Curselock

Chapter 177: Fly

Chapter 177: Fly

Hunched over with his hands on his knees, Leland swallowed down the nausea from building his lungs. He would have Touch of Regeneration-ed it away, but they were on a public road. Invoking a contract would draw eyes. So, he suffered, morning exercise still proving to be the bane of his existence.

“Kid, you really are weak.”

Leland’s head shot up and he glared at Isobel. She had run beside him the whole time and not broken a sweat. “One of these days—” he sucked in a breath, “I’m going to out run and mock you.”

Isobel chucked. “Maybe in a hundred years when I’m old and frail.”

He didn’t grace her with a response, knowing that antagonizing people was like kindling to her. Instead he simply breathed and looked around.

The plains were still just that, plains. Grass, more grass, and extra grass. Even the road leading away from Jyn was covered in grass. Luckily the caravan traffic battled it down, creating two parallel lines of dirt the width of a wagon apart from one another.

Isobel frowned when Leland didn’t respond then let out a silent sigh. “Are you ready to fly yet? Knowing you, it is going to take awhile for you to get the hang of wings.”

Again, Leland didn’t fall for the bait. “Yes,” he muttered, standing straight.

“Then follow me,” Isobel said, dropping her hands to her sides.

A centipede scuttled up her torso from her lower back, wrapping itself around her arm and wrist. It froze in place, its armored legs latching into her. Two pincers flared out beyond her hand like reverse crossbow limbs. In its maw, a spike of green toxic sludge rested like an ice sickle.

Next came wings. Two sets of two, they sprouted like flowers budding and reaching for the sky. Dragonfly in relation, the wings fluttered denting the nearby grass down with a sudden gust. Isobel let herself be lifted off the ground, hovering just to show Leland.

“Rise, then move,” she said. “Don’t try to do both at the same time while you are learning. Back straight, as well. Don’t topple over otherwise you will eat dirt.”

Leland looked around. He wasn’t nervous about flying, but he was nervous about invoking a contract. The worry would ease once he was in the air and no one could easily spot him, but that was going to take a bit of practice.

“Is anyone around?” he asked.

“Yes,” Isobel said plainly. “And they will out you as a Harbinger the moment you make your halo.”

“Then I’m not—”

“The Inquisitors are also coming. I left a note at the inn saying who we were and admitting to our crimes.”

Frowning, Leland said, “That’s a lie.”

She shrugged, her face hard like stone. “Cast the spell invisibly.”

He didn’t want to believe it... but that also seemed like something the Huntress would do to get him to travel faster. He knew she was lying, but also knew that calling her bluff would not end well. She might actually fly back to Jyn and leave a note if he called her on it.

Leland’s legs felt weak, and he wasn’t sure if it was nerves or because he had just sprinted down a dirt road. He saw what she was trying to do; trying to get him to do. There was no greater method of learning on the fly than to be forced due to desperate situations. Whether the Inquisitors were coming or not didn't matter, that wasn’t the problem.

He needed to cast invisibly. It was a necessary skill at this point. If he didn’t, the Inquisitors might as well be coming. Because they surely would come if he cast a contract without it being invisible.

“You are a sadist,” he muttered, focusing inward.

To the side, Isobel watched quite proud of herself. She had found that Leland often needed a little kick to start actually progressing. In the Archon Valley that kick was Sybil’s safety. Back in Frostford or Shoutwell, that kick was his friends being in danger. Obviously he himself being in danger wasn’t as large a kick as the others, but it was enough.

Magic, lifeforce, and mana all coursed through Leland’s body. There was no single point where they gathered for Harbinger Halo, not like when the resources for Fracture gathered in his fingertips. He wasn’t sure if that made casting invisibly more difficult or not. Creating the “filter” was easy enough, but he had yet to push the curse through.

He calmed himself, pushing away thoughts of Isobel and the Inquisitors. He stopped worrying about Sybil, Sapphire, and his friends and family. He wanted to get home to them all, but thoughts were often a mage’s worst nightmare. For as smart as they generally were, their imaginations often ruined good things before they started.

Lucia took his hand. “It’s okay.”

“No, no it’s not.” Tears welled in Spencer’s eyes. “That Witch was stronger than me. She fought me for control of all of you. Teleported Roy away. Forced Diana to stay. She almost died because I couldn’t block either effect. Carmon... he is almost dead...”

She leaned back against the headrest of the bed. “So we lost then. What about the princess?”

Spencer didn’t answer.

“Spence?” Lucia looked at him, finding only sorrow and guilt. “What happened?”

The hardness of the question caused him to startle. He locked eyes with her, flinching away. “She was taken... along with Leland.”

“What?”

It was spoken so coldly. So devoid of emotion, that Spencer felt like ice. There was no room to run away from the question. Not that he wanted to lie to her. He had already long ago accepted that he was completely out matched by the Witch. It was his fault; what happened to Leland and Sybil. If they were dead—

No. No. They were fine.

Lucia’s eyes went soft. She had known her husband to be stoic and strong, not like a beaten puppy. Seeing him like that, it crushed her, more than she wished to admit.

“Please, what happened?”

And so Spencer told her. Everything since the opening move of the battle in Ruinsforth. Diana almost dying, Carmon as well. Jude enraging, Glenny and Leland attempting to help. Leland outing himself as a Harbinger, trying to talk down the other Harbinger. Aunty P.’s command to the Huntress to kill him, and ultimately their son getting teleported by the Witch along with Sybil. Then he explained what happened after, and how he ran, taking everyone with him.

“You ran?” Lucia seethed.

Spencer shook his head. “If I had a trace on Leland, I would have gone after him. But once Sybil was taken, Aunty P. went insane. She started demanding answers from me. She threatened to take my head right then and there. She—she pushed away the healer working on you and held a dagger to your throat, threatening to kill you if I didn’t answer her questions about Leland.”

“So you ran,” Lucia supplemented.

“So I ran,” Spencer muttered.

She pulled both of his hands into hers. “I understand. It was a hard decision and you did what you thought was right. I understand completely. Leland is fine. Sybil is fine. I—” she faltered. “I trust them not to go down without a fight. Knowing Leland, he’s probably on his way back right now, Sybil in tow.”

“Right...”

Lucia swung her legs off the bed. “So where are we now, and how are we going to find our son?”

“Inside a dungeon. The boys’ idea. This is Floe and Gelo’s home, Guardian Spirit Beasts,” Spencer helped her to her feet. “And I have a plan all ready to go. I just needed you up and walking around. Most of the enchanted items here need a lot of mana to heal people of our strength. And as it turns out, beasts can’t easily use items like that.”

They walked out of the cave-room and out into the open. They were in a forest, and far out Jude, Glenny, and the cub, Gelo, fought off a horde of fairies. Floe, the mother bear, sat a dozen paces away, watching them with Roy Brown by her side. They both turned and looked at Lucia.

“I’m going to find him, Luc,” Spencer whispered. “If I don’t, I’ll go insane.”

“When do you leave?” she asked.

“I was planning for a few weeks, but you woke up sooner than I anticipated. So. I’m leaving now.”

Lucia leaned into her husband. “Find him, Spence. Please.”

“I will.”