First Year (The Black Mage #1)
Rachel E. Carter
Acknowledgments
Where it all began…. To Kitty & Shells,
You made me a writer. Before everything, there was the two of you. All the books, the music, the talks, the years of writing and dreaming. they all lead back to you.
Shells -There will always be Eden’s Crush, Final Fantasy, and your parents’ house. I can’t guess the hours we spent plotting away -and it was you who always kept me going when the writing got tough. I can’t wait to read your novels someday, and I am so happy to have you in my life.
Kitty -Who else would listen to me rave about the “poor devil” for hours on end? I might have been crazy (and a little obsessed) but you believed in me anyway. It was our stories that led me to write this book in the first place -and without you there would be no Darren. J&D 4 Eva.
To Christina,
Unlike the other two, you never had a choice. Yet you supported me always. Thank you for listening to years of stories-that-never-got-written and Savage Garden on repeat. Some day when I write about the dinosaurs, you will be the first to know. I love you and you are the best sister one could ever have (even if I don’t always acknowledge that)!
To Darren Hayes,
You are my muse. Thanks for years of amazing music. And, yes, I named my favorite character after the best artist of all time. It was either that or my firstborn child, and this book came first.
CHAPTER ONE
“Don’t look now,” I said softly. Did I sound calm? I hoped so. It was hard to tell with the frantic beating in my chest. “But I think we are being followed.”
My brother paled, hands freezing on the reins. Almost unconsciously, his head began to turn in the direction of my warning.
“Alex!” I hissed.
He jerked his head back guiltily. I hoped the movement would go unnoticed by the four riders trailing a quarter of a mile behind us. They hadn’t appeared too concerned with our procession thus far, but the fact that the men were still following us after the last main road had ended left an unsettling taste in the back of my mouth.
It was getting dark fast. At the elevation we were traveling, there wouldn’t be much light left for long. Already the sun had wedged itself behind one of the larger outcroppings of rock, and the rest of its rays were fading much too quickly for my liking.
I had hoped the party would stop to make camp at one of the few sites we had passed—after all, what weary traveler wouldn’t prefer the comfort of a well-worn pit and nearby stream? I, for one, would have insisted as much if it hadn’t been for the uncanny appearance of those behind us.
“How do you know they are ‘following’ us?” Alex whispered loudly. Our horses continued their steady climb into the dark hillside. “Shouldn’t we be stopping soon?” he added. “I’m sure they’ll continue on, and then you’ll see your worry was all for nothing.”
“Alex,” I said through clenched teeth, “their saddlebags are far too light for a trek like this. That’s not nothing.”
“So?”
I forced myself not to let my frustration show. It wasn’t Alex’s fault he didn’t understand my concern. His faction was Restoration. He cared about healing people, not what it looked like to harm them.
“Only fools—or bandits—would travel so empty-handed. Four grown men are not fools, Alex. Even fools would have known to take that last main road to an inn…” I swallowed. “But a bandit, they wouldn’t need to bother with packs since, well, because they would be taking our own instead.”
My twin slowly mulled over my words. I wondered if he would believe me. I wasn’t exactly known for my easygoing temperament. I hoped he didn’t think this was just another one of my “rash judgments” as our parents were wont to assume.
As I waited for Alex’s response, I pretended to check the footholds, giving myself an opportunity to spy on our shadow once more. Though the men were much harder to identify without the broad light of day, there was still no mistaking the glint of steel bulging from one of the men’s hip. Only a soldier or knight was allowed to bear such metal.
A chill ran through me. I doubted he was either.
“Right,” Alex said abruptly.
In as much nonchalance as one could muster under the circumstances, I faced my brother stubbornly. “Alex—”
“I believe you.”
Oh. I paused.
“What should we do, Ry?” Gone was his relaxed smile, and in its place a timid frown…and an unsure, flickering blue stare. At first I didn’t recognize the expression—he looked so much younger than his fifteen years. But then I realized it was fear producing the vulnerability in my brother’s eyes.
My twin, the rational, levelheaded, sane half of me, was afraid. What did that mean for the two of us? I refused to contemplate the answer. Instead, I scanned the trail ahead, trying to make out our intended route amid the lumbering pines.