The Golden Year and the Sorceress

by Isabella Hardiman

  "How do you know that?" I questioned. How could she know who I am? She has been dead for thousands of years.

  "I have been waiting for this day for a long time. Waiting, watching closely." She paused with a wicked smile.

  "The necklace is in the land of the Dark Lord. Over the other side, into Tenebris. Into the enchanted forest, hidden inside the eldest tree of this world."

  She had finally answered my question and I felt as if I had gotten no closer to finding my goal. I would have to go into the dark country, Tenebris. The place I had sworn never to go to.

  "Thank you." She had been far more courteous than I had expected.

  "Wait!" she barked. "A word of caution." A sinister smile played on her lips. "You think you are a good girl now but it won't last. You are more powerful than all the goddesses put together. You are already closer to the darkness than I ever was. The darkness will claim you. You will be the most powerful dark caster of all." She said with a cruel, heartless voice.

  The words slipped out unintentionally. "How can I stop it?" She was lying. I was not a monster. She and the Fae queen were wrong. I could not turn evil. I wouldn't let myself. I refused to. I was too strong to fall into the dark clutches. I choose my own paths!

  "Some things can't be stopped." A flash of lightning struck, the walls, earth and the ground began to shake. And Vorgana was not doing this. I was.

  "I don't believe that. I make my own fate. I decide!" I screamed and the spirit vanished. A clash of thunder, a flash of lightning and a howling wind broke loose.

  "There is darkness in you, don't try to deny it!" she cackled. The mist, lightning, darkness and howling wind were sucked into the coffin.

  The lights turned on and it was like it never happened. "Leila." Cam was next to me in seconds. "Leila." He beckoned me back to reality. "Snap out of it." I looked around the room dazed. Had that even happened? "Leila doesn't listen to her. She's nuts," he argued. "But I think we should get out of here whilst we still can." He paused, glancing around the room. "These statues are really starting to freak me out. That one really looks like my school friend, Sam Junior."

  "Statues." I repeated the word. Then I remembered what the pixie children had said: a monster that could kill someone with one look.

  "He even has the same birthmark on his neck. That is mad. Of course, it could not be him because my school friend, Sam, was killed by Medusa." He shrugged and then turned to look at me and we both dropped our mouths as we came to the realisation that we were in Medusa's hideout. "Oh, hell no! YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME.." he pauses and then looks up to the ceiling. “Whoever or whatever is up there pulling all the strings...I hope you are having fun or having a good laugh... thank God for putting my life at risk 24/7 but seriously just for once I would like to live with no risk to my own life. Just once.”

  I heard a rattling in the distance. Then I saw a shadow flicker across the palace wall. She was here. "Nice of you to join us. We love visitors," a voice hissed. I shivered. Her voice was like ice, sending a cold sensation wherever it went.

  I knew very little about Medusa and the Gorgons. I knew: 1-They were half snake, half human. 2- They had snakes for hair and a stare that could turn men to stone. And 3-They were lethal.

  We ran as fast as our legs could carry us. We did not have a moment to lose. My heart was racing a thousand beats a minute. My feet hardly gripped the floor. Instead, they slipped and glided across the spotless marble. My senses feel heightened and I could almost hear the tiniest of beads of sweat fell from Cam's brow.

  "If I don't make it out of this alive. Find my love and tell her I love her," Cam shouted.

  "Umm...Cam, you don't have love," I called back whilst jumping over a fallen pillar.

  "Well find me one and tell her: I love her!" he demanded. If I had not been running for my life, I might have laughed.

  "You can run but you can't hide. I can sense you," she slithered. We weaved in and out of the maze of corridors. Praying that we would find the exit. Praying that we could out run her. We could do this. We could escape. I tried to convince myself that we would survive and outrun her. I was wrong. Cam and I, ran straight into a dead end. She had trapped us! Like a shepherd herding sheep, she had driven us straight in her trap.

  "Close your eyes!" I ordered Cam. I closed mine shut and pleaded that she would not find us. I was mistaken, again.

  "What a lovely addition, you will make to my collection," she remarked. I felt hard skinned hands press against me. "So young and flawless. I was once young and flawless. So beautiful. I was once beautiful. Such lovely hair. I once had lovely hair," she said bitterly. Her serpentine locks began prodding at my eyes. I would not open them. I would not die like this. Medusa had hunted us down. There was nowhere else to run and how could I fight an enemy I couldn't even see?

  "Don't you want to look? Aren't you curious ? Just a small look?" she tested. I know I should not look but I cannot turn away. I could sense her rearing to strike. "Just one look. I promise I will take your breath away." I prepared to open my eyes.

  "Don't do it Leila!" Cam shouted at me. My hands trembled.

  This was it. I slowly removed my hands from my face.

  The temptation of the spell was far too much or it was just me. I wanted to die. The thought that I may be the very thing I despised, haunted me.

  What if the ghost was right? What if I turned evil? What if I destroyed everything I wished to protect?

  "Yes, yes," Medusa hushed. The only thing left to do was open my eyes. I did not move a muscle. My heart was pounding like a drum of war. I slowly opened my eyes and prepared to die.

  A high pitched deafening screech filled the air. As a sword was thrown into her. She yanked it out in one quick vicious move. Neither her eyes nor snakes had a chance to look at me because she was already heading in the direction of her attacker. "I WILL KILL YOU FOR WHAT YOU DID." She held the bloody blade in her deadly clutches.

  I drew a heavy breath completely dazed. Cam was saying something to me but I did not even listen. Sound vanished along with taste and smell. Cam grabbed my arm forcefully and began weaving me out of the palace ruins.

  "Leila, snap out of it!" he ordered. He began shaking me vehemently. "Snap out of it, NOW!" I had never seen Cam take control of a situation but I was glad he had. "We need to get out of here."

  I finally nodded coming back to reality. We raced down a series of hallways. Who had thrown the sword? Who had defended us? Who had saved my life?

  "This way." I pulled Cam into a hidden hallway. A force hit me from side on, forcing me to the side. I had not even seen it coming. Cam pulled me to my feet and as I got up I saw Leonardo.

  I immediately wanted to hug him and I was more than relieved to see him. This feeling filled me but I couldn't recognize it. It was more than relief or thankfulness, it was different. A feeling, which I did not know what to call.

  "I would love to stay around and chat but that serpent-woman is right behind me." Leonardo grabbed my arm and began to run.

  "You threw the knife?" I asked, snapping out of my daze.

  "OF COURSE I DID," Leonardo said breathlessly. Then again, he was one of the only people I knew who could make that throw. "Who else would have?"

  "That was far too reckless! What were you thinking? She could have killed you!" I screamed over our pounding footsteps.

  "Well, I wasn't about to watch you die. WHY DIDN'T YOU KEEP YOUR EYES SHUT?!" Leonardo looked at me agitated and concerned. I felt a large lump form in my throat.

  "THIS IS NOT THE TIME," Cam interrupted and I was glad he had. I could not explain to Leonardo why I did what I did. How could I?

  Cam was running ahead of us and Leonardo kept close to me. He was faster than me but I tried my best to keep up. She was close, I could hear the rattling of her snakes. She was gaining on us.

  "I CAN SMELL YOU!" Her voice echoed behind us. She was close, too close. We turned the corner to find the cave opening. There, it was only a hundred meters away. The
light beams made my eyes blink several times.

  "We are going to live!" Cam rejoiced.

  My legs sped up in the hope of escape. The light was in our grasp. Out of nowhere, the trolls appeared. They let out a grunt at the sight of us but we had clearly taken them by surprise. "We are going to die!" Cam let out a cry.

  "Not today." Leonardo shouted back. Medusa was gaining on us and the trolls blocked our escape. What next? The next thing I knew Leonardo began sliding onto the muddy, grubby, dirty floor. He pulled both of us down with him. We skidded right between the trolls legs and fell out the other side.

  I began tumbling down the side of the hill and then off the cliff face. For a moment I thought I was going to perish. That this was the inevitable end.

  I opened my arms and let the wind run through my hair, let the air embrace my body and pretended I could fly. The blue sky hugged every ounce of my being. The beautiful rays shimmered across my skin. There are small, precious moments that stay with us forever. This was one of those moments.

  There was a splash as the ice cold water hit me, head on. It was like a thousand knives hitting me all at once. The debris that I had taken down with me surrounded me and shot through the water like daggers. I kicked frantically trying to get to the surface before my lungs ran out of precious air.

  I burst out onto the muddy river bank with a thud. My fingers gripping into the mud and land. My fingers intertwined in the long thin grass to check that it was real. I was alive.

  "Leila! You are alive!" I heard Cam rejoice. Leonardo was next to me in seconds. I coughed up the water that had invaded my lungs. Leonardo placed his hand on my back to reassure me that he was there. This little gesture filled me with a sense of calmness. How could such a simple gesture be so meaningful? I fell onto my back and lay still for a minute.

  "That was a close one. I mean, I did not think we would make it. Let us just make a deal not to do anything like that ever again." Cam suggested. Coincidences are sometimes the most disagreeable things.

  "Hello! Well, well. What do we have here?" a rough voice that I did not recognise, made all of us jump to our feet. We found a crowd of tall, muscular, armed men. They gripped their swords in their muscular grasps. Their dirty rag beaten clothes were wrecked. Not as much as ours though. "A trio of trespassers!" The one eyed man outstretched his sword to my cheek.

  I recognized him. It could not be. No-he could not be! He was. "Back off!" Cam jumped in before anybody had a chance to think.

  "Do you want to lose an eye?" the leader asked annoyed. Cam immediately looked concerned and whatever confidence he had vanished. Cam did not realize who he was messing with.

  "I can handle this," I interrupted. The group of them looked like they were not to be trifled with.

  Cam gave me a side look. "Are you sure?" he asked. I nodded. He leaned in close before stepping back. "Don't ever let me do that again," he whispered.

  I could feel Leonardo tense beside me. "LET'S JUST KILL THEM AND GET IT OVER WITH," one of the tallest at the back said, with a tilted grin. Leonardo stepped in front of me defensively.

  I did not have a doubt in my mind that they would kill us. That was one of the codes. The codes of the gutters. They were stronger than any law. It was a way of living.

  I had no choice. I knew perfectly well they would not let us go. Not long ago I had been one of them. "Speluncae latebant." They all turned to look at me shocked.

  "What did you say?" The closest to me lowered his blade.

  "You know what I said." I repeated. I could feel Leonardo and Cam's anxiousness. They had no idea what was going on and I didn't want them to. I especially did not want Leonardo to know about my past. I do not know why I suddenly cared what that arrogant prince thought but I did. I really did.

  "As you wish," the man said through gritted teeth. "Drop your weapons," he ordered.

  I dropped the large rock that I had held hidden in my palm and outstretched my arms and let them bind them together with a rough rope. This was the only way I could ensure they would not kill us.

  "STOP. Wait, what is going on?" Leonardo objected.

  "Trust me." I pleaded. For a second neither of us breathed or moved. I stared deeply into his amazing, complex, sapphire like blue eyes and they radiated with a selenian glow. We just stood there frozen and for a minute I thought Leonardo would not do as they asked.

  Leonardo dropped his sword and finally outstretched his arms. I took a deep breath. Leonardo's eyes were layered in trust. I felt the weight in his look. What was I doing? What am I thinking? I cannot go back there. It is too hard and I cannot see him. I cannot see Theo again.

  "Are you sure you know what you are doing?" Cam asked cautiously. I had no idea. What now?

  We trekked through the forest for thirty minutes in silence before reaching a large tree. The large men knocked twice, followed by a gap and then another knock. The secret bark made the door open, revealing a large wooden staircase. Cam and Leonardo both exchanged looks.

  It felt like only yesterday when I had been here. Life had been so much simpler back then. I and Theo had sat here under these branches every evening and watched the sunsets. I had been briefly halcyon here. That was before I betrayed him. Before I left against his wishes to serve the golden year.

  They shoved us down the stairs. The further we went down the more the structure turned from wood to stone. The gutters were a secret underground refuge for people like me. They were rebels all in their own way, they stood against the crown. lived here under this forest, in this secret kingdom of their own. Pillaging royal tax collectors when it suited them and following their own laws. They lived under the king's nose.

  They were a mix of young and old, smugglers, gypsies, and warriors. I had once been one of them but things had changed. As cliché as it sounds: I had changed. I had lived among them for two whole years and now it seems like a decade ago.

  My eyes flickered to Leonardo and I whispered in his ear. "Keep your head down. Do not say a word. Nobody can know who you are." He nodded seriously. The last thing we needed was them uncovering Leonardo's identity.

  We came into the main hall. A vast open room that fitted several huts for individuals, along with stools for the black market that was run in here, entertainment areas and armoury stock. Other doors led out to the kitchen, medical centre, dungeons, dining rooms and the high ranked members' room.

  The people around us separated as we walked further and further down. The mellifluous music stopped. More whispers filled the room as more and more people caught a glimpse of my face. I watched as the woman in the corner's smiles dropped at the sight of me. Everyone here recognised me. Everyone would know what I had done. People who had once been friends, now looked at me as if I was a stranger.

  Then I saw him standing on the ledge to his room. His room had the only balcony that overlooked the square. I sat there many times admiring the view of our own kingdom. It had been more than that. It had been a family.

  Theo. Those bright green eyes of his glistened. His cheek bones were just as sharp as I remembered. I thought he would never see him again. He was watching me. Surprise, anger and heartbreak was written all over his face. I could not face him. I avoided eye contact and pretended I had not seen him.

  Cam put the pieces together surprisingly quickly. "This just got interesting." He raised an eyebrow. "How long has it been?"

  "It feels like a lifetime ago." I finally lifted my face to look at Theo but he was not there anymore. He had vanished.

  The one eyed man reached for me viciously. "He wants to see you alone. NOW." They began pulling me further into the shadows toward the staircases.

  Leonardo lunged forward. "Leila! Where are you taking her?" he asked. "LET ME GO! WHERE ARE YOU TAKING HER?!" he shouted. I tried not to look back at Leonardo but I couldn't help it. Leonardo punched one of the men that blocked his path and I did not have a chance to go back and stop the fight.

  For a moment, I wanted him to come with me. Leonardo and I had
some sort of connection now. Leonardo had grown on me and we were becoming friends in some peculiar way. He had this effect on me. Leonardo was one of the few people in this humongous world that I trust.

  I was led up a series of passages. As I walked up the twisting towers stairs, memories of yesterday filled my mind. The memories of racing up the stairs with Theo, came to me vividly. A pain invaded my heart. Memories that I could not erase flooded my mind.

  We stopped before the door to Theo's room slid open. My heart was pounding a hundred beats a minute. I was going to see him. I could not move. I could not take a single step towards him, so the one eyed man shoved me in and slammed the door behind me.

  The fireplace was lit. In front of me was the balcony and before that was a handcrafted desk with books, books that had once belonged to me. He had kept them.