CHAPTER FOUR #2
Almost a month ago, Hewitt had told Deckard the story of how Ryen died—Hewitt’s son and Evylin’s best friend.
The boy’s death had broken both uncle and niece, and only together had they found any semblance of solace.
However, neither of them had ever truly healed.
“We’ve both isolated ourselves in our grief, with only each other for company,” Hewitt had said.
“I refuse to care, and she refuses to trust.”
Now that Evylin had lost the one man she did trust, Deckard knew she was floundering, drifting in the void of loss.
When they buried Hewitt, Evylin had broken down in her grief.
She’d admitted to Deckard that she wasn’t happy—that she didn’t want what she’d thought she wanted: adventure.
She’d told him that she didn’t know what to do.
And since then, Deckard had done all he could to give her a purpose.
Something to hold onto while she recovered from her pain.
He knew she didn’t trust him, not yet. But he promised himself he would be there for her as Hewitt had been when they’d lost Ryen. Even if it took her years to recover and trust anyone again, he would stay by her side. He wouldn’t let her isolate herself, not from him.
The sudden, incomprehensible sound of laughter struck Deckard in the back. It wasn’t just anyone’s laughter—it was Evylin’s. Looking over his shoulder in shock, he saw the group sniggering at something Rafferty had said.
Evylin walked between the weasel and Thom, a hand to her mouth. Her dimples lightened her entire expression. It baffled Deckard. He hadn’t heard her laugh like that since Hewitt’s death. And yet, she seemed practically joyous, like her old self.
Was it possible that she was getting better? Had the distraction of the Keeps been enough to jolt her back to herself? Had she only needed the thrill of a fight to restore what had faded?
The drizzle of rain spattered through the treetops, startling them all into action.
Swiftly, Deckard slipped the pack from his shoulders to procure their wool cloaks.
He handed them out, and the whole team donned them, rapidly lifting the hoods.
The Calders had warned them that rain persisted year-round in Wauld, so they’d tried to prepare adequately.
Dispersing once more, the troop found their previous groupings. Deckard wandered closer to the front with Ethenn and Auden. “What part of the country are we in?” he asked the Mage.
Droplets of rain trailed over the man’s hood as his sharp nose stood out even against the shadows it cast. “Technically, we’re not in the country,” Auden explained.
“The Reaches, being Mage land, don’t count as Waulden territory.
The Orders are the governing body within their boundaries.
It’s part of the deal between King Blount and the Orders. ”
“Why would the Mages make that deal?” Ethenn asked, his gaze affixed to the forest before him. “If they’re as power-hungry as you say, wouldn’t they want to control the country rather than small parcels of land?”
“I wouldn’t call the Reaches small,” Auden commented.
“However, you aren’t wrong either. The Mages do want to control Wauld.
The bargain is largely a matter of mutual necessity.
The Waulden Army is large enough to pose a serious threat to the Mages, while the Mages are powerful enough to pose a serious threat to the army.
To keep the peace and not decimate one another in a civil war, the first king of Wauld offered the Mages a treaty: the Reaches in exchange for their compliance. ”
“Is that why there aren’t many Mages fighting in the war?” Ethenn asked.
“That’s precisely why,” Auden confirmed. “While a handful of Mages live throughout the Waulden continent—noblemen and the like—they are only granted that freedom due to Blount’s surety of their undying devotion. He does not, however, trust the majority of Mages.”
“His son is a Mage,” Deckard remarked.
Auden’s expression turned wily. “And he trusts his son least of all.”
“For good reason, it seems,” he noted. “Is the prince’s end goal with the Relics to overthrow his father?”
“To be honest, I’m not entirely certain of his intentions. I assume it resembles what you suggested, but with a more nefarious end in mind. Overthrow his father, then, with the Mages’ support, take back Ephria.”
Ethenn looked up from his inspection of the woods. “So the Mages want Ephria as well?”
“Indeed,” the highlord confirmed. “They wish to reclaim the land with the same authority as the Mages of Auld. However, I doubt that’s what Blount desires.”
“No?” Deckard prompted.
“Of course, I can’t know for sure,” Auden said. “But I would assume that Blount intends to rule the whole continent himself. Without any fellow Mages by his side.”
“Why would the Mages work with him then?”
“For the same reason they stay in the Reaches, I presume.” Auden raised his brow.
“They don’t have a choice. It’s either fight against Blount, giving Ephria the chance to truly win this war, or work with him, potentially gaining the opportunity to destroy him and reclaim their thrones at a later time. ”
Ethenn’s attentive gaze paused his scan of the forest to glance at Auden. “But won’t the Relics give Blount the ultimate power?” he noted. “How do they intend to wrest them from him later?”
“Which would you prefer?” Auden replied. “Being bound in the Reaches with no chance of taking back your ‘rightful’ place or risking an allegiance with a man who can expand your influence but may subjugate you until you find a way to defeat him?”
“Neither sounds good,” Ethenn said.
Auden chuckled. “They are in quite a pickle. Of course, this is primarily speculation on my part. While many Mages, particularly the elders among us, regularly speak of their desires to retake Ephria, I was wholly unaware of Blount’s goals.
I imagine his alliance with the Orders is a reaction to our taking the Fire Relic. ”
“So,” Deckard interjected, his thoughts spinning, “by taking back Ephria with Blount, the Mages hope to regain enough power to overthrow him? How?”
“Likely through the reintegration of the old Orders.” Auden ducked beneath a rowan’s branches as they continued through the forest. “Prior to Ephren’s reign, the Day, Water, Terrae, and Space Orders were within Ephria’s borders.
If the Mages can rebuild them, they can raise and train more Mages to help them with the fight. ”
“But I thought Mages couldn’t be born to Easterners,” Ethenn said.