anything happen?” Lord Bren asked hastily. “Do you feel any different?”
“No. nothing happened,” Roman replied.
“I feel kind of like I’ve been shocked, thank you very much,” Peter said, brushing himself off,”
“Perhaps you need to try again,” The king said.
Peter nodded. He repeated the same process again, and it yielded the same results.
By the third try, Peter made a suggestion. “Perhaps you should leave the room. Take your guardsman with you. There’s no way we could escape or leave or anything if you block the entrance.”
The king seemed hesitant. “I suppose we could try,” He nodded, walking back up the stairs and ordering his guards to follow him.
Peter waiting until the door at the top of the stairs had closed before he spoke further. “Listen closely, this doesn’t really work how Mr. king out there thinks it does. The true rules of what the star relics can do are undocumented for fear of it being used for the wrong reasons.”
“Why do you know this?” Emily wondered.
Peter shushed her. “No time for questions. From what I gather he thinks that you will be seeing the future when in reality you’re choosing it. That’s why I need all of you because each pairing will see something different and it’s our job to decide what’s best for our kingdoms.”
“We can’t do that. We’re children,” Roman argued.
“Defiance is just a technique for buying time, I know quite well. You know you need to do this. I still can’t believe how lucky I am to have the time star on my hands and we need to hurry before the king grows suspensions,” Peter countered.
“What do you need us to do?” Violet said, ready to receive orders.
“I need you to bear with me. I wasn’t lying when I said I didn’t know how to use this thing,” Peter said, smiling a bit.
Roman stepped closer to the time star, making room for his friends to stand beside him. They were quite determined, there was no way they were going to fail at this task when they wanted so badly for it to succeed.
Peter reached out his hand to lay it on the relic, but the same bright light flashed through the room with no results.
He tried one more time, but still, the same thing happened.
Finally, he was understandably frustrated.
“Why isn’t it working? I don’t know what I did wrong, everything should be in order,” Peter complained.
“It’s alright. Maybe you should just try again,” Clara comforted.
“I did. I did try again, I tried until it hurt me to try and it still isn’t working,” He said, raising his voice.
“Calm down, there has to be a way for this to work,” Roman said. “Maybe if we touch at the same time as you, it will be more inclined to cooperate.”
Peter sighed. “It is an object of little reason, but I suppose anything is worth a try.”
“Countdown from three, so we’re all ready,” Emily insisted.
Roman nodded and did as she said. By the time they reached the end of their countdown they were all speaking together, and in unison, they reached out for the glowing relic and were consumed in bright light.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Roman stood up. He was in the same room, but something was shockingly different. The table where the time star had once been was now empty and the room they stood in was extremely dark.
He felt his way around to the table, just to make sure his suspicions were correct. The time star was indeed gone.
He could hear other people breathing, so at least he knew he was not alone.
He continued walking around the room with his arms in front of him so that he could locate the stairs out of the room.
“I’m going to find the door. Maybe I could let some light in,” He announced.
Roman walked across the room, being gentle not to step on anyone who was still on the ground.
Eventually, he found the stairs and made it to the top.
His hands found the knob of the door. He turned the knob and pushed his weight onto the door. It took until his third try to get the door to open, and when it did it was accompanied by a loud creaking sound.
Light flooded into the room and stung his eyes.
He took a look around at everything there was to see. Something seemed off. For one thing, he’d expected lord Bren to be there waiting for them. For another, the paintings and decorations in the palace seemed faded, and not all of them were the same as they had been when he last saw them.
They couldn’t have been in the cellar for more than a half-hour, though that was not counting for their unconsciousness.
“Something strange is going on. Come check this out!” Roman called down the stairs.
Moments later his friends came up after him.
Peter double checked that everyone was accounted for. Despite being a bit dazed everyone was present and alright.
“These flowers have wilted,” Peter observed.
“Is there anything you can tell us that we don’t already know?” Jesse questioned.
“Well, no. Not really,” Peter mumbled, continuing to look around.
“Let’s find our way outside and decide what should be done,” Roman suggested.
They did as he said and traveled through the hallways of the palace.
The only light coming through was from the windows. It was morning so that wasn’t much of a problem.
They made it to the front door without seeing a single person.
“This place is deserted,” Erick remarked, running his hand along a torn banner of High Class.
Surprisingly nothing was damaged except for the banners. Every red banner that hung the wall had been ripped apart or thrown on the ground carelessly.
They stepped outside into the bright light of the sun and looked out over the land before them.
People wandered around as usual.
Roman took a closer look. Most every person was wearing Lower Classes kingdom color of blue, and what more blue banners hung all around on houses and other buildings.
“What’s happened here?” Emily questioned, in confusion.
Peter replied. “Lower Class won the war.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
“That’s crazy. We just made the decision,” Jesse disagreed.
But Peter continued on as if he hadn’t heard him. “Find me something, anything with a date on it,” He said, hastily.
Emily waved for Jesse to follow her as she entered the city of people to carry out Peter’s orders.
While they were gone Erick struck up a conversation. “Sorry, can we get back to the girl you met in woods who told you what to do with your lives?”
There wasn’t much to say, there wasn’t much anyone knew. But what Roman did know he told to his friends who did not. Just to keep them all on the same page.
“Your story doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, Roman,” Violet remarked.
“Doesn’t make sense to me either. I just roll with all of this crazy magic stuff. After a while you learn to understand it,” Roman said. It made him feel accomplished when he could hear a conversation between magicians and understand at least half of it.
Emily came sprinting back towards them, Jesse was following her several steps behind.
“I think I’ve found something!” Emily shouted. Peter motioned for her to keep her voice down, and so she did.
Emily slowed to a stop next to Peter and handed him a stack of papers.
“What is this?” The mage asked her.
“Posters. I found them hung up about a block away,” She replied, catching her breath.
Roman leaned in to see what they were looking at. The paper on top was a hand-drawn ad for the opening of a store. It was not dated.
The second paper on the stack was an invitation to a garden party. This poster contained a month and a day but now a year. Though judging by the month and day it couldn’t have been more than a few days since they’d been outside.
“Oh, dear,” Peter said, dropping the stack of papers but holding on to the one in his hand.
Roman pushes past Erick to try and see the piece of paper but was not successful.
“What is it? What’s wrong?” Roman begged to know.
“What do you want to hear first, the bad news for all of us, or the bad news for me?” Peter questioned.
“Don’t play games. What is it?” Violet insisted.
“The bad news for everyone is that this is dated 439, that’s two years from where we should be,” Peter declared.
“That’s impossible!” Clara shouted. She refused to believe that something like that could have happened.
“How did this happen? Did we do something wrong?” Erick questioned.
Roman had never even heard of traveling through time, and, of course, never considered it happening to him. But one thought that comforted him was that if they could travel forward, maybe they could travel back.
“What other news do you have?” Roman inquired, raising his voice over the sounds of panic.
“See for yourself,” Peter sighed, handing the paper to Roman and stepping back.
Roman looked down at the poster in his hands. It looked very official with an overwhelming amount of information on it. It was dated in the corner next to a stamped seal of Lower Class. The top of the paper had a message written in bold words. It read. ‘Wanted dead or alive on charges of kidnapping, avoiding the law and use of magic.’ But the most frightening part of the poster was the hand-drawn picture at its centre.
It was a warrant for the arrest, or murder, of Peter Suroon, ‘The last free mage’, whatever that meant.
Romans shock and silence drew the attention of his friends, who in turn took a look at the poster.
A discussion broke out about what to do. Meanwhile, Peter borrowed Jesse's cloak in order to blend in better. It seemed rather impressive that no one had spotted him yet.
Peter started walking away down the path, and so everyone else hurried up to follow him.
“What’s our course of action?” Roman questioned, stuffing the poster into his backpack.
“We don’t exactly have one,” Peter replied, aggressively.
“What do you mean?”
“It means people think I kidnapped you, so maybe we shouldn’t travel together. Plus I’m not escorting you anywhere so I don’t have to babysit you guys anymore,” Peter explained.
“You can’t just leave us, we have nowhere to go. I don’t even know where we are. You brought us out here, you have to take us home.”
Peter turned around to face Roman. “I don’t think I have to do anything for you.”
With that, he continued walking through a crowd of people. But Roman kept on following him and the rest of the crew followed his example.
They followed him until several hours afternoon when he, finally, decided to stop walking.
The traffic of people along the streets had slowed since the sun was starting to set.
“Where are you even going?” Erick asked he was quite tired from having to walk for the past two, or more, hours.
“I don’t know, but you can’t come,” Peter said. He’d taken a break from walking to lean against the wall of a building.
“We’re going to stop bothering you until you tell us how to get home. You got us into this mess, you can get us back out,” Erick continued.
“What makes you think I know where you’re families have gotten too? And good luck trying to find your schools, magic seems to be outlawed, plus you’ve missed two years of classes.”
“Use your magic or something.”
“I’m so tired right now I can’t do anything. And if I was caught doing anything I would probably be shot on the spot.”
Roman chimed in. “Listen, we all need some rest. We can’t camp in the city, but we can find our way out of the city. There we could have better coverage, and after a good night's sleep we would all have cleared minds.”
Peter nodded silently and followed Roman as he led them farther down the road.
Everyone was quiet for the next several minutes down the road.
The sun set completely and it was getting harder to see the road in front of them.
The lit candles inside many houses started to go out as people went to sleep.
Only one building remained lit along their path of sight, and as they walked past it they heard someone calling to them.
“What are you children doing out here so late? Where are your parents?” The woman questioned.
“We’re just trying to find a place to stay,” Roman said.
“We’re on our way to meet back up with our parents, they live just a days travel from here. We don’t have much money with us. Our friend here lost his bag and supplies to a very deceptive group of bandits four miles back,” Violet said, motioning to Peter.
Roman tried to keep any shocked expressions from his face. He was not expecting a lie that detailed from any member of their group.
“I’ll tell you what,” The woman said. “My husband and I own this inn, you can come in and stay the night. You can use any spare change you have to buy yourself something to eat.”
“That would be greatly appreciated,” Roman agreed.
They stepped inside into the warmth of the small inn.
They sat down at a wooden table and dig through their bags for any loose coins they could find.
This whole experience reminded Roman of the inn they had visited on their journey to find Emily. Though it had been two years ago since then.
They managed to buy something for everyone to eat for dinner.
The kind innkeeper who had let them inside sat with them and talked to them while they ate.
“My name is Lydia Sparst, by the way. I’ll introduce you to my husband Hugh tomorrow, he’s the one who made you this wonderful food,” The woman explained.
They went around and introduced themselves as well. Though they didn’t expect her to remember all of their names.
Roman questioned whether or not they should have told her who they were. But it was too late to go back.
“You said you were going to visit your parents right?” Lydia asked, making conversation.
“Yes. Well, half of us. The other half are just pairings who must travel together,” Violet lied.
“Speaking of pairings. I can’t help but notice you have an odd number of people.”
Violet thought for a moment about what to say next, but Roman interrupted. “Thank you so much for having us for dinner, but we’re quite exhausted and I think we should all get a good night's sleep,” He concluded.
Lydia looked at him skeptically for a moment and then agreed. She took them to a room with beds lined up on either side of the room.
“This is one of our only open rooms right now, but you’re welcome to say here,” Lydia offered.
“It’s perfect, thank you,” Roman said.
Not long after the innkeeper had left the room they all collapsed in exhaustion. It had been a long day.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
It had been a good while since Roman had slept in a real bed, and he slept rather well.
The sun was already up when he got out of bed.
Most of his companions were already awake and had left the room.
He followed in their footsteps and went out into the main room of the inn.
Emily and Jesse were sitting at a far table dumping out the contents of their bags in search of anything valuable to sell, or any spare coins.
Erick was sitting at a table beside them talking with a stranger Roman didn’t recognize.
The stranger had dark hair and was dressed nicely.
Roman approached them and took a seat at the end of the table.
“Good morning, Roman,” Erick greeted. “This is Hugh Sparst. He’s Lydia’s husband.”
“Pleasure to meet you,” Roman said, shaking the man's hand.
“And you as well,” Hugh replied politely.
“We were just talking about things that have changed in the past two years, or so. Since we haven’t visited here in a while,” Erick informed Roman.
Roman nodded in agreement. It had been quite a while.
“This place has been completely taken over by Lower Class. We still call it High Class, as you probably know, but it sure isn’t the same,” Hugh told them.
“Why? Why is it so different, what did they do?” Ronan questioned, this was a good opportunity to learn all that they could.
“For one thing magic is no more. A lot of sorcery is hidden in books. It’s coded in Tal, the symbols are hidden in pictures and in patterns. They couldn’t take the chance and so every book they could get their hands on has been taken. Leaving a life of boredom,” Hugh sighed.
“Who are ‘they’?” Erick wondered.
“Alexander Pond and his advisers. I’m sure he’s not such a bad guy, but I personally think magic has the potential to be good. Either way, you look at it, I just hope they bring back harmless books again.”
“Sounds horrible. Not having a single thing to read,” Erick agreed. Roman didn’t feel it was so bad, but if that’s the way his friends felt then he felt inclined to agree with them. Bringing back books was a good idea if only to make his friend happy.
“I should probably get going. I think it’s my turn to work in the kitchen again,” Hugh said, excusing himself from the table.
It was quiet for a moment before Erick chose to speak again. “I’m not sure what’s worse. Having to live through this terrible time or being thrown into it without warning.”
Roman thought about it for a moment. “Well, there are more consequences to what happened to us than just not knowing what’s going on.”
Emily chimed in. “I’ve missed two years of my sister's lives. I’ve missed their birthdays and I’ve missed holidays and memories they made.”
“My parents probably think I’m dead,” Jesse said sadly.
“I haven’t seen my brother in so long,” Roman complained.
“I had this all set up. I got into one of the best schools of magic in all the kingdom. And I figured I could take a week off to help you guys. Turns out I can’t ever learn magic, because now it’s illegal,” Erick said, crossing his arms.
“I know this sucks. But maybe we could get back to our time. Maybe we could fix this,” Roman consoled.
“I doubt it. We don’t even know where the time star is. We should just try to get home,” Jesse sighed.
“What about Peter? I don’t think he has anywhere to go,” Roman questioned.
“He got us into this. Where he’s going is his problem,” Jesse snapped.
Roman stayed quiet after that. He didn’t want to start another argument with Jesse. Though he hated the smug look Jesse took on after supposedly winning the argument at hand.
CHAPTER TWENTY
After concluding their discussion the team elected to go into town and see what they could sell in exchange for a few coins.
Roman led the expedition and took Erick and Emily with him.
He left Jesse behind, partially so that he could tell the others where they’d gone off to, but mostly because he was not sure if he could tolerate his company any longer.
They sold anything that they could spare and made enough money to buy some food for whatever lay ahead of them and to stay at the inn one more night if needed.
When they came back to the inn everyone had woken up. And so the crew ate lunch together before planning out the rest of their journey.
Erick had a map with him in his backpack and so they took it out to mark where they would be going next.
“Right now we’re in Essendel, or High Class as some call it,” Erick explained, pointing to places on the map. “Since the palace is in the capital city of Seera, that should be where we are too.”
“So where do we need to go?” Roman asked.
“Wherever anyone needs to be. If no one has anywhere particular to go, I guess we’ll take them home to their parents and them and their pairing can decide what to do from there,” Erick declared.
They went group by group and had everyone mark on the map where their families lived and where they would like to go.
“Peter, where do you want to go? Do you have any sane family members?” Roman wondered, only half joking.
“My parents passed away when I was younger. My siblings ran off with a crazy lady two years ago. And my guild was most likely disbanded. Why don’t you just throw a dart at the map?” Peter told them. It was one of the few things he’d said all way.
“Maybe you could just tag along and leave whenever you find a place you like?” Emily suggested.
“Can I leave now?” Peter questioned.
“Hypothetically,” Roman said. “But seen as you have no money and Jesse’s cloak, I don’t think you’d get far.”
Peter stayed quiet for the rest of their meeting adding no input to the final plan.
The mission was to travel along a path that passed through each desired location and drop everyone off at wherever it is they belong.
Roman was going to try to find his parents and his brother if possible, after their visit they’d go from there to see Clara’s mother and father. Plans past that point would emerge as they went along.
Since it was late they decided to pay for one more night in the inn, but until the sun fully set they had quite a bit of time on their hands.
They spent a lot of their time getting to know the innkeepers.
Roman had a chance to sit at the table and talk with Lydia and Emily for a while whilst most of his friends had gone outside to look around.
They talked about how Lydia came to own her inn and how she met Hugh. The conversation trailed off about all of the wonderful things she’d cooked for them.
After that conversation Roman figured he’d go ahead and have himself an early dinner, though he wasn’t sure if he had any coins with him. He took the contents of his pockets out and placed it on the table.
He did indeed have a few coins with him, and yet something more valuable. Peter’s cloak pin.
“What is this?” Lydia said, inquisitively. As she picked up the silver object.
“Please, give that back. It’s not mine,” Roman begged.
“It looks familiar,” She said, reading the engravement in it. “ ‘Suroon’. Where had I heard that name before?”
Roman stood up in an attempt to take the pin back. “Please, put it down.”
“Suroon is the name of that mage everyone’s talking about. Probably the most wanted person out here. Do you know anything about him?”
“Must be a relative of the one I know,” Roman lied, quickly taking the small silver star from Lydia’s hands.
“You know, I’m not very hungry anymore,” He announced, sitting back down.
After a few more questions he denied to answer Lydia left, retreating back into the kitchen.
Roman put the pin back into his pocket where it was out of sight and one step closer to being out of mind.
Emily looked at him nervously. “Do you think she’s going to do anything?” He’d almost forgotten she was there.
“About what? What does she have to go off of?” Roman wondered.
“I don’t know, the fact that we have a rather shady traveling companion and you happen to have a possession belonging to an infamous magician,” Emily argued. “She could probably get us arrested just for knowing anything.”
“You’re not going to tell Peter, are you?” Roman asked.
“No, that’s for you to do. And I suggest you do it soon before anyone calls the sheriff on us,” Emily agreed.
The rest of their conversation was rather tense. Roman was anxious and didn’t want to tell Peter that something might be wrong. Then again it was possible that nothing was wrong. Lydia could have just brushed it off as nothing and moved on.
Roman thought of this over dinner and in the end, had no intentions of telling the mage that anything was amiss.
After they’d eaten Emily exchanged a stern look with Roman for not saying anything, but he tried to ignore her.
He lay in bed that night weighing possibilities.
It would be an awkward conversation to have with Peter, and it might not do any good anyway. And even if he did tell him it wouldn’t help to prevent anything bad from happening. In the end, he decided it best to say something to Peter the next morning, even if he didn’t directly tell him what happened he could at least warn him that Lydia was acting suspiciously.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Before the brightness of the morning awoke them a knocking at their door did. The knocking got louder and louder until everyone had woken up.
Peter pulled his cloak over his head and Emily went to answer the door.
She opened the door and there stood Hugh. He was carrying with him a candle on a stand, which lit up his face.
“Do you know what time it is?” Emily asked, sleepily.
“I’m not really sure, but this is urgent,” Hugh replied.
“What is it?” Emily wondered, listening closely.
“It’s Lydia, she’s been acting strange and she said she was going into town to call the authorities. She’s trying to arrest you children, but I’m not sure why,” Hugh blurted out.
“Are you sure that’s what’s happening? Maybe she went into town for a different reason.”
“I’m sure. I believe that you can’t be criminals. You’re innocent children trying to find your parents, nothing more. I beg of you. Before Lydia gets back I need you to run away.”
Emily turned to her friends behind her. “You heard him, let’s go!”
They packed up their belongings as fast as they could and double checked that nothing had been left behind.
Hugh insisted on giving them food to take with them and they thanked him greatly.
In less than fifteen minutes they were standing at the back door of the inn preparing to leave.
“Thank you so much, for everything you’ve done. I hope Lydia isn’t too mad,” Emily offered, giving the innkeeping a hug.
“It was no problem. I wish you all safe journeys. The world is not as friendly as it once was,” Hugh replied.
With hardly another word they were off. Leaving in the shadows of night and making there way to the closest woods.
Once they’d reached a safe distance they felt free to talk again.
“How did the know we were there?” Peter said, keeping his voice down.
Emily looked over at Roman and Peter’s eyes followed her gaze.
Roman wasn’t sure what to say. He stopped walking and took Peter's pin out of his pocket.
He placed the object in Peters' hand closed his fingers over it. Then continued on walking, afraid to speak a single word for fear of feeling any more guilt for his carelessness.
Peter was confused for a while but managed to piece together his best guess of the situation, and that was enough to satisfy him into silence for the rest of their journey.
They walked on for as long as their tired selves could carry them before stopping to set up a place to sleep.
“What if they find us in the night?” Clara worried.
“We’ll be no use at defending ourselves if we stay awake all night. We need to rest,” Peter responded.
After setting up a temporary camp, they rested for a few hours, taking turns on guard.
When Roman got to the next morning he was able to see the forest they’d wandered into in the full light of the sun.
The forest floor was littered with leaves and yet more leaves covered every tree.
It was getting to be late spring and most everything was in full bloom.
As Roman got up he saw Peter wandering out of the trees.
“Something’s in the woods. I heard the shuffling of leaves in the distance, they're coming from the city,” The mage declared.
Now in the safety of the woods and far from the town Peter had pulled his hood down and his silver hair seemed all the brighter in the sun's light.
“Would anyone have followed us this far out?” Clara wondered.
“If they’re looking for me, I think so,” Peter replied.
“What should we do?” Roman asked, standing by for any orders.
“Our best course of action is for you all to leave. They’re not after you, they’re after me. It isn’t safe for you to be here,” Peter explained.
They were all quiet for a moment. No one wanted to admit that it was the safest choice, but no one wanted to leave Peter alone in the woods.
“That’s probably for the best,” Jesse agreed. “I don’t really want to be here any longer. If getting rid of the mage is the best way to do that then so be it.”
Emily elbowed him. “We don’t leave a team member behind.”
Roman finished packing his things back into his bag. He was the last to finish packing and so now they would leave soon. The only question was to where? And with whom?
“Wherever we’re going we’d best make our choice,” Erick said, motioning to figures emerging in the distant woods.
“Do we stand firm, or do we run?” Roman questioned Peter.
“We can only run for so long. I’m staying here, but I can’t control what you choose to do,” Peter responded.
No one could argue with that, and so they drew their weapons and stood their ground.
The pairing of Lower Class strung their bows. Roman and Clara had their swords at the ready. And the magicians stood on guard for a chance to do whatever they could.
A band of three armored soldiers stepped out of the woods. Then quickly yelled back into the woods what they had found.
Before long they were surrounded by armed guards with pointed swords and bows in hand.
Roman counted to eight men before he was distracted by a familiar voice speaking from behind him.
“Alas, I have finally found you. I'm sorry, but there’s nowhere left to run, dear,” Said a woman. Roman turned around to face her. It was one of the last people he hoped to see again. It was Brooklyn. The one they’d met in the woods, what was just weeks ago to them.
“Bet you didn’t expect to see me again, did you?” She continued, stepping toward them.
“I do admit, I thought I’d seen the last of you. But that does not mean I’m surprised. You went to reclaim your throne, so I assume you did,” Peter said.
“Not yet, but I’m on the path. I have lord Pond under my control, and soon the kingdoms will be mine.”
“Isn’t that nice. And where do I come in?”
“I have a certain arrangement with the king. An arrangement that requires you out of my way, and so if you’d kindly come with me, this would be over quite easily,” Brooklyn offered.
“That seems a bit too easy. Easy is no fun.”
Brooklyn stepped in front of Peter and made eye contact with him. “It seems you haven’t learned a thing since I last saw you. Nor have you aged a day,” She said, curiously. Measuring herself up to him, he was still a few inches shorter than her.
“I have aged a day, two weeks or so. But it seems you took a long way around.”
Brooklyn looked at him in slight shock. “How? I’ve been searching for you, no wonder you weren’t here, you’ve done something terrible, haven’t you?”
“Not on purpose,” Peter assured her.
“You can explain later. For now, you’re coming with me.”
“Fine, just leave the other children out of it, they just want to go home.”
Brooklyn motioned for two of her guardsmen to come forwards and restrain Peter.
Peter did not resist. He didn’t want to make to big of a deal. He’d accepted his defeat, at least he would finally have a place to go.
“Take the children with us, as many as you can. We can’t have them running off and telling anyone about this,” Brooklyn commanded her guards. At once the soldiers advanced.
Roman drew his sword, but every time he attacked it was deflected by the soldier’s shield.
From the corner of his eye, he could see Emily firing an arrow. From another direction, he kept an eye on Peter who now had started struggling against the guards.
“I told you to leave them out of this!” Peter said, in an outrage.
“Darling, it’s not really your choice,” Brooklyn said, feigning a sympathetic tone.
“I’ve learned a few tricks since we last met,” Brooklyn said. She held her hand to Peter’s temple for a few moments before he went limp and passed out.
Roman was distracted and nearly forgot what he was doing.
He could see Emily holding her ground. Violet was standing close by to her.
He failed to find Clara until I was too late. His pairing had been captured and was restrained by a soldier. Near to her was Erick who had also been caught.
Brooklyn motioned for her people to start moving out. Roman’s team had successful injured a few, and Brooklyn didn’t see much worth in sticking around to be injured herself.
Roman raced after Brooklyn’s people, keeping his eyes firmly on Clara.
He stopped to catch his breath before shouting to her. “I’ll come for you! I won’t let them hurt you!”
She may have said something back but Roman didn’t hear anything more.
He was preparing himself to keep running before he heard Violet calling his name.
He stood for a moment longer as his pairing faded from view. He was helpless to do anything. He was tired and had stopped with no chance of continuing. But he was determined that he would find his friends, and he would bring them to safety. Wherever that was.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Violet called for Roman once again, this time with more urgency in her voice. And so, reluctantly Roman went to her.
Before he could make it to Violet a more pressing matter stood in his way.
Emily was standing over one of Brooklyn’s soldiers. The man had been shot in the arm, and she was aiming to shoot him again.
“Emily, what are you doing?” Roman asked, standing at a safe distance.
Emily looked up at him, her expression was deeply distressed with tears forming in her eyes. “He stabbed him.” Was all she managed to say before Violet summoned Roman yet again.
He hurried over to where Violet knelt down on the ground.
“What’s happening?” Roman questioned.
“Jesse is hurt. I’m not sure what we should do,” Violet replied. She stood up and took a step back to get a better look at the situation.
It appeared to be an injury in the boy's side that was causing him the most pain.
“We need to get him to a doctor,” Roman declared, it was an obvious thing to say but he wanted to make sure it was known. “Try to stop the bleeding, I’m going to talk to Emily.”
Violet nodded, though she didn’t see herself responsible enough for such a task, she tried her very best.
Roman walked back to Emily who seemed one step closer to putting an arrow through the poor soldiers head.
“Emily, I need you to calm down,” He said to her.
As stood firmly, acting as if she hadn’t heard him.
“Emily, I know you wouldn’t hurt this man, you’re a good person.”
Emily turned to respond. “Did you see what he did?”
“Yes, I did. We’re going to take Jesse to a doctor, he’s going to be fine.”
“How should you know? What do you know?”
Roman took a few steps closer to Emily. “I know that this man doesn’t deserve to be shot, he was acting on orders. If you’re going to be mad at someone, be mad at Brooklyn.”
“Then I’ll find her,” Emily declared.
She turned to the man on the ground. “Where did she go? Tell me where she went and I’ll spare your life.”
Her hands were shaking, leaving her dangerously close to letting go of her arrow.
“I’m not going to tell you. I’ll die before I do,” The guardsman replied.
Before Emily could act any further Roman came up beside her and took hold of the arrow knocked on her bowstring.
“Let go,” He insisted. She relaxed and allowed Roman to take the arrow from her hand.
At the first chance, he got the guardsman fled with his life and Roman elected not to follow after him.
Emily stared through every tree the man passed before he was completely out of sight.
“I’ll hurt that witch for what she did,” Emily said, sternly.
“We’ll see what is best when the time comes, alright?” Roman assured her.
She agreed and was able to relax a bit more, but that didn’t stop her from worrying about Jesse.
They sat down for a moment. Emily seemed rather anxious and so Roman assigned her something to do to keep her mind off of everything.
“Emily, can you do me a favor and search through anything that the soldiers dropped. I happen to notice a few of them didn’t manage to grasp their bags when they left,” Roman requested. Emily nodded.
He honestly wasn’t sure if she’d find anything helpful, but it was a better use of time than simply sitting around.
Violet managed her best at stopping Jesse’s injury from getting any worse. He was breathing more steadily and there seemed more hope that he would be alright.
Roman searched his mind, unsure of where to go next or how to get there until Emily’s search yielded results.
“I found something!” Emily cried, running over to Roman. “I found a map,” She continued.
Roman took a look at the map. Something was instantly off about it.
He stared at the map in confusion. “Where’s Centre Class? It isn’t on the map
“I don’t know. It’s quite odd, but more importantly, there’s a location circled on the map,” Emily explained pointing to a place on the paper.
It was somewhere in Lofell, the capital of Aromet, or Lower Class of some would call it.
“Do you think that’s where they’re headed?” Roman questioned.
“I don’t see why not. I found another map with the same markings. So I think that’s where they’re all going,” Emily informed him.
Roman nodded. He had formed a plan and decided to then explain it to his team. “We need to head into town and get Jesse medical attention, after that we can take some time to collect what we need. We can determine from there if Jesse is well enough to travel with us to Lofell,”. He announced.
His companions agreed and so they spent the rest of the day traveling back into town to carry out their plan.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
They took turns carrying Jesse into town. Once they’d made it to the city it wasn’t hard to find help.
Before long they’d found someone willing to take them to the nearest physician.
They were led to a small wooden building towards the centre of the town.
Roman walked with his companions inside and was directed as to where he needed to put Jesse.
“You’re a Doctor, right?” Roman asked the woman who had let them inside.
“Indeed I am,” The woman replied.
“Do you think you can fix him?” Roman continued.
“I can try my best. Can you tell me how this happened?”
Roman exchanged a glance with Emily and Violet, hoping that one of them might be able to come up with something.
“He was stabbed,” Emily nodded.
“Yes, I can see that,” The doctor replied, searching through a shelf for bandages.
“Look, we don’t really know what happened. We found him like this,” Roman lied. “We were afraid if we told you that, then you wouldn’t believe us.”
The Doctor sighed. “I’ve heard crazier stories. It may have been bandits. Many of the poorer people in town don’t have much of a choice, but to turn to a life of crime.”
“That’s so sad,” Emily commented, sincerely.
“It is,” The doctor replied, before changing the subject. “Do you know this boy?” She motioned to Jesse, he lay still, but they could see him breathing, which was a comfort.
“He’s my pairing. His name is Jesse. My name is Emily.”
“A pleasure to meet you. I’m Marina Flinn. Don’t you worry about your pairing here, his wound doesn’t look too bad. Though I thank you for coming to me,” The doctor said, taking a look at Jesse’s injury.
Marina continued on conversation, while Ramon wandered over to the window. “Don’t arrest me for saying this, but the practice of medicine was much easier when we were allowed the use of magic.”
Emily stayed near to Doctor Flinn, asking her all kinds of curious questions. “Can magic bring people back from the dead?”
“It can. But even back in the day, it was illegal. There were actually many things you couldn’t do, just to keep magicians from breaking the world,” Marina replied.
“I never thought of magicians as being that scary. Jesse’s brother is a magician.”
Roman shot Emily a quick glance.
“Was a magician,” Emily corrected.
They continued on their conversation, though Emily didn’t speak with her same excited tone. She spoke cautiously. She didn’t like being careful.
Marina spoke up and grabbed the attention of the room. “I’ve finished my work. Your friend should be fine. But I’d like him to stay here for a few days to recover.”
“We have places to be,” Roman argued.
“I know you probably do, but you must think of what’s best for your friend here.”
Emily nodded. Marina continued. “There’s an inn just next door. Or you could go back to your homes if they aren’t far.”
Roman thought about her words. They were all quite far from home. So he hoped they had enough money to stay at the inn.
“You can come over and visit him anytime in the morning. But for now the sun is setting, and I’m sure you all need your rest.” Marina concluded.
They stayed in the inn for several days. It was a staging inn. So hopefully when all was said and done they could catch a stagecoach down to Lofell. That way they wouldn’t have to exhaust Jesse while he recovered further.
They were running out of money, so they sold their cloaks and anything else they could spare.
They worried for their friends whom they’d let slip away, and they were sure their friends worried for them as well.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Peter sat in a dark cell. Across from him were some of his friends. Clara and Erick.
“Tell me again, all that you remember,” He asked of them.
He couldn’t remember anything of the journey to Lower Class, he’d been unconscious for much of it.
Clara recounted their journey on foot to a strange contraption. Erick called it a train, though to Peter that seemed impossible.
“It couldn’t be a train,” Peter pondered. “Those would have been outlawed with magic. How else would you run something like that without magic? How would no one notice that?”
“Maybe they did,” Erick commented.
“Maybe. Who do you think Brooklyn is working for? Someone who still allows magic, I suppose,” Peter thought through every detail. Yet still, nothing added up.
What would he be needed for? There wasn’t much he could do that she couldn’t.
“Maybe this is all a dream. I hope I can wake up soon,” Peter said, pacing his cell.
“Do you usually have dreams that people kidnap you?” Clara asked, angrily.
“I don’t usually dream. But there’s a first time for everything,” He replied.
Before Clara and Erick could get back to telling their story, Brooklyn walked down the stairs and came to speak with them. “I see you’ve taken to your cells nicely. My men said you offered little resistance. How uncharacteristic of you Peter.”
“I was unconscious,” Peter excused.
“How very characteristic,” Brooklyn said, in a low tone.
“Why have you come to see us?” Erick asked, bringing them back on track.
“Just thought I’d look you over, maybe have an idea of what to do with you,” Brooklyn said. Though she was speaking she did appear to be deep in thought.
“If you hurt them, even a little bit, I’ll be a lot less cooperative and that won’t go well for your plans,” Peter threatened.
“You fool, you're behind bars. Besides, I don’t mean to hurt them, simply, recruit them.”
“Don’t get them anymore involved. If you need help with your scheming, I’d rather it be me.”
“And what could you do?” Brooklyn asked, curiously.
“I can decode books of magic. I’ve studied those books for years. As much as it would pain me to see you burn them, I’d rather be helpful, than feel my friends were in danger,” Peter offered.
“Maybe I’ll take you up on that. Though I’m not in charge of book sorting, I’m sure there’s something helpful you could do. Plus I want to know about your little disappearing act you pulled. I’ll send for you later, and we could talk about it over dinner,” Brooklyn agreed, before leaving the dungeon.
It was quite an interesting encounter. Clara hadn’t thought Peter to care for their personal well being but brushed it off as him simply caring for them as less of his friends, and more because they were pitiful children.
Erick wasn’t sure how to best pass the time. He’d never been imprisoned before, and he hoped he never would be again.
In the end, he conversed with Clara, she was a pleasant person to talk to, and they had more in common than he first thought.
Peter stayed quiet for most of the night, no doubt deep in thought of what he was going to do with his life.
Clara invented several games that they were capable of playing through cell bars. It wasn’t the most entertaining thing to do, but at least it passed the time.
There was no way for them to see the sun, so it was a bit of s surprise when evening came.
Brooklyn came down the stairs and took Peter from his cell. Giving Clara and Erick, even more, to talk about.
Peter was taken upstairs to what seemed like the main room. It was very open, except for a few staircases. Two staircases dramatically leading up to the second floor. But one was tucked in the corner of the room, it was a spiral staircase, and Peter wondered what it could lead too.
Brooklyn shouted up the stairs, pulling him from his thought. “We have company for dinner, don’t be late!”
Brooklyn walked him to the dining room, a quaint square table, with a door to a kitchen.
“Who else is here?” Peter questioned.
“Your siblings. They’ve been helping me in finding you,” Brooklyn replied, taking a seat.
“So my brother has no sense to leave you yet?”
“Nor your sisters.”
“My sisters?”
“I said ‘siblings’. Did I stutter?” Brooklyn asked, aggressively.
Peter was excited, he hadn’t seen his sisters in months, or maybe years depends on how you look at it. Either way, he missed them and wanted to see them again.
But then he felt worried. What if Brooklyn has taken them into her control? It had been so long since he’d seen them. What if they’d changed?
He didn’t want to take a seat, but Brooklyn insisted that he did.
Alas, his siblings arrived. Markus came in first, he greeted him as if nothing much had come between them. Peter wasn’t sure how he felt about that.
“Glad to see you alive, Peter. I was afraid someone would have taken up the kings offer and killed you by now,” Markus said, taking a seat by Brooklyn, and across from Peter. Peter smiled along with his brother, though he didn’t find his death very amusing.
Soon enough his sisters approached, he could hear them talking from down the hallway, and it made him even more excited.
When they entered the room they were surprised to see him.
They’d grown taller, their hair was longer, and more shockingly, silver. They’d become mages, and he felt terrible for missing it.
He quickly stood up from his chair and went to hug them. They accepted him and returned his embrace.
“We didn’t know you’d be here,” One of them said, excitedly. Peter came to the realization that now that they both had the same colored hair, he couldn’t quite tell the difference between them.
After they’d sat down, he was able to spot Sara’s blue eyes, similar to his. As opposed to Magdalyn’s brown eyes.
“You’re mages now. That’s so strange,” Peter remarked, lacking a better word.
“I’m only sad you weren’t there. But you're here now, and you aren’t leaving again are you?” Sara asked him.
“Of course not. I never wanted to leave you,” Peter replied, sincerely.
“So we can leave here then, can’t we?” Magdalyn added. “I don’t want to help Brook anymore. We only wanted to find you.” Peter was rather flattered by this, but Brooklyn seemed rather upset.
“I’ve given you a place to stay and this is how you thank me?” The Sorceress questioned.
The girls sat quietly after that. They didn’t want to be in any more trouble.
Someone came out of the kitchen and brought them their food.
“I didn’t know you had people working here,” Peter commented, trying to lighten the mood.
“Yes. I work for the king, he supplies anything we need,” Brooklyn responded.
“Do you work for the king? What do you even do here?”
“I’m in charge of making sure no one uses magic. Earning the king's favor is the best path to what I desire.”
Peter was silent for a moment, questioning what to say next. Finally, he spoke in a quiet tone. “Are you going to kill me?”
Markus choked on his food. “No, brother. We brought you here so we don’t have to kill you. If lord Pond doesn’t know you’re alive then you’re no problem to him.”
“We’ll do whatever is necessary,” Brooklyn corrected.
Sara squealed. “Don’t hurt him. If you dare hurt him I’ll leave without hesitation.”
“We might leave even if you don’t hurt him,” Magdalyn added. “It gets boring around here.”
“Don’t even joke of leaving. You’re mages, you wouldn’t make it far without being recognized,” Brooklyn advised.
“I’m not joking,” Magdalyn challenged.
“Both of you, go to your rooms. I’ll have the guards lock you there for the night, and you can think about what you’ve said,” Brooklyn snapped.
The girls listened, Magdalyn more reluctantly.
Peter sat silently, finishing his meal. “That was harsh,” He pointed out.
“They need to learn. They’ve been speaking back to me all afternoon,” She told him.
He didn’t agree with her. She had no right to act in place of their mother, but he tried to remain silent, for fear of being sent back to his cell.
He spoke when spoken too, answering the questions Brooklyn posed about their expedition until their meal was over.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Peter sat in the entryway floor with his brother.
Brooklyn has gone to attend to something, and Markus had been left to keep an eye on Peter.
“You know you don’t have to babysit me. I’m sixteen,” Peter told him.
“I could have sworn you were sixteen two years ago,” Markus replied.
“Funny how that is. Turns out I don’t know how the time star works.”
“Who let you use the time star? You’re a child.”
“The king of High Class,” Peter replied as if it was obvious. “I hope lord Pond has more sense than him.”
“So what Brooklyn said, all those years ago was true. She told me what your agreement said. It said you would be altering the future, though I didn’t really believe her.”
“Half true. I didn’t do anything, I let the representatives choose. I didn’t want to be responsible for breaking the world,” Peter laughed.
“I wouldn’t want that either,” Markus agreed.
Peter took a moment to think, he missed his sisters, there wasn’t much he wanted more than to see them again. He felt he’d failed them when he left them, so long ago. Now that they were here it seemed his best chance to make it up to them.
On the other hand, it was nice to talk to Markus. Though he didn’t like thinking about how close his brother was working with Brooklyn. Being in the presence of someone questionable morals can wear on a person over time. Even worse it seemed Markus trusted her.
Peter spoke up. “Are you going to tell Brooklyn everything I tell you?”
Markus hesitated. “Probably. She’s the boss. I try to help her as best as I can.”
“Why would you help a person like her? Our sisters are clearly unhappy, why don’t you help them?”
“Peter, I don’t want to have this discussion right now.”
“If not now, then when? Can’t we just talk? You’re always so uptight about things. Just talk to me, I’m your brother for goodness sake!” Peter snapped.
“Good brothers don’t leave behind their siblings. Peter, you left us.”
“I wanted to bring you, but you wouldn’t come. I’m sorry.”
“And I’m sorry that Brooklyn is letting you stick around. Maybe she and I should talk about that,” Markus concluded, standing up and leaving the room.
Peter felt terrible. He felt alone.
He hadn’t known that his brother was so mad and all of his anger had built up over the time Peter had lost.
After sitting for a few moments he decided to distract himself.
He got up and paced around. Thinking of what he could do that wouldn’t get him in trouble, nothing interested him, so he moved on to things that would.
He wanted to see his sisters, but their bedroom was locked and a guard stood before it. Nothing a little magic couldn’t solve, but first, he’d try persuasion.
He walked confidently up the stairs and approached the guard before the door.
“Hello, sir, good evening!” He greeted. Though he wasn’t sure exactly what time of day it was anymore.
The guard sighed and looked him over. “Do you need something?”
“I was hoping to see my sisters, is that alright with you?”
“No. No one is to go in or out. If you don’t like that, take it up with the boss lady.”
Peter took a few steps back to think. Magic seemed his best option, though it would wear him out quickly.
He took a deep breath, hoping that what he was about to do would work.
He whispered something in Tal, which unintentionally attracted the guard's attention. Before the guardsman could react Peter placed two fingers of the man’s forehead and instructed him. “I need you to unlock this door and let me in. Then walk away and never tell a soul this happened.”
The man nodded, and Peter nodded back, pulling his hand away and watching as his work was completed.
The guard took up a hazy expression. He seemed senseless and dull, his eyes didn’t seem to focus, but still, he began his task without fail.
The man had just taken a ring of keys off of his belt loop when suddenly a voice rang out from close proximity. “Peter, what are you doing?”
Peter turned around. Brooklyn was standing just a few feet away.
He would never admit it, but she scared him quite a bit.
Brooklyn approached the guard, stepping between him and the door.
“What have you done to him?” She questioned.
“Magic. I am a magician,” He said, saying it in a tone that made her seem like an idiot.
“I’ve never seen such magic. None of your siblings possess it,” She continued.
She stepped closer to him, and in turn, he stepped away.
“Your magic is more dangerous than I first thought. I hate to say the best option is to take it away.”
Peter was horrified but tried to suppress it from his voice. “You can’t do that. Not without my consent.”
“Peter, darling, you have no idea what I’m capable of.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Roman looked out through the window. It had been raining for two days. Jesse had been awake for three. Their plan for the day was too board a coach by sundown.
The girls had gone into town to scrape up as much money as they could make since they weren’t exactly sure how much a ride to another kingdom would cost for four people.
While the girls were away Roman stayed in the company of Dr. Flinn and Jesse, who had been feeling much better.
Marina was trying to get Jesse to eat something, and Jesse was insisting to know where Emily had gone.
Finally, Roman chimed in to tell him that Emily had gone into town and that he needed to shut up and listen to the doctor.
As uncooperative as Jesse was, he was weak at the moment and needed to take care of himself.
When Violet and Emily returned, Dr. Flinn gave Jesse one last check before letting him leave.
They thanked her greatly for her service and paid her in full. She wished them luck and they were on their way.
Outback from the inn was a shaded porch, a coach had pulled up, it was a black box shape, with four wheels, and a seat on the outside for the driver.
Jesse was still struggling to walk. Emily denied him permission to pet the drivers horses and instead directed him to take a seat on a nearby bench while Roman wandered off to find out who to pay.
No one else seemed to be around, and so he spoke to the driver, who sat proudly upon his vehicle.
“Excuse me, sir. How much for a ride to Lofell?” Roman questioned.
The man thought for a moment. “I’d say thirty coins per person.”
Roman was flustered. “Thirty coins? That’s much cheaper than the last time I rode.”
“I must warn you. It isn’t the safest travel, that’s why our prices have dropped so much. The king is greedy, no one has as much money as before,” The driver replied.
Roman nodded, it was a sad thing to hear. “I’ll take the risk, I need passage for four people.”
The driver agreed and accepted his money.
They waited around a little longer, to see if anyone else would join them.
An older woman eventually did, she was traveling alone and glad to have company.
The sun started to set and so they boarded the coach.
“And where are you children going?” The elder woman asked, making conversation.
“We’re going to Lofell, Miss,” Roman responded.
“Ah. I’m on my way to Delinny, to visit my grandchildren,” She said happily.
Roman had heard of Delinny, he thought I was somewhere in Lower Class.
The woman continued talking, she was very friendly, and it didn’t take long for Emily to take up a conversation with her.
The coach rocked around along the path.
Before long they were in the woods, in an area that might have once been Centre Class.
Roman was struck with sudden sadness at the fact that, what was once his home, no longer existed.
He thought about his blade in his bag. It was probably an illegal weapon to carry since it was forged with magic.
The woman was just telling them about how her pairing had passed away in the Great War when suddenly, they began to hear noises outside of the coach.
First, there was a rustling of leaves, and then shouting began.
“What’s happening?” Emily panicked.
Violet looked out the window, but she couldn’t see anything through the darkness of night.
The horses of the coach came to a full stop.
They could hear the driver shouting to them. “Stay inside. This could be nothing.”
The shouting became more aggressive. More shockingly the tip of an arrow came flying through the wood of the coach, and the passengers erupted in screaming.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Brooklyn led Peter up the winding staircase at the far side of the entryway.
Peter no longer wondered what was up there. He could spare his curiosity in favor of his magic.
His hands were sweating, but he tried to stay calm.
He kept telling himself that it was going to be alright, and of all the lies he’d told he felt that was the biggest stretch from the truth.
They arrived in a circular room, with windows across one wall. In the centre of the room was a table and on it was a many-pointed star. It glowed but didn’t quite light the room.
“The magic star,” Brooklyn announced. “Are you familiar with it.”
Peter stood completely still. He had a hard time getting himself to speak again and then finding what to say. “Of course. I’m a mage.”
“Yes, of course. Lord Pond gave it to me after Silver Star was shut down. Did you know thirty-one mages died that day?”
“No, I didn’t know.”
“Neither do I. That’s just a number I made up to scare you. Thirty-one seems like a frightening number.”
Peter nodded in agreement, though he was confused at what was happening.
“The reason we’ve come here was not to tell you how I wiped out your species, or how I’ve stolen their artifact,” Brooklyn assured. “Do you know what Arloch means?”
Peter nodded, he didn’t wish to speak anymore.
“I’ve worked for over a year, trying to perfect my skill. At first, it only worked with consent, but I’ve improved. Though I’ve never fully tried. You’ll be the first to experience this. It might hurt a bit, but in the end, we’ll know if it’s possible.”
Peter shuttered. He thought of running away, but knew he wouldn’t make it far, he didn’t even know where the door to the place was, or if it was surrounded by a ten-foot wall. Or if it was in the middle of an alligator-infested lagoon. Either way, he wouldn’t make it far.
Brooklyn reaches out to touch the star, almost as soon as he did Peter could feel it.
There was a certain acquired sense of magic, sort of a tingling feeling. So he could feel the presence of magic in the room.
“Please don’t do this,” Peter whimpered. He didn’t like feeling so helpless. But with next to no experience with the magic star there wasn’t much of a chance in him resisting it.
Brooklyn ignored anything he continued to say. She looked focused and acted as if she couldn’t even see him.
Something took hold of Peter and his tingling feeling turned into a sensation of pain. Though he couldn’t quite place any part of his body hurting.
Peter shouted against Brooklyn, but she would not listen to reason.
He shouted for anyone, but no one was about to listen, no one who cared to help him.
He closed his eyes and tried to stop resisting. At that point his fate was inevitable, but perhaps he could make it hurt less.
His head began to hurt as if someone had stabbed a knife through the back of his neck.
His ears were ringing. But he felt hope as he began to slip into unconsciousness, at least then he wouldn’t have to think about the pain that he was feeling, or about Brooklyn, or anything for that matter.
Brooklyn, finally, conjured something to say, just as Peter was slipping away. “Goodbye, Peter, darling.” And then the world went dark.
Peter woke up, he was on the ground and he struggled to regain his breath.
He started to sit up, but realizing he was still in pain, he lay back down.
He took a few deep breaths to regain his composure, standing up seemed impossible, and at the moment he had no reason to.
He felt strangely empty like he’d lost a part of himself, he had a certain worried feeling, like when you’ve misplaced something valuable.
For a time he considered testing his magic, but in the end, even if it was still there he felt too weak to use it.
Brooklyn was across from him, on the other side of the magic star. She had sat up, though it seemed at some point she was knocked down as well.
“It worked!” She said it was disturbing how excited she was.
Peter struggled to sit up and meet her eyes.
Brooklyn stood up and went over to where Peter was sitting, she grabbed him by the arm and pulled him to his feet.
She took him to the window, to look out into the darkness of the night.
Peter was having a hard time putting pressure on his legs, he felt dizzy and disoriented. Brooklyn was supporting most of his weight with an arm around his back.
It made him uncomfortable, how friendly she was suddenly being as if she was ignoring what she’d just done.
“Look,” She urged, using her free hand to motion to the window.
Peter couldn’t see anything until his breath hit the window. His eyes focused on his own reflection and he saw what she was pointing too.
His once silver hair had taken up a darker shade. It was now nearly black. It was hard to see in the window, but he didn’t need to see to remember, how he had once looked before he was a mage.
Peter slipped onto his knees, unable to stand anymore. But Brooklyn pulled him back up.
She guided him back down the spiral staircase, and back down to the area of jail cells.
Peter was exhausted. He collapsed in his cell.
Brooklyn locked him inside for fear of him leaving, but he had no intentions of doing so, at least not before several hours of sleep.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
The kind old lady in the coach urged the children to calm down.
They hadn’t slept properly in days.
Once they all stopped screaming, they began to devise a plan.
“We don’t even know what’s happening,” Emily said, in distress.
Roman called them all to order. “Listen up, we need to be brave.”
Roman made a move for the door.
He was trying not to let himself get scared. He kept thinking that if Peter were here, he would be able to keep everyone calm long enough to figure out what to do.
He pressed his ear to the door, but couldn’t hear anything. So instead he called to the driver. “Driver, is everything alright out there?” No one responded.
Roman elected to wait for a little while, to see if anyone would respond. But all that they could hear was faint whispering.
The coach was stopped for what felt like an hour, but in reality, wasn’t more than a few minutes.
Finally, the driver called back. “Come on out now. With caution.”
Roman did as he said. He didn’t want to be alone, so Violet accompanied him.
Roman stepped out of the coach. He had the intentions of asking the driver what was happening but was cut short by the sight of several arrows pointed in his direction.
“What’s going on?” Violet spoke up. She seemed more composed than anyone else.
From behind an arrow, a man replied. “You’re being robbed, that’s what’s happening.”
“I’ve never been robbed before,” Violet informed, she almost sounded excited.
“Well, it goes like this,” The raspy man explained. “you give us your money and valuables. And we don’t kill you. But if you don’t cooperate, we kill you and take it all anyway!”
Somehow the men with bows found this funny and started laughing.
The man stepped into the light of a torch the driver was holding. He looked ragged, he was missing several teeth, and he may have not bathed in days. “So, what’s it going to be?”
This was a fairly obvious choice for Roman, he knew that if he died he would be of no help to his friends, and he would never see Clara again. And so he agreed.
He took a small bag of coins out of his backpack and threw it on the ground in the man's general direction.
“Is that all?” The man questioned, in an outrage.
Roman nodded. “I’m a child. I don't exactly have a job.”
“Well, bring out anyone else from in the carriage and have them pay up, maybe we can scrap enough for something good to eat,” The man ordered.
The driver managed to coax everyone else out. It took a little time to get the older woman into her feet, and to persuade Jesse that his life was not worth his laziness, but finally, they’d all made it outside and paid their dues.
All except for Emily.
“Surely you have something?” The man insisted.
“I gave all of my coins to Violet when we went into town,” Emily said, truthfully.
“There must be something of value,” The man continued, taking Emily’s bag from her hands.
Emily protested but was too frightened to actually say something.
The crook stumbled across something he fancied and gave Emily’s bag back to her.
“A map, aye. I think I’ll keep this,” He said, folding the map and tucking it in his pocket.
“You can’t do that! We need that!” Emily protested.
“I don’t really care,” He told them. “Now. All of you, get back in the coach and drive away lickity split, and we’ll cause you no more trouble!”
Roman led the way back into the coach, helping Jesse on his way up.
It took them a few moments to get situated, but once they did they set off as fast as possible.
“Now what do we do?” Emily questioned, pitifully.
“We’ll figure something out,” Jesse assured her.
Roman spent the remainder of the journey thinking of their next course of action. But his mind always wandered back to Clara. He didn’t want to let her down, but so far he wasn’t doing the best job.
Though it was morning, everyone was asleep for the last few hours of their ride into Lofell. But the kind old lady woke them up so that they wouldn’t miss their stop.
They thanked her for her company and wished her safe travels to Delinny.
Everyone was a bit rough on their feet, from sitting down for so long. But they managed to navigate to the marketplace.
“I’m starving,” Emily complained. They all were, but alas they hadn’t any money to spend.
“Does anyone have something we can sell?” Roman questioned, trying to stay optimistic.
“We sold everything we could spare back in Higher Class,” Violet reminded him.
“Surely there’s something we can sell for a few coins,” Roman assured them.
They stepped off of the road and searched through their bags. The weather was getting warmer, so they were able to sell a few blankets.
A few other expendables items were sold, leaving their packs rather light, but their stomachs formidably full.
Their only problem now was finding their friends fast enough, before they got too hungry and were in need of another meal.
After they’d finished their food, they plotted out where they would be going next.
“Lofell is a pretty big place. Where do we start?” Roman prompted, hoping someone would have an idea.
Everyone thought for a moment before Emily spoke. “Didn’t she say she was working with the king? Perhaps she’s at the palace.”
“Seems unlikely,” Jesse bashed. “Though she could be near the palace.”
“So we should find the palace?” Roman deciphered. Emily nodded in approval.
Roman wasn’t sure where exactly the palace was, but he wasn’t afraid to ask for directions if he needed too.
So they set out, on their way to find the king’s palace, and hopefully Brooklyn as well.
Like most of their journey, they weren’t sure where they were going, but as their past had shown, they would surely figure it out.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Brooklyn had just finished her breakfast when Markus came into the dining room.
She’d eaten alone, since she did not want the company of Magdalyn or Sara, and Markus had busied himself elsewhere.
Ever since the Suroon siblings had entered her life nothing had been quiet. But now that she’d taken the magic of one, and locked two away, her world seemed all too peaceful.
“O’Hinder and his men want to talk to you,” Markus informed her.
“That crook. Tell him I’m busy,” She insisted, sipping her tea.
“He says it’s urgent, but he won’t talk to me, says he’ll only listen to you.”
Brooklyn gave in. She knew it was best to handle the situation herself, and so that’s what she did.
Markus led her to the entryway, where a raggedly dressed man stood, with two equally revolting companions by his side, each with a bow in hand.
“O’Hinder, what business brings you to my fortress?” Brooklyn questioned.
The man extended his hand, he was holding a folded piece of paper, she took it from him to examine.
“It’s a map. We took it from a coach headed for Lofell. Your location was circled on it,” O’Hinder explained.
“Who did you take this from?” She wondered.
“A couple of children and an old lady. I don’t think their much of a threat without the map, but I thought you still might like to know.”
“I know the children, though I do not know of the woman, perhaps she was simply riding with them, or maybe she’s a new ally. Either way, I thank you for your service,” Brooklyn concluded.
She tossed a bag of coins to O’Hinder, in hopes that he would leave and, after saying his goodbyes, he did.
Once the crook and his men had left Markus felt free to talk again. “Why don’t you just let their pairings go? What harm could they do for you?”
Brooklyn pondered on that. “I took them because they knew your brother was alive, and now if I let them go they could still testify the same information. If they know he’s alive, and without magic, you know what that could do for the agreement we have.”
“I understand,” Markus assured her, it made enough sense.
So far Brooklyn’s plans were running smoothly, she’d been working for months to gain the trust of the king. Now that she’d grown close to him, she was one step closer to taking back her throne.
“Our first order of business is those children. We must find them and get rid of them,” She declared.
“How do you suppose we find them? They aren’t coming here anymore,” he reminded her.
“Then we’ll have to use magic. Do you know a tracking spell?”
“No, don’t you, you’re a master magician.”
“I have more important skills to focus my talent on,” She excused.
Markus thought for a moment. “I may now know a tracking spell, but I know someone who does.”
Markus led the way as they traveled down to the dungeons of Brooklyn’s fortress.
It was dark, and so they lit torches along the walls.
Markus waited at the end of the staircase, whilst Brooklyn approached her prisoners.
“What more do you want from me, Brooklyn?” Peter asked, barely lifting his head.
“Peter, darling, you look pitiful. I’m sorry for what I did to you. I genuinely am. It was a moment of anger and I hope you can forgive me.”
“Get to the point, what do you want?” Peter insisted.
“I need a tracking spell. It seems you’re the only one here who knows what words we’re going to need. If you could kindly tell me it would be appreciated.”
Peter laughed painfully. “ ‘Appreciated’? Yes, I and I would appreciate if you would let me and my friends go.”
“Peter you don’t understand the importance of what it is I need.”
“What, did you lose your keys?” Peter said, before continuing to laugh at himself. “I can’t believe you don’t know the Talian word for 'find'.”
Brooklyn was infuriated, she didn’t like being mocked by her own prisoner. She felt it was a waste to come to him anyway. There were other ways to find what she was looking for, but at that point, she was just trying to prove that this was a task she would accomplish, she would not fail.
“Do remember I still have your precious sisters under my control. How do you think they’d feel about having their magic taken?” Brooklyn threatened.
Before Peter could react Markus stepped in. “That’s too far. Their children, and more so they’re my sisters too!” He stepped up to her, challenging her to keep speaking, but she didn’t.
“We can go to the king's library and see what we can find. Peter did tell us what word we’re looking for,” Markus offered.
Brooklyn reluctantly agreed and was about to leave before Peter stopped her.
“Brooklyn, wait,” Peter said, pulling himself to his feet and staggering to the door of the cell.
“What is it you want?” She asked, hoping it would be brief so she could move on.
“When you took my magic, I felt something,” Peter began.
“Yes, I sure hope you can feel things.”
“I felt a strange power in you. It didn’t quite feel natural. It didn’t feel like you,” He said. He seemed to be having trouble conjuring words, but Brooklyn still understood completely.
“So you noticed. Yes, well there are different forms of arloching. One is too not take magic but simply block it for a time. One is to disperse the magic. And one is to gift it to another person.”
Peter thought over this. “That’s what you’ve been doing. That’s why your magic is so powerful. You’ve taken it from all those poor magicians, the ones whose lives you’ve ruined!” He exclaimed, he was outraged, but behind bars, there was nothing he could do.
Brooklyn smiled, she felt cleaver for her plan. She was, without a doubt, the most powerful magician in all the three kingdoms.
“Yes. Quite a nice idea of mine actually. I have all of this power, now all I have to do is learn how to use it,” She concluded, motioning for Markus to follow her back up the stairs.
She could hear Peter still shouting at her. About how his friends would stop her. And of how her plans would never work.
But with everything she did she was one step closer to finishing her plans, and there was nothing they could do to stop her.
Brooklyn and Markus took a few guards with them as they traveled to the king’s palace.
They did not see lord Pond when they entered, and so they went straight to the library.
Markus hadn’t spoken much, no doubt, he was still upset about Brooklyn threatening his sisters.
He voiced his opinion somewhere between the first and second book of magic.
“Brook, I’m a bit concerned about where our plan is headed,” He appealed.
“Oh? What about it had you worried? Soon we will rule the kingdoms together, no one can stop us once I have the magic required.”
“It’s just that, I don’t want anyone to get hurt. If anything happened to my sisters or really anyone, I would never rule in peace. I want to rule with you, but that can only happen if it happens peacefully.”
“I understand what you mean but, so many magicians have already been slain in the name of our task. Why is it just now that you care?”
“That was never directly me. Or even you. Look, can’t you promise that no one will have to get hurt?” He pleaded.
“If it will make you feel better, then sure. I promise,” She said, just to make him smile. Though in reality there wasn’t much of a way their plan could be completed without a few casualties.
CHAPTER THIRTY
Roman continued walking, long past when he thought he’d give up.
Jesse was in pain from his injury, and so they stopped to rest every few minutes.
Finally, the palace was in sight. It looked similar to the palace of High Class, only more alive with people.
It wasn’t until the sun began to set that they were able to truly see where they were going.
It was a tall tower, with something resembling the time star displayed in the top room of the tower letting off its signature glow. Even if it wasn’t Brooklyn’s tower, it was still worth checking out.
“Why would she have they time star?” Jesse questioned.
“Well, lord Bren didn’t have it,” Roman remarked.
“You know there are star relics besides the time star,” Violet informed.
They approached the tower, the front door was guarded by two well-armored men.
“How do we get inside?” Jesse questioned.
“Perhaps by force. We could enhance the element of surprise!” Violet declared.
After a few moments of discussion, no one could come up with a better plan.
“String your bows Lower Class. I’ll draw my sword. And as for you Violet,” Roman paused for a moment. “Just look threatening, alright?”
Violet nodded and followed Roman down the path to the door.
Roman walked as confidently as he possibly could, keeping eye contact with the guardsmen all the while.
He drew his sword and they looked upon it in fear.
One exclaimed something of magic and called for his friends within sight to join him.
But at the sight of something made of magic the guards fled.
“That was much easier then I thought it would be,” Roman remarked. He’d expected at least a little bit of resistance.
“That’s what happens when people value their lives far above their kingdom,” Emily scoffed. She seemed upset by their disloyalty but still pleased that it worked out in her favor.
Violet held the door open for her friends as they walked inside.
It was bright and warm inside. It was well decorated and reminded Roman of lord Bren’s palace.
“Brooklyn, we’ve come to talk!” Roman announced. But no one replied.
The explored for a while, before they came across an entryway, with another door to the outside.
There were two staircases on either side of the door, and at the top of the stairs, two guards stood before a door.
“What are you children doing down there?” One of them hollered.
Roman wasn’t sure what to do. In the end, he decided a good course of action was splitting up. “Emily, Jesse, hold them off. Violet, come with me, we can search for our pairings.”
“How do you suppose we ‘hold them off’?” Emily said, in a panic.
“Try this. It seemed to work last time,” Roman offered, passing his blade to Emily.
The first place they found in their search turned out to be the kitchen. A good place to remember in the future if they wanted to steal something to eat before they left.
There was no going upstairs so long as the guards stood at their posts, so one of the last places to go was through a door that led downstairs.
They raced down the stairs and Violet narrowly beat him.
She called Erick’s name and he called back.
Roman ran down to the bars of the cell to look for Clara. She ran to meet him, full of joy.
“We knew you’d come for us!” Clara exclaimed.
“I hoped you’d be here!” Roman replied.
Violet inspected the lock and decided that it didn’t seem possible to unlock it without a key.
“How are we supposed to get the key? Where is it?” Roman questioned, shaking the bars on the prison cell.
Peter spoke up from behind them, drawing their attention. “Brooklyn had it. Maybe you should check her room.”
Roman hurried over to where Peter was to see him. “Peter, good to see you’re alive too!”
Peter walked over to cell door to meet him.
“Peter, your hair is the wrong color,” Roman commented.
“Technically it’s the right color. We can talk about it later. Her room should be on the second floor. Be careful she’s not here, but she should be back soon,” Peter advised.
Roman nodded, he understood what needed to do.
He and Violet ran back up the stairs to find the rest of their friends.
He felt bad about having left them but by the time roman returned t it didn’t matter since Emily and Jesse had seemed to have managed themselves.
“How did it go?” Roman asked them.
“Just fine,” Emily replied. “Basically all we did was show them your sword and they left.
Emily handed Roman his sword back, it seemed safer that way since he’d been trained to use it.
“We found our friends, but we need a key to open the cell. We’re going to have to search the place,” Violet said.
True to Peter’s advice they searched upstairs in hopes of finding Brooklyn’s room.
The first door they approached at the top of the stairs seemed to be locked, in fact, most rooms down the hallway were locked as well.
From downstairs it had seemed there were only three doors at the top of the stairs, but from where they stood Roman could them see several doors, most of which were shut.
They got to work. Searching every room they could get into for any sign of something helpful.
Alas, Emily’s search yielded results, though not what they were looking for, it was indeed helpful.
“It seems to be some kind of agreement. It’s signed by both Brooklyn and lord Pond,” She explained, passing the paper over too Roman.
Violet peaked over his shoulder to catch a glimpse of the document.
Roman, noticing her struggle, read the paper aloud. “ ‘The task is to eliminate all magicians. Mainly the mages. Take down the Silver Star guild, first and foremost. Take from them their magic star and use it to aid you in your quest. For as long as your task remains you may keep your magic, but once it is completed it shall be taken away in order to wipe out magic once and for all.’ “
“She really is working for the king,” Emily remarked. “We’re not going to let her rid the world of magic are we?”
“We don’t have much of a choice,” Jesse said, glumly.
They turned to Roman for further instructions, but he simply seemed confused. “What does this have to do with her reclaiming her throne? I thought that’s what she wanted.”
“I don’t know, but maybe our friends know more than us. We should continue our quest in finding the keys and then we can compare information,” Violet elected. Roman agreed.
With their new found motivation of solving their mystery, they soon found exactly what they were looking for.
“The keys!” Jesse exclaimed from a room down the hall. The room seemed to be some kind of sitting room and the keys had been left on a table carelessly.
With little more talk, they followed Jesse down the stairs and back to the dungeon.
Roman was full of excitement and bursting with adrenaline.
He vowed to himself to never allow anything to separate him and his pairing again.
Jesse fumbled with the key ring as he stumbled his way down the stairs.
“There are like thirty keys on here,” He commented, setting to work on seeing which would fit into the keyhole to the cell door.
Meanwhile Roman consulted Peter about the document they had found.
He passed between the cell bars and gave him a few moments to read over it.
“Things are finally coming together,” Peter said, anxiously. Roman couldn’t completely tell if he was excited or infuriated. “Don’t you see? If lord Pond thinks me alive and with magic then Brooklyn can continue using magic. So long as she stays with her magic and in a position of power she can continue to excel her plans!” He practically shouted. He was definitely upset.
Around this time the door to the cell finally clicked open. Jesse had found the correct key and continued to use it to let everyone out of their cells.
Clara ran to hug Roman and he accepted her embrace. Few words were exchanged between them simply being there for each other seemed to be enough.
Once everyone had finished their present reunion Peter snapped them back into order. “Brooklyn will return soon, and when she does we either need to be ready to face her or be as far away as we can possibly be. We can either arloch our magic, completing Brooklyn’s arrangement with lord Pond, or we could run away with the last few magicians and allow Brooklyn to take over the kingdom and rule corruptly.”
Jesse chimed in, breaking the intensity of his speech. “Are there even any magicians left besides Violet and Erick?”
“That’s our next order of business,” Peter smiled, leading the way to their next destination.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Peter stuck a key into the lock of the door. Roman was impressed at his ability to choose the correct key on his first try.
The door swung open, but only Peter chose to walk inside.
“Allows me to introduce you to my sisters Magdalyn and Sarafina,” Peter said, proudly.
The crew went down the line and introduced themselves as well.
Roman was filled with relief at the fact that there were more mages still alive.
It takes a skilled magician or a mage to use the magic star. And the magic star is the only way to gift powers to new mages. So if the world were out of mages it would take power that barely anyone alive still possessed.
Magdalyn and Sara were pleased to meet Peter’s friends. But soon they had to put introductions behind and get back to the matters at hand.
They began by going back to the main floor and sitting down in a circle to fill each other in on all that anyone had missed.
“This is revolving mostly around Violet, Erick, Magdalyn, and Sara. We could either take their magic from them or take them away where Brooklyn will not find them,” Roman said, making sure he understood what was going on.
“Where do you think we could go where she couldn’t find us? Her magic seems very advanced,” Erick questioned.
Peter cleared his throat. “About that.” Eyes turned to him waiting for context.
“I confronted her and discovered she hasn’t been arloching magicians in the manner of dispersing it into nothingness. And she hasn’t been simply blocking it from the individual.”
Erick nodded, somehow understanding. “So she’s been taking it for herself?”
Peter nodded. Roman wasn’t sure exactly what all of this meant, but it definitely didn’t sound good.
“She’s more powerful than any magician alive!” Emily declared. Though it wasn’t all that impressive considering there were only a few magicians left.
Roman thought through their options again.
A sorceress that powerful would be incredibly hard to hide from. Especially with everyone on the lookout for magicians. But on the other hand, they didn’t want to give her exactly what she wanted. A world where she would be the one and only magician.
It was a tough discussion and more questions came to his mind as he contemplated the details of their journey thus far.
“What about your magic Peter? Where did it go? Can you get it back?” He questioned. A conversation that had not been completed earlier.
Somehow Peter looked flustered, though he must have known his friends would wonder.
“Brooklyn took it. She has it now. I don’t know how to get it back or if there is a way too. My best guess is if she released all of the power she held it might go back to whoever had it before.”
“Her relinquishing that magic would have to be voluntary though, wouldn’t it?” Erick wondered.
“Honestly, I’m not sure anymore if magic has any rules it follows,” Peter replied. Putting Erick back into thought.
It didn’t seem fair to Roman that this would be a decision for them to make, yet the responsibility was left on them and they were forced to own up to it.
Violet cleared her throat and spoke. “I don’t know about anyone else. But I’d rather lose my magic for the sake of the kingdoms than live in hiding and never use it.”
Most everyone seemed to agree.
“So what do we do now?” Emily asked, anxiously.
Peter stood up. “I think it’s about time we rid the world of magic.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
Roman stood by and watched. It was an unceremonious event.
Sara used her magic to block Erick, Violet, and Magdalyn’s magic from being used, then took away her own magic.
Magdalyn and Sara seemed upset by this, but at heart knew it was best for their kingdom. Their hair was no longer silver. Instead, it was brown and one was clearly lighter than the other.
Peter had brought the magic star down from its tower so that they could await Brooklyn’s arrival in the entryway.
“All we have to do is convince my brother to take away his magic as well,” Peter explained.
“Your brother is here?” Jesse questioned. “Is there anything else you’d like to share?”
Peter stood confidently. “I have a plan as well.”
It seemed Peter knew exactly what he was doing, when almost as if on cue, the front door to the fortress swung open. And there stood Brooklyn, with Markus by her right side and three guards trailing behind her.
The witch stood for a few moments, no doubt, thinking up her next course of action.
She turned to her guardsman behind her. “You may leave now, this is not your battle to fight,” She commanded. And with that they left, shutting the door behind them.
Peter clenched his fists as she walked closer and began to speak, he was determined to hold his ground.
“Funny thing, it’s incredibly hard to find the words to a spell when magic is outlawed. But when I was finally able to track you, you’d already made it here,” Brooklyn said, coming to a stop at one end of the room.
Between Peter and Brooklyn was the magic star. She looked it over as if she’d never seen it before. “What’s this doing here now?”
Violet stepped up, suddenly feeling confident. “We heard you were eliminating magic, thought we’d give you a hand.”
Violet waved the document of agreement in the air where Brooklyn could see it, just so she knew they’d found it.
It was around this time Brooklyn realized the Suroon sisters no longer bore locks of silver hair.
Her face grew angry, but she tried to suppress it.
“What do you want? What could I give you to make you leave me alone to take back my kingdom?”
“A kingdom fueled by rage and revenge is no kingdom worth living in,” Peter remarked. “You’re not in your right mind, Brooklyn. You’re upset and in no good condition to rule.”
“And you are in no condition to tell me what to do!” She snapped.
She became composed again and a smile grew on her face. “Do remember though, children. There is one more mage for you to worry about.” Eyes fell on Markus who didn’t seem to know how to react.
Peter spoke quickly so that Brooklyn would not have the chance too. “Markus I beg of you, take away your magic. Brooklyn will be forced out of her position and thus out of power. She will not be able to rule the throne and the kingdoms can stay a peaceful place.”
Peter paused long enough for Brooklyn to take over. “Markus you are my pairing. We’ve known each other for quite a while now, though we’ve not always been in each others presence. If you are truly my friend then you will choose in favor of what I am trying to achieve.”
Peter was about to continue talking when Magdalyn interrupted. “Let Markus speak for himself! This is his magic, he should be allowed to decide what he does with it.”
Markus stuttered. “I-I think-” He drew his sword for an unknown reason. “I think no one should have so much power all to themselves. In the beginning, you deserved your throne, Brook. But now you’ve gone too far. I never wanted anyone to get hurt and you knew that. People died for your cause. Magic is nothing comparing to the value of lives,” He concluded.
Everyone watched in horror of what he did next.
Holding his sword high above his head, he thrust it down with as much force as he could muster, right into the heart of the magic star.
It cracked before breaking into several dozen pieces.
Even Brooklyn gasped at the sight of one of the most precious relics, lying in shards across the floor.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
His movement was so sudden it took everyone a moment to think about what had just happened.
Brooklyn broke the silence with shouting. “Markus, how could you? I thought you were loyal to me!”
“That’s not what we wanted either!” Erick declared. He was one of the only crew members who truly understood what had just happened.
“It’s not about what either of you wanted. The wizards of old made a mistake putting all of this power in something that can be wielded by one person. So you see, it’s not about what you want, it’s about what’s best for us,” Markus concluded. He seemed a bit dazed. His hair was now brown which solidified the fact in Romans mind that all mages were gone.
“Now what?” Emily wondered.
“Hypothetically you can still learn magic and be a sorcerer, assuming they haven’t yet burnt every book of magic. But as for mages and magicians in the present. Magic seems to be gone,” Peter explained, bowing his head in thought. Without the use of the magic star, he could never reclaim his magic.
Out of nowhere Brooklyn smiled and started laughing. She continued until Roman thought she might actually be choking from lack of air.
And then she spoke. “You fools. Markus’ powers were linking to the star relic. But mine are not. I don’t need a magic piece of glass to tell me when I’m done being a magician.”
Brooklyn’s hands seemed to glow with something mystic and suddenly she began to levitate from the ground.
“So what do you say we battle it out once and for all? A sorceress bearing the entirety of magic versus a group of children with no power whatsoever.”
Roman swallowed nervously before drawing his sword. “We’ll give you one last chance to run away if it makes you feel better.”
With barely another word their battle began.
Most of it consisted of Brooklyn using her magic to try and pick people up and manipulate them into a wall or dropping them on the ground.
Emily fired several arrows and Jesse was close behind her. Though no projectiles made their mark. Most of the reason being Brooklyn’s illusions she cast, making it difficult to tell where she was as opposed to what was just a hazy picture of her.
Many of Romans friends were unprotected and did not have weapons with them. One of which was Erick who ducked back into the kitchen.
Roman followed him to hide for a second and catch his breath.
“There must be a way to solve this peacefully,” Erick insisted.
Roman though for a moment. “I can’t get Markus’ words out of my head. He said that all that power shouldn’t be used by one person.”
Erick nodded, following along.
Roman continued, making up his theory as he went along. “What if it wasn’t just one person, what if we all took a fragment of the relic and operated it together.”
Ericks face lit up. “We could use it to take Brooklyn’s magic!” He continued thinking. “But how can we do that? None of us have magic.”
“I haven’t gotten that far yet. But just keep in mind what Peter said. Who’s even sure what rules the realm of magic follows anymore.”
Roman was inspired to get back out into the main room where his friends were still fighting against Brooklyn’s magic.
He went over to where the magic star had been broken and collected as many pieces as he could carry, all the while avoiding blasts of magic Brooklyn was sending out.
He handed a shard to Clara and one to Emily, then to Jesse and one for Violet.
He gave them little explanation, except that they were to hold onto it and not cut themselves on the glass.
He fought his way through chaos back to Erick and gave him a shard as well.
After that, he journeyed to a place where Markus, Sara, and Magdalyn were all hiding away and handing a piece to each of them.
“What are you doing?” Brooklyn questioned. She stopped shooting as many magical beams in favor of more illusions.
Roman ignored her, only making her more curious.
He ran over to Peter and gave him his second to last shard.
“What’s this for?” Peter questioned.
“We're going to take her magic away,” Roman responded.
Peter looked confused. “How can we do that if we don’t have magic?”
Roman was about to offer an explanation when shouting broke out from across the room.
“I got her!” Jesse declared.
Romans eyes followed his gaze and saw Brooklyn hit the ground on the far side of the room.
Jesse had guessed correctly. Against dozens of illusions, he’d fired his arrow at the correct one.
“She distracted it’s our chance!” Roman shouted. “Focus as much as you can. Trust that this magic is going to work and it will, I know it.”
“You can’t possibly be serious. This is not how magic works!” Peter argued.
“How does it work? It seems to have no pattern to me.”
Peter was silent to that.
“Do you trust me?” Roman questioned.
Peter seemed to shudder at the question.
“Come on, do you trust me or not?”
Peter closed his eyes. “Yes, I’m afraid I do.”
The next thing anyone knew the room was covered in bright light.
It was like a blanket over everything around them.
It collected back into one sphere before exploding throughout the room. Shaking the walls and knocking everyone off of their feet.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Roman got up and took several deep breaths.
Every window in sight was shattered leaving glass strewn across the grass outside.
He wasn’t sure how long he’d been out, but by the sun it appeared to be several hours after noon.
He looking around himself and spotted a man standing at the door to the fortress.
“What has happened here!” The man exclaimed.
Roman was dazed but managed to choke out an answer. “We stopped her.” He motioned to Brooklyn who was laying on the ground but visibly breathing.
“Who are you, child? And why are you here?”
Roman composer himself. “My name is Roman Kip. My friends and I just stopped this woman from taking over the kingdoms.”
The man had a look that was a cross between horror and disbelief. “My name is Alexander Pond, and that is one of my most trusted advisors. She would never do such a thing!”
Brooklyn coughed on something from across the room, pulling their attention. “It’s true. You took the throne from my mother and I had plans to reclaim it. But it seems I am not worthy to rule if I cannot deal with five children in my way.”
Peter stood up and joined their conversation. “It appears we’ve taken Brooklyn’s magic back and it had returned to its rightful owners.”
Peter smiled genuinely. His hair was silver once again and he seemed to carry himself more confidently once again.
Lord Pond’s face of horror turned to fright. “A mage! Oh dear, I’d thought we’d nearly rid ourselves of magic!”
“If my guess is correct, every living person who was arloched from being a magician is now free to use their magic again,” Peter said. His words were of no comfort to the king of Lower Class.
“If Brooklyn is not to trust, then how shall I rid myself of magicians this time?” Lord Pond though aloud.
By this time everyone, excepting Brooklyn, had found their way to there and stood by Peter, waiting to see what he had to say.
“What if I took them somewhere else?” Peter proposed.
Lord Pond made eye contact with the mage, waiting for him to continue.
“What if we went and rounded up the magicians. We could either arloch them or take them with us, depending on what they desire. Then we could take them somewhere that they could never bother you again.”
Lord Pond nodded but had many questions still to pose. “How do I know you won’t just raise an army against me?”
“We can write out an agreement and make a trade of trinkets,” Peter explained.
“Like that’s worked in the past,” Jesse scoffed. He had a good point.
Peter thought for a moment. His plan was rather spur of the moment and he wasn’t sure where it was going next.
Roman chimed in. “Invent something new to keep agreements then.”
Peter snapped his fingers. “I’ve got it!”
He approached lord Pond and instructed him to hold out his right hand.
They clasped hands together and shook them up and down.
“We shook on it. It’s official now,” Peter declared.
Lord Pond was flustered but went along. “I suppose I don’t have much to lose by letting you do this. But where will you take all of these magicians once you find them?”
“If someone finds me a map and we can figure it out!” Peter said, excitedly.
The king called in his guards to take Brooklyn to his dungeon. Since she’d already admitted to her crime he saw no use putting her on trial.
Peter caught one last glance of Brooklyn as the guards hauled her off to her cell.
She had the same look in her eyes as always. Almost as if everything was going to plan. It made him uneasy, but he knew it was nothing.
Peter pulled his mind from terrible thoughts and followed the king into some kind of military planning room.
There was a table at its centre with a map laid out on it.
About half of the map was blue and the other half was red. Representing Higher and Lower Class.
Lord Pond existences his finger and pointed to a place on the upper right-hand corner of the map. The land there seemed to stick out in an interesting shape.
“How about here?” He questioned.
“I know my geography those are uninhabitable mountains,” Peter replied.
Pond scowled. “I don’t have to negotiate with you. You’re lucky I’m giving you anywhere to go.”
Peter shrugged. “In that case: It’s perfect. Thank you.”
Lord Pond smiled. “I’ll write out an official agreement, just to make sure we’re clear on every detail!”
Lord Pond left the room for a moment and Peter took his opportunity to speak.
“Look, guys. This is a crazy plan I just made up. This whole adventure was a crazy plan I didn’t think up. And everyone else was pulled into it whether they wanted to be or not.”
“Point being?” Roman wondered.
“Point being, I completely understand if you want to leave and never see me again. I can even take you to your homes, escort you one last time. Your lives would most likely be safer that way.”
It was quiet for a moment, as everyone thought over his words.
“But I want to stay with you,” Emily said, innocently.
Peter smiled. “That’s ok with me too.”
“Can you teach us the ways of magic?” Erick questioned, speaking for Violet as well.
“Yes, of course, I can!” The mage replied.
“If you’re all going, I’m going!” Jesse declared.
“And you can’t leave us out of the fun!” Clara said, enthusiastically.
“That’s wonderful!” Peter cheered.
Sara chimed in. “We searched for you for two years and we finally found you. We’re coming to, right?”
Peter replied with something along the lines of ‘yes’ before hugging both of his sisters.
Peter approached his brother. “Markus, will you come with us too?”
He waited patiently before Markus responded. “I don’t think I can. I’m sorry, I would. But I need to face punishment for my actions. I aided in some bad stuff and I can’t just avoid those responsibilities. You understand right?”
Peter nodded. “I understand.” Though truly he didn’t. He was upset that things couldn’t go exactly how he’d hope. And he was saddened by the fact that he might not be able to see his brother for quite a while if he was arrested by the king. But in the end he tried to respect his brothers choice. It really was the best decision. For everyone’s sake.
Lord Pond came back into the room moments later with a fresh document in hand.
Peter sighed. “You’re going to have to arrest my brother. He was Brooklyn’s partner in crime.”
Lord Pond agreed and called his guards in. It must’ve been one of the strangest days in the king's life.
Before Markus left he said goodbye to his siblings. First to his sisters and then to Peter.
Peter hugged his brother but didn’t want to let go.
“Will our family ever be together again?” Peter choked. Trying his best to stay composed.
“I promise as soon as I’m free of my crimes I’ll come and find you. Our family will be together again,” Markus replied, pulling away, but leaving a hand on Peter’s shoulder. “Take care of yourself, alright? And take care of our sisters. Make sure they're treated right.”
Peter nodded but didn’t wish to speak.
His brother walked away, leaving their family in pieces once more.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
Once the mage had recomposed himself he spoke again to lord Pond. “I suppose we should sign our document?”
The king nodded.
Peter read thoroughly through the paper. It stated that if he collected or arloched every magician he would be allowed to keep the property East of inhabitable kingdom of Higher Class.
He signed quickly so that they could be on their way.
Lord Pond have them a small bag of coins for their journey. Nothing to do with their arrangement, simply to do with the fact that they were children wandering around without jobs.
The crew set out immediately with plans to stay at an inn for the night and continue forwards from there.
But first, they returned to Brooklyn’s fortress to retrieve the star relic fragments.
“I can’t believe your plan worked, Roman,” Clara laughed.
“Neither can I. Perhaps this is something we could do again. We’re going to need to repopulate mages after all. We could start with Sara and Magdalyn and go from there,” Roman proposed.
Seeing Peter’s silver hair was a reminder that not all hope was lost. That if the mages could come back from a loss of their magic, then it was possible to bounce back from many other challenges as well.
They gathered the pieces of the relic and kept them close to themselves for safe keeping.
They stood looking through a hole in the wall, where a window once was before shattering, watching the sunset.
“So, you’re establishing your own civilization of magicians,” Violet remarked. “That’s not something you thought you’d do today is it.”
“Technically, we’re going to find it. Not just me,” Peter corrected.
“What are you going to call it?” Emily questioned.
Peter thought for a moment. “I was thinking Gadalia.”
“Why ‘Gadalia’?” Roman wondered.
Peter turned to set out through the door before responding. “It’s just my favorite flower.”
A good enough response, Roman thought. It was odd, but so was Peter.
Far before that occasion, Roman had come to grips with the idea that nothing ever going to be normal again. So long as he was in a mage’s guild.
THE END