Fifty

Aspen wakes hours after he started his summons with Zahra. He had been back a few times, saying she was learning to summon him, but it wasn't long enough to get information.

Now, I waited with my breath held as he sat up and rubbed his face. Beside me, June crosses her arms, impatient but giving Aspen a moment to compose himself.

When he finally looks up, he smiled. "She's okay. I think learning how to summon me helped her confidence."

"Good," I say with relief.

He held up a finger and stepped out, calling for Cat, then waited. Soon, he reentered with the woman in tow. They sat and Aspen described the place Zahra was being kept. It sounded like a horrible place to me, but maybe it wasn't. However, Cat did seem to recognize what Aspen was talking about because she began to pace, lost in thought.

June sighed. "Even if I did know this place, I wouldn't want to go back."

"But Zahra is there," Aspen argued.

"I know. I would go, but not because I want to see it," June explained. "I don't know how she can stand it."

"I think I know," Cat said softly. She had a finger on her lips, her eyes glazed over in memory. "It's only a day's flight from here, but several days ride."

"Where?" I ask.

"West. I haven't ever entered the place, but from above, I could see how horrible it was." Cat sat down and pushed hair out of her eyes. "If it is the place, we'll need a few people with gifts to help us get in. There are shooters. Others who will fight in close combat. It won't be easy getting in."

"Is there anyway to sneak in?" I ask.

She shakes her head. "I don't know. But if there was, we would still have to traverse inside to find her." She gave me a worried look. "It's a big place."

"Okay, so we don't sneak in," June summed up. "So we fight. We can all fight. Let's do what we did with Lucas? Most of us distract while a few goes in, grabs Zahra, and gets out."

"I have a feeling Marin will be ready for that," Aspen says.

"Why?"

"He can dig through Zahra's thoughts and memories. She warned me not to tell her if we've found a route, which means he is keeping a close eye on her mind. He will go through all her memories of us and our techniques, prepare for them."

June shrugged. "Then it's a good thing Zahra hasn't seen everything we have to offer."

I grin. Looking at Cat, I ask, "So, can you tell us anything else about this place you may have noticed?"

Two days later, Aspen and I set out with Cat and June to go look at this place. We have another, larger group coming a day later to give us time to plan our attack and make sure this place is the right place. Aspen said he should know since Zahra showed him, but he wants to show Zahra his view and see if she can confirm it's the same. If it wasn't, we were going to be screwed.

We ride horses, having two extra to carry supplies and to carry Zahra home. Cat flew every now and then, scouting ahead, June and I planned for every possible scenario, and Aspen kept himself alert. It seemed he was expecting Zahra to summon him at any moment since he hadn't heard from her since he gained the information she shared. I believe he was worried, and wanted to summon her but didn't know if it was safe. He told me later that he hadn't taught her how to refuse a summons, so she would be pulled to him without much effort.

That night, we camped and spoke very little. When we woke the next day, we all were feeling the need that Zahra needed us sooner than later. If Cat could have flew all of us there directly, she would have.

By day four, we were exhausted, but Cat finally flew back with news of being close. And when I finally saw the large wall for myself, I had to stop and breathe. It looked impenetrable.