Something was happening in the camps. We just weren’t sure what was going on.

  For several days there had been a lot of activity, with rger groups of mounted soldiers moving up and down the line of camps, often with uniformed military leaders among them. Wagons were being moved also, but some of it made no sense. I saw the same wagon first going one way, then being brought back the other only an hour ter. This happened several times in the same day.

  No one told us, but eventually, we figured out that at least some of the camps were preparing to move.

  But it didn’t seem to affect our camp much. In fact, our tasks stayed about the same during that period. We had all finally been assigned to do things we were better at, with Fin hauling wood and supplies, Lil with cleaning dishes and clothing, and me helping to prepare and clean up meals.

  It took a week of this random army movement before it started affecting us. That day I was assigned, along with others, to take some of the boxes, barrels and kegs out of the supply tent and stack them near the supply wagons. Fin and those he worked with began loading these onto several wagons.

  During that time, I heard the distant bsts of some horns, but no one seemed worried or surprised by them, so I decided to ignore it also.

  Once we had cleaned out most of the supply tent, I was assigned to help in taking down some tents. It was pretty easy to get them down. The difficulty came when I had to carefully fold, roll them up tightly and secure them with the support ropes. I was yelled at and had to be shown several times before I got my first tent packed up correctly.

  Quack took that opportunity, since he happened to be nearby checking on my work, to give me his own tongue shing and punishment, with several strong shocks. At least I think they were strong since they seemed brighter, and there was a lingering smell in the air.

  One of the bolts hit the tent I was rolling and started it on fire. It surprised me, so I jumped back. That got me into even more trouble, because, why not bme everything on me? At least we got the fire put out before it did much damage.

  I was getting much better at canceling his magical shocks using a tight shield around me, so I didn’t feel them. What I did feel, however, was energy flowing into me, making me feel warmer, more powerful even. But I still had to pretend to be in pain for a while.

  We didn’t take down all of the tents that day, however, just the ones no longer being used. It was another two days before we were ordered to pack up the rest of the camp. That ended up being a very long day. It started out overcast, but soon started raining as we were eating breakfast.

  I was again assigned to take down and pack up tents, but they were soaking wet. That made them twice as heavy as before. So when it came to hauling the rolled up tents to the wagon, it took several of us working together and we still could only drag them through the mud.

  They made us skip lunch and just told us to hurry and finish packing up. In spite of working through the day, the camp wasn’t fully ready to depart until supper time. Before we left we were only given ash cakes to eat. If you don’t know what that is, it’s a dense biscuit made of only flour, water and a bit of salt and then cooked directly in the warm coals and ashes of a dying fire. Of course you have to brush off the ashes to eat them— or not, if you are starving like we were.

  The rain seemed to get heavier as we started our march. We followed behind the camps ahead of us. We sves were all on foot, carrying our own things. Too bad we didn’t have our packs and bedrolls from before we were captured. They were still hidden in the woods. We would probably never see them again, now that we were leaving our valley.

  That thought made me feel very depressed.

  We didn’t get very far, however, before we were all called back. The wagons, even though they were being pulled by two horses each, were bogged down in the mud. All hands were needed to help get them unstuck and moving. That was easier said than done.

  No matter how much we pushed, pulled, lifted, or shoved, the wagon we were on was so heavy it didn’t want to budge. The sergeant was screaming at us. Quack was there too, but he was actually busy helping, for once. Maybe there was something redeeming about him. Or, maybe the sergeant yelled at him and made him help too.

  Yeah, that’s probably more likely.

  Then I saw Lil talking to Fin. I wasn’t sure what that was about, but I had a guess. I just hoped they were going to be careful. They took up positions on each side of the wagon, squeezing back in among everyone else. Slowly the wagon started rising up a little. I could hear the suction sounds the mud was making. As it rose, it also started moving forward, little by little. There were a bunch of people helping, so who's to say it was or wasn’t them making the difference. I was just gd the wagon started moving.

  My etion was short lived, however, when the wagon again got stuck a little farther down the road.

  At least we might have found a way to help, other than brute strength. I could see the fatigue in the twins' eyes, as well as everyone else’s, for that matter. So I sent some energy toward them when it looked like they were using their affinities. When I did, it formed a kind of connection between us. I couldn’t hear their thoughts, but I could tell when they were drawing on their mana, as well as mine.

  Each time the wagon got stuck we repeated our magical assistance. We couldn’t help every time, all of the time. We just didn’t have that kind of stamina. But we helped magically as much as we could, and recovered somewhat while walking alongside when it wasn’t stuck.

  In spite of our progress, we still only went a couple of long strides before they called a halt. It was getting te and too dark to continue walking.

  That night we slept under some trees which helped shed at least some of the water. We talked for a little while about what we had accomplished together and learned. Lil was able to make the wagon lighter, and Fin was able to both lift with his magic as well as push with his muscles. We didn't talk long, however, we were just too tired. In spite of the cold night, we huddled together and slept pretty well.

  The next morning the rain had lessened to a light drizzle. But the ground was still quite wet, meaning it was going to be another tiring day. We ate a quick breakfast of mush before we were moving again. Well, we were moving as long as we weren’t stuck.

  It was another long, tiring day.

  Quack had somehow found more opportunities to torment us. Of course, he was an overseer for more sves than just the three of us. But he often singled us out for extra punishment. That day, however, he had been especially hard on Lil. I’m sure he didn’t think we were helping enough, since we were all smaller than adults, and Lil was the smallest of us. Maybe that was why? Little did he know, she was probably helping more than most. She just had to keep it hidden.

  I stuck especially close to her so I could protect her, or quickly heal her when that didn't work. Each time he zapped her, I tried to put a shield around her with my null magic. I wasn't very successful until I realized that touching her allowed me to surround her just like I could myself. I had to think of her body as an extension of my own.

  She was much happier the rest of the day, and so was I. I even shielded Fin the few times Quack tried to shock him. Fin was the strongest of us three. It was pretty obvious to Quack and everyone else that he did more than his share.

  One time after shielding myself from a vicious shock, I noticed small sparks arcing between my fingers and into the wagon as we were all trying to maneuver it around a rge rut in the road.

  That’s weird.

  Each time I shielded one of us I felt the warm glow in my body increase. But, at that moment, I was feeling especially full, almost bursting.

  Maybe that was why? But why was it manifesting as electricity? Could it be due to the type of magic I was cancelling?

  The wagons were so slow, it took us two more days to get out of the valley and start up into the mountains. Our wagon was moving faster than some of the others ahead of us, so we often got to take a break to wait for them

  It was on one of these breaks, after we had been climbing into the mountain for a while, I noticed tears in Lil’s eyes

  “Are you alright?” I asked.

  She shook her head, no, and tried to wipe away her tears. I went to her, offering her a hug, which she quickly accepted.

  “Will we ever see our home again?” she asked.

  “I wish I knew,” I said. We weren’t just thinking of our home. We were thinking about Dad, too.

  Was he still alive somewhere? Would we ever see him again? There was just no way to know.

  The sun was going down behind the mountains, the sky casting its orange pink glow over everything. The valley below us looked tranquil and breathtakingly beautiful. We stood there for a while, Lil and I holding each other, with Fin close by, all of us looking down into our valley, lost in our own thoughts.

  The next day the sky was clear and with no sign of rain, but there were still mud puddles wherever the road was level or there was a dip in the road. But even where it had dried, the ruts were deep and hazardous to both horse and wagon.

  While traveling we only got two meals each day, morning and evening, but any wild berries we found along the way were free game. The problem was, anything we found was quickly consumed, so we had to be quick.

  We didn't see any wild animals, except for some birds far away. I think the army was just making too much noise.

  We made faster progress, now that the roads were starting to get better. The nights were colder, however, now that we were traversing mountains again. We had to huddle close together for warmth at night.

  One night I awoke to the sounds of wood cracking nearby as it burned. I didn’t think much of it, since we often went to sleep with a fire burning to keep people warm. When I looked over I could see light from a campfire as I expected. But I sat bolt upright when I realized the light was coming from several pces, not just from where our campfire had been the night before.

  I quickly got up and discovered that the fire had started to spread to some nearby weeds. It didn’t look dangerous yet, but it could quickly become so if nothing was done. I threw on my boots, without taking time to ce them, and ran over to stomp out the fire. I was just about finished when I saw that a small tree had also started to burn. That would have been fine if it was alone, but above that tree was another, much rger tree.

  There was no way I could stomp out the fire of a tree burning, even a small one like this. I didn’t want to reach out and touch it or try to knock it over. If I had an ax, maybe I could have chopped it down.

  I was just about to yell for help, when a strange thought struck me. If a mage attacked me with heat or fire, I was pretty sure I could have nullified it. And, if I could nullify small lightning bolts, why couldn’t I nullify fire?

  But fire wasn’t magic, right?. Well, either I could or I couldn’t, only one way to find out.

  I looked around and didn’t see anyone else awake, so I decided to give it a try. I reached out toward the burning tree and pulled on my magic. But then I wasn’t sure what to do or think about, since it wasn’t magic, so I just tried to nullify it like I had done a bunch of times.

  Abruptly the fire went out, as if I had thrown a bucket of water on it.

  I put my hand closer and noticed the tree wasn’t even hot anymore.

  That’s when I noticed my body was toasty warm inside.

  That’s a good thing, right?