Chapter 44: Nothing to do with

Raven had decided to give my body a rest from the stretches. He said we would continue later, because rest was as important as action.

Ezkyrath did not believe in such a thing.

“Being relaxed is the normal state of a lord. You must be able to meditate without having your eyes closed.”

She was back in her girl form, speaking normally. She had reverted the moment Raven vanished back to wherever he had come from.

“Why?” I groaned. “Isn’t meditation just for training my mana?”

She shook her head, her skin rippling like thick water as she moved.

“You must learn to meditate at all times if you wish to have sufficient concentration to hold a concentric circle during combat.”

“Sit,” she said, patting the desk.

I jumped up and sat cross-legged on it.

She stood directly in front of me. Her face morphed slightly, gaining more features, including a small nose.

“Summon the lesser hounds and follow my facial movements.”

She had me practicing my facial expressions during the meditation.

“This one is to show generosity,” she said, changing her face once more.

I imitated her as best I could. She offered no correction and did not say whether I had done it well or not. She just continued on to the next one.

***

As Olive, I had finished with Mira, found Emma, and was currently leading her out of the village.

Emma had not wanted to come back into the forest, but I had grabbed her hand and started walking. I was taking her to Arbolive, though I took a few detours along the way.

As we moved by some bushes, I picked a few berries with my free hand, careful not to prick myself on the thorns. I maneuvered us around the bush, ensuring we did not get snagged, and popped one into my mouth. The sweet, toasted-malt flavor coated my tongue.

Past them was the clearing.

Strength flowed through me at the sight of her again.

Arbolive was there, as she always was. Unyielding.

I took Emma next to her. Somehow, being beside Arbolive felt far safer than being in the village, even though we were still out in the open.

I let go of Emma’s hand and sat down cross-legged, mirroring my other self.

“Wh-why are you making that face?” she asked as she sat down next to me.

I forgot which face I was controlling and showed her discourtesy, or at least my attempt at discourtesy.

“I, no, I’m sorry. I have a lot on my mind.”

I offered her a berry. Her face shone at the taste.

I made sure to keep my expression blank as I spoke, staring at the roots in the gap between my legs.

“I needed to know, to ask you. D-did Alaric mention anything to, about me?”

Silence hung in the air for far longer than necessary.

“That’s Church business. It has nothing to do with the crown,” she said, sure of herself.

“Noth-nothing? The dungeon. The princess said she was staying because of it.”

“What does that-”

“The prince, her brother, almost died. Knights died. It was demons.”

“And?” she asked, confused. “What do demons have to do with you?”

“Wha?”

The berry bushes crackled at the edge of the clearing.

A loud chittering erupted from the leaves, and a knight tumbled out, covered in fur. For one stupid heartbeat, I thought the fur was part of his armor.

Then the fur moved.

Kitesqueaks.

They swarmed over his shoulders and helmet, shrieking and clawing, their leaf-flaps snapping open and shut as they darted around his face. The knight hit the ground hard and rolled. The Kitesqueaks were attacking him.

Which could only mean one thing.

He was a bad guy.

Once again, everything slowed.

Ezkyrath’s room vanished from my mind entirely. The desk, her shifting face, the lesser hounds, all of it collapsed into a single, hyper-sharp point of view. My vision doubled its clarity in an instant.

The knight rolled onto one knee. His hand found the hilt at his waist. One Kitesqueak leapt from his visor just before he swung at it. I could see the trajectory of the sword as it moved through the air.

He would miss.

Emma remained seated.

He had a sword.

I had one spell.

I shoved myself up from the grass, but sitting made it awkward. My hands slipped. My knees dragged under me. My mind was already halfway across the clearing, but my body felt trapped in thick mud. It felt like forever before my feet found the ground.

The knight pulled his sword halfway free.

I ran.

He was still near the edge of the clearing, with the maltberry bushes behind him. The Kitesqueaks scattered and dove around his blade, keeping him turning, keeping him blind. He swung again, but I could already see it would miss.

I threw myself at him with both feet.

For one breath, I was in the air, twisting badly, arms windmilling as I tried to aim myself.

Then both soles slammed into his chest.

I kicked off him more than kicked him. Time stretched thin as I flipped backward, turning the drop into a slow, drifting glide. I still landed hard on my side, grass scraping my cheek as the breath was knocked out of me, while the knight crashed backward into the maltberry bushes.

Thorns snapped. Branches shook. The Kitesqueaks burst away from him in a shrieking cloud.

He was already moving.

The knight planted his elbows and started to sit up, armor scraping against the roots. His sword was still in his hand.

I reached inside myself for the familiar warmth.

There.

I shoved it toward the bush with everything I had.

“Grow!”

The word tore out of me as I thrust my arm forward.

The maltberry bush surged.

Branches thickened. Roots buckled through the soil. Brambles whipped around the knight, swelling faster than nature had any right to move. Thorns stretched long and heavy, some as thick as my arm, curling over his chest, his sword arm, and his legs.

The warmth inside me vanished, leaving me hollow.

He shouted and tried to wrench himself free.

The bush tightened.

The Kitesqueaks scattered all at once.

I took the hint.

I scrambled to my feet, fell once on shaking legs, grabbed Emma’s arm, and ran for the village.

I took a direct path this time, moving through the forest as fast as Emma allowed.

As Ezkyrath snapped her fingers in front of Lucarion’s eyes, I felt dizzy as my attention moved back to him.

“I no longer require your presence.”

My earlier practice spat out the harsh words.

Ezkyrath looked stunned for a moment before shifting back to her original form and exiting the room.

As the village came into view, I noticed two knights standing by the gate. I pulled Emma to the side, moving toward a guard tower. I shouldered the door the moment I reached it. It often got stuck, so I skipped straight to the end.

We climbed up the tower and found Jen in the room. She had been whittling, and wood shavings were scattered all over the floor.

She had a wry smile on her face. I recognized it because of Ezkyrath, not that I knew what wry meant.

I looked out the window in time to see the knight running out of the woods. His armor was spotless. He slowed, looked around, then walked down toward the gate.

I needed help. My parents weren’t home yet. My brother... it was not my brother I needed.

I turned toward Jen. “Where is your brother?”

“My brother? What do you need with that idiot?”

“We’re in trouble, but he can help.”

Emma balked at the we. “We... we attacked a knight.”

“He is over by the stables repairing a fence,” Jen said. “But if you need help, I can, or I can get Norman.”

But I was already pulling Emma along. The girl seemed to become stone when she was scared.

“A knight that belongs to the princess,” she muttered as I dragged her along. “A princess’s knight.”

I ran down the tower, taking the steps two at a time, and headed for the stables.

I found Eric crouched by the fence gate, tightening one of the hinges. The gate hung a little crooked, and every time he tested the latch, it scraped against the catch before clicking shut.

“Eric, we need your help. That knight, he came at us in the forest. We were with Arbolive, and he was there, and the Kitesqueaks attacked him, and I, I-”

“We attacked a knight,” Emma blurted.

“Slow down, slow down,” Eric said. “What are you talking about?”

“Olive jumped kicked him into a bush, and it grew and attacked him. I think, I think it was a drowsbush.” A small blush started to creep up her neck, coloring her cheeks.

“No, it was a normal malt bush. I used magic on it.” I tried to hold the smile back.

“You attacked a knight?” Eric asked.

“Yes. He chased us. He overheard. He was attacking the Kitesqueaks.”

Jen interrupted, I didn’t even know she had followed. “Wait. Did he attack the Kitesqueaks before or after you attacked him?”

“Be-before. He was swinging his sword at one when I knocked him into the bush.”

“But he was being attacked by the creatures. They attacked him first,” Emma told him unhelpfully.

“That doesn’t matter,” Eric thankfully said. “He had no reason to be in the forest, attacking our beasts and nearly killing one. This is our out. We won’t let them hurt you, Olive. We got them with this. He may be a knight, but this is our forest!”

He marched out of the stables. Jen followed.

“We’re picking a fight with the knights now?” Jen asked.

Eric adjusted the sword at his waist. “They’re picking a fight with us.”

“Wh-where are we going?” Emma asked, looking in the direction of the church.

“We are reporting this to Norman.”

The knight saw us from across the town center.

He had been near the gate, far enough away that I almost thought we might make it before he noticed. Then his head turned. He found us, even through the movement of carts, villagers, and children crossing between us.

He started toward us.

Eric grabbed my arm and kept walking.

Jen moved to my other side, placing herself between us and the knight without making a big show of it.

We reached Norman’s house just off the main road.

I always disliked his house, it always looked like he had just cleaned it, the front step was swept, and the boots beside the door were lined up from largest to smallest.

Even the flower boxes were too neat. Red flowers on the left, yellow in the middle, purple on the right, each color separated like they had been ordered not to touch. The vines along the railing had been trimmed into perfect little curls, not a single leaf reaching where it wanted to.

Norman’s house was always like that. It lacked the wildness of life.

Eric banged on the door.

After a moment without an answer, he opened it and walked in, dragging me with him.

Is this how Emma feels when I pull her?

Inside, the house was just as tidy. A woven rug sat perfectly centered in the entryway. Coats hung neatly from pegs along the wall. The shelves were filled with folded cloth, stacked dishes, and little carved figures placed in careful rows.

Norman sat at the table, eating.

He carefully brought a napkin to his face, wiped his mouth, then stared at everyone in the room.

“What happened now?”

“We’re here to make a report. A knight working for the princess was seen attempting to kill some Kitesqueaks.”

At the same time, Jen was outside the door, yelling at the knight.

“You can’t go in here. This is a house. You nobles can’t just go wherever you like.”

“Who saw this?” Norman asked, ignoring the shouting outside.

“I, I did. I was over with Emma. We were, umm, talking, and the knight just came out fighting the Kitesqueaks, and I couldn’t, well, then I pushed him into a malt bush and used magic to grow it around him.”

He frowned when I said pushed, but came to his feet anyway and walked out the door of his house.

We followed behind him. I made it to the doorframe. It was cramped as Emma and I peered through Eric’s legs.

Norman and Jen were squaring off against the knight.

The knight opened his mouth to speak, but Norman cut him off.

“There’s a report that you were seen attacking beasts that are under our village’s charge.”

The knight ignored Norman entirely, looking past his shoulder straight at me. Not even at Emma. He stared right into my eyes, not even pretending otherwise. “The beasts attacked me in the forest. I was merely defending myself.”

“The beasts attacked me in the forest. I was merely defending myself.”

“You’re not even hurt!” I yelled from the doorway.

Norman ignored me. “What were you doing in our forest?”

“I saw those two little girls walking into the forest.”

“Don’t pretend you-”

Eric clapped a hand over my mouth, cutting off my shouting.

Norman walked forward, causing the knight to take several steps back.

“Take the girls to the tailor’s,” Norman ordered Eric quietly.

Eric did not hesitate. He grabbed my arm and pulled me past the knight.

The knight’s green eyes stayed on me the entire time.

Emma and Jen followed close behind as Eric dragged us down the road and through the tailor’s door.

Inside, Dain stood on a stool while Mira worked very seriously on an outfit for him, pins tucked between her fingers and measuring string draped around her neck.

Dain’s look wasn’t one Ezkyrath had taught me, but I recognized it all the same.

Despair.