Chapter 22
Chapter Twenty-Two
A Mission for the Witch
Where Paths Begin to Divide
The man strode into the hall without hesitation, his dark cloak damp from recent travel. His expression was hard and impatient, as though every moment spent inside the fortress irritated him.
Bria recalled where she saw him. From the vision that had struck her while holding Tibby. Two men arguing in the forest. This man warning the other about the healer who could snatch the dying away from death.
A chill slipped through her despite the warmth of the hall.
The man stopped before Ogga. “I grow weary of waiting.”
His voice carried the same sharp edge Bria remembered from the vision.
Ogga remained perfectly composed, a slight tilt to her head as if what he felt mattered little to her.
“Then perhaps you should cultivate patience, Dreth.”
His jaw tightened. “Tread lightly, Ogga. Patience is not something Tharne possesses and either is fear of witches.” He took another step forward. “You promised results. So far you have proved worthless to me.”
The hall fell silent.
Bria felt Kaelan’s attention sharpen beside her, his hand moving to rest on her wrist, a casual gesture between a husband and wife, but she knew differently. His hand rested there, ready to grab her and run if necessary.
Ogga folded her arms across her chest. “Tharne may not fear witches, but he isn’t here at the moment. So, I would be very careful what you say to me, or I may just have to rid you of your voice.”
“That would not set well with Tharne.” He shook his head.
“You really have no idea of the lengths Tharne has gone to in order to win the impending war. Your spells, curses, or whatever it is you witches work on others, are useless on me. Tharne sent me here well protected. Now, can you deliver the healer capable of pulling the dying back from death itself or not?”
The words settled heavily through the hall.
Bria felt Kaelan tighten his hand on her wrist.
Ogga’s expression revealed nothing, but her eyes did not hide her anger. “You will have your healer and Tharne better keep the promise made to me.”
Dreth’s expression darkened. “You will have your reward as promised, provided you deliver the healer.”
Bria’s heart went out to the mysterious healer. It seemed as if everyone searched for her. Surely, she could not remain hidden from them for long. She was bound to be found, then what? Would she forever be held captive to do their bidding?
“I have no time to waste,” Dreth said. “See it done, Ogga, or someone else will rule Driochmor. I go and continue recruiting for Tharne.”
That caught Kaelan’s attention immediately.
“Recruiting whom?” Ogga asked.
Dreth smiled coldly. “Anyone wise enough to recognize which side will win or anyone who hungers for power. Drogath does not prepare for war. It stands ready for war and once this healer is found… Scotara will fall.”
His gaze settled briefly on Braden. “And Tharne will reward those as promised.”
Braden’s smile answered the look.
The meaning was clear enough… Braden would fight for Drogath.
Kaelan leaned his head down to whisper to Bria, “We need to get to the council to warn them and then to the king, if it is not already too late.”
“The gods forbid,” Bria murmured, the thought sending a shiver through her. “Scotara cannot fall.”
Kaelan placed a kiss on his wife’s temple while whispering, “We need to get out of here posthaste.”
“The question is how?” Bria asked.
She watched her husband give it thought while his eyes followed Dreth and Braden out of the Great Hall. Then he slipped off the bench, not letting go of her hand and eased her to her feet to stand beside him.
Bria understood he was positioning himself to fight if necessary and his words confirmed it.
“You will flee if given the chance,” he ordered sternly.
Her response was sharp. “I will not leave you.”
“You will. I command it,” he said, his voice low but not lacking strength.
“Command or not, I will not leave you. I cannot leave you. Find another way,” she ordered this time and when he looked ready to argue, she poked him in the chest. “Do not waste your breath. You will not win this argument.”
He shook his head. “I need you to be wise.”
“She already is.”
Kaelan and Bria turned to see Ogga standing far too close.
Bria saw the same surprised look on Kaelan’s face that was on her own.
How did the woman get so close without either of them hearing her?
But what worried her even more was what Ogga meant by, ‘She already is.’ She couldn’t possibly know that Bria could be part of the Wise.
But Winnie knew, so why not Ogga, a powerful witch?
The thought sent a ripple of fear racing through her and she instinctively tucked herself against her husband, worried what Ogga might do with such knowledge.
Kaelan felt it instantly… something had frightened his wife. He slipped his arm around her without thought, drawing her closer, while keeping his gaze on Ogga.
“What are you up to, Ogga?” Kaelan demanded. “How do you think you can find this healer when no one else can? And do not tell me you truly believe Tharne will keep his word to you and allow you to rule Driochmor.”
“Tharne will be so pleased he has the healer that he will grant me anything,” Ogga said with an air of confidence. “And she will be easy to find since I now have what I need to find her.”
Kaelan had a feeling he was not going to like what Ogga was about to say, and he felt a twist in his gut confirming it but asked anyway, “And what is that?”
Ogga grinned. “A Wise.”
Kaelan heard his own words repeat in his head along with Ogga’s. I need you to be wise. She already is.
She couldn’t be. His wife simply could not be part of the Wise. They had all died off, King Halric had seen to that, and the edict still stood… execution for any Wise.
“Oh, you didn’t know,” Ogga said with glee. “Your wife did not tell you.”
Kaelan’s head snapped toward his wife, but he held his tongue. He would not admit it in front of Ogga, but he would have answers when they were alone.
“Winnie mentioned it to me, but I found it difficult to believe.” Bria shook her head. “That my heritage derives from Driochmor is simply impossible and even more impossible is me being a descendant of the Wise.”
Kaelan now understood why she wanted to find the council member. Winnie no doubt told her a council member could tell her more about the Wise.
“Winnie was right and though she didn’t tell you, she felt it just as I did,” Ogga said.
“Felt what?” Bria asked.
“Felt you wake the Wise as soon as you stepped into Driochmor.”
Anger filled Kaelan. “You plan to use Bria to find the healer.”
“Aye, I do,” Ogga said.
To Bria’s surprise she felt the beast stir in Kaelan and was just as surprised to see his eyes turn gold. “Harm my wife, Ogga, and I will tear you apart limb by limb.”
“Calm down, Kaelan. Why would I harm her when she can help me?”
Bria saw how nervous Ogga got when Kaelan’s eyes turned gold. Did the beast frighten her? Was her magic no defense against the beast? With how fast Kaelan healed she believed there might be some truth to magic affecting Kaelan differently.
“You cannot be serious,” Bria said. “I have no idea where this healer is.”
Ogga sighed as though speaking to a stubborn child. “I am not asking you where she is.”
“Then what are you asking?”
Ogga stepped toward a nearby table and opened a carved wooden box resting upon it. Carefully, she lifted something from within. A simple silver pendant hung from a worn leather cord. Time had darkened the metal and the pendant itself appeared unremarkable. Yet Ogga handled it with surprising care.
Curious, Bria asked, “What is that?”
She approached Bria. “A possession believed to have belonged to the healer.”
Bria frowned. “Believed?”
Ogga did not hide her annoyance, “There are very few certainties where the healer is concerned.” She held it by the leather cord, offering it to Bria. “Touch it.”
Bria made no move to take it. “Nay.”
“Why must you be so obstinate?” Ogga scolded. “Do as I say and I will set you free.”
Bria reached out. “Let me touch you first so that I may see that you have kept your word when given.”
Ogga stepped back, her patience visibly thinned. “I have no time for nonsense. Touch it and tell me what you see.”
Bria shook her head. “I see things that have already happened. I do not see where someone is now.”
Ogga’s smile surfaced slowly and it immediately made Bria uncomfortable.
“That is precisely why you are valuable. If this truly belonged to the healer, then she touched it, carried it, left her mark on it.” The witch held the necklace in front of Bria’s face. “You may see where she once lived.”
Bria remained unconvinced and certainly not comfortable intruding in someone else’s life. “Why can you not use your magic to see that?”
Ogga’s face flared with anger. “Touch it or I will make sure you never see your husband again.”
Bria quickly stepped in front of Kaelan when he went to lunge forward and grabbed the leather cord. She worried needlessly that she would see nothing, a vision flashing instantly in her mind, and it shocked her.
She spoke without thinking. “You’ve been banished to your fortress by your own kind. This place is your prison. You and others went against the council.”
“They were fools.” Ogga snarled.
Her vicious anger distorted her face so much that Bria almost visibly cringed at the pure evil she saw there.
“They had the power and did nothing. They let Halric command them.”
“They feared for the children, for future generations,” Bria argued, having seen it all in the vision.
“And where did it get them?” Ogga asked, her anger continuing to smolder. “Their children were taken from them and raised without magic.”
Bria repeated what she had heard an elderly man say in the vision. “Magic will always survive and return home.”
“Bria is right,” Kaelan said. “Some young Thornek stray but they always return home, their connection to the tribe too strong to ignore.”
His words struck a chord in Bria. She had followed Kaelan into Driochmor without a thought. Had she instinctively known she was returning home?
Ogga scuffed. “And what about Braden?”
“He will find his way home to his tribe,” Kaelan said as if he knew it as a fact.
“Enough of this nonsense,” Ogga said. “Touch the pendant and tell me what you see.”
She had no time to debate whether Ogga could carry out her threat or not, and she would not have her husband taken from her.
Bria took hold of the pendant, and she immediately saw the troll holding it, turning it over in his hand, rubbing it against his shirt, shrugging then hanging it from his belt.
“You see something,” Ogga said excited.
“The troll found it,” Bria said.
“Aye but look past that and tell me what you see,” Ogga urged.
“I cannot. I can see only who touched it last.”
That got Bria thinking Ogga had touched the cord but not the pendant or she would have seen it. Why hadn’t she touched the pendant?
“Nonsense,” Ogga snapped. “The Wise can see all the way back to its creation.”
“Her ability has only made itself known,” Kaelan said. “It needs time to mature.”
Ogga glared at him. “She has no time. She sees it or she is useless to me, and if she is useless…” She let the thought hang there.
“This pendant has a piece missing from it,” Bria said.
“Useful after all.” Ogga smiled. “Tell me.”
“The piece interlocks with a similar piece,” Bria explained, pointing to a spot on the pendant where something had connected with it. “But I cannot tell where that piece is by touching this one. If I were able to touch things around where the piece was found, I might learn more.”
Ogga’s eyes brightened. “A chance to learn more. We will take it.”
“We?” Kaelan asked, though he did not need to. It was obvious what the witch was thinking and he did not like it one bit.
Ogga smiled. “You, your wife, and the troll.”
The beast stirred beneath the surface, not enough for anyone else to notice, but enough for Bria to feel it. The air around him seemed to tighten and she slipped her hand into his. His fingers immediately closed around hers firmly and she did her best to comfort, to ease the beast within.
“What of Braden? Does he know about this pendant?” Kaelan asked.
Ogga’s gaze sharpened. “Nay, Braden serves Tharne.”
Kaelan needed no further explanation. “If he learned someone could lead him to the healer, he would not hesitate to alert Dreth.”
“And your wife would be taken from you never to see her again,” Ogga informed him of something she was sure he already considered.
Bria felt Kaelan grow even more agitated beside her. A faint gold appeared in his eyes and brightened briefly before he lowered his head.
Ogga caught it and took an involuntary step back, warning, “Careful, Kaelan.”
His gaze lifted slowly to hers. “If harm comes to my wife because of this, there will be nowhere in Driochmor you can hide from me.”
The threat settled heavily between them.
For once, Ogga did not smile. Instead, she turned to a servant lingering near the doorway.
“Fetch the troll,” she snapped sharply.
The servant hurried off.
Silence settled briefly over the hall.
Bria’s hand remained wrapped in Kaelan’s.
She felt the tension running through him and try as she might to comfort and ease, it was difficult, the beast too powerful.
She understood too well what troubled him.
Every path seemed to lead to danger. The king.
Drogath. Ogga. None offered safety for them… for her.
Heavy footsteps echoed through the hall before the troll entered.
His gaze immediately settled on the pendant. “Found that.”
“Aye, you did,” Ogga said. “And now you will take them to where you found it.”
The troll frowned. “Long walk.”
“How long?” Bria asked.
The troll scratched his head, then held up a thick finger. “One day there.” A second finger joined the first. “One day back.”
“You will take them there and bring them back,” Ogga ordered sternly.
The troll’s brow creased. “Home. You said—”
“You will return home when I say you can,” she admonished harshly. “Now you will do as I command, take them to where you found the pendant and bring them back here. You know the consequences of failing me.”
The troll lowered his head, and a foul odor suddenly filled the hall.
“What have I told you about releasing gas?” Ogga screamed at him. “Never in my presence.”
Bria realized then how frightened the troll was of Ogga and she wondered what the witch had threatened him with to keep him obedient.
Ogga turned to Bria. “Take the pendant with you and find what I seek and return.” She turned quiet for a moment, her stark blue eyes lingering on Bria. “Do not disappoint me.”
Bria slipped the cord over her head and let it rest against her chest.
Then without another word, Kaelan led her toward the doors.
The troll lumbered after them.