Fire sparks

Ch. 11 Night Terrors

The dream flickered again. If I’d been awake I’d be aware of the thick layer of sweat that covered my body. Everything up to this point had been child’s play. I knew what happened next. I pulled at my eyelids to force them open, but found myself trapped in the miserable subconscious vortex reliving my terrible past.

A younger Maeve stood over a sleeping Nova. Tavian had suggested using a dagger to end Nova’s life- for the drama, of course- but Maeve knew fire would be faster and less messy. Still, as she stood over the sleeping woman, she couldn’t do it. 

Instead she’d uttered a spell to send the woman into a deeper sleep; a lasting sleep. Tears streamed down her face as she uttered the life ending words- awake life, at least. When the deed was done, she looked at the woman and felt so much remorse she wanted to take it back. But she couldn’t. That’s not how curses this evil worked. She could add a caveat, though. When her true love kissed her, she’d wake up.

Tavian was going to be so disappointed. Not only was the woman still alive, but she also could easily restart her life the second Richard kissed her as if nothing had ever happened. Maeve needed to hide her. It seemed like the best compromise. 

As she cast yet another spell to effortlessly lift the woman, the bedroom door swung open. Richard stood in the doorway in shock at what he saw. In a moment of panic, Maeve tried a spell that she’d been terrified to practice before. It was a teleportation spell.

Just as Richard lunged for her, Maeve and Nova faded from the room. 

When the ladies materialized within her estate, Maeve’s heartbreak over the action only got worse. Tavian was in her living room and he wasn’t alone. A woman sat topless on the couch while Tavian stood bottomless in front of her. His head was thrown back and he was far too involved in his own pleasures to notice her return.

A million truths became evident as she observed him like this, and in her own living room at that! He’d convinced her to do so many terrible things. Her cheeks burned with anger and embarrassment. She’d never questioned him; never thought that he was anything but good. But every single word he’d said had been a lie. 

Maeve snapped. The fire blasted from her lips before she even felt the tingling burn in her throat. The woman was reduced to a crisp, lips still wrapped around Tavian.

Flames still licked from her mouth as Tavian began begging for his life. She was too overcome with grief to think clearly. As she grappled with her own racing thoughts, Tavian had a chance to run. He peeled the charred remains of the woman from his body, quickly dressed, and fled from the house. 

Nova still floated in the air, fast asleep, when Richard burst through the front door. Why Maeve thought to come to her own home, she’d never know. Richard hadn’t seen anything other than Maeve and Nova. He didn’t know of his brother’s scheming behind the scenes. He’d been so careful to make sure Maeve was the face of every move they made. 

Richard wanted a fight and while Maeve knew he didn’t deserve her anger, he was the one that got the brunt of it. She’d spewed magic and fire at him, effectively destroying the majority of her own estate. 

If Richard had been paying close attention, he’d notice how even through her fury, Mave took special care to continually move Nova’s body out of harm’s way. Heartbroken, Maeve eventually had nothing left to give. She rushed past the crumbling remains of her home, shifted into her dragon and flew away, leaving the innocent couple to clean up the mess she’d made not only of her home but of their disenfranchised kingdom.

What I hadn’t realized was that the king of Far, Far Away would hear this news. He’d be so pompous as to assume the same trouble would come to his kingdom instead of realizing this battle had been a family affair. He’d assume the growing threat within his own wood would house a misleading mysterious child that would grow to come for his crown. He’d start building an entire realm to keep every single evil creature locked away so his queen would never fear for her safety. 

I hadn’t cared to think of the greater repercussions of Tavian’s cruel plan. Instead, I searched the world over for him. I wanted blood. I wanted his blood, but I was willing to take whatever I could get along the way. My heart was shattered and I wasn’t okay. I spent months in my dragon form just to cover more ground and watch bits and pieces of the world burn. 

When I finally shifted back, I worked harder than I ever had before to take my witchcraft to a level the world had never seen. 

I ventured into the slimiest corners of the world to hide, but by that point even the people who dwelled in the earth's forgotten spaces had heard of me. 

And then the war started. 

I’d single handedly done the unthinkable- I’d convinced every dreg of society, every vile creature to stand together and fight for their lives. 

We fought. We fought against the king’s army. We fought with each other. But no matter how many soldiers we killed the king always had more, but our numbers only dwindled. We watched the earth open and drag our comrades into its depths, unsure if they were living or dying. Rumors spread about a new realm. A realm that would become home to every inkling of darkness that had previously roamed the mortal realm. They were just rumors though. We hoped. We didn't know what was coming of those who were dragged beneath the earth’s surface.

As much as it pained me to admit, even to myself, while the war had raged on, I kept looking for Tavian.

I searched. And I searched. And then one day, when I was the very last piece of darkness left in the world, I found him. He was dressed as a soldier, but didn't look to have seen even a moment of battle. And he was alone; the very last soldier standing. 

It had been ridiculous to think he didn’t have one last trick for me. Trickery was how our relationship started and that was exactly how it would end. 

When I saw him, I couldn’t help but succumb to my desire to end him slowly and painfully. But once again, he made me the fool, playing on my desires. At that moment I couldn’t be the bigger person. That moment was the single weakest moment of my life. That weakness would haunt me, and now my children, for the rest of our lives. 

If only I’d known how many sleepless nights in the Dark Place wondering if I hadn’t been so obsessed with revenge if the outcome of the roundup would have been different.