Page 11 of In Darkness Forged
Just before dawn, Aislin donned her cloak, stoked the fire, and prepared three cups of weak tea with three slices of toasted bread. When her grandmother shuffled out of the tiny bedroom and took her seat before the fire, Aislin decided she could put off this final conversation no longer.
“Grandmama, I have to go away for a little while.”
Her grandmother sipped her tea and regarded her with strangely bright eyes. These days, she was often confused, but Aislin had to hope that she understood what was said. That her irrepressible grandmother was still in there somewhere.
“I may be gone for some time, but I’ll be sending someone up later to look in on you.”
Brannic had not yet agreed, but he had always tried to give more than Aislin had been able to accept. Much as she hated to ask, she knew he would not hesitate to help her once he heard her story.
“Please stay warm. You and Mother look after each other, and I’ll see you soon, all right?”
She had given up on hearing any words of farewell when her grandmother suddenly reached out and gripped Aislin’s wrist in one wrinkled hand.
Lifting fierce gray eyes to Aislin’s face, she clenched her fingers tighter as if in warning.
“Your magic,” she said firmly. “You must find your magic, child!”
Aislin’s heart shrank, but she set one hand over her grandmother’s and squeezed back, smiling and nodding as if she understood.
Her grandmother had never quite accepted that Aislin would never have magic. The gift their family had borne for five generations was gone, and it wasn’t coming back.
All Aislin had now was stubbornness, a strong back, and the fear that her family would starve if she could not accomplish the task Lord Dreichel had set her.
Those would have to be enough.
“Thank you, Grandmama. I’m sure I will.”
She tried to pull away, but her grandmother did not let go.
“You don’t believe me,” she said, a knowing glint in her eye, “but you will find it. In a dark place, where you least expect it… that’s where it waits for you.”
Her grip relaxed as the light in her eyes seemed to fade. “And do come home soon. We will miss you while you’re away.”
Aislin fought back tears. “I’ll try, I promise.” She pulled her hand from her grandmother’s and patted her shoulder gently. “But I have to go now. I’ll be back before you know it.”
And with one last glance around the inside of the cottage, she slipped out the door into the early morning gloom.
* * *
It was a cold, lonely journey to the village, and each footstep on the steep, rocky path seemed to echo in the pre-dawn silence. Each step… Aislin knew them by heart. Even in the dark, she never stumbled, and the very familiarity of it reminded her that she was about to leave behind everything she had ever known. About to travel beyond the small, unchanging world of Brightvale for the first time.
Distracted by her anxiety, she was far too unaware of her surroundings, and nearly cried out in alarm when a voice rang out from the shadows beside the trail.
“Wait!”
Aislin had no weapon, but she turned to face the threat with her hands raised, as if more than willing to punch the stranger in the throat. Not that she had ever done such a thing, but it couldn’t be that hard, could it?
But when he emerged onto the path beside her, he was no stranger.
“Sandric?”
The light was dim, but somehow his golden hair still seemed to glow. Close up, he was even taller than she remembered, broader of shoulder, and his stricken expression seemed to reveal far more sympathy than she would have expected.
“Aislin.”
“Yes, my lord?” Aislin managed a rough curtsy before folding her arms across her chest, wondering numbly what he might want with her that he’d waited out here alone in the cold. It wasn’t as if he actually cared whether she paid for his fit of temper with her life. “Why are you here?”
But he surprised her with an expression as sober as her own. “I just wanted you to know that I’m… I’m sorry. Sorry for what my father has done to you.”