The Golden Year and the Sorceress

by Isabella Hardiman

  “How dare you speak to me as if you know! Have you lost a child? Have you lost something precious to you?” Her piercing eyes were like daggers plunging themselves into deep parts of my heart. “She was a part of me and now it’s dead. I am dead. I feel nothing. Nothing emptiness. They say that death is the worst thing but they are wrong. Because I stand breathing but I am not alive. I am dead. I am nothing. I am a ghost.” She pauses. “I am already dead all I await now is to be buried; to be done with this meek life.”

  I thought I could break through to her but I was wrong, she leaned in to make the kill and I raced forward in front of Leonardo. I just managed to swipe his blade in time. "No! Stop!" I screamed. It was too late.

  Her knife came down hard into my stomach just below my heart, I didn't even get a chance to yell out in pain. I wielded Leonardo's blade into her. But I did not miss it, it went in deep and struck her heart. Her eyes widened, she gulped and stared into mine. She was with a paralyzed look on her features. Her dress was covered in oozing blood and I could not breathe, move, or think.

  What had I done? She fell to the ground with a clatter and yelled out in pain before going still. Instantly everyone began to wake up, the enchantment was broken and I was a murderer.

  Leonardo was one of the first and his eyes widened when he saw his blade covered with blood in my hand. The king looked shocked. Frederick was still snoring, no surprise there. I dropped the blade in horror.

  I raced out. The ballroom was still flooded with guests, they all noticed my horror-stricken face and tears began to fall. I killed someone innocent. I killed a deranged mother. I burst out into the hallway. I needed air. I could not breathe in there. I was suffocating. "Leila! Leila wait." I wiped my tears just before Leonardo swung me around.

  "What?" I asked as if I had not just killed someone. Leave me alone.

  "Why is that woman dead?" he asked worriedly. My heart was pounding like what you imagine a dog on a hunt, so powerfully I could hardly concentrate on my surroundings.

  "She placed some sort of sleeping enchantment on you. Her family was killed in the war by your father's men and she wanted to hurt you...and Caroline. She wanted revenge." I said it as if I was reading a poem or a paragraph. I was rigid and tried not to show a single emotion. I did not even want to think about what had just happened. I wanted to bury it deep inside me and forget it ever happened. I turned on my heel. Leonardo was too fast.

  "Wait! Hold on, slow down. What happened? You’re-you’re hurt." His eyes widened.

  "I am fine." I brushed away his hands. Now, looking at it, I was not, blood-stained my dress and I could now notice a pain building up slowly.

  "No, you are not." He looked at me as if I had hit my head and gone insane. I had. But all I could think about was the cold piercing eyes of the woman I had just killed.

  "It's not that bad. It looks worse than it is. Majority of the bleeding is internal and the good thing is that: that's where it's supposed to be." I tried to crack a joke, it did not work. Leonardo only scowled disapprovingly. I was terrible at jokes anyway.

  "I am taking you to see someone. In the meantime, you can explain to me what happened," he insisted.

  I shook my head. "I can't help myself. You should get back to your guests." Why did he always have to be here to help?

  "No, I am staying with you, besides, you need me." He took my weight on his shoulder, easing the pain.

  There was no way I would admit to Leonardo that I needed his help, I would rather die. "What about Josephine?" I asked about trying to change the subject.

  He stiffened at the mention of Josephine, I noticed the tension in his muscles. "I think she can survive without me for one night. Besides, I cannot take another minute of her company. What is it about princesses? All they do is whine."

  "You can't talk, Prince," I smirked, he laughed. It was not one of his chuckles, mischievous grins, or even fake laughs I had overheard him use with nobles...It was a real, wholehearted, genuine laugh.

  I gave in and pressed more of my weight on his shoulders, he did not even seem to notice the extra weight. "Oh come on, I'm not as bad as her," he complained.

  "No, you are right, you are worse. Way worse," I corrected him with a smile.

  For a moment, I genuinely pity Leonardo. He would have to marry someone he did not even like, that must be such a burden. To have to give up on happiness, to be shackled to someone you may not even like, let alone love, it must be a dreadful thing.

  "Oh you think you are so funny," he teased me.

  I paused. "Yes. Yes, I do." I laughed. "Where are we going anyway?"

  "You will see." he gave me a mischievous smirk.

  We reached the end of a dark narrow hallway. "What is this place?" The torches were lit and there were no guards in sight.

  "This is one of my favourite places in the entire castle." Leonardo beamed at me.

  I looked around. It was a dead-end and there was nothing but candles. "An empty hallway?"

  "Things are never what they seem." He turned to the left wall and pressed down on a crumbling brick. There was a screech, followed by sliding of rock as a secret door opened. It revealed a secret rounded room of a tower, I walked in.

  "Wow. A secret cupboard." I mocked.

  "Patience." Leonardo smiled. I liked his smile, it was charming-I mean arrogant, arrogant.

  Suddenly something began lowering, to my surprise it was four large snakes that illuminated in the dark. They were at least fifty meters long. I could not believe my eyes. Two blue and two orange, I stiffened. I had not been able to look at a snake since I killed the Serpent. It just brought back too many bad memories. Did he see them too? Was this all work of my imagination?

  "I told you to be quiet!" I heard someone shout, then I realised it was the snakes bickering. I could understand them? Okay, I am not okay! Did I hit my head?

  "Well, maybe we don't want to be quiet!" the other two slithered. They sounded like an unhappy married couple fighting.

  "Males! I mean seriously they are such a pain!" both of the blue ones slithered.

  "Guys! Seriously cut out the bickering," Leonardo shouted back.

  "Leonardo! Wait, we will be straight down," the snakes rejoiced. I could not believe my eyes or ears. The snakes were talking, this had to be a dream. "And he is with a girl..."

  "Don't embarrass him." I heard one of the blue snake's whispers.

  Leonardo had noticed my shock and he was pleased with himself. "This is Leila and these are the royal snakes." Leonardo introduced us.

  "Nice to meet you, Leila. No, seriously, it's nice to meet you, we never get to meet anyone." One of the snakes complained.

  "SSShe's very pretty." One of the female snakes remarked. "But is that...blood." The snake’s eyes widened.

  "Yes, we came to see the scholar," Leonardo explained.

  "The one time he brings a girl to meet us and she's covered in blood! Unbelievable." The other female snake complained. If I was not in pain, I might have laughed. They sounded like an unimpressed couple of parents.

  "Come on then." Suddenly the snakes began wrapping themselves around us. Two for each of us. They were like ropes and a harness. "Up we go." They slithered. Just like that, my feet were no longer on the floor and we shot up the cobblestone, moss-covered tower rapidly. The end of the tunnel opened to a humongous room filled with firelight.

  "SSShe's somewhere in the back." One of them said as we walked away from them. My head was still spinning. Had that just happened? Did snakes just pull me up a tower? I was losing my mind.

  The room was some large study and library. There was a fire just beside the entrance and a staircase that curved around beside the endless shelves of bookcases. The wooden floors creaked beneath me. The smell of an ancient forest filled my nose. A huge, glass dome structure hung above our heads. The moon was an alloy-silver ring that glowed and glimmered in the night sky. It was surrounded by waves of silver dust that illuminated the sky. This cannot be real.

&nb
sp; To the right of the staircase, was a large globe structure constructed of iron. It shifted and changed direction constantly. Books were soaring around the room and relocating on shelves or piles. Magic! All the objects in the room were alive, from the large pots to the chandeliers that followed my every movement.

  Suddenly a bird swooped in out of nowhere. It was large and colourful with beautiful exotic-blue and vibrant-green feathers. It had golden claws and a hooked golden beak. Its eyes shimmered like silver. It squawked at me and then flew off to sit on a large pole just above the entrance. My head began to throb.

  When we reached the bottom of the staircase, the room was far more open and there was a large window, bigger than I had ever seen. It was four floors of golden pages that I had yet to read. The gigantic bird squawked again making me jump, its voice was deafening.

  "Don't worry, he won't hurt you," an old woman replied. She stood at the far corner, I wondered for how long she had been watching us. "He is a Byangoma, they are very peaceful creatures and very wise."

  That enormous creature was stunning but it also looked extremely agitated and defensive. Let us just say I was not about to take her word for it. "Who's this?" She gestured to me.

  "My name's Leila." I wanted to introduce myself for a change.

  "A pleasure to be acquainted, my name is Ethel." Ethel, it suited her. She took off her rounded glasses and slipped it into her thick, loose, woollen, blue coat. She had cropped silvery-white hair, a vaguely round face, large bright eyes -of course- a large smile. She had aged well because even though she had wrinkles and lines, Ethel remained elegant. She was not overweight even though she must have been at least seventy five.

  "Sire, may I ask? What brings you here Leonardo?" the petite woman asked curiously.

  Before Leonardo could respond, I removed my hand from the wound to reveal the damage, it had gotten far worse. The blood was coming out faster now. "Oh, do not take another step. Leonardo would you please." He instantly picked me up from behind before I had a chance to argue. I was too weak to argue anyway. I felt myself losing strength rapidly. "Come on, quickly." She ushered us into a hidden side door behind a tapestry that I had not even noticed, inside was an infirmary of some sort. A small room with all sorts of herbs, objects, spices, animal parts and plants bottled up; a large table with all sorts of scientific instruments; a small temporary bed and shelves with more books, of course.

  "Another secret room." I bet hardly anybody even knew this existed.

  "This castle has so many secret rooms and passages. You can't even count them," Ethel replied. "Lay her down here." Leonardo placed me gently on the bed and let the material cradle my body.

  "Leonardo placed pressure on the wound." Ethel began opening bottles rapidly. Leonardo ripped a little bit of the material of my dress and placed his hand on the cut and gave me a trusting look. "Good." She whizzed back with a powder of some kind. "This will slow down the bleeding and heal you," she assured me whilst placing the wound. "But," there was always a but. "You will need to stay put for a while, don't move. You are far too weak. Understand?" I nodded just before she disappeared into the other room. Instantly, the pain weakened.

  "I'm sorry, by the way, I shouldn't have acted like that," he apologised. It took me a while to realise what he was speaking about. "It's just I saw you and Frederick, you seemed friendly. I just think you could do so much better." He paused.

  I shook my head. "Yes, you were a jerk," I pointed out, he chuckled. "No, I can't. Remember only nobility can marry noble people," I muttered bitterly. I hated this law, it made them seem more important than they were. What did Josephine have that another girl did not? Apart from the attitude problem, money. That was it. We live in a materialistic world with materialistic people. "Besides, I had no intentions with Frederick. He was just a friend," I pointed out.

  "Oh." Was all Leonardo said? "I will let you rest," he suggested. "I will tell my father about what happened. I will deal with everything." He took a deep breath. "It wasn't your fault. You did what was necessary, she had a choice." He looked at me, really looked at me. I did not say anything. I could have saved her. "The first time I killed someone, I blamed myself for months. I was wrong to do that. It was not my fault. The man was going to kill my friend, I had no choice. Neither is it yours."

  But Leonardo, this is not the first time that I have killed someone. I instantly knew I could not ever tell him my secret. I was too ashamed. There was a long silence.

  "You're not such an ass. You know, you're ,not a humongous jerk, entirely." I stared at him. He chuckled.

  "You aren't like anyone I have ever met." He rolled his eyes.

  "I am not a self-centred, arrogant..." He placed his hand to my lips to stop me from talking.

  "You tell me everything as if I was anyone. You are not scared, you are very brave. I appreciate it." He sighed, removing his hand.

  "Oh, don't go soft on me prince," I teased.

  "Never! I take it back, you loud, impulsive nightmare that always manages to find danger. I don't even know how you do it." He got up to leave.

  "Me either," I whispered. "Goodnight, you obnoxious, self-centred, pain of a prince."

  He blew out the last candle and I could have sworn I saw a smile. "Goodnight."

  The next morning, I felt strong and refreshed. I got up and went straight back to my room, in the servant quarters, to find Anna waiting for me. "Is it true?" She stared with flour all over her face. "Did Frederick invite you to the ball? Was there an attack and did you save the royals?"

  "Yes. Yes. Yes." I rushed to the cupboard and immediately began changing my clothes. This ball gown was far too heavy for my taste. Rumours around this place spread quicker than a plague.

  "Wow, I want to be you right now." She beamed.

  "Considering I got stabbed last night, trust me you don't." I sighed. My upper stomach still ached. She ignored my complaints. Where was my brush? There on the bed! "Can you pass me that brush." I asked and then with one swish of her hand, it flew over to me.

  I stared at her. "You practice magic?" I investigated.

  "Yes. My friend taught me- of course- I only know basic spells like everyone. It is not like I am a witch or sorcerer." I was immediately envious like I had been all my life. I had never even been able to cast the basic spells, I was hopeless. Some spells did not require magical blood, some simple spells mortals could perform with ease. "Why, don't you?" No. And I will never be able to. I could help but feel furious at my failure.

  Just then when I least expected it, the wardrobe began to fall, it was about to crush both of us. Anna -of course- had her back to it and had not even seen it coming. I put my hand up defensively and suddenly it swung back in place. She swung her head back but she was too late, she had missed it. "What are you doing?" She stared at me. She thought I was insane. "I have got to go, the Cook will kill me if he knows I came here." Anna disappeared off.

  Did I just do that? Did that just happen? That's impossible, apart from the fact that I do not have magic, I did not even say an enchantment... Suddenly a voice filled my ear. "Well done, young sorceress." It sounded like the voice of an elderly man. I turned to see a bird. I recognised it from somewhere. But where? It was talking.

  "I was wondering when you would arrive. I have waited all these years for you," it rejoiced, I immediately began backing away. "But you are here. You are finally here." My back hit the cold stone wall.

  "You-you can talk?!" I gasped. I could not believe this. This was not happening! The snakes were one thing but a bird? A huge bird?!

  "Excuse my manners, my name is Bayard." It stretched its wings as if it wanted to shake hands. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Leila."

  I knew my name! The bird was speaking and it knew my name. I lost a lot more blood than I thought. How did it even get into my room? "We don't have much time. I am not meant to be here, you see," he whispered. "Ethel and I have been waiting for you for a very long time."

  Ethel, the scholar? I knew th
e bird had looked far too familiar, it was the one that had squawked at me in Ethel's office. "Ethel wishes to see you, it is a matter of great urgency and delicacy."

  "Why? What? When? How?" I had hundreds of questions and I did not even know what to say first. The bird simply hit his forehead with his wing as if I were senseless. Its hand gestures were human-like. It was extraordinary.

  "I just said we don't have much time. Were you even listening?" he retorted. "There is something evil coming. She will not stop at anything to get her revenge, she will kill thousands. She will come after the royals and devastate the land. She is a woman of pure evil and if she is not stopped, I am afraid we will all be in grave peril." He paused. "The ultimate mistress of evil is coming."

  "Who?"

  "Come tomorrow morning at dusk to see Ethel, come alone." Just like that, it disappeared in a cloud of smoke.