Mel watched as Brandon stepped up in front of the dummy in the garden. He swung his short sword around, but seemed to stop there for a moment, hesitating. He waited and his gaze lifted to the skies over the stone wall surrounding the grounds. Mel saw his cheeks flush and a deep sigh escaped his lips.
He stood up tall again and lowered the sword, letting the glow disappear from the blade. The pattern disappearing like it had never existed in the first place, displaying the shiny surface of iron that was the sword's usual complexion.
“What if I don’t dare?” he asked. “What if I make a mistake and burn myself?”
Austin took a step toward Brandon, but he still had his back to all of them. Austin stopped and his brows furrowed in concentration.
“We have to try, Brandon,” Austin said. “Mistakes will happen and it’s better they happen now than out there in the wastes when you’re facing a beast.”
Brandon swallowed noticeably and Mel was the only one who could see his face in profile from where she was standing. A part of her felt like she couldn’t quite relate to him. Her own volition seemed to always be to act first and think second. But he was totally different from her. She could see it now. His quiet earnestness and his overthinking every single move.
Brandon took his stance once more and swung the short sword back, then he thrust it forward and let his body follow in the motion. Only Mel saw that his eyes were closed the entire time and when his flames hit the dummy, letting it burn in front of him, his eyes finally opened.
Austin rushed forward in quick steps and doused the fire with his magic. A wet, smokey smell filled the air and Mel heard the fizz of dying embers for a moment before they all flickered out. Brandon stood in shock next to Austin, his face pale and his mouth drawn into a line. Austin put his hand on his shoulder.
“Good shot, not bad for a first timer.”
Brandon gave him a thin smile and walked back to Clara, who patted him on the back. It was now time for Mel to try to give her dagger another chance to prove itself. She knew instinctively it could do amazing things, but she had not truly seen them for herself yet.
Mel stepped up toward the dummy and eyed the scorched cloth and the hay sticking out through the holes.
“What was I gonna do again?” Mel asked.
“I’m not sure,” Austin said. “I don’t know what your dagger can do. It’s a new thing and I don’t know if there are any spells for it. Not like a splash or a fireball.”
Mel looked back at him over her shoulder, and his expression looked concerned. “The last time I used the dagger was in the wastes and then it managed to create both an earthquake and flames.”
“Okay,” Austin said, rubbing at the back of his neck. “But that doesn’t sound like a double imbue. I mean, theoretically, it should do something that uses both elements in the same action, mixing them together if it’s truly a mix of the elements, that is.”
“It could make a giant pool of hot burning lava,” Clara said.
She held up her hand like a claw sticking up through the earth. Mel smiled and looked down at her dagger. She connected to the ringing inside and played the same note in her mind. The dagger glowed orange, veins stretching up and around its blade.
“That might not be a good idea,” Austin said, shifting his stance from one foot to the other.
“I’m gonna try it,” Mel said, turning back to the dummy.
She focused her gaze on the burnt straws of hay and forgot about the dagger in her hand. She felt it like an extension of her arm and the ringing an extension of her mind. Mel remembered what it had felt like to use the magic of Professor Dereey’s ring during her final test to create a small breeze. The magic inside the ring had responded to her command when she hadn’t used words, but feelings.
Mel felt the hot sensation of lava piercing the earth in front of her and imagined melting rocks pooling underneath the dummy, eating it from the ground up. She projected these feelings, these visions to her dagger and she felt the magic responding.
The first thing that happened was a loud crack underneath her feet and a rumble, like an empty stomach begging for food. Then the earth parted like a canyon and from the center of the hollowness a deep orange flood ran through.
Mel took a step back, staring at the crack in the ground under the dummy, seeing the wooden pole of the structure sinking into the hot, flowing rock. The entire thing caught fire, and the hay burned in seconds to ash. The cloth sagged and eventually went up in flames as well. Mel brought down her dagger and sheathed it.
The rock had turned redder and the edges of the crack were cooling into solid form once more. Mel took several more steps back to the group and her gaze met with Austin’s. He looked at her with fear in his eyes, and Mel felt like she didn’t know how she would ever control such magic.
When she looked back, the rock was solid and the ground forever changed. There was no more grass around the pit of lava Mel had created, and what was left of the flowing rocks was nothing more than an angry-looking scorched patch.
“Well, I’m not so sure water will work on that,” Gabs said.
Austin nodded. “We’ll have to use ice, that's for sure, if Mel accidentally scorches something out there. Luckily, the ground will mostly be wet, so maybe it will have difficulty catching on, anyway.”
Mel swallowed hard. She didn’t know what to say. Was this the weapon they had all been looking for to turn the tide in the war, or was it an abomination sent by the void? She just wasn’t sure anymore.
#
Gabs, Clara and Brandon took their leave a short while after. They needed to get things ready before they would all leave in the morning tomorrow. Mostly get supplies for Clara and Brandon as well.
After they left, Mel was alone with Austin and helped him put back the empty black cases that had contained the weapons they would bring into his father’s weapon storage. It was in a dark part of the cellar underneath the mansion and Mel had a creepy feeling running through her shoulders the entire time they were down there.
There were cobwebs in the corners and dust lining the walls as they walked back up to the entrance floor of the mansion. Mel felt like she could finally take in a full breath again when both Austin and she were standing on the right side of the basement door. A part of her was thankful that she had never accepted Austin’s offer of sharing his family bunker during the recent attacks.
Low voices came from the study down the hall, and both Mel and Austin froze on their way to the staircase, standing perfectly still and watching the closed door. It sounded like two men arguing, and Austin threw Mel a worried glance. None of them knew how long someone had been home. Could they have caught them practicing in the backyard and had they seen Mel’s dagger and the pool of lava?
Austin gestured for Mel to stay put, then he snuck down the hall toward the closed door to the study. He rested his ear against the door and Mel tried to keep her breath even as she waited. His face turned dark and Mel felt her heart speed up. She wanted to yell at him to tell her what he had overheard, but had to wait for him to move slowly back toward her.
Austin placed a hand on her elbow and gestured for Mel to walk upstairs with him. Together, they took one footstep at a time up the stairs until they were on the first floor. Austin walked ahead of her toward his room and opened the door with such carefulness.
Inside his room, he closed the door without making any loud noises and when they were alone, he finally turned to her, his eyes dark and intense.
“They know,” he said. “Derek knows our plan to leave tomorrow. There was someone inside with him in the study who was relaying information about our plans. He must have overheard them at the Last Stance.”
Mel felt a chill running down her back and she shook her head. Instantly she saw the man who had been seated by the bar every time she and Marcus had been at Pedro’s noodle place and then again when they had had their meetings at the Last Stance.
“I think they aim to stop us before we have a chance to get out of Aldrion. I can’t believe he would do something like this. I’m his brother.”
She felt her limbs heavy with exhaustion and her body slumping toward the ground. Austin was pacing the room now, looking angry and frantic. Mel took a step toward him and put her hand on his upper arm.
“What if we leave tonight?” she asked. “Leave before they have a chance to catch us.”
Austin stopped, looking down at her hand at first, then meeting her gaze. “Maybe,” he said. “They did seem pretty adamant about catching us tomorrow. Since they know our plan, why would they try to catch us earlier? It could work. But we will have to get Gabs and the others too and make sure they have supplies and they’re ready and…”
“Hey,” Mel said. “We can do this. If I go to Falden and get Gabs and the others, you can gather up the rest of the supplies from here and then we meet by the gates by nightfall?”
Austin nodded. “That could work. But what if something happens? If one of us doesn’t make it in time?”
Mel swallowed hard. “Then the rest leave without them. I have to do this. I have to try, especially now that they are planning on stopping me. There is something out there, Austin. Why else would they want us to stay here in Aldrion?”
“I don’t think my brother knows anything about something being hidden out in the wastes. I think he’s just an idiot. But I get why this is important to you and I want to see it for myself too, even if there is nothing to see.”
Austin put his hand over Mel’s that still lingered on his arm. Mel felt heat rushing to her cheeks, and she leaned in toward him. “I will meet you by the hole in the wall, the one furthest to the south by nightfall.”
Mel nodded, but their hands lingered together and she felt her body warm and soft underneath his gaze. She swallowed and felt her mouth dry. Austin released her hand and Mel rocked back on her feet, the moment passing.
She snuck out of his bedroom and made her way down the stairs. By now, the study lay quiet in the evening. Mel walked outside from the mansion and took the gate to the street. On the road to Falden she looked down at her hand, the one that had been squeezed between Austin’s arm and his warm palm. It trembled slightly when she looked at it and butterflies seemed to take flight in her belly.
Mel watched as Brandon stepped up in front of the dummy in the garden. He swung his short sword around, but seemed to stop there for a moment, hesitating. He waited and his gaze lifted to the skies over the stone wall surrounding the grounds. Mel saw his cheeks flush and a deep sigh escaped his lips.
He stood up tall again and lowered the sword, letting the glow disappear from the blade. The pattern disappearing like it had never existed in the first place, displaying the shiny surface of iron that was the sword's usual complexion.
“What if I don’t dare?” he asked. “What if I make a mistake and burn myself?”
Austin took a step toward Brandon, but he still had his back to all of them. Austin stopped and his brows furrowed in concentration.
“We have to try, Brandon,” Austin said. “Mistakes will happen and it’s better they happen now than out there in the wastes when you’re facing a beast.”
Brandon swallowed noticeably and Mel was the only one who could see his face in profile from where she was standing. A part of her felt like she couldn’t quite relate to him. Her own volition seemed to always be to act first and think second. But he was totally different from her. She could see it now. His quiet earnestness and his overthinking every single move.
Brandon took his stance once more and swung the short sword back, then he thrust it forward and let his body follow in the motion. Only Mel saw that his eyes were closed the entire time and when his flames hit the dummy, letting it burn in front of him, his eyes finally opened.
Austin rushed forward in quick steps and doused the fire with his magic. A wet, smokey smell filled the air and Mel heard the fizz of dying embers for a moment before they all flickered out. Brandon stood in shock next to Austin, his face pale and his mouth drawn into a line. Austin put his hand on his shoulder.
“Good shot, not bad for a first timer.”
Brandon gave him a thin smile and walked back to Clara, who patted him on the back. It was now time for Mel to try to give her dagger another chance to prove itself. She knew instinctively it could do amazing things, but she had not truly seen them for herself yet.
Mel stepped up toward the dummy and eyed the scorched cloth and the hay sticking out through the holes.
“What was I gonna do again?” Mel asked.
“I’m not sure,” Austin said. “I don’t know what your dagger can do. It’s a new thing and I don’t know if there are any spells for it. Not like a splash or a fireball.”
Mel looked back at him over her shoulder, and his expression looked concerned. “The last time I used the dagger was in the wastes and then it managed to create both an earthquake and flames.”
“Okay,” Austin said, rubbing at the back of his neck. “But that doesn’t sound like a double imbue. I mean, theoretically, it should do something that uses both elements in the same action, mixing them together if it’s truly a mix of the elements, that is.”
“It could make a giant pool of hot burning lava,” Clara said.
She held up her hand like a claw sticking up through the earth. Mel smiled and looked down at her dagger. She connected to the ringing inside and played the same note in her mind. The dagger glowed orange, veins stretching up and around its blade.
“That might not be a good idea,” Austin said, shifting his stance from one foot to the other.
“I’m gonna try it,” Mel said, turning back to the dummy.
She focused her gaze on the burnt straws of hay and forgot about the dagger in her hand. She felt it like an extension of her arm and the ringing an extension of her mind. Mel remembered what it had felt like to use the magic of Professor Dereey’s ring during her final test to create a small breeze. The magic inside the ring had responded to her command when she hadn’t used words, but feelings.
Mel felt the hot sensation of lava piercing the earth in front of her and imagined melting rocks pooling underneath the dummy, eating it from the ground up. She projected these feelings, these visions to her dagger and she felt the magic responding.
The first thing that happened was a loud crack underneath her feet and a rumble, like an empty stomach begging for food. Then the earth parted like a canyon and from the center of the hollowness a deep orange flood ran through.
Mel took a step back, staring at the crack in the ground under the dummy, seeing the wooden pole of the structure sinking into the hot, flowing rock. The entire thing caught fire, and the hay burned in seconds to ash. The cloth sagged and eventually went up in flames as well. Mel brought down her dagger and sheathed it.
The rock had turned redder and the edges of the crack were cooling into solid form once more. Mel took several more steps back to the group and her gaze met with Austin’s. He looked at her with fear in his eyes, and Mel felt like she didn’t know how she would ever control such magic.
When she looked back, the rock was solid and the ground forever changed. There was no more grass around the pit of lava Mel had created, and what was left of the flowing rocks was nothing more than an angry-looking scorched patch.
“Well, I’m not so sure water will work on that,” Gabs said.
Austin nodded. “We’ll have to use ice, that's for sure, if Mel accidentally scorches something out there. Luckily, the ground will mostly be wet, so maybe it will have difficulty catching on, anyway.”
Mel swallowed hard. She didn’t know what to say. Was this the weapon they had all been looking for to turn the tide in the war, or was it an abomination sent by the void? She just wasn’t sure anymore.
#
Gabs, Clara and Brandon took their leave a short while after. They needed to get things ready before they would all leave in the morning tomorrow. Mostly get supplies for Clara and Brandon as well.
After they left, Mel was alone with Austin and helped him put back the empty black cases that had contained the weapons they would bring into his father’s weapon storage. It was in a dark part of the cellar underneath the mansion and Mel had a creepy feeling running through her shoulders the entire time they were down there.
There were cobwebs in the corners and dust lining the walls as they walked back up to the entrance floor of the mansion. Mel felt like she could finally take in a full breath again when both Austin and she were standing on the right side of the basement door. A part of her was thankful that she had never accepted Austin’s offer of sharing his family bunker during the recent attacks.
Low voices came from the study down the hall, and both Mel and Austin froze on their way to the staircase, standing perfectly still and watching the closed door. It sounded like two men arguing, and Austin threw Mel a worried glance. None of them knew how long someone had been home. Could they have caught them practicing in the backyard and had they seen Mel’s dagger and the pool of lava?
Austin gestured for Mel to stay put, then he snuck down the hall toward the closed door to the study. He rested his ear against the door and Mel tried to keep her breath even as she waited. His face turned dark and Mel felt her heart speed up. She wanted to yell at him to tell her what he had overheard, but had to wait for him to move slowly back toward her.
Austin placed a hand on her elbow and gestured for Mel to walk upstairs with him. Together, they took one footstep at a time up the stairs until they were on the first floor. Austin walked ahead of her toward his room and opened the door with such carefulness.
Inside his room, he closed the door without making any loud noises and when they were alone, he finally turned to her, his eyes dark and intense.
“They know,” he said. “Derek knows our plan to leave tomorrow. There was someone inside with him in the study who was relaying information about our plans. He must have overheard them at the Last Stance.”
Mel felt a chill running down her back and she shook her head. Instantly she saw the man who had been seated by the bar every time she and Marcus had been at Pedro’s noodle place and then again when they had had their meetings at the Last Stance.
“I think they aim to stop us before we have a chance to get out of Aldrion. I can’t believe he would do something like this. I’m his brother.”
She felt her limbs heavy with exhaustion and her body slumping toward the ground. Austin was pacing the room now, looking angry and frantic. Mel took a step toward him and put her hand on his upper arm.
“What if we leave tonight?” she asked. “Leave before they have a chance to catch us.”
Austin stopped, looking down at her hand at first, then meeting her gaze. “Maybe,” he said. “They did seem pretty adamant about catching us tomorrow. Since they know our plan, why would they try to catch us earlier? It could work. But we will have to get Gabs and the others too and make sure they have supplies and they’re ready and…”
“Hey,” Mel said. “We can do this. If I go to Falden and get Gabs and the others, you can gather up the rest of the supplies from here and then we meet by the gates by nightfall?”
Austin nodded. “That could work. But what if something happens? If one of us doesn’t make it in time?”
Mel swallowed hard. “Then the rest leave without them. I have to do this. I have to try, especially now that they are planning on stopping me. There is something out there, Austin. Why else would they want us to stay here in Aldrion?”
“I don’t think my brother knows anything about something being hidden out in the wastes. I think he’s just an idiot. But I get why this is important to you and I want to see it for myself too, even if there is nothing to see.”
Austin put his hand over Mel’s that still lingered on his arm. Mel felt heat rushing to her cheeks, and she leaned in toward him. “I will meet you by the hole in the wall, the one furthest to the south by nightfall.”
Mel nodded, but their hands lingered together and she felt her body warm and soft underneath his gaze. She swallowed and felt her mouth dry. Austin released her hand and Mel rocked back on her feet, the moment passing.
She snuck out of his bedroom and made her way down the stairs. By now, the study lay quiet in the evening. Mel walked outside from the mansion and took the gate to the street. On the road to Falden she looked down at her hand, the one that had been squeezed between Austin’s arm and his warm palm. It trembled slightly when she looked at it and butterflies seemed to take flight in her belly.
