Anais of the Stolen Road: Blood Mage Chronicles, #2

One

Dearest Anais ,

I spent today’s lesson time hiding in a cupboard in Mildred’s rooms. She was quite agitated that she couldn’t find me and complained to my mother. In response, my mother - normally such a sweet woman - has instructed that I stay in my rooms tonight and not attend the dinner or the festivities planned for Lord Reginald Pendragon’s visit. I’ve enclosed with this note a rather pretty ruby pendant that Lord Pendragon gifted me last evening. Although it’s very nice, I fear that he has given it to me for unnerving reasons. My brother is very sick, and there has been talk that if he dies I will have to break my betrothal to Thomas and marry some westerner, who will rule Barriershire through me. I don’t like it at all. I think Lord Pendragon wishes me to marry his youngest son, assuming my brother dies. His son is awful and I hate him.

My love always,

Give my best to dearest Cedric,

Mediera Evangiline

Dearest Mediera,

I’m sorry to hear of your brother’s illness. There have been many who have fallen ill in Brightshire, as well. Cedric says that Thomas is bedridden. I will ask the sister of mercy to pray that both Thomas and your brother recover, and that you never have to marry against your will. Thellium has been occupied trying to help Thomas, so I have been left with little to fill my time. Although, the truth is that even before Thomas fell ill, Thellium and I had been on difficult terms. I don’t know what will happen to me if Thellium decides he no longer wishes to keep me as his apprentice. It’s a constant unspoken threat and I can hardly bear it. I don’t feel free to tell you in this letter about the details of the unfortunate situation that caused me to fall out of Thellium’s favor, but when you visit, I’ll tell you everything. Cedric and I are anxiously awaiting the summer and being with you once again.

All of my love,

Anais

Dearest Anais,

This letter has to be my last for awhile. I’ve begged Mildred to find a runner in the market to deliver it instead of using our post, for I’m certain my letters are being seized. Lord Pendragon returned to Ellshire, but he left his son Colin. My father named Colin Sheriff of Barriershire, and I’m certain my father is ceding too many decisions to him. Colin says my family must leave the Great House, that the country air will be better for my brother. He will rule the city in my family’s absence. I think my father is making a grave mistake, but he will not listen to me. I fear I will not be allowed to visit Brightshire this summer. Do not send a letter in response. Colin has replaced all of the women in our household besides Mildred, and I think any word you send will be intercepted before it reaches me. I am scared of what the future holds. I will write again when I find a safe method. I hope this letter finds you well.

Give Cedric my love,

Mediera Evangiline

I never told Mediera about the spell that Cedric and I had cast so many months before. I hinted about it in the letters, but I feared that if she knew I had dabbled, she would hate me. I thought that if Cedric and I could tell her in person, we could make her understand.

I shook a pair of cold bone dice in my hands and threw them onto a wooden square we had set on my bed. Five and six. I smiled and placed my hand on the small pile of coppers.

Cedric rolled his eyes. That’s your sixth win in a row. You must be cheating.

I shook my head. You’re just having a run of bad luck. Another game?

No, he growled. Did you know that they’re going to hang Ceven?

He’s the guard who went mad last month and killed that shopkeeper in the market, right?

That’s him. He’ll be executed in the square next week.

I nodded. Good. I’ll watch. I had seen the shopkeeper’s children weeping. I had no pity for the man who was responsible for their grief.

I saw him in a cell in the guard’s tower. His eyes had changed. They turned solid black and shiny - looked like stones of onyx. It was strange and scary.

Black eyes, I thought. I wondered if that meant something. The boy in the cage at the market I saw so many years ago - his eyes had been solid black too. Sometimes, I attempted to scratch out the image of him that seemed so etched into my memory. But the more I tried to erase him, the brighter his face appeared in his mind. He was always with me.

A sharp knock interrupted our conversation.

I opened the door to find a winded scull, clearly a runner from the kitchens. The boy’s thick mop of ashy hair was prettily disheveled, and his cheeks glowed bright and rosy.

Are you Anais? he asked.

Yes. I was curious - I had hoped for weeks that Mediera would have found a way to send another letter - perhaps he held a note from her.

Your father requests you return home. Your mother is very ill.

What? That wasn’t what I had expected at all. My mother?

Who sent the message? Cedric asked.

I have no idea. The boy shrugged.

I handed one of my coppers to the boy.

He flicked it in the air, caught it, and grinned, before running off.

Cedric looked at me, his forehead creased. You never speak of your family.

There’s not much to say. I stood and paced the small confines of my room. I would have to go home, of course. Perhaps she had recovered already - not everyone died of this sickness.

Are you going to go home?

Yes, I think I must. I should go talk to Thellium before I depart. Even though he hardly speaks to me, it feels wrong just to leave. I was officially apprenticed to Thellium Vance, who acted as a scribe in the Great House, but lately - ever since he caught Cedric and I trying to cast a spell in the courtyard - he had grown distant. I feared he would tell me he didn’t want me as an apprentice any longer.

I think you are being too difficult on Old Thell. He’s just anxious about Thomas.

I narrowed my eyes and frowned at Cedric. How could he act like that night never happened? How could he act like things just went back to normal with Thellium? Did he even care? I think it’s more than that, Cedric. He hates me.

Cedric rolled his eyes. You mean because we played around with that book. It was just a game, nothing happened. He overreacted. We didn’t do anything wrong.

I grimaced. Maybe it wasn’t real to him, because it didn’t work for him. I never asked him if he dreamt of the dead man that night after we cast the spell. My dream had been so horrible that I was afraid to speak of it aloud. And here he was acting like it didn’t matter at all. The truth was I knew why he didn’t care. To him, Thellium was just a servant, and his feelings were irrelevant. For that matter, so were mine.

How are you going to travel? He smiled and blithely changed the subject.

I don’t know. I sank back against the stone wall, grateful for its support. I suppose I’ll go to the market and see if I can find Gil. He could take me home.

He might escort you home, but there’ll be no guarantee you’ll come back. I’ll go with you. We’ll borrow horses from the stable.

We? You aren’t coming with me.

I’m not letting you go alone. His lips pressed firmly together and he glowered, an expression that he often formed when he was trying to get his way.

Cedric, be serious. I may be able to disappear for a few days, but you certainly can’t.

I’m coming. He stared at me, his gaze firm. He put his hands on my shoulders.

I closed my eyes and inhaled sharply. Did I really wish to stop him? Fine.

When I requested a leave of absence from Thellium, his only response was a distracted nod. His lack of interest caused my stomach to twist up in concern, a too familiar feeling these days.

Cedric and I walked to the stables in silence. Addie, who had advanced to lead stable hand, provided us with our mounts. Her hair was shorn so short she looked like a boy. I grinned at her wordlessly. Her promotion must have been recent, for we hadn’t crossed paths in the stables before and only lead stable hands interacted with the members of the Seve household. She smiled a broad open smile back at me, and touched my hand briefly after she helped me gain my seating.

Are you friends with that servant who gave us the horses? Cedric asked in a harsh tone as we rode out into the field.

Yes. I didn’t feel like trying to explain my relationship with Addie. Cedric wouldn’t understand.

I see, Cedric grunted.

Is that a problem?

No. I’m sorry, let’s just forget it.

The mood between us darkened as we rode on, perhaps aided by the overcast sky and my fears over my mother’s health. We were moving at a fast pace, making it quicker than my initial trip with Gil. It only took four hours before we approached my family’s land on the river. We stopped our horses a mile from my old house. We can’t take the horses any further. The land’s too marshy. It would be dangerous.

It doesn’t even look safe for us to walk here.

Are you afraid, brave Cedric? I taunted.

Me? Never. Lead me onward.

We tethered the horses to a tree and walked, careful of our footing, while moving long jagged brushes out of the way with our hands.

Shyte!

What happened?

My hand... I lifted up my arm and showed him a long scratch extending from my palm to my elbow.

Does it hurt? he asked as he touched my shoulder.

Not really. I was just surprised. I looked up to his eyes and then turned my face toward the horizon, where a small house lay hidden in a mess of vines. This is it, I said quietly, pointing to my old home. Built of marsh wood and roofed with thatched brushes, the house seemed smaller than I remembered.

Should we knock?

No, I whispered to him. I put my right hand up to my mouth, and called loudly, Hallo!

The door swung open, and a young man with tousled blonde hair poked his head through the opening. Who’s there? he called.

It’s me, Anais, I called in answer.

He opened the door wider and ran out to me, while whooping loudly. He threw me over his shoulder and twirled me around before dropping me to the ground in front of him. My god, sister, I thought we would never see you again.

Oh, Simon, I’ve missed you. It’s been so long. I didn’t want him to let me go.

Look at you, he cried, eyeing me up and down. You’re all grown up.

Even though I didn’t agree with him, I smiled. I was still the same little girl I was when I left. It felt as if nothing had changed. Is Mah okay? I received a message that she was ill.

Simon’s long narrow form deflated. Oh sweet sister, I’m sorry to be the one to tell you. He inhaled sharply. Mah’s dead. She held on as long as she could.

I’m too late then.

Yes. We sent Gil with the message a few weeks ago. We hoped you would get here sooner.

I breathed deeply, and fought the stinging that threatened my eyes.

Where are Dah and Petey?

On the water. I would have been with them, except someone has to stay home and salt the fish, now that Mah’s gone. When Dah comes back, he’ll take you to Mah’s grave. Simon turned to Cedric. Who’s the fella?

Cedric extended his arm and shook hands with Simon. My name’s Cedric. I also live in the Great House. I didn’t want Ani to have to make the trip alone.

I glanced sideways at Cedric. I was surprised that he hadn’t disclosed that he was Lord Seve’s son. But, perhaps he meant to keep it a secret. Revealing his identity would create an immediate sense of tension and separation, and Cedric’s situation put him in more than enough scenarios of social isolation, he likely didn’t want to step into yet another.

How kind of you, Cedric. There was a sense of hesitancy in Simon’s words, as if he wasn’t entirely happy with the presence of an unknown boy in our midst.

Simon turned back to me. You didn’t come with Gil?

No, a runner delivered the message. I don’t know why Gil didn’t find me himself. I hope he’s alright. I paused. I didn’t want to dwell on Gil’s odd method of communicating with me. I looked up at my brother, a half smile forming at the corner of my lips. We rode horses, I whispered.

Really, now? Horses! That is exciting. You left them up in the drylands?

We tied them to a tree, just where Gil ties up the mules.

Cedric and I helped Simon with gutting and salting at the