The waves crashed over the rocks ahead. There would be nothing of her left to help Mianna or love Lyall if she didn't figure out how to slow the ship and steer it away from the rocks.
As though obeying her command, the wind that had filled the sails since she left Isla de Magi mere hours ago, calmed. The sudden change caused the ship to pitch forwards sharply, almost throwing her over the railing. She clutched at it with both hands to steady herself.
Rocks loomed in front of her eyes, and she threw her mind to the right. The ship obeyed her panicked thoughts and jumped aside, missing the rocks by a hair's width.
Brianna took deep gulps of sea air and pulled her eyes up to look at the distance to the docks. It was both impossibly far and barely anything at all compared to the distance she'd come. But she couldn't continue at her earlier speed. Questions on how her ship had moved so much faster than the others in her harbour would slow her down far more than moving at a normal speed would.
So she bit her lip impatiently as she let the natural wind power her the rest of the way, only using her magic to alter the ship's course when needed, bringing it alongside the wooden dock with barely any attention from the people on shore. She glanced over her shoulder again, scanning the few ships bobbing in the harbour. If any of them were Lyall's, they would be moving far faster.
She tied off the ship, then walked off the dock, not allowing herself to look back.
Her journey had barely begun. There were miles to go before she could reach Eryvale, and the distance would go far faster on horseback. Syrid might lend her a horse, if she explained her problem, but she would need to tell him where she was going.
And the inn would be one of the first places Lyall would look.
Her heart warmed at the thought of him galloping after her, maybe overtaking her before she even reached the village. They could go together, and with his knowledge of magic, perhaps they could protect the village from any further troll attacks.
An image of Mianna in her wedding gown intruded. Lyall had no place in her village. She wasn't even sure if she did anymore.
Was there any point in going back? What if nothing had happened? What if she returned to find it had all been a dream? Her certainty wavered. Surely it couldn't be true? The trolls had never attacked in those sort of numbers before, nor had they ever gone anywhere near the graveyard. None of it made any sense.
But the feeling deep in her heart that something was wrong, that her twin was in trouble, pushed her on. She skirted around the inn, staying to the outskirts of the city, then found the road leading north. It would take several days to reach Eryvale on foot, but she didn't know what else to do.
She settled into a jog, her eyes on the far fields. If only she could just jump over the space in between and travel as fast as her eyes could.
The blue sky melted into the green grass, and Brianna's feet faltered. Suddenly, instead of running on the gravel track, there was grass under her feet. She slowed to a stop and glanced behind her, shaking her head to clear the strange floating colours.
She … she was on the other side of the field, in the exact same spot she had been staring at a few moments ago. How had that happened?
Frowning, Brianna glanced ahead of her, picking a spot far distant, under a shady tree, and focused on it, willing her whole being to be there.
The world tilted, then solidified, the shade from the tree a welcome reprieve from the heat of the sun.
This magic stuff sure came in handy.
By the time she reached the woods near Eryvale though, many hours of repeated magic use was starting to take its toll. Exhaustion seeped through every bone in her body, and she wavered on her feet as she stared at the village from behind a tree, straining her eyes to see at the distance. Had it just been a dream, or had the trolls attacked? If she could find out before anyone saw her, then she still had the option of leaving if the horror had just been a product of her imagination.
Could she do it? Go back to Lyall now, having been so close? If only she could see Mianna, even for a brief moment.
There, movement near the edge of the village. Brianna's heart sank as she recognised the slow processional march into the graveyard on the west side of the village. She couldn't make out details at this distance, but she could tell that there was more than one body. As the procession wound its way through the headstones within the white picket fence, growing longer and longer, her hopes dissipated.
The signs were all there. A terrible tragedy had happened last night. There was no pretending it hadn't happened.
If her mother was dead, she had a responsibility to the village. She and Mianna would be in charge, and she couldn't let her twin do it alone.
She glanced back over her shoulder as if she could see Bymere, and beyond it, Isla de Magi. The image that stood out in her mind though, overshadowing everything else, was an image of Lyall, staring down at her as he had on the beach, love shining in his eyes. She heaved a sigh.
Then she squared her shoulders and looked towards her home. Everyone would be attending the funeral. There should be no one left in the village to see her, so she picked an area in the shadow of a building to move to.
The ground shifted. But when it steadied, she wasn't standing in the shadow of the building, but in the middle of the grass, half way between where she had been and her intended destination.
Brianna frowned. She must be more tired than she thought. Or had her magic run out somehow? Did that happen? She should have paid more attention when Lyall was talking about how it all worked.
When she took a step forwards, towards the graveyard, her mind tingled. She panicked at the feeling of something pulling a part of her away and jerked backwards.
The feeling disappeared, and she stared at the space in front of her, perplexed. Shaking her head, she stepped forwards again, only to have the same feeling wash over her in a wave.
What was going on?
"Brianna!"
Her twin's voice floated on the wind.
The funeral procession had stopped, and everyone stared in her direction. A small figure left the head of the line and flew across the field towards her. She opened her arms as Mianna crashed into her, tears flowing, mumbling incoherently about her mother, the trolls, and how glad she was to see her.
A few other villagers followed, gathering around, not sure what to say, while those that remained in their places in the procession stared from a distance. Rasell stepped forwards, possibly because his wife shoved him. He cleared his throat. "Um … Brianna. We … we thought you were dead?"
Mianna glared at him. She pushed herself away from Brianna, swiped the tears from her eyes and put her hands on her hips. "My mother is dead and miraculously my sister has returned to attend her funeral. Save your recriminations until later!"
Rasell opened his mouth, glanced back at his wife, then closed it again. He inclined his head once. "Of course, Mianna. There is plenty of time to discuss this later."
It was a reprieve. Brianna didn't fool herself into thinking it was anything more than that. But for now, it would have to do. She let Mianna take her hand and pull her into her accepted position at the beginning of the procession.
Terion stared at his wife, then at Brianna. He took a step back from where he had walked next to Mianna, and took up a position behind them.
Brianna tried to ignore the thoughts that rocketed around her head at the sight of him. Tried not to think or wonder what was going to happen now. Instead, she focused on the wrapped corpse the stretcher bearers carried next to them.
It had all been true. Her mother was dead. Trolls had attacked their village in unprecedented numbers, leaving them all but defenceless. She glanced back at the line that stretched behind her, counting the bodies. She gave up at twenty.
So many dead.
Sombre faces glanced in her direction, curiosity written on each one. But no one broke the silence to whisper to each other. Giving the dead the peace they deserved was too important to everyone in the village, for if you couldn't find peace in death, then what was the point of anything?
Mianna clutched at her hand, silent tears running down her cheeks. But Brianna just felt numb. Too much had happened in too short a period of time. To go from how happy she had been last night, squeezed into the ship's bunk with Lyall, to this … none of it seemed real.
Lyall.
Was he looking for her? Silly question, of course he was. But he wouldn't find her. Not here.
And she couldn't go back now. The villagers wouldn't believe a faked death a second time. She was going to have enough questions to deal with already.
It was over. She'd never see him again.
Emotion welled up in her at the thought, and her heart ached. It was like losing Kylis all over again, only worse. Worse, because what she felt for Lyall eclipsed anything she'd felt for Kylis, and worse because he wasn't dead. He was still out there searching for her, not knowing why she had left or why she didn't come back.