For Love of Magic, For Magic of Love
By Mistress Dawnstar
Summary: What would do for the man you loved? What would you sacrifice for him? Would you do the unspeakable for him? What if the only way to save him is to givehim up?
Author's Note: Thank you to everyone who reviewed last chapter, it really means a lot to me! For everyone else, please review. Just drop me a little comment, whether good, bad, etc.
Warning - The last part of this chapter contains some suggestive language. It's nothing too bad, so the rating doesn't need to be changed, but if you feel uncomfortable about that sort of thing, don't read.
Chapter. 2 – Sacrifice
"I don't believe this." Anoira said dully for the twentieth time. She sat on the edge of her bed with complete disregard to the damaged caused to her most expensive court gown. Formal court clothes are not meant to be sat in, but nothing could be further from Anoira's mind. For you see, she had a bigger problem to worry about.
"I can't believe this. How did he do it? I thought, I knew, everyone knew that what I asked was quite impossible. I don't think that even I could have managed it and I'm an extremely talented sorceress." She said plaintively directing the question to the other two occupants of the room.
Lady Byntina sighed unhappily. They had been going over this for the last two hours and coming no closer to a solution to Anoira's dilemma. "I don't know. I don't think anyone actually expected him to even attempt it, not to mention succeed." She shrugged helplessly.
Anoira scowled fiercely at the wardrobe that was resting innocently in the center of the room. Her hands itched and she wished that she could set the thing on fire, but that would not solve anything.
It was not the wardrobe that had the misfortune of incurring Anoira's ire, but rather its content. Inside the beautifully crafted and carved walnut wardrobe were three fine ball gowns. One was made of spun gold so fine that it was as soft to the touch as the finest silk. Tiny intricate embroidery in white silk complete with seed pearl inlays lined the neck, the sleeves, and the hem. It the afternoon light, it seemed almost to have acquired a soft glow. It truly was a stunning work of art. The next dress is no less amazing, spun out of the purest silver, with tiny light blue dragon embroidery coiling around the sleeves and down the skirt. Delicate gold lace lined the neckline – low and square according to the very latest fashion. Finally, the last dress was the most beautiful of the three, made of blue silk so dark that it could be mistaken for black in the shadows. All over the dress were tiny diamonds, hundreds, thousands of them, so cleverly embedded that from a distance they seem to acquire depth and seem as stars in the midnight sky.
Tucked out of sight behind the three dress where they could not be seen were three further items – a cloak made from the furs of all the creatures of the land, a mask made from the feathers of all the creatures of the air, and a belt made from the skins of all the creatures of the lakes and seas.
Now, Anoira loved pretty clothes as well as any young lady and under normal circumstances would have been delighted to receive such an astonishing addition to her wardrobe. But she saw the dresses for what they really were; they were chains – chains to bind her to a life so distasteful, so disgusting, so impossible that she had to fight hard to keep the bile from rising in her throat. She was sick at the very thought of it.
Lord Corven, the other occupant of the room, who'd thus far been silent cleared his throat and spoke up. "Princess, have you examined the cloak, mask, and belt? After all, the agreement was that he'd used portions of ALL the creatures of the land, sky, and sea. If any is missing…"
"No, my father is too thorough to make a mistake like that." Anoira said, with a slight hysterical edge to her voice. She felt like a wild animal, cornered by the hunter's hounds. "Oh, I can't do this." She cried, "This is completely immoral. Anything would be better than this…this iniquity. I can't believe that father would…he can't…I can't…to bear…" Her words lost all coherency as her body shook with shuddering sobs.
Lord Corven and Lady Byntina exchanged helpless glances. They liked the idea no better than Anoira, but the king had ordered it, so what could they do?
Finally Lady Byntina spoke quietly, "There may be another way. Leave and never look back."
Anoira paused mid-sob. She gazed at Byntina in astonishment. "But I promised."
"So, break your promise. All that would happen would be that you'd forfeit your magic. From my point of view, it doesn't seem that magic has done you much good so far."
Lord Corven cleared his throat hastily. "I assume that you ladies are simply discussing hypothetical possibilities and not any actual plans. If I thought that any part of this conversation was serious, I would be honor bound to report it to my liege lord. Of course, what I don't know, I can't possibly tell him, so if you'll excuse me, I believe that I have some paperwork that I need to get to." He bowed, first to Anoira and then to Lady Byntina. "Good day, Princess, Duchess." With one last, thoughtful glance in the direction of the wardrobe, he turned and left the room.
"But, I've never gone without my magic. What will I do? Where will I go?" Anoira said in a small voice.
"Anywhere; the whole world is out there. You could do whatever you choose." Lady Byntina said, sounding more enthusiastic by the second. "It's perfect. Your father would never imagine that you'd be willing to give up your magic and birthright. You should easily be able to make a clean escape."
"Well…I don't know."
"I thought you said that anything would be better than this." Lady Byntina reminded Anoira gently.
Anoira was silent for a long moment. Finally she said resolutely, "You're right. I'll leave tonight. Can you help me find some commoner's clothe, maybe a maid's uniform or something and some food. And," she added as an afterthought, "A bag. I'm taking these gifts with me. He gave them to me and it'll serve him right if I ran away with them. The cloak will be nice when the weather starts to turn cool and I could always sell the jewels off the dress if I need money."
Lady Byntina nodded, "It'll be more risky, but you've got a point. Alright, I'll get you what you need."
A few moments later a breathless Lady Byntina returned. "Here," she said, thrusting a bundled of clothe at the princess. "Get dressed. We don't have as much time as I'd thought. I just found out that your father wants your presence at dinner. He'll make his formal proposal then. After dinner you'd be moved to the royal suite and guarded day and night until the wedding, so if you want to get away it'll have to be now, before your maid comes to fetch you."
Anoira nodded and hastened to undress, cursing the confining court gown and its seemingly thousands of buttons, laces, and ties. Finally, she snarled impatiently, raised a hand, and spoke a single, scintillating word. The gown burst into violet fire and disintegrated. Anoira smiled in grim satisfaction. There was no point in conserving her powers since she's not going to have them for much longer.
She pulled the maid's uniform over her head, making a face at the unfamiliar touch of coarse cloth against her skin. She freed her hair from her braid and taking the ceremonial knife that she kept for mage-workings, hacked it off at her shoulder. Her hair would only slow her down at this point. Beside, few commoners could afford the luxury of long hair. Walking over to the wardrobe, she removed the cloak and draped it around herself, raising the hood around head. Taking some of the ash from the fireplace, she smudged it onto the skin of her face.
She turned to her mirror and regarded her reflection critically. She nodded in satisfaction. In the waning light of the afternoon, only those who knew her personally would have recognized this drab figure as the Princess Anoira.
"Alright, I'm ready." She said turning to Lady Byntina.
"I took some bread, meat, and cheese from the kitchen." Lady Byntina said, handing over a bundle. "I dared not take too much for fear of rousing suspicion, but there should be enough for you to get out of the kingdom if you head west. The next kingdom is onlythirty miles or so in that direction. If you hurry, you should be able to make it in a day or two."
"And the dresses?"
Lady Byntina, "I found something better than a pack." She took out a worn, wooden chest. It was so small that it fit comfortable on the palm of her hand. The wood was slightly warped from age and the metal clasp was badly rusted.
Anoira shot her an incredulous glance. "You must be kidding me."
"No joke. This is enchanted to hold more than the outward appearance indicates and there would be no uncomfortable questions asked if it were to be discovered on your person. Watch."
Anoira felt her jaw drop as she watched the duchess remove the golden dress from the wardrobe and pack it, hanger and all into the tiny chest.
"That's powerful magic." She said finally, "I'm a sorceress and I can tell you that it is not easy to stretch space, nor is it easy to enchant an object and having the spell last. That's the work of a mighty magician. It must be worth a fortune. I can't just take it from you."
"Nonsense," Lady Byntina said serenely as she packed away the other dresses, the mask, and the belt. "What would I do with this? Its appearance is too disreputable for a Duchess, but it should be perfect for the role that you will play. Are you taking anything else? Some money? Jewels?"
Anoira shook her head, "The jewels are property of the kingdom. I'm only taking the dresses because, well, he did give them to me. Besides, it would be too suspicious for a maid to possess fancy jewels or gold coins."
"I thought you'd feel that way, so take these." Lady Byntina held up three small items – a gold ring set with a pale opal, a small golden figurine of a cat licking its paws, and a golden pendant shaped like a peach blossom. "These are gifts from your mother, part of a set of 12." She smiled in remembrance, "I told her that I wished that I knew how it felt to use magic, so she gave me these for my birthday. She embedded a little of her magic in each of the 12, enough for a small spell each. You don't need to be a mage to use these. I've used up 9 of the item; these are the last three and I want you to have them. It would be handy to have a spell or two for emergencies and you could always sell the gold afterwards."
"Oh, I couldn't possibly…"
"Yes, you could." Lady Byntina said firmly. She stepped forwards and embraced the princess. "Your mother would have wanted you to have these and I suspect that you'd put them to better use than I ever could. Now, hurry and go."
Anoira nodded silently, not trusting her tear-choked throat. She embraced the older woman fiercely. She turned and took one last look around her room as if trying to remember every last detail. (As an afterthought, she sent her discarded hair to the same fate as her court gown with a snap of her finger. No point in leaving evidence.)
Then, resolutely, she slipped out her window into the garden.
She made her way through the palace gardens, keeping to the shadows and infrequently used paths, until she reached the outer wall that encircled the palace. She followed the wall to where she knew a small postern gate laid.
She was relieved to see only one guard at the gate, a man whom she didn't recognize. With luck, she'd be able to pass as a maid.
Squaring her shoulders and taking a deep breath, she swaggered into the view of the guard. "Good evenin' to you, mister." She said, imitating the slovenly speech of a lower servant. "Care to let a poor maid pass to visit her poor, sick, old mother."
The guard took a long hard look at her and then winked. "Nah, you ain't be going to visit no sick mother, a pretty thing like yourself. So, who's the luck bastard?"
Oh good lords! Anoira was thankful that the descending darkness hid her blush. The man thought that she was sneaking out to visit a lover. Oh well, might as well play along.
She winked back. "Now, that'd be telling, that will."
"Well, I ain't supposed to be letting anyone out of this here gate."
"Please mister, as a special favor to me."
"Well, I don't know. His majesty gave special orders that no one is to be allowed out of the palace tonight. 'Fraid that his bride will try to bolt."
"Why would she do that?" Anoira said quickly, momentarily forgetting her faked accent in her sudden panic. She added quickly as she saw the guard stiffen suspiciously. "She's promised, upon her magic, that's what I heard. You think Miss Royal Highness is going to give up her powers, fancy jewels, and pretty clothes. Why she'd starve out there, without all her fancy servants. Heavens forbid that she spoil those pampered hands of hers earning an honest living like us common folks."
Anoira breathed a silent sigh of relief as the guard relaxed. He bought her story.
"Well, I don't know. I could get into an awful lot of trouble, letting you through this here gate. But maybe I could make an exception…if you'll make it worth my while." This time, the wink was decidedly lewd.
Anoira's hands curled into fists as she attempted to stop herself from smacking the man. Imagine even suggesting that she'd…she'd…she was too outraged to even finish the thought. Regretfully, she discarded the idea of turning him into the pig that he was. It wouldn't last once her magic was gone unless she poured a ridiculous amount of effort into the spell. In either case, the palace would discover that she was gone quite a bit sooner than she'd planned.
But she had to get out…somehow.
She forced down her indignation, her dignity, and her anger. She smiled sweetly. "Well, let's see here, mister. You let me go on my little errand and when you get off duty and feel a bit lonesome, ask down at the kitchens for Elsie, and I'll see what I can do to accommodate you. Anoira's smile grew strained towards the end and the only way she could stop herself from inflicting permanent damage on the man was by holding on to the comforting thought that she'd never be back. I hope you get into trouble for letting me out, she thought savagely, I hope my father will be very, very angry towards you. That'll serve you right. The idea!
Fortunately, the guard couldn't hear her personal thought. He smirked suggestively and bent to unfasten the gate bar. The gate creaked open. "Well, that's might decent of you. A young, sprightly thing like yourself; it does warm my heart…Hey, you okay there?" Anoira stumbled as she passed the threshold of the gate and would have fallen if the guard hadn't held out a hand to steady her.
Anoira gasped and steadied herself. The moment her foot passed the threshold, her magic, the warm sensation that always lingered underneath her skin was gone. In its place, was an aching, cold emptiness. She trembled; she didn't know that it would be so bad, that she hadrelied on her magic so very much. It was as if she suddenly couldn't see or couldn't feel. She felt the tears well up in her eyes. She couldn't go on like this, she couldn't…and yet what choice did she have. She had to go on.
With great effort, she straightened. "I'm sorry. I must have slipped on a pebble." She said hoping that the shakiness of her voice would be mistaken for the aftereffect of a near fall. "Thanks for your help, mister."
Gathering up the last reserves of her courage and resolve, she squared her shoulders and marched ahead, down the path, into the woods.
She waited until she was out of sight around a bend before breaking down. Her desperate sobs shattered the calm of the forest.
AN: That was a pretty long chapter, for me anyways. I should be able to have the next part up in a week and a half, so watch for it. And in the meantime, please press the blue button in the lower left corner and drop me a line. Also, tell me which summary you like the best. (The one in front of each chapter is slightly different.