Chapter Ten
Connor couldn't breathe as magic raced through him, looking for the core no human held. The light must have blinded the others -- they all threw up their arms and retreated in haste.
Connor had to get control because he could destroy everything for miles around. That would not honor Lord Northgate.
You can do this, Lord Northgate whispered almost as though he were there.
Connor bowed his head and clenched his fists, willing calm and trying to get hold of it. He looked up to find Centaurs converging on him. One kicked Ordin down. He saw Anthisa, wounded, secured to the back of one.
"Up!" Braslyn shouted and grabbed his arm.
"I cannot --" Connor looked down at the dead body. Was it starting to fade? Going.
"Don't let it be for nothing!"
Take hold. You can do this.
Another grabbed Connor and threw him on Braslyn's back. Then they were riding. Connor hardly had the sense to hold on. The magic was more powerful than the world around him. He had never been trained.
He had watched others and even studied a little about humans with magic, but he wasn't prepared.
Braslyn rode straight through the woods for miles, hardly slowing, and then out again. By then the centaurs were winded and slowed. Another caught up with them, his arm bleeding.
"Chaos back there," the centaur said as another wrapped the wound. "I heard Galen order Antisha found and killed along with the human. Best that they not be found together."
"Take Antisha --"
"We will, boy." Then Braslyn stopped and stood very still. "You are Lord Northgate now."
"No," he whispered as power moved in him. "No. He can't be gone --"
Connor saw Antisha and two centaurs disappear into the woods. Braslyn moved faster and in another direction. Connor wanted to say something, but he couldn't think straight.
They barely made it another mile or two before Galen caught up with them.
If Connor had had time to understand what had happened to him when Lord Northgate took his hand, he might have had a chance to hold the man off. Instead, he felt a knife of power hit him in the back. Braslyn couldn't hold him. He fell.
"Go!" Connor ordered, breathlessly and put his hand on the centaur's flank. "Go. He's after me. You still know the truth!"
Braslyn gave a shout of anger -- but he ran.
Connor was on my knees when Galen arrived. Connor lifted his hands and created magic, but it fizzled away. He dropped his head, gasping.
"I couldn't hold on to it. I couldn't hold Lord Northgate's gift --"
Galen grabbed him by the arm and magic surged through Connor's body. He thought he was going to die -- but no.
"Gone? I can still feel something -- but no, not the power of the fae that would hold Northgate. The fool did nothing but waste our time. The power will go back to the stone, as we always intended anyway. And you, boy, are going to do exactly what we say."
Galen pulled open the front of Connor's tunic and slapped his hand over his chest. Connor could feel the seal settling over him, and he bowed his head, not trying to fight this man.
Galen dragged him back to the camp and put him in the cage Lord Northgate had been not so long before. If he hadn't taken him out, would he have survived?
No. Galen had said Lord Northgate was always meant to die so the power would return to the stone at court.
Liam twitched. Connor suspected he had a vision, and wished he could have joined in and seen the future.
Connor settled into a corner of the cage and bowed his head, exhausted and angry. Lost. He had always counted on the others around him; he hadn't even realized how much until now. He didn't have that core of magic like the other fae. What Lord Northgate gave him had been lost inside.
Liam remained unresponsive in the other cage. Connor worried. Then he worried more when he saw Ordin arrive and talk to his father. Galen's hand went to his son's shoulder, and he saw Ordin smile.
Not good news, then. Had they lost Antisha? Damn.
Ordin came to the cage and poked at him with a stick. "So, human, you lose. I wanted to kill you, but my father thinks you're better alive. Is that true, human?"
"Yes."
Ordin laughed and poked at Connor and then Liam but by then the camp was ready to move, and Ordin wasn't going to walk. He mounted a sealed Centaur, laughing.
The trip proved to be more miserable than the journey with his friends. They moved quickly, and the wheels on the cage hit every bump and hole. Connor felt bruised and miserable before they went more than a mile.
Connor thought about all his years at Northgate, calling back everything he'd learned so he could perhaps still deal with this trouble.
They didn't stop until mid-morning of the next day having traveled into some foothills. Forests drew shadows over them, and Connor suspected they had rushed here to get to cover. They were near to the court now, and Galen worried.
"They'll arrive," Galen said as he and another of his people walked past.
Ordin had grabbed something to eat and crawled into blankets to sleep. Connor decided to sleep as well. He looked over at Liam who had finally uncurled but didn't appear any more wakeful than before. The smell of food proved to be torture, but of course, he wasn't given any or any water. Connor wondered how long Liam had gone without either.
He thought about all those years at Northgate as he fell asleep, and awoke to darkness, flickering lights, and frantic people. Shadows moved like things alive while sparks flew up from three different fire, and in the glow of embers, he saw a dozen figures -- huge and ungainly.
The trolls had arrived.
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