Chapter Text
The First
Alexander prided himself on being well-liked and well-known in his tiny village. He knew all the children in town and their parents. He knew the shopkeepers and the merchants who frequented his village. He even knew the faces of the templars who would sometimes pass through, though he made it his business to stay out of their way. The other children knew to come to Alexander with their problems because, and as he saw it, he was in the business of helping people. And he prided himself on that fact, too.
He and a handful of other village children were out in the fields playing templars and mages. Alexander was always a mage and was always the last one to be caught. As he snuck through the thick and sweet smelling grass that hummed with summer insects, he imagined he was all manners of animals - a deer when he needed to run or one of those sticky-insect bugs when he needed to blend in. He imagined he was a cat most of all, so adept at slipping into unexpected places and turning up when you least expect them.
Right now, Alexander was a deer, leaping over a log and springing full tilt for the small grove of trees just beyond the fields.
“Come on,” Alexander heard his friend Seth complaining. Seth slowed, hands falling to his sides in frustrated defeat. “You never let me catch you.”
Alexander slowed, turning a wide and toothy grin at his friend.
“I thought that was the point ,” Alexander said, taking a few jogging steps away to see if Seth might take the bait. He didn’t, the pretend templar's face the color of beets as sweat ran from his forehead to his chin.
“You're so much faster than me,” Seth muttered, rubbing his eyes. “Everyone else is in the tower. It’s not fair.”
Alexander frowned. His good time was coming at the expense of everyone else, it seemed. In truth, Alexander could out run any of the village children, and it was maybe a little unfair.
“Here,” said Alexander. He walked toward Seth, feet crunching over the dry and twiggy grass, his wrists extended. “You’ve got me. I can’t run any more. It’s hot.”
Seth’s dark eyes lit up brightly, looking hungrily at Alexander’s wrists offered up before him.
“Wait, really?” The boy’s gaze became suspicious for a moment.
Alexander nodded.
“Clap ‘em in irons and take me to the tower,” said Alexander.
Seth laughed, maybe a little too gleefully, and began tying Alexander’s hands with a shoestring. It was only pretend ‘tying up’, though; a quick snap of the wrists and Alexander could free himself. Seth held the other end of the lace string, leading Alexander back through the tall grasses like a proud peacock. Alexander could see the surprised stares of the other children as Seth led him to a large boulder that was the designated and pretend Kinloch Hold.
“You actually caught him?” said a little girl named Rosalind who was about five-years old.
“I did,” said Seth, chest swelling importantly.
Alexander nearly rolled his eyes but he decided to let Seth have this one. Very rarely did Seth ever catch anyone in mages and templars, it being a well-known fact that he was one of the slowest runners in the pack. The other children looked at him with a newfound respect.
“Well, put him with the other mages,” said a boy named Matthew, pointing to three other children sitting in the grass by the boulder, whispering conspiratorially.
Alexander was taking his seat amongst the other captives, when he heard a wail coming up the path leading back into town. Looking up, he saw a tiny dust cloud rising up.
“Alexander!” came a tiny and distressed voice.
The children pretending to be templars turned toward the oncoming plume of dust, gazing suspiciously across the grass.
“I bet it’s a trick,” said Seth. “Don’t trust anything they say.”
The pretend templars nodded, but Alexander wasn’t so sure. He at least hadn’t planned anything underhanded.
Alexander climbed quickly to his feet, trying to see who was approaching.
It was Sara, the baker’s daughter. She was seven and running as fast as her legs could carry her. Immediately, Alexander knew something was wrong and ran toward her.
“Hey!” said one of the other templars.
“This isn’t pretend,” snapped Alexander, “and the game is paused.”
The other children muttered and whispered, but nobody tried to stop him as Alexander raced out to meet Sara. Her face was dirty, red, and tear streaked. She reached for Alexander’s sleeve and pulled on it, fighting to get the words out but she was out of breath.
“What is it, Sara?” he asked, brow creased with concern.
“It’s-” Sara struggled and Alexander put a calming hand on her back, nodding encouragingly. “It’s Lily.”
“What about Lily?” said Alexander.
The other children were slowly coming over, crowding around.
“The templars have been sent to get her,” Sara continued and choked. Alexander blinked and looked at the group around them. They were all shaking their heads. Lily hadn’t been part of the morning’s game, and now they knew why. “She froze her mother's tea last night.”
A series of small gasps issued from those gathered.
Lily was hardly the first child to be plucked from their numbers under such circumstances. Some of the children were more grown-up about the situation, grown up in that they were in favor of mages in towers, mimicking the opinions of the adults in town. Others, like Alexander, viewed towers as a kind of prison, and who in their good mind would send a child to prison?
“Where is Lily now, Sara?” asked Alexander.
“Hiding,” sniffed Sara. “Can you do anything, Alexander?”
Alexander was thinking quickly, his lips pursed. The forest where they sometimes played was no good for hiding children. At night there were dogs and rumor had it Dark Spawn still sometimes appeared. The river flooded this time of year. The caves close to that made strange noises and was home to demons.
Hm.
His father's barn. His father was a farmer and had a shipment of produce headed for Redcliffe the next day. Alexander could hide Lily on his father’ cart. She'd have food enough to get her to the city where maybe she could make a life for herself. It was better than prison.
“Yes,” said Alexander quickly. “Take me to her, Sara?”
“You can’t be serious, Alex,” said Seth, folding his arms. “Mages are supposed to go in towers.”
Alexander glared.
“Lily is our friend,” said Alexander. “And any one of you could end up being a mage. Do you want to go to prison?”
Several of the children looked scared at the thought, though Seth shook his head and snorted.
“Not me,” he said. “I'll never be a mage.”
“Well, good for you,” said Alexander, biting back the desire to call Seth slow and lazy and reveal he had only caught Alexander because Alexander had let him. But there wasn't time for petty bickering. “Let's go, Sara. And none of you snitch!”
Sara nodded, wiping her eyes and nose, and gave him a watery smile. They tore down the road, kicking up rocks and dust as they flew. Alexander decided he was a cat; he needed the adults in town not to see him.
Alexander had his own reasons for liking mages and disliking the templars who stole away his friends. The dreams had started for him a while ago. At first, they were brief, flashes of a gray-green sky that he could brush off. But then they became terrible nightmares that lasted the whole night. Monsters sometimes found him, and he knew they were close because he began to hurt all over and he knew then to try and wake up or hide.
But in truth, Alexander had always sort of known this was his fate, even before the dreams began. No templar would come for him, though. He could control his magic well enough, so long as he kept an even temper.
By the time they reached town, the silver horses the templars rode were already stationed outside of Lily’s home. A small crowd of villagers had gathered, and Lily's mother's cries echoed around the little square. The front door was pushed wide open, and Alexander could see three templars standing inside. One turned, his eyes hawkish and mean, and slammed the front door shut so they could talk in privacy.
“How terrible.”
“Maker preserve us.”
“ My child would never be a mage.”
Alexander could hear the whispers all around them, and he felt his blood bubble. Lily was a little girl, a friend, and a good person. But people were talking like they didn't even know her.
Sara tugged Alexander's sleeve, shaking her head and hurried him along the street. The adults didn't seem to notice two kids slipping through the crowd and darting down an alleyway. They hurried to the other side of the village, creeping down side streets and between buildings, until they stopped at a large pile of crates stacked against a collapsing mill.
Alexander looked questioningly at Sara, his brow furrowed. She gave a vigorous nod but said nothing. With a quick and furtive look around first, Alexander knelt low and whispered to the crates.
“Lily?” he hissed. “Lily, it's me Alexander. I'm going to help you. Can you come out?”
There no response from the crates. Alexander waited a second, looking to Sara who shrugged.
“Lily, Sara brought me,” he said patiently, kindly, “and I know you're scared, but I have a plan.”
There were a few seconds more of silence, and then came a soft clunking and scuffling as some of the boards began to shift. A scrawny little girl with vibrant red hair slowly crawled out from her hiding place. She was covered in dirt and her face was puffy from crying.
“I-I didn't mean it,” she said, sobs wracking her chest.
Lily was about Alexander's age, a little younger maybe, nine at most, and Sara looked up to the girl like she was a big sister. Sara was crying again, too. Alexander wrapped an arm across Lily's shoulders and gave her a squeeze.
“It’s alright,” he assured her. “Let’s get you some place safe first, and then I will tell you all about my plan.”
Lily nodded tearfully. Alexander looked around one more time before beckoning Lily to follow.
Alexander's family worked a farm a little outside of the village. His father and mother were both busy in the fields today, where he should be helping too and he would probably hear about it later over lunch. But future scoldings were hardly Alexander's concern at the moment.
He guided them through the tall summer grasses, playing scout. Lily made up the middle and kept her head down, while Sara made up the rear and kept watch from behind. Thankfully, Alexander’s parents were nowhere near the barn, and they were able to successfully assure Lily into the rafters where he knew his father wouldn't venture. Then he told her the plan and promised to return later with some lunch and a few supplies he could comfortably pilfer from home.
Lily frowned and hugged her knees, resting her cheek as tears quietly pooled and fell. Alexander couldn't help his own twisting anxiety as he left Lily. Being kicked out of home, unceremoniously and for no good reason, was a constant and pervasive fear for the families across Ferelden. Honestly, probably everywhere that wasn't the Tevinter Imperium. A fear that Alexander carried in his breast and the back of his mind, always.
“We should probably split up,” said Alexander. “Go back and play with the others, Sara. I'm going home to get things together for Lily.”
Sara looked up at Alexander with a small frown on her face and shook her head.
“I want to be there to say goodbye,” she said stubbornly, which meant she wasn't leaving Alexander's side.
“But they know you're close friends with Lily,” he pointed out. “They might question you, and if they see you hanging around the barn, they'll definitely check there.”
Sara pouted, her little chin quivering.
“But I'll not see her again. Not ever.”
Alexander frowned and felt his heart break for Sara.
“Tell you what,” he offered, “my dad leaves in the morning just after dawn. Come when it's still dark to say goodbye.”
Sara looked at her feet, tears and snot running again, but she nodded.
“I won't sleep at all tonight,” she promised. “I'll be there.”
“Good,” said Alexander. He pointed then for Sara to run off back to town. “I'll come find you later, okay? Go play.”
Sara nodded and hurried off down the road. Alexander sighed, scratching his head, and then he turned back to the family farm, making a mental list of things to get Lily. Some coins, socks, a quill and paper so they could write letters, a health potion or two, and a bag to put it all in.
He crept across the yard to his family's modest little hovel of gray stone. He was reaching for the front door, careful that his feet not make even a squeak on the floorboards, when a sound reached his ears.
A snuffling little cry and hiccup.
Alexander paused and listened. The hiccupping came again accompanied by a sniff. He sighed a little. It was likely either Lily out of her hiding spot, or Sara having decided she wasn't going off to play after all.
He followed the sound to the side of the house where his mother grew her butterfly bushes. They were in full bloom, and insects with glittering wings landed and hummed amongst the blooms. The snuffling seemed louder here, and Alexander dropped to his knees, sticking his head beneath the tendrils of whiskered plant life.
Alexander's eyebrows shot up.
It wasn't Lily or Sara beneath the bush, but a boy he'd never seen before.
The boy's brown eyes widened with startled fear and alarm, and he shrank away as Alexander nosed his way beneath the bush.
“P-please. Don't come any closer,” he said in a voice choked with tears.
Alexander noted the black-and-blue welt forming beneath the boy's left eye and a split lip. Brown hair hung in tousled clumps, leaves, twigs, and dirt clinging to it. The boy was dressed strangely, too. In a black velvet robe with well-pressed pants, a vest, and white and collared shirt. He obviously came from money.
“You're hiding under my mother's flowers,” said Alexander observantly.
“O-oh,” said the boy, wiping his face with his sleeve.
“Can I ask what you're doing under there?” said Alexander. He kept his distance, not wanting to spook the boy, but it was hard having a conversation when leaves and stems kept bopping him in the face.
The boy seemed reluctant to share at first, looking at his toes. He hugged his knees tightly to his chest and rocked a little.
The boy looked up through watery eyes. “A-are they gone?” he whispered.
“Is who gone?” asked Alexander.
“Thessa, Hugo, and Liam,” whispered the boy as if saying the names might summon them.
Alexander’s brow furrowed. He’d never heard those names before, on top of not knowing this boy. It didn’t sit well with him that there were people he didn't know in town, and he wasn't quite sure what to make of it all.
“I don’t know them,” said Alexander, “and I haven't seen anyone else around my house, so that probably means they’re gone.”
He was trying to be helpful.
“ ‘Probably’ means they could still be out there,” the boy whispered into his knees. “I would rather stay here if it's alright with you and your mother?”
Alexander sighed. Today, it seemed, he was very much in the business of helping people. He stood up and glanced around the yard again, then shot back down.
“There's nobody, really,” he said and offered the boy an awkward hand up. “And if you want to hide somewhere more comfortable, now is probably a good time to move.”
The boy eyed the hand offered, assessing how much he wanted to trust this stranger. Gradually, he accepted and took the hand. They inched their way carefully from the bushes, and standing side-by-side, Alexander noted they were of similar heights and likely then similar ages. Alexander thought this was especially strange because if this boy had grown up in the village, they should have been playmates. Even if he was the son of the local nobility, Alexander would have at least been aware of this boy if for nothing else than to avoid him.
“What’s your name?” asked Alexander.
“Gale Dekarios,” said the boy named Gale.
He was still peering over Alexander’s shoulder, gazing all around the yard as if expecting something. He was also fidgeting with his hands nervously. “I d-don’t suppose you could point me toward back Blackstaff? Seems I might’ve summoned another portal by accident.”
“Excuse me?” said Alexander. “And I’m Alexander, by the way,” he added with only a hint of irritation.
“Oh, right,” said Gale, “sorry. It is nice to meet you, Alexander. And Blackstaff Academy. I am still in Waterdeep, aren’t I? That’s usually where I end up. Maybe a little outside the city?”
Alexander paused, afraid that maybe Gale had taken a nasty blow to the head.
“I don’t know where any of those places are,” said Alexander cautiously, and with an uncertain arm, draped it across Gale’s shoulders. “Maybe I take you to see somebody, yeah? Whose kid are you?”
“I’m Morena’s son,” Gale said, arching an eyebrow. “But what do you mean you don’t know where Waterdeep is? Do you not know Blackstaff? The wizard academy? I’m an apprentice there. Though perhaps then you aren’t a wizard? I thought it was known by everybody, wizard or not, but I guess-”
“You’re a mage,” Alexander exclaimed. “Oh. Hm.” Alexander thought. Kinloch Hold was the only circle he really knew of, though he was aware others existed. Perhaps the boy was from one of those. Or was on his way. “You’re running from the Templars, then?”
“Templars?” said Gale, and then reluctantly clarified. “I was running from my … classmates.”
“The other apprentices, you mean?” asked Alexander. Gale nodded.
“The other apprentices also bully mages?”
“Well, yes?” said Gale, his own look of confusion matching Alexander's. “That's what bullies are, or so I thought. Peers mostly.”
“So, you escaped from this Circle … Blackstaff was it?”
“I don't know what you mean by ‘Circle’, but yes, Blackstaff Academy. Though I wasn't trying to escape the academy. Just Thessa, Hugo, and Liam.”
“But...how did you escape and how did you end up here?”
Gale's story was making little sense to Alexander. Gale however was casting his nervous gaze around, his attention growing more scattered the longer they stood in the open.
Alexander frowned and beckoned to Gale.
“Let’s talk more in a minute,” he said. “You're in luck. I'm hiding another new mage. I have a place to hide you until my father's cart heads off to Redcliffe.”
Alexander was already striding across the lawn, headed back toward the barn. Gale hurried to keep up, jogging after Anders.
“Wait, where exactly are you taking me?”
“To the barn. There's a girl trying to hide from the templars in there already. You both can go to Redcliffe together.”
“Where?” Gale's voice rose.
“Redcliffe,” said Alexander. “There are still templars in Redcliffe, but it should be easier to hide. Small towns do love their gossip, and Redcliffe is big. Or so I've heard.”
They entered the barn and Alexander dropped his voice, heading up the ladder to Lily's hiding spot.
“I don't know where that is!” exclaimed Gale and Alexander shushed him.
“Quiet. My parents will be back soon.”
“But,” pressed Gale, dropping his voice, “I don’t know where Redcliffe is. I need to get back to Blackstaff . I've exams in a week. Not that I need to study, but I should at least crack a book open. Are there any Wagons headed for Waterdeep, at least?”
“You mean you want to go back to the Circle where not only the templars watch over you, but your classmates are encouraged to beat you up?”
Gale looked a little taken aback, brow creased.
“Of course I want to go back,” he said. “I am very good at magic, you know. They say I'm a wizarding prodigy. Even Elminster noticed how talented I am.”
Gale's chest swelled with pride, cheeks turning cherry red.
“Oh, I bet the templars just love you,” said Alexander dryly. He could also see why the templars might encourage the other students to bully Gale. Squash that love of magic right out of him. Nobody loved being a mage. None of the friends he had watched get carted away in irons loved it when their time came, and would that he could surrender that part of him.
“We don't have templars at Blackstaff,” said Gale indignantly.
Alexander snorted and was about to reply when Lily's small squeak cut through their conversation.
“You're back,” she sniffed. Her eyes were red from crying, and she looked up at Gale and frowned. “Who are you?”
“Another mage,” said Alexander.
“I'm Gale Dekarios of Blackstaff Academy,” said Gale Dekarios of Blackstaff Academy. Alexander could also see why other students might want to bully Gale of their own accord. “It is nice to meet you.”
He offered a polite hand to shake. Lily arched and eyebrow but shook hands.
“I'm Lily of … nowhere, really,” she said, and then miserably added, “I guess Kinloch Hold, now.”
“No,” said Alexander as he and Gale took seats beside Lily on hay-strewn floor. “You're going to Redcliffe, Lily. Start a new life with a fresh face.”
Lily bit her lips and pressed her face to her knees, sobbing again. Alexander scooted a little closer and put an arm across her shoulders.
“Sh, it'll be fine,” he said. “I'll get supplies together. We can write to each other when it's safe. Don't worry.”
A little frown of concern crossed Gale's face.
“Is Kinloch Hold not a very good school?” he asked.
Alexander snorted.
“From what I've heard, it, and all Circles, are prisons for mages,” he said as Lily shook harder.
“Prisons?” said Gale in alarm. “That's not at all what Blackstaff is like. We celebrate magic there.”
Lily looked up, eyes streaming, nose running.
“I want to go there, ” she begged. “C-can I go with you instead?”
“Well,” said Gale uncertainly, rubbing the back of his neck. “You'll need to apply of course and demonstrate you've decent magical talent-”
“B-but I've only just discovered I'm a mage!” she wailed, voice rising. “I don't know what I'm doing yet.”
“W-well,” Gale stammered, “I'm sure if the schools out here treat their students so poorly, perhaps the Blackstaff will make some allowances. Goodness, I’d no idea what life was like outside the city.”
Lily whimpered and hiccupped.
“You think?” she said, wiping her eyes.
“Oh, I'm sure the headmaster will-”
“Sh,” said Alexander, holding up a finger to his lips. Gale and Lily quieted.
Voices floated across the yard outside. His father and mother.
“My parents are back,” he hissed. “I need to go. I'll be back soon with food and your supplies for… wherever you end up. Keep quiet and stay here.”
The two children nodded as Alexander hastily climbed down the ladder, jumping the last few feet. His father and mother happened to be walking by the barn’s open doors and heard him land.
“Is that where you've been?” snapped Alexander's father. “Instead of helping like you're supposed to be?”
Alexander's father had the same sandy-blond hair as his son, but bore no other resemblance. Where Alexander was lean and promising to sprout to a good height, his father was round and short.
“What were you doing up there?” said his mother. “You know I don't like you being so high up.”
Alexander liked that he looked more like his mother. Her longish face, and blue eyes were his, too.
“Oh, let him fall,” said Alexander's father. “Maybe it'll knock sense into him. Responsibility. Work. Duty. Things that clearly mean nothing to the boy.”
“I was-” said Alexander, reaching for an excuse, “trying to find the cat.”
His dad snorted and walked off.
“Come on,” said his mother with a frown. “You should have been out there. He's quite cross, you know. What kept you?”
“Sorry,” he said as they headed back inside. “I was playing with friends and then realized I'd lost Ms. Fuzzy-Britches.”
“Did you find her?”
“No,” he said with a frown.
His mother wrapped an arm around her son, shaking her head.
“She'll turn up. Cats are good at taking care of themselves. Now, what shall we make for lunch?”
It was late into the evening before Alexander was able to get away from his parents and the endless list of chores. His father had been keen on making Alexander make up for the morning's lost work, and Alexander entered the barn again after the moon had risen and the sun had gone to bed.
In his hand, he carried two small satchels with the items from his mental list and dinner. When he climbed up the ladder to find Lily and Gale, he found Gale in a deep, one-sided conversation with a half-asleep Lily. Gale was balancing a small light in his hand. At first, Alexander thought the boy’d found a candle, but then he realized it was a magical little flame. Alexander was momentarily stunned, not used to such casual displays of magic.
“Hello,” whispered Alexander, blinking a few times.
Gale looked up, a wide smile on his face, while Lily yawned.
“I’ve got dinner,” continued Alexander, passing around what he’d been able to sneak from dinner and the pantry. “Sorry it took me so long.”
“I’ve been starving all day,” complained Lily, taking what Alexander offered her.
“Thank you,” said Gale.
“And I’ve these,” said Alexander, passing them the satchels. “They’ve got a few supplies for the trip and all that.”
“Well you see,” began Gale, “Lily and I were talking. She’d rather come back with me to Waterdeep. I think we will pass on Redcliffe.”
“Yes,” said Lily, brightening, “where Gale comes from, there are no templars and mages don’t have to live in towers. In fact, they’re treated like normal people.”
Alexander frowned.
“Where you’re from?” he said slowly. “Is Waterdeep…part of the Imperium or something?”
That gave Lily a little pause, and she looked expectantly at Gale.
“The Imperium? I don’t know what that means, but it’s along the Sword Coast in Faerûn.”
Alexander’s confused frown deepened.
“I’ve never heard of those places,” he said, feeling more certain that maybe Gale was trying to have them on. “We’re in the country of Ferelden . There’s not a coast nearby for hundreds of miles. We’re closer to the mountains than anywhere else.”
Gale’s face grew pale. Lily’s brow creased with concern.
“I’ve…” Gale paused, wetting his lips, “I’ve never heard of Ferelden before. I don’t think I’ve even seen it in an atlas, though I could be mistaken. You don’t happen to have a map of Ferelden for me to reference, do you?”
Alexander shook his head.
“Fresh out, I’m afraid,” he said. Gale was chewing his bottom lip, eyes darting as he thought. “You look troubled,” continued Alexander.
“I think,” said Gale uncertainly, “I may have summoned myself a bit farther than I’d intended. If you’ve never heard of Waterdeep and I’ve never heard of Ferelden, then I worry I may have overshot by a tad. But that’s fine. I should be able to find my way back.”
Gale didn’t look especially confident, and Alexander gave Lily a slight side-eye and a wink.
“Go on, then,” said Alexander with a nod. “If you can summon a portal, why not do it again? Why wait to take Lily to Blackstaff? I doubt you’ll find a cart headed there from my little village.”
“It takes a great deal of magical energy to create such a portal,” explained Gale hurriedly. “I can’t do it all the time.”
“I see. I’m sure it does,” said Alexander with a sage nod and a wistful sigh. “I’m just terribly curious. I haven’t seen much magic performed and was hoping you might be able to show me.”
Lily was standing a little behind Alexander now, hovering at his shoulder curiously but also cautiously. She held onto one of his arms.
“I suppose,” said Gale, scratching his chin, “I can give it a try.”
“See, Lily?” said Alexander. “Maybe you we can send you to Blackstaff tonight.”
Lily beamed, and Alexander almost felt bad for trying to poke holes in Gale’s story. It seemed far more likely to Alexander that Gale was indeed a runaway apostate mage making up stories of grandeur to make himself feel better. Kids liked to brag about things that never happened or didn’t actually exist all the time, just so they felt a little control over their own stories. He’d feel sorry for Gale, but to drag Lily into his mess was a bit far.
Gale’s brow furrowed, his face tense with concentration. He held up his hands and murmured a few words, twisting his fingers and palms. Alexander lifted his eyebrows. He had seen a mage cast a spell once or twice, a proper spell with a staff and everything once. That spell was nothing like what the boy was doing, though to be fair, Alexander had little idea how magically actually worked.
Gale thrust his hands out emphatically. There was a small spray of stars and a whiff of smoke, the air becoming tingly for a moment. Then nothing.
Alexander laughed while Gale frowned and looked at his hands.
“B-but-” he stammered.
“Nice lights,” teased Alexander.
“Oh,” Lily groaned and clutched her head in her hands. “I was so hopeful.”
Gale glared.
“I must just be tired,” said Gale. “I’ve never cast anything quite like the portal I summoned to get me here… I don’t think. Except for that one time-”
“Right,” said Alexander loudly. “And I’m the Maker’s bride. But you'll be able to show me in the morning then, hm? Before my dad sends you both off to Redcliffe.”
“But I can do it!” Gale insisted.
“Please, try again,” begged Lily.
Gale’s face tightened with focus while Alexander sat back smugly with his arms folded.
“I don’t think he can, Lily,” said Alexander. “Seems you don't need to be a master magus to enter Blackstaff after all.”
Gale's face turned pink and then purple, his eyes burning. He dropped his arms, fists balled tightly at his sides, glaring daggers at Alexander.
“I can, too!” he said. “I've done it several times before. It just takes a lot of energy.”
“Excuses-”
“It’s not an excuse!”
“-excuses. He’s just pulling our legs, Lily. Is there even a Waterdeep?” Alexander folded his arms.
“Of course there’s a Waterdeep!” snapped Gale. “And that you’ve never heard of it shows just how ignorant you both are of world geography!”
“You don’t know where Ferelden is,” Alexander pointed out in a hard tone making each word hit like a gavel. Their voices were growing louder and louder, and Lily had her hands pressed over her ears.
“Stop it!” she shouted, but the boys yelled over her.
“No, I don’t know where every tiny and obscure village is in the world-”
“Ferelden is a country ! Didn’t you hear me say that, or are your ears working as well as your supposed mag-”
There was an explosion. Alexander pulled Lily out of the way just in time to dodge the immense ball of fire that erupted from the strange boy. The heat of it singed clothes and hair, and Lily was screaming bloody murder. The fire hurtled across the barn, leaving scorch marks across any exposed wood in its wake and exploded against the wall behind them. Flame shot everywhere, the blast sending Alexander propelling forward and into and through a stack of hay. Then he was falling, the world around him cascading like a waterfall as he plummeted to the floor below.
Alexander slammed smack on his back. The wind left his lungs, leaving him staring like a fish on land at the ceiling while stars danced in front of his eyes. The beams of his father’s barn sighed as magical fire climbed like vines toward the ceiling. The loft above had already become quickly consumed, and he could see the dark silhouette of Gale on the teetering platform above, stumbling as the wood groaned and began to sag forward.
“Jump-” Alexander wheezed. He meant to shout, but he had no air in his lungs and the smoke filling the room didn’t help.
And where was Lily? She had flown from his hands and he couldn’t see where she might have landed.
Gale stumbled blindly above, arms raised over his face as embers showered down. Then a beam above him cracked, coming apart at its seams. It fell in a shower of splinters and shards. Alexander watched Gale staggering backward, and from where he lay he had no idea if Gale had been hit. He only could watch as Gale lurched backward, lost his footing, and dropped from the loft.
Then there was a second explosion. Or what Alexander feared was a second explosion. A blinding, white light erupted from Gale’s side of the barn, and Alexander shut his burning eyes tightly. Alexander's chest rose and fell rapidly, and when he opened his eyes again, the light was gone.
A pair of strong arms emerged from the smoke and falling ash, scooping up Alexander. The boy's head lolled up and down, bouncing as his father ran from the barn and well away from the inferno.
Tears ran down Alexander's soot stained cheeks as his father rolled his son into the grass. Alexander was trying to sit up, fighting with his words.
“Li-” he gasped. His dad knelt on the ground, panting and sweating, his eyes blazing like the hells burned behind them.
“What?” he snapped. “Out with it.”
“Lily!” Alexander pointed to the barn. “And Gale.”
“There are more?”
The man’s eyes flashed and Alexander nodded. With a swear that Alexander was forbidden from saying, his father stood and sprinted toward the barn. Then Alexander felt a body crash against his. His mother had pulled him into a tight hug. She was sobbing and he was dazed.
In the distance, Alexander could make out people hurrying over from town. Horses galloped against the dimly glowing backdrop of his village not yet asleep. Alexander’s heart froze when he realized it wasn't just a few good samaritans riding up, but the three templars he had spied at Lily’s house. His insides went cold.
People were running toward the barn, some carrying buckets of water, not that they would do any good, and others diving inside to free animals which went running into the night.
“Lily is in there,” Alexander repeated, tears falling down his cheeks.
His mother held him close, his nose filling with the scent of the flowers she tended. Then his father’s form appeared in the barn’s doorway, a little body cradled in his arms. He sprinted across the lawn and sank to his knees, Lily rolling from his arms.
“Is she alive?” asked Alexander frantically, straining in his mother's arms. She shushed and rocked him. “Is she-”
“Let the adults see to her,” she said. “Don't crowd her.”
“And there was another boy in there,” Alexander turned in his mother's arms, looking at her desperately. “Mother, there was another boy.”
Alexander felt her arms tense around him.
A templar was walking toward them, a kind of saunter in his steps as he approached.
“I suspected the apostate might reveal themselves,” the templar said coolly, his stiff and nasally voice carrying.
“Please,” said Alexander's mother, “there's another boy in there according to my son.”
“The barn is being searched as best as it can,” said the man coldly. Alexander knew he did not like this man very much.
Lily stirred in the grass, coughing over the health potion that'd been poured down her throat.
“Oh good,” said the templar. “The arsonist wakes up. At least I will have somebody to bring back to Kinloch Hold.”
“The boys did it!” sobbed Lily as she wheezed and coughed, wiping her chin. “I didn’t do this. They did this!”
Alexander felt his throat go tight.
“I-I didn't-” he stammered. “I can't do magic.”
The templar’s cold eyes drifted to Alexander with mild interest.
“Liar!” said Lily. “No, it was them. I didn't do this.”
“No, it was the other boy-”
The blood had drained from Alexander's parents’ faces. His mother's arms weakened. They both seemed at a loss for words.
The templar had turned from the conversation to watch the burning barn and the people retreating back from it.
“And yet no other boy had been found, it seems,” said the templar, arms crossed. “Living or dead.”
“I didn't…I'm not-”
“That's not true, Alexander,” said his father softly. Alexander turned wide and confused eyes to his father who was slowly standing.
“Father-?”
“No,” breathed his mother.
“Come on,” he continued, “we both know, Miriam, that he's been having nightmares for months now. We know what that means.”
“All children have nightmares,” argued his mother, “everyone does.”
But his father was shaking his head.
Alexander felt like he was slowly falling into cold water. Pangs of fear and panic ripped through him. Were they going to take him? Take him from his parents and his life here? Was his dad serious? Was he actually saying this and turning his son over to the templars?
“M-mother?” Alexander wriggled in her arms, clutching her tightly and hot tears fell down his cheeks. “Mother? Are they going to take me? Don't let them take me! Mother, please, don't let them take me away!”
“We are not having demons around our farm,” spat his father. “It is as the Chantry demands. I won't take that chance. If the boy is setting fire to barns, he’s already a danger.”
“It is true,” the templar agreed.
“No!” shouted his mother. “He isn't a mage. How could you say such a thing? How could you turn your own son-”
The templar was reaching down, grabbing Alexander by the arm, and prying him from his mother's grasp. Alexander was screaming now, kicking, biting, fighting back with everything he had. His fingers dug into his mother who held him fiercely back.
Alexander’s father stepped in to restrain his wife, holding her back as the templars closed in. All of templars descended on two terrified children.
“Let me go!” she screamed. “You will not take my son! Let him go!”
“Put the children in irons,” said the cold templar. “We can't have any more errant mages causing destruction, can we?”
The barn behind them groaned and shot sparks into the air as its roof began to wilt. Its cries as it died though were nothing compared to Alexander’s screams.