Then several branches swung back on themselves, opening like a door to reveal a woman in her fifties with her head cocked to one side.
Her hair was brown, and frizzed around her face, full of twigs and leaves, while her clothes were plain cotton and grass stained. She wore no shoes and her expression was one of deep concentration. Her only accessory was a stone pendant with a fossilised leaf set in it.
“I suppose they are.” She said suddenly. “Kate’s never brought me anyone else before though…” She paused as if getting a reply. “Oh really, she says that I’m her mentor does she?”
“Sarah.” Kate interrupted. “Are you busy?”
“Oh, hello Kate, please do come in, and you too Romana.”
“Thank-you.” Kate replied, and led the way inside. “Romana has just arrived.”
“Oh yes? What’s your power then? Actually, let me guess. Fire and air!”
“It is.” Romana replied.
“Sarah, the water told me that you’re to be Romana’s mentor.” Kate inserted
“Did it now?” The woman asked, leading them into a kitchen that was messier than anything Romana had ever seen. “And who says I want my beautiful trees to catch alight?”
“We do have a training centre.” Kate reminded her gently. “Besides, you were a dragon priestess; I believe the connection is made through that.”
“So what? I saw some lizards fly up and breathe fire at each other. End of story. Now I’m a tree wytch! Tomorrow I could turn into a tomato! Doesn’t mean I want to mentor a newbie.”
Kate’s face entered a state of concentration and almost immediately Sarah’s did to. Were they speaking in their minds? Romana’s own mind wheeled in confusion of how this was possible.
“Okay, Okay, I’ll do it….yes I think it’s a bad idea as well.” The second part of Sarah’s conversation confused Romana until she remembered that the lady could talk to trees. “Can you get me the books and stuff and send them to the training thingy? I’ll get the trees to take me and the newbie.”
“Alright.” Kate replied, disappearing.
“Right then, little mentored person, come with me, you’re about to get your first tree travelling badges…Oh, yes, we should make her up a bedroom, take care of that while I’m gone, okay?”
The tree talking was going to take a little getting used to, Romana thought, even as she followed Sarah out of the house and to the roots of a large oak tree.
“What’s going on?” Romana asked.
“Shh.” Sarah cautioned. “Trees don’t like it when you talk too loud. Now hold your breath and no moving.”
Romana did as she was told before she felt something twisting around her feet.
She looked down to see a giant root quickly immobilising her entire body and began dragging both her and Sarah into the ground.
They emerged outside the sandstone temple she’d seen earlier, by a similar looking oak tree.
“What just happened?” Romana asked quietly.
“Oh, the oak trees were kind enough to transport us to the training centre.”
“But this is a temple.” Romana questioned.
“Oh, ancient defence mechanism. To hide our knowledge if we ever get invaded.” Sarah replied “Say, what’s your name again?”
“Romana.” She replied quickly.
“Okay then, I’m Sarah, and Kate is right behind us about to go ‘boo’.”
“Hey, that’s not fair!” Kate whined, as Romana wheeled round to find her poised to do exactly what Sarah had said. “Okay, the books and everything I think she’ll need are in rooms eleven and twelve.” Kate informed them, switching to all business mode so fast that Romana barely had time to blink.
“Aright then.” Sarah replied. “Your bonsai tree needs water and some more sunlight. And the red and white stones were wobbling earlier but they calmed down when you left to bring me Romana.”
“Thanks.” Kate replied, going white as a sheet and teleporting away.
“Follow me Romana. Or can I call you Rome? Or Roma? Romana’s a little long.”
“Romy is fine.” She replied, thinking of Katelyn as she said it. “Is there a mail delivery service here?”
They walked into the temple, passing under the gaze of giant statues of the Ancients and towards the huge statue of Kate at the end. From the colourful silks and strings of pearls adorning the stone Romana realised two things: one, the wytches adored Kate as their leader, and two, they were richer than most people realised.
“No. But I can send letters via tree for you if you like.” Sarah replied, running her hand along the side of the tall cylindrical plinth the statue stood on until she found and pressed in a hidden switch. “Through here.” She said, gesturing to the door that opened in the plinth and Romana followed her through it to find a well-lit stone staircase spiralling down. “All the training rooms, libraries and study rooms are through here.” They descended the ladder and began walking along a long and small tunnel with several doors marked with numerals branching off to either side. “Here we are, eleven and twelve. Which one first?”
“Eleven?” Romana suggested.
“Perfect.” Sarah replied, leading her through the appropriate door and closing it behind them “Now for the real work to begin.”
Chapter Two
ENTERTAINING COMPANY
A month later and Romana was back in room eleven, this time with her head bent over a book written by another elemental wytch about the uses of the elements. She poured through the pages carefully, digesting each piece of information as fast and as accurately as she could. Today Sarah had ordered her to get through all of the set work in half her usual time including her practical, because Kate wanted to talk to her.
Setting the book down she concentrated on the candle, pulling some of the fire from it and into her palm before feeding it slightly with her air magic until it was big enough to fill her palm. With her other hand she took a knife from her boot and sliced a small cut onto her arm. With a single mental command, the fire licked downwards and healed up the cut. So far so good, but Romana wasn’t going to try the part about broken bones just yet, at least, not with her own bones.
“You’re finished now, Romy.” Sarah’s voice came from inside the potted tree in one corner of the room, “The oak tree outside will take you to Kate’s front door.”
“Thanks.” Romana replied, grateful that when talking to Sara through a tree you only got one conversation and not two.
She shut the book and put it in her satchel for later before exiting the room and using elvenspeed to get through the temple to the oak. In the month she’d been here, she’d been learning day and night. Only sleeping twice a week, and already it was showing. Her combat magic was close to perfect, with most of the advanced moves already perfected, and the others good enough to pass. Her magical theory was good, and she’d already mastered mental communication across long distance, which allowed her to contact Katelyn on a daily basis. She could even hear things on the air currents, giving her an extended version of her elvenhearing.
As a result, she’d passed the first two of the three initiation rituals she’d had to go through on the way to becoming a wytch. She needed her familiar to complete the third ritual, but luckily there were plenty of lessons to learn between now and then. The next lesson, however, was something feint-worthy: She was going to try and fly using the air currents she had learned to command.
So naturally she was glad of Kate’s reprieve.
The sensation of travelling via oak tree was familiar now, and she didn’t blink an eyelid when she turned up directly outside Kate’s door, which opened by itself as usual.
When she got in Kate was sitting by the fountain again, but gestured for Romana to come close. When she looked in the fountain, her stomach plummeted.
Marten and Endis were both sitting on horses, surrounded by the royal guard, and from the looks of things, they were directly in front of the bridge. The sight of them after so long felt like a kick to t
he gut.
“Do I send them away?” Kate asked. “Or do I let them in?”
“What have they said?”
“That they’re in pursuit of you and anyone hiding you will be killed. Like they could kill us!”
“Let them in, but just them, and I’ll stay invisible the entire time.” That was another useful trick, the ability to become the air currents themselves and to be able to turn incorporeal at a whim.
“Leave and go back to normal if you feel yourself slipping away.”
That was Kate’s concern about the incorporeal thing; that if Romana ever stayed that way for too long she would begin to loose herself.
“I’ve managed to stay that way for an entire day without any problems.” Romana reminded her.
“I shall make them leave their horses behind and have Allie change Jayde to a palomino again as well.” Kate insisted, and Romana felt the familiar prickling in the air as the mental commands were sent. “They insist on going across the bridge at elvenspeed, so you should begin turning now. I’m letting them in.”
Romana instantly willed herself into the air. It took seconds, but it would take less time for Endis and Marten to reach this side of the bridge. She’d only just managed it when they came inside.
Kate stood in the water of the fountain, and both princes clearly looked confused at this. Romana wasn’t. Kate’s powers as an Ancient were vast, but she’d confided to Romana that water was her favourite medium to work with in most situations.
“Welcome, young princes. I am Kate, Ancient of this world.”
“Honoured to meet you.” Prince Endis replied, as both of them bowed. “We come looking for my sister. You know of her.”
“I know of her re-embodying as Romana, I know that Romana became dominant, and more importantly, I know where she is.”
What can I and can’t I tell them? Kate asked in her mind.
You can tell them that I was here, and that I learned my control. You can tell them that I miss them, and that I talk to Katelyn often. You may tell them of my magic. Romana listed, knowing that Kate preferred things simple.
“Then you know that my brothers, Marten and I will do anything to get her back.”
“Gentlemen, sit down. You’re making my neck ache.” Kate complained, ignoring them as she sat down in the water. “I can show you what Romana did while she was here if you like. Maybe it will help you out.”
“We would appreciate that.” Endis replied.
“Will you not speak, Prince Marten?” Kate asked.
“To speak would be to accuse you of hiding her.” Marten replied. “She still carries my mark; she’s in this room with us.”
“Perhaps, but who can tell the whims of one as powerful as she. Watch the water. It will reveal all you should concern yourselves with.” Kate conjured up images onto the still rippling liquid even as Romana floated by to sit next to Marten, curious as to what Kate was planning. “Romana came to us a month ago.” Kate narrated, as images flashed across the water. “I found her magic to be that of the elements fire and air and paired her with a mentor. Since then she has become brilliant with her magic, she can heal.” A picture of her concentrating on the cut she’d healed less than a quarter of an hour ago flashed across. “Or kill.” She threw flame at a target in the training room. “In an instant. She will even learn to fly soon, and perhaps after that she will gain her wytches familiar. Oh, and she’s mastered mental communication, Katelyn’s been talking with her for some weeks now if I’m correct.” Kate paused, and then another picture flew up, this time of her on her bed, staring at the ceiling conjuring an image in the air of what Marten had been doing at the time. “But she missed you both every day.”
“Then why not come back?”
“She wasn’t ready. Still isn’t ready, as a matter of fact. When she has gained her familiar, and learned how to commune with him or her then she will be able to re-join the world. Until then, she is not ready; she won’t have the stability that magic demands.”
“Okay, so how do we find her this familiar?” Marten asked.
“She must find them herself.”
“Them?” Endis picked up.
“She has power over two elements, fire and air; she will have two familiars one for each. It happens for every wytch with two or more powers; but there is one thing you must know: if Romana’s familiars die, so does she.”
“And if just one dies?” Endis asked.
“Then it will rip the core of that magic from her, causing her pain so deep that you cannot imagine. It would feel like losing a limb. But without both powers Romana cannot survive. That is the way of the elementals.”
“Can we speak to her?”
“That’s for her to decide.”
“Romana?” Marten asked the empty room.
Making a decision she made herself visible, but non-corporeal, so she appeared a ghost image.
“Hi.” She replied. “Don’t try and touch me you’ll just end up passing through me.” Marten had been on the verge of hugging her, and she addressed him next. “I’m sorry I said what I did. But you have a kingdom to run.”
“Maybe not for much longer.” He replied. “We need to talk.”
“What about?” She asked, worried at his tone.
“The head of Viper’s Crew had the nerve to write this to me.” Marten pulled a letter from his jacket pocket. “Read it.”
Making her hands corporeal she took it and unfolded the costly paper.
To their royal highness’s Prince Marten of the Human Realms and Prince Endis of the Elven Forests concerning the Grand Duchess, Marchioness and Sorceress Romana.
I don’t believe we’ve had the pleasure of being properly introduced. My name is Kobos, and I’m behind the attacks by the sub-organisation crudely known as Vipers Crew.
I did a little digging and found that neither of you were aware of several facts that made the playing field just a little too uneven for my liking. So I thought I’d help you catch up.
Fact number one: Princess Talia was in fact reincarnated into the body of Romana, they merged badly however, leaving her with no memory or knowledge of who she is.
Fact number two: Romana is learning to control the powers that were her birth right on the Isle of the Gifted and has been for some time now. She is nearly complete in her training and once she is finished she will be one of, if not the, most powerful sorceress in the world (excluding the Ancients of course).
Fact number three: Her powers will soon be mine but there are two ways of me getting them. One: I kill her and take them or two: I seduce her to my side and take them.
Fact number four: You have one year to ally with me or die.
Kobos.
“He was in my head.” She mumbled. “He was in my dreams, before I came here.”
“What do you mean?”
“He kept trying to tempt me to sit with him on a council. He said he was a child of an Ancient.”
“That he may be.” Kate replied. “But one Ancient and one mortal do not make a strong sorcerer, they may make a moderately skilled one, but that is the best he could ever be because of the simple fact that he is male. Our magic is limited to females, any males become insane with the power lust. Against you he would be nothing, which is why he knows that he needs you.”
Romana gave Marten back the letter and made herself incorporeal once more.
“So he’s threatening you with my powers, it’s a little presumptive of him to think he can do either.”
“I shall go and find out.” Kate informed her, and sunk into the water, seeming to dissolve before their eyes.
“Make yourselves comfortable.” Romana replied. “We’ll be here a while.”
The princes sat by the fountain where the last image still showed a scene from her time on the isle.
“How have you been?” Endis asked.
“Well, it’s wonderful here, even if my mentor is a little gaga.”
“Who is she?” Marten asked. “And has she been ta
king good care of you?”
“Her name is Sarah Gooding.” Romana replied. “And she likes to call herself a tree wytch. She can converse with trees and make them move and change for her. She can also use them to send letters.”
“So that letter that came flying at my head while I was riding was her?” Marten asked. “That hurt!”
“Sorry, but did you give Katelyn the necklace I made her?”
“Of course I did.”
“Thanks.”
“You know that your titles are no longer correct I assume?” Endis informed her, “Your name is Princess Talia, or I suppose you could keep the name Romana.”
Romana’s shock was so great that for a second she completely lost focus on her incorporeal state. This left her corporeal for a few seconds while she tried to find the calm necessary to restore herself into the air currents.
“That is a cool trick.” Marten said. “Mind teaching me?”
“I might be able to make another person invisible, but I wouldn’t try it on you first. I’d have to borrow one of Allie’s cats. Then there’s the possibility of losing parts of the person to the wind and bringing them back wrong, or your pieces getting scrambled.”
“And do those risks not affect you?”
“Yes, but there are books written by other people who have done it.” Romana replied. “I was always very safe. But what’s this about being a princess?”
“Your soul was merged on one level with that of my sisters. It means that royal blood flows in your veins and you even look like her, although perhaps the similarities would be easier to spot if you grew your hair longer.”
“Who else knows besides you two?”
“Queen Hira, Endis’ brothers, my mother and father were told a modified version of the story. And I’m sorry, but Katelyn knows.” Marten replied “She overheard us talking about it.”
Romana groaned. “So now…”
“…the whole castle knows.” Marten completed for her. “I was confronted by Hana for telling her fairy tales when she’s too old for them. So Hana knows it’s true.”
Romana floated across to the bonsai tree and whispered to it to ask to talk to Sarah.
Kate's Legacy (Soul Merge Saga Book 2) Page 2