De'Vas Chronicles Book 4: Chapter 30

Ash sat on a fallen tree with Sparky beside him. The evening air felt cool as he caught his breath, his heart still pounding. He scratched the top of the cat’s head, feeling the burns on his knuckles sting as he did.

“We might have got a little carried away,” Ash said.

Sparky’s tail flicked with agitation.

He looked at the charred ground around the shattered boulder. The thing was the size of a Volkswagen bug when Ash started hurling spells at it. Now it was a pile of stones.

I figured it would be more resistant to my magic.

He looked at the burns on his hand. He had pulled on Sparky’s magic some, but not enough that he justified using one of his Lightning Resistance potions. A greengrub would heal the burns quickly enough, and Blake had brought plenty of those.

He looked up at the sky, seeing the evening sun and realized it was getting late. He turned to see Blake standing beside the fallen tree, staring at the boulder. The bearkin could be pretty sneaky when he wanted to be.

“How goes your training?” Blake asked.

The way he said training made it clear to Ash the old bear knew the real reason he had stepped away from camp. It was to hurl spells, not for training, but out of anger.

“How is she doing?” he asked.

Blake took a seat on the log, letting out a heavy sigh as he did.

“Eva gave her a book and she’s been reading it by the fire at camp. Grace went hunting, though I think she’s just letting out her anger as well. The elf might have been talking to you, but we all heard at least some of what she went through,” Blake said.

Ash shook his head.

“I thought her eyes were heterochromatic,” he said, then saw the confused look on Blake’s face. “That she was born with two different eye colors. Apparently, those bastards cut out one of her eyes and replaced it with one they made in a lab.”

Blake growled.

“Why in the hells did they do that to her?” the bearkin asked.

Retrieval Subject Twelve.

“Because the blue eye lets her see magic,” he answered. “WillCo is sending her to Vas to gather anything she can with magic and then pulling her back after a few days. Part of why she started following me is because she could see Sparky in my elemental scar.”

Rachel had talked nonstop during their journey, and it was clear the girl was socially starved. The scientists at WillCo had rules against talking with those they experimented on or even referring to them as anything but their subject designation. So she only left her small white cell when they sent her to Vas or experimented on her.

“It’s getting late, we should head back to camp,” Ash said, standing from the log.

Blake stayed seated and looked at him.

“What do you plan to do with the girl?” he asked.

She’s sure as hell not going back there…

“She says she has a week before they pull her back to Earth. When we get back to the castle, I’m going to talk to Selena,” Ash stated as he started walking back to camp. “See if we can remove that device from her neck.”

As he neared the camp, he saw his party gathered around the fire. The warriors and scouts were busy with chores or checking their equipment, and Eva sat beside the elf who was currently reading a book. Ash took a seat next to Rachel by the fire. As he sat down, he saw Blake join the warriors, the old bear grabbing a wet stone for the large sword he carried.

“Are you enjoying your book?” he asked the elf.

She flipped the cover over to show him the title.

The Human Prince and the Tavern Maiden.

“I’ve read some of the other books in the series,” she said. “I like the humans in these books.”

She flipped the book back around before sliding a leaf between the pages as a marker.

“Not all humans are like those guys wearing white,” he said.

She looked at him curiously.

“Are there humans in De’Vas?” she asked.

Ash picked a piece of bark from the log and tossed it into the fire.

“The humans in De’Vas are called mages. We’re technically not considered humans anymore since we can use magic,” he answered.

Rachel nodded.

“So like the running man,” she said.

Ash raised an eyebrow at her.

“Who?” he asked.

She frowned.

“A few months ago I heard a commotion outside my room, so I looked through the slide they give us food through. I saw a human running from those in white. I could see he had magic in his body,” she answered.

Ash gritted his teeth.

“What happened to him?” he asked.

She shrugged.

“I don’t know. They said to take him to Asset Reclamation.”

Ash didn’t like the sound of that. Before he could pry more, a loud thud drew his attention. He turned to see Grace dropping a pig carcass at the edge of camp. The wolfkin’s ears canted.

“I have dinner,” she declared.

It was well into the night by the time they butchered and cooked the pig. Still, Ash devoured the roasted pork when it was ready, as did Blake and Eva. Despite it being her kill, Grace only ate a small portion.

“You’re going to help her, right?” Grace asked, breaking the silence around the campfire.

Ash looked over where Rachel had fallen asleep with her book.

“Yes. Though I think it’ll take both Selena and me to remove the device,” he answered. “It’s technology and magic. I’m worried that if I try to just fry it, I could activate the device and send her back early. Hell, I wouldn’t put it past WillCo to rig the device to try and kill her if it’s removed.”

Grace growled.

“When you return to your kingdom on Earth, will you kill WillCo?” she asked.

Ash threw the pork bone into the fire.

“If I get the chance,” he answered.

***

They broke camp at dawn and resumed their march to the Princes’ castle. Eva stayed close to Rachel, almost as if the orc woman planned to grab her if she started to vanish back to Earth. Ash also caught Grace keeping an eye on the elf woman more than a few times.

Rachel, though, was fairly content and spent much of the walk talking to anyone who would interact with her. The journey through the woods was much the same as yesterday, at least until around noon, when they arrived at a valley.

“Stop!” Ash yelled out as the valley opened up before them.

Sheer cliffs were on both sides of the valley, limiting options to bypass it, and Ash felt a knot in his gut at the sight of all the bare trees.

“I think this is a dead zone,” Ash said to Blake.

The bearkin looked at the sea of dead trees and back to Ash, but it was Rachel who spoke.

“What’s a dead zone?” she asked.

Ash looked at those following them, then back to her.

“Where we talked for the first time. The place without magic,” he answered quietly.

Rachel looked at the valley and shook her head.

“I don’t see a hole draining magic like I do there,” she answered.

Ash, Blake, Eva, and Grace all stared at Rachel, who was just looking around at the sky over the valley.

“You can see a hole over the dead zone?” Ash asked after Rachel looked at them all curiously.

She nodded.

“Yes, or something like a hole. Over that area with the dead trees, all magic is pulled up to one point and vanishes.”

Ash looked up at the sky.

Is that what the strange machine is doing? Recording what Rachel can see over the dead zone?

“The trees are dead here because of Queen Blackthorn,” Grace said, breaking him from his thoughts. “This is the Narrow Path. The place Blackthorn led her army through to attack the Kingdom of Everwood, only to be turned back by Swordmaster Rory Steelcreek.”

Grace pointed to one of the cliffs in the distance. Ash noticed a long burn mark running down the side of the cliff. He recalled Master Rory’s brief fight with Cleo on the beach, how his sword sent slashes of Fire Magic.

“So, Cleo and Rory did all this?” he asked.

The entire basin of the valley, perhaps a square mile, was dead and barren trees. As they started to move through the area, Ash noticed more scorch marks on the ground and trees. He wondered how vicious a fight it had been between Cleo and Rory to cause such damage.

“Bone,” he said, as he spotted what looked like a femur partly buried.

Grace looked over at it.

“Elf,” she answered. “We passed a few banshee bones as well, but they are harder to spot on the ground since their bones are black.”

So we’re walking over a mass grave.

“How far are we from the Princes’ Castle?” he asked.

Grace looked up at the sky, and he knew she was judging the sun’s position.

“Tomorrow morning,” she answered. “We will make camp just outside their territory…”

Grace paused, her nose twitching, before she grabbed her bow and let out a low growl. Ash watched as she rushed forward to a large dead tree while notching an arrow. When she arrived at the tree, she drew the bow and aimed at something on the other side.

“Don’t move!” Grace demanded.

Ash heard a scream and started running toward the tree. As he arrived beside Grace, he saw a troll and a goblin cowering behind it, their clothing dirty and ragged.

“We don’t have anything,” the goblin pleaded, holding his hands up to shield his face. “Please, just let us go.”

Ash noticed the scars on his wrist, the same as the troll’s.

“Well, we have extra food, and you look hungry,” Ash said.

The two kept their guard up, at least until Eva broke the leftovers from the roasted pig out of her pack. When she did, eating became their only concern.

“Eat slowly,” Grace said, frowning as she watched them. “I can tell you haven’t had a decent meal in some time. Take breaks and talk to my Warchief.”

The troll paused in her eating and looked at Ash.

“Warchief. As in the one the Prince went after?” she asked, looking at his party.

He nodded.

“Is that where you’re from? The Exiled Princes’ castle?” he asked, pointing at the scars on her wrist.

She pulled down the sleeve of her shirt to hide it.

“Yes,” the goblin answered. “If you’re going there for revenge, don’t bother. Nothing but corpses there now.”

Ash frowned.

“What happened?” he asked.

The goblin wore a grim look.

“It happened last night. Only one of the Princes returned from their attack on you. He ordered the defenses of the town and castle increased, but before much could be done, an oni busted the gate in and started slaughtering everyone.”

The troll shook her head.

“Not any oni. The Raging Demon, the way he fought was just like the old stories,” she added.

The goblin scowled at her.

“And I told you that bastard is dead. No one has heard of the Raging Demon in almost five years,” the goblin stated.

Ash looked at Grace, Blake, and Eva.

They parted ways with the goblin and troll after supplying them with some food and water. Ash told them to head for Markal Castle and ask for Selena or Haylee, and that they would be welcome to stay there. He wasn’t sure if they would, but both seemed hesitant, and given what they went through, he couldn’t blame them.

The party traveled the rest of the way through the Narrow Pass, making camp on the other side of it near the boarder of the Princes' land. Tomorrow, they would arrive at the castle and see if the oni was still waiting there.