by Ari Harper
“You seem very sure of yourself, Edrith.” Jasper walked toward her.
“Why wouldn’t I be? For 800 years I have had the upper hand. I fail to see why that would change now. This one” —she pointed her finger at me— “could hardly do more damage than the last few.”
“Let go of my son, Mother, now,” Dad ordered.
Edrith pinned her beady eyes on my father and laughed; her huge body rolled and heaved as she did. “Oh, Jack, you never change do you. Always wanting what you can’t have.” She moved closer to him, a sinister smile on her fat, ugly face. “Why should I let you have the little pest? Serial pest, wasn’t that it, Nera?” she said, smirking at me.
“You shouldn’t listen at keyholes, you old hag. You may hear something that you don’t want to,” I said, my mouth letting loose once again in an attempt to cover up one of my biggest mistakes.
“Ooh, what do we have here? Someone with a bit of spirit from your loins, Jack. Maybe you aren’t so useless after all.”
“Leave her out of it, Mother. You know it’s me you want. We may as well get this done with.” My father walked over to her.
“Actually, it’s not you I want at all, Jack. You no longer interest me. It’s him,” she said, indicating to the rooftop where Roman was being held.
“You can’t have him. I would die before I let you take another son of mine.”
“It’s not like you can stop me. Remember who made this curse. So I remember the conditions, and it will be her” —she pointed a fat, bejeweled finger at me—”who gets to try to stop me.”
She looked at me again, then burst out laughing, her arms around her obese body as she rumbled and spluttered, saliva dribbling down her chins as she got more excited by the prospect of winning.”Stop me? Ha ha ha. Not going to happen.”
Stay calm, Nera. Just stay calm. Bones looked at me.
I met his gaze, then turned away to watch Edrith once again.
“Bring the brat down,” she bellowed to the guys on the rooftop.
Dad screamed when they stepped off the roof with Roman between them. They glided down to stand unhurt before Edrith.
“Dad, help me,” Roman cried.
“Roman, come here to me.” Dad held his arms open to his son.
With a quick flick of her wrist, Edrith sent my father tumbling to the ground and away from her.
“Don’t touch. He’s mine now,” she screamed. “Mine. Do you hear me? You left me. You left me for that slip of a girl. You could have been so strong, Jack, but no, love came first. What a bunch of rubbish. Love. That never gets you anywhere. It’s power, Jack, power. You will never know what that is. You gave away your family and your heritage for nothing. That’s what you will always have, nothing.”
She turned and grabbed Roman by the hair and dragged him to where our father lay on the ground. “Impressive, isn’t it? Your father could have been one of the most powerful witches around and look at him now, reduced to a useless shell of a man and all for love.”
Calm, Nera, calm, Bones reminded me. And be ready.
Jasper, Bones, and I stood very still, watching and waiting for our chance to end it all.
Edrith pulled a jeweled dagger from her waistband and pointed it at Roman’s throat. The boy squirmed and squealed, but she held him fast, the point of the blade digging into his soft white skin.
“Do you want to watch this, Jack? It is so easy for me to take his life. Perhaps you would like to do it yourself. Redeem yourself in my eyes. Now there’s a thought, my son. You take his life, and I’ll give you back yours.” She held out the dagger toward my father.
“No, Dad. It’s not him,” I cried.
Dad stood up and looked at his mother. He slowly reached out his hand for the weapon. Bones tensed beside me, and I knew in that instant what my father planned. My heart clenched in my chest, and it was now or never. The cost was too great if I failed.
“If I kill him, Mother, you will lift the curse and let my remaining family live on?”
“Why, Jack, of course I will. If that is all you ask for. I always keep my word. You know that.” She leaned forward to hand him the dagger and looked back at me, her beady little eyes watching to see my reaction.
“Don’t do it, Dad. She’s lying.” I had one last chance to try to stop him and I had to take it.
“Honey, I love you all, but I have no choice.” Dad’s voice cracked with grief.
“Please don’t, Daddy,” I whispered and let my fear add to the buildup of power coursing through my body.
He took the dagger from his mother’s hand, turned to look at me, and whispered, “I’m so sorry.”
He raised the dagger above his chest. I gathered a surge of heat that had built up from the moment my grandmother had made herself known. I could feel it burn in my heart, in my veins, and under my skin. The air around me shimmered as my energy hovered in my body, blurring the image of my father holding the dagger in his hands. Deep from my soul, it grew. Stronger than anything I thought possible, I sent the energy rippling toward him, slamming into his body, crushing the life from him and shutting down his heart instantly.
“No, Dad, I’m sorry.” I ran to his side. He was already bitterly cold to my touch. I lay my head on his chest, wrapping my arms over him. I held him to me and sobbed with a grief I could not have imagined.
“How dare you,” Edrith screamed. “He was mine. Mine to deal with. You will pay for that, you meddling brat.”
I watched from the corner of my eye. Edrith’s face contorted in rage and her huge body shook with fury as she aimed her wrath at me. The blast of cold air that hit me sent me rolling me away from my father to land on my back. Winded and still shocked at what I had done, I lay still, struggling to breathe. My face was covered in a thin film of sweat, and my eyes were clouded with pain. I could hear her heavy breathing as she ambled closer to stand over me.
Come on, Nera. You can do it. Just breathe and build. Breathe and build. Bones’s voice broke through the pain. I stayed down on the ground where I was and waited for Edrith to attack again while I gathered my energy inside my body as Bones had shown me. I had learned quickly how to control myself until the last minute when it would be directed to the precise target of the attack.
My ugly grandmother leaned over me. Edrith laughed, and her fat jowls wobbled. “What did I tell you, Jasper? This one is no better than any of the others. Imagine your white magic ever hoping to better my style of power.” She snorted, obviously getting more excited at the thought that she was going to win so easily once again. “Now all I need to do is deal with you and the queen’s brat, Jasper.” Edrith looked over at Bones. “This slip of a girl will not be anything much to worry about. She’s almost burned out now.”
“Do you really think that I would give in to you so easily, Edrith, after all you have done,” Jasper approached her calmly.
“It’s not in your hands. Do I need to remind you who placed this curse? I did. I remember the rules. You can’t do anything to me. Only this one can.” I gasped and moaned in pain as she kicked me in the side, feigning injury. “And she is no longer capable of anything worthwhile.”
Edrith turned away from me and lumbered over to Jasper when the words rang in my head.
Now, Nera. Now.
Edrith had not expected anything from me. In her eyes, I was all but finished. Her guard was down, and she was walking toward Jasper, telling him how wonderful she. She was unprepared for what happened next.
I shot to my feet, ignoring the pain in my side, and faced my grandmother’s retreating back. My mind was set, and I knew that I had to hit her hard. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, centered my energy, and open my eyes wide. I held my hands out and uncurled my fingers, flexing them toward her. I could feel the heat radiating down my arms to my fingertips, and I sent a shot of energy that hit her in the back, lifting her off the ground and throwing her away toward the garden wall.
She screamed in rage, her face changing to a mottled purple, and I r
ealized that she was having trouble getting up. She had never been beaten by any of the other girls. Edrith was furious, and she was letting us know about it. She rolled her great bulk over, and with a certain amount of difficulty, she got to her feet and faced me.
“Nera, she’s all yours,” Bones called. “Jasper and I will take care of these guys.”
I watched Edrith as her face twisted and grimaced in anger and pain. She was going to pay for all she had done; I would make sure of it. My father would not die in vain. This I promised myself.
“How dare you. You will die for that.”
“No, it is you who will leave here today,” I yelled. “You will pay for my father’s life and the lives of all who have come before me. It is your time to bow out, Grandmother.”
The cold sting of steel across the back of my shoulders and down my back knocked the breath out of me. All I could see before me were stars. I sank to the cool grass gasping for breath with her voice ringing in my ears.
“What did I tell you? Useless like the last ones,” she cackled to herself from behind me.
I lay on my stomach, unable to move, and wondered what had happened. She was standing in front of me and then I went down. How was that possible? I knew the answer without trying to search for it. She had bettered me because I was once again cocky. The last couple of days had seen me achieve all I wanted to, and it had gone to my head again. My father lay dead on the lawn in front of me. Now I was unable to seek revenge because of my attitude. Who knew it would come to this and that it would be my fault?
The warmth of the blood running from my shoulder down my neck confused me. I hadn’t seen her sword, but the bite of the blade was real enough for me to know that I was badly injured, perhaps mortally so. I lay on the grass with the coppery smell of my blood in my nostrils. Hot, fiery pain shot from my ribcage up through my shoulder. Bones’s voice was close. I had trouble honing in on it. My eyelids felt like lead. I forced them open a crack and glimpsed the soft green of the lawn. Turning my head slightly, I saw her holding the sword at Jasper’s throat.
“What did I tell you, Jasper?” She chortled. “Another one down and out. I suppose you think it would be a relief if I slit your throat and let you join your wife, but I think it would serve me better if I let you live. After all, someone has to bury your dead. I think I will take the godling and finish him off, though. His death will be a slap in the face for that witch you call your queen. Call him out of hiding, or I will get the child and finish him off too.”
“Nera, your sword. Call it to you.”
I tried to laugh but I could barely make a sound. Right. Now I’m delusional.
“Nera, snap out of it. You can do this. I know you can.”
“I’m hurt.”
“I know, but you can do this. You have to otherwise she is going after Roman.”
“Help me.”
The thump of power that hit me in the left shoulder made me want to vomit. I gasped in pain as the tendons and muscles melded back together. The skin pulling back over the slash from her sword hurt more than when I was struck down. Sweat pooled on my forehead and then ran into my eyes, giving me less vision than I had a minute ago. I lifted my right arm and rubbed my fingers into my eye sockets and forced them open again.
Edrith was so intent on tormenting Jasper that she ignored me completely. I struggled to pull myself into a sitting position and tested out my shoulder. It was sore and very stiff, but the blood no longer ran down my arm. From the corner of my eyes, I could see movement in through the kitchen door. I struggling to my feet and stood with my hands out to try to counterbalance the sway that made my head spin. When I felt more stable I lifted my hand toward the door and called for the longsword Bones held just out of sight.
The loud thwack that sounded when the metal hit my open palm made Edrith turn back toward me. The look on her face was almost comical; her mouth opened and closed like a stranded fish. She screamed in rage and headed my way. I was surprised at how quickly she could move when she was angry.
My father’s body lay where he had fallen, and Jasper leaned against the stone wall. He dabbed at a red line on his throat with a handkerchief, looking somewhat paler than normal. I had come so close to losing him, and that made me feel ill. My father’s death was not something I could have avoided, but with Jasper, it was different. I had only myself to blame for the way in which I had taken on the learning of my new craft. If I had listened more to Bones, I would have been better prepared and not so cocky. It was my behavior that had put Jasper’s life in danger. I was not going to lose him too, not now.
I flexed my shoulder, working the taught muscles, and kept an eye on Edrith. She muttered incoherently at me, the spittle flying from her lips. The sword that inflicted the damage to my left shoulder hung limply from her hand, shorter than my longsword and therefore not as versatile in a fight with me. If I could engage her to use the weapon instead of magic, the odds were in my favor.
Taking the stance I had been taught, I lifted my sword and pointed it at her. She glared at me and flicked her blade up toward my face and then lunged at me. I parried and thrust, trying to knock her sword from her hands, but she was good despite her bulk. We danced around the garden, each trying to disarm the other.
It was luck that had me forcing her closer to the wall before she realized what was happening. She was so intent on taunting me with foul language and threats that she was not keeping an eye on where she was headed. A look of shock filled her face when she could no longer step back.
Holding my longsword close to her body, I decided what I was going to do. I didn’t need time to build my energy any longer. It was still at the surface, boiling steadily. The death of my father and Jasper’s close call had given me the incentive I needed to finish this.
I imagined my grandmother, standing in the dark alone. She could see nothing, hear nothing, and touch nothing. Her body was wracked with pain, and she could not get her breath. Fury shined in her eyes when she understood her world as she knew it was falling away from her, and she screamed in uncontrollable rage. I gave her everything I had. It took all the energy I could muster together to bring the winds rushing in around her. The old witch struggled to keep her feet as the storm raged. She was unable to fight back. She stumbled, and I watched her struggle to stay on her feet. Any feeling I may have had with regard to my magic bringing pain and hurt to another was long lost after I killed my father.
To take the life of Edrith felt too easy. I could see Jasper and Bones in my peripheral vision. They had taken care of the others and were standing by, watching me.
I held her in place and started to say the spell that would finally break the curse. I repeated the words Bones had taught me over and over in my mind, sending Edrith to another place for eternity. The explosion threw me to the ground; the aftershocks rumbled through my body. I lay on the grass, exhausted and saddened beyond belief.
I stayed still until Jasper touched my shoulder and spoke to me. “Girl dear, can I help you get up?”
Bones came over to help him lift me to my feet. I was a mess. My hair was full of rock dust, and I felt the grit in my eyes and on my face. I looked down at my arms. They were covered in scratches and bruises from the battle with my grandmother. Blood stained my sleeves; the shoulder of my shirt was cut from the sword wound. But nothing was as bad as the heaviness in my heart as I gazed over to where my father lay with Hugo curled on the grass beside him keeping guard.
I looked around us. The beautiful kitchen garden was ruined. It looked like a bulldozer had been through the place. Rocks lay exposed over the crisp green grass and the smell of putrid lava hung in the evening air.
I hurried to my father’s body, unable to believe what I had done. I keened low and long draped over his chest. Bones came and sat beside me, his hand on my back trying to take some of my grief into his own body. I could not let it go. It was my fault and therefore my burden to bear.
“Bones,” Jasper said, approaching us. “Can yo
u lift the protection on Roman so I can bring them outside please?”
“No, not yet.” I sniffed and rubbed the tears from my eyes. I pulled myself up into a sitting position but I kept my hands still on my father.
“I don’t want Roman to see him like this. Help me get him inside into the library.” I wanted to farewell the most important man in my life somewhere that was special to both of us.
Bones bent down and lifted my father’s body in his arms, and with my hand on my him, we walked inside the house toward the library. He gently placed him on the couch beside the fireplace. Bones took my father’s hands and placed them across his chest, then he knelt down before him with his head bowed. Jasper and I watched Bones pay homage to his friend and fellow soldier. When he stood, the tears were running down his face. He bowed his head at me and moved to one side.
Jasper kneeled in front of his son-in-law. With his head bent and his eyes closed, he took a moment to farewell my father. . He kissed Dad’s forehead before he stood and moved away to make room for me to say good-bye to my father.
I sat on the floor with my head on his chest, my eyes closed and said not a word. I knew that Jasper and Bones were at a loss of what to do for me. Bones could not see what was going through my mind; I was blocking everything out, including him.
Jasper was just as heartbroken. I realized once I knew the full story that Dad had been like a son to him for 800 years. If he knew of another way to end Edrith’s rule, I’m positive he would have taken it. The last thing any of us had wanted was for Dad to lose in this battle.
The sky outside was turning dark, and the clouds rumbled. No one took any notice when lightning struck. It was a normal part of the storms that hit this part of Eastern Ireland on any given day. Cold swished around the room with the smell of fresh air.
Bones turned to the window. “Mother, you came.”
“Yes, my son. I said that I would. Nera, child, come here,” she beckoned, holding her hands out to me.