CHAPTER THREE
Henry looked at the document that had been delivered to him in the most secure means possible. He knew this would come but hadn’t expected it this soon. Wendy was gone for barely a week but his sources were keeping up with the on goings. It would have been an understatement to state that he was proud of her. She was a clever girl who was using everything she had ever learned in order to win the war.
He sighed. If only she could win this war… but that was impossible, not with the way things were going in Astrakhan. If Max was going to delay any longer, then their only option was going to have to find the rest of the Mantegna. There were very few gifted with the ancient acts and most of them were members of the council. Max had to be informed very recently but the whole point, like the latter had said, was to prevent history from repeating itself.
He rubbed his face as he thought of what they would do next. Max was getting distracted. Giving her personal lessons, Henry smirked, where in the world had he got that idea? Henry wondered. The council was waiting for the confirmation that he had the child under his protection. He poured more of the scotch into his glass and took it all with one gulp.
He had never been this worried about anything in his life but if this backfired on them then there would be a lot of lives lost including his only child’s. How in the world was he going to deal with this and not expose one of the most important secrets he had? He closed the document there by destroying it. There was no option except to start with plan B. Wendy was going to need a lot of help and they were going to need hers. He relaxed back in the seat and allowed his mind to drift as his plane leveled off in the air.
*
Gorham looked at the black candles arranged at the edges of the star shape on the floor. Sidney was sitting at the center of the star where she had been sitting for the last hour. He had thought that this was another wizard ritual but she had told him that she had learned some things from the Sisters of the Hood. This was an organization of witches who used stones to focus their energy, hence they knew a lot about precious stones even to summon them when they were far away or lost like hers was.
He had objected to this. Witchcraft was a practice that had come about because wizards could no longer perform the functions that they were supposed to do. It wasn’t illegal but their powers were never in harmony with the world. He gave that argument to Sidney but she couldn’t listen. He also argued that maybe using witchcraft was illegal in the wizarding community and that they were waiting for her to use those powers to trap her. She assured him that there was no rule such as that. So she had been sitting like that for an hour searching for the stone systematically in her mind. After finding it, then she could summon it. He kept waiting for any sign that she had found it.
In her mind, Sidney felt the power of the Inkantone stone calling out to her. She moved towards it then suddenly she was blocked. Someone had felt her presence there. She was pushed back with such a force that had she not been skilled in the arts, she would have gone back to her body and probably ended up with brain damage. She pulled strength around her and waited. The presence took the shape of a man. Nothing but that fact was clear. He turned and it was as if he was laughing at her.
“You are going to do what I want or this is going to fall in the hands of the wizard Max.”
Sidney pulled back from the room and fell backwards as the candles went out. A moment later Gorham was by her side pulling her up and he flipped his hands and all the lights in the room came on. “What happened?”
“I - I couldn’t get it.” She looked into the worried eyes of her husband’s. “I tried but whoever had it, has put a protective spell strong enough to resist my magic.”
“So you know where it is?”
“I know it’s within the city…” “The wizards?”
Sidney shook her head slowly as it dawned on her that she was now vulnerable because of a necklace that once gave her power. “I know for a certain Max doesn’t have it. If he did, he wouldn’t waste time here. His services are valued by the council.”
“Then who?”
After some silence between them Sidney said, “I could try again to get a better look.
“No, there’s no point taking the risk. We will try this my way now.” “What are you going to do? Ask around?”
“Whatever it takes. I would do whatever it takes to keep you safe.” He pulled her up and then just hugged her to keep her close enough to him. Sidney wrapped her arms around him and breathed in his scent. Such security from such a man. “That is why I want to know if you still hate Wendy and if so, why.”
Sidney pulled back abruptly. She paced around the room as Gorham waited for a reply from her. “I don’t hate her. I simply distrust her.”
“What about the father? Henry.”
“He – he is Henry. Nothing much can come from him when it comes to the council.”
“Why?”
Sidney wrapped her arms around herself. “There have been rumors. Nothing confirmed.” She looked at Gorham and saw how intent he was waiting for any information he could use. “We think that his father is the Lord of the council.”
“Like the head of the council though for us, he’s more like the king. Every decision rests on his shoulder. The rest of the council can discuss and bicker as much as they want but it always comes down to his decision.”
“I don’t understand why his father being a Lord would be a problem.”
“His father disowned him or vice versa, no one is particularly sure which happened before the other.”
“But how do they interact? Do they hate each other, tolerate one another or simply dislike one another?”
“I don’t know. I’ve never been to the council. Victor knew more about them than I could ever know. That was the other reason he joined Henry instead of any other person. His connection, power and influence was unlike anyone’s besides the Lord of the council.”
“He’s still powerful then.” “He won’t help.”
“Not unless the daughter asks.”
“He can’t help because the decision has already been made. Maximus Levithian is one of the best enforcers of the council. He’s reliable, powerful and he doesn’t make mistakes.”
“There can still be an appeal…”
“Max’s position within the council is second to Henry’s.” “Which means that Henry is also an enforcer?”
“Worse,” Sidney sighed. “He’s been given a license to kill.” “What in the world does that mean?” Gorham frowned.
“Henry is one of two people who are allowed to kill other wizards without the permission of the council. He kills for them, he kills for himself, as long as he’s powerful enough to do it. Gorham, he’s not such a good person. He hides it behind this façade of a noble man. He fooled Diane. He’s fooling his daughter and everyone else around him. He’s merciless, vengeful and coldhearted.”
“Are you sure?”
“My brother ended up dead…”
“He couldn’t have stopped it even if he tried…”
“You don’t know that. He knew what was going on between Wendy and Victor and do you think that he would allow such a union? Victor had nothing compared to what Wendy’s power stands at this moment.”
Gorham rubbed his temples. This was why Sidney didn’t ‘trust’ Wendy. Because of her father. As things stood there was going to be nothing that he could do to keep his family together. He needed to learn more about Henry and he didn’t think Sidney would help. So who else would he ask? Max? Not yet. He would start with Wendy and if possible, the wizards who worked for Henry. He turned to Sidney, “You need to get some rest. I don’t think you’ve recovered from the spell yet.”
“I feel fine. I’ll just go see the children, I’ll come to bed soon.” Then she walked out.
Gorham sighed loudly as he covered his face with his hands. This was going to be the toughest months he had ever lived. He walked out of the room as he recited the things he had to do. First, keep peace in city. Second, win war and third keep his family
*
Getting the city in order was a very long process. For one, Alice had let the kingdom’s security forces lax in the face of all the confusion that was taking place. She needed to organize everything. Jared was there to help her out but still it was a lot of work coupled with training the forces and her own training. She also had to go to the council meetings to assure them that everything was going according to plan. Reports came down from the forces that were protecting the kingdoms boundaries that the attacks were getting closer and closer. Their forces were a lot stronger than they looked.
Wendy considered pulling out her forces until the army was ready but that would only make their move to invade faster than it was initially. She decided that they should make an effort to clear out the path that the foreign army was going to take. They would leave a few surprises along the way. In that way even if they move fast, there won’t be a lot of casualties until the final battle that will determine the winner of the war.
With the connection between her and Martin getting stronger and more effective, their training was intense when they were together but when she was at the council meeting, he would train on her behalf and she would just need the review at the end of the day.
She decided that since there was much to do, it would only be appropriate to have someone to help and the person that she chose was Martin. She made him go for the council meetings when they became too much. Besides, the meetings were simply about reporting to the council what was going on at her castle and to tell them what more was supposed to happen. It was a simple job and with the fact that they already knew Martin made accepting the reports from him easier.
This day, Martin was at the meeting and she was training. They decided to see what Jared could do. Being behind a desk most of the time in the past months had to have softened him. They had joked about it the night before and they agreed to meet on the field to settle it out in front of witnesses. They met at the field where Jared was topless, glistening in the sun as the sweat on his body already accumulated trickled down his chest.
Wendy was momentarily taken by his body. Who would have thought he was built like that. It took a mental shakedown from Martin to focus her. “If he beats you this time, he will never let you live it down.” She watched as Jared swished the sword while approaching her. “He seems confident.” Wendy thought out to Martin. There was a soft chuckle from him then told her, “Compliment him on his looks. It will throw him off his game.”
Wendy smiled as she lifted her sword. “Are you ready?” she asked Jared. “Are you?” he asked back rhetorically.
“I don’t know. I think I need my breath back seeing as you have already stunned me simply by taking your shirt off.”
“What?” he seemed confused for a moment then asked, “Do you want me…” he turned to look for his shirt and Wendy took the opportunity and attacked, Jared saw her at the last minute and blocked but barely.
“No, no. Please keep it off. It is a pleasure to look at you.” She smiled at him knowingly and could tell she had him. He was now more self-conscious of her than she was about the sword. In her mind she heard Martin sigh. “What is it?” she asked.
“Nothing.”
“Uh-ha. Any more tips for me?”
“He protects his left because he feels more vulnerable. Go for his right. Less strategic but it will work with him.”
“’kay.” She attacked him several times and when he sort of figured out her to finish it off. She dodged his sword and swiped her legs down, knocking him down then her sword was on his neck. “Yield!”
“I yield!” he said as he let go of his sword. Then waited as Wendy got up from him. “I don’t know how you knew my fighting style. As far as I know you have never watched me fight before.”
“Trade secrets,” she smiled at him. “Though I will admit it would have been a tough beat if I didn’t have my information.”
Jared got up with a smile on his face. “I think you were holding back. I have practiced with Victor before and I can tell the difference fighting him and you.”
“Victor never held back?”
“I suppose he did being a wizard and all but not as much as you were.”
“I’m sorry about that. We should have a rematch later when I won’t be holding back.”
“So how did you know I favor my left?” “Martin told me.”
“When?” he asked curiously.
“When we were fighting. Apparently we have this thing where we can communicate and see what the other is seeing.”
“Is he doing that now?”
“No. He isn’t doing that now. The connection is not continuous.” “How do you know?”
“I just…” before she could finish the thought Jared grabbed her and looked deep into her eyes. “What are you doing?”
“I just need to know how the connection between you works.”
“And grabbing me is supposed to do what?” Wendy asked curiously. Martin’s and Jared’s relationship was never obvious. It took her a while to even realize that there was something there but then with the connection between Martin and herself, they could not hide anything.
“How would he know if I did something and you were there?”
“I don’t know. We have never examined the extent of the connection we have. I suppose he would know if he was paying attention.”
“And if he wasn’t? Let’s see how it works,” he said as he moved closer to her. “What do you propose?” she asked as she tilted her head up. Jared leaned down as his fingers tilted her face further up. His lips gently moved against her. It was the softest kiss she had ever received. She slowly opened her eyes which apparently had drifted shut. She looked up at Jared and found him watching her curiously.
“Did it work?”
She smiled, “I believe it did. He’s paying attent…” Jared cupped her face and kissed her again. This time it was more passionate, more real and quite a declaration on the fact that he was kissing someone he was interested in. Wendy pushed away from him and glared at him as she asked, “What the hell do you think you are doing?”
“I – We –.”
“Don’t. I’m not really interested to know what you were thinking.” She walked back to the castle leaving her whole army looking at her. The only exception was Max
*
Martin found Wendy sitting in her room in a daze. If he wanted to know what she was thinking, he would have used the connection between them which was getting stronger by the minute, but right now he wasn’t interested in knowing what she was thinking of in regard to Jared. “What were you thinking?” the words exploded from his lips. Wendy’s eyes widened at him and then looked around. “What? Now you are concerned about what people think about you?”
“Leave us!” she ordered. They all scurried out of her room. “What is it Martin?”
she asked softly, sitting back on the throne like chair in the room.
“What do I want? Don’t you think this family has had enough scandals for a lifetime?” When Wendy didn’t reply he continued. “You have not been crowned queen, Wendy. You cannot afford to have scandal associated with you.”
“How is this a scandal?”
“Jared is married to the reigning queen. He has a child and although his supposed wife has gone missing, he cannot marry you.”
“I don’t want to marry Jared. I’m not even remotely interested in Jared.”
“Then why in the world would you kiss him? In public?” Martin asked in frustration.
“What you should ask yourself is why he kissed me. You are in my head. I cannot lie to you.” She stood up and went to the night stand where there was a jug of water and an empty glass. She poured herself a glass before she turned back to Martin. “I know Jared is yours. I would never do that to my own blood. What happened at the field started out as an experiment. One meant to find out how the connection between us worked. I cannot explain the second kiss.” She watched Martin as she drunk the water. “Say something.”
“What do you want to hear? That the man I’m in love with would cheat on me the instance any woman showed him any attention? Do you want to hear that I see it every day and because I cannot afford to be alone, I let it slide? Is that what you want to hear?”
“No, I don’t want to hear that.” “Why? Because it’s true?”
“No. Because it hurts you.” She put down the glass and walked to Martin. “He’s not the only one out there like you.”
“Don’t be absurd. Of course he’s not the only one out there but he is the only one willing to risk it.”
“Does he love you? And before you answer, know that I will know if you lie.” “Do you think he loves me?”
“It wasn’t my question.”
“You are the one who has the power of light and darkness. You should be able to tell.”
“It’s not my place to tell you how he feels. You would not believe me anyway if I said something negative. In things to do with love, you have to figure it out yourself to believe whatever it is.” She turned and walked back to the bureau. “He’s coming.” A second later the door opened and Jared walked in. “You should have knocked.”
He stood there surprised for a moment then bowed. “I’m sorry your highness.” “What is it?” Wendy asked feigning impatience.
“I was looking for Martin, Majesty.”
She nodded. “One more thing,” she started before she attacked Jared and threw him through the door. “I hold back as a courtesy. You are not my match and will never be.”
*
Gorham stared at his sleeping wife. He had no idea what has been going on in her mind recently. She has been busy doing whatever she thought she could do to retrieve back her enchanted necklace with the Inkantone stone. As he understood it, she was connected to the stone with her soul. The soul that was his Jansenist. He still didn’t know how he felt about being the reincarnation of a spurned king. He loved this woman. He didn’t remember the one called Jansenist, but he was sure he had never loved anyone as much as he loved her. It was why he didn’t understand why it was being so hard. Their relationship, their marriage.
He leaned down and kissed her forehead then got up. He washed in a hurry then headed down to his office. He stopped short when he spotted Max waiting for him. He walked in slowly, “What do I owe for this visit?”
“I need to talk to your wife.” “She’s not ready.”
“She’s never going to be ready.” “I mean she’s still asleep.”
“Then wake her up. I’m not leaving here today until I talk to her.”
“Very well,” he turned around and went to the door to send out the message to Sidney. He then came back and sat on the desk facing Maximus. “I don’t know why you are so intent on punishing Sidney. She only did what we asked her to do.”
“It isn’t the fact that she did what she was asked to do but the fact that she broke the law. We once did what we were asked to do and it lead to our near extinction. You know about the law, Gorham.”
“And I also know about mercy. Once in a while I give it to someone who deserves it.”
“And you want to say that Sidney deserves it?” Maximus asked with a tilt on his lips as if he found that humorous. “No wizard deserves mercy. If lee-ways are provided there would be no order in the wizard community. We are good at finding the loop-holes there are. There are no loop-holes in this. You cannot be punished because you are the husband.”
“So it has to be our children?”
“Your children aren’t going to be punished, they are simply going to be relocated for a while until Sidney learns her lesson.”
“Relocated where?”
“To the other universe.”
“Then you would be punishing me too.”
“You were the one who insisted she do the summoning. You also have a lesson to learn.” They stared at each other until there was a knock at the door then it was opened.
The servant who had been sent to fetch Sidney was there. “I’m sorry your Majesty, your wife is not there. I searched everywhere but she wasn’t there.”
Maximus closed his eyes and a small breeze whipped through the entire castle. He opened his eyes a moment later and looked at Gorham, “She has run.”
“How do you know? She may have just gone to the shop.”
“She ran and she has taken Julius.” He walked out of the room heading outside. He left Gorham to follow at his heals.
“Where are you going?”
“No one runs from justice.” He straddled his horse and looked down at Gorham. “Is there something else you want to tell me about why she ran?”
“Like what?”
“Was her running because of me or you?” “What difference would that make?”
“None whatsoever, but it would help me understand her state of mind.”
“I’m coming with you.” He signaled for a horse to be brought over. Max had already taken off. He sent for Wendy to be told to follow them. His own guards were left to scramble to follow. He caught up to Max a few miles from the city. He was simply trotting along.
“Did you lose her?” “No.”
“Then why haven’t you caught up with her yet?”
“Because she’s riding towards Astrakhan. None of her hiding places are ever near or toward Astrakhan.”
“Her hiding places?”
“Henry knows everyone who is considered his responsibility. He knows his people well.”
“So Henry knows everywhere she has ever gone to?” he asked just starting to grasp that whatever was going on was so much bigger than just Sidney breaking a wizard law.
“Not just where she has ever gone to. Any other place she might run to according to the situation. None of those indicated that she might run to Astrakhan. To make it worse, she would not align herself with people who would bring you harm which makes me think there is something else going on. Why did she take Julius and not Jane?”
“I don’t know. Perhaps she thought travelling with Julius would be easy.”
“She’s heading to Astrakhan with Julius. She went with Julius and not Jane because Jane is just a baby. What am I missing? What was going on at your castle?” he turned sharply to Gorham, “She knows that even if your children are taken away, they would not actually be punished.”
“She thought you would harm them somehow.”
“They were not to be harmed. That was Henry’s condition to the council.” “Henry was on Sidney’s side on this?”
“It is a lot more complicated than simply being on Sidney’s side. With consideration to you, one child had to be left behind and besides we would have kept the other one for at most five years. Your lifespan is short as it is. There was no point of punishing you to the end of your life.”
“So you were going to take Julius?” he asked trying to make sense of it all but he had a feeling he was not being told everything. “Did you know about the Inkhantone stone?”
“That Sidney is the reincarnation of Jansenist? Of course we knew that. But as Henry explained to the council, she cannot be blamed for something she could not control. Jansenist was one of us and so is Sidney. Besides she hasn’t done anything so detrimental to the fate of wizards.”
“She made the weapon that can kill wizards instantly.”
“Which was meant to only kill her. She could not have foreseen the future and seen that the weapon was actually too powerful. She was not blamed for any of that.”
“In that case, you should know that she was being blackmailed.” “Because of being Jansenist?”
“Her necklace was stolen. She has been trying to retrieve it these last few days.” “Where is she going?”
“I don’t know.”
“Assuming that this was about Julius and the person blackmailing her was trying to keep us from retrieving him. It would make sense to send her towards Astrakhan where the renegades would ambush her.”
“We have to catch up to her!”
“Not yet.” Gorham was about to object when he heard horse hooves coming up behind them. On the lead was Wendy who eventually slowed down next to them. Her eyes were bright with excitement. Her cheeks were flushed pink because of the cold air whipping against her face as she rode top speed.
“What’s happening?” she asked trying not to sound too happy that something was actually happening.
“I see you enjoyed the ride here,” Max stated.
“Maybe I did. So what’s happening?” the guards caught up to them and slowed down now that their king was in sight.
“I suggest you catch up to Sidney. She’s about to be ambushed.” Wendy stared at Max for a moment then took off ahead of them. “We should…”
“You will just be a distraction. You’ve never actually fought a wizard before. Which means you are an obvious weakness of Sidney’s. She would be distracted trying to protect you and Julius at the same time. She hates me, which means we would not fight well together. That leaves Wendy. We will wait here.”
“What if they are ambushed with too many of the wizards?”
“Wendy will handle it. All Sidney has to do is to keep Julius safe. We will wait here.”
*
Wendy had caught up just in time as Sidney was attacked. She joined in the fight as the five wizards seemed to be overwhelming Sidney. She realized then that even though fighting was a natural ability all wizards possessed, the difference was if they worked on it. Sidney never worked on it and she was barely surviving as it was. Wendy jumped from the horse cutting one down immediately. “Protect Julius!” she ordered Sidney. For a moment Sidney seemed ready to object but this was her son so she focused on him as Wendy was attended to the other three. One of them was intent on taking Julius. Sidney kept him at bay.
*
Max was thrown off his horse. He stood up cursing at Wendy. Everyone was watching him in shock. “What happened?” Gorham asked.
“The fight is over. Damn.” “Why were you thrown off?”
“I was not expecting that.” He got on his horse and started riding towards the fight. They got to the clearing that seemed to have been made by some explosive. Everyone else was down except for Julius who was trying to wake his mother up. Gorham jumped from his horse and ran to Sidney and joined in the effort to wake her up.
Max went to Wendy and checked her pulse. She was still alive. He looked around at everyone else. The guards were already down with their weapons drawn. He couldn’t risk the others waking up. “Kill them and make sure they are dead. Preferably cut off their heads!” he ordered then turned to Wendy. He missed the surprised look everyone gave him. He caressed Wendy’s cheek murmuring to her, “Let me in.” a moment later he was as still as all the other wizards in the clearing. Gorham sighed and nodded at the guards giving them the okay to kill the other wizards.
“What happened?” he asked Julius.
“I’m not sure.” He started in a shaky voice. “We were going to retrieve mom’s necklace when the five attacked. Queen Wendy showed up shortly after that. They were fighting and everything was going well until Wendy was cut.”
“Cut? Cut where?”
“On her thigh I think. I’m not sure how it was different from the other cut she had already been given but it was with that sword.” He pointed to one of the swords which was somehow glowing orange-red. “That was when her eyes turned to white and her hair glowed. She turned to face the wizard that had cut her while everyone else turned to her. Even mom turned to her and they all stopped waiting for something to happen. That was when she screamed.”
“She screamed?” Gorham asked confused. He hadn’t heard a scream.
“I think that was what she did, but I don’t understand what happened exactly. She opened her mouth to scream. I think she screamed…”
“But what happened?” when Julius didn’t answer, he made him look at him directly. “Tell me what happened. What you think happened.”
“She turned to look at the wizard who had cut her and she opened her mouth. I think she was about to say something but she changed yet remained the same. One moment she was herself, then next, she was herself but different.”
“How different?” Gorham pressed.
“Her eyes changed. They were no longer white. It was as if a fire had been lit behind her eyes and flames were licking within it. It became cold and I…”
“You what?”
“I felt a presence.” “Someone else was here?”
“No one else was here. It was more like a spirit. More like darkness but less than life. She realized something was wrong. That was when she screamed. She was everywhere at the same time. She touched them and down they fell. One was directly in front of mom, but she didn’t see her. She touched her and she also collapsed. She came to touch me and then she was stopped.”
“Stopped by who?”
“The one who was screaming. The rest of them disappeared and then Wendy collapsed like the rest.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I blinked and it was all over. I’m not even sure if what I saw happened.”
“It’s alright. Everything is fine.” He turned and focused on Sidney.
Max stood up suddenly and Sidney sat up in the same instance. She looked ar