Chapter Text
Jhearithe stood in the square in Sideralis gaping. Her entire world had just been sent spinning like a water spout by a gang of black mages assisted by—of all people—King Emerys’ best friend, Enchanter Evariste. He had helped them to put a curse on the elves. A curse! How did that even happen? She wouldn’t have believed it to be real had she not seen and felt the gooey, malevolent magic entwined with the gentle, benevolent magic in a monstrous abomination of nature.
The words she had heard the black mages say rang again in her ears. She turned to her husband who stood next to her. “Wander? Tanearan what does that even mean?” she asked breathily, terror rising in her.
Tanearan began to move away from her, but reached back for her hand. “Come with me, Love.”
Jhearithe took her husband’s hand, moving with him. “Where are you going?”
He shook his head. “I can’t stop. The magic is yanking me.” He pushed back against the magic but could not entirely keep his feet from moving.
Suddenly, she gasped.
Tanearan’s eyes snapped to hers. He put both hands on her shoulders, sidestepping as the magic pulled him inexorably toward the group of soldiers headed toward the borders of the Forest. “What?”
My magic. I can’t feel my magic! Jhearithe felt like crying. She had never had a single day without the feeling of her magic coursing through her. The sensation of having it ripped away was almost as if someone had opened her chest and stolen her heart. But this she would not say. Tanearan was being pulled by a magical force. He needed her attention now.
“You can’t stop!” she said instead. She grabbed his arms and leaned backward, trying to help him resist the momentum, but even their combined efforts made no difference.
They passed close to the white stone fountain seeing several other soldiers clinging to its sides.
“Grab the fountain, Tanearan!” she cried.
He shook his head. Gently, he disentangled himself from her grip and again took her hands.
“You can’t give up! Tanearan!”
He spoke matter of factly. “It won’t do any good, Bessig. We will fight this, and we will overcome it, but this is not the way.”
Although panic threatened to overwhelm her, she forced out, “I’ll miss you so much.”
Wrapping his arms around her, Tanearan kissed her, full on the lips, deeply, possessively, the way he always did just before he deployed, if far more awkwardly because of the incessant motion.
“I’ve been gone before. I’ll be back.” He had assumed his professional persona, but Jhearithe could hear the fear and uncertainty behind his words. “Take care of yourself and the baby. Tell the ‘lings I love them.”
Jhearithe had been a military wife a long time. She had lived through many, many of her husband’s absences. This will be no different, she tried to convince herself. I’ll get through this. As long as he comes home, I can handle anything. For the moment, she refused to allow herself to believe anything different.
Her logic kicked in. “We’re nearly to the edge of town. Can you angle your movement toward the house? It’s not far. You could at least get food and your weapons.”
He attempted the maneuver, but the magic pulled him toward the border, away from the house. “I can’t.”
“I’ll run and get them,” she said, trying to break away.
“No. Stay with me.” His bright green eyes pleaded with her and she could not deny him.
“Put them on Morroch,” he went on. “He can bring them to me.”
Jhearithe watched as the black magic spiraled around them, sinking into the ground and puffing like clouds into the sky. It felt like her whole world was shrouded in blackish-gray mist.
Forcefully yanking her attention back to her last few moments with her husband, she clung to him, matching the tiny movements of his feet. It almost felt like a dance. She gave him what she hoped was a convincing smile. “Don’t worry about us. We will be safe here in the Forest. No one will harm us. You just worry about getting back to me, do you hear me?”
He brushed a hair from her face, and she saw moisture at the corner of his eye. “I love you with everything in me,” he said. “Don’t ever forget that. I will get back to you no matter what it takes.”
“I love you, Tanearan. This is like just another deployment. Be safe and come home.” She looked up and realized they were getting terribly close to the barrier. No. Not yet. Please. I need him. Please! “ Is there anything specific you want me to send other than your weapons and all the food I can?”
“No. Don’t send food, Jhearithe. It will be easy for me to get food outside the barrier, but if you can’t leave the Forest, it may be harder for you. Send the sack of coins we had been putting away, and I’ll buy from the humans. Tell Alastryn to give you my pay until I return. If you can, send armor, weapons, bedroll, canteen, tent, whatever I normally would have taken with me. Help others if you can, but take care of yourself and the family first. Plant every seed you can get, just in case this thing lasts a few months.”
As the ominous swirling barrier loomed close enough to touch, Jhearithe wrapped her arms around her husband and held on. She could feel the strain in his muscles as he fought against the current of magic. Around them other soldiers streamed, some hugging loved ones and others yelling to loved ones they had not been able to reach, some uniformed and armed, some barely dressed. Tanearan was pulled through the barrier, and Jhearithe cried out as the magic yanked her away from him, pain ripping through her body as the barrier ripped them apart.
“I love you, Bessig,” her husband yelled, trying to be heard over the crowd.
“I love you! Come home soon!”