Healer

by Bonnie Watson

  Ashpin stared off into the surrounding woods, letting the quiet of approaching evening settle their thoughts. After a bit, he reached under his shirt collar and pulled out the twin heart-shaped necklaces. Unclasping one of the chains, he held it out.

  “I want you to have this.”

  White eyebrows lowered in question. Although the prince held out a hand, he did not attempt to take the necklace just yet.

  “This was your father’s.”

  “You’ve been more a father to me than when I actually had one,” Ashpin said. “The moment he left, he should have been labeled dead.”

  Wisdom let his fingers slip around cool chain as Ashpin released it into his palm.

  “You wish your mother had not mentioned him?”

  “I wish she hadn’t given me false hope that he was something more than what he actually was.”

  Wisdom made no comment. From what the boy had told him of his mother’s fabricated stories, he had no doubt that she probably built up the expectations of something great in a person he knew little about.

  Carefully, he reached around to clasp the charm around his neck. With his brother still holding onto the sapphire stone, and his mother’s necklace accompanying the ring as an engagement gift, the gold heart nestled lightly over the neckline.

  “It suits you,” Ashpin said.

  “Does it?”

  “Now everyone can see you’ve a heart of gold.”

  Wisdom just smiled. There was meaning behind those words, and he gave the boy a gentle pat on the shoulder in thanks.

  “I try.”

  It was not long after receiving the new necklace that Wisdom led Glory to a spot he had discovered along the waterfront. At the edge of town, where the trees stopped slightly above shoreline, Wisdom revealed the velvet box under a painted sunset of pink and orange.

  Glory’s face brightened in delight at his proposal. Kneeling before her, he pledged his love and protection while placing the newly adorned ring on her finger.

  She giggled. “Remember when we first met? As much as I kept throwing fits about wearing fine things, this was the one piece I did want and it would never stay on!”

  Wisdom laughed. “Good thing. Now it not only fits, but complements your entire look.”

  Blushing, she turned and held up her hair in the back for him to add the necklace. The feel of fingers tracing slowly down her shoulders after it was in place spurred a shiver of joy. He then leaned close to lightly kiss her neck. The smell of her hair falling back in place was intoxicating.

  “Wasn’t this your mother’s?” Glory whispered as he held her close. “You’re sure you want me to have this?”

  “I’m sure she would be proud to know it’s with someone I care just as deeply about.”

  The two of them gazed out over the water, time no longer holding any meaning other than to be together. At long last, Wisdom felt he had achieved what his mother had meant for him to do. He had discovered his connection to Nature and a family he never knew he had. He had united the people in the land and stopped a growing Darkness caused by the first black unicorn.

  As the last of daylight faded behind them, their reflections were cast below on calm tides. A glance to the circular scar upon his wrist confirmed the next phase in the Purification process. A Blue Moon had already passed. Soon it would turn red, and Osha would require him to find the place where the unicorn could make the process official.

  “No more storms,” he whispered into Glory’s soft hair. “No more…darkness.”

  EPILOGUE

  “They’re not going anywhere.” Abraham watched the swirl of clouds rotate lazily overhead. Even with the horn’s power at bay, the storm never fully dissipated. A few rumbles suggested another shower. With a sigh, he closed the balcony doors.

  It was his father’s room and largest of the bedrooms. But it was not where Abraham slept at night. No matter how many times he walked its generous space or admired its grand balcony overlooking the courtyard, that eerie feeling that this was where his father was slowly consumed as he lay sleeping did not sit well. Instead, he kept the smaller bedroom where Jenario had first placed him. It was about the same size as the one at his own little cottage back in Lexington – or at least the one he had. The war had completely demolished the city walls and much of anything else surrounding it. Downed trees, he had heard, had leveled the place to the ground.

  “So much for going back.” His eyes trailed to a peculiar glass dome sitting on the mantle.

  With a sigh, Abraham strolled out into the hallway and down its length to a frequented favorite. Upon entering the library, he could sense the glass dome materializing through the wall. He checked to be sure it was the same one from the bedroom. The container served as a temporary prison, and through magic Abraham had designed it to suspend his father’s necklace within. This way, it touched nothing. Abraham was taking no chances with the way the horn manipulated its environment. By having the container follow him from room to room, he could always keep an eye on it.

  A chortle, then it was back to searching through his father’s notes. Books already scattered across tabletops where he had last left them.

  Or Perhaps it’s just easier for it to keep an eye on me. The last moments of his father’s life came to mind, a warning to never touch the horn. It would just end the same way.

  “You are not like Jenario,” came a raspy whisper.

  Having heard the horn’s voice before, Abraham merely ignored it. When it came again, he glanced over to the dome.

  “You’d be right on one account. I’m not like my father...because I won’t be using you anytime soon.”

  “When he used my abilities, he allowed it to become a part of his inner being. That is what destroyed him.”

  “And I’m assuming if he had just let you take reign without any resistance, he’d still be alive?” Abraham shook his head. “Yeah. Right.”

  “No different than the Healer’s predicament. Should be attempt to use my sister’s power, their souls would fuse together.”

  “Huh.” Abraham flipped through the pages of his father’s notes, studying formulas written for a particular spell. He peered closer, trying to make out the wording. “Like I said. Free reign and he’d have been a puppet. Hell, he already was!” He slid a finger down the page until he found what he sought – the pronunciation guide.

  “You can try, but without proper understanding the spell is useless.”

  Abraham balked. “And you know better?”

  “I am part of the same. I was born into it. I understand it. Those without magic do not. They try to put a name on the meaning of how its energy works, but often times ends in a mash of disarray and distraction. The key is pronunciation.”

  It paused, but by then Abraham had given the horn his full attention. “When I first approached Jenario, he was the only one at the time who had the basic understanding of magic’s function. He grasped its meaning. Saw potential. His notes reflect his thought patterns. He…saw…magic.”

  Abraham lowered his eyebrows, then looked back at the book. “He might’ve seen it. Maybe understood it. Yet he couldn’t use any of it.” He suddenly slapped the book shut. “That’s why he made you.”

  “The Elements are split, bound in a downward spiral of hatred that will bring an end to all seasons. My sister and I could see this. But our foresights are also split. Where one lacks vision, the other continues. It was I who first saw Jenario’s potential. But that was as far as I could go.”

  Abraham stepped away from the table, shaking his head in disbelief.

  “Now I’ve heard it all! First you want a body. Then power. Now you’re telling me that all of it this was planned due to seasonal changes?”

  In a huff, the young man stormed from the room. His mood matched the stormclouds gathering outside the window when he entered his father’s bed chambers once more. On the mantlepiece, the glass dome materialized; however, its presence only strengthened his resolve to ignore it. Instead, he sought
the bedside decanter where some of Nathaniel’s leftover spirits had been stored. It now served a better purpose to calm Abraham’s nerves. And yet, he could not help but wonder. Was he a mere pawn in a larger game, or was this just another fabricated story to win another host? Either way, Abraham was taking no chances. A couple of drinks helped clear his thoughts to the task at hand.

  Check the horn. Continue studying. Simple. He had just set his glass down when a flash of lightning lit the interior.

  Nothing is simple, came a whisper. From the balcony window, Abraham could see the tops of the trees wavering back and forth in the wind. No rain yet, but with the way the clouds gathered he knew it was coming.

  There came a flash of blinding light. The next instant his body was thrown back from a bolt’s direct hit outside. An explosion of glass and wood littered across stone-slab floor. He had lost all sense of direction, his body sprawled against the wall with a pounding in his head from the deafening roar still echoing throughout the room. When at last he opened his eyes, he was staring up at the mantle. Next to his head, a still-lit candlestick rocked from side to side. It was the only thing illuminating the room now, and the only reflection in the glass dome teetering on the edge of collapse. Abraham’s focus was drawn to this, not fully comprehending until the glass tilted toward him.

  A wild scream escaped his lips, and he threw up his already scratched arms to block the dome’s descent. It hit the floor by his side, spraying crystal shards. Each captured his momentary distress in a reflection of pain and confusion before they came to a clattering halt.

  Dust was still settling when Abraham uncovered his face. Glass fell from his hands, stained crimson from multiple cuts. A gash across his lip dribbled red down his chin. Slowly, he turned, grasping along the metal hearth to pull himself up. It was dark out. It was dark inside. His only light source remained the one candle, and as he pulled himself to a sitting position his gaze fell to the shattered dome – and necklace.

  Abraham froze. No longer contained, it rested just on the other side of the candle. An eerie glow cast from the crimson stone along its gold chain seemed to pulse with the flickering flame.

  Then, it went out.

  Abraham fumbled along the hearth, reaching out with shaking hand until his fingers felt the cool tip of metal poker. His breath came heavy as he gripped the handle and nearly shook the stand apart trying to get it out. Just knowing the horn was in the room, unguarded, was frightening.

  “Don’t ever use it!” his father’s warning flashed through his thoughts.

  “I don’t even plan to touch it!” he said between clenched teeth. He tapped the floor, using the poker to scope out where objects were. When he heard the ting of rolling candlestick, he knew he was close. “It should be right...here.” He let the poker’s tip drag gently across the floor. He recognized glass clinking together, then part of the door. Wood chips were everywhere he stepped and cracked under his shoes.

  Still, no necklace.

  “Impossible!” Abraham quickened his sweeps. “It couldn’t have moved itself. It should be right in front of me!”

  “Here,” a calm, youthful-sounding voice suddenly announced next to him. “Maybe this will help.”

  Before Abraham could react, something sharp bit into his hand. A cold sweat broke upon his forehead when he felt delicate chain slip through his fingers. The compulsion to fling it away was strong, and yet he felt incapable of doing so.

  A sharp pain sprang up his arm as the stone flared a blood-red. Its radiating pulse matched the beat of Abraham’s racing heart. Like a slow poison soothing his nerves, it took control. Soon, Abraham’s breathing calmed, and instead of flinching from the pain, he accepted it and stood tall. With easy strides, he weaved through the room’s wreckage and out onto the balcony.

  “Join me, Twilight,” the horn pronounced through Abraham’s tongue. In his right hand, he held the necklace containing the piece of horn while the young Healer stepped next to him. Lightning still flicked from cloud to cloud, but at a gesture, everything stilled. “Tonight, we bask in a new beginning.”

  The lavender-eyed Healer cast his gaze up at the sky while his master cleared a section of clouds. For once, pure moonlight settled in across the balcony, with a glimpse of red just touching the moon’s outer rim.

  “Shall we see the others soon?” Twilight’s flat tone suggested he was no more free of the unicorn’s power than Abraham playing host.

  Lips spread to a sinister smile. “Yes. They will come. The Purification has begun, one that shall belong to me!” As he raised his face to bask in the moon’s red glow, he let his voice carry over the shadowed landscape. “Enter the reign of a new unicorn – Merlock!”

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Bonnie Watson was born in Richmond, VA with an interest in art and writing. She graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2005, having completed several shorter works of fiction. In 2010, she published her first novel, and has been diligently working on the series ever since. Her love for medieval fantasy is apparent in much of her artwork, and can be viewed, along with various other writing projects, on her main website: www.WisdomNovels.com

  AUTHOR’S BLOG

  www.WisdomNovels.wordpress.com

  Red Moon Rising Trilogy

  What is Red Moon Rising?

  It’s the next set of novels that will see us through the Darkness. With the return of the horn, Wisdom will need more help than his inner unicorn can offer. Thus, I can finally start introducing other Elemental Healers: the Wind Racer Savannah Swift, the Silent Siren Yuri Sansummi, and the Ember Mage Merionathaniel Blazn.

  What are the Elemental Masters?

  A Master Healer is an undying creature of supreme power. Though Nature has controlled the seasons without the need of Healers, masters help organize the Elements so Nature can focus on other issues interfering with the Balance of Magic.

  To become a Master of the Elements, one must be “reborn.” Once reawakened, their connection to Nature intensifies. Energy does not burn out as quickly as regular Healers. When death does come, they are simply regenerated to the level they left off. This, however, may not be possible due to the growing Darkness infesting the land, sucking away at Nature’s energy needed for regeneration.

  Where will the next book take us?

  Book four No’va takes a step back in time, a time when the first four humans are introduced to the world of Healers. It’s a time when Black Wings rule the skies. It’s a time when giant arachnids hide in caves and possible moss dragons sleep under the earth. It’s a time when the twin unicorns are just beginning their quest, a quest to unite the Elements once again, and the only way to do that…is through a human.

  The last Purification brings humans. What will the next one bring?