Chapter 39 part 1

Emily yawned as she stretched after waking up when the sun rose. She wasn't sure what time it was. Other than dawn, noon, sunset and other times like those, time had started to lose all meaning for her. She wasn't sure if it was a good thing, but she was sure that it meant she should be on her way soon.

However, she was also sure that she needed to help her new friends. Not that she could say what she was supposed to do about them or for them. Or if there was anything she should do, let alone could do.

Emphris had disappeared shortly after she'd had that talk with her, not that Emily thought that was strange. This was almost like a homeless camp, where some people would appear one day and disappear the next, only to reappear sometime down the line.

Emily wondered if she should talk with Eddra about accompanying her as she left and found her way to another city, after she caught some fish for breakfast. If she was up for it, then Emily wouldn't have to worry about how they might fare once she left. Yet, if she wasn't, Emily couldn't be sure if she wouldn't want to wait longer, just to make sure that at least the two children Eddra was taking care of would at least get enough to eat. Even if it was pretty much just fish.

However, no matter what else she did, first things first. She carefully made her way over to the river, wondering if there was anything she could get other than just fish. She had started to wonder why eating nothing but fish wasn't having an impact on her health. From what little she understood from her health class, she should be eating more than just one item from a single food group, but she'd barely had anything other than fish since coming to this world.

Regardless of why, she didn't exactly have the time to look into the matter, nor did she really care that much. All she really worried about was having something to eat when she got hungry.

Emily looked out over the river and wondered about where the river went to and also where it came from. It was a peaceful morning and she couldn't be sure how many she might actually get once she left this place.

A sound behind her, brought Emily back to the present. She thought it was one of the residence of the homeless camp, but when she turned to look, she saw what looked like a soldier, holding a bag in one hand and chains in the other, that had ends that looked like essentially handcuffs, or whatever they were called.

Emily briefly glanced behind him and saw other soldiers moving quietly capturing other residents that lived in the encampment. She watched as the soldier walk towards her, feeling like this might be at least similar to what happened when she first arrived here. However, this time she had people she was determined to protect, whom most likely wouldn't be able to protect themselves.

Emily could see other soldiers that were getting close to where Eddra, Vaelis, and Kaelys were. Where she had left them when she came down to catch some fish. Which meant she needed to get back there fast.

"You can do this one of two ways," Emily told the soldier. "You can either move on to someone else or you can have a very bad day."

The soldier didn't seem as if she heard Emily. She merely looked like she was just facing someone who couldn't do a thing about what she was about to do. Which meant that she was choosing to have a very bad day.

Emily whispered the same words she normally used when creating her magical fishing net while she pulled on her magic, but this time she tweaked it a little and made a net that looked almost like her usual fishing net. However, unlike her usual fishing net, this one was rather sticky. Which would make the soldier unable to get it off. At least for a long while.

Then Emily swung it at the soldier, making sure that part of the net would touch the ground. Which would mean the soldier wasn't going to be able to move for a while. As the net was sticking to her and the ground. Maybe she'd be able to get out of it if she stripped everything off of her, but the bag and the chains were also sticking to the net, so she'd have to change those out if she wanted to try and put those on Emily.

After she accomplished that, she started running back to where she had left Eddra, Vaelis, and Kaelys. She wanted to make sure that they weren't captured as well. Fortunately, the bulk of the other soldiers were still farther away, so she didn't have to contend with another. Not that she'd have done anything differently. Or at least nothing that didn't hinder her own efforts to get where she wanted to go.

What exactly was going on, she couldn't say. Only that whether or not Eddra wanted to leave, they were leaving. Right away.

Even though she had walked to the river and was now running back at full speed, it felt like it took the exact same amount of time to cross that distance. However, she pushed that thought out of her mind as soon as it came up. She didn't have time to speculate about that. They needed to leave.

As Emily pushed her way into the shelter that Eddra had cobbled together out of what materials were available. Which seemed to be sturdy enough and kept them dry, mostly, when it had rained. Which was another thought that Emily had to push out of her mind because of what she knew was coming.

"Did you get enough fish already?" Eddra asked, surprised.

Emily shook her head. "No, I didn't have a chance. We have to leave. Now," she told Eddra, hoping they really did have time for this exchange.

"What's going on?" Eddra asked, her alarmed tone causing Vaelis and Kaelys to perk their heads up, their faces fearful.

"Soldiers are rounding people up," Emily said.

"Oh, yeah, those," Eddra said, looking at Vaelis and Kaelys, rubbing their heads.

Emily waited for her to say more, but when Eddra remained silent, she sighed. "Alright, what's the deal here?" Emily asked, feelin a little irritated. "Why aren't you worried about it?"

Eddra then looked at Emily. "Because it's not like we can get away from them. Even if we did, where would we go? How would we survive?"

Emily suppressed the urge to scream in Eddra's face. It was merely possible that she wasn't thinking that Emily could do anything, even with the magic Eddra had seen Emily wield.

"Look, I don't care where we go. All I know is that we need to leave. If you're worried about getting food, I can assure you that I'll still be able to get fish as long as we're by the river. If we need to leave it, I'm sure I'll be able to get more some other way," Emily replied.

"How?" Eddra looked at Emily her expression confused.

Emily moved forward and knelt in front of her. "I'll teach you if I can," Emily said. "There's so much that you can learn, but only if you're willing to try at least."

Eddra sighed and looked back at Vaelis and Kaelys. "Can you guarantee they'll be alright?"

Emily shook her head. "No, but you also can't guarantee they'll be alright if you let the soldiers capture you anyway."

When she could see the doubt wasn't leaving Eddra's eyes, Emily bit back her pride and carefully pulled on her magic, in the same way she had done with several of her conquests in various camps she'd been at. Only one hadn't been successful, Charlie Rivers. Part of the reason was that they had been interrupted on her first attempt, but after that, she couldn't figure out how it stopped working.

Something that Heathcliff hadn't ever realized was that it wasn't about any specific words or anything, but rather continually talking with the person as she adjusted her magic to shift the other person's desires. Changing those desires into something that was more in line with what Emily wanted.

In a way, it was almost like hypnotism, but a little more extreme. Yet, in this instance, she was using this method of enchanting another person in order to keep them from doing something Emily was certain would harm them.

"Let's look at it this way," Emily continued, allowing her magic to mix in with her words, to give them more weight in Eddra's mind. "If they capture you, then you're not going to be able to do anything against them if they want to. If you come with me, maybe we'll go hungry at some point, maybe not. What I can guarantee you is that you won't be separated from Vaelis or Kaelys. Not while we're both around."

Emily felt like slapping herself when she heard that last statement in her own voice. It almost sounded like they were a couple. There was no way that she'd do that to Ruthie, but somehow she'd phrased her words in a way that was far too suggestive for her likes. Ruthie had always been fine with Emily having other conquests on the side, but Emily never allowed those to make her think of really being with anyone other than Ruthie.

Eddra didn't respond, which Emily wasn't surprised about. When she used her magic like this, unless she prompted a response, then usually the other person didn't say much, unless of course they were a naturally talkative person.

"Would it be alright to leave now?" Emily asked afew a few minutes, her nerves telling her that they'd already waited too long to take off. "I'm not sure how much time we really have."

Eddra didn't say anything, she merely stood up and taking Vaelis' and Kaelys's hands in hers, she began to make her way over to Emily. Emily smiled and stood up herself. "Alright. Let's get going. I don't think we have much time," she said, already heading towards the exit of whatever the structure that they'd been staying in was called.

Emily wasn't sure if her magic would be able to help them in the even that they were seen before they could really make an escape. Or at least not any of her magic that wouldn't also affect those she was bringing with her. Maybe she'd be able to use another sticky net, but she couldn't guarantee that it wouldn't catch those she was trying to protect from the soldiers as well.

Fortunately, they didn't encounter any more of the soldiers as they walked parallel to the river, away from the bridge she had seen Rick cross in the wagon. Emily hoped that it would stay that way. She wasn't sure what she'd be able to do if it didn't.

Although, she also hoped that her enchanting her friends like this wouldn't hurt them in the end. Heathcliff had warned her that using her magic like this could hurt them in ways even he might not understand. Though, up to this point, she hadn't really taken that warning seriously.

Maybe it just wasn't anyone I cared about enough to think about that, Emily mused, allowing her attention to wander just a little bit.

Emily had just started looking at the river, feeling like this would be as good of a time as any, though she didn't immediately seen any good spots where they'd be able to ford the river easily, when someone spoke to her, closer than she would have imagined. Especially since she hadn't seen anyone around where they were.

"I guess our intel was accurate that you'd come this way," a voice said, startling Emily.

Emily watched in shock as a woman who looked like she was in her thirties climbed up from a hole dug in the ground and merely covered with a bush. The hole was deep enough for a single person to hide in, crouched down.

"Who're you?" Emily asked alarmed, her eyes scanning the area, looking for any other bushes that might be like that one.

"Don't worry about the others," the woman said, feeling to Emily like she was confirming that there were 'others' that had been hiding like her. "They'll only come out if I signal for them to."

"What do you want?" Emily asked, certain if they were just wanting to capture them, like the other soldiers were doing in the homeless camp she just came from, then this woman would have already done that, with how close they had been to her.

"I was sent to invite you to be a guest of the duchess," the woman said pleasantly.

"I'm guessing I'm not really gonna be given a choice, am I?" she asked, doing her best to give this person no further reactions. She couldn't help the surprise when the woman first came out, but she also couldn't help but wonder if there still might be a way out for her. Although, she hoped she wouldn't have to abandon Eddra, Vaelis, and Kaelys in order to do that.

Emily suspected she'd rather be captured that willingly abandon those three. It would be too much to Emily like abandoning Ruthie.

"Well, that's up to you," the woman said, lifting her left arm, motioning for Emily to lead the way. "If your choice is to meet with the duchess, then, yes, you do have a choice. If not, then no, you don't have a choice."

"Yeah, to me, that is pretty much the same thing as not having a choice, even if I had originally planned on trying to meet with her," Emily remarked, startingto walk in the direction indicated. "My friends will be allowed to accompany me, right?"

"Would you rather we not?" the woman asked, sounding like she was honestly interested in what Emily would reply.

Emily merely sighed. "As long as I know they're fine, and still together, then I'm fine with whatever they choose to do."

The woman nodded, as if that was all she had wanted to know. Emily couldn't be sure if that was a good thing or not. Regardless, she felt like her chance to escape might have been gone for a lot longer than she had realized. The soldiers doing whatever they were to those in the homeless camp might have been a way to get her to leave there, kind of like a dog running up to a bush could make a rabbit flee from its shelter under the bush.

_

Ralph wished he could use his magic to turn off the sun at the moment. He had been sleeping peacefully and was enjoying the dream he was having. He was back home and at the smusement park Elitch Gardens in Denver. Not only was he able to get through all the rides he wanted, but even though it was the middle of the day, there wasn't anyone else in the park, at least in regards to rides he wanted to go on.

The only weird part about it was the fact that Embris was there. When they went on the water park rides in the amusement park, she would wear a one-piece that had flame covering it entirely.

At the moment, he was glad no one could read his mind, because he really had no clue as to what to make of it, and he certainly didn't want that to get out. He didn't need anyone talking about what he may or may not be feeling towards Embris. He did enough of that sort of teasing enough when he heard a rumor about one person having a dream about someone else or something. It was bad enough that he'd had to be fitted for a dress a couple weeks ago.

The reason that they'd been given was that the entire village was grateful for Amelia going around and healing those who had the spotted plague, as they called it, as well as other minor injuries some of the people had.

While he wouldn't mind some clothing to blend in with the local population here, he objected to wearing a dress. Yet, he couldn't bring himself to complain about it in front of the people who were making the dress for him, which was Cinder's family, simply because he couldn't be sure how they would react. Part of him wanted to throw caution to the wind, but another part of him worried if there might be other consequences of him pushing for that. Although another part, which he did his best to ignore, was he wasn't sure how Embris would take it.

Why he was worried about what she thought of him, Ralph couldn't say. She was quick to try and pick a fight, a complete hothead, and had a short temper. Yet at the same time, he couldn't help but admire how protective she was of her younger siblings. It made Ralph think of his oldest brother. Which in turn made him a little homesick. So, he tried not to think about it as much as he could.

Ralph stretched as he got up. One thing he looked forward to that day was how Embris had agreed to show him and his friends what some food that grew in the wild looked like in this world. Which would mean that they could hopefully get more than just the red spotted mushrooms to eat. Although, he had to admit that he hadn't seen one of those for a while.

While there didn't seem to be a real difference in the seasons around here, he had to admit that it did seem to get just a little bit warmer during the day than it used to. Whether that was his imagination or not, he couldn't say. It wasn't like they had ayone who really knew anything specific about meteorology, even if it was just to say for certain what cloud would mean what kind of weather.

Or something like that. Ralph just knew that he knew only one thing about the subject. Which was the fact that it was an actual field of science. Although, he couldn't remember how he had learned that. He just knew it.

As he left his tent, he didn't see anyone preparing breakfast despite him being the last one up, although he had to admit that they'd been getting their breakfast from Cinder's family lately. While Ralph had gotten used to how the local food tasted, he couldn't help but miss the times that they'd make breakfast among themselves on their journey to this world.