for the missing Princess Zurina at the Seraphi state dinner. She had been out vacationing on a yacht during the poisoning and suspected Maddox from the start. She launched an investigation against him and although Zurina couldn’t prove anything, all her subjects believed he was guilty. Then word that he was a murderer spread to his own subjects quickly.
Nevertheless, Maddox didn’t care about public opinion. The throne of Yantra was his right by birth.
Maddox swooped down from the trees as he reached the river. He still felt like screaming until he noticed a girl nearby whom he had never seen before. Her piercing, green eyes shined brightly in contrast with her waist length, black locks. The girl was obviously not from Yantra as she did not have wings, hooves or scales- just delicate limbs and porcelain skin. Her hands danced in a beautiful rhythm as she chanted to the flowing water. He watched in awe as the water rose up in a funnel and transformed from its murky blue to a myriad of dazzling colors. With the last words of her thunderous chant, the water fell into her hands and on the ground around her in the form of precious gems.
As she knelt down gathering her loot, Maddox stepped lightly around the leaves until he was just feet from the beautiful witch. He was completely mesmerized by the graceful power she held over the elements. The beautiful enchantress turned around, gripping her bag of gems only to find a man towering over her.
“Who are you?” Maddox said and then quickly regretted doing so. The prince startled her so badly that she pelted him with the gems she created with such perfection. When the witch realized who she was throwing the gems at, she suddenly stopped and cowered in fear. She heard stories about his temper and hoped she wouldn’t have to resort to using her magic to stop him. He grabbed her wrist and pulled her bag of gems from her hand to keep her from attacking him any further.
“Prince Maddox… I am so sorry.” They both took a breath and as she snatched her wrist away from his grip, her anger began to flare even further. “Why would you sneak up on someone like that?!” He gazed deeply into her beautiful eyes as she spoke. He was entranced just like the river. He gently reached for her hand, quietly asking once more, “Who are you?”
“My name is Preta. I’m from Tulim and this is the only place I can get the gems I need. It isn’t anything sinister. I have three younger brothers and we have no money. I sell the gems so they can have food to eat. Please don’t lock me away; they need me.”
He grabbed her bag of gems and looked inside. They weren’t anything great by his standards, but he pulled out 2,000 utopis-enough to buy six months’ worth of food. “Please let me purchase them from you. I hope this is enough.” He placed the money in her hand.
“You’re very generous.” Her hand trembled as she held the thick wad of utopis in her hand. Still clutching her hand, Maddox pulled Preta closer and gazed deeply into her emerald eyes.
“I have one question for you though… Will you come with me to a party tonight?”
V. Preta
First
there was some other order of things
never spoken
but in dreams of darkest creation.
—Linda Hogan
Preta screamed with rage. Weeks. Weeks she’d spent working on the damned spell. She’d actually been excited to present it to her mother, but the woman made her out to be some sort of fool. She wouldn’t even hear her proposal.
Preta slammed the heavy wooden door to her bedroom, kicked her four-post bed, and ripped the dark blue velvet covers off of it. She used an immolation spell unconsciously, and the blankets burst into flames. With a word, she sent them flying into the large fireplace. She ought to have let them be. Let them torch the whole manse until nothing but the stone skeleton remained.
Preta had crafted an incantation to suppress free-thought in the ogres and giants prowling Tulim. Up until now they’d only been a nuisance to sorcerers, smashing up buildings and torching the occasional farm. So Preta had the idea to develop a means of harnessing their brute strength instead of cleaning up their messes. It wasn’t as if the beasts had many profound thoughts of their own anyway.
She’d thought it quite genius.
But her mother berated Preta and her ‘novice enchantment.’ Esmerelda dismissed the plan as childish and shortsighted, cutting Preta off in the middle of her proposition. She dismissed her haughtily. “Sometimes I wonder how it is that you are my only daughter.” She’d said.
Well Preta felt just the same, but her mother’s words cut deeply. Her mother’s approval was something so far out of her grasp that all she could do now is clutch the power that her new skills promised. Preta swore to herself that on day her mother would see. One day she would understand.
Her mother was weak- that was the truth of it. Esmerelda had been the esteemed leader of the Vining clan for quite some time and recognized as one of the most fearsome witches in Tulim. When her daughter was born, all the sorcerers of the grasslands expected a talented witch. Yet Preta exceeded all those explanations. By the age of ten she was performing incantations which some adult sorcerers couldn’t manage. Then at fifteen, she was devising spells of her own. Now her power and skill outstripped even her own mother’s.
Esmerelda downplayed Preta’s many achievements and scorned whoever dared to praise them. She valued her pre-eminence in Tulim and rule over their clan too much to accept any challengers, especially her daughter. And Preta knew her mother had ambitions beyond the Vining clan. The woman was power-hungry and Preta posed a threat to her.
She opened the balcony doors and stepped outside. The fresh air soothed her nerves a little as she gazed over the grassy fields to the jungle in the distance. She’d found it comforting since she was a small child. Something about the crowded trees covered in thorny vines…the total darkness… the creatures lurking within that howled and snarled in the night…it was all so wild and free.
Preta looked up at the stars. Meteors darted across the sky in brilliant flashes of light, on their way to desolate some dirty village. She admired these forces in nature and aspired to work with them; to utilize them in ways people like her mother couldn’t fathom.
She brushed a strand of black hair out of her face and looked down from the balcony. It was customary for witches of the Vining coven to stay at home and study the art until twenty-five years, but Preta thought twenty would do just fine. She had surpassed all her peers and most of her elders. Tradition be damned.
She chanted a quick spell, weaving a rope ladder. She then attached it to two columns on her balcony and looked down once more at the lawn below. The choice was easy.
She began climbing down the ladder and smiled to herself, realizing that she was finally fulfilling her destiny, and no one could stop her.
……….
It was nearly dawn when Preta reached the edge of the deep, black forest. Her mother had warned her since she was a small child to keep far away from the jungle. Even the dark sorcerers of Tulim would not dare to venture within. A small coven of witches and warlocks had settled in centuries before, secluding themselves from rest of Tulim society. They still practiced the old blood magic there.
Preta’s mother had caught her trying to sneak in several times throughout her childhood. She’d always been infatuated with the jungle, and her mother’s warnings just made it more tempting.
She lifted a thick, ropey vine over her head and started walking through the trees. She regretted leaving her shoes behind as she did her best to navigate through the dense undergrowth. The air was humid and heavy with an earthy fragrance. Preta looked up above her at the canopy of trees that grew so close together they blocked out the stars and the moon entirely. They were tall and old with roots snaking out hundreds of feet in all directions.
Suddenly Preta felt as if her entire body had been set on fire. She screamed in agony and fell to the ground, writhing around in the shrubs. She looked through watery eyes at a small woman standing above her. She had pure white hair and skin so pale it was nearly translucent. Her eyes were sharp
and obsidian colored. The woman wore a long, airy purple robe that gathered around her feet on the forest floor.
“Preta…of the Vining coven…you should not have come here.” She smiled but her eyes were hard, unforgiving... dead. Preta started to tremble.
“You should return to your petty curses girl.”
“I came to find something better. I want to learn the old ways. I can’t live for another second with those bungling idiots who dare to call themselves sorcerers. I’ve never been one of them and I never will be. Please…show me…I’ll do anything…I want to learn…need to learn.” Preta looked at the witch beseechingly.
The woman glared at her long and hard. Preta was certain she’d kill her, but she felt even that would be better than returning to a place where no one could fathom her ideas. Unrelenting in her childish desire to be right, she would gladly die for her ideas. Preta’s mind was racing, but the old witch liked seeing Preta squirm. Finally, she held a delicate hand with long, spindly fingers out to Preta and helped her to her feet. She looked Preta deep in the eyes.
“Maybe fresh blood will serve us.” She said with a menacing grin.
VI. Secrets Shining Through
Kindness is all done, alas,
Courtesy and grace must pass,
Beauty, wit and charm lie dead,
Love no more may
Yantra Page 5