Part 3 - Vanassi
Luke was as use to feeling Leia's presence as he was to hearing his own heartbeat and he felt that something was wrong. Mava limped beside him and together they found there way back to the Fortress of the Dark Majiks. They were surprised to see a woman there. She was beautiful and she sensed there approach because she turned toward them.
"I that the blood huntress?" Luke questioned.
"No, it's Vanassi," Mava said.
"You," she said pointing to the boy. "You are the angel queen's child, but you are not the one I have tasted."
Luke was confused by this but stood his ground.
"She loves you very much, you will bring her to me, but first I will taste of you."
"Vanassi is the blood huntress," Mava said shocked.
With flick of her wrist Luke felt himself moving toward her.
"No," he yelled and pushed against her pull.
"Get off my brother," a voice yelled as it threw a fireball at her head.
Vanassi out up a hand and snuffed it out. She released Luke and turned to see Leia.
"The daughter," Vanassi said with a cruel smile. "Come to me, let me see what the Shadow Sith fears."
"How about I just make you fear us," Leia said creating a ring of fire laced between her hands.
"How did she?" Luke began.
"Whoa all I did was help her make a simple fireball," Sorin said stepping into the clearing beside Mava.
"You feel the power growing inside you. I've tasted of you and now all that's left is for you to taste of me," Vanassi said.
Vanassi made eye contact and Leia felt herself pulled inside the other woman's mind. The fire she had created disappeared.
Luke realized he was free of her hold and ran at her to break Vanassi's concentration on Leia. He e didn't know what she was doing to her, but he could feel Leia slipping into her grip. Vanassi threw up a firewall between them before he reached her. Before he reached her the wall fell she was gone.
"What happened?"
"Children," a voice called stepping out of the woods.
They turned and saw Majus.
"Majus, they took Leia. They took her," Luke said running to him.
"She's inside the fortress then," Majus said.
"Majus, she said she said she tasted her and Leia had a bite on her when I found her," Sorin told him. "When Vanassi showed up, it was weird...like she had some control over her."
"It was probably she who bit her, Vanassi always had a talent for transfiguration."
"We have to go get Leia."
"No Luke," Mava said. "She was a casualty of war, we must go on."
"We need Leia," Luke told the girl.
"He's right, we need her. The energy, there connection here, it's very pure. They need it to defeat the dark one. If fact that's what Vanassi wants. She desires, as we do, to banish the dark one."
"But only to ascend to his thrown," Luke guessed.
"Yes," the Wizard replied. "And to do this she's wants to form a connection with Leia, making her own dark energy strong enough to defeat him. Sorin, I need you to stay and guard Mava. She's still hurt--"
"But Majus--" Mava began.
"No Mava, stay with Sorin. Sorin, be brave."
"I will," Sorin said.
******
In Vanassi's chamber, Leia sat on a stool as the woman paced in front of her. Leia wasn't tied up, but she wasn't moving wither. She didn't seem like a prisoner. To see Vanassi and Leia now, you would think they had known each other for years. However, listening to her was different. She told her the story of her parents as if she were speaking in a trance.
"So your father," she began continuing her line of questions. "He didn't serve the what do you call it, light side of the force."
"He did, for a time, but then he turned," Leia explained.
"Very interesting, how did he die."
"My brother saved him from darkness."
"How?"
"Love or faith in him, I guess."
"You guess?"
"I wasn't there. It was war, I was fighting it elsewhere."
"The warrior in you is strong, but it feels stifled. I can taste it."
"Are you going to kill me?" the child asked with no emotion at all.
"No, I will make you mine. I will make you just like me."
"Like the women, your servants who chased us."
"No, Leia, you will be just like me. As powerful and as beautiful, for eternity. And we will rule this world together."
Luke and Majus were inside. They both saw Vanassi's deformed servants standing guard. While groups of perfectly normal looking children were trained by and older warrior. There was only a handful of them and there was no joy in there faces, unlike the light-Majik children at the Greenmoore. It made him sad to see them.
"I know the feeling Luke," Majus whispered.
"You still love her don't you?"
"Who?"
"Vanassi."
Majus didn't answer for a long time.
"I love her very much," Majus finally said. "But she is lost to the darkness."
"Many thought the same of my father and he was saved. Do you think--"
"No, I cannot convince Vanassi to let her go, you must convince Leia of the good still inside her. Reach her, find that connection that brought you here. Vanassi steals from innocence, that I cannot forgive. She is using this same method for her connection with Leia and it is unnatural, like her beauty, it was stolen and it can be broken."
'Love' Vanassi thought, how silly was it of Leia to think that changed turned her father from the dark side. It hadn't kept herself and Majus together when there ideals had changed. There had to be another reason. She had no more time to think of it. Her students were assembling in the next room. She ordered Leia to come with her and they walked out of the room.
"Leia," a voice called in the girls head as she followed Vanassi. She paused for a moment, feeling like she could respond if she only could remember how. "Leia," the voice in her head said again.
"Leia," Vanassi's called sharply and she followed the woman again."
Hidden under black cloaks, Luke and Majus had followed the training group back inside. They were assembling in a large room inside there fortress. Luke saw a small child, no older than five, sitting in front of the room. The child didn't seem scared at all.
"I'm sorry you have to see this," Majus whispered to Luke.
"See what?"
"She is a gift to Vanassi. She is as old as I am, but she steals youth in ceremonies such as these."
Vanassi entered with her flaming cloak trailing behind her and ... Leia. Trailing behind the cloak trimmed in fire was Leia. As everyone fell on one knee, Luke went forward to get his sister, but he was pulled down by Majus.
"Not yet," he said.
Luke was growing impatient, his sister was right in his grasp. He focused on speaking to her through her mind. 'Turn and run Leia,' he said.
'I belong to Vanassi' Leia's mind responded.
"Dark Majiks," Vanassi began. "This is the Angel child. And she is ours, with her we will rise and conquer this kingdom."
Vanassi then turned to the little girl. She gently touched the young child's face. Now the child looked afraid. Luke ached to get up and grab the child and his sister and run.
"My child today you become a part of something much greater than yourself."
Luke was horrified, she was going to feed on that little girl. He noticed the look on Leia's face was completely blank, emotionless. 'Leia, can't you see this is wrong. This is wrong.'
"Majus, we have to do something," Luke wispered.
"Not yet," Majus said.
Vanassi took the child's arm and bit down and fed. Luke cringed as did the child. Why wasn't she hollering, fighting this. He looked again at Leia's face. How could he make her see, how could he make her feel. Feel, that was it. There mother, the reason they were here. He reached down inside and then reached out to her reminding her of the memory she gave him. The memory of that little girl and her mother. He pushed, reminding her that she too was a mother in another time and place.
"Now my dear it is your turn," Vanassi said.
"No!" Luke yelled standing up.
"Luke," Leia called.
"He is nothing to you," Vanassi said turning toward her.
Luke could tell Leia look confused. The Dark Majik's rose and grabbed there weapons. Majus then revealed himself, throwing back all of Vanassi's servants with a flick of his wrist. They moved back toward him. As he fought them with his magic, Luke grabbed a staff and began fighting his way to his sister. Leia tried to run to help him. Vanassi grabbed her and Leia bit her. She hadn't even thought about it, she'd just done it. Then Leia grabbed the scared little girl and tried to run, but she was surrounded.
Suddenly there was a great cracking noise. Something large and white broke through the doors and invaded the room. It was a huge white dove. Everyone stopped, confused. Then the dark Majiks went after it. Then there was a loud screech and noise the extraordinarily large bird had all of them grabbing there ears and falling to the floor. Then the bird grabbed Luke and Leia in it's beak and flew out of the dark fortress.
"Majus," Luke called. But the bird paid no mind and flew away. Leia was still holding on to the little girl when the giant bird dropped them somewhere outside the dark forest. She passed out from the blood loss.
"What happened to me Luke?" Leia asked. The futher she got away from Vanassi, the more she felt like herself."
"I don't know, but it wasn't some animal that bit you, it was Vanassi."
"Now what?" Leia said. "We've lost Majus, Sorin, Mava, we can't go back in there, that's for sure."
"Maybe that bird that saved us went back to get them."
"Maybe," Leia said.
Leia bandaged the little girls arm with a scarf she had. Luke found some food and they both sat up during the night saying nothing. Then they started forward the next morning. Luke felt bad about leaving Majus behind, but the only way to escape this dark place was to destroy the evil here and free his mother. He had to go on. The little girl was very silent too.
They reached a large body of water, in the middle of the next day.
"Great," Leia said. "How are we going to get across this?"