Chapter 4
Chapter Four
ELARIYA
The sun filtered through the hedges, casting long beams of gold across the winding stone path.
Sirril walked beside me gazing intently ahead toward the garden.
Alaric would be at the furthest point, where the rosebushes met the woods. That’s where the Bloodsworn trained.
It was out of the way and vast, providing enough room for them to maneuver.
Sirril insisted on accompanying me because he loved watching them. His iridescent blue face had lit up the moment he’d heard I was training, too.
"Drink, my Lady,” he said, motioning to the earthenware mug in my hands. He’d insisted on giving me that, too, back in the kitchen after Arielle expressed her concerns for me.
I loved Sirril. He was attentive. He was the first magical friend I’d ever made and the first woodland sprite I’d ever come across. Every meal he made was divine and worthy enough for the gods to war over. But this…
Blessed Mother, it looked like it came from the swamp, smelled like swamp, and yes, tasted like swamp. Not that I was well versed in tasting swamp water. This stuff just ticked the box in my imagination.
I peered into the murky liquid suspiciously, wondering for the hundredth time what he put in it.
"Please, my Lady. It is restorative tonic. It will help you.” He glanced at me again.
“I don’t doubt that. It just tastes horrid.”
“Most medicinal tonics do taste insipid, but their benefits are great.” He sighed. “Truth be told, I should have given it to you well before now. But I got caught up with my worries for Lord Nightblade.”
That immediately sobered me. Here I was, complaining about the taste of tonic, when Wolfe was locked away.
I lifted the mug and took a cautious sip. The bitter taste hit my tongue, and I flinched. "Gods.” My face twisted.
Sirril chuckled. "It gets worse after the second mouthful."
"That's not how encouragement works, Sirril."
"Indeed. Drink it anyway."
Grumbling beneath my breath, I took another sip and drank, ignoring the taste.
We continued on the path, toward the sound of steel ringing through the air.
The first time I’d seen the Bloodsworn training was on the ship on the way from the mortal realm. That was also the first time I found out they could fly.
There were Fae with wings and those without. Elder Fae like the Bloodsworn were descendants from an ancient bloodline who kept their wings.
Wolfe’s wings were… like nothing I’d ever seen.
They could shift between smoke and shadows and take the form of the same leathery texture as the dragon’s wings.
I’d first touched them that day. The next day, he’d flown me up into the sky, giving me my first real view of the magical realm.
That was the moment we started to mean something to each other. The night before he’d rescued me from the sea witch and saved my life, giving me a piece of himself. But that moment in the sky as we looked at each other, we seemed to both know we weren’t the enemies we were supposed to be.
A loud clash of steel yanked me back from memories, and I spotted Alaric in the distance.
With his hair blowing in the wind, he stood sentinel with his sword resting on his shoulder as he watched Bastian and Garrick in the air sparring.
The two Fae warriors had their massive wings outstretched and broadswords clashing blow for blow.
As Wolfe’s second-in-command, Bastian moved like him—ruthless and vicious.
Garrick, on the other, hand had a more fluid, cunning style. It was almost as though he was dancing through the air. There was an elegance to him, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t deadly.
He swished his sword and managed to cut Bastian on his cheek.
My nerves gathered in my stomach.
I was confident in my growing abilities, but when it came to fighting, I was a mess. Which was why I was here.
I asked for the training. I’d been in several scary situations where I couldn’t use my magic, and that meant I couldn’t defend myself. It was the worst kind of helplessness a person could feel.
The question was, could I use a sword? The last time I tried, I was in the demon Erethis’ cave lying on the ground, moments away from death.
What would this be like?
Alaric turned toward us before we reached him. "Good, you’re here."
"I am, but please take it easy on me. I won’t be like that." I pointed to Bastian and Garrick as they darted through the air, swords still clashing.
Alaric smirked. "Don’t worry, you’ll live."
“That doesn’t sound very comforting.”
“Like I said, you’ll live.” He acknowledged Sirril with a faint smile and pointed his sword toward the guys. “Take care of them for me. Make sure they don’t get out of line.”
“Of course, my Lord.” Sirril bowed, and excitement filled his little face. It was nice to see his smile.
"Ready?" Alaric asked, returning his gaze to me.
"Yes."
“Good. Follow me.” He put his sword away and beckoned me to follow.
Sirril took my mug, and I joined Alaric. As we headed toward the woods, I wondered what exactly we’d be doing. If nothing else, I was wholeheartedly distracted.
“Hope you’ve rested enough.” Alaric cast me a sidelong glance. “Flying the dragons before dawn can take it out of you.”
I looked back at him, my cheeks warming. He’d told me to rest, and I’d gone flying. “I couldn’t sleep. I hope it’s okay I took the dragons out.”
“Of course. You always need to be careful with them, but I’m glad they got you to go outside. Wolfe would like that.” He gave me a warm grin.
“They miss him.”
“Yes. They do.”
We walked on farther toward the silver-leafed trees overlooking the cliffs. Confusion filled me. I’d thought we were going to find a spot to train, but he seemed to be taking me somewhere.
"Alaric."
He turned. "Yeah?"
"Where are we going? And aren’t the swords back there?"
"We're not training here. I have somewhere else in mind.”
I blinked. “Where?”
“You’ll see.”
We were nearly at the cliff’s edge when we finally stopped. Shadows and silver light began twisting around his hand as he lifted it into the air.
Effortlessly, he opened a portal beside him. Not the dark, ominous portals Wolfe used.
This one shimmered, the edges rippling like disturbed water.
Everyone’s magic had a different effect when they opened a portal or phased. It made me wonder what mine would be like when I got the hang of it. I’d only ever done both on my own once, and I wasn’t looking forward to doing them again.
Alaric extended his hand toward the portal. "Come on, let’s go."
I looked at the swirling light and took his hand. The moment we stepped in, we were swallowed, but I barely had a chance to take note that we were moving through space. We arrived just as quickly as we set off.
We now stood in a garden with ancient stone structures and wide pillars that rose toward the sky.
I looked around. It looked like we were in a place of worship to the old gods.
"I promised I'd teach you how to defend yourself," Alaric said. "I never promised we'd do it the ordinary way."
“What is this place?”
“The Gateway. It’s a port where time converges between past and present. All beings with temporal abilities come here to make use of the place.”
Time. He was going to use principles of time to train me. But how?
“What are you going to do?”
“Something interesting. I thought about this a lot.” A faint smile spread across his lips. “Forgive me saying this, but you definitely are not a swordswoman.”
I bit back a smile. “You’re forgiven.” I knew I sucked.
“That doesn’t mean you can’t learn.“ He inclined his head, and a tendril of hair drifted over his eye. “But we have to be realistic. It’d take weeks, months, possibly years to learn real swordsmanship.”
“I figured as much. So, does that mean I don’t get to use a weapon?”
“Not at all. I came up with a work-around. We borrow from the future.”
My spine snapped straight. “What?”
“I figured everything about you revolves around time. Why would your choice of weapon be any different?” He shrugged.
“I also realized that most time mages use weapons simply because time-based abilities tend to overpower your others. And there are restrictions on what you can do with those abilities to control time.”
I hadn’t considered that at all, but he was right. When I thought back to Arielle in battle, I never once saw her reach for a weapon. Not that she couldn’t use a sword. She just never chose to instinctively.
As for my abilities, he was spot on. My base element was air, but I’d hardly done anything air-based. Everything I did revolved around time.
“You also wouldn’t necessarily use your best skills at random because it might not be ethical,” Alaric continued.
Yes. It would feel wrong to age someone just because they’d pissed me off.
“So, how are we going to borrow from the future? And isn’t that… against the law?”
"No." He shook his head. "Sure, the idea walks very close, but it isn't the same thing. The threads of the future are already based on the decisions we make now. Whereas taking from the past may alter what has already happened."
“So, we can borrow from the future?” I asked it more to myself.
He nodded.
“How do you know I have a weapon in the future that’s worth borrowing?”
“It’s just a hunch. Also, people have done this before. The future version of yourself would know that and work with strategy.”
“You have a lot of faith in me.” I gave him a tentative smile.
“Come on, it’s not that hard to have faith in you. You’ve more than proven yourself.”
“That means a lot.”
He nodded once. “If we do it this way, I just have to fill in the blanks and teach you basic form. Things that keep you alive. That won’t take long.”
Gods, I felt more at ease hearing that. “That sounds great. What now?”
“We just have to find your weapon.”
“Here?” I looked around the place again. “There’s nothing here.”
“You have to sense it. The same way you sensed your dragon in the cave.”
“I… haven’t done that for future events yet.”
“You’ve done the past and trailed the threads of possibility; you can find the future.” He nodded confidently, looking like he fully believed in me.