Witch King by T.A. Creech

Author:T.A. Creech [Creech, T.A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: JMS Books LLC
Published: 2016-06-05T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 5

A ripple of unease slid down Vius’ spine, heavy and oppressive as pitch. It was so at odds with the beauty of green-tinted Alahanai. The fecund scent of the vast forest rose up around him as his horse’s hooves disturbed the black earth under gargantuan trees, grass sparse from lack of direct light. Something lurked in the air, some old power that called to a baser part of Vius’ mind and magic, something that pulled and tangled and seduced him with a dark strength. He shivered in the warm air of midday and nudged his horse closer to his husband.

Vius nearly flinched when Solna’s broad hand brushed against his arm. He glanced up and was caught by concerned gray eyes and a smile. “Troubled, husband?”

“A little,” Vius replied, but couldn’t find it in himself to explain more than that. Not that he could, really. How could a man, and a non-Mage at that, understand the sheer amount of power that Vius felt with every breath in this place? His lush earth tainted by forces it was never supposed to hold. It seeped into the flora and Vius could see the subtle effects of the ancient magic that twisted the trees’ own energies unnaturally, the muted copper glow of their lives bulged and tattered and knotted instead of smooth and gleaming in the wood. “The forest is ragged.”

Solna looked away, out into the forest, brow crinkled. “It seems fine to me.”

With a shrug, Vius started to move his horse away. Non-Mages had a hard time with things they couldn’t see, he knew that, and the heavy air discouraged him from arguing the point with his Consort. But Solna placed a feather-light hand on Vius’ elbow. Vius settled back into his saddle and waited. The forest seemed less ominous with Solna at his side.

Eventually, his husband’s face smoothed into a calm and open expression. “You see more than I can.”

There was no question in Solna’s deep voice, which surprised him. “You believe me?”

“Of course,” Solna answered with a strange look. “You are an Archmage. One attuned to the very earth under us. Stands to reason you can see it in ways that I can’t.”

Vius glanced sidelong at Solna. “Most don’t think that way about us.” Solna met his eyes again with a wry little smirk, but said nothing. An inkling of a suspicion lit up in his mind. “Do you deal with Mages often?”

“You mean, outside of marrying you?” Solna’s smirk transformed into a warm smile as Vius nodded. “Ke is a Mage, which you know, though she hides it. I did have an occasion to work extensively with another Mage when we were tasked with raising a bridge from our shores to the island Archon almost a decade ago.”

“Who were they?”

“Nane and he was a dwarf Mage out of the Umbries,” his husband said. Suddenly, there was a sad edge to Solna’s smile. “He settled in Helano afterward. Died in battle, six years gone.”

He bowed his head in the face of Solna’s sorrow.

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