by Rain Oxford
“Sorry, you should have told me that before I did it.”
“I did tell you that! Five times, in fact.”
“Oh, right. But you told me all five times after I did it.”
Livia laughed. “You remind me of your father sometimes.”
“Now that I don’t believe. My father wouldn’t screw anything up.”
“Kille wasn’t always a father. He was a boy once, and an ornery one at that. My sister wasn’t. She was always the most ambitious and stubborn woman on this world. Anyway, now is not the time. If you need to talk to me, this mirror can connect to mine,” she said.
“Will you transport us to the nearest person?”
“I can’t. I was given a warning, but I can’t say from whom at this time. If anyone with Dracre blood is transported anywhere, even by someone else’s magic, Ilvera can pull them to her and temporarily incapacitate them.”
“But Dessa didn’t tell us that!”
“Even the best seer cannot always see everything.”
“Magnus transported Merlin and me here.”
“Then we’re very fortunate she didn’t take you when she had the chance. Perhaps she was distracted. Also, you should hide your identity. Dessa said Ilvera is after all of us, but I know she’s not going to let you slip by. Unfortunately, I have no idea how she’s going to go about finding you and the others.”
“But why would she be after me? I have light magic.”
“Even if she can’t get any dark magic from you, she’ll kill you just for turning on her, especially if she finds out that you break curses now.”
I wanted to complain about that, but there wasn’t any point. Someone came to the castle almost every day to have a curse broken and I got more than enough requests to go to them. I liked doing it and I knew word would have gotten back to my mother eventually… I just hoped there weren’t any drawings in Akadema so that she wouldn’t know it was me.
Then again, I probably should have used a fake name.
“Here, use this,” she waved her wand and the door opened. A robe floated in, white as snow, until it stopped in front of me. “Your Dracre robe is too distinctive.”
“I don’t want to.”
“I know you don’t, but it would be worse for you to get caught. It has a face mask attached if you need it.”
“I can just hide my robe.”
“There are bandits out there who would love to steal your things and it’s colder up north. Take this and leave your robe. In fact, you should leave behind everything you don’t need.” She reached out as if to take my staff, but I grabbed it first.
“Mine.”
“It’s an imposition when your wand will---”
“I’m not leaving it behind. I’ll leave the robe for now, but I’m not leaving my wand or staff. If nothing else, my staff has my galaxy stone fused into it and I’m still trying to find someone who can tell me more about it.” I took off my robe, folded it up, set it on the table, and put on the white one. “This is weird. White isn’t my color.” As I took my wand out of my pants pocket and put it in the robe pocket, bright blue light flashed and changed the robe to pink. I groaned. “At least that’s better than white.”
“You shouldn’t be wasting your energy like that.”
“I didn’t do it, my wand did using my stored up magic.” I picked up my staff again, just in case Livia made another grab for it, and my magic shot through me automatically. This time, my robe changed to dark blue with almost imperceptible sparkles, which matched my dragon’s eye crystal in the staff. “That’s better. Thank you, staff.” I sat back down. “Now, how do I get to these people with the ocean in the way? Is there a spell you can teach me?”
“Unfortunately, the sea is not my forte. I know one way, but you’re not going to like it. I can conjure a small boat that will take you wherever you need to go. You just tell it the location.” She waved her wand at the table and a tiny boat appeared.
“Um… that might be a little too small for Merlin and me to fit in.” I was really good in transformation, but she was amazing at conjuring things. Still, I found this boat a little lacking, as it could fit in my hand.
She sighed. “It will grow when you put it in the water. Once you reach land, however, you must pull the boat out of the water and wait for it to dry. When it is completely dry, it will shrink enough for you to put it in your pocket. You mustn’t leave it behind or someone would surely steal it.”
“Please tell me this is a joke. There is no such magic,” Merlin insisted.
“There isn’t? You’ve seen houses that are bigger on the inside. Why is it strange to use a growing and shrinking boat?”
“I assure you, it’s real,” she said.
Merlin grumbled something sarcastically, but since he did it with his wolf mouth, I couldn’t make it out.
“This should help.” She waved her wand and a long, wide, green strip of cloth appeared on the table. I slipped it and the boat in my bag. “You should stay the night. There isn’t much you can do in the dark.”
“No offense, but you did lock me up last time.”
“Please, Ayden?” Sonya asked, appearing beside me.
“It might be the last chance you have to sleep in a bed until we return,” Merlin said.
“Can we spare the time?”
“Traveling by foot at night can be dangerous, and the open sea is even worse. I would rather we risk time than our lives.”
That made perfect sense to me. “Okay.”
* * *
Fortunately, Sonya showed me to a room that I hadn’t been previously held captive in. Merlin was given a room next to mine. Like all the other rooms, it was mostly white with gold accents.
Sonya and I stayed up chatting long enough to hear Merlin howl. We were both sitting on my bed and the window was open. From the sound of it, Merlin’s was as well. “Why is he doing that?” Sonya asked.
“He misses the woman he loves. He thought she betrayed him but when he saw her again, he discovered otherwise. He wants to break the curse so he can be with her again. Since we got back from his world, he hasn’t been nearly as talkative as he used to be.”
“Wouldn’t it be easier to erase his memory of her?”
“I asked him, but he said something about it being better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.”
“Well, that doesn’t sound true at all.”
“It doesn’t, but Merlin knows more than us, so I’ve learned to go with it. Besides, I’m starting to find it peaceful. It doesn’t sound so lonely after a while.”
She fiddled with her fingers, which was odd considering she was a ghost, but she did it a lot. “Before Veronica killed me, Mother used to sing a song. She never told me what it was about. I told her many times to stop because it was so sad, but she said it comforted her. When you brought my memories back, it was the very first thing I remembered, and in that instant, I understood what it was about. My mother lost her first daughter to dark magic. No matter what anyone did, Veronica was still her child and my sister. Since I came back, I’ve asked Mother to sing it, because now it comforts me. I still don’t know why.”
Soon, she left and I fell asleep to Merlin’s howling.
* * *
When I woke, there was a plate of food on the table next to me. I ate quickly, for anxiety prevented me from enjoying it. I had dreams all night of my mother catching me and torturing me for not being a good enough sorcerer.
I went downstairs and found Merlin outside, watching the tide. Deciding to leave him to enjoy his peaceful moment, I searched for Livia and Sonya, who I found in Livia’s study. They were discussing literature. If I had even a moment to spare, I would have joined in. Instead, I sat down.
“What if someone like my mother got the mirror?”
“Only one of us can use magic to find another one of us, because we are all connected. Have you tried it yet?”
I shook my head just as Merlin joined us. I took the small mirror out of my
bag and pulled my wand out of my pocket. “Show me Mason Minof,” I said, pressing the tip of the wand to the mirror.
My magic flowed into the glass, which immediately rippled like a stone dropping into a lake. A small ache throbbed in my chest, but I ignored it and it went away after a moment. When the mirror surface stilled, a face appeared. He was about sixteen, with dark red hair and dark green eyes.
“Show me how to find him.” The face disappeared and the mirror became a map with a red line. At the northernmost point of Mokora, the land Magnus lived on, there was a circled spot. The Island of Light, where Livia’s castle was, was right off the west shore of the southernmost part of Mokora. If we didn’t stop for anything but sleep, it was about a seven day walk by land. For Merlin’s sake, I wouldn’t even suggest using the boat beyond getting returning to Mokora.
Once I said goodbye to her and Sonya, Merlin and I went back outside and I pulled the ship from my bag. “We’ll just go as far as Red Rock. Is this okay?”
“I will manage.”
I wished I was a mage so I could make a seasickness remedy. I set the boat at the very edge of the water and stepped back. A small wave crashed over it, but before it could pull the boat in, the tiny ship expanded into a wooden boat just large enough for Merlin and me to sit in.
“That looks about as safe as running through a straw house with a torch.” He got in and I pushed it off the sand.
Once it was floating, I jumped in. “Take us to Red Rock.”
As if someone was paddling, the boat turned and started sailing towards Red Rock. Although every rock of the boat made Merlin a little sicker, he didn’t complain. He did lean his head over the edge and whimper, though. Soon, we reached land. I got out and pulled the boat out of the water. With the cloth Livia had given me, I started drying the boat while he figured out which way was up.
I couldn’t get every drop of water, so we had to wait a while for the breeze to dry it the rest of the way. When it did, the boat shrunk just like Livia had said it would. Merlin and I headed back through town. Nobody gave us more than a quick glance this time, except for one magical beast I already knew, who was standing in the middle of the road. “Kirin!” I rushed forth to hug the unicorn and he bobbed his head, almost stabbing me on accident. That was when I noticed he was saddled. “Are you helping us again?”
The unicorn nodded and stomped his left front hoof. I put my bag, wand, and mirror in the saddlebag and hooked my staff in a leather ring specifically on the saddle that was designed for it before mounting him carefully. I highly doubted anyone had tried to ride him since the last time he helped me.
“Head north,” I said.
The unicorn nodded and started galloping so suddenly that I almost lost my grip. I’d forgotten how fast he was, and he wasn’t even running as fast as he could. He dodged the pedestrians so seamlessly that it could only have been magic. Surprisingly, Merlin kept up easily. We were out of town soon and we didn’t slow down until it was night.
“Kirin, I think we should stop for the night!” I didn’t think he could hear me over the pounding of hooves on the ground, but after a moment, he started slowing down. When the unicorn finally stopped, Merlin was breathing heavily. Kirin wasn’t. I thought I was fine, so I hopped down easily, only to collapse.
“Are you hurt?” Merlin asked.
“I’m fine. I just hadn’t realized my legs were asleep… all the way up to my neck.”
Merlin laughed. “We should get out of the open. Can you stand?”
I nodded, but my legs were starting to tingle painfully and my butt was completely numb. He nudged his head against my shoulder so I put my arms around him and let him pull me up. Once I was on my feet, I was able to walk on my own. We went into the forest and found a nice spot to sleep for the night.
Merlin went to hunt down his dinner, Kirin ate grass, and I made a fire. Mokora was quite a lot cooler than Akadema, and summer was over, so it was a chilly night. By the time Merlin returned, I was eating bread I had transformed from clay. Merlin and I sat in comfortable silence for a while. We usually talked about magic or other worlds he had visited. It actually felt good to be out again, as staying in the castle for a month made me feel like a wizard. I didn’t like being in danger, but I enjoyed helping my aunt, Merlin, and the people who came to me to break their curses.
Although I was a sorcerer by blood, I didn’t accept money in exchange for breaking curses. For one reason, I very rarely needed money, whereas most of the people who came to me did. Some of them had plenty of money, but they were wrongfully or accidentally cursed. I assured Merlin I would require at least a small fee from anyone who came to me that had deserved the curse.
After a while, we went to bed. I had trouble sleeping, though, because I was worried about my mother. Just as I was about to fall asleep, I heard Merlin get up and walk away, almost out of sight. Before I could ask him what was wrong, he howled quietly.
* * *
One of my earliest memories was from when I was about three or four years old. I was running from Zeustrum and Bevras and decided to hide in the basement, where Mother had forbidden us from ever going. I was so young and naïve that I thought there couldn’t possibly be anything down there that was worse than whatever my brothers were going to do to me.
I shut the door and made my way down the stairs in pitch blackness until one of the steps broke and I fell. It couldn’t have been more than a few steps from the bottom because although it hurt and I got a number of splinters, none of my bones were broken. Then I heard a loud hissing sound a moment before a something slithered around me.
For some reason, I grabbed hold of it instead of screaming my head off like a sensible child. Even at that early age, I recognized the smooth, scaly skin. Candles flickered to life behind me, but I didn’t dare turn to look, because I was face to face with a massive black cobra. Its body was thicker around than mine and from what I could see in the dim light, it could wrap around the cabin at least once.
In my mind, it still wasn’t as bad as what my brothers wanted to do to me.
I was confused even then when instead of eating me, the snake retreated into the dark and seemed to vanish. As large as it was, I was probably too small to bother with. I stood up and tried to brush myself off. Behind me was an old wooden desk covered in scrolls and books. Two fat candles burned, each half melted on the desk from previous use. Two walls of the basement were lined with bookshelves, although they weren’t covered with books alone. Potions, strange ingredients, and odd utensils were also cluttered on the shelves. This was a magic room that my mother didn’t want my brothers and me to know about.
Under the stairs were large crates, so I decided to snoop, expecting them to be full of more magic stuff. The first crate took all my strength and a lot of work to open. Inside, I found a small wooden box full of letters, a bunch of books, and a red velvet robe. Since I couldn’t read, I pulled out the robe. It was very similarly made to the Dracre robe and even had gold accents, except the emblem was different.
I felt someone behind me and turned to see my father. Despite the fact that I had seen him angry and he was far more powerful than my brothers, I sighed with relief that it was him. After all, he didn’t look angry with me. “What is this?”
“That is the Rynorm robe.” He leaned over me and turned it so that I could see the gold emblem. “This is the Rynorm symbol.”
“I like it. Can I wear it someday?”
I would have gotten in a lot of trouble for asking my mother such a thing, but my father’s calm expression didn’t change. “No; you’re going to get a green Dracre robe.”
“But I like the red one.”
“You’re still a Dracre. These robes are a part of your identity and they’re not interchangeable. It’s why I will never wear a Dracre robe and your mother will never wear a different one.”
“Can’t I choose which one I want to wear?”
“No. You cannot choose who you are, you can only accept it.”
Chapter 3
I woke to the sensation of being watched. Merlin was sitting next to me, staring intently into the trees. The fire had long since died out. “Did you sleep at all?” I asked.
“I did for a few hours.”
“Is there something out there?”
“Not something threatening. Mostly night hunters who have so far judged us to be too much trouble. Still, we should go.”
I buried my face in the warm fabric of my robe, only to remember it wasn’t my robe. The material was just as soft, and a little thicker, but it didn’t feel the same. “No. The sun’s not even up.” Before I could even try to go back to sleep, Merlin sank his teeth into the robe and yanked it away. “Cold!” I scrambled to my feet and took it back.
“When I was your age, I had to walk up and down a mountain twice a day, in the snow, without a coat, barefoot… and it was uphill both ways.”
“How was it uphill when you were going down the mountain?”
“Eat some breakfast.”
I hadn’t really expected Merlin to answer me. “I’m not hungry.” I didn’t have any appetite, especially not for bread. Apparently, Merlin understood, as he didn’t push. Kirin neighed nervously, so I put my robe on and mounted the unicorn.
Taking mercy on me, the unicorn trotted slowly. Instead of getting back on the cleared road, we trudged through the forest.
* * *
We traveled until the sun was high in the sky. “We need to stop for water,” Merlin said. I patted Kirin’s neck and he slowed down. When Merlin made a slight detour, Kirin followed and we quickly came upon a creek. The unicorn didn’t even wait for me to get down before he started drinking.
I hopped down and got the wineskin to refill. Afterwards, I realized I was pretty hungry, so I transformed some clay into bread. Once again, I felt a small sting in my chest, but the rest of my body was sore as well, so I didn’t worry about it.
Everything was fine until I sensed something watching us again. Merlin looked up and growled. I swallowed the last of my bread, stuck the full wineskin back in the saddlebag, and grabbed my staff. “What’s there?”