Wylde Magic | Book 3

Sixteen: The Wylde Witch

My fingers lit with the last of a brilliant orange flame. I panted as I shoved it onto a wood sprite that crept in the shadows of the orchard and had made it all the way to the base of the main house.

I threw my attack with everything I had, missing the sprite's head by a hand's width and fizzling out on the ground. 

"Eb!" I called. "I'm spent."

"I got it." Eberon rushed over from his part of the roof, looking down at the dark sprite hissing up at us as it climbed the wall. Eberon hit it square in the face and it shrieked as it fell."

The air on the rooftop was warm with the ongoing use of fire magic. Eberon and Yevaron were both still going strong.

"Are you okay?" Thain asked, putting a hand on my back as he looked at me.

"Yeah," I panted. "I'm just out of natural magic."

I took a deep breath, then switched mindsets and pulled from the air around me. My hands both ignited in bold purple flames. "But I still have my witch powers."

Thain's eyes widened a moment, then he nodded. "If you have the roof I'm going to the front lines."

"Be careful out there," Eberon said, turning his attention to the grounds below. "I'll join you when this place is cleared out."

"Me too," I promised.

Thain disappeared, and we were left to clear the back lawn once more.

"No!" Lady Yevaron shouted, earning the full attention of both me an Eberon.

"My roses!" she cried, throwing more fire down onto a stomping tree creature who had just encroached on a lovely bed of white roses surrounding a fountain.

"Mother," Eberon groaned. "Don't scare me like that."

"Those were a gift from Herion of the Northern Falls!" Yevaron snapped at her son as she looked down on her ruined rosebed. "Oh, my poor babies."

A horn sounded again. The Autumn warriors were almost on top of us. 

"Another one," Eberon pointed to the ground below my part of the roof, and I turned to take care of it. My purple flames shot true, landing on the thing's chest and driving it off.

"I will, perhaps, never get used to the site of that," Eberon murmured.

I shrugged. "I brought back a few tricks from my travels."

"I can see that," he said. "I feel there is much for us to catch up on once this is all over."

"They're here!" Lady Yevaron called out, pointing below as a triquetram of fae rushed the lawn between the house and the orchards. They met with the tree sprites head-on, attacking with magic and blades and claws. In a matter of heartbeats more joined them.

"That's it then," Eberon said. "Let's get down there and help."

"I'll manage the house," Yevaron said as she made it to the door first. "Eberon, you go find Thainalan. Wren, you should find your triquetram as well."

"Yes," I said, making it to the door off the roof just behind her. "I will."

I grabbed the bag and the book that Thain had brought me and took them down with me. 

Lady Yevaron climbed down and got off of the ladder on the first floor. I went after her and she stopped to offer me a hand as I stepped out of the closet. 

"I must go this way," Lady Yevaron gestured. "Can you remember your way back?"

"I think so," I said, setting my bag down. It would have to stay here, but I dug through it for a long cloth I knew I had in there.