Sorceress' Blood (14 page)

“Please sit. Lord Edward will see you soon.”

“Thank you.” Rebecca thought it only fair to be as
equally false as the receptionist. Some time passed before she heard
Lord Edward beckoning her from the door to his office. For the
entirety of her wait, Rebecca stared intently at the receptionist
until the woman felt so uncomfortable in the same room with her that
she made some excuse to dash out.

Edward opened the door to her. She looked over the tall, dark haired
man and in her mind, suspicions slowly fell into place like the
pieces of a jig-saw puzzle. Everything had been so convenient for
Edward to keep Ashley away from Rebecca. He always had a reason to
say no or something that kept him from answering at all. Then there
was the night before when he had been there but simply vanished. Of
course Lord Edward had been in his office when she arrived. Rebecca
had heard him and he had left simply because he willed it. Just the
way Benjamin had willed Rebecca and Ashley out of Lord Sebastian's
castle. The strange behaviour, the obstacles he placed in her way,
and even getting handed off to Jin to be kept happy, all led to one
thing. There was only one question remaining.

Rebecca stood up and entered Lord Edward's office. He closed the door
behind her and sat down at his desk.

“I apolo—”

“Where is she?” Rebecca interrupted. She wasn't
interested in excuses, lies or apologies.

“Who?”

“Ashley. Where is she?”

“She's in the Tower, of course. She's always been there.”

“Then I want to see her right now. I don't care what she's
doing; I want to see her.”

“That's impossible.”

“Why?”

“Because I said so.”

“She's not there, is she?”

“No. She isn't there.”

“Where is she?!”

“What makes you think I have any desire to tell you?”

“Because you want me to know. You've wanted me to know what you
were up to since I got here.”

“Is that so? What makes you think that?”

“Because if you really wanted to keep everything a secret, you
would have sent me off to hide in some little Chinese village the
world has never heard of. Instead of getting one of the knights to
keep me occupied right from the start, you had me here where you
could tell me lie after lie about why I couldn't see Ashley. Suddenly
you started cutting me out of the loop and being too busy. Right up
until last night when you were in here talking loudly. You were
probably talking to yourself and then you used magic to leave before
I could ever see you. You wanted to make sure I knew you were hiding
something from me. You've wanted me to know right from the beginning;
you've just been rubbing your plan in my face and so now you're going
to tell me what you've done for the same reason.”

“Isn't that something?” Lord Edward bowed his head and
laced his fingers over the back of his neck. He was quiet for a time.
Rebecca stood on the other side of his desk and waited.

“I did want you to know. You're right. I always planned to do
this and I couldn't keep it a secret. I felt so guilty ever since I
started but what choice did I have? I couldn't say anything because
they'd know. I just hoped you'd figure it out in time to stop me and
if you couldn't... maybe you could save her. I'm so sorry, Rebecca. I
wish I could have been stronger.”

“Edward, tell me what you've done.” Rebecca leaned in
closer to him. He didn't talk but made small noises that sounded like
sobbing. “Edward?” She asked without any anger left in
her voice.

Then Lord Edward became louder. He threw his head back and Rebecca
heard those sobs for what they were – proud, hysterical
laughter.

“You're such an idiot. I've had you wrapped around my finger
from the start. I only wanted you to know so you could watch me gloat
when it finally dawned on you what's been going on. Ashley isn't here
but I'll tell you where she is just to see your face when you realise
how helpless you are to do anything now. You could even try to rescue
her; I won't stop you. Your futility will be all the more
entertaining.” Rebecca's face turned red with rage and without
thinking she raised herself up and brought her hand down hard across
Lord Edward's face with a painful slap!

“Tell me where she is!”

“Of course. I've given her to the thralls. By now she's where
it all started and where it will all end. Our Order has been fighting
a losing battle. A losing battle I inherited. I was forced to take
this responsibility and now I've had enough. I've ended it once and
for all and made sure I'm the one who comes out on top. While the
whole world bows to their new queen, I'll be at her side.”

The maid led Ashley away from Lord Edward's dinner table and to the
Tower. She said something once but Ashley didn't know what it was.
Then no one said any more. They went silently down the elevator, out
the door, across the grounds and to the Tower. Then the maid bowed at
Ashley and walked away. She figured she was meant to wait there. The
night was cool and the breeze was cold. Stars were starting to
decorate the sky like swarms of fireflies. Ashley had never seen so
many stars in her life. Did China have more stars than home? They
were all pretty. She wanted to stay and look at them forever. Ashley
checked to see if anyone was coming for her. The maid was out of
sight and the closest thing to someone near her was the vague outline
of dragons she could see wrapped around each-other on the doors to
the Tower. Ashley looked at them, focused on them and felt powerful
words coming up from places deep in her body that she didn't know she
had.

“Open!” She commanded. Her voice echoed back at her and
then it was quiet again. The doors had not opened and the dragons had
not moved. “Please open.” A softer voice earned her no
better results. Ashley sighed and looked around again. The world,
huge in every way, was slowly sliding into deeper darkness. A shiver
ran down Ashley's spine when she realised she might be stuck outside
in the dark. Ashley gathered all the courage she had in her little
body and started to walk around the Tower in hopes of finding another
way in or someone to help her. She took one last look up the steps to
the door and the dragons and felt disappointed to be leaving the only
company she had out there. Then she took one step, another and
another step and before she knew it she was turning the corner and
walking along the side of the Tower. All Ashley saw was more and more
grey bricks that made the foundation of the Tower. There were no
other doors and there were definitely no other people around the
Tower.

She became sure of this and abandoned all hope when she rounded
another corner. She stopped there and sat down against the wall. The
night had gotten even darker by then and soon the only light would be
the stars. Ashley gave her surroundings another scan while she tried
to think of something. There was Lord Edward's castle but she'd been
kicked out of there. Ashley knew that when the grown-ups tell you to
get out it means they don't want you to come back until they tell you
to and when they tell you to you'd better do it quickly.
You do
it, or else
. Ashley quickly pushed the thoughts out of her mind.
She didn't want to think about the home she didn't have and she
didn't want to hear his voice. She forced herself onto happy
thoughts. Benjamin's magic lessons, the magic still to come. There
would be nothing she couldn't do, eventually. She could even fly, if
she wanted. Ashley saw a new light come into the world. Somewhere far
beyond the castle she saw a big fire light up and people were
gathering around it. At least Ashley thought they were people. Houses
too. From where she was they looked more like little black twigs
moving around the silhouette of a bunch of blocks. What else could
they be? Ashley got to her feet and started walking away from the
Tower. Past Lord Edward's castle were long fields with things growing
in them and they were surrounded by low, paling fences. The fire,
which must have been huge up close, was a long way away and small
enough that she could squash it between her fingers but it was warm
and it was people and Ashley saw her choices as walk over to those
people or freeze to death by the Tower.

The decision was an easy one to make and Ashley was soon stepping off
the well-kept grass around the castle and onto the loose dirt of the
road between the fields. She peered down the road in hopes that she
could see where it went but it, like everything else, faded into the
darkness and its destination was unseen. She turned towards the fire.
If she went straight for the fire, she wouldn't get lost. Ashley
started walking again but had only gone a few steps before she was
met with a fence. The boards stood between her and her destination.
The fence was low but Ashley didn't have the strength to climb over
it. Determined to stay on her path, she mustered up the all the
willpower she had and commanded the fence as loud as she could.

“Move!” Nothing happened. “Rats. Maybe I'd be
better off wishing.” She took a look up at the stars. She'd
been watching TV once and a person had made a wish on the star and it
had come true. Maybe hers could come true too. They never had before
but what could one more try hurt? “Star light, star bright.
Star... Star...” Ashley's voice drifted. “Twinkle... No,
that's not it.” The right words were lost to her. “Oh
just move, you stupid fence!” Ashley belted in frustration.
There was a loud cracking noise and a section of the fence fell
forward. “I did it!” Ashley continued walking with a
proud grin. She stepped with little care and occasionally heard
something squish or snap but she could barely see her feet, let alone
whatever was growing in the dark swirl of browns and greens beneath
her. She was fortunate in that there were no more fences that she
could see. She had a clear view of the fire again and the people and
their houses now and they were coming closer all the time.

Then the ground fell away and Ashley fell face first into mud and a
deep puddle of water.

“Gross.” She sighed and began to wipe the mud off her
face and arms. Her dress was soaked and she was feeling even colder
now when the breeze blew against her. She was starting to feel the
whole world was against her that night. She wished Rebecca was there.
If she was with Rebecca then she wouldn't be all wet and muddy.
Ashley reoriented herself with the fire and waded forward. The water
was cold and it made it harder for her to move while taking more
energy. Then she had an idea. Ashley stopped walking and turned back
the way she had come. She raised her arms and stretched her hands out
as if reaching for something.

“Come here,” she said with a soft voice at first. Then
she closed her eyes and she listened for a moment. She felt a
familiar rumbling deep inside her and grasped it with her mind. That
was the feeling Benjamin had told her to find and to use. That was
magic, he said, inside her and if she spoke with all the power in
that hungry feeling inside of her then she could do anything.
Ashley's muscles tensed and her toes curled against her feet. She
mouthed the words first and then spoke her command like a waterfall
breaking through a dam and bursting over her tongue and out her
mouth. “Come!” For a second, nothing – and then the
sounds of something whistling through the air. Ashley opened her eyes
but, before she knew what was happening, she had hit the ground
again. Resting on top of her aching arms was the broken piece of
fence she'd called. Ashley rolled it off her and it sank into the
puddle.

“Ow,” she cried softly while she lay there, half
submerged in water and her hair sprawled through the mud. She was
dazed for a few minutes, unaware of the cold air licking her body.
When she pulled herself up, the first thing she noticed was that her
palms were bruised and her arms hurt all the way up to the shoulders.
But she refused to give up when she knew she was doing so well. She
wouldn't let herself be beaten just because her arms were hurting.
She'd hurt before and she'd been frightened more than this. This was
nothing and Ashley was going to show everyone just what she was made
of. They could have their cartoon character bed spreads and their new
toys, but Ashley had something no one else had.

Ashley could fly and, if you're a girl who can fly, you don't give up
when things are hard. One foot after the other, she climbed onto the
planks of wood.

“Alright, you,” She told them, “we're going to get
to that fire.” Ashley was already picturing it in her mind just
the way it would happen. First the fence boards would lift up out of
the water and then they'd carry her over the mud and the plants and
even over the other fence and she'd land right there by the fire.
That's exactly what was going to happen and then she'd never have to
set foot in this water again. She looked down at her planks of wood
and with all the magic she had she commanded it:

“Fly!” She waved her hands forward to direct it. Then,
just as she'd pictured it, the wooden planks that had once been a
fence lifted up off the muddy ground, out of the water and into the
air, just like Aladdin's flying carpet. It jerked forward and flew
swiftly over the land. Ashley almost fell off at first but she knelt
down and held on. The fields of who-knows-what zipped by beneath her
one after the other and Ashley thought she could feel the warmth of
that fire already. And suddenly

she could see just how huge the fire was and it kept coming and
coming and it wouldn't stop.

“Hey, slow down!” Ashley pleaded with her flying carpet
but it did no such thing. It didn't slow and it didn't stop even
after it had gone over the fence. With only seconds to make up her
mind, she felt the world slow. The flames flickered and danced and
reached out like gasping tentacles at her. Ashley let go of the wood
and threw herself back. She hit the ground hard and then she heard
her flying carpet hit someone's house even harder and the wood
shattered. Ashley was hurt again but she sighed a heavy sigh, full of
relief. The fire was warming her cold bones and she knew that she had
won some small victory over the world and one day she'd let everyone
know what she'd done.