Chapter 10 - Tychokinesis: The ability to manipulate luck and probability

Janes' POV

I woke up only a few hours later and everyone was asleep but Valery, she sat over us as a watchman. I sat next to her. “Hell of a day yesterday,” I said. She nodded.

“I thought for sure we were dead, and now with Diomedes coming closer my bones ache.” She stared at my sword in her hands. “Here.” She handed it over, I gripped it. “You’re our only hope against Diomedes.” She said, I frowned.

“In this state, I couldn’t fight Tristan.” I laughed, she sighed.

“I’ve never been to Dark Well.” She said, I smiled.

“I think you’ll like it, and you can stay as long as you want.” I saw a tear slide down her face. “I’m sorry about Ironside, did you know a lot of people there?” She nodded.

“Never really liked any of them though, I grew up there but both my parents were warriors and died when I was young.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Yeah well, even though Diomedes and Nora didn’t live there, I always knew it was their favorite place to be.” I panicked slightly.

“You don’t think Nora is involved do you?” I asked, Valery, shook her head.

“I doubt it, she loves Con, I know she does, that’s why Diomedes wanted him dead, he’s always been willing to cut down anyone in his path, but this is different, killing you and Neve would have started a war, it’s certainly going to now.” I nodded, I looked at my hands.

“What’s different about him, I need to understand him.” Valery bit her lip.

“His drinking has always been a problem, and his fits of rage that came with them, but he was never this focused on a kill, any task really, almost like he feels he has a reason to do this, I’m not saying it’s someone else, just something else.” I frowned, I knew he’d find out about my fire, and if he’s a Pure and Lure worshipper he’d be dead set on killing me too.

“We should start moving sooner than later, they're going to start sending search parties out in bursts, they’ll find us.” She nodded and stood up, she helped me stand.

We woke everyone up and continued heading east, I knew by now they would have tried locking down the borders, we had to move fast. “Jane,” Neve said, I walked over to her. She looked at a raven caught in a small shrub. It rapidly flapped its wings when I approached.

“That’s a Dark Well raven,” I said, recognizing the branding. I tried to grab it, it tried to bite me, I jerked back. “Anyone good with birds?” I asked, Tristan looked at Con.

“What, me?” He said.

“You used to work in the raven room,” Tristan said, Con sighed.

“I could try.” He lowered to the ground next to the bush. “Shh, it’s okay.” He broke off a berry and gave it to the bird, then he carefully wrapped his hands around it and pulled it free.

“Damn,” Edur said. Con rolled his eyes and handed the piece of paper to me, I broke the seal. I smiled widely.

“It’s going to Blacklock,” I said, I opened my jacket and took out a small knife, and cut open the faux-grass all around us, it bled black.

“How’d you know that would work?” Edur asked.

“Years of practice, I flipped over the paper. Jon and Zelda Stevens, I’m heading towards the main western border of Dark Well, with Tristan, Con, Neve, Edur, and Valery. I fear we will be stopped, send reinforcements. - Jane Stevens. I finished short and sweet. I took out my sword and reheated the wax stamping my sword’s handle into it, my signature mark.

“What’d you write?” Tristan asked.

“I wrote to my parents for help at the border, just in case.” I handed the note back to Con, and he re-tied it to the raven, then threw it and it flew off.

Cons' POV

I do have a small love of birds, and most animals I find them to be better than people in most cases.

Jane grabbed my arm and we continued to the border, after a few hours of walking with no end in sight, we finally saw orange light, of course, I saw it first but didn’t say anything, I sensed Jane saw it too she kept her gaze focused ahead, heading straight towards it, but I knew she didn’t yet, she just knew the land well. “Fire,” Neve said. A few minutes later, everyone started walking faster before Jane stopped us.

“We have to be extremely careful,” Jane said. “We don’t know what they’ve been told or what they’ll do, the best we can hope for is that the king and queen are already here.” Jane strapped her sword onto her back under her coat, her identifying feature.

“Tristan should stay between us,” Neve said. “He’s the one they want.” Jane nodded.

“Good idea,” Jane said. “Wish us luck.”

After everything happened so fast we walked to the gate. They let us in and sent us down a tunnel to Dark Well, I had so much tension built up around this moment, yet it was over so fast. I saw Jane grip Neve’s hand while her other held the torch. “Somethings not right.” She whispered. “The Providence you’re going into leads the way, I don’t see any Dark Well guards.” Her voice was very quiet. Tristan held to me and Valery while Edur brought up the back. I turned back to reassure him. My breathing stopped entirely.

“Guys,” I said, they turned. “Where is he?” My voice shook.

“Ah!” Tristan screamed, he was ripped from my arms.

“Tristan!” Valery screamed, running after him.

“Jane!” Neve screamed.

“Neve!” The torch was dropped and it was pitch black, I ran towards Jane as I saw her sword light up. “Con!” She screamed, her sword went out and landed at my feet, I picked it up, I touched the blade and my fire caught the blade.

“Jane?!” I yelled, running. I heard movement and swung around. “Where are they?!” I screamed. “Let us go!” Something knocked the sword from my hand. And it went out on the wet floor. I was knocked onto my back, gagged, and dragged. Light poured into my vision and I saw all of us being dragged into a room.

“We’re just going to hold you for Diomedes.” One guard said, I struggled. I slowly started to fry my ropes, Jane jumped up and kicked one guard in the face, three others ran in, I got up too and punched one. I heard the others struggling, Valery kicked one in the shin and he fell, Jane took out one more before she was thrown back, I was in no condition to fight and fell into the wall. “I see we have found the two trouble makers.” He said, wiping his nose. Jane was punched in the stomach and re-tied, while I was just tied up, they pulled Jane in front of us. “Watch closely so you don’t think about escaping.” He kicked Jane in the face, her neck made a sick-looking motion to the side. The wind started rushing into the room taking out the lights.

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“What was that? Screw them.” Another guard said, leaving us. They shut the door I scouted over to Jane, she was barely breathing. Edur came over and put his hands on Jane’s head. “She’s burning up.” He said. “We have to get her out of here.” I panicked slightly.

“Everyone shut it,” Neve said. We listened to the light sounds of metal tapping and yelling. “Who are they fighting?” I frowned, maybe it was Jane’s letter sending help, hopefully.

“Dark Well army? Like Jane asked.” Con said. Jane chuckled slightly.

“There would be no army.” I felt her shake violently. I looked at Neve who moved to Jane.

“Jane?!” I heard someone scream.

“In here!” Tristan yelled the door was struck several times, Neve shielded Jane from the light pouring into the room. One man stood in the doorway, his presence was quite intimidating.

“Jane?” He asked, Neve showed Jane’s face, he rushed over and picked her up, grunting doing so. “Zelda, I found her.” He called. “Are those your five?” He asked Jane.

“Yes.” She whispered. He nodded, as a woman came running in. She used the back of her hand to feel the side of Jane’s face. “Help them,” Jane said. The woman turned to us. She looked familiar.

“Is anyone else hurt?” She asked.

“Con is badly beaten,” Neve said, moving over to me. The woman grabbed my arm and lifted me. “Come on children.” She said,

“Who are you?” I asked as she laughed.

“When we get out into the firelight you’ll see.” She said I saw the torchlight up, along with it the woman’s bright orange hair. “Neve darling.” She said, hugging Neve with her other arm. “Your father was worried sick, but a small group was best in this case.” Neve nodded.

“I understand, your Grace.” That’s when it hit me, this was the king and queen of Dark Well, Jane’s parents, they came themselves, my mouth fell open.

“Your G-Grace?” I stuttered. She shook her head and lowered me into the large carriage next to Jane.

“You honestly think I’d trust anyone else to rescue Jane.” She said, my eyes blew up.

Janes' POV

I coughed and my father gave me wine and not water. “What have you done Jane?” He asked. “I told you to keep the killing to a minimum.” I smiled.

“It’s not that, it’s Diomedes, he tried to kill us.”

“Us?” I tried to sit up, and he grabbed my shoulders.

“Are they okay?” I asked and my father smiled.

“I’ve never seen you care before.” I rolled my eyes. “They’re fine, the rest can ride horses except him.” I looked around my father to see Con looking shell-shocked.

“Con,” I said, he looked at me. “Come here.” He hobbled over, I grabbed his shoulder. “Con meet my father, Jon Stevens.” My father kept his resting rage face on. “Father this is Con, Nora’s son.” His eyes widened.

“You’re real?” My father asked. “I never knew for sure.” They shook hands. “We have much to talk about.” He said, turning back to me. “Jane, why would Diomedes want you dead?” Con raised his hand. Jon raised his eyebrow.

“He originally just wanted me dead, but since he knew Jane was a threat he wanted her dead too.” My father nodded, I could see in his eyes he already knew why.

“And the others?” He asked, turning to me.

“You already know Neve, Tristan is Diomedes son, we saved him after he was locked up by Diomedes-”

“You mean you saved him,” Con interjected, I smiled slightly.

“That’s not important,” I said. “Valery is Tristan’s girlfriend and a gifted warrior and Edur is well...” I paused looking at Con.

“He’s my friend, who got caught up in this-”

“Plus Edur saved my life once,” I said, my father looked between us then nodded.

“You know what this means, right Jane?” My father said, sighing. I nodded.

“He wants war.” He took my hand.

“You two get some rest, I’ll send your mother down.” He said, scaling the latter. Con looked at me.

“Let me get this straight, your parents came to the border themselves-”

“I know they’re intense-”

“That’s incredible!” Con exclaimed. “That they care about you that much.” I held his hand. “Plus I know where you got your badass skills from.” I laughed. “Can I hug you now?” He asked and I nodded.

“Only if it doesn’t hurt too much.”

“Agreed.” He leaned forward and placed his arms under my arms and held me gently, I put my chin on his shoulder. “Thank you, Jane.” I shook my head but said nothing as he pulled back.

“Try to relax,” I said, fixing his jacket. The top opened and my mother appeared.

“Jane.” She said lowering herself next to me. She brushed my hair from my eyes. “You especially did it this time.” She said, “And you.” She pointed to Con. “Welcome to the family.” She slapped his shoulder, and the shock on his face made me smile.

“Thank you,” Con said.

“Mother does Dark Well have enough supplies for a battle, or worse lockdown-” My mother stopped me.

“That’s your father and I’s job, I want you to relax. How many fights have you been in?” I shrugged.

“Not many-” Con laughed, she turned to him.

“Obviously not.” I rolled my eyes.

Cons' POV

Jane’s parents were very intimidating people, I don’t know what I expected though, they cared so much, they came to save us themselves. We arrived at Jane’s hometown within hours, and we were all taken to the med bay, but while everyone only had minor injuries Jane and I were told to stay in bed. Nora came running into my room. “Con!” She yelled, hugging me. “I was so worried about you and Tristan, what happened?” I swallowed.

“Mother.” She stared at me. “Diomedes tried to kill me.” Her eyes widened and she stepped back.

“What?” I closed my eyes.

“He wanted me dead the minute you left.” Her head turned down. “I’m sorry.” She sat up.

“You’re sorry?!” She yelled, she grabbed my hand. “Con, I’m so sorry, I can’t believe I left you with him, that I didn’t think-”

“Mother stop.” She started crying.

“This is all my fault, I mean look at you.” She touched my bruised face, as her tears slid down. I grabbed her hand.

“I’ll be fine, I’m more worried about Tristan.” She shook her head. “Please mother I’ll be fine, just go see him.” She nodded and stood up.

“How did you get out of there?” She asked.

“Jane, she saved my life.” Nora smiled and more tears slid down her face.

“I have to thank her,” Nora said, closing the door.

Janes' POV

I stumbled down the hall, I wanted to see how Con was doing the others told me, and was put in bed too. His mother shut the door. “Jane.” She said, she hugged me and I flinched, she pulled away. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay, what was that for?” Nora grabbed my hand.

“You saved my son’s life,” I smirked. “You let yourself get hurt to save him.” I nodded.

“I’m sorry about Diomedes,” I said, and she frowned.

“Yeah, I’ll deal with that.” She said, walking away, my gaze followed her, she looked scared and broken. I opened the door.

“Conrad?” I asked as he waved.

“Hi, Jay.” I smiled and sat next to him.

“How are you doing?” He sighed.

“Better now that we’re out of Dove Shire.” I nodded.

“I agree-” The door opened and hit the wall gently.

“Jane.” My father’s voice was deep and distinctive, I stood as he reached for my shoulder.

“Father?” I asked, as he sat me down, he looked over my face. I could tell he was adding up all the ways I’d been injured. “What are you doing here?” I asked.

“They said you had left your room and I wanted to check up on you.” I looked over at Con as he looked into his hands.

“Father I’m fine, I just wanted to see how all the others were doing.” My father smirked slightly.

“What?”

“It’s just new is all.” He said.

“Everyone else is okay right?” Con asked, I glanced at him.

“Yes, you and Jane were the only ones who needed to stay here for the night.” Con exhaled in relief.

“Father I need my notes on travel speed for Doveshire to here, of course, my weapons, and-”

“Let me and your mother try to do our jobs first okay, we will tell you everything we know if we learn anything.” I nodded quickly. “I’ll give you two a minute?” He said, leaving.

“Sorry, ” I said, Con shrugged.

“I’m just glad to see us getting better for once,” I laughed.

“I guess, I’m just worried, now that I’m home I don’t know what my next move is.” Con nodded slowly. I grabbed his hand. “Everything okay?” He ran his thumb over my fingers, shrugging. “Look, it’s going to be okay, Diomedes won’t get to you, I’ll make sure of it, my parents are planning for an attack right now.” He nodded. “Just try to relax, and I’ll see you tomorrow.” I walked out.