Hailey’s growling stomach was almost a relief from the other worries that she had. What if they came across wolves or something worse? Barinon walked confidently through the forest, though as if nothing in here could possibly scare him. Hailey hurried to walk beside him so she could see his expressions.

“Magic is all around us, especially here in the forest. You can think of it like air. It flows through the world. When we draw upon it to create something, we change that magic and use it, but we don’t destroy it. All spells will eventually revert to their original form, which means that the spell will fade over time.

“What about the spell around the castle?” Hailey couldn’t help asking. “How long will the people sleep?”

“A hundred years unless you and I can figure out a way to wake them safely. The death spell was very powerful, but most spells don’t last that long. We were taking a risk. There is still a chance that the preservation spell will dissipate before the death spell does, but it isn’t very likely.”

Hailey stopped walking. “If it goes away before the death spell, won’t that kill everyone?”

Berinon smiled a sad smile but he did not look right at her. “You see now why I need your help? That is only one of the problems that a mage must deal with.”

“But I’m not a mage yet, which is why we’re going to the well?” Hailey found that she was hungry for this knowledge. As long as she could remember, she was the only one who could see the aura around the princess, the spell around the castle. It was exciting to have someone here who could explain things, and help her understand that she wasn’t crazy.

“What you currently are is a hedge witch. Hedge witches are mages who haven’t taken the rites at the well. They are people with magic, true but they will only have one or two spells at their disposal for their entire life. If you want to have access to more than that, you will have to bind yourself to the river of magic that flows through this world. It is the river that gives all magic to people, but there are only a few wells in the world that can give you this opportunity.

“We are traveling to the closest one to Taivalon. Once you bind yourself to the river, you will have access to more power, but in doing so, you take on yourself a responsibility to the people of the kingdom.”

“But I’ve already taken care of the people of the kingdom. I’m the only one who looks after the princess.”

A leaf had fallen into his curly black and sliver hair. He brushed it off his head and looked at her with sad eyes. “If you take on this responsibility, you will no longer be able to hide in the white castle, you will have to work to protect all the people of the kingdom. For the most part, that means you will have to be on the outside.”

Barinon was silent for a time. They continued and she realized that this was her choice, a decision that would change the rest of her life. The cool of the morning had long burned off when she saw something in the distance. At first, she thought it was a few particularly large trees, but as they grew closer, she thought it had to be the spires of a castle. They rose darkly against the sky, but the castle must still be far off. She was tired and sweaty now. Her stomach was grumbling and her legs ached. She was pretty sure she had a blister forming on her pinky toe. All she wanted to do was stop and rest, but she also did not want to complain.

As she walked, she thought about what she was doing. Barinon hadn’t told her last night that she would be making this decision but as she thought on it, she felt her resolve rise within her. She had spent years, doing the best she could for the people inside the castle. If her kingdom needed her to take this on, she would do it.

She reached out and grabbed Berinon’s hand. He turned to her, a quizzical expression on his dark face. “I will help you,” she said, knowing that it would change her life forever.

A look of surprise flashed across Barinon’s face. Had he expected her not to help him? It seemed unlikely that he would drag her all the way out here if he didn’t think she would follow through. Maybe he had planned to threaten her or Aaron or maybe he just thought he would have to argue with her to get her to agree. Either way, it did not matter. She had decided to trust him and she would. Besides, he had told her that she was the only one who could do this.

As they walked, Hailey thought about the path she was on. She caught the occasional glimpse of a fairy. Once she thought she had even seen an animal she had never seen before. It had black and white stripes on its face, but when she pointed, it was already gone. The walk became more difficult as she forced herself up a small hill. Her legs no longer wanted to work, but something Barinon had said came to the forefront of her mind. “You said that there are should have been other mages born in the kingdom. Why am I the only one?”

Barinon looked at her for a long moment before responding. “I don’t know. Usually when children are old enough to go to school, they get tested to see if they have magical abilities. It is dangerous to leave them out there with no guidance, but everything is not as it once was. I cannot spend all my time sifting through children in hopes to find one child before her parents realize what is going on, but some should have come to the castle by now. We need more mages than we have so that we can find other mages.”

He shook his head. “When I think about what was lost to us… it is better for me not to think about it. I will show you the most basic spell,” he told her as he finally stopped walking. She came gratefully to a stop and sat down on a huge stone. It was not comfortable, but it felt amazing to rest her weary legs and feet. “The most basic spell is a binding spell. It can bind one thing to another, or something to a person. He picked up a beech leaf and held it out in front of him. With the other hand, he touched the trunk of a tree. “Colligatio,” he said. The dull green leaf flew out of his hand and stuck to the trunk of the fir tree.

Hailey grinned. That was a trick that could come in handy.

He performed the spell again with a different leaf. This time he made a hand gesture before he stuck it to the tree. She tried to follow his movements but could not have repeated them she had to. The second leaf was brown. It must have fallen a long time ago because it was almost translucent in places. “What is different between the two bindings?”

Hailey cocked her head. She stood and looked at the leaves. A small breeze sang through the branches and the brownish leaf quivered. “You bound that one in front of the tree, not to it.”

“Very good,” he told her. “You must always remember that you can bind things to the air. You have to bind it to something. Each spell has a few components. The binding spell is the simplest because all spells must have a focus or a nexus. That is why the binding spell is also one of the first spells a new mage will learn.”

“What happens if you don’t have a focus?” Hailey asked him.

“A spell that doesn’t have a focus, depending on the spell, will grow.” A haunted look crossed Barinon’s face and she knew what he didn’t want to talk about; the spell that had put the whole castle to sleep. A knot formed in the pit of her stomach. She had told him she would help. She had told him she would do what she could, but she could also put the entire kingdom at risk if she wasn’t careful. The magic that the mages had used that day had changed Taivalon forever.