The Rosewood Prophecy

Chapter 21

"My magic?" I questioned.

"You have special magic in your blood, and you are a special within the specials. There's something in you that attracted the evil smoke, and it tried to take over your mind. Your body put up a fight, which is why you felt the coldness and the pain. Some say Lord Victor himself is trying to take over the person's mind and soul. You're lucky Ashley and Rachel were able to banish it in time and extract it from your body." I blinked, my brain reeling from what could've happened.

"Well I've got to get going. Be strong, my children." As we watched, Madeline's form began to shimmer and glow. The edges softened, and a dazzling gold light began to shine. Madeline began to fade into the bright golden light. "May fortune be with you!" her voice came within. Then there was a brilliant flash, and Madeline was gone.

I looked at Indigo, and we both looked at the three guys still groaning on the floor. Indigo tsked her tongue. "Look at you three, still on the floor. All the girls are up and ready, and you three men are still throwing up your breakfast?" She kicked Lucian with her boot, who moaned and rolled away feebly.

"We're not men; we're children," he complained. "Can't you give us a few minutes?" Ashley and Rachel approached, and the four of us looked at the pitiful sight of all the guys on the floor.

"Well, we can't go anywhere with them like this," Rachel sighed.

"Yeah. Might as well rest for a while," Ashley agreed. I shrugged.

"Guess so. Indigo?"

"Mmmm, well it's almost noon. We can eat something while we wait for the boys to recover," she said.

"Don't talk about food," the boys moaned in unison.

* * * * *

When everyone was finally well enough to travel we set out on foot towards Goldhedge. After about a mile my legs began to ache. I was never the one for exercising, ironically, since practicing my sword moves is pretty much exercise. But now that we don't have our horses anymore for transportation, I began to realize how much less progress we were making. We weren't taking a nice leisure stroll through the countryside, but our pace was hardly faster. One can only walk so fast without tiring quickly.

When we finally reached Goldhedge it was about three in the afternoon. According to our map the next village on our way is nearly ten miles away, and we wouldn't make it before nightfall. Led by Lucian, we all agreed to call it a day.

Walking into the village I could tell that something was up. Everyone was talking, some excited, some nervous. And there seemed to be so many people, way too many for a village, even a large one like Goldhedge. There were colorful streamers and decorations all around. Was it some sort of festival?

We decided to split up again. Seven people in a group was just too suspicious. So while Indigo, Lucian, Aaron, and Rachel headed for an inn called the Lucky Goose, Ashley, Jason, and I wandered on, trying to gather some information before finding an inn. We agreed to meet back at the village square in half an hour. The town square itself was busy and crowded, with lots of vendors and shoppers bustling around. The people spilled from the village square and into the streets. I saw colorful tents set up even around the village in the grassy areas, no different than a carnival. What was going on?

A young boy about the age of seven or eight ran past us, a cheeky grin on his face. I reached out and grabbed his arm, stopping him. He skidded to a stop and looked at us curiously.

"Hi, um, we're travelers here and I was just wondering if you could tell us what's going on?" I gestured to all the commotion around us. "Is it some sort of festival?"