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

by Lucia Ashta

  “Who’s your mother?”

  “Clarissa Maria Blanca of Bundry.”

  Alarm bells rang through my brain as comprehension dawned. “Who’s your uncle?” I asked, even though I already suspected his answer.

  “Marcelo. Fabiano. Domenico. Of Bundry.” He spit out each word; each syllable dripped with pungent hatred.

  Marcelo hadn’t told me much about his past, but he’d told me enough.

  “You’re the son of Marcelo’s sister, Clarissa. You’re Marcelo’s nephew.” These weren’t questions; they were conclusions. This was how my captor looked so much like Marcelo that I confused him for a younger version of the man I loved.

  My captor didn’t answer.

  “Marcelo thought you died along with his sister.”

  A new burst of rage spiked his voice as he turned to face me, twisted atop the back of his elephant. “That’s what he wanted. But destiny kept me alive to avenge my mother’s death.”

  “Why would you need to avenge your mother’s death by attacking him?” This part made no sense.

  “Because he killed my mother, and he left me for dead.”

  I shook my head vigorously, until he snapped it still with magic, annoyed at my denial of his version of the truth. Before he wouldn’t allow me the chance, I spoke. More than anything, he needed to hear what I was about to say. No matter what happened here tonight, he needed to know.

  “Marcelo didn’t kill your mother. He loved your mother dearly. He ran away from home out of anguish over what happened to her and because he hadn’t been able to save her.”

  Now the young man that looked so much like his uncle shook his head in denial. I wished I could still his head as he had mine. But I could not.

  “It was your mother’s husband, your father, who killed Clarissa. He beat her to death.”

  “Enough of your lies!” he roared at me, and I thought maybe his voice would carry as far as the courtyard of the castle and be heard above the din of battle. I stopped talking immediately.

  Now I understood how important it was for him to learn the truth. His reason for vengeance was a lie. But I dared not speak anymore.

  He’d kill me if I did. He didn’t need to warn me. His eyes spoke loud enough. Even in the depth of darkness that surrounded us, the hatred and threat to my life that brimmed within his pupils reached me.

  I shivered, and it wasn’t from cold.

  We rode on. He didn’t turn to look at me again. Pride and misguided resolve kept his shoulders square and high, facing forward.

  I pressed my lips tightly against my desire to explain everything to him, to correct his erroneous conclusions.

  What I didn’t realize was that my words planted a seed within him. Angrily, he tamped the seed down, trying to kill it. But the seed was ripe with potential; it wanted to bear fruit. Despite his resolve, the seed sprouted and began its slow yet steady growth upward.

  Chapter 46

  We rode in silence for so long, and the elephant’s rhythm was so hypnotic that, eventually, my thoughts drifted. I wondered how Marcelo was and if Albacus and Mordecai were all right. I wondered if the creatures were fighting as bravely as when I last saw them. I wondered how many survived and if anyone had noticed me missing.

  My aching arms and shoulders had fallen asleep, woken up, and fallen asleep again many times over. Now they remained numb and heavy, like blocks of ice. My flesh tingled painfully.

  I tried to free myself from the ropes once more. When, yet again, the knots that bound me didn’t loosen at all, the discouragement didn’t sink heavily within me. Instead, it lasted only a moment. My mind was grasping at something, at a knowing that I could almost reach, whatever it was.

  The knot at my heart pulsed encouragingly as if to say, There you go. Keep going. Keep thinking. You’re almost there.

  The five elements nudged me until, like an explosion, the realization burst within my mind, blinding me to any other thought.

  Performing magic while bound was impossible for other witches and wizards, but it wasn’t necessarily so for me.

  Didn’t I connect with a fifth element that the brothers, old, experienced, and powerful wizards, knew nothing about? Marcelo told me many times that I connected with the elements in a way he neither saw nor heard of before.

  I was different. I connected to the five elements—the source of all magic—in a new way that no one else did—or so it seemed. If I was different in these ways, couldn’t the effect the ropes had over me be different as well?

  The knot of the five elements hummed happily at my chest. I’d arrived at the conclusion it urged me toward.

  What’s impossible for other witches and wizards isn’t so for me. I can use magic to untie myself. I’m only physically bound. The rope doesn’t affect my magic as it does others.

  Marcelo’s nephew kept staring ahead, doing his best to ignore me and my truth.

  I closed my eyes and went within. There, the five elements, united, flowered within my center, awaiting me eagerly.

  It took no more than a desire for magic to untie the ropes that bound my hands and me to the elephant. The knots unraveled easily, as if the rope were made of slippery silk. With numb hands, I fumbled clumsily but was able to grab the rope before it fell against the ground. Slowly and with utmost care, I wound the rope around my left arm, grimacing against the blood that rushed painfully back into my arms and hands.

  Nothing should alert Marcelo’s nephew to my freedom. Not yet.

  Though unbound, I couldn’t escape yet. I had to wait until I was certain my arms had regained their normal functioning. I had to be smart. I was free to use my magic now, but I was still inexperienced in its use. Marcelo’s nephew had been training in magic his whole life to prepare as a powerful enemy.

  I had to use what skills I had wisely, maximizing them as much as possible. And the longer I went without being discovered, the better. I was completely silent in my movements. It was my only chance at a successful escape.

  I’d decided that I wouldn’t drop from the moving elephant without risking noise and injury. I’d need to use magic.

  When my arms could move properly again, I took one deep, steadying breath. I closed my eyes and went back within, back to the five elements. There was nothing like waiting for a life or death situation to use floating magic for the first time. I didn’t allow myself to hesitate; I feared it would ruffle my nerves. I dove right in.

  With the support of all the elements, but especially with the assistance of air, I saw myself floating above the elephant I rode, so that it would continue on its journey without me. As magic was desire made manifest, belief that I could do this was all it took.

  The elephant dutifully moved forward, following its master to avoid the punishment he was conditioned to expect for disobedience. When I was certain the elephant would have passed from beneath me, I guided the air to set me down gently. The element reacted exactly as I hoped. I landed on the ground as if a gentle giant had set me upon it with tender care.

  I opened my eyes and saw the silhouettes of two elephants and one man, fading into the engulfing darkness. Urgently, I looked all around me. I didn’t recognize anything. I flicked my eyes across the surrounding mountains. None of them was familiar to me. None of them was Irele.

  I didn’t know where to run to, and if I traveled back on this path in the direction we’d come, Marcelo’s nephew would surely find me.

  I’d hide until I figured out a better idea. It was my only option. He’d discover I was missing at any time.

  I spotted the entrance to a small cave not far off the road from me. It wasn’t obvious; it opened beneath the roots of a gnarled, old tree.

  I darted toward it, crossing the rough terrain, with its jutting rocks and spiky plants, as rapidly as I dared. Once inside, I couldn’t see a thing. If it was dark outside, it was even darker in here. I flattened myself to the side of the cave’s entrance and waited.

  Chapter 47

  Eventually, my eyes ad
justed to the subterranean darkness enough to make out shapes. I discovered the entrance I’d come in was the mouth of a large system of interconnected caverns.

  There was light up ahead. I ran in that direction as quickly as I dared in the dim light. Small animals skittered away from me, hiding among the shadows of the cavern walls. I didn’t stop to inspect them or wonder what they were or whether they were a threat to me. I was certain a very real threat was outside the cave, most likely searching for me right now. I picked up the pace.

  The cavern wasn’t tall enough for me to stand in, so I ran in a crouch, ignoring the complaints of my thighs and calves. It occurred to me as I ran blindly further into an unknown cave that this may not be the best plan. It was possible that I was trapping myself within this underground chamber. There may be only one way out of it, the one that Marcelo’s nephew would eventually find and block once he entered it.

  But my other options weren’t good either. There are times when all the options are bad ones; this was such a time. If I stayed outside the cave, I’d be running and hiding in plain view, without any source of protection other than what I could conjure. I didn’t know which direction brought me closer to the people who’d protect me. I would have been easy prey. At least within this cavernous complex, I bought time.

  The further I advanced into the cave, the more amazed I became at its size. The path I’d chosen bifurcated at almost every turn, increasing the possibilities of my successful concealment exponentially. Each time the path presented me a choice, I didn’t stop to think which way I should go, but let my feet keep carrying me wherever they wanted. I was grateful to be wearing the simple leather shoes Marcelo made me. My footfalls were steady, sure, and quiet.

  Gradually, as I neared the source of light, my surroundings grew clearer. My eyes made out rough stone walls and stalactites. I was grateful that I’d instinctively kept my head down, protecting it from what would have caused serious damage. The stalactites were as sharp as icicles and hung dangerously low.

  Row after row of bats suspended above me, their wings wrapped tightly against their bodies. Only a few of them rustled as I sped beneath them.

  When I finally reached the source of the light, relief washed over me like warmth. Even if there was no real difference, I felt safer in the light.

  I didn’t know at that moment—for how could I?— that the light came from me, from the very center of my heart, from the part of me that was still a mystery.

  The five-petal congruence of the elements inside me hummed with constant magic now that I’d accepted their power and my own. It was the five elements, especially the fifth, that drew the light to me.

  I stopped running away. The ceiling here opened up to cathedral heights, and I stood to my full stature. I stood into power.

  An ancient river had eroded the earth for hundreds of years, creating the entrance to the cave I’d entered and several others. Patiently the water continued its work. Over millennia, it wore these paths underground, creating new outlets for its flow.

  The water’s work came to a triumphant climax when it reached this center point. Here, it trickled and wove elaborate designs of interconnected paths and cavernous depths that had no apparent end.

  In another millennia, the water was completely gone from here. But the beehive-like structure of intricately carved and worn stone remained.

  I stood on one of its ledges. As I looked down toward its bottomless depths, I realized two things simultaneously: that this was the point of convergence of all the water’s paths and that this was the center point of my vision.

  I understood then that Marcelo’s nephew would enter another one of the many caves that dotted the countryside, that he’d follow its winding tunnels to their outlet here, right where I stood, right where I came to hide. It was exactly as my vision foretold. Too bad I didn’t realize it until just now.

  Marcelo’s nephew would pop up on the other side, the abyssal pit spanning between us.

  I found a sense of safety in the gap that would separate us. I waited, with the knowing that my vision would play itself out tonight. It didn’t matter which path I, or my enemy, took along these winding trails.

  When Marcelo’s nephew appeared across the way from me, I wasn’t surprised. He narrowed his eyes and stared me down, trying to kill me with hatred and malice alone, and he seemed momentarily disappointed that he wasn’t able to frighten me. I didn’t experience the fear I had in my vision. I was different now.

  He said nothing. I said nothing. We both knew what we were here for. He wanted to kill me. And I wanted to survive.

  But I foresaw something he didn’t. I knew that Marcelo would show up behind me to confront his nephew.

  I had no idea how Marcelo would find me, but the vision showed me that he would. I sent all my thoughts to him, hoping he’d find me soon.

  My vision didn’t show me how this showdown would end; it only showed me that it would happen. Whatever the outcome, I wanted it to arrive quickly. I couldn’t stand the anticipation when the stakes were this high.

  The more I met my enemy’s seething glare, the more I longed for a permanent relief from it. But I wouldn’t avert my eyes from his. He’d take it as a sign of weakness, and I couldn’t risk appearing weak now. Certainly, he’d assume I’d cower before his power as I did in the courtyard. I needed to make him think otherwise until Marcelo arrived.

  It was important that I allow the circumstances of the vision to play out as I witnessed them. Without knowing why, I understood that things must be exactly the same to support whatever result would bring this all to an end.

  I only wished I knew what the result was, whether it would be one that pleased me or one I’d want desperately to change. As I didn’t know, I did the only thing I understood I had to.

  I stared into deep blue eyes until I felt those so similar, yet so different, behind me.

  Chapter 48

  I didn’t have to turn around to know Marcelo was behind me. I didn’t hear him; I felt him. The moonlight and this place deep within the earth activated my magic, which then honed in on my fiancé as if he were a beacon it was trained to locate.

  I’d walked out onto a narrow path of stone that brought me directly beneath the oculus and its beam of crisp moonlight. It also brought me near the edge of the precipice, but the darkness of the depths below couldn’t rise to reach me. I was in the light. And I was exactly where my vision showed that I’d be.

  The combination of unexpected circumstances came together as the catalyst for my true power. I stood on the precipice of discovery of what I was truly capable of. The five elements writhed with life within me.

  With air, earth, fire, water, and the fifth element—the spark of life that was all magic—there was nothing I couldn’t do, not really. It was my heart that would have to guide me along the delicate line of the good that I could do with magic and the dangers of too much power. My heart would discern the good from the bad, for it was only the heart that was capable of such an important task.

  Danger surges when we ignore our hearts, when we subdue its messages for reason or duty. It was only the heart that would lead any human through difficulties to arrive at the outcome of a well-lived and fulfilling life.

  It was for this reason that the five-petal flower settled into my heart center. The five elements knew where the desire to influence them must come from.

  Across the gap that separated us my eyes bored into the young man who’d declared himself my enemy. I saw his eyes widen once the knot within my chest revealed itself to him, when it whispered of secrets across cavernous depths and a wide-reaching precipice. As I accepted who I truly was—that I was one of a kind—here enclosed by the earth that the water had opened, enveloped by the cold, crisp air far below the ground’s surface and lit by the fire within the light of the moon, the five-petal flower, the symmetrical manifestation of all energy, didn’t have to hold back anymore.

  I’d become strong enough for the five elements to unveil
themselves. With only a fraction of their boundless power, they lit up too. They glowed.

  The light of the five-petal flower skirted across the plunging darkness as if it were nothing more than a puddle that had forgotten to reflect the abundant light, and it reached for the darkness within this young man. The five elements reached into him, searching in all directions for the point of origin of his darkness.

  He shrieked, rejecting the light. He screamed at an imagined pain. He didn’t want to let go of the darkness within him; he couldn’t. It fed him for so long that he knew nothing else. If he lost it, he’d lose himself. His every aspect was defined by darkness. Without that definition, what would remain?

  He recoiled. He drew back. He closed his eyes to me, trying to push the probing five elements away. He swung his arms to shield himself from the intrusion.

  But, of course, it was useless. The light is always more powerful than the dark.

  The ring around my finger grew warm. I sensed Marcelo was close enough that, if I turned, I could look into those eyes that were deep pools of past wounds, present power, and future hope and love.

  I pivoted to face the man I felt more love for the more I learned about myself. He reacted powerfully to what he saw within me. So much of what usually hid inside of me announced itself outwardly. My hair was a vibrant red. My skin glowed like the moon from beneath a dark cloak; it made the effect more pronounced. My eyes glowed like polished amber, revealing a connection to another world that was truly not another, but one that flowed just barely concealed within the boundaries of this one.

  My heart glowed with love and an understanding of the functioning of this world—the magical world and the other one that forgot that it, too, was magic. The five elements merged with the love and warmth of my heart and glowed more vibrantly than before.