Chosen Sister (4 page)

“So, you think that’s a good deal, do you?” the Gold Wizard asked. His lack of concern at the harpies circling him both impressed and worried Reina.
What will we do if they kill him?

“Better than my master would give you, if we brought you back alive.”

The Gold Wizard nodded. “I suppose it is in that case, but I shall decline, all the same.” He waved his staff, muttering some strange words under his breath. Gold light blasted wildly from the end of it. It missed the lead harpy, though, only blasting off the tail of the one next to her. Feathers filled the air.

The harpy shrieked, “My tail, my beautiful tail!”

“Drat,” muttered the Gold Wizard. “It was supposed to be your not-so-beautiful head.”

“Get him!” yelled the lead harpy.

They dove at him. He swung his staff, moving surprisingly fast for an old man, although it didn’t make his aim any better. The harpies dodged back and forth as the staff swirled around his head. He clunked one on the head, and it fell to the ground, but this action opened him up on the other side. A harpy grabbed his shoulder and began pulling at him.

Another dove at him, but he ducked, and its claws knocked off his hat. The Gold Wizard’s long white beard flapped in disarray. He tried to swerve and hit the harpy that had a hold on his shoulder. He managed to shake it off, hitting it with a thud, but two others grabbed his hair in its claws.

“Yowch!” he screamed as they tried to lift him up by the hair. To Reina’s utter amazement, his entire head of hair, including the beard, came off in the harpies’ claws. They screeched in surprise, flying in opposite directions, which ripped the wig in half.

Reina gaped at the Gold Wizard. He had the face of a young man, maybe twenty at the oldest, with short, black hair plastered to his head. His expression was grim. He used the harpies’ distraction though, twisting his left hand in an outward motion while he twirled the staff in his right, muttering strange words again.

“Hah, found you, sweetlings,” cackled a harpy behind the children.

Austyn made a half-yelling, half-sobbing noise and clutched Reina tighter. She turned and threw a rock at the harpy, but it hopped to one side, cackling. It clawed at them again, and Reina dragged Austyn backwards.

“Children!” bellowed the Gold Wizard. “Here!”

Gold light again began to surround him, flashing with bright specks of rainbow colors. Reina dragged Austyn out from under the cart. The lead harpy swooped at them, but Reina reached the flashing colors surrounding the Gold Wizard. He grabbed her hand, and a huge bang shook the ground. Smoke surrounded them, making her and Austyn cough.

If she could have stuffed her fingers in her ears, Reina would have, because one of the harpies gave a blood-curdling scream. The smoke cleared just enough that she caught sight of another harpy, now a ball of fire, falling from the sky. She gasped, which made her breathe in smoke and start hacking again.

“Drat, drat, drat,” muttered the Gold Wizard. “That wasn’t quite what I wanted to do. Lemme see….”

He started muttering something else, and sparks showered down on them. Austyn whimpered.

“Hey!” yelled Reina. “You’re gonna set us on fire!”

“Sorry. Let’s try this.”

Wind rose, blowing away the smoke. Reina’s hair swirled, and she shook her head to get it out of her eyes. The fierce gale blew the harpies backwards. The wind threatened to blow Austyn away and he clung to Reina while she gripped the Gold Wizard’s hand. The Gold Wizard moved his staff in a circular motion, and the wind whirled in a tornado around them. It increased in speed until the Gold Wizard rose a few feet off the ground.

He tugged, pulling Reina and Austyn upwards, and they hung from him, now in the air as well. The harpies battled the wind, trying to break through it to attack them.

“Hold tight!” the Gold Wizard yelled.

The wind changed, rushing forward, and suddenly they raced across the meadow. The harpies, now screaming with rage, flew behind them, trying to catch up. The wind ripped the air from Reina’s lungs, her eyes stung, and she could hardly see. All she could make out was a dark blur ahead of them, getting closer and closer. They slowed a little as they approached it, and the harpies gained on them. One of them raked its claws across the Gold Wizard’s shoulder. Austyn screamed.

Then darkness closed in upon them, and trees whizzed past at a terrifyingly close range. They were again in the woods, safe from the harpies, but the Gold Wizard seemed to have lost control. Branches caught at them, and they headed straight toward a huge tree trunk. Reina screamed, trying to tear her hand out of the Gold Wizard’s grip.

Her yanking seemed to wake him up out of whatever trance the spell had put him in. He groaned, the wind ceased, and inches before crashing into the tree, they fell instead. The wizard landed first, Reina and Austyn on top of him. They rolled off onto the mossy ground. Reina hit a bush that scratched her down one cheek, making it burn. She struggled up, looking for Austyn. He had fared better and landed in a patch of ferns.

The Gold Wizard lay there for a long moment among the roots of the tree and then sat up with a moan, rubbing his head. He looked incredibly young, his expression dazed and his black hair standing straight up. Anger bubbled up inside of Reina. He wasn’t old or wise at all, but a young idiot!

“I feel terrible.” He stretched his other arm and yelped in pain. Reina noticed red staining the fabric and his bloody shoulder peeking through the tear. She felt a rush of sympathy and was even more annoyed. She didn’t want to feel sorry for him—she wanted to stay angry.

“You’re not old!” She stood up and shook her finger at him. “You lied to us!”

He grimaced and leaned against the tree trunk. “No, I didn’t lie about anything. I never said I was old—you just assumed.”

“But…” spluttered Reina. “You had a fake beard. You talked all old and everything. That’s just the same.”

The Gold Wizard smiled. “No, it isn’t. People expect wizards to be old. They want wizards to be old, because they think that makes them wiser and more powerful. If I looked young no one would believe I was a wizard, or at least not a good one. So I give people what they want, let them see what they believe a wizard is. I’m the same person I’ve always been.” He grimaced again and gingerly touched his shoulder. “This isn’t good.”

Reina found it even harder to stay angry. He looked so … innocent, childlike. She wanted to tell him she still considered that lying to people, but couldn’t find the words to articulate why he was wrong and she was right. However, he was wounded, and he’d just saved them. She searched her mind for more angry words, but before she could continue, Austyn came up to her and touched her shoulder. She turned. He shook his head, silently telling her to be nice, and the words dissolved unsaid.

“I’m sorry it bothers you, about my appearance,” the Gold Wizard said. He looked a little sickly. “But I did tell you the truth about the medallion, the sword, and the prophecy. That’s what’s important—defeating the Red Wizard and his monsters. Does it really matter whether old or young people do it? Every year, things get worse.” He gave Reina a stern look. “Even you can see it. How the farmers have less and less, how the harpies come more often…. “He looked like he might cry.

“All the children they take,” Reina whispered, finishing the sentence for him. For the first time since their leaving, all her fears for Austyn retreated, and she felt the great need for the Child Warrior, the importance of defeating the Red Wizard. She had to help Austyn do it, not just to protect him, but for everyone else—her parents, her friends, and all the other innocent people in the country. Determination rose in her: she
would
find a way to help Austyn kill the Red Wizard and yet protect him at the same time.

The Gold Wizard pulled a pouch from his robes. He wet a rag with a flask of something and then beckoned to her. “Here, let me wash that scratch on your face. We don’t want it to get infected.”

Reina approached and let him wash it, although it stung horribly.

“Now, are you able to wash mine?” he asked. “Don’t let the blood worry you … if we bandage it, it should be fine.”

“I’m not afraid of blood.” Reina frowned.

Even if he was trying to be nice and do the right thing, she didn’t appreciate the wizard’s patronizing tone, and none of his spells had gone exactly right yet. However, she washed his shoulder and bandaged it just as he described. While he might not be a good wizard, he was the only one they had—and the only one who knew where they were headed.

“Where are we going now?” She tied off the bandage.

“Erm, well, we’ll have to circle through the woods until the harpies get off our trail. Then we’ll still make our way to the Stream of Eternal Pouring and get the sword.”

“Do we go right now?” Austyn asked.

“I think it’s better if we make camp and rest for a day or two before moving on,” the Gold Wizard said. “I’m weak after using so much magic and wounded too. Plus your sister is scratched up.”

Reina glanced back the way they’d come but couldn’t see the edge of the woods. Thick trees surrounded them, and the fading light darkened them in shadow. It gave her an ominous feeling. She still didn’t like knowing that only a little way back, harpies flew around trying to find them. “I think we should find a better camping spot.”
One further in.

The Gold Wizard stood up with a groan. “I agree. This way.”

Reina was tired. The woods got darker, and she had to take care not to trip on roots and rocks while she followed the Gold Wizard into the thickening darkness. Moonlight didn’t reach the ground through the branches overhead, and she and Austyn kept stumbling. She heard the Gold Wizard bang into some bushes and curse. Then he turned back to them.

“I don’t want to light a fire. We’re too close to the edge of the woods. We’ll just have to sleep here and find a better camp tomorrow.”

“But I thought the harpies can’t come in the woods,” Austyn said, sounding pitiful.

“They can’t, but other things can.”

Austyn whimpered. Reina drew him close.

“Don’t worry,” the Gold Wizard said. “I’ll protect us. We’ll be perfectly safe.”

“Yeah,” Reina said, squeezing Austyn. “Remember, he used all that magic on the harpies. We’ll be fine.” She didn’t believe it herself, however; she thought the Gold Wizard had mostly botched the harpy business. The more she saw of his magic, the less it impressed her, although she still desperately wished she could learn it. For one thing, she was sure she could do a better job at it. Perhaps if the Gold Wizard showed off less and concentrated more, things would go better. But she didn’t mention any of this. It would only worry Austyn and start a fight with the Gold Wizard. He didn’t seem willing to admit he wasn’t the best.

The Gold Wizard parted some branches and lay down under a bush. Reina pushed Austyn in after him and then lay down so that Austyn was between them, keeping him warm and safe. Within minutes, she heard from their breathing that they’d both fallen asleep.

Although she was tired, sleep wouldn’t come quickly to her. She stared up through the tangle of branches, seeing a single star looking down through everything at her. It seemed to whisper hope to her. And even though she wasn’t the Chosen One, even though the Gold Wizard seemed incompetent, even though everything had gone wrong, she found herself happy to be here, out in the woods, on an adventure.

When she woke at dawn, stiff, cold, and annoyed, Reina had finished with adventures. She felt a wave of homesickness as she stood, staring at the endless trees. She longed to be by the kitchen fire, stirring a pot of oatmeal for her mother, watching her father put on his boots to go out to the fields. The trees looked cold and unfriendly compared to the memories of home.

Reina tried to ignore the lump in her chest and went to find wood. By the time Austyn and the Gold Wizard woke, she had a nice fire going. Of course they had nothing to cook, since they had abandoned their stuff when the harpies had attacked.

The Gold Wizard, however, surprised her by producing from his robes a large tin cup and some strips of dried meat. Reina heated water in the cup, and the wizard added the meat and some herbs to make a broth. While it wasn’t as filling as they would have liked, it was much better than nothing.

“We’ll gather some more supplies and rest a day,” the Gold Wizard told them. “Then we’ll go to my home, The Clearing of Whispering Secrets. There, I’ll teach you magic, so we can hide better from the Red Wizard while we retrieve the sword. Then we’ll have both the magic and the supplies we need.”

He poked his finger at Austyn. “But today, my magic is low, so we rest, and I’ll teach you some defense magic just in case.”

Austyn’s face looked pale. Reina pressed her lips together, fighting off her longing to learn magic, and hurried to reassure him.

“It’ll be really fun, Austyn. Maybe you’ll learn to fly!”

“Oh, no, that’s much too advanced,” the wizard broke in quickly. “Instead, I’ll show you something much simpler. A defense spell, something that will protect you against things like harpies. Here, stand clear of the fire. Now feel the warmth of the medallion—use it as a focus.”

The Gold Wizard, using only his left arm, positioned Austyn a few yards from the fire in an open space. Austyn, looking worried, clutched the medallion in his hands. Reina sat by the fire, watching closely, wondering how the heat of magic would feel. She thought of how the medallion had tingled in her hands when she had picked it up. She hadn’t touched it since.

“There now,” the Gold Wizard continued, backing up. “The medallion should feel like it has a heat in it, and you reach into that heat, use it. Gather it into yourself and picture it becoming light and surrounding you, creating a protective barrier. And as you do that, say
draythin argrata
.”

Austyn wrinkled his nose. “Say what?”

”
Draythin argrata
. It means … er … protective light, approximately, in the language of mages. Words help to focus thoughts, and these words are of an ancient language spoken during the time of creation, so they are more powerful.”