I watched as the members of the group got up to get prepared for the journey they knew faced them ahead. My eyes rested on the figure of Brittany sitting there on the log. From my position I couldn't determine if she was embarrassed or angry with the decision from Henry. I could tell that she would respect his decision but didn't seem to think that whatever destination that Henry set out for himself would be a perilous one. No matter the destination however I didn't want my new owner to either find himself resting in the ground like the goblins that lay in a pile a good hundred feet away, or to abandon me for being some useless incompetent mage. Either option didn't seem to bode well for the future. My eyes lingered on the dejected figure of Brittany for just a moment longer, and tried to find where my presence could be of usefulness. My eyes scanned the surroundings and thought back to Henry's request.
Do you think we could do it? I pondered Linette.
Unsure. Our roots took a lot of unwanted pressure with that spell earlier. I frowned at what she was saying, but ultimately agreed with her deduction.
However,... we should be able to maintain it for a decent amount of time.
My frown immediately changed to that of a creeping smile. Somehow I could tell that there was a presence somewhere nearby. I whipped around to find a scowling George behind me.
"For god's sake girl why does your face keep changing like that! You'll scare the children." He gestured to our surroundings which very clearly had no children in sight. I frowned at his obvious attempt to rile me up.
"Well… what do… you want?" I folded my arms in front of me, mostly trying to hide my embarrassment at my still failing voice. I knew however that if I wanted to remain useful I had to work on that disability.
George squinted his eyes looking like he was trying to decipher the secrets that lay within my soul.
"I saw you earlier." He crossed his arms in a pathetic attempt at trying to rile me more. However, his attempt had riled me to my core. If I was not only a failed mage, but one that would cough blood at casting the simplest of spells would Henry abandon me on the side of the road? For a brief moment I could feel Linette pause within, but offered no solace to comfort me.
"What do… you mean?" My words came out as a forced whisper. I could feel black start to crowd in on my vision. It took me a moment to realize that my breaths were coming in wispy breaths. George again was scanning my face, but instead of ignoring my growing panic continued the conversation.
"It was a cool spell nonetheless, but why cast magic if it'll wear you out?" He shrugged his shoulders standing there waiting for an obvious reply. I couldn't respond very well because I didn't know what my limit was, so instead I raked my brain for a suitable excuse.
"Magic… roots… were broken." I pointed to my neck which caused a brief flash of regret to show on his face.
"Did that necklace destroy your leylines?" He took a step forward and stretched out his hand. In a brief flash I pushed his hand away in a panic.
"Easy girl… I wanna make sure there's no permanent damage." He went to put his hand forth again which took a lot of effort to not push away again. He rested his hand against the upper part of my arm, and I could feel his magic slither into me. Instead of the gross feeling that accompanied the Headmaster's energy it instead had a pleasant feeling.
It instantly reminded me of the warm breeze that I could feel accompanying me while I was incapacitated this morning. Whether by design or not, but everywhere his magic was touching I could feel a soothing presence.
"Was that… you that… helped me?" I forced the words of my throat, still feeling that every attempt to speak was anything but a chore. Instead of responding right away I could feel his magic check over my roots. Linette returned her presence to my core, and did her best it appeared to not be noticed unlike her experience with the Headmaster. After inspecting each and every pathway from head to toe I could feel him linger a little longer in the vicinity of my core. My pulse quickened thinking that maybe Linette had been discovered, but soon after I could feel his magic withdraw from my body.
"Yes it was I that was assisting you from last night and into this morning. When Staples had removed your magic sealing collar, he had done little to assist you with your backlash." I could see the scowl creep into his slender face.
"Fucking bastards all of them. Did you know that in the Northern Institute of Magic we consider them nothing but beasts in this land?" He shook his head obviously looking sickened.
"It took a lot of energy to stabilize your core, but without the assistance of our 'little helper' you probably wouldn't have made it." At the mention of 'little helper' he winked at my very visible face of panic.
"What 'little helper'" I asked sheepishly. He eyed the panic within my face, and then his face took a face of surprise.
"Did they not tell you what you have?" Excitement crept into his voice.
"What I… have?" I wrenched my hands in my lap not understanding the direction the conversation was taking.
"You're mana blessed." He started pacing in fast paced circles, leaving a small trail of his steps in the dirt. The thought suddenly crossed my mind that if he kept it up would he have been able to dig into the earth itself?
Pinch
What? Isn't the thought funny?
"What… does that… mean?" I had to quickly turn my thoughts from my internal fight with Linette to the one at hand.
"It means that a being was created from your pure form of mana." His pace quickened as he stroked his chin.
"It's a super rare form for mages and I've only ever encountered four such mages myself. The others that I talked to about it believed that it was formed when their lives were in dangerous predicaments." He glanced at me when he stated that and stopped his pacing.
"Did they mean to sell you to us?" He squinted at me like I was some rare stone found on a riverbed. Upon him saying this however the only thought I could think of was the floating Warden being dragged to that back room. Blood spewing from every orifice of his face.
"I was… no good." I finally admitted not wanting him to put too much worth to wherever his thoughts were taking him.
"Nonsense." He waved off what I was saying, and went back to his intense pacing trying to drag him into the very earth itself.
"Well anyway the concept of being mana blessed is something that every mage has sought out to obtain for themselves. Myself included." He stopped pacing and pointed at himself, giving me a faint smirk. His quirky personality was becoming tiring, and under his constant pressure I could feel myself becoming drained by his very presence himself. Something must have shown on my face however because without a further word he went off to go and assist someone within the group. I hurriedly sat down thinking back to what George had been talking to me about.
We're mana blessed, Linette! Instead of responding though I could feel a sense of excitement come from Linette. I scanned the group and was getting the feeling that we were going to depart soon. They had loaded up the cart with everyone's goods and some of the soldiers were putting on what appeared to be a white armour. I could even see Brittany through the group of people with her hair in a braid trailing behind her helm. She had her massive sword still attached to her back, but at her waist there was a smaller shield that had been tied with a leather brace. Even Henry was dawned in armour instead of his normal white attire that matched what I was wearing. I looked upon myself and became a little sad seeing that my pure white outfit had been stained in places with mud.
"It'll wash out." Namen was walking up to me wearing a similar outfit to the rest of the group. His black beard and bushy eyebrows could be seen peeking out of his helm. Instead of the unkempt beard from this morning however he had also braided his beard as well. I weakly smiled up at the sight of Namen, and stood up to join the rest of the group.
"Jus' takes a bit o' elbow grease to ge' t'e bigger stains out." He gruffed and looked disgruntled like he was remembering times of difficult grime. I let out a small chuckle nodding my head, remembering the time when Milinda had to scrub the dirt away from my skin. The thought of Milinda sent a pang of pain that jolted me back to understanding.
People betray but Linette doesn't. I glumly acknowledged Linette from within. I could feel her pur in agreement, but didn't speak about the matter further.
"Everyone ready?!" I could hear Henry shout from the front of the group. Off to the side of him I could see horses attached to the carts. I admired the beautiful sheen of the brown fur on the pair of horses, but drew my attention to the group setting off deeper into the woods. The pace that we were marching at first was something I felt like I could easily keep up with, but quickly realized that my small bit of physical training I had done with the Warden wasn't enough to keep up with this group. For every step they all took it felt like I needed three to four to follow in their wake. Namen marched along beside me with his eyes fixed forward, but even that made my skin feel on edge. Even though I knew it was internal it felt like if I started trailing behind I'd keep everyone at a slower pace, which spurred me forward. My hips quickly grew tired, and I could feel my shins start to splint. I could feel beads of sweat row slick along my spine and forehead. I could feel Linette tenderly touch the affected parts of my body which allowed me to keep pace with the individuals that were twice my size. I looked over to George to see if the lanky individual would be suffering himself, but instead of seeing him struggling instead I could see his face buried within a book while he kept stride with Henry at the front. Every once in a while I'd see Henry look towards George like they were in some deep conversation, but after walking at that pace for a few hours even the touches of Linette weren't enough to leave the ire of my muscles. I could feel my joints creak in annoyance with abusing my body to this degree. Every once in a while I would feel Namen grow closer to my heels causing me to have to do a slight jog to get ahead again.
After walking for what felt like two lifetimes the members ahead started slowing to a stop. I did my absolute best to not let the others know that I was sucking for breath. I didn't even bother to try and discern why everyone had stopped and focused on trying to calm my racing heart. The ever present Namen still stayed close to my heels, but honestly appreciated that we spent the entire march in absolute silence, as any response given by me would have been even worse than my normal responses.
"Time for chow everyone!" Henry called from up ahead, and I could see everyone approach the horse drawn carriage grabbing small bits of jerky and apples from bags that lay close to the back. I tried to follow but Namen put a hand on my shoulder.
"Go sit kid." He strode off to the carriage giving me a much needed reprieve from the walk. I found a nearby stone to sit upon and inspect the damage further. I removed the boots from my feet and noticed that my feet were covered in bright red sores from where my heels were rubbing against the back of the boots. I tenderly rubbed my aching calves and watched as everyone sat down merrily eating their lunches. I didn't even have the energy to really try to listen to anyone's conversations. It took all my willpower to not lay down to rest, knowing that doing so would have shown everyone how weak I truly was. I looked off in the distance and could vaguely see through the trees a small ravine section up ahead. It wasn't clear enough to truly see any details, but figured that we must have made good progress away from the school.
Namen approached with a bit of jerky and two apples. He took a giant mouthful of the apple and a satisfying kerchunk could be heard. He tossed the apple and jerky in my direction, which I did my best to not let drop into the dirt. I quickly scarfed the food down trying to appease my angered stomach. The taste of the apple though did wonders for desire for sugar however which I savored each and every bite of. I could see Namen chuckle to himself as I carefully peeled all the remaining bits of apple flesh away from the core. I inspected the damage I had done to the apple and even admired my own work. All that was left of the apple was a thin piece of core and visible seeds sticking out this way and that. I carefully set down my apple carcass and went back to rubbing my sore calves. Feeling mildly restored from our break I noticed that Henry and Brittany were arguing a few paces ahead but didn't have the energy to give them my attention. I spied that George was ahead sitting on a knocked over piece of dead log with his book still in his face. Every once in a while he'd move the book slightly so he could shove a half eaten apple into his mouth.
"Princess!" I whipped my head to see Henry waving me over to where he was standing with Brittany. I quickly threw my boots back prioritizing speed versus taking the time to tie the laces back up. As I walked over to the pair I could feel the laces slapping the back of my calves.
"We'll need you in tip top shape for this next section, so why not take a break in the cart?" He gestured to the cart a few feet away from where we were standing. I quickly nodded, not wanting to argue at the chance to take a break. I gingerly pulled myself into the back of the cart. As I was doing so I could feel the cart rock slightly as the horses adjusted themselves at the front. I found a nice place nestled in between two sacks that felt soft to the touch. After getting nice and settled in I could tell that we were off again when the cart started jostling forward. I could feel each and every bump underneath the wheels, but didn't lament as even I could tell that we were moving at a much more considerable pace than before. Looking out the back of the cart I could vaguely see Namen off a short distance partially being blocked by the sack I was using as a back rest. The occasional rocking of the cart mixed with the humid heat of the air was making it difficult to stay awake. I could feel my eyelids trying to press themselves closed. Out of nowhere Henry's face popped into view of the back of the carriage.
"We need you to restore your energy for the upcoming area, so if you need to sleep don't fight it okay?" Henry was smiling like his normal self, but I could sense a vague energy of unease. I nodded to him to let him know I understood, and allowed the rocking of the carriage to lull me to sleep.