ROUNDING THE LAST BEND, Ty could see his family’s cottage ahead, tucked away rather cozily on the outskirts of the Sidaran Forest where his father was stationed as the overlord’s official gamekeeper and forester.
Their home was quite spacious for the average wood folk. It had three bedrooms, an indoor washroom, and a separate kitchen off the main room. The walls were framed with a crosshatch of cedar planking and river stone while the dense thatch roofing was all but unseen by the onslaught of greenery crawling its way across the top. The cottage gave the appearance of having grown right out of the forest itself.
“Breen, slow down! It’s not like the Black Watch are coming over for dinner.” Ty scrunched his face as he jerked his arm back from where his brother was attempting to rush him along.
“Hurry up. Father’s going to want to know what just happened.”
“Why? What’s he going to do? Other than lock us in our rooms until
they’re gone.” Ty groaned. The thought of being cooped up in the house for an extended period of time was excuse enough not to tell their father.
Ty followed his older brother up the stone path, ending at a covered circular archway outside the front door. He watched as Breen quietly flipped back the latch and counted to three before throwing open the door. His brother released a deep growl, startling their sister, Adarra, in the process. Breen always got some kind of perverse pleasure in watching her yelp. Ty had to admit, he rather enjoyed it himself.
Adarra, only a couple of years older than Ty, stiffened in her seat as her head jerked up from where she was reading another one of the large
volumes she always seemed to have on hand. “Breen! You did that on purpose!”
“Who me?” Breen put on a sarcastic face. “Never.” Ty chuckled at the playful banter between his siblings.
Adarra strained to hold her scowl, but when confronted with a look of such sweet innocence as what was reflected in Breen’s face, she couldn’t
hold it long. Giggling, she shook her hand and swept aside a loose strand of chestnut hair, revealing a light dusting of freckles across both cheeks.
“I was beginning to worry,” came a soft voice from the kitchen as their mother, Nilla, stepped into the room, waving her dipping spoon in their direction. “Supper will be ready shortly.” Ty’s mother was a short woman with a kind face wrapped in the same straight, chestnut hair as Adarra, interspersed with a few lines of gray. She had always said that Ty had been the one to give them to her.
Ty closed the door as Breen unstrung his bow and laid it in the corner. “Sorry about that,” his brother said. “We ran into a little trouble on the
road.”
“What kind of trouble?” Ty’s father, Kellen, looked up from his seat by
the fire as he continued digging into the side of a small chunk of wood with his knife. As always, he chewed on the stem of his long pipe as he concentrated on the wood. “Not more poachers, I hope?”
Ty walked across the room and sat in the rocker beside his sister. “They were poachers alright,” Breen said as he plopped down on the
wooden bench in front of the small bay windows and struggled to find a comfortable position, “poachers of the Black Watch variety.”
His father’s hand faltered with the knife. Ty heard a deep intake of breath come from the direction of the kitchen. Even Adarra lowered her book. There was more to this than he knew.
His father leaned forward in his seat. “The Black Watch, here?” “Creator help us,” Ty’s mother said as she moved further into the main
room.
“Yes,” Breen said. “And it gets worse.”
“Worse?” His father spared a troubled glance at Ty. “How could it get much worse?”
Breen took a deep breath. “They have that healer with them . . .
Saleena.”
“Bog Toads!” His father jumped to his feet, startling Ty out of his deliberations. Kellen was a big man, and like Ty’s brother, towered over him. “I told that foolish girl to stay put. I knew when I went back for her and she was gone that she was going to get herself captured again.”
Now Ty was really confused. What were they talking about?
His father’s eyes widened as he pulled his pipe from his mouth and pointed it at Breen. “Did they have a sniffer?”
Ty fidgeted with the front of his light brown jacket. A sniffer? He rubbed the back of his hand across his forehead to clear a fallen strand of blond hair from his eyes. He had no idea what was going on. What was a sniffer? He was growing more addled by the moment.
“No, just the Tower’s guards. They said they found her east of Reed Marsh.”
His father leaned one large elbow against the stone hearth and scratched at the side of his head where the streaks of gray were most prevalent. “She must’ve gotten nervous and tried making a run for it.”
“Foolish woman.” Ty’s mother shook her head, swinging her ladle around the way she used to when threatening one of them with a good spanking. “If she would have just listened, we could have found her a safe place to relocate.”
“They asked for directions to Easthaven,” Breen continued. “They said they were looking for other wielders.”
A glimmer of hope registered in his father’s eyes as his fingers traced the edges of his groomed beard. “Good. My guess is they will search the city and surrounding community before making their trek back to the Tower.
That might give us a few days to do something about Saleena.”
Ty couldn’t take it any longer as he hopped to his feet. “What is going
on?” His arms lifted from his sides, adding a measure of frustrated urgency to his words. “Who’s Saleena and how do you all know her? And what’s a sniffer?” His eyes shot from one face to another, waiting for an answer.
His parents shared a hesitant look.
Ty’s mother shrugged. “He’s sixteen. I’d say he’s old enough.”
“Old enough for what?” Ty asked. “Will somebody please tell me what is going on around here?”
His father seemingly ignored Ty’s outburst. “Nilla, can you get my bag ready?”
“On my way, dear.” Ty’s mother headed for the kitchen. Halfway there, she called back over her shoulder. “Adarra, how about giving your mother a hand?”
His father spun around. “Breen, I need you to saddle my horse.” “You want me to come with you?”
“No. You keep your plans and go to Performance Night. No need to
draw any undue suspicions by not showing up. I’m going to work my way around town and see if I can’t get a feel for what our guests are up to before
relaying any news to the council. Hopefully, we can determine a course of action that won’t put our entire community in jeopardy.”
With that said, Breen left, shutting the front door behind him and leaving Ty rocking anxiously from one foot to the other.
His father finally retook his seat and motioned for Ty to join him. A feeling of anticipation swept over Ty as he sat on the bench his brother had previously occupied. It was still warm.
There was a spark of fear behind his father’s sharp emerald eyes. Eyes, much like his brother’s, reminding Ty of how different he was. Ty’s eyes, while just as bright, were sapphire blue. He knew he wasn’t their real son.
They had told him as much once he had reached an age where those differences had been recognized. However, when asked, the answer was always the same—they didn’t know who his birth parents were.
Ty used to daydream that he was the long lost heir of a wealthy nobleman, and that he had been kidnapped by a band of marauding gypsies and sold on the black market for food, which was loads more exciting than the truth—that he had been dropped off by a kindly old gentleman who had found him in the woods.
Having resigned himself to the fact that he would more than likely never discover who had given him birth, Ty didn’t press the matter further. He soon came to realize that he didn’t care who his birth parents were. This
was his real family and they were all that mattered.
“Ty.” His father favored him with a careful gaze, judging his words
before he spoke. “What I’m about to tell you is very dangerous. It’s a secret known only to a few. And there are a great many lives depending on it remaining so.” His father waited, regarding him with a serious look. “Do you understand what I’m saying to you?”
“Yes sir.” Ty nodded.
“Like your brother and sister before you, we were going to wait until we felt you were old enough before revealing what I’m about to share with you. In fact, your sister was nearly seventeen before we told her.” Ty’s father waved his hand. “But that’s beside the point. The White Tower’s reach is clearly spreading, evident by what you’ve told us already. And waiting any longer could prove even more dangerous.”
“Why would our family be in danger? We don’t have anything to do with the White Tower.” Ty was getting nervous. He wondered if his parents already knew of his ability to communicate with animals. Would the White
Tower come after him if they knew? He couldn’t understand why they would. It wasn’t like he was anything special. How dangerous could it be to talk with a group of tree rats and forest conies?
His father took a deep breath. “Our family is part of a secret group that helps to hide wielders from the White Tower.”
Ty’s mouth opened slightly. That was clearly not what he had been expecting. His father paused as if to judge Ty’s reaction before continuing. “Easthaven, like a lot of other larger cities across Aldor, has places of
refuge for magic wielders. We call them Harbor Houses. What you have to understand, though, is that most of these wielders haven’t done anything wrong. They are no more dangerous than you or me. But, because they
were born with a special gift, or, like Saleena, have been spotted using a
new kind of herb to heal what other physickers cannot, they get branded as ven’ae and are rounded up by the Black Watch.”
Ty leaned forward in his seat. “What happens to them?”
His father scratched the back of his neck with the stem of his pipe. “That’s a good question. We don’t really know. At one time they were held and tested, just to see if their gifts were safe or not. Those they believed to have non-violent abilities were released on their word they would never use them, while others who were said to be too dangerous to release were either locked away or executed.”
Ty shuddered at the thought, knowing it could one day be his fate. “It was said that after the coming of the fae, back during the Second
Age, Aldor was a land rich with magic. But what we didn’t know was that the magic they brought with them could turn even the most righteous of men into the vilest of tyrants.” Ty’s father studied his face for a moment as if looking for a certain response before continuing. “Magic can lead to corruption, son, and the more magic we allow around us the more
dangerous it is for our world. If not for the Great Purge and the outlawing of magic, we might have completely wiped our race from history—”
“Yes, I know,” Ty interjected with dramatic flair, “and now we are living in the splendor of the Third Age, an age of peace without the dangers of
magic.” Ty shrugged. “We already learned about the evils of magic in school.”
“Yes, but—” His father leaned forward and pointed the end of his pipe in Ty’s direction, making sure Ty caught what he was about to say, “is what you learned the truth?” His father’s eyes narrowed.
Ty was afraid to answer. He wasn’t sure if he would say the right thing.
His father was obviously trying to make a point.
“The truth is, Ty, that magic is just that . . . It’s magic. It’s not good or evil. It’s a tool, like your mother’s rolling pin, or Adarra’s books, or even Breen’s bow. Evil does not come from the tool but from the one who wields it. Magic, like anything else in this world, can be used for good or evil.” His father cocked his head to the side. “Does that make sense?”
Ty considered for a moment. “Yes, sir. I never really thought about it like that. I just thought magic would eventually corrupt anyone who used too much of it.” Ty figured that was good to know. He had always been careful not to use his magic too readily; afraid of getting the taint he’d been warned about in school. “Then why are they telling people that magic is so
dangerous?” “Fear.”
“Fear?”
“If those who covet power can make you afraid of the very thing that has the potential to keep them from that power, then half their battle is already won. You’ll be surprised what people are willing to do, or give up, in order to feel safe.” His father laid his pipe on the stand beside his chair and stood as Ty’s mother entered the main room with satchel in hand. “It’s the oldest trick in the book, son.” His father took the bag and tucked it under one arm before turning to kiss his wife.
“There’s fresh bread, a couple slices of the white cheese, and a cut of salted pork for your supper, and of course some mulled cider to wash it down. Just promise me you’ll be careful. Do you hear me, Kellen?”
“Nilla, you are a blessing from the Creator.”
“I know.” She leaned in and kissed him once again, holding on for what Ty believed was an inappropriate amount of time while standing in front of their children.
“Okay, you can stop any time now,” Ty protested, eyeing the tips of his boots, trying to keep from watching the garish display of affection.
His parents chuckled as they parted and his father rustled the front of Ty’s hair.
Adarra made her way back into the main room and sat down to continue reading as the front door opened and Breen stepped through. “The horse is ready when you are.”
“Thank you, Breen.” His father laid a hand on Breen’s shoulder. “Oh, by the way, how was the hunt? Any game?”
Breen looked at Ty and cocked a single brow. “Not exactly.”
Ty sighed. “It was my fault,” he said, slumping a little in embarrassment. “Breen had a lock on a large rack, but . . . Well, my shoulder started hurting again.” Without thinking, he reached for the top of his arm and rubbed the marked area.
His father and mother shared an odd look that perked Ty’s curiosity.
“Guess we can’t get them all. We’ll go out again next week.” His father stuffed his pipe in one of the inner pockets of his overcoat. “Now you all
have fun in town tonight. I’m sorry I won’t be there to see you perform, Ty, but I know you’ll do well.”
“Wait,” his mother said with a confused look. “We shouldn’t be going into town tonight, not with the Black Watch there.”
“I think right now the safest thing for us to do is to keep up
appearances,” his father said. “There will be folks at the performance expecting to see us. We don’t want people getting suspicious and asking questions. I’m sure you’ll be alright for tonight.”
Ty sighed. He had almost hoped his father would have told them they didn’t have to go. The last thing he wanted to do right now was perform.
“Alright,” his mother conceded, still not looking like she was altogether convinced. “Your father needs to be on his way, and you need to get some supper in you before we head into town.”
“I’ll try to be back before morning. It all depends on how long it takes the council to discuss our options.” His father stepped through the door but then turned back around. “Oh, and, Breen, do keep your brother out of
trouble.”
His father’s smile might have been meant as humor, but his tone was anything but.
