ARC: The Wizard's Promise (19 page)

Lord Foxfollow’s fingers dug into my face. His nails were sharp. The pain bled spots of light into my vision.

“Don’t blame me,” Lord Foxfollow hissed. “Blame Kolur Icebreak.”

The memory of those images flickered through my thoughts, one after another. The monsters swarming the boat. Isolfr gone. The pop of pistol shots.

Send them where?

Does it matter
?

He didn’t do it on purpose. My certainty otherwise was a cold mist inside my head, but it didn’t come from me. It came from Lord Foxfollow.

“You’re a monster!” With a tremendous force of will, I pulled away from Lord Foxfollow. My feet clattered across the mirrored floor. He couldn’t hurt me here, he couldn’t hurt me here. “Just like your menials. A monster.”

Lord Foxfollow tilted his head.

“No,” he said. “I’m just different from you.”

Rage bubbled up inside me. I thought of Kolur standing at the wheel of the
Penelope
, the wind blowing his hair away from his face. I thought of Asbera weeping over Finnur, and of Finnur himself, frozen and tormented because of one bite to the shoulder.

And although there was no wind in that place, I gathered up what magic rested inside of me, a residue from all the spells I’d cast, all the winds I’d called down. I gathered it up and I wove it into a hard knot of fury and then I cast it at Lord Foxfollow, a cyclone of light.

It struck him in the chest and dissipated. Of course it didn’t hurt him. Lord Foxfollow looked at me sadly.

“My dear,” he said, “that was highly uncalled-for.”

All my anger turned to fear.

“Begone,” he said.

The mirrored room disappeared, Lord Foxfollow disappeared, and I drifted, dazed, through a cold and dark space.

He had undone my magic with a single command, and I understood then that he could have done that from the very beginning. That he was only humoring me.

The dark space brightened. Spots of light appeared overhead. I blinked at them. Stars. They were stars. I was lying flat on my back, staring at the stars.

No, not lying.

Floating.

I flailed, my heart racing. I caught a glimpse of what lay below me: dark ocean and the
Annika
, so small it looked like one of Henrik’s toys.

“No.” I struggled against invisible bindings. “No. Foxfollow!”

My voice carried on the wind. The wind, sweet-smelling and gentle – that wasn’t Foxfollow’s doing. He would have just dropped me into the maelstrom of monsters down below. No, this was the north wind, buoying me along, keeping me adrift.

I stopped struggling. The wind caressed me. It was cold, yes, but it was a comfort, too.

“Thank you,” I whispered, although I wasn’t sure who I spoke to.

The wind whistled in response, and then it floated me down slowly, gently, and laid me to rest in the bow of the
Annika
.

CHAPTER 15

Lost. Everything was lost.

I sat up. The familiar creaks and moans of the
Annika
were drowned out by the shrieking of the monsters in the water. The boat rocked back and forth as the north wind blew us steadily home.

But we couldn’t go home.

“Hanna!” Asbera’s voice rang out in the crystal night. She ran over beside me, Reynir at her side. “What happened? Benedict said you disappeared–”

“I was trying to help Finnur,” I muttered. “But I can’t. I can’t.”

“Trying to –
How?
” Reynir threw his hands up. “By just
disappearing
? Can you take the rest of us with you? Or take
Finnur
with you, at least?”

“I didn’t go somewhere that could help Finnur.” I stood up, shaky after flying on the wind. The monsters thrashed against the side of the shield.

“I was worried,” Asbera said. “I thought something had happened to you, too.”

“Something did. But I’m fine.” I stalked away from the railing, back toward the brazier at the boat’s center. Baltasar sat beside it, staring into the flames. He glanced up at me when I joined him.

“Worried about you, girl,” he said.

He sounded exactly like Kolur. I looked down at him, at the firelight bouncing off his skin, and felt like crying. What if Lord Foxfollow hadn’t been lying? What if Kolur had sent the monsters to me on purpose?

I shook my head. “I just wanted to help. But I didn’t find anything.” I sat down in front of the brazier and stuck out my hands to warm them.

Reynir and Asbera walked over to the fire, although they hung back, sticking to the shadows.

“Isn’t anyone watching Finnur?” I asked.

“Seimur is.” Asbera frowned. “I was – we were worried. What were you trying to do?”

I took a deep, shuddery breath. The night howled with sound, clawing and shrieking, and so I focused my attention on the crackle of the wood inside the brazier.

“Find the person who hurt Finnur.”

Baltasar gave a bitter laugh. “Did you?”

“He’s of no use.” I closed my eyes against the tears. “What are you going to do when we get back to Tulja?”

Silence. When I glanced over at Baltasar, he was staring into the flames.

“Well?”

“Been trying not to think about it,” he said. “Enough to worry about.”

Behind him, Asbera gasped. “No,” she said, and stumbled over beside us. She knelt beside Baltasar and grabbed his hand, her eyes big and imploring. “No, you can’t – we have to go home. Finnur’s dying.”

“I know he is.” Baltasar wouldn’t meet her in the eye. “Told Reynir to come up with something.”

Asbera and I both looked over at Reynir at the mention of his name, but he was looking down at the deck.

“I don’t have anything yet,” he said in a cold voice. “But perhaps Hanna can find a way, if she can meet with our attacker in some realm in the sky.” His eyes glittered in the firelight. “I’d prefer not to see my home destroyed and my family murdered.”

“Oh, stop it,” Asbera said. “That doesn’t help.”

“You aren’t helping. You’re the reason we’re going home in the first place. I told Baltasar we should sail in circles until we found a way to get rid of them.”

Asbera’s eyes flashed with anger.

“Enough!” Baltasar roared.

Magic flooded across the deck of the ship, bright and hot and smelling of the south wind. I jumped and drew into myself, searching for my own magic. Asbera grabbed for my hand. Baltasar hoisted up his pistol.

The enchantment faded away, twinkling on the air. One of the monsters had almost broken through our shield.

“They’re getting stronger,” Reynir said in a flat voice.

I scanned across the magic, sucking down breath, trying to steady myself. Over on the starboard side, the shield was marred by a thin line of light, illuminated by the stars.

A crack.

“Whatever you did,” Reynir said, “it made them worse.”

“Maybe you made it worse,” Asbera said. “You’re the one being cruel.”

I slumped back down in front of the brazier. Baltasar didn’t say anything, but he didn’t put his pistol away, either. One of the monsters let out a long, echoing howl that sank down into the marrow of my bones. I imagined that howl sliding over the empty ocean and disappearing into the cracks between worlds. I imagined Lord Foxfollow whispering spells to his monstrous little pets, giving them the strength to break through our stupid human magic.

“He’s right,” I said. “It is my fault.”

“Hanna–”

Asbera reached out one hand toward me, but I stood up and glided out of her reach. The shields hummed, but the churning on the other side was louder and more urgent.

I’d called Lord Foxfollow to me; I’d shot him with my magic. And all I’d done was give him reason to send his monsters after us in earnest.

Morning dawned, the sun a pale white disc hanging high in the sky. I felt like I’d only just fallen asleep, and I had; the nights were getting shorter. This far north, soon they’d be gone completely.

I had slept down in the crew’s quarters, curled up in a hammock so that no one would speak with me. When I woke, I went up to check on Finnur. Asbera was sitting with him, a plate of salted fish in her lap. Untouched.

Finnur was still pale, still cold, still breathing.

“Baltasar says we’ll be home by this time tomorrow.” Asbera didn’t look at me. “But we still don’t know what to do about the monsters.” Her voice cracked, and she took a deep breath and straightened her spine. “He’s right; we can’t go back to Tulja, not until they’re gone.” Her hands trembled as she pushed Finnur’s hair aside.

I felt empty. Finnur looked like a corpse, his skin was so pale, so bloodless. Once again, I thought of the vision that Lord Foxfollow had shown me – Kolur and Frida gathering up the strength of their magic and sending the monsters straight to us. I shivered. Why would Kolur do such a thing?

He wouldn’t
.

The voice whispering to me wasn’t my own. It sounded like the wind. I went very still, straining to hear it.

He wouldn’t hurt you on purpose
.

Asbera kept stroking Finnur’s hair. Her cheeks glimmered with tears.

He wouldn’t hurt me.

Foxfollow would.

It was an accident. Foxfollow showed me something that had truly happened, but he had been trying to frighten me, to make me feel abandoned. Except the voice on the wind was right – Kolur wouldn’t have hurt me on purpose.

He didn’t know where he was sending the monsters. But he had sent them away.

And I had seen it.

I bolted out of the cabin, into the bright wash of sunlight. A handful of the crew tended to the sails, and Baltasar stood up at the wheel. The shield shimmered in the sun.

Everything was quiet except for the monsters’ screeching.

The sound was horrific, like listening to an animal die, and louder than it had been even last night. I walked over to the masts. Zakaria looked up at me and nodded. He had shoved rolls of fabric into his ears. All of the crew had. I didn’t want to do the same, though. I thought I should listen. There might be something in the screams that could help.

There was still no need for me to call the winds – that was the only good thing about this trip, that the winds had been on our side all this time. Or maybe it wasn’t the winds themselves. Maybe it was that presence in the wind. I couldn’t feel it, exactly, but I’d heard its voice down below.

I looked over at the port railing, at the shield. Off in the distance, the ocean was steely and calm. It was only around the boat that the water thrashed.

I walked closer. Slow, careful, cautious steps.

“What are you doing?” Zakaria shouted. I ignored him. “Don’t get too close!”

The air was thicker around the railing. The shield sparked out at me, touching the magic in my blood. I took another step closer.

A monster leapt out of the water and slammed into the shield. Magic flared. Ocean water landed at my feet.

The monster slid away.

“Told you not to get too close.” Zakaria was at my side now. He pulled the roll of fabric out of his ears. “They’ve been doing that all day.”

“Where’s Reynir?”

“Up in the masts, strengthening the shield.” Zakaria pointed. “Could probably use your help, you know.”

I squinted up into the sunlight. Reynir was a burst of enchantment amongst the sails, a silhouette wreathed in a halo.

“No,” I said. “I need
his
help.”

I left Zakaria. Reynir was fully enveloped in his magic, his eyes closed, a stretch of rope knotted around his arm. I waited until he finished, standing there amidst the cries and shrieks of the monsters.

It didn’t take long. Eventually, his light faded, and he sagged against the rope, his chest rising and falling. I climbed up the masts.

“Hanna?” he said, squinting at me. “Is that you? The real you? You know how it is with magic–”

“Yeah, it’s the real me.”

“What are you doing here?” He leaned against the mast and unwound his arm from the rope. “Has something happened with Finnur?”

“No, he’s the same.” I leaned forward. “Reynir, I need your help. Probably Asbera’s, too.”

He looked at me with his tired eyes. “For what?”

“To get rid of the monsters.”

A pause. The wind whistled around us. It smelled sweet, like honey, nothing like the cold steely scent of the Mists.

“Have you known how to do this the entire time?” His voice was low and accusing.

“No! Well, not exactly. I learned something when I went to the in-between place.”

“I knew it.”

“I didn’t realize I’d learned it until just now. I thought I’d been betrayed, but it was – a trick. Kolur, my old captain, he’s the reason they’re here in the first place. But not–” I stopped and took a deep breath and told him what Lord Foxfollow had showed me.

“How do you know it’s not a trick?” Reynir said.

I glared at him. “I don’t, all right? But we have to do something. The monsters are just getting stronger, and if we circle around trying to figure out something else, not only will Finnur die but the rest of us will too, because those monsters are going to break through the shields.”

Reynir looked at me. The boat rocked back and forth, and the monsters’ screeching bore into my brain.

“Do you know how your captain did it?” Reynir asked. “Sent them away?”

I took a deep breath. “Not exactly–”

Reynir sighed.

“Will you let me finish? No, I don’t know how he did it exactly, but I do know it’s possible, and I know that Kolur’s a sea-wizard, like you, and Frida, who was with him, she’s a wind-witch, like me–” I trailed off.
Isolfr
. But he wouldn’t have done anything outright, not if he was still refusing to reveal who he was. “And we’ll have Asbera, who can work a bit of earth magic. When you get down to it, magic’s just strength of will, right? So together, we ought to be able to throw the monsters someplace else, out at the open sea–”

“So they can attack some other poor ship the way they attacked us?”

“We’ll have to throw them farther. The Green Glass Sea, in the south. My mother told me those waters are laced with magic, dangerous magic, and that should be enough to destroy the monsters.”

I stopped, breathing hard. Reynir watched me. He looked worn out: dark circles under his eyes, lank hair. But I imagined I looked the same way.

“Have you spoken to Asbera?” he asked.

I shook my head. Reynir sighed. “This isn’t going to work.”

“We have to at least try.”

“We don’t even know what to do.”

“I saw them do it from a distance. I can figure it out.
Please
, Reynir. Please. Even if you don’t care about Finnur, the whole boat’s in danger–”

“I care about Finnur,” he snapped. “Fine. But I’m not taking the blame when you make things worse.”

“Thank you,” I said, ignoring his slight. Fighting with him wouldn’t do any good right now.

I climbed back down and Reynir slowly followed, wiped out from repairing the shield. We walked into the captain’s quarters together.

It was quiet in there, the walls shutting out most of the monsters’ wails. Dark, too, since Asbera had drawn the curtains over the windows. Asbera was curled up in the hammock, her eyes closed. I doubted she was sleeping. Not if there was no one else to watch over Finnur.

We crept in. I looked to Finnur, the way I always did. No change. Asbera’s plate of fish sat beside his cot, half eaten.

“Hanna.” Asbera’s voice drifted through the shadows. “You’re back.”

“I need to talk to you.” I knelt down beside her. “Me and Reynir, we may need your help for something–”

She frowned and sat up. She looked even more worn-down than Reynir did. She looked like she’d died and been reanimated.

“What?” she said, voice barely a whisper.

“I think I know how to get rid of the monsters,” I said.

“What?”

“I – I saw it. In the in-between place. Kolur did it.”

“Your old captain?”

I nodded. “I couldn’t see all of what he did, but I saw enough. Enough that I think Reynir and I can do it ourselves. But I want your help, your extra magic, just in case.”

Asbera looked over at Finnur. Tears streaked down her cheeks.

Finnur didn’t move.

“Of course I’ll help you,” she said. “Why wouldn’t I?”

We waited until nightfall. Magic is stronger at night, when the world is wrapped in shadow. Kolur had sent the monsters our way at night as well, and I figured we needed to do it as much like him as possible.

But waiting until night left us little time. The
Annika
would arrive at Tulja soon – already we’d begun to pass the tiny rocky islands that marked the edge of Tuljan waters.

Baltasar cleared the deck for us. All the crew were told to wait down below, and he waited with them, at my request. Without the crew, the deck was even eerier. The shield cast a yellowish glow over everything, and the monsters shrieked and howled like they knew what was coming. Every now and then, one of them flung itself at the shield, and magic would scatter across the deck like flaring embers from a fire.

“Is everyone ready?” I asked. I’d already explained what I’d seen in the in-between place. It wasn’t much to go on, but it gave us a sense of where to stand and what to do.

They both nodded. I took a deep breath.

And then we took our positions.

Reynir stood up at the bow of the ship, where the ocean splashed up around him. Asbera was at his side. Her magic wasn’t as strong as his, but she could supplement it.

I climbed to the top of the main mast, just as Frida had done, and faced north, into the wind. I didn’t call the south winds, not when we were so close to home and with Finnur’s life so close to ending – I didn’t want the
Annika
to blow off course. The north wind had been sweet to me these last few weeks, and that presence seemed to like me well enough. I should be able to use its strength.

The wind blew hard, rough and cold against my face, and I closed my eyes so it wouldn’t draw out tears. Besides, wind-magic works best when you go by feel.

“North wind,” I whispered. “I call upon you, cold brother of the south. Drive us forward. Bring the ocean to our feet.”

The wind lulled.

My heart lurched inside my chest. “No, no, no,” I whispered. “No, please, north wind, I need your–”

And then the wind gusted so strongly that it knocked me backward. I grabbed hold of the rope to keep from falling, and my eyes flew open and I could see the stars, swirling overhead, beautiful.

The north wind had saved my life once again.

“Thank you,” I whispered.

The wind flattened out the sails, and the
Annika
plowed forward, dipping into the black, icy ocean. The monsters howled their protest. I held on tighter to the rope and concentrated on pulling the magic from the wind into myself, so I could transform it and unite with Asbera and Reynir.

I didn’t dare look at anything but the stars. I didn’t dare break my concentration. The wind poured over me and poured through me, and it was transformed into a beam of energy, cold and strong.

“Come on, Reynir,” I whispered. “Come on, come on.”

The wind blew harder. I tightened my grip on the rope. The magic drained out of me like blood, but I held on, and for a moment I thought I saw Isolfr’s face–

A force blasted across the ship and slammed into me. Magic. It was wild and tumultuous like the sea, and it left me damp, my hair curling at the ends. That magic twisted together with my magic, sea and wind. Just like in Kolur’s spell.

As our power combined, I saw glimpses of Asbera’s face alongside Reynir, and I could feel the two different strains of their strength.

The magic flowed between all three of us, an arc of power. Everything fell away but the rushing of enchantment, which roared like the ocean, like the wind. I couldn’t let myself think consciously anymore, and so I let the magic think for me. Think
through
me. Together, we sent it running over the sides of the ship, a waterfall of light that caught the monsters like a spider’s web. They howled and thrashed. But they were trapped.

We had to act fast, before the Mists became aware of what we were doing. “To the Green Glass Sea,” I whispered, and my voice was Asbera’s voice, and Reynir’s voice. “To the Green Glass Sea. To the Green Glass Sea. Tothegreenglasssea. Tothegreenglassseatothegreenglassseatothe–”

The air cracked with a great thundering tension. Our magic drew tight like a coil.

“Release!” I screamed, and the wind tasted like saltwater.

Distantly, through the rush and roar of enchantment, I heard Reynir’s voice shout, “Release,” and then Asbera’s, layered on top of each other like we were singing a melody.

A pause, long enough that I could feel the texture of the magic all around me, damp and cold and strong and shimmering like starlight.

The monsters let out one last howling screech, all in unison.

And then the magic transformed into an explosion of light brighter than the sun. I screamed and shut my eyes, but the dazzle stayed, burned against my eyelids. In the flash, I saw bright green waters, far away in a warm part of the world, stirred up by a denala. The storm rained monsters into the sea.

And, thank the ancestors, there were no ships on the open ocean to witness it.

Then even that image was swallowed up by the brightness.

The boat rocked. I leaned into the rope and took deep breaths as the magic subsided, pulling back like the tide. The wind died down, and the sea quieted. My eyes fluttered open. There seemed to be more stars than when we began.

I had forgotten what silence sounded like.

“Hanna.” The voice drifted in on the wind. It wasn’t Asbera’s and it wasn’t Reynir’s. For a moment I thought it was Finnur, but no, the accent was wrong. “Hanna, I’m so glad–”

“We did it!” Asbera’s head poked up on the mast. “They’re gone. Those awful creatures are gone!” She climbed up on the mast beside me. I straightened up and untangled my arm from the rope. It had seared a red line into my flesh.

“I saw it,” I said, feeling dazed. “The Green Glass Sea. Did you–”

“Yes,” She pulled me into a hug. “I saw it, too. They’re gone.
Gone.
” When she pulled away, her eyes shone with tears. “We’ll be able to disembark,” she whispered. “We’ll be able to save him.”

I nodded. Everything felt fuzzy. Distorted. Had I really seen Isolfr’s face in the swirl of magic? That didn’t make sense. Had he been following the
Annika
after all?

But I didn’t have time to think on those questions. Asbera pulled me down the mast. After the brightness of the magic-burst, the darkness was too dark, and we both stumbled through the shadows. I banged my knee against the unlit brazier and gave a sharp cry of pain. It echoed in the silence of the open ocean, a comfort.

No more monster cries.

A faint blue light appeared on the deck, bobbing along through the darkness.

I thought of the Mists, disguised as the costumed men.

Then voices rose up, chattering and relieved. The crew. I slumped against Asbera in relief.

“Did you see that?” Reynir bounded up to us, a magic-cast lantern swinging from one hand. “That light? Oh, and the Green Glass Sea – never thought I’d live to see the Green Glass Sea.”

Asbera laughed, although it was too strained, too frenetic, to be mirthful. I smiled. Truthfully, I never thought I’d see the Green Glass Sea, either.

The crew crowded around us, stomping their feet and cheering. Baltasar slapped Reynir on the back. “You sure they’re gone?”

Reynir looked to me. “You can’t be sure about anything with magic,” I said. “But everything played out the way I saw it.”

Baltasar nodded, satisfied. “Well, then. Let’s see if we can’t make this boat go any faster, eh, boys?”

The crew cheered again, and there was a mad scramble to pick up the ropes and angle the sails to best catch the wind.

Which was still gusting in from the north.

Asbera slipped away from the crowd, moving through the liquid light of the magic-cast lanterns, toward the captain’s quarters. I followed her.

Finnur was still frozen in place. Asbera hung the lantern on the hook above the bed, and as the light slid over him, I almost thought he moved.

“How’s he doing?” I asked.

“The same.” Asbera lifted up my bracelet and laid her hand on his heart. “Part of me thought – well, I thought that when we cast the spell–”

Her voice trailed away. I walked over to her and wrapped my arm around her shoulders. Finnur screamed silently up at the ceiling.

Asbera laid the bracelet back on his chest.

“It’s not long now,” I told her. “We’ll be there by dawn.”

“You’ll help me, won’t you? Take him to the priests?”

“Of course.” Even though I didn’t know if the priests would be of any help. Kolur knew how to beat back the Mists – but he would have sailed away to the north.

I gave Asbera a hug, squeezing her tight, and listened to the waves crashing up against the sides of the
Annika.
The crew and the winds had us going fast, like we were driving straight into the dawn itself.

Asbera and I stood side by side in our embrace, waiting for the sun.