The Sorcerer's Quest by Rain Oxford Page B

me
into the staff. Right before I could give the command to my magic, Merlin
tensed and his fur started bristling. “What’s wrong?”
    “ Something is watching us .”
    “Seriously? What is it? I am absolutely not fighting
a dragon. If I see one, I’m going to gawk and coo and try to pet it. Unless it
tries to eat me. If it tries to eat me, I’m going to run and then think back on
the occasion fondly.”
    “ You are rambling .”
    “Of course I’m rambling!”
    “ Stay here ,” he said before disappearing into
the cover of some thorn bushes.
    “Great. Now who am I supposed to ramble to?” I
listened for anything odd aside from the fact that there was no sound at all.
With each moment, I grew more nervous. It occurred to me that we should have
stayed on the main road.
    “ Ayden, run ,” Merlin said.
    “What? What’s going on?” I asked.
    He didn’t answer, but I heard growling and snapping.
The sound of an animal snapping its teeth was unmistakable. I ran towards the
sound. Before I could see Merlin, however, I tripped. When I tried to stand,
something wrapped around my ankles and pulled.
    I looked down, saw thick vines making their way up my
legs, and knew what trouble I was in. “Oh, gods.” I reached inside my bag for
the knife I always kept in it, but ended up dropping the sack and my staff as
the vines hoisted me up into the air by my feet. “Merlin… can you help?”
    It was silent for a moment.
    “ Not really .” His voice sounded strained even
in my head.
    Realizing that his hearing was much better than mine,
I spoke at a normal volume. “Are you tied up, too?”
    “ Yes. Once we know what we are up against, we can ---”
    “I know what we’re up against, and there’s not much
we can do. I’ve faced these beings before.” Actually, I’d been captured by them
before, but it really wasn’t my fault. It was my brothers who tied me to a tree
in the middle of Blue Lakes Forest.
    “Well, well, it’s not every day two wizards intrude
into our forests,” an unseen voice hissed. I heard Merlin growling again, but I
still couldn’t see him.
    “I’m not a wizard. I’m a sorcerer! And Merlin is a
wolf.”
    “He may be cursed, but we can see he is a wizard, as
we can see you are no sorcerer.”
    I crossed my arms and glared at nothing in
particular. I probably didn’t look that intimidating with my blond hair blowing
in the slight breeze and all my blood rushing into my face. I was going to have
a massive headache from this. “You want to come out here, let me grab my staff,
and say that to my face?”
    “You are a foolish wizard.” Despite his answer, he
hopped down from a nearby tree. If he stood next to me right-side-up, his head
would barely reach my chest. He was also very slender, fine-boned, wearing
clothes made of leaves and vines, and had pointed ears. His hair was dark
brown, long, and braided, while his eyes were the same mixture of brown and
green as the forest. His complexion was darker than the elves of Blue Lakes
Forest.
    “I haven’t done anything to you or your forest, so
just call off your vines and let me and Merlin go.”
    More elves came out of hiding— at least two dozen.
The first one, who was probably their king, narrowed his eyes at me. “I have
had enough problems with sorcerers lately. If I let you go free, more wizards
will follow.”
    “I told you I’m not---” I stopped myself when I
realized what he said. “Wait, what problems with sorcerers?”
    He scowled. “Sorcerers passed through here just yesterday.
Six of them! Do you know how many animals they hunted and foliage they ruined?!
Worst of all, they cursed my daughter when she wasn’t enamored by them.”
    “Six sorcerers? Did they all happen to have black
hair, wine-colored eyes, and green robes?”
    “Yes!” he hissed. All of the other elves hissed with
him, creating a creepy echo effect.
    My brothers were here ? I changed my opinion of
him instantly, since I knew why the elves were so