Chapter 9
Dark Thoughts
The room was small but it could fit all three of us. It had two beds and one chair by a small hearth with a tiny open window. I sat by the hearth cradling the dragon egg in my palm trying to keep it warm.
“You guys sleep on the beds, I’ll stay here on the chair.’’
“Why?’’ Amersa asked.
Then I pointed my free hand at the egg.
“Got it’’ she said.
“I can hold onto the dragon egg Maywen, you get some sleep’’ Darasin volunteered.
I gently handed Darasin the egg and we switched places.
So I went to sleep. Amersa followed but Darasin was still wide awake. What the girls didn’t know that while at the Nine Falls he had a vision too. In Darasin’s vision there was a snake-like female voice she said:
Bring the witches to Mount Orpheous or you shall suffer the same fate trust me I will know for I have been watching you since you first came to my niece.
It terrified him that the voice asked him to betray his friends and the fact that he might die. And that niece thing, what was she talking about? Darasin slept on it. Then suddenly he heard glass break and screams. Darasin stood up and grabbed his sword.
“Get up guys, now!’’ Darasin woke them up. Suddenly someone or something banged on the door outside the door frame. Darasin heard squawks and the smell of smoke and fire became stronger. Maywen stood up grabbed her bag, extinguished the fire and moved the chair in front of the door. Darasin looked down. We were on the second floor there was a wagon of hay underneath us.
“Perfect.’’ Darasin whispered.
Then he did one of the stupidest things of the day: he jumped out of the window. He landed on the wagon of hay.
“Darasin!’’ Maywen screamed.
Once she saw he was okay, she jumped down and then Amersa followed. The inn burst into flames. I saw one of the Oinhenxa fly out of the open window. We hid in the hay until they flew away.
I saw Darasin look back at the inn.
“Well, our plan to rest at an inn literally went up in smoke’’ he said dryly.
I laughed with him.
Amersa stared at us angrily
“We just jumped out of a two story window from a flaming building and you find it appropriate to make a joke about fire!’’ she said accusingly.
My laughter died quickly and I composed myself.
“Come on let’s keep moving we need to get to the garden’’ I said striding forward.
“Before some other building explodes’’ Darasin muttered.
I smiled to hide my amusement.
We walked for miles always looking up at the sky to see if the Oinhenxa were anywhere near, until we found a gate. It was made of gold but when Darasin tried to push it open it didn’t budge.
‘’The gate opens at dawn.’’ I said.
Then the sun slowly rose into the sky. The gates opened and we stepped inside and the gates closed behind us. The ground was a field of flowers and there was a pathway cutting through the field made of gold colored stone. A woman was lounging on a flower bed of roses so I guess you could literally call it a flower bed. The woman had shining blonde hair in a long pony tail interwoven with flowers. Her dress was lilac colored and her eyes were bright blue.
“Welcome to my home. I am Perspha Grey, guardian of the garden of the East, witch of spring. ’’ She said.
“Well, I’m Maywen, this is Amersa and this is Darasin.’’ I said.
‘’ You said your name was Maywen, yes ’’ Perspha said with a bit of excitement in her voice.
“Yes. ’’ I answered.
“Maywen Maeve, Ingraine and Herames’s daughter?’’ Perspha pressed.
I nodded. Then Perspha’s eyes beamed with joy.
“Where is Ingraine, is she here?’’ Perspha asked. Then craned her neck and looked past the gate waving her arm franticly. Maywen looked at Perspha and a wave of sadness washed over her remembering Ingraine’s last moments.
“No, she is not with us- she’s dead, Atropos killed her. ’’ I told Perspha.
Then the spring witch let out a loud wail, knelt down and started to cry. All the flowers around her wilted. She turned her head and glared at a nearby mountain as if it did something wrong Perspha yelled at it.
“Why did you … ’’
She stopped and turned to us, her eyes filled with rage and sorrow as I asked.
“We need a few petals from one of your flowers.”
I bent down trying to grab one of the flowers.
“Stop!” Perspha said, her voice was deeper and fiercer.
A root that came out of nowhere wriggled on the flower like a snake until it wrapped around my neck. It kept getting tighter and tighter then I fainted. I strained to hear blurs of voices but I couldn’t make them out.
Chapter 10
At the Garden
Once Maywen fainted Darasin started screaming at Perspha.
“Why did you do that?’’ Darasin screamed.
“The flower you need is not here.’’ Perspha said calmly.
“That doesn’t explain why you made Maywen faint!’’ Darasin shouted angrily.
Then fear and understanding shown in Perspha’s face.
“I’m sorry. I would never harm Maywen; Ingraine was my best friend but being so close to the mountain… ’’
Her voice trailed.
“We should help her.’’ Amersa chipped in.
“Yes Amersa, Darasin, climb on my rose bed.’’
The two hopped on the rose bed. Darasin carried Maywen and put her in between Perspha and Amersa. They floated down the gold path until they reached floating pink and gold tents on top of fifty feet tall cherry blossoms.
“How do we get up?’’ Darasin asked.
Perspha waved her hand and a ladder made of tree roots unfolded to the bottom of the nearest tree. Perspha went up first and Amersa changed into a fox and started climbing on the branches. So Darasin carried Maywen’s limp body with one hand and held on to the tree root ladder in the other. They climbed for a long time until it got dark and luminous flowers opened up on the tree. Darasin’s arms ached and he was starting to worry he would drop Maywen. Then they reached the tent. It was huge. There was another tree root ladder but a short one.
“Does every witch live in tents?’’ Darasin muttered.
“Does every boy run away to the woods with witches?” Perspha replied
He was out of breath now but carried Maywen up the ladder and into the tent. It was huge with floating rose beds. The floor was made of flowers. He laid Maywen on one of the rose beds.
“So can you heal her?’’ Darasin pressed.
“Yes, I can.’’ Perspha answered.
She grabbed a gold bowl filled with red liquid and Darasin shivered at the thought that it might be blood. Red mist swirled around her face so she looked kind of scary.
Vema E so YA flowa. Perspha chanted.
The red mist swirled around Maywen’s face, her eyes opened and she sat up.
“Perspha, thank you for healing me.’’ I said.
Perspha smiled “Don’t shower all your praise on me, it was Darasin who carried you all the way up here. ’’
“Thank you Darasin.’’ I said.
Perspha looked remorseful, “Maywen I’m so sorry if I hurt you the barriers must be weakening….’’
“Barriers?’’ I said confused.
Perspha nodded and I saw a trace of lilac flicker around the outline of her head.
“During the war, Ingraine and I put them on everyone, even each other, so Atropos couldn’t use her abilities on us.’’
“Well, everyone except Herames.’’ she added.
“Why?’’ I asked still confused.
She stared at me blankly.
“How long were you with yo
ur mother?’’ she asked.
“Almost two days, but she told me about my parentage when we were at the Nine Falls.’’ I explained.
“Well, because Ingraine didn’t tell you, Herames was a spy during the war.’’ she said grimly.
“He was.’’ I said mystified.
“Perspha, where is the flower we need?’’ Amersa asked.
“Right here.’’ She pointed at her hair and took one of the many flowers from it.
This particular flower was gold and silver, a combination of a lotus and a tulip but it only had a few petals left. One fell to the ground and as it fell Perspha looked horrified.
“That is a Merdinana. One of the twelve flowers that float in the fountain of Immortal Purity. It is sacred but when the last petal from the last flower is gone evil will conquer all.’’
“Can you give us three petals please?’’ I asked.
She looked grim.
“Yes’’ and she plucked three petals from the flower and gave them to Darasin.
“You look like an honest boy” she said and closed them in his hand.
“Maywen there’s something I want to ask you.’’ Darasin said to me.
“What? ’’ I asked.
“I know you’re an orphan but what you do know about your family?’’
Maywen looked pale and she told them about her vision and her family. The fact that Atropos killed Maywen’s father and that Ingraine was her mother also about Atropos. This scared Darasin because then he realized his vision made sense but he didn’t say anything about it.
“Wait, the Herames Maeve, the Raoin Prince, the white warrior champion of the White Tower. The same man dad talked about in his war stories that made him seem like he was a god. You’re saying he’s your father!’’ Darasin said shocked
I smiled
“Well that explains a lot’’ Darasin said calmly
Perspha sighed.
“I remember when Herames died.’’ she said sadly.
“You were there!’’ I said shocked.
Perspha nodded.
“Oh yes, I’m older than I look. I was with Ingraine through thick and thin and my husband Pwithyll was Herames’s best friend.’’ she explained.
I nodded.
“He’s in Rao now and I miss him.’’ she added longingly.
I nodded. By her tone Rao seemed very far away.
“Here, let me see your spell book.’’ she said.
I handed it to her. Perspha flipped through pages until she smiled.
“There he is’’ she said turning the book so we could see the pages.
On the left page was writing.
Herames Maeve
Herames Quintus Maeve was known to be courageous, charismatic, intelligent, a skilled swordsman and a master tactician. He was the Raoin prince and heir to its throne. But he abandoned the town and never returned due to his outrage against the town’s laws regarding witches. Herames was deemed “the white warrior’’ during the Witch’s War he was the champion of Ingraine’s army and shared his time of spying for the sake of the cause. Was the husband of the late Ingraine Maeve they had a daughter named Maywen and…
And? I thought confused.
Darasin broke my concentration.
“He looks like you Maywen.’’ he observed.
I looked on the other page and saw a colored drawing of my father. Darasin was right; I must have his dark hair. My father was handsome with his sky blue eyes, dressed in white armor which is probably where he got his nickname from. He held a blade in his hand, the blade pointed to a black tower in the distance.
“Maywen Maeve, suits you.’’ Darasin complemented.
“Perspha, do you know who actually made my spell book?” I asked.
She smiled at me. “You see it’s a tradition for the mother of the witch creates the spell book before the daughter reaches the age of apprenticeship. Ingraine was always one to bend the rules. She got me to help her with the parts about herbs and spells and when Herames found out he wanted to help so we let him do the drawings.
She paused to tap the drawing of Herames with her finger.
“And when Pwithyll found out he wanted to help- but he really couldn’t contribute so we let him supervise’’ Perspha said with a laugh.
I smiled.
“You know your father built a house here’’ Perspha said smiling.
“I only know it was burned down by Atropos’’ I said
“It was actually right here in Sprig because Herames knew his family would never be safe in Rao.’’
“This place had…. significance in their love life’’ Perspha added with a smile.
I started at her blankly.
“They were married here’’ Perspha explained.
I nodded “And Ingraine wanted to stay close to me’’ Perspha added.
I smiled.
“Herames was very sick, it was only too late when we realized he was poisoned, so Ingraine and I went to get Morganna, you came too. While we were gone Atropos had burned the house to the ground. Ingraine came back to find the house in ashes and Herames was dead so Morganna made her give up.’’ Perspha explained sadly.
“That’s why Ingraine lived in a tent’’ I said in the same tone.
Perspha nodded.
Once we had the petals, we stood at the edge of the gate.
“Where are we supposed to go?’’ I asked.
“I can answer that question.’’ Darasin said. “We go to Mount Orpheous.”
Pointing to a mountain shrouded in black mist all the sky above the mountain was black as if it had cut a hole in the sky.
“How are we going to get there?’’ I asked.
I looked at Perspha for advice, her eyes looked sad.
“I’m sorry I cannot help you get there.’’ she said sadly.
“Do you have anything to defend yourself if any of Atropos’s forces get close to your garden?’’ Darasin asked.
Perspha raised her hand. A lilac spark levitated an inch above her palm and touched on every flower and every tree until a whole army of dryads and fairies stood up as if they had been awoken from a long sleep. Then Perspha closed her hand and the army reformed back into trees and flowers.
“I think I can manage.’’ Perspha said daintily.
So the gates reopened and we started walking.
Chapter 11
Light out of the Darkness
“The entrance to Mount Orpheous will probably be guarded, so we’ll have to find a way to get in without being seen.’’ I said.
“I can transform the three of us into foxes and we can dig a passageway right under the guards.’’ Amersa said.
“Great idea Amersa!’’ I complemented.
Then Amersa knelt down and chanted.
“ALA kere ai ra.”
Suddenly I was a few feet shorter and color blind.
“Yes! The transformation worked perfectly.” Amersa said excitedly.
I turned around and saw Darasin was a fox too. We started digging immediately.
“The best way to dig is to use your front paws.’’ Amersa instructed.
But that was easy for her to say, this wasn’t her first time being a fox. Darasin and I were slowing up and Amersa was a mile away literally so we stopped digging and followed her until the ground felt colder and it was black rock not the brown dirt we started digging.
“We are here. ’’ Amersa said.
We started digging upward until faint sunlight shone in the dark hole but we didn’t climb out just yet.