Twisting Every Way

Chapter 16

Enormous, deadly, and disturbingly relaxed, Azo regarded Emya and the Shadow as though they were naughty children. Attached to his waist was the pouch containing the object, almost within her reach. She could take it by force or cunning, but he would kill her as soon as she moved. The Shadow whimpered in fear, clutching her arm so tightly it hurt.

Azo pulled the object from the pouch and held it before them, a dim glow fluoresced from it. A sign of some new use he'd found for it no doubt.

"I knew you were trying to summon it the moment you said the words," Azo said softly, deadly. "You may be connected to the object, but I alone control it. I told you not to talk to the boy and now he's tried to teach you the ancient language." Azo shook his head with a derisive laugh. "Superstitious nonsense. Magic comes from inside you. That language only makes you weak. He's trying to control you. I can make you powerful. I will teach you as I promised if you don't make me kill you."

"You're lying," Emya said, stalling. The object glowed brighter, though Azo didn't seem to notice. The Shadow slumped against her, evidently too weak to hold himself up any longer. "You're going to take my magic just like you took his."

Azo shook his head again with a bitter smile.

"He hasn't told you the whole story. If you knew, you'd believe that I do not wish to take your magic."

"I don't think I would," she said, the object was as bright as a flame and humming like a violin now. Emya knew if she called it now it would come to her, there was nothing Azo could do to prevent it. He may have been its master once before, but not anymore. The problem was, what to do when she had it?

Azo sighed. "I do not want to take your magic, but if you won't cooperate, I will be forced to do so."

His hand went to the pouch. Emya knew, though she didn't know how, if he put the object away that it would be out of her reach. As his fingers brushed the pouch, Emya shouted the words. The object appeared in her hand. She gripped it.

The world blinked and Azo was gone. Emya looked around. The village was gone too, replaced by tree trunks and not much else.

"Where are we?" she breathed.

The Shadow clutched her arm, still trembling and pale but on his feet. He let go, staggered to a wide tree trunk, and rested against it.

"This is a forest near my home," he said. "The object transported us here. We are safe for now."

Emya, still dazed, sat next to him. She was burning with questions, most of which she could not put into words. She decided to begin with the simplest.

"How?" she asked.

"As soon as you had the object," he said, "I knew I could use it to transport us. I thought it might kill me, but evidently not."

Emya frowned.

"I knew I could take it," she said. "It was glowing. I thought that meant something."

The Shadow nodded, rubbing his eyes with both shaking hands.

"I saw the glowing too, but I don't think Azo could see it," he said.

"I don't understand. Was it our connection? How was it telling us what to do?"

"I don't know," he said. "I don't know exactly how it works."

Exhausted, Emya reclined against the large trunk and looked around. She hadn't seen a forest since she was very little. The trees were enormous with reddish-brown trunks stretching into a dense canopy of dark green foliage. The ground below was covered in thick moss. Patches of shrubs dotted the less shaded areas. A small, brown animal with a long fluffy tail darted from the trunk of a tree and began to dig.

After a while, Emya realized she was still holding the object. It had turned a light gray color. If she hadn't known better, she would have thought it was nothing but a rock.

"What is this called?" she asked.

Slumped against the tree, eyes shut, the Shadow seemed to have fallen asleep.

"It doesn't have a name," he said wearily. "It never needed one."

She didn't care to call it the object, but it needed a suitable name.

"We'll call it 'the companion,'" she said, "since we can't leave it behind."

The shadow chuckled.

"An accurate description."

While they were on the topic, Emya asked, "What is your name?"

"Felix." He opened his eyes in surprise.

She looked at the ground, too embarrassed to meet his gaze.

"I should have asked sooner."

"It's alright. Azo and Fen never asked, even after three years." Clutching his chest, a fit of coughing overcame him.

"Where can we find help?" Emya asked.

"A village," he said when the fit subsided. "In the Valley of Tritium Mountain." He leaned forward with a great shuddering sigh. Emya frowned. If he died out in the middle of nowhere, she would likely perish soon after.

"Can you walk?" she asked anxiously.

"I don't think so," he said, leaning back up against the tree. "We can rest here for the night. It will be safe enough."

He instructed Emya to collect wood for a fire. She did so, finding plenty of thin branches scattered nearby. She did not dare wander out of sight from him. After stacking the branches, she rummaged through her pack for matches. Felix murmured something; the branches caught fire. He smiled weakly.

"They kept me from doing magic. It seems their hold over me is broken," he said.

She tended the fire, adding branches until it was sufficiently large enough to last several hours, then curled up on the ground. Energy spent, Emya closed her eyes, too tired to keep watch. There wasn't much either one of them could do if something found them asleep and vulnerable, but her mind wouldn't let her sleep. Her imagination swirled with images of the furious Kings using magic to locate them and transporting to the forest just as they had. Something crunched the branches nearby. She sat up, peering around wildly. It moved between the trees; four-legs and huge antlers passed by. It stopped and sniffed the ground, then kept going.

Emya let out a breath. A deer. Larger than the little creatures that roamed the tall grasses around her village, but nothing dangerous as long as she didn't bother it. She settled down once more, turning onto her side she saw the Shadow—Felix—was awake.

"It was just a deer," she whispered.

"I know," he said. "I could hear it. Did it frighten you?"

"I thought it was the Kings. I thought they transported here."

Felix's eyes fluttered shut.

"They can't," he murmured. "It's too difficult for them."

"Why?" she asked, momentarily distracted from her exhaustion and fear. She never thought there was any magic the Kings were not capable of.

"They aren't mages and have no natural magic. That limits their abilities considerably."

She could not imagine the Kings being unable to do any kind of magic. They'd awed her with displays of immense power, creating large fires, giving themselves impossible strength, levitating objects. Other kinds of magic were inconceivable to her. She turned to Felix to ask but stopped. Blank faced and peaceful, he'd fallen into sleep. Settling down again Emya fell into restless sleep too.