Hi! Thanks for visiting my blog :) This is part six of a little story I'm writing. For anyone who is new here, I would recommend you start at part one and work your way through. Happy reading!
I wring my hands, glancing around, looking for anything that will help me put off the moment, even for a little while.
"Stop stalling, Lexie," Cole says patiently.
"You'll watch out, right? If they come, you must leave me and run. I can find my own way."
Cole nods, though he doesn't fool me. He would never leave me all alone to find my own way back to myself.
I close my eyes, contemplating the danger of what we are about to do. If we are to have any chance of subduing Fregi and bringing him to Hertal, I need to take him by surprise. In broad daylight, this is nigh impossible. The only answer is to become invisible.
Cole and I tried it once before, and it almost killed him. It is not truly possible to become invisible, so we did the next best thing: I sent my spirit out of my body. The spirit can't be seen, so I was able to slip past people without them ever knowing I was there. Once I was in the place I wanted to be, I pulled. My body came back to my spirit, and I also pulled at Cole's spirit. Since it was still attached to his body, he came as one, spirit and body. It was perfect.
There was just one problem.
We never knew that there are lost spirits roaming the land. Spirits without bodies, vengeful, angry with the living. They could sense when my body was empty, while I was gone from it. They violently attacked Cole while he tried to keep my body safe, as they tried to take it for themselves. They took him by surprise, and it very nearly killed him. I was only just able to heal him in time.
Cole seems to see something of my thoughts on my face, for he gently puts his hand on my arm and speaks softly. "Lexie, I know it's coming this time. You know how good I am with a sword, and since you enchanted this one to work on spirits, I'll have no problem. Ok?""
"Ok," I mumble, not meeting his eyes.
"We'll be alright."
I look up at him, and Cole smiles so calmly, so confidently, that for a moment, I can believe him.
Before I can lose my moment of courage, I do it. Cole sees what I am about to do in my eyes, and grabs me. As I step outside my body, it falls limply, and Cole gently lowers it down to the ground.
I take one last look at him, then stride determinedly into the village.
While I can't see myself, I can sense a sort of glowing around my spirit where my body should be. It's a strange feeling. I can see, though I have no eyes. I can hear, though no one can hear me. Thinking of Cole alone back there, I quicken my pace.
Fregi isn't hard to find. I enter Tom's house first, and I am not disappointed. Fregi lies spread out on the couch, eating grapes from a glass bowl. I can hear Tom in the other room, clearly trying to be as quiet as possible so as not to disturb his master.
I don't hesitate. Cole is surely fighting for both of our lives right now. With a snap, I pull him here. As he materialises, I pop back into my own body. I don't wait for Fregi to get his bearings. I throw a ball of magic at him, so powerful that it knocks the couch three feet backwards. Fregi gasps for breath, winded.
He doesn't take long to recover. Sooner than I thought possible, he is throwing magic right back at me. I dodge, and the powerful spell blasts a hole in the wall with an almighty crash. So much for being unobtrusive.
Cole swings his sword around and hits Fregi on the head with the flat of the blade. Fregi crumples, but with his last strength, he casts another spell. With a thrill of fear, I recognise it. I thought that nobody has been able to cast that spell - the one that binds a servant to a master, willing or not - in hundreds of years. Evidently, Fregi has brought back old knowledge to go with his awesome power.
I throw another ball of magic at Cole, pushing him out of the way. He hits the floor hard, but the spell misses him. Turning back to Fregi, I deliver another blow to his head with magic. This time, he is knocked out completely.
People are shouting and rushing to Tom's house. We don't have a second to waste, but I can't risk Fregi waking up while we take him to Hertal's. I weave a quick spell around him, and hope it will be enough to keep him unconscious.
"Go," Cole gasps, pushing himself up from the floor.
I don't wait. I am vaguely aware of my body crashing down as I leave it. I fly rather than walk. As a spirit, movement is not restricted in the same way it is with a body. In a matter of seconds, I am back in the forest. I hope it has not been too long. Could Cole fight off the villagers and other spirits at the same time?
With no time to worry about it, I pull. Cole and Fregi pop into existence beside me as I go back into my body.
"Come on, run," I say, grabbing one of Fregi's arms while Cole takes the other. I can hear angry sounds of pursuit behind us. Cole is bleeding, whether from wounds inflicted by spirits or mortals, I can't tell. He staggers slightly as we start to run, but gains his balance.
We have to make it to Hertal before we are caught, or all of this will have been for nothing. If she can prove who Fregi is, Cole and I will not be punished by the villages; they will see that we acted as we had to. First, we need to get to Hertal.
I try to run faster, but Cole is struggling, his wounds slowing him down. I don't have time to heal him now.
The sounds of running get closer with each step we take. It is surely only a matter of seconds before they catch us.
To be continued
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