Chapter15;Mystacors Queen moves
Salty spray flew in gentle abandon from sapphire waves with ivory curling caps to lightly mist over Castaspellas strong, supple body. Her hair blew wildly in the wind, flowing sienna locks billowing in an untamed orgy of tangles. She loved the way the ship rocked beneath her feet, the smell of salty sea air, the cry of gulls and the crash of water onto the hull.
Her spell was cast. Mystacor was safe. She had a spiritual link to Netossa who in turn was linked to the palace where all the spells were kept. Her city was safe. As safe as any could be in these times. A tall young woman with honey-gold hair walked silently to her side, dimming Casta's good mood. Her smile slipped. The girl seemed not to notice.
"From my first day aboard an ocean-going vessel, I knew you'd love it." The girl remarked. Casta remained silent. The girl turned hazel eyes to the sorceress's face, seeking a hint at what she was feeling.
"You know, Casta, I have apologized for leaving you for the Sea Hawk." Castaspella's eyes flashed angrily as she turned to Ariel, her former apprentice.
"You think a simple apology will make it alright?" She hissed angrily. "You were Adora's friend. You were my apprentice. I spent seven years teaching you the ways of magic and you threw it aside for a man!" She spat the last with unconcealed scorn. "You betrayed more than me, you betrayed a woman who never did you any harm-"
"Wrong, Casta!" Ariel snapped. "I did not betray Adora, Sea Hawk did! And it was not something he did frivolously or lightly. He loved her!"
"Then why?!" Casta retorted hotly. Ariel looked away.
"I admit, I was attracted to him from the first. His body, his lifestyle," she smiled fondly, "his maleness. He didn't even realize it. At first. But when Shadow Weaver put that spell on us-" Castaspella glanced at her sharply, grabbing her upper arm in a tight grip.
"What spell?" Ariel glanced pointedly down at Casta's grip. When she did not let go she yanked her arm away. Rubbing the bruise forming on her limb, she glared, angrily, at Castaspella.
"It was a mind link. She thought to cause enough chaos that Hawk would wreck his ship and the supplies he was carrying to the rebels at Talais, the port town near the Shaddamite plains wouldn't make it."
"There are rebels already in Shaddamite?" Castaspella asked, surprised. Ariel nodded impatiently.
"The world is larger than the whispering woods and Mystacor." Ariel remarked sarcastically before returning to her story. "At first neither of us knew what was happening. A dark squall appeared just off the bow, thoughts began randomly appearing in our heads and neither of us knew where they were coming from. Sea Hawk managed to avoid the storm mostly but as my fear heightened so did his sense of confusion. Fritz had to take command. A thought appeared in my mind, it was urgent, it told me I had to take the helm. It drove me from the safety of my cabin and as I made my way to the front of the ship a wave crashed over the side- pulling me overboard. Hawk felt my panic. It was like suddenly he knew it was me and I needed him. He jumped ship to save me. We washed ashore on a deserted island and we knew each others every thought."
"But he still loved Adora?" Casta interrupted. A pained expression came over Ariels face.
"Yes. He knew how I felt, but he was loyal to her. However we were on that island a long time with no one else to talk to, we depended on each other for survival and we knew each other's every thought, every emotion as if it were our own. It became hard to distinguish who was feeling what. Gradually as we came to know each other better, my infatuation turned to love. He began softening as well. Then he left me."
"What do you mean 'he left you'." Casta sked not understanding. Ariel shrugged, gazing out over the ocean. "He left me alone. He filled his mind with images of him and Adora. Of how he wanted to spend his life with her. Casta, I hurt so bad!" Castaspella looked on her former apprentice with new understanding. Ariel continued.
"I don't know if you could possibly understand. I was totally in love with him. I loved him so much that his pain inside was tearing me up. He wanted to be with Adora, not me, but my feelings pounded at him every day and he could not deny that he found me physically attractive and admired the ease to which I had adapted myself to the rugged life the island demanded of us both. I tried to fight his love for her with images of me and him together. He fought back. I loved him enough to give him up, so I told him to come back to me. I told him I would no longer try to come between him and Adora, but that I didn't want to be alone anymore."
"Well, obviously you didn't keep your promise," Castaspella snorted, "or he caved in, men are always so weak." Ariel reached up a hand lightning fast and slapped Castaspella hard across her face. Castaspella raised a hand to her cheek in stunned surprise. Ariel was seething in outrage, her eyes emitting sparks of fury.
"Don't you dare defame him to me! He is the most honorable, most courageous, most noble man I know! You were not there, you did not feel his pain or mine! What right have you to pass judgment on me!" Castaspella's brows shot up as she regarded Ariel with newfound respect.
"I have no right to judge you. None at all. Forgive me." Ariel didn't appear the least bit mollified so she turned angrily away. Her story coming out in short angry sentences.
"He came back. Things went on as normal. We were friends. He got hurt. I healed him. As I did so, I saw the images going through his mind." Her voice lowered to a whisper of shame. "He thought I was Adora. He was delirious, feverish. I…I let him make love to me thinking I was the woman he dreamed of." She stopped speaking, for a moment Castaspella didn't think she would continue. When she did, she chose her words with more care and precision. "He healed and I… I couldn't face him. He knew; I could not hide my shame or deceit from him. So I hid myself. I felt his anger, his sense of betrayal. I despaired of ever recapturing the bond we once had. I couldn't go on. The man I loved with all my soul despised me. I could not escape his scorn, could not even deny I deserved it. I couldn't bare it any longer. I tried to kill myself."
Castaspella hissed sharply. The sacredness of life was one of the first tenants taught by her to her apprentices.
"Ariel… how could you-" Ariel turned a passionate glare on her teacher.
"You could never understand! You have never loved as I love him! He hated me! I just wanted the hurt to end. For days I eluded him. He tracked me through the jungles of the island, but he is no magi. I went to the topmost cliff on the island, ready to hurl myself out of the eye of history forever. I'm not sure what changed him. But when he felt my sorrow and shame and agony as his own he realized I truly loved him. He also knew me inside and out. He knew I was no malicious woman out for a ride. As I moved to the cliff, I spread my arms wide to embrace my fate and he appeared in my mind. He told me life was too precious to throw away. He said my life was too precious to throw away. He said I was too precious to him. If I were to plunge over that cliff he would follow me into death just to be with me."
Castaspella wanted to weep. It was truly love that bound her apprentice to the Sea Hawk. But that love had proven disastrous. It was in part due to the Sea Hawks betrayal that Adora had proven so vulnerable at the time of Leech's atrocities. Starting her on a course she was now committed to. Castaspella had conferred with the first ones on the spiritual plane and they endorsed Adora's course as the clearest, quickest way to freedom, providing that she not falter. Casta sighed, glancing at her apprentice with envy.
"Enjoy what little happiness you can Ariel. For soon darkness will entomb us all in her grasp. Onyx rides against us." Ariel shivered at Castaspella's bleak tone.
"You mean Adora?" Castaspella's fathomless eyes bored into her former student's with dramatic intensity. Ariel flinched at the haunted expression in their wide, almond depths.
"No, Ariel. Adora is no longer among us. For the sake of her sanity and the good of our people, Adora has had to become the Hordeswoman Onyx. We can expect no quarter." Ariel squared her shoulders resolutely.
"Then if necessary we will eliminate Onyx." Castaspella shook her head.
"If Onyx dies, Etheria will die as well. I don't know how, but Adora is our only hope. It is her will that decides the fate of us all. We are pawns in this game fate has decreed for us, but she-" Castaspella paused, glancing at her feet in thoughtful contemplation, "she is the queen."
Salty spray flew in gentle abandon from sapphire waves with ivory curling caps to lightly mist over Castaspellas strong, supple body. Her hair blew wildly in the wind, flowing sienna locks billowing in an untamed orgy of tangles. She loved the way the ship rocked beneath her feet, the smell of salty sea air, the cry of gulls and the crash of water onto the hull.
Her spell was cast. Mystacor was safe. She had a spiritual link to Netossa who in turn was linked to the palace where all the spells were kept. Her city was safe. As safe as any could be in these times. A tall young woman with honey-gold hair walked silently to her side, dimming Casta's good mood. Her smile slipped. The girl seemed not to notice.
"From my first day aboard an ocean-going vessel, I knew you'd love it." The girl remarked. Casta remained silent. The girl turned hazel eyes to the sorceress's face, seeking a hint at what she was feeling.
"You know, Casta, I have apologized for leaving you for the Sea Hawk." Castaspella's eyes flashed angrily as she turned to Ariel, her former apprentice.
"You think a simple apology will make it alright?" She hissed angrily. "You were Adora's friend. You were my apprentice. I spent seven years teaching you the ways of magic and you threw it aside for a man!" She spat the last with unconcealed scorn. "You betrayed more than me, you betrayed a woman who never did you any harm-"
"Wrong, Casta!" Ariel snapped. "I did not betray Adora, Sea Hawk did! And it was not something he did frivolously or lightly. He loved her!"
"Then why?!" Casta retorted hotly. Ariel looked away.
"I admit, I was attracted to him from the first. His body, his lifestyle," she smiled fondly, "his maleness. He didn't even realize it. At first. But when Shadow Weaver put that spell on us-" Castaspella glanced at her sharply, grabbing her upper arm in a tight grip.
"What spell?" Ariel glanced pointedly down at Casta's grip. When she did not let go she yanked her arm away. Rubbing the bruise forming on her limb, she glared, angrily, at Castaspella.
"It was a mind link. She thought to cause enough chaos that Hawk would wreck his ship and the supplies he was carrying to the rebels at Talais, the port town near the Shaddamite plains wouldn't make it."
"There are rebels already in Shaddamite?" Castaspella asked, surprised. Ariel nodded impatiently.
"The world is larger than the whispering woods and Mystacor." Ariel remarked sarcastically before returning to her story. "At first neither of us knew what was happening. A dark squall appeared just off the bow, thoughts began randomly appearing in our heads and neither of us knew where they were coming from. Sea Hawk managed to avoid the storm mostly but as my fear heightened so did his sense of confusion. Fritz had to take command. A thought appeared in my mind, it was urgent, it told me I had to take the helm. It drove me from the safety of my cabin and as I made my way to the front of the ship a wave crashed over the side- pulling me overboard. Hawk felt my panic. It was like suddenly he knew it was me and I needed him. He jumped ship to save me. We washed ashore on a deserted island and we knew each others every thought."
"But he still loved Adora?" Casta interrupted. A pained expression came over Ariels face.
"Yes. He knew how I felt, but he was loyal to her. However we were on that island a long time with no one else to talk to, we depended on each other for survival and we knew each other's every thought, every emotion as if it were our own. It became hard to distinguish who was feeling what. Gradually as we came to know each other better, my infatuation turned to love. He began softening as well. Then he left me."
"What do you mean 'he left you'." Casta sked not understanding. Ariel shrugged, gazing out over the ocean. "He left me alone. He filled his mind with images of him and Adora. Of how he wanted to spend his life with her. Casta, I hurt so bad!" Castaspella looked on her former apprentice with new understanding. Ariel continued.
"I don't know if you could possibly understand. I was totally in love with him. I loved him so much that his pain inside was tearing me up. He wanted to be with Adora, not me, but my feelings pounded at him every day and he could not deny that he found me physically attractive and admired the ease to which I had adapted myself to the rugged life the island demanded of us both. I tried to fight his love for her with images of me and him together. He fought back. I loved him enough to give him up, so I told him to come back to me. I told him I would no longer try to come between him and Adora, but that I didn't want to be alone anymore."
"Well, obviously you didn't keep your promise," Castaspella snorted, "or he caved in, men are always so weak." Ariel reached up a hand lightning fast and slapped Castaspella hard across her face. Castaspella raised a hand to her cheek in stunned surprise. Ariel was seething in outrage, her eyes emitting sparks of fury.
"Don't you dare defame him to me! He is the most honorable, most courageous, most noble man I know! You were not there, you did not feel his pain or mine! What right have you to pass judgment on me!" Castaspella's brows shot up as she regarded Ariel with newfound respect.
"I have no right to judge you. None at all. Forgive me." Ariel didn't appear the least bit mollified so she turned angrily away. Her story coming out in short angry sentences.
"He came back. Things went on as normal. We were friends. He got hurt. I healed him. As I did so, I saw the images going through his mind." Her voice lowered to a whisper of shame. "He thought I was Adora. He was delirious, feverish. I…I let him make love to me thinking I was the woman he dreamed of." She stopped speaking, for a moment Castaspella didn't think she would continue. When she did, she chose her words with more care and precision. "He healed and I… I couldn't face him. He knew; I could not hide my shame or deceit from him. So I hid myself. I felt his anger, his sense of betrayal. I despaired of ever recapturing the bond we once had. I couldn't go on. The man I loved with all my soul despised me. I could not escape his scorn, could not even deny I deserved it. I couldn't bare it any longer. I tried to kill myself."
Castaspella hissed sharply. The sacredness of life was one of the first tenants taught by her to her apprentices.
"Ariel… how could you-" Ariel turned a passionate glare on her teacher.
"You could never understand! You have never loved as I love him! He hated me! I just wanted the hurt to end. For days I eluded him. He tracked me through the jungles of the island, but he is no magi. I went to the topmost cliff on the island, ready to hurl myself out of the eye of history forever. I'm not sure what changed him. But when he felt my sorrow and shame and agony as his own he realized I truly loved him. He also knew me inside and out. He knew I was no malicious woman out for a ride. As I moved to the cliff, I spread my arms wide to embrace my fate and he appeared in my mind. He told me life was too precious to throw away. He said my life was too precious to throw away. He said I was too precious to him. If I were to plunge over that cliff he would follow me into death just to be with me."
Castaspella wanted to weep. It was truly love that bound her apprentice to the Sea Hawk. But that love had proven disastrous. It was in part due to the Sea Hawks betrayal that Adora had proven so vulnerable at the time of Leech's atrocities. Starting her on a course she was now committed to. Castaspella had conferred with the first ones on the spiritual plane and they endorsed Adora's course as the clearest, quickest way to freedom, providing that she not falter. Casta sighed, glancing at her apprentice with envy.
"Enjoy what little happiness you can Ariel. For soon darkness will entomb us all in her grasp. Onyx rides against us." Ariel shivered at Castaspella's bleak tone.
"You mean Adora?" Castaspella's fathomless eyes bored into her former student's with dramatic intensity. Ariel flinched at the haunted expression in their wide, almond depths.
"No, Ariel. Adora is no longer among us. For the sake of her sanity and the good of our people, Adora has had to become the Hordeswoman Onyx. We can expect no quarter." Ariel squared her shoulders resolutely.
"Then if necessary we will eliminate Onyx." Castaspella shook her head.
"If Onyx dies, Etheria will die as well. I don't know how, but Adora is our only hope. It is her will that decides the fate of us all. We are pawns in this game fate has decreed for us, but she-" Castaspella paused, glancing at her feet in thoughtful contemplation, "she is the queen."
