FOUR
1559 Words
A groan escaped Kyra’s lips as she opened her eyes. Everything made no sense at first but soon, her orientation began to return gradually. Her head throbbed like a tree attacked by a mad man with a battleaxe and her body ached in a thousand places; even in places she never thought could ache. But the most prominent of them all was the pain in her chest. She felt as if a giant had crushed it under his palms.
After some breathing exercises to help herself regain control, Kyra looked around as much as she could without causing unnecessary pain to her body. She realised that she was somewhere she didn't recognize; or perhaps just couldn't because of the pain.
The room appeared to be a bedroom, living room and kitchen all combined into one, partitioned only by transparent silk curtains. Everywhere smelled like the shed leaves of autumn combined faintly with the fragrance of the blossoming flowers of spring; and the walls looked as if they were part of a living tree. She couldn't hear or feel anyone's presence so she assumed that no one was around; she couldn't decide if that was a good or bad thing.
Just then, her pain went up another notch all over her body and determined to alleviate it, she put her hand to her chest with a powerful healing spell already forming in her mind. But that was when the most unexpected happened; her power didn't come forth.
"What in the Void is going on!" she gasped to herself, staring at her palm in disbelief.
Her mind cleared more then and Kyra realised that it wasn't just her palm that was devoid of magic, it was her entire body. Even deep within her soul, she couldn’t feel that same touch of energy that came with being the Soul of magic; or being just a witch for that matter.
"What's happening to me?" she said to herself, her disbelief now giving way to a mixture of fear and confusion.
"It's your magic, dear," a voice suddenly replied from her side and she turned to see an old woman step into her line of vision. "I’m afraid it's gone."
"Who are you?" Kyra screamed at the abruptness of the entrance of the woman, the suddenness making her move rapidly away in reflex. Unfortunately, her body wasn't ready for that sort of exertion and it made it known by sending a wave of merciless aches through her that caused her to scream out in pain.
"Kyra!" Lucian called as he ran into the room and to her side. "Thank the spirits you're awake."
"Lucian, what's going on?" she asked him as she hugged him tight in order to calm the turmoil in her head; everything was just happening without any sensible interpretation and she wanted it to stop.
"You were attacked in the Wiccan tower," Lucian explained to her after some time and she seemed to have calmed down. "By sheer luck, I was able to get there in time and rescue you. I brought you to Griselda here, she’s a Nymph. She helped me heal and revive you."
"Well, Griselda said something about my magic being gone," Kyra probed further. "Is it true?"
Lucian made an unsure expression and she realized that he was considering not answering.
“Is it true, Lucian?” she asked again, more forcefully this time.
"It is," he finally replied and Kyra's face contorted in pain.
“How?” she whimpered.
"The pale-blonde witch who attacked you,” he replied. “She had a Bloodstone dagger with her. She stabbed you in the chest and I think it caused you to lose your magic in the process."
The pale-blonde witch with a Bloodstone dagger; that jolted back Kyra’s memory. "Saffron," she said.
“Yes,” Lucian confirmed. "She's supposed to be a High witch that you trusted.”
“And I trusted her,” Kyra replied. “Trusted her enough to be the reason why she had a Bloodstone dagger to begin with."
"Wait, what!" Lucian now held a confused expression on his face. “Kyra, what are you talking about?"
Kyra became increasingly fidgety about the answer, which caused Lucian even more confusion and apprehension. Whatever the reason was, the blonde-haired warrior knew that he wasn’t going to like it; and that scared him even more than Kyra almost dying.
"About eight months ago, I gave Saffron a task," Kyra finally began after a while. "I wanted her to help me unlock the secrets of the Bloodstone."
"By the spirits, Kyra!" Lucian exclaimed, his disbelief almost seeming enough to raze the room to the grounds. "Why in the world would you do that?"
"The Anti-magicians, Lucian," she returned. "They were the only who truly knew the Bloodstone inside out and they used that knowledge to hurt us. And I know we defeated them two years ago but somehow, I wasn't convinced that we got them all. I thought- I believed- that if we could discover the secrets of their greatest weapon, we could find a way to turn it against them if they ever returned. But Saffron told me that she failed, that the Bloodstone was as natural to anti-magic as magic was to our souls.”
"Obviously, she lied," Lucian returned, the accusation in his voice undoubtedly at Kyra for not realising it sooner. "She didn't just learn the secrets of the Bloodstone, she learnt how to wield it, and against you nonetheless."
As heartbreaking as it was, Kyra understood why Lucian was so mad at her and justifiably so. Thing is, the blonde-haired warrior’s anger wasn’t just about the Bloodstone, or the Anti-magicians; or even her negligence to Saffron’s plan. His anger was based on the fact that she had decided to entrust her idea, a very daring and absolutely dangerous idea, to a stranger instead of him; a stranger who turned out to be a very big traitor.
"I have to stop her," she said to Lucian, looking for something that could help prop her up for a stand. "I have to get to the Blessed Isle and put a stop to whatever madness she's planning."
"Unfortunately, that's going to be a lot harder than you think, my lady," Griselda countered from their side; the old woman had been so quiet that both Kyra and Lucian had both forgotten about her presence for a while.
“What do you mean?” Kyra asked.
"The forest just informed me that Saffron just announced to the Protectors and the entire Blessed Isle that you've been kidnapped and that it was Lucian who kidnapped you. She also said that he killed three High wizards doing it."
"But that’s not true," she returned. "I killed those High wizards. They were Saffron’s accomplices."
“Well, I doubt she’d let you plead that case, my lady,” Griselda pointed out. “Especially now that you don’t have the power to stop her.”
It was a fail-proof maneuver; and one no doubt the pale-blonde witch was proud of. Kyra either would have to stay on the run and let Lucian be the villain, or she could return to face Saffron and die. Whichever way it was, the pale-blonde witch still came out on top.
"We can’t just let her get away with this," Kyra said to Lucian. "We need to expose her for the traitor that she is and punish her."
"Unfortunately Kyra, there’s no way we can sneak onto the Blessed Isle," Lucian returned back at her, the hopeless reality of the whole situation infuriating him to no ends. "The Protectors will spot us before we even step a foot on the Isle. They'll shoot me down on the spot for being a traitor and probably deliver you like a present to Saffron. We need our own advantage if we’re going to come out of this unscathed."
Just then, Lucian suddenly looked at Griselda and his eyes lit up; he had a plan.
"Oh no, child," the old woman said immediately she caught on to what the blonde-haired warrior was thinking. "I refuse to involve myself in your problems."
"Griselda, please," he begged, hoping that the woman would be sensible for once. "This goes beyond you and I. The whole realm could be in jeopardy here."
Griselda looked from Lucian to Kyra who had now found a cane and was using it to stand herself against the wall; they desperately needed her help and she knew it.
"Fine," she finally said after a while, sighing in resignation. "But just so we're clear, I'm only doing this because of the Soul of magic."
"Fine by me," Lucian replied, shrugging away whatever malice Griselda held for him. "Now, we just have to find you an information that will grant you audience directly with the traitorous High witch herself."
"But there’s no information like the truth, Lucian," Kyra said with a smile as a plan began to take form in her own mind too. "You see, you and I will be travelling to somewhere very important from here, and Griselda is going tell Saffron exactly where that is."
- Writer
