Blood Magic's Bond

Ch 14: The Prince's Tale

He had had her in his arms, after everything he had fought through to return to her, she was there, in his grasp, and now, she was about to be gone forever. Calder couldn't even begin to process what was happening.

He remembered the first time he had laid eyes on the beautiful redhead in the market. Her smile melted his heart, and her eyes burned into his soul. He didn't fully understand why, but he needed to be near her, to know her, protect her, love her. It didn't matter to him when he found out she was a witch, he would find a way to be with her. She was kinder and stronger than he could imagine, and brilliant in more ways than he could count. She was perfectly flawed and the only woman he ever wanted by his side.

The night before his trials, he had made love to her, the passion like burning coals within him. There was no experience he could compare it to, but he knew, a part of him would burn eternally for her. So he swore to himself that he would return from his journey swifter than even his father, return to the sorceress who had bewitched his heart, and make her his. It didn’t matter what he had to do, he would find a way to change the laws that kept them apart, even if he had to rewrite the very stars in the sky.

He knew she was the only one for him, that he couldn't live without her. Their love was two halves of a whole, more powerful than life itself, and it was that which made him strong as he fought to conquer the land in the North, guided him as he wandered the wild forests to the West, gave him the power to cure the villagers who were plagued in the South, and ultimately, brought him back from death when he faced it and fell in the East.

The entire experience in the Land of the Dead was a blur to him. He recalled approaching the Stone of Balance, kneeling before it, naked and exposed. And when it had tempted him and choked his heart, his love had outshone the shadows threatening to devour him. But as he stood, knowing he had passed his final test, that he could finally return home to her, something had called to him. A whisper, sinister and vile. And then darkness had consumed him.

He knew he had died, knew his body had fallen, but the fire that burned eternally in his soul was so fierce, that the cold clutches of the afterlife had recoiled, releasing him from their icy grip.

When he awoke, however, he was a prisoner in his own body.

The demon who had taken hold of him, refused to tell him its name, but it was cold and malevolent and calculated. Whatever horrid purpose it had for him, it wouldn’t say, but Calder knew nothing but terror and death would come of it.

For days he struggled against the demon, but to no avail. It knew his past, his emotions, how to talk like him, mask the lies in his story, convincing even the closest to him that it was indeed Calder beside them. His own men who he had ridden with for five years, the Captain of his Guard and best friend who had trained with him for many before that, none recognized the difference, and he had grown weary and defeated.

He had all but given up by the time they returned home. But then he saw her, standing on the landing of the Royal Magic Advisory, his love, the woman who, without even knowing, had brought him through pain and death to stand before her again. His emotions had betrayed him though, and the demon took interest.

He had fought so hard to break through when it cornered her in the hall, but only managed to free himself long enough to utter her name before the demon took hold again. He didn’t know what it wanted from her, but he knew the demon planned to use her somehow. His Tasha was smart and cunning though, and it failed to trap her in with its charms.

Calder's last hope was the Authentication Ritual, but the demon somehow managed to fool the Advisory as well. Only Tasha seemed to know something was wrong. He could see it in her eyes.

All day, it had tortured him with ideas of what it planned to do to her, and after five years of longing to be near her, he now only wished she would run far far away. But that was not to be the case. Instead, she had lured them to the woods, alone, defenseless.

He screamed and fought against the demon as it used his own feelings to seduce the woman he loved, and his heart shattered when it had seemingly won her over to have its way with her. But then he felt it, a presence, her presence, searching him, searching for answers as to what was inside him. He pushed at the veil within himself, desperate for her to feel him, to feel that he was there, but not in control. And then, finally, she saw the true form behind his eyes.

The demon knew it was only a matter of time before she figured out what it was she had seen, but it had a plan, and it only needed for her to come to it first.

It was as if Calder had walked into hell as he waited, hoping beyond hope that she would stay far away. But she didn't. And the demon finally had her in its grasp.

Or so he had thought. It needed Tasha, needed her to help release it from his body so that it could roam free and unhindered, making promises of a life she could only dream of. But she had fooled it and fled, leaving Calder to rejoice in her safety.

She had escaped its clutches, no doubt taking the discovery of the demon straight to Errant. He had grown up with the Grand Sorcerer, and trusted that he would know what to do. Whatever happened to him he had accepted, so long as his Tasha was OK. But the demon continued to taunt him, certain that it would have its way, that Tasha would return to do its bidding.

And so when she did, despair overtook him. She was willing to risk herself to save him, to treat with a demon for the life of her love, and he knew he couldn’t let her.

He had been looking for a weakness in the wall he had been hidden behind, and he finally found it. When the demon thought it had won, Calder saw the smallest of openings, and with all his strength, fought through it to the surface.

The look on her face had made his heart blaze. Gods, how he loved this woman. He had begged her to let him go, to save herself, but all she had asked was that he trust her. And when the demon clawed its way back to the surface and flung the Prince back into darkness, he had no choice but to do just that.

The pact was made, there was no going back. But how he would have given anything to have stopped it when he realized what it was Tasha would have to do.

He had tried to hide away as the demon touched her, but it wouldn’t let him. He was forced to live through it, trapped and helpless, and his only sanity was remembering her face as she had asked him to trust her.

And trust her he did.

The demon, however, did not. If she had indeed set a trap though, she had hidden it well. There was the smallest satisfaction in sensing its hesitance, knowing it had no choice but to go forward if it didn’t wish to face the ritual stone and certain death.

None of that was any comfort, however, as the ritual began, and he was forced to listen to the demon cackle and taunt him inside his head, as the love of his life sacrificed her body to save his own.

But Tasha did something neither he, nor the demon, had expected. She tricked the vile creature, pulling it from him into herself, locking it away inside her.

Suddenly, he was free, and she was there, her face in his hands, his eyes locked with hers, truly, the two of them there together, for the first time in five years. It was as if everything that had happened would be but a bad dream. Now that he had at last made it back to the woman he loved, time stood still, and nothing else in the world mattered but her.

But then the world had come crashing down on them.

Errant was not a bad man, but he was stubborn, and true to his oaths. Calder wasn't going to let him take Tasha away from him though. Not after all he had gone through to return to her. She was willing, however, and all he knew was that he had to stop her. He had one last chance, one last moment with her before she was taken away to face her doom.

When he grabbed her and kissed her, he put into it all of the passion he had held onto those five years. Through it, he told her how much he loved her, and begged her to fight, for them, for herself. He could feel fire between them, a burning that grew, only to be snuffed out by the shock and rage of the Grand Sorcerer.

He didn’t care if Errant was furious with him. He didn’t care who knew, or what was said about the Prince who had fallen in love with a witch. All he cared about, all he knew, was that he wasn't going to lose her. And even as he watched her disappear into the trees toward the castle, he swore he would do everything and anything to get her back.