Chapter Nineteen
958 Words
Serina
It was all too easy.
Climbing the mountainside was easy for a wolf. We are naturally strong and agile, but the rest was far too easy. The small, worn track winding into the mountain was abandoned, though it was used regularly. Carts filled with grain and food were left on the side of the road, and as I reached the tall stone-carved gates looming above me leading into the mountain city, they simply opened, and there was not a person in sight. I could sense the magic and smell the spells as I walked through the empty city. I knew it was a trap, but it was the best chance to find some answers. The rumours about the cursed city were wrong. I was mesmerized as I entered the vast cavern. The buildings hundreds of feet above me were all carved out of stone. Each made into someone’s home. The cobbled stone streets, herbs hanging from vines above me, the smells of exotic spices and foods. Sunbeams lit the city from large craters in the mountainside, making the sandstone sparkle, empty stalls filled with trinkets and clothing, some filled with food and other strange objects, and some glowing crystals all abandoned. The beauty of it all stole my breath.
“Welcome, Serina Redmoon”
Sneaking up on a wolf is hard; I’ll give them that.
Suddenly, I found myself in a tall, circular room. Sandy-colored stone floors gave way to large pillars framing the room, leading up to the only window being a small circular hole cut out of the roof high above me. Five tall thrones lined the room. Each is different, one of pure glass ice. Another from wood and flowers. One had been charred and looked to be of ash, and the next was of stone, but water flowed from it, running freely over the structure. The beings on the thrones were even more mesmerizing. Almost matching the throne they sat on.
Elemental witches.
Ice, with her white hair and robes with her blazing blue eyes. Earth on her wooden throne, her dusky pink robes and pink flowers woven into her brown cascading hair. Water on her stone throne, the rivers of water flowing around her yet leaving her perfectly dry, her dark shimmering hair resembling a smooth-running river. And fire, with her bright red hair and flowing dark robes, her eyes ever assessing me, ever watching. It was her I felt had spoken. Her that my wolf bared her fangs too.
“It’s a bad idea to trap a wolf.”
They chuckled at me.
“You walked willingly into our trap. You came here freely, Serina Redmoon.”
Her voice sparked with magic; I could see it in the air as they all focused on me.
This could be very bad.
“If I die, I will take some of you with me.”
It was not an empty threat; I would not go down gently, and my wolf agreed for the first time in days. Her power was slowly coming to the surface for me, there if I needed it.
“You will not die today, Wolf. Sit”
I was thumped onto a chair facing them, all a force keeping me there. The fire witch stood with her blackened robes swishing as she walked towards me.
“You have been allowed into Tarrin. No harm will come to you here. But this comes at a price, princess.”
I fought against the invisible bonds that kept me sitting.
“Do not call me that.”
She chuckled again, circling the chair.
“It is pointless to fight one’s fate, Serina. You are his, and he is yours. Even now, he searches for you. He will not stop, and you cannot run forever. However, he can’t enter the city. Here you have time.”
“Time for what?”
She faced me, her bright eyes assessing me.
“To stop this uprising, to save us all.”
“You know about it?”
She looked down on me almost with pity.
“This slaughter is not only happening in the wolves’ territory. Many villages have been destroyed. Hundreds murdered and many more missing.”
“Missing ... Wolves don’t take prisoners”.
“Exactly. Something is happening here; someone is blocking even our strongest witches from seeing. We believe this is more than just a war among the wolves.”
“Why do you want me?”
The witch turned and took my hand in hers, the buzz of her magic on me sending shocks along my arm and tilting my head to meet her fiery eyes. Something was moving in them. I looked closer, shapes crossing again and again. She touched one finger to the center of my head.
A vision came over my mind.
She was screaming, endless screaming, thousands dead and dying. Fire is spreading. The ancient Blackstone walls fell in thunderous crashes to the ground, and witches and wolves were crushed under them. Smoke choked the sky, the once proud towers no longer standing, and the crystal waters filled with blood. All the magic drained from the earth. A figure emerged from the ashes once the screaming had stopped and nothing good was left in the world. Her leather Armor was spotless, her long flowing hair floated in the breeze, her red eyes trained on me, her hands were claws coated in the blood of thousands, and onto her head an obsidian crown.
I snapped back into the present, my breathing heavy and eyes streaming. The witches all stood around me. They had all seen it, too. They knew the destruction and the horrors that awaited.
“Whatever comes, Serina Redmoon, it comes for us all.
- Writer
