Ice Burns (10 page)

Deakon dove at her, arms outstretched. Chandra quickly danced away from his grasp, and the laughter escaped her to echo around the room. She laughed louder and more heartily than she could ever remember having done before. As she scooted past the window and over her bed while being chased by Deakon, she noticed that Frostwhite was no longer on the sill.

The window was open, and the storm had passed. Somehow Chandra knew that Frostwhite would be back if he needed her or she, him.

The door swung open, and the guard stepped in and glared at them.

“You were only supposed to deliver her food, not stay to chat,” he told Deakon, who had stopped chasing Chandra. He had turned purple from the joint efforts of pursuit and speech. “Time for you to go,” the guard said.

Deakon turned to glare at Chandra, who shrugged and wiggled her fingers at him. She gave him a sweet smile and gestured to the door with a cock of her head. Chandra thought she could see a tiny bit of smoke coming out of Deakon's ears as he left.

When the door had closed behind him, Chandra ran over to her bed and fell upon it. She rolled around on the mattress giggling like a child. When her face hurt and she could no longer breathe, she turned onto her back. Up in the rafters, she spied a huge white form. Frostwhite had found a new spot to roost.

"Now I understand why Master is always saying that silence is worth more than gold," she told him and the hawk made a small sound in response.

7

Frostwhite couldn't have chosen a better time to change his roost. A short while after the door had closed, it re-opened, and Master Dreys entered followed by the still-silent Deakon. Chandra could also see several faces in the hall trying to peer around the man-at-arms to see into the room before Master swung the door shut.

“Well, apprentice, some interesting news has come to me upon my return home,” Master Dreys said to her. He was still wearing his traveling cloak which he removed and tossed across the chair.

“Oh? Did the mare have her foal?" Chandra masked her face in her best bland expression as soon as she had seen who it was. Inside, though, her body felt as though the storm had taken root and was shaking everything around.

Master Dreys peered down his long nose at her; he was seldom fooled and never by her. His dark eyes were fiery with some emotion Chandra could not pinpoint. It was not anger but something else.

"Come now. There is no reason to hide what you've done, but it does need to be corrected. Return Deakon's voice to him; his penmanship is horrendous," Master said as he tossed several pages of parchment on the table. Chandra recognized the scribbled writing on the paper and knew that Master was well-versed in Deakon's version of the event.

Chandra eyed the parchment for a moment before raising her hazel eyes to her Master's dark, glittering ones. She looked at him for a moment before turning to Deakon. The look in Master's eyes made her more nervous than she had already been. Once her laughter had died down, when Deakon left her room, she began to worry that she wouldn't be able to undo what she had done. Frostwhite attempted to soothe and reassure her with his presence in her mind, and she had reasoned that she still had time to figure it out before Master returned.

Time's up
, she told herself and took a slow breath.

“You may speak, Deakon,” Chandra said. She hoped words would be enough. Verbal actions had been the only constant other than a desire in the instances of her magic.

Deakon took a sputtering breath as if he had come up from being underwater. The sounds and mutterings that came out of his mouth were indistinguishable, and Chandra wondered for a moment if she had damaged his ability to speak coherently. Once she realized what he was saying, she felt her mouth open, and eyes go wide. Deakon's choice words were worse than anything she had ever heard, and the curses were strung together so that there was no pause between them.

“...goingtogetyouforthisChandra.” Chandra was able to understand among words that were not only offensive but physically impossible.

"Enough," Master said. He didn't shout but spoke in a tone that cut through the room like an icy wind. It was sufficient to silence Deakon as efficiently as Chandra's enchantment had been.

“You may go now, Deakon.”

Chandra watched his mouth drop open for a moment as though he would protest. Deakon looked at Master's face and decided it might not be the best time for it. He glared at Chandra before turning and leaving the room. With the door open, Chandra was given another glimpse of curious eyes and straining necks in the hall. She barely quelled the urge to smile and wave at them.

“I take it that you're now ready to step into your position as my apprentice?”

Chandra lowered her eyes to stare at the table in front of her. Her heart thudded in her chest, and the familiar fear of failure balled in her throat. She forced herself to speak.

"I am ready to try, Master Dreys.”

"Very well. As you are expected to be stronger than any of my other mages, you will prove yourself in a more forceful manner."

Chandra raised her hazel eyes to look at Master. Her brows furrowed as she watched him. She knew better than to speak and waited instead for the ax to fall.

“You will attempt to hit me.”

Chandra blinked rapidly at him. She waited several years and heartbeats before asking for clarification of what he sought.

“Master, I do not understand.”

“You will ball up your magic and throw it at me,” he told her and began to roll up his sleeves. The tone of his voice was so bland he might have been discussing class schedules or meals with a member of the staff.

“I...”

“Do not stutter! Do it!”

Chandra stared at her Master as his face went purple. Anger etched his handsome features into a mask she had never seen before and his eyes glittered with an unfamiliar, bright fire. Chandra was frightened.

As she watched, Master lifted his hand up beside him. Chandra saw the pitcher on the table mirror him and rise into the air. It hovered no more than two feet in front of her face. Instinct made her duck as the pitcher came at her before crashing into the wall. Chandra yelped and dove under the table. She had not thought Master would be enraged at her for her actions at Deakon so much as happy that her latent powers had risen. Apparently, even an apprentice can be called to answer for her actions. She crawled out from under the table in time for one of the books on the table to fly at her, barely missing her head before it crashed into her bed.

Chandra lifted her hands to block anything from hitting her face as she turned back to Master. She had to convince him to stop. She had to make him stop.

All of the sudden, Master was lifted in the air and thrown into the wall behind him where he stayed. His arms and legs spread and pressed against the wall by an invisible hand. Chandra's eyes went wide, and her breath left her in a rush. She realized she had both of her hands up and curled as she looked at Master and realized it was her magic holding him there. She was afraid to continue as much as she feared to drop her arms to release him.

"Well done, apprentice. Though, you did not do as I asked," Master Dreys told her through gritted teeth. The bored expression had returned to the handsome face she knew so well even if it was a bit pink-cheeked.

“Despite that, it was an admirable display of power. You are well and truly becoming what you were meant to be.”

Chandra dropped her arms and went bonelessly to the ground, not even feeling when her knees hit the hard floor, or her chin slapped into her chest hard enough to press her teeth into her lip. The effort of the magic had been a lot for her body to take, but the emotions that rolled over her would forever affect the path her life took. It was an overwhelming combination.

Master landed like a cat when Chandra’s fall released him. He brushed off his clothes as if pushing away magic remnants from his immaculate clothing. Master Dreys eyed her for a moment from where he stood. He did not move to help her to her feet, and the look in his dark eyes was assessing.

Chandra watched him through her eyelashes. Her head was slumped forward as well, and she did not attempt to raise it and meet his eye, though she longed to for a moment. The desire to look up and see that he was pleased with her was suffocating. Chandra wanted him to tell her that it had all been an act to push her to control her power. A lone drop of sorrow slid down the side of her face because she knew it would never be that way.

Heat burned in her chest, like a small ember of fury that had been resting and now wanted to flame to life. Some part of her knew to look up and stare back at him was not a good idea, though she would never have hesitated before.

Master Dreys nodded at her. It was as though her reaction was what he wanted.

“Rest now, apprentice. I will have some food and wine brought to you. It was a significant expenditure of magic, and you need to relax. Meditate as I've shown you and allow yourself to balance with your power.”

Chandra let her eyes go soft and fall with the rest of her. She didn't speak. His soft tread moved across the room and away from her to the door. The hinges made a soft cry that echoed somewhere in the hollow place inside Chandra before the door closed. Muffled voices, Master's tone among them, came through the old wood and the guard's footsteps clapped away from his post. The door did not click as it had so many times before and Chandra knew that it would not resist if she turned the knob.

Chandra kept her head down for some time and felt her breath through her body, filling her and then escaping, but always returning. Her muscles hummed from within, and it was as though her blood could be traced through her body as she was still. Eventually, though, Chandra remembered and had to lift her head to the prison and torture chamber of her Master's will.

She raised her head and let her eyes fall on the door. The hair on her neck stood on end as Chandra traced the whorls in the old, graying wood. The age of the wood pressed out like an old, rasping voice and told her that she could destroy it if she wished. She could end her prison through that old matriarch of the forest and free them both from captivity.

Chandra shook her head to push away the feeling as though she were drifting between sleep and wakefulness. Her body didn’t feel tired so much as disconnected. Part of her was gone. She shook her head and then felt a weight on her leg and the whisper brush of silk on her cheek.

“It’s okay,” she murmured. Frostwhite had come to her. The hawk swept at her again with the edge of a snowy wing. Chandra turned to look at him. Her cheeks lifted slowly, and her lips trembled, but she smiled.

“I’m okay,” she told him in a quiet voice. Frostwhite stared at her in a manner that said her words were as believable to him as they were to her.

The promised tray of food arrived a short while later. It was laden with the best foods the kitchen had to offer not to mention wine from Master’s private collection. Frostwhite had flown out the window to gather his dinner. Chandra had splashed some water from the basin on her face to calm her skin, but she had no appetite.

The food was beautifully cooked and hot with steam rising from various plates and bowls. There was a stew with a rich brown broth and golden rolls that Chandra knew would taste slightly of honey. There was also some fowl with shining brown skin nestled in the middle of crisp-cooked cabbage that was the color of wine. Everything was on the plates with bone white faces peeking through the limited gaps between edibles and rimmed with a glimmering gold. The utensils were the type that Master insured were out when visitors from other areas came. The cup was stemless but offered a crystalline view of the dark burgundy liquid inside that glistened with gold swirled in its depths that would be fresh spiced honey.

Her stomach rolled with need and nausea that echoed loudly in the small room. Chandra knew her body needed food, but the thought of even one bite made her tongue go dry. She pulled air into her lungs slowly several times before taking her seat at the table. She reached for a roll and bit in slowly figuring her body would reject it.

Instead, the roll melted in her mouth, and a sound welled out from within her that would make beasts quake and small children run away. Chandra rubbed at her suddenly-sore belly. The moisture filled her mouth, and the roll drew a groan from her and was gone before she realized she had taken another bite.

It was as though her body suddenly came alive and Chandra eyed the food with great anticipation. She pulled the bowl toward her and let the warm broth leave savory memories of venison and fresh herbs on her tongue as it soothed her formerly ravenous stomach. It too was gone before she had done much but lift a spoon for a moment.

Frostwhite had returned and was chewing at something from his perch in the rafters. From the sounds and the way Chandra's stomach still called for nourishment, she was glad she couldn't see whatever the hawk was crunching on.

Chandra made short work of what was on the tray. Tomorrow, when she was back to eating the same foods they always sent her, she would regret not stopping to savor the dishes. Tonight, her body protested as if she hadn’t eaten in a week.

When she finished most of what had been brought, Chandra reached for the goblet of wine. No sooner had her finger touched the cup then she yanked her hand back in pain. There was a small amount of blood on the side of one finger.