Page 189 of Spring Guardians & Songbirds

The woman stood and pointed to a sun-coloured stone. “Might I suggest this. Amber would match your eyes.”

“I am not here to buy.”

“Two,” Mal said from behind me, handing the woman two silver Dar and plucking two amber necklaces from the table.

I didn't even get to object before he was clasping the necklace on me.

“The other,” he said, lifting the second necklace. “For the smaller Skygard. When we find her.”

“I can’t wear this, Mal.”

“Sure you will. Consider it a wedding gift.” He threw an arm over my shoulder and steered us into the crowd again. “Pass it to my niece.”

With a groan, I elbowed him in the stomach and he turned red more from laughter than pain.

Once we reached the edge of the town, I removed my heavy clothing and wore the thin cloak Mal had purchased in White Bridge east port, hoping to blend in and not become a subject of curiosity to Solaryan soldiers.

Once we reached a thicket of forest, we dismounted. It was presumably deep enough in its centre considering we’d travelled for the past two hours without rest. Mal pulled a map out of his bag and the compass he bought. Apparently, the map was Visha’s creation. The white parchment paper was dusted lightly in shimmering fine black specks, crafted to guide us through to them.

“Your hand,” Mal said, pulling a dagger from his side. He dug the tip on my finger and let the flood drip onto the white map. “It will take us to those of your blood.”

For a few tormenting long moments nothing seemed to happen. I sighed and sagged with relief when trails of red began a path along the map. A short path, meaning we were close.

A new sort of panic settled in me and breathing became difficult. I couldn’t…I couldn’t breathe.

“Snow?”

I turned to face Mal whose face was shaped with concern. “This is not a dream, is it? Actually, it feels a lot like the beginning of most of my nightmares.” Me chasing after my siblings. Finding them, but not being able to reach and save them.

He reached close and cupped my face. “It isn’t a dream. Look, I'm touching you and Kilian hasn’t magically burnt me to ashes with the power of his mind.”

That earned him a grin.

He removed his hands, lifting them in the air and absently looking around. “I wouldn't put it past him, however.” Pulling the hood back over my head he said, “Let’s go find them.”

We followed the map till it brought us to a small village where we left our horses. The closer to the end of the trail we got, the more my pulse made it hard to hear anything besides. Only Mal’s reassuring concentration brought me back to my senses now and again.

He stopped abruptly. “It separated.”

I looked over the map he held and saw the trail divided into two. “They must have separated.”

“Wouldn’t that mean that they are roaming freely?”

“I don’t know, Mal.” That feeling of bitter sense of wrong crawled at the back of my head like a painful rush of blood. Perhaps they chose to live far from me, far from everything? Perhaps they were happy. Perhaps they wanted to be left alone.

We decided to follow one of the trails together. If this was a trap it would be easier to get out of it together rather than separate. The thicket of the sunburnt forest grew clustered the further in we got.

Suddenly, Mal grabbed my elbow and hauled me back, resulting in both of us rolling over on the ground from the force.

“A shield,” he said, rubbing where a sharp branch had dug on his thigh. “Look up.”

At a small space where the green forest ceiling was scarce, light hit the air in front of us and a reflection bounced back from thin air. Picking up a rock, I threw it toward the shield. The thin layer of magic bounced in a rainbow-like wave, but the rock landed safely on the other side.

Mal squatted before it. “Looks like a well thought trap.”

“Or a prison.”

An agonising while passed while we searched the perimeter which the shield was over. It wasn’t just over a chunk of land—it went on for miles. The analytics of the shield were not adding up and at this point it did feel like a trap. Was it to keep out or in?