The Seelie Curse

Chapter 72

Astrila almost has to stop Rowan from banging her head into the ice, the other girl is so angry with herself. "I'm an idiot. I shouldn't have forgotten that."

"No, you shouldn't have." Rowan swallows back her tears and Astrila lets her voice soften. "But you're stressed right now, I can't blame you for panicking a little."

Rowan grimaces. "You're just trying to make me feel better, aren't you?"

Instead of answering the question, Astrila nods to the tree. "Shouldn't you get to it? The longer we wait, the more ice encages it."

Rowan huffs out a sigh and a fire blooms to life in her palm. It's a red flame, not very hot. She likely wants to minimize the risk to the trees in case she goes too far. Hesitantly, Rowan places her flaming palm against the ice-coated trunk. Her hand begins to sink in almost immediately, the ice melting and trickling down from the hole being burned into it only to refreeze as it drips.

The ice actually melts surprisingly quickly, Rowan gets through within a minute and pulls her hand away. But of course, she has to place her hand back against the wood the moment she does so, the spreading magic trying to ice over the tree once more. With one burning hand keeping the ice at bay, Rowan uses her other hand to touch the bark of the tree.

The response is sluggish compared to what has happened the other times she has asked the forest for aid, but the tree does eventually respond. It begins to emit a dim light, and several heartbeats later, another tree lights up. The light inside that one is almost invisible, that tree is iced over as well.

But it is a good distance from the river, not as heavily coated as the first tree. The next tree to light up is quicker, barely frosted over at all. They seem to be maximizing the distance between them, perhaps knowing the difficulty of passing the message on. Rowan touches the tree again in gratitude.

Before the trees can succumb to the ice once again, Rowan shuffles towards the next glowing tree as quickly as she can. She touches the trunk and sends a burst of heat into the tree. The shell of ice around it collapses, melting into a puddle of water and refreezing. Rowan waits for Kyma to reach the bank of the river, Astrila already having reached it.

Then she sprints, racing over the frozen ground. Astrila follows, her feet pounding along the earth. She grins at the feeling, the frozen soil of the permafrost. The earth here is too soft normally, it took her a while to get used to it. Kyma follows after them, her breathing steady. Astrila can hear the force of it, Kyma won't be able to hold this for long.

Rowan won't be able to hold this speed either, but she'll likely last a few moments more than Kyma due to the adrenaline pulsing through her. Astrila pushes forward to touch Rowan on the shoulder. The girl jumps, her red hair swinging around, flaring bright accenting the dark green of her wide eyes.

Astrila lifts a hand. "Easy, Ro."

"What is it?"

"You should probably slow down."

Rowan frowns. "Why?"

"It won't do you any good if you're exhausted by the time we reach our destination. And you will be exhausted, the question is if you'll wear yourself out before we get there or not."

Rowan sighs. "Fine. Do you have any idea of where we are going?"

Astrila raises an eyebrow. "No more than you. I'm not familiar with this forest. You're the expert, not me."

Rowan snorts out a laugh but then her expression sobers. "So we keep moving forward then. Very well."

She starts running again, this time at a more sustainable pace. Kyma almost sobs in relief, her face red with exertion. Astrila doesn't think Kyma is built for short-distance running like this. Astrila isn't either, but her speed makes up for it. Astrila is a bit surprised by how hard it is to follow the trail, based off of what happened at the river she would have thought there would be a trail of ice.

That would be too simple though, so instead, they have winter spreading out from the river, both sealing them off from the kelpies and doing its best to tear the forest into so many ice-coated shards it can't be recovered. If they didn't have the glowing path of trees, Astrila doesn't think they would ever be able to find the source of the cruel magic.

But they do have the path, and Astrila can see movement up ahead. She slows, pulling Rowan back. The redheaded girl frowns at Astrila, her brow wrinkled in confusion. Her voice is low, she must sense something even if she isn't conscious of it.

"Is something wrong?"

"There is movement up ahead."

"Umm, didn't we expect that? That someone would be there, I mean."

"Yes, but surprising them would be smart."

Rowan's frown turns thoughtful. "I have some charms, but will they work on you?"

Astrila shrugs. "I don't know, but it won't hurt to find out."

With a nod, Rowan pulls one of two red bracelets from her wrist and hands it to Astrila. Kyma is already wearing some red coral, so it will have to do. Astrila slips the bracelet onto her wrist and takes her pelt from Kyma, wanting to keep it close to her for what is to come.
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Do you think the protective charms will work for Astrila? What are they about to find? What's going to happen next? Tell me your thoughts!

Merry Christmas Everyone! This chappie is your present, a second chapter today. I hope you enjoyed it!

Happy reading and I'll see you next chapter!

~ Goddess of Fate, signing out