Spellbound
Chapter 7: Avalon, Part Two
Author's Note: Back-story ahead! Well, a little bit of back-story, anyway. Also, more "Gargoyles" cameos. Just because I can.
Sadira had been right to listen to Puck.
The flower was a lily, pale and white. As the trickster had said, it grew around the scrying pool. All the flowers and greenery on Avalon were beautiful, but these small blooms were especially enchanting. They seemed to glow in the night, and when she reached down to touch one, she felt a surge of energy flow through her, and she somehow seemed to breathe deeper and easier. She had no doubt that this flower had life-restoring properties.
Sadira turned to look at Mozenrath, smiling triumphantly.
"Okay," he said, "So you were right. You don't have to look so pleased with yourself." But there was no venom in his voice, and he was smiling too, despite himself. Like her, he leaned down to touch one of the flowers, and like her, he felt the same surge of healing magic. It was quite remarkable…
Sadira had just been starting to wonder whether the flower might somehow be able to restore his right arm when the smooth surface of the scrying pool parted, and a figure emerged from the water. Mozenrath and Sadira drew together, looking warily at the latest inhabitant of Avalon to cross their path.
The woman before them had long hair, which gleamed a brighter silver than Luna's had. Her pale skin seemed to shimmer with droplets of water, and she wore a gown of white samite. Her eyes were the gray –blue of an ever shifting sea, and as she smiled at them, Sadira felt an inexplicable sense of well-being.
"Greetings, gentle mortals," she said in a clean, clear voice. "It is has been a long time since I have seen your kind on Avalon."
Sadira and Mozenrath exchanged glances. After a moment, Sadira said, "Um … hello? We're sorry, we didn't mean to disturb you, it's just, we need to make the Elixir of Life, and the Weird Sisters let us on the island, and then Puck said the flower was –"
"I know, sweet child. The flower grows at my behest. You may gather what you wish."
"Thank you," Mozenrath said. He sounded disturbingly sincere, and even a bit awe-struck, Sadira thought. Not that she could blame him. The residents of the island had to been seen to be believed.
As they knelt down and set about gently plucking the flowers from the ground, the woman added softly, "But I fear it will not be enough."
Sadira looked up. "What do you mean?" Beside her, Mozenrath tugged at her arm.
"Sadira, we've gathered as many flowers as we can, it's time to go." There was a nervous edge to his voice now, but it only made her more determined. There was something he wasn't telling her.
The water-woman regarded her sadly. "You should ask him, sweet child. He knows the Elixir is only a temporary solution."
Mozenrath stood up. "That's enough," he said. "Sadira, we need to leave, now."
"No –"
"Why would you seek to keep this from her?" The woman was addressing Mozenrath now. "You know she cares for you, and you for her. She deserves to know the truth of the matter. Your gauntlet holds power too strong for any mortal to wield and live. If you had not taken it from Destane, it would have eventually destroyed him – just as it will eventually destroy you, despite all your efforts to the contrary. The Elixir may forestall the specter of death for a time, but it will only delay the inevitable. There is no more help on Avalon that I can give you, unless you chose to help yourself."
"Is that true?" Sadira turned from the woman to him. "Mozenrath, is that true?" He was silent. "Answer me!" She snapped. "Damn it, you answer me right now! You owe me that much –"
"I owe you nothing!" He snapped back. "We made a bargain, and when we leave this place, it will be concluded, since you've so foolishly rejected my offer of power –"
"Oh, what, I should be chasing power? Why? So I can die like you?" She heard the quaver in her own voice as she spoke, and cursed herself for it.
"I have no intention of dying. If the Elixir is only a temporary solution, well, then, it gives me time to figure something else out –"
"My poor child, there is nothing to 'figure out,' as you say. The only way for you to survive is to give up the gauntlet for good."
"You stay out of this!" He snapped at her. "And I am not your child!"
The woman seemed unaffected by his anger, regarding him only with sadness and pity. "You were someone's child, once," she said softly. "Or have you forgotten?"
As Sadira watched, his face drained of what little color it had. "That's … that's enough …"
"Someone's child … and someone's brother," she continued. "Did your vengeance bring them back to you? Will power fill the hollowed-out spaces in your heart? If you do not turn from this path, you will die, and you will die alone."
Before either of them had time to react to that statement, there was a rumbling that seemed to shake the very foundations of Avalon. A cold wind blew, and storm clouds seemed to form out of nothing in the sky. The foliage beneath them withered, and the land seemed to become cold and barren before their very eyes.
"You must go now!" The water-woman said urgently.
"But – what you said –"
"Mab is coming! You must go now, mortals, quickly! If she catches you here …" The woman shuddered.
"You're afraid of her," Mozenrath realized. He sounded almost surprised.
Her eyes were wide. "Everyone is afraid of Queen Mab. Leave, quickly, please," she whispered. And with that, she sank back into the water, the surface closing over her form with barely a ripple.
Sadira turned to Mozenrath, but before she could speak, the earth beneath them shook again, and lightning seemed to split the sky. He grabbed her hand, and then they were running down the hill, making there way back to the shore, the terrain seeming to grown more desolate and unfamiliar with every step they took. Out the corner of her eye, she thought she saw a beautiful, ghostly looking woman, and then she heard a piercing, melodic cry, a warning: "Mab returns!" She looked in the other direction, and saw two dark-skinned men who looked like brothers running side by side. One of them stopped to stare at her.
"Mortals on Avalon?" He seemed shocked. The other slowed his pace to see what his companion was staring at.
"I don't believe it," he said, looking equally stunned. Then he gave a … well, a howl.
"You better clear out, humans, while you still can!" Sadira blinked, and suddenly, where the two men had been, all she could see was a bird as black as night – a raven? – and some sort of dog, fleeing into the greenery as fast as it disintegrated.
"We're trying, damn it!" Mozenrath shouted at their retreating forms.
"Are we going the right way?" Sadira asked, her voice shaking. The changes in the terrain were extreme, and highly disorienting.
"I don't know, I don't know!" She'd never heard him sound so panicked. The ground shook again, and they clung to each other to keep from falling.
There was a flash of light, and then – and then Puck was before them, looking more serious than Sadira would have ever thought him capable of being.
"This way, quickly!" He said, and they had no choice but to follow him.
Puck led them to the shore, where there was no sign of the Weird Sisters, and they saw their little boat, still floating in the water.
"Why are you helping us?" Mozenrath asked, and Puck shrugged.
"Because you amused me." Sadira smiled at him gratefully, and he smiled back, until the sound of thunder and a flash of lightning caused him to shudder.
"Ooooh, the mad old bat's in one of her moods …"
"Bet you wouldn't call her that to her face." Mozenrath muttered.
"You're damn right I wouldn't," Puck retorted, "not unless I had a death wish. Even her son wouldn't get away with that sort of talk."
"Her … son?"
"Yes, Oberon. Well Lord Oberon, I suppose I should say. Queen Mab does insist that we observe the formalities. He's much more reasonable than she is." The island gave another shake, and Puck winced, as if the changes to Avalon were physically painful for him.
"You two need to go."
"Puck, thank you," Sadira said. "Will … will you be okay?"
He tilted his head at Sadira, seeming surprised by her concern, almost touched. "My dear little mortal, don't you worry about me. I'm a favorite of Mab's son. That will shield me from her wrath." He glanced over his shoulder, and gulped. "I hope," he added in a small voice, seeming very much like a child again.
Sadira and Mozenrath got back into the boat. Puck gave it a push, and whispered "May Avalon see you safely home." They watched the island recede into the distance, and it seemed to her as though it was being swallowed up by a great black cloud.
Then she heard a sound, a terrible sound, a voice of stone, full or rage, and it frightened her more than anything ever had in her life. Mozenrath put his arms around her, and she buried her face in his chest, trying to drown out the awful sound, the awful voice, but she could still hear the words:
Where is my son, Puck? Where is my son?!
"Don't listen," Mozenrath whispered. "Don't listen, don't look, it's nothing to do with us …" his voice trailed off, and he held her closer. She shut her eyes tight.
When she dared to open them again, a mercifully normal, non-magical, sandy shore was before them. They had returned to where the ship had set off from.
"We're back," she breathed.
"Not a moment too soon," Mozenrath said, sounding as relieved as she felt. "I think Mab would have had our hides." He picked up the Grimorum, stepped out of the boat, and then quickly helped Sadira out as well. She'd never been so grateful to simply to be standing on solid ground. She looked around her, wondering how long they'd been gone.
Then she turned, and to her dismay, saw Mozenrath unwrapping the cloth she'd put over his fleshless right arm. Before she could protest, he'd put the gauntlet back on, smiling even while he winced in pain, as the power of it flowed through him once more.
He faced her, looking almost awkward, and cleared his throat. "Well then, I guess our contract is –"
"Why didn't you tell me?" She demanded angrily. He scowled then, meeting her gaze defiantly.
"Tell you what?"
"You know what! Why didn't you tell me the Elixir was only going to be a temporary fix?"
"You didn't need to know –"
"Damn it Mozenrath, you're going to die, don't you realize that?" She sounded almost hysterical now. "You have to give up the gauntlet, you have to –"
"I don't have to do anything, Sadira! I make my choices, and you don't have any say in them!"
"Don't you want to live?"
"Of course I want to live! I told you, the Elixir will give me time, I'll come up with a way –"
"And what if you can't?" Her voice was shaking, and her eyes with bright with brimming tears. "What if you can't, what if you're too late, what if you …" She could finish.
For a moment, he looked almost frightened, uncertain, and then his expression hardened.
"If I can't? Well then, better to die with power than to live without it."
She stared at him, horrified.
"What happened to you?" She whispered. "Who did this, what made you this way?"
"Maybe this is just the way I am, Sadira," he said coldly. "Have you ever thought of that?"
She shook her head. "No. No, that woman, that woman on the island said … you were someone's child once."
He scoffed. "We were all someone's child once, you idiot!"
She ignored the insult. "And someone's brother …"
"You shut up," he snapped. "You shut up right now, you don't ever talk about her!"
"Her? You had a sister, Mozenrath? What happened, did Destane –"
"What do you think, you're doing you stupid little witch?" He grabbed her. "What do you think this is? You think I'll share my little sob story with you, and everything will change?"
"Mozenrath –"
"You think I want your pity?"
"Please, you have to give up the gauntlet. You have to … you have to let yourself care again, about something besides power …"
"Care about what? You?" He sneered. "You think you'll save me, is that it?" He pushed her away, and she began to cry in earnest. "You're a fool, Sadira. A stupid little fool. I used you, because it suited my purposes. That's all. There wasn't anything more between us."
"That's not true –"
"You mean nothing to me, do you understand?" His voice was low and shaky. "Nothing, nothing, I –"
Sadira kissed him, desperately, and he wrapped his arm around her, unable to resist the impulse to kiss her back. He clung to her, and for a moment he felt like he could drown in her.
It frightened him.
When he pulled back, Sadira whispered, "You're such a liar."
He closed his eyes. Damn her. This wasn't happening. He would not let it happen.
"Our contract …"
"To hell with the contract!" She stroked his face. "You care for me, I know you do. Now you have to listen –"
He drew away from her then, and his expression went cold.
"Our contract," he said dispassionately. "Is at an end. Our ties are broken."
Magic sparkled in the air around them as he said the words, and then quickly faded into the dark night, as though it had never been.
"The next time we meet," he said in the same icy tone, "It will be as enemies."
"No," Sadira whispered. "Mozenrath, please, it doesn't have to be like this – look at me!"
He wouldn't let himself meet her eyes, wouldn't let himself see the pain that they held. "Goodbye, Sadira."
Then he used his gauntlet to disappear, and she was alone.
The dunes of the desert were barren, empty as far as the eye could see, and they echoed with the sound of Sadira's sobs.