The Path of Giants by B.T. Narro (year 7 reading list .TXT) 📗

decision whether to venture into Koluk, she wanted to find the large group of soldiers and sorcerers she used to be part of. Perhaps she could find out something and use it to bargain her way back into the good graces of her friends.

Eventually she found the group just a mile from the edge of the forest. Valinox was speaking with Endell Gesh in the midst of the small army. Eden almost stepped in a bear trap as she stayed behind the trees and observed without being seen.

It looked as if they were prepared for imminent combat. Archers stood in formation at the center. Tents had been taken down.

Then she heard a voice she hadn’t expected to hear. It was Michael’s. What was he doing here?

She couldn’t quite see him from her current location. There were too many trees in the way. She didn’t want to get closer, as Valinox probably had scouts making sure no ambush could surprise them, but she had to see what Michael was doing.

She located the one ranger in Rohaer’s group, who was far from her, watching the other side as if expecting people to come from that way. She kept an eye on him as she moved around the outskirts of the camp, getting closer to Michael’s voice.

“All right, all right!” yelled Michael from a little ways off. “You made your point!”

“And yet you’re still talking,” said an unfamiliar man. “I told you to shut up.”

“Ow!”

Eden knew it was a risk to get this close, but she didn’t feel like she had a choice. She looked around to check for scouts, then watched the forest floor for traps as she scurried around the trees for a better angle.

She found Michael trapped in a cage. A large man poked him in the leg with a sword a few times. Every time, Michael screamed.

The man seemed to be enjoying himself. “I’ll stop when you manage to keep from yelling,” he said with some humor in his tone, drawing a yelp from Michael every time he stabbed him.

Must be a dark mage. They enjoy anything that makes them feel powerful, like being an ass.

Eden’s skin crawled as she felt like she would be discovered at any moment. She wondered if Valinox had told his followers to kill her on sight.

Eden could see the side of Michael’s face from her vantage point. He made an expression she hadn’t seen from him before, one of anger.

Michael blew the dark mage back with a gust of wind. The spell was strong, surprising Eden, as she watched the dark mage tumbled backward. He appeared shocked as he got up and looked over at Valinox.

“I thought you said the wind mage was practically useless,” the man complained.

“Useless?” Michael exclaimed. “Then why don’t all of you kiss the ass of the useless master of wind!”

He bent over in the small space that his cage allotted, pushing his ass against the bars. Then he farted. It sounded like a quick blast of a trumpet.

Eden had to cover her mouth as she laughed. She ducked back behind the tree.

When was the last time she had laughed like this?

Back in the castle, she realized. During the night leading up to me inviting Michael into my bed.

She felt a chill down her back, tears wetting her eyes. How could I be so stupid to give that up?

Some of Eden’s fondest memories were of that night, with Michael. She wouldn’t soon forget the way he’d looked at her, blinded by what she’d first thought was attraction. She had since come to realize that it was more than that. He liked everything about her.

Because he didn’t know her.

She had taken one of Michael’s hairs and handed it off to Valinox the next day. He had cursed Michael and casted an illusion on himself to appear like Michael. Eden didn’t know much about illusions, still. They required the hair or blood of the target, as well as the note uF, which was too high for her to reach. She could at least perform curses, but they didn’t come naturally to her. Valinox had instructed her every time and left it up to her to practice.

She had accidentally cursed herself when trying to curse Aliana one night. Fortunately, she had cursed herself accidentally before and had enough willpower to lie. It was how she had been able to deceive the king as well, when he’d had everyone cursed.

But her only lie to the king that night was that she knew nothing about the traitor. Everything else she had told him had been true. She did wish that he was her father, as she had stated. She liked to imagine what kind of life she would’ve had.

The dark mages were not amused by Michael’s flatulence. In fact, the man who had been poking Michael with his sword earlier seemed to take it personally as he trudged toward Michael with his weapon up.

“Stop,” Valinox ordered.

Eden didn’t want to risk watching while the demigod had eyes in her direction, so she ducked behind the tree again.

“They stay alive unless the others come,” she heard Valinox say.

“What about this one?” someone called from a different direction.

Eden took a chance looking around the other side of the tree. The man was gesturing at a different cage a little ways off. Eden gasped when she noticed Aliana inside.

How many of them were captured, and how?

“We could have a lot of fun with her,” said the man pointing at Aliana.

Endell was the one to answer. “She will die with the others if our demands are not met.”

“I don’t know,” muttered the man, creeping closer to Aliana. “Seems like a waste.”

Aliana swore at the lot of them, shaking the bars of her cage. It was a standing metal box with one possible opening, a big brass lock on the outside. Eden peered around the rest of the encampment. Reuben was in another cage, meaning three of them had been captured. They were spread out from each other.

Then Eden realized