Training Time (Malefice Pt. 5)

ADY IS BASED OFF OF A.S. GO CHECK HER OUT AT https://blog.reedsy.com/creative-writing-prompts/author/a-s-915e8e/ PLEASE READ THE REST OF THE SERIES FIRST!!! ENJOY!!!!

“What happened?” Ayn rushed over to me, helping me up. There was a trickle of blood on my lower thigh, but I paid it no mind. I was back in the courtyard, but all of the members were gone. Now that I really looked at the area, it seemed to be some sort of ancient monument. You could see the enchanter runes on the pillars, the winding colorful gemstones around the floor. 

“She… Moonbyul, well…and Grammy... they betrayed me.” I choked the words out like they were the plague. Her face shone with disbelief, staring at me until she adopted a grimace. 

“How?” She looked away. I hadn’t expected her to believe me so easily, because she’d been like a daughter to Mira. Ayn held her face in her hands, her hair sprawled messily around her skull. 

“Well… she told Moonbyul to take me to them and get me captured.” Ayn cringed at that but then regained her composure. She seemed to have told herself to stay strong, to show a proud face. 

“Lariona, listen to me. You don’t have much time,” Ayn ushered me out of the room, tried to shove a cloak on top of my head. I protested until I looked down at my hands, seeing them flicker like an old flame. “Go to the Drawling Dragon. Ask for Ady.” Then she was gone.

It took me a while, wandering in the dark with nothing but the light of my flame. The town below the monument was quaint, the houses small and hut-like. I could hear the cheers of men within the Dragon, but I couldn’t see the door. When I got close enough, though, I felt the beer scent wafting into my lungs. 

“Excuse me? I’m looking for Ady.” The man at the bar had a nose ring, an emerald jutting out of the edges. His mustache looked unflattering, but I wasn’t going to tell him that. He pointed to the corner, not looking up from his seeing stone. 

The person he pointed to was a girl, which I hadn’t expected. Ady was tall, with black hair that jutted out like daggers. Her eyes were startling, one pink, one orange, but I forced myself to look into them. 

“Are you Ady? Ayn sent me.” She didn’t look up from his cup, only stared into nothingness.

“What did Mother want?” A startling deep voice rang through my head. It felt strange, like a new adventure, a challenge.

“She... she wanted me to find you. Mira betrayed the SRE.” Ady’s head shot up, eyes blazing like fires in the darkness of her thick hair. 

“Don’t talk like that in front of everyone! Come with me.” I was a little startled at having a girl’s voice in my head. My feet moved, rushing after her as she ran into the night. It was colder than I’d remembered. The ground beneath my feet, bare and rocky, pressed and prodded at the skin of my toes. I forced myself to continue, though, because I wanted to know where she was taking me. 

The sun was starting to rise. Purple had tinged the sky, colored it a deep shade of mauve. After we’d been walking for what seemed like hours, Ady stopped at the base of a mountain. Under her breath, though I couldn’t hear, she muttered a spell. The rock face opened beneath us, transformed into a cave with a long tunnel. The smell that came out was ghastly, like rotten eggs fed to a rotting carcass. 

“You coming?” Just like that, she was gone.

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“So Mira’s bad.” The campfire blazed in front of me, smoke spiraling to the cave ceiling. Ady was sitting across from me, a cup of strickleberry juice in her hand. My stomach growled, but I didn’t ask for any.

“Yeah,” I replied. She didn’t sugarcoat things, it seemed.

“Mom probably wants me to help you, help you use your powers, whatever those are.” Ady had a very cynical attitude, but that didn’t bother me. I was exactly the same.

“I got the silver.” Her eyes flickered for a moment, as if out of respect, but she seemed too far above that. 

“Well, then. That changes things. We’ll start in the morning.” I laughed, reclined onto the sand. It was dry inside the cave, but at least it was warmer. When I’d sat down for the first time, I had felt like an icicle, the frost gathering in between my fingers and toes. Well, time to sleep. Wasn’t as if I’d gotten enough to skip out anyway.

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“So… you got the silver thing.” It was a fresh morning, and we had moved our little escape outside. It was warmer now, the sun beating down on us. I hadn’t seen the countryside in so long, the rolling hills and old ruins that dotted every point on the map. 

“Do I have to repeat everything for you? Yes, I’m silver.” I pretended to be exasperated, but in reality, it was fun having banter with another person my age. It felt like I’d only talked to adults for so long.

“Yeah, get used to it,” Ady tossed a rock at me and I dodged, laughing. “Now, I want you to try and transmit yourself. Nope, no questions, just try and plop another you on the Earth. Anywhere you want.” That seemed simple enough. “Well try it!” Ady was a little pushy, but I liked a challenge.

I envisioned my bedroom at home, the bare bed, the bookshelves filled with magical tomes. The smog from the city wafted in through the hole in my wall that Mother called a “window”. I imagined myself breaking into two, sending that second half of me into my bed. I could feel the world harden around me, come into being, into truth, but it was like watching a replay. I was there, but not there. Just then, the connection broke, cascading me back into my body. It was like cold water soaking you from the inside out.

“Well, do it again,” Ady said. I groaned, fatigue taking my bones as I fell to the ground. 

“I promise that I’ll do it today, just not now. I swear.” I groaned out the words, let the creaks in my bones settle. I would never have been saying that at home, no, but that was because no challenge offered to me was hard enough. Well, I’d get it done with or without rest.

“Fine, take your diva rest.” I tossed a rock at her black hair and it hit its mark. Ady fell to the ground laughing and started pelting me back. My arms started to lift, trying to shield myself, but it turned out I didn’t need it because my body just threw itself next to her. I tossed a fist of pebbles at her, and the fight was over. It was going to be a fun hideaway.