Magistaire Chronicles: Shadows of the Past

Chapter 14

Yarrow sat on his lonesome, the shadows of the leaves hanging overhead bathing him in their chill. He watched Ashencrane, the once fair maiden having cracked open an eye to meet his gaze. He ignored her and heaved a heavy sigh, looking over at Elies next, squeezing the life from his staff as he watched Ilta wrap his wounds in the Peppergrape trees' pungent leaves. Perhaps the hell cat had a heart, after all.

The aged adventurer shut his eye. "Must this ordeal involve him, Galdraenae?" he wearily asked.

The gold-haired woman appeared before him, the light shrouding her forcing him to open his eye. "It must," she softly replied. She sat at his side and leaned against him, cradling his arm while her garb fluttered like flames in the wind. "Time and time again, it must."

"Is there no other way?"

"You're well aware the answer never changes," she said. "Come to me. The end of this lie you've lived draws near."

*******

Ayko walked in circles while Chestplate scribbled at the piece of parchment on his knee. The knight covered the paper when Hazelmere tried to take a peek, but he didn't mind Arzen hovering over his shoulder.

The young man glanced at the sky, his heart twisting with each new star tearing a hole in the darkness. He had no idea what time it was, but he only had until midnight.

His face heated up when Hazelmere touched his hand. "It'll be okay," she assured him.

Ayko returned her smile but couldn't slow his hurried breaths. "Is this how it feels to be scared?" He sat on the ground and wrapped his arms around his knees, with Hazelmere following suit. "I guess I lied to Chestplate and myself."

Hazelmere playfully bumped her shoulder into his own. "Of course you did. You're brash, but you're not crazy." She snorted. "Not always, anyway. It's not a sin to be afraid now and then."

He turned to face her. "What if that old man doesn't keep his word?"

"Then we'll find another way," Hazelmere replied.

"And if we die? If we get eaten alive like our parents?"

"We won't," Hazelmere said. "I have you, and you have me."

The duo jumped to their feet when Chestplate's scribbling ceased, the knight flashing them the previously blank piece of parchment.

Ayko squinted and leaned forward, slacking his jaw as he looked up at Chestplate. "That's...hm?"

He tilted his head and traded glances with Hazelmere. "That is the Frostlands, isn't it?"

Hazelmere giggled. "I think?"

Ayko held the parchment in the air and flipped it around—rough, blob-like sketches of trees filled it while blue blotches and traces bled through the paper. "Trees...waterways..." His eyes darted to another spot: a black cluster of trees with a red circle scribbled around it. "And that's...?"

Ayko and Hazelmere cupped their chins.

"Where the Wolfcat sleeps, my little novices," Chestplate said. "Which reminds me..." The adventurer yanked a medallion from around his neck, a finger-length tubular wood instrument hanging from it. "Bait doesn't work with them. You'll need to lure it out, not to mention it'll keep away the others."

Chestplate dangled the whistle over Ayko's outstretched hand before shoving it into Hazelmere's. "I give that right to you," he said, closing her hand around it. He shoved the makeshift map into Ayko's hands next. "Yours."

Ayko rolled his eyes but held his tongue when Hazelmere bumped him. "You gonna see us off?"

"Nope," Chestplate replied. "Arzen and I must resume our search. You're not the only one with no time to kill—we've dawdled long enough."