Chapter 16

NYLA woke with a cough whilst trying to take deeper breaths between her constricted airways. She tried to move her hands only to find that they were restrained behind her and when she tried to conjure her magic, she couldn’t.

Black Obsidian: the only material that could restrain magic. Most cells made for Conjurers were made from Black Obsidian to prevent them from escaping.

Whoever captured them had to have some serious coin in their pocket. That and a death wish if they thought they could kidnap the Sybils of the Five Regions and get away with it.

Nyla heard movement to her left and turned to see her companions kneeling beside her. Looking around the room she saw several other people with them. They were all dressed the same: tattered robes, dirt smeared on their faces, and short hair. They all held gleaming chipped swords in their hands, with wild eyes daring them to move. Sage rebels. Dirty barbarians hiding in the mountains. They were known for kidnapping, pillaging, and wreaking chaos in the outlying Sage villages. The only reason why nothing has been done yet was that the Sage Guarde couldn’t find their hideout.

“Ah, I see everyone’s awake.” A voice said, entering the room. It was the same blonde-haired man that stood in front of the five Sybils that appeared before Nyla and Rowan at the chasm. “The five clans’ Sybils. Mmm. I’ve heard rumours of five Sybils searching for pieces of the Althea Sphere.”

“I don’t know who your source is, but you should consider finding another one,” Rowan said.

“Is that so?” Blondie grinned.

“Quite so.”

“It’s such a pity. You could imagine how valuable the pieces of the Althea Sphere are, if you happened to have any of them, I’m sure we can negotiate your freedom.”

“The only thing we’ll be negotiating is your death sentence,” Enid spat, “Who do you think you are to kidnap the Sybils of Melgaesia?” A rebel punched Enid in the face before kicking him in the gut.

“Enough!” Nyla exclaimed.

“Got something to say, Pretty?” Blondie asked as he pressed the tip of his blade against her throat.

“Your days are numbers, you barbaric filth,” She whispered venomously.

Anger shined in Blondie’s eyes as he brought up his blade to strike her and swung.

“Stop!” Rowan yelled. The blade stopped against Nyla’s neck. “I’ll tell you everything.” She looked over at him and shook her head, but he ignored her signal. “I’ll tell you everything.” He repeated.

“That’s what I want to hear,” Blondie said and exited the room. Two rebels picked Rowan up and led him away, then the rest of the Sybils were lifted and shoved out of the room as well. Nyla was slightly supported by one of the rebels as she struggled to walk with her twisted ankle.

Each Sybil was then tossed into a cell of stone. A wrought iron gate closed behind them.

Nyla sucked in her breath as she slowly backed herself against the back wall and let out a sigh of relief once she stopped moving, allowing her ankle to rest.

“What happened, Nyla?” Enid’s voice sounded through the walls, once all the rebels had left.

“Well,” She grunted as she shifted slightly, “We found it and destroyed it. So, there’s that, only to have Blondie find us and gas us. How about you?”

“A similar experience along those lines,” He huffed.

“What happened to you?” Kai’s voice followed. He must have noticed her limp.

Nyla sighed, “I sprained my ankle, falling down a hole into a mass of water.”

“Guys, what are we going to do?” Ezra asked, fear audible in her voice.

“We gotta get out of here,” Nyla brought her restrained hands under her and past her bottom so she could pull her legs through, bringing her hands before her. “Anybody know how to break Obsidian?”

“It’s impossible,” Enid replied.

Nyla held her head. “Come on Nyla, think.” If Black Obsidian restrains magic by inhibiting it, it can only be destroyed by an extremely powerful outside source. Nyla looked up. “Kai. Do you still have the charm Enid gave us?”

“Yes, why?” She smiled. One could always count on Kai to have secret pockets hidden in his robes that even the rebels, who patted them down earlier to take their weapons, wouldn’t find.

“Smash your restraints against the orb,” she said.

After a few minutes of movement, Nyla heard the sound of smashing glass and a cry of pain.

“Kai?”

“It worked.”

Shuffled sounds echoed in the hallway, and they watched as Rowan, who looked badly beat up, was dragged to the cell opposite hers.

“Rowan!” she called.

The door blew off Kai’s cell as he walked out and threw the rebels back with a blast of magic. He then moved to free Enid, and together they freed Nyla and Ezra.

Ezra knelt beside Nyla to inspect her ankle, but she pushed her away. “Rowan needs your help more than me.” Ezra nodded and rushed toward Rowan’s cell.

Nyla placed her hands over her injured ankle, casting a taunt net of magic to wrap itself around it. It didn’t fix her ankle, but it would hold for now. She headed over to Rowan’s cell and saw how badly banged up he was. One half of his face was swollen, almost as though it had been pummelled on, and he groaned loudly as Enid lifted him, letting him rest in his lap.

“We got to go,” Enid said.

“Can you walk?” Kai asked, looking down at Nyla’s makeshift cast.

“I’ll be fine,”

Enid and Ezra supported Rowan while Nyla and Kai took the lead as they began their escape through the solid maze.

They turned a corner, and Nyla’s eyes widened at the sudden attack by one of the rebels and didn’t have time to react. Kai pushed her to the side, shielding her and was stabbed through the shoulder. He grunted as Nyla threw her magic at the rebel, sending him flying backward and into the wall. Kai gripped the sword and pulled it from his shoulder with a hiss. He gripped his shoulder and nodded at Nyla. He’d be fine.

Nyla turned away from him to look at their surroundings. “Shoot! Which hallway did we come from?” The hall they entered split into five. She looked back at Enid and Ezra with a moaning Rowan between them. “Okay.” She closed her eyes, listening intently to the sounds in her surroundings. A ringing from one of the hallways made her open her eyes. “This way.” She led them down one of the halls.

Nyla could feel a pull towards a room to their left and peeked inside to find all their weapons laid on a table in the centre of the room, two rebels admiring Kai’s glinting blade.

Nyla entered the room with her hand extended, and one of her axes soared through the air and into her hand. Before the rebels could comprehend what was happening, Nyla flung her axe at one of the rebels while summoning her other axe and flung that one too. Both axes then returned into her familiar grip. Kai entered the room, trying not to look impressed, and picked up his sword with his good arm. Nyla placed her axes behind her as Enid helped Rowan to lean against a table while he and Ezra grabbed their weapons as well.

Nyla supported Rowan, allowing Enid to twirl his staff, making it extend when several rebels spotted them in the hallway. He sent energy through the staff and slammed it down to the ground making the ground crack and crumble, before catapulting himself across the air and landing in a crouch. Kai had followed his lead and swiped across the air, an arc of magic sliced through the air, taking down the rebels before them.

“Let’s go,” Kai said.

They found themselves in front of a bridge in the large cave and with haste, ran across it. Cries of anger echoed behind them. When they reached the other side, Kai cut the ropes, making the wooden bridge fall, the rebels unable to follow. Blondie stood on the other side fuming.

“I guess you’re not getting paid!” Rowan called, then chuckled which turned into coughs. Nyla rolled her eyes. Even in his beat-up condition, Rowan still found a way to insult people. Kai and Enid each reached for an arm and helped Rowan to walk, making their way down the tunnel, hoping it led out.

***

The group of Sybils had successfully made their way to one of Rosemary Ridges’ villages. A small and quiet village called Baylee. Ezra had found them an inn on the edge of the village to stay. Enid had gone to fetch them food from the kitchen downstairs while Ezra and Nyla were sitting beside Rowan who had fallen asleep a while ago. Ezra was busy healing his wounds. Nyla just kept her company.

She looked over at the basket of medical supplies the landlady had given them upon their arrival and shot one last look at Rowan before she picked up the basket and headed out.

Knocks on Kai’s door made him look up from where he was sitting on his bed, holding his shoulder.

“Hey.” Nyla greeted standing at the door, “I brought some medical supplies to treat your wound.” She knew Kai well enough to know that he wouldn’t allow anyone to treat his wound. That was just the type of person he was. He’d try and clean it himself, not doing that great of a job, and then be forced to let Lilo heal it later, but Lilo wasn’t here right now, so she had to do it as Ezra was running low on magic already. Besides, Nyla had done basic training on cleaning wounds and felt it was sufficient enough for Kai’s injury.

“It’s fine, don’t worry,” Kai replied, releasing his shoulder and looking away.

Nyla rolled her eyes and walked over to him. She placed the basket of supplies on the bed and moved to remove Kai’s robe to expose his injured shoulder, but he flinched away. Nyla gave him a look making him sigh. He then helped her to take off his robe and turned so that his back faced her, making it easier for her to clean the wound. Nyla took a piece of cloth and soaked it in water then began to clean the blood away.

“How’s your ankle,” Kai asked.

“Better. Ezra fixed it the moment we arrived.” Nyla replied, rinsing out the cloth before cleaning again.

“The only piece remaining is the one from Lily Cove,” Kai looked over his shoulder at Nyla.

“I know.” She sighed, placing the cloth aside and picking up two fresh pieces of cloth.

“What are you going to do?”

“The only thing I can do. Destroy it.” Nyla applied alcohol to the two pieces of cloth before she pressed them on either side of Kai’s wound. He winced and grabbed her forearm, reflexively. He looked over at her and let go, a little embarrassed. Nyla smiled slightly.

“Are you going to tell everyone?” he asked, biting his tongue from the stinging pain in his shoulder.

“No,” Nyla placed the cloths back into the basket, done cleaning Kai’s wound. She looked at him one last time and smiled awkwardly then got up to leave.

Kai reached for her hand, “You don’t have to do it alone.”

Nyla smiled with a nod, carefully pulling her hand back before leaving.

***

After the Sybils had finished their dinner, they all retreated to their bedrooms. However, Nyla was unable to fall asleep and instead walked out of her room to go and stand on the balcony. She leaned her arms on the inn rail and closed her eyes enjoying the feeling of the warm breeze brushing her cheeks. She began to think about what Kai had said and how he offered

to help her, only he was unaware that there was no way to help her.