Snapping her fingers again brought two new servants running. This time they were women, wearing the standard brown leather pants and a matching leather short-sleeved top.
“Take her and put her with the rest of the cursed.”
The women gently plucked the girl from the air. The Queen wondered how many bodies lay waiting in the limbo between life and death. Not that she would forgive the vermin that had stolen her amulet, but she would enjoy watching the human be tortured by all the souls it had trapped prematurely in the Underworld. Eternity would not be long enough for all the lives that heartless human had taken trying to break the curse that came with stealing something born from the Underworld’s power. Since the human had not been able to break it thus far, she continued to collect bodies stuck in the in-between, their lives connected to the cursed one’s. When that insect finally died, so would all of those souls, and she would have a lovely new collection of pets.
The Queen smiled to herself as she watched one of the servants wrap her arms around the girl’s legs while the other wove her arms around the girl’s back. Slowly they carried her out, leaving the Queen to her thoughts again.
Chapter 6
Eris
Master Garren stood up from his chair and walked across the room to a small wooden desk. He opened the top drawer and rummaged for a few moments before producing an old piece of parchment. Then he gently pushed the drawer closed and turned back to Eris. She couldn’t begin to understand what that paper had to do with finding her sister, but whatever it was she would do it to get Soraya back.
“You’re sure about this? Your sister could be nothing but a dream.”
“I’m not making her up,” she said.
“Magic can do all sorts of wonderful and terrible things, so over the years I’ve come to believe that unexplainable things are often explainable with magic. I think I have something to show you, but it’s going to change everything.”
What could possibly be on that old piece of paper? She took a deep breath and pushed the panic back down. Soraya’s life was at stake, and she prayed this was the thing that would help her get her sister back. Whatever it happened to be.
Master Garren looked at the parchment in his hands. He made his way slowly back to Eris, then handed her the paper. She unfolded it carefully. The paper looked to be older than she had originally guessed. Once the paper was fully unfolded, she noticed the bottom half of it was missing.
“Where’s the rest of it?”
Master Garren shrugged. “Read it.” He waved towards the paper in her hands and turned his back to her.
Eris did as she was bade. In small, neat script, she read,
The one born with Light will save us all. Find her. Train her. When the sign of the flower appears, send her to the cursed one, or else we shall all perish at the hands of Chaos. Chaos is coming, and we are powerless against her without the Light and Dark.
She read it over several times, trying to make sense of it. “What is this?”
“It’s a warning, though the writer is obviously a bit crazed.” Master Garren shrugged.
“Where did you get it? Who is it about? Why are you showing me this?” Eris couldn’t help but ask the questions that kept popping into her mind. Master Garren looked at her in a familiar way, with slightly raised eyebrows, that told her it would be best to wait until he was finished before asking all her questions. She closed her lips and folded her hands in her lap. “Sorry, continue.”
“It’s a message I received quite a long time ago.” He made his way back to his seat and sat down. Then he lifted the teacup to his lips and took a sip, causing Eris to want to pull her hair out. Master Garren was never in a hurry. He always took as much time as he liked, and it drove her crazy most of the time. She reminded herself to take a deep breath and hear him out, otherwise it would take even longer.
“I had a friend once when I was your age. He was a marvelous Dark magic user, but as time wore on, he began choosing questionable things. While Dark magic is not inherently bad, it does lend itself to inviting evil influences if not carefully guarded. My friend wanted to be more and more powerful, so he began experimenting with different herbs and spells, until one day he was no longer the boy I had known. And then many years ago, he appeared suddenly and gave this message to me. He said he got it from the Yavo, but as you know, no one has heard from them in hundreds of years, making its true origin anyone’s guess.” Master Garren set the teacup down and rubbed his face.
Eris had never seen him look so sad. “I’m sorry about your friend.”
But he waved her comment off. “Because of all the less-than-reputable paths my friend wandered down, I didn’t think too much of this message at first. But then I noticed something quite peculiar. Look here.” He pointed to a faded pencil marking in the top right corner.
Eris squinted her eyes to make it out. “Wait,” She blinked her eyes again and brought the paper closer to her face. Then she pulled it back and looked at Master Garren.
“Yes, that’s your name.”
“How did my name get here?”
“I don’t know, but I received this two years before you were born. None of it made any sense to me at the time, so I stuck it in some old box in the bottom of that drawer and there it sat. Until now. A few months ago, while we were practicing defensive spells, I saw the birthmark on your neck. It looks just like a flower. Perhaps all of this is meant to be. Or perhaps he was crazy after all.”
Eris remembered that occasion. It had been less practicing and more Eris flying through his yard over and over as she failed to get her shield up fast enough.
If she thought about it logically, Eris was not necessarily an uncommon name. His friend could have just guessed, but there was something bothering her about his mention of her flower mark that she couldn’t shrug off. If it was all meant to be, who’d planned it all? And why was Soraya caught in the middle? What was it about her that was special enough to warrant all this?
“Have you heard of the Prince in Jara City?” Master Garren asked.
“Sure. Soraya talked about him all the time, but what does he have to do with finding her?”
“There is a rumor he has hidden a magical map in the library of his castle. With this map, you can find anyone, alive or dead. Though there may be other ways to find Soraya. Less dangerous ways, but they will take some time.”
“How do I get there?” Eris popped up off the chair, ready to run out the door. Jara City wasn’t that far away. She might even be able to get there by morning, depending on what time it was now. If she used her magic to help her, she should be able to travel quicker.
“Sit down for a moment. There’s more that you need to know.” He gestured for her to sit.
Sighing, she thumped back down, but on the edge of the seat so she could easily make a run for the door when he was finished.
“I won’t stop you from going, so stop eying the door. The Prince in Jara City has Dark magic. But more importantly, he’s cursed. Every night he gathers girls with magic to see if one of them can break his curse, and therefore getting in won’t be the issue. It’s rumored that some of them disappear indefinitely. Eris, you must be careful.”
“But I have Light magic. I’m stronger than he is.” Not that she meant to brag, but Light magic was the strongest form of magic in Erila. Everyone knew that.