Blix:I messed up
Nana:It was an honest mistake,you were tired
Dressi: Females can't write so ha!
Nana:Leave her alone you chauvinistic pig!
Blix:Please ignore the male muse,he can be a buttmunch
Author's note:Okay everyone,I was reading through the book and realized I made a mistake. It is not sunrise to sunset for the offering,but sunset to sunrise. I am so sorry if anyones mad.So for the purpose of the story, Ebonsere and Severnar are making their offerings as the adults speak(basically it was only Daemonar there when the adults arrived and Draca will help Severnar hide his wings after he makes the offering.. When I get a chance I'll edit the first chapter to accommodate that only. Im really sorry I screwed up and I hope none of this confuses anybody.
Ephona, Tamphuoc, thank you so much for the reviews, it makes me really happy to know people like this story.
Chapter 2:A Flash Of Thunder
The rising of the sun found several people pacing in a large room with comfy furniture. If anyone had thought past the worry or the anger, they would have realized it was the room set off of the chamber Janelle herself had used to make her Offering. Daemonar had come down from the workroom to wait for his cousins, and had almost been killed when his father thought his wings were gone. The stress had sent everyone into a numb sort of shock.
Saetan himself let his eyes drift close as he listened to Surreal and Lucivar talk.
"I wonder what jewel my son will wear," Surreal whispered.
"Probably the Grey,like his mother," Lucivar stated. Both had kept their statements somewhat sarcastic, and always somewhat curt. The tension was high and Saetan felt like he would slap everyone into reality if Ebonsere and Severnar didn't walk into the room soon.
As if answering his prayers, the door opened and both young adults walked in looking tired and worn as though they had been through several of Lucivar's advanced drills without being prepared.
"Sere," Daemon whispered, opening his arms to his daughter. Sere ran into them and he wrapped her in his embrace, letting all his love flow into her, praying she felt it.
"Daddy, I'm scared," Ebonsere whispered into his chest. Daemon nodded. He knew,more than she realized, he knew just how she felt.
"You can do it little one, I know you can,"he told her. He felt her shudder.
"You're wearing the gray!" Surreal shrieked as she embraced her son.
"Yes mother," Severnar sighed as he endured the hug his lithe mother gave him.
"What jewel do you wear little warrior?" Severnar asked.
Daemon felt his daughter stiffen, and then she backed away. He saw her jewel and held in the gasp, but he knew his eyes widened with awe.
An ebon jewel that flashed like with bolts of lightning within its dark depths. Each bolt of light the color of a different jewel.
"Lorn called it Ebon Thunder. It's similar to mother's, but, it's suited to me," Ebonsere told them all in a quiet voice. Draca came into the room and looked at Sere, then at Severnar.
"Come with me Sssevernar, I mussst give you the web. After that you can be with your family. Sssere, you can do what you like for now," Draca said, her sibilant voice getting the message through. Sere had the illusion of normalcy for now, but she couldn't leave the keep. Sere only nodded and sat in Saetan's lap as she had often done as a child. Saetan was six feet and a few inches while Sere herself was only five feet and eight inches, which left enough room for her to curl up and let herself wander while everyone asked inane question, trying to avoid the topic of her new jewel.
"Grandfather?"
"Yes little one?" Saetan replied to her tired, tiny voice.
"I need some food and a bath," Sere told him, her hunger apparent when her stomach made a loud noise that the entire room heard.
"I think some food can be arranged. I'm sure Draca remembered your mother's appetite when she made the Offering and took that into consideration when she knew you were making the Offering. Let's go to the kitchen, or do you want to eat in the formal dining hall?" Saetan asked.
'I don't want to be around them right now. They're scared of what I wear, even mother. She doesn't know what to make of it. She's not sure if she's still the strongest witch that lives anymore. I don't like it grandfather. Can it just be me and you and Severnar and Daemonar? They aren't scared, at least Severnar isn't. I honestly don't want to deal with the fear right now. It makes everything too awkward," Sere sent to him on a black thread of thought. Saetan nodded and stood with her in his arms. As demon dead, his leg was stable and with Lorn and Draca's help he was as strong as he was long ago in his youth.
"Everyone, I'm sorry, but I have a very tired, very hungry little girl I must go feed, so if you'll excuse us, we have to leave," Saetan said. Janelle looked ready to open her mouth, but Daemon put his hand on her arm and she closed her mouth. Her midnight eyes showed displeasure, but she said not a word.
Saetan left the room and carried Sere all the way up the stairs, using craft to lighten the load so he didn't throw his back out. He then walked down one corridor into the wing her rooms were in, and then he opened the door to her spacious suite.
"I'll go prepare a bath while you eat. Seems Draca has anticipated everything," Saetan said, nodding to the bedside table with a covered food dish on it as he laid her down on the bed. She immediately grabbed the domed cover off the dish and smiled when she saw plenty of fresh melon slices and a ripe peach.
Saetan smiled as she dug into a piece of steak as he went to prepare her a nice long bath.
As he did was making sure the water was the right temperature, he heard the door open and Draca and the two young men walk into the room, and an easy conversation going back and fourth. Plugging the drain he walked back into the main room and saw more food and three young adults on a bed all cuddled together, the two men on either side protecting their new queen.
"They fell asleep the minute their Queen did, didn't they? It's funny, but I don't think anyone suspected those two would serve in her court, despite both being warlord princes that have looked out for her as long as I can remember. Draca, their families are all rather angry. Can they be placated before the three children leave?" Saetan asked as he watched his family members sleep in heavy slumber.
"It isss possssible, but not likely. Janelle will not accept that she has an equal, even if it isss her own daughter. Sssere must accept the burden, for now she hasss only ressigned herself to it. She mussst embrace it," Draca said.
"If she is anything like her mother, she will fight it because of the possible repercussions. Do you know what kind of world you are sending her to?" Saetan let his worry color his tone. Draca let out a sigh and suddenly, Saetan felt as if Draca were weary.
"A world filled with dreams and despairs. She will survive if she embraces thossse that wished for her," The ancient woman seneschal replied. Saetan only nodded and vanished the empty trays downstairs.
"The preparations have been made?"
"Yesss," Draca replied.
Sere walked along the strands of the web, noticed how jewels were placed sporadically everywhere, yet ho in the center there were several. In the very center of the web lay a chip of her jewel, Ebon Thunder, and it was surrounded by several other jewels, all in a range of colors. Each jewel on the web was connected to her in some way, though not always the ones surrounding her.
She followed the strands to one jewel, an Ebon-gray jewel, and felt the energy that she knew belonged to her cousin Daemonar. She followed another path and encountered Severnar's gray. Sere let her mind touch all of the jewels, getting the feel of them, sometime surprised when the jewels had only a feeling of longing in them. These jewels she somehow knew belonged to no one, but they should, they called out for the one they should be bonded to.
Suddenly the web broke beneath her and she fell into the depths below her, seeing different faces fly past, none of which she knew. Voices assailed her mind and she screamed, fearing she was falling into the Twisted Kingdom.
And then the falling stopped, and she was on solid ground again. She saw someone in the dark,a small figure, as if it were far away.
"Hello? Can you hear me?" She called out.
And then the small figure was suddenly overtaken by an angry mob and the energy was gone, not a whisper left. Sere knew the figure, whether existing only in her dream or in real life, had been killed.
Then the mob started towards her, chasing her as she ran, getting closer and closer. Sere tried desperately to try and call on the powers of her jewels, but for some reason, it wasn't answering, as if it was being picky.
"Sere, wake up, wake up!" Daemonar's voice woke her and Sere opened her eyes with a grateful sigh. The nightmare had nearly sent her into madness.
"You okay brat?" Daemonar asked, reverting to his nickname for her.
"I'm fine, just a bit of a nightmare. What time is it?" She asked her cousins. Severnar turned slightly and groaned.
"It's only noon," He groaned as he flipped back on his side and threw an arm over Sere's side.
They had all shared this easy comfort and contact since Severnar and Sere had been children and Sere cuddled deeper under the covers and into her cousins' embraces.
"You think our parents are still out there?" Daemonar asked. Sere groaned and buried her head under the covers and then growled when she felt Severnar leave the bed, taking the warmth with him.
"If I know them at all, they will be. Damn, I'd almost rather us go without saying goodbye," Severnar growled.
Sere got up from the bed and went into the bathroom for a shower, only to notice the bathtub filled with water and bubbles. She knew Saetan would have put a warming spell on it too. A witch's bath never got cold.
"Guys, go take showers or whatever. I'm going to take full advantage of that nice bath grandpapa prepared for me," Sere told them from the bathroom.
"You have half an hour. Then I'll drag you out if you're not at the table with us," Severnar growled as he and Daemonar exited the room.
Sere sighed as she shed her clothing and sunk into the bath. Thirty minutes before she had to face the firing squad. If only she could avoid it all.
Twenty eight minutes later she walked into the formal breakfast room and saw her family eating breakfast. She also noticed that when people saw her the tension in the room went up several notches.
Quickly she grabbed a plate and filled it at the sidebar, grabbing several pieces of watermelon and a pickleberry and a piece of meat and some salad. She also noticed her two cousins sitting far away from their family, and rage filled her at the thought of the two men in her court staying away form their family because their family couldn't understand the fate destiny had in store for them.
She walked past everyone in her family and sat across fro the two men, totally ignoring the rest of the table as she ate and chatted amiably with them. Saetan strolled in and sat next to her, asking her easy going questions about her life on topics such as boys and theatre and music.
Suddenly the room exploded in dark fury and everyone looked stunned at Janelle.
"You may wear a darker jewel than I daughter, but you will not ignore your family," Witch bit out, reverting to her true form. The spiral horn glinted in the light streaming in through the windows.
"I don't know if I'm more powerful than you mother, but this so called family hasn't treated me anything like before since last night. And they haven't treated Daemonar and Severnar the same either, and those two men are under my protection, and I'll be damned if I make them feel like shit because they wish to serve me!" Ebonsere shouted, her rage filling the room, causing the wallpaper to split and tear.
"Do you think we hate you now, is that it?" Daemon asked quietly.
"You fear me, and that can lead to hate," Sere said quietly.
"I don't fear you, I fear what you can do, and I fear for you, but I could never fear you, Her father said as he stood up and went to her. Sere let him wrap his arms around her, and suddenly Janelle came to her daughter as well.
"We don't hate any of you, it's just, a hard change to cope with. And all of you are leaving for that place. I'm scared something could happen and you could get hurt," Janelle told her daughter.
Surreal came and embraced her son, and Marian embraced Daemonar.
"I realize that this is a huge change to cope with, but it's something we all have to deal with. Two Witches now walk the realm and while one is Kaeleer's heart, the other will be the Old Land's. Witch child, you have already destroyed the taint of the Blood, now it's tie for your daughter to heal the scars left," Saetan told Janelle. Janelle only nodded and sniffled.
Ebonsere sat back down and everyone moved closer together, engaging in easy banter, but everyone still felt tension underneath.
But it was the tension of possible loss that made the air smell thick with fear and sorrow this time.
Because everyone realized that everything indeed, has a price.
Blix:Well, I think it was a good transition chapter
Dressi:There wasn't any action
Nana:It was supposed to give a look at how the relationships are changing fool
Blix:Thanks guys. I hope everyone likes it,please read and review.