[Kinneshel]

  “Get up, Ster!” I said as I shook him awake. “There are guards coming.”

  “I’m up,” he said as he jumped out of bed and began quickly changing his clothes. “I’ll go outside to deal with them. Go wake the children and have them dress warmly, then hide in the woods.”

  “Are you sure?” Oh, my precious children!

  “Yes, they are safer if they are not home right now. Tell Jer to have them hide near the old spruce. He knows where that is.”

  “Alright. Be careful, but we will need some time.”

  “No problem.” He grinned as he left our room. I heard a faint “I love you, Shel,” as he quickly walked through the house.

  How I love that man!

  I hurried to the children’s room and began waking them up.

  [Sterith]

  “Good morning!” I stretched as I stepped outside. Such a nice day, though there were clouds in the sky, now that I’m looking up.

  “Sterith, we are here under orders from Mayor Arlish. We are to bring Jerik in for questioning.”

  “Oh, really. May I see the orders, then?”

  “Well, uh… I don’t have them in writing.”

  “So I’m just supposed to trust you on that? Why don’t you go back to the mayor, then. Tell him to bring his large belly back here himself, or at least give you some official papers so I can verify them.”

  …

  He turned to one of the younger guards, and whispered to him. The guard then ran off back to town.

  “While we are waiting, why don’t you give me the news? I haven’t heard how the war is going lately. Are we winning or losing?”

  “Uh, well… the last I heard, we were doing quite well on the front lines.”

  [Jerik]

  We quietly made our way out the back, around the shed and into the woods. I was holding hands with both Fin and Lil. We had gotten dressed in our warm coats and boots, though we didn’t have time to lace them all the way. I had to be careful not to let them fly off me as we walked quickly.

  Mom said to hide near the old spruce. I had played near there several times growing up, but I remember the branches were all sticky with sap if I tried to climb up. We wouldn’t be doing that. There were some dense bushes near there, a much better place to hide.

  Once we were far enough into the woods where we weren’t in danger. I stopped so everyone could lace up their boots. Lil gave me a thankful smile. Once we were ready, with a look of determination, we started moving again.

  There was a definite chill in the air, and many of the autumn leaves had fallen, already covering the ground in a cracky patchwork of colors. We came upon a fox as it was hunting for breakfast, and sent it scurrying quickly away. A few birds were chirping in the trees, but many had already migrated south for the coming winter.

  When we reached the old spruce, I found the bushes and had everyone settle down to wait.

  Hopefully, Dad and Mom will be alright.

  [Kinneshel]

  “Good morning, sweety,” Ster said, as I stepped outside. I had waited to be sure the children were away before I dared go out.

  “Is everything alright?” I asked.

  “Well, it seems the mayor may want to talk to Jer. But these officers forgot to bring the orders. So we are chatting while we wait for them.”

  “You could go and get him, while we wait,” the leader suggested.

  “Oh, I don’t think so.” Ster said. “We are in no hurry. I’m sure the mayor will wait for us, no matter how long it takes. I know he has nothing better to do since he made that clear the other day.”

  Another guard came running up, all out of breath. He was carrying a small scroll, which he handed to the lead guard.

  He unrolled it and handed it over to Ster, who then took his time reading it over carefully. “Looks like our mayor was in a hurry to write this. But I told him the last time I met that Jer was not of age and cannot testify. So, I guess you gentlemen are out of luck. If the mayor wants to talk to me, I’d be more than happy to come with you.”

  “He ordered us to not come back without Jerik.”

  “Then I guess he is going to have to be disappointed because I will not let you take him.”

  Stolen story; please report.

  “You are commanded to turn him over to us.” He was getting very annoyed.

  But so were we.

  …

  Since there were more of them, they tried to go around us by grabbing us and having the other run past.

  Big mistake!

  A minute later they were all out cold on the ground. Ster took them one at a time to the river, which wasn’t far. He left them on the bank, but removed their weapons so they wouldn’t just try to come right back.

  Two days later I was again awoken by something. This time it was still dark out. I didn’t see or hear anything, but something woke me up. Slipping out of bed and standing up I smelled it.

  I quickly turned and shook Ster awake. “I smell smoke!”

  He was out of bed and into his clothes even faster than last time. I went to check on the children while he went outside.

  They were fine, but when I left their room Ster came back in.

  “We have to leave, now! The house is on fire. I think there are men out there, too. Get the children up, quickly. I’ll see if I can’t put it out.”

  “Children!” I yelled as I ran back to their room. “Get up now. We have to leave.”

  “What is it Mom?” Fin asked, sleepily.

  “Hurry, get up now. All of you!” I had to raise my voice until they were all up and moving. I helped them into their clothes as quickly as I could.

  Once they were dressed, I said, “Grab your packs and wait by the back door. But don’t go outside yet.” It was good that we had at least a few days to gather some supplies into packs that we could take with us, in case of an emergency, like this.

  When we were all ready and waiting, Ster said, “I’m going to go out the front and make a lot of noise. I want you to go quickly out the back, but stay low in case someone is watching the back.”

  I made sure to kiss him before he left us.

  Once we could hear yelling out front, I opened the door and led the children through the backyard. When we got to the trees, however, I was hit in the leg with an arrow.

  Lil looked at me and screamed. I grabbed her mouth to keep her quiet.

  “You have to run to the woods, children. Go now. We will find you.”

  “We can’t leave you,” Lil cried. More arrows zipped past us.

  “You must. I can’t run, and you will be hurt or killed if you don’t. Hurry!”

  She was crying loudly as Jer picked her up and disappeared into the woods, with Fin following.

  I lay on the ground, praying I would live to see them again.

  [Jerik]

  We had been walking in the dark for a while, but we were definitely lost. I was able to put Lil down a while ago, but they were both nearly asleep on their feet.

  How will they find us?

  Then I remembered that Dad was a tracker, as well as a hunter. If anyone could find us, it would be him. I decided the best thing to do would be to look for some shelter. So I started looking.

  Soon I found a copse of trees that looked promising. So I helped each of them find a somewhat comfortable position, so we could lay down and try to sleep. We used our packs as lumpy pillows.

  I tried to sleep, but I kept waking up every time I heard something. I eventually got a couple of hours of rest.

  The next morning the sun woke me up, shining directly in my eyes. I quickly got up once I remembered where we were and what had happened last night. Looking around, I saw no sign of our parents. I explored nearby while I waited for the others to get up. Lil needed to go behind some bushes right after waking, so I kept watch.

  Fin actually slept the longest.

  We had breakfast together of hard bread and some jerky. We each had a waterskin for water, but would need to find a fresh supply soon. After we ate, we remained near the tree, hoping for the best. None of us wanted to talk about what happened, but we were all thinking about it.

  As the day progressed, we were getting more and more worried. In the late afternoon, I told them to wait there while I went looking for more water. I hated leaving them, but wanted someone to be there when Dad found us. So I promised not to be gone long.

  Luckily it didn’t take long to find water. Dad had at least taught me that.

  Not long after I came back with our waterskins full, we heard a noise coming up the hill. I told them to hide while I went to check.

  “Jer, good to see you boy.” I was so relieved to see Dad coming toward me with a big smile. I saw that he was still carrying Mom. I knew he was strong, but it looked like he may have had to carry her the whole way plus both of their packs. When they arrived at our camp, we could all see that Mom was not doing well. She had blood soaked wraps around her shoulder as well as her leg.

  She smiled when she saw we were all safe. She gave us each a one handed hug and a big kiss on the cheek.

  It was nice to all be together again.

  We camped nearby, but Dad made us a nice fire, where he roasted a rabbit he had caught. We even had a few laughs from Dad telling a few of his older stories. We got out our bedrolls so we could sleep better that night.

  I was out almost as soon as I laid down.

  The next day, after breakfast of mountain berries and some roots, Dad announced he was going to go exploring. He wanted to find a good place for our next camp and maybe kill something for dinner.

  He came back later to help us break camp. Then he picked up Mom, and we hiked to our next camp where he had already gathered firewood and had a dead animal ready for cooking.

  We continued this way for a few days, sometimes camping for two days in the same place, when he didn’t find a better one.

  Then the storm started.

  It started as a light rain, but proceeded to get heavier and heavier. We had tried hiking in the rain for a while, but eventually we kept slipping and sliding in the mud and had to stop.

  Dad found a shallow cave for us to stay in to wait out the storm. It was damp, with a little stream at the bottom so we all had to sleep on a slope. But at least we were out of the worst of it.

  Overnight, however, the rain turned into snow. We had to stay put for a while, so Dad went out each day for food. Luckily we had fresh water right there in the cave. And the mouth of the cave worked well for our campfire.

  But it was far too cold to stay there. Mom was not well. I overheard them talking late at night. Dad said her wounds were not healing well when he changed her wraps. And she slept a lot and shivered most of the time when she was awake.

  I had no idea how to help. I wished I knew how to heal. But no, I had to end up with some weird kind of anti-magic! What was I supposed to do with that? And even if I tried, everyone was just going to want to kill me and my family as soon as they knew. There was no way I would let that happen.

  Why was it so despised anyway? Was the king afraid of it? Hmm.

  I decided after a while the reason didn’t really matter. I would never be able to use my affinity nor become a real mage.