Cursed by Malignant Magic (Once Upon A Curse)

Chapter 13

Chapter

Thirteen

O nce again, a hand on my face ripped me from sleep.

I flailed and jerked upright, my magic surging. The brightness of the morning light was a stark contrast to the haziness when we had fallen asleep, and I had to blink a few times to let my eyes adjust to the difference.

Varna cringed back, hands folded in her lap, and my heart climbed into my throat. Had I accidentally struck her in the midst of waking? I sincerely hoped not.

I had never been the best at awakening gracefully, and recent events certainly hadn’t improved that. It wouldn't have been the first time I had accidentally struck someone when they had gotten too close while waking me up, but it was the first time I felt guilty about it.

"What is it? What's going on?" I asked.

"We've slept for hours,” Varna said. “If we're going to make it to the camp by nightfall, we'll need to get going."

I lifted my head toward the sky, trying to do the math in my mind, but she was right. The sun was high in the sky, enough to suggest that it was at least mid afternoon. We weren't exactly moving with much speed, so even if we were as close as I suspected we might be, it would still take hours to get there. We needed to get moving.

"I'm sorry I slept so long,” I said. “It feels like all I've done since we escaped is sleep. I've left you to be a guard, and you’ve been through more than I have."

Varna snorted and shook her head. "We went through different things, and I am not the one to say that your suffering means less than mine. Besides, you're the one who got the keys and got us out of there. Not to mention keeping me from drowning on the way downstream. We both deserved some rest."

I nodded slowly. She was right that we had both been through some things, although I still believed she was in worse shape than I was. Regardless, I was glad she wasn't angry with me.

Even though we barely knew each other, I considered her my friend, and I was grateful for the company. We leaned on one another as we walked, both of us using our magic to ensure we weren't being followed. I was fairly certain that we had lost our pursuers, but I wouldn’t let my guard down until we were safe in a Caputo camp and I could talk to Ehuna.

Spotting the massive gates of a fortress ahead jerked me out of my reverie. Ehuna was here. I could feel it in my magic and in my bones. In my very soul. We would be safe soon.

We were still too far for me to see much beyond the outline of the place. Great walls of sheer gray stone soared into the sky in front of me. If nothing else, the fortress certainly made me realize just how small I really was.

"It's huge," Varna breathed, and I nodded in agreement.

Whoever she was and wherever she was from, it was unlikely that Varna would have had a reason to come to a place like this. I barely had a reason, and I had been following Ehuna from fortress to camp to battleground for most of my life. I hadn't seen this particular place, but I'd seen others, and they were all just as impressive.

Towering turrets and sturdy battlements adorned the edges, nearly as intimidating as the archers and soldiers lining the walls. No doubt some of those soldiers were Battle Mages like me.

Considering Varna and I didn’t even have a horse, nor anything but the clothes on our backs, I was fairly sure that we weren’t much of a threat to them. But my own training had taught me that anyone could be a threat, no matter what they looked like.

As we drew closer, I raised my hands. With my hands up, they could see that I had no weapons, just the silver bracelet that I stole from Legacy before we escaped. Varna did the same as me, and I made a mental note to ask her if she had any sort of offensive magic in addition to sensing magic itself.

"State your name and purpose," one of the guards shouted down to me.

"I'm Collie," I called back. “I’m here to see General Ehuna.”

I wasn't sure how to introduce Varna, so I didn't. She didn't offer her name either, and they didn't ask.

We waited in silence. My arms ached from keeping my hands raised, but I didn't lower them. Already I regretted my casual response to the question from the guards, but I didn't know what else I could've said.

I had no rank. I hadn't so much as joined as been conscripted into Ehuna’s inner circle. I was tolerated because of Ehuna’s importance and because I was useful. Without Ehuna, I did not belong here. Any right I had to be here lay with her, but even so, I didn't know if the guards would allow us entry.

More silence, although the guards retreated from the slits in the wall they stood behind. Even if they didn't know me in particular, someone up there should have known who Ehuna was. It was taking them too long to decide.

"I don't like this," Varna mumbled, and I nodded in agreement.

The guards still hadn't reappeared, so I lowered my hands slowly, expecting them to come back at any moment and shout at me to raise them again. Varna took a step closer to me, and I opened my arm slightly, allowing her to lean against me for support.

I would give the guards another two minutes before I started shouting at them to find out what they wanted from us, and two minutes after that, I’d use magic to blast those doors open. They might not appreciate that very much, but I was rapidly losing what was left of my patience. I was just as happy to explain who I was to everyone inside the gates as I was to wait for them to get their heads out of their arses and decide to let us in before we both collapsed.

"Are you going to let us in or not?" I hollered up at them, fed up with waiting.

My knees ached from staying locked for so long, but I was afraid if I moved too much, I would fall over and take Varna with me.

Either they had already been planning to let us in, or my final shout had been enough to convince them.

“Wait a moment,” one guard shouted.

The massive chains that opened the gates groaned and clanked, and the huge wooden doors within the gate opened slowly.

Varna's arm wrapped around my waist for support, and the two of us limped through the doors before they were even fully open. The second we were through, they began to close behind us, sealing us in.

Varna and I hobbled slowly inside, leaning on one another for support. A shiver skittered down my spine as I glanced over my shoulder. The guards settled a heavy wooden bar into place on the inside of the doors.

Closing the gates was one thing, but barring them as well? That was not normal.

Something was wrong.

By the time I turned my head to face forward again, there was no possibility of escape without using magic. Guards surrounded us and tightened their grips on their weapons.

I tensed, my magic coiling around my fingers. "What are you doing? Get General Ehuna. She'll know who I am."

One of the soldiers stepped forward, leveling the tip of his spear at my chest. Tension coiled in the air that I didn't understand, the kind I could nearly taste on my tongue like blood and fire.

"General Ehuna is coming," he said grimly, and I made note of the way he spoke her title. "She ordered that you be detained until she arrives."

"For what?" I demanded.

More of the guards bristled at my belligerence, and my magic curled even more tightly around my fingers. I barely held on to my control, and I prayed that this was some kind of misunderstanding. I would talk to Ehuna, and this would all be over.

The guard's eyes met mine, and more fury brimmed in his gaze than I had seen anywhere in a long time. I resisted the urge to cringe.

Something was very, very wrong here, as though we had walked right into a trap.

“For what ?” I said again.

The guard hissed through his bared teeth as he regarded me. "For treason."