Chapter 54: A Trainee

The carriage rocked beneath us as it followed the road back to Tillshade. Dad's arms were wrapped around me, one across my stomach and the other resting over my legs, keeping me from sliding every time the carriage hit a rut. I was sitting sideways on his lap, tucked against his chest, with Mom pressed close beside us. Emma sat beside Mom, while Eloise sat alone across from all four of us. As she deserved. She was looking out the window, a blush on her cheeks, and I narrowed my eyes at her.

I felt a gaze land on me. Emma was looking at me. I smiled, and she smiled back. Then I remembered Dad was holding me, Mom was sitting between us, and both of my parents knew exactly why Emma and I had been wandering through the forest in the middle of the night. My face warmed. Emma noticed, and her smile got bigger. I tucked myself farther against Dad and looked out the window.

The sky beyond the trees had started changing. Black faded into dark blue between the branches, and the first pale light of morning stretched along the road ahead of us. Dawn. I watched until a thin line of sunlight finally reached through the trees. A new day. Until then, I'd still had one cast left from yesterday, saved in case I needed to protect myself or Emma. Now it was wasted. Dad's arms tightened around me when the carriage rocked again, and I leaned back against him. I couldn't bring myself to care about the wasted spell.

I had missed this. Mom's hand rested on Dad's arm where it crossed me, and every few moments she seemed to check me without actually checking me. Her fingers brushed my hair once, then my shoulder, then the edge of my sleeve. I pretended not to notice. Across from us, Eloise shifted, and my eyes went to her immediately. Dad's chest moved beneath me as he sighed, but nobody said anything. That was fine.

The carriage was warm. Mom had used her magic to heat us up, and our clothes were no longer wet. Dad was holding me. Mom was beside me. Emma was close enough that if I stretched my foot a little, the side of my boot touched hers. I did. She looked down, then at me. I looked innocently out the window. A few seconds later, her boot pressed against mine, and I smiled at the trees.

***

Tillshade was waking when the carriage reached the church. The square wasn't crowded yet, but smoke had begun rising from chimneys, and several people stopped what they were doing when the carriage rolled in. I barely waited for it to stop before jumping off with a smile on my face. People gathered around to greet my parents, happily pulling them into embraces. Mom climbed out behind me, then Emma. Eloise was last, stepping onto the road, straightening her clothes, and looking toward the church doors.

After a few embraces with the welcome party, Dad pointed toward the church. “You may return to the princess.”

Eloise gave him a perfectly proper bow. “Thank you.”

I folded my arms. She glanced at me, and I narrowed my eyes. Her mouth twitched before she headed into the church. I was still watching her disappear through the doors when someone shouted, “Mom! Dad!”

Olivander came running across the square. Mom barely had time to turn before he reached her. He hugged her hard enough to make her stumble, and Dad laughed before Olivander pulled him in too. For a moment, the three of them were tangled together. I didn't hesitate. I jumped into the embrace with them, and Dad laughed again.

Eventually, Olivander let go of all of us. Dad put a hand on his shoulder. “It is good to see you again, son,” he said warmly.

“How have you been handling things?” Mom asked. “Have you been eating right?”

“I've been doing my best.” He hesitated, which I thought was unfair. He had been doing a wonderful job. “It's probably best if we speak with Alaric, though.”

***

We ended up gathered inside Alaric's study. He had a big chair behind his desk, though it was smaller and much less ornate than the one in Lucarion's study. Scriptures covered the walls. At first, I thought they had been pasted everywhere, but looking closer, the wallpaper itself was made entirely of scripture.

A large white staff stood behind Alaric's chair, topped with a smooth orb that caught my attention almost immediately. I stared at it. It was so amazing I actually used Focused Thoughts to get more time to stare. The staff was covered in carvings, each one more incredible than the last. One had a broad, heavy face framed by a thick mane, set on a shaggy four-legged body with cloven hooves and a long scaled tail that ended in a fanged serpent's head. Another was enormous and smooth-bodied, with a blunt rounded head and a wide mouth, but four short, armored legs stuck out beneath it, each ending in clawed feet.

One carving had thin, stretched wings spreading from a small body, while its neck narrowed into a long, scaled head with no ears and a mouth full of tiny teeth. Then there was one so complicated I had to look at it twice. Three heads crowded together at the front. One had a heavy muzzle and a mane, another had a round feathered face with huge staring eyes, and the third had a broad forehead with curved horns. Behind them rose several long, twisting necks, each ending in a small serpent head, while a pair of enormous leathery wings spread from its back. I kept finding new parts every time I looked at it.

Across from Alaric's plain wooden desk sat a massive, comfortable-looking sofa. That was where all of us squeezed in. Emma sat to my left, while Mom, Dad, and Olivander squeezed in to my right. I wanted to lean against Emma, but my parents were right there, so I shifted one hand until I could grab hers, then cupped it with my other hand.

Dad started explaining Drowsend. I understood the important part. The Saurkin had been accused of stealing. Not one Saurkin. Not several Saurkin. The Saurkin. All of them. People had gone to arrest them, fighting started, and by the time everything ended, the Saurkin had been driven from land that was supposed to belong to them.

After that, Mom and Dad had apparently spent a lot of time making complaints. Lots of complaints. Dad mentioned rights. Mom mentioned the river being polluted. Then there were complaints about the land, complaints about how the arrests had happened, complaints about how the Saurkin had been treated, and several other things I stopped following after a while.

“We couldn't leave it as it was.”

Alaric sat quietly for several breaths. “No,” he said. “You couldn't.”

Dad rubbed his palms together. “Whether any of it does something is another matter.”

“You may have an ally closer than you think.”

Dad's hands stopped. Alaric glanced toward the door before continuing. “The princess's proclivities might actually favor you in this.”

Mom frowned. “She has made her position regarding demibeings rather difficult to misunderstand.”

I knew that part. I had overheard those knights complaining about it.

Dad leaned back. “We have our own issues with the princess.”

Alaric's mouth moved slightly, then his attention shifted toward me. “Yes, I imagine so. There is another matter you should know about before speaking with the princess.”

Dad turned toward him. “What matter?”

Alaric glanced at me again.

Oh.

That matter.

Alaric explained everything that had happened since my parents left, from my forest adventure, to the mercenaries who discovered the dungeon, to the princess's arrival and all the trouble that followed. Mom's expression got worse the longer he talked. Nobody mentioned what had happened before my parents left, though. Good. The door was closed, but that didn't mean nobody could be listening.

“I've done my share,” Alaric said. “The situation has remained manageable, but I thought you should know immediately.”

Dad rubbed his face, then looked at me. I gave him a small smile.

Mom leaned forward. “If the knights were being kept out of the forest, why didn't Olive simply spend more time there?”

Silence.

I turned slowly toward Olivander. He stared very hard at the floor.

Dad noticed. “Olivander?”

He scratched the side of his neck. “I grounded her.”

Mom blinked. “You grounded Olive?”

“I was in charge,” he said defensively, before adding, “She went off into the forest without telling me and stayed there overnight. I was worried sick.”

Dad put an arm around his shoulder. “You did what you thought was right.”

Mom's sob took me by surprise. She caught me in an embrace. “You nearly drowned,” she said, her voice already close to breaking.

I swallowed. That had been before they left. “Yes.”

“You had just...” She stopped, holding back tears. “Then you nearly died again.”

I shifted deeper into her embrace.

“You had to deal with so much without us.”

Dad joined us, wrapping his arms around both of us. Mom pressed her forehead against his. “We shouldn't have left,” she said quietly. “We should have been here to protect you.”

Tears were falling from her eyes now. “Mom?”

I didn't understand why my chest suddenly hurt. They were here. That was good. Everything was fine now. Mom rubbed my back while Dad's hand stayed between my shoulders, and tears landed on my cheeks.

They weren't mine.

She was crying from how worried she was about, well, everything they knew about.

Which was...

Wasn't even the half of it.

They knew about the Glass Maw and the Pufferquills. They knew about Sir Loren. They knew I had nearly drowned. They knew something had tried to possess me.

They did not know about Lucarion.

They didn't know I spent my days surrounded by demons. They didn't know about the imp terrifying me, my fingers being scraped in a world where healing was slow and agonizing, the massive behemoth that moved my bed, or Nimera's demon that had nearly killed me. They were worried because I had gone through too much, and they didn't know.

They couldn't know.

My eyes burned, and a breath caught in my throat. Mom pulled back just enough to see my face.

“Olive?”

“I'm fine.” My voice broke. A tear ran down my cheek, and I wiped it away immediately. Then another came. “I don't...” I tried to breathe properly. “I don't know.”

Mom pulled me back against her.

That was it.

I started crying properly. It was horrible. My nose clogged, my face got wet, and I couldn't breathe without making stupid little noises against Mom's shoulder. Emma's hand settled against my back, moving in soft circles.

That somehow made me cry harder.

***

As I started to calm down, I focused on Lucarion. He had been awake the whole time.

In another world, another body, another life, I sat on the floor with Flicker as he tried to climb over my legs. I scratched beneath his jaw, enjoying the fluffiness of his fur and the warmth beneath it. His coat felt like holding my hand near a campfire.

Flicker's tail thumped against me. He gave a tiny, excited yelp and scrambled farther into my lap, little growls rumbling in his throat as I tried to grab him. He squirmed until I let him turn around, then shoved his head beneath my hand with a soft whine. I rubbed both hands through his fur, and Flicker answered with another happy little growl, his tail thwacking softly against the floor. When I stopped for even a moment, he made a quiet, complaining sound and pushed his head harder into my palm.

I hugged him in my lap. He wriggled against me, gave one last little yelp, then settled into my arms with a soft huff.

***

By the time my parents went to speak with Princess Lirael, I had stopped crying. My eyes felt swollen, and my nose was probably red. Without hesitating, Emma used a spell on me. Warmth traveled through my body as I felt the exhaustion leave me. I didn't care that my parents were with us. I jumped into her arms and gave her a big hug.

We walked with Mom and Dad through the church, and I held Emma's hand the entire way. She glanced toward my parents. I did too. They were both very pointedly not looking.

Princess Lirael was with Sir Loren and some old man I didn't recognize when we arrived. Eloise stood beside the princess as if she had not spent the entire night hiding in the forest watching two girls on a date. I glared at her. Eloise averted her gaze.

Dad stopped in front of the princess and knelt. We all fell to our knees alongside him.

“Your Highness.”

Lirael's attention moved from him to Mom, then briefly toward Emma and me. “Captain Oliver. I understand you returned this morning.”

Dad rose to his feet before speaking. “We did.”

“You will have to entertain me with the details.”

That wasn't a request. It was a command. Ezkyrath was trying to teach me to speak the very same way.

“That will have to wait,” Mom said as she rose as well.

The old man's eyes shot open in shock. Lirael seemed to expect it, giving a curt nod for Dad to continue.

Dad took a breath. “There is another matter.”

Eloise's expression changed. Just a little.

Mom spoke before Dad could. “Your handmaiden followed our daughter into the forest last night.”

Princess Lirael turned her head toward Eloise, who suddenly found something very interesting about the wall.

Mom continued. “She followed Olive and Emma for most of the night. During a private outing.”

My cheeks burned. Private outing sounded worse than date somehow. Emma squeezed my hand. Lirael looked back at us, a glimpse of triumph on her face when she saw us holding hands. I wanted to disappear. Emma's fingers tightened around mine.

Princess Lirael closed her eyes for a moment, then faced my parents fully. “You have my deepest apologies.”

Eloise opened her mouth.

Lirael lifted one finger.

Eloise closed it.

Lirael glanced toward her. “Unfortunately, Eloise is a voyeur.”

Eloise made a choking sound, then stared at the princess, despair clear on her face. “Your Highness,” she protested.

“Am I incorrect?”

Eloise opened her mouth, then closed it.

I stared at her.

Eloise was a pervert. Princess Lirael had confirmed it.

“I want her to stay away from my children.” Dad folded his arms. “Emma as well,” he added after a moment.

Lirael nodded. “I will punish her accordingly.”

Dad didn't look completely satisfied, but Mom touched his arm.

The meeting continued awkwardly. Coffee and snacks were served, and they discussed what had happened in Drowsend again. I paid even less attention than last time as Lucarion went to get breakfast. The dungeon came up as well, but Emma had rested her head on my shoulder by that point, and well...

***

We left the princess not long afterward. Emma had gone to do her duties. I hated watching her go, but I knew I was being selfish.

Outside the church, morning had properly arrived. The square was much busier now, and several knights had already started gathering near the general store. Dad led us away from the doors before stopping.

Mom spoke first. “Olive, you are no longer grounded.”

Olivander straightened, hesitating. “Did... did I...”

Mom immediately looked at him. “You didn't do anything wrong. You were responsible for your sister. You did what you thought was best with what you knew.” She squeezed my hand. “But we're home now. We need to talk about what happens next.”

I knew what we should do. I was already getting the power I needed. What I was missing was respect and authority and there was one way I could get both.

I looked up. “I need to become a Grovekeeper.”

Silence.

Olivander made a noise.

I ignored him.

Dad's eyebrows pulled together. “A Grovekeeper?”

“Yes. A trainee like Olivander.” Mom looked at Dad, so I continued before either of them could say no. “I already know just as much about the forest as he does.”

“We know,” Dad said. “But you are still young, and that is not the only thing Grovekeepers do.”

“I know, but I already started training. I'm really good.”

His mouth opened, then closed.

“If everyone is worried about me being safe, then being a Grovekeeper would give me the authority to boss the knights away from me.”

Olivander ignored my last statement. “You are not really good. You just started training. You can barely swing a sword.”

I frowned. “Good enough to give you trouble.”

“Dad, all of us started sword training for the tournament. She's barely started.”

As far as he knew. As far as everyone knew. Lucarion had been doing considerably more than that. I stepped closer. Olivander looked down at me, and I looked up at him. He had been training with the Grovekeepers for much longer than I had been training as Lucarion. That much was true, but I had been training as Lucarion with little rest. Being a Grovekeeper would give me much more of the freedom I needed to improve.

I couldn't wait any longer.

“You really think you're that much better than me?” I asked.

His eyebrows rose. “Duh.”

I stepped closer. “I bet I could beat you.”