Kissing Magic

by Day Leitao

  He heard steps approaching the room and thought it was the male castle keeper, Matheo. As he turned, he felt a dart on his shoulder. It was Liam. Darian got up to fight the boy, but fell, his body unable to move.

  Liam shook his head. “Like a fly caught in a web. Paralyzed. In a few hours, the poison will kill you.”

  Darian had been poisoned once before, and the only reason he was still alive was because of some strange magical cure. He wasn’t sure he’d be this lucky this time. He wondered if Liam had gotten Cayla, but he didn’t want to ask and alert him to her presence in the castle. He asked, “What do you want?”

  “Respect, that’s all, respect. For eight years, I’ve always done what your brother wanted. No more. He tossed me aside, forgot years of friendship, just because I spoke to the girl. Insecure much? Well, I understood his secret. Sian can cheat and get glory. Well, so can I.”

  Liam walked to the larger staff and picked it up. Maybe Sian was wrong in saying that nobody else could touch it.

  He said, “Want to know how Sian became king? Darloom and Karina. Those are the two keys. I already have one, and now I’ll have the other.”

  “Good luck.”

  Liam laughed. “You jest, right? You make fun of me. The girl is mine. There’s no going back. The draught that awoke her gave me her heart.”

  Darian was surprised and disgusted. “A love potion?”

  “Don’t look at me like that. You owe your life to a love potion. And so does Cayla.”

  Darian rolled his eyes. “Right.”

  “But you do. So you see, it’s a good thing. Speaking of love, I think you owe me one. You know King Conrad’s threat? Want to guess who mangled his communication? So thanks to me, I guess, Lylah thought King Conrad would want to marry her daughter, and I’m assuming it’s thanks to me that you got engaged. See? At least you got a taste of glory before dying.”

  So that was where King Conrad’s fake communication had come from. Threatening Cayla had sounded over-the-top even for his brother.

  Liam continued, “I hope you enjoyed your taste. It’s my turn now, as I’ll have Darloom, the greatest source of power in Whyland, by my side.”

  He took the staff and hit one of the mirrors. It didn’t even crack. Darian was relieved because he knew that breaking the mirrors would open the Whyland portals and expose them. Liam kept hitting, though, and the mirror began to crack.

  “Liam, stop. You don’t want to do it. Darloom can’t be trusted. You’ll just destroy Whyland and maybe our entire dimension for nothing. You can’t have power or glory over ruins.”

  “I disagree. In theory, I should be dead because I’m touching this staff, and look at me. Sometimes we have to ignore fear mongering and reach for glory.”

  The mirror was broken into thousands of pieces, leaving only white wall behind it. There were four more to go. Darian still couldn’t move any part of his body. He felt powerless as Liam hit the second mirror. He wondered if he should call the others to try to stop him. Another mirror broke. Three to go.

  Darian yelled. “Matheo, Cayla, help! Come armed!”

  Liam laughed. “They can’t hear it. But nice try.”

  Darian still tried to argue. “You think all it takes is Darloom to be king? It doesn’t. My brother did it because he has connections in the army. He also had a great deal of luck.”

  “His connections allowed him to become king without violence. With an unstoppable army, you don’t need any of that. Plus I have the girl.”

  Another mirror cracked. Two to go.

  “You don’t. She doesn’t like you. Even if the potion takes effect, how can you live with someone and not know if they really like you?”

  “You think I care? Who would want that boring thing? I kissed her, I tried, and it was like kissing a dead body. What do you think your dear brother wanted?” Another mirror broke.

  Liam was on the last one. A silver thing came flying and hit his neck. Liam touched it and collapsed. Cayla ran in and put her hands over her mouth. “I killed him!”

  “You saved us. He was destroying the mirrors. Cayla, I’m poisoned, I need help. I can’t move.”

  She held his hand. “Darian?” She then picked the dart and rushed out of the room.

  He lay back, thankful that she was sensible and ran to get help instead of crying by his side or something stupid.

  Karina felt as if the floor beneath her cracked and she was falling in the gap. She sat up with a start. Georgia was beside her bed. Not her bed, Sian’s, in the Darloom castle. It made sense. Karina had teleported to this castle, and Georgia must have found her. Then she remembered Sian’s voice.

  “Is Sian here?”

  “He came in a few hours ago. How are you feeling?”

  She was bandaged, and her foot still hurt, but that wasn’t much. “Fine.”

  Cayla came running, with a dart in her hand. “Do you know poisons?” She was almost crying.

  Georgia got up. “Matheo knows. In the kitchen.”

  Cayla disappeared as fast as she’d come.

  Karina didn’t understand what Cayla was doing there, though. “What’s happening?”

  “I don’t know. He came with his brother.”

  Right. No. What were they doing together? “Why is she asking about poisons?”

  “I don’t know.”

  Karina got up. She had a horrible feeling that something dreadful was happening and she had to know what. As she left the room, Georgia didn’t follow her or say anything. On the fourth floor, she entered the purple room, where she found Darian lying on the floor and Liam also lying on the floor, unconscious, among shards of broken glass. Only one mirror remained. “What’s happening?”

  “A lot. How are you feeling?”

  “Weird. There’s something—” She noticed he was lying on the floor an didn’t sit up to talk to her. “Was it you who was poisoned?”

  “Yes. Liam did it. He tried to break the mirrors and open the portals. It would have destroyed Whyland. I think he’s dead. I’m sorry. Do you love him?”

  “Who?”

  “Liam.”

  Yuck. “No. Why are you asking me that?”

  “He… He gave you a love potion.”

  “Are these things even real?”

  Darian shrugged. “In theory, yes. They are forbidden, of course, and very dangerous. But it should have acted immediately. Maybe he was scammed.”

  Karina looked down, thinking. “I kissed him. Could it have been the potion?”

  “Maybe. It should have amplified whatever feelings you had for him.”

  “But I didn’t want it, though. It was horrible. I just did it because I thought it would help me forget…” She looked down, and then asked, “Where’s your brother?”

  Darian grimaced. Probably the poison.

  Karina said, “You’re poisoned. It's fine, you don’t have to talk.”

  He closed his eyes again in pain. “I can talk. Karina, when was the last time you saw my brother?”

  “At the Queen’s castle, before I teleported, I mean, tried to teleport home.”

  Darian sighed and closed his eyes. Karina had heard that sigh.

  He asked, “How did you return? From the dimension where you were kept?”

  There was something wrong in his voice, though, like a knot, and plus Karina realized it had been Darian’s voice she’d heard when she was taken out of the well. “Where’s Sian?”

  Darian paused.

  “Where’s your brother?” Karina insisted.

  “He went to rescue you.”

  Karina trembled. “What?”

  “He hasn’t returned.”

  “Why? Why? He can’t teleport back. He can’t teleport on his own. Why did you let him go?”

  “He’s convincing, Karina, and he… He thought it was his duty.”

  She walked towards one of the walls, the one from where she'd gone retrieve the staff. “I have to get him back.”

  “No. Please. Don’t. All he wanted
was to keep you safe. We’ll find a way, we’ll figure out something. Don’t go alone storming a dimension where you can’t do much. Please. Sian would hate that.”

  Tears ran down her eyes. Maybe Sian didn’t like her that much, maybe he’d tricked her, maybe he’d rejected her because of a kiss, but she didn’t want him to die. “But every second that passes—”

  “Please. He wanted you alive. That was all that mattered. It was his last wish.”

  Karina then remembered he last moments with those creatures, how one of them let her go, how there were pebbles falling. That was Sian. Why hadn’t he yelled to her? She felt a hollowness inside.

  Cayla and Matheo entered the room. He held the dart and turned to Darian. “Not your day today. This is a paralyzing poison, that's all.”

  “Are you sure?” There was a glimmer of hope in Darian’s eyes.

  “Yes,” Matheo replied, and then frowned when he looked at the end of the room. “That’s Liam.” He walked towards him and checked his pulse. “Dead.” He examined him. “It wasn’t the cut, though.”

  Shivers ran down Karina’s spine when she realized she was near a dead body. Plus, Liam was obnoxious, but she hadn't wanted him to die.

  Cayla approached him. “So the knife didn’t kill him?”

  “No,” Matheo answered. “I’ll take him away. And I’ll bring an antidote. Hang on.”

  They were silent for some time. Fear, anguish, and the weight of death clouded Karina's thoughts.

  Finally she spoke, “We can’t leave Sian there.”

  “We won’t,” Darian replied. “We’ll get advice in my city, and then we’ll go rescue him, but we’ll go with a plan.”

  That wasn’t good enough. “We’ll take a day flying back and forth, and it might not even make a difference.” The mirror was no longer there, and she had no idea what to do. “How did he go? How did he teleport?”

  Cayla pointed. “The wall. But don’t go, Karina, please. It was his choice.”

  Karina approached the wall and touched it, trying to remember the way she’d teleported before, but then someone tripped her, and she fell. It was Darian, who'd crawled towards her.

  “No. No way you’re going.” Darian was yelling in a very un-Darian way. “Yeah, my brother might die. I know it. He gave his life to save you, and I’m not going to let it be in vain.”

  Cayla ran towards Darian and touched his shoulder as if to calm him down. She looked at Karina and touched her shoulder as well. “He’s right.”

  Karina sat on the floor and crossed her arms. Crying was useless, but the tears had a will of their own and dripped regardless. “What do you plan to do? I assume you want to do something, right?”

  “The best we can do right now is get help and advice. In my city, they’ll be interested in protecting him, since he’s my mother’s son.”

  Karina tried to think. Maybe simply teleporting to Marisia would be stupid. She was indeed exhausted as if her use of magic had depleted her. Still, there had to be a way to bring Sian back, a way to save him. It wouldn’t be fair to leave him there, with no means to return. She had to come up with a solution. But what?

  34

  Sian

  Sian lay down in the thin space between the ground and the platform. He was literally in a tight spot. The creatures were no longer trying to get to him. They had probably gotten bored, and there was no point on trying to reach him with beaks and claws, when they could just wait. Eventually he would have to come out, unless he wanted to die of starvation there. No. Not a death he’d want.

  When Lylah had mentioned that heroes don’t live long, he wasn’t expecting his life to be that short. Hero. What had he done? Thrown pebbles? He’d never heard and would probably never hear any song about a hero throwing pebbles to save his beloved. Ex-beloved. Maybe she’d be happy with Liam—hoping he changed.

  Never mind. Actually, there were tons and tons of songs about heroes being betrayed by friends and women. Disgusting. How was it that he was belonging to that genre now? Put it away.

  Mistake after mistake after mistake, and here he was. On the upside, it wasn’t boring. Plus, he had reached his goal and become king, even if for a short while. Everything had lasted such a short while. What was he doing hiding then? He, Sian Keen, King of Whyland, was soaking wet, lying down and hiding? He’d lost almost everything, was he going to lose his dignity as well? Por dignity, had been battered and tested in the last few days. Yet, it was the only thing he had.

  Sian decided to come out and face the creatures. He walked from below the platform, and then to the shore of the river and raised his arms.

  “Come! I’m here!”

  He heard wings flapping and screeches. Six creatures made a circle around him. They had hair on their bodies, and if it wasn’t for the claws, their bodies would resemble monkeys. The eyes were gold and piercing. They hadn’t lunged for him straight, and this was a good sign. Could they understand him? In theory, he should be able to communicate in another dimension, but he didn’t know if these creatures could even talk.

  He tried. “If you want my blood, and if you want my death, I’m fine with it. But we can also work together. Darloom has taken your kingdom, hasn’t it? I might be able to help. Or something different. What is it you want? Blood? In my dimension, we eat the meat and don’t touch the blood. Maybe we can find common ground, cooperation. Do you have a ruler? Do you like your ruler? Maybe we can topple your ruler. Tell me what you want, and I’ll help you.”

  The creatures screeched. He should have known. If he could understand them, he would hear words, not screeches. They probably hadn’t understood him, but they were communicating with each other. The largest creature took flight, then dove and grabbed him from below his arms and took flight again. In seconds he was up in the sky, high above ground. He had no fear. The worst that could happen to him was death. Heroes don’t live long lives. At least he was fulfilling one criterion for hero, not that he even wanted to be one.

  All he wanted was his dignity. He thought about his brother then. Well, it was easy to love dead or almost dead people, so no wonder those had been his last words.

  They flew to a mountain range, and then to a huge cave, with stalagmites. There was a lake at the bottom, but they flew to an opening inside the cave. There, over pelts, sat a creature similar to the others, but larger. It was probably their leader. In front of it, over a platform, there was a sphere made of a purple semi-translucent stone. Sian was dropped on the floor and rolled so as not to get hurt. The creature screeched, and then Sian heard a voice from the stone.

  “Why no fear?”

  He wondered if it was Darloom, but there was something different about it. Sian smiled. “Nothing to lose.”

  “What about your life?” the stone asked after the creature screeched.

  Was that a sort of translator? Sian didn’t doubt anything anymore. He said, “It was never meant to be permanent.”

  “So you say you’d like to free us from Darloom. How noble. Would you like to do that, or is it just a story so that we don’t devour you?”

  Sian considered. As always, being honest was the best solution. “It’s both. Darloom has tricked me, and I don’t think being eaten alive is a comfortable death. Plus, I can’t teleport, I doubt anyone would come for me, and… since I’ll stick around, I’d rather do something useful.” He shrugged. “And make some friends.”

  He had never been picky about who his friends were and wasn’t about to change that, especially when he had no other choice.

  The leader creature screeched, and the stone spoke. “What about topping a ruler? How do you propose to do that?”

  Sian figured that it had been a poor idea to suggest that. “See, I don’t think good rulers should be deposed, ever. I was just wondering. Just in case, you know, if they didn’t like their ruler, I never meant offense to you, uh, your… Does your highness have a title?”

  Its screeches now sounded like laughter. “I’m not the ruler of this land. And
I happen to dislike our ruler. Can you fight?”

  “Very well—for a human at least.”

  The leader creature got up. Its wings were huge and somewhat majestic. It approached Sian, and then opened its beak and gave the loudest screech ever. Sian wondered if he was being shouted at, and waited for the stone translation, which, to his disappointment, didn’t come.

  The creature sat back down. It screeched, and the stone said, “No fear. Interesting, very interesting. Would you like to be our champion?”

  “Am I in a position to have a choice?”

  “No.”

  Sian raised his arms and pointed to himself. “I’m your champion, then. What do I have to do?”

  “Fight our king. And win.”

  Right. It was probably as large as that creature, with sharp claws and beak, but hey, perhaps Sian could be faster. Something else intrigued him. “What does fear have to do with it?”

  “Darloom feeds on fear.”

  “I thought it fed on your heart’s wishes.” Sian was thankful he no longer had any.

  “They are the same.”

  “What if someone is afraid to fight, how is that…”

  The creature screeched, and a voice came from the stone. “At that moment, your heart’s biggest desire would be to survive, and the fear would be for your life.”

  “I see.”

  Darian drank the antidote Matheo gave him. It was weird to trust his brother’s servants. Actually, now that he thought about it, the weirdest thing was the fact that his brother even had servants. He’d always imagined that Sian was hiding somewhere, alone, not that he had friends, contacts, and certainly not that he’d take the kingdom. He’d never again underestimate his brother, and he hoped he’d have tons of chances never to underestimate him. That thought put him at ease. They shouldn’t underestimate his brother in Marisia either.