Half Wylde | Book 1

Twenty Five: Leaving

"We need to leave." Eberon paced our room, which really didn't have enough room to be pacing in.

"You need to calm down," Schula huffed at him. "Wren, you're sure he knew Puko from somewhere?"

"Yes. Well, or he was suspicious of him. He asked me a lot of questions about my magic, then Puko came down and interrupted everything."

"You see? We need to get Wren out of here. Our business is done anyway." Eberon stopped pacing, but only for a moment.

"Are we allowed to just leave?" I asked.

"Yes, we aren't prisoners," Eberon scoffed. "They might think it rude to leave so quickly but I'm not letting Diamid poke and prod you until magic happens. That's no way to treat a guest."

"She is due to visit all the courts, Eb." Schula leaned on the table, tapping her chin. "She has a year to do it, we can't just have a two day visit and call it done. The royals are going to demand a lot more than that, and if they have any suspicions that Wren's powers are what kept her alive through the plague then they are going to fight for her favor. That kind of power in your service is too tempting."

"Powers?" I fidgeted. "I'm not powerful, just accident prone. Mil- my friend in the mountains said as much. I'm nothing to fight over!"

"Well, until your powers are out and on display it's going to be hard to convince anyone of that. The kings and queen are going to want to see that for themselves." Schula sighed.

"Have you committed to anything in the next few days?" Eberon turned to me.

"No, I suppose not. I did promise to be here for the Spring Equinox," I said.

"You see? Almost four months away." He gestured wildly to Schula, who rolled her eyes.

"And what excuse are you going to give them?" She scoffed.

"I... something!" He sat in a chair and slouched down.

"Can't I just tell them I want to return to Thanantholl?" I asked.

"Yes," Schula said slowly. "The truth is always better, Diamid will know right away if you outright lie to him. But he still isn't going to like that answer. He's going to assume the Autumn court is trying to keep your attention to ourselves. It could be called suspicious."

"I don't care about suspicious right now, I just want to protect Wren." Eberon said. "Thain would kill me if anything were to happen... ugh! What a mess."

"I don't know what you're protecting her from," Schula said. "Diamid prodding for a glimpse of her power? I'm surprised Baeleon didn't do that already, unless he's trusting Thain to do it for him. If one of the four crowns wants information, they will get it."

"Well what if we said we were to take her to the Winter lands for their solstice? I'm sure Wren is going to receive an invitation for it anyway and it can get us away from here for a while," Eberon said.

Schula made a face. "I suppose..."

"You don't have to like it, you don't even have to come with us, but it's the truth and you know it," Eberon pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed.

"Yes I know," she snapped. "Alright fine, let's go back to Thanantholl and hopefully Thain will be back shortly. We can talk about what to do next."

"Thank you," Eberon sighed. "Let's pack up, we can leave in the morning."

"We'll need a few more rations for the trip back, although I wish we could leave the carriage and just run. It's faster," Schula said.

"I don't know where the stables are here, I'm assuming I can have the carriage prepared by just about anyone." Eberon mumbled.