Entanglement of the Dark

Three

Once Julian finished pondering the words from her Papa she began her walk back home. If it were possible that she carried with her a piece of magic it was also possible that the extent of her skill was nothing more than visions. She had heard about the many great conjurers of the past, some who were powerful enough to cure illness, ask the Gods to bring rain to lands in a drought, and even create small items from thin air. Julian was also aware that other conjurers, the majority of their kind, were only able to do a few skills and not all were as impressive. Visions would not save her brother's life and even if it could, she had no control of the images that appeared in her head or in her dreams. 

How was one to learn to control their abilities if magic within Baya had been dead and gone for over forty years? There was no one left to teach her and there were few that knew enough to even tell her about the magic and what it could do. There were even fewer who had seen the magic performed themselves. 

As she walked back through the trees she began to wonder why the magical abilities would have skipped her father, why her grandfather never told the truth about what he was and where he came from, and why the magic had chosen her. Julian knew it was possible that her siblings and her father were capable of magic, just unaware that they were able to. Perhaps she was able to do more too.

The clucking of chickens pulled Julian from her thoughts as they ran around, suddenly startled by her. Normally she would have laughed at them being spooked. 

The sunlight was beginning to disappear behind the trees and Julian could feel hunger gnawing at her insides. She could smell meat cooking as her family's cottage came into view. Even though she had not eaten for hours she knew that one look at her younger brother lying on the table would make her lose her appetite. 

She entered through the wooden door, expecting to find her mother praying over her brother's body, her father staring blankly in the corner, and Edyleise cooking meat over the fire. Instead what she found was more disheartening. 

Her mother was not hovering over her brother's body on the table, mostly because his body was not there, and her father was not sitting in what had become his usual seat. Edyleise however, was cooking over the fire. 

"Where is he?" Julian's heart jumped into her throat. "What has happened?"

"They have taken him about an hour ago. They plan to cross The Glass." Edyleise turned around quickly with tears streaming down her face. "Mother would not let me come with them and Father was in a hurry to join the group that would be crossing. He said that there would be over twenty others and that it would increase their odds to all get across and back safely. Is it true, about what happens when you cross?" 

Julian felt her stomach lurch. She knew exactly what information her sister was asking about it. "Yes, it is. When you cross, either way, you must have two people as one will become a sacrifice. There is no way to tell who it will be but the more people you have the better the odds that it will not be you."

"But it could be." 

"Yes."

"What if you were to cross by yourself?" She poked the fire, turning a log forcefully over.

"You would be sacrificed. The creatures hiding in that river would pull you under. You never cross alone-"

"And our parents could be crossing and Roane could be the possible sacrifice," Edyleise spat, her eyes mouth turning down in a grimace. "And then they will have to still go all the way to Secil to ask for nothing and to come back and possibly be a sacrifice themselves on the way home."

"It is possible. But do not ever blame Roane," Julian kept her voice low but stern. "Never blame him for this again. He is dying and not making any of these choices."