| |
Anna
Back at the outpost, they all gathered around, pulling chairs up to the central table. Helped by Lowry and Anna, Genna gingerly sat, her one leg completely bandaged up and unable to support any weight.
“I’m not made of glass,” she said, swatting Anna away as she tried to fret over her friend. “It’s all kinds of mangled, but I’m going to live, okay? Stop.”
“Okay, sorry,” Anna said, backing off, letting Genna relax into the chair, her injured leg resting on a makeshift footstool from a few boxes of supplies.
“I appreciate your concern though,” Genna said, taking pity on her. “I just wish I could have done what you did.”
“Don’t we all?” Jane Lowry said, chiming in.
“What are you talking about? You could have done that,” Anna said, scoffing at the other woman. “You’re one of the most powerful Initiates at Winterspell.”
“Even I don’t know if I could have deflected multiple blasts from that dragon,” Jane said uncertainly. “The ice dragon was trouble enough. I mean look how it blew through us and got Genna.”
“I don’t know,” Anna said.
“I think you do,” Jane countered, leaning forward on the table, not letting the conversation die out. “You know more than we do, at least. What happened to you? Where did you suddenly get that power from?”
Anna shrugged. “I don’t know for sure.”
“But you have an idea,” Jane pressed. “I know you do.”
Anna looked down at her hands, and past them, to where one of Damien’s hands rested on her leg. They all knew how the pair of them felt. That was no secret. But she hadn’t confessed things yet to anyone but him...
“I love Damien,” she said, the words eliciting a few gasps from the table. “Are any of you really surprised?” she challenged.
“Maybe not surprised,” Genna said, speaking first. “But didn’t expect to hear you say it out loud to the rest of us. Not yet at least.”
Anna nodded in understanding. “Well I do. And I’m no longer afraid to say it.” She smiled up at him, enjoying the way his eyes, such a brilliant and unusual shade of blue, sparkled at her words. “I realized it during the first attack on the outpost. I was trapped, had nowhere to go. I thought about everything I was going to miss with him. About my feelings for him. And all those emotions welled up inside of me, and when I latched on to them, I burned the frost dragon with more fire than I’ve ever possessed inside me before.”
The others were silent, processing that information.
“So, you think Damien is the source of your power?” Genna said into the silence.
Jane nodded. “That’s what it sounds like to me.”
“That’s what it feels like to me,” Anna said to the group. “Not just in my heart, like an emotion. But something literally tangible, you guys. Like a rope that joins us together, making us stronger.” She threw her hands up into the air. “I don’t know how to describe it. It’s not like anything I’ve ever felt, but it’s real. I have my emotions too, but this is separate from that somehow. Argh, I don’t know how to describe it!”
Jane rested a hand on her forearm. “It’s okay, Anna. You don’t need to justify it. We can see the evidence of it. There is something there. Something unusual. I’ve never heard of a witch gaining power like this.”
“Me neither,” Anna admitted. “Me neither.”
“Either way, we succeeded,” Genna said, slapping her hand down on her good thigh. “The Infected are dead, we’re alive. It’s good.”
Anna nodded. “Yeah. We succeeded.”
Except the portal was still open.
Everyone sobered as they looked at her, realizing that despite all the good they had done, Anna still wasn’t going home. Not yet.
The front door burst open and none other than Circe herself stepped through, wand drawn and at the ready. When she saw the assembled group of shifters and witches sitting around the table smiling and acting relaxed, she paused.
Anna held her breath. She was in a lot of trouble now.
“What is going on here?” Circe demanded as other Masters filed into the outpost main room, looking around for trouble that no longer existed.
“Circe, there she is. Sitting with him. Take them both!” Initiate Bowen appeared in the doorway, stabbing a finger at Damien and Anna.
Anna tensed as Circe focused on her. Then her eyes went over to Genna.
“What happened to you?” she asked, gesturing for another Master to go and see to the Initiate and heal the wound properly while she waited for an answer. “Did they harm you?”
Genna shook her head. “No not at all. They saved me,” she said, nodding her head at Damien and the other shifters. “The Infected caused this. One of the frost dragon’s ice spikes made it through our defenses and pierced my leg. Without them, I’d be dead.”
“We all would be,” Jane said, standing up. “Damien and Anna saved us all.”
Anna watched Circe take in that information, processing it as Jane filled her and the other Masters in on the events of earlier that day. Throughout the story, Initiate Bowen continued to get more irate.
“They are right there! The shifter assaulted me. He sent me back to Winterspell in some sort of cocoon that he created! Imprison him!”
Circe waved her hand at Bowen, who just sputtered impotently.
“Infected. Here? How?”
Anna shook her head. “We don’t know. Through the portal somehow, last night. We’re not sure. We couldn’t see any sign of change in it. But they were here.”
“Only one came through,” Damien said, speaking up. The other one we recognized as one of our own who came through the portal themselves. He must have been in the area and the Infected found him and overwhelmed him.”
Circe nodded slowly. “I’m sorry for your loss.”
That was what Anna admired about the woman. Despite the news that one of the Infected had somehow made it through the portal, her first instinct was to feel sad for the dragons that another one of their kind had been killed. That was a woman she could respect.
“Thank you,” Damien said solemnly. “I’m sorry for the trouble I have caused at Winterspell.”
Circe continued to nod slowly. “I believe you.”
Anna sensed a major ‘but’ coming.
“But I also believe that, based on your actions defending my witches today, you did so not to cause trouble, but because you believed you needed to do what you were doing.”
Initiate Bowen’s eyes were bugging out as the Circe continued to refrain from doing what the young woman wanted.
“It was my fault too, Circe,” she said, speaking up. “I disobeyed your orders about the shifters. Punish me, not him.”
“Yes!” Bowen cried, but was silenced by a glare from Circe.
“By rights I should,” the head of the Coven of Winterspell said slowly. “But it sounds like you’ve done a great deed today as well, helping defeat these Infected. Should I punish you for that as well?”
Anna shrugged, not sure what to say in response to that.
“Perhaps, in light of these new circumstances, the two acts should cancel each other out?
Anna could barely believe what she was hearing. No punishment?
“What about for Damien?” she asked, speaking up. “He was just as instrumental as I was. More so, really. If he’s still going to be punished, then I am too.”
Circe sighed, tapping her jaw. “Perhaps I was too harsh on trying to keep our respective peoples apart. It seems that you’re getting along much better than I expected.”
Anna bit her lip, trying not to smile.
“Circe!” Initiate Bowen could no longer keep silent. “You can’t possibly be saying that! These two, they...they...”
The head of the Coven turned. “Initiate Bowen,” she said icily, emphasizing Bowen’s low rank. “I’m sure that I do not hear you telling me how to do my job. That’s not what you’re doing, is it?”
Bowen gulped. “No, Circe. Of course not.”
“Good.” The youngish-looking hand slipped from the robes again, tapping the smooth, defined jaw, which was all that Anna could see of the head of Winterspell. “Yes, I think my original idea is best. No punishments. No rewards.”
Anna held her breath as Circe turned to her.
“You will rejoin Winterspell. Your Apprentice level tests will commence as planned along with the others. If you pass or fail will be entirely in your hands, Initiate Sturgis, though I suspect you will have no troubles with it now.”
“Thank you, Circe,” she said, bowing her head, trying to keep it together.
“And you,” Circe said, pointing at Damien. “While I cannot discipline you, I will not request that Rokh do so either.”
Damien nodded. “Thank you.”
“However,” Circe added emphatically. “I will state that there are rules in effect for the dormitories. I will not have you wandering around in there. Nor will you break the curfew rules of the Initiates,” Circe said, switching her gaze back to Anna.
“Yes, Circe,” she said, much more subdued this time.
Circe was right. Initiates had a curfew they were expected to obey.
But Apprentices did not.
