Rising From the Ashes: The Chronicles of Caymin Page 16

  Enat nodded pensively. “You were blessed. They do not appear often.”

  Caymin stared into her own cup, saw her reflection staring back up at her. “Will they guide Méav and Ronan and Fergus in their trials?”

  “They may. No one can ever predict what a wood sprite will do. Sometimes they help, sometimes they hinder. It depends on their mood, and they can be capricious.”

  Enat reached out and ran her hand over Caymin’s head. “Your hair is getting long. Do you want me to cut it?”

  Caymin nodded. “Use this.” She handed over Méav’s knife.

  Enat smiled as she used the sharp blade to trim Caymin’s hair. “’Tis a fine knife she gave you. A noble gift.”

  Caymin reached for the sheath, turning it over in her hands. “But why did she? I do not understand.”

  “We give gifts as a sign of affection or respect. Did you not ever give things to Broc or Cuán?”

  “Fresh bedding or food, sometimes something special from the village.” Caymin looked up. “But it is not the same.”

  “No. Badgers have simple needs. Humans are more complicated.”

  Caymin frowned. “Too complicated sometimes.”

  “Complicated or not, you have to learn to live with them.”

  Caymin stretched her feet out to the fire, enjoying the warmth on this cold morning. “I was thinking I might want boots this winter. Like yours.”

  Enat nodded. “A fine idea. We’ve enough deerskin to make you a pair. I’ll teach you how. We may get them done today, since you have no lessons.”

  She tossed the cut hair into the fire and got up. “For waking me so early, I’ll let you make me some porridge.”

  Caymin grinned and set about heating the water again.

  The sun was not yet fully up as Caymin sat at the long table in the meetinghouse, hunched over a book flanked by two lamps to provide light.

  She’d been too restless to wait for Enat, who was still grumbling and stumbling about even after her tea and porridge.

  Cíana came in and looked over her shoulder. “Dragons?” She sat beside Caymin at the table. “Why are you looking at a book about dragons?”

  Caymin looked up from the page filled with a drawing of a fearsome creature, flying over a village, burning it with its fiery breath. “Gai was talking about them, and I had never heard of them before. I was curious. What do you know of them?”

  “Only what the elders of our village told us when we were children.” Cíana smiled. “I think they did it to scare us. Told us dragons come in the night to capture and take away children who misbehave.” She paused, squinting into the distance. “I heard them say that once, there were many dragons here. Some had riders, humans they were connected to – dragonmages, they called them – but most dragons remained wild.”

  Caymin’s head snapped around. “Riders? Humans rode on dragons?”

  Cíana nodded. “So they say.”

  “Did they attack villages?”

  “Some did, according to the tales. Some of the wild ones, and even some of the dragonmages; they used their power over their dragons to rule people. They can speak. Dragons. The tales all say they have their own wisdom, passed down through the ages, and they can speak with humans when they wish.” Cíana laughed. “But I’m sure I wouldn’t want a dragon taking enough interest in me to speak with me.”

  Caymin frowned. “But, how do they pass down their wisdom if they are all alone when they are young?”

  “How do you know they’re alone?”

  Caymin’s cheeks burned. “I think I read it.”

  “Oh.” Cíana shrugged. “I don’t know. If you ever meet a dragon, you’ll have to ask him.”

  Caymin intended to do just that.

  They both jumped when the meetinghouse door burst open. Fergus staggered in and fell to the ground.

  Cíana and Caymin rushed to him and turned him over. One side of his face was bruised, with a gash over his forehead, dried blood covering his face and clothing.

  “Go get the elders,” Cíana said.

  Caymin ran to Ivar’s cottage. He and Neela were both there, sharing a cup of tea and looking just as bleary-eyed as Enat had been. They looked up at Caymin’s unexpected knock.

  “Fergus. He is hurt.”

  Without asking questions, they jumped up and ran to the meetinghouse where they crouched on either side of Fergus. A moment after they got there, Enat hurried in, her arms filled with a stack of deerskin.

  “What happened?” Enat asked. She dropped the leather on the ground and knelt beside Fergus.

  Ivar helped Fergus to sit up. “Can you tell us?”

  “I’m not sure,” Fergus said shakily.

  Cíana dipped a gourd of water, which he drank down.

  “We three parted, each going a different way in the forest last night,” he said. “Méav and Ronan headed in that direction.” He waved his arm vaguely toward the east. “I went north.”

  He closed his eyes tightly, as if trying to recall. “For a long while, I could hear all of you at the bonfire, but the sounds faded as I walked farther. The forest…” He paused, looking at Caymin and Cíana. “There were tests, things I had to do to move on. I heard someone crying. I figured it was another test, and I tried to find the person. I thought I saw a girl – she looked like you.” He looked at Caymin. “But then she was gone, and I saw only a ghostly creature, white and glowing in the night. I followed it through the forest, thinking it was leading me to my next test. I heard footsteps nearby, and thought Ronan or Méav was following the same creature. Suddenly, something hit me.”

  He raised a shaking hand to his head.

  “The sun was coming up when I woke.”

  They all turned at the sound of more commotion from outside. Méav and Ronan charged into the meetinghouse, grasping Gai between them.

  “We found this one sneaking around in the forest,” Ronan said angrily, pushing Gai ahead of him.

  Méav dropped to her knees beside Fergus. “We knew something happened to you. We felt it.”

  “Why are you here?” Ivar demanded. “You should have completed your trials.”

  Ronan shook his head. “Not like this. If we all must wait until next Samhain to complete our trials, so be it.”

  Ivar stood and faced Gai. “Explain yourself.”

  Gai stood stubbornly silent.

  Daina, Una, Diarmit and Niall all came in.

  “What’s wrong?” Una asked. “Why are you all here?”

  Niall saw Fergus’s face. “What happened to you?”

  “Someone hit me,” Fergus said with a scowl in Gai’s direction.

  Niall flew at Gai, grabbing the front of his tunic and pummeling him with his other hand.

  “It wasn’t me!” Gai yelled as Ivar pulled Niall away.

  “It wasn’t me,” he repeated, touching a hand to his bleeding lip.

  Méav shoved him. “Then what were you doing out in the forest?”

  Neela stepped between Gai and the others. “Stop. All of you.” She turned to Gai. “This is serious. You knew the three would be in the forest for their trial. What were you doing there?”

  “I wanted to see!” Gai jutted his jaw out. “I wanted to see what the trials are, what we’ll be facing some day.” He pointed. “But I didn’t attack him. I heard someone, too.”

  Diarmit scoffed. “That’s likely.”

  “It’s true! There was someone else out there,” Gai said. “I tried to follow the sounds, but lost them in the night. Then these two grabbed me.” He shot a hateful glance at Méav and Ronan.

  Neela looked at Ivar and Enat. “Do you think there could have been someone else out there? Could the invaders have come back?”

  Ivar shook his head. “The forest would have alerted us.”

  “Timmin?” Neela asked worriedly.

  “It’s possible,” Enat said. “He was angry when he left.”

  “You never really said why he left,” Ronan said.

  “Never you mind,
” Enat said. She shook her head. “He wouldn’t need to hit the boy over the head to hurt him. He could do it magically from a league away if he wished. No, this was crude. But until we know who it was, I think it would be best if we make a pact to be with someone at all times in the forest and to be in the village or in our cottages by nightfall.”

  “Agreed,” said Ivar. He glared at all of the apprentices. “And I’ll be checking. So no wandering off at night.”

  CHAPTER 15

  A Traitor Among Them

  For days, the apprentices were kept under the close watch of the elders. Fergus’s wounds healed and the decision was made to allow the three oldest to attempt their trials again at the next full moon.

  “It won’t be the same as doing it at Samhain,” said Enat. “There won’t be the power of the night, but, if the forest is willing, it will suffice.”

  The older apprentices sequestered themselves to practice in preparation for their trials, while the younger spent the next days learning about crystals and stones.

  “Stones have power?” Caymin turned over a chunk of rock in her hand.

  “Many do,” said Neela.

  “Is that why you used them at Bealtaine?”

  Enat nodded. “Yes. Their power helped guide you on your spiritwalk the night you claimed your name.”

  Cíana held out a smooth green stone with veins of red running through it. “They come from the earth, so why wouldn’t they have power? Bloodstone can help you with the circulation of your blood or things that block your energy.”

  Ivar reached into his tunic and pulled out a blue stone hanging on a leather string around his neck. “Some crystals can protect us from dark power, or enhance the light.”

  Enat suspended a rough stone in mid-air, and small flecks of glossy black within caught the light. “Some stones are already imbued with power, but many more can become receptacles of power. You can enchant them to hold a spell, and they will hold that power for ages. Often, we leave these with someone for healing or protection.”

  Diarmit turned a shiny black rock over in his hand. “Can we enchant it to bring us luck?”

  Neela frowned. “That’s a frivolous use of power.”

  Caymin looked at the stone in her hand. “You speak of dark power, but we have never seen this. How are we to know it or protect against it?”

  “There are mages who revel in the dark,” said Enat. “For it brings them a sense of domination to hold others bound to them in fear, to use their power to punish. We will not teach you the dark side of magic, for it is too easy to be lured into using it. It is seductive, pulling you deeper and deeper into it, until it owns you.”

  The apprentices stared at her with wide eyes.

  “It is enough for you to know it exists,” Neela said with a gently reproving glance at Enat. “If dark magic is ever used against you, you will know it, and you will know how to counter it with the light.”

  They spent days learning the properties of the large collection of stones and crystals there.

  “Many of these were brought here from across the sea,” Ivar told them. He held up a brilliant blue stone with tiny flecks of gold. “This is called lapis lazuli and it comes from a land called Mesopotamia. Some day, in your travels, you’ll collect crystals and stones of your own. Mayhap you will bring some back to us.”

  They learned how to place spells of protection and healing on various stones to enhance their natural powers.

  “I can feel it,” Daina said when Cíana laid several stones along her spine. “I can feel the power in them. It tingles.”

  Caymin glanced over to where Gai sat by himself, studying some of the notes on crystals. He was different since Samhain, more subdued.

  “He’s ashamed,” Daina had whispered when Caymin mentioned this. “Because he got caught cheating.”

  None of the older apprentices would interact with him. They clearly still believed he had been the one to attack Fergus. Watching him now, Caymin felt a stirring of pity, similar to the way she felt toward a wounded animal. She went to sit beside him.

  Gai ignored her, continuing to read. Still, she sat. She pulled another scroll to her and read.

  At last, he straightened and turned to her. “What do you want?”

  She blinked. “I do not want anything.”

  “Then why are you here?” His lip twisted. “Why aren’t you avoiding me like the others?”

  She tilted her head. “Why did you do it?”

  “I told you. I told everyone. I didn’t hit him!”

  “No, I meant going into the forest to watch them. Why did you do it?”

  Gai turned back to his scroll, scarlet patches showing vividly on his cheeks. “You don’t know, any of you. My father… If I don’t earn my staff, if I leave here without becoming a full mage, he’ll disown me.”

  “But he is your father.” Caymin frowned. “Surely, he will welcome you back when you come, no matter what.”

  Gai scoffed and quickly turned away. “You don’t know my father. I’m the younger son. My only value to him is if I can use my power. To him, if I don’t return with a staff, I may as well not return at all.”

  Caymin thought about this. She had never had to worry about those she loved not loving her in return if she could not give them what they wanted. Broc and Cuán had loved her from the time when she was too young to do anything, and she knew Enat loved her as she loved Enat. She didn’t know what to say.

  “Go away.” Gai turned his back on her.

  Caymin got to her feet. “I do not believe you attacked Fergus.”

  Gai twisted around. “You don’t?”

  She shook her head. “No. You had no reason to hurt him if you wanted to see what his trials consisted of.”

  Gai smiled at her and she was struck again by his beauty.

  “I am hungry,” she said. “Would you like to eat with me?”

  He stood. “Aye, I would.”

  The others watched as they walked together to the fire where a pot of stew simmered over the flames.

  Days passed. The others slowly began treating Gai as they had before and the tension that had dogged them since Samhain diminished.

  The moon waned and then waxed again toward full. The day of the full moon dawned. Caymin frowned at the stone in her hand, holding her other hand over it and whispering the words of a spell. She smiled when the stone grew warm in her palm and glowed green.

  She draped Enat’s heavy old cloak over her shoulders and went to find Méav who was at the weapons yard with Ronan, practicing with staffs, whirling and hitting each other as they sparred. She sat and watched until they stopped, breathless and red-faced. Ronan took the staffs to put them away, and Méav dropped down beside Caymin.

  “I like your new boots.”

  Caymin grinned, wiggling her feet. “They still feel strange, but much warmer.” She looked up into Méav’s face. “I wanted to offer you this again, in case you need it tonight.” She held out the knife.

  “Do you not like it?”

  Caymin flushed. “I like it very much. I have never had anything so beautiful.”

  “Then I want you to have it. To remember me.”

  “I would never forget you,” Caymin said. She held out the stone, strung on a braided leather cord. “For you. I enchanted it with a protection spell, so what happened to Fergus last moon cannot happen to you tonight. If an enemy approaches, it will grow warm.”

  Méav took it and put it over her head. She held the stone so that it caught the light, glowing a deep green. “Jade. Thank you.” She tucked it inside her tunic and pressed it to her heart. “I’ll keep it with me always.” She took the knife from Caymin, murmuring words as she moved her hand in a circle over it, then handed it back. “I told you before I felt sure we’d meet again. Last moon, during our first trials, I saw you. We were fighting side by side. I don’t know what it means and I don’t know where I’ll be after tonight, but if you should ever need me, I charmed the knife to point in my direction.
Just hold it in your palm and say my name, and it will show you the way.”

  Caymin stared at her in awe. “Thank you.”

  Méav gave her shoulder a squeeze as Ronan walked in their direction. “Take care, little badger.”

  As darkness fell, and the three headed into the forest for their trials, it seemed all the forest held its breath. The apprentices and the elders gathered together in the village where the main fire burned brightly.

  “We’ll all spend the night in the meetinghouse,” Ivar said, looking around.

  No one needed to ask why. Gai lowered his head as he felt the stares of the others aimed in his direction. Caymin moved to sit beside him at the fire as they ate. Neela distracted them with songs played on her harp.

  Above them, the moon shone bright and round in her fullness. Caymin felt small tremors of magic – in the air, in the earth. She saw Enat smile in her direction and knew she felt the same.

  As always, she felt Péist, hunting in the night. She reached out.

  “The three are out again tonight, being tested. I do not know where they will be. Stay safe and stay hidden.”

  Though she felt certain none of them would do him harm, she knew it had been she and Péist that Fergus had seen at Samhain, and that Fergus had followed Péist, thinking he would lead him to his next trial. Whoever had attacked Fergus had likely been following Péist as well.

  The fire burned low, and they all moved into the meetinghouse to bed down for the night. Enat closed the door, placing a charm on it to keep it sealed.

  “But what if I have to get up in the night?” Diarmit asked.

  Ivar glared at him. “That would not be advisable on this night.”

  Diarmit nodded and lay down, making himself as comfortable as he could, while the others did likewise.

  Caymin wrapped Enat’s old cloak around her, glad she had boots to keep her feet warm.

  She slept fitfully, waking often to the restless turnings and snores from the others before she drifted off again.

  When daylight broke, she lay there. No more stirrings of magic came to her and she knew the three were gone. She touched the knife lying beside her and wondered if Méav was right, that they would meet again one day.