Adamagika: The Spirit Within - 34. Ch 34: The Northern Army

CHAPTER 34: The Northern Army

I spent a few more hours in the infirmary. Several other Aerophalanxes were brought in with varying injuries, none of which looked life threatening. The only one I personally knew was Rick who entered with a dazed look on his face (“I told you two drops,” an older male healer reprimanded. “Not two cups!”)

My legs still felt weak. I wasn’t quite up to walking back to my room yet. I certainly did not want to be airlifted there like an invalid so I stayed for awhile longer. Rye sat with me the whole time. Every now and then she’d walk over and say hello to an Aero she knew, but otherwise she stood by my bed as though it was her job to make sure I recovered. The conversations we held were mostly subdued though. I had a lot to think about and apparently so did she.

There seemed to be an awful lot of prophecies going about that involved me. And I knew without a doubt that they all came from the Seer. So far, she has said something about me to Magister Aenhol, Jacob, Javier, Brian, and this mysterious other person who seemed to have received a prophecy about some powerful mage saving the city. I wouldn’t be too surprised if she said something to Marcus as well the way he behaved towards me after he got back.

I wondered who was being referred to as the powerful mage in the prophecy. Somehow, I wasn’t entirely convinced that it was me. Some things didn’t seem to fit. Why did the Seer go through that charade of showing me those I was close to if she knew I was the one going to die? Or maybe I wasn’t going to die and everyone just thought that I was this special mage that’s supposed to save everyone.

I mean it’s not like I knew where everyone was from. It could easily be some stranger I’ve seen in the streets.

Off-hand, I would have thought that it would be a Mage Lord or even Magister Aenhol. However, everyone seemed fully convinced that I was able to do things other mages weren’t able to. Rye had said that the powers I displayed could be compared to some of the Mage Lords and other senior mages (at least as far as shields were concerned).

Did that mean that I was the one referred to in the prophecy? If so, how was I supposed to save the city? I knew nothing other than what I was taught in school or in combat training and I was sure others more capable than me knew these as well. I was definitely not the best qualified for the job.

Bruce visited me and Rick in the infirmary later in the day. By then Rick could walk and more or less behave normally (although he still chuckled spontaneously every now and then). He joined us at my bed where Bruce had gone over to explain what happened after we left.

Bruce said that the individual squads dispersed to train separately soon after I had left. And with Brian missing, Bruce decided to call it early for our squad. Apparently, everyone involved in the training knew by then about the details of Franz’ attack on me (or at least a part of it). However, everyone was given strict orders not to discuss the matter, something Bruce was sure would not be followed.

It seemed that Bruce was really concerned about what had happened. That was touching if not awkward. I still wasn’t used to Bruce not scowling.

When Rick started asking about how I exercised my powers in bed, I decided it was time to go. Besides, I was getting hungry. And with my experiences in the ward, I knew the food there was no good.

Rye said farewell as soon as we reached the entrance of the armory. She wished me well then said she ought to get back to her squad. Bruce and Rick wanted to accompany me to eat but they kept asking different questions that I didn’t want to answer. I told them that I wanted to eat later despite the fact that I was hungry. They seemed to know or realize that I wasn’t in the mood to eat with them and they seemed to respect that good-naturedly.

We said our goodbyes at the Academy entrance. I made my way up to the room but each step felt heavy. I felt more alone than ever. It wasn’t a feeling that involved needing to be with someone but rather I felt like I was headed down a path I didn’t want to go down to – that no one else could go down to.

It seemed to take forever for me to reach the door and it took me several moments to realize that no matter how many times I turned the door knob, the door refused to budge. I checked the room number and I knew I was in the right one.

I knocked tentatively. “Is anyone there?” I asked but was met with silence. The rest of the hall was quiet. All the students must have been in their classes. I tried the door knob again but it still wouldn’t open. It was starting to frustrate me and on top of everything else that had been happening, it didn’t take long for my temper to explode.

I soon found myself banging hard against the wood. “Open up, you stupid door!”

“That won’t open anymore for you,” said a soft voice from my right.

I looked to the source of the voice, annoyed with the interruption. I felt the world slow down around me as my eyes met the speaker’s. “Jacob?” I whispered.

He was standing there in the doorway of our old room, the one we had accidentally destroyed. It was open and light was streaming in from the room into the hallway which I only realized then was unusually dark, as though the torches assumed that the hallway was empty. The light from the room basked Jacob’s entire side. I would have said that he looked like an angel if the light didn’t create shadows on the other half of his face that seemed to make half his features mysterious, as though part of him was trying to conceal itself.

It wasn’t that I wasn’t happy to see him. I was, but I just couldn’t help notice a… difference in him.

“Hey, Adam,” he said softly but in the empty hall I could hear his voice carrying down to me.

I walked slowly towards him but soon found my steps quickening to a run. Soon, he was wrapped in my arms, melting into my embrace.

“Oh my god, are you alright?” I asked as I crushed him in my hug. I felt my eyes water.

“I’m alright,” he said, his voice sounding tired. “I’m good now.”

“Are you sure?” I said as I released him and took his face into my hands.

He smiled and I felt my worry ebbing away. “Yes, Adam. I’m okay.”

“Good,” I said as worry and concern was suddenly replaced by anger and irritation. Before I could stop myself, my hand clenched, my wrist flicked, and Jacob found himself on the floor nursing the side of his face. Perhaps out of curiosity, I looked around our room and noticed that everything was once again fixed. I turned my attention back to Jacob.

“What is wrong with you?” Jacob asked in disbelief as he looked up at me.

“What have you done, Jacob?” A part of me wanted to pull him up from the floor and apologize, to hug him, to cherish him, even to make love to him. But, another part of me still could not forget what had happened all those days ago.

“What are you talking about?” Jacob asked as he stood up and moved uncertainly away from me.

“Where have you been? What did you do? You’ve been gone for several days now.”

“I’ve been sick,” he said. I was looking into his eyes as he said this and I could tell he was lying. “I asked the healers to tell you but they must have forgotten.” Another lie.

“You’re lying to me, Jacob. Since when did you decide to start lying to me?”

“I’m not lying to you, Adam,” he said defensively. He looked away as he said this. I knew what he was doing.

“Look at me when you say that. Look me in the eyes and tell me nothing happened. Tell me that you didn’t put something in my drink to put me to sleep. Tell me you didn’t sneak out into the forest in the middle of the night. Tell me you didn’t meet up with the Lord Raezhul and made a deal with him. Did you know he tried to kill me today? Yeah, he did,” I added as Jacob’s eyes suddenly flicked towards me. “I think he took over one of the Aeros and used him to try and kill me during training. So, tell me what you met about. Tell me what he gave you that night. Tell me you didn’t drink whatever it was. Tell me, Jacob. Tell me!” I realized I was shouting by the time I finished and I took a break to catch my breath.

Jacob looked down as though hanging his head in shame. He refused to meet my eyes and I felt like hurling him across the room with a good wind sphere when he suddenly asked me a question that caught me off guard.

“Do you want me to leave, Adam?”

“What?”

Jacob finally looked up and repeated the question. His face was emotionless. “Cause if that’s what you want, I can leave and I’ll never bother you again.”

We stood there in silence with each of us looking at the other. When Jacob offered to leave, he was looking right at my eyes and I knew he was sincere in his offer. For some odd reason, I suddenly felt hurt. As silly as it was, I didn’t feel that he had any right to make such an offer. He was the one who betrayed me. If anything, I should be the one with the right to demand that he leave, and he should have been begging to stay.

I moved towards my old bed which really had become our bed and sat down. I took a deep breath before I answered. “No, I don’t want you to leave.”

Jacob moved in front of me and he knelt in the space between my legs. He looked into my eyes and I had a feeling he was purposely keeping eye contact. “Then why are you so angry?” he whispered.

“Because you did something stupid,” I replied. “And now, you’re lying to me about it. How could you not expect me to be angry?”

“Everything I do is for you, Adam,” he said.

“Even getting yourself almost killed?”

Jacob gave me a soft smiled. “From what I hear, I think you’re quite guilty of that too.”

Seeing Jacob smile confused me. As much as I was angry at him, seeing him kneel there before me, able to touch him with my fingers… it felt good. I wanted to smile as well. “I heard you. I heard you while I was flying. I know that was your shield that saved me from the last arcane bolt.”

“I know,” he whispered. “But you’re wrong about something. You saved me. I could feel you drawing power. I knew you were in danger and I think knowing that woke me up from… from the world I’ve been trapped it. When I created that shield around you, I didn’t even realize what I was doing. But I know it caused me to finally wake up from a sleep I thought I’d never escape.”

“What happened to you?” I asked curiously. “What did you and Lord Raezhul talk about?”

“I can’t tell you what we talked about, Adam,” he said quietly. “And, please don’t force me too. I can tell you though that I’ve been trapped in some kind of hell the past few days. I’ve been trying to reach out to you and sometimes I could see you but I didn’t know if you could see me. I kept having terrible visions of things... things that I hope will never come to pass. But today, you reached out to me and pulled me from that place. I don’t know how but you did and I woke up as though nothing had happened.”

“Just tell me something please, Jacob. Just tell me and I’ll stop. And please tell me the truth because I need to hear it.” I closed my eyes because I wanted him to be honest with me by his own intention not because he knew I could tell from looking at his eyes. “Did you drink what Lord Raezhul gave you?”

I kept my eyes closed and the silence lengthened. Jacob remained unmoving before me and I had no doubt that he was deciding what he would say. I felt him take my hands into his.

“Yes, Adam, I did.”

I opened my eyes and I could see new tears falling down his face. “Why?”

“I can’t tell you,” he said. “I’m not even entirely sure myself. But I knew, no, I know that it was the right thing to do. I think… I think things are just starting to make sense for me.”

“Well things are making less and less sense for me. You can’t trust him, you know. For one thing, he tried to kill me.”

Something flashed in Jacob’s eyes. And I mean, literally flashed making his eyes glow for a fraction of a second. But it was gone so quickly that it could have been a trick of the light in our room. I hoped it was a trick of the light.

“I don’t trust him, Adam,” he said carefully. “But he has things… powers we can use. Don’t. Don’t ask what or how. Please. This is hard enough for me as it is. Just please, please know that I know what I’m doing.” I could tell that this was really difficult for him, that there were reasons he was keeping them from me. I just hoped they were the good reasons.

I nodded, though reluctantly. “Then we won’t speak more of it.”

“Just like that?” he asked, almost surprised.

“Just like that,” I repeated. “I love you too much to push you away now even if it’s difficult for me to accept. Just to make it clear, I still think this whole thing with him was a mistake. But I trust you. I think I’ve always trusted you. I just hope you know what you’re doing.”

He took my face in his hands and placed a gentle kiss on my lips.

“Thank you, Adam. Thank you.” My stomach growled unceremoniously at that point. Jacob chuckled. “Hungry?”

As though my stomach heard the question, it growled again. “Yeah,” I laughed, “can we get something to eat, please?”

“Sure,” Jacob said with a smile as he finally stood up and took a step back.

I stood up as well. Before we even moved from our spot, I gave him a warning look. “No orange juice.”

“No orange juice,” Jacob agreed guiltily.

* * * * * * * * * *

Jacob and I spent the night before talking about what was to come. We both knew then that we were involved heavily in this coming war, although I still had no idea what Jacob’s role in it was. I was reluctant to ask him more after that brief altercation we had in our room. I realized that by asking him or pestering, I would push him away. He was always like that even when we first met in the forest all those months ago. Jacob would explain if he wanted to. His silence meant he didn’t want to.

After everything that’s happened, I sometimes forgot how young we were. Jacob and I were both only seventeen and yet somehow a burden meant for an adult was placed on my shoulders, maybe our shoulders. I knew I had a critical role to play out in all this but I wondered if I was ready for it.

Jacob was also a bit uneasy though perhaps for different reasons. At first, he was afraid of going to sleep. He was kind enough to share with me that he was worried about being trapped again in that world, apparently full of nightmares. He was afraid he wouldn’t wake up again. I assured him that I would do everything I could to wake him up ranging from dropping a bucket of ice cold water on his face to performing some rude maneuvers on his naked body to wake him up.

He fell asleep almost immediately.

I, on the other hand, didn’t. I watched him the whole night, all the way to the dawn light. I watched as his chest rose with each breath. Sometimes his eyes would move in their sockets as though he was having a dream. He didn’t thrash about though so I presumed they weren’t bad dreams. He looked so peaceful that I didn’t want to disturb him.

I figured that if I was going to die at the end of this war, then I might as well spend as much time with Jacob whether he was awake or asleep. But I was also afraid of what Ho-o had said long ago. If she was right, then my life and Jacob’s life were tied together. If I died then that could only mean…

It wasn’t surprising that I still felt tired the next day. Sleep avoided me and I wasn’t looking forward to training again so soon after having Jacob return to me.

I was pleased then when I read a letter slipped under our door the night before or perhaps early in the morning. At first I was worried that it would have an annoying wax face again that would make me guess the password before opening up but fortunately this letter was sealed normally and was easy enough to open. It was a very short letter from Brian.

Adam,

There will be no training today and tomorrow. We reconvene on the third.

S. L. Brian Knightly

The letter was far shorter than I wanted. I really wanted to talk to Brian after what happened the day before. I wanted to talk about his feelings and my feelings. I wanted to talk about how we were going to do things and perhaps how he would have to accept certain realities even if he didn’t want to. I didn’t really expect him to write all of that in a letter. But considering this was our first communication since he last walked out of my room, I was hoping for more.

“I guess we have the day to ourselves,” Jacob said as I explained to him what the letter said.

“I guess so. As much as I’m glad for the extra rest, I wonder why their cancelling the trainings now. If our enemies are as close as we think they are, then we should be training almost nonstop.” As soon as I finished speaking, there was a knock on our door. I put on some linen pants before answering whoever it was. Apprentice Stanley was standing outside.

“Good morning, Adam,” he said. He looked behind me and noticed Jacob lying there in my bed, naked beneath the sheets. For a second, his eyes darkened before he turned his attention back to me with a smile. “I’ve been asked to deliver a message.”

“Oh, if it’s about training being cancelled, I already got a letter.” I raised the note in hand to prove it.

“Yes, I know about that,” he said. “I was the one who brought the letter last night. I am, however, here at the request of Lady Helena. She would like you to meet her in her quarters as soon as you were awake. I figured that you would be awake by now since you always kept a tight schedule.”

“Who are you?” Jacob asked as he stood beside me. I noticed that he was still naked, almost as if he was showing off (not that I minded the view). He moved one hand around my back to my other side. Stanley didn’t miss the gesture. He seemed to study Jacob for awhile before answering. “I’m Apprentice Stanley. I was tasked to take over as Adam’s apprentice due to your... absence.”

“Well, I’m back now,” Jacob said, “so you don’t have anything to worry about anymore.”

Stanley, despite his much smaller frame and younger age, seemed to be radiating some aura of defiance that very moment. He shot daggers at Jacob before he turned to me with a clearly forced smile. “Lady Helena expects you in her chambers. Please proceed there as soon as you are able to.” He turned towards Jacob and added, “alone.” He turned around and started walking towards the stairs. Jacob looked out of the hall to watch the young boy walking away.

“Okay, what was that?” I asked as soon as our door was closed. “Were you jealous?”

“Me? Jealous? Of that brat? Come on…” he said dismissively.

“If you say so,” I said with a knowing smile and the topic was dropped. I got dressed as did Jacob, with great difficulty I might add as we kept finding hard reasons to discard clothes we had just worn. I told Jacob that I was supposed to meet Lady Helena alone but he kept insisting that it was just Stanley’s attempts to get to him. It had nothing to do with Jacob being jealous, as he insisted, but rather about Stanley being a prick. We settled though for him waiting outside Lady Helena’s quarters for me.

We made our way out of the room and for a few seconds I was disoriented from coming out of a different door. Once I got my bearings again though, we left the Academy and headed for the Armory. I realized then that I didn’t know how to get to Lady Helena’s room and was glad that I had Jacob with me. Together, we climbed different steps as our guesses took us from one corridor to the next. At times, the path seemed familiar but at others, we felt completely lost.

It took us awhile but we eventually found our way to the double doors with a large gryphon seal etched on them. Jacob said he would wait outside the door. I knocked tentatively and a voice from inside told me to come in.

With a nod to Jacob, I opened the doors and walked in. The doors closed behind me on their own. The room was as busy as I had seen the first time.

One corner of the room still held the floating images of people in conversation. However, there seemed to be less of them and a lot seemed to be whispering into each other’s ears instead of casually having animated conversations.

Another corner still had mages locked in combat. By then, I was familiar with most of the spells being used and I could tell that they were Aerophalanxes in training. For a second I thought I saw Ivan flash by but he was gone when I checked again.

Transparent gryphon images were still flying from one side of the room with their riders on it. I noticed that they were wearing green robes so I knew they were part of the Hygas.

The other two corners of the room had the most substantial changes.

The flat map that contained the images of the known world now was zoomed out. A large section of the northern borders of the mage kingdom was red. There were also three images of lines floating in the middle of the red and they were blinking in and out.

More labeled dots were moving about the map from one city to another. I noticed that some cities looked darker and no dots were coming to or from them. Only three more cities seemed active while the other three were in darkness. The cities in darkness were the ones closest to the red area.

The most bizarre corner which had the rotating image of Arantiva also changed. The buildings now had clear ripples of energy emanating from them. And all the waves seemed to be directed towards the center of the city, at the three Silver Towers. Massive crystal formations were highlighted across the image and I assumed that those were similar to the crystals I had seen on the tallest tower when Aida had taken me on my first flight.

There were fewer gryphons flying around between the buildings but a lot of them were stopping from one of the smaller towers to the next. Each time they did, I could see the rippling force around the tower hasten for a bit before settling down again. If the other half of the image was correct, there would be six of the smaller towers scattered around the three large Silver Towers.

I turned my attention to the table in the middle. Three people were standing around it and seemed to be in the middle of a discussion as I entered. They had paused though and were apparently waiting for me to approach. The three of them were Lady Helena, Magister Aenhol, and High Mage Lord Khael.

“Adam, glad to see you’re awake,” said Lady Helena. Unlike our first meeting here, she didn’t bother removing the floating images around the room.

“I came as soon as I was informed, my Lady.”

“Good,” said High Mage Lord Khael. I realized that since the last time I’ve been asked to speak in the Mage Council, I haven’t seen or heard him speak. Even outside the Gathering Hall, away from the intimidating design of the stands, he still seemed to radiate an aura of strength about him. That could have something to do with his magical ability though. It was always rumored that the High Mage Lord was often the most magically if not politically powerful man in any mage city, even prior to taking office. “Time is precious to us these days. We must not squander what little of it we have left.”

“Why don’t you join us here, Adam?” Magister Aenhol asked kindly.

I approached the table tentatively unsure what was to be expected from me in this meeting.

“I’m certain you are curious as to why we asked you to join us today?” High Mage Lord Khael began.

“Nuts?” Magister Aenhol asked with an outstretched hand, in which lay a bowl… of nuts.

“Uhm, no,” I said.

Before I could thank him, he spoke up rather suddenly and loudly, “good to hear.”

“As I was saying,” High Mage Lord Khael said with a sideward glance at Magister Aenhol, “we asked you to join us today to discuss what happened during your training yesterday. I’d like to hear your side of it.”

The three adults looked at me expectantly. “What would you like to know, sir?”

“You mentioned that you believed Franz,” Lady Helena offered. “Perhaps you could explain that. Why did you believe him when he claimed it was an outside force, or rather a voice, that made him act the way he did?”

“Oh. Well, before he attacked me, he looked different.”

“Different?” High Mage Lord Khael interjected.

“Yeah,” I said. “His face, well his eyes, they were glowing a fiery green.” I glanced at Magister Aenhol and he nodded, hopefully understanding my unasked question. “I think they belonged to Lord Raezhul.”

“Lord Raezhul?” High Mage Lord Khael asked skeptically.

“Yes, sir. I’ve met him before. When we went to the Hallean Mountains. He had approached me and Jacob as we waited for Magister Aenhol and another student to return from the Seer.”

“So I heard,” he mused. “And what did he want from you then?”

What did he want? Come to think of it, what did he want? What did he say… something about… waiting for… oh my god, why didn’t I think of this sooner. He said he wanted Jacob.

I couldn’t answer. Perhaps it was my worry over Jacob’s safety that had made me forget. But at that moment, I remembered and questions came in like a flood. He wanted Jacob and somehow he must have gotten what he wanted when Jacob went out to the forest to meet him. Or maybe he didn’t get what he wanted. Maybe Jacob had refused him. Maybe Jacob refused him because of me. Was that why he suddenly wanted me dead and tried to kill me in training. But then, Jacob drank what he gave. Was that not what he wanted?

“Adam?” High Mage Lord Khael asked. Lady Helena was giving me a concerned, motherly look.

“Perhaps now is not the best time for the boy to be reliving these memories,” Magister Aenhol said.

“Now is the time,” High Mage Lord Khael said. “We have less than a week,” he began and then seemed to catch himself.

Less than a week?

There was an awkward silence neither High Mage Lord Khael nor Magister Aenhol seemed willing to break. It was Lady Helena who spoke up, “we need to know what he wants from you, or rather why he wants you dead, if that is indeed what he wants. Yes, Adam, I do believe you. I didn’t see or sense it then even though I should have. I didn’t realize it until Brian arrived and I had more time to think. Perhaps it was all the magical energy being released into the air that masked his presence. Perhaps he was counting on just that. There can be no doubt though. Franz,” she paused as though she was having difficulty to continue, “was tainted and placed under the influence of magic.”

“So, he really was being controlled by Lord Raezhul?”

“Well, I cannot be certain that it was this Lord Raezhul who had overcome him. However, it was at the very least a powerful mage who practiced that particular kind of magic.” She paused before continuing, “what do you know of the undead?”

“Well, not much really. From what I’ve read, they’re mages who have been possessed by evil spirits.”

“Not proven as fact,” came an unfamiliar voice. We turned towards its source and saw a man walking from the door towards us. He apparently was very quiet at opening and closing doors because we didn’t hear him come it. That or he managed to enter without using the door at all. “My dear Lady, do you realize that there is a boy sitting on the floor outside your door?”

“A boy?” Lady Helena asked befuddled.

“Oh, that’s Jacob,” Magister Aenhol said dismissively with a wave of his hand. “He’s Adam’s friend.”

I wanted to ask him how he knew Jacob was sitting outside but I didn’t get my chance.

“I see,” the newcomer said as he finally reached us. He turned to me, “don’t believe all these books you read. Many of them are based on speculations by mages who, unable to come up with any other sound explanation, explain things by not explaining them. There is no magical or even scientific proof to suggest that spirits even exist. If anything, the undead are likely the byproduct of mages who have been driven mad and overwhelmed by their own dark magic.”

“I don’t believe you’ve been introduced. Adam, this is Mage Lord David Corvius, referred to by many as Magister Corvius,” said Magister Aenhol indicating I should not use his first name, nor his title. “He is the council member who oversees Magical Research and Development in Arantiva.”

“How do you do?” he asked as he shook my hand. “Not well of course. No, no. I can still see some residue of healing magic. Aah, even a bit of arcane magic there. Just a faint outline, right there,” he proclaimed peering into what undoubtedly was my nostril.

“David,” High Mage Lord Khael interrupted. “What news?”

“Nothing more than we already know,” he said as though a treat had been denied him. “Not that we don’t know much. We know there are three Necro Lords at present, one of them being the one who refers to himself as Lord Raezhul. However, they have for the most part been a distant group. Their kingdom, if indeed they have one and we believe they do, is in the far east. As far as we know, they have never left their bastion.

“Necro Lords, by the nature of their magic,” he added to me, “appear to have the capability to overcome mages or at least those with some magical ability. Placing layer upon layer of magic, they can eliminate certain bodily functions and needs which can cause the subject to attain a death-like state. But make no mistake, they are still alive. As unlikely as it may seem, they are alive. The term undead is in fact a misnomer for them. It is simply the result of the mind ceasing to function.

“When the mind collapses under magic, the person loses all control over himself. He can see but not act. He can hear but not respond. That is unless the controlling mage allows it, of course. That is likely what happened to young Franz, though we cannot be entirely certain. We don’t even know how the process is done. We have not unraveled this kind of dark magic. Doing so would risk tainting ourselves.”

“And what would a Necro Lord have to gain from killing young Adam here?” Lady Helena said. “After centuries of living apart from everyone else, why would they suddenly have a sudden interest in our affairs?”

“I’m afraid I haven’t had the pleasure of interviewing someone under the influence of a Necro Lord’s spell. And unfortunately, with young Franz’ unexpected demise, we can learn no more from him.

“Demise?” I blurted out.

“He’s dead?” Magister Aenhol interrupted, showing that he himself was surprised – something I didn’t see often.

Magister Corvius frowned and glanced towards Lady Helena before turning to answer Magister Aenhol. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize that you didn’t know.”

“He passed away last night,” Lady Helena said, just slightly above a whisper. “A heart attack it appears. Perhaps… perhaps he was under too much stress.”

“My Lady,” High Mage Lord Khael said, “I hope you know that you have no fault in his death.”

“Yes,” she said uncertainly. “Yes, I know. I just wish I was not as difficult on him during the aerial maneuvers. I wonder if I had added unnecessary strain on his heart.”

“He is far too young to have suffered a heart attack, don’t you think?” Magister Aenhol said. “As I recall, he is no more than a few years older than Adam here.”

“Well, it’s not impossible,” offered Magister Corvius.

“Just what are you suggesting, Edward?” High Mage Lord Khael asked.

“I am just saying that perhaps his death was not… natural.”

“No,” Magister Corvius said. “If you mean he was assaulted by magic, perhaps by the Necro Lord in question, I can say that is not possible. He has been kept all this time within our holding spells. Those walls protect against magic from the outside and even from within. He was fine for several hours while being kept there.”

“Yes,” Magister Aenhol agreed. “But once his attacker is inside the cell, is it not possible to do magic undetected?”

“I suppose,” Magister Corvius said. “But for a Necro Lord to enter our city undetected and to make it all the way to The Hold unhampered…”

“Perhaps someone else was acting on his behalf,” Magister Aenhol suggested in a way as though he was giving clues to the obvious. “Perhaps someone who didn’t need to be under a spell to act.”

“Or perhaps we should discuss this later,” High Mage Lord Khael said, “in private.” I took that to mean when Adam isn’t here. Magister Aenhol nodded politely. “You were saying, David.”

Magister Corvius seemed nonplussed for a moment before he recovered. “Yes, yes. I was just saying that we don’t have any leads or further insights into this particular mage’s… uhh… insight. We can only speculate that for one of them to venture this far into our territory and with great effort to conceal himself, then something big must be happening. Something that could potentially change the whole world.”

“Well, that’s pretty clear,” said High Mage Lord Khael. “An army is coming to wipe us out. I think that certainly changes our world. Do you think that perhaps the Necro Lords intend to expand their army. Perhaps get more slaves within their control from our ranks? Perhaps he wants to start with young Adam here?”

“I’m not sure that is it,” Magister Corvius said. “From what we know of magic, there is a limit to all things. If their magic is limited by the same rules that govern our own, then the more they put under their influence, the less effective the spell becomes, increasing the chances that their magic will be undone. A single Necro Lord cannot hope to control more without risking his spells on others breaking. Besides, they cannot control a mage who is already dead. He must be alive for the spell to take hold. That much we can be certain of. If we all die in this war then any Necro Lord coming here will find only useless corpses devoid of any further magical capacity.”

“But this is just speculation?” High Mage Lord Khael asked.

Magister Corvius looked uncomfortable. “Yes, I’m afraid so. As I said, our studies on this matter are quite limited. Aside from the fact that the Coalition of Mages has expressly forbidden venturing anywhere near The Dead Scar where the Necro Lords’ kingdoms are likely located, anyone who actually went there despite our laws has never returned.”

“So that brings us back to the question,” Lady Helena said. “Why does he or they want Adam dead? Magister Aenhol, perhaps you have some thoughts?”

Magister Aenhol took awhile to answer as he was apparently in deep thought. That or he was intent on looking at and perhaps cleaning his nails. It occurred to me then that among all the adults there, it was only Magister Aenhol who wasn’t part of the council. In fact, as far as I knew, he was only a teacher in the Mage Academy. “My opinion hasn’t changed. I believe Adam has an important role to play in our city’s survival. It seems that the fall of Arantiva will benefit Victor somehow although why is just another matter for me to speculate on.”

“And this is based on what?” High Mage Lord Khael asked.

“You know what it’s based on,” Magister Aenhol replied as he looked the High Mage Lord eye to eye.

Was this about the prophecy Brian and Rye told me? It probably was. What else could it have been about?

Before either men could say anything more, Lady Helena once again spoke up, breaking the silence. “Gentlemen, as much as we can speculate about this all day, it seems we are not making any more progress on this matter than when we started discussing it. Maybe it’s time to move to the next issue at hand.”

High Mage Lord Khael adopted a posture that said he would have rather disagreed but was willing to compromise. Magister Aenhol looked politely chastised.

Lady Helena waved her hand over the table we were gathered around. Light burst from the surface until transparent images shimmered through the wood. I recognized some of them as they were described and illustrated in books I’ve read. “Those are tanks,” I whispered.

“Very good,” said Lady Helena with a smile. “That makes this easier. What you see here, Adam, is what we are up against. This is the army in the north that will soon move to our city.”

“But there must be hundreds of them,” I stated. Sprawled along the rectangular table were miniature tanks with ant-sized people walking about between them. Although I didn’t know how tanks worked, it was clear to me that they were being prepared. And tanks were only ever prepared for one thing – war.

“Thousands,” Magister Corvius said with a mixture of awe and fear. “About three thousand, in fact.”

“It seems that several northern kingdoms have banded together for an attack against us,” High Mage Lord Khael interrupted, his stiff posture forgotten with the change in topic. “Until a few months ago, we only knew of a few hundreds of these but it’s clear to us now that they’ve been preparing for this for a long time.”

“But the tanks aren’t our concern,” said Lady Helena. I didn’t see how they couldn’t be our concern but as she waved her hand over the table, I understood. The images rapidly zoomed in on a section. What came into view gave me chills. “This is what worries us.”

“The black obelisk,” I said.

“Yes,” said Magister Aenhol breaking out of his reverie. “But it’s not quite the same as the ones we encountered in the village, long ago. If you look closely, you will see that it has been placed on a massive armored transport. The base of the machine is roughly the size of ten of these so called tanks and, we believe, the durability equal to twenty. The obelisk has been implanted on the top and is being powered internally. It is also at least ten times larger in scale than the ones we have seen ourselves.”

“It sounds like a fortress,” I commented.

“In essence it is,” said Lady Helena. “Although it doesn’t have any weapon placements on it as far as we can tell, it is heavily guarded by the tanks you see around it. Any covert attacks against it would be impossible at this point. The electricity generated by those tanks are enough to nullify any single mage’s magic. If Magister Aenhol’s speculations are correct, that thing will absorb any and all magical attacks against it once it is powered up.”

“If it’s anything like what we encountered in the village, then it would render magic useless around it,” I said. “But even with its increased size, it can’t possibly cover all those tanks with whatever energy field it creates, can it?”

“Not by itself, no,” said Lady Helena. She waved her hand over the table and it zoomed out again. Three small dots spread in a straight line across the army of tanks were highlighted in red. It was only then that I noticed that they all looked the same.

“There are three of them?” I asked in surprise.

“Yes, it seems they favor building three of these at a time,” said Magister Aenhol gravely.

“If they get powered up, we’ll have no hope of defeating this army,” said Lady Helena. “We don’t know how strong their energy fields are but I doubt they would march haphazardly into a second war with us without at least being confident in their ability to defeat us.”

“There must be a way to destroy those things,” I stated. “What are they anyway?”

“They are a corrupted form of the Hallean crystals we use,” said the Magister Corvius in a voice that suggested he was in his element. “They have the same structure as the crystals in our weapons and defenses. They behave in slightly different ways though. Our crystals absorb magic passively and the magic could be drawn out from the crystal by a mage. These corrupted crystals however seem to absorb magic actively. Once energy starts flowing through the structure, it creates an energy field that absorbs magic within the area. The more magic it absorbs, the stronger the energy field gets so there’s no telling how powerful a field it could create.”

“The small fragment I brought back from the village had to be taken out of the city,” said Magister Aenhol. “There was so much magic in the area that it was rapidly absorbing them and despite its small size managed to block out magic in several buildings in the city where it was being studied. Imagine that fragment and make it a hundred thousand times bigger. That’s what we are worried about.”

“Have you found any weakness to it, sir?” I asked.

“None yet,” High Mage Lord Khael said and it was clear that this was bothering him. “The only recourse we have is to destroy the tanks before it is powered up. For whatever reason, they don’t seem to keep these obelisks powered while the tank is moving. Perhaps it puts too much strain on whatever generators they are using inside. Another theory is that these obelisk have their own adverse effects on their tanks. Perhaps it drains electricity from their vehicles as well. If that were true, then it would cripple there army while limiting our offensive and defense capabilities. However, we know that many of their weapons do not run on electricity but other forms of energy which may remain unaffected by these obelisks. Ours, however, are completely dependent on magic. So even if this theory proved accurate, we would still be at a disadvantage.

“Right now, the one advantage we have is that this mobile fortress is slow, very slow. If we hit it before they can come close to us, we’d cripple them. Once those crystals are activated close enough to the city, they are potentially self-sustaining as long as there is magic to be absorbed in the city. There would be no hope for us then.”

“Sir,” I began as something finally clicked in my head. Apparently, I was more tired than I thought to have realized it only then. “Pardon my ignorance but why are you telling me all this?”

High Mage Lord Khael spared a glance towards Lady Helena but it was so quick I would have missed it if I wasn’t looking right at him. “It seems there are some who believe that you have… a role to play in this war. People who have never even met you are putting their faith in you and certain… prophecies that have supposedly been foretold. We don’t know how accurate such prophecies are or if they are even true. I’m sure you are aware of the Seer? As much as we value her predictions, this particular prophecy is quite old and could have easily changed by now.

“However,” he continued as though the next part was particularly difficult or distasteful, “there are many here who believe the prophecy to still hold true. More importantly, they believe that it is you involved in the said prophecy. People are rallying behind you as a beacon to save our city.”

“Despite these rumors,” said Lady Helena who I could have sworn was glaring at High Mage Lord Khael, “you have proven yourself a capable mage. You have in multiple instances displayed high aptitude for magic despite your very young age. Someone of your capability will be a great asset to us.”

“Do you think I’m the one involved in the prophecy?”

“Aren’t you even going to ask what the prophecy is?” Magister Aenhol interjected. “Unless. Of course. You already know, don’t you?” As he said this, his face was an unreadable mask.

“I just heard,” I began tentatively, “of a prophecy about a powerful mage from a distant land coming to save the city.”

“Is that all you’ve heard?” Magister Aenhol asked, almost warily.

I didn’t know how to answer him. I had obviously heard more but I didn’t want to say the last part of the prophecy. Moreover, I didn’t want to say something that might incriminate Brian or Rye. Would it have been obvious that I got the information from them? Or was this prophecy more common knowledge than I thought? It certainly didn’t seem like it. I was sure it wouldn’t take Magister Aenhol long to figure out who told me.

Fortunately, I was saved from having to answer when High Mage Lord Khael grunted. “So, you think you’re the one involved in this prophecy?”

“I’m not saying it’s me,” I said defiantly. My behavior surprised even me as every eye suddenly turned towards me. Something about the High Mage Lord’s hostility was getting to me. I remembered Brian’s advice to be calm and collected. “I’m sorry, sir. Arantiva is my home. Whether this prophecy involves me or not, I’d do everything I could to save the city and the people I love in it.”

“Very commendable,” Lady Helena said with a warning look to the High Mage Lord. “I wish we had more people who showed the same loyalty and passion you have, Adam. We need all the help we can get if we are to survive the coming battle. Now, I am asking you personally for your help. Another reason we asked you to come here was because we needed you to understand what we are up against, what you will be up against. This army you see here before you is already on the move and will be here in four to five days. A hundred Aerophalanxes have already been briefed and prepared regarding this and they will fly out tomorrow to intercept this army.”

“Four to five days?” I asked. “I thought you said it was slow. How could it get from the northern borders of the mage kingdom to here in four to five days?”

Lady Helena gave an uneasy look towards Mage Lord Khael who nodded. “They’ve already been on the move for at least a week.”

I stared at her. “How come no one knows about this?”

“Those who need to know have already known for quite awhile,” said Magister Aenhol. Something in his voice told me that I shouldn’t pursue the conversation with more questions so I merely nodded.

“Okay then,” said High Mage Lord Khael in a tone that clearly said things were not okay. “What we need to know now is if you will ride out tomorrow with the rest of the Aeros that have been briefed.”

“I would just like to say that I do not agree with this plan,” Magister Aenhol said before I could reply. “After that attack on Adam, who knows what else has been leaked to our enemies.”

“Only the most trusted officials and members have been informed of this plan,” High Mage Lord Khael said. “Besides, did you not say that Adam has a role to play in this city’s survival? How do you know this is not it?”

“I cannot be certain,” he said and nothing more.

High Mage Lord Khael looked hard to me. “I will not force you to go, boy. I, for one, do not think you are ready for this kind of battle. It will be foolhardy to expect someone of little training to make that much of a difference out there. For all we know, you could even screw things up. I don’t mind being frank. I have never been one to take things lightly, to sugarcoat the rotten cores, especially if it involves the safety of this city and its people. They are my responsibility and I will not give people false hopes. You have a choice to reject this offer if you prefer it.”

For whatever reason, I felt like I was back in the training room on that first day I officially became an Aerophalanx in the eyes of my peers. Bruce’s face came into the light and he was telling me that I wasn’t ready, that I could always choose to come back later after training some more, and that no one would take it against me. I always had a choice.

But did I have a choice then? Was this something I could reject if I wanted to? Or was it fate unrolling itself?

I looked uncertainly at the faces around the table. Lady Helena seemed to look expectantly at me as though she was placing her very hopes in my answer. Magister Corvius looked uncertain as though he didn’t know quite yet what to make of me. High Mage Lord Khael looked as stony and intimidating as ever, though I felt surprisingly less intimidated by him than when it was Bruce I had faced. Magister Aenhol looked pensive. I knew he wanted to say something but was merely holding himself back.

It was a very unsettling feeling having such responsibility placed on me. If I did accept, I was strictly speaking just riding out as another Aerophalanx. But, it almost felt like they were expecting more from me. It was as though I was a catalyst to their solution, as if my presence alone would make the difference.

“Of course I will,” I responded though I didn’t feel too confident in my answer.

“Good,” said High Mage Lord Khael with a nod.

“We shall strike at the crack of dawn so you must be prepared at least three hours ahead of the usual schedule,” Lady Helena said. “I will have Brian wait for you by the entrance as your gryphon will be transferred to another location for prep. I hope you don’t mind if we continue having Apprentice Stanley assist you? I believe Jacob did not undergo training in preparing a gryphon for battle.”

I did in fact mind and I knew Jacob would have a fit over it. I also knew though that she had a point. Stanley would be better able to assist me so I nodded my agreement.

“Well if there’s nothing else, why don’t I escort Adam out?” asked Magister Aenhol. Again he and Mage Lord Khael seemed to share a look with one another. The others nodded in agreement though. “Come Adam.”

When we got out of the room, Jacob was seated cross-legged against one of the walls. He stood up eagerly as we got out. He gave Magister Aenhol an odd look I couldn’t read. “What’s going on?” he asked.

“I just need to have a few words with Adam.”

“Should I leave?” Jacob asked me.

“No. I’m sure whatever it is, you can hear as well,” I said. Magister Aenhol looked at me with eyes that clearly said he thought otherwise. “What is it, sir?”

He looked uncertainly at Jacob before answering me. “Adam, I just want you to be very careful, okay? I honestly do not think that this pre-emptive attack is a good plan.”

“What attack?” Jacob asked in a voice that was showing some panic.

“I’ll be leaving tomorrow with some of the Aerophalanxes. We’ll be striking at the approaching army before they get too close to the city,” I told him. I then turned towards Magister Aenhol. “You don’t think we’re going to be successful, do you sir?”

Magister Aenhol shook his head. “No, I don’t think so.”

“How can you be so sure, sir?”

“I’m not,” he said. “But I am almost certain that a siege on this city will happen regardless of what efforts we do. For all I know, we could learn something valuable from attacking them. Perhaps we might even get lucky and manage to take one or two of those things out. Fate may be unrolling as intended.”

“We make our own fates, sir,” Jacob interrupted us.

Magister Aenhol gave him a piercing look. “Perhaps.”

The two looked at each other as though silently arguing. Jacob had a defiant look on his face while Magister Aenhol’s said something closer to I know better.

“Okay... what’s going on here?” I asked.

“Intolerable differences,” Magister Aenhol said as though he was amused. “I should get back inside. Just be careful, Adam. I’d like to see you come back in one piece.” He turned to the door and placed his hands on the handle. He paused though and turned his head towards me, “and preferably unharmed this time.”

* * * * * * * * * *

“Why do you have to go?” Jacob asked.

“Jacob, I have to. I’m an Aerophalanx. You and I both know that defending this city is part of my duty.”

“But why do you have to go? There are hundreds of Aerophalanxes and you said only a hundred were going. How come they’re bringing someone new and inexperienced?”

I wasn’t sure if I should have been offended by that. It was the same thing High Mage Lord Khael had said after all. I figured though that Jacob meant nothing bad by it. “Jacob, they asked me to. I couldn’t have just said no.”

“Yeah, you could have but you chose to go on this suicide mission.”

“It’s not a suicide mission, Jacob.”

“Yes, it is!” he yelled. “Magister Aenhol doesn’t even believe it will work. So, why are you even going?”

“Just because he doesn’t think it will work, it doesn’t mean it won’t help us in the long run. Besides, why are you agreeing with him now? A few hours ago, you two seemed like you were going to rip each other’s heads off. What was that about?”

“Don’t try to change the topic. We’re talking about you going off to some stupid mission that will probably get you killed.”

“Jacob, I’m kindly asking you to drop this conversation.”

“I’m not just gonna drop this like that, you know?”

“Why?” I asked not bothering to keep the annoyance out of my voice anymore. “Why do we have to talk about that? Why don’t we talk about you, Jacob? Why don’t we talk about the things you’ve been hiding from me, huh?”

“I thought that conversation was settled,” he said quietly.

“It was settled only because I allowed you to drop it, and that was just yesterday mind you. Now I’m asking you to drop this whole thing about me leaving tomorrow and you just refused to accept that what will happen will happen.”

“But that’s the point, it doesn’t have to happen.”

“What do you want me to do, Jacob?”

“Leave with me.”

“What?”

“Leave with me,” he said again. “Let’s get out of this city.”

“Jacob,” I said with an exasperated tone, “we already discussed this. I’m not leaving while I have people here that need me. I have a duty and I want to do everything I can to help.”

“Do you have a hero complex or something?” he yelled. “Do you think you have to fix everything? Do you think you can even fix anything? What are you even going to do out there? What can you do, huh?”

“You know what? You can just shut up. You’re not even doing anything to help. You’re just sitting around doing god knows what, complaining about, I dunno, everything!”

Jacob looked momentarily hurt but he didn’t let that feeling linger. Quickly enough, his face clearly showed his anger. “And what exactly have you been doing, Adam? Getting yourself hurt? Getting yourself almost killed? You haven’t really done anything that’s helped. You’re just a stupid kid doing stupid things that gets you hurt.”

“I told you to shut up!” I yelled as I pushed Jacob away from me. But rather than him falling to the ground, he was thrown across the room with more force than I intended. He smashed against our door which shook on its hinges. He fell to his hands and knees with a slight whimper. His head was bent down to the floor. “Oh god, Jacob, I’m sorry,” I said as I started towards him.

He raised his hand as though to stop me and I felt magic surround my whole body. I tired moving forward but I felt myself being held in place unable to move a muscle. Jacob looked up at me and for the first time I saw a coldness in Jacob’s eyes that broke my heart. “Fine,” he spat out. “Fine! If you want to go to this stupid mission then go. But don’t come crying to me when this all ends badly.”

He stood up as though he wasn’t injured or hurt at all by what I had done. He stood there and watched me for a moment. I tried moving my mouth to talk to him but like every other part of my body, it was held in stasis. I thought he was going to say something but he merely turned around walked out the door. It took about twenty second more before I could finally move anything and by the time I got out of the room, he was nowhere in sight.

I tried calling out to him in my mind. Jacob? Please answer me. I’m sorry. He didn’t respond so I tried again. Jacob, please. I love you. I’m sorry. Come back.

Get out of my head.

Jacob, please, I’m sorry. I started walking towards the steps hopefully to catch up with him wherever he went.

I said get out of my head! He yelled and it was followed by a loud sharp sound that hurt my ears. I fell to the floor and cringed as the pain slowly subsided.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered to the empty hallway.

* * * * * * * * * *

Jacob didn’t come back to our room the whole night. I would have known cause I hadn’t slept at all. I tried, honestly, but the anticipation for the coming attack and the worry about my relationship with Jacob had me on the edge. At some point, I was just lying in bed staring at the ceiling waiting for Jacob to come back into the room but he never came. For a few hours, I sat on my seat by the window. The view wasn’t as beautiful at night. The entire forest to the north was dark despite the bright moonlight shining down on it. It gave me shivers to realize that sometime soon, an army of tanks would emerge from those trees and across the roads we had used over the years.

I got dressed for the attack. The dresser had once again prepared a seemingly new set of Aerophalanx clothes. They were clean and free of damage. Unlike the last set I wore though, each item felt heavy on me. It was like I was leaving things unfinished here as I flew out. I wondered if I would be able to fix things after all this was over.

I wondered if I would still be alive to fix anything after all this was finished.

I took out Jacob’s amulet from the dresser. I looked down at its familiar design: the regal wasp in the center, four symbols around it that I deduced must have stood for the four elements of earth, wind, water, and fire, and a fifth symbol that I had initially thought was an A for my name. It must have meant something else though if Magister Aenhol was familiar with the symbol even before Jacob had it made.

I had been keeping it in our room because I was afraid it would get damaged or destroyed during training. The amulet, Jacob had explained, was protected with magic, making it immune to bludgeoning and natural wearing out. I wasn’t wearing it all the time because our training involved a lot of magic, magic that could easily undo the protection on the thin, frail gift. However, despite what I was flying into, it felt right for me to wear it then. If I was going to go out there, I wanted to take a part of Jacob with me.

I placed it underneath my shirt so the pattern wouldn’t be seen by anyone. The leather strap could still be seen around my neck as the robe didn’t quite cover it completely. The important part, at least, was kept from public eyes.

I took out my mace and placed it on my belt. As usual, metal coiled out from beneath the belt and formed a hilt for the mace. Useless as it was, I knew I had to bring it.

I made my way out of the room and down the hall. I kept my eyes open for Jacob but he was nowhere in sight. Reluctantly, I made my way to the Armory in the dark. The city was eerily quiet that early in the morning and no one could be seen moving about.

The entrances of all the buildings were brightly lit though so I had no trouble finding my way to the Armory. A lone figure was waiting by the door but it wasn’t the person I was expecting.

“Rye?” I asked.

“Adam,” she responded.

“I thought Brian was the one meeting me here?” I must admit I was looking forward to seeing Brian again.

“He couldn’t make it,” she said hesitantly.

“He doesn’t want to see me?” I asked. My heart suddenly felt heavier. Everyone seemed to be avoiding me for one reason or another.

“It’s not that, Adam,” she said. She looked around as though afraid to be overheard. “You know he loves you, right? He just doesn’t want to see you hurt or worse, killed.”

“What does that have to do with not meeting me here?”

“He had an argument with our mother last night when he found out she had asked you to go. He’s part of the group that will be flying out today. He knows how dangerous it will be so he didn’t want you involved especially after he heard the last bits of the prophecy.”

I nodded somberly. “Do you want me involved?”

She smiled a sad smile. “I’m not going to stop you from doing what you have to.”

“Thanks,” I said as I offered a sad smile of my own.

She looked behind me and her eyes widened in surprise. “Isn’t that your friend?”

I turned around and saw someone walking towards us. He was still a good distance away but I could recognize that body anywhere. It was Jacob. Instead of feeling happy though, I felt worried. Even from that distance, I could see that something was wrong. His clothes were rumpled and he was covered in dirt as though he had rolled around in. I walked hurriedly towards him but stopped a few steps away. Jacob also stopped and he looked at me wretchedly. There was none of the coldness I had seen in his eyes the night before. They just looked miserable and very red.

“My god, Jacob, are you alright?” I asked.

Jacob nodded and softly replied. “Yeah.”

“What happened to you?”

“I didn’t sleep very well,” he said.

“You look like you’ve been rolling in the dirt,” I said.

“I guess you could say that,” he said. His hands seemed to be twitching at his side as though he wanted to do something with them. “You wore it,” he said after awhile.

“What?” I noticed he was looking at my neck. I fingered the leather strap to which the amulet was attached. “Oh yeah, I did.”

Jacob looked at my eyes and I could see a torrent of emotions running through his. “Are you mad at me?”

Without hesitating, I answered, “No Jacob, I’m not mad at you. I love you too much to stay mad.”

Jacob blinked rapidly. “I want to hug you right now but I’m afraid of getting dirt on your clothes.” He was unable to continue speaking as I ran to him and wrapped him in my arms. He shook as though he couldn’t believe what was happening. “I’m sorry, Adam,” he sobbed. “I don’t know what’s happening to me. I’m never usually this emotional. I’m usually in control but ever since I met you, it’s like some hidden part of me opened up and I don’t know what to do with it. I’ve been so stupid. I didn’t mean to be like that. I really don’t know what came over me.”

“It’s okay,” I said. Jacob felt so small in my arms. “I’m sorry too especially for hurting you.”

“You didn’t hurt me,” he said after a strangled whimper. “Besides, I would have deserved it if you did.”

“Don’t say that,” I said gently. “You didn’t deserve what I did no matter what you said. I’m sure you were just worried about me.”

“It’s more than that,” Jacob said as he pulled away from me. “Do you remember when I told you about the night my parents died? About the feeling I got that night? I’m getting that same feeling now. It’s really strong now so I know something terrible is about to happen. I’m afraid that it’s because of this mission. Something dreadfully wrong is going to happen. I just know it. I don’t want to live if you die,” and then he chuckled, tears pouring into his mouth. “Not like I’ll have a choice anyway. But even if I did, I wouldn’t want to, not without you.”

“Hey,” I said as I took his face in my hands, “do you remember what I promised you. I’m not going to die in this war.”

“No one can be certain of something like that.”

“I can be,” I said. “I know it without a doubt.”

He looked at my eyes as though trying to find the truth in my words. I felt myself getting lost in his. Time seemed to take a breather as his lips slowly parted, his body leaning forward.

“We should get going, Adam,” Rye said from a distance. It was only then that I realized that she hadn’t followed me to Jacob. Jacob stopped moving forward and his lips closed in a frown.

“You should go,” he said.

“I should go,” I said but neither of us made any move to go.

“Ten seconds,” Jacob said softly.

Before anyone else could do or say something I leaned forward and kissed him on his lips. It was a soft, meaningful kiss – one filled with hope.