“That’s not what I meant.”
“Prince Knox and I share a common enemy, so here I am.” He waved her question off.
“What does that mean? Never mind, I don’t want to know.” Eris didn’t have time to worry about his odd remarks.
“She’s your enemy, too,” Nolan said.
“Who? I don’t have any enemies.”
“She’s the one who has your sister.”
“How did you know about that?”
“That’s why you’re here, isn’t it? To find your sister? Well, she’s not here.” Nolan held his hands out to the sides. “She’s in the Underworld.”
“She’s… dead?” Eris choked out.
“Not exactly. She’s stuck in the dimension between life and death, and there’s only one way to get her back.”
“Tell me how.”
“You have to break the Prince’s curse.”
Of all the things she had expected him to say, it wasn’t that. How was the Prince’s curse connected to her sister? “How do I do that exactly?”
“With magic, of course,” Nolan said with a wink.
Chapter 23
Eris
“Duh,” Eris said. “But what kind of magic?”
“Light magic. That is the type you were gifted with, isn’t it?”
“Could you stop talking in circles?”
Nolan smiled, “Of course, my lady.”
Eris rolled her eyes. The last thing she needed was this jokester wasting her time. “What kind of curse does Prince Knox have? How can I break it? And what does all of that have to do with my sister?” She knew the answer to the first question, but she wanted to test Nolan. Something about him seemed untrustworthy to her.
“Very good questions,” Nolan said. “The Princeling is cursed with a half-life. His mother and father did everything they could to save their son, and some things they shouldn’t have, but it wasn’t enough. What they needed was a healer. Someone with Light magic. Someone like you.”
He continued, “Currently, you can’t break his curse because you are undertrained. I don’t know what charlatan was training you before, but I hope he wasn’t charging you…”
“Master Garren is not a charlatan,” Eris growled.
Nolan raised his palms to concede. “Not to worry, I will train you, and with any luck, in two months’ time you’ll be strong enough to break the curse for good. Once the curse is broken, your sister will be curse-free and all will go back to the way it should. Simple enough, yes?”
“Wait. Soraya is cursed as well? What exactly happened to her on the way to Jara City and why can’t Darren remember anything about it?”
“It’s a long, boring story. Do you want to hear it, or do you want me to teach you how to use your magic to save her? We are running short of time, you know. Tick tock.”
Eris wanted to know what exactly had happened to her sister, but more than anything she wanted to save her. And it wasn’t a secret to her that she wasn’t as advanced as she should be magically. Still, she had the nagging suspicion Nolan wasn’t telling her something important.
“Where do we begin?” She closed the frail book in her lap. She hoped she wouldn’t regret not pressing him for more information.
“With water magic, of course.”
Eris groaned.
Eris found herself deep inside the extensive castle gardens, with Nolan a dozen feet in front of her. Eastmund stood just behind her. She could feel his watching eyes.
“You’re not focusing,” Nolan said, examining his fingernails.
“Yes. I am.” Eris could feel the sweat dripping down her back. They’d been practicing for over two hours already. The late afternoon sun was hot, and the water sitting in the bowl in front of her wouldn’t speak in a way she could understand no matter how much she focused.
It was always like that with water. Each drop of water had its own voice, its own will. It was hard for her to get them to agree on doing the same thing at the same time. It was even harder to maintain the voices long enough to do more than a simple waterball. Even though everyone said Light magic had a special connection with water, she had never found that to be true. If anything, the earth responded to her better. It was much calmer, more persuadable, than water.
“Maybe your magic teacher wasn’t the problem, after all. Now that I see you, it’s hard to believe you’re the prophesied curse breaker,” Nolan said.
“Thanks for that. Wait. You know about the prophecy? What does it say?” She wondered if it was the same prophecy Master Garren had given her before she left Uwen.
“Why can’t you make this work?” he asked, breaking her train of thought.
“Because the water’s will is too wild.”
“Instead of fighting the water’s will, why don’t you use its will for your own purposes?”
She opened her mouth to argue more, but closed it again. She had never thought of that before. Master Garren had always told her to listen to the voices she heard in nature before using her magic. He told her that doing so would help her maintain the balance both within herself and the world. Keeping the natural balance of things would keep her from a burnout. But staring at the water, she could feel the truthfulness of Nolan’s advice.
“Close your eyes,” Nolan said.
Eris closed her eyes. Her magic was spinning circles in her core, ready to try again.
“Now, clear your mind. Think of nothing. Listen to the collective voice of the water in the bowl. What is it saying? What does it want?”
She concentrated on the bowl of water and cleared her mind. The voices were faint at first, but steadily grew into a loud hum. Each voice tried to talk over all the rest.
She opened her eyes. “There are too many voices.”
“Just listen.”
She let out a breath and listened again, but nothing changed. The voices melted together until she couldn’t make out a single word. Frustrated, she closed her eyes and thought, What do you want? When it didn’t answer, she thought louder, Tell me what you want.
Suddenly the voices stopped. Surprised, Eris opened her eyes and looked at the water.
“Freedom,” the voices said as one. “We want freedom from this bowl. It’s too tight.”
Eris’ mouth dropped open. She hadn’t known that elements could talk back. Why hadn’t Master Garren told her they could talk to her?
“Well?” Nolan asked.
Eris willed her magic to free the water in the bowl. She felt the magic rise to her palms, then she reached out. The water rose from the bowl, embracing her magic, and she watched as the magic-infused water danced through the sky towards her. She willed it to stop and change directions. Smiling, she pushed it towards Nolan, but before it hit, it bounced off an invisible shield inches from his face.
“Finally.” He rolled his eyes.
Eris grinned. She had finally controlled water without passing out or making a mess. She couldn’t wait to see Master Garren’s face when she showed him what she could do. Even her father would finally have to lecture her about something else.
“Now for something more interesting,” Nolan said.