Magika [Completed]

Chapter 21

Wylerra, 100 years ago...

One wasn't supposed to grieve forever.

Death happened, people mourned. Then people moved on until some other tragedy struck. But Aldeheid felt as though he was stuck in some kind of limbo between mourning and moving forward.

Amalie'a demise was still fresh in his mind. During the day, there were enough people around to distract him. But at night, when he was alone and all was quiet, his heart ached. He would often roll to his side and face her half of the bed, imagining her there. Peaceful, sleeping soundly, her hair all tossed and brows furrowed. It made him ache even more.

And he was beginning to think that the pain would never go away. It was permanent, gaping wound in his chest.

Aldeheid thumbed the edge of his card as he waited for Wenry to make her next move. She sat at the foot of his bed with brows furrowed, staring down at the figurines scattered over the map between them. As she had been for longer than was normal.

If she clasped the wooden cards in her hands any tighter, they'd break and give her splinters. For the first time he noticed that she wasn't looking at the board, but through it. As though her mind was in some far off place.

"Is something the matter Wenry?" he asked her, keeping his words gentle.

Her bottom lip trembled, and she looked up at him with misty eyes. "Baba said he wants to send me away."

Aldeheid scowled, clenching his jaw to quell his rising anger. "Why?"

"He said it's..." She hiccupped. "Because I don't know how to behave. So he's sending me somewhere where I can learn. I..." Another hiccup. "I don't want to be by myself, Al. I'm scared."

He laid his cards down on the board and took her gently by the shoulders. "Look at me Wenry. You're not going anywhere, alright? I'll make sure of it." He'd do everything within his limited power to make sure Wenry could stay until he formulated an escape plan for all of them. But there wasn't much he could do until the thaw. The tundra was far too dangerous now.

"Promise?" Wenry asked.

"On the ice god's heart." He placed his hand over his own to seal the promise. "Do you want to keep playing, or do something else?"

She wiped at her tears and picked up the cards. "Keep playing."

" Alright. Your turn." He took up his own cards, studying both them and the board.

She nodded and pulled a card from her hand, revealing it with a flourish. "Dragon siege!"

Aldeheid set his cards back down and breathed. "Wenry, that's the third dragon siege you've used. How many of those do you have?"

"A few..." She brought her cards close to her chest. "So what?"

"You're only allowed two." He held his hand out. "Let me see your deck."

"No you're just trying to cheat!" She scrambled out of his reach, but he snatched her deck before she could. "No!" She lunged at him, and he held her at bay with one hand while fanning out her cards with the other.

His jaw fell. "Wenry, these are all dragon sieges. This is probably half the Dragon sieges in existence."

She folded her arms across her chest and huffed indignantly. "So? Jet lets me play with all dragon sieges. And it's the best card in the game. So there."

"And you said I was trying to cheat?  Did you bring your other cards? I'll help you build a deck. A legal one." He set his own cards aside and cleared the figurines from the map while Wenry brought out her wooden box of cards.