“One last thing,” said the other. “When you find it, someone will likely try to take it. Be ready to defend yourselves.”
Even if they’d set rules against fighting over the orb once it’d been found, who would enforce them? The Professors weren’t involved. Students planned this event. For such a prize, get ready to defend ourselves indeed.
Chapter 20
Small groups and pairs formed. Some students set off alone, most headed for the stables. My friends hurried over to us.
Taz scratched his smooth chin. “They decided to pair up. Lora and Aramis. Legacy and Taron, and you two.”
“Where’s Freya?” I asked. “Who are you going with?” I hadn’t seen Freya in days now that I thought about it.
“I can go alone.” Taz looked away. “Freya is with some other friends.”
“No, come with us,” I insisted.
Taz shook his head. “I’ll be fine on my own.”
“How about you join my brother and me? You’ll feel like less of a third wheel,” Lora said and laughed.
“Alright,” Taz agreed.
I didn’t inquire further about Freya but I wanted to. Obviously something was off between them but relationship drama could wait. The whole group didn’t need to know about it. “Alright, let’s move out before someone finds it.”
Zyacus waved as they set off. “Things might get bloody! Be careful.”
“We all love a good brawl, there is no might. Things will get bloody.” Lora chuckled and darted away. Aramis and Taz hurried after her. Legacy and Taron trailed behind them.
“I think the stables are too obvious,” Zyacus said. “Yes, animals have ears but what else?”
“There’s the soldier statues near the front doors.”
Zyacus looked down the path that led toward the back of the property. “There’s also the mermaid statue in the middle of the lake.”
That seemed like the most challenging place and a likely hiding spot. “I say we start there.”
His hand clasped around mine. “Let’s spell there. This scavenger hunt will be over before anyone knows it.”
Within moments we stood at the edge of the lake. I’d used my own power to get there and because it was nearly a mile, if I hadn’t gained new considerable power, my energy would have drained. Yet I felt great—strong as ever. Now I knew what it was like to be my mother. The most powerful woman in this land, and someday I could rival her power. Our mother-daughter duo would be unstoppable when my training was sufficient.
Zyacus peered over the water at the statue rising out of the placid lake. The red moon shining down made the usually pale stone have a scarlet hue.
He turned to me. “How bad do you want the bow?”
Only one of us could have it. Which meant only one of us needed to go to the mermaid. As amazing as it would be to have the weapon, I knew he wanted it more. “You go.”
“Are you sure? It’s all yours if you want it.”
I shook my head and slowly looked around making sure no one else was nearby to try and snake it from us.
“I’ll be right back.” He vanished and moments later he clung to the fin of the mermaid. After searching the statue, Zyacus returned without an orb.
“So we were wrong.”
“It appears so. To the front?”
As I was about to agree, a quiet voice drifted by me as if carried on the wind, “Corn.”
I whirled around looking for the speaker. “Corn?” I questioned aloud.
With narrowed eyes Zyacus watched me. “I guess ‘ears of corn’ would apply. You’re clever. Let’s check the corn patch.”
Had he not heard the voice too? I didn’t come up with that on my own. Dragons fire, that better not be my crown again, “Sure… yes, corn does have ears of a sort.”
We jogged east and when we drew closer to the patch, even in the twilight darkening sky I knew something was off. The stalks bent and wilted in strange ways. My eyes flicked to the cursed scarlet moon hovering above us. I reached out to touch a leaf and flinched at the crispness of it. As if it had been dead and unwatered for months. But I’d seen it green and thriving just the day before. “Our crop is dead.”
Zyacus pulled an ear of corn and peeled it open to find browned dried out kernels. “The blood moon curse. The crops died when this happened before. If this happened everywhere… what if we don’t have enough food stored to last until next season?”
My stomach felt all sorts of twisted. Yes our magic could make food appear on a table in an instant but it didn’t come out of nowhere. It had to be grown and prepared. I knew at the castle food stores existed but enough for all of Delhoon? No. If we ran out of food I could see desperation driving the people to make a deal with the Fae.
“I don’t know what will happen. We must have some storage here at this academy.”
Zyacus let out a sigh. “We’ve had famine before. People in all our kingdoms should have some storage for emergencies.”
“I hope so.”
“Left,” that same light voice drifted on the air again. I turned my head. Through the stalks a warm red glow permeated on the ground.
“The orb,” I whisper-shouted. We’d have to deal with the dying crops after the game. It’s not as if we could do anything anyway.
Checking around us first, Zyacus ran and scooped it up in a matter of seconds. He grinned when he came back to my side. “You saw it. You should have it.”
If I hadn’t been told by whoever or whatever was whispering I may not have been the first to see it. “We can share it. But right now we need to get back and inform the Headmaster of the dead crop.”
A snarky male voice interrupted us, “Of course the royalty would find the orb. They probably told you where it was. That’s the way it always is, isn’t it boys? The high
