Chapter 2
ERIK
We stood near the edge of a great lake not far outside the Bavadrin city gates.
The area was hidden in their forest. Incredibly tall trees reached towards the clouds, greedy for warmth and light.
The sun was still low in the sky, causing the foliage to cast long shadows.
Natural mist curled around the bases of the trees and over the lake.
The world felt gray and dreary. It was as if that place was made for mourning the dead.
Four Bavadrin men carried a pallet with Landin’s body wrapped in fabric. The mist appeared to part for them, and I couldn’t help but wonder whether it was Ariana’s doing. They lowered the pallet onto the lake’s edge, partially in the water.
The sound of a single violin moved through the forest and over the lake. It surrounded us as if it were a living thing. The tune whispered of loneliness. A song, deeply sorrowful, set the tone of the entire space. The otherworldly music paired with the shadows and mist created a heavy atmosphere.
Ariana approached from behind us with Willis at her side.
He wore a thin cotton shirt and pants, though it covered most of his skin.
On the other hand, Ariana wore a simple white dress, shoulders bare.
She must have been freezing, for the morning was kissed by winter, which lurked just around the corner.
Everyone around wore cloaks with all buttons fastened to protect from the chill in the air.
To her credit, she did not show how completely freezing she must have felt.
When Ariana and Willis reached the pallet, they bent down, pushing it further into the lake.
They then continued, moving into the water, and that was when I noticed that both of them were barefoot.
“How is she not painfully cold?” Kole asked from beside me.
Kiora, who stood to Kole’s other side, answered. “She is, but I am afraid it is greatly overshadowed by another pain.”
My attention drifted to my right, where Edda stood silently, sorrow evident in her eyes.
“I never knew you cared for him,” I whispered to her, for she never seemed to favor anyone except for Ariana.
“He was a decent boy and a good friend to Ariana,” Edda stated. There was a long pause before she continued. “But my heart does not mourn for him. It is for her I mourn. She will continue to feel pain like this. It will not end here. I wonder if I have made the right choices.”
“What do you mean?”
“You will soon understand, Lysian.” Edda ended the conversation.
Ariana and Willis continued into the lake, undoubtedly bitterly cold.
Yet there was no hesitation in their steps as they continued moving with the pallet till the water reached Ariana’s upper thigh.
Only then did they finally stop. The pallet floated out into the water with a gentle push, drifting further and further away.
The two of them stood there in that horrid lake. Her toes were going to freeze off if they remained out there much longer.
A thick mist curled around them, surrounding the pallet Landin’s body rested on.
The moisture moved over the water and on to the shore.
Fog shrouded us as it blended into the thinner haze already there.
This was Ariana’s conjuring. Surroundings became more obscured until I could poorly make her and Willis out, and the pallet was lost entirely in a gray fog.
Ariana raised a hand, and Kiora, along with dozens of archers standing on the shore, lit flame to arrow, poised to strike.
“What are you doing? You can’t see.” I looked from the water, the fog, Ariana, to the young sparrow standing beside Kole.
Her breath slowed along with her heart as she prepared to fire that burning bolt into the gray air.
Ariana’s arm fell to her side, and dozens of flaming arrows were released at once, soaring over her head.
They landed on something in the water, and fire covered the pallet, finally showing its location.
“You may be a Lysian King.” The Sparrow addressed me, her sharp gaze meeting mine. “You may have better sight and hearing, but you are no Sparrow.” Bright hazel eyes challenged me. “Let this be a lesson to never underestimate me again.”
“How did you do it?” Kole turned to her.
Her lip curled. “You will likely only learn that if you ever find yourself on the other end of one of my arrows.”
“I guess I will need to learn to go on with never knowing,” he mumbled, and she then smiled fully.
“Boy!” Edda called for the attention of a Bavadrin child.
He scurried over to the old witch at once.
Large warm brown eyes looked up at her. “Run ahead and make sure a warm bath is prepared for the Leader Superior.” The boy nodded and ran off into the forest towards the town.
Ariana was going to need that bath to bring her back to life after freezing out in that lake.
Everyone endured the cold, watching the fire consuming the pallet.
Ariana remained in that water, her back to all.
I wondered what emotions her face portrayed at that moment and then regretted even thinking about it.
I did not wish to see her tortured and sad.
Yet, I could not look away. While everyone watched the distant fire, I watched her.
A breeze gently pulled at her hair yet did not touch the mist that she controlled.
There was a distant sound of a liquid droplet falling into the water, and I wondered if it was the sound of a tear that had escaped from her.
Still, we had not spoken since her return, not really.
I told myself that I would allow her some time once she returned, but it was challenging to stay away.
I walked past her room last night just to make sure she was safe.
The rhythmic beating of her heart let me know that she was in there.
The heavy sigh let me know that she was awake even deep into the night. Neither of us slept well that night.
Ariana and Willis finally turned, making their way out of the lake.
Though she stood straight with her shoulders back and enveloped in fog, I could tell she was shivering.
Shaking, wet, and hardly dressed for such weather, she made her way past some of her people, and everyone seemed to come alive as if awoken from a sorrow-filled trance.
They began gathering what belongings they may have brought, turning to start the track home.
Ariana appeared drained, each of her steps incredibly slow as she walked.
What energy she had was zapped by the freezing cold.
A tremble worked its way down her body, yet she did not fold her hands across her chest to warm herself.
She might not have minded the torture of the cold, but I could not bear seeing her this way.
Fire was not the only thing my conjuring allowed me to do.
I called on my strength, pulling it to my skin, releasing heat before a fire ever sparked.
Never had I needed for cloaks or anything for warmth.
I only wore them to fit in with everyone else when the seasons changed.
In seconds, my cloak warmed enough that wisps of heat curled from it.
Weaving through the slow-moving Bavadrins, I made my way to Ariana.
“Better let her be right now.” Kiora appeared at my side. A trace of worry passed over her as she looked in Ariana’s direction. I moved past the Sparrow, carefully stepping around others.
“Hey.” It was all I could think of to say.
Ariana slowed, turning her green eyes to me. She looked a shell of who she typically was, haunted by pain. I hated it.
Slipping off my cloak, I wrapped it around her while she simply stood there, viewing me without so much as a word. Her lack of protest was taken as acceptance, and I began fastening the buttons to keep the heat in. Her gaze weighed heavily on me, observing.
When I finished, her hand lifted, touching mine, and I halted, looking at her once more. There was such a mixture of emotions swirling in those eyes, and I found myself wishing that I could have done more for her.
“Thank you, Erik,” she whispered before her hand dropped from mine. Turning, she continued the journey home with my cloak around her. I would have given her my shoes if she hadn’t been likely to fall in them.
“I’m surprised.” The Sparrow came up beside me once more. “I imagined you trying to swoop her up and carry her home.”
The thought had crossed my mind, but Ariana would likely not have approved.
The Sparrow viewed me with narrowed eyes. “Are you not now cold yourself? Or do you think you’re a big strong Lysian, and so the cold won’t touch you the way it would her?”
“It won’t,” I answered her, holding up my hand. In an instant, a fire began dancing across my fingertips.
“Neat trick.” She smirked. “How do you do it?” Her question did not make sense, for surely she knew what I was. Though Kole had recently asked the same question of her, I just realized that she was subtly providing an answer.
“Find yourself at the end of one of my flames, and then you will know,” I said, and her smile widened. That was how the Sparrows did it. How each of their arrows found their proper marks in such conditions. They were conjurors, all of them.