Chapter Twenty: Lady Gwyneth

Evie woke up to her sister’s worried face. Bridget had rolled her onto her back and shook her shoulders gently, begging her to wake up. It took a few minutes, but Evie’s vision cleared and everything that had just happened seemed to crash into her mind. She jumped up, ready to fight for her life and her friends, but the commotion was over. The ogre lay next to her, absolutely still. Trevor knelt on his hands and knees, his head poking out of the sack. His hair didn’t look as beautiful as it usually did and he seemed to be trying out his arms and legs to make sure they still worked, but otherwise, he appeared fine. And Devin…

Devin walked toward her, his eyes opened wide and a smile of amazement across his face. He stood right where…right where the wall of rocks had been a moment before. “But…how…?” She muttered, hoarsely.

“How?!” He shouted, making an exaggerated movement with his good arm. “How? I have no idea how. That is what I was about to ask you. That was amazing. I have seen a lot of magic done by some very powerful souray, but I have never seen anything like that! Can you teach me that?” He jumped a pace into the air and shouted, “We did it! Well, you did it! But I have never…I mean…Evie! I thought you did not know magic.”

Bridget stared with a look of awe on her face too, now. She whispered, “I saw the whole thing, Evie. Just as the ogre was about to grab you a huge wall of boulders appeared, blocking him. He was so surprised, he fell backward. A minute later, you were on top of the wall. You picked up a huge boulder, like it didn’t weigh a thing and…”

Devin cut her off. “It did not weigh a thing. That is what is so amazing. I could not have conjured a wall that size. Even if I did not struggle with creating real things, I am no where near powerful enough to really make something like that. It would take years of training. Evie, you climbed a non-existent wall, picked up a non-existent stone and crushed a very real ogre’s head with it.” The air seemed to shimmer with Devin’s triumphant laugh, “How did you do that?”
Evie looked from one of them to the other before she said, “No. That wall was quite real. I could...”

Bridget cut her off in a near whisper, “After you jumped, while you were flying through the air, the boulder disappeared and the wall did too.”

“That is because I was so shocked when I saw her climb the non-existent wall that I lost concentration and my deception melted away.” Devin added. “Sorry, I did not mean to. It is just that you were so amazing, Evie. I have said it before, but you can be on my team any time.”

Evie shook her head, trying to think clearly. “Then what hit the ogre?”
Devin laughed in disbelief, “Magic.”

Everything had happened so fast. Suddenly a few of the details came to the front of her thoughts. The wall that she could barely feel under her hands, the boulder that had seemed to have no weight. Could it really be that they didn’t exist? Had she used magic? But, she didn’t know how!

Then, what Master Oilreid had said earlier that day burst into her mind. “You do not learn how to do magic. You learn that you can do magic.” Could it be that she really was a souray after all? Had she used magic only moments before? Had she managed to do it because she knew she could, because she saw what she had to do as something that didn’t require magic? It seemed unbelievable. But as she thought back, it became more obvious that was what happened. There was no way she could have lifted a boulder that size. She simply didn’t have the strength. And she had thrown it!

Suddenly, her mouth split into a smile. She knew how Bridget must have felt talking to the pegasus’. She could use magic. She had used magic! And then another thought crossed her mind. She knew, somehow, that her mother would have been proud of her. That felt the best of all. Bridget threw her arms around her sister. She whispered, “I knew you could do it.”

Trevor wobbled slightly as he walked over to the others. His voice sounded hoarse as if he’d spent the day screaming. Which, Evie realized, He probably had. “We are not safe, yet. There is an army out here and they will be looking for us. We have to go.” Three sets of eyes turned to him and the boy blushed almost as red as Trina had. He muttered, with his head down, “Oh yes, and thank you.” It sounded so odd coming from him.

Evie felt a sudden stab of irritation. He shouldn’t get away with his cruel comments as easily as this. Bridget, on the other hand, seemed to think being carried through the forest in a sack by ogres was plenty of punishment. She threw her arms around the boy and said, “We’re glad you’re safe.”

Surprisingly, Trevor patted her back awkwardly and said, “Thank you…Bridget.” Evie thought that was probably the first time he’d ever said her sister’s name. It sounded almost as good as an apology…almost. She contented herself with a handshake. He still reeked of snotty boy, after all.
Devin watched the whole exchange with a look of cool amusement. After a minute, he said, “Now, if you girls are finished hugging?” Trevor stepped away from the two girls quickly, scowling at the older boy. “Good. Good,” he continued. “We should be on our way, then.”

“On our way?” Evie asked. “On our way, where? We can’t return to the spritested. Master Oilreid would probably just tie us all up and send Trevor back to the ogres. And I don’t think I could find my way home if I tried.”

For the first time since she had met him, Devin looked unsure. “I do not know, but we must be away from here.”

Trevor looked at Devin uncertainly. He must have decided that he either could or had to trust him, though, because he said in an uncertain tone that became more self-assured with each word, “I know. At least I think I do. Follow me.” He started off northward. The other three looked curiously at each other. No one knew what to say or do. Trevor turned back and shouted, “You can stay here, if you would like.” Evie, Bridget and Devin all ran to catch up. After all, they didn’t have any better ideas.

Evie ran the fastest. She, after only a little thought, decided she wanted answers. Evie tended to be patient about most things. She liked to think things out rather than jumping to conclusions or throwing emotional tantrums. But when her patience ran out, it ran out and all those tendencies flew right out the window. The minute she got close enough that she didn’t have to shout to make Trevor hear her, she said, firmly, “Slow down! I need to talk to you.”

“Wow,” he said with a chuckle, “I can remember when I was the one that said that? Do not worry, I will not reply the way you did.”

Evie felt her face go hot, but she didn’t stop. “Where are you taking us, Trevor? I think we deserve to know. We did risk our lives to rescue you.” They kept walking. Devin and Bridget caught up and listened with great interest

Trevor nodded and got a serious look on his face, “I will tell you now what I intended to tell you this morning. I worked out that there had to be some sort of magic protecting the school Master Oilreid intended to take the students to. And it had to be an enchantment that could be penetrated by the spy if he was taken there. So, I went to the library to find out what it was. I already suspected something, because whenever someone mentioned it, I found myself staring northward. It got worse as the time passed. I felt compelled northward whenever I thought of the school or whenever I thought about my mother.” He looked down at that last sentence. Evie’s heart went out to him. All he had wanted this entire trip was to find his mother.

He swallowed and continued, “I read about an enchantment that would make a place impossible to find by anyone who had never been there since the enchantment was cast. The book also said that those who had been there, could find it without a map, they would simply know what direction to go until they found it. I was not completely sure about my theory that this enchantment protected the school, so when Jayson offered to take me to my mother with Master Oilreid’s blessing, I accepted. Anyway, I…” he hesitated. “I had gotten into a fight with Vincent about a couple of girls and then you told me to get lost. I figured there was no reason for me to stay.”
Bridget’s voice cut into the momentary silence, “We heard you, Trevor. But it’s in the past now. I didn’t really think you meant those things.” She gave him a weak smile.

“You did not hear all of it.” Trevor sounded embarrassed. “Vincent kept pushing me. I suppose I decided we did not see things the same after all.” His eyes stayed on the ground and he shook his head slowly. No one seemed to know what to say.

Devin brightened and slapped Trevor on the back, “That is to your credit! Bridget was right about you. You are not a completely heartless spoiled snot after all.” Devin smiled widely, but Trevor seemed unsure if that had been a compliment.

“Anyway,” Trevor said with a shake of his head, “I am smart enough to know that the ogres were sent by my father. Evie, why do you think he would want me back so badly?”

That seemed a strange question. “He’s your father. I figured he loved you.”

Trevor chuckled wryly. “Yes, he loves me so he sent ogres to stick me in a sack.” He groaned and continued in a more sincere tone, “I think my dad does care about me, if you want to know the truth. But I know my dad. He has the worst temper of anyone I have ever met. My mom always had to calm him down. But when he was mad at her, nothing could make him back off. It scared me sometimes. I think he sees her involvement in this illegal school as a personal betrayal. He is very loyal to the king. I never thought he would go this far. He really does love us, I am sure of it. Anyway, I think the real reason he wanted me back was for revenge. But it goes beyond just wanting to keep me from my mother. He wanted me because I know where she is.”

Bridget stumbled on a rock and almost fell onto her face. The black of the night folded in all around them, darker then before. Evie also had trouble walking through this dense forest without falling. Trees scratched all over her arms and lower legs. The slashes from earlier stung. As she bent to help Bridget up, her cousin said, “But, how do you know?”

Trevor answered as they begun making their way through the forest once again. “It was simple to figure that out once I understood the enchantment on the school. I have been there before. My mother took me on all kinds of trips when I was young. If my father reasoned out that some of those trips might have been to where mom is now, he would have known that I could lead him to her. The only question is how he knew the kind of enchantment that protected the school.”

“Jayson told him,” Evie said absently. “He knew. He told me and Bridget.” She struggled even more now with trying to make her way through the woods in the dark. It required concentration and she could only get her mind to focus on what Trevor was saying. All the pieces fit together. And, if Trevor was right, they were on their way to Trevor’s mother. Could they trust her? She knew that for a terrible thought. But there had been too many betrayals lately for Evie to trust lightly.

Then another thought stuck her. What would Master Oilreid do when he saw them again, now? Perhaps she and Bridget could go home before he came to the school. On the other hand, he might be pleased with them. After all, if Trevor really could find his mother, they had saved the school. Her experience with adults, though, told her that he would be mad they disobeyed him, regardless of whether they were right. Adults were just like that.

They stumbled on in silence, everyone concentrating on where to step next in the dark forest. In fact, Evie, Trevor and Devin had all gone several steps past her when they finally realized that Bridget stopped walking. “What’s wrong?” Evie called backward to her sister. Bridget just stood there, as if listening. “Bridget!” Evie called in a sharper tone.

“Something’s wrong,” her sister replied uncertainly. The boys didn’t seem happy about the interruption, but they followed Evie’s lead and made their way back to where Bridget stood still.

“What’s wrong?” Eve asked again, trying, and failing, to sound gentle.

“I don’t know for sure.”

This time Evie sighed loudly in irritation before she said in a forced calm, “Then how do you know that something is wrong?”

“The animals. There aren’t as many as there should be here and those that remain are on edge. They almost seem afraid.” Evie looked around at the forest. She hadn’t noticed any animals. Of course her sister’s talent probably made her more aware of them. Evie just assumed animals fled when people came nearby.

Evie didn’t feel irritated anymore. She tried hard to make her voice casual. She didn’t want her sister to be insulted. “Are you sure it’s not us that makes them uneasy? I don’t think a lot of humans come this deep into the forest.
”
Bridget shook her head. “You don’t understand. This is new. It only began a few minutes ago. The pegasus told me that animals communicate very quickly. If something happens on one side of the forest, it will only take a little while for it to pass from one animal to another and reach the other side. And there is a definite sense that something is wrong here. I wonder if it has something to do with the army.”

“It might.” Devin said. “Remember that Jayson got away. He may have gone straight to the army to tell what happened. Even if he did not, they were awaiting Trevor’s arrival. They might have sent out search parties looking for him. A couple of parties of roaming ogres would upset any animals. Ogres will eat anything. It just means we need to be extra quiet and keep moving as quickly as possible. I do not know if we could survive meeting more ogres.”

Bridget slowly nodded and they all started moving again. To Evie, the forest seemed to darken. Devin didn’t have to be so matter-of-fact when he tried scaring her to death. She had managed to push the evil that lurched behind them out of her head. Now, she couldn’t help seeing monsters when she looked at a tree branch wrong. The others weren’t unaffected. They all huddled closer than they had before and everyone peered around in the dark. An ominous silence settled around the kids except for the rustling of their movement northward.

Evie wanted to talk to her friends. She thought the sound of voices might stop her mind from hearing and seeing things that didn’t exist. She jumped at the sound of a light breeze rustling tree branches. Her skin pebbled with goose bumps even though the late summer evening felt warm. She gasped loudly when an owl hooted in the distance. Involuntarily, her grip tightened on Bridget’s arm because she heard a fluttering sound behind them.

In the middle of telling herself to stop jumping at every little noise she noticed that Bridget also tightened her grip. A second later Devin stopped walking. “Wait!” he whispered. But the moment they stopped going the forest fell silent again. Evie could hear herself and her friends breathing. Devin nodded to himself and they all took a few more steps before the older boy motioned them to stop once again. Silence answered.

This time the older boy ducked behind a rock. Evie couldn’t see him at all in the darkness. Bridget pulled her to the side and the two of them clung to a particularly wide tree truck. She couldn’t see where Trevor had hidden, but he vanished somewhere as well.

The seconds turned into minutes without a word or a rustle of movement. If she hadn’t been scared to stillness, Evie might have been bored. What in the world were they waiting for? As if the question had brought him, Jayson fluttered cautiously into sight. He looked as scared as the kids felt, peering around in the dark as if looking for an imminent danger. He moved slowly and Evie imagined she could hear his nervous breath.

The question of what would happen next didn’t go long unanswered. Trevor appeared out of no where and grabbed the little sprite by one leg. “Should we see how you like being stuffed in a sack?” the boy hollered furiously.

Devin came out right behind him, though, and put his hand over the younger boy’s mouth. “Quiet!” he hissed in a furious whisper. “He may not be alone. What if your father is tracking us? What if he expects that we can lead him to the school? Do you not see? That is the only reason Jayson would be following us. Perhaps he his alone, but he may have companions behind him.”

“What should we do?” Trevor sounded hoarse and apologetic, but he didn’t loosen his grip on the sprite. Evie felt suddenly very grateful Devin had come along. She hadn’t even considered the idea that they were being secretly tracked. She expected their enemies to jump out and try to kill them at any minute. It scared her worse to think of the bad guys creeping up on them from behind. She could tell she wasn’t cut out for leadership.

Devin, however, didn’t answer immediately with some great plan like she may have expected. He didn’t answer at all, actually. His face screwed up in thought. He appeared very uncertain. Trevor jumped into the silence with, “We have to move faster. That is the only way. We are close now. I am sure of it. We can take Jayson with us.” He spat the sprite’s name with contempt. Evie could hear excitement in his voice, too. He wanted to go on. He wanted to find his mother.

She knew that plan involved taking potentially disastrous chances. She felt sure Devin knew it too, but he shifted his feet uncertainly and didn’t say anything. In the momentary silence, Trevor nodded to himself and began walking again. Bridget made as if to follow. Evie took a deep breath. She wasn’t meant to be a leader. She doubted very much they would listen to her, but she knew what had to be said. She just didn’t understand why no one else was saying it.

“No.” She made her voice as firm as she could while still speaking quietly. “We cannot go on. We’re going to have to come up with something else because that is simply not an option now.” Everyone stared at her in surprise.

Trevor, who twisted around to face her, raised a hand in protest. “But, Evie, when we reach my mother…”

She cut him off. “Wouldn’t it be a fine thing if we reached your mother just to watch her be arrested by an army of ogres.” Trevor’s mouth clicked shut. “If we go on knowing that they might be following us, we’re risking a lot of other people’s lives, not just our own.”

“Evie,” Bridget began in an unsteady tone, “We really don’t have anywhere else…I mean…”

“Don’t you think I know that?” Evie knew she was taking charge even though she didn’t have any talents that qualified her for it, but she didn’t care. It felt right. She wasn’t the smartest or the bravest of this bunch. That didn’t matter, because she knew the right course of action.

“But it would be better if we got caught then if we lead them to the school. Think about it. The only one who knows the way is Trevor and his dad can’t make him tell. He promised Master Oilreid Trevor wouldn’t be hurt.” She didn’t mention the gnawing voice in her head that said Trevor’s father had no reason to resist hurting the rest of them.

Bridget smiled at her and said with a giggle, “Evie, You’re the bravest person I know.” Evie’s eyes almost popped out of her head. Bridget thought she was brave? “I think you’re right. We can’t continue to the school.” Devin nodded with a look of determination and even Trevor agreed. He looked extremely disappointed, though, and gave one last sad glance to the north.

Devin decided to take charge once again, for which Evie felt grateful. He said, “Well, if we cannot go on and we cannot go back, we have to choose between east and west.”

“Unfortunately,” a deep male voice said from the direction they had come, “Neither of those options is going to be available.” A man who could only have been Trevor’s dad stepped out from behind a boulder that disappeared as soon as he moved away from it. Dressed all in black, he still seemed half camouflaged by the night. He shook his head sadly, “I had hoped we could do this the easy way, but it seems you children want to make it difficult.”

Trevor stepped back. He seemed to want to cower behind the others. In his shock, the boy let go of Jayson, who took the opportunity to flutter away. The little sprite headed for Trevor’s father, fluttering just over his shoulder as if for protection. Still, the imposing man fixed his eyes directly on the boy. The moment their stares met, that fierce man’s face softened. “Trevor, my boy, you do not understand. I only want us to be a family again. Come home with me. We will find your mother, together. We can ask her to come back to us.”

Some of Trevor’s courage returned and he stood tall before he replied, “You lied to me. Mother is not dead. How could you tell me that?” Evie wanted to look away. There were tears in the boy’s eyes.

“I am sorry. It was only to spare your feelings. I did not want you to know she had abandoned you.”

The tears leaked down onto Trevor’s cheeks. He screamed, “LAIR! You had her arrested. This whole thing has been about revenge.” He turned to run, but his father waved a casual hand. Bars of lightening like the ones Master Oilreid had used on them jumped up around the group. This time the bars looked never-ending, reaching clear up to the sky. They also glowed with a white light brighter than the one’s Master Oilreid had used. Evie desperately hoped Bridget would not try to grab hold of these. She didn’t think her sister would survive.

“Have it your way, boy. I expected to get my son back. Think of how pleased the king will be when I bring him the daughter of a traitor and the world’s only aniray.” He looked at Bridget, “Your kind used to serve us. You can again.”

As if to compliment the mood, distant thunder shook the sky. Kendall snapped his fingers and the clicking echoed loudly through the forest. He must have magically magnified it, somehow. Evie turned toward a familiar crashing sound that began in the distance. Trees cracked under the trampling feet of an army off in the distance. Ogres were moving toward them. She wondered how many. The sound was deafening.

All at once the sky brightened with flashing lightning, one hundred times brighter than the bars that held the kids. It occurred to Evie that the magical prison was probably made of something other than lightning, but she dismissed the thought. What a dumb thing to be thinking about when she was a prisoner. The real lightning struck a nearby tree which burst into flames. At the same instant, the cage around the children flickered and disappeared.

Evie tore her eyes away from the burning tree just in time to see a dark-haired woman walking up behind Kendall. To her amazement, the bars of lightning now surrounded Trevor’s father, and a smaller cage inside the larger hung suspended in the air, trapping Jayson. The little spite looked mortified. The smaller cage was quite amazing. Instead of bolts of lightning touching the ground and sky, these bolts bowed to create a globe. They all connected at one point on top and one on bottom. When the sprite moved, the bars rearranged themselves to be closer in the direction he headed. Evie would have examined the thing longer if she hadn’t been so distracted by the person who seemed to have saved her.

The woman wore a long white dress and had a cord of silver across her forehead and laced through her hair. She looked so beautiful! In a quiet, musical voice, she said to her prisoner, “You are too cocky, Ken. That was always your weakness. It is easy enough to trap you if you are focused on something else. I suppose you never will get your priorities straight.” Without breaking eye contact with the man, she put out the fire with a wave of her hand. It simply disappeared, leaving behind charred branches.

A moment later she looked toward the crashing sound that meant the Ogres came ever closer. They were very close, Evie realized. She could see the tops of hundreds of green heads towering over most of the trees. The woman held a steady palm out over the ground and the earth began to quiver. It wasn’t the land, Evie realized. It was the rocks and boulders that seemed to be everywhere in the area. They vibrated and rocked.

The woman made a gesture which, if directed at a person would have been a clear dismissal. The army of rocks started rolling toward the monsters, picking up speed each second. Evie stared, too shocked to move. Those green heads fell like dominoes, the closest first, followed by the rest. Ogres fell hard from the impact of being bowled over and the ground did shake then.
Meanwhile, the woman walked over to the children. Trevor ran to meet her halfway. When she saw that, Evie knew who this amazing woman must be. She ran too. Trevor’s mother laughed as she scooped her son into her arms. An instant later, she began ushering the children to the north, telling them to walk quickly.

From his cage, Kendal let out an outraged scream. “You know I can defeat you! It was a fluke that you caught me off guard this time. Why not kill me now and end it? You cannot keep my son from me while I live.”

Trevor’s mother looked very sad as she turned. Her voice sounded smooth and cool. It showed none of the emotion that came through in the quiet words. “I remember the young man who had dreams of changing the world. I remember the picnics in the forest. I remember talking all night long. I remember that man…and I still love him.” She put one hand on Trevor’s shoulder and they all hurried away into the trees.