Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Gregori shoved Sarn into the cool night. “I found him. The damned fool was trying to fly.”

“You were trying to fly?” Nolo asked as he tried to make sense of Gregori’s report. At least he didn’t believe it outright. Or did he? Nolo grabbed Sarn by the arm as if it were a bloody leash and not an appendage attached to his body.

Neither Ranger trusted Sarn to do what he was told, even though they had no reason to distrust him. So, neither one gave him any instructions or information. Nothing new there. Sarn tried not to let that bother him, but it did. He wasn’t fifteen anymore. He’d grown up, but no one had noticed.

“I wasn’t trying to fly.” Sarn yanked his arm free before stalking a few paces away. Much better. Now to see about that stupid blindfold.

Sarn scanned the cliff with his magic, not his eyes because the blindfold still covered them, and his head map sprang into action, shifting its view, so it displayed the cliff, the mountain they were standing on, and the meadow below. No other icons popped up on his head map except the three of them. Good, Sarn fingered the blindfold. It was time for that annoying thing to come off. He had an unshakable feeling he would need his eyes tonight.

“Leave it.” Nolo grabbed his arm again and squeezed it hard enough to make his point. Why was everyone so hands-on tonight?

“You were trying to defy something,” Gregori muttered darkly.

Sarn fought the urge to roll his glowing eyes because no one could see them.

“We’ll talk about that later. I need you to come with me.” Nolo shook Sarn’s arm to make it clear who he wanted to accompany him.

Sarn didn’t have a choice, but he’d have gone with Nolo anyway because he was curious about what had spooked both Rangers. Something had, but neither wanted to discuss it. That was fine. Let them keep their secrets. Sarn had a feeling he’d find out soon enough. Curiosity had always been his downfall.

“What’s going on?” Sarn asked, even though neither man would ever tell him anything. Still, it couldn’t hurt to ask. Every so often, they’d throw him a crumb of information. But not this time.

Gregori poked Sarn in the ribs as he delivered the usual response to such questions. “What makes you think anything’s going on?”

Sarn slapped that muscular Ranger’s hand away before it could deliver another rude poke. “Snatches of conversations I overheard,” Sarn paused. Should he mention that persistent feeling that something wasn’t right? It kept growing like a shadowy threat in his mind as they walked.

Sarn felt his magic suddenly unfurl. What was it doing? It probably sensed something. Should he rein it in or let it flow? Sarn bit his lip as he considered that. He didn’t get long to brood, though.

“Let’s go. The disturbance is some way ahead.” Nolo pronounced the word ‘disturbance’ as a curse. Maybe it was. Nolo steered Sarn toward the switchback trail leading down the mountain.

What could that ‘disturbance’ possibly be? Sarn tried not to step on Nolo’s feet, but he couldn’t see where he was stepping. His magic tried to help, but it kept running ahead of them like an eager puppy and shooting back information about the trail in a series of ghostly sketches.

Each burst took a moment to assimilate. While it did, Sarn was momentarily without an external reference until his map updated itself. “Sorry,” Sarn said as the toe of his boot grazed Nolo’s heel again.

Since the enchanted forest crouched just a mile away, that disturbance could be anything. But it was likely magical. Otherwise, why bring him to see it? Sarn was the only mage living under Mount Eredren. That made him their de facto expert on all things magical. “Sorry,” Sarn said as he stepped on Nolo’s feet again.

Nolo didn’t respond. He just kept descending the switchback mountain trail with Gregori bringing up the rear.

“Why are you coming along? Didn’t your shift end at sundown?” But even as Sarn asked, he wasn’t sure if he was right. He couldn’t read the schedule.

“Never you mind,” Gregori all but growled. “Keep your attention on the trail, so you don’t fall.”

“It would help if I could see the damned trail.” Sarn shot Nolo a glare through the blindfold.

“Don’t curse. It makes you sound coarse,” Nolo shouted over the howling wind, and there was a silent, ‘we expect you to be better than that,’ tacked onto the end of that statement, which referred collectively to the Rangers.

The wind dropped, leaving a tense silence broken by the soft clicking of the beads on the bracelet Nolo always wore and the padding of their boots on the gravel trail winding down the mountain.

Ten agates and three jaspers,

supplied his magic before Sarn cut off its commentary. His magic liked rocks, even if they were part of someone else’s jewelry.

I don’t care,

Sarn told it.

Why don’t you do something useful and find the disturbance?

This time, Sarn had remembered to think about his comments instead of speaking them aloud. He didn’t want his minders to think he was crazy when he was talking to his magic.

Magic shot out of Sarn in shimmering green waves, obliterating his head map in a blinding explosion of green light that thankfully stayed inside his skull. Sarn reeled, momentarily stunned by his map’s sudden absence as his magic reached the end of its tether. Everything stopped.

Time stood still, freezing Sarn in place mid-step. A black spot swelled amidst the inescapable green glow of the magic pouring out of his eyes. The blindfold might hide it, but nothing could douse that fire in his eyes, not even the voice thundering in Sarn’s ears.

“You will figure out what ‘normal’ is and you will spend every minute of every day trying to be it. You will not even think about using magic unless it’s absolutely necessary,” said his master, Jerlo, the Commander of the Rangers, in his mind, reminding Sarn of his orders.

Sarn must obey those orders no matter what. He’d promised, and the word of a mage was binding until death.

The word ‘normal’ echoed in Sarn’s head and almost bowled him over. Normal people didn’t use magic because they had no access to it. But ‘normal’ was something he wasn’t, and that thought caused his magic to snap back. It crashed into Sarn, and he swayed until Gregori steadied him.

“You okay, Kid?” Gregori asked. Was there a hint of concern in his voice? “You look a little pale.”

Was he okay? Sarn blinked at the strip of black cloth over his eyes, but they weren't glowing any brighter than they usually did. What had just happened? Sarn struggled to remember. Everything, since he’d left his cave, was suddenly hazy.

“Where?” Sarn stopped as his sixth sense handed him the answer. He was standing on the shoulder of Mount Eredren with Nolo and Gregori. There was something the duo wanted him to see.

“No really, are you okay?” Gregori spun Sarn around to face him.

But Sarn couldn’t see anything except that damned blindfold. Why was he even wearing it?

Gregori snapped his fingers. “Hey, Kid, I’m talking to you. Are you all right? Answer me.”

Sarn nodded. That was his default response to all questions about his state of being because he couldn’t lie. His magic wouldn’t allow it. But a nod wasn’t a lie.

Did I just have another one of those blackouts?

Sarn sensed that nod wasn’t enough. He dug around for something to say that was true. “Why wouldn’t I be okay?”

There, that should do it.

Now, if they’d just tell me what they want me to see

. Had they even said? Sarn didn’t know. Everything was so jumbled in his head. Maybe he had blacked out for a moment.

“Why wouldn’t you be? Kid, you must have something wrong with your memory. One moment you’re all quiet and intense, and the next—” Gregori snapped his fingers again. “You’re swaying like a sapling in a breeze. You’d have fallen if I hadn’t caught you. Maybe this isn’t such a bright idea.” Gregori directed that last comment to Nolo.

“You might be right.” Nolo sounded torn but resolute.

“No, I want to help.” Sarn turned toward Nolo’s voice. His head map had disappeared when he needed it most. Damn. Sarn tried to call it back up, but nothing happened. How could that be? It always lurked at the periphery of consciousness.

“All right. We’re already out here. We might as well continue, but the instant you feel at all unwell, we’ll turn back. Is that clear?” Nolo tugged on Sarn’s arm, presumably to get his attention, though he already had that, so Sarn nodded.

An eerie polysyllabic summons whispered on the wind like some fell warning.

I’ve heard that before,

Sarn thought, but his magic didn’t comment as that chant repeated. Sarn clenched his fists until his nails bit into his palms.

“Do you hear that?” Sarn asked, hoping he wasn’t the only one who heard it.

“I don’t hear anything except the wind. It’s gusting again,” Nolo said, dashing his hopes. “Why, do you hear something else?”

Sarn shook his head. If Nolo didn’t hear that fell chanting, then he was hallucinating it. Damn. Sarn scrubbed his free hand over his face and surreptitiously tugged on the blindfold, but it didn’t budge. Gregori had bound it too tightly.

“What’s this ‘disturbance?’” Sarn asked to change the subject. If he was hallucinating voices speaking in gibberish, then it was best to ignore them.

They were nearing the end of the trail. In a minute, Nolo would have to pick a direction, and that would tell Sarn something about their destination since Nolo still wouldn’t. His master maintained his silence. Damn him. “You don’t think I can understand.” Sarn clenched his fists, and anger hammered a molten spike into his heart.

“Calm down.” Nolo squeezed his captured arm hard enough to make his point.

“Why should I?” No one would answer his questions. Sarn kept walking toward an unknown situation while listening to an aural hallucination that grew louder with each repetition. It was enough to drive a man mad, and Nolo wanted him to calm down?

Hell no. Sarn embraced his anger, even though part of him knew he was being irrational. He just couldn’t help it. Everything felt so out of control. Sarn wanted to pummel something, but that wouldn’t shut the voice up or end its nonsensical chant. It stopped as suddenly as it had begun. An image of a circle enclosing a thirteen-pointed star appeared. Flames flickered at each vertex, making the entire thing glow.

Sarn reached for one of them and his hand passed through those flames, proving they were as illusory as that voice had been. Why thirteen? What did that mean, and why was he hallucinating this now?

“What are you doing?” Gregori shook Sarn’s shoulder.

“I—” Sarn trailed off as the image of that star faded. Magic wreathed his hand. He couldn’t see it thanks to the blindfold, but Sarn could feel it running over both his hands.

“Be normal,” Jerlo’s voice ordered in his memory, and the green flames cut off. But Sarn’s map returned. It sprang up in time to deliver a warning.

Northeast of their current position, a cluster of Rangers appeared on Sarn’s head map. Were they standing by the disturbance or waiting to lead them to it? There was no way to know for certain until they reached them.

The crack of a whip startled Sarn, and he halted. “Did you hear that?” Sarn gestured to where he’d heard the noise, but it didn’t come again.

“I didn’t hear anything but the wind. What did you hear?” Nolo’s tone gave away his worry, but he held tight to Sarn’s arm and kept hiking. Something serious had happened. Why wouldn’t Nolo explain what that something was?

Long grasses brushed their booted calves as they crossed a flat swath of greenery, heading ever nearer to the enchanted forest. A malevolent presence slammed into Sarn, hitting him like a physical force. Somewhere in that trackless wilderness, something had gone horribly wrong. That was the only answer that fit. And they wanted him to do something about it? Were they insane?

We fix,

said his magic as it crawled out of its hiding place deep within Sarn. It was reading his mind again. Maybe it would answer a few questions.

Fix what? What happened? What kind of mess are we walking into?

Sarn waited, but that was all his magic had to say on that subject. Sarn ground his teeth in frustration. The problem must be nearby. They were rapidly nearing the end of the meadow. Soon, they’d be in the enchanted forest. Then Sarn would get far more than he’d bargained for.