Fire of Magic (Soul of Magic Book 4)

THREE

"You lied to me!" Lorraine shouted as she shot an angry glare across the table at Richard, Lucian and Isidora; all of whom looked really affected by it.

After Richard's meeting with Ariel, he had decided to go ahead and tell Lorraine, who didn’t know about it before, about Kyra's missing state; much to Isidora's disapproval, that is. “This is a bad idea, Richard,” the dark witch had told him vehemently. “The princess won’t take very kindly to the news.”

And the king wholeheartedly agreed with her. But if the truth was to be told, there wasn’t really much he could do to hide the truth from Lorraine any longer. Thing is, Richard knew without a doubt that the brief interruption which the seer's arrival had caused at the cathedral was bound to come with some questions from the princess afterward; questions which if he had to provide answers to would require revealing the secret that he, Lucian and Isidora had concocted to keep since the beginning of winter a few weeks ago.

"So, answer me this, all of you," Lorraine spoke again after a while of seeing that her glare had done its job. "Were you ever planning to tell me, or anyone else for that matter, the truth about Kyra's disappearance?" No answer came from any of the trio and the heavy silence told the princess exactly what it was that they all had in mind about what was no doubt the most crucial event in the realm at that time. "Well then, this conversation’s over," she concluded, her next action to walk away and leave her lying counterparts behind in the room with their silence.

But no sooner had she turned that Lucian suddenly grabbed her hand, the look on his face pleading for understanding and forgiveness. "I beg you, my love, you have to understand," he said. "We didn't do it just because we felt like it, it was what was best for the realm."

"By lying to everyone?" she returned at him. "How in the name of the Creator is keeping everyone in the dark about what’s important ever good?" Lucian had no idea how to answer her question so he just dropped his hands in defeat. "How did she even get to be missing in the first place?” the princess asked after a while, realizing then that she hadn't even remembered to ask that beforehand.

We don't know," Richard replied for all of them.

And in truth, none of the trio did. It was just that after Kyra's ordeal at almost losing her life and getting body-snatched by Fara, she didn't really get herself. The Soul of magic became always distant and unlike her normal self which was so full of life and hope.

Now, at that time, all the trio thought that all she needed was a little time and space, at least to come to terms with what had happened to her on her own; and so, they gave it to her. That turned to be a very big mistake in hindsight as a week after she named Lucian Commander of the magical forces, she sent him out to take care of a magic-related issue in one of the kingdom regions only him to return and realise that the Soul of magic had disappeared from the Blessed Isle without a trace; not even leaving a note to at least give a clue of where she was headed.

As a good and concerned friend, Lucian relayed what had happened to Richard and Isidora and the three of them used every resource within their disposal, both magical and human, to find the Soul of magic or at least a clue as to her whereabouts; but it was all to no avail.

The need to keep it a secret, however, came in light of how important Kyra's presence was to the realm. The people becoming aware that the most powerful witch in the realm had mysteriously disappeared would most definitely have resulted in a panic or even worse, put ideas into their enemies' head about attacking them at their seemly vulnerable moment.

"But as much as we would like it, Kyra isn't the only thing that we have to worry about right now," Isidora stated, bringing them all back to the pressing issue at hand. "The Conqueror's flames, as Ariel said, is about to be reawakened and unless we prevent that, we may have another unstoppable enemy on our hands."

"But she also said that it'll be impossible to find the flames without Kyra," Lucian pointed out, reminding the dark witch of what she herself had told him concerning the matter. "I mean, how are we going to pull a recovery if she isn't here?"

"Actually, Ariel didn't exactly say that the Conqueror's flames was impossible to find without Kyra," Richard told him, "Only that she would feel so much better with her around."

"So, what are you planning to do, brother?" Lorraine asked, although a good part of the princess already had a good idea of what the king’s response was going to be.

"We are going to get Ariel to lead us to the flames and prevent it from ever being used again," he replied, just like Lorraine had thought.

"Okay, I'm not against saving the realm from another Empire era and all but did you hear where she said the quest would take us?" Isidora interjected before the decision could stand.

"Yes," he replied, a lot calmer now that he had put the issue right out on the table. "The Barren lands."

And it was Lorraine's turn to interject; apparently as surprised as the others, if not a little bit more, at Richard's plan. "Richard, are you joking?" she shouted at him. "Surely, you know that the Barren lands is no place for just anyone, least of all a ruler of great reputation such as yourself."

"But no one will know who I am if I don't tell them," he returned, somehow overly sure of the viability of his plan. "It’s important that we find the flames before its awakening and I am planning to do just that with or without any of you," he explained to them all there and then. “So, what’s it going to be?” It was obvious that Richard wasn't going to change his mind, no matter what was said.

"Alright, your Majesty," Lucian replied after a while. "I'll go with you."

"And what kind of friend would I be if I let you boys go it alone?" Isidora added with a nonchalant shrug. "Let's go find this mythical object of yours then."

And so it was agreed that Richard, Lucian and Isidora would embark on a quest to find the Conqueror's flames and prevent whatever coming fate was meant for it; although a part of them all knew that the plan was borderline dangerous.

However, it wasn't until Richard was finally alone that the true weight of his decision dawned on him. He was planning to march into the most dangerous place in the realm in search of a weapon that might not even be his destiny to find, all because of a feeling that was bordering between stupidity and downright recklessness; and perhaps a little need to show that for once, he could save magic instead always being the other way around.

"Oh, Kyra," he whispered to himself as he went to the window and stared at the full moon in the cloudy night sky; just as he did every night ever since the Soul of magic had gone missing, "Where in the realm are you right now?"