35. Lex
Chapter 35
Lex
M y saddle creaked and groaned as our horses flew down the path toward the forest that started as a dark speck on the horizon and grew quickly the faster we approached. The horses panted and whinnied as we ran, the wind whipping through our black tunics and hair. We were lucky that the days were warmer in the Borderlands, it kept the night air from feeling too chilly as it lashed against our skin. My eyes watered and tears coursed down my cheeks from the air. An Air Mage could’ve put a protective bubble around us to save our eyes and skin, but we couldn’t afford to waste magic, especially not knowing what, or whom, awaited us on the other side of the forest. It was bad enough that we were using copious amounts of Earth Magic just to smooth out the ground and encourage our horses to move faster.
General d’Alvey gave the signal to resume a trot just as we crested the final hill, the forest looming like dark sentinels. The horses were breathing hard, their skins soaked with sweat and mouths foaming as we approached the trees. The only sounds came from our horses, each of us already focused on the possibility of a fight, and the possibility that we wouldn’t all be making the return journey. Our laughter and easy banter were long forgotten as the day turned to dusk, which turned to night .
I swiped my forearm quickly over my cheeks and forehead, mopping up sweat and tears. I noticed the other Mages and Vessels in the group doing the same, all of us composing ourselves for the night and days ahead.
“Single file as we enter the wood. No one strays from the path,” Rohak barked to us, his mask of General and commander firmly in place. His mouth was pulled taught, and lines of stress and exhaustion pulled at his face, but his eyes were clear and sharp. I didn’t just respect General d’Alvey, I revered him and would follow him wherever he sent me, even if it was to my end or that of my Vessels. Which is why it wasn’t a decision, really, to give up a half-day of debauchery with my Vessels to follow him to the Borderlands. Sasori, Ilyas, and I would more than make up for lost time once we returned to Vespera, and I was selfishly curious to see if Faylinn was the same Faylinn that I remembered.
Images of a cold, dark stone room swamped my vision for a moment, and I blinked hard, shaking my head in an effort to dislodge them.
Ilyas patted my shoulder comfortingly. While my Vessels didn’t know everything I experienced before we were tied together, they knew enough. Sometimes I tuned out the world, lost in my own memories and trauma, but they were always there to bring me back.
We corralled our horses into a straight line, each horse’s nose practically up the rear of the horse in front of them. It was the safest way to travel through the forests in Elyria. They were said to have been created by the old gods, and magic still lingered. While the belief was wildly disproven at this point, there was still a sense of reverence and respect for the woods whenever we entered, and I swore I could feel small waves of power crest over my skin as the forest swallowed our party.
We walked in silence for what felt like hours, the only sounds were the crunching of leaves and the creaking of bridles and saddles. Occasionally we’d hear the rustle of a small animal or the flap of a bird’s wings, but we were undisturbed for the most part.
The whole journey was eerie. Like the woods knew something was happening on the other side and was letting us pass unmolested so we could go right whatever was wrong. Or maybe that was just my way of justifying the strange stillness that enveloped our party.
“Is it just me or is this unnaturally still?” Ilyas whispered from behind me .
I jerked my head in a nod, hoping he’d quiet down. For some reason, I felt like we needed to keep as quiet as possible to not disturb whatever lived here. I wasn’t the only one with the feeling, apparently, because a few Mages turned in their seats to glare at Ilyas. I glanced over my shoulder and saw him raise his hands in a placating gesture while miming zipping his lips. I turned before he could see my smirk.
He always knows how to ease my tension.
Sasori was my silent and realistic Bond and Ilyas provided the fun and lightheartedness that I needed. They balanced each other, and me, which is something I liked to think that Fate and the gods favored—the old religion is all about balance, after all.
We continued through the forest quietly for what felt like hours.
This is a small forest, really more of a copse of trees . . . shouldn’t we have made it through by now?
Just as the thought entered my head, Rohak held up his fist, the sign for us all to halt.
“We’ve been here before,” he murmured quietly enough that it didn’t echo through the forest, but still loud enough that the entire group of Mages and Vessels heard.
“How?” asked Andrés, a Water Mage. “We’ve been going straight on the same path the entire time. There is no possibility of us walking in a circle.”
There was a murmured assent of agreement from the other Mages and a few nods from Vessels.
“Because of that,” Rohak said, pointing to a tree.
“A tree?” Flek, an Earth Mage, rumbled from just ahead. “There are a lot of those, General.”
General d’Alvey shook his head. “Look harder at the tree, there’s a rune engraved on its trunk.”
I squinted, trying to find anything amiss on the bark. Sure enough, there was a rune carved into the trunk, what looked like fresh blood coating it. I shivered despite myself.
“What is it?” someone asked up front. The horses were starting to grow restless, either from feeling our anxiety, or from the magic of the place, I wasn’t sure. We all had to work on calming them down. I reached behind me, and my hand connected with Ilyas’. I sent a trickle of my power out to blanket the animals. The shock of pleasure to their systems quieted them and even some of the Mages took on a glassy-eyed look.
“Thank you, Lex, but not so much next time, okay? We need our heads on right now,” General d’Alvey grumbled.
I blushed and jerkily nodded my head, releasing Ilyas’ hand after giving it a squeeze in thanks.
“I believe it’s a Confusion Rune, though my understanding and knowledge of them is rudimentary at best,” Rohak begrudgingly admitted.
What the fuck?
“Confusion Runes, sir?” I asked as the line of horses stamped their feet nervously and whinnied, my blast of Pleasure already waning.
General d’Alvey gave a curt nod before gesturing to a few of the other trees and rocks nearby.
“There are runes engraved on almost every surface near the path, but the Confusion Rune is the only one I recognize. And, thankfully, it’s the only I’ve seen since we entered.”
I chewed my lip.
“Then what do we do, General?” The question came from the front of the line.
The General sighed before dismounting Balios and giving him a pat on his flank. The horse whickered in response and nipped at his hair. General d’Alvey patted him absently, his brow furrowed in thought.
“I believe they’re only written in blood. If we can . . . remove the rune, we should be able to continue out of the forest,” he mused almost to himself.
When no one said anything, the General nodded to himself and began to stride into the woods toward the marked tree. There were a few shouts of protest from our line, but the General ignored them as he approached the tree.
He stood for a moment in complete silence, his eyes raking over the image carved into the bark. Slowly, he started removing pieces of bark that created the rune.
We all collectively held our breath as we watched the General painstakingly remove various bits of bark full of blood.
After a few minutes of nothing happening, I began to relax my shoulders. A few minutes later the General was striding back to our group and mounting Balios.
“Why didn’t you use your magic?” I asked quietly.
General d’Alvey didn’t look at me but answered quietly, “Magic cannot destroy runes and can sometimes even strengthen them. You have to physically dismantle a rune for it to lose its power.”
I hummed in thought, curious as to how General d’Alvey knew so much about runes, even after admitting that his knowledge was “rudimentary.”
Is it his religious upbringing? My parents, what I remembered of them, weren’t religious and we rarely, if ever, attended temple. Then I was sold to Lord d’Refan and my education was singularly focused on using my magic.
General d’Alvey’s voice interrupted my thoughts before I could voice my question.
“I want to get out of here before these runes activate again.” If I didn’t know any better, I would say that the General was nervous, slightly off-kilter from the many runes that were scattered about the forest. Now that we knew they were there, they were easier to spot, and there were quite a lot of them.
The most unnerving aspect of all, though, was that each rune was traced in blood. Runes could only be activated by the innate magic that lived within our blood, which meant the blood was definitely human and not animal. I involuntarily shuddered at the thought and hoped some poor unsuspecting soul wasn’t used as some sort of sacrifice for a witch’s spells.
There is no way that one person could have activated all of these runes with their own blood . . .
I shuddered again and was incredibly thankful that General d’Alvey had picked up the pace. The woods started to thin after a short time, and streaks of moonlight dusted the forest floor as we plodded through.
“How long were we stuck in there?” Ilyas whispered to me.
I shrugged. The timing did seem odd, we entered at barely dusk and now the moon was high in the sky. It definitely didn’t feel like we had spent hours in the woods, though it was apparent that the rumors weren’t just rumors and magic lived in abundance in the Elyrian forests.
Our group finally exited the woods and it felt like we all took a collective breath. We broke out of our single file line, choosing to ride next to each other, many Mages checking on their Vessels and vice versa .
While we had escaped untouched, there was definitely a pervasive feeling of foreboding in the group that continued even as we trudged onwards away from the forest.
I motioned for Ilyas and Sasori to ride beside me as I urged my horse faster. Now that we were through the forest, I wanted to discuss our next steps with the General. Although I wasn’t a commander in name, General d’Alvey always treated me as one when we were out on field missions, even if those were few and far between now.
“Lex,” the General said, hearing the approach of my horse.
“What gave me away?”
“This is what we’ve always done, is it not?” His speech was tight and clipped, and I instantly changed tactics. Ilyas and Sasori dropped back a few paces at my gesture, allowing the General and I to speak to each other freely.
“You’re agitated.” He grunted at my observation, the grip on his reigns tightening. “From the runes?”
“In part.” I waited, knowing that the General would supply more information when he wanted to. After a few minutes of silence, I prodded again.
“Shouldn’t we be closer to the village?”
Rohak sighed. “Yes, we should be. The road must have diverted at some point, but we missed it. Or the runes have the road ending in a completely different location.”
“So where are we?” I gazed about, only seeing flat, dry land ahead, and the forest behind us, dipping to the west.
The Borderlands rarely got rain, but this spring seemed to be even drier than most.
“You see that point of the forest over there?” Rohak pointed toward the west, and I had to squint against the darkness to see where he was indicating.
“Yes, barely,” I mumbled.
Rohak dropped his hand back onto the reins. “ That’s where we were supposed to exit, at the southernmost tip of the forest. From there, there’s a few foothills that will provide us enough cover until we’re ready to launch our counter invasion.”
I grunted in reply. The forest point was a few miles off, maybe a half hour of riding if we were quick .
“We should hug the tree line as much as possible. It will provide us even more coverage as we ride,” I suggested.
General d’Alvey nodded in response. “I think that’s the best course of action, yes. We’ll camp once we reach that point and discuss reconnaissance missions and groupings. Set your bedroll near mine tonight.”
“Yes, General.”
“And please, no extracurriculars tonight,” he added as I dropped back with Ilyas and Sasori. I barked a laugh and quickly fell back into line.