Zach Brenner's Arc

Chapter 74 of 86

The mages arrived at Black Hollow over two days. Ayla came first, leading a column of white robes up the mountain road. Lyra came after, the black mages walking behind her in dark cloaks. Garrok's fort held them all. But by the second night, the yard split down the middle. White robes on one side. Black robes on the other. Neither group crossed the gap. Zach watched it curdle. A white mage called the black arts unclean. A black mage spat back that light magic was for nurses. Voices rose. Hands drifted toward staves. Ayla stood in the middle, staff raised, trying to shout them calm. Lyra stood beside her, jaw tight, snapping at her own guild to stand down. Neither could hold it. The yard tipped toward a brawl. Zach climbed onto a stack of timber. "Enough!" His voice cut across the fort. The mages turned. He was no mage, just a man in a black tank top with a sword on his back. But they knew his name. "You came here to kill the fog," he said. "Not each other." A black-robe scoffed. "We don't take orders from light-huggers." A white mage answered him with a curse. Zach let it die, then spoke lower. "Seven years ago Darkthorne rose. He would have swallowed this whole world. You know how he fell?" He pointed to Ayla. "Her light healed us mid-fight. Kept us breathing when nothing else could." He pointed to Lyra. "Her fire and her dark craft broke through walls light alone couldn't touch. I stood between them. I felt both." He looked over the two crowds. "The blade got the credit. But the blade was nothing without these two. Black magic and white magic, in the same circle. That's what killed him." Ayla lowered her staff. Lyra glanced at her, surprised. Zach pressed on. "You want proof it works? It already did. One cloud died last week because these two threw fire and light together. One cloud. The river makes a hundred. You can't kill it apart." The yard went quiet. A white mage looked at the black robe beside him, then away. Garrok broke the silence, axe on his shoulder. "He's right, you fools. My hunters died out there. I'll not lose more so you can bicker over robes." Lyra stepped into the gap between the two groups. She held out her hand toward a white mage. After a long moment, the woman took it. Ayla did the same on her side. One by one, the lines began to fold together. By morning the two guilds shared the same fires. They traded spells, arguing now over method instead of blood. Zach found Ayla and Lyra by the gate. "They'll fight together?" he asked. Ayla nodded. "They will. But knowing a guild can throw fire and light isn't the same as holding a whole river." Lyra frowned north. "We have the mages. Now we need to reach the source before it grows past even us."