She came to stand by Lorian and her thin arms trembled as she slowly raised her staff and slammed it on the floor with an unexpected force, sending a crack like thunder through the room. A wave of gold Essence blasted outward, and people dropped like sheared wheat. The stunned villagers laid where they fell, groaning but otherwise unhurt.
Dyna slowly righted herself and helped her grandmother stand where they had fallen against the wall. She searched for that spot of red hair and finally spotted Lyra standing at the doorway with Wren, and the other children who had been playing outside.
Dyna exhaled in relief, motioning at her sister to stay away. Lyra nodded and led the children away.
“Are we to squawk and cluck like mindless chickens?” Lady Samira demanded, her harsh tone cutting clear through the silence. She regarded the villagers with a severe glare, arching a white brow and daring anyone to defy her.
No one did.
She was one of the last remaining elders with powerful Essence and had earned their respect. But Dyna could see it had taken a great deal out of her. The color leached from her face, and she gripped her staff tightly in her shaking hands to remain upright.
Wendell cleared his throat. “Forgive us, Lady Samira, but we cannot keep biding our time. The Shadow will come again. Do you expect us to sit around and wait to die?”
“We have sent an expedition to gather Luna Reeds,” Councilor Cario announced, at last speaking. “We are awaiting their return.”
Councilor Mathis nodded. “Traveling as far as the Magos Empire will take time.”
“They left last summer,” another man wearing a leather tanner apron said as he sat up from where he had been thrown. “Either they didn’t survive the journey, or they have abandoned us.”
Dyna didn’t believe it. No one had volunteered to go on the expedition so the councilors chose a group at random. Well, they insisted it had been a random selection, but she’d noticed those chosen had families. Men with the most to lose if they didn’t return.
“What if the Archmage discovered who they are?” Duren grunted. “They could be trapped in Magos for all we know, maybe no one is coming at all.”
Five women gathered in a back corner near Dyna silently wept and held onto each other for comfort. The wives of those who had gone on the expedition, she realized. Every day they must watch the road leading out of the village, hoping and waiting for their husbands to come home.
Would they return? Or would this be another loss the council deemed necessary?
Wendell shook his head. “We need to abandon this place. It’s cursed.”
The villagers agreed in loud calls.
“You are right,” Lady Samira said, her brisk tone silencing them. “Go on, then. Leave the only protection that hides your wives and daughters from the mages. Go and die fighting the Archmage’s Enforcers when they come for them. You may as well walk through the Forbidden Woods; it will be a much kinder ending.”
The villagers gasped and murmured at the mention of the dark, looming forest on the eastern side of North Star—the forest they were warned not to enter. Any who dared go in was never seen again.
Grandmother Leyla’s eldest daughter had been one of them.
The surrounding crowd stole glances at her, whispering among themselves. Dyna’s grandmother ignored them all, poised and calm as she looked ahead.
“If you are to survive, you must think and make use of your wisdom,” Lady Samira said. She held out her glowing palm. “Have you forgotten who we are? The mages can sense Essence, especially in women. Once they sense your power, however little it may be, they will come for you.”
The room fell silent.
Shoes softly scuffed the floor, and clothing rustled as the villagers settled down on the benches again. Everyone watched the councilwoman with rapt attention. Dyna felt a different fear stirred in them, as it did in her. An old fear they had lived by all their lives.
“Yes, danger is coming, but we know it is coming and we are planning for it. Here you are protected and free. Out there,” Lady Samira pointed to the door, “are countless unknown dangers. One we know for sure is lurking. There is only a question of when it will find you.”
The councilwoman wobbled on her legs, her complexion now bone-white.
Dyna took an instinctive step toward the dais. “Grandmother,” she whispered in warning.
“I see it,” Leyla whispered back. They slowly weaved their way through the crowd to the front.
Councilor Lorian reached for Lady Samira’s arm but she shook him off, much too proud for his help.
“Do not be so quick to run in fear,” she continued after shooting him a glare. “The Great Azeran faced worse. He and the mages of old fought for the freedom you have. They bled for the land you cultivate. We owe it to them to fight for this sanctuary. We are the ones who have brought the Shadow’s curse, and we will be the ones to finish it.”
The courage of her speech eased the apprehension in the room. Even Wendell released a heavy sigh, and his rigid shoulders slumped. The villagers were still afraid, but the councilwoman’s words offered them hope.
“Have patience and mark my words—The Fourth Shadow Winter will be the last.”
“How so?” Dyna asked before she thought better of it. All eyes fell on her. She swallowed, holding Lady Samira’s intimidating gaze. “How do you plan to stop the Shadow? That has yet to be made clear.”
Lorian smirked. “Were you not listening? We await the Lunar Reeds.”
“You forget where you first learned of them,” Dyna replied sharply without looking away from the councilwoman. “As I have explained to you before, the amulet’s power only rises under the moonlight. It does nothing against the Shadow. It will still hunt on our land as we cower in our homes. Then when the moon is shrouded, you will once again be responsible for more deaths because you refuse to listen, as you refused to listen to my father.”
Lady Samira stumbled back a step, staring at Dyna in dismay. She tried to speak but could only inhale gasping breaths instead. Her eyes rolled and she wavered forward, tumbling off the dais.
The villagers cried out, gathering around the fallen councilwoman. Dyna and her grandmother rushed forward, and a path quickly parted for them.
“Samira?” Grandmother Leyla knelt beside her and gently checked her for injuries then listened to her heart. “Samira, speak to me.”
“Oh, don’t fuss over me, you old woman.” Lady Samira’s eyes weakly fluttered open. Her body splayed on the ground like a worn doll. Dyna felt awful for snapping at her.
“You’re the old woman,” Leyla smiled feebly. “You fell. Are you faint?”
“I’m fine. Age has gotten the better of me is all,” she rasped. The strength she had displayed before faded away into her pallid complexion.
“Always trying to save face,” Leyla grumbled as she turned to Dyna. “I didn’t bring my medicine bag. Examine her while I fetch it.”
Before Dyna could answer, her grandmother rushed out. She gaped after her, shrinking under the critical stares of everyone.
Chapter 3
Dynalya
Once all the fuss had calmed down and the meeting was dismissed, Dyna asked Wendell to carry Lady Samira to the private council room in the back of the town hall building. The councilors were left to wait in the hall as he laid her on a settee.