“All right, Willow, your turn!” Lillithia said. “You all really might want to go inside and stand by a window to watch me,” Willow warned.
“We will stand out here and experience the full extent of your abilities,” Victor insisted.
“My abilities can be very dangerous. I can shoot lightning out of my hands.”
“That’s all right.”
The three other magical people stood still and waited for Willow to demonstrate her magical abilities. “All right, suit yourselves.” She turned around, took a deep breath, held her hands up toward the sky, and closed her eyes. She imagined a terrible storm brewing in the sky, and opened her eyes.
She saw clouds quickly rolling in on the horizon, and lightning flashed in the distance. The wind suddenly blew very hard, and cold rain pelted down on them. Willow heard one of the other women let out a yelp. She turned and saw Rosaria struggling to stand up in the wind. There was a tremendous clap of thunder. Willow could make the storm as dangerous as she wanted, but decided not to for fear of the safety of the other people on the island. She made the storm dissipate, and the clouds disappeared.
“That was awesome!” Rosaria gasped. Willow’s cheeks turned pink at the compliment. Lillithia stood with her mouth hanging open in shock.
“Congratulations! You have passed the test to join us here on the island!” Victor said happily. They were all completely soaked.
After that, they walked back to the castle. When they walked inside the library, Victor started a fire in the library fireplace, and they all sat next to it to dry off in the heat of the flames.
Before they went to bed, Victor gave Willow a detailed explanation of the daily schedule for her sorcery training. Spellcasting was from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. Lunch was from 11 a.m. to noon. Magical history was at noon, potions lasted from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., and fencing would last from 4 p.m. until 6 p.m.
Night had fallen by the time they had all dried off completely. Victor showed Willow to her room. It consisted of a bed with a red-and-gold-embroidered bedspread, and there was a gold-plaited wardrobe and dresser sitting on the opposite wall. She opened the wardrobe and saw several beautiful new dresses hanging inside.
“Those are for you. I bought them for you before you arrived. I used a transporter spell I plan on teaching you to go to the mainland and buy them for you,” Victor said.
Willow smiled and said, “They’re beautiful!”
“Thank you!” Victor said.
“You’re welcome.”
Victor turned and walked out of the room. “Victor, can I ask you something?” Willow asked.
“Yes.” Victor replied.
“How come you didn’t demonstrate your magical powers for the rest of us?”
Victor laughed. “Well you went before I did, and you soaked us all! We had to dry off in the heat of the fire after your rainstorm!” Willow laughed along with him. “But don’t worry, I will demonstrate my magical knowledge for you all tomorrow during magic lessons.” he said.
For the first time in two weeks, Willow finally felt like she was in a safe place. Magical people usually learned their craft by being tutored by their parents in the art of magic. Willow was excited to study magic with other people and was eager to learn new spells and things that had not been passed down through her family. A wave of depression hit her, and she cried for her family before falling sleep in her bed.
Chapter Three
The next morning, Willow walked downstairs to breakfast, eager to learn new spells. Her mother taught her everything she knew about magic, and now she was keen to learn spells from another sorcerer.
“This morning, you will go pick out your wand from a Rainbowflower tree,” Victor said.
“What is a Rainbowflower tree?” Willow asked as she sat down at the table.
“It’s the species of tree that all the fairies in the fairy worlds pick their wands from. One grows on this island,” Victor replied.
Willow had never heard of a wand. “Well, what is a wand?”
“A wand helps a sorcerer or sorceress channel their magic when doing spellcasting.”
Andaria had never used a wand when casting spells, and neither had Willow. “This would be a perfect time to show you around the island too!” Victor added.
When they finished eating, they all walked out to the stables. Starfire ran around in her stall excitedly when she saw Willow.
“Hey there, girl. We’re going for a ride!” Willow said to her. She let Starfire out of her stall and saddled her. Rosaria, Victor, and Lillithia saddled their horses and rode them out of the stable.
They walked under the dark forest canopy. Willow heard the sounds of forest animals crying in the distance, and brightly colored birds flew amongst the branches of the treetops. “Do you know what kind of birds those are?” Willow asked, pointing at some birds sitting on a branch. They had bright-blue wings and fluorescent purple tails.
“Don’t know. Victor hasn’t named them yet,” Lillithia replied.
“Named them?” Willow asked.
Victor said, “Yes. Many species on this island were undiscovered until I moved here. I have yet to name those birds.”
“Victor says that this Rainbowflower tree was the home to the Godmother fairies at one time,” Lillithia said.
“Godmother fairies, what are those?” Willow asked.
“Godmother fairies were protectors of children.”
Willow admired the beauty of the island and wondered how Victor came to find it. “How did you find this island?”
Victor replied, “I used to be a doctor in Ethermoor City. When I retired, I wanted to go somewhere far away. I found this island. When I want to go to the mainland, I recite a transporter spell, and it transports me there.” The thought of just beaming from one place to another thrilled Willow.
They came to the edge of a small valley. Willow looked out and saw a tree in the center of it that was so beautiful, it took Willow’s breath away. Its flowers were every color of the rainbow. They were iridescent and shimmered different colors depending on how the sun shone on them. A sweet, pungent aroma filled the air as the breeze blew through its branches.
“It’s bloomed!” Rosaria gasped.
“Yes, it has begun to bloom again now that my brother invited the fairies back to Ethermoor!” Victor said.
There was something that had been bothering Willow ever since she found out that the spell had broken only two months prior. “Wait, but my sorceress great-great-grandmother and my great-great-grandfather crossed back into this realm 150 years ago,” Willow said.
Victor turned to her and said, “When the fairies were banned, they arrived in different worlds and centuries within those worlds. When the spell lifted, it caused a fraying of the magical barrier across the realms and the centuries. Gradually, sorcerers and sorceresses and fairies have been returning since shortly after the spell broke, and they will continue doing so until magic has returned completely.”
“But what about those who arrived many years ago?”
“As I said, lifting the barrier caused a fraying in the barrier. Fairies and sorcerers have been gradually returning over the centuries.”
They climbed down the edge of a cliff and walked under the tree. It was many feet high, and Willow could see a network of roots that twisted together and made holes large enough for a human to fit through. Willow looked up and stood in awe of the beauty of the Rainbowflower tree’s blossoms from the ground as the light shone through them.
One particular branch caught her eye. The shape of it reminded her of a lightning bolt. As she looked at it, a breeze blew through the tree. The tree lowered that branch to eye level with Willow! It was as if it could sense that she wanted it for her wand.
“Does it . . . know that I like that branch?” she asked Victor.
“It must! Rosaria and Lillithia didn’t get so lucky. They had to cut theirs off the
tree. Perhaps that was because they arrived a month ago, and this tree didn’t ha
ve enough magic back to bloom yet,” Victor said.
Willow turned and looked at her companions. Lillithia pursed her lips. Rosaria stood with her mouth hanging open, and her eyes were as wide as saucers. Willow turned back toward the limb and put her right hand on the lightning-shaped stick. It popped off the limb, and the rest of the branch rose back up to the top of the tree. She turned the stick over in her hand, and she saw the wood shimmer silver and gold under the white bark. “This is amazing!” Willow laughed.
They rode their horses out of the valley and back to Victor’s castle. Willow carried the scent of the tree in the flowers that grew on the stick that was to be her wand. She also felt a strange urge to carve it. “Can these wands also tell you to carve them?” Willow asked.
“Yes. According to the legends about Rainbowflower trees, the wand will guide your subconscious as you are creating it to help you make it your own. You must carve your own design into it. That way, your wand will never be able to be mistaken for anyone else’s wand,” Victor replied.
There was something that Willow wanted to ask him, something that she had been thinking about ever since he’d told her they were going to overthrow the government.
“Uh, Victor?” she asked.
“Yes?”
“Who is going to govern the country when we have overthrown King Banderon?”
“Why, the four of us, of course!” He grinned as if he believed that governing a country was an easy task.
Willow wasn’t as convinced that governing a country would be as easy as Victor clearly thought it would be. “The four of us . . . governing a whole country?”
“Unless you have someone else in mind,” Victor replied.
Willow thought for a second and couldn’t think of anyone she believed was qualified to rule a country. She had served on the Fernhollow town council, but she was quite sure that governing a town of one thousand people was quite different from managing a country of millions.
“I was on the Fernhollow Town Council,” Willow said.
“That should count for something,” Victor said. “Besides, how hard can it be? All you have to do is bark orders at people.”
“That’s not how we governed in the village.”
“Well, can you think of another way?”
“We used to talk about issues and vote on things that effected Fernhollow.”
“Well, perhaps we could do that.”
“Do you know any other sorcerers and sorceresses who are going to join us in the coup?” Willow asked.
“Not right now. If the spell draws others to us in the same manner that it drew you to me, then there will be more. They will also have to pass the test I’m going to give you all before we attack.”
Once they arrived back at the castle, they all went into the library. Victor walked out of the room and returned with a knife for Willow. “Remember what I told you. The wand will guide your subconscious as you are carving it to help you make it your own,” Victor said. He handed it to Willow, who began whittling away at the wood, letting her intuition guide her in carving her wand. Rosaria and Lillithia went upstairs and got their wands while they waited for Willow to finish.
She shaved all the white tree bark off and carved a little handle at one end of it. She chiseled a tiny bird onto the end of the handle.
When she finished her wand, she handed it to Victor, who looked at it carefully. It shimmered silver and gold in the sunlight as he turned it over in his hands.
“A phoenix, a symbol of something being reborn, was carved into this. That means you have gone through a rough patch in life and have become someone different as a result,” Victor said. The painful memory of her parents’ death hit her especially hard at that moment. She just hoped she wouldn’t be too different from her old self.
“That’s beautiful!” Lillithia commented.
“Thank you!” Willow replied.
Rosaria’s wand was lovely also. Intricate carvings of flowers covered hers, and lines covered Lillithia’s like a quill pen feather.
Willow was excited to begin her lessons for the day. They ate lunch and went back into the library to start lessons.
“I will show you which table you are to sit at for lessons. Rosaria and Lillithia have already claimed their desks. You each will use the same desk every day. That way, you can keep all your books and papers in one place and hopefully not lose them,” Victor said.
Willow followed him to the only empty desk in the room. There was nothing on it except for a stack of three very thick leather-bound books. She looked at their spines and read the names of the books to herself. One was called The Theory and Practice of Spellcraft, the one under it was History of the Old Craft in Ethermoor, and the third one was called Potions and Other Magical Remedies.
Victor said, “We’re going to begin by studying a few spells that you are going to need to know to get into Banderon’s castle.” He grinned. “Oh, I almost forgot.” Victor waved his right hand in the air, and all of a sudden, an inkwell, a quill pen, and a notebook appeared on Willow’s desk.
“How did you do that?” Willow gasped.
Victor grinned. “Magic! You will learn how to do that spell if you study with me long enough.”
Willow decided to ask about the spell that he’d used to guide her to the island. “Um, Victor. Will you teach us that spell that you used to bring us all to the island?”
Victor opened his mouth in apparent surprise at the question, but quickly regained his composure. “That is one of the most advanced magical spells there is. It can take even the most advanced sorcerers many months to master. You will start by casting simple spells like lighting a candle and unlocking and locking locks. Open The Theory and Practice of Spellcraft to page one of the first chapter.”
Willow flipped the book open to the first chapter. The words “Unlocking and Locking Locks Using Magic” were written in beautiful calligraphy at the top of the page.
“Now, Willow, read the first paragraph,” Victor said.
Willow read the first paragraph aloud. “Magic is about intention. Concentrate and channel all your energy into your spellwork. A mind clear of distractions while performing spellwork is a must.”
“Thank you, Willow,” Victor said. He then walked over to a cabinet, took out three padlocks, and placed one on each woman’s desk. Willow started to wonder if this was all remedial work for Rosaria and Lillithia.
“Now, Rosaria, read the next paragraph,” Victor said.
Rosaria read aloud. “Now, point your wand at a door lock. Imagine what it is you want to get from behind that locked door, and say, ‘Resarare Ianum.’ If you are practicing unlocking a lock that is not on a door, imagine a situation where you wish you had known a spell to unlock a door, and say, ‘Resarare Ianum.’”
Willow had a sudden flash in her mind of the day she and her mother were in the jail cell. Her heart ached as she thought of her mother and how she wished she could have her back.
“Now, point your wands at your locks and recite the words,” Victor’s voice said, jolting Willow back to the present. Willow pointed her wand at the lock. She imagined that she was in the jail cell with her mother. “Resarare Ianum!” A flash of light shot out of the tip of her wand.
It hit the lock, and Willow heard the lock pop open. Victor walked up to her and said, “Well, it looks like you got it open on the first try!”
“Thanks!” Willow said with a huge smile on her face. Inside, she fought back the tears as she thought about her mother. She heard the sound of two more locks coming open. Willow looked over and saw that Lillithia and Rosaria had also succeeded in unlocking their locks.
“Good! All three of you got it right on the first try.” Victor said happily. He turned to Rosaria and Lillithia. “Well, you two already knew how to do it.” Willow wondered what other spells they had already learned. “Now, we are going on to the next spell, which is a spell to light a fire. It is on the next page.” Willow turned in her book to the next page.
&nb
sp; This spell was in the form of a poem. It said, “I picture a fire burning brightly. Flickering as a beacon of light in the dark night.” Willow looked at the words, and she felt a little jolt on the end of her wand. A deafening shriek pierced through the room, startling Willow so badly that she jumped.
She was aware that the room suddenly grew very hot. She looked up and saw that the large globe that sat on the floor next to her table was burning!
“You lit it on fire!” Rosaria shrieked.
Willow was stunned. How did she light it on fire if she hadn’t even recited the spell?
She quickly conjured a small rainstorm. She felt the wand vibrate, and she saw a dark cloud form in the air. It hovered right over the fire. Willow desperately hoped that it would not soak the other books. She tried to control the cloud and was relieved to see rain pouring out of it onto the fire. Victor walked over and snatched Willow’s wand out of her hand. Willow felt for sure she was in terrible trouble, and her knees went weak with nervousness.
“Willow, I apologize. I forgot that lightning sparks fires. If you think any of these spells and they match up directly with your innate abilities, you have to be extra careful to control your magic. Just thinking of the words is enough to cast the spell, especially with your fairy wands,” Victor said. “On second thought, perhaps we should go outside to practice this spell.” The rain put the fire out, but the smoke asphyxiated them. Lillithia began coughing violently. “Pick your candles up off your desk and follow me outside.”
Willow slid her wand into her skirt pocket before picking up her candle. She was terrified that she would set something on fire again, and was careful to keep her wand in her skirt pocket until she arrived outside.
They walked out to a large patch of dirt where there wasn’t any grass. Each of them placed their candles in the dirt. “Now, I will demonstrate the spell for you.” Victor said. He pointed his wand at his candle and said, “I picture a fire burning brightly. Flickering as a beacon of light in the dark night.” A tiny fireball shot out of the tip of his wand and hit the wick of the candle with such grace and accuracy that it made Willow jealous.
The Night Sorceresses Page 7