The door opened behind me a few minutes later, and they took turns in the bathroom before they were finally ready to join me.
We stood at the top of the steps, but for some reason, my nerves got the better of me, and I was suddenly terrified to go downstairs and meet all these women face to face.
Craig and Forrest each took one of my hands and their strength seemed to pour into me.
“We can do this,” Forrest urged.
“Ready?” Craig asked.
“Yeah, sure why not. It’s just a coven of witches, right? We’ve faced down worse.”
I felt their smiles more than I saw them, and together, we walked downstairs.
The gossiping voices I heard all morning stopped as if someone hit a pause button on a soundtrack when we reached the main floor.
I gulped.
The house was filled with women of all varieties, watching the three of us with curious stares. Some were young, at least as young as me and several were ancient, so much so, that I wasn’t even sure how they were still breathing.
None of them made a move toward us, nor opened their mouths to speak.
“Uh, hi?” I awkwardly said, and a few of them laughed softly.
“Kate.” Mama Lucy bustled out of the kitchen. She was still wearing her pants and button-up flannel, as well as the pouches, which were overflowing with even more herbs than the first time. “The entire coven has gathered to hear your tale. Come, why don’t you three move to the dining room.”
“Mama Lucy,” I whispered as she guided me toward the room. “That room is not going to—wait, what?”
I froze on the threshold of what had been a fairly large sized room to begin with, but was now at least ten times that size, filled with enough chairs for everyone. “How?”
“We’re witches, Kate, charming a room to be bigger than it actually is, that takes very little effort.”
She ushered us toward the front of the room as the rest of the coven filed in behind. A few whispered with each other behind their hands, and I noticed two other women move to sit beside Mama Lucy at the front.
I wasn’t sure I liked having to face down the entire coven like this. Felt like I was on display at some weird living museum, but we needed their help.
Forrest took the chair beside me, but as Broden appeared to do in all my visions of the past, Craig stood directly behind me, protecting me.
It didn’t take much to understand he did not trust Mama Lucy’s coven, not yet at least.
Once the witches were settled, Mama Lucy nodded for me to start talking and I fumbled for words, not really sure to start.
“Well, I guess I’ll start with the day I met Craig?” I asked.
Mama Lucy nodded.
“Right then, here it goes.”
18
Kate
“And then we were attacked at the grove and came here,” I finished what felt like an eternity later. “I uh, I’m not sure what else there is to say really.”
The entire time I talked, the witches remained attentive and silent. No one interrupted me with questions. There were a few whispers here and there, in certain parts of our tale, but they let me say my piece, and I was grateful for it.
Forrest and Craig, of course, let me do the majority of the talking. Typical.
I rested my hands on my thighs, not sure what else they wanted from me when one of the witches beside Mama Lucy stood and walked toward us.
She narrowed her eyes, circling around us.
Craig’s growl rumbled deep in his chest, but the witch paid him no mind.
“Fascinating, simply fascinating. I had not thought we would ever see this again,” she murmured when she reached the front again.
“What do you mean?” I asked, worried.
“I mean the only time this has ever happened before was over fifteen hundred years ago, and it was rumored to be nothing more than a story,” the witch replied.
“You’ve heard of them?” Forrest asked sharply. “Celandine, Broden, and Malcolm?”
“The names, no, but from what you described… yes, that tale is in our history.”
I sighed in relief. Finally, we were going to get some answers.
“But, I’m afraid much of history has been lost,” the witch went on, “and very few bits remain. The pages of either been destroyed with time, or stolen from our records.”
“Great,” I muttered and hung my head.
“Kate,” Mama Lucy said, and I glanced up. “That doesn’t mean they still can’t give you some guidance on what is happening here.”
“With us?” Craig asked this time.
The witch who had been speaking stepped aside.
One with aged, leathery skin that had seen years and years of sun, her long white hair pulled back in two long braids, lifted her gaze to mine.
“My great, great, grandmother was alive during the time before,” she said with a voice much louder than I expected. “She told me of watching the sky crack as the worlds were torn apart, one from the other.”
“She remembers the realms being separated?” I whispered, hopeful.
“She knew not what happened, only the panic it caused until everything went silent. No one else spoke of the cracks, or believed her when she did. No one believed her when she heard whispers of a darkness that was vanquished. No one. She was locked away, deemed as insane,” the witch muttered bitterly. “But she repeated the same story until the day she died.”
“What story was that?” I asked, almost afraid to know.
The witch’s eyes settled on mine when she started to speak again. “The story of three heroes, one wielding the power of light,” her gaze shifted to Craig, “one whose strength would protect them all,” and finally landed on Forrest, “and one who would guide their hearts, keep them pure, keep them strong. Three heroes who saved the races… three heroes whose task was not completed.”
“But the prophecy stated one hero,” Forrest said confused.
“Ha!” the old witch cackled, and a few others laughed with her. “You think prophecies are always literal? Never in my lifetime has one been exactly, word for word correct. There were three heroes, three with a connection so strong, nothing could break it. Not even death it seems.”
I glanced over at Forrest then up at Craig wondering what they thought about all of this. “So the Vindicar, the empath… and the protector?”
“The seer,” the old witch corrected, and I started. “He is a seer is he not?”
“Me?” Craig sputtered. “What? No, there’s no magic in my bloodline. Certainly no seers.”
“Then explain to me, boy, what happened last night?”
He growled when she called him boy, but then just as quickly stopped. “Those were visions forced upon me by some darkness.”
“No, they were visions because you are a seer.”
“Then why had I not seen anything before? Why now?” he demanded.
“Same question,” Forrest chimed in. “I never noticed what I could do until last night as well. What changed?”
I was about to say our trip to the ruins, but too much time passed between now and then. What had changed for them both? I wracked my memories, wondering what triggered it, when it all came back to me in a rush.
“I did it,” I whispered. “At the palace, it was my fault.”
“What are you talking about?” Craig asked. “You were in a cell having visions of your own.”
“No, those weren’t visions, those were memories,” I corrected quietly. “But later, when Kadin was ready to kill me, I had to break free of the chains, but I wasn’t strong enough.” I turned so I could look at them both as I said, “I felt the two of you, and I pulled on your strength, used it to escape. It was the first time one of us tapped into this connection, right? That had to be it!”
They didn’t seem so certain, but the old witch was nodding.
“Abby, are you sure?” Mama Lucy asked the old witch as she continued to nod before she hoisted herself to her fee
t.
“I have never been more certain of anything in my life. These three are destined to be together,” she declared. “Their souls waited to be reborn until this very moment.”
“Why wait so damned long?” Craig growled. “There’s no time to prepare everyone.”
“Evil will always have the upper hand,” Abby sighed sadly. “It’s the way of the world.”
“But no one’s ready for this fight. No one even remembers the darkness, or what caused it,” I said, shaking my head. “We don’t even have the shield.”
“All part of your quest, to bring you three close together.”
I slumped in my seat. “They were close back then and look what happened,” I pointed out.
“They were from what you say, however, your plight will make you three even stronger,” she insisted and reached out to take my hands with her gnarled and wrinkled ones. Though she was old, the power I felt pulsing beneath her skin was strong. “I’m afraid we cannot give you any more answers on your past lives, but you know all you need to move forward on this journey.”
I wanted to believe her, but there was that nagging in my gut that said we needed more to go off of. So much more we needed to understand about this connection.
“If you can’t help us with whatever we are,” Forrest said, sounding unsure of it all, too, “what can you help us with?”
Mama Lucy eyed him sharply, but he made a good point.
“They are going to begin making massive batches of that potion Craig provided me with,” Mama Lucy told us. “You said it yourself, the other realms are not prepared, but we will do our best to ensure they have the only weapon able to kill these plagued beasts.”
“Any chance of convincing everyone what’s coming before it hits?” I asked, but Mama Lucy was already shaking her head.
“The only way to convince them will be for you to return with the shield in hand.”
“We might not make it back in time, if the darkness comes, they won’t know what’s attacking them. They’ll die.”
At my words, Craig stiffened, and his jaw clenched. Was that what he had seen in his visions? The end of all of us?
“You have to,” Abby said simply. “There is no other way to stop what’s coming for us all.”
“And the realms, can we rejoin them together?” Forrest made it to his feet, and I saw the gears working in his head.
“I thought we’d want to keep them separate, to stop it from spreading.”
“But it’s already spreading,” he reminded me. “We’ve seen it everywhere we’ve gone. If we can bring the realms back together, there’s a chance we can seal the breaches at the same time, wipe it out from every corner of the realms and destroy it.”
“And the Burnt World?”
I tried not to think about Celandine’s death there at the hands of Allis.
Forrest’s lips thinned at my question. “We find a way to destroy it, too. That world should not even exist.”
“Awesome, so now that we have a plan that is probably going to get the three of us killed again, who’s ready to get started?” I hadn’t meant to snap, but I’d been hoping for more definite answers from an entire coven of witches.
I guess asking for a spell that would magically bring the shield back together and make this all go away was too much to ask for.
And knowing more about this connection between Craig, Forrest, and me only complicated the already complicated emotions in my mind.
I caught Forrest as he shifted and looked away, clasping his hands behind his back. Great, of course, he could feel everything I was right now. Needing some time to myself, I excused myself from the dining room and stormed out back to the greenhouse to think this over.
Whatever happened next would either save the entire world and all its races, or doom us all to a horrible death.
And for all we knew, we’d have to sacrifice ourselves all over again.
Back at the ruins, when we saw the mural of the Vindicar possibly giving his life, I told myself I could do that if I had to. I could die if it meant everyone else was saved. But after seeing Celandine die, feeling her death… running away and hiding from this mess was starting to sound like the better option.
19
Craig
A seer. I was a damned seer on top of being their protector?
“Craig?” Forrest nudged my arm and nodded in the direction Kate went. “Why don’t you go talk to her?”
“Why not you? I’m a bit pissed at the moment if you hadn’t noticed.”
He smirked and shrugged. “I did, don’t worry, but so is she. I have a few more questions to ask the witches about finding the sorcerers.”
That was a topic of conversation I did not want to be around for. The last thing I wanted to do was go and find those bastards and ask them for information. I’d be lucky if they didn’t kill me on the spot. I’d much rather deal with a pissed off Kate than figuring out how to find the sorcerers.
I left the dining room filled with witches, most watching me as if I was the most interesting specimen they’d ever seen, and hurried outside into the back garden.
The air was chilly, but it felt good on my face, and I breathed it in, feeling the sun warm my face. I peered around the garden, but Kate was nowhere in sight.
I panicked for a split second until I heard noises coming from the greenhouse.
Quietly, I opened the door and stepped into the slightly humid air. I paused, listening again when I heard a crash and glass shattering.
“Damn it,” Kate snapped, and I hurried around the large workbench to see her crouched over a broken pot with a plant and dirt spilling out of what was left.
“Are you alright?” I asked, bending down to help.
“Yeah, I’m great.” She scooped up the pieces and chucked them in a waste bin. Carefully, she picked up the plant and set it in another pot on the workbench, reaching for a bag of dirt nearby. “You don’t have to be out here. I’m fine.”
“You remember that night when you said I was a shitty liar?”
“Yeah?”
“So are you, love.”
She glared at me, but only for a few seconds before she turned back to the plant. “Why are you out here?”
“Too many witches in there for my comfort.”
“Right,” she muttered. “Not because Forrest sent you out here to check on me?”
“He sent me because I’m as upset as you are about all of this.”
“I highly doubt that.” She flattened her hands on the workbench and closed her eyes.
I hadn’t noticed it before, but she was shaking, her entire body trembling.
I reached out to touch her, but she pulled back, shaking her head.
“No, just, don’t, alright?”
My hand fell to my side. “What’s wrong?”
“What’s wrong?” she asked, voice shaking before she burst out laughing, but it wasn’t out of amusement.
I’d been amazed before at how strong she seemed to be to handle everything her new life had thrown at her and not lose face. I was an idiot for not realizing she was merely shoving it down deeper and deeper, not dealing with her emotions, or facing the truth.
“Everything is wrong!” she shouted furiously. “Can’t you see that? All of this is wrong!”
“Kate, just calm down.”
“No. You and Forrest, you’re in this mess because of me,” she snapped. “First I find out I’m a damned dragon, and that’s not it. I can’t just be a normal dragon, I have to be a Darrah! One of the most hunted clans in the world and a Vindicar?” She ran her hands through her hair and madly stalked around the greenhouse, smoke trailing from her nose. “I was just a regular teenager a few weeks ago. No wait sorry,” she corrected herself with a harsh laugh. “Over a month ago, and now… now I’m supposed to save the world? How does any of this make sense!”
Growing up without knowing who she was had to have been hard and I took for granted the fact that Forrest and I had been born into t
his world. We didn’t have to come to grips with who we truly were, or at least who our present selves were.
“It doesn’t, but you’re not alone in this fight.”
“No, no that’s where you’re wrong,” she insisted, and the hair on the back of my neck stood on end. “That’s where you’re very wrong.”
“What the hell are you talking about? You heard the witch in there, we’re in this together.”
What was she thinking? The look in her eyes was dangerous. She was planning something, and by the looks of it, I knew exactly what it was.
“Oh no, don’t even think about it, woman,” I snarled. “You are not running away!”
She froze, mouth falling open and her eyes narrowing. “Going to tell me what to do now, is that it?”
“I’m supposed to be your protector, and you think I’m just going to stand here and watch you take off? What are you planning on doing, alone, huh? Getting yourself killed?”
“Better me getting killed than watching you two die! I won’t do it! You’re in this mess because of me! Because I failed all those years ago, and I won’t do it again. I won’t have your deaths on my head!” she ranted. “I’m going to find the sorcerers, and I’m going to put the shield back together, alone. It’s the only way.”
I was not hearing this, I couldn’t be. “We’re connected, Kate, the three of us. You didn’t drag us into this, and you didn’t fail.”
“Yes, yes I did. If I hadn’t let the shield get stolen, and if I’d destroyed the darkness for good, you two would’ve lived. And your lives would not be in danger now.” She licked her lips, her feet shifting, unable to keep still. “I have to do this. I won’t watch you two get yourselves killed.”
“But you’ll let yourself die, is that it?” I snarled furiously. “How dare you do this to me, to us!”
Legends (Dragon Reign Book 3) Page 10