Chapter 28

I nearly ran down the hallway, wasting no time in getting to the basement holding cell. No one was posted in front but I descended the stairs and saw a mage whose name I didn’t know standing at the bottom. Although I didn’t recognize her, she didn’t waver as I walked by, rather she simply nodded.

My pace didn’t slow as I hurried down the hallway, but at the second last cell, I faltered. My feet dragged and anchored me to the floor, bringing myself to a stop that I wasn’t sure I wanted. Does he still hate me? I didn’t think that the sentiment would be undeserved. I killed his daughter. The pit in my stomach came back. I counted the seconds before I slowly trudged in front of him.

“...Father?”

He looked up at me. Most of the cuts were starting to heal, though there were some bruises that I thought looked fresh. Overall though, Hector had honoured his word that he would be kept safe. And soon enough, free, I thought, the good news lightening my step just a bit.

“Come to gloat?” he croaked, spitting at my feet. The motion was quick but he winced in pain as he did it. “To mock me… for everything!”

“I’m sorry. I came just to talk. About Rose.”

“She’s dead!” he yelled. It was painful to hear, the anger and sorrow and pain hollowing out his voice. I had heard it in her voice, too, but to see him in front of me, broken, was different.

“N— Well, yes. Yes, she is. And it’s my fault.” I hung my head, not in self loathing but genuine remorse. “I met Tobian. He was a mage. And he taught me magic.”

My father’s eyes narrowed. “And you decided to use your sister for your magisoul. You—”

“It was a tree,” I interjected. Jard stopped, thrown a bit from what I said, and I didn’t let the moment hang. I spoke clearly and without rushing, but I didn’t pause for him to cut in so easily, until he at least heard me out. “Tobian told me to stab a tree, draw the power from the earth, and I would become a mage. He— He had her tied to the tree, and used an illusion so I wouldn’t see her.” I began tearing up as the memory played in my head. My voice caught in my throat, already choking up a bit, but I pushed through, determined to own my mistake. “But I stabbed her. I held the knife as I unknowingly drove it into her chest. And I held her as she stopped breathing.”

There was no response. No cursing. No consolation. Only silence.

I looked up, tentatively raising my head to look my father in the eye. “I said that I—”

“I heard what you said, boy,” he finally spoke. His voice shook and I finally noticed the tears running down his cheeks, matching the ones I only then realized were there. “So… so you aren’t like your uncle after all.”

“N-no!” I shouted before remembering to keep my voice down, the mage guard still down the hall. “I… I resent that monster. He killed mom!”

Jard nodded slowly. “Ah, so you know then.”

I mirrored him. “He… he bragged about it. He thinks we’re cut from the same cloth, in more than just blood. But I don’t want to be like him! He’s not human!”

My father kept nodding.

“But… he’s sending me on a mission; a recon investigation a couple days away from here, in the Eastern Mountains. He said that if I go, he’ll set you free.”

“I see.” He shuffled forward, the manacles pulling back on his hands but he came as close to the bars as he could, and cannonball-like weights grating against the stone. “Sit down, son, and I’ll tell you the truth. I was not always a gardener.”

~~~

Jard greeted the guard on shift, taking on his role as a perimeter watchman. The Sandun training facility was the most well reputed of the three, secretly known to those that would know that sort of information for having the best results in mage candidates. Most were siblings, if possible, twins preferably to the twisted men and women that managed the facility.

“Michael, how is the watch going?” asked one of the candidates, addressing him by his original name. Of all of the few dozen, she stood out, with hair as yellow as a flower’s petals.

“Lily,” he greeted back. “Do I have that right? You’re the prodigy, aren’t you?”

She grimaced a bit at the title. “Mana channeling is a basic skill any mage candidate should be able to master,” she informed him pointedly.

“Oh?” He smirked. “Then why is it that you haven’t had your duel yet? You’re fifteen, isn’t that generally the oldest a mage candidate can be?”

“And you’re seventeen, and still seem too wet behind the ears to be a warden.”

He let out a deep laugh before the last word actually clicked. “Ha, heh, hey now, you know we’re just here to keep you all safe,” he said. “And I’m just an apprentice guard.”

“Aye, safe. Think an apprentice guard like you could take me around for a ‘safe’ forest walk?”

Jard bit his lip. “Well, you do know the rules… ‘Safe’ includes being safe from—”

“From the ravenous rabbits and deer in the surrounding forests?” she pressed.

“No, well yes, but—”

“LILY!” Hector barked, stomping feet as he marched over to her. “What are you doing here!? Just because we’re fifteen doesn’t mean you aren’t still obligated to attend lectures and lessons!”

She rolled her eyes, not bothering to resist as her twin brother latched onto her arm, but waved to Jard as she left.

“What did I tell you about associating with rabble like that?” Hector continued to lecture, not bothering to lower his voice as he dragged her away.

~~

“Duck!” Jard whisper-shouted as he grabbed Lily’s head, pushing her under a bush. He stood straight up, scanning the night air. Mages flew overhead, hunting them, trying to find their protege as the alarm siren whirled behind them. “Clear,” he told her.

She pulled her cloak around herself, the dark blue matching the moonless sky. “I… I sense two flying overhead, southwest and east of us. And one… no, three, I think, trying to cloak their mana just south of us.”

Jard nodded. It was dark, nearly impossible to see, but he had volunteered for forest patrol for the past three months; he knew the surrounding woods well enough to navigate blindfolded. “Stay close, stay quiet. I’ll get you out of here.”

~~

“I told you not to wear that!” He pulled the mage robe from her shoulders, bundling it up and shoving it into her arms. “You can keep it, but it’s risky to be out with it.”

“But it holds status!” she objected. “No one will question us if I walk around wearing it.”

He shook his head, adamant. “No civilians perhaps. It’s still too risky though. We’re passing through the capital and have just as much chance of running into another mage. Doubtless the news of your escape made it out, so we have to be discreet. And slipping through the city is probably the only way to not have to swim across the grand canal.”

She pursed her lips, pouting as she cradled the deep blue cloak. “This means something to me, Michael. I worked my whole life for it.”

“And you didn’t want to kill for it. So we’re hiding it. We just have to get north then we will be safer.”

“Why not just go to another country? Aphilan is not too far and we’re at peace with them.”

He shook his head. “Our accents would give us away. And despite what they taught you, ‘peace’ is not a good term for our relationship.”

“Where then? Are we just going to run forever?”

“No. I have a distant relative in the north. He runs a flower shop outside of a smaller town. We can lay low there,” he told her. “And, I think you should call me Jard. Your name’s common enough, but ‘Michael’ might turn heads.”

“Jard?” She failed to fully stifle a giggle. “Isn’t that a bit old fashioned?”

“Hey, it was my grandfather’s name.”

She stuck her tongue out at him. “I’m only teasing. It’s a perfectly fine name.”

~~

“I’ve got a lead on some maigoid armour,” she told him as she stirred the bubbling pot of soup. “Though it might be a bit big for me.” She chuckled, a momentary pause from the stress as she imagined herself slotted into armour sized for a full grown man.

Jard looked up from his sweeping. “Maigoid armour? Think that will be enough?” Jard asked, skeptical.

“Well, it never hurts to have a backup.” She shrugged.

“You have to be careful though, going into town is risky for us.” He was careful to keep his tone level, but it still had an anxious bite that she knew wasn’t truly directed at her.

“Well, I was actually there to see the doctor.”

The broom fell to the floor with a clatter. “Doctor!? Lily, are you alright?”

“Yes, yes!” She laughed, gently redirecting his reaching hands back. “But he ran a test or two, and, well… it appears we’ve made a little magic of our own.” She smiled as her free hand went to her abdomen.

“What do you— Wait! You mean—” Jard sputtered, at a loss for words as what she meant dawned on him. “I’m going to be a father!” The spoon fell into the soup as Lily was suddenly hoisted up, the two of them laughing as Jard spun her around, handling her with the gentleness a mother cat still shows her kittens.

~~

Lily panted, catching her breath as she looked over the two healthy newborns. “Ren,” she said, stroking her son’s head. She turned and did the same to her daughter, with her matching blonde hair. “And Rose.”

“A yellow Rose?” Jard chuckled.

Lily smiled, her lips barely touching as she sat up, recovering from the childbirth. “It means new beginnings.”

~~~

“It was less than a month afterwards that we were tracked down,” Jard said. “Although your mother survived your birth, it was hard on her. Even without true magic, she channelled her own mana enough that a passing mage felt it. Hector.” He stopped, his face twisting as if the name tasted bitter to say. “Her brother quickly came and claimed his ‘birthright’… while we slept. Damn bastard didn’t even have the guts to face her while we were awake… I awoke during the commotion, but it was too late. I raced to shield both of you, but he just… smiled at me, and left.” He shook his head, pushing away the memory. “Probably before he passed out from his magisoul being formed, as he knew what would be done to him,” Jard growled, before softening a bit, the same sadness again replacing the anger. “It was close enough to your birth that only those close knew she didn’t die from it, and they were sworn to secrecy, and I had to raise you with that story.” He wiped his eyes, having to lean back to be able to bring a hand to his face. “I’m sorry, I never wanted to lie to you two. And now Rose will never know.”

“Actually…” I didn’t quite know how to tell him, but the emotions that weren’t only my own compelled me. “Rose is my magisoul. And even if I can’t communicate with her while awake, she can see and hear everything while I use magic. I’ve been channeling our mana since you started telling us your story.”

His eyes widened, instantly understanding. “Rose! Rose, can you hear me?” he asked, staring at my chest. “I-I’m sorry. I should have protected you two better.”

“She can hear you,” I reassured him, the confusing echoes of unspoken thoughts letting me know that I was not the only one in my head. “I’ll see her tonight, and we can talk when I’m back.”

“Alright.” He sighed, sitting back. He looked at peace, a weariness about him that had been there all of my life now absent from his body. “Be safe, and return soon. Both of you.”