Free Highland Sorcerer by Clover Autrey

recall them?"
    "You're going after him?"
    Edeen glanced toward the short doorway
and quickly nodded.
    "Shaw doesn't know, does
he?"
    "He'd never allow it."
    "Why? Does he not care about his own
brother?"
    Hurt and temper flashed across Edeen's
features. "He cares. If anything, he cares too deeply, but he
understands our duty to the magic, our charge to never disrupt the
balance. If Aldreth turns even one of us to her darkness, all is
lost."
    "Toren would never—"
    "He will fight her to the end of his
sanity, but magic cares naught if its keeper is in his right mind.
The witch will win.” Her voice cracked. “She will corrupt my
brother, though his mind and spirit will be destroyed in order for
her to do so. We cannot blend our magic with a wielder who has
consorted and taken from demonkind. Aldreth’s magic will join with
him and her evil taint will tilt the balance to a black stain. Ye
have no notion of what that will unleash."
    "Monsters." Charity's vocal chords felt
raw, though her small plea silenced Edeen. "Vampires, werewolves,
hobgoblins, the dark Fae..."
    Edeen's chest heaved in and out as
though she'd been running. "We can't let that happen. All we can do
is going into the Shadowrood before Toren’s is touched by darkness.
If his magic is unbalanced, ‘twill filter into all our magic. Our
clan has to leave and take our magic that once belonged there with
us to keep the world safe from the darkness. Safe from what we will
all become. Otherwise...."
    "Otherwise, your clan that is so strong
together and meant to hold off the darkness will become the worse
darkness. The taint will grow and fester and my century will be
overrun with everything evil that exists with magic." She shivered.
A thin layer of ice formed around her heart. History had already
claimed the Limonts. Their clan had already gone into the
Shadowrood, disappeared. And if they did not, the magical balance
would be disrupted and evil would overcome light. Her time, her
family, her sister—would be overrun in darkness.
    The entire future from this point
forward would be changed.
    "Is there…?" Edeen drew back, her
fingers pawed at the folds of her gown over her bent knees. "Is yer
time bereft of magic?"
    Charity frowned. "There's some, though
mild. We sift what we can from the land."
    "Earth magic." Edeen nodded. "'Tis good
that some remains. So we succeed?"
    She probably shouldn't tell her this
what with messing around with fate and the Butterfly Effect, but
who says she wasn't fated to spill the beans anyway? After all,
Shaw and Col had been scouting Aldreth's place to rescue Toren when
she'd popped in on them. Shaw had changed plans, making the
decision to take the clan into the Shadowrood after she'd told him
about the spelled bands. Who says she wasn't brought here for that
very purpose? "Your clan vanishes."
    Edeen nodded solemnly, though there was
a tiny flutter of her fingers. "Then… mayhap Shaw is right." Her
eyes glistened with unshed tears. "We must leave Toren to his
fate." Her eyes lifted, pleading. "Do yer histories reveal what
happens to him?"
    Charity could barely speak around the
closing muscles in her throat. "No. There's nothing."
     
     

Chapter
Twelve
     
    Silence strained the air.
    "Edeen, you and your brothers do what
you must, but I promised Toren I would save him."
    Charity shifted to stand, but Edeen
pulled her back to the ground. The girl's fingers dug into her
wrist.
    "I will not abandon any of my brothers
without trying first to save them."
    The women stared at each other across
the charged atmosphere. Charity nodded, her limbs heavy with
relief. She didn't have to do this on her own and since she didn't
know how to get back to Aldreth's castle after the trek through the
forest dangling upside down from Shaw's shoulder, she couldn’t do
this on her own even if she wanted to. She had no idea where the
dang castle was.
    "Can ye recall the symbols?" Edeen's
features had gone soft, pleading.
    "Upon Toren's wrists?"