Precious Cargo

A few days had passed since the day we were summoned to this world. Sir Nathan, Lady Alice, and Father Albert had spent that time drawing up plans and taking stock of the supplies we purchased for our upcoming trip to the Sanctum. Though Mira and I sat in most of their meetings, we didn’t end up contributing much. All we really did was offer our thoughts on the food we’d bring with us and other such miscellaneous things. Though after the first day of meetings we were able to make ourselves somewhat useful for there was a young girl who kept running into our meetings, pestering her sister and uncle to play with her.

Believing our skill set would be better suited elsewhere, we volunteered to play with Kat while letting the more proper grown-ups deal with the details of our trip.

We spent our days taking turns playing with Kat. Today was Mira’s turn so I took the opportunity to read Within Us. Finding a rather thick tree with much shade in an open courtyard, I plopped myself on the tree’s overgrown roots and began reading.

I had just about finished reading the story of Flumen, the god of rivers, purifying a riverbed that sat next to a village of fairies which had been the cause of their illness when the crunch of a branch nearby caused me to look up. Eyeing me in a rather curious manner was Kat. Her face was rather flushed as a small bead of sweat ran down her face.

“Gave Mira the run around, didn’t you?” I chuckled. Kat nodded happily before skipping over and taking a seat next to me.

“I know that book, mom used to read that to me all the time.”

“I’m guessing the duchess must have also read this for Lady Alice as well. She told me it's her favorite book.”

“Yup, it's also my favorite.” Kat gestured her hands towards the book and I obliged, the moment I handed it over she flipped through the pages until she ended up on a story called “A Fated Encounter.” “This one is my favorite, Flumen has one of their oracles meet a hero, the two fall in love and then become King and Queen of the forest.”

“They become royalty? Just like that?”

Kat shook her head. “No, the oracle was already a noble, in fact she was a descendant of the royal bloodline. It came as quite a shock for the Hero who had already betrothed himself to her without knowing of her family history, it caused huge problems for their home kingdom when it came to matters of succession. Actually it kind of reminds me of my sister and you.”

“Because she is an oracle? Luckily there are four heroes and, with all due respect, she’s just the daughter of a Duke.” Similarities between a fairytale and real life are usually just chalked up to being coincidences after all.

“Well actually-” Kat interrupted herself as we heard the sound of running footsteps nearby.

“Kat! I’m going to find you!” Mira panted loudly from a distance.

Kat jumped up from the ground while laughing, she scanned the area, seemingly for a place to hide, eventually she found her answer above us. Kat quickly climbed up the tree and hid herself in the branches.

“Kat, that’s dangerous,” I whispered.

“Don’t worry, I’ve done this plenty of times.” Kat clamped her hand over her mouth and nose just as Mira came into view.

“Noel… have… seen…,” Mira managed to spit out before taking a deep breath. She bent down forward as she continued to take deep breaths. “Where… Kat?” I laughed at just how out of breath she was. Mira had been part of the cross country team, so seeing her out breath from chasing Kat around was a sight to behold.

“Nope, haven’t seen her pass by. Maybe you’ll have better luck finding her in the kitchen. She’s got to be hungry or thirsty with all that running.”

Mira nodded. “Yeah… she must be… tired by now.” Mira straightened her back before continuing running back inside the castle. The moment Mira left I heard a lot of giggling as leaves began falling from the tree.

“I told her she’d never find me.”

I tucked my copy of Within Us under my arm as I stood to get a better look at Kat’s hiding spot. “While that is an amazing hiding place, you should get down before you hurt yourself."

Kat, who had been hugging her body against a branch dense with leaves, stood up and placed her hands proudly on her hips. “I’m the best tree climber around, no way would I slip and-” As she was proclaiming her great skill in the age-old game of hide-and-seek, the branch she stood on let out a loud CRUNCH before it fell off and took Kat with it. I threw my book to the side as it slid underneath Kat and caught her right before she almost hit the ground.

A wave of relief washed over me as I felt Kat laughing wildly in my arms. The terror of falling, if she had even felt that, was nowhere on her face. Instead she gave me a toothy grin as I held her.

“Homestly, what would you have done if I wasn’t here to catch you?”

“The same thing I always do, get Liam to help me out.” The mention of Liam once again sent pangs of guilt in my heart. Kat still didn’t know about Liam’s current condition. I wasn’t exactly sure how her family had managed to keep her in the dark. What I did know is that keeping unaware would only lead to greater heartbreak down the line. Yet, despite my personal opinion, it wouldn’t be right of me to interject in their family matters. The sudden appearance of Lady Alice was what truly allowed me to hold my tongue on the subject.

“What’s going on here? I heard a loud noise as I was on my way to my room,” she said as she approached us. “And why is Noel carrying you?” she asked Kat. Kat gave me a pleading look, as if to say to not tell Lady Alice a word of what had actually happened. I pondered my options. Although Kat had been rather reckless, telling the truth would probably lead to me and Mira getting in just the same amount of trouble as Kat, if not more. So I decided to go for the best option for all of us, I would tell a quick and sly lie.

“Kat is tired?” The look on Lady Alice’s face was all the evidence I needed that my flawless response may have not been so flawless after all.

“So you decided to carry her? Like a princess?” I nodded like an idiot. I was so sure that she would continue her line of questioning until I broke. I wasn’t sure how long I could last against this barrage of hard hitting questions.

“Yup, I asked Noel to carry me, the way the hero carries the oracle in “A Fated Encounter.” It might have been my imagination, but Lady Alice seemed to have gotten slightly embarrassed when Kat mentioned the short story.

“You had him read that one?” After a moment of silence, Lady Alice shook her head. “Regardless, you’re far too old to be carried like that.”

“But the oracle is even older than me.”

“Thats not the point,” Lady Alice stammered. “Noel, put her down.”

I nodded as I attempted to put Kat down but she just ended up hugging me tight. “No, I don’t want to be put down.”

Lady Alice was about to scold Kat again when the sound of running footsteps approaching caused all of us to look. A totally sweaty Mira was barreling towards us.

“I finally… found you,” Mira said as she leapt towards me. Kat quickly jumped out of my arms and proceeded to run towards the opposite end of the courtyard with Mira following close behind.

Though Lady Alice still seemed flabbergasted by what she had walked into, she gave a quick sigh before turning around and walking back towards the castle. With no one around me once more, I sat back down by the tree and decided to read “A Fated Encounter” on my own.

The very next day, I learned that Chris had finally been discharged from the hospital wing and that Luke had finally woken from his slumber. Meaning that, if Luke was also cleared, then we would also be cleared for our departure. Sadly, when Mira and I were allowed to go check on them we were forced to leave Kat behind for that day, as she still hadn’t been told about Liam’s situation. The only thing she had been told was that he needed rest and no one was allowed to disturb him from his rest. In her mind, she likely pictured Liam just having a very bad cold. It was for the best.

She did ask me for a favor before we left for the infirmary. She asked me to deliver a card to Liam’s room. It was hand-drawn get well soon card. One of the sweetest things a little sister could offer their ailing brother.

I ended up handing the card to one of the healers whose main task was monitoring Liam’s condition. He reassured me he’d hand it over the instant Liam gained consciousness. His reassurance was good enough for me to leave it with him.

As I made my back to where the others were, all huddled up around Luke’s bed, a sudden shout from Luke made me jump. I immediately rushed over to his side where I found Mira and Chris rather carefree, they didn’t seem neither worried nor that interested in whatever had set Luke off.

“What’s the matter?”

“Small picture stuff,” Chris replied. “No need to worry about him.”

“That is such a lie,” Luke said. He turned to me, his eyes pleading with me for something. “They just told me I’ve been out for five days.”

“Fighting off those hooded people took everything out of you, I’m honestly surprised you woke up so soon after all that.”

“My condition isn’t the problem Noel.”

I wasn’t sure what the problem was then. His exhaustion had been fixed with some bedrest, none of the fire he wielded had managed to harm him, and, best of all, he had awakened some powers, just like Chris had.

“Then, what is the problem?”

Luke covered his eyes in frustration. “Five days passing means I’ve missed my date with Luna.”

Oh. That’s it?

Chris watched Luke’s suffering with a smug look on his face, while Mira on the other hand had a visible look of confusion on hers; and here I was wondering if Luke had even remembered our discussion back in the gazebo. Sir Nathan had made it clear that going to the Sanctum was going to end up being a decently long trip, likely, a week at the very minimum. Plus, we had that whole quest of the gods looming over our heads. Yet I chose to keep all of that to myself, the poor guy was suffering enough already, having a date ruined before it even started, or ended depending on how you look at it, was just bad luck.

“I didn’t know you were dating Luna. Congrats Luke, she’s a real catch,” Mira said. Luke pulled his cheeks down hard enough for the pink under his eyes to become exposed. Once again, Mira’s candid demeanor was too much for Luke to deal with.

“Not quite Mira,” Chris said. “It was going to be their first date. Now it’ll seem that he ghosted her.”

Mira turned to Luke. “Luke, that's terrible, you should never do that to your partner.” Luke began throwing all of his straw pillows at the two of them, he ended up chasing us all out, myself included, from the infirmary until his main healer came back with the all clear.

Luke had calmed down enough by the next day to join the rest of us at Kat’s farewell tea party. In attendance was myself, Mira, Luke, Chris, and Zoe. Even Lady Alice made an appearance.

Kat had everyone seated, refusing to let Zoe help with serving. She wanted to be the only host of this party, and she was gleefully doing it. She poured tea elegantly into all of the teacups until she reached the final empty cup, Mira’s cup.

As she poured, her small hands began to tremble, spilling the tea onto the table. Zoe reached out for the teapot in Kat’s hands, taking it away before more would spill. Kat broke into tears as she stood in front of Mira.

Mira wrapped her larger, but gentle, hands around Kat’s own. Lady Alice stood up but sat back down when she saw Mira dealing with Kat’s tears.

“What's the matter Kat?” Mira gently rubbed her thumbs over Kat’s knuckles, peeking up at Kat’s downwards facing face.

“Its just that,” Kat said in between her tears and gasps for air, “I had so much fun with you, with all of you.” She turned to face the rest of us. “But now, with all of you going away and with Liam being sick, there won’t be anyone left to play with me anymore.” Kat bawled even more, as if airing out her thoughts were too painful of a reminder.

Mira pulled Kat close, hugging the girl while soothing her back. “Oh, Kat. I- We would love to spend more time with you, but we have to do this.”

“In that case, can I come with you?”

Lady Alice let out a heavy sigh. “I’m sorry Kat, but there is no way we can bring you with us.”

“But why?,” Kat cried.

“Why? Because…” Lady Alice was struggling to refute her sister. Despite knowing she had to make it clear why, for Kat’s own safety, having almost lost one of her siblings must have made breaking the heart of another too much for her to deal with true conviction in her answer. Such is the trouble of being a responsible older sibling, a task I knew all too well.

“Because, we don’t have enough space for you in the carriages,” Zoe answered for her master. “We only have two carriages and there will be ten people in total in our group. Add in the supplies and we will not have space for anyone else.” Zoe bowed to Kat. “I hope you will understand and forgive us, Lady Kat.”

“But, I’m small, I’m sure we can squeeze me in-”

“Kat, I am sorry, but Zoe is right, you are not coming with us.” Lady Alice had steeled herself, her voice had the coldest tone we had ever heard from her before.

Kat pulled away from Mira, running out of the room while sobbing.

“Zoe, please finish serving our guests their tea and snacks. As for me, I hope you can excuse me for leaving early.” Lady Alice stood and headed towards the door. Zoe bowed to her master as Lady Alice left to chase after Kat.

Though I’m sure the tea and snacks Zoe served us were indeed delicious, none of their flavors managed to reach my tongue..

It was the day of our departure, we were being sent off with only a few Holy Knights and Lady Alice’s mother in attendance for our departure. Kat had locked herself in her room since yesterday's tea party and hadn’t made an appearance since.

We all loaded into the first wagon as Sir Nathan and two of his Holy Knights, which were the same knights that had accompanied us as guards during our trip in the market, were loading up the supplies into the second. Inside of our wagon were Lady Alice, Zoe, Mira, Chris, Luke, Father Albert, and myself. Sir Nathan was to drive the wagon while Father Albert gave all the navigations, with the help of a dusty old map he had on hand, from behind the driver’s seat. The second wagon was going to be nothing but our supplies and the two Holy Knights riding in the front of it.

“Whoa, that last one looks heavy. Be careful picking it up Mabel.” The Holy Knight with a grizzly beard and maroon eyes watched cautiously as Ser Mabel picked up the final barrel with ease.

“What are you on about? This thing is extremely light.” Ser Mabel lifted the barrel over her head, striking a triumphant pose as she shook her ginger ponytail wildly side to side. She kept the barrel raised in the air for a while, showcasing her incredible strength for us and fellow knights. It seemed the two knights found themselves more at ease with a superior being in charge.

Speaking of their superior, Sir Nathan, who was already at the reins of our wagon, barked at his knights, “Caleb, Mabel, hurry up and let us get going,” putting his subordinates in high gear.

Mabel quickly placed the barrel into the carriage while Caleb jumped up to the driver’s seat.

The Duchess approached the back of our wagon. Lady Alice reached out to hug her mother one last time. “I am very sorry dear, your father is far too busy to see you off. As for Kat, well…”

Lady Alice shook her head. “No, it’s fine mother. I just hope she’ll forgive me, I was rather too cold with my words.”

The Duchess rubbed Lady Alice’s cheek gently with the palm of her hand. “I’m sure she will.” She planted a kiss on her daughter’s cheek before pulling away. “Have a safe trip.”

With the crack of the reins, Sir Nathan drove the wagon forward, the horses' feet thundering as they stomped on top of the dirt road leading out of the castle’s walls and beyond the city itself.

We spent over half the day traveling through a road on the outskirts of a forest. Father Albert had told Sir Nathan to follow this road until we hit the riverbank marked on his map.

In the meantime we spent the majority of the ride conversing with Lady Alice and Zoe, trading even more interesting facts from our respective worlds.

“You mean to say your people have soared through the skies?” Zoe beamed with interest.

“I told you I wasn’t lying,” Lady Alice smugly answered for us. It seemed that ever since Mira had told Lady Alice about planes she had been completely captivated by the level of technology back on earth. Both Lady Alice and Zoe followed up their intrigue with questions on how our technology worked, but sadly, we had no idea what the answers to their questions were. I mean, we knew the fundamentals, we knew that jet fuel powered planes which then caused the engine turbines to spin, but we couldn’t explain why or how it all worked.

Luckily for us, the only thing that managed to rival their interests in technology was their interest in our love lives. For both Mira and me, there wasn’t much to tell, no history and no prospects.

As for Chris, although he was constantly in off and on again situationships with plenty of girls, he was currently single. That left just one victim for the girls to get their fill of gossip from.

“You confessed your feelings to a girl from your world?” A light blush appeared on Lady Alice’s face while Zoe smiled smugly while, having heard his story as well, Father Albert chuckled while Sir Nathan let out an “attaboy.”

“My, how bold,” Zoe said in a teasing tone. “I suppose that is the courage that comes with being a hero.”

We all kept up the teasing until Sir Nathan stopped the wagon next to a beautifully clear body of water. “We’ll disembark here for our late lunch.”

Zoe and all three Holy Knights went about setting a table and grabbing ingredients from the second wagon. They had Father Albert in charge of collecting water while Chris and Luke gathered wood for the fire. That left only Lady Alice, Mira, and myself.

Mira was inspecting Lady Alice’s crystal, probing the skin around it. Lady Alice reacted with laughter. “Lady Mira that tickles.” Mira stopped, turning to her with a pout. “Lady Alice, I would prefer it if you just just called me Mira like back in the market.” Lady Alice opened her mouth but Mira put her finger in front of her face. “Yes, Sir Nathan gave us his whole speech about ranks and position during our meetings when we slipped up, but, honestly, I don’t think that shouldn’t apply when it comes to friends.” She cocked her head back at me. “Right Noel?”

I brought my hand to my chin, as if I was deep in profound thought. After we had returned that day from shopping, Sir Nathan had lightly scolded us all for being too familiar with each other despite all our positions, and yet…

“Considering we’re all refer to Kat as just Kat-”

“See? That’s what I mean. Despite being a Lady, since we’re all good friends with her, we don’t refer to Kat with her title.”

“So you wish for us to have the same relationship, you want us to be like friends?” Lady Alice asked shyly.

Mira groaned. “What are you talking about? We are friends.”

Lady Alice’s eyes went wide with surprise. She cleared her throat before giving Mira a bashful smile. “Right. I suppose we are. Then, I hope to become even better friends, Mira, Noel.”

“Same here Alice.” Mira pulled my arm, nodding her head towards Lady Alice. “Come one, you too Noel.”

I felt a slight unease, referring to her by just her name seemed like it might lead to trouble later on, but they had already taken the plunge and reaffirmed our relationship. I couldn’t back out from their expecting gazes.

“Please continue looking out for us, Alice.”

“Sure thing.”

There were smiles all around, though our moment of happiness was cut short by Caleb’s scream. Everyone who was still near the wagons rushed over to see what all the commotion was. Caleb was on his ass, pointing a shaking finger at a barrel inside the second wagon.

“What’s the matter Caleb?” Sir Nathan was the first to rush to his side. He got the younger knight to take deep breaths, calming his nerves before he spoke up. “Sir, it's that barrel. I was moving one of the boxes when I saw it move.”

Mabel laughed at her fellow knight. “You probably only thought it moved because you shook the cart itself as you stepped on.”

Caleb gave her an annoyed look. “I know what I saw.” He turned to Sir Nathan. “Sir, you’ve got to believe me.” Caleb was clutching Sir Nathan by the arm.

Mabel shrugged, walking over to the wagon and lifting and placing the barrel out and on the ground. “Only one way to find out.” Mabel drew her silver blade, she readied herself to strike at her wooden target. Sir Nathan sighed. “Mabel, that is a perfectly usable barrel. Don’t destroy-”

Mabel swung her sword, managing to slice the thinnest amount off the top of the barrel. The sound of the wood breaking was immediately followed by a loud squeal. Sir Nathan shot up, he drew his blade, motioning for Mabel to surround the barrel alongside him. Both of them raised their blades as they slowly approached the barrel from opposite sides. Their faces tense with suspicion. They cautiously peered inside when-

“Wait uncle, it's me.” Slowly a small silver figure rose from the barrel, she nervously looked around, her green eyes landing on Alice, Mira, and me.

Kat broke into a smile, “See? Told you I was small enough.”

Sir Nathan gently pulled his niece out of the barrel before dragging her away from everyone with Alice following. It was clear that the two were about to give Kat a stern lecture, yet the little girl did not waiver when it came to confronting her family. Though they had walked away they were still within earshot

“Honestly, what were you thinking? That was a dangerous thing to do.”

“Indeed, had Mabel or I not hesitated, you could have very well been… injured.”

“I’m sorry.” Tears were beginning to swell in Kat’s eyes. That said, she refused to look away as she received her scolding. “I just wanted to be with you, all of you.”

Both of her relatives sighed with exasperation. Alice turned to her uncle. “Well what do we do?”

“Turn back of course, what else can we do?”

Kat ran up to her uncle, pulling on his arm as she pleaded, “No. Please, let me stay with you.”

Sir Nathan shook his head. “No, it's far too much of a risk to bring you along, honestly, what would your parents say?”

Kat let go of her uncle. “They wouldn’t- they don’t care.”

“What?” A wave of anger mixed with worry washed over Alice’s face.

“Katherine, sweetie,” Sir Nathan got on one knee as he spoke to Kat. “That is just not true, your parents love all of you, equally.”

Kat stomped her foot. “No, you’re lying.” Kat started sobbing even more. “Be… because if that was true, then why haven’t mom and dad come to see me. Ever since Liam got sick, mom has just been with him, she hasn’t once come over to my room for tea.”

“Kat.”

“And dad is even worse, he hasn’t talked with me at all lately. All he’s focused on is Alice. It's like, I don’t even exist to them.” Kat dropped her head, letting her tears nourish the grass below.

She wiped away her tears with her sleeve, glancing over at us before continuing. “But they- they see me. Noel, and Mira, they both see me. They play with me, they talk to me, and they would even tell me stories from their world. They care for me.”

Sir Nathan reached out his hand but was beaten to the punch by Alice, who ran to her sister, embracing her tightly. “Don’t speak nonsense Kat, we all see you and we all care for you.”

In the blurry sea of tears, Kat looked at her sister’s face. “Do you mean it?”

“Of course,” Sir Nathan added. “I love you and so do your siblings.”

“Even Alice?”

“Of course I do.”

“And- and mom?”

“She loves you the most,” Sir Nathan chuckled.

Kat had stopped her crying, a small smile forming on her face.

“And dad?”

It was at this question that Sir Nathan noticeably hesitated at.

Alice ended her embrace, shifting herself to be directly in front of Kat. “Of course he does.” With that final affirmation, Kat jumped into her sister’s arms, rubbing her head against her sister’s shirt.

By the time their discussion had cooled down, the sun had already begun to set in the horizon. The last of its rays reflecting off shimmering beauty off the riverbank.

“We’ll discuss this further in the morning,” said Sir Nathan. He cupped his hands around his mouth calling out Father Albert who had been preparing a cauldron above an open fire. “How is the stew looking Father?”

Father Albert scooped up some of the cauldron’s contents with a wooden ladle, pouring it into a wooden bowl and raising it towards Sir Nathan. Strong steam flowing from the bowl into the air, the smell of potatoes and beef being blown towards us was wetting my appetite.

Kat’s stomach let out a loud growl, proving that I wasn’t the only one starving.

“I had some snacks stashed with me,” Kat said with blushed cheeks. “But Albert’s stew smells so good.” Sir Nathan patted his niece on the head.

“Let's go then.”

We all sat in a circle around the boiling cauldron. If I were to describe our seating arrangements as being in a clockwise pattern, then twelve o'clock was Father Albert, who was handing out bowls full of his stew to everyone, followed by Sir Nathan, Alice, Kat, Mira, myself, Mabel, Caleb, Luke, Chris, and Zoe who had just returned from the second wagon.

In her hands was a sealed container full of a food that rivaled its worth with gold, for inside were dozens of small loaves of bread. Us guys, with the exception of Father Albert and the inclusion of Ser Mabel, chewed the bread rabidly, downing huge amounts of the stew with every bite.

Seeing her uncle chow down crazily, Kat tried mimicking him but ended up coughing up some of her meal. Chris laughed at her for which Luke smacked him in the back of his head.

“Ow! what was that for?”

“Nothing, just felt like it.”

Mira pulled out a napkin from her pocket, wiping Kat’s face clean.

“Mira, you don’t have to baby my sister.”

“Aw, but she’s so adorable. I just can’t help it.”

Kat giggled at being called adorable.

Father Albert conjured up a goblet full of water, handing it over to Kat. “Drink this my dear, slowly this time.” He gave her a little wink, nudging Sir Nathan with his elbow as he sat back down. “That goes for you too mister, what kind of table manners are you showing for your nieces to emulate.”

Sir Nathan wiped away the stew that stuck to his chin, coughing after swallowing his last bite. “Yes, apologies Father.”

Father Albert conjured another water goblet, handing it to Sir Nathan. “Honestly you never change, always wolfing down everything as if the world is about to leave you in the dust.” Father Albert chuckled, patting his friend on the back.

“Father Albert, can I ask you a question?”

“What is it, Sir Noel?”

Seeing him conjure multiple goblets from earth and filling them with water without uttering a single chant made me curious about his magic.

“Its just, you’re magic, it's like that of Chris’ and Luke’s.”

“In what way?”

“Well, I’ve seen you use magic without any chants. At first I thought that was common, but everyone else I’ve seen use magic has used chants. Why is that?”

“Hmn?” Father Albert turned to Alice with a quizzical look. “Lady Alice, I thought you were spending your evenings in the castle with the heroes. You never explained how magic works?”

Alice blushed heavily. “Erm, Everytime I encountered them in the castle, they ended up pulling me into their tea parties, we never broached the topic.”

“No need to be so modest my Lady,” Zoe said. “You were in fact very happy every time they invited you to join them. Were you not?”

Alice turned as red as the dress she wore during her failed wedding ceremony.

“That is neither here nor there. Apologies Father, I did not teach them about magic.” Alice gave Father Albert a slight bow.

Father Albert laughed, waiving away Alice’s apology. “I understand my dear, having so many new friends close in age suddenly appear would make explaining the history of magic the least interesting topic to discuss.”

“Yup,” Kat nodded. “I keep falling asleep whenever my tutors try to explain it to me.”

Sir Nathan brought his hand to his temple. “Katherine, that isn’t something to be boasting. It seems I’ll have to have a word with my sister about your studies.”

“Wah! Big sis Mira, help me.”

“Big sis? Me?” Mira became overjoyed, hugging Kat as the little girl brought another spoonful of stew to her mouth.

“Yeah, what do you mean Kat?” Alice asked. “How come you're not asking me for help?” Kat giggled at her rather jealous sister.

As the right side of our circle became more lively in nature, Father Albert moved closer towards me, bringing a log with him as his makeshift seat.

“You want to know why some magic users use chants and others don’t?”

I nodded my head.

“The fact of the matter is that we can only speculate. Most people have some level of affinity for magic, if they learn the chants and practice, most spells become attainable. But when it comes to elemental magic, it is said that if one has a certain affinity for one of the four elements, then they are capable of using elemental magic without chants.”

Father Albert explained the four types to me. Fire was used as offensive magic, earth for defensive magic, wind for support, and water for healing. He explained that although people could use all four of the elemental magic types, most mages focused on the one that they resonated with the most when it came to combat. That said, he also revealed that those who were prodigies when it came to magic could have more than one of the elemental affinities. Using himself as an example, Father Albert explained that he had affinities with both water and earth.

 A priest whose main powers revolved around healing and protection? I for one did not see that coming.

Father Albert conjured a floating ball of water the size of a human head. He tapped the orb causing it to ripple in all directions. “For novice mages, it would take them honing their magic for weeks just to create a water orb a twelfth of this one’s size.”

With a snap of his fingers, the earth below rose into a spiral with a sharp peak, the tip of this manifested structure tore through the orb causing a big splash with all of the spilled water seeping back into the earth. With the tap of his foot, the earth spike buried itself to be one with the the Earth once more.

“When it comes to creating any water magic, the spell used is called Torius and for earth magic it is Constra. As for the shape or amount you wish to control, that depends on the amount of magical energy a mage has as well as their understanding of what the limits and capabilities of their element are.”

“I see, so is Remeura a derivative of water magic?” I recalled how the healers back in the castle had used Remeura but I hadn’t actually seen any water-like effects. Even in the book Within Us, it spoke of Flumen and, by extension, water being sources of healing.

“No, that is a non-elemental spell, though it is said that the mage who first conjured it did receive a vision from Flumen.” Father Albert pulled out a string necklace from his pocket. Hanging from the center of the string was a carved stone in the shape of a tear drop. It had a beautiful blue hue to it.

“Going back to your original inquiry, the reason some people can cast spells without chanting the spell’s name is likely parallel to one’s faith in the gods.” Father Albert handed me the necklace. I rubbed the stone tear-drop against my fingers, it was cool to the touch and smooth against the skin.

“So that’s why you can cast magic silently, because you're a man of faith?”

“That is what I believe, though mage scholars will argue that it just has to do with one’s natural talent. But the fact that so many of the Holy Knights, including Nathan and his men can do the same would say otherwise.” Sir Albert sighed. “But anecdotes like that aren’t good enough for the scholars.”

“I see. It would make sense considering Luke and Chris used magic without chanting, it was like their powers were second nature to them.”

Father Albert smiled, smacking his knee with his hand. “Thats exactly right, they were already blessed by the gods themselves.”

“Which means Mira and I can also cast silent magic.”

“That is what I predict, but only time will tell if your blessings will bear their fruit.”

“If,” huh…

I must have let my bittersweet reaction to that word show on my face for Father Albert patted my knee, like when a parent tries to help their child move on from their disappointment.

“But if you have your heart set on magic, you could always learn the way our mages do.”

“Can I?”

Father Albert laughed. “Of course, in fact I’ve been giving lessons to all of the Wallace children, I could have you join Lady Alice and Katherine for tomorrow’s morning training. That is, if you would be interested in it.”

He was giving me an interesting offer, one that caught the interest of another.

“Could I join too?,” Mira asked with a beaming open smile. It was a smile that any person would struggle to say no to.

“Of course, in fact.” Father Albert stood, turning toward Luke and Chris who were currently locked in arm wrestling matches with Mabel and Caleb on some large tree stumps. “Would the other heroes also be interested in joining us.”

“Sorry Father,” Caleb groaned with clenched teeth, “but these fellas are going to have sparring matches with us in the morning.”

“We don’t want these boys to just rely on their fancy magic,” Mabel said, bringing Luke’s arm crashing down onto the moldy wood. She snickered as Luke rubbed the back of his hand.

“Oh, a shame.” Father Albert slumped down onto his stool dejected. Sir Nathan placed a hand on his shoulder. “Don’t worry Albert, I’ll make sure to give them some lessons after their swordsmen training.” It was after comforting his friend that Sir Nathan brought his bowl towards Father Albert, shaking his wooden spoon in the empty bowl. “With that said, can I trouble you for a second bowl?” Father Albert laughed incredulously as he poured him another bowl.

With Sir Nathan having received a second bowl, it signaled to the rest of the group that they could follow suit and we all formed a rather disorganized line after him.

Once everyone had their fill, it was time to set up for the night. Zoe began setting up a tent while the knights took care of moving the wagons and caring for the horses. Though Zoe said she could handle the pitching of the tent alone, Chris offered himself up to help her. All of the poles and tarps were set up by Zoe while Chris was tasked with hammering the thick metal nails, which were tied to the tarps, into the ground. He made a show of it, flexing his biceps every time Zoe passed by him. His efforts were in vain because, while Zoe could be indifferent at times when it came to dealing with certain tasks, having Alice watching over her forced the girl to carry out her task with speed and purpose. By the time Chris hammered the final nail, the horses had been tied to some trees with a long rope and the wagons were stationed in a manner that blocked the view of the tent from both directions of the road.

“Right,” Sir Nathan said, “Katherine, Alice, Zoe, Mabel, and Lady Mira will sleep in the tent. You boys,” he said referring to Luke, Chris and I, “will sleep in the empty wagon. I’ve already placed enough blankets for the three of you. Albert, Caleb, and myself will take turns keeping watch.” Father Albert nodded, grabbing a blanket from the supply wagon and conjuring a rather large and crude pile of earth.

“In that case, I’ll take the third watch. Goodnight everyone.” After Father Albert laid down in his mound of dirt, the rest of us retreated to our sleeping accommodations, leaving only Caleb and Sir Nathan.

“What about me Captain? Where do I sleep?”

Sir Nathan shrugged. “I am sure a knight of your caliber will figure something out. I suggest you do it quickly, you will need all the rest you can get before the next shift.” Sir Nathan left his subordinate next to the extinguished campfire, paying him no mind as he started his patrol.

“Where the hell am I supposed to sleep?”