Chapter 32

Meggie awoke from the potion with her hands clutched to her chest. She looked around her, as if expecting Capricorn to still be there, but once again, she was alone.

"Nothing's changed" whispered Meggie in that moment as she looked at herself finding that it was as if no time had passed for everything was exactly as it had been before.

"Except that its been three hours since I took the potion" thought Meggie as her eyes found the clock to see the time that had passed. There was no sign Capricorn had ever been there, at least, that's what she thought until she stumbled into the bathroom.

When she looked in the mirror, she smiled; he had left his mark on her. On her neck, Capricorn had left his mark. Meggie ran her fingers over it, missing him, as she wondered what he was doing now. Capricorn had awoken to the fresh dew of an Inkworld dawn. He had left his tent to find that Basta was readying the horses as his other men prepared to move their camp.

As he was preparing to ask if Basta had scouted out a new location yet, he stopped, his eyes landing on Mortola. She saw there, on a fallen tree as if that were her throne, and she didn't say anything. She didn't even appear to be breathing. She only stared in front of her until her eyes found him. Then she began to glare until Capricorn found he had to turn away. He felt this type of unsettling type of glee at knowing that she knew he was the one in control. It thrilled him as he turned away still picturing her there. Her back was propped against the trunk of a fallen tree, her hands clasped into a fierce ball of flesh as she stared at them all in contempt. She was no longer in charge, she had been put in her place, and Capricorn knew she was stewing. Capricorn felt invigorated. Like he had reclaimed not just himself, but his entire existence. As he approached Basta, he smiled, because the knowledge of what he had reclaimed, of what he knew his mother was feeling now, it made him think of Meggie. It made him feel thankful for her. For having met her and loving her. For her very existence. It also made him miss her even if he had just been with her. Basta saw that as he watched the man before him wallow in what could be called a content depression. Then he noticed the side of his neck.

"Capricorn…how was your visit?" whispered Basta smiling at the inquisitive look the man gave him.

"How did you know?" said Capricorn, smiling just slightly as he took the reigns of his horse.

"I'm not stupid, sir" said Basta immediately, making Capricorn come to a complete stop to look at him now, a fierce look in his eyes that instantly reminded Basta who he was talking to.

"You just look happier than you did the day before" exclaimed Basta immediately as if correcting himself. Capricorn only accepted that answer partially as he let his head guard begin to walk beside him. They walked in silence for a moment, with Capricorn digesting his answer. Somehow, he sensed there was more as they continued to walk their horses.

"So, I looked happier?" said Capricorn suddenly, looking at the man beside him. As he spoke, he climbed atop his horse, looking at Basta instantly waiting for an answer. The rest of his guard followed their lead. Capricorn looked behind him to see that they were all ready to follow where he and Basta led them. As they started to move, he looked to Basta once more for his answer. Before the head of his guard could answer, a bird flew over their heads, it was a magpie, who he knew to be his mother.

"Want me to notch an arrow and shoot her down. It would be a fitting demise after what she and Silvertongue tried to do to the queen?" growled Basta, his eyes never leaving the bird in flight. In that same moment, Capricorn's eyes were elsewhere.

"A very tempting offer" whispered Capricorn in that moment looking behind him at Silvertongue as he stood, covered in dirt, his hands bound as he was left tied to a horse.

"I'll have to turn you down, Basta, when I finally kill them both I plan to do it myself, and lay their bodies at my queen's feet" snapped Capricorn his eyes deadly as they looked first at Mo then at the bird overhead that was his mother. They had done so much to hurt his queen and to hurt him, Capricorn couldn't help picturing the day he could kill them. He watched his mother fly away until suddenly he could no longer see her. Only then did he look at Basta again as they rode away through the trees of the dense Inkworld forest. All he could hear was the rough beat of horse hooves as they rode through the breeze. It invigorated him more especially when they came upon a village. To Capricorn, it was like a sign, telling him to plunder. Capricorn ordered his men to burn it and to leave no witnesses and as he watched the flames, he smiled. The sight of a burning village would always be one of his favorite sights.

The conversation that Basta and he had been having from before didn't continue until after they were riding away once more. The village no longer existed then as they did. It was now just a heap of ashes still smoking in the wind. Capricorn could smell the flames in the wind as they rode away, he had missed that smell, and savored it as they rode farther into the distance. That was when he caught Basta looking at him with a smirk.

"You have something on your neck" said Basta tapping the side of his own neck. His smile made Capricorn touch that same place on his neck. That was when he felt it, just at the nape of his neck, where the night before Meggie had had her nails. What he felt there only served to remind him of her. To make him miss her more.

"I guess, you and the queen had a happy reunion this time" whispered Basta knowing that the man was thinking of his wife as he touched his neck not saying a word as they rode on.

"Capricorn?" said Basta as the man urged his horse ahead, suddenly, afraid that he had overstepped his bounds, but the truth was he hadn't, Capricorn didn't mind it as he rode ahead. He gave Basta some leeway because he had served him longer then anyone. He trusted the man to keep him safe and that of his queen. He had never let him down. Now, any of the other guards could have pointed it out, and he would have run them through. Basta though, he wasn't his servant, he was very much his brother, and as he rode ahead Capricorn felt at ease with that. It was his heart missing Meggie that made him want to ride alone. Basta was the only one actually helping it.

Basta, who had been more then a subordinate, but his friend for some time now. And though Capricorn would never admit it, he reveled in the scars Meggie had left him.

"It's like she's here somehow" thought Capricorn his fingers still idly touching the scars at the nape of his neck, feeling as if they were her way of leaving a part of herself with him. It was as he was doing that that a stripe of blue came into view. At first, Capricorn didn't quite know what it was, but then as it flew before him again, he thought it might be a peacock. When it did it again, then he was sure of what it was. It was very much a peacock. It kept flying around him in a continuous circle and then suddenly it landed just behind him onto his horse.

"Steady" exclaimed Capricorn then as his horse started to buck as it was spooked by the bird and as it threatened to throw him, he, being the seasoned horseman that he was, was able to stay atop his horse. When he finally got everything under control, Capricorn saw the bird again, a few steps distance into the forest. At first, the bird gave a tentative hoot that drew his eyes to it immediately. It just looked at him as if expecting him to remember it or to remember something. It continued into the forest and for some reason, Capricorn felt like he had to follow it. Like that was what the bird wanted him to do. Capricorn didn't move at first, he only watched the bird until suddenly he didn't anymore. That was when the bird hooted a third time. When Capricorn looked at it, it had a different look in his eyes, a glint of recognition that tugged at him once more to follow. He didn't though, he told himself he wouldn't, but then suddenly he was. Suddenly, Capricorn found himself off his horse, and he was just standing there in the middle of the forest. He walked towards the bird expecting it to fly up and away at any moment, but it didn't. It only continued to stare at him still as if waiting for something.

"Capricorn" exclaimed a voice as the bird suddenly flew over his head to a spot behind him making him turn to find the bird gone. Capricorn stood firmly planted in place, he knew that voice, but he couldn't place who it belonged to. It shook him even as it seemed to echo through the trees then through the recesses of his mind. And then the voice returned along with the memory of who it belonged to.

"Here, I thought you had left the Inkworld never to return, Capricorn" exclaimed the voice as it returned, making him stop once more in shock at hearing that voice again.

"Gemini?" exclaimed Capricorn still in shock; he hadn't heard that voice since years before he left the Inkworld. When he turned, she was standing there, in the center of the trees. She looked the same as she had the last time, he'd seen her only now, she had aged, holding the grace of a seasoned sorceress. It shook Capricorn to see her even as it brought him joy. He hadn't so much forgotten about her as he had thought he would never see her again. Yet now, she stood before him now, the trees the only things watching them.

They shared a smile as they stepped towards each other.

"I had almost forgotten about you, sister" said Capricorn feeling almost giddy as he looked at her. The sister he had never forgotten, but never been worried about either. He would have a lot to tell Meggie that night, of that he knew, as he moved closer to her.