Romana looked at the last remaining girl; whose mental screams had evacuated half the palace. “What about you?”
“If I stay here, I’ll die.” She confirmed. “Be stupid not to live a comfy life when I’m offered one.”
Romana nodded in relief. “Do you have anything you want to take with you? Anyone who’d need to know where you were?”
“We’re street kids, lady. We ain’t got nothin’ ‘cept the clothes we got tossed out in.” The girl with the screams said, turning off her gift as she said it.
Kate. Romana sent out a polite mental call.
Yes? How was punishment?
Happily given if I’m right. I have three more girls here who’re in need of some help. One psychic banshee, one healer and another with the gift of death.
The gift of death? Kate confirmed. The killing touch?
I skimmed her mind. Her gift is more advanced than just the touch, she has the killing power. Death is hers. Romana replied, giving the girl a respectful glance as she did so. She’s been fighting it. But she’s a wreck. She needs the shelter of the isle.
And I won’t hesitate to give it to her, to all of them. Kate replied. Send them over.
“Okay. I’m going to teleport you all to the isle. You’ll be met by Kate there; she’s going to look after you. Don’t be scared okay. Just relax.”
The girls looked at each other, and Romana gave them a few seconds before she used air to send them on their way.
Marten knocked ten seconds later.
“I take it that went well.” He followed her as she strode from the room.
“Very well. They all agreed to study at the isle, where the power of death will be heavily protected.”
“The gift of death?” Marten gaped. “What the hell?”
“The shaking girl has the power of death, she kills with a thought. You might want to know that she was very close to killing everyone in this building just now. She’s not someone to annoy lightly.”
Marten scratched at his scalp in frustration. “Gods this wytch business sets my teeth on edge.
“You’re talking to one aren’t you?” Romana replied. “You’re coping incredibly well.”
“Not really. I keep expecting to be turned into a toad at any minute.”
“Like I would do that to you!” Romana teased.
“I did just bite you.” He reminded her. “I’m waiting for my punishment.”
“I told you, you delivered mine, it was my sentence for disobeying the law. From what I can see, it’s made you calmer as well.”
“A bit.” He admitted gruffly. “Plus, I realised just how true your comment about the lack of civil conversations between us is. Now, the architects are demanding that you go into detail on these greenhouses.”
“Duty calls.” She replied on a sigh, realising how thirsty she was at the same instant. “Did you get tea?”
“Thankfully I didn’t have to go that far.” He replied. “But I can have something brought to us from the kitchens.”
“Perfect.” She replied, following his lead to the library, and smiling as her clothes changed back to her veiled robes. “Just so you know, I could turn you into a frog if I felt like it.”
The conversation with the architects was long, and interrupted twice with two more girls having been recovered from the sewers, but by dusk, they were finished, and Romana packed a copy of the finalised plans into a message tube and teleported herself along with them to Kate’s rooms.
Chapter Eighteen
A POWERFUL NAME
Kate was out, so Romana went to sit by the fountain for a time, knowing that the Ancient was never away from her rooms for that long. She did wonder about leaving the message tube by the fountain, but she wanted to talk to Kate about Bronwyn’s education before she went any further.
As she sat down, her hood falling backwards with a thought, the girl with the death gift emerged from the shadows.
“Are you really a wytch queen?” She asked, coming to sit by her.
“Yes, why do you ask?” Romana asked.
“Kate told me to wait for you.” The girl admitted, blushing slightly. “She’s nice.”
“Why did she want you to wait for me, sweet?” Romana asked absently stroking the girl’s ebony hair. The girl allowed the touch, leaning into her hand slightly.
“I wanted to ask if I could stay with Katelyn and Bronwyn, Kate said you were my mentor.”
“I am?” Romana asked, slightly shocked. She hadn’t known that it was possible to have more than one child per mentor, but yet again, there was plenty about magic that followed no rules other than age old instinct and wisdom.
“She said that as a wytch queen it was possible for you to have over half-dozen students.”
“It is?” Romana asked, dumbstruck. “Well that’s great. Has she explained your gift to you?”
“She told me that I have the power of death.” The girl replied in a numb voice. “I don’t want to kill more people.” A single tear ran down her face and Romana hugged her close.
“Would it be easier if you told me who you killed?” Romana asked.
“You’ll probably find out anyway.” The girl replied in a monotone that Romana understood was the only way that the whole story would come out. “I killed my mother when I was born, and then my father when I was a toddler and then my grandma when I was sent to live with her. Eventually all my relatives got killed, so I ran away so I wouldn’t kill anyone else. But I slip up; I killed the butcher and the bully who tried to steal my food. I almost killed you.” The last was a whisper. “I’m sorry! Please don’t refuse to mentor me!”
“What’s your name, sweet?” Romana asked
“Averna,” the girl replied.
“I’m not going to refuse to mentor you because of something you couldn’t control.” Romana informed her. “I’m going to teach you to use your gift to keep yourself safe. Now, would you like to come with me, and we can get you some nice clothes, and then we can go to my home, and I can make you up a room.”
The girl nodded, and Romana carefully wiped away the tears that had spilled during their conversation. Leaving the message tube by the fountain where Kate couldn’t miss it, Romana walked them outside so that the girl could see the view.
Ash and Icarus chose that moment to land next to her, nuzzling her. Scaring Averna back inside.
“Averna! Come back!” Romana called, “They’re my familiars, and they won’t hurt us.”
Averna reappeared, her head sticking out of the door fractionally, visibly recoiling at the sight of Ash and Icarus standing there still butting their heads against her in a plea for attention. She stroked them absentminded as she held out a hand for Averna to join them.
“Can I touch?” The girl asked as she got closer.
“Sure.” Romana replied. “You’re going to ride one of them back to my home.”
“What if I fall?” The girl asked, even as she patted Icarus.
“You won’t. My powers are over air and fire. If you do fall, which you can't, I will simply float you back on.” She informed the nervous child. “Up you get. You can see the best view from the air.”
The girl just stood there for the longest time, her eyes zipping between the saddle and the misty skies.
In the end Romana floated her up, wincing as she saw the state of the girls worn out shoes.
The girl was frozen in place as Romana climbed onto Ash, but had the good sense to grip the handle on the front of the saddle like her life depended on it, then move so that her feet were on the small iron bars on either side.
“Averna, look down.” Romana ordered as the dragons took off with a jet of speed.
The little girl shook her head, but then sneaked a peak anyway. Romana knew what she saw, had spent ages marvelling at the sight herself. The town sprawled beneath the sloping side of the cliff, the patchwork fields merging into meadows and forests almost seamlessly. Then they headed for the other side of the cliffs, where solid rock plunged
downwards into untouched woodland. When they had circled the entire island, the dragons came into land outside Joanna’s house; the thread wytch was home, along with Casey. After an hour of hard work, they left the house with twelve bundles of fabric wrapped in brown paper and tied with cord. They tied them to the saddles, and headed for her house.
To her surprise, the hangar was already open, but the surprise didn’t last as she saw Kate waiting there.
“The designs are impressive.” Was Kate’s greeting. “We are pleased.”
“Glad to hear it.” Romana said, feeling a brush of pride. “They’re to be built inside the palace walls, for extra protection.”
“Where in the palace grounds?” Kate asked, pulling out a surprisingly detailed map of Morendor.
“Here,” Romana replied, pointing to a spot along the east wall. “There’s nothing on the other side of the wall but dense forest, and the part of the grounds are gardens that were due to be replaced this year anyway.”
“Good. I see you’ve met the little one.”
“Averna.” Romana replied, “Her name is Averna.”
“Named after the queen of death, no doubt.” Kate said. “It’s a powerful name.”
Averna was obviously quaking after hearing the word death. Unlike a lot of sorceresses, who learned to use their untamed gifts to their advantage, Averna’s gift had brought her nothing but pain. Romana knew the feeling; she had accidentally taken out a significant portion of the palace when she’d lost control of her powers.
“I must go now. So many people here all of a sudden, it’s getting crowded.”
“Bye Kate.” Romana replied, even as the Ancient disappeared. “Now, Averna, would you like your own room, or would you like to share with Katelyn and Bronwyn?”
“My own room please.” She said, trying to take down the parcels from Icarus’ saddle.
“Let me help with that.” Romana told her, untying the bundles with magic and levitating them through the open door, and into the kitchen, before she used air to teleport the saddles from Ash and Icarus.
“Will we go flying again soon mother?” Ash asked.
“Of course.” Romana replied.
“Romy!” Katelyn squealed from the doorway, running up to hug her.
“We missed you!” Bronwyn told her, running up as well. “Who’s the girl?” “Averna is my newest mentee.” Romana informed her. “She’s going to be staying with us now.”
“Is it true you killed the slave master?” Katelyn asked. “Did you really?”
“I did.” Romana replied, even as Katelyn cheered with delight. “It isn’t something to celebrate Katelyn.”
“But you don’t regret it do you?”
“No.” Romana replied, “But you should never celebrate violent deaths such as his.”
“But the slaves will be happy now. They will get proper food.” Katelyn said, bewildered.
“Katelyn, enough is enough, it’s time both of you should be in bed anyway.” She told them. “Where’s the nurse?”
“About that…” Katelyn said as both she and Bronwyn turned a deep shade of pink, “We might have...tricked her into going into the cupboard and locked her in there.”
“You did not!” Romana moaned, dragging her hand across her face. “What was wrong with her, she’s only a healer after all.”
“She was annoying us, she even healed my scar.” Katelyn informed her, gesturing to the scar on her knee that was no longer there. “We didn’t hurt her.”
“That’s not the point.” Romana told her as she strode through the halls and into the girls’ bedroom, finding the locked cupboard and using air to open it. “I am deeply sorry sister,” she told the woman sitting on the floor there. “They didn’t mean to offend you.”
“It’s quite alright sister.” The wytch informed her, bowing her head in respect. “I took it as an opportunity to meditate.”
They shook hands, before Romana teleported the wytch back to her house.
“You two,” she began, turning towards the two girls, “are in serious trouble. Next time, I am calling Cassandra.”
“The vampire?” The girls asked, paling. “But she’s allergic to the sun.”
“Not if she’s in bat form.” Romana reminded them. “And I will happily allow her to drink you both if you pull anymore stunts like this.”
“We won’t.” They promised. “We made dinner.”
“You did?” Romana asked, dreading the fate of her kitchen. “Did you clean up?”
“Not, exactly.” Katelyn replied. “But it tastes good.”
Romana nodded and allowed herself to be led into the kitchenette, where a mini-explosion seemed to have taken place. On the positive side there was some sort of food on the table, it might have been soup, but it was hard to tell.
“Averna, we’ll get you settled in after we’ve eaten, okay?” Romana told her. “Come sit next to me.”
The girl nodded, clearly bemused by the events of Katelyn and Bronwyn’s day.
Dinner passed quickly, with little conversation, but when they were done, Romana ordered the two younger girls to clean up, while she took Averna to her room.
“There are six human sized bedrooms in the house,” said Romana as she led Averna down the corridor that led off from the living area and into the small hall at the end of it. “My room is this one,” She indicated the room opposite the door they’d come from. “Katelyn shares the one on the right of it with Bronwyn, you can pick the one you like best and they all have views of the isle from each window.”
Averna carefully inspected each of the rooms, but in the end she chose the one on the other side of Romana’s, which they made up between them, before Romana folded and packed all the clothes into the wardrobe there.
“Are you going to be okay?” Romana asked while folding a colourful top neatly, “We’ll begin training in the morning,”
“What is there to train?” Averna mumbled. “I can’t do much but kill people.”
“You need to master your gift.” Romana told her, “And you never know, while you do it you may find that you find there is more to death than just killing people.”
“How do you know?” Averna asked. “I walk into a room full of people, and instantly I know when they’re going to die. I know that Katelyn will die, only because she is so old that you cannot keep her alive. I know her every sickness that she will pass through. I know you’ll heal her of every disease, every cancer and every scratch until that moment. I know that Bronwyn will die in a battle not far from now. She’s close to death. I’m drawn to that, Romana, I’ll be there when she dies, and on some level, I’ll like it. I’ll adore the feel of power as it rushes through me with the deaths. I’ll regret that it wasn’t my power that caused her blood to run. And I will spend the next few nights curled up hating myself for that feeling. I’ll scrub at my skin to try and forget the intoxication I feel when I kill. I’ll stand there and experience mind numbing clarity from the death going on around me. If lots of people die at once, I get so giddy with the pleasure I can’t feel disgust at my actions for days.”
Romana sat on the bed, listened as the tormented girl recounted how much she hated her gift.
“I feel it every time someone dies, I see their souls flying up from their carcasses, and sometimes they talk to me. I can even see how affected people are by recent deaths. You lost someone called Sarah, her death incited such carelessness in you that you decided to kill the slave master, and now, deep down, you hate yourself for letting her death affect you like that. You feel like you’ve shamed her, and you accepted your punishment so easily because you hoped it would redeem you.” Romana’s jaw dropped as she forgot all about folding. “If I go even deeper than that, her death has made you so regardless of your own life that you’ve flaunted your identity to the world. I can see that that will soon change; your identity will soon become a lethal secret once more. You’ll feel partially relieved; because you figure Sarah would’ve wanted you to follow the rules. But k
eeping the secret from Marten will hurt you so badly. As will his death when he’s—”
“Don’t tell me.” Romana told her. “It’s bad enough that I will fear for Bronwyn whenever I hear of a battle, I can’t know how Marten will die.”
“He will die though. But you won’t.” Averna seemed to concentrate further. “You never die?” She seemed to be questioning herself. “That can’t be right, there’s no-one who never dies. But you won’t. Or maybe you will die and I just can’t see it for some reason.”
Romana’s shock was so great that her mouth dropped open. This girl, who barely knew her, had just told her that she would live forever, while Marten lay cold in his grave. “I will die Averna.” Romana assured her. “There’s no way that I won’t.” Her heart became a little numb, which was better than bursting into tears right in front of the girl. “You can’t see when you will die, I trust.” The knowledge probably would have set most people on edge.
“I know that I will know when I near the day.” Averna replied. “But apart from that, I can’t see anything about myself.”
“Averna, you know this could be used to save people?”
“I tried.” Averna informed her sadly. “I tried making a friend live in a top story house when I saw he would die on the pavement. The house caught fire, driving him to the streets where he was killed when he was trampled by horses. I’ve tried telling people where not to go on the day they’ll die, but fate always takes them. There is no way around it.”
“So if I were to send Bronwyn into a small house on an island that is too small to become a battlefield…” Romana trailed off hysteria rising at the thought of not being able to change her ward’s fate.
“Something or someone would force her onto that battlefield anyway. It matters not how it happens, it only matters that fate receives her victim in the way described to her upon their birth.”
Getting to her shaky feet, Romana walked over and hugged the girl. “No more coping alone. We’ll manage this together, if it gets too much, you come to me. If you’re high on death, we’ll handle that together too.” She felt the girl’s silent tears, wet against her neck, and comprehended perhaps for the first time, the strength of the wytches after living through everything that they were put through.
Kate's Legacy (Soul Merge Saga Book 2) Page 13