Heavenly pact

Chapter three

She opened her eyes to the high ceiling above her. The room was dark. Serve for the star light that passed through the wall to wall glass doors that led to the balcony.

She sat up, she was sleeping on a feather bed adorned with lilac, satin sheets and duvets as white as snow and as soft as a polar bear's fur. She was in her chambers. In the Ribarian palace.

"Syria!" the doors burst open and Donavard run in. "We have to go!" he said. The nuance of his tone suggesting he was in a hurry.

She tried to speak but her mouth wouldn't open. She felt as her brother laced his fingers with her own. They were no longer in her room. They were descending a flight of stairs in twos and threes.

Then they were in the drawing room. On the white marble floor lay two bodies. One of a female clothed in golden silk nightgown stained with a crimson red. And the other of a male in a black tunic and brown pants, who lay in a pool of blood. They were her parents. Dead. She heard the thuds of boots approaching. She turned to her brother but was instead met with a sword through her abdomen.

"Sorry." He whispered into her ear as she fell to the ground. Her vision turned black and her body numb. "She's dead. Just as you wanted." She heard her brother's voice say as she succumbed to the blackness and pain that threatened to consume her whole.

Syria jolted up, beads of sweat streaming down her neck. "It was just a dream." She told herself repeatedly. But it had felt so real. As though she was there only a few moments ago. The look on her brother's face as he put the sword through her. It took the breath out of her. He had looked sad, angry. Was it at her? But what could she have done?Was that a dream or a memory? Why couldn't she remember anything?

She had so many questions with not a single answer. What had happened on the day the Lidian army forayed into her lands? She tried to remember something, anything, but it was all vague. And the more she tried to remember the further away the memory seemed to go.

She rose from her bed, willing all thoughts of the dream to vanish. Now in front of the wardrobe, she yanked the door open and pulled out the blue emerald dress she'd found laying on her bed after her bath the other night.

Gracia had led her through a bar that had a counter straight across the entry. Glass cups and wooden beer cups hang on wooden shelves behind it. To it's right were shelves that held bottles of wine, spirits and ale. There were about fifteen tables in the bar. Some with two, three or even four chairs around them. There were two doors at the back that Syria perceived to be a kitchen and a storage room.

Gracia then led her through a passage -with doors at both sides- that led to a staircase. At the top of the staircase, was a passage with doors at both sides that led to the guests' rooms. Gracia had given the last room at the right to Syria. She had said it belonged to a friend who had been away for a very long time and most likely wouldn't be return. She had looked so sad when she said this that Syria had felt it was wrong for her to stay in the room, but she knew better than to deny such a pretty little room.

She had them taken a bath, were she found hair dye and had dyed her hair a dark black. And when she had returned to the room, the dress was laid out on her bed with a note written in a pretty handwriting,

'A little gift for my new friend'

She had then placed it the wardrobe were she found men's clothing. There were tunics, shirts, pants and a few unmentionables. The size of the shirts suggested whoever owned them was quite built. She had taken a forest green tunic and wore it as a sleeping gown. But she couldn't help but wonder if the friend was actually a lover.

She closed the wardrobe door and put on the emerald dress. It was made of a velvet fabric and was off the shoulder. The bodice held perfectly around her medium sized breasts. The waistline was designed in a V like shape and the few layers of the skirts fell to her ankles.

She styled her hair into a high bun that wasn't quite as tight as it should be.

Satisfied with her appearance, she walked out the door, heading for the bar.

✨

They passed through several hallways and passed several of alcolves till they arrived to a wooden door. "Two centuries ago,the Lowell had the most say among the orders. We were known as the supreme order." Marisol said as the door creaked open. On the other side was a narrow staircase made of stone that led to what Morigan perceived to be underground, considering they were on the first floor of the academy.

"Our flames were feared by all. Our winds known to be the strongest in existence. But that changed when she was born. An abomination." She released a breath as they started to descend the ancient flight of stairs. "It was forbidden for mages of two separate orders to be in a romantic relationship. A child born from it would posses powers from both the orders, which would form an imbalance." The archimage raised her palm and summoned a small orange flame that illuminated the path.

"They were so selfish that they ignored our rules and decided that their love was stronger. One of our own fell for a male of the Oslac order and bore his child. By the time the archimages found out what was conspiring, they had already fled with their child." Morigan could now see the bottom of the stairs. it was a stone floor with an enormous wooden double door.

"What did they do afterwards?" Morigan asked as they descended the last few steps.

"They searched for the child and it's parents, but to no avail. Three decades later, they were spotted in the west. They were brought into captivity and we're questioned about the child's whereabouts. They spoke not a single word even as they were burnt to their death. Such defiance."

The Lowells were known to be the cruelest of all the orders, Morigan would understand why they believed to kill the two mages even after decades since their crime. But the Oslac's? They were the embodiment of peace and unity. She was quite sure they wouldn't condone such violence.

"Did they ever find the child?" she asked, keeping her face neutral. Marisol took a hold on the handles of the wooden door, her lips moving in silent incantations. With a subtle click, the door creaked open to a dark void beyond. "This was our meeting room. The very first one." Marisol smiled. Using her wind, she spread the little flame floating atop her palm to the fire lamps that resigned on the stone wall.

It was a four walled enormous room with an extremely high ceiling. Just beyond the door were steps that led to the stone floor. It was a pit like floor with a rectangular shaped stone table embedded in the center.

The walls were covered in writing Morigan couldn't decifer but perceive to be some sort of incantations. Embedded on the wall straight across them was a statue of a female with straighted hair that fell to her waist. A crown made of flowers around her head. The statue depicted Lara Oslac, the first Oslac archimage and the first mage to posses the power of land and water manipulation.

To the right wall was a statue of Lillian Morgan in a priestess' ropes. The first mage to posses the power of healing and seeing of the future.

"No. They didn't . It was only a year over two decades ago when we found the child's child. The repel mages' grandchild." Marisol said . Her gaze locked on the statue of princess Giselle Madave -situated in the wall to the left. The first to posses the power of spell casting and illusion making. "But she was no child when we found her. She was the mother on the crowned prince of a mighty kingdom. The wife to a proud king. She was the queen of Ribaria."

Morigan felt a breath get caught in her chest. Was the late queen of Ribaria the descendant of two mages?

"Elaina Redding. She was soon to deliver the second child of the king when we approached her." Marisol descended the steps and ambled to the stone table and leant her back against it. "Luckily enough, she already knew about her grandparents' sin. We then gave her oan offer. She would seal away her powers, that too before she gave birth to her second child."

"Didn't the crowned prince posses any?" Morigan asked the archimage.

"No, he did not," she said dismissingly. "The queen decided to go against us, for she did not seal away her powers. She instead used a sort of black magic to cast a spell on the lands of Ribaria. Making it impossible for any mage to step foot in it."

Morigan couldn't help but feel she knew were this tale was leading, but instead asked, "Why are you telling this to me?"

Her archimage looked at her disapprovingly. "You are smarter than that Morigan." she paused, "It's too late to seal away her powers now that she's died. But there is a possibility her second child posses them. We can't allow such an imbalance of power to exist in this world."

Morigan blinked, "You want me to find the princess, so you can kill her."

Marisol smiled, "Correct. If she does posses her mother's abilities, then she will have to die."

"And if she doesn't?"

Marisol shrugged, " Then we'll use her as a bargaining chip in exchange for the Lidian kingdom's mercy if they decide to give the north-west a visit."

How could someone be so calm when deciding another's fate?

"We cannot ignore that the offense was also against the Oslac order. They have equal rights, if not more to decide her fate." Morigan countered.

"And that is why this will be clandestine. We cannot overlook the danger that may come knocking on our door if the Lidian kingdom's war lust isn't fulfilled." Marisol said sternly.

"Wether she's alive or died isn't certain. And we wouldn't even know how to find her."

"She's alive." The archimage said blantly. "And how we find her is totally up to you. There is no one I can trust more than you to fulfill this task, Morigan. Seeing the expression on Morigan's face, she added, "If you succeed in this mission, then I will grant you the tittle of heir." She lifted her chin higher with feigned pride as she said this.

In her twenty two years of living, there was nothing Morigan wanted more than to be deemed worthy by her archimage of leading the order in the future. And now it was possible. Her guts twisted at the thought. After all that she'd done. How she had served her order. Marisol believed she had to prove herself again. Her blood heated at the thought. "And if I refuse?" she asked before she could think better of it.

Marisol blinked incredulously. "Then I will have you banished from my order, in front of all my mages. And then I'll kill you. With my bare hands." Morigan didn't know if it was how casual the archimage was as she said this or because of how long she had known her, but she knew she wasn't bluffing. If it came to it, Marisol would kill her without a second thought.

"By your will, I will set out to find the princess." She said bowing low in her waist.