“What, if I may ask, are you doing here, my lady?” Lady Sinara said in a clipped tone. Inwardly, Vanessa panicked. She knew that if she did one thing wrong, this woman would destroy her instantly. She had a lot of pull with the prince, and Vanessa didn’t want to go down there. “Prince Italus did tell you that he would meet you today evening.”
“I am sorry, my Lady Sinara, but I wished to move around the castle.” Using all of her etiquette and expressionless features she took a deep, deep breath and took it out. “Is there a problem with that?”
“Not entirely, no, though considering you are a princess of a foreign land in our castle, it is not wise to do so without the permission of the host,” Lady Sinara said, her eyes still narrowed down. She probed into Vanessa’s mind, only to feel emptiness. She had expected it. She knew that Vanessa had her own court witch that would have enchanted her, and even if nowhere near as powerful as Sinara, or so Sinara hoped, an enchantment was difficult to break through. It took time, and a lot of effort and it was noticeable by the person that the enchantment was on. An unbearable headache was one of the symptoms of it. “Yet it is curious you are in this hallway. Do you have any idea as to where you are, Princess?”
“I believe this is the hallway that leads to the back-gardens.” That she knew. She knew that this hallway lead to the back-gardens and Sinara had to hand it to her. She was correct. Lady Sinara nodded and inwardly wondered what the girl was actually doing here. Did she want to go inside the library and look for something? What could she be looking for? That is why she hated, hated the fact that she couldn’t read her brain. She wanted to know everything that happened in an opponent’s mind and this was not exactly what was in plan. “So may I go now?”
“...Yes, you may,” Lady Sinara said, frowning again. “In fact, I shall accompany you all the way to the gardens myself for you may get lose.”
Princess Vanessa nodded, but inwardly she was sighing in relief. She had felt the enchantment on her belly heat up as the woman tried to read her mind, but her witch wasn’t just anyone, she was strong as well, and Lady Sinara just couldn’t get through all that just like that. And if it meant that she wasn’t going to get caught and interrogated, then she would walk down to the gardens with her without question. Her only hope was that Italus would get his head out of his backside quicker and come up to her.
In the end, Vanessa had to wait till late in the evening before she was called from the gardens, where she was sitting and pondering around, to the special dining room where Italus was waiting for her. So she had dressed up in her best gown for the evening and stepped into the room with her gown dragging behind her. Sinara frowned at her sight, still not believing what she had been told about the ‘roaming’ around part.
“Ah, Princess Vanessa,” Italus said in a ‘friendly’ tone. Vanessa would never, never consider anything coming out of his mouth as friendly. But she would be fairly warm to him. For now. “Welcome to Claw Worth!”
“It is nice to see you again, Prince Italus.” She noticed the slight twitch in his face at the words ‘prince’, and found out that yes, he was still very, very, very affected by the fact he was only a prince and not a king yet. “It has been a long time.”
“In my eyes it has been an eternity since I have seen your beauty my fair Vanessa.” Italus brought out all the guns for this one. He knew that in the end he could do whatever he want to if he chose rightly, as he was a king and he could marry different women to take as his mistresses. But the position of a Queen? Oh no, that was still a long time away. But considering he was going to marry Vanessa as the first person that he married, it would only mean one simple thing. She would automatically be the Queen. But he had a plan for that. He intended to have many mistresses for him to play with. “Tell me, how was your trip and stay in Claw Worth for now? Did you miss my presence?”
“Indeed.” Deciding to actually hit back, Vanessa used all of her skills as well as she gave on a hurtful look. “I thought after all that we had done together before, Italus, that you could come and greet me personally at least. I would have gotten you a gift as well.”
Lady Sinara scoffed from her seat but didn’t say anything. She wasn’t going to get into this madness of a meeting that Italus had. She knew what he was going to do, he was now going to gloat about himself.
“Indeed, that was wrong of me, was it not?” Prince Italus rubbed his chin. “After all, without you it wouldn’t have been possible, the complete and utter destruction of Feather Grove, that is.”
Vanessa faltered inwardly. She was hoping that he wouldn’t bring it up, it was a harsh reminded for her that she was not as gentle and caring as she appeared to be and could be quite selfish and ruthless if she wanted to be.
“Those were the days, were it not? When we tricked both the prince and princess of that wretched country.” Prince Italus sighed in what seemed to be orgasmic pleasure. “Your betrayal to Prince Kieran was what we needed to win against Feather grove, after all. He was so broken, so devastated when you sided with me and told him you never loved him. It was funny, to see him shed tears, as we destroyed his outer walls and invaded the castle. Even better was the fact that Chaiya coming to me to declare her love to me.”
That memory had always, and still would bring chills down to her spine. Even Lady Sinara looked slightly, slightly disgusted at the reminder of what Italus had done to Chaiya, but she simply went back to her normal look. She couldn’t show any emotion, after all. But Vanessa, she would always, always remember it. She had been in love with him secretly, she really did love Kieran, but she had seen the signs. Italus had the power, he had the men and he had the wealth to rule over everything. His plan was perfect and so was the plan of seeking her out. They had hit from all sides, her playing with Kieran’s heart and Italus playing Chaiya’s heart. Eventually, it had all come out and she still remembered the devastated expression on Kieran’s face and her own chilling of her heart after that day, for what she had done was not something that should have been forgiven ever.
“Your empty promises of love and marriage to Kieran along with mine own to Chaiya removed them from the bigger picture of things. Yes, those were the days.” Vanessa sighed and shook her head.
I did what was right, Vanessa told herself. I wanted to protect my people, and I protected my people. There was nothing wrong with what I did, and I succeeded. Look at where Feather Grove is right now? Had they simply given up things wouldn’t have been like this. But I owe it to my people, and I need my scrolls of the prophecy. I cannot fall in love, ever.
But the strange, completely traitorous voice inside of her heart reminded her of the fact that she never did deserve love in the first place, a voice which she desperately wanted to ignore.
12
Elora was the one leading as they entered the kingdom of Velia, and as soon as they did, she already could feel that something was horribly, horribly wrong. She didn’t know what, she didn’t know why, but something was definitely wrong.
First of all was the fact that the magic was singing around. She didn’t know how she could feel it, but the magic around her was dangerous, was disgusting, and it was affecting her in ways and means she didn’t know magic could affect her as. She didn’t know why she was being so affected by the magic, but as she took a single step, it started to get worse, and worse, and worse, until she felt it really seep into her skin.
Jeremy could also feel the strangeness in the air and his eyes instantly went to Elora as soon as she stopped. She knew that the Yogi of Velia were a very, very strange bunch. No one liked them, and they had managed to part the three witches somehow by stopping them from gaining more power. The only one that was still in this world was Sinara, and the other two were in a place neither of them knew where. He knew that if Elora was being affected by the magic, things were going to get bad, very fast. And he knew when it happened. Even before she could fall down, he was already on her.
“Elora!” Elora collapsed instantly due to the strange powe
r that was in the area, a reaction that Jeremy hadn’t predicted at all. Kieran and the other three campers ran up to them as well.
“What happened to her?” Kieran asked, his face set in a panic. Muhal and Verav got onto the duty of searching as to what could have happened by looking around, while Mati waited for the others to get a proper look at her. “What was that?”
“It was exhaustion, I believe,” a female voice called out. The group looked up to see eight strangely dressed women walk down towards them. “You have travelled for a long time it would seem, a very, very long time.”
Kieran and Jeremy looked on distrustfully as one of the Yogi bent down and checked up on Elora. Her face faltered and she looked up at the supposed leader of the Yogi, who nodded, surprised by what she was seeing as well.
The leader was defined because her clothes, instead of being black, were white. Her hair was slightly grey, and she was wearing a headpiece as well. Her headpiece was that of a spider, with its four eyes glinting on top. The ‘legs’ came down upon her hair as clips, and she had a really wise, powerful, and dangerous look about her, but she felt as warm as a normal person. The passersby of Velia village all bowed when they saw her, not entering the area of the Yogi but still showing their respect to her. Undoubtedly, this was the leader.
“This is Elora James,” Jeremy began. “She is an outsider from a distant world and has been sent here for a destiny unknown to her. As you who look up to greater powers and ascension, and destiny, we came here to help us find Elora’s destiny.”
“Indeed, it is not every day that a world transgressor comes here, the last one was banished from Tariforma after all,” The leader of the Yogis said, nodding. Her face never leaving Elora’s. “We will take care of her, and prepare her for a ritual that will help us read her soul and locate her destiny, there is nothing to worry about.”
All Jeremy and Kieran could do was look as two of the Yogis carried Elora away. Velaya, if Jeremy knew correctly, the leader, turned around and looked at them.
“You may camp in that spot over there if you wish,” Velaya said, giving them a fake smile. “But it shall not be too long for us to finish this.”
Kieran nodded and looked at Jeremy, who shrugged. Once the Yogi had returned to the main hut with Elora, Kieran opened his mouth.
“Do you think this is right?” Kieran asked, looking at Jeremy closely. “Leaving Elora alone with them? Is that right?”
“Honestly? I have no clue,” Jeremy whispered back. “I don’t even know what they are planning and what is going on in their heads. But it is not about to be good. Just be ready to leave, don’t be too loose and don’t pack, at all.”
Kieran nodded, forgetting his jealousy and looking back at the main hut. They better return Elora properly or else hell would be the answer. But neither knew what was going on in Velaya’s mind.
Velaya knew that the girl was powerful. She knew that Elora’s origins weren’t as normal as it would seem, she could see the girl’s power the second she had laid eyes upon her, and that magical spectrum reacting against her only confirmed that. No one was blessed with such power, just like that, there was something here that she didn’t realize, and she wasn’t going to let it go lying by.
As a Yogi, she believed in destiny and the power of ascension. She only believed in that she thought was right and everything else was wrong. Other than the greater powers, there was nothing in this world that mattered, nothing.
They had, some years ago, stopped the three witches from completing their nefarious plans and with help from every single other mage in the world, banished two out of the three witches from Tariforma, never to step back again without the curse being broken. And that was a story for a different day.
Right now she needed to know what exactly the power was inside of Elora that was so affecting, and why was she here. She needed to know the root of Elora’s powers so she could find out more and more about the greater powers.
“Prepare her. I shall come back,” Velaya said to her ‘sisters’. The other Yogis nodded. They knew what they were going to do. Instead, Velaya returned to her own hut. She needed to see something.
Inside of her hut, there was a simple scroll that she kept around, a scroll she had gotten from an old friend. It was a scroll that contained a Prophecy spoke long ago, a legend, about the words that predicted Elora’s arrival.
Long and come forth, she came here, from worlds far beyond. Saving our graces through the time and shining light down on all things fine. It was old, very old, but it was still a legend. And undoubtedly this was Elora’s legend. She had to properly tell the group somehow so they could leave, and meanwhile prepare Elora for her ritual as well.
So she deliberately didn’t give any news to the campers. Instead, she waited for three hours before going down back to Elora’s group. Kieran and Jeremy, having never looked away from the main hut, watched the woman come towards them with great urgency, felt a pool of dread in their stomachs.
“I am sorry to say this to you my friends,” Velaya said in the fakest most concerned and grieved tone that she could mutter. “But Elora didn’t want to stay. She was panicked by her own destiny, too dark for a young girl like her, and she ran away to find the last piece of the tapestry herself. She has gone off alone towards the north, to the village of the Mages through Nokidora.”
There was silence, complete and utter silence before pandemonium erupted as the five campers all got up and grabbed their bags, ready to look out for her from wherever she escaped from. Kieran was already barking out orders to search the outsides of the kingdom before leaving for Nokidora, but Jeremy was the one that felt the strangeness of what he had just heard.
The woman left the main hut, and went to her hut. She didn’t go through the main road, but through the back one. I could sense her. Jeremy thought. And she came back out three hours later to tell us Elora ran away. There is definitely no ritual in the world that can be completed in three hours. It at least takes a day or two to find out the result. There is something horribly wrong here.
Not knowing what to do, he tried out his best bet, and the only person that would listen to him for now. He grabbed Kieran and took him off to the side. Kieran was looking surprised, but didn’t react and simply listened to whatever Jeremy had to say.
“Kieran something is wrong. I have a bad feeling about this. I don’t think Velaya, that woman, was entirely truthful to us,” Jeremy said, whispering in Kieran’s ear. “No ritual is powerful enough to be completed in three hours, it takes at least one full day for a ritual to finish. Kieran, I don’t know what is going on here, but Elora has not escaped. She didn’t even wake up!”
“I...” Kieran wanted to argue that Elora had run away once and she could do it again, but then he remembered something. He closed his eyes and reached out, and suddenly found out the exact thing that he wanted to find. He found in his heart where she was. “You’re right, she’s in there.”
“How can you be certain?” Jeremy asked, whispering back, narrowing his eyes. “Are you a mage as well?”
“Not even close. The Gargoyles in Tarith Castle gave me two heart blades,” Kieran said. Jeremy’s eyebrows rose. That was an impressive weapon. “I snuck in one of the blades into Elora’s bag yesterday when she was asleep, so we would never bet parted on this journey and I would always find her. And I can feel her right there, inside.”
They looked at each other and wondered what to do about this situation, and meanwhile, the Yogi of Elora had just put a vial of a pink colored potion inside of Elora’s mouth. Elora hadn’t awoken, she was still sleeping, but whatever had been done to her would make sure she didn’t wake up.
Elora didn’t know where she was. She only remembered passing out and hearing voices. But now she looked around, she was in a forest. A Large, deep forest with what looked to be a modern city in the distance. What seemed to be New York? She looked around and recognized it to be Central park.
A-Am I...Am I home?! Elora looked around, her
eyes wide, looking at Central park and taking in all the sights. She couldn’t believe that she was here, in this place. She couldn’t believe what she is doing. But she was in New York! She was home!
“Elora...” She heard a playful, muffled voice. Her eyes widened as she somehow thought for it to be Marine, but then shook the thought out of her head. “Elora...”
Elora looked around, trying to find where the voice came from. She noticed a shadow beneath some trees that disappeared, and instantly took on after it. She wanted to know who was shouting out for her.
“Hey! Wait!” Elora cried out as she ran behind the shadow that she could still see. “Come back! Wait! Who are you?!”
“This is not real, Elora! Wake up!” The voice shouted, this time from everywhere. “You are in Velia, Elora! The Yogi took you, remember?”
She did. She remembered collapsing into Jeremy’s arms, and then some voices, of the Yogi of Velia, taking her inside of the hut and then nothing. She didn’t know what they had done to her, but she wouldn’t miss this. She just wouldn’t. She needed to see this sight for so long, it had been so long, but this voice, she couldn’t ignore it.
“Wake up now Elora! Velia is not a good place for you! Your destiny can only be found by you!” The voice was louder, but still muffled. “You...need...to...escape...from...Velia...as...soon...as...you...can...for something... is...commi—you!”
The voice got more and more muffled, but Elora caught enough of it. She now knew that this was a dream, and the voice was right. She could never remember something like this because she hadn’t even been to Central Park. So she stopped and closed her eyes, focusing on waking up.
“Come on Elora, wake up! Wake up! WAKE UP, ELORA!” Elora shouted and screamed to herself, just as she woke up. And the first thing she felt was unbearable pain and agony from her fingernail, as it was just ripped out.
Shadows and Sorcery: A Collection of Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance Novels Page 272