Griffin's Destiny

had worked. “This is not goodbye, Magnes,” he insisted. “I know in my heart we will meet again. This war may be between our two nations but it’s not between us. We’re linked by ties too strong to break.”

“My future is uncertain, Ashi. I might find forgiveness at home or I might find myself an outcast…or worse. But if it’s within my power, I’ll seek you and Jelena out and we’ll be reunited.” Magnes drew Ashinji into a tight embrace, one Ashinji felt no qualms about returning.

Magnes stepped away first. He turned and approached Gran, who had been waiting patiently the entire time, sitting astride her horse and keeping watch from a discreet distance.

“So, young human,” Gran said. “This is where we part company, is it?”

“Yes, my lady, it is,” Magnes replied. He reached up and covered Gran’s hand with his. “Chiana, it has been a privilege knowing you. I’ll never forget you.”

“Nor I you, Magnes.” Gran stretched out her hand to caress his cheek. “You are a fine young man. May the One always guide you and keep you safe.”

“Stick to this road and you should be all right. I doubt any of the castle guard will patrol this far west.” Magnes turned and looked at Ashinji. “You won’t know you’ve crossed the border until you see the swamp.”

“We’ll smell it long before we see it,” Ashinji commented with a wry smile. He grasped his gelding’s coarse mane and swung onto the animal’s back. The horse sighed and shifted from foot to foot.

Magnes climbed onto his own mount and maneuvered it next to Ashinji’s.

“When you see Jelena, tell her I love her and I’m looking forward to seeing her again,” he said.

“I will,” Ashinji replied. He and Gran watched as Magnes turned his horse onto the northbound road and, just before he urged the animal into a trot, Ashinji called out, “Magnes, wait!”

Magnes pulled the horse to a stop and waited for Ashinji to catch up, a questioning look upon his face. “Tell your sister I said ‘thank you,’” Ashinji said.

Magnes cocked his head in puzzlement. “For what?” he asked.

“Thessalina could’ve given in to her commanders and had me killed, but she didn’t. Instead, she let me live. I’m grateful to her for that.”

“I’ll tell her, my friend,” Magnes replied. He tapped his horse with his heels and the animal lurched into a lazy trot. Ashinji watched for a moment, then guided his mount over to where Gran waited. Together, the two elves started up the northwest road.

They rode for a while in silence before Gran spoke. “What you did back there, for Magnes…”

Ashinji looked sharply at her, frowning. “You were watching us?” he asked, shocked that she would intrude into such a private thing.

“I didn’t scan either of you, if that’s what you think, but yes, I kept watch, just in case you got into trouble,” she huffed. “Oh don’t look so offended, young man! You are completely untrained-which is a situation that should be rectified if at all possible, I might add-and you could have easily wiped out a part of your friend’s mind he needed in order to function. Psychic surgery is a procedure that should only be done by a fully trained mage.” Her scowl was so dire, Ashinji flinched before it and looked down at his hands, feeling like a child caught misbehaving.

“I had to do something for him, Gran. I couldn’t let him go on suffering,” he said.

“You were not responsible for Magnes’ pain, Ashi,” Gran snapped.

“That’s where you’re wrong!” Ashinji retorted, looking up. “I was the source of his unhappiness! I thought of a way I might help him, so I did what I had to, and it worked.”

He and Gran glared at each other for a few moments, but then the old mage sighed and shook her head. A ghost of a smile played about her mouth. “Yes, it worked,” she admitted. “And now that I’ve finished scolding you, I’ll praise you for a job well done.” She paused, then said, “Tell me what happened on the hill with the slave catchers.”

Ashinji hesitated, unwilling to give voice to his deed. After a few tense moments of silence, he finally said, “I don’t really know. I was furious at Seijon’s death. I knew I had to stop his killer before he attacked you. The energy just…came out of me. I didn’t consciously call upon my Talent at all because I thought it was blocked.”

“Yes, it was .” Gran pinned him with ice-blue eyes, her brow furrowed. After a few heartbeats, she let out a sharp exhalation. “It seems, Ashi, that somehow, you have been able to overcome the block your mother put on your Talent, all on your own, which is just extraordinary.” She paused to look thoughtfully into the distance. “It really is unfortunate your mother could not find the courage to go against tradition and send you to the Kan Onji. You’d have made a formidable mage.”

“My mother did what she thought best,” Ashinji responded, tight-lipped with anger. “You, of all people, have no right to criticize her!” As soon as the words left his mouth, he felt a rush of regret. “I’m sorry, Gran,” he murmured. “I should not have said that. It was cruel of me.”

“No, Ashi, you are right to defend your mother. It is true that I’m the least fit person to be Amara’s judge. What I should have said was, it is a great pity your mother felt she could not send you to the Kan Onji.” She looked at him and smiled. “It’s not too late, Ashi. You can still become a mage, if you wish.”

“I don’t know, Gran,” Ashinji replied. “I’ve never been anything else but a soldier. My warrior’s skills are what will be needed in this fight. Becoming a mage is, well, it just seems like an impractical goal right now. And besides, neither of us knows if we’ll even survive what’s to come.”

“We’ll see,” Gran muttered.

***

“There they are. The Shihkat Fens. We’ve made it home, Gran.”

The elderly mage nodded. “We may be back in Alasiri, but we’ve got a long way to travel yet.”

Ashinji raised his hand against the glare of the midday sun off the shimmering expanse. From this distance, the Fens looked like a vast lake, but as the two travelers drew closer, the landscape resolved into a patchwork of stagnant pools slimed with brilliant green algae, weed choked sinkholes, and hillocks covered in tough, brown grasses. The warm, wet air reeked with the smell of decay.

“I know there are trails leading through, but without a guide, we’d have little chance of finding our way,” Ashinji said.

“We’ll have to go around, then,” Gran replied, her voice low and resigned. The necessity of bypassing the swamp would add at least two extra days to their journey.

Despite the inhospitability of the land, Ashinji knew people did inhabit the Fens, making their living by hunting, trapping, and fishing. The fresher pools and running streams harbored abundant life-fish, frogs, turtles, and crayfish-while the thickets abounded with rodents and other small mammals, as well as snakes, lizards, and songbirds. Migratory waterfowl used the larger ponds as stopovers along their ancient flyways. The hardy folk who chose to live within this world were an unconventional lot, content to exist outside the normal structures of elven society.

A large chunk of the eastern end of the Fens fell within the borders of Kerala, but by tradition, Kerala’s lords claimed no jurisdiction over it or anyone living there. The Shihkat Fens existed as a world unto itself, one in which, at this point in time, Ashinji had no wish to enter.

At sundown, they stopped to make camp beneath a stand of willows. They had been living off the land for several days, relying on Gran’s animal charming spells to bring small game within reach and supplementing their diet with wild greens and berries

After a meager supper of cold, stringy rabbit, Ashinji hobbled the horses to prevent them from wandering too far and Gran cast a simple warding spell around the campsite. Almost as soon as he lay down on his thin blanket, Ashinji fell asleep, too exhausted to wonder or even care if Gran’s wards would be enough to wake him in the event danger threatened.

The next morning, he woke to find the skin of his arms and legs dotted with itchy red welts, the result of a nocturnal insect attack. As he scratched the lesions, he wondered why Gran’s wards could keep out some predators but not others. Gran herself appeared untouched.

Perhaps the miserable little bloodsuckers don’t like the taste of mage’s blood! Ashinji thought.