by Phil Stern
Now lowering her eyes once more, the Haven enchantress studied Valensa’s bitter gaze and pained demeanor, so much at odds both with their pleasant surroundings and her own natural beauty. Clearly, the tall brunette had already suffered much throughout her young life.
As had they all. The path to magical power and almost limitless freedom wasn’t an easy one, as Tiffany herself could well attest. Every woman who wore an earth stone came from a shattered past, full of brutal rejection and sometimes outright abuse. The ruby coven was likely much the same.
“I will only ask you this one more time,” the Haven witch said, her eyes growing ice cold. “Are you my sister, or not?”
Valensa just stared back for several moments, the silence growing long between them. “Yes, from a biological standpoint, we are half-sisters,” she finally answered. “But other than that, we have nothing in common!”
“Really?” Sitting forward, Tiffany thought quickly. “We have the same father?”
“Yes.” Carefully leaning back against the hard bark, Valensa grimaced. “I’m the bastard sister everyone would like to forget, cast aside like some embarrassing piece of garbage!”
“Cast aside?” Shaking her head, Tiffany hesitated. “I never knew you existed! Neither did my mother, as far as I know.”
“Lies!” she screeched, a tear running through the dried blood and dirt on one cheek. “Daddy told me! I couldn’t join the family because you and your bitch mother wouldn’t have me!”
“That’s not true!” Aghast, Tiffany drew herself up. “I never knew about you! I’ve always thought I was an only child.”
“Bullshit!” the ruby witch seethed. “You knew! Everybody knew! And then your Coven killed our father, so you could leave Dytha forever!”
“Killed our father?” Greatly disturbed, Tiffany ran a hand back through her hair. “Valensa, listen to me. I don’t know who told you all this, but it’s a huge distortion. I never knew I had a sister, and our father wasn’t killed. He drunkenly walked off a cliff, on his own, long after I left Dytha.”
“Lies!”
“No, it’s true,” Tiffany insisted. “I was sixteen when our father died. But I was in Haven then, learning to be a sorceress. So was my mother. We didn’t know about his accident until my mother returned home two years later.”
“Oh really?” Valensa sneered. “So if you weren’t there, how do you know what happened?”
“How would you?” Tiffany folded her arms. “Valensa, how old are you now?”
“I’m 21,” she answered. “But just because…”
“So you must have been ten years old when he died. Am I right?”
“That’s right!” she shot back. “I never even really got to know him!”
“Know him?” Tiffany nearly laughed. “Our father was a mean, selfish, abusive drunk! He constantly cheated on my mother, as your very existence can well attest to…”
“Shut up!”
“…and he sexually abused me!” An angry flicker of earth fire danced across Tiffany’s stone. “What about you? Ever experience those creeping hands when he tucked you in at night? Did he make you feel dirty and wrong?”
“Never!” Valensa yelled. “You have no right to speak of him this way!”
“I have every right!” Tiffany shouted back. “I’ve blamed myself, my Coven sisters, my mother, the whole world for what he did!”
“Good!”
“And yes! At times, I’ve even borne guilt for his death!” Tiffany snapped, pointing at her. “But you know what?”
“You’re just a selfish bitch.” With a dismissive sigh, Valensa turned away.
“You know what? Sis!” Standing, Tiffany walked over to look down at her. “I’ve come to accept, very recently, in fact, that my father was a sick pervert and an utter failure! If he fathered you with some whore, and then stashed you away someplace, that would only go to prove the point!”
Still leaning back against the tree, Valensa tried to kick at her. “My mother wasn’t a whore!”
“Whatever.” Pacing away, Tiffany stared out at the surrounding woods. “And you think I’m so fucking lucky? Do you?” Turning back again, her eyes blazed with green fire. “You have no fucking idea what I went though!”
“But you grew up in a big, rich house!” With palpable anguish, the younger girl wistfully stared off into space. “With everything you ever wanted! Toys and dresses, horses and boats! Why, I bet you…”
“So that’s the wonderful life you dreamed of?” Walking back, Tiffany sat back down in her former position. “Are you crazy? Toys and dresses? Tea parties every day? Is that what you think my childhood was like?”
“Don’t fuck with me, Tiffany,” she mumbled. “My wrist hurts.”
“Oh yeah? Well, I would gladly trade a broken wrist for what I went through!” Despite her best efforts, Tiffany’s rage came boiling through. “Every fucking night Dad would yell and scream! Or hit Mom! Or get drunk. If it was a good week, he might go on some bender for a few days and not even coming home!”
“You see! That’s how unhappy you all made him!”
“No!” Emphatically shaking her head, Tiffany held her sister’s gaze. “That’s how unhappy he was! And our father responded to his own despair by acting out in every inappropriate way imaginable! You and I both, Valensa, have suffered from his actions ever since.”
“Lies,” Valensa numbly repeated. “They told me you’d lie about all this.”
“Who did? Who said I would lie?”
“My Coven. My sisters!” Nodding proudly, Valensa still gingerly held the broken wrist above her knees. “They were the ones who rescued me from juvenile detention on Dytha five years ago!”
“Really?” Tiffany raised an eyebrow. “You were in jail? Why?”
“Because I was really into some fucked up shit, that’s why!”
“Tell me.” A bottle of cool water magically appeared in Tiffany’s hand. Pointedly not offering any to her companion, she took a long drink.
Gritting her teeth, Valensa once more painfully adjusted her position. “Can I have some?”
Considering a long moment, Tiffany then screwed the cap back on the bottle, flinging it at the other girl’s feet. “Now tell me. Why were you locked up?”
“Why is anyone in juvie?” First taking a long drink, she then poured some cold water on her wrist. “I was stealing stuff, doing drugs. Sometimes we’d break store windows, just to see what would happen.”
“Who’s we?”
“The other kids. We lived in the street.” Thinking back to those days, Valensa frowned. “I had so much energy, so much anger. I couldn’t even think half the time! Things would make sense one moment, then not make any sense later on. Then I couldn’t even sleep because of all these bad dreams.”
“You were an untamed sorceress,” Tiffany said, thinking back to the girl she’d rescued on Earth prior to meeting Blake. “That’s what happens when no one trains you, channels your existing energy.”
“Well, the foster homes couldn’t handle me, that’s for sure.” Bleakly eyeing her half-sister, Valensa tossed the now-empty bottle aside. “That’s where I went after my mother died.”
“I’m sorry.” Awkwardly pausing, Tiffany shifted a few feet closer. “When did that happen?”
“When I was ten. Mom got cancer.” Thoughtfully staring up at a nearby branch, Valensa shook her head. “Even on a world like Dytha, they couldn’t help her. When she was…gone, there was no one to take care of me.”
Tiffany frowned. “What about Dad? Wouldn’t somebody have contacted him?”
“He died the week before. One fucking week!” Angrily, Valensa pounded the ground. “I didn’t even know until Mom was gone! I’d always thought he’d be there, in case I really needed him. And then…”
“And then he was gone too,” Tiffany finished. “This wonderful man who would have been the father of your dreams.”
Fixing bitter, soft brown eyes on her, Valensa pushed away some stray hair. �
�You have your memories of him, and I have mine. Let’s leave it at that.”
“Fair enough.” Leaning back, Tiffany raised an eyebrow. “Who was your mother, anyway?”
“None of your fucking business.”
“No, really. I want to know.”
“Give me my stone back.”
“Nope.” Shaking her head, Tiffany shrugged. “Not until you answer me.”
“Whatever.” Visibly frustrated, Valensa could only sigh. “Her name was Lasara.”
“How did she meet Dad?”
“I don’t know,” the younger girl sulked. “I think they hooked up in some bar or something.”
Super, Tiffany thought. Mom was home with a six-year-old, and Dad was out playing the field. “So what happened then?”
“What happened? I was born!” Valensa winced, carefully cushioning her broken wrist. “I grew up in an apartment. We weren’t rich like you, obviously, but Dad loved us both. He came by every few months. When he could get away from his awful wife.”
Tiffany couldn’t help smiling. “That awful wife was my mother.”
“Yeah, and Dad wanted to leave both of you!” Nodding vigorously, Valensa’s eyes narrowed. “He hated his legal family! When he could get away from you guys, he was going to move in with us! Mom told me so.”
“Bullshit.”
“It is not!” Valensa yelled. “It’s your fault, Tiffany! If you hadn’t been there, Dad could have been with us!”
“Are you crazy?” Intently leaning forward again, Tiffany chose her next words very carefully. “Think about it. My mom and I left Dytha entirely when I was nine, and you were three. We went to Haven. As far as Dad knew, we were gone forever.”
“So?”
“So, you nitwit, he could have joined you anytime! Been the wonderful family you all wanted!” Sadly, Tiffany shook her head. “Dad could have even moved you into our big house on the shore! We weren’t there. At all.”
For several moments Valensa just stared out at the woods. Clearly, this rather obvious time line, and it’s even starker implications, had never occurred to her. “So why didn’t he?” she finally asked.
“Valensa, you’re not a child anymore.” Plucking up a colorful flower, Tiffany twirled it slowly between her fingers. “If he could have been with you full-time, and was instead giving your mother bullshit stories and false hope, what does that tell you?”
“Why, it tells me…” Trailing off, she looked confused.
“The fact is you were lucky.” Her own gaze hardening, the Haven sorceress tossed the flower aside. “If you’d lived with dear old Dad, he would have abused you just like he did me.”
“Stop it!” Now crying hysterically, Valensa pounded the ground with her good hand. “Stop lying about him!”
“They aren’t lies.” Sadly, Tiffany shook her head. “It’s the truth. A horrible truth, but the truth nonetheless.”
For about ten minutes they simply remained where they were, Valensa’s hysterics carrying out on the gentle wind. Remaining where she was, Tiffany allowed her sister’s pain to wash over her, somehow trying to merge it with her own grief.
It had taken Tiffany many years to come to grips with her own childhood, and in some ways it was a struggle still. Yet she’d been cherished and protected by the Coven from age nine onward, even enjoying a brief renaissance with her own mother during their years together in Haven. Sure, things hadn’t been perfect, and life as a Haven sorceress had its own challenges. But there had always been a support system, someone to fall back on. Even at the worst of times, she’d never felt alone and powerless.
Valensa, on the other hand, had lived a distorted, bitter, fanciful existence with her mother until age ten. Then, after her death, she’d been simply abandoned on Dytha. Hers had been a life of fear and manipulation, with no rational perspective to fall back on. An easy mark, really, for the magical crime ring calling itself a coven who’d finally found her.
“How did you hook up with your coven,” Tiffany softly asked.
“They were waiting for me outside the jail the last time I was released.” Petulantly looking away, the younger girl continued to sob. “You bitch! You left me to rot, but they cared! It was the greatest moment of my life!”
Indeed, Tiffany thought. It must have been astounding, a dream come true for the desperate teenager. To be able to escape not only her miserable life, but Dytha entirely? Instantly, she’d gone from lonely reject to powerful magical being. Deftly playing her, the Zarth witches had soon promised retribution against the awful sister who’d sentenced her to a lifetime of poverty and paternal separation. Without question, the Zarth coven, along with the purpose and sisterhood they bestowed, would have been impossible to resist.
Was it even possible to counteract their nefarious influence? For Tiffany desperately wanted to connect with this lonely, scared girl, to provide her the perspective she so sorely lacked. Her only sister had been convinced that she was an evil force in her life, conspiring to deny her at every turn! Somehow, it was fantastically important that Valensa realize how wrong she was, that Tiffany would have loved and protected her, if she’d only known of her existence.
Gradually, Valensa cried herself out, her whole body now shaking uncontrollably. Finally, she raised her bitter, tear-stained face again. “Why are you bothering with all this? Aren’t you just going to kill me?”
“No, I’m not.” Brusquely standing, Tiffany stretched her arms out wide. “But are you finished? We can’t stay here forever.”
“My arm hurts.” Breathing heavily, her knees drawn up, Valensa rocked back and forth against the tree trunk. “A lot.”
Slowly, Tiffany crossed over to her. Bending down, facing Valensa directly, she gently held the broken wrist. Soon, soothing waves of green energy were flowing into the broken limb, easing pain and mending bone.
“Ow!” Trying to draw away, Valensa bit her lip. “Your green magic feels so weird!”
“I know. I’m sorry about that.” Concentrating, Tiffany continued her treatment. “Just hold on.”
“Why are you doing this?” Suddenly looking like a little girl, Valensa tried to smile. “We’re enemies. Our covens are at war.”
“That they are. Or soon will be, anyway,” Tiffany sadly agreed, drawing back her power and releasing Valensa’s arm. “But we’re not. You and I are sisters. We can never be enemies. And now that I know you exist, that will never change.”
Staring at Tiffany in wonder, Valensa hesitantly flexed her wrist. “It feels better.”
“Well, it’s not perfect.” Patting her knee, Tiffany rose once more. “Give it a few more weeks to fully heal.”
“Can I have my stone back?” the tall, brunette youth asked, casting a fugitive glance at the wrapped magical talisman behind Tiffany. “Please?”
The Haven sorceress crossed her arms. “Will you attack me?”
Valensa seriously considered the idea. “No,” she finally said. “I won’t.”
Hesitating a moment, Tiffany then turned and picked up the ruby necklace. “Here you go, sis.” Passing it over to Valensa, she stood back.
Quickly unwrapping the stone, Valensa breathed a huge sigh of relief. First magically repairing the chain, she then slipped it around her neck again.
“Feel better?” Tiffany carefully asked.
“I do,” the younger girl acknowledged, now standing and carefully testing her partially mended wrist. “Thank you.”
They just looked at one another, the silence growing long between them. Yet anyone who wandered by and saw them at that moment, standing there together, would know immediately that they were sisters.
“My coven must know you’re here,” Valensa finally said. “I’m sure they’re looking for you. I can’t help that.”
Tiffany nodded. “Will you help me get back to Earth?”
“If I don’t, they’ll be more bloodshed,” she thoughtfully replied. “And I don’t want that.”
“Neither do I.”
“
All right.” Nodding decisively, Valensa motioned to one side. “We’ll have to find another contact point with Earth. I think there’s one a few miles away.”
“Then let’s go.” Tiffany politely motioned Valensa to precede her. “After you.”
The two sisters then walked off together, soon falling into step side by side, a few happy birds chirping at them from high above.
*****
A few minutes later, Valensa broke the silence. “You killed my Coven-mates.”
“You know I couldn’t help that.”
“Well, you could have just given Sharra that black stone.”
Carefully, Tiffany studied her sister’s tense profile. “And just what does your coven intend to do with all this midate, anyway?”
“It greatly enhances our power.” Sighing, Valensa cast a fugitive glance at her sister. “Look, you know that an average Zarth witch isn’t as strong as one of you.”
“I’ve gathered as much.”
“But the midate is a game-changer,” she continued. “We can combine the midate with our ruby stones, and then are far stronger than you are.”
“So each piece of midate you recover creates some sort of super ruby witch?” Striding easily through the forest, Tiffany glanced back, ensuring they weren’t being followed.
“Kind of, I guess.”
“I’ve dealt with midate. It’s volatile stuff.”
“Yeah, so you demonstrated.” Frowning, the younger girl looked over. “Hey, where’d you get that laser rifle from, anyway?”
Ignoring the question, Tiffany caused a pretty rock to fly up into her hand, inspecting its bright color. “The point is, I’m not sure what it would do to a sorceress to combine that kind of dark magic with her own.”
“Oh, it’s not good,” Valensa readily conceded. “Two of my sisters went a little nutty from it. One girl actually killed another one. Our Coven Leader had to take the midate away before it got completely out of control.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, it was a bad scene.”
Quickly, Tiffany thought through the ramifications. “So does that mean your Coven Leader can handle midate? That it doesn’t throw her out of whack?”
