To hell and back

Endless reasearch

The next morning, I woke up with the new energy to fight... or more precisely to find a way to protect the girl and her family. Part of me is still not sure, why I did no leave this place and cut my loses, but still I was here ready to fight for these people. With a deep sigh and ignoring the existential issues and questions that will only slow me down, I give all the thanks to the tasty midnight meal that I found waiting for me last night, that I left in bed as I sneaked out at dawn. I left the note of explanation next to the bed before walking out to the back of the house where the car that the family promised me was waiting for me. It was agreed that it would be best if I could drive myself around and not bother the driver when he might be needed by the family, and I jumped at the idea of any sort of freedom I could get.

Now that I had already been driven to the castle and knew where to go, I informed light kings little minion that I would be driving myself. He did not seem too pleased with the idea of me returning, but did not object as it meant it would be less work for him.

As it was still quite early in the morning, it took me almost no time to drive up to the kings castle. The guards at the gate were surprised and not supper pleased with me coming, but after a call to someone (my guess the kings minion), they let me through, as they did not believe that I was there under king's orders. I guess it was good that I was in a good mood today as the way they were acting was quite annoying. But as I was in a good mood, I ignored their actions and concentrated on the plan for today. Which was not that detailed as I still needed to find any sort of a lead to make any sense of any of this, but it was hard to do as I was not familiar with the collection of books in the kings library, but there was an inkling in my chest that told me that I would make a break through today and after all the years I learned that it was important to follow your gut, especially in situations like this when there is no clear path or direction to rely on.

With that in mind, I closed the car door and made my way to the side door Kings' little minion showed me to use for my future visits. And before I could even lift my hand to knock, the door opened and on the other side stood not the minion I was expecting to see, but the king himself.

"Well aren't you a bit early."

He said with the same unreadable smug look on his face.

"Well, its not like the lives of multiple people are on the line and the only way for them to survive this is for me to find a way to fight back."

Mentally I gave myself a slap at the back of the head. I had already crossed this man when I robbed him after he saved me and he graciously left me alive to save his uncles family. And here I am, smartmouthing him in his own home.

Great job Cali, this is going to turn out fine. You really don't need to get him to like you to make your own life easier.

My eyes stayed on his face as I tried to figure out how he will react to my words. The last king I bad mouthed, had me waterboarded for hours and I was not going to survive that now that I no longer had my powers.

The sinking feeling of fear ran through my body as I readied myself to run or at least try to when I saw something flash in his eyes, but instead of the attack I was hoping for, I found him smiling at me.

"Well I guess then it would be best for you to get to it. We would not want for those people to die when it can be avoided."

As he said that, he stepped aside and gave me way to step inside.

Still unsure if I could trust his reaction, I carefully made my way inside. While the whole time I was walking I kept looking over my shoulder, ready to meet his attack, but it never came.

He just led me back to the library and sat behind one of the desks in there with a stash of papers in front of him that he just started reading.

And that was how the next few hours went. Each of us working on our things not saying a word. Every now and then I would catch him looking at me, but he immediately would look away.

A few hours latter, after the sun has fully risen, the doors to the library opened and kings little minion walked inside with a tray with two coffee cups on it. He placed the first one in front of the king and the second one, to my surprise, in front of me. After that they exchanged a few sentences about the situation at hand in the kingdom, but then the little minion left and I was left alone with the king. As time went on and we both kept working, I found him looking at me more and more, with an open interest and curiosity. From the look in his eyes, I was sure he wanted to talk, but he didn't. Instead we both kept working. It continued for hours, but by the night fall I finally found a lead... a spell that might work, but it had specific requirements for it. Ignoring that, it was the first solid lead.

"Finnally..."

I whispered under my breath as I realized that it was the first sound I made since walking in here.

"You found something?"

The low rumble of his voice reminded me that I was not alone, which I had forgotten in the heat of the moment. My eyes darted to him as I blinked away the confusion and shock as I remembered where I was and looked up at him.

"Yes... there is a spell of sorts, that might work. It will create a protection for the whole family and by looks of it, works for any ill intention. It's quite basic and simple, but that is the reason why it should work."

He looked at me and gave a short nod as he was listening to what I said.

"Good, what do you need for it? I would prefer for you to do your conjuring where I can see it."

The last part reminded me that the reason as to why I was here and probably why he has been sitting here starring at me the whole time, was not because he was interested, but because he does not trust me at all. Which is not a surprise at all, keeping in mind how we met, but still it stung for what ever reason.

"This is where the hard part come... the spell needs to be preformed by innocent, both in physical and spiritual way... and I am many things, but innocent is not one of them."

From the look in his face I could tell that he wanted to ask for more detail, but I stopped him before he could even open his mouth.

"But to our luck I know just the person for this job back at the manor."

The memory of the young girl with rosy cheeks that I left in bed this morning flashed behind my eyes.

I guess its a good thing that I found this spell now or I would have had to look for another innocent girl as the line we were threading with young Sara would most likely soon lean into her loosing her innocents in more then one way...