When we finally forced ourselves to get out of bed the next afternoon after crashing in Rinko’s room sometime in the early, early morning, Torgrud made us breakfast. I was just sitting down at the bar to eat, when the doors burst open behind us.

  “There you are.” An angry voice sounded from behind us.

  “Oh, you’re back Elidyr.” I said, turning to face my older sister.

  “Where’s your tome?” She asked, marching towards us, her riding boots thudding on the wood floor.

  “Why?” I asked, my heart racing, as I turned my body fully to face her, hiding it behind me.

  “Give it here. I know you have it.” She commanded, holding her hand out for it.

  “But-” I yelped as she snatched it off the counter from behind me, clipping me in the head with the metal corner of the book.

  “Magic’s been banned. All tomes and artifacts are to be turned in to the Astral Order of Mages immediately. Cough up anything else you’ve got.” She said, holding her hand out to me, her dark blue eyes colder than I’d ever seen them before.

  “Since when has it been banned?” I said, standing up, angry that she would take it from me like that.

  “Since this morning. If I find out that you have anything else, you’ll be turned in to the Order yourself for hiding it. That goes for all of you as well.” She said, turning her attention to Torgrud, Rinko, and Beth before she abruptly turned on her heel and left before I had a chance to say another word. All I could do was gape at her. She’d always been insufferably bossy, but this… this was a whole new level, even for her.

  I snatched a piece of bacon off my plate and ran after her, barefoot and shivering in the cold winter air as I still had my dress on from last night. None of us had bothered to change. “Elidyr!” I called out.

  “What.” She snapped, stopping a short ways ahead of me, looking back.

  I caught up to her and she took a step back. “Why?” I asked, looking up at her as she turned towards me.

  “You wouldn’t have handed it over to them yourself.”

  “You never even gave me a chance!”

  “Oh right, like that makes a difference. You would have run off to hide it, instead of turning it in.” She said, waving my tome in the air.

  “Of course I would! I’ve spent the last 12 working on filling it with spells and I’ll be damned if I turn it in without a second thought. You still could have at least given me a chance to turn it in myself. Instead, you barge in and snatch it from me. I’m not a child anymore!” I growled.

  “You’re acting like one right now. Go back into the tavern with your little friends and-”

  “No.” I said, standing up straight and squaring my shoulders. “Give it back. It’s not yours to hand over.”

  “I don’t trust you.” She said simply, turning away, heading back to the mechanical carriage a short ways from us. “Besides, I’m doing you a favor. Lord Silvo knows you have this, you’d be one of the first to be arrested. The last thing my family needs is a criminal.” She called as she climbed into the carriage and shut the door.

  “My family…” she spoke as though I were no longer part of it. Shaking with anger and despair, the last spell I cast was a blood magic spell, sealing my tome so it could never be opened by anyone but me. She was always right, but that didn’t mean they would be getting what they wanted. If I couldn’t have access to my spells, neither would they. I could have just used a spell to take my tome back, but then what? Live as a fugitive for the rest of my life? No thank you. There was too much I needed to do.

  I stood there in the cold winter air, watching as Elidyr’s carriage took her back to the capital, barely registering Rinko and Beth coming to stand on either side of me. It was then that something inside of me broke. At the time, I hadn’t a clue what. But from then on, I couldn’t bring myself to speak cordially with my older sibling. When my parents finally returned from the capital two days later, the tension throughout the house was so thick it could almost be cut with a knife. They didn’t bring up the topic of magic and I couldn’t stand being in the same room as Elidyr. Even Alisdair, who had all but worshipped the ground Elidyr walked, would hardly speak to her.

  For the next few days, I threw myself utterly into my sword practice, vowing that I would dismantle the Astral Order brick by brick if that was what it took to bring magic back. I’d get up before the sun and run off, finding one of my dummies I’d hidden in the trees. It always felt like someone was watching me so I’d been moving it to a different location every day. It was an automaton made with stone, metal, and runes Lady Emilia had helped me with, so I knew Elidyr would be more than happy to take it off my hands. I caught her snooping through my room one morning, not even bothering to hide the fact that she was doing it. “It’s for your own good.” She’d said, clearly annoyed that she hadn’t been able to find anything.

  Years ago, I’d run off to hide in the trees from her when she’d go on her tirades about how dangerous magic was and how I had no business practicing it. Even though she herself had begged me to teach her magic when we were little. But that was before she’d come back from the capital almost a completely different person, no longer allowing me to hang out with my friends, practice magic, and she’d even taken my weapons I’d hidden under my bed. Mom hadn’t been sure what her problem was, but we were old enough to fight our own battles, so she’d stayed out of it.

  I’d snuck into Elidyr’s room through her window that night, taking back what I could grab without waking her up. Thankfully she was a heavy sleeper, but I’d still been terrified out of my whits. Cereus had come to help me and she’d led me to the caves at the foot of the mountains where she showed me a hole small enough for me to crawl through to a hidden room. In the center was a massive tree of magic, glowing magic mushrooms sprouting from every nook and cranny along the wall. A veritable haven for a mage.

  I’d touched the wall and watched as the stone morphed itself into a bookshelf where I could store my tomes. The shelves were wide enough for my weapons too.

  Over the years, the hole I could crawl through had gradually gotten bigger as I’d grown, still allowing me to get in easily. I’d only known that because the rock I’d put in front of it had gotten too small to cover it properly. Instead of finding a bigger one, I’d put an illusion spell over it, hoping that would keep her and anyone else out.

  The next several weeks flew by, quickly turning into months as riots frequently broke out. The Astral Order arrested any who refused to give up magic artifacts if they couldn’t be convinced to join them. The home I lived in with my parents had been raided on numerous occasions, trying to catch me hiding any magic items from them. I avoided going to the cave that I practiced in, hoping that Egen, Raflessia, and Cereus were able to keep it hidden for me. It was a veritable goldmine of tomes, weapons, and artifacts in there now. If they found it… I couldn’t think about that.

  The only time I drew my rapier and dagger was when they started forcing any non-humans further into the forest, putting up a veil to keep them locked away from the rest of the world. They could take magic from us, but they couldn’t take us from each other. We protected our own. I hadn’t wanted to hurt anyone, but when it became kill or be killed, it was a simple answer. I’d joined the hunters who had drawn their weapons and we’d taken down as many as we could to protect those that couldn’t protect themselves. Fighting off the mages had really put my knowledge to the test, blocking spells and firing off my own as quickly as I was able.

  Spring was starting to creep into the corners of the world when they finally left us alone, putting a veil up just before the town, locking us away from the rest of the world. No one seemed to mind at all, even though it made getting certain supplies more difficult, but we managed. The hunters, merchants, and farmers started working more closely together to make sure the town could self-sustain.

  During one such meeting between the groups, Shalana and I were sitting at the bar, me with my apple juice and her with her beer, listening to them discuss what else they were missing.

  “Still set on joining the King’s Army next week?” Shalana asked, taking a sip of her pint.

  “Absolutely.” I said, gripping my cup angrily. I had to be careful, of course, the Astral Order and the King’s Army were two separate entities, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t still be arrested for the times I raised a weapon against the kingdom’s mages. My unusual green hair didn’t help matters any at all, making me stand out like a sore thumb, but I had to do something.

  “Good.” She said, passing her pint to Torgrud so he could refill it.

  “Good?” I asked, surprised to hear she was on board now.

  “Watching you fight, fight for us, made me realize you might actually have what it takes. It’ll be tough, but you go and get your power and strength to make a change.” She said, her brown eyes glinting angrily in the light. “We’ll rally behind you, whatever standard you bear. I know I speak for myself and a vast majority of this forest. You proved yourself that day to us all. Don’t do anything brash, don’t forget us, and don’t lose sight of your goal. If a coup is what it takes to regain our freedom, then so be it.”

  “I only hope I have what it takes to do what needs to be done.” I said, chugging the last of my apple juice.

  “Keep your head down, follow orders, stay alive, and do what you can. You’ll get there.” She said, her eyes flashing as a sinister smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. “We’ll continue what we’re doing out here, biding our time, building our strength, and waiting. Now, you should probably make an appearance at home, test the waters or so to speak.”

  I simply nodded, staring into my apple juice. It was true, I hadn’t been home to see my parents since the day the riots started. I hadn’t said much, but I hadn’t needed to. The sadness etched into the lines on Mom’s face, the dark scowl that had become a semi-permanent fixture for Alisdair, and the deep shadows under Dad’s eyes were enough to say everything.

  Elidyr had come in about the time I’d gone to give my parents a hug before I left for town again, a smug smile on her face. She’d proudly proclaimed what she had done “for us” and berated me some more, gloating about what the Astral Order was going to do. She was 18 so she had every right to do what she chose to, helping the order uphold the law, but it didn’t make it right. My parents had shared a look and I’d gone straight to my room, too angry and hurt to stomach eating dinner. All I could do was bury my face into my pillow and cry, not just for the loss of the last 12 years of my life’s work, but the loss of magic as a whole and our freedom. I’d felt it in the mana. It was angry, cold, and wouldn’t allow itself to be manipulated anymore. The longer it went unused, the more wild, untamed, and stagnant it became. Miasma was thicker than ever in certain parts of the forest, making large swaths of it unlivable now.

  After dinner, Elidyr had come into my room and sat on the end of my bed, but I refused to acknowledge her presence, I didn’t even care if she called me a brat for throwing a temper tantrum over the loss of my tome. I was empty and had no room left for her in my heart right now.

  “You know I had to do it.” Was all she’d said. Maybe so, but that didn’t excuse what she’d done. What she’d helped become reality. Reilu Tuuli had once been known as the City of Magic. Now? I hated to see what it looked like, but I imagined it was a reflection of what I felt. A hollowed out husk. “You would be rotting in a prison cell right now if I hadn’t.”

  She’d laid a hand on my shoulder and I smacked it away as I sat up.

  “Don’t touch me.” I’d all but snarled at her. Angrier than I’d ever been before. “Do you realize what you’ve done to us all?”

  “I’m sorry.” Was all she’d said, backing out of my room.

  Maybe I would be rotting in a cell right about now, but only if they’d found my tome. It was true that it had just been sitting out in the open on the bar, but if they were confiscating items, the Order wouldn’t have come straight for me. They would have started in the capital and worked their way outward, making this town one of the last places to check. She was either sent by someone, or came straight to me herself, knowing I had it. I wasn’t sure I could or would ever forgive her. “I don’t trust you.” Believe me, dear sister, the feeling is mutual.

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  I’d gotten up and jumped out of my window, landing on one of the tree branches below my window, climbing down the the tree as quickly as I could, before sprinting to the dragons that roosted above the cave I had claimed as my own.

  I’d heard their mournful song before I saw them, it was full of heartbreak and loss. As ancient as they were, they remembered the Astral and Umbral War. They remembered hundreds of years before that, when the gods had retreated to their abode, leaving the demons and sages to rule in their stead which had eventually led to the Astral and Umbral War. A repetition of history. Remembering the power of a dragon’s song, I stopped where I was before it could effect me any more than it already had.

  I couldn’t bring myself to go see them, even though I knew they needed me as much as I needed them in that moment. All I could do was sit under the tree and curl up, my silent sobs wracking my body, as the magic of their song worked its way through me.The sun set hours ago and the night chill had set in, but I couldn’t bring myself to move. I was really cold, but it didn’t bother me near as much as the events of the last few weeks. Eventually, I had fallen asleep, only waking when the sun was coming up through the trees. Raflessia, Egen, and Cereus had found me at some point in the night and were sitting in silence near me. I sat up, and silently, Cereus had shifted closer to me and wrapped me in a tight embrace. I wrapped my arms around her and buried my face into her shoulder, unable to cry anymore.

  “We’ll be okay.” I whispered, my voice hoarse from crying too much. She’d only nodded, her powder blue faerie wings fluttering in the breeze. Raflessia sniffed hard from where she was sitting on a mushroom cap, holding Egen’s hand. I held my hand out for them, and they both fluttered to my shoulders, hugging my neck.

  The dragons’ mournful lament continued as I made my way back home, Cereus had assured me that she would go to them. She wasn’t sure they would be happy to see a human, even if that human was me of all people. So I’d gone home, walking with a tiny bit more pep in my step after singing with Raflessia and Egen for a bit, trying to will away the negative thoughts. I’d gone to the cave and sealed it up with blood magic, layering another illusion over top of the seal before leaving the deep part of the forest for the last time in a long time.

  ~~~

  After I left the tavern, I’d gone into the forest, intending to find the dragons, but their mournful lament had woven itself through every bit of the underbrush and trees, and even the motes dancing in the morning sunlight. I was barely within earshot of their song, but I could feel their magic in the very air itself. I backed away and grabbed a Mirrorweed, channeling mana into it as I walked, calling for my friends.

  Cereus, Egen, and Raflessia instantly appeared with a poof.

  “There you are!” Cereus said, squeezing me tightly in a hug.

  “You didn’t have to do all that.” Raflessia said, motioning to the Mirrorweed in my hand.

  “I wasn’t sure if you were busy or not.” I shrugged.

  “Of course not.” Egen grinned, settling on my shoulder. “We fae do as little as possible.”

  “Maybe you do as little as possible.” Raflessia rolled her eyes.

  When Cereus finally pulled away, she elbowed Egen, knocking her off my shoulder.

  “Whoops.” Cereus laughed, watching as Egen caught herself, fluttering back up to my shoulder.

  “You did that on purpose!” She shrieked, running her tiny fingers through her fiery red hair, fixing it.

  “Maybe, maybe not. We’ll never know.” Cereus grinned.

  “Anyway,” I patted Egen on her head. “I was going to see the dragons, but-”

  “Please do!” Cereus grabbed my hand. “We’ve tried everything, the queen even tried talking to them, but-”

  “Nothing is working.” Raflessia said, shaking her head. “Please, you’ve got to help them.”

  “I’m not sure how to… every time I get close, I feel their magic.”

  “Do you remember the armor you made with them using their scales?” Cereus asked.

  “Yeah, what about it?”

  “Do you have it with you still?”

  “No… I think it’s in my tome…” I closed my eyes, sighing in frustration, before remembering the scales glinting blue. I snapped my eyes open “No! It’s in the cave.”

  “Are you sure?” Cereus asked, her blue eyes lighting up.

  “Yes, I remember seeing it when I left.” I nodded.

  “Let’s go get it then, come on.” she shot off, buffeting Raflessia away.

  “I swear, she forgets her manners around us.” Raflessia grumbled, flitting to sit on my left shoulder.

  “So do you two.” I chuckled, using magic to sprout my own green dragonfly wings, following Cereus to the cave.

  Raflessia and Egen wove an enchantment around me, blocking the dragon’s magic for a short time. The closer we got to the cave, the more they strained to hold it up.

  Cereus met us outside of it with the armor in her hands, the emerald green scales glinting in the sunlight.

  “Put it on, quick.” She said, handing pieces to me.

  I slid the chest plate over my dress before putting the gauntlets on while Cereus helped me get the boots on.

  “It should help you with their magic, I don’t know if it makes you immune or if it just blocks it some, or if it, I dunno, morphs you with the magic so it doesn’t effect you. Not sure how the lizard’s magic works.” Raflessia said, shrugging.

  “Regardless, it does something to help. We’ll go with you, but if you have to fight them, you’re on your own.” Egen said, yawning.

  Cereus rolled her eyes, summoning her skyblue sword. “I’ll help you.”

  “I will too,” Raflessia said, jumping from my shoulder, using her magic to create a human-sized clone of herself. She settled herself on its shoulder, before making it fly towards the dragon’s roost.

  “Are you really going to be the odd one out?” I asked, Egen, snickering as she grumbled.

  “I’ll be the one to help you the most.” She huffed, tucking herself into the top of my chest plate. “Come on, let’s go!” She pointed.

  “Fine, fine.” I shook my head and followed Cereus up to the roost.

  I felt their enchantment wear off and felt the dragon’s magic, but it hit me and slid off like water, not affecting me the least bit.

  We landed on the edge of the rock platform, where three massive dragons sat, wailing their lament, their wings outspread and heads turned skyward.

  I shuddered as Tiamat, a massive blue dragon, and the oldest of the three, strengthened her song, crying for her children that fought in the mage war. Her children, lost beneath the eternal ice, never to fly over the mountains again. I released my wings and channeled mana into my armor, causing her scales in it to glow blue. Her song passed by me, no longer drawing me in to her despair.

  This was going to be tricky… If I got her to stop, the other two were more than likely going to cause her to continue her lament. As close as they were as siblings, there’s no way she’d be able to push it away for long.

  I walked closer to Eldora, her reddish-orange scales almost blinding in the sunlight. Her lament being sung for her lost love, her mate of several centuries who flew north to battle the demon of ice itself. I channeled mana into her scales in my armor, causing them to glow too, effectively blocking her lament as well.

  Ormr, the green dragon was left. His anguish was hardest to bear. Lamenting for magic, the forest, his sisters, and his friend. Me. We’d always had fierce competitions when I’d first learned to summon fairy wings of my own, to see who could fly the fastest and furthest. At first, I’d lost very quickly, but once I’d figured out better mana control, I’d been able to keep up longer and longer. Eventually beating him from the southern edge of the Deepwood Forest to the nests. I hadn’t realized how much he looked forward to our races until now. Now that he was lamenting them, now that I couldn’t use magic.

  I quickly channeled mana into the rest of the scales on my armor, blocking his lament too. I walked to the center of the platform and stood in the middle of a star flower I’d spent months painting on the ground, that they’d polished with their magic so it wouldn’t fade or chip.

  I started singing my own song, countering their loss with hope of the future. I sang of new adventures we could have, times that changed, but could change again. I lamented of my own losses, my friends’ losses, but countered it with my own hopes for the future. I could feel my own mana blending with the song, carrying it to them. I only hoped they could hear it.

  “Don’t stop, Riv!” Cereus called. “I think it’s working!”

  I started again, but stopped, switching to a lullaby Mom used to sing. “Come with me, to the shore by the lake. The gods have left to rest their heads. If they can rest, then so can we. Right here, in the sun or the moon, on the shore by the lake.” My mana pulled away from me before I could hold onto it, pouring too much into the song.

  I opened my eyes and slid to my knees as the silence hit me, the dragons curling up, falling asleep immediately.

  “It worked.” Cereus gaped, tossing her sword into the air where it disappeared.

  “Good.” I slid onto my back and threw my arm over my face, blocking out the sunlight. “I hope I never have to do that again.” I forced out a laugh, exhausted.

  “It’s a good thing you can sing, if you’d sounded bad, I probably would’ve pushed you off the cliff.” Egen said, settling on my stomach.

  “I’d like to see you try.” I snorted.

  “Lady Rivienne?” A soft voice called from the edge of the roost.

  “Your Majesty!” Cereus gasped.

  I sat up quickly, knocking Egen off. Sure enough, the fae queen stood there, her silver wings and dress sparkling in the sunlight.

  “Your Majesty.” I said, plucking Egen up before I set her on my shoulder as I stood.

  “I was coming back to check on the dragons when I heard their lament stop. Thank you for doing this.” She walked towards us. Most fae thought it was taboo to set foot on the ground like a lowly human, but not her or Cereus, her outcast daughter.

  “I’m glad I was able to help.” I replied, looking at the sleeping dragons.

  “Cereus, we must return to the fae sanctuary.” Queen Ranunculus “Ranu” said, motioning to her daughter.

  “You know I can’t go back.” Cereus said, shaking her head.

  “I’m sorry I banished you, but we’ve talked about this.” Ranu said, holding her hand out.

  “We have talked about it, but that doesn’t mean I’m willing to return. I have a home here now.” Cereus, said, turning away, rubbing her arms.

  “I’ll respect your wish, but Cereus, if you don’t return, Hellebore will be next in line to become king.”

  “Hellebore will be a good king, you’ve said it yourself for years now.” Cereus said, turning back to Queen Ranu. “Better than I could ever dream of. Besides, would the fae really want someone who was banished by their own mother to become their ruler? No, of course not. Don’t try to ingratiate yourself with me. I love you, Mother. I really do, but I don’t belong there anymore. Not now, and probably not ever.” With that, Cereus turned and waved to me before she took off, flying away from us.

  Queen Ranu sighed, her shoulder slumping. “I had hoped… Nevermind.” She shook her head before turning back to Raflessia, Egen, and I.

  “Normally a gift would be given for your help, but I was not prepared. I’m sorry.” Queen Ranu said, walking closer to us. “However, I am willing to deal in favors, just this once.”

  Owing a fae a favor was really bad, but somehow having a fae that owed you tended to be worse. “No, Your Majesty, don’t worry about it.” I shook my head. “Your gratitude is enough for me.”

  “What kind of queen would I be if I didn’t uphold my own subjects’ unspoken laws?” She smiled mischievously, walking closer. Raflessia and Egen disappeared behind my back. Traitors.

  I smiled nervously, suddenly reminded that the fae were dangerous and were not to be messed with for any reason.

  “You could ask for anything.” She smiled, sending shivers down my spine as she brushed her cold fingers across my cheek.

  “A.. a weapon.” I blurted out.

  “Is that all?” She asked, her smile turning into a disappointed pout. “I should have known, after all, it’s you I’m talking to.”

  “Don’t you have enough?” Raflessia hissed from behind me.

  I’d gotten a set of armor from the dragons, a halberd from Torgrud, a bow from my brother, a set of jeweled knives from Elidyr for my birthday a few years back, not to mention the weapons I’d made myself from magic. It was true I had plenty. One could say too many, but I didn’t have a fae sword. They were made from plants and magic, allowing the user to use plant magic. Binding foe with vines or just causing flowers to sprout in abundance. Plus, they were just really, really pretty.

  “Fine,” Queen Ranu said after a moment before summoning a water lily and pulling a sword from it. It was silver at the top with pale pink and white metal petals protruding from the hilt, forming a guard, the blade silver and green ombre, curving at the end. “I trust I don’t need to explain to you the danger of using this sword?”

  “No, Your Majesty.” I shook my head, admiring the blade. “I will use it sparingly and only one magic has been returned to the humans, and the veil taken down.”

  “A symbol, then? Well, you have my approval.” She nodded, before her wings started fluttering, allowing her to hover in the air. “Go then, little human. Fight your battles and leave the dragons to us fae, we’ll be watching from the sunlight and shadows.” She said, before flying off. Disappearing with a poof of starlight.

  “Sheesh,” Egen said, landing on my shoulder again. “I forgot how scary she was.”

  “You’re brave,” Raflessia said, patting my shoulder as she too, settled on my other shoulder.

  I looked down at my new sword in my hand and sighed, wishing I could use it. It was much, much lighter than any of the traditional metals used for weaponsmithing, but I couldn’t use it until magic was allowed again. It felt like a waste, but I walked back to my cave and hid it and my dragonscale armor amongst the other weapons anyway. I had my work cut out for me, but I was going to do it, or die trying.