Riven (The Arinthian Line Book 2) (51 page)

Although they had managed to get a few hours of sleep earlier, it was hardly enough to sustain them. Augum found himself constantly dozing off, his head lolling onto Leera’s shoulder. She kept waking him, insisting that he suffer through this “adventure” with her, emphasizing they would get plenty of time to sleep when they got back. He hoped so, though he was more worried about the Legion showing up and rooting them all out.

As they trotted south, the wind increased in strength. Leera began shivering, so he extended his blanket around her.

The day wore on, melding into night, ever colder, ever windier, until Ms. Jenkins slowed. “Sparrow’s Perch is just ahead,” she said.

They circumnavigated at a distance, eventually tying the horses up a short ways to the west in a small grove sheltered from the onslaught of the wind.

They rushed back to Sparrow’s Perch, practically stumbling through the entranceway to Mr. Goss’ burned-out home. As they did so, Ms. Jenkins used Telekinesis in a manner Augum had never thought of—to obscure their tracks by effectively pushing the snow over itself in a wave-like way. It was neat to watch, an advanced trick that, in his exhausted state of mind, seemed impossible to replicate.

Ms. Jenkins stayed outside to cast protective enchantments while Leera opened the trap door. She was immediately greeted by a sleepy-looking Mr. Goss, his spectacled face lighting up with a smile.

“I was worried sick about you all,” he said, ushering them inside. Then his expression turned serious. “I would very much like to lecture you for not telling me your plans.”

Augum fidgeted with his fingers. “Mr. Goss, we apologize, but we had to make sure Mr. Bawdings succeeded.”

Mr. Goss glanced at Bridget. “I understand, but I would have preferred to have been made aware nonetheless.” He sighed. “And how is Hedrick? Nursing quite the headache, I imagine?”

Augum exchanged a look with Leera. “Um, no, actually he, um—”

“He didn’t make it,” Leera said. “We’re so sorry, Mr. Goss.”

“Oh, I see.” He paced to the counter, retrieved a pot, placed it under the iron pump, and filled it with water, hands shaking. “How did it happen?”

Augum recalled the body in the snow. “There was … there was something in the woods—”

Mr. Goss held up a hand, swallowing. “Please do not continue. I … I shall think of him as I saw him last—garrulously drunk with a smile on his face.” He hung the pot over the fire and went to prepare mugs.

“We found her though,” Augum said. “The healer, Ms. Jenkins. She’s up above casting protective spells.”

“Ah, I am pleased to hear
some
good tidings. And Haylee? Is she helping Ms. Jenkins?”

Augum took a seat at the table. “Uh, she was captured.”

Mr. Goss stopped what he was doing. “Captured?”

Suddenly Augum felt terribly guilty. “She … she saved us, Mr. Goss. She stopped the wraith from killing us. Then … then she went in Mr. Bawdings’ place, but somehow they knew. The camp knew about her through some sort of orb, so—”

“So they kept her,” Mr. Goss finished in a quiet voice. “That unfortunate, poor, brave girl …”

A knock came at the trap door. Mr. Goss jumped. “That must be Ms. Jenkins,” and climbed the steps. “Ah, Ms. Jenkins, I am so pleased to see you in this grim time.” He took her hand and helped her down the rest of the clay steps.

“And you, my dear Albert,” Ms. Jenkins said, smiling perfunctorily, eyes darting about. “I’m afraid I can only stay but a moment. The Legion are on their way. I placed protective enchantments over the floor above. They should get you through tonight, unless you run into some bad luck that is.”

She means Corrigus, Augum thought.

“I suppose you’ve heard the news about Miss Tennyson?” Ms. Jenkins continued.

Mr. Goss’ face grew serious. “Haylee … yes.”

“It’s most unfortunate, but I’ll do what I can, Albert. I promise you that.”

“I am most relieved to hear it. Tea?”

“Maybe just a quick sip while I work.” She waddled over to Bridget. “How is your little boy?” she asked absent-mindedly while placing her palm on Bridget’s stomach. She closed her eyes as her hand began glowing.

“Oh, yes, he is doing very well, Ms. Jenkins, very well. All thanks to you of course. He is asleep now, shall I wake him?”

One of Ms. Jenkins’ brows rose as she completed her arcane examination at Bridget’s neck. “I’d very much like to continue his treatment, Albert, but due to its length, I’m afraid it will have to wait for another day.”

“Yes, of course, time is precious,” Mr. Goss replied, wiping his hands and retrieving the pot, which was now boiling. He poured them all steaming ginger tea, pushing a mug onto Ms. Jenkins.

She took one sip and put her mug down. “I need all of you to stand back and stay very quiet. She has a difficult double injury of the back and neck that will require the entirety of my concentration.” She gave them a grave look. “I must warn you that should the spell fail, she’ll probably never recover.”

Augum and Leera exchanged horrified looks. This was not part of the plan. He, and apparently Leera also, hadn’t realized there was a chance of spell failure. Seeing Leland should have given him pause, though—the arcane healing element wasn’t perfect and carried the same risks as any other element.

Ms. Jenkins took a series of long deep breaths and closed her eyes. Finally, she placed a pudgy hand on Bridget’s forehead and started reciting a complex healing spell, taking special care with pronunciation. Her hand began glowing brightly, eventually consuming her entire body in white brilliance. The glow reached a blinding intensity before fading, leaving a burned-in visual image of the scene in Augum’s brain.

Ms. Jenkins, huffing and holding her head as if in pain, stumbled about for a seat. Mr. Goss immediately came to her aid, helping her sit down in the rocking chair by the fire, hurriedly retrieving her mug of tea. She grasped it with shaking fingers.

Meanwhile, Augum and Leera rushed over to Bridget’s side. Her eyes were open yet she lay as still as ever. Augum’s stomach filled with dread. It hadn’t worked …

Suddenly Bridget’s little pinky finger moved.

Leera gasped. “You can do it, Bridge, come on!” and they cheered her on, movement by movement, until she lifted an arm and even smiled. Leera and Augum hugged each other tightly; then delicately hugged Bridget until she gurgled for them to stop; then hugged Mr. Goss; and finally a weary Ms. Jenkins.

“I should go now,” Ms. Jenkins said, rising.

“Ms. Jenkins, wait—” Leera said.

Ms. Jenkins paused at the foot of the steps. “Yes, dear?”

“It’s Augum’s ribs, they’re broken—”

“Oh, it’s nothing,” he began, not wanting to make a fuss.

“Ms. Jenkins’ brows rose. “Come here, child, let me have a look.”

He dutifully paced over. Ms. Jenkins’ face grew serious as she felt his ribs. He recoiled as bones grated.

“This is no time to be squeamish, my dear,” she said, continuing her prodding. “Now hold still.” Her hand began glowing, the light spreading to his chest. He felt a soothing sensation that went from cold to warm. When her hand extinguished, she had to take a seat at the steps.

Mr. Goss immediately rushed over with a mug of fresh tea. “Now I must insist you rest a while, Ms. Jenkins. Please.” He helped her raise the mug to her lips.

Augum felt his ribs—the pain was gone, all of it! He had gotten so used to it, a stubborn old thorn, and now it was gone! He felt terribly selfish for letting her drain her energies on him. “It doesn’t feel like enough, but … thank you.”

She glanced at him weakly. “You’re … welcome,” and beckoned Mr. Goss to help her stand.

“Please, Ms. Jenkins, your tea at the very least—”

“Too dangerous,” and she departed into the night, trailed by a grateful group that followed her all the way up the steps, expressing their thanks and wishing her all the luck in the world.

Mr. Goss shut the trap door and pulled on the carpet rope while Augum and Leera rushed back to Bridget to cheer her on as she worked her way from laying to sitting, and finally to a standing position. When she stood up at last, they threw up a cheer and embraced her in a long hug.

“I hate to be a rainy cloud,” Mr. Goss began, “but we should try to be quiet in case the Legion do come.”

“Yes, Mr. Goss,” Augum and Leera chorused. They sat down beside Bridget to whisper the details of their adventure, mercifully leaving out the tension with Haylee. Then they began peppering her with questions.

“What did it feel like?”

“Do you remember everything?”

“Was there any pain?”

“It was frustrating, yes,” Bridget finally said, smiling, “but you’ll learn about it tomorrow. You two look exhausted. Get some sleep already. I’ll take watch with the orb.”

Too tired to argue, they spread out blankets and pillows and fell asleep near the fire.

Ancient Verse

Augum awoke to the sound of a sizzling pan. Still drowsy, he rubbed his eyes and yawned, wondering what time of day it was.

“Hey, sleepyhead,” Bridget said with a smile, hands on her hips. “The Legion came last night and you two slept through it all. Watched the whole thing through the orb. Scary, but exciting.”

“They did?” he muttered groggily. “Why didn’t you wake us?”

“At the end of last night, the two of you could barely see straight. Wasn’t going to wake you unless I had to. Legion left after a while anyway. Ms. Jenkins’ enchantments worked—they hadn’t found anything.”

It was an immense relief, even the morning after, to know that Bridget was no longer paralyzed, though he couldn’t help but wonder how Mya and Haylee were faring.

Mya … he hadn’t thought of her in a while. Somehow, the sting had subsided a little. He glanced to Leera, still wrapped in a pile of blankets. Bridget prodded the mound with her foot. Leera covered her head with a blanket and groaned.

Leland groped his way over and gave Bridget a hug, moaning.

“I’m glad I’m all right too,” Bridget replied. She then whispered something into his bandaged ear. He squeaked in reply and quietly felt his way over to Leera, immediately pouncing on her.

“Dark hell, what’s happening—!” she shouted while everyone snickered.

“Now mind your language, young lady,” Augum said in an authoritative voice.

Leera, realizing who it was, enveloped Leland in a blanket hug. “And now I’m going to eat you …!” she said in a mock evil voice, and made gobbling sounds as she gently ruffled Leland up. He squealed in obvious glee, eventually managing to escape and scurry off to his room by feeling the walls.

Augum began folding up the blankets. “Nice bed-head.”

“Shut up, you.” Leera made a poor attempt at hiding her grin while trying to smooth her hair.

Bridget, who had been watching them like a long-lost loving sister, gave a wistful sigh. “I missed you two …”

“I miss having a comb,” Leera mumbled.

“If I may—” Mr. Goss disappeared into his bedroom, returning with a simple hairbrush. “As you can see, I have little hair to use it on,” he said with a chortle. He hesitated though, lovingly staring at the brush, before catching himself and handing it over.

Leera gave him a pained smile.

“So how did it feel to be unable to move?” Augum asked.

Bridget rolled her eyes. “Ugh—that’s the thing, I didn’t actually feel anything, so it really wasn’t any fun, especially at first. It was okay after a while, but I became very bored and, if you can believe it, kind of restless. The best part was when you studied the Slam spell with me—I actually learned something! That was about as exciting as it got for me, the rest of the time I saw nothing but ceiling. I was pretty scared that was going to be my view forever.”

“Guess we should’ve pointed you at the fire or something,” Augum said.

“Or given me the pearl so I could practice with it. I bet I could have used it even though I was paralyzed.”

Leera turned pink. “Oops—that would’ve been smart.” She motioned between herself and Augum. “That’s the kind of genius friends you have.”

Mr. Goss removed a large frying pan from the fire. “Well, we are very glad you are all right again, Bridget.” He began plating breakfast. “Almost ready here …”

The trio helped set the table and sat down as Mr. Goss called on Leland, who found his way back making a silly moan, which Augum interpreted as a giggle. He was starting to differentiate the various noises the boy made.

Bridget recounted the events of the evening over breakfast. Augum and Leera learned that twenty black-armored soldiers swept into the village while they were asleep, led by Commander Canes, something that was not news to them but had been a surprise to Bridget.

“—and you’ll never believe it, but the traitor found the Orb of Orion—” Bridget said, though her tone of voice told them it was a funny story and not to worry. “One of his lackeys used the Unconceal spell, but, get this—” she stabbed at the air with her fork, “he didn’t know what the orb was! I watched as brute after Legion brute tried dislodging it. Thankfully, when you two placed it in the snow, you locked it too.”

“Wait, I don’t understand something,” Leera said. “Why didn’t that Legion warlock find
us
with his Unconceal spell?”

“Well, in order to find someone who’s been arcanely hidden, you need to know Reveal, which is an 11th degree spell—”

“—so whoever searched wasn’t past their 10th degree,” Augum concluded.

“Exactly.”

“It was very stormy by the end and they were all tired. Left soon after. Canes was very angry though, saying how he was going to put Haylee to the question for their failure to find us.”

Augum had a vision of Haylee in an iron room with the Blade of Sorrows and Robin, crying as her family was dragged in …”

“—oh, and I heard them inform the Blade of Sorrows and his company, so a whole bunch of them are riding north,” Bridget added.

Augum felt queasy. He put down his fork and leaned back in the chair.

Bridget fixed him with a concerned look. “You all right?”

He nodded, swallowing hard. “We should go soon, now that you’re well again.”

“We still need to find a way to reach Mrs. Stone before Sparkstone does,” Leera said. “If he hasn’t gotten to her already …”