Lost Prince

by M. A. Roth

  Alana smiles. “Yes, thank you.” She turns to me quickly before leaving, a smile on her face. “See you Princess.” I don’t want her to leave, but I keep that to myself. I stand up after Alana leaves feeling unsure of what to do now.

  “Shall I show you to your room?” Avitus asks.

  “Yeah, that would be great.” I follow him out the door and up three steps that brings us to a corridor; he opens the second door on the left. The door creaks open into a small room. It holds a bed freshly made with a window right above it. A small chest lies at the foot of the bed for storage. A large red rug, designed in beautiful flowers, covers the middle of the floor. It doesn’t fit in with the room, which, in my opinion, resembles a prison cell.

  Not that I was ever in one before, just what I had seen on TV back in the mortal world.

  “Well, I will let you get settled,” Avitus says behind me and he closes the door over to give me some privacy.

  I stand still for a while, just taking in the silence. So this is my new home for God knows how long. I let out a heavy sigh and move around the small room. There isn’t much to see and my thoughts start to creep in and I’m not ready to face everything that swarms me. I leave my room and close the door behind me, ready to make my way back the way I had come. Noise comes from further down the hall, I move in that direction instead. That’s where I find Avitus in what must have been the kitchen. It is scarcely furnished, with a large dresser holding mugs and plates. A table and four chairs are centered in the middle and an open hearth sits unlit. The room has a cozy feel to it.

  “So we start now,” Avitus says with a little nod of his head.

  My eyes widen. “Now? Like this minute?”

  Avitus lets out a little chuckle. “There is no time like the present.”

  Avitus leaves the room and I follow wondering was it better to stay in my room with my thoughts.

  ***

  Avitus sits beside me, as I sit cross-legged on the floor with my eyes closed.

  “Focus. Just feel the air, and when you do, command it.”

  I open one eye and look at him. He stares straight back at me. “Focus,” he says his voice a little more stern this time. His method and tone are very teacher- like. I am obviously not his first student.

  I take a deep breath, feeling frustrated at this stage, but I try harder this time. Avitus has placed about a hundred books around me. I am meant to use the air to lift them; he thinks it’s important that we start with a visible object that I can see.

  “Okay.” I take a deep breath. I relax my hands on my thighs, letting them loosen out of the tight iron grip that I was unaware I had them in. Air I called to myself. I can feel a small breeze flutter around me. My hair lifts ever so slightly, causing me to open my eyes. Everything goes still.

  Avitus smiles. “That was good, but hold it this time.”

  My heart starts to race. “I just didn’t really expect it to happen, that’s all.”

  Avitus smiles as if he knows exactly what I mean. I close my eyes again and the air comes when I call it. I know a silly smile is plastered on my face as I let the air dance around me for a while, fluttering my hair everywhere. I open my eyes slowly, still keeping focus on the air around me. It feels amazing. I focus the air to the book. The covers of the books wobble at the force of the air, then one flaps open. I sense such a surge of power. Imagining the air flowing under the books, I push the image forward. All the pages start to flutter and as the air in the room increases, they start hopping off the ground. I rise slowly, imagining the air rising with me. All the books rise at once and float in the air. The pages have stopped fluttering, which makes me laugh; only this time my focus isn’t lost. I look at the ceiling covered in books and my heart swells. I want to do more. Air, move left, I command inwardly, and all the books move to the left of the room in one swish, fluttering the pages.

  “Easy, Sarajane, you don’t want them to tumble down,” Avitus says.

  I had nearly forgotten he was here.

  “Bring them back down slowly,” Avitus instructs.

  I picture the air lowering in the room and the books follow. A little more, I command. Stars start to dance in front of my eyes and I sense the room go dark.

  “Let go, Sarajane,” Avitus whispers, somewhere near my left. He sounds breathless. I release the air and the books smash into the wooden floor, making a loud bang. But the air fills my lungs and the dizziness subsides. I land in a heap on the floor, taking deep breaths. Avitus wrinkled face has drained of all color.

  “What happened?” I ask as I closed my eyes, my breathing is slowly returning to normal.

  “You pushed all the air to the floor in the room, leaving us with none,” Avitus replies. “But you did well otherwise.”

  My laugh is a little shaky. “Except for the part of almost suffocating us.” I glance at Avitus, who rises. He looks better already, some of the color has re-entered his cheeks.

  “Now we eat and then bed. You will find all this draining, but the more we train, the stronger you will get.”

  I nod my head in agreement, already wanting to get to bed.

  After we eat, I ask Avitus if it is okay to make a short visit to Mirium. I know he has been placed in a small cottage not far away. Avitus doesn’t mind. “I can walk you. I am going that way myself.” More like he was told not to let me out of his sight. How can I say no?

  I arrive at Mirium’s cottage and knock twice but get no answer. I am ready to walk away, feeling disappointed, when the door opens. I beam up at Mirium, realizing how much I missed him.

  “Ah, Sarajane, what a lovely surprise!” Mirium’s eyes twinkle and he opens his arms that I walk into.

  My hands tighten around his waist and the warmth of his body circles me. I don’t want to break the hug but I do.

  I enter his small kitchen and living room. It is really cozy with a roaring fire. Everything about it says Mirium, down to the weird paintings that hang on the walls, the old high armchair, scrolls and leather-bound books are scattered everywhere, and a large basket holds freshly dried wood for the fire.

  “I can assume this is your house?” I say, picking up small trinkets that lay on the mantel piece.

  “I come here regularly, as my work permits it.”

  I look at Mirium, waiting for him to say more about his work, but he doesn’t, so I didn’t pry.

  “Mirium, do you think the dead can contact the living?” I ask as I sit in one of the armchairs placed beside the fire. The warmth spreads through me, relaxing my aching thigh.

  Mirium sits across from me, his hand strokes his long white beard. “A soul that needs to get a message across… that know is possible, but very rare. It would only happen if a higher good asked it to be so. You spoke to someone who died?”

  I feel a bit embarrassed. It could have been a dream, yet it felt so real. “I think so. My dad came to me in a dream and he said he needed to tell me something, but he started to fade. I think he was trying to tell me something about Carew.” I felt better telling someone about the dream; it had been bugging me for far too long.

  “It is possible, Sarajane. But what do you think he wanted to say?” Mirium asks.

  “I don’t know. Carew is different.” I furrow my eyebrows, knowing how silly that sounds, but I can’t shake off the feeling that he is more than he seems. Suraga had pointed me to him, now my dad had as well. He had saved my life twice and put me in jeopardy once. I had stabbed him. Was he even still alive? Too many unanswered questioned once again.

  “I can see a lot is bothering you,” Mirium speaks gently.

  “It’s just the time I fell down the tunnel, I met a woman called Suraga and she sent me on a path to Carew, who tried to kill me, but I stabbed him with Suraga’s knife.” I’m babbling but I need it all out of my head and there isn’t anyone I trust more than Mirium. I raise my hands. “She left her mark on me.” I curl them back into fists.

  “Suraga the Soul Keeper… I never truly believed she existed,” Miriu
m says, his eyes alight with this knowledge. “Do you understand the myth that is behind her?”

  “Alana just told me her father killed her, and she awaits his soul.”

  Mirium looks thoughtful as he leans forward and throws another log on the fire. “So the legend goes. Suraga discovered that she could capture souls that where destined for heaven or hell and kept them. Her father did die and she retained his soul, but once Suraga takes a soul, the body refuses to die. Nobody knows what she does with the souls; only that she captures ones she felt were powerful. Over time, when a tribe leader or someone with higher magical powers dies, Suraga takes their souls. In doing this, their bodies would remain warm. Angry family members have searched the caves and underground taverns of Saskia for centuries, looking for Suraga to get their loved ones’ souls back, but nobody has ever found her. Some have never even come back at all.”

  Something comes back to me then. “That’s why Dea was watching over the man in Gaul; she said he was sleeping. He must have been her leader?”

  “Yes, and he was a fine leader. The village of Gaul has survived badly since his departure. Once upon a time it was a village of wealth and fairness. His name was Adamus and he always did right by his people, dividing the wealth out equally amongst them. But no one could replace him, as he isn’t actually dead, so the village had members who oversee the running of it, but there is no fairness and many have to fend for themselves, using any means possible to feed their families.”

  My heart breaks for Dea, forced into a life of selling her body for food. How many other villages had become corrupted by the actions of Suraga?

  “She must have thousands of souls if she’s been collecting them for centuries… but why? What does she do with them?” I ask.

  Mirium smiles, his eyes alight with excitement. “Why don’t we find out?”

  CHAPTER TEN

  SARAJANE

  Mirium’s excitement has my own growing along with my confusion. “How, Mirium? People had tried for centuries and failed.”

  “You wear her mark, Sarajane. Nobody has ever seen her, yet she marked you for a reason.”

  Mirium returns with a tub of lukewarm water and places it in front of me. “Remove your shoes and place your feet in the basin.” I stare at Mirium hesitantly, then unlace my boots. I put my feet in the basin and wait for something to happen, but nothing does. I give Mirium a questioning look.

  “What exactly will happen… and why water?” I ask.

  “Water will help keep you grounded. As for what will happen… only God knows that. Now place your palms face up.”

  I do as Mirium says, and he places his palms over mine. Warmth spreads through my palms as a light shines from them. “Close your eyes,” Mirium says as he closes his own. I do as he instructs. Mirium speaks in a language I don’t understand, and then I am thrown into darkness, moving at what feels like the speed of light. I stop abruptly. I know what I am seeing is something from the past.

  A beautiful woman stands in front of a mirror. She has beauty beyond belief: blond hair the color of wheat; crystal blue eyes and porcelain skin.

  I am zoomed to the next phase of this woman’s life, where men flocked after her and women envied her. She had set her sights on a handsome young stable man, but he loved another, which angered her, as she had never felt rejection before.

  The scene changes again. She was in a luxurious room, praying to God to make her more beautiful so she could capture the heart of the young man who worked in the stables. The scene flickers night after night, but she grows more upset, as every time she looked in the mirror her faced never changed.

  Another image… she was in the courtyard of her castle, talking to a disfigured man. He promised her a face that no one should behold, that would make people stop to look at her, that it would make any man do as she said. The woman’s young face lit up. “Anything! I’ll do anything.” The man laughed.

  “Then it shall be done. By day you will remain yourself… but by night you will become another. And in return, a favor you will bestow upon me.”

  The air became transparent around her, a fog blocked my vision, but her screams became nearly unbearable. The fog lifted and the woman had transformed into a creature. Suraga stood there screaming as she looked at her hands. It was then that the man transformed into a demon.

  “No! No!” Suraga cried.

  “Welcome to hell. I shall call you Suraga!” He laughed a vile laugh and transformed back into a man before leaving.

  But Suraga stumbled after him, not used to her new body yet. “No wait, I didn’t want this!”

  The man froze. “But this is what you asked for; no man will ever walk away from you. He will do as you wish.”

  Suraga screamed. “In fear, not awe.”

  The man’s face filled with pity and he touched Suraga’s creature-like face. “You are beautiful to me, my Suraga.”

  Suraga cried. “Please, I want to be myself again. I don’t want this!” She held out her scaly arms, looking at them in revulsion.

  “It can’t be undone.” And at that the man turned into a fog and filled the night air.

  Time moved forward. Suraga waited every night to see the man again to ask him to change her. She screamed into the night air, “Anything! I’ll do anything!” But he never returned. Her pleas to God never got her a response either. The scene changes again… this time to the man that she had wanted so badly. Suraga stood in the stables and watched him. Her anger radiated off her scales. He had caused all this. That night, she gave him a brutal death. When he died, his soul fluttered around, never leaving. She thought this strange. Her lizard-like tongue shot out to kill it, but instead it stuck to her tongue and she swallowed his soul. In doing so, she captured all his memories. Suraga spent all her time as a creature watching the man’s memories over and over again. Soon she became bored, and her killings became more regular. She had become addicted to capturing souls. Another scene. Her father stood before her horrified at the sight of her. He drove a sword through her chest. A part of her felt relieved that she could finally escape this horror. But for all her wrongdoings, she couldn’t get into heaven. At the gateway, she offered over a hundred souls to gain entry. God’s fury ignited and he banished her to hell. Just as she fell, Suraga grabbed all her souls and took them with her. But hell wouldn’t accept her either, the man she had made the deal with, the man that had turned her into this creature, refused her entry as she hadn’t fulfilled her end of the bargain. He banished her to her own dimension so she could finish the task he needed done.

  Present day. This felt a lot creepier to watch, as it was the same cavern that I had met Suraga in. She was torturing the souls, and I gasped, horrified at what I was seeing. Suraga paused. Could she hear me? I thought she looked at me, her eyes turning completely black. In her eyes, I saw how she got the souls.

  I am being pulled back through the darkness. I can’t breathe. Water is everywhere; I need air now… now! I can’t breathe. I take a gulp, water fills my lungs. I hit the hard ground.

  “Cough it up, Sarajane.” Mirium has rolled me on my side, patting my back. I cough up water, gasping for air.

  “What happened?” I barely get the words out. The whole floor is covered in water. The tub had over-turned.

  “I don’t know.” Mirium helps me sit up.

  I can’t stop shaking, and it isn’t from the cold. “What’s wrong with me?” I ask.

  Mirium leaves and returns with a mug. “You’re in shock. Drink this; it will take the edge off.”

  I gulp what tastes like a mug full of sugar. My hands don’t tremble so much once I empty the contents of the mug. Mirium gives me a moment to compose myself.

  “She was tricked by a demon; he made her that creature instead of giving her the beauty that she asked him for. She took so many souls… so many. When her father killed her, she went to heaven. God rejected her by sending her to hell, but hell wouldn’t take her either. She was banished to her own dimension until she fulfil
ls her end of the deal with the demon.” I swallow.

  Mirium helps me rise and lets me sit on the chair beside the fire, as he starts mopping up all the water. “Do you know what deal she made with the demon?”

  “No, he never said… but it had something to do with the exiles. I can see how she took their souls.”

  Mirium pauses. “The exiles are criminals banished from Saskia, Sarajane.”

  I shake my head. “No they’re not. The people that are banished still live or die in the mountains. The exiles are Suraga’s creation, she ripped their souls out and they crumble to nothing until all that is left is a resemblance of a human… that is where the exiles come from. But someone already knew this.”

  Mirium’s eyes shine, “Carew,” he says.

  “Yes. I think we need to find him.” I start to rise, but my legs give way and I fall back into the chair.

  “Sarajane, you need plenty of rest. Your body has been through a lot today. We will talk more tomorrow.”

  Mirium’s face takes on a gloomy look. “That is, hoping he is still alive.”

  My heart sinks a little too. “Yeah, you’re right.” I finally give in to my body’s desires. Mirium walks me back to Avitus’ where I fall into bed from exhaustion.

  ***

  The next few days goes by in a blur. Avitus keeps to my air affinity, making me lift small things, like his chain, to larger objects, like the kitchen table. I am afraid at first to move the table and chairs, but my strength must have been building, as it is getting easier every day. We train, eat plenty, and then go to bed. I don’t have a minute’s break to get to talk to Carew, if he is even alive. I wasn’t even sure how to find him. But every time I ask Avitus for a break, he refuses.

  By day number four, I have to have a break. I dress quickly and prepare myself to ask Avitus for the day off once again, hoping today will be different. He is already in the kitchen when I enter.

  “Good morning, Sarajane,” he says with a bright smile.