Annie Hayden's Arc

Chapter 17 of 27

Annie woke before dawn. The storm had stopped. She heard only wind and Kaelen's slow breathing across the cave. She sat up in the dark and looked at him. He slept with one hand near the stag's flank, his face slack for once. The white stag lay still. The fox curled against her leg, its flaming tail dim and low. She could not wait. Every hour she stayed was an hour Vael Shadowmere gained. She needed the vessel. She needed the High Mage. Waiting for full daylight felt like sitting still while a trap closed. Annie gathered her boots and her wand. She tucked the amethyst crystal into her belt. She rose slow, careful not to scrape the stone. The fox lifted its head and watched her. She knelt and pressed her palm to its warm side. "You stay," she whispered. "You'll be safer here with him." The fox pushed its nose against her wrist. She felt the old pull to draw its fire and take it with her. She stopped herself. Drawing on the fox drained its life. She would not spend that on a walk through the woods. She left it curled by Kaelen and stepped out of the cave alone. The woods were wet and gray. Snow dripped from black branches. Annie moved fast, keeping the slope on her right the way Kaelen had. Her breath fogged. The cold bit through her sleeves, and without the fox she had no warmth to shield her. That was the point. Cold girl, no fire. Nothing warm to draw a hunter's eye. But she was wrong. A branch snapped behind her. She spun. Nothing. She kept walking, faster now. Another sound, closer, off to the left. She reached for her wand, then remembered the fox was in the cave. The wand was empty. She had left her only power sleeping by Kaelen. She ran. Roots caught her boots. She stumbled through a wall of wet brush and into a small clearing. A shape stepped out ahead of her. Tall. Still. A cloak the color of old smoke. "Vael," she breathed. "You left your fire behind," he said. His voice was soft and pleased. "That was kind of you. It makes this simple." Annie backed away. Her heel hit a stone. She had no fox, no fire, no Kaelen. She had walked out of shelter and straight into the one thing she feared. He crossed the clearing slow, in no hurry. "My master doesn’t need the fox, just you, and he will be very pleased to meet you" he grinned closing the gap between them He caught her wrist before she could turn. His grip was cold and hard as iron. The empty wand fell to the snow. Annie twisted, but he held her fast. "Now," Vael said. "Let's go and meet my master." She had left the fox to keep it safe. Instead she had made herself easy to take.