by J. D. Wright
Once they were inside of Leitis’ tower, they sat by the fire in silence for a while.
“Are you ready to explain why you left in search of Henry? Or how you came to be a fugitive of Labara? Then, how you found yourself traveling with a runaway princess who suddenly received magic?”
“I was hoping to avoid telling you all of those things.”
“Your letters, while I did appreciate them, were fairly vague.”
They were interrupted for a moment when a servant brought a tray of food. Leitis sent the servant off with a small bottle of potion and strict instructions to pour it into the princess’ drink.
“She just arrived and you are already tricking potion into her?” Zander asked, laughing. He sipped his hot soup and silently thanked the heavens for it. It was his first hot meal since leaving Fairkeep.
“I thought it was safe to assume that she may refuse the potion. Unless, you’d rather that she did?”
“No. Go right ahead and trick her. She can be incredibly stubborn. Whatever helps her to rest and…” He trailed off as he started to get very sleepy, very quickly.
“She isn’t the only stubborn one,” Leitis said, chuckling to himself as he turned to see his son fast asleep in the chair.
~*~
Zander woke in his chambers. He didn’t remember how he got there or even when he fell asleep. However, he immediately knew that his father had given him a potion. There was a terrible taste in his mouth and this wasn’t the first time that Leitis had given him a sleeping potion.
He stretched and sat up in his bed, looking around. He hadn’t been inside of this room for many months now. It seemed strange to be here. He had grown so accustomed to traveling, that he actually preferred the unknown to the familiar.
Climbing out of bed, he felt a lot better this morning. His energy had returned which was refreshing. His stomach began to growl and he hoped that breakfast was still being served. He walked over to his armoire and took a set of dark purple wizard robes out. He hadn’t worn robes since leaving Labara and was actually glad to be wearing them, again. They were much more comfortable.
He spotted his father sitting alone at a table in the hall and walked over, taking a seat across from him.
“How do you feel this morning?” Leitis asked. “You look much better.”
“I feel much better. But you didn’t have to slip potion into my soup. I would have taken it.”
Leitis smiled and thanked the servant who brought Zander a plate of food.
“Is she still sleeping?” Zander asked, between bites.
“No. She’s been awake since dawn,” Leitis said. “She’s already eaten and Prince Cyrus is giving her a tour of the castle as we speak. So we have plenty of time now to finish our conversation from yesterday.”
Zander sighed, then told his father about his journey to Hallowood, meeting Rianne, the thieves, finding and losing Henry, and attempting to rescue Rianne in Labara, which lead to his capture and sentencing. Leitis knew a little about most of the events but was intrigued to learn the details.
“I’m surprised that I can remember most of this,” Zander said. “My head is much clearer today. Before, I mostly saw visions of… Rianne.”
“The full moons will do that, I am told. It may have been stronger for the two of you because her magic is so new.”
“I still don’t understand it. Where did that light come from? Why her?”
“I received a message from our Elder Mage shortly before you arrived. It seems they came across a crystal, which I was not aware even existed, and when they accidentally broke the crystal, it released the magic.” Leitis continued to share what he learned from the letters he had received from Junacave.
“So this is the Elder Mage’s fault.”
Leitis laughed. “It isn’t necessarily anyone’s fault. If anything, the person to blame is the one who stole the magic and sealed it inside of the stone in the first place. There is no way of knowing how long the magic has been there, but I assume it was prior to the Shadow War. Now, we know why females began to lose their magic across the realm. Someone was stealing it.”
“And now?”
“Now, we must try to adapt. I have received a visit from one woman and a girl just last week, needing help in learning to use their magic. I am waiting for a third girl to arrive from Carneath. Prince Cyrus has agreed to allow King Carneath to send his sorceresses here since he doesn’t have a Royal Mage of his own.”
Zander covered his face with his hand. “Maybe we shouldn’t be here.”
“King Thadine and Prince Cyrus have assured me that you are safe here,” Leitis said. “You and the princess. I wouldn’t have let you come here if I wasn’t sure.”
“We can’t stay too long, though. When her father learns that she’s here…”
“I understand.”
“So when the women get here, you will teach them? All of them?” Zander asked.
“As many as I can. There aren’t many wizards in the realm who will. If we are going to avoid another war, it’s best that every female learn to safely use their magic, as quickly as possible. Not only to prevent accidents but also to protect themselves. I would offer to teach Princess Rianne, but I assume you would prefer to do it? Because of your connection, it may be easier for you.”
“About this connection… Is there another explanation for it? Other than… you know…”
“It’s possible, I guess, that your magic became connected when you touched her, just after she received her gift.”
“She hasn’t decided if it’s a gift, yet. She still calls it the red light of doom.”
Leitis laughed. He could understand why she would think that. “Are you afraid that what you’re feeling isn’t real? That it isn’t actually fusion?”
“I don’t know. What is this fusion supposed to feel like?”
“That I do not know, Son. I have not had the privilege of finding my true magical mate.”
Zander cringed at the word “mate”.
“You don’t seem very happy to have found yours,” Leitis said, raising an eyebrow. “You are very lucky if she truly is the one. Most wizards, such as myself, search their entire lives and may never find her.
“Don’t you think it’s just a bit too much of a coincidence? I mean… What are the odds that the girl I happen to be traveling with is my one… partner?” He hated the other word for it and decided that calling Rianne his partner sounded a bit less insane.
Leitis chuckled and shook his head. “Fate has a strange way of bringing people together, Zander. However, you are not the first to feel this way. It seems that the younger the wizard is when he finds his mate, the less he actually believes it. Dagan is another example. He and Sidonie found each other at a young age, even under strange circumstances. They are both very lucky for it. But I gathered that Dagan was just as unbelieving as you are, my boy.”
“Yes, well… Look what has happened to them since finding each other. Sidonie became the Elder Mage, they had to battle a wildfire, and didn’t you just tell me that someone tried to poison her?”
“Minor details in the scheme of things,” Leitis said waving his hand, dismissively. “It’s the trials you face that make you stronger. Just look at you and the princess. Look what the two of you have already been through together. Even without the magic, the two of you share a bond that you would likely never find with another.”
“She doesn’t like to be called a princess,” Zander said. “Because she’s much more than that.”
“Yes, she is.”
Leitis had a twinkle in his eye when he spoke. Zander couldn’t help but feel ridiculous for being so pessimistic. He wasn’t sure where it was coming from.
“I’m sorry. I don’t know why I am acting like such a…”
“A wizard?” Leitis asked, grinning. “Our feelings are stronger, Zander. You know this. They are heightened. All of them. Even our doubts and fears.”
“I know. I just… I don’t know.” Zander shoo
k his head and stared at the table until movement caught his eye. He looked up and saw Rianne walking in. When she spotted him, he felt like someone had thrown a bucket of cold water over him.
Leitis noticed his son’s reaction and smiled. “Sometimes we need to worry less about the “why” of things and focus more on the now. Let fate handle the details… Go on. I will see you in a bit.”
Zander watched Rianne as she was walking toward him. She had changed into a new gown, which he had never seen before. It was purple. He wasn’t surprised. Vale’s royal colors were purple and white. His own robes were the same color.
“Good morning,” she said. She stopped in front of him but didn’t sit.
“Good morning. Did you sleep well?”
“I did. Though, I don’t actually remember falling asleep…”
Zander tried not to smile. He thought it was probably best that she didn’t know his father had slipped a potion into her drink.
“You look lovely,” he said. “You look like a princess, again.”
Rianne laughed. “Thank you. You are wearing wizard robes, again, I see. You look like a wizard, now, too.”
“I owe you an apology.”
“Apology? No. Explanation? Yes.”
“Alright, then I owe you an apology and an explanation.” He stood and tried to decide what to say to her, but the noise in the hall was distracting. “Do you mind if we go somewhere else, first? Somewhere… quieter?”
“Glad to see I’m not the only one irritated by all of this noise. We’ve spent too much time in the forest…” She laughed and followed him out of the hall and down the long hallway toward the stables. Just before they reached the end of the hall, Zander turned down another hall. She hadn’t gone to this part of the castle during her tour with the prince. She marveled at the smooth stone sculptures as they walked past. Since Vale was the Mountain Kingdom, she wasn’t surprised to see the castle was mostly made of stone, but she didn’t expect it to be so beautiful.
At the end of that hall, they went through a door which led outside. Rianne followed Zander down a covered walkway that looked to wrap around the side of the mountain.
“Where are we going?” she asked, looking back to see the castle getting smaller.
“Somewhere special. I want to show you something.”
She didn’t question him until they reached the end of the walkway and turned off of the trail. There was a dark cave in front of her. “Oh, no. I am not going in there.”
“Scared?” he teased, raising his eyebrows. “And here I thought you wanted to earn your purple hair…”
“I did earn it by making it out of the glen,” she said, then pointed to the cave. “That is not the glen. That has bats and snakes and rats and who knows what else.”
“If you see any of those things, you have my permission to punch me. But you won’t.”
“I won’t see those things or I won’t punch you?”
“Both.” He turned and walked into the cave, then stopped and looked back. “Are you coming, Princess?”
“Don’t call me Princess.”
“Stop acting like a princess and I won’t.”
She narrowed her eyes at him then sighed and followed him into the cave. He took her hand and led her deeper into the darkness. His hand was warm and a large contrast to the air around her, which became colder the further they walked. It was almost pitch black and she had no idea how he could see where he was going. She expected him to walk into the side of the mountain at any time.
But he didn’t. In fact, he seemed to know exactly where he was going. After a few more moments, he stopped and turned to her. She could tell because she could hear him breathing.
“If you let go of my hand, I will start swinging and I am bound to punch some part of you,” she warned.
He laughed. “Give me your other hand.”
She lifted her other hand and he somehow found it in the dark. Then, he turned her hands over so that her palms faced up.
“Think about the sun. Or the stars. Some form of light, but not fire,” he said.
“You brought me here to teach me how to make a light!”
“Maybe. Just do it.”
“Fine,” she huffed.
Even in the dark, he could see her expression in his mind. He had seen her irritated enough to know what it looked like.
She closed her eyes, which was pointless since she couldn’t see anything anyway, and started to imagine the sun. She could almost feel the sunlight beaming down on her, warming her face.
“Open your eyes.”
Rianne opened her eyes and saw his face. She didn’t understand how, at first, then realized there was a tiny orb of light sitting in the palm of her hand. It was floating there, slowly bobbing up and down. She could feel the warmth of the light on her hand and chest.
“Now,” he said, “look up.”
She glanced up and was amazed by what she saw. The top of the cave was covered in jewels and gemstones, glistening and shining from the orb’s light. There were stones of almost every color of the rainbow and in between. Stunned, she couldn’t find words to describe how beautiful it was. She turned and moved her hand to the side. The sides of the cave were also covered in gorgeous jewels, sticking out of the dirt, some large, some small. They sparkled when she moved the orb in front of them.
“It’s amazing,” she said. “I’ve never seen anything more beautiful.”
I have, he thought as he watched her.
She turned back to him and had a huge grin on her face. She knew she probably looked silly, but she didn’t care. When she looked back up at him, he was giving her the same look she had seen twice, already.
“Why do you do that?”
“Do what?” he asked, confused.
“Look at me like you miss me. Like I’m about to leave or… Like you’re going to lose me.”
He looked down and she thought he might try to avoid the question. But, instead, he met her eyes again and spoke, “Because I do feel like I’m going to lose you.”
Her light began to fade and so did her smile. “I don’t understand. Why would you think that? After everything… Is that why you didn’t tell me about the fusion? You’re afraid it would scare me into leaving?”
“Wait. Who told you about that?” Zander was shocked that she already knew when he had spent most of the morning trying to think of a way to tell her about it.
“Your father likes to talk. I asked him over breakfast and he told me about it. Why are you getting angry?” Even though her light was almost gone, she could tell that he was getting irritated. He quickly took her hand and led her out of the cave. Once in the daylight again, she took a brief moment to try to readjust her eyes then started questioning him, again, “Will you just answer me?”
“He shouldn’t have told you about it. It wasn’t his place to do so.” Zander shook his head and tried to control his temper. “Better yet, he should have told me that you knew.”
“If I hadn’t asked him, I might never know. You didn’t bother to tell me about it. I still don’t think I understand it, really. But you haven’t answered my question. Did you think it would scare me away?”
“No, Rianne. I thought it would scare you into staying with me.”
“That doesn’t make any sense, Zander.”
“I didn’t want to tell you that we are magically connected because I don’t want you to feel like you have to stay with me.”
“I don’t feel like I have to do anything. I want to stay with you. I did, even before the magic.”
“You can go home, Rianne. At any time, you can return to Labara. Your father has probably already forgiven you. And I know you want to. I overheard you talking to Dahlia.”
“That isn’t what I said. I said that when Tristan becomes king one day, I can go home. But that could be many years from now.”
“But to me, that means you want to go home. I don’t blame you. You should want to go home. I’m safe, now. You freed me from my executio
n and now we’re even. I saved you and you saved me. You don’t owe me anything else.”
“It sounds like you want me to go home. Is that what it is? You don’t want to be connected to me because you want to find someone else?” She was becoming angry and could feel her magic beginning to heat up inside her. Just the thought of Zander with someone else was infuriating and she had never thought of herself as being a jealous person.
“There will never be anyone else. Not in the same way. A wizard only ever feels fusion with one woman. Forever. But I can live without you if you choose to go.”
“Your father said that we’re lucky. That some wizards never find their magical mate.”
“I hate that word. And my father only says that because he’s looked his entire life for his. He fell in love with my mother but wouldn’t stay with her because he was afraid he might miss out on finding his one true partner if he were married to her. It broke my mother’s heart. She loved him until the day she died.”
“That is really sad. But our situation is different. We found each other. In the glen, remember? Long before my magic… found me. We found each other, first.”
“Yes, but…” He couldn’t argue with her logic. They had found each other and saved each other before she ever received her magic.
“You’re being cynical. You do realize that, right? You are purposefully sabotaging any chance of your own happiness because you’re afraid that I might change my mind in the future and want to go home.”
“It could happen, Rianne.”
“No, it won’t,” she said, walking toward him. She expected him to back away, but he didn’t. She slid her arms around his waist and looked up at him. “I refused to leave Labara without you. I won’t go back without you, either.”
He wrapped his arms around her and hugged her close. She laid her head on his chest and listened to his heart beating.
“I was happy to learn that it was the moons causing my… visions… and not my magic,” she said.
“That was definitely a bad time to receive your magic.”
“But you know…” she started as she pulled back, “I am happy that I can do this, again.”
