Silas wiped the blood off his sword, putting it back in its holder. “We have been dealing with these creatures for months now. You act as though you know nothing of them.”
My brows drew together. “Necromancy isn’t a type of magic just anyone can learn or wield. It’s a power you’re born with. To raise a Mage halfway…to create an Undead…you have to have no heart, no soul. Unable to love or feel remorse.” I tensed. “You have to be a complete monster. And considering there is a necromancer out there…” I let out a shaky breath. “… that means there is a bigger threat to the world than even your father.”
Silas's expression gave no indication of his emotions. Another soldier commented, “Funny how those things only attacked us, don’t you think, Your Highness?”
My fists clenched. “I have no idea why they didn’t attack us. Mages don’t die like humans do.” My eyes narrowed on the corpses littering the ground. “We transform into one of them, one of the Undead, adding to their master's numbers.” Roland crossed his arms while Rurik glowered at me. “And don’t think for a second that a dark necromancer would be on our side, either. Someone who is this sick needs to be wiped out before they kill everyone. Practicing necromancy is forbidden by my people.”
“Sounds like we’re doing the world a service killing you witches, then,” Rurik commented.
I was about to kick him in the balls when Elowen began to speak.
“Edmund will still be in a lot of pain, even with the wound cauterized,” she said carefully. “If we can make a sleeping elixir, a powerful one that keeps him asleep for a few days, I can heal him well enough that he isn’t hurting by the time he wakes.”
“You can’t just use your magic to put him to sleep?” Roland asked.
Elowen shook her head. “Only Warlocks can do that. Perhaps a Mage could if they had it as a gift. But considering there isn’t one here with that power, no.”
Silas frowned. “How long will it take for him to heal?”
“A wound this bad?” She took a minute to think. “Probably a week or two before it is healed completely.”
I knew instantly that Elowen was lying; it never took her that long to heal someone, even though we’d never been faced with a wound like this. Perhaps it could buy us time to come up with a plan.
“Your Highness, I know we are planning to recoup at Fort Laith, but waiting two weeks? Our families—”
“When we’re on the battlefield, these men are your family,” Silas said sternly. “We will give Edmund the time he needs to heal, and then we will make it the rest of the way.”
Silas shifted, but not to Elowen, to me.
“What do we need for the elixir?”
And it was like history was repeating itself.
Chapter Thirty-Five
“Lavender,valerianroot,andchamomile.”
Silas raised an eyebrow, and I sighed. “And then one of us can enchant it, which gives it power.”
“Ah,” he commented. “Silly to think those things on their own would do anything,” he muttered as I watched him connect the dots and realize Mother was selling enchanted elixirs in Otacia the whole time.
“One of us can look for them in the items you seized.” I offered.
“We didn’t take any plants,” Hendry replied.
“Well…where exactly on the map are we?” I asked.
“You’re not actually—” Rurik began before Silas lifted his hand, giving him a warning look and then returning to my gaze.
Gods, that man was fucking annoying.
“Map, Hendry.”
Hendry strolled over to one of the carriages, rustling through a bag before retrieving a piece of parchment and unrolling it in his hands. After a moment he brought it over to me.
“We are here,” he pointed as I studied our location.
Fort Laith was near, but I nearly gasped when I realized how close to Mount Rozavar the fortress was. Though Igon’s penned in symbol was missing, I remembered its location, as this was the same map.
