Anastasia (The Bolton Series Book 1) (2 page)

It was not long after that Simon walked through my door with a small book in his hands. He looked over at me lying on my bed with my spell book and smiled a little. It always made him happy to see me reading.

“Put that away if you want to learn more about the sword of Ustrina.”

“You’re not going to lecture me?” I asked sitting up from my bed.

“Why would I? You said what you wanted to say out there. Now put the book away.”

I quickly did what I was told and sat at the head of my bed. Simon sat cross-legged at the end with his shoes still on. I was about to say something when I remembered that he might leave if I did, and I really wanted to learn more about this sword, so I kept quiet.

“The sword was formed two hundred years ago by the head of each coven,” he started. “Each coven gave the sword a power in which they specialize in. The Strega gave it the power to heal the holder, the Sirens gave it the power to burn objects, the Lamia gave it the power to kill, the Cailleach gave it the power to stay hidden from non-witches and the Bandraoi fused them all together. It was the first and last time the covens have done something together peacefully.

“It was then decided that the Bandraoi should keep it, seeing as they were, and still are, the most powerful coven to live. Soon after though, the sword was stolen. No one knew who did it, even to this day. Many say it was one of the covens who wanted its power all to themselves; others say the Conriocht took it.”

“How could they take it when no one but the covens could see where it was? Aren’t Conriocht like werewolves?” My mind went back to the lesson we had on the Conriocht. They are very much related to the werewolves from human folklore, in fact it stems from them. They can take on the form of a human when not in their true form. The only difference between the Conriocht and a werewolf is that the Conriocht completely turns into a wolf. Their senses are then heightened but they tend to lose most of their humanity in the change to let their wolf instincts take over.

“Yes. It is said that someone with both Conriocht blood and coven blood found the sword and took it. But they wouldn’t have been able to activate it. Only a full blooded witch could harness the power of the covens through it.”

“Is that even possible,” I asked still wondering about the possibility of a wolf and witch having a child together. “I’ve never heard of different species crossing.”

“And you thought you knew everything,” He scoffed. “Each symbol on the blade represents a coven.” Ignoring my question, he pointed to his book at a picture of the sword. “This one is for the Strega,” his finger made contact with the seal closest to the handle. All the symbols had the same woven circle around it. It looked to be protecting the image. The Strega had a tree whose branches connected to its roots, forever interlocking with each other. Next was the Cailleach with the same woven circle around what looked to be a whoosh of air trying to break through it. Following that was the Sirens with fire that almost seemed to eat up the circle. The Lamia’s was a wave of water threatening to drown the circle. Finally, the Bandraoi had a simple blue crystal that glowed in the circle. “What does the crystal symbolize?”

“Fusion, the Bandraoi have the powers of all the different covens. When they mix, the blue crystal appears. That’s how people know who they are.”

“Do they constantly carry a crystal around with them?” It seemed somewhat absurd to me.

“No. The color is always with them though.”

“I’m not following you.” I looked up to my brother. A smile spread across his lips.

“Don’t worry about it sis. You would have to meet one to know what I mean,” He closed his book and got up from my bed. “I’m beat. I’ll see you tomorrow. Goodnight.”

“But that can’t possibly be it,” I stammered after him. I wanted to know more about this magical piece of metal. I needed to.

“I’m afraid so, Annie. No one knows what happened to it so there is no more to tell. Some people even say it’s just an old tale and no such thing exists.”

“It has to though, right?”

“Why are you so interested in this sword?” He looked at me curiously trying to answer his own question.

“I don’t know,” I answered honestly. “Just something new, I guess.”

“Goodnight, Annie,” he said again leaving the room.

“Night, Simon,” I replied as he closed the door behind him. I kept replying his last question in my mind. Why was I interested in this sword? I knew I could not deny the pull I felt towards it, it was too insistent to ignore. At just the thought of holding such a sword caused my hands to tingle and my mind to race. 

I decided to grab my spell book to distract myself from our conversation. I had gotten as far as opening the book when a soft knock came from my door. Putting the book back on the shelf, I opened my bedroom door. My dad was standing there waiting for me. His red hair was sticking up the way it always did when he got nervous. His lavender eyes looked sad when they saw me.

“Can I come in,” he asked in a low voice, telling me that mom had made her way to bed.

“Yeah.” I backed away from the doorway giving enough room for him to pass by before closing it. He sat down on my desk chair and I on my bed. He sat quietly for a few minutes just staring at me before he spoke.

“I know you don’t understand what is happening right now and that mostly has to do with the fact that your mom and I haven’t told you anything but I ask you to trust me. If you and Simon were in danger in any way, we would never leave. We are doing this because we love you, Annie. This is to protect you.”

“Why don’t you ever tell me anything? Dad, I’m nineteen years old, I can handle it.”

A sad smile spread across his face as he looked at me. “I know, but you are my little girl and it’s hard to think you are all grown up.” He stood up and pressed his hand to my cheek. His warmth brought the comfort I needed. “I promise you, though; I will tell you everything one day.”

“Pinky promise?” I held out my pinky finger in front of him. He laughed at my gesture probably remembering all our pinky promises of the past.

“I pinky promise,” He said and wrapped his pinky around mine.

“It’s only four days, right? They’ll fly by.” I did not believe the words even though they came from my mouth.

“That they will.” He kissed my forehead and left the room. It suddenly got ten degrees colder.

My parents were gone before I had woken the next day. In a way, I was glad. Goodbyes were never my thing. I decided to occupy myself by gardening and cleaning out the small barn in the back that housed our horses. I finished in a mere three and half hours.

Great. Now what?

I knew if I went inside Simon would insist we start our lessons for the day. I grimaced at the thought. Instead, I quickly saddled up my mustang, Mary, and rode into the forest next to the barn. I knew Simon would know where I was once he saw my horse missing. Whether or not he would come after me is a different question.

Mary walked down the path gracefully stepping over everything I would have tripped over if I had walked. I was suddenly very thankful of my horse.

I had never wanted one but my parent’s insisted, saying how I would want her once we moved here. There were no cars which seemed weird to me. I thought since Bolton was so much older than earth it would be more advanced, however, it was the opposite. We had electricity from a solar generator dad set up but that was as far as it went.

I had not gone riding that much since I got Mary but she never seemed to mind as long as I took her out of the barn every day. Simon took care of her the most. He took her riding almost every day and was always brushing her and his horse, Hope. He always tried his hardest to get me to take care of her more but it wasn’t something that interested me. I have never been a horse person and I could not see that changing very easily.

The afternoon light found its way through the thick trees heating up the path in front of us. Mary spooked at the sudden appearance of a tree rat causing me to almost fall of her but she soon regained her composure when it scurried into the brush.

“Come on, girl. You’re gonna let that little thing scare you?” I said to her as I let my heart rate go back to normal.

Being out in the forest usually calmed me. I would ride around the property to allow my mind a break from Simon and his almost nonstop lessons. However, today felt different. My eyes constantly scoured the trees as if something would pop out at any moment and grab me.

I knew I was being paranoid. The only reason I was feeling like that was because of my parents leaving. Nothing was going to happen to me, just like dad said.

We rode longer than I planned and ended up in a clearing two miles away from the cabin. It was a small opening with bright flowers blooming in every direction and a little stream running through the right side flowing back into the forest.

I jumped off Mary and did not bother to tie her up. She never left my sight the few times we would go riding.

The flowers reached the top of my knees. Each movement tickled my legs as they brushed against me. I walked over to the stream.  It was about two feet wide and seemed to stretch much farther than the tree line. The slight red tint to the water shocked me a little. I wondered if that was usual on Bolton. It would not surprise me if it was.

I looked back and saw Mary grazing the grass on the outskirts of the opening. She had not moved into the clearing. I wondered why. She usually loved to be out in the open instead of the woods. Well I thought she did from how I observed her with Simon.

A flash in the corner of my eye caught my attention. I looked away from my horse and into the water, bending down to get a closer look. Instinctively, I reached out to touch the area of water. It was colder than usual but nothing was there. No fishes swam around the tinted water.

Suddenly a face appeared under the water causing me to squeal and jump slightly away from it. 

The old woman’s face was covered in wrinkles and warts. However, that was all, her body was missing. Her brown eyes were glazed over as blind persons would be but she was staring right at me. I knew she could see me. The mess of gray hair laid motionless around her face instead of moving with the water like it should have been doing.

Run.

Her mouth did not move but her voice echoed around my head. I could feel my body start to hyperventilate. What was happening?

Run Girl. Never Come Back. You should have never come here. Now it will be your death.

The women disappeared just as quickly as she had come. I didn’t give it a second thought as I got back on Mary and ran home. For the second time that day I was glad I brought her with me.

How I stayed on my horse surprised me. Mary ran the whole way back to the forest, running off the path to get there faster. I was glad she somehow knew where to go.

I could not process any of the pain from the tree branches whipping away at my body, the only thing going through my head was the old woman’s face.

Simon was sitting on the porch when Mary and I ran out of the forest. As soon as she stopped, I fell off her face first into the ground. My head was spinning and my body was still breathing short and fast breaths. The woman’s face and her words kept playing in my head causing me to panic even more.

“Annie?” In a matter of seconds, Simon was at the barn turning me over in his arms. Without giving it a second thought, he started to whisper words into my ear. “Annie it’s okay. You are fine. No one is going to hurt you. You’re okay. I’m here you don’t have to worry anymore. Just breathe.”

We stayed like this for five minutes as I tried to control my breathing and my mind. The women’s voice echoed inside my head even though I was far from the clearing. Simon kept telling me I was fine, nothing was going to hurt me. He did not let go of me even after I was breathing normally again.

It had been so long since I had a panic attack I forgotten how it felt. To feel so scared your body starts to reacting in ways you have no control over. To have to have someone else be by your side consoling you back to your normal self. I was glad to have Simon as my brother. He never had me face it alone.

“I-I’m sorry,” I stuttered at him.

“You don’t need to be Annie. You never have to apologize for that.” His body still rocked me back and forth.

I nodded. I knew I did not have to but I needed to. He was always there for me. He was the only one who could calm me down enough to stop the attack. Back on earth, he almost never left my side in fear I would have one without him. Those attacks were always worse than the one I just experienced.

“Let’s get you inside,” He gently helped me to my feet.

“What about Mary?” My eyes wandered over to the black mustang standing just two yards away from us. The way she was looking at me, I could almost see the sadness in her dark eyes.

“Let me get you inside and I’ll unsaddle her and put her back in her stall okay?”

I agreed and allowed Simon to walk me back to the cabin. He helped me to the couch before he went out to tend to my horse. He was back in two minutes.

“What happened?” He asked me as he gently touched my arm. I had not noticed before but my forearms had scratches from my fall. A small stream of blood was trickling down my right arm.

                        “Whoa I didn’t even realize I did that.” I moved to poked the skin sounding the cut to see it if hurt but Simon swatted my hand away before I could get a good answer.

                         “Good thing my shirt did,” I looked over to him and saw a little bit of my blood on the bottom of his shirt.

“I’m sorry Simon.”

He brushed off my apology and got into nurse mode. Strega’s have always been master healers and could heal any non-life threatening injury with a flick of their wrists.

Simon placed his hand over the cut. A purple mist appeared around his hand as he healed my arm. When he pulled back my skin was healed completely. There wasn’t even a scar to prove its existence.

“Do you want some water?” Simon was still speaking to me in that wounded puppy voice. I hated it when he did that.

“I can get it.” I started to sit up from the couch and stopped only when my head started to spin again.

“No it’s fine,” he said pushing me back down. “Just take it easy okay?”

I sighed and did as he told. I knew it would just lead to a fight if I kept persisting and I did not have the energy for that right now. I lay back down. I must have been tired because I fell asleep as soon as I closed my eyes.

~*~

When I woke up the sun was setting casting an eerie glow in the living room. A glass of water stood on the coffee table and I greedily drank from it. I didn’t remember being that thirsty.

I stood up from the couch and looked around for Simon. He wasn’t there. I sluggishly went to the kitchen, then his room but there was no sign of my brother. I checked the other rooms but he was nowhere. My mind started to panic a little.

Calm down, Annie, maybe he went to feed Mary.

I made my way to the barn. The sun had completely set by now. My pace slowed down as I let my vision adjust to the dark. When it did, I was halfway to the barn. The door was closed but not locked meaning Simon had not feed the horses yet. I went inside. The only light came from the back tack room three stalls away. Nevertheless, it was enough to see Simon was not here. It was also enough to see the blood that came from Mary’s stall.

I stopped to control my breathing before I slowly slid open the door. A giant pool of blood lay over the spot Mary always slept in. No person or horse would be able to survive that much blood loss. My legs started moving out of the stall and before I could process what was happening, I ran into the forest, not stopping until my lungs burned for a break.

When I caught my breath, I realized I was in the clearing from earlier. There was no way I had run two miles. A slight breeze rustled the flowers causing them to rub against my legs. It felt as if they were trying to grab me. I quickly backed into the forest out of their grasp. I looked up to the river and a sense of relief washed over me.

“Simon,” I yelled out at my brother. He had his back to me but I knew it was him. His red hair moved with the slight breeze. He seemed to be staring into the stream.

“Simon?” Panic seeped into my voice as I thought of the woman who was there earlier. Of her dark eyes. What if she was there, trying to get my brother? I really did not want to walk through the flowers again but I had no choice.  I ran to Simon trying to ignore the plants touching my legs. He still had not moved when I reached him.

“Simon,” I grabbed his shoulder and turned him around to face me. I was glad to see his eyes had not gone black but was still the purple I knew. “Simon what are you doing out here?”

He stared at me as if he had forgotten who I was. His head cocked to the side as he looked me up and down. Then a flash of recognition flashed in his eyes.

“We’ve been waiting for you Anastasia.” I quickly stumbled away from him. Simon never called me by my real name, ever.

“What?” I asked him cautiously. 

A smile spread across my brother’s face but it was not his. His small pale lips turned into big green chapped ones. The purple from his eyes turned white and cat like and his skin developed a green tint to it. His bones started moving until a five-foot goblin was standing in front of me.

“Cabalus.” The Latin word for goblin slipped off my tongue. I didn’t mean to say it but I couldn’t help it. The man’s-thing’s-smile grew bigger at my voice. “What have you done with my brother?”

“Provisum est valde bene. Haud postulo ut fatigo super eum.
”
He is in a good place being greatly taken care of. No need to worry about him.

I knew it was lying to me. The smirk on its face told me everything I needed to know. My brother was probably dead. It was my fault. The goblin said it was here for me. And in order to have me he needed to kill my brother.

“What do you want with me?” I whispered stepping father away from it.

“Gladius Ustrina,” it smiled.

My heart stopped at those two words. Why did it think I had the Sword of Ustrina?

“Annie,” Simon’s voice woke me with a start bringing me out of my dark dream.

“Simon!” I gasped jumping up from the couch to hug my brother. He was okay and not dying somewhere.

“Umm Annie I can’t breathe,” he gasped tapping my back for me to release him.

“Oh sorry,” I let go of him and sat back down on the couch. I looked around the tiny living room and into the kitchen. The afternoon light brightly lit the room, helping me to forget my horrible dream. “How long have I been asleep?”

“Just under an hour, I woke you when you started mumbling about Cabalus.”

“Oh,” I took the glass of water off the coffee table. It was in the same spot it was in my dream. I tried to ignore that as I gulped it down.

“Are you going to explain or do I need to pry it off you?” He sat down next to my feet and waited for me to explain.

I quickly told him everything about my dream. When I was finished, he let me know that he just let Mary out to graze and that she was fine. I still wanted to check on her. We went outside and saw her poking through the tall grass.

“You said it looked like me before it revealed its true self?” Simon asked on our way back to the cabin.

“Yes. I never knew goblins could do that.” We had not had many lessons on goblins. Their species often kept to themselves and lived miles away from any other creature so Simon never saw a reason to elaborate on them.