Sorceress' Blood (2 page)

“Please come in. Lord Sebastian would like to talk to you.”
Rebecca took the little girl’s hand and walked into the room.

They came to a glass sitting room at the back of the mansion where a
woman was pouring tea for an older gentleman sitting alone at a
table. There were two chairs opposite him.

"Come, sit with me." The gentleman said. "Thank you,
Sir Julian, you may leave." Sir Julian left the room. Walking
with a slight limp but trying to look as dignified as she could,
Rebecca led the little girl over to the table and sat down. A maid
poured them both tea and then stood waiting behind the gentleman's
chair. "I am Sebastian Halford. My family has owned this castle
and the grounds for generations. Please, have your tea and tell me
your names." Rebecca looked down at her tea and then back at
Lord Sebastian.

"My name is Rebecca Williams."

"And your daughter's name?"

"What? No. She's not my daughter. I don't even know her name."
Rebecca tried to talk casually with Lord Sebastian but she was
feeling too cautious and too frightened to really be casual. She
didn't touch the tea.

“I see. Sir Julian has filled me in on the details from before
and after he arrived at your rescue. I think it would be best if you
inform me of what happened before his arrival – from your
perspective."

Lord Sebastian was just coming to the evening years of his life. He
still had a full head of light brown hair, combed neatly on each
side. He sipped his tea under a thick moustache. He sat comfortable
in fine tailored clothes and drank tea from a china cup that was so
perfectly crafted that its clink when he sat it on the saucer was
like a little music note. All the while, he listened as Rebecca
explained how she'd come to be protecting the little girl when Sir
Julian arrived. When Lord Sebastian spoke again, he did so formally
with a polite, friendly tone but little real emotion. He kept himself
reserved, and used a soft voice. Rebecca noticed the slightest hint
of an accent when he began.

"This changes things slightly. You're no doubt wondering why
I've brought you here, Miss Williams, and you deserve an explanation.
That man who Sir Julian killed was a member of a diabolical and
bloodthirsty cult. Servitude is in his nature and right now he serves
a powerful entity that is out for blood. From what I've heard it
seems they're after this little girl's blood."

"Why?"

"That, Miss Williams, is a very long story. You see this did not
begin this morning or even while any of us here in the room were
alive. This begins roughly one thousand years ago in Scotland. There
was a Sorceress, a great and terrible witch, who held the country in
a tyrannical rule. Her word, no, her very whim, was law and she saw
it enforced by an army of powerful Thralls. Her reign lasted an
unnaturally long time, her life sustained for generations by her own
magic. No one could stop her and it was no secret she wanted her
empire to spread. She pushed against the borders of Scotland. Not
even the sea could contain her power and her lust for more.”

“Wait, did you say a witch?” Lord Sebastian had his eyes
close and spoke like he was reading from a book. In one of the
adjacent rooms a grandfather clock booming the hour.

"Please don't interrupt, Ms Williams. Now, fortunately, this
witch was not the only powerful one. There was not a brave knight or
standing army that could defeat her and, believe me, they tried.
However, she was opposed by two sorcerers – brothers, in fact –
from a foreign land. They'd heard of this tyrant and knew she must be
stopped before she became a blight on the entire world. So one day
they marched against her at the front of a small, desperate army.
Together, with their magic, they decimated her army and stormed her
castle, laying waste to everything the evil Sorceress had built up.
They wasted no time in going straight to the throne room of her
castle and challenged her to battle. But the Sorceress, alone, had
them both outmatched. The two sorcerers could hardly hold their
ground against the Sorceress' magic, let alone destroy her. The tide
only turned when one of the brothers decided to sacrifice his life
for their cause. He sacrificed himself and using magic, transformed
his whole body into raw, potent energy. This gave his brother the
power and the opportunity for one final, powerful, magical assault
that could finally bring an end to the Sorceress' reign.

"Now you might think that was the end but it wasn't. The rule of
Scotland was placed in the hands of a noble Scottish family. The
sorcerer who saved them founded an order of knights, with himself at
the head of it. This Order of The Witch-Hunter has stood vigilant,
should the Sorceress ever return."

"So you brought us here because of some delusional fantasy about
wicked witches?" Rebecca was almost shouting. It wasn't until
after she'd spoken that she remembered she was a captive. She shut
her mouth tight before she insulted the crazy man any more. Lord
Sebastian went on as if he'd never stopped.

"The Sorceress had an army of Thralls. With her magic, she'd
made them inhumanly powerful and obedient to the death. Then, in case
she should ever be defeated, she had a child with one of them and
taught her Thralls a way to use the blood of her family, her child,
to bring her back from the dead so that she might again take her
place as the terrible ruler of the world. The Order found out about
this some time later and managed to stop the ritual just in time and
separate the Thralls from the Sorceress' descendants. We have battled
over them ever since and, because of that, we separated them from
ourselves so that we would not lead the Thralls to those who carry
the Sorceress’ blood. Can you see where I'm going with this,
Miss Williams?” Rebecca glanced towards the door.

“No, I have no idea.” She kept him talking. In her mind
she tried to retrace the way through the house to the door. Her heart
was beating fast, on the edge of a fresh adrenaline dump.

“If this child was attacked by the Thralls then they believe
her to be the latest generation of the Sorceress' family. That is why
we must keep her here and find any family she might have. Sir Julian
thought you were her mother; that's why he brought you here as well."

Lord Sebastian opened his eyes again and sipped at his drink. He
watched Rebecca, making it clear to her that it was her turn to talk.

"You don't expect me to believe any of that, do you? I stopped
believing in magic when I was eleven years old. I think we should
just go now.”

"You are free to leave, Miss Williams, though, as a witness, the
Thralls may still have an interest in you if only to make sure you
are silent or to find us through you. However, you're also free to
stay; the choice is yours. The child will remain, though, and we will
track down her family to bring them here until we ascertain if they
are indeed from the Sorceress' blood line and then find a way to keep
them safe."

"I'm not leaving her with you people!" Rebecca stood up.
Her chair fell with a clatter behind her. Her leg nearly buckled
under the sudden strain. Lord Sebastian didn't even flinch.

"Then you will be staying. Do not take it the wrong way, Miss
Williams, but you have a losing hand. We're far from the world you
know, and everyone here works for me; most of them are my knights.
That means they are strong and ready for combat against anyone."
Rebecca opened her mouth to reply but no words came. She was defeated
and now she was trapped. She looked down at the little girl to see
how she was taking it. The little girl was sitting quietly in her
chair; she had no words, no emotion on her face, nothing at all.
Rebecca crossed her arms and looked back at Lord Sebastian
expectantly. He smiled with satisfaction but without looking smug;
his was a graceful, gentlemanly nature, even in victory.

"Would you please show these two to their rooms, my dear? “

“Yes, Lord Sebastian," the maid replied and walked around
to the side of the table. "Please follow me." Rebecca took
the girl by the hand and followed her back through to the entrance
hall.

They were led up the stairs to the second floor. A long, wide
corridor stretched the length of the house with a row of doors along
both walls. Each room had a name, written on its wooden door in
beautiful, flowing, golden writing. One such door had the word
‘Beira’ written on it. They stopped outside this room and
the maid turned to Rebecca and said:

“This will be your room for the duration of your stay. Please
try not to lose your key.”

“What about her?” Rebecca asked, looking down at the
little girl.

“She is to use the Oisin room next to yours.” The maid
took the little girl by the hand, instructed her to follow and guided
her to the next door along the hallway. Rebecca watched her being led
into the room and then went quietly into her own. The room was as
elegant as the rest of Lord Sebastian’s castle. The carpet was
a rich, dark scarlet; white silk sheets were spread over the
varnished, wooden double bed. No expense had been spared in
decorating the room with beautiful, classical landscape paintings and
a magnificently designed, curving dresser with six drawers and a
large round mirror in a golden frame on the top of it. Next to the
dresser, on the left side of the room, was a door leading to a full
bathroom with marble surfaces; the right wall had a sliding door to a
wardrobe built into the wall. Rebecca had never seen a room like it,
except in hotel brochures for places she could never afford to stay
at. Everything around here was the finest money could buy and there
were some items she didn’t imagine you even could buy any more.
When she sat down on the bed she felt herself sink a little as the
mattress and the sheets moulded to fit her body with the utmost
comfort.

Rebecca began to examine the cut on her leg. The bleeding had
stopped, after staining her stockings, and had begun to scab over.
Her hands were also looking fine but she still felt a few bruises
here and there. Rebecca was fortunate in that she had a faster
metabolism than most and her body put itself back together quickly
because of it. The downside was that it made her hungrier and more
often – like at that very moment, as she examined herself in
the Beira room on the second floor of Lord Sebastian’s castle.
There were troublesome aches in her body and the only formal clothes
she had were scuffed and torn and all-together ruined by the day’s
events; being hungry just made that seem even worse. A clock on the
wall confirmed her suspicions that it was getting close to dinner
time and she wondered what protocol for eating was. Before meeting
Lord Sebastian they’d walked by the biggest dining room she’d
ever seen with room enough for two hundred people to feast. She
wondered if she’d eat there with the other people she’d
seen briefly as she was led around the castle.

Rebecca’s thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the door.
Rebecca answered it and was greeted by a maid.

“Lord Sebastian thought you may be in need of a change of
clothes. He also requests that when you’re ready, you and the
young lady should join him downstairs again for dinner.” The
maid handed her a small stack of clothing. She then left Rebecca to
change. Right then Rebecca noticed that the small girl had been
standing behind the maid the whole time. The two stared at each other
with uncertainty for a moment before Rebecca broke the silence.

“Would you like to come in?” Without responding, the
little girl walked into the room and sat down on a chair by the
dresser. She didn’t say anything and just stared at her feet.
Rebecca watched expectantly for a while and, when the girl didn’t
say anything, she took her new clothes over to the bed and examined
them. The top was a black polo shirt a size too big for her and with
it were loose fitting navy jeans; a belt was already threaded through
the waist with an empty holster hanging on the hip. These pants, like
the shirt, looked as if they were too big for her as well. Both
articles were men's cuts. She sighed and shrugged, figuring it was
better than what she had on now. She looked over her shoulder at the
little girl – nothing had changed – and then she went to
the bathroom to change her clothes. The belt held her jeans up fine
but the pants were too long and she had to roll them up at the
ankles. Rebecca came out of the bathroom and looked over at the girl
with as friendly a smile as he could manage.

“What do you think?” The little girl looked up from her
feet at Rebecca but when she didn’t say anything, Rebecca’s
smile faded. “They’re pretty big. I wonder what this
writing is on the shirt. It's not English.”

“You're not going to hurt me, are you?”

Rebecca looked at her in wide eyed surprise.“No. Of course I'm
not. Why would I?”

“My name is Ashley.”

“Ashley?” She repeated and the little girl nodded.
Rebecca walked over to the little black-haired girl and knelt down.
“Hi Ashley, my name is Rebecca.” Ashley just nodded. “I
was starting to wonder if you could talk. Why have you been so
quiet?” There was no response from Ashley this time. She wasn’t
looking at Rebecca any more either, but at her hands resting in her
lap. “Alright Ashley, you just say something when you want to.
Are you hungry?” Ashley nodded. “So am I. Starving, in
fact. Let’s go downstairs and meet Lord Sebastian for something
to eat.” Ashley nodded again and slid off the chair and onto
her feet.

Lord Sebastian was waiting for them, where they had first met him.
The tablecloth had been changed and a second maid was standing by his
chair. When Rebecca and Ashley came into the room he stood up and,
without looking, gestured to his maids. Both of them went around the
table and pulled out the chairs for Rebecca and Ashley. The girls
took their seats and the maids immediately began to serve dinner.
Lord Sebastian sat and, when his glass had been filled with red wine,
he took a sip and then seemed to ponder over the taste of it. Ashley
prodded the food on her plate a little. Rebecca watched Sebastian’s
behaviour with the same curiosity she felt when she watched exotic
animals at the zoo – was this how the wealthy lived, spending
too much time thinking about wine? Unfortunately, there was no
information on display about Lord Sebastian, and the way he treated
her with stand-offish indifference didn’t help. Lord Sebastian
wasn't a snake that came close to the glass to inspect the onlookers.
Lord Sebastian was more like a lion that just didn't care that people
were looking and children were making faces. Lord Sebastian hadn’t
said a word to either of his guests since they came downstairs and
now he began to eat his food quietly and in small bites. Rebecca gave
up waiting for him to talk and began to eat. She was so surprised
when she tasted it that she could not stop herself from comment.