After a fitful sleep, I rose at first light thanks to Peter's caw. Knowing what fate had in store for me, my heart contorted with fear and regret. Once I'd freshened up, I slung my leather satchel over my brown traveler robes and headed to the Tree with the raven on my shoulders.

Before I left, I had to say goodbye to Her. Even though her gentle roots would connect me to Creation no matter where I lived, I would miss Her actual presence.

We'd gone through so much together these past few months.

Her electric-blue heart pulsed with regular thrums deep inside the wizened bark. I marveled at the beauty of Her broad branches covered in winter snow.

"I'm so sorry." I brushed my fingertips along Her trunk. "I never meant for this to happen."

She didn't reply, nestled in the slumber of winter's embrace.

My throat clenched so tightly that my next words came out in a choked whisper. "I love you, Mother."

"Come on, Liselle," Peter said. "We can't be late."

I gave a resolute nod even though my insides clenched with fear. It was time to face Father.

As the sun began to peek over the horizon, I passed several drunkards stumbling home from a long night at the pub. One came bumbling towards me, reeking of hard liquor and unwashed clothes.

"Hey, baby, you alone?"

I narrowed my eyes at him and opened my clenched fist. A little ball of ice fire danced on my palms, which made him sober up real quick. As soon as he'd spotted Peter on my shoulder, he backed away.

Superstitious folk believed ravens to be the harbingers of death.

"Go to Hades!"

"I'll say this only once, Rogue." I cupped the fire into a ball. "Turn around and walk away."

He sprinted in the opposite direction, tripping over his own feet.

"We make a good team," Peter whispered in my ear.

"We do indeed."

As I approached The Hungry Goblet, an empty black carriage stood nearby, drawn by four black steeds snorting in the cold. When I knocked at the front entrance, there was no reply. The temple bell chimed the eighth hour, but no one came out to greet me.

Icicles hung like stalactites from the roof of the dilapidated pub. Scurrying down the steps towards the side entrance, I tugged at the door handle, but it was locked as well.

Not a soul in sight.

I almost yelped when a nearby branch broke from the weight of the recent snowfall. Some nearby horses gave a few disgruntled snorts, and I made my way back towards the front.

My ragged breath rose in plumes.

I have a bad feeling about this.

The front door creaked open, and a human guard twice my size sauntered out of the front entrance. Huge as an oak. Dressed in black leather with copper plated anti-magic armor.

Damn. He's ready for a fight.

On his lapel, he wore the insignia of the Defenders. Highly skilled, brutal Warriors. Without sorcery, I didn't have any means of defending myself.

The guard glared at me with his legs in a wide stance. Unflappable. Uncompromising. Unyielding as he directed his icy stare towards me. Peter croaked and growled in protest.

"Liselle Carolina Alta?"

I nodded and took an involuntary step forward. The guard drew himself ramrod straight and flashed his Defender badge.

"Lieutenant Barker, Aide to the Creator."

My teeth chattered as I rubbed my arms. "Are my friends safe? How is my sister?"

"Your sister is recovering."

Thank the gods!

As he drew nearer to me, his eyes glinted like diamond-edged steel. "We took Alicia to the castle dungeons yesterday evening in case you didn't show."

Dungeons?

"That wasn't part of the deal."

Barker approached me with measured, deliberate steps, never once breaking eye contact with me. I felt the icy hand of Death rake his taloned fingers down my spine. The Defender's dark-blue eyes held no warmth. No compassion at all.

Four long, deep scars trailed from his right cheek across half of his shaved skull. He gave me a mirthless smile and pointed at his scar. "Got this during the Battle of Halden."

The guard reached into a leather belt pouch and retrieved a string necklace with four yellow Dragonborn talons, each five inches long. "But I got my revenge. Plucked 'em out, one by one."

My stomach churned at his macabre souvenir, and I looked away.

If he could take down a Dragonborn Warrior, I didn't stand a chance.

Peter paced on my shoulder and cawed at the man three times. The guard glared at the bird without fear, daring him to attack with his arms crossed.

"Just so we understand each other."

Barker's voice was too even, like the thin layer of ice masking a deadly cold pond. One crack and gods only knew what he would do.

The officer smirked and replaced the necklace in his leather belt pouch. With confident strides, he walked to the back of the carriage and withdrew three sets of metal chains, covered in green corrosion.

Copper.

"Are you sure that's necessary?"

"Anti-magic chains in case you get any funny ideas," he said, narrowing his eyes as he tugged the chains with both hands. "Stand still, or we might have a serious disagreement."

Peter cawed three times and flew over to Barker's skull, scratching and pecking until he drew blood. "Call off your bloody bird," Barker roared, whipping the chains at Peter, "or I'll add his claws to my collection."

"That's enough!" I shooed the raven away from the guard. "Peter, stop! The heart blood curse!"

He gave me one last impertinent caw before flying into a nearby tree. Barker grabbed me by the arm and pulled me close. "You're lucky the Creator favors that pest," the guard snarled. "Or he'd be dead already."

"I assure you the chains aren't necessary."

Barker grabbed me by the arm and pulled me close. "Maybe not," the guard said. "Better safe than sorry, though."

After clasping the ankle chains, Barker tightened the cold metal around my wrists. He stared at the neck chain for a moment with a sneer, and I swallowed a lump in my throat.

"This seems a tad excessive." The lieutenant gave me a pointed look. "Shall we simply agree that you'll behave like a reasonable adult, and I'll accidentally forget the neck shackles?"

I gave him an anxious nod.

Barker tossed it back into the carriage. "A wise choice. Those things are most unpleasant." His eyes pierced me like daggers. "If you cause any trouble, I will change my mind, though. Clear?"

"Crystal," I retorted. "When can I see my sister?"

"She's in the castle infirmary recovering from her imprisonment. You'll see her first thing upon your arrival."

"Thank the gods!"

Barker gazed up at Peter, who stared him down with an icy glare. "If your bird is coming, he'll have to fly in a cage."

Peter ruffled his feathers and croaked several times.

"I agree," I said over Peter's protests, "on one condition."

The guard crossed his arms. "This isn't really up for debate."

Peter crowed non-stop until I gave him a look. "Please let him stay in the carriage with us so that I know he won't be jostled around too much."

The raven cocked his head and fell silent.

Barker scoffed. "Fine, as long as he shuts up." He opened the door to the carriage. "Get in."

After I'd entered the carriage, the guard bolted my chains to the metal frame and handed me Peter, trapped in a metal cage.

As soon as the guard sank onto the carriage bench across from me, he gave a signal and the driver exited the tavern. He bolted the carriage door from the outside. After he'd drawn iron bars across all the windows, we began our long journey to the castle.

Barker had taken all the right precautions. I had no chance of escape.

❄️🔥❄️🔥

For hours we crossed forests and farmland, meadows and marshes, prairies and plateaus before the carriage reached a desolate basalt plain.

The same one I'd seen a dozen times in my visions.

"Where are we?"

"About ten miles away from Castle Teufelwald," Barker replied.

"I've never traveled beyond the Teufel River." I craned my neck to see out the window. "Do volcanoes really exist?"

"That's the putrid stench you can smell. Like used matches and rotten eggs."

Instinctively, I inhaled and wrinkled my nose in disgust. "How can anything grow here?"

"Nothing does." He cleared his throat when sulfuric fumes began to grow stronger. "Except the hardiest grasses and plants."

I recoiled in surprise. "If that's true, how do the Fireborn sustain their sorcery?"

"Sorcery?"

"How can they heal people on the battlefield?"

He narrowed his eyes. "What do you mean?"

This guard isn't the brightest.

"You know, how do the Fireborn fuel their magic?" I asked. "We draw in natural energy through our hands and--"

Barker cracked up laughing until he stopped on a dime. "Wait, are you serious?" The guard gave me a malicious grin and cackled. "Oh, the Creator didn't tell you."

"Didn't tell me what?" I asked through clenched teeth.

"The Fireborn lose all their natural magic." He paused and rubbed his hand over his face. "Once you morph, you can never act as a Sorcerer again. You lose your spiritual tether to the Tree."

What?!

Peter croaked and growled inside his cage, pecking at the bars. I shushed him and tried to pet his feathers to soothe his anguish, but he nipped at me. I yelped in surprise.

"We didn't realize until a few weeks ago," Barker continued. "The Tree of Life no longer recognizes your soul once you're a Fireborn."

I drew a sharp intake of air.

"Did you seriously think that you and your friends could continue to be Risan Healers?"

"Yes, Father's contract says--"

"You can be Healers as long as you have magic."

But we'll lose our magic, which means...

"You'll all be trained soldiers just like me," he said with a smirk, "designed to hunt and kill dragons and other monstrous creatures fighting for the Gatál. Welcome to the army, dumb-ass."

Peter tugged at the lock on his cage in a desperate attempt to break free.

"I said shut your bird up!"

My heart ached as tears welled in my eyes. "No, no, it can't be. You're wrong. Father could never be that cruel."

Barker shrugged. "Hey, tell yourself whatever you need to hear. The fact is you're never leaving this shit-heap." He growled as he gazed at the horizon. "Why couldn't the bastard have chosen a deserted tropical island?"

"Oh, gods! What have I done?" I whispered. "Alicia will kill me!"

"Yeah, she's pretty pissed." He bent down and taunted Peter, who gave him an angry peck. "Wonder what the new body will do to your boyfriend's soul."

"Father can release us. He can show mercy. All it takes is another contract."

"The Creator will never let you go. You end the war, and he'd do anything to see the Gatál fall."

Teufelwald Castle rose like a Gothic temple of evil, illuminated by the surrounding lava moat. Huge black spires towered to the heavens against the backdrop of a full moon.

"You'll never connect to that Tree again," he replied. "Better get used to the idea. A few Risa couldn't get past it."

My stomach clenched. "What happened to them?"

"They hanged themselves." Barker gave me a wry smile. "When we went through their belongings, we found a suicide note. It said, Our last connection to nature."

Bile rose in the back of my throat. I thought of Mama and her desperation before she jumped, unable to cope with Father's treachery. Unable to live with the knowledge that the love of her life had broken the laws of nature and abandoned his family to create monsters.

A wayward tear of anger trickled down my cheek and dripped onto Peter's feathers. He gave up on his escape attempt and nuzzled against my hand through the bars.

"Pretty fucked up, huh?" Barker said, turning to gaze outside the window.

"The Risa rarely commit suicide as it severs their ties to Mother Nature."

He shrugged. "Don't matter if there ain't nothing to break, I guess."

A volcano spewed lava and grit into the air as smoke billowed from the crater. Barker gave me a wry chuckle when I recoiled at the fiery explosion. A shockwave shook the carriage even though we were at least thirty miles away.

The carriage pulled up to a stop outside the main gates of Teufelwald Castle. The driver descended and unbolted the door. Barker jumped out of the carriage and landed on the dark slate with a crunch.

"We're here, Princess," Barker said.

Barker grabbed Peter's cage and cackled at the bird's angry croaks and hisses. The guard rose the cage to eye level and poked him with a stick, which the raven ripped out of his hand and tossed to the base of the wrought iron cage.

"Time to turn you into a really ugly bastard," Barker sneered.