Chapter 51: Growth

The next morning I woke up before dawn. I hadn’t used yesterday’s cast to test my idea. I feel more confident than ever that Lucarion can defend himself at least partially and I need to get to that level.

I grabbed a bucket before leaving the church. I needed somewhere away from the knights to practice, but I also needed a reason to be there if anyone came looking for me. The Grubbears needed feeding, their pen needed cleaning, and cleaning meant I needed water. I wasn't sneaking away to secretly practice using the Guttervine as a weapon. No sir I was not! I was doing chores.

It was a very good alibi.

By the time I reached the well, I realized I wasn't the only person awake. Yesterday, the village had still been quiet this early. Now doors were opening around the square. Someone crossed ahead of me carrying a basket. Another person was already leaving the well as I approached, I lowered the bucket into the well. The rope rubbed against my palms as I pulled it back up, and water sloshed over the side when I set it down.

Behind the stables was about as far from the church as I could get without entering Highbough. I was still grounded, and Emma and I had already planned our date for the new moon. It would be easier to sneak into the forest with less moonlight. Getting caught going in now could ruin everything.

I carried the bucket toward the stables instead, trying not to let the water splash down my legs. Once I rounded the back of the building, the rough plank wall blocked most of the village from sight.

An uneasy feeling settled over me. Ever since I had woken up as Lucarion, part of me had felt unsafe there. I was stuck in another world filled with demons, surrounded by people I had spent my entire life being taught to fear.

And somehow, here in my own village, I was sneaking behind buildings, hiding from knights, and making sure I had an excuse ready in case someone asked where I had been. That felt wrong.

A Grubbear shifted inside the stable. Right. My excuse.

I carried the water in, fed the Grubbears, and started cleaning their pen. They were not very helpful. One moved into the section I had just started on, so I pushed against their side until they finally shuffled away. Another sniffed at the rake as if it had suddenly become the most interesting thing in Tillshade.

I pulled the rake away. I cleared enough dirty straw to make it obvious I had actually been working, then stopped. Good enough. If anyone found me behind the stable, I had been taking a break. That made the lie even better.

As Lucarion, I was already sitting in the meditation room. I had slept on the small couch in the corner instead of returning to my own bed so I could start practicing as soon as I woke. My body did not appreciate that decision.

A bruise along Lucarion's side hurt when I breathed too deeply, and small cuts and scrapes covered his hands from yesterday's duel with Raven. I turned one hand over. It was still strange seeing them there.

Usually when I got hurt, either I used Healing or someone else did. If something was bad enough to matter, nobody simply left it alone. But Lucarion's fingers had taken forever to heal before, and now there were more marks. Was he just going to keep collecting injuries?

A bruise from one day. Scraped fingers from another. Cuts from sword practice. Maybe eventually there wouldn't be anywhere left that didn't hurt.

I rested Lucarion's hands on his knees and returned to the reason I had slept there. The rematch.

From previous practice, I knew I could summon one Lesser Dullahan and three Lesser Barghests at the same time. I wanted another Lesser Dullahan. Three Barghests gave me numbers, but I doubted they could do much against Raven. Now two Lesser Dullahans fighting him together with me to provide support, I might be able to actually win, not just impress.

At least that was the idea.

I settled Lucarion's breathing and returned to the meditation. Most of my attention stayed with Olive.

I slipped out of the Grubbear pen and around the back of the stable. The ground there was packed hard with dirt and old straw. The wall beside me smelled like hay, damp wood, and animals. That made me miss the forest smells, should I take Emma somewhere with lots of flowers? Should I focus on good smells or... stop! Focus…

I raised my left wrist. The Guttervine sat wrapped around it in a neat tangle of thin green vines and little leaves, compact enough that I could hide them beneath my sleeve if I pulled it down. On top of the vines rested their little bud, still tightly closed.

“Okay.”

A tendril curled over the back of my hand.

“I need you to shoot.”

Nothing happened.

I pointed my wrist toward a patch of bare dirt.

“Right there.”

The Guttervine tightened around my wrist. The little bud moved. I froze. It lifted slightly and angled in the same direction as my hand.

“Yes.”

The tightly folded outer leaves separated. Just a little. A dark opening appeared between them.

“Oh.”

The seed shot out. I flinched. It struck the dirt about two feet in front of me, bounced once, and stopped.

For a moment I just stared at it.

“That was fast.”

The bud folded closed again. I looked from the seed to my wrist. Two feet was not very far. The enemy would have to be right on top of me.

I crouched. The dark seed sitting in the dirt between my knees was barely bigger than the end of my finger.

I reached for the bucket, turned it upside down and placed it over the seed, pressing the rim into the dirt so I knew exactly where the seed was beneath it. There.

Magic needed practice like everything else. The problem was that magic was harder to practice than almost anything else because you could only cast so many times. If I wanted to get better at climbing, I could climb until my arms hurt. If I wanted to get better at running, I could run until my legs gave out. If I wanted to get better at magic, I used my cast. Then I waited.

So people got good at the things they actually needed. Luckily, I spent my days helping Arbolive grow. I knew the feeling of the spell. I knew what I wanted from it. I had done it over and over.

I extended my hand toward the overturned bucket and focused on the seed beneath it. If there was any magic I could trust myself to get right...

“Growth!”

Magic pulled from my center. Warmth rushed down my arm.

The bucket jumped. I stumbled backward.

Long, thick vines burst from beneath the rim, lifting the bucket into the air.

“Whoa!”

More followed before it could fall away. They twisted around the sides, caught the bucket; they held it in the air before slowly dragging it back into the growing tangle.

The metal groaned. I stared. The vines tightened. The side of the bucket bent inward. Then another section folded.

It worked.

A laugh burst out of me.

“Yes!”

I jumped up and threw both hands into the air.

“It worked! You did it!”

The Guttervine stirred with me, their tendrils lifting around my wrist. Their little bud turned toward me. I grabbed my wrist with my right hand, grinning down at them.

“Thank you. Thank you, thank you.”

One vine curled around my thumb. I rubbed it gently between my fingers.

This was what I had been hoping for. I looked at the vines wrapped around the bucket. If the Guttervine could put a seed where I needed one, I did not have to become good at a completely different kind of magic before I had something useful. I could use the spell I was already best at!

The bucket creaked again. I winced as another dent folded into the side. Maybe it worked a little too well.

But if someone was coming after me... I had something I could use now.

The tightness I had been carrying in my chest loosened. I looked down at the Guttervine.

“Thank you.”

Their vine remained curled around my thumb. I rubbed it again.

I wished I could give them something back. I wanted them to be happy with me. I wanted them to be healthy. If they were going to help me like this, I wanted to make sure I was helping them too.

Warmth moved through my chest.

I went still.

The familiar rush of magic flowed down my arm.

“What?”

The Guttervine shivered beneath my fingers. Their bud swelled. I stared.

The green folds slowly separated. One opened. Then another. Something inside appeared as the bud spread farther, opening until a small flower rested against my wrist.

I forgot about the bucket.

Tiny bumps appeared between the Guttervine's leaves.

“What are those?”

One opened. A flower no bigger than my fingernail unfolded among the vines. Then another. And another. Little flowers spread around my wrist until they dotted the green tangle.

I stopped breathing. The warmth inside me vanished. All of it.

I stared at the flowers. Then at my hand. Then back at the flowers.

I used a spell!

One of the Guttervine's tendrils curled around my finger. I barely noticed.

I turned toward the bucket. The vines were still there. I looked back at the flowers. And this had happened after.

The little flower on top of my wrist tilted with the movement of the vines. I stared at it.

“I cast twice!”

I laughed and grabbed my wrist again, careful not to crush the flowers.

“I did! I cast twice!”

The Guttervine wriggled under my fingers. I laughed harder.

Two. Two casts. There was no mistake.

I wanted to tell someone. Olivander. I could run back to the church, find him, and tell him right now. I could already imagine it.

Olivander, I have two!

My smile faltered.

Olivander still had one.

I stopped squeezing my wrist. He was my big brother. And I had reached two first.

My eyes dropped to my hand.

This wasn't normal.

The excitement that should have grown. It didn't. Something inside me went quiet instead.

I lowered my wrist.

I had believed Lumisiel made me into Lucarion for a reason. The Hero was coming. The war was coming. And somehow I had ended up in the middle of both sides.

I had called myself the next answer. The one after the Hero. It had been easy when it was only something I believed. I could believe I was going to figure everything out someday. I could believe I would find some way to stop everyone from killing each other. I could believe I was going to show people they were wrong about demons.

I thought it would be Lucarion, bringing us peace, that I only had to have the strength to convince the eclipserans.

But if Lumisiel is giving me another cast this young...

Maybe I needed strength as well…

I looked past my wrist. The vines from the seed had finished twisting around the bucket. It was crushed between them now.

A few minutes ago, that had been incredible. A knight had scared me because there had been almost nothing I could do if one actually decided to hurt me. Now I had something that could bend a bucket. If somebody came after me, I could stop them and run.

A moment ago, that had felt like enough.

I stared at the crushed metal.

The Princess had arrived with knights. The Church had saints. There were kings. There were demons preparing for war. There were people on both sides who already knew exactly who they hated.

If they were all wrong, telling them they were wrong was not going to make them listen. How was I supposed to make anyone listen to me if one knight could beat me?

And I thought I was going to change the world.

The thought sounded stupid.

I pulled my sleeve carefully over the Guttervine. The new flowers made it sit differently, but I managed to cover most of them without crushing anything.

This wasn't enough.

I am not enough yet…

The emptiness tightened into something else. But I couldn’t fail her. Lumisiel expected me to succeed, she knew I could.

I had to get stronger.

I had to start now.

A Grubbear snorted inside the stable.

I blinked.

Right. Chores.

I scoffed internally. To think I had wasted my time with chores. For what? An alibi, in case someone thought I was doing something wrong. I can’t afford to use my time like this anymore.

What could I actually do?

Lucarion could train with Raven. Lucarion could practice summoning.

Olive could...

The tournament!

The war had already been announced. And we were waiting to practice for a tournament? That made no sense.

Dawn had reached the village. The first sunlight had come. I felt the familiar rush of being filled with magic once again. Two. I should have two casts now. for a moment I considered trying growth again.

I went looking for Eric instead. It took long enough that some of the urgency in my legs turned into irritation.

“Eric.”

He turned toward me. He was, well, just standing around. I don’t know what he was doing, standing guard?

“Olive?”

“When are we training?” I demanded

He stared at me for a moment.

“For what?”

“The tournament.”

His expression changed slightly.

“The tournament?”

I nodded earnestly.

Eric's attention moved over me, as if checking whether I was hiding one somewhere.

“We are waiting for you parents, your dad is the one who is going to train you all.”

“But they’re not here and you are.”

His mouth twitched. I waited. He waited too. I was not going away.

Eventually, he sighed.

“Olive, the tournament was supposed to be something fun for you all.”

“I know.”

“A little competition. Something for the children.”

“Yes, and now a princess is here wanting to watch.”

“It’s about the princess ey?” he said, grinning.

I frowned. Eric rubbed at his face.

“There’s no prize you know.”

“The Hero was announced.”

His hand stopped. I kept going before he could answer.

“The Princess is here. The knights are here. Everyone keeps talking about demons and war.”

“Olive,” he said gently.

I needed something to convince him. I needed to get my hands on a sword so I could start practicing.

“My brother wants to be a God Sworn, how else to show Lumisiel what he can do than to have a competitive tournament, right now only he and Jorren have ever held a sword!”

I folded my arms. The Guttervine moved beneath my sleeve. I loosened them again before I accidentally crushed their new flowers.

“You want us to start training for your brother?”

“Yes!”

No.

Eric's expression flattened. I knew I was reaching. But I was also right. Mostly. But he shouldn’t stand in the way of us proving ourselves to Lumisiel.

Eric went quiet. I took the opening.

“So teach us.”

His eyebrows rose. Eric studied me long enough that I became aware of how tightly I was standing. I forced my shoulders down.

“None of you stand a chance against Olivander and Jorren, the others will feel bad about themselves when they lose,” he said, sighing. “This was supposed to be fun.”

“Don’t you know kids at all? We were going to feel bad anyway,” I told him. “It can be fun after we know how not to embarrass ourselves.”

Eric glanced toward the church, then back at me.

“You know actual practice is hard, you’ll have to use your spell to enhanced yourself as part of the training.”

“Yes.”

“It’ll take many hours a day.” He added

“I know.”

“It’ll get repetitive and boring.” He tried halfheartedly

“Okay.”

“We’ll have to tell you everytime you do something wrong.” He threatened

“Good.”

Eric crossed his arms.

Eric breathed out through his nose. For a second, I thought he was going to tell me to go back to the church.

Instead he said, “After breakfast.”

I blinked.

“What?”

“before lunch.”

My chest jumped.

“Today!”

“You're the one who said we were wasting time.”

“Yes, I’ll tell the others!” I said, rushing away to the blacksmith. I already knew Dain would be there, and there was something I needed from him.