"The trees seemed to go still in their wake."

Honey was struggling to keep up with Lukas's quick pace. He seemed to be brooding about something or another, while Dai danced through the trees. None of them spoke and Honey missed the vagabond camp. They had sent them off with bags of food and well wishes. Or, they sent Dai and Honey off with food and well wishes. The vagabonds seemed rather glad that Lukas was leaving.

All three of them held a deep connection with the Wild Woods. It was the homeland of Honey's mother, the place Dai had spent the past thousand years, and the land Lukas had been fighting against. And in this place, it seemed that everyone had a long memory.

Blood stained the forest floor that they walked above and poisoned the air that they breathed. Honey took a gulp of the poison, drunk on its memories as a cracking sound occurred from above and Dai came tumbling out of the tree. He landed on his feet, just like a cat in that aspect, but wasn't so lucky when a branch fell on top of him.

"Stop playing around," Lukas said, walking past the fallen Mutare. "We can't afford any more delays."

Dai lifted his head off the ground as Honey offered him a hand up. He accepted, but once he was off the ground, Honey saw that he was not unscathed. The tree limb had punctured his stomach and was sticking straight through his gut. Dai looked down with large, unblinking eyes. "Would you look at that," he murmured.

"Are you okay?" Honey asked, her eyes wide with alarm.

Shrugging, Dai simply pulled the stick out of his gut and Honey noted the golden blood that coated it. The wound, however, closed in an instant. Of course. Dai had healing magic. So getting stabbed with swords and sticks was no big deal for him. "Hey Lukas," Dai called. "I stabbed myself with a stick. Wanna see?"

"No," Lukas said, not turning back.

"Healing magic's pretty useful, isn't it?" Honey asked, though her eyes drifted to the scar on Dai's cheek. How had he gotten that when any wound he had closed within heartbeats.

"Extremely," Dai said. "Not everyone can use it, though," he said. "Bet Lukas can't."

Lukas froze in the middle of the path, turning around to glare at Dai. "I can too!" he snapped, whirling back around but not before Honey caught sight of his bright red cheeks. "I'm a god. A master of all forms of magic," he said, crossing his arms. Dai and Honey exchanged a disbelieving glance, but it was Dai who lifted the stick he had stabbed himself with and pierced it through Lukas's shoulder.

In an instant, the stick burst into flames as Lukas let out a cry of pain. Dai retracted a flaming arm quickly, muttering curses as his skin withered into ash. But in half a second the flesh grew back, just as good as new. The same could not be said for Lukas. His shoulder was bleeding as he turned with furious eyes.

"What is wrong with you?" he snapped.

"What's wrong with you?" Dai hissed back. "You burnted my arm off."

"Burned," Honey corrected.

"You stabbed me in the back!" Lukas said, ignoring her. "What would you do if you killed me?" he asked, but then recoiled at his own words, scowling as though he had tasted something bitter. "You could have killed me. You could have ended the entire world with a stick!"

Dai clicked his tongue and crossed his arms scowling. "I didn't," he said. "If I wanted to kill you, you would have been dead a long time ago."

Honey winced as she realized the truth in those words. Dai was the one who kept watch while Lukas and Honey slept. He was the one who had the power to heal. He probably could have killed them both whenever he wanted. But the main question was, what was stopping him? What invisible line was preventing him from moving his hand a little to the left and stabbing Lukas's heart?

These questions were likely floating through Lukas's skull as well as Dai pressed his hand onto Lukas's bleeding shoulder, covering it in frost and healing the wound. "Healing magic is one of the most elementary forms," Dai mumbled. "What have you been doing for the past thousand years?"

"Training with my sword," Lukas snapped. "Magic is unreliable and falters. A blade does not," he said, crossing his arms. "And it's not like I don't have any form of healing magic," he muttered. "The wound would have closed in about five minutes or so."

"So you just can't use magic well?" Honey asked, curious.

"Shut up," Lukas bit back. "I know how to use my magic just fine. It's just... fire and healing magic don't get along," he said.

Dai's tail thrashed behind him. "Still embarrassing," he said. "When did you learn the familiar spell? A week, two weeks before you enslaved me?" Dai asked.

"Four days," Lukas muttered, his face glowing with embarrassment.

In an instant Dai began to laugh, absolutely hysterical. Honey didn't know why, but she assumed that the familiar binding was another pretty basic spell. Lukas hit him on the side of the head, lightly, before stalking away. Honey smiled apologetically as she followed Lukas, leaving a still laughing Dai behind.

"I bet magic is pretty hard," Honey offered.

"It is," Lukas said.

"When you don't use it," Dai chimed in. "Magic is like a muscle. You have to use it for it to get stronger," he said, offering an explanation for Honey.

Lukas scowled, his cheeks still tinted in slight embarrassment. "I never learned that spell because I never wanted a familiar," he snapped. "I never... I hate the idea of forcing someone to do something they don't want to," he said, looking down. "But sacrifices must be made."

"You make it sound so noble," Dai said, rolling his eyes. "At the end of the day, my life is no longer my own."

Looking at her hands, Honey felt a stab of pity for Dai. "Once we find the Rose Book," Honey said. "Can't you just remove the familiar spell?" she asked.

Lukas shook his head. "It's not that simple," he said. "The familiar binding spell is fairly... basic. But to unbind a familiar it is extremely difficult. It would take a talented magic wielder several lifetimes to undo the curse. And when Mutare live such short lives and die so easily, there really is no point in trying."

For a moment, Honey pressed her brows together. Lukas knew that Dai would live forever. She had told him as much. So what was he trying to accomplish by doing this?

Dai bit his lip. "Guess you're stuck with me for the remainder of my miserably short mortal life," he said, left ear twitching as he spoke the lie. Lukas sighed and shook his head, something like hurt flashing in his eyes as it all clicked for Honey. Lukas wanted Dai to tell him the truth. He had given him a perfect opportunity to.

And the Mutare had lied.

So it appeared that intelligence did not come with age. Honey sighed, shaking her head. They walked in silence for a moment more before a flash of light lit up the world in the distance. Honey jerked her head in that direction, her eyes wide as Lukas muttered a curse beneath his breath. 

"What... what was that?" Honey asked.

The sound of a twig snapping answered Honey's question as a woman emerged from the shadowed pines. She was tall and dark skinned with thick black curls. Her body was muscular and her shoulders broad. She wore armor, splattered in still dripping blood and she had a singular sword hanging off her hips. She looked like a goddess of both war and chaos as she crossed her massive arms.

Behind her, a Mutare lingered in the shadows of the trees. Honey could barely make the poor creature's figure out but she was petite and completely dwarfed by the first woman. Atop her head were black rabbit ears as her large brown eyes fixated on Dai.

"Victoria," Lukas said.

The woman, Victoria, smiled. "Little brother."

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Updating is for chumps. Hoping to have this bad boy finished by the end of September for the Wattys this year. Not going to win but I feel like I need to finish it after all this time.

Big thank you to everyone who clicked on this update???? Y'all are crazy but whatever, have another cliff hanger.

Much love from an author who much sucks!