Mathieu (White Flame Trilogy) - By Paula Flumerfelt Page 0,110

daughter died, willing her to come back.” Darcia sighed and stopped the carriage, letting some kids run across the street in front of him. “I can understand that he was hurting, but…” He shook his head and the carriage began to move again “Sometimes, he would tell people who passed him that he could see his daughter standing on the side of the road, smiling at him. Insanity took over him, and his powers slipped out of his control. Without meaning to, he recreated his dead daughter. But he was weak against the creative abilities of his gift, they required the utmost control, and he couldn’t stop himself in time to make just one.” Darcia shrugged. “It took so much out of him that he passed away soon after.”

Frowning, Mathieu looked at the ceiling of the carriage as Darcia took a right. “I guess I just don’t understand how they ended up in charge, though. I mean, everyone must have known that the girl was dead, right?”

The raven laughed. “The people of the Eastern District were so happy to see Lucen’s daughter alive again, having loved her when she was alive, they let themselves become blinded to the magic, calling it a ‘miracle’. The people actually elected the two girls to be in charge. Little did they know how unlike Lucen’s daughter those two actually are.”

“Oh, the things we can’t foresee.” Mathieu shifted in his seat and looked at Darcia. The man was build to be lean, his body trim even though he was one of the oldest people at the Tri-District Manor. It was funny how when Darcia was relaxed, the muscled physique and pointed teeth were actually kind of…funny. Chuckling, he wrinkled his nose. “Man, how did they put up with some of a funny looking dude?”

Darcia lifted his upper lip, growling playfully. “They may be identical and always bicker, but the twins balance each other well. I just played the referee.”

Mathieu nodded slightly. “I hope they’re nice...”

“They are.”

Niveus got up and stretched out on the seat between the two men as they crossed the bridge into the Eastern District, right along the border with the Western. Darcia slowed as the road began to wind around the hills, just above the plains.

It took crossing another bridge, driving carefully around fields, and three hours to reach the central market just north of the twin’s home. There were little stands set up in a circle, selling everything from flowers to raw grain to meats of various cuts.

“Hey, can we stop for a second?” Darcia inquired, already pulling over.

“Sure, what’s up?”

Smiling, Darcia got out of the car and disappeared for a few minutes before returning with a handful of flowers. “Okay, now we can go. It’s just a bit further that way; the blue house up there.”

In the distance, Mathieu could see the house he was talking about and watched it come closer. Unlike near the border, there were clearly marked roads to use instead of winding around the edges of properties and hopping you didn’t run something over. The path was made with flat black stones that allowed for a smooth ride and decent speed.

As they pulled up to the blue, single story house with a white picket fence in front of it, Mathieu got out and scooped up Niveus; he noticed the ivy hanging on the walls of the house. He looked around he followed Darcia to the back of the house to a maze of hedges. Voices were floating out of it, but he couldn’t see who they were coming from.

“Eek!” A girl barreled out of the maze, a bow made of pulsing darkness in one hand, the other resting on the string, ready to pull it back. But her bow disappeared into thin air when she caught sight of them. “Darcia!” At full speed, she ran at him then leapt through the air.

Darcia caught her, smiling. “Hey, Zani. What are you doing out here?”

“Getting her ass kicked.” The spitting image of the girl in Darcia’s arms was standing on top of a hedge, where she pulled back the string on her own bow and shot Zanika in the back.

“Ow! Son of a bi-” She bit her tongue before the rest of the sentence could get out. Zanika kissed Darcia’s cheek, let go, and barreled back to the hedge. She jumped up, and tackled her twin off of it. A solid thump could be heard, and Mathieu ran into the maze to see the two brunettes wrestling on