Chapter 7
CHAPTER SEVEN
A tingle of magic roused me during the night. Subtle pulses of flaring magic emitted against my skin, alerting me to the presence of something outside of my warded barrier.
Somehow, I managed to keep my breathing even as I groggily tried to assess my surroundings more.
A creature was waiting just outside of my ward.
My heart abruptly galloped. I moved my hand subtly beneath my blanket until I felt the blade sheathed at my thigh. Fingers curling tightly around it, I listened to my ward’s magic.
It only took a second to realize that whatever was watching me sleep wasn’t large. It was quite tiny in fact, and it definitely wasn’t a siltenite or feared predator of the Wood.
Relaxing, I released the blade and blinked my eyes open. My lips parted in surprise.
The wildling mother that Kole and I had saved only hours ago was watching me. The second we made eye contact, she ducked her head sheepishly.
“It’s all right,” I said sleepily, then peered around her.
Twelve babies waited just behind her, peering around her bushy tail.
All of them were outside of the magical ward I’d erected around myself to stop any would-be assassins in the night.
Not that any existed at the moment, but I had a feeling in the coming weeks, if I managed to get close enough to actually find the Stone, assassins might be something I would have to worry about.
“Are you okay?” I whispered quietly.
She nodded despite the blood that had congealed around her torn ear. Several cuts also littered her body, but I was relieved to see that nothing those two bastards had done to her would result in permanent injury.
The wildling mother gestured to something outside of my barrier, near my hip, and it was then I saw the pile of fresh berries waiting on the Wood’s floor.
My eyes opened more. “Did you bring that for me?”
She nodded, and a small smile spread across her lips.
“That was very kind of you. Is that a thank-you gift?”
She nodded again.
I smiled sleepily. “How thoughtful of you, but it’s all right. There’s no need to thank me. I’m glad you’re all safe and that the warrior captured those two males. They won’t be bothering you again.”
Her nose twitched, her babies’ noses doing the same. Since they were zilee wildlings, they weren’t capable of language, but they were more intelligent than most siltenites gave them credit for, and I knew she understood me.
“I have a salve for your injuries. I made it myself, using errgone root.” I sat up more. “It’ll help your cuts heal faster.” I was about to reach for my pack, but she turned her bushy tail and leaped back into the Wood, her babies quickly following.
I lay down, and sighed happily. In other words, no salve needed or wanted. She’d come simply to thank me for intervening.
I eyed the pile of berries again and then called quietly into the Wood, “You’re welcome, and you take care, my friend.” Content, I rolled back on my side and drifted off to sleep.
The next morning, I didn’t waste any time getting ready. The second I was dressed and packed, I pulled out the seekerill. The needle spun and eventually settled in a northeast direction.
“Northeast it is.” I snapped the seekerill closed and tucked it deep within my pocket.
I sailed back to the Wood’s road, and soon, I was speeding along. The early morning wind chilled my skin as the sun steadily rose.
Potent magic bathed our realm as the sun crested the horizon. I closed my eyes, savoring it, as the magic in our galaxy called to my own.
Cross-legged, I allowed myself a moment to enjoy this unique time of day, but just as fast, I wondered if the palace healers were currently at my aunt and uncle’s residence.
They came by most mornings at sunrise, hoping the new day’s magic would aid them in curing my uncle.
But of course, nothing they’d tried had worked yet.
I munched absentmindedly on cubed cheese and the juicy berries the wildling mother had left for me during the night.
Determined not to ruminate on my uncle’s illness, I tried to concentrate on the simple luxury of a nice meal.
The berries were fat and sweet. They were difficult berries to find too, since they only hung from rathers, a vine known for growing high in the tree’s canopy.
That meant the wildling mother, despite her injuries, had likely climbed to the top of numerous trees to find such a bounty.
It touched me that she’d spent time picking the best berries the Wood had to offer, even while injured and probably hurting.
Her thoughtfulness had my soul settling. There was so much good in our realm. So much, and soon, I would find the Stone, and my uncle would be saved.
Smiling anew, I briefly wondered if the mother had also collected a pile of berries for Kole.
But who knew if she’d been able to find him.
In all likelihood, he’d had to drag those two males back to Fillow, the small village I’d passed yesterday evening.
There was a small kingsfae post there, so unless Kole planned to take them all the way to the courts himself, he would have had to leave them there.
I bit into another berry. Its decadent flavor coated my tongue, but once again, my attention returned to the warrior. A flash of his lips crossed my mind. The way he’d kissed me. The delicious way he’d smelled.
But I shoved those memories off as quickly as they came and instead focused on why I’d met him at all. It made no sense that Kole was this deep into the Wood when no unrest was occurring.
But I quickly brushed that thought off, too, and finished eating. My concentration needed to be on traveling as fast as I could. The Stone. Find the Stone. That was what mattered. Not Kole Swordwielder.
I crossed into Stonewild Kingdom in the late afternoon. Since Whiteolf wasn’t overly far from the border, it hadn’t taken as long as I’d feared it would to reach it.
And the second I crossed the border, long before any signs appeared noting the new kingdom, magic alerted me. Heady power filled the invisible barrier that separated Mistvale from Stonewild. Land that had once bred mental powers now birthed shifters.
I tried not to feel uneasy about traveling into a new kingdom, and I reminded myself of the promise I’d made to my aunt.
Stay safe. Be smart. Don’t alert others to my arrival.
And I intended to make good on that promise.
Given that Stonewild wasn’t overly welcoming to fae from other kingdoms, it was best that I did so.
I traveled steadily for the entire day and did my best to stay obscure, but twice in the afternoon, I witnessed several altercations between other fae, and in the early evening I was positive that two males were following me.
Once I realized that, I zoomed along the road as fast as I could, then crashed into a hideabims, using the illusionary plant to hide.
Thankfully, that worked, and the two creeps passed by.
I kept up my swift pace for three full days, and other than the two bastards that had tried to kill the wildling mother and the two creepy fae who’d been following me, the worst thing I’d had to deal with was a nasty rash that had sprouted on my skin thanks to the hideabims bush I’d hidden in.
But at least the two creepy males were long gone.
I rubbed the lock of Goddess Nuleef’s hair as early morning moonlight illuminated the road in front of me on the morning of my fourth day.
Sleepiness made my eyes heavy, but my fingers moved over her hair in a rhythmic pattern.
It’d become a habit to caress it. For whatever reason, I found the action soothing.
I settled in for another long day of traveling, and felt thankful that my rash had finally cleared which made sitting cross-legged tolerable again. But abruptly, goosebumps sprouted on my skin. Just as fast, a low growl rose from the Wood.
My carpet continued on its course, but I grew stock still.
The growl was distant, not at the road’s edge, but my magic instantly went on high alert. Even more so when I realized that was the only sound I’d heard. The Wood had gone entirely silent.
Not good.
Automatically, my hand slipped into my boot, and I pulled out my dagger. Using my magic, I stretched my senses out around me to assess the area more.
Dozens of consciousnesses strummed back to me. Wildling fae and animals were everywhere, some sleeping, others awake, but all of them were silent.
Another growl came, but it was quieter than the first, as if whatever had made that sound, had moved farther away.
I stretched my magic more, and the second I did, I alighted on a complex consciousness that was clearly siltenite and . . . familiar.
My brows scrunched together as Kole Swordwielder’s magic pulsed faintly toward me. He was out there, right now, deep in the Wood. And from the feel of it, he was moving steadily away.
“What in the realm?” I whispered.
Apparently, the warrior hadn’t retreated to another area of the kingdom after all. Instead, he was still in the Wood, still near where I traveled.
I recalled how he affected me when we first met.
My response to him had been so heightened, so visceral.
I’d been certain the Stone had begun to affect me adversely, as it’d done to Abel, but since that time I’d returned to acting normally.
My thoughts had cleared, my responses had been what they’d always been, but now . . .
My breath caught in my throat, and my magic tracked him, memorizing his signature flavor that made following his location easier, but when he moved over a mile away, I stopped my curious stalking.
He was obviously doing something. What, I had no idea, but just as fast, I realized that the sound of the Wood had awoken again. Wildlings chattered. Birds tweeted. Animals snuffled and moved along the forest floor.
The sun crested the horizon, and I finally calmed my magic completely.