Link pressed the attack this time. Twisting and extending his body, swinging his branch at different angles to thwart Alex’s defences. She parried his barrage effortlessly, stepped to the side, then lunged forwards at her brother with a stabbing strike. Her momentum was her own worst enemy. All Link had to do was turn and disarm the branch she was holding with a swift upward flick. She fell hard on her side.
“Almost had you,” Alex grunted, thumping the dirt in anger.
“No, you didn’t,” Link chuckled, as he picked up her branch and threw it back. She caught it without breaking eye contact with him. “One more round. Then we’ll eat.”
His sister must have been starving, because suddenly she sprung forwards with a newfound determination. Alex’s branch flashed before his eyes with alarming speed and precision. Link managed to check most of the blows, all bar one. The last strike whistled as it narrowly missed his ear. Link took a few steps backward, off balance, trying to regain his composure.
He was still adjusting to how quick her movements were. She reminded him of a mamba: coiled one moment, sinking its fangs into your flesh the next. Link was just lucky he had the superior defence. Well technically “he” didn’t, but Deonis did.
It had been almost a week since they reluctantly parted ways with the gentle giant, Foragoon. Alex was an emotional wreck, sobbing and in hysterics, begging him not to leave. Link practically had to yank her off his ankles so they could go. As a parting gift, Foragoon had given Alex a few of the violet leaves that healed the horrik-inflicted wounds. He gave Link nothing, which was understandable seeing as he had wanted to abandon the giant when he was dying.
Since the giant's departure, the two siblings had been keeping tight to the main road, just like their two characters had. Deonis and Taytora had followed Oakstone until they reached the city Iralda, only stopping in a town called Vardis along the way. If Link had read the map correctly, Vardis was the town in which they would be arriving tomorrow.
Link would’ve gladly bypassed Vardis without a second thought. But they needed to buy a horse there just like the heroes had. Plus, he felt a warm meal and a good night’s rest were more than welcome.
Link knew he should stop being a worrywart. They weren’t as defenceless as they had been when they had first woken up in Nocera. Discovering they possessed Taytora and Deonis’ abilities had changed the whole dynamic of their situation. They were mentally stronger, and after a few days of training, the siblings started to become physically stronger.
During daylight they travelled and, as the sun began its descent, they would find somewhere secluded to camp and hone their skills. A typical evening consisted of Alex firing arrows into tree trunks and Link slashing imaginary opponents with his sword or practicing Spells from scrolls. And sometimes, like that evening, for instance, they would spar with each other while wielding sturdy branches.
Alex was getting so good with her bow and arrow that one day they decided to try their luck and wandered into some woodlands just west of Oakstone. After several hours’ worth of hunting, she emerged holding the ears of a dead hare and wore a grin from ear to ear. Later that night they skinned it, chowed down on half, and went to sleep with full bellies.
Link knew he couldn’t rely on her hunting every day, though. Small animals were scarce on that road, and it wasn’t often they came across any woodlands. And even when they did, they wouldn’t dare to travel too deep in them. This was Nocera after all. Bears and wolves were the least of their worries.
Alex casually tossed her branch to her right hand, then back again to her left. She circled her brother counter-clockwise, then without warning she thrust her branch forward like a frog loosely flicking out its tongue. Link managed to jerk his head back in time, her branch stopping inches away from his eyes. He was close to soiling himself.
They had only been sparring with branches for the past three days. But slowly and surely, they were both beginning to get the hang of it. Of course, they didn’t have the slightest clue as to what they were doing; they were fighting purely out of instinct.
Link found if he shut his mind off completely and let his body take over, it would show him how to react to each situation. He often found himself marvelling over what was happening in front of his eyes. It was like his body was some sort of pre-programmed killing machine.
The siblings stepped forwards at the same time, their branches cracking together as they met in the middle, the impact sending violent waves rattling throughout Link’s body. As he was in close, he wrapped his leg around the back of his sister’s calve and pushed her forwards. She fell backward, kicking up dirt and snow in the air. Link poked her neck softly with the tip of his branch as she lay on the ground, panting.
“Dead,” he said.
“Cheat,” Alex said, snarling. “This is a sword fight. You never said anything about using your feet.”
“Anything goes in a sword fight,” he said, chuckling. “Besides, these are branches, not swords. So, technically, this should be called a branch fight.”
Judging by her flaring nostrils, Alex didn’t like his joke. She stood up, shook the dirt out of her long blond hair and pretended to walk away. A few steps later, she turned and leaped at him with a vicious overhead strike. Link knocked her telegraphed attack aside and then swung at her torso. Alex rolled harmlessly underneath his strike. He turned to find her branch pressed to his chest.
His sister’s jaw dropped in surprise. “No way.”
Smiling, Link batted her branch away from his chest. “So, this is what it feels like to lose, huh?”
“No way,” she said again. “If only Dad were here to see this. Man, he’d be ripping into you right now.” She shook her head in disbelief. “I still can’t believe it. I actually beat you, Lincoln Hunter, in a physical activity. A physical activity.”
“And it only took you fifteen years,” he said slyly.
“What did you say?” Alex asked.
“I said it only took you fifteen years.”
“I’m sorry; one more time?” she said cupping a hand behind her ear. “I don’t speak loser.”
“And you say I’m a sore winner?” he said, laughing.
Throwing his branch away, Link dropped down into a dried gully where they’d set up camp earlier. It was a few meters wide, and its sides were narrow and steep, which made it the ideal place to sleep for the night. Now that they weren’t journeying with Foragoon they had to be strategic as to where they set up camp. Concealment was their best defence.
Link took off his gloves and held his right hand above some kindling he had gathered earlier, attempting to open his Gate to the elusive power that resided deep within him. Trying to find it could only be explained as fumbling around for a light switch in a pitch-black room, or trying to scratch an itch you just couldn’t quite reach.
After a few minutes of searching aimlessly, Link unlocked his Gate to The Eternal Source, and immediately his senses heightened.
Suddenly he was aware of things he had been oblivious to before: an orchestra of crickets chirping a stone’s throw away; an owl perched on top of a branch, picking at its feathers in the distance; the gentle breeze blowing from the east, rustling the branches and leaves tranquilly as it glided past them.
If Link focused hard enough, he could even feel the worms squirming underneath his feet as they burrowed their way aimlessly through the soil. Alex would always ask him what it felt like, to open the Gate to The Source, and he’d always find himself tongue-tied, because no words did this feeling any justice.
The feeling of ceasing his thoughts, and being so connected and lost with the beauty of the world around him, so absorbed by the present, that the past and future held no relevance. The feeling of separating you, me, this and that, time and space. To release himself from the bondage of his mind and find the only thing that mattered was the here and now.
Link branched out to all the heat sources radiating around him, just like the scroll from his backpack taught him to do. The process of Firewielding was simple enough to him. Then again, that might have something to do with the fact he created the laws of magic in their story. First, one needed a heat source, the most obvious one being the sun. Once the heat source was gathered, then the Eternal Source was used as the fuel. The oxygen would then react chemically and voila: there was fire.
It took Link a few painstaking minutes, but once he had converged the heat sources together, he scrunched his eyes shut and focused all the energy and drew it towards the palm of his hand. He flicked his palm backward to create the necessary Chain needed to activate the Spell he was attempting.
In one concise burst, a tiny tongue of flame flicked out from Link’s hand and caught onto the kindling he had prepared. Exhaling forcefully, he rested his back against the steepest side of the gully, arching his head back to try to stop the world from swaying around him. When he tilted his head forwards, Alex was crouched down, cupping her hands around the small flame, blowing on it to make it grow.
Unlike most magic systems that required a wand, staffs or words for the spell to be triggered, in Nocera, all that was needed was a precise sequence of body movements called a Chain. These Chains could range from a slight flick of the hand to complicated steps or arm movements. And if these movements weren’t executed flawlessly, the consequences for the Gifted could be dire. The more advanced the Spell, the more movements the Chain would require and the basic ones required the least.
Unluckily for Link, though, out of the four elements—fire, earth, wind and water—Firewielding was the most energy-draining to undertake. Not because if one lost control, more often or not he’d end up burning himself, but because the toll it took on one’s body was tremendous. Any Spell depleted a little bit of energy, but Fire Spells were notorious for taking great amounts of it. Which was why the creation of that little flicker of flames made Link feel like he had just finished running a marathon.
“Are you OK?” Alex asked, jumping down into the gully beside him.
Link had steadied his breathing before he responded. “Fine.”
“Is it getting easier?”
“A little,” he lied.
Alex placed some twigs into the flames, her eyes watching him intently as the fire expanded. She still hadn’t unlocked her Gates yet. It wasn’t from lack of trying, though; she had been at it almost every hour like clockwork.
It took Link a few days to find the evasive energy source, and even longer just to move a pebble so much as a millimetre. On top of that, practicing the Spells proved to be so gruelling he had resorted to only attempting them at night. If he were to practice during the day, he’d have to stop every half-hour to catch his breath and recuperate.
Link had only learned a handful of Spells from the scrolls in Deonis’ backpack: moving small piles of rocks or clumps of dirt; emitting tiny embers from the palms of his hands. Nothing too great, especially not in comparison to what Deonis and Taytora were already capable of at that stage in the book. Link knew the heroes weren’t heading to the Golden Gauntlet for fun.
Alex scrimmaged inside of her backpack and pulled out a loaf of bread, tearing two chunks from it. She handed him a piece and nibbled on the other. Thankfully, she had learned to savour her food instead of scarfing it down like it was her last meal. If only they had some of the hare left, but they had to gobble it before the meat rotted.
Now Alex sat with her legs folded, a glum expression upon her face.
“You OK?” Link asked her.
“Yeah, fine. Just thinking about tomorrow,” she responded.
“We’ll be fine,” he said. “We just have to act confident, keep to ourselves and not draw any unwanted attention.”
“I know.”
“We have to watch the way we speak as well,” he said, “Hide our American accents. Watch our slang and your contractions. Just leave all the talking to me, actually. And remember, our names are Deonis and Taytora now, so no more slip ups. I swear by the end of our journey Foragoon started calling me Link.”
Alex laughed feebly. “You seem more nervous than me.”
Link ripped off a tiny piece of bread and threw it in his mouth. “I’ve always been a worrywart, you know that.”
“What I don’t get, though,” Alex said, suddenly looking concerned, “is if Vardis is so dangerous, like, then why are we even going there? Why not stick to the main road? Aren’t we trying to avoid civilization until we get to Iralda?”
Holding out his arms, Link let his outstretched fingers embrace the warmth of the crackling fire. “Because we have to follow the plot.”
“The plot?”
“The plot,” he repeated, matching her ditsy tone. “We have to do everything Taytora and Deonis did in the book: Buy a horse to share in Vardis, stock up on rations, stay two nights, then set off for Iralda the next day.”
Alex scrunched up her face like she had just tasted Dad’s not-so-famous cabbage stew. “But why? We haven’t been following the plot so far. Taytora and Deonis didn’t have a giant escort them through the mountains.”
“Well, I didn’t say we had to follow it down to a tee. Just, you know, sort of use it as a guideline. My logic is if Taytora and Deonis didn’t die in the books, then if we do exactly what they did, we won’t die either.”
“Fine logic, Link. Real fine,” Alex said dismally.
“Almost as fine as your sarcasm.”
His sister sat in silence for a bit, chewing her lip nervously. “Have you thought about what we’re going to do once we get to Iralda? Because you said we need to follow the plot, but obviously, we can’t follow it that far.”
“I haven’t given it much thought,” Link mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck. He had been so focused on getting them to the town Vardis it had completely slipped his mind.
Iralda was the capital of the Kingdom of Mist, the Kingdom they were in now. And once every year, newly discovered Gifted would participate in a tournament called The Golden Gauntlet. During the combat, elite Mages from various cities would scout the talent, and if they saw any Gifted they liked, they would recruit them into their squadron.
The pay for even a low-ranking Mage was substantially high, which was why Taytora and Deonis were headed there in the first place: To compete, earn a spot into a squadron, and feed their family back in Orban. But for Alex and Link to follow in their characters’ footsteps was completely out of the question. Although the combatants used blunted swords, and could wear thick armour, if they so desired, deaths were still a common occurrence in the tournament. It turned out magic was far more lethal than any blade or armour.
“What about if we both got jobs and worked in Iralda?” Alex said with a gleam in her eyes.
The suggestion made his head perk up. He hadn’t even thought of this possibility. Although most Gifted would practically jump at the opportunity to partake in the tournament (most for the substantial pay, of course), there were some that would acquire everyday jobs.
With his Fire magic, Link could do as much work as four blacksmiths, or he could utilize his Earth magic and become a builder. And, in due time, with Alex’s Air and Water magic she could steer a boat better than any captain could ever dream. Sensing she might have been on to something, Link stood up and paced around the fire, weighing up the pros and cons in his head.
“Think about it,” Alex said, watching him as he walked. “If we enter The Golden Gauntlet we’re as good as dead. For one, I haven’t even unlocked my Gate yet, and two, all you can do is spit little embers and move clumps of dirt.”
She was right. Entering the tournament was completely out of the question. Especially since every injury she attained in Nocera appeared on her in the real world. Even when sparring with branches Link had been cautious not to harm her. And what safer place to be than the Kingdom of Mist’s capital, Iralda?
Link’s main priority had been to keep Alex out of harm’s way. Until he solved the whole “getting out of Nocera” conundrum, that was. Somehow, he knew the man in the fedora hat was behind this. Or at least had to know what was happening to him. But ever since that day in the city, Link had never seen him again. He was still struggling to fathom a rational thought about the note he was given: Sleep well, Hunter, Kind regards, Xavier, XO.
First of all, how did this Xavier know his last name? And just what exactly did he mean by sleep well? Did he know about Link’s dreams of Nocera? And what about the pills? With no prescription label, it was impossible to know exactly what they were. But something was telling Link they were sleeping pills—a twisted joke, seeing as sleep had eluded him lately.
“Well, what do you think?” Alex asked.
“I think you’re a genius,” he replied distantly.
She looked at him abashed. “Aw, shucks, you’re making me blush.”
“But Iralda is still a long way away,” he said. “We need to focus on tomorrow, on Vardis. Two young kids with a pocket full of gold who talk funny. We’ll practically have targets painted on our backs.”
“I’ve taken acting classes before,” Alex said matter-of-factly. “I’ll be fine.” She stood up, pinched the flaps of her cloak with both hands, performed a polite curtsy, and proceeded to speak in a strong British accent. “Good evening, Your Highness. Splendid weather we are hav—”
There was a rustling in the distance. Link had held up his hand to silence her. “Did you hear that?”
“Hear what?” Alex asked, dropping the flaps of her cloak.
The rustling noise sounded again, louder this time. A stirring in the bushes right above them. Something was up there. An animal? A person? Link couldn’t decide. He pointed to Alex’s bow that was a few yards away, then he held a finger to his lips, reiterating the fact that they needed to stay quiet. She nodded and slowly got to her feet, readying her bow.
Link held out a hand, signalling her to stay put; then, he firmly grasped a root sticking out from the gully and used it as leverage to pull himself out.
Crouching down, he slowly drew his sword from its sheath, searching into the darkness for the source of the noise. Then he saw him. Goosebumps immediately riddled Link’s body from head to toe. His hand shook as he struggled to keep his sword steady, which now felt as if it weighed one hundred pounds.
In the distance was the man in the grey fedora hat and overcoat, half hidden behind the trunk of a tree. Darkness obscured his eyes, but his mouth was twisted in an unmistakable, ominous smile.
“Xavier!” Link shouted, darting off in his direction, chopping down branches and shrubs to clear a path. But when Link reached the spot where he had been, the man was gone.