A Sorceress From the Future

Chapter Thirty Five

Beings on earth, both magical creatures and humans hold the perception that hate, greed, fear and anger are the most potent emotions in existence. True, these emotions do hold a certain destructive force but there is an emotion that surpasses all. 

Love.

Stephen stood transfixed outside Chi's wall. It was elegant, the wall. It stood high and mighty, gave the humans some sense of pride but most of all, it made them feel safe. At this point, however, Stephen doubted this fact. Had he not exited the kingdom without no one noticing? What would happen in the event that magical creatures had the same ease of access to Chi? Was the vessel, the only thing that could protect humanity, safe at all? 

Was his wife safe?

Stephen momentarily closed his eyes. He let his mind wander to the events that had occurred earlier that night. He allowed himself a moment of sullenness. Stephen smiled sadly as he recalled the way he let his finger stroke his wife’s tear streaked cheek. He breathed in the night’s cool air and recreated his wife’s scent to fan his nostrils. His mind conjured his wife’s face, her radiant beauty, her mesmerizing eyes. Stephen could almost feel her in his arms, he could almost feel her mouth on his. 

A gust of wind blared aggressively through the air disrupting Stephen’s trail of thoughts. He sighed in moroseness; he should have fought for her to join him in this quest. He should have convinced her that there was no point in remaining within a doomed kingdom. Yes, Chi was ill fated. The people had been foolish enough to concede to Dawson’s greatest desire; him sitting on Chi’s throne. The kingdom had been so blinded with grief, so blinded with despair and lack of direction that they opted to seek guidance from a monster. Stephen understood how the people could have missed Dawson’s avarice, his malignant ways but the elders? The council of elders knew exactly what Dawson was; a greedy bastard.

Why play along then? Fear? 

Stephen could only hope that Sabrina would manage to convince the elders that Dawson was not fit to lead the kingdom. The question was, would they listen and what would happen if they did not? Stephen shuddered at the thought of Dawson declaring war against magical creatures.

The elders had always been timid, King Matthias had once referred to them as “yes men”. That is how Stephen had winded up in the council in the first place. King Matthias had finally met someone who had disagreed with him. Stephen suddenly wondered what would have happened if the king had found out what he truly was. He felt his heart sink to his stomach as guilt began gnawing at his bones. King Matthias had been his friend, his confidant. Yet he had never known Stephen’s biggest secret. How would he have reacted to knowing that one of his friends, his council man, was in fact a magical creature? Would he have driven a vessel draped sword through his heart and stripped him of what made him live? His magic?

Stephen knew he had done wrong by his friendship with Chi’s former king but he had done right by himself, his wife and Queen Ruth. Still, a part of himself would have wanted King Matthias to fully know him, to fully know what he was capable of. To King Matthias and frankly everyone else in Chi apart from Sabrina, he had been a wanderer, a human who had lost his way. 

Stephen wondered what Sabrina would do if she were to find out that his sudden appearance in Chi was not accidental. That it had been a ploy orchestrated by the Ninth Order, the previous one at least. He wondered how Sabrina would react to knowing that she had been the one to salvage Chi from an untimely invasion and ultimately annihilation. 

Love was indeed a powerful emotion.

Although he was meant to depart at dawn, he had found it hard to follow through with this plan. He had never been fond of farewells. Stephen had waited patiently until his wife opted to sleep after she had run out of tears to shed. He had held her a while, run his fingers through her silver mane that glistened brilliantly under the moon’s reflection. Ensuring that he could not be heard, Stephen had stealthily made his way out of their home. Sabrina had a habit of sleeping like the dead so Stephen had not been at any risk of being caught in the act of leaving but he just couldn’t bear the thought of bidding his wife goodbye. 

Stephen’s eyes suddenly darted towards the direction where the sound of multiple hushed voices was emanating from. He crouched, determined to blend in with the mass of green in his vicinity. His sharp eyes caught sight of three guards engrossed in what appeared to be a heavy conversation.

“So you are saying that there will be a war? Between humans and mages? But that is…that is just…”

“Foolish?”

“Shshshhshsh!”

Stephen watched as two of the three guards nervously scouted their surroundings for any sight of eavesdroppers. Satisfied with their false assessment, they returned to the conversation.

“You cannot speak like that! You will be charged with treason! Did you not hear what happened tonight at the palace?”

“What happened?”

“One of the council elders lost half his tongue! Dawson…I mean King Dawson sliced it right off!”

“ Sweet mercy! Why?”

“Well that is the part where I do not understand. Some say it is because he rudely interrupted Dawson…I mean the king, mid speech while others say it was because he had high pitched laughter and it annoyed the king!”

“Horse crap! That is not why his tongue was cut clean off. I heard from one of the elders that the elder in question, Dunder, committed an act akin to treason!”

“Treason? Dunder? That doesn’t sound like him at all!”

“According to my source, Dunder disrespected King Dawson in front of the elders which was treated as Dunder not acknowledging that Dawson was the new King of Chi…”

“That’s it? That is why the father to three children lost his ability to speak? What nonsense!”

“Shsshshshsh!”

Once again two out of the three men whirled around to scrutinize their surroundings for any uninvited listeners. Once again they failed to spot the old man hiding in the bushes, his ears perked, his mind reading the thoughts of the three oblivious guards before they opened their mouths to relay them.

This is insane! Chi will perish in the hands of a human rather than those evil magical creatures!

Stephen smiled in admiration at the young man's thoughts. At least one human in Chi seemed to understand what Dawson truly was.

If he is acting like this because of the man with a halved tongue. How would he react to knowing that there will be an execution ceremony at dawn? That an elder would be hang at the gallows?

Stephen froze. No no no no! Had he heard one of the guard's thoughts correctly?

If Dawson was going to hang an elder it would have to be…

“We have to head back, the border seems free of lurkers for the night. Remember we need to wake up before dawn.”

“Whatever for?”

“An elder is being hanged at dawn…”

“Sweet mercy! Who?”

“The only woman in Chi to ever sit in the council...”