by S. E. Smith
His eyes moved back to the figure of the woman standing on the platform next to an empty chair. She had dark hair that flowed around her shoulders and vivid green eyes. Blood stained her left shoulder as she raised her arms toward the swirling black mass floating above her. She looked like a villain from a fairy tale.
The more he carefully studied the image, the more he could feel the connection between the woman in the tapestry and the woman on the stage. He pressed play. Her song was haunting, but it was the words that she sang that truly captured his attention. She was singing the chorus in a language he’d never heard from anyone, save one. Someone who had disappeared over forty years ago before suddenly reappearing again. Someone who had spoken of another world with fantastic creatures and a beautiful woman who he had believed to be a sorceress. The man who had raised him – his grandfather.
Saving the recording, he picked up his cellphone on the table next to him and pressed the number he had programmed into his Favorites.
“May I help you?” a voice asked on the other end.
“Yes, I’d like to make reservations to Portland. I will need a rental car and lodging as well,” Asahi quietly stated, staring at the photograph in his hand.
Epilogue
Magna lowered her hands to her side. The water danced around her for a moment, as if trying to tease a smile from her tired lips. She gave in, running her fingers through it as it retreated over the side of the dock.
She felt better, more in control, than she had felt last night. As the light of the sun had broken over the coast, she had watched it with a sense of resolve. She could no longer hide from who she had been. If she was to have a new life and future, she needed to come to terms with her past.
She was not a martyr, but neither was she a coward. One thing she was, though, was the Sea Witch. Over the centuries she had learned a lot about the other kingdoms and the people who lived there.
“It’s about time,” Gabe said in a blunt voice.
A rueful smile curved her lips. She had known the two men would be waiting for her. That was the kind of men they were and she loved them for it.
“I love you, Gabe,” she said. Her eyes scanned Kane’s tired face. “Thank you for everything, Kane. I love you so much.”
“You better not be here to say goodbye. Tell us that you’re staying,” Gabe demanded.
“Give her a chance,” Kane snapped, stepping forward. “Come upstairs. We’ll make some breakfast for you and we can talk there.”
She nodded. Each man took up a position beside her. A small smile curved her tired lips when they both captured her hand and held on as if they were afraid she would disappear.
Twenty minutes later, they were sitting at the dining table. Wilson and Buck were lying on each side of her chair. They had taken up the position that Kane and Gabe had reluctantly relinquished so they could prepare breakfast.
“What are you going to do?” Kane finally asked when they finished eating.
She laid her fork down on her empty plate and gazed across at both men. Her expression was serene now that she knew what she had to do. Lifting her chin, she cupped her hands together to keep them from trembling.
“I’m going back,” she said with a determined look. She raised her hand when Gabe opened his mouth. “I have to if I… if we are ever to be happy and if I am to find anything in myself worth redeeming. I have to know if my parents were freed from the spell I cast. They aren’t the only ones, but it is their eyes – my mother’s eyes – that I see every time I look in the mirror.”
Gabe leaned forward, his forearms on the table and his hands flat on the surface. She looked into his intense, dark brown eyes. She could see the confusion, denial, and fear in them.
“Will you be in danger?” Gabe demanded.
Her gaze softened. She would not lie to him or Kane. They had already done so much for her.
“Yes. If I am seen, I will be hunted. If I’m captured, I will more than likely be sentenced to death,” she honestly replied.
“Damn it,” Gabe muttered, thrusting his chair back and rising out of his chair. She watched as he took several steps toward the kitchen before he turned and ran both of his hands through his hair. “You can’t go. We’ll find another way. You could send me… or Kane. One of us could go and find out if the spells you cast were broken.”
Magna shook her head. “You would know nothing of the kingdoms. You couldn’t travel between them. If the spells weren’t broken…. No, Gabe. I must be the one to return,” she quietly insisted.
“Kane…, will you try to talk some sense into her, please?” Gabe demanded.
She swallowed. She had expected Gabe’s resistance to her going. All night, she had thought of each argument he could make and how to handle them. Her gaze moved to Kane. She hadn’t been sure how he would handle her decision. Her eyes pleaded with him to understand.
“Nothing we say will change your mind, will it?” Kane quietly asked her.
She shook her head. “I can’t, Kane. It is slowly killing me, the not knowing,” she replied.
Her heart broke when she saw the pain in his eyes before he lowered his head. His fingers curled into fists until his knuckles shone white. A shudder ran through his lean frame before he pushed his chair back and rose.
She stared at his face. His mouth was compressed into a straight line. She saw him look at Gabe.
“You’d better come back to us,” Kane ordered in a guttural tone. “You’d better fucking come back to us, Magna.”
Her bottom lip trembled and she turned her gaze to Gabe. He released a loud curse before he gave a brief, sharp nod. Rising out of her seat, she walked around the table and stopped in front of him.
“I will come back. I love you both too much not to. I want the life you have shown me. I will… come… back,” she promised in a slow, deliberate tone.
“You’d better, or I swear I’ll find a way to come to your world and get you,” he swore.
“That goes for me too,” Kane added in a somber voice. “What do you need us to do?”
“I want to leave tomorrow. There is a rock formation off the coast. I will guide you to it. There is a link between our worlds there that I can use,” she explained.
“How long will you be gone?” Gabe asked.
“I have calculated it will take me a month to do everything I need to do,” she quietly answered.
“A month!” Kane exclaimed, paling.
She nodded. “I… have a lot of things to correct,” she said.
“One month, Magna. Not one day more. We will be in the same spot waiting for you,” Gabe stated.
Magna could sense the cost of this concession. She wrapped her arms around both of them. They folded around her, each absorbing what little comfort she could give to them and them to her. She had to believe everything would be alright. The Goddess could not give her this taste of happiness after so much heartache only to rip it away.
Please, she begged, closing her eyes when she felt Kane’s lips press against her neck and Gabe’s against her forehead. Please help me do what I must and then return.
“One month,” Gabe said in a tight voice as she stepped up to the edge of his trawler and sat down.
“I will be back. If I return sooner, I will come to the dock,” she said.
“Whatever you do, be safe,” Kane added, bending and brushing a kiss to her lips.
She blinked, trying not to cry. “I will be back. I will be safe. I’m going before I start crying again,” she snapped.
“Wait!” Gabe said.
Magna turned an exasperated look to him. “What now?” she demanded.
Her heart melted when he gave her a crooked smile before he bent and kissed her. “I love you, my beautiful Sea Witch,” he said before he straightened and stood back.
Magna nodded and turned. With a wave of her hand, a staircase of water rose up. She kept her back to the two men, afraid she would lose her courage. Unable to stop herself, she glanced over her shoulder
a second before she disappeared under the waves.
Beckoning the current to help her, she shot forward. Soon, she had entered a small opening in the rock offshore and was traveling through a kaleidoscope of turbulent water. Within minutes, she was in a beautiful cavern that glowed.
She swam over to the beach with pink sand and rose out of the water. Dozens of juvenile sea dragons squeaked, their eyes wide, their little bodies shuffling with excitement. Her head turned and she lifted a finger to her lips. They dove from their perch on the rocks walls into the pool of water. Turning back around, she waved her hand, and changed her appearance.
No one looked twice when one of the royal guards exited the protected entrance of the pool. The guard continued up the path to the tunnel that led out to the sea. All around him, visitors from other kingdoms milled around. He could see the smiling faces and hear the joy in their voices. The guard paused and looked up at the crystal dome that covered the underwater kingdom of the Sea King. All the damage had been repaired.
“Orion!” the breathless voice of a woman called out.
The guard turned and watched as Orion strolled with two young boys. The fiery-haired woman was carrying a small child in her arms. For a moment, the guard stood watching the family walk by him.
Stepping into the shadows, the guard turned and waved his hand over himself. Now, an old woman stood in the alcove along the outer wall of the palace. She turned and made her way to the departure tubes.
“Pardon me, you dropped this,” a familiar voice said.
The old woman turned. Her eyes widened in disbelief when Kapian, the Captain of the Guard, held out a pink scarf. He frowned as he stared down at her.
“Thank you,” the old woman replied in a soft voice.
His fingers paused and he studied her face. “Do I know you?” he asked.
The old woman gave him a sad smile. “Perhaps once upon a time,” she responded, taking the scarf from him.
She stepped into the departure tubes before he could respond. Her hand rose and she splayed it on the glass as she returned his look. A small, crooked smile curved her lips when the tube filled with water and she felt her body rising.
Tearing her gaze away, she shot upwards toward the surface, her body twisting and shimmering as it changed back to her normal appearance. She didn’t see Kapian’s eyes widen or the way he stepped forward to watch her as she disappeared into the ocean above, and she was unaware that she looked nothing like the Sea Witch any longer. She looked very much like the young, beautiful woman she had been destined to grow up into.
She was determined to restore the dragons first. The most difficult part would be traversing the Isle of the Dragon without Drago knowing she was there.
She recruited the help of several sea mammals to help her transport the stone statues from under the sea closer to the isle’s shore. Her hope was to bring them into the shallows, then change them where she knew the dragons could survive.
The first stone figures she found were Drago’s parents. Her heart hurt when she saw their frozen features.
As she brought them near the isle, shock coursed through her when she saw dragons flying overhead. The only thing that saved her from being seen was the fact that she was swimming under the mammals who were helping her. Unable to believe what she was seeing from under the water, she took a chance and surfaced.
Her eyes widened when she saw the cliffs lined with dragons of all ages, shapes, and sizes. Excitement built inside her. Her spells had been broken – but her safeguards had kept those in danger still frozen. Drago’s parents had fallen into the deepest part of the ocean. They would never have survived long enough to swim to the surface if the spell she had cast on them had been undone while they were still there.
The realization that most of those she had harmed – including her parents – had already been released from her spells filled her with joy. She ducked under the surface when a powerful black dragon, followed by his guard, flew over her. They were heading back to the tall cliffs.
Turning toward the two majestic dragons still frozen, Magna sank down below them. With a whisper, she unwove the spell binding them. The male dragon stretched, the outer crust of the stone cracking and falling away. Drago’s father turned, his large wings pushing at the water and his tail snapping back and forth.
Magna watched as the male dragon saw his mate. His front claws grasped her as she began to wake. From far below them, she watched as they broke the surface of the water, each clinging to the other as their wings lifted them higher. Only when she was certain that they were safe did she return to the surface.
In the distance, she heard the loud cry rise up as the dragons along the cliff recognized the older King and his Queen. Her eyes moved to where Drago had shifted and stood on the cliff, a small child in his arms while Carly Tate stood next to him with two small boys. They all turned in unison at the cry.
Moments later, she watched as Drago stepped forward and embraced his mother before he did the same to his father. A smile of satisfaction curved her lips when the Queen embraced Carly before bending to the two boys.
Her smile wavered when Drago suddenly turned and looked out at the ocean. His eyes scanned the waters. Sinking down, she disappeared back into the depths.
Day by day she searched for more wrongs to right, and safely unweave the spells, one by one. Now, her journey and her mission were coming to an end. Her heart was in her throat as she returned to the Isle of Magic and the quaint cove where her parents lived. She had come here last, knowing it would be the most difficult part of her journey.
A soft cry escaped her when she saw the elderly sea dragon swimming among a group of young. The sea dragon turned toward her as the young scattered. For a moment, the glazed eyes didn’t appear to recognize her. When they did, the sea dragon surged forward.
“Oh, Raine, I have missed you so much,” Magna whispered, stroking the beautiful head.
“Magna?”
Magna’s head turned when she heard the hesitant voice of her father. The tears she had been holding back overflowed, mixing with the seawater. Unable to help herself, she swam forward.
“Father,” she cried.
Pain filled her when his hands shot out and he held her away from him. She knew her eyes pleaded with him to forgive her. Her body trembled as she waited to see what he would do.
“Magna,” he whispered, uncertainty and emotion making his voice waver.
“I love you,” she choked. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t… the creature… it made me….”
“The creature?” her father asked, searching her eyes.
Magna’s eyes softened. “Gone. Dead,” she replied.
“Are you sure?” Kell asked. He wanted so badly to believe her.
Magna nodded. “Yes. It no longer dwells inside me,” she promised.
“Where have you been? Why have you returned? If you are seen….” Kell’s voice faded.
Magna’s eyes softened. “I had to undo what I could. Where is mother?” she asked.
Kell hesitated. Magna smiled ruefully, her heart in her eyes. She couldn’t blame him for his mistrust. Slowly reaching out, she gave him a hug.
“You once told me that as long as I remembered who I was and I believed, I could do anything. I did that, Papa,” she murmured. “I remembered.”
Kell trembled before his arms swept tightly around her. He held her close, reminding Magna of all the times he’d done this when she was little. She finally pulled away and gave him a trembling smile.
“Come, your mother is in the garden,” he said, grasping her hand.
They swam to shore, slowly emerging from the water. Kell scanned the area. They lived in an isolated spot, but occasionally someone from the village would come by to visit. Nodding to Magna, they crossed the beach and walked along the wide path to the small cottage that she remembered visiting when she was a child.
“We live here full-time now. We had no use for the larger home and prefer the simpler life,” her
father told her.
Pain flashed through Magna. “It is because of me,” she murmured.
Kell turned and looked at her with a frown. “We make our own choices, Magna. This cottage is near the water and allows your mother to have her garden. I can raise the sea dragons as well,” he reassured her.
Magna nodded. Her gaze swept over the beautiful flowers growing all around the cottage. Her mother had always loved to grow things. Stepping around the side of the house, she heard her mother’s soft voice as she hummed.
“Momma,” Magna softly called.
Seline straightened from her examination of a plant when she heard her name. Her eyes widened and her basket tumbled from her hands to the ground. Her eyes darted from Magna’s damp face to her husband’s and back again. Seline took a step forward, her hand lifting.
“Magna?” she asked, her voice thick with emotion.
Magna nodded. “I’m me.”
“Oh, Magna,” Seline cried, rushing forward.
Magna met her mother halfway. They wrapped their arms around each other and held each other close. Both were sobbing. Seline finally leaned back and cupped her face, searching it as if trying to memorize every new detail.
“You did it. You found a way,” her mother said.
“Yes. I… I’ve met two men. They are from another world, a world where I don’t have to be afraid,” she told her mother, finally knowing that everything would be alright.
Exactly one month after Magna left Earth:
* * *
Gabe leaned over the side, searching the waters. It was a beautiful day. He and Kane had made the trip as the sun was rising over the coast to the spot where they had last seen Magna.