Budding Magic

  ****

  Kellan was watching Vevila and Kane sleep when she noticed Rhoswen's writing pad laying in the grass. She bent down to pick it up. Her intentions were to just put it with the rest of her stuff, but curiosity got the best of her and she opened it up to the page of curses. She smiled in amusement for the situations some of Rhoswen's curses corrected. There seemed to be a lot of curses regarding Aunt Caryn. Rhoswen described a situation where Aunt Caryn might try to force her to snub her friend Elle. She wrote, every time Aunt Caryn meant to say Elle, she would instead say hell. Kellan laughed.

  Kellan turned to the next page and was astounded to see Rhoswen's elaborate insights into a dream concerning Celeste. Her eyebrows rose. If what Rhoswen had written was true, then Celeste was directly related to them—not just another daughter of Druantia. She frowned at the complex symbols Rhoswen used to outline the details of her birth and her heritage. Kellan could read the pattern of the path to them, but not the details. Kellan guessed that Celeste was either mama or papa's illegitimate sister.

  Kellan sighed and picked up her own pencil. She had recognized Rhoswen's growing intuition. Rhoswen would know that she had read her book. Kellan felt embarrassed as she forced herself to write, Rhoswen, I'm sorry I intruded into your personal writings, I did not mean any harm. Please forgive me for my lack of discipline, Kellan. She placed Rhoswen's writing pad with her other belongings.

  She sat back down to watch her sisters sleep. They had been sleeping for quite a while. Kellan wondered when they would wake up. It wasn't the type of sleep the others girls had, she could just wake them. She sighed and let them sleep. It wasn't as if there was anything needing done. She was concerned about Kane's hair. Kane had always treasured her hair, it set her apart from her other sisters—long and blond.

  Kellan had been reading from mama's workbook which Alana had thought to bring along. It was very complicated. There wasn't just the spell burned into the floor of their room. There were spells carved or burned into various areas of the land around them, even property which the O'Byrne didn't own. There were even some spells written out in the real ocean—at Norman's Point.

  "Look on page 59," a voice called from a nearby tree.

  Kellan looked up to see their calico cat, the same cat that Aunt Caryn had tried to force out of the house.

  "Cally-cat!" Vevila called out.

  "How long have we been here?" Kane asked.

  "Two days," Cally answered.

  "So long," Kellan said with concern.

  "This is important," Cally told them. "When it is done, it will save you time—and a lot more."

  Cally came out of the tree and curled around Kane's knees. Kane picked him up and started petting the long multi-colored fur. Vevila laughed as she heard the cat purr from across the grass.

  "Why is it so eerily quiet?" Cally asked them and started stalking around.

  "There are men trapped in the wall," Kellan told her. "A nightingale sang it to us. They don't have the raven's mark."

  "That is too bad for them," Cally said rather callously.

  "Maybe I should be reading this in reverse order," Kellan turned to page 59. "Get to what mama has recently done."

  "That would be a little strange," Cally told her, staring at the upside down words.

  "What does it say?" Vevila asked excitedly.

  Vevila was always fascinated by mama's books. She couldn't read them yet, they were in Gaelic, but she loved the stories as the other sisters read them to her.

  "It's talking about when she discovered the bruises Aunt Caryn marked on Alana's arm." Her eyebrows rose with surprise. "She cursed anyone threefold who would cause us harm—a blood curse at that!"

  "How does that work?" Kane asked.

  "If someone hurts you, let's say hits you with a stick, that person will be hurt three times as much as you." Kellan explained.

  "Oh!" Vevila smiled. "So if Aunt Caryn was to do that again, she would end up with fifteen bruises and three cuts."

  "Or bad bruise—three times worse," Cally told her.

  "I really like this!" Kane told them and then frowned. "What are its limitations?"

  "It's vague," Kellan told her. "It just says… Tread softly in my daughter's spheres, or be threefold so damaged."

  "What if someone accidently hurts one of us?" Vevila asked with concern.

  "Could be hurt," Cally stated, "if girl damages—maybe."

  "And if we hurt each other?" Kane asked.

  Vevila tossed a stone at Kane. It hit her leg.

  "I didn't feel anything?" Vevila told them.

  "That wasn't damage," Kane told her scathingly. She threw a stone meaning to hurt, and hit Vevila in the leg.

  "Ouch," Vevila exclaimed. "That hurt."

  "Brutal!" Kane exclaimed in pain.

  "Let's see," Kellan scooted over to Kane.

  Kane pulled up her pant leg to reveal an angry area which was going to bruise deeply. Vevila's leg just had a red mark.

  "Just so!" Cally's furry head tilted to peer at the marks. "She threw it harder, or ‘cause of her intention?"

  "We will need to understand this better," Kellan told them. "It could help us immensely, or hurt people by accident."

  "Aine mother very smart," Cally told them. "She would do this thing right."

  "She was also very tired and distracted," Kellan told her.

  "And angry," Vevila added.

  They were interrupted with the sounds of laughter as the girls returned to the field. Kellan was surprised to see the herd of unicorns following.

  "Greetings to you, Sofia and Keitel," Kellan greeted the mages. To greet any others first would have shown them disrespect—except for the King of course.

  "That was so much fun," Sherrie called out.

  Feather regretfully let her dismount. The other girls dismounted as well, and then wandered around caressing the unicorns.

  "We will be back," Sherrie kissed her on the nose.

  "Come, daughter of mine," Fiona called her. "These have business."

  The herd of unicorns left with Fiona and Feather, only the two mages stayed behind.

  "Sherrie, Tessa, and Elle will not be allowed to enter for three of your days and nights." Keitel instructed them. "That will give their brains time to assimilate what has been given to them."

  "What would you have us do with the strangers?" Sofia asked.

  The sisters looked at each other confused. Never, had they been asked to interfere in grove business before.

  "Why do you inquire?" Kellan asked.

  "They are dirty scum and we do not desire for them to remain in our lands, neither do we necessarily choose to slay them," Keitel answered.

  "They don't bear the Raven," Kellan told her sisters. "They are probably the ones who the villagers were going to force to leave."

  "I'd say," Dara squinted up at Keitel. "Let them wander in the wall, but not to die. Let them get weak, close to death, and then let them out. The villagers will just have to deal with them."

  "A wise choice," Sofia told her. "Do you agree?" She asked the rest of the sisters.

  "That's a good plan," Kane mentioned. "By the time they get out of the wall, they'll be too weak to fight much."

  "Put some water in there with them so they can remain awhile," Alana added. "When they find their way out, the villagers will see them for their depravity, and not hesitate so much about expelling them."

  All the sisters nodded in agreement. The mages nodded to them and started to retreated.

  "I have a question if you would please to answer," Kane stopped them, "or if it is in your knowledge."

  "Ask Daughter of Aine," Sofia faced her. Her serene blue eyes looked at her earnestly.

  "I and my sisters do not have the Raven's mark," Kane asked confused. "Why are we allowed to see the secrets of the Raven?"

  "But you all do," Sofia answered. "You received the mark at birth, the same as Haley. It is on your head."

  "Oh," Kane frowned, "then why c
ouldn't we see both views of the wall until after we activated the raven on our amulets?"

  "You saw what you asked to see," Sofia answered.

  Sofia and Keitel nodded in farewell and sauntered on past them.

  Kane continued to puzzle out her answer.

  "I guess we saw what we expected to see," she reasoned.

  "No way did we expect to see the ocean," Alana disagreed, "after climbing up on the wall that first time."

  "We did expect though only to see one thing—not two," Kane argued. "Maybe our mind wanted to see what was new—what had changed?"

  "Maybe," Alana shrugged.

  Sherrie listened to the discussion with surprise. The sisters were talking about magic as if it happened every day, maybe for them it did. She hadn't realized just how magical the O'Byrne sisters were. Sofia and Keitel had listened even to Kane, the youngest. Imagine, Mage unicorns answering a little girl.

  "Before we return," Kellan said abruptly. "We have something which needs to be known. The villagers also need to know this."

  Dara, Alana, and Rhoswen looked at Kellan blankly. They had no idea what could be so concerning to her. Dara could tell by her hesitations that something was really bothering her. Kellan sighed.

  "Mama put a curse on anyone who would harm us," she told them, "and even on us if we hurt each other."

  "What are you talking about?" Dara asked her.

  "Pull up your pant leg Kane, dear," Cally called out.

  "Look," Tessa pointed up into the tree, "it's a talking cat."

  "Isn't that Cally-cat?" Elle asked. "He can talk?"

  "Yes," Rhoswen answered, "he could always talk. You just couldn't hear him."

  "Oh!" Elle exclaimed staring at Cally.

  "About the curse?" Dara asked impatiently.

  "After mama saw what Aunt Caryn did to Alana's arm," Vevila told them. "She wrote a spell that would hurt anyone threefold if they were to hurt any of her daughters. Kane threw a rock at me. Look at the difference between my injury and hers."

  Vevila showed them her leg. The red mark was barely noticeable—Kane's on the other hand, was bruising up splendidly.

  "So why is Kane's leg bruised?" Sherrie asked.

  "Because she threw a rock at Vevila that caused damage," Kellan answered. "We don't know if she was injured because she did it purpose like, or if she would have been injured even if it had been an accident."

  "Why were you throwing a rock at Vevila anyway?" Alana asked frowning at her.

  "Hey," Kane said defensively, "she threw the first one. She just didn't throw it hard enough."

  "Point is—it wouldn't hurt for people to be warned not to try hurting us." Kellan interrupted them. "We don't want people hurt threefold to our injuries."

  "Says who?" Alana asked sweetly. "That would have been rather pleasing when Aunt Caryn bruised up my arm."

  "Do you want her dead?" Dara asked her. "What if she had hit you in the head? You live, but her injury—being three times harsher—kills her."

  "Oh," Alana frowned unsure.

  Rhoswen sat down in the grass and pressed her hand against her forehead.

  "What's wrong with you?" Kane asked her.

  "I don't know," Rhoswen's face was pale. "Something just doesn't feel right."

  "Focus on various things until you connect to what is bothering you," Dara instructed. "Celeste, donkeys, home, villagers…"

  "It is home," she told them. "Something there isn't right."

  Dara looked toward home and started with surprise.

  "The wards have flared," Dara told them. "I don't know what that means."

  "The locks," Alana told her, "remember."

  They looked at her in puzzlement.

  "Mama's book," she reached over to open Aine's book toward the end of the passages. "She wasn't sure about her last visions, so she created a sequence of spells to react when certain events did—or did not—take place."

  "One of those sequences was to lock the house," Dara continued, "just like we talked about doing."

  "This is a contingency ward," Kellan said with surprise as she read Aine's notes. "If Aunt Caryn didn't talk to Celeste by—yesterday—the doors to all the extra rooms would lock.

  "They were open just a few moments ago," Cally said irritated. "I'm glad I was not there when they locked. I can't get through Aine's magical locks," she sighed, "I've tried."

  "We can find our way back to the village if you wish to hurry home," Tessa said with concern.

  "No point really," Kane told them. "It's locked. We might as well continue as we planned."

  "I agree," Kellan told them. "Agreement to move on?"

  "Agreed," the sisters all nodded or spoke.

  "What was that about?" Sherrie asked puzzled.

  "Celeste has shown us a way that we might manage without fighting with each other," Dara told her. "We were just practicing it."

  "That's actually a good idea," Tessa told them. "Elle and I have a row now and then. I can't image having four more of her."

  "Hey!" Elle said and then shrugged, "it's too true."

  "So we need to return to Celeste's house," Kellan told them. "We've been gone two days. Will that be a problem with your folks?"

  "I don't care," Tessa said smiling. "I'd take a beating for this adventure any day."

  "They won't beat us," Elle said seeing their concern. "Pa was glad enough to have some place to graze Betsy. He would have lost her if it hadn't been for Kane."

  "I'm okay, too," Sherrie told them. "Ma was furious when we spoke out, but pa set her right."

  They gathered up all their belongings and looked around fondly. Only the indent in the grass showed of their stay. They marched out of the forest with chins high.

  "So I wonder just who's trapped in the wall?" Kane asked.

  "Probably those mean Flynn boys," Sherrie answered.

  "They are more than mean," Tessa told them. "They are truly depraved and sick! They get it from their father. I'm glad he's dead!"

  Sherrie's home was the first on their way to Celeste's. They all paused in front of her house.

  "I so want to thank you," Sherrie told the sisters. "This has been one of those life events which one never forgets. The fact is—it is an event that just doesn't happen to those like us. I will never ever forget this."

  "Hey," Alana told her when she saw her tears. "We'll still be around. You visit with us anytime."

  "I will," she raised her chin and walked into her house.

  They waited for a few minutes before continuing, just in case something wasn't quite right.

  When they reached Tessa and Elle's house, their mother was on the porch waiting for them. The sisters waited by the dirt road to see how things went. Their mother greeted them with a hearty hug and then hurried them into the house. The girls were turning away when she rushed back out carrying a pie.

  "It's my favorite maple-sugar apple pie," she said gruffly pushing the pie into Kellan's hands and then hurrying back.

  They continued to walk to Celeste's.

  "It smells really good," Alana told them. "Dara?"

  "It's clean," she answered and sighed. "I'm beginning to think mama's curse may not have been such a good thing. What if the pie had been mischievous? What would have been the punishment? I think I would rather take care of my own battles."

  "We can't absolve the curse," Rhoswen mentioned, "but there are ways to adjust it a little."

  "I think we need to look into that," Dara told them, "even if it is to exclude only this daughter."

  "I agree," Kane said, feeling her leg. "I don't like the way it's stated either."

  "AWW-EEE, AW-EE," Kingdom bellowed before they were even in sight of the house.

  "He is really loud," Alana complained.

  "But, oh-so cute!" Kane said as she ran toward the big shaggy donkey.

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