The Black Necromancer-Book 4

Chapter 13

                “Luna can stop it,” Cedric said confidently. “She can do anything.”

                Kayla raised an eyebrow sceptically.

                “I think,” Cedric added.

                “If someone tried to kill her, they might even still be on the island,” Hunter said. “It’s creepy; I could be sitting next to the assassin and I wouldn’t even guess.”

                Cedric smirked. “Yup, I’m going to gut you with my spear, Hunt,” he joked.

                Even as Cedric spoke, Kayla suddenly made the connection in her head. Maybe, just maybe, Troy was right; some magician with a glamour had replaced Jenna and that magician had tried to assassinate Luna. There couldn’t be that many evil magicians on the island, could there?

                Unless, it was the spy!

                Before Luna had left to find the Moon Children, Dahlia had discovered the existence of a spy in Avalon, most likely one of the magicians who was allowed in Arulan’s private meetings. But to find out which theory was true, she had to ask Hunter, without alerting Cedric to Jenna’s disappearance.

                She groaned audibly.

                “What is it?” Cedric asked.

                “Oh, nothing,” she mumbled, attacking the last of her meal. “I’m just tired.”

                Fortunately, Cedric did not read between the lines well at all, either that, or he was not as inquisitive as Troy and Dahlia. That made Kayla like him; he knew when there was time to ask questions and time to keep quiet.

                Hunter, on the other hand, eyed her for a minute before slowly eating his food. Kayla was grateful for his silence.

                None of them spoke until the dessert came. Kayla helped herself to a piece of chocolate cake and dug in. Both boys grabbed some cake too from the platter of food.

                “Tomorrow is the day of funerals,” Hunter said, taking a bite of a jam tart. “We shall spend the day respecting the magicians who died during the battle.”

                Kayla nodded. Many of the magicians who died were kept in their elements at their death. The Magicians of Fire were cremated, the Magicians of Earth were buried, the Magicians of Air dissolved into air like when they died from excessive use of magic and the Magicians of Water were encased in ice statues for eternity.

                “We don’t have to do training tomorrow,” Cedric said. “Arulan told us a couple of hours ago.”

                “But we can train if we want to, right?” Kayla asked.

                Hunter shrugged. “It’s kind of like a respect thing,” he said. ‘I don’t know much about the customs of the magicians for stuff like funerals and parties. Do you, Cedric?”

                Cedric frowned. “When I lived at the immortals’ palace, I attended one funeral for an old Magician of Earth. We buried him, but since that custom is the same as it is for humans, I don’t know whether that is compulsory for every single magician. We took the day off from training then too, though.”

                “Did you train that day?” Hunter asked.

                “Nope,” Cedric responded. “It was like a mini vacation.”

                Cedric’s tone made Kayla understand; the training at the immortals’ palace had been rigorous and taxing, like the training at the Elementary. They savoured their small holidays.

                Five minutes later, Arulan dismissed all of them and there was a loud scraping noise as all the trainees in the hall stood up to leave. Kayla, Hunter and Cedric sped up to catch up with Troy, Dahlia and Sapphire. Cursing her stature, Kayla glanced around, but she couldn’t spot Tamarak and Romulus.

                “How’s Raven?” Troy asked Sapphire as they mounted the staircase.

                Sapphire shook her blonde head. “Her condition isn’t deteriorating, nor has she recovered. She just lies there.”

                “Can’t you do anything to help her?” Cedric asked.

                “Nope,” Sapphire said grimly. “I’ve tried healing her and Jared had tested all his healing potions but none of them are working. I just hope that the poison didn’t do something irreparable to her. We’re treating her like a guinea pig; we’ve never come across a poison quite this complex before.”

                Kayla felt sorry for Sapphire; her friend personally had to heal anyone and everyone who got injured or was ill and she alone had to watch them die if she failed. No one, not even Jared, had that big a burden for although Jared could make healing potions, he was not solely a healer like Sapphire was.

                Suddenly, Kayla became aware that they were no longer moving through the crowds. A barricade of human bodies blocked the path up the stairs to the barracks.

                “What’s going on?” Dahlia asked.

                “I don’t know,” Kayla began as a chant came up from the front of the crowd.

                “FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!”

                “Oh, no,” Kayla said.

                “Who is it?” Sapphire demanded.

                Hunter, who was the tallest of the six of them, squinted over the heads of the trainees while standing on his tiptoes. Then he gasped in alarm.

                “Who is it?” Cedric asked.

                “Tamarak and Romulus,” Hunter muttered.