Chapter 5 Hell
My legs were moving, but the rest of my body refused to follow.
The ground beneath me suddenly lurched, and the world began to slip past me in a blur.
I hadn’t the faintest idea where I was, but I knew I needed to run.
I could feel eyes boring into me, watching each of my failed attempts at escape.
I tripped, and when I sat up, I was on a dirt path in the forest.
Rocks bit into my hands, and the presence I felt pressed in on me.
“Who is there?” the question echoed though my lips did not move. No answer. “Show yourself!”
I forced myself to my feet. Nothing felt right; I did not feel like I was within my own body.
My eyes scanned the trees around me. I was certain there had been someone watching me.
“Hello?” This time I was met with a rustling of leaves.
“Gods damn you! Reveal yourself at once!”
My hands clenched into fists, and my head whipped around to follow the sound.
Piercing green eyes like emeralds stared back at me, shining in the dark of the forest like a beacon.
The eyes blinked back at me, as though whoever they belonged to was shocked I could see them.
Then they turned, disappearing from my sight.
My feet carried me forward, determined to follow.
Then I felt cold hands on my shoulders. “Hell!”
The hands shook me. Liv? “Hell, wake up.”
I could hear her, feel her, but I could not see her.
Not until my eyes shot open. I swung wildly, landing a blow against someone’s jaw.
My chest heaved in panic as I took in my surroundings.
My bedroom in the manor. Wide windows with moonlight cutting across the floor in pale ribbons. I had been dreaming.
I blamed the dream on exhaustion. On grief.
On whatever questionable food Margaret had found in the pantry.
A low groan slipped from me as I rolled my tight shoulders, “What is it, Liv? Where is the fire?”
She did not seem amused by my jest. Her mouth was set in a thin straight line.
And she held her cheek. I could see the color of a bruise blooming through her fingers. “Is everything okay?”
“Apart from the fact that you assaulted me?” She shook her head, “No.” Her look was solemn.
That was enough to rouse me fully. “What’s happened?” I swung my legs over the bed and threw a robe over my shoulders as the chill of the night fell on my skin.
“Ezra sent word.” She offered the letter to me. “He sent an emissary. Perks of being part of the council.” She shrugged, answering my question before I could ask it.
We sat on the front steps of the manor, two cups of stale tea in hand. It might not have even been safe to drink tea that had been left sitting for so long, but she seemed to need something to calm her nerves. I really would need to go into town and collect some provisions.
For a while, we sat in silence. Listening to the crickets chirp and the owls hoot.
Liv’s father was right to call this place a haven.
It was peaceful. I had always preferred the country to the bustle of the city, and were it not for the circumstances, I believe I could be truly happy here.
Liv’s cup clinked against the stone. She wrapped her arms tightly around herself and finally met my gaze.
“Ezra said that things in Verith are escalating.”
She stared blankly at the stars overhead, lost in thought.
“They have taken to hunting more than just women with power. It is their families now, Hell, anyone who attempts to help them. I fear it is only going to get worse. We should have stayed.”
The strain of it all, the way it weighed on her, could be seen in the slump of her shoulders, the darkening under her eyes.
I reached for her hand and pulled it into mine.
“What would us staying have done?” Tears welled in her eyes because she knew.
“This is something that was set in motion long before either of us could make a choice of our own. It is not our fault any more than it would be Clarissa’s or Christine’s, or any of the girls who have suffered in this madman’s grab for power.”
She grappled with it for a moment, just as I had before, finally accepting that this was the right choice, that sacrificing ourselves on an altar would have saved no one, and we could do more good alive than dead.
“You are probably right, Liv. This probably will get a great deal worse before anything gets better. But we are safe for now, Christine and your mother are safe. And at least alive we can try to save more.”
She sighed long and low. Then she lifted her cup to her lips and sipped.
Her lips puckered, and she fought not to spit it onto the ground. Always the lady.
She swallowed it down with a loud gulp. “It truly is terrible,” she said after a moment. A smile spread her lips, and we both broke out into a full-bellied laugh.
“I will go into town tomorrow to hopefully find some provisions. Margaret showed me where the money your father left is, and I have been looking over maps of Torezia. It should not be too far of a journey. Perhaps I can even find us some horses so we do not have to walk everywhere.”
She smiled softly.
“There is one more piece of information Ezra sent that I forgot to tell you.”
I leaned in closer, eager to hear of anything back home.
“The hunt and the reckoning that they made him take part in today.”
She paused, knowing that I was waiting with bated breath.
“It was in the Holudrums.” Her smile did not falter even as I pictured all manner of horrors happening to people I knew: neighbors, patrons of the alehouse. I raised a questioning brow at her.
“This is a good thing?” I asked cautiously, not understanding why she was so happy.
“The woman they were after was not someone with magic; she was a sympathizer. Carina Brandswith.” My eyes shot open wider than I believed possible.
“Clarissa’s mother?!” The question came out a yell, harsh against the serenity of the night. Liv just giggled.
“Shhh… I do not want Christine to hear.”
She pressed a finger to her lips and leaned in closer, her voice lowering to a whisper.
“That is not even the best part. Ezra spit on her and said, ‘This is for Clarissa.’” Her eyes twinkled with mischief.
Normally, we would never celebrate another’s misfortune.
But this woman deserved every bit of what she got.
“What?! Oh my gods,” I could hardly contain myself, “How very unlike our uptight, grumpy, Prevailing Diviner.”
The name felt more like a mockery as I feigned a salute.
I felt a bit lighter, even with unease biting at the back of my mind.
If they were now hunting non-magic citizens of Verith, things would indeed get worse.
And I hadn’t the slightest idea of what to do about it.
There was one certainty that I clung to, though. We would have to do something.