The Song of Loss

Chapter Eighteen - The Webs We Weave

Ice cold water enveloped the small group as they stepped into the glowing circle. It started at their ankles and rose up to their heads in seconds. Their breathing remained uninterrupted though and the entire event took only a few minutes. The cold water drained away and bright sunlight swooped in to warm them.

While Percy busied himself with calming the horse, Darcy got to work unfurling the scroll to read the notes. It was anything but complicated. The song felt closer to something children would sing while skipping rope. She hummed along as she moved her finger across the page.

Power radiated from the paper, as cold as the water in the temple. Darcy could feel it begging to be released, to seek out the target she aimed it at. Soon enough, it would.

"I can see their campfire," Percy told her. In the distance a spindly line of black smoke inched upwards into the sky. It almost wasn't visible against the dusky purple sky, but Percy found it easy to track.

Percy and Darcy clambered onto the horse while Kasi and Katta sprinted off on a parallel path far enough away for him to be out of sight. A thin purple string stretched the distance, visible only to Darcy. Without trees to hide behind on the open plains they would have to rely on an attack from two fronts. Keeping the focus away from Darcy was the main goal.

Before they'd left, she had taken a few minutes to use her limited magical knowledge and Kasi's large magical ability to cast protection spells on them to negate any mind control the troupe might attempt. They couldn't afford to have any of them fall under the influence and attack the others.

They stopped at the base of a low hill to leave the horse and crawled on their stomachs to the top. In the valley below, the four of them were lounging around a fire, fresh meat roasting over the fire. The cart was nowhere in sight, though the one remaining draft horse could have pulled it with some effort.

The other horses had been left behind on Bellmare with the idea that they would be returning there before heading to Mooncross. At least they were smart enough to realize they couldn't go back there if Danny had made his way back. Their magic was strong but not enough to take on an entire waiting village. With an army from an overtaken kingdom, no one would stand a chance.

"They'll spot us the second we start down the hill," Percy whispered. One of his arms rested over Darcy's back as if he meant to keep her from running to them right then. The other kept him propped up enough to keep his chest out of the dirt. Ever since the water at the temple he'd looked more alive, more hopeful. A few times before they left on horseback for their race to the troupe he had mentioned places he wanted to show her, things she should see.

Darcy was afraid to admit she was beginning to want to see them with him.

"You go first with the horse and draw their attention, Kasi will attack after that and I'll sneak in while they chase you. I think I just need to play until... something happens?" Darcy said. There actually hadn't been any clear instructions on what she was meant to do with the music. Obviously she'd play it, but how would they know it had worked? The scroll radiated cold from where it was wrapped around her flute in her sleeve. Maybe there would be fireworks or the scroll would dissolve into a golden light, anything to give any sort of indication that she'd accomplished their goal.

A pit of cold dread settled into her stomach. Completing their goal meant returning to Azmerah to pay whatever price she had set for them.

"Stay low and out of sight. If anyone comes for you just call me, dear bard," Percy said. His warm arm left her back and he headed back down the hill for the horse. He'd taken Darcy's bow and it looked so much more deadly in his hands than it ever had in hers.

Had it really been only a week since Kasi had broken her bow and she'd been forced to buy a new one? This was not the place she'd ever thought she would be. Looking back, she wondered if she'd have even survived on her own. Between pirates, avenging gods, and cultists hunting down anyone who questioned them, she might have been dead before she even made her way past Andon Crossing.