The Five-Petal Knot (The Witching World Book 2)

by Lucia Ashta

  Mordecai smiled. “That’s my good girl,” he said, and Sylvia transformed again. She made cooing noises, happy at her master’s compliment, and settled back down into her napping position, which I now realized to be anything but. Only one eyelid drooped closed this time. She kept the other one watchful.

  “What happens if the enemy manages to enter the castle?” Marcelo asked.

  “If that happens, Marcelo, then we’ll most likely be dead, or worse, prisoners. And then the castle will have to defend itself. Finally all of its maddening defensive strategies will serve to our advantage. No one unfamiliar with the castle will be able to walk through it without succumbing to one of its awful traps,” Albacus said.

  “We must make our stand at the gates and hope we can defeat the enemy there without any loss to life,” Mordecai said.

  “Or to spirit,” Albacus added with sudden sadness in his voice.

  “Sir Lancelot?” Mordecai said, and the pygmy owl flew over to rest on the magician’s shoulder. The beads in Mordecai’s hair rustled as he turned to look at the bird with a personality disproportionate to his size. “Will you be our messenger so that we can focus our energy on things other than communicating between one another?”

  “It would be an honor to serve you, Milord,” Sir Lancelot said. He puffed his chest out.

  “Thank you,” Mordecai said. “We’re grateful for your contributions.”

  “So Sylvia will be on the roof, Sir Lancelot will be our messenger, and we’ll be defending the gate. What of the roles of the soldiers in particular?” Marcelo asked.

  There was a brief pause while the brothers raced through the possibilities, weighing the creatures’ abilities.

  “I think we should use Janice and the worms as the first line of attack,” Mordecai said.

  “I agree,” Albacus said, and I wondered who Janice was. “Janice could approach the enemy. The worms could follow her; they look inoffensive enough.”

  “And then?” Marcelo asked.

  “If Janice and the worms can get within their ranks, then it’s possible they could take the enemy out entirely,” Mordecai said.

  “Janice is that powerful?” Marcelo said.

  “Yes,” the brothers said in unison. Albacus continued, “We’re lucky she chooses to fight with us and not against us.”

  “And whatever damage Janice doesn’t do, the worms will,” Mordecai added.

  I listened in awe, amazed to learn of this hidden potential.

  “Our next line of defense should be a combination of Rondel and his clones, followed by the dwarves, the rabbits, and the wolves. The gargoyles can fly above the courtyard, defending the access to the castle itself.” Albacus nodded agreement to his brother’s plan. “And perhaps we should perch the elves within the castle on the second floor. They can use the archers’ slits to fire upon the approaching enemy.”

  “Yes,” Albacus affirmed. “I think that’s wise.”

  “Does it all make sense to you as well, Marcelo?” Mordecai asked. It was a gesture of respect to the magician that had become like a son to him.

  “Yes. I don’t know that there’s anything more we can do to prepare with the resources we have,” Marcelo said.

  “That’s all we have to draw upon at such short notice and without knowing who our enemy is or why it attacks us. Robert can stand with us in the courtyard and help direct the troops when we’re otherwise distracted,” Albacus said.

  The silence that followed was heavy and filled with resignation. I broke it. “And what of me?” I asked. They’d given every magical creature except for me a role in this battle.

  Marcelo looked at me. His deep blue eyes were endless pools, welling with worry and resolve. But he wasn’t the one to answer my question.

  “None of us knows what you’re capable of, not even you. We’ll protect you to our last breaths if we need to. You may be the key to it all. We can’t possibly define what your role might be. You’ve done nothing but surprise us since you first entered Irele,” Mordecai said.

  “Now,” he continued gently, “you must ignore what we’re doing and focus on discovering your abilities. We may need them desperately before the night’s over.”

  I nodded slowly.

  Marcelo pushed my chair back from the table and reached for my hands, helping me up. He kissed me; it was a gentle touching of his lips upon mine, but it was enough to waken my senses. “Go over to the fire. Focus on identifying your strengths. That’s how you can best help us.” He let go of my hands with a flash of regret but nudged me along.

  As I walked toward the fire, the magicians moved on. We’d already used up a quarter of the hour that remained before the enemy would arrive.

  “Marcelo, will you please tell the soldiers what their part is while we work on cloning Rondel?” Albacus asked.

  “Yes, of course,” Marcelo said.

  Then Albacus yelled out, “Robert!”

  I pictured the army and its infinite possibilities for distraction soon arriving. I did what I could to summon my focus.

  Now that I fully understood how much everyone and everything at Irele depended on me to fulfill my role, I tried to force myself to ignore interruptions and use the three quarters of an hour left to me wisely.

  I sat on the ledge of the hearth and looked at its flickering flames. I could always count on the fire’s hypnotic nature to carry me to another place far away from the one that surrounded me. Soon, I wouldn’t even notice the entourage of misfits that shared the room with me.

  Chapter 40

  I didn’t have a plan. My understanding of my powers was too limited to have one. Instead, I did what I’d been doing a lot since Marcelo came into my life. I allowed whatever was meant to be to carry me along with it.

  Within the flames, I discovered more than fire. I found all of myself contained within the flames that danced mesmerizingly, pulling me deeper within.

  I felt the energy of the fire, its heat and its power, and found the other four elements dancing with it too. In a carefully struck balance of oppositions, all the elements, including the fifth, existed within any speck of life, just as they’d existed within me all along, long before I discovered them.

  I extended my hand into the fire. It was a movement not preceded by thought, because none was needed in the space I was in. As my hand was made up of the five elements, just as the fire was, it wouldn’t burn me. I’d simply become a part of it.

  And I did. The flames felt as comfortable to me as did air, earth, and water.

  Even without looking around, I was certain no one observed me. The other magicians were too consumed with the affairs of our defense to concern themselves with me. In this relative privacy, within the bustle that surrounded me, I was able to do what I hadn’t before: I let fear go.

  It wasn’t all the fear I held, but it was an important step. I let go of my fear of the judgment of others. Who and what I was becoming was my concern alone. I accepted that I was a witch, and I felt the power within me swell.

  I released the fear of compliance. I wouldn’t subject myself to others’ desires for me ever again. I was my own person, not a pawn, and I’d act accordingly. My witch’s power settled within me more comfortably. I wouldn’t need to relinquish it to fit within society.

  As my arm swam in the orange of flame, I released my fear that I wouldn’t be powerful enough. That concern seemed foolish now. My power simmered within me, growing stronger with each breath.

  I gave up my fear that my power, once discovered, would be taken from me. The flames licked at and claimed that fear greedily; they’d stand for none of it. Once I claimed my power, no one could take it from me. It was mine alone to claim.

  It was mine alone to wield. And it always would be.

  With one final glazed-eye look, I let one last fear flow from my knotted heart. It radiated to my right shoulder, down my arm, and along my hand into the fire. It was the fear of love. Or rather, it was a fear of its absence, of the void which lack of love le
ft pulsing within the center of any being’s heart.

  Now I knew what I hadn’t known before. With or without the love of my fiancé and Gertrude, I would know love.

  True love was love for the self; it was acceptance and appreciation of the self. No other love, whether amorous or platonic, could substitute for it. It was only that love of self that would fill the void and give the heart sustenance.

  In accepting myself for the witch that I was, I’d inadvertently discovered self-love. In appreciating who I’d always been and knowing I could be who I desired to be, I’d filled my heart.

  And in my heart thrummed the power of the five elements, united with me as one.

  Suddenly, I realized there was nothing I couldn’t do. Not truly. Not in this world or any world that vibrated with the latent power of the five elements, and that was every world I was aware of.

  I flipped my hand over in the flames so that the palm of my right hand faced upward. It was ready to receive, so it did.

  A miniature replica of the real life scene came to life within my hand. A battalion of monstrous elephants, with hide as dark as a moonless night sky, marched toward us. But that wasn’t what provoked a shudder of dreaded anticipation. Atop two of the three leading elephants were versions of Marcelo. One was older, with hair that had grayed along the temples, contrasting against hair so dark that it blended into the surrounding night.

  Still, the man was unmistakably a variant of Marcelo. The long, straight nose, the blue eyes, and the full lips were the same, although the man’s lips were almost unrecognizable, twisted with hatred.

  The young form of Marcelo was the same I’d seen before, and the vision was no less dire this time. The young and old versions of Marcelo resembled each other more closely than they did the Marcelo I’d grown to love.

  Regardless, there was no denying they were the same man. My shoulders hunched involuntarily at the weight of the connection between my fiancé and the men that marched amid twisting flame.

  Another man rode next to the two Marcelos, but I could neither see him clearly nor what rode behind the herd of black elephants before the apparition started to fade. Once it began to disappear, it did so quickly. No matter how much I tried to hold onto it, my grasp proved tenuous and slippery.

  It threatened to vanish completely when I glimpsed one last thing. The young Marcelo pointed up ahead. My vantage point shifted to see what he signaled.

  Despite the dimness of the light, I could make out what the Marcelos saw. There, under a moon shadowed by clouds, stood a fortress, magnificent as it perched upon the highest point of a mountain. The fortress stood, dark and all alone, on the peak.

  My view reverted to the young Marcelo and his febrile, vengeful eyes. Then I lost my grasp on it all together. Like the mist of clouds, the men and their elephants evaporated while the young Marcelo mouthed the word “Irele.”

  Chapter 41

  I willed my focus to pull away from the fire. It was difficult to break from the draw of the flames, so beautiful and bright. But it was essential that I do so.

  I didn’t realize half an hour had elapsed since I first stared into it and that our enemy had cheated us of the last quarter of an hour.

  I needed to warn the others immediately.

  I spoke from my seat at the hearth.

  “They’re here.”

  Although I didn’t raise my voice to overcome the cacophony of noise that rang through the study, everything quieted after I spoke. My newly claimed power vibrated, commanding attention.

  “They approach from the east, and we’re already in their sights. They’ll be upon us as quickly as their elephants can travel.”

  The entire entourage that made up Irele’s army looked at me strangely. I assumed it was what I’d said, until I followed Marcelo’s pointed stare down my arm and into the fire where my hand remained.

  With the greatest assertion of power yet, I left my hand in the flames. I wouldn’t shy away from my power in this moment, nor would I concern myself with what any creature thought of it. I couldn’t afford to, nor could any of them.

  “A young and an old version of Marcelo ride in front, leading the army.”

  Now all heads swiveled toward Marcelo.

  With great heaviness, he said, “We’ll discover what this means soon enough.” Then, with a stalwart posture and resolve, he yelled out, “To your stations! We have a castle and its magic to defend.”

  The clanging of metal sounded loudly, reverberating across the room, as they all gathered and positioned their weapons.

  Robert led a long line of creatures out the door under Sylvia’s watch. Even the Rondels and the gargoyles followed.

  I locked eyes with Marcelo and reached into my miniature pocket. It was the best way to show my faith in him. I slipped his ring—with its magical dragon and serpent of knowledge already throbbing against my skin—onto my ring finger.

  I witnessed something bright flash across his eyes. Then it was gone.

  He walked to the table where our dishes lay like remnants of pillage, and he took up a sword. He sheathed it within the scabbard that hung from his belt.

  He walked toward me and toward the fire.

  We both burned brightly with the power of unseen magic.

  Chapter 42

  By the time Marcelo and I reached the courtyard, Irele’s army was gathered there, prepared for whatever might climb the mountain. The soldiers looked equally fierce despite their varied forms. I was relieved they were on our side and not opposing us.

  The blonde girl in the blue dress stood at the front. It was apparent now that she was the only possibility for a Janice, even though everything about her demeanor contradicted such a conclusion. The brothers had deemed this inoffensive-looking girl their best first line of attack. I wondered what she was capable of, even as I wasn’t sure I wanted to find out.

  Following the brothers’ plan, the worms formed a line directly behind Janice. The rest of the creatures were free to choose their own places behind the worms. Rondel and his cloned brothers stood like the stones they were partially composed of, towering over the worms they were mindful not to crush.

  To my amazement, next came the wolves and the rabbits. Though they weren’t intermingled, they’d come together side by side to vanquish the threat that approached. The wolf pack stood to the left of the courtyard, the hair already standing on end all across their backs.

  The rabbits stood on their hind legs, occupying the right side of the courtyard. Their posturing allowed them to walk on two legs, but that was where their similarities with humans ended. Covered in fur and animal smell, they directed their vicious aggression toward a still invisible force behind the gate.

  The dwarves brought up the rear. While I observed their ranks, a dwarf began to swing his battle-ax along his side. Then he let loose a wild peal that I knew must be a war cry. I’d never heard one before, and I had to steady my impulse to recoil from its guttural and aggressive nature. But the other dwarves enjoyed it, and they rallied in response. Every other dwarf swung his or her battle-ax now, and they whooped and hollered until the wolves and rabbits joined in with howls and grunts.

  Janice remained composed, twirling her flower, just as silent as the elves. The elves had taken up their positions behind slits carved out of the stone walls with one single purpose: to allow archers to fire upon any enemy while being shielded from retaliation. Well-placed arrows could wipe out a whole army with enough time and opportunity. The elves were confident in their abilities and their aim, and they held their positions quietly. Surprise was an advantage in battle.

  The brothers arrived in the courtyard moments before Marcelo and me, and they immediately made their way over to the only entrance into the castle grounds: the large, forbidding gate. I remembered how heavy the gate was with its full-length timber and how much effort it took the brothers to open it when I first arrived in Irele. However, I also recalled with how much ease Albacus closed the gate when he used magic.

&n
bsp; From all that we could tell, those approaching us now were magicians. Despite the enormity of the gate and its inner structure that allowed for a log to lock it in place, barricading against entry, and despite thick stone walls that edged the gate and surrounded any exposed sides of the castle, I felt vulnerable.

  If Albacus had been able to move such a burdensome gate as if it weighed no more than a twig, I shuddered to think what our enemy, in possession of dark magic, could do. I didn’t feel safe at all, and I clung to Marcelo’s hand. He squeezed it back reassuringly.

  But I knew he couldn’t predict whether or not we’d survive the night.

  The brothers directed the gargoyles to perch atop the walls and relay what they saw. The gargoyles complied at once, and I was relieved to see their flight much smoother than it was when they first took off from the study.

  Sylvia clung to Mordecai’s shoulder. The firedrake was much too large for the frame of the old man, but he didn’t seem to mind. She towered above him, a magnificent creature, graced with elegance and strength. Each part of her was made to fulfill a function with perfection. Mordecai whispered something to her that I didn’t overhear. Sylvia bent down to nuzzle her master, and then she flew off.

  The firedrake, with her wings extended, blotted out all light from the sky. Thick clouds blocked the stars, and what was left to see of the moon, she obscured. For a prolonged moment, she hovered where the moon had once been. But then she sprang upward, dim moonlight highlighting the fluid movements of a supposedly mythical creature.

  Sylvia reached the roof with ease and disappeared for a minute while Mordecai waited, looking up to where she’d been. When she returned, she nodded; she’d been checking the perimeter of the castle to make sure nothing approached from the other sides.

  Now, she positioned herself on the corner of the castle, above the wall that connected to the gate. She looked down with keen eyes.

  A shrill, piercing warning cut the cold air of the night. Sylvia had spotted the enemy. She trained her sharp eyes on the approaching battalion, monitoring every step that drew it closer to her master.