Rebecka Evertrue's Arc

Chapter 7 of 66

Marcus counted the bodies in the yard while Rebecka counted the dark crystals on the walls. Five out of eight wards were gone. The three that still held gave off a thin blue light, but the seams between them flickered. She could see the gaps from where she stood. Any raider with a spear could see them too. "How long until they come back?" she asked. "By dark," Marcus said. "Maybe sooner. I heard a horn in the trees before you arrived." She walked the wall with him. He had two potions left on his belt and a shallow cut above his eye. She had eleven arrows in the quiver. Eleven arrows and a fence with holes in it. Inside the house, her mother was already moving furniture. Katia had pushed the long table against the door and was stacking clay jars on the sill. Ninka sat cross-legged on the floor with a woven rug spread out in front of her. The rug's tassels lifted on their own, as if in a wind that was not there. "The wards are done," Rebecka said. "We can't rebuild them before nightfall." Katia set down a jar. "Then don't rebuild them. Replace them." "With what?" "With her." Katia nodded at Ninka. Rebecka looked at her daughter. Ninka's palms were flat on the rug. The luminous patterns under her hands were brightening. "She's ten," Rebecka said. "She opened a road for you across three days of country," Katia said. "You know what she is. Stop pretending you don't." Rebecka's throat closed. She had spent years teaching Ninka small games. Card tricks. Guessing. She had not wanted this. Ninka looked up. "Mom. I can hold a halo around the house. Grandma showed me how in the cellar while you were gone." "Show me," Rebecka said. Ninka closed her eyes. The rug rose two inches off the floor. A ring of light opened above it, small at first, then wider, layered rings inside rings, blue and violet, humming like the arrows. A shield. Not a ward crystal. Something older. Rebecka knelt and put her hand through the light. It did not burn. It pushed back. "How long can you hold it?" she asked. "A night. Maybe two. If I don't sleep." Marcus stepped into the doorway. He looked at the halo. He looked at Rebecka. He did not speak. Rebecka took her daughter's face in her hands. "You hold it from inside. I'll stand outside with the bow. Your grandmother stays with you. Marcus watches the gate." Ninka nodded. Rebecka went out to the broken yard. The halo rose behind her, a dome of soft light covering the house where the wards had been. It was smaller than the old shield. It did not reach the outbuildings or the garden. It covered her family and nothing else. A horn sounded in the trees. Closer now. She nocked an arrow.