by Mary Swift
Killian could only stare at him.
Finnegan smiled. “You are such a pain Killian Cramer. I risked my neck to come back for you.”
You owe me, Killian thought to himself.
Finnegan grinned. “I know exactly what you’re thinking. After this we’re even.”
Killian blinked. Another pain shot through his stump and he groaned.
“We should take advantage of the chaos out there.” Finnegan picked him up and together the three of them went into the hallway. There was no one there. With difficulty Finnegan carried him down the stairs. The front door of the Master Enchanter’s house was open.
Killian heard someone screaming. Finnegan stepped outside. All of Firesea was at a standstill. The streets were filled with enchanters of every kind, protectors, rangers, priests and others.
Finnegan began moving through the crowd. Killian had no choice but to go with him. He looked over Finnegan’s shoulder, Lucy was following them. They got as far as the cathedral before the crowd became too thick and they could go no further.
In the square outside of the council hall stood Dante Gavrashelli. He was staring at a hysterical woman who was screaming and clutching a red robe to her chest. “It’s mine! I’m the Master Enchanter!”
“Oh no.” Finnegan muttered.
It was just as Killian had feared. Nora was possessed.
“We have to go.” Finnegan said. The crowd surrounding them was completely transfixed by the melodrama unfolding in front of them. They were oblivious to a grown man being carried about.
“What about Nora? Shouldn’t we help her?” Lucy asked as they backtracked through the throng of onlookers. It was the same question Killian would have asked. He didn’t want to leave her.
Finnegan didn’t answer. He hurried down a narrow alley. The Firesea wall was just ahead of them. He broke into a run, Lucy followed close behind. When they reached the wall he stopped and set Killian on the ground. “Lucy, we have to get out of here. Do you want your father rotting in a prison cell like this?”
Lucy looked anguished. He would have liked to ask her about ranger she had run off with. There was something in her expression that showed she was conflicted, and he didn’t believe it was just about leaving Nora behind, but he had no say in what happened to him. Just then a pain shot through his left arm. He made a grunting noise, the only thing he could do.
“Hurry up Lucy and do your thing.” Finnegan said.
Lucy knelt down and grabbed the bottom of the wooden wall. With one swift motion she tore it away. Killian couldn’t believe his eyes. She had cast her spell, there was no other explanation. She looked at him and forced a smile. “I had to do it Daddy. There wasn’t any other choice. I’m sorry you weren’t there.”
Killian was sorry too. It was a shame to waste a spell on a place like Firesea, but it was done now.
Finnegan picked him up and together with Lucy they walked through the hole in the wall. Killian watched over his brother’s shoulder as Firesea and the woman he loved receded into the distance.
Chapter 98
Nora opened her eyes. She was lying face up in a wagon, the sky above was blue and cloudless. A group of weary looking people were in the wagon with her, one of them was Allison. “Oh God Nora, I thought you would never wake up.”
Nora blinked and sat up. They were on a dirt road riding by a lush green pasture filled with cows. Walking alongside the wagon were rangers dressed in the red armor of Firesea. “Where are we?”
“I don’t know.” Allison said. “They’re taking us somewhere.”
Nora felt ill. She took a deep breath and the feeling passed. The last few weeks had been miserable. She had been the Master Enchanter, or at least she had pretended to be. What an utter fool she had made of herself. She had forgotten about everything that was important to her.
The scene outside of the council hall had been mortifying. Dante had somehow been set free, he took the Master Enchanter’s robe back while she begged and cried for it. She couldn’t believe she had acted that way, swearing that she was the Master Enchanter. Worst of all she had left Killian alone in the Master’s Enchanter’s house without any means to take care of himself
After Dante resumed control of Firesea she had been sent to the prison island with the rest of the unwanted mortals. The next day Dante sent for her. A protector brought her to his office, the one she had once broken into with Killian’s pen. The protector left. Dante smiled at her from behind his desk. “Nora, you just can’t leave well enough alone can you?”
She didn’t say anything.
“Impersonating the Master Enchanter, it was a bold move for a mortal.”
Nora’s hands were bound. She twisted her wrists in a fruitless effort to free them. “It’s because of what you did to me. I couldn’t help it.”
Dante stood up. “You have a bad habit of blaming me for everything Nora. I suppose you don’t remember breaking Talia’s arm?”
“I didn’t mean to.” She was ashamed of that. “But you cut off Killian’s hands.”
“Yes I did. What else was I to do? It was the only way to prevent him from using that pen.” He grabbed her shoulders. “Speaking of which Nora, I’d like the pen now.”
“I don’t have it.” She remembered using the pen in the Master’s Enchanter’s house to lock Dante in the basement bathroom but she couldn’t recall what had happened to it after that.
“Come on Nora.” He pushed the hair from her face. “I know you’re lying.”
“I’m not. I don’t have it.”
Dante reached into the pocket of the robe and took out a pair of scissors. He waved them in her face. “You can hand over the pen or I can search you.”
Nora tried to muster the Firesea energy to repel him but she was tired and frightened and it didn’t seem to work. Dante licked his lips as he began to cut away her clothes. Nora tried to kick him but her legs felt like lead.
Slowly, deliberately, he removed her clothes. They fell in scraps to the floor. As the cold air swirled around her she began to shiver. Dante tore away the old fashioned corset that Firesea women wore and massaged her breasts.
“Don’t do this Dante.”
“Do what? You used to love it when I touched you.”
“I hate you now.”
He ignored her and let his hands slide down her body. He stopped at her stomach and smiled. “Where’s the pen?”
“I told you I don’t have it. It must have fallen out of my pocket.”
He stepped back and looked at her naked body. “I don’t think I want you after all, not after you’ve been with him. I wanted the pen but I’ll take something else from you in time.”
“I have nothing else. You’ve taken everything from me.”
He laughed. “Poor Nora.” He pushed her onto the desk, it felt icy on her skin. “I plucked you out of obscurity and made you what you are. I can take anything I like.” He slid his hands between her legs. Nora tried desperately to repel him. Dante grinned. “Don’t think you can win against me.”
Nora suddenly found her strength. She kicked him in the stomach with her foot. It wasn’t a hard blow but it was enough to send him staggering backwards. “You shouldn’t cross me Dante. Some of them believed I was the Master Enchanter, and that was just my first try. I’m betting the next time I can really make a go of it.”
“That was because of me Nora, you didn’t do anything.”
“I know that once a spell is cast it can’t be undone, you can’t change me back.”
“Save your breath Nora. You’ll never set foot in Firesea again.” Dante turned and started to leave. “I’ll have someone bring you some clothes.” he said over his shoulder. He left, slamming the door behind him.
Nora was put in a cramped cell with the rest of the mortals. They stayed there for several weeks, during that time Nora became ill. Now she was headed to some unknown destination.
A young man with sandy blonde hair was seated in the corner staring at her.
“They’re taking us to the auction.” he said.
“What auction?” Allison asked.
“The mortal auction.”
“They’re going to sell us?” someone asked.
“Yes. They keep the ones they want and they sell the rest.”
The wagon was filled with old people, women and children, the unwanted. “Why didn’t they keep you?” Nora asked. “You’re a young man.”
He tugged at his sleeves. “I’m not a mortal.” He crawled across the wagon floor and sat next to her. “Sometimes they sell their own.”
“You’re from Firesea?”
“Yes, but they don’t take too kindly to runaway rangers. I will be sold as a slave.”
“Are you the one who helped Lucy Cramer?”
The young man’s face lit up. “Yes. I know who you are. Lucy was trying desperately to find her father and you.”
“Things obviously didn’t go as planned.”
“They rarely do in Firesea.” he said. “I was foolish enough to think that I could escape. I’m hoping they spared Lucy.”
“Her father was worried about you, he didn’t know if you had forced her to leave.”
He shook his head. “No I didn’t. I care about Lucy.”
“I can see that you do.” Nora felt a wave of nausea come over her. She hung her head over the side of the wagon and threw up. A ranger walking next to the wagon wrinkled his nose in disgust. Nora turned back to the young man next to her. “I’m sorry about that, I became ill in prison. What’s your name?”
“Arden Cormenic.”
“If you’re an enchanter then you must have a spell, can you get us out of here?”
“All rangers are required to cast a binding spell. It binds the hands and feet of anyone we are trying to apprehend. And I can control people for short periods of time but the spells only work if I’m on Firesea’s land, and I can’t control rangers or protectors at all. The only thing I do have that works right now is an inner compass. I know where we are, but that’s not going to help much.”
The wagon went over a bump. Nora’s stomach started up again. She leaned over the side of the wagon and took a deep breath. Thankfully she wasn’t sick again.
“Are you sure you’re all right?” Arden asked.
“Yes, I’m fine. This auction, what kind of people come to it?”
“Enchanters from all circles, sometimes mortals. You’ll be sold as servants, mortals always are. Of course what the buyer does with you after the sale is up to him. As I said I’ll be sold as a slave. It’s what happens to disobedient enchanters.” Arden pulled at his sleeves. “It doesn’t matter to me anymore.”
Nora looked at the other mortals, their eyes were filled with fear. She felt responsible for them. She had to think of something. There were too many rangers around to attempt an escape, she could never outrun them anyway.
Brute force wasn’t the answer. Unlike Arden, Nora had no plans to give up, especially not now. Something was happening to her, something that she preferred to keep to herself for as long as possible. She was pregnant.
Chapter 99
Lucy was grateful that Talia had told them where to find Killian but she hadn’t said that his hands had been cut off. Lucy had never expected that or that Nora would attempt to seize control of the circle.
After leaving Firesea she and Finnegan found what they considered to be a safe hideaway. It was deep in the woods miles from Firesea. They made a shelter under the trees from a blanket that Lucy had brought from home.
The nubs on the ends of Killian’s arms were swollen and red. Tears continually rolled down his face. He refused any food or drink. Finnegan said it could take years for his hands to grow back. Lucy didn’t know how anyone could endure that much pain for so long.
She was torn between staying with her father and going back to Firesea. There were still the mortals to find and Arden. After much discussion with Finnegan it was decided that she would go alone to Firesea and enter through the front gate. She would claim that she had made a terrible error in leaving Firesea and beg to be reunited with her grandfather.
It was a big gamble. She could end up imprisoned. But she had her spell now, anywhere they put her she felt certain she could escape from. She left the next morning. Her father was lying on the ground shaking. She had a momentarily lapse of courage. “I can’t do this. I can’t leave him.”
“You have to.” Finnegan said. He sat on the ground and put his arms around Killian’s shoulders. “I can take care of him. The only thing we can do is comfort him.”
Just then Killian cried out, a guttural noise, more like an animal than a man. Finnegan tightened his embrace. “It’s all right. I’m right here. Scream as much as you like.”
Lucy forced herself to leave. It took several hours to walk back to Firesea, she could have taken Arden’s horse but she was afraid it would make her too conspicuous. Surprisingly she encountered no rangers or anyone else on the way. The countryside was still and quiet, it made her uneasy. As she approached the Firesea gate her stomach began to flip flop. She stopped and took a deep breath. She felt like she might be sick.
She mustered her remaining courage and strode up to the red doors. She knocked quietly and waited. Half a minute passed without anything happening. Lucy was about to try again when the door suddenly opened. A ranger in red armor stepped outside.
“What do you want?” He gawked at her beneath his tall silver helmet.
“Yes. Well sir, you see, I’m Lucy Cramer and a little while ago I ran away from my grandfather’s house in Firesea. And now it seems that I’ve made a huge mistake. I was hoping you could, if it’s not too much trouble, let me back in so I can return to my grandfather. His name is Devin Cramer.”
“Who are you again?”
Lucy repeated her story.
“Cramer? Are you related to the Monsignor?”
“I don’t know, maybe. Can I come in?”
He scratched his nose. “Why do you want to come in?”
“I just told you.”
He wiped his nose on the back of his hand. “Tell the council your story, I have other things to do.”
“All right then, take me to the council.”
The ranger shrugged. “Suit yourself.” He opened the door and allowed her to step inside. Lucy was surprised at what she saw. The last time she had come through the front gate of Firesea the circle was bustling with activity, today no one was about. The doors to the council hall were closed. The ranger poked her in the back. “It’s over there.” He pointed.
“Aren’t you going to take me in?”
He laughed. “Are your legs broken?”
“No, but-” She paused, there was a strange feeling in the air. “Never mind.”
“Whatever.” He walked back to the gate.
The statue of the Founders loomed over Lucy. She looked back at the ranger. He was sitting in a chair next to the gate; his head was resting on his chest as though he was asleep.
She started towards the council hall and then stopped. The ranger was not watching her. There was nothing to prevent her from going straight to Devin’s. Lucy hesitated and then ran across the circle. She knocked on the door of her grandfather’s and waited. Lucy thought she heard voices inside the house. The door opened and Devin poked his head out. “Lucy, what are you doing back here?”
“I need your help.”
He swallowed. “You should leave.”
Suddenly the door opened all the way. A man was standing behind her grandfather, she had seen him in front of the council hall with Nora. Finnegan told her it was Dante Gavrashelli, the Master Enchanter of Firesea.
“Lucy Cramer isn’t it?” Dante pushed Devin aside.
Lucy told herself to remain calm. She was a full blown enchanter now; she wasn’t a helpless little girl. “Yes, I’m Lucy Cramer.”
Dante was wearing a long red robe. “Of course you are. Your father is Killian Cramer. He has red hair.”
“Yes that’s him.�
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“I’d like to discuss something with you Lucy. I have an offer to make you. Why don’t you come in?” He took her hand and together they went inside Devin’s house. He led her into the parlor. Her grandfather Henry was there along with another man that she didn’t know.
Henry stood up. “Lucy, you shouldn’t be here.”
“Don’t listen to him. I want you here.” Dante whispered in her ear. “I don’t believe we’ve been properly introduced.” He kissed the back of her hand. “I’m the Master Enchanter of Firesea.” He led her to a chair and pushed her into it.
“Leave her alone.” Henry demanded.
Dante glared at him. “Sit down old man.”
Henry sat down. Devin stepped into the room and joined them. The other man, the one Lucy didn’t recognize, stared at the floor.
Dante turned his attention back to Lucy. He knelt on the floor in front of her. “Now I want you to tell me why you’re here.”
“I’m looking for Nora and the mortals from Wildbush. Your men took them away, they’re innocent. And I’m looking for someone else, a ranger.”
The Master Enchanter shook his head. “My, that’s a lot for a young lady to handle. How old are you?”
“Sixteen.”
“Sixteen? That’s the marriage age. Have you wed?”
“No, and I don’t plan to.”
The Master Enchanter grinned. “Don’t worry, I’m not proposing. In fact I’m already married, and my wife is expecting a child.”
Lucy’s heart raced. Finnegan told her that Dante had no other wife but Nora. “Where is Nora?” she asked.
Dante’s eyes narrowed. “That bitch is right where I want her.”
“What about the mortals?”
“They’re on their way to the auction.”
“What auction?”
“Do you really think that we want a bunch of useless mortals around here? We have work to do.” He stood up. “You might as well know that we plan to take over Wildbush. The enchanters there will be rounded up and evaluated, anyone who isn’t wanted will be sold as a slave.”
