Chapter 17 #3
Leila shot Raphael a cross look before meeting Enzo’s gaze. “Just try again. One more time.”
Anxious gazes flitted across the chamber, and the familiar weight of Tobias’s dread settled onto his shoulders.
No. This is going to work. Surely not everyone could adjust seamlessly to magic.
A few fumbles were likely the norm. Enzo looked to Tobias, skepticism written across his face, and in turn Tobias stood straighter.
Mumbling something Tobias couldn’t decipher, Enzo did the same, uniting their circle and closing his eyes once again.
Tobias kept his open. Everything within Enzo appeared strained—his teeth were gritted, and his neck and arms were ropey with bulging veins.
The chamber grew hotter, pulsing with anticipation, longing, and no doubt Leila’s holy bidding.
Within seconds, the silence would be broken by harsh winds, clanking armor, and thick Kovahrian drawls.
Instead, a long squealing fart ended the quiet, ripping straight from Enzo’s ass.
Raphael tossed his hands in the air. “Oh, for God’s sake.”
“What’s going on?” Tobias’s mother paled. “Why isn’t it working?”
“Maybe You didn’t bless him right,” Raphael said.
“There isn’t a wrong way to bless someone,” Leila hissed.
“Well surely something went amiss, otherwise we’d be in Kovahr right now.”
“Leila is very skilled with Her light.” Delphi turned to Raphael, crossing her arms matter-of-factly. “She knows exactly what She’s doing.”
“Does this mean we’re stuck here?” Naomi asked.
“Everyone, quiet,” Tobias spoke over the others. “Leila’s blessings have saved my life on multiple occasions. There’s a rational explanation for this.” As the others fell silent, Tobias looked to Leila. “Go on. Tell them.”
Leila’s face dropped, and Tobias’s stomach plummeted along with it.
“I . . .” Leila’s lips parted, and the queenly power in Her gaze faded away. “I don’t know.”
Tobias’s mother gasped, his sister’s eyes wide with disbelief. Panic spread through the room, and it most certainly wasn’t what they needed. Say something. Except he hadn’t a solution, an answer, or any help at all. Magic was still so new to him. This was supposed to be the end.
Raphael cleared his throat, the first to break the silence. “What do You mean?”
“I mean I don’t know,” Leila said.
“Well, according to the archives, all Saviors have a deep, profound knowledge of their magic.”
“That’s because all Saviors had their mothers there to teach them.” Leila’s face flushed red. “Except for one.”
Raphael went quiet for a long while before managing to mumble, “Oh.”
“Such an articulate fellow, isn’t he?” Naomi scoffed.
Delphi fought back a chuckle, nudging Tobias in the ribs. “I like her.”
“I studied My power, read every scroll from start to finish about My grandmothers and their grandmothers before them. I most certainly have a deep, profound understanding of My gift.” The strength in Leila’s voice died, and Her carriage wilted. “It’s just . . . some things elude Me.”
A strained silence filled the room, all eyes on Her. “It’s all right, Leila,” Tobias said. “You don’t have to explain Yourself.”
The others read the warning in his tone, though their bleak expressions spoke the words they didn’t dare say. Could nothing go right? It seemed with every rise in their dance, there had to be a heart-stopping fall.
“I blessed Enzo as I have countless others before him,” Leila continued, though Her voice became unsteady. “I don’t know why it isn’t working. I don’t know why he can’t shadow walk.”
“Has anyone else traveled to Kovahr before?” Delphi asked.
Naomi’s eyes lit up. “Maybe someone in the brothel has.”
“I’m not sure we can take the risk,” Tobias said. “Coverts were in town just yesterday. Outside of our circle, no one can be trusted.”
Naomi’s face fell, and Raphael quickly cut in. “Even so, Kovahr has the most unforgiving terrain of all the ally kingdoms, plus few exports. People don’t often make it a point to visit its borders.” He forced an unconvincing smile. “It’s a fair suggestion nonetheless.”
Murmurings crept through the space, turning into bickering, then shouting, until the chamber erupted into chaos.
Nearly everyone had dissolved into the worst versions of themselves, and a part of Tobias longed to follow suit.
This was supposed to be their deliverance, and yet again their God above, if it truly existed, had shown them contempt.
The noise around him crawled beneath his skin, pulling him back to the fortress and setting him on the arena sands.
Harsh sun, roaring spectators, and the promise of death.
He wasn’t sure how long he’d stayed in the arena before he returned to the brothel chamber and to Leila. She stood rigid and armored, but Her eyes were far away as if She was lost in Her own turmoil. The shouting grew louder and heated, and Tobias dug his fingers into his palms.
“We travel to Kovahr the old-fashioned way,” he barked over the noise. “On horseback.”
His mother furrowed her brow, then looked to Raphael. “He just said the terrain is unforgiving.”
“We’ve survived plenty of battles throughout this journey. What’s one more?”
The next stretch of quiet was unbearable, and Tobias was glad when Enzo coughed and hacked, disrupting the tension. Tobias tried not to pay attention to the surrounding stares, as he knew it wouldn’t do him any good. They all deserved answers, but he hadn’t any to give.
“Best we start preparing for our travels, yes?” he said.
Raphael glanced at Naomi, who glanced at her mother.
The overwhelm was clear on their faces, a sentiment Tobias would’ve shared if he could afford it.
With a soft murmur, Raphael pushed Naomi’s cart from the room with her mother lingering close behind.
Delphi whispered a parting to Leila before taking Enzo’s hand, guiding him out the door while the Kovahrian gazed back at them, still perplexed by what had happened.
When the door closed, Tobias exhaled. He pressed a hand to Leila’s back. “We’re going to be fine.”
She stood eerily still, Her eyes cast down to the floor. “What good am I to you? I’m a Savior who cannot control Her magic.”
“You are worthy for so many reasons beyond Your magic.”
“I don’t know why it didn’t work. I haven’t a clue.” Sighing, She looked Tobias in the eyes. “I should know, Tobias. It’s My light.”
“It is Your light—passed down from a mother You’ve never met. You said it Yourself—how can You understand its intricacies if no one was there to teach You?”
She gnawed at Her bottom lip. “The Culmination . . . all those blessings across your chest . . . it was an accident. I hadn’t intended to bless you. I don’t even know how it happened.”
“I am forever grateful for that accident. I don’t think I would’ve survived the Culmination without Your light.”
Leila grabbed the back of a chair, Her shoulders rising and falling with a deep breath. Would he ever get used to seeing Her so lost and defeated?
“Blessings be damned,” he said. “We will go to Kovahr, and we will secure an army. You have my word.”
“How can you say that when everything’s going so wrong?”
“Not everything’s wrong.”
She glanced at him, then Her promise, and Her frame loosened.
Sighing, She slid Her hands up his arms and around his back, relaxing Her head in the junction between his neck and shoulder.
Every impulse within him ached to stay there in that moment, soaking in the warmth of Her embrace, but he couldn’t.
“Now that we have a plan, I have quite a busy day ahead.” He tiptoed over his next words. “I’ll be making a quick trip to the capital, so if You wouldn’t mind lending some light—”
Leila yanked away. “Tobias!”
“I’ll be brief,” he said. “I’ll simply gather supplies and hear the herald. Besides, the capital is miles away. I imagine there won’t be a single covert in sight.”
“Is that right?”
Leila raised an incredulous eyebrow, and Tobias fought to stifle a smirk. “I won’t kill anyone this time. I promise.”
“You’re not funny.”
“Lies. I’m hilarious.”
“I forbid you from partaking in this asinine endeavor—”
“We’ve exhausted most of our resources,” he said. “And the journey ahead of us will likely be far more grueling than what we’ve already endured. We need to be prepared. Our lives are at stake.”
Her petulant glower deepened, but Tobias could tell by Her silence that Her edges were slowly cracking. He took a gentle step closer. “Give me the gift?”
Leila hoisted up his shirt and planted Her searing palm to his chest. “If I can.”
“Stop that.”
“Go on.” She dropped Her hand, the fire of Her touch still pulsing through his flesh. “Try to escape with My pitiful light.”
It was Tobias’s turn to shoot Her a scowl. “Watch me.”
The room burst into light before Leila could respond.
Tobias summoned Her blessing without effort, and though a part of him was surprised it had worked, he released himself to Her power.
Maybe Enzo was somehow immune to holy light.
There wasn’t much time to stew on the matter, as weathered plaster broke through his vision, and his feet touched down in a familiar watering hole alleyway.
A strange surge of emotion stirred in his belly.
As dim and putrid as the place was, he was closer to home than he’d been in so long.
With his cowl secure, Tobias crept from the alley and wound through the bustling crowd.
This time, he wouldn’t be distracted—not by older women in need and certainly not by his own racing nerves.
He darted from vendor to vendor, securing salted meats, dried fruit, and lentils.
Next, he gathered linen rags for monthly bleedings and iron and flint for their future campfires.
He scanned the expanse ahead, but not a single person looked his way.
A quick journey is what he’d promised, and he was eager to deliver.