The Ether Witch Volume 2

Tam sipped his ale while slumped against the tavern wall. He had straddled the wooden bench to give his back a place to rest as he watched the scene before him unfold.

The three Troivackian men had rosy cheeks, and were laughing bawdily as they spoke in the old Troivackian tongue amongst themselves.

Tam watched his mother as she lightly tapped the corner of her mouth with a napkin.

The stew that had been served for dinner had been a fish stew, and so, his mother with her dislike of seafood—much like Luca's—had only consumed bread and cheese for her dinner as she imbibed in the moonshine she loved so dearly.

Tam didn't bother weighing in on the situation. He knew better.

"Alright," one of the fishermen who turned out to be named Levi started. "We've been having a nice warm-up to this little wager of yours ma'am. But it's getting late. I think we should move this along." He waved to Johanna who shot him a disapproving glance before reluctantly carrying over a tray full of small, crudely made shot glasses.

As she lined up three shots in front of each man she lowered her voice and addressed Annika. "Ma'am, I do not think this is wise."

"Oh, come now, Johanna! This fine woman here is the one who staked the wager!" Another one of the fishermen named Ezra interjected while grinning at Annika.

Tam barely resisted a snort of laughter.

"I do have one concern," Annika announced, her eyes drifting up to Johanna who was already starting to smile in understanding.

The duchess gestured to the three shot glasses that Levi was in the process of filling with the clear moonshine.

"I thought this was supposed to be a challenge?"

Levi halted as his two companions gaped at Annika in momentary shock before breaking out in laughter.

Johanna sighed pityingly.

"Well, Johanna? You heard the woman! Think you have a few more glasses to spare?" Levi asked with a grin.

"I have twelve more but that's it," she returned tightly.

"Four glasses more for each of us. That sounds perfect, thank you." Annika gave a kind smile.

Johanna looked to Tam, she appeared to be expecting him to step in and stop the madness.

He shrugged in response. He'd probably go to bed soon. Eli and the children were most likely already fast asleep.

Sighing, Johanna turned and retrieved the last of the shot glasses and returned. She completed adding the glasses into the existing lines, and Levi continued topping them up before setting down the mostly empty bottle and plucking up his first glass.

"To Quildon! May she continue to hold our homes!" The group clinked glasses, downed their shots, and plunked them down on the table before grasping their next one.

The men grinned at Annika who smiled politely back.

The third fisherman named James was too impatient to wait longer for his next drink, and so he bellowed, "To the sea! May she continue to favor our boats, and share her abundance!"

Again, the liquor was tossed down.

The men paused before grasping their third glasses, eyeing Annika with barely concealed excitement. They must have been expecting her to keel over, or at the very least to sway in her seat.

Instead they were greeted with a merry twinkle in her eye.

Despite the men around her hesitating, the duchess raised her glass. "To Daxaria. With the finest fields, the finest folk, and the finest fates."

The men lifted their glasses, a tinge of uncertainty touching their faces.

The third glass was down.

By the fourth, they seemed to regain their former confidence—most likely assuming Annika would simply pass out rather than give any warning sign.

By the sixth, their confusion and wariness was mounting.

Tam eyed their pallors. He hesitated finishing his ale. Normally at least one man would be looking ready to lose their dinner. But all three men looked perfectly fine.

Tam's eyebrows rose. He wondered if his mother might possibly be in over her head.

She didn't spare him a glance, or bat an eye at the seventh shot that went down.

"I must confess," Levi's words were a little wetter as he slurred. "You're more Troivackian than I realized."

Annika lifted one shoulder demurely. "I enjoy a glass now and then."

Tam coughed.

Making his mother finally look at him. She quirked her eyebrows in silent challenge.

"Why doesn't your son join us?" Ezra asked, his thick eyebrows touched with gray twitching.

"Oh, he needs to arrange our passage back to Daxaria tomorrow morning, best to do so with a clear head," she excused lightly.

Tam set his tankard on the table. "Out of curiosity, my mother and I were talking about how we saw a lot of boats being magically propelled on our journey. It seemed odd."

A discreet lowering of Annika's eyes told Tam she was pleased with him for thinking to raise the matter up in present company.

Levi snorted. "Right? The entire kingdom seems like it's lost its mind. First, there is all the rumors about the dragon in Zinfera, then the news of the first witch escaping… Now the princes are missing and the military is scouring the kingdom.

Tam felt his stomach plummet. "What?"

"You've all been gone long, hey?" Ezra tripped over his words as he swept his glassy gaze over Tam. "The queen went to Zinfera, an' the three princes took off. At least that's what they're saying on the mainland. I'm thinking that something don't smell right about any of this."

James snorted. "Like what? The queen being held ransom at the kingdom and the princes going into hiding? What don't smell right 'bout that?"

Tam's eyes cut to his mother. She was sitting so rigidly she looked as though one flinch would make her snap.

"I dunno," Ezra countered. "Maybe the first witch is already here and Zinfera is stopping the queen from coming home. The Wittica coven probably went to save the queen, an' the king stashed away the princes."

"You dumbarse," Levi scoffed. "Why would the king send out the army to look for the princes if he knew where they were?"

"Does anyone have any idea which direction they might have been going?" Annika's sharp voice drew all attention back to her.

They must have forgotten that she was there.

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"Not really. Some think they're hiding with the coven. But I heard from a maid at the Duke Cowan estate…" Levi dropped his voice. "The king is on the outs with the coven."

Tam's mind raced. The boys were missing… Could the first witch have taken them?

"I thought Duke Ashowan could find his family if they were in danger?" Tam forced his voice to sound easygoing.

"Well, that's the other strange thing about this, innit?" Ezra's eyes gleamed with the love of having a captivated audience. "That's what makes me think that somethin' else is going on."

Annika's finger tapped the table. "Gentlemen, if you'll excuse me I'd like a word with my son."

"Ah-ah!" Levi burst out with a triumphant grin. "No running off now! That would not be fair, ma'am, a deal's a deal."

Annika rose from her seat unbothered, then plucked up the moonshine bottle and downed the rest of its contents in three large gulps. She placed the empty bottle on the table and started to pull her cloak back on. "Ask Johanna to bring the other bottle so you can catch up. That was an additional three drinks."

What she had just consumed was significantly more than three drinks.

The former boisterous air around the table dissipated and was replaced with shock as Tam rose from his seat and rounded the table to join his mother's side.

The pair then stepped back out into the cold, wet night, both moving with purpose and complete silence.

*

"I think they ran away," Tam said as soon as they had found a discreet wood shelter to have their discussion.

"Perhaps… But why?" Annika pressed worriedly.

Tam folded his arms against the biting wind that whipped past his shoulder that did not fit within the protection of the wood shelter. "All it would take is one of them to get the idea and the other two would follow. It could've been for any number of reasons. It could be because Kat's away. You know Eric doesn't do well when she's gone."

"Yes, but your father and the former king are there. They would be helping."

"Mum, they don't know anything that is going on. We've lost communication for weeks in Kat's case, and months in mine. Da and Eric are probably losing their minds. You heard from Kat that they attempted to ransom her. You told me that Da saw you get hurt. With the ransom they would also know then that the Coven of Wittica is looking for a war. Da might not be at the castle if he went to Wittica to investigate."

Annika tilted her head thoughtfully. "It is strange your father wouldn't be able to find them… It would mean they aren't afraid."

"Exactly."

"But how in the world have they managed to avoid the soldiers? Antony's only just turned seven!"

Tam grimaced. "I don't know."

The duchess stared out over the cold, blue mists. "Where would they go, do you think? If they have run away, and even people on this remote island know about it, then the coven would hear about it, too, and they could snatch them up."

Tam pondered this silently. "Call it a hunch… but… My bet would be Sorlia."

"Why?"

"Because Xava would be too easy for Da and Eric to get to. Rollom too far, and to get to Sorlia, they'd be able to travel in the woods for the first few days of their journey which would give them lots of places to hide."

Annika considered this. "Still… this doesn't make sense."

"We don't even know how long they've been missing," Tam pointed out. "Eric and Da would've looked for them on their own with a small search party for the first day. Maybe even two. And I doubt that the men inside the tavern here can even say for certain the exact timeline."

Annika jerked her chin down grimly. "When we reach the mainland, I'll contact the brothels and send riders out to every other establishment we own to ask them to keep an eye and ear out, as well as multiple people on horseback to the castle in Austice."

"You should go with one of them." Tam's voice was quiet.

Annika's brows twitched. "Oh?"

"Go tell Da everything. I'll go to the coven and try to get the information on how to open a portal to send the first witch back home. I'll check in Xava for a message from you to see if the boys have been found yet. If not, I'll go straight to Sorlia from Xava"

The duchess stared at her son for a long while. The only light source was a lone torch they had borrowed from the front of the inn and stowed in its holder at the shelter.

"I understand why you are suggesting this. We need someone to both communicate and find out what exactly is happening with the king, and you think you are the best person to go to the coven because you, too, are a witch."

Tam nodded slowly.

"Do you think Eli should go with you or come with me?" Annika asked tightly.

Tam let out a breath that appeared as a cloud of vapor. "I'll ask her. It is hard to say where she will be safest. I can help protect her, but I also will have to defend multiple people if she and the children are with me in the event of a fight."

Annika nodded. "Given that there is still a hunt for Luca, that still might be the better option."

The conversation lapsed as both mother and son turned over this new plan in their minds.

"Tam?"

He looked down at his mother's face.

Her cheeks were pink from the cold and drink, but there was an intensity in her eyes as she prepared her next question.

"What is your magic?"

Tam gave a slow, weary smile. "Ether."

Annika's mouth pursed and she tilted her head curiously.

Sighing, Tam allowed the void to rush forward, consuming him.

He then stepped through his void and back from the darkness to appear behind his mother.

From whom he could hear the tail-end of a gasp leaving her mouth.

He tapped her on the shoulder, and found a sharp elbow driving back into his gut.

Tipsy or not, the duchess could always defend herself.

Whirling back around, Annika's eyes were wide as she stared at her son. "What was that?"

Coughing, Tam managed to straighten himself, though he didn't doubt that he would find a rather nasty bruise in the morning. "Ether. I have a void I can move into, and I can travel to different places. I move through matter. I exist in the void, between things, and amongst things. I can go to places I see, or know very well. The farthest I've been able to travel without seeing the place has been a few leagues."

Tam could hear his mother's sharp intake of breath, and so he reached up and rubbed his neck as he waited for the deluge of questions she would undoubtedly have.

Surprisingly, all she managed to say was. "I always said you seemed to be off in a world on your own."

Stunned, Tam blinked. Then a genuine laugh escaped him. When he'd finished, he rested his hand on his mother's back and gave her a gentle push."Come on. Let's get back. You have a drinking game to finish, and I'm going to bed. We'll finish this plan in the morning."