He started to pull his hand free from hers, but she held on desperately. “Don’t leave me, Will. Please, you’re all I have left.”
He wanted to reassure her, but when he started to answer, he felt his emotions swell, as though they would overwhelm him. Instead, he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her head against his chest. He couldn’t breathe, and when he attempted to draw air his chest grew tight. Opening his mouth, a wrenching sob escaped before he clenched his jaw shut. Eventually he managed a hoarse whisper, “I won’t.”
It was a few minutes before they both continued on their way. Will guessed he could get home within about ten minutes from where they were currently, but walking hand in hand would take a little longer.
They were getting close when they began to hear the characteristic sounds of men and horses. “I hear them,” said his cousin softly.
Will nodded. “The road isn’t far from here.”
“Your house is on the other side of it,” she remarked. “How are we going to cross?”
“We’ll have to wait,” he replied. And hope they aren’t already burning it down.
Not daring to get closer to the road, they stayed where they were, listening to the jingle of metal and the sounds of marching feet. It went on for an eternity, at least to Will. How many are there? he wondered. Judging by his ears, more men had passed than all the people he had ever met in his admittedly short life.
“Is that their entire army going by?” asked Sammy. “Shouldn’t they still be in Barrowden?”
“Our village is probably insignificant to them,” guessed Will. “They probably rode straight through and left the ones we saw to burn out everything behind them.”
Eventually the sounds faded, and they were left with only the relative quiet of the forest. Creeping forward, they risked a look and saw that the road was clear. They snuck to the very edge and looked once more before crossing, in case there were others coming, but they saw no one, so they ran across to the safety of the forest on the other side.
They were very near to the small turn off that led to Will’s house, but they didn’t hear anything that would indicate the soldiers had gone to explore it. Please let Mom be safe, prayed Will.
Since the road was clear, they followed it, staying on the relatively clear verge, but they discovered something strange when they got to the place where the turn off should have been. The entire beginning of the path was covered in strange, swirling flows of turyn.
“It’s gone!” gasped Sammy. “I don’t understand. The path was here just a few days ago.”
Will could see the trees and brush, but the magic rippling across the area made him doubt his eyes. “I think it’s been hidden by some kind of magic,” he told his cousin.
“Why would they do that?”
“It’s our grandfather,” said Will, and as he said it he realized that he could recognize the feel of his teacher’s turyn.
Sammy gave him a strange look. “You know he isn’t really your grandfather, don’t you? Dad was very firm about that.”
“He’s actually a wizard,” explained Will, “a very old one. Your Dad is right, he isn’t our grandfather, but our many times removed great-grandfather. He’s been teaching me magic.”
“You really have lost your mind,” said Sammy, a sad note in her voice.
Grabbing her hand, Will pulled his cousin along until they reached the area where the turyn was thickest. Then he walked straight toward a large elm that was standing where the path should have been. Sammy struggled, but she grew still when she saw his body pass through the seemingly solid tree.
The next few seconds were confusing, since the illusion wasn’t thin, and stretched on for twenty feet or so, but Will walked resolutely through until they emerged on the other side. The path was still there, clear in front of him. Now that they were past the magic, he could see his house sitting quietly where it always had. He felt a wave of relief when he saw that it wasn’t on fire, nor were there any soldiers evident. “We’re safe,” he announced.
Sammy was staring behind them at the trees they had just walked through. “They aren’t really there. That was magic?”
Will nodded.
“And that crazy old man did it?” she asked.
He nodded again. “I’m certain of it.” He pulled at her. “Let’s go find Mom.”
Moments later, they were opening the door and Will felt the tension go out of him when he saw his mother and Arrogan arguing and packing in the front room. They looked up as the door opened, both their faces registering shock and relief at his and Sammy’s entrance.
Erisa dropped the pot she was holding and ran toward him. “Are you all right? Oh my god, the blood! Take off your clothes!”
Will smiled. “It’s all right, Mom. It’s not mine. I fought with some soldiers. It’s their blood.” He looked down as he said it and realized his words weren’t true. He had gotten some of the soldiers’ blood on him, but his shirt and pants were now soaked. The cuts on his arm and leg had been bleeding slowly during their journey through the woods. “Oh,” he said lamely. “That blood. Yeah, I think most of that is mine.”
“Don’t worry, Erisa,” said Arrogan. “His body can afford to spare some blood. It doesn’t need the blood it sends to his brain. He never uses it anyway.”
Erisa never looked away. She was busy cutting the cloth away from his arm, so she could dress the wounds. “Shut up,” she barked at the old man. Sammy let out a semi-hysterical giggle at their exchange.
“They look worse than they are,” pronounced his mother after a moment. “I can stitch them up later. For now, we can make do with pressure dressings.”
While his mother wrapped his arm and thigh with clean linen strips, Arrogan interrogated his student, demanding to know what he had seen and what route they had taken to get back to the house. Will had difficulty answering. He relayed the story up until the point where he reached his aunt and uncle’s house, and then stopped. Taking a deep breath, he tried to tell them what he had seen. “Doug was in front of the house, trying to keep the soldiers away, but they were too big…”
“Little Dougie was braver than anyone,” said Sammy, and then her voice broke and she began to cry again.
Haltingly, Will described his fight with the soldiers, though he struggled with telling them about Doreen’s brutal murder. He could feel his mother’s hands tense when he relayed that part, but she said nothing. It was easier explaining his escape with Sammy afterward.
When he had finished, his grandfather sighed. “I’d like to tell you how stupid what you did was,” he said at last, “but I think you already realize that. At the very least you proved me wrong. You managed to get Sammy away safely, and that was no mean feat.”
“He saved my life,” said Will’s cousin quietly.
“Oh, I doubt they’d have killed a girl your age,” said Arrogan. “They’d have—”
“That’s enough,” snapped Erisa harshly.
For the first time Will could remember, his grandfather looked not just chastened, but embarrassed. “Anyway, it’s a good thing you got her away from there,” said the old man. Then he looked at Sammy. “Pardon my rough edges, Sammy. I’m not used to talking to people anymore. I’ve lived alone a long time.”