13. Child of the Pendragon-1
2043 Words
13
Child of the Pendragon
When Jacob was gone, the old centaur turned and made her way back into the trees. Sabbe wound through the woods, turning left and right, following a path Emilia could not see.
Emilia wanted to tell Sabbe she was sorry. That she promised to not let her magic get out of control again. But no matter how guilty Emilia felt about putting Raven in danger, she couldn’t promise it wouldn’t happen again. She couldn’t control anything anymore, not even her magic.
Sabbe stepped into a tiny clearing, and as Emilia joined her, she raised one hand in the air. A long, thick stick appeared in Sabbe’s palm. She tossed the stick into the air where it hovered five feet off the ground.
“Use the delasc,” Sabbe said calmly, her good, silvery-blue eye staring at Emilia. “Cut one inch off the end. No running, no fighting. Focus and cut one inch off the end.”
Emilia rolled her neck, trying to clear her mind. “Talahm delasc.” The whip appeared in her hand. She trailed the tip on the ground before throwing the whip behind her. She flicked her wrist forward and the tip of the light hit the rod, cutting off the end.
“Too much,” Sabbe said. The stick grew, regaining its original length. She nodded toward the stick.
Again, Emilia tried to take just one inch off the end. The red light grazed the stick, slicing off only the tiniest portion.
Sabbe shook her shining hair, and the stick re-grew.
It took nearly an hour for Emilia to cut precisely one inch off the tip of the stick. Even in the cold she was sweating, not from movement, but from stress.
When Sabbe finally nodded, tears welled in Emilia’s eyes. It was over.
“Now try.” The centaur pointed at the stick, which began to sway side to side as though carried by waves.
“Fine,” Emilia said, grinding her teeth. “Fine.”
She stepped forward, closing the distance between herself and her now moving target. She raised her whip to strike, but before she could aim properly, the stick jolted to her left. Emilia turned her head so quickly, her neck seized. She threw a dirty glance at the centaur and felt something hard smack her between her shoulder blades.
Through tears of pain, Emilia glimpsed Sabbe’s unsympathetic eye.
“Your enemies will not simply wait for your attacks.”
Emilia turned away and blinked the tears from her eyes. She wouldn’t let Sabbe have the satisfaction of seeing her cry. She found the stick again, floating seven feet to her right. It bobbed, mocking her by moving up and down with the rhythm of her breathing. She took a step forward, and the stick retreated a few feet. Emilia raised her whip again.
“Raven forgives you.”
Emilia turned mid-strike to look at the centaur and again felt a sharp pain in her spine. The force of the blow knocked her to the ground.
“Then why are you punishing me?” Emilia glared daggers at the aged centaur. She forced herself back to her feet, searching for her adversary. It was now directly above her, not three feet away. She poised herself to strike, but right at that moment, the stick fell out of the air, smacking her hard in the face.
Emilia wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth. She looked at the red staining the tips of her frozen fingers.
“Move faster,” Sabbe said.
“No. I’m done.” The whip faded from her hand.
“You cannot be done,” Sabbe said. “Those who are hunted must never be done. You will never be done.”
The centaur walked over to Emilia and took her hand. Not the one with the blood on it, but the one marked in gold.
“You must protect those you love. You must be strong for them. You must fight for them,” the centaur said.
“I can’t.” Emilia yanked her hand away. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry I’m falling apart. I’m sorry I’m not strong enough to deal with this. I lost three of the most important people in my life, and I spend every second wondering if Larkin and Samuel are dead or being tortured like that b***h did to Jacob. I don’t even know if I should hope they’re dead, because at least then they wouldn’t be in pain. And they are stuck in those caves because of me.” Cracking split through the woods as branches began to rip themselves off the trees. “Because I was an i***t and didn’t notice my boyfriend was a traitor who would destroy my family and my life.” Emilia was screaming. The wind whipped around her, creating a tempest in the woods.
“Because of me, Jacob, Claire, and Connor got kicked out of our home and sent to these godforsaken woods so we could be trained by you to fight in a war my father started, because he’s a murdering bastard. And the only person who I even want to be around is afraid to be alone with me, because he doesn’t want to take advantage of a spell that tethered him to my crazy ass.” Emilia stopped. Her voice echoed through the trees. Tears streamed down her cheeks. “I just can’t.” The branches dropped to the ground where they lay still. Emilia resisted the temptation to lie down with them.
“Instead of deciding what you cannot do, do what you can,” Sabbe said so calmly that Emilia wanted to start screaming all over again. “There is a way to protect the people you love. A thing only you can learn.”
“Right,” Emilia spat. “Learn to fight so when Daddy dearest tries to kill us all―”
“No,” Sabbe interrupted. “You think you must defeat the Pendragon. The only way to defeat an enemy is to understand him. Find someone who knows him. Learn what you can from that person. This is more than fighting. It is something only the child of the Pendragon can do.”
“What do you mean?” Emilia swiped the tears from her cheeks. “There isn’t anyone who knows the Pendragon who isn’t fighting with him. Do you want me to capture a Dragon and try to make them talk?” Her stomach tightened, half-excited at the prospect of forcing a Dragon to talk.
“Can you not think of one intimate of the Pendragon who escaped?”
Emilia’s stomach suddenly disappeared from her body completely. “My mother? You think my mother could help?”
“When a centaur is lost, we go back to the beginning of our trouble. You were born to live at the center of this war. That is where your trouble began. If you wish to find your path, you must go back to the beginning.”
“But my mother disappeared. No one’s seen her for seventeen years.”
“One does not need to see something to know where it is, if you only know the right person to ask and are willing to leap without knowing where you might land.” The white-haired centaur frowned, and Emilia’s heart tightened. “To gain an answer, a risk must be made. To find one mother, you must risk losing the love of another. The one who knows all but feels nothing will guide you.”
Emilia nodded. She didn’t want to understand, but the stories she had heard as a little girl flooded back into her mind. “You really think this is what I should do? There are some places a Gray is never supposed to go. Aunt Iz will never forgive me.”
“Is forgiveness more important than peace?” Sabbe asked.
Emilia shook her head.
“Leave tonight. And be well, Emilia Gray.”
Sabbe disappeared through the trees before Emilia could ask why the weight of such terrible things had fallen on her.
Emilia found her way back to the training ring before slipping through the trees to the tents. No one would notice her missing. She had been gone all afternoon. All she needed was a few minutes to pack. Then she would be ready to disappear once night fell.
She walked calmly past the kitchen fires and ducked through the emerald green flap of the tent. A backpack would work best. She would need to travel light. A few changes of clothes and all of Dexter’s money. Forgiveness would be a question for later. Right now, there were more important answers she needed to find.
Emilia rolled up her polar fleece and tucked it into the bottom of the bag. She tossed in clean socks and underwear. She felt Jacob behind her before he made a sound.
“I’m going.” Emilia didn’t stop packing. She had already made up her mind. She didn’t want an argument. It would only upset Connor and Claire. And if the centaurs found out, getting away would be all the harder.
Jacob didn’t say anything.
“Sabbe told me I have to go. There’s something I have to do.”
She turned to Jacob. He didn’t try to take the clothes out of her hands or tell her she couldn’t go.
“I’m going to find my mother,” Emilia said quietly. “Claire figured out her name.” Emilia pulled a piece of paper from her bag. She unfolded it and tried to keep her hands from shaking as she showed Jacob the printed photo of the girl with the long black curls. “Her name is Rosalie Wilde. I have to find her. Sabbe said that’s where I have to start.”
Emilia folded the photo back up and tucked it out of sight. She picked up her extra jeans and started rolling them, but the simple motion couldn’t hide the trembling of her hands.
“Are you done?” Jacob asked, taking Emilia by the shoulders and turning her to face him.
“I can’t just stay here and do nothing. I can’t leave Larkin and Samuel in that place. And Iz out fighting. And if finding Rosalie could help―”
“Then we’ll have to find her.” Jacob sat on Emilia’s bed.
Emilia shoved the jeans into her bag and dug in her drawer for a clean shirt to pack. “I’m going tonight.”
“No, we’re going tonight.”
“Jacob,” Emilia said, trying to keep the desperation out of her voice, “you need to stay here with Claire and Connor. You’ll be safe here.”
“You’re not going alone,” Jacob said. “And safe is a relative term these days.”
“She’s my mother. This has nothing to do with you. I don’t even know if I’ll be able to find her.”
“You’ll have a better chance if the two of us work together. And besides, there’s not a chance in Hell I’m letting you go without me. And if you try”―Jacob tapped his chest right over his heart―“I can find you.”
He was right. He would be able to find her. It was a part of the tethering. She could always feel where he was. Emilia tucked her shirt into the backpack. “Jacob, I know you want to come with me―”
“I am coming with you,” Jacob corrected, taking Emilia’s hand and pulling her to sit on the bed next to him.
“I’m going to the Hag.” She paused, waiting for Jacob’s protest, but he only slid his fingers to lock with hers. “Jacob, the Gray Clan is f*******n to communicate with the Hag. If the Council of Elders finds out, we’ll be screwed.”
“Emilia, there is no Council.”
“If Aunt Iz finds out, she’ll be furious. She’ll disown me. Bind my powers. Make me a Demadais.”
“Aunt Iz loves you. I don’t think she’ll disown you or banish you for talking to someone.”
Emilia smiled weakly. “Yes, she will. And I don’t know where the Hag is. And if I find her, she might not even agree to speak to us, and if she does, she might not tell us anything. And if she does, we still might not be able to find Rosalie. And if we do find Rosalie, it might not do us any good.”
“Sounds like you’re against going.” Jacob took Emilia’s chin and turned her face to his.
“I have to. I need to know―” Emilia couldn’t finish the sentence. She didn’t know what questions she needed answered, only that the questions existed and that this was the place to begin.
“Then we’re going together. And that’s final. I’ll pack my bag, and we’ll leave tonight.” Jacob pressed his forehead to Emilia’s.
Emilia closed her eyes and allowed herself a moment to relax. One quick breath in peace. Jacob smelled like the forest after a rain. “Claire and Connor…” She willed herself back to the moment.
“They’ll be as safe here without us as with. Safer, actually.” Jacob stood and crossed through the curtain to the boys’ side of the tent.
- Writer
