Chapter 5


    Evaline and I wake up at the same time the next day, at some point in the late morning. She seems to be in a much better mood, and says we’ll still be heading south.


    “Are you willing to tell me where we’re going now?” I allow a bit of hope to creep into my voice.


    “Yes, actually,” she’s a bit amused, “We’re going to Houston, Texas.”


    “Houston?”


    “Yes, and we’re behind schedule.”


    “Just how far behind schedule?” I didn’t even know there was a schedule.


    “I’m not sure, how long has it been since that fight with the Twisted?”


    I pause, thinking it over, “About three days, assuming I was only out for one night after healing you.”


    Evaline frowns. Apparently that wasn’t what she wanted to hear. She sighs, “All we can do about it now is keep moving.”


    We do just that, and within fifteen minutes I’m in the air again, enjoying the sensation of cool air under my wings. I have to watch where Evaline is to navigate, though, and she seems to be struggling, so I have to be fairly cautious to make sure I don’t get lost. I mess around a little with bringing my magic to the surface without having to hyper-focus, and that occupies me until Evaline stops. I instantly know something is wrong, and dive straight toward her, spreading my wings at the last second to slow down. I hit the ground, hard, and look toward her, wondering what’s wrong. I feel the mental link I thought disbanded when I released my mind magic flare up, bringing my Radiance with it and surprising us both.


    What’s going on? I ask mentally, fine with using the link to communicate. She replies quickly, I noticed the link. I can feel a pulse of uncertainty accompanying it. I send my feeling of confidence, in her and in my magic, and I can feel her gratitude. She seems tired, more so than usual. Are you alright? I ask gently. Evaline nods, but I can tell she’s lying. I take off again and Evaline starts running, even slower now. We make it over the border and continue for a few more hours before stopping for the night. It’s getting cold, and we only have the supplies from my bag, which only has one sleeping bag. I give it to Evaline after a few minutes of awkward silence, then spread my wings, wrapping them around me and using them as a sort of blanket. The feathers are softer than I expected, because I’ve seen how durable they are. All in all, It’s not too bad, especially because they keep out the cold better than any sleeping bag ever could. I wake up refreshed the next morning, ready to start the day.


    Evaline, on the other hand, couldn’t be any further from ready. I shake her gently to wake her up, which doesn’t work. I decide to try a different approach, and prod her mentally through the link. That works a bit too well, because she bolts upright. I put my hands in the air placatingly.


    “Everything’s alright, I was just trying to wake you up, and I thought that would be better than throwing water on you,” I can feel her surprise trickling through the link.


    She grunts, not very pleased with being woken up, “Let’s get going.”


    I’m soon in the air, and Evaline’s still moving pretty slowly.  I swoop low, then land within feet of where she’s running. Even though she’s going slower than she usually does, she’s still incredibly fast. I start running, then have to take off again to keep up. I stay very low, just above the treetops, gliding on the updrafts and flapping only occasionally. Hours pass, and we begin to cross roads more often.


    The idea that we’re nearing civilization is concerning, because we won’t be able to travel like we have been, using magical means to move faster than most cars. Speaking of, we might need a car, and I don’t have enough money in my bag to buy one. I’m not sure if I have any money, and we’ll need at least a little to buy food. I bring this up to Evaline when we land for the night. She laughs,


    “Do you know why we had a house in the Canadian backwoods?”


    “No,” I say, thoroughly confused.


    “Gold,” she chuckles again, “We can use magic to mine for gold, and It’s a lot more efficient than most other operations. Why do you think the ground in that clearing was torn up?”


    “Okay, but how does that help us if it was all in your bag?”


    “It wasn’t. The bag was full of basic supplies, because we weren’t sure if we could trust you when we left Land’s End.”


    “Then where was the gold?” I ask.


    “We’d put it in a backpack, then used magic to shrink it down, and sewn it into the back of my jacket”


    I wasn’t expecting that, but it works, and I never would’ve guessed that Evaline had our money trouble handled from their start. I move on to my camp duties for the night, catching a scrawny rabbit to supplement our dwindling supplies. I make supper, then bank the fire while we eat. I look at Evaline curiously and ask what’s been bothering me all day, “When will you start teaching me magic again?”


    She frowns thoughtfully, “I hadn’t expected you to be so capable with so little training, but you still lack control. Fixing that should be our next priority, and we can start refining your control right now.”


    “How would I do that?” I’m ready to do anything I can to keep from being the victim of the Twisted again.


    “I need you to gather up a small portion of the red, fire portion of your power and fire it at whatever I choose, and you need to do it in five seconds, without having any power ready to go.”


    It sounds like it’ll be difficult to do, but I’m glad for the challenge, for anything to keep me away from my thoughts. I look to Evaline,


    “When do we start?”


    She gives me a small, sly grin, then points to a random tree without preamble. I close my eyes, trying to gather the fiery power I can feel as a portion of my well of Radiance. I’m interrupted by Evaline saying, “You can’t close your eyes, this is supposed to simulate using magic in combat.”


    Well, that makes the whole situation a thousand times harder. She points to a different tree, and I try to summon the flaming energy into my hands yet again. I fail, but less so this time, and I have an idea of how I should be able to get a shot off. The next tree Evaline points at gets a very small, underwhelming spurt of fire shot from my fingertips fired at it. Apparently, my idea to not charge up the burst very much to save time was a terrible idea. I bring more power to bear next time, which takes longer but works much better. I still haven’t hit anything in under five seconds, but each repetition gets me one step closer. I summon my power, then blast the rock Evaline pointed at. I sway a little, feeling the energy leave me more with each fireball. Evaline notices my exhaustion.


    “You got under five seconds, so we’ll stop for today.”


    I grin, feeling accomplished, “Finally.”


    She gets the same sly smile she had earlier, “Tomorrow you have to do it in under four seconds.”


    My smile falls, and I groan. I don’t vocalize any other complaints, because I quite literally asked for this. I spread my wings to sleep, and notice that I suddenly feel less tired. I resolve to ask Evaline why that may be tomorrow. I fall asleep quickly, and am sucked into another dream with the dark, oily man again.


    The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    The whispers are even more prominent now, and I can feel them tugging on my mind magic, demanding to be heard. Tam’s voice is still more noticeable than the others, and it’s heartbreaking to hear the voice of my mentor so tortured, especially after not seeing him for so long. The dark man starts the conversation, his oily voice slipping between cracks in my mind, You know my offer still stands, lightling. I can bring your accursed Tamarin back, for a price. I speak back mentally, How much death is involved in your price? I can feel those poor souls you hide behind, you know. They know what you’ve done, and they whisper to me. I know you have tricked thousands of people, and I know those souls belong to bodies turned into Twisted.


    The dark man chuckles, a terrifyingly seductive sound. So you know the fate of your teacher, and yet you remain defiant. This will not do, no, no. It’s unnerving for a being so inherently wrong to be admonishing me like I’m some clueless child. I start to struggle, trying to find a way out of this dream room, away from this monstrosity. Said monstrosity notices my struggle, and chuckles again. I’ll let you go this time, lightling, just remember, my Twisted will get hungry, and you would be quite the catch. The man lets go of my mind, sliding out the way he came in.


    I wake with a start, and the mental link between Evaline and I flares to life. I’m panicked, and can’t control my thoughts, so everything is broadcast to Evaline, riding on massive pulses of Radiance. She bolts upright, then notices me panicking, the source of the mental commotion. She sprints over, then stops, filtering through the information I’m still broadcasting, trying to figure out what happened. I see a multitude of emotions cross her face, finally settling on concern. The still open link allows me to know that, while most of the concern is for me, some is for herself. I wonder why, and since I still can’t control my thoughts, Evaline hears. Myar, I need you to control your magic, because if you keep pushing those pulses of Radiance across, it could overload my well and knock me out at best, kill me at worst. I do my best to restrain my Radiance, and it works, to a degree. The pulses slow down and shrink, and the mental link fogs up. Evaline, slightly less concerned now, turns to interrogating me.


    “How do you know that man?”


    “What does he want from you?”


    “Do you have any idea who you just defied?”


    I’m taken aback by the amount of fervor she asks those questions with,


    “I don’t know the man, per se, more he’s shown up in my dreams before, and he always offers the same thing; Tam back, for a price. Before you ask, I don’t know who he is, and he’s never actually told me the ‘price’.”


    Evaline speaks slowly, horrified, “I’m almost certain that man is one of the Broken Ones, and a high ranking one at that. The only reason he would talk to you would be to coerce you to his side.”


    “You lost me at Broken Ones, as I have no idea what that is.”


    Evaline groans, presumably tired of giving me context. “The Broken Ones are the opposition that Oriole mentioned when she was telling you how she knew Tamarin.”


    “Why are they the opposition, and what do they want Tam for?”


    “The Broken Ones created the Twisted, and are constantly experimenting on them, and humans, trying to find… something we know nothing about. We’ve never had a spy high up enough to find out. As to why they want Tam, the power of an individual Twisted scales directly to the amount of Radiance the person that was turned into a Twisted had. And Tamarin was one of the most powerful mages we had, a long time ago.”


    It’s horrifying to know that Tam has been turned into a Twisted, but it also gives me a purpose; rescuing him from the clutches of the Broken Ones. That’s what my next question is,


    “Where did they take him?”


    Evaline thinks for a moment before responding, “Someone as powerful as Tamarin would take weeks, potentially months, to be fully turned into a Twisted, and the Broken Ones know that we would be trying to recover a mage as powerful as him, no matter how bad his relationship with us.”


    “He had a bad relationship with… who exactly?” I’m getting tired of not knowing what the group I’m working with is called.


    “Our group is mostly connected to the bureaucracy of the country we are based in through a school, but most of the people who know of our existence call us the Iron Wing.”


    “That’s… unconventional,” I say, unsure how to react to all the information, “That still doesn’t answer my question as to where they took him.”


    “Most likely they took him through a portal, to somewhere in the country we’re going to.”


    “We’re going to another country? I thought you said we were going to Houston!”


    “We are, because that’s where the nearest portal to Auron is.”


    “Auron?! Portal?!”


    “The country where both the Iron Wing and Broken Ones are based, and my homeland. And yes, a portal.”


    The sun is rising, and if I need to travel to Auron to get to Tam, so be it.


    I look back to Evaline, “Let’s get going, we can talk after we stop for the night.”


    She nods, and I take off. We exit the forest about half an hour after we start, passing around a small town soon after. I see forests finish transitioning to farmland a few hours after that. We’re in the Midwest now, so we don’t have to worry too much about running into people as long as we’re careful. A few days of the same later, flying over the near-featureless Midwest in the day, and training my magic for a while after we stop, we stop in Grand Island, Nebraska.


    Evaline signals me down, and I land, quickly tucking away my wings. I notice Evaline’s covered up the patch of white hair that is usually displayed prominently near her left temple. She points to a small, abandoned looking building across the road from where I landed.


    “Is that where we’re going?” I ask, skeptical.


    “Yep,” she says cheerfully, “That’s where we’re selling the gold. All we have to do is get it out of my jacket and remove the shrinking spell, and then we can sell it.”


    She takes off said jacket, handing it to me. Thankfully, it isn’t too cold out today. I start looking over the jacket seeing one small string. I pull on it, and a tiny gold bar falls out of the hidden pocket. Evaline picks it up and hands it to me.


    “Get ready for that to get really heavy.”


    Then she takes the shrinking spell off the bar, and I find myself holding a large gold bar, straining against the weight. It reminds me that, even though I’ve been training my magic, I’ve been ignoring my swordsmanship and physical strength the past few weeks. I tromp across the road after Evaline.


    “Why do I have to carry the heavy gold bar?” I grunt out, glaring at Evaline.


    “I had to take the spell off, and you were already holding it,” She sounds pretty smug.


    “That’s a terrible excuse.”


    We’re almost at the building now, and it looks even more run-down up close. Evaline walks in without hesitation, and I follow. There’s one dim, flickering light in the hallway we find ourselves in. Evaline walks to a door just past the light, opening it for me. I lead the way, seeing a large table in the middle of the dank room I’ve just walked into. I set down the bar, glad I don’t have to carry it anymore. Evaline leans against the table, causing it to creak dangerously.


    She speaks to the empty room, Radiance causing her to glow as she summons her power, “We have your toll.”


    A deep, croaking voice, like whatever is creating it gargles gravel, responds, “The toll, the toll, early this time, but good nonetheless, will pay for passage to places you know.”


    That’s when the gold disappears, replaced by a large wad of cash, but not as large as I thought that much gold would be worth.


    “Where’s the rest of the money?” I ask Evaline.


    “That’s all we get, the rest pays for the cost of using the portal.”


    “The cost of the portal?”


    “Yes, portaling to Auron requires fuel, and it isn’t cheap, whatever it is. Only the Keepers know what the fuel actually is, and they use the gold to get it.”


    I’m stunned by the idea that portals exist, and that they need fuel. The way she says Keepers, like it’s a name, is a bit unnerving. We exit the dimly lit building into the bright sunlight. I blink a few times as my eyes adjust to the light, and by the time I can see, Evaline’s already walking purposefully deeper into the city. She seems to know where we’re going. About fifteen minutes later, we come across a used car dealership. Evaline walks around for a while, stopping occasionally to check the prices on the cars. Eventually she stops at a bright red early 2000s compact.


    “We’ll get this. It has a lot of miles, but it works, and it has good gas mileage,” She says, somewhat enthusiastically.


    I groan, knowing I’ll hate having to cram into the small car for hundreds of miles.


    “By the way, do you know how to drive?,” I ask Evaline, praying that we’ll have to find another mode of transportation. No such luck.


    “Yep, but it’s been a while,” She says, not exactly filling me with confidence.


    We enter the main dealership building from the lot, and I look around the largest building I can remember being in while Evaline hashes out the details for the car with the salespeople. The price tag had said that the car would be five thousand dollars, but I hear the price go up when Evaline says she wants to buy it right now. Eventually, she negotiates the price back down to six thousand, signs the papers, and we get the keys to the car. I get in the passenger seat, and Evaline starts the car. I keep my pack in the front seat with me. We drive south for a few hours, continuing until a little after sunset, when we stop at a gas station for the night. We’re somewhere in Kansas now, and the gas station is right next to a river, which is hidden behind a small tree line. I know that I can’t practice my magic this close to people, so I offer the next best thing:


    “Want to spar?”


    Evaline’s reply is immediate, “Definitely.”