Chapter II: A Ruined Reunion
"Ruined! It's all ruined!" Cedric moaned. "Wormy, why didn't you wake me up?!"
"Believe me, I tried," the raven muttered, even though his companion could not understand. "You sleep like a log, Cedric."
Cedric groaned. It appeared that this was going to be a long day as well, and it certainly did not start off right. After the fiasco that was King James yesterday, Cedric went to bed early that night, planning on waking early to work on a few potions and spells. However, last night he had left the window in his tower open, and the strange storm that had randomly appeared completely soaked the scrolls he had written, and knocked over his cauldron. Now, he'd have to start all over again from scratch!
The Royal Sorcerer glared at the sunshine that now streamed through his open window, cursing the warmth and clear sky. It seemed that the storm had moved on, leaving hardly a trace of its existence. The sun had already dried up any leftover raindrops.
"How odd that no one was able to predict that storm," Cedric mused. "And the fact that it's gone so quickly... Has someone been magically messing with the weather, perhaps?" He shrugged his question aside. Not every strange conundrum was the product of magic, after all. Just usually.
He glanced back outside, and his eye caught sight of King Roland, in the gardens. He appeared to be coaching Princess Sofia and Prince James in the obstacle course. The princess was not doing very well.
He gave a sigh. "Oh well, let's just get to it then, hmm? I hope I can remember exactly how I did everything. I shall tolerate no distractions today."
Needless to say, Cedric was very peeved when, later, a purple kitten, that pesky rabbit, and Wormwood began causing a ruckus in his tower.
WWW
"That was a good game, Amber," King Roland II said kindly as he picked up the magical birdie. "You really tried your best."
"Thanks, Daddy," Princess Amber giggled. "I always try my best. But I know that you went easy on me."
"That's a father's job, dear," he laughed. Suddenly, something in the sky caught his eye. "Oh dear. I'm afraid we'll have to move inside soon, Amber. I don't like the looks of those clouds over there."
"Clouds? But it's so warm right now," Amber protested. However, once she looked toward where her father was frowning, she saw the giant wall of dark clouds, rumbling and flashing. "Well, that's all right, we can have our tea time right now, then. Right, Daddy?"
"Well, yes, I suppose so," Roland consented. "I hope Miranda and Sofia come back soon from the village."
"I'm sure they'll be fine," Amber said, taking her father by the hand and dragging him back to the castle.
Once they were inside the palace, Baileywick came to greet them.
"Ah, sire," he hailed the king, "shall we return to our to-do scroll?"
"Erm, not quite yet, Baileywick," Roland said, not just a little relieved about his promise to Amber. "I have a date with a princess. Once we're finished, I'll send for you."
"Very good, sir."
As Amber continued to drag her father away, Baileywick pulled out his pocket watch, and saw that it was about the time for the cooks to begin preparations for dinner. Immediately, he began walking to the kitchen to make sure that they were doing just that. He glanced out the windows, and saw the clouds that he had noticed in the distance had reached the castle, and yet another storm buffeted the walls.
"How odd. Two storms sandwiching a warm, sunny day? Hmm…" A little bewildered, he continued his trek, occasionally inspecting the other servants' work, and fixing them up if they were not up to par.
Upon reaching the kitchen, he was pleased to see that Chef Andre had everything under control. But just as he was about to leave, somebody knocked on the side entrance.
One of the kitchen girls, Gwen, was about to go open it, but Baileywick gestured to her to remain at work, and he went to answer the door. Upon opening it, he saw Miss Rebecca once again, bundled in his cloak and scarf.
And looking rather upset.
"Why didn't you mention there was a different royal sorcerer here?!" she shrieked over the wind. She shoved past him and started to remove her travel wear. After removing the scarf, Baileywick saw the dark head of her snake slip back into the top part of the robe, seeking the warmth that was taken from her.
The castle steward mutely closed the door, before saying stiffly, "Miss Rebecca, I apologize if I have caused you grief. However, last night, you had asked for the whereabouts of Goodwyn the Great. I had assumed that meant you specifically wanted to see him, not just any old sorcerer."
"But is it not common courtesy to offer the knowledge that there was one around?" Rebecca angrily retorted, hanging up the two borrowed garments on wooden pegs near the door. She pulled out her wand from her sleeve, and chanted, "Exiccant. I mean, honestly, do you know how annoying it is to travel in this weather, and then learn that you had to do a complete one-eighty to get what you asked for?" Once her drying spell was complete, she replaced her wand and picked up the cloak and scarf, folding them neatly. She handed them to their owner, saying, "Thank you for letting me borrow these, they were very helpful. Now, could you please direct me to where Cedric, your Royal Sorcerer, resides?"
WWW
"Two storms coming out of nowhere?" Cedric muttered, glancing at the rain pelting his closed window. "Now that's just preposterous. There has got to be some sort of magic at work here."
Before he could ponder on it anymore, though, a light knock sounded on his door. Cedric frowned. It sounded… different. That was not Princess Sofia's knock, and no one else ever did the act, so who was coming up to his tower?
He stalked over to the door, and swung it open. Black feathers flew right into his face, dripping wet, and Wormwood was angrily squawking at him.
"Oh, there you are, Wormy," Cedric drawled. "What were you doing outside in this weather?"
"You closed the window on me, you imbecile!" came the untranslated reply. "I just know I've a cold from all that wind!"
Cedric glanced at the puddle of water in front of his door, thanks to the open window that usually only allowed light at his stoop. He sighed. "I suppose I should clean all this up before someone falls down the stairs and breaks their neck," he muttered. He recited a spell that removed the danger, and was in the process of closing the window, when he heard voices coming up the winding stairs.
"I don't know, Ro," one of the voices was saying, "remember what happened last time? I don't think I want to…" The voice trailed away, catching sight of the lanky man in front of the open window.
"Becca?" Cedric whispered in disbelief, dropping his raised hands.
The woman smiled gently at him. "Hey there, Ced," she said softly. "It's been a long time."
"W-what are you doing here?"
Rebecca glanced to the floor, and tugged on her pale blue sleeve, before looking back up and replying in a small voice, "I need help."
Those three words snapped him out of his trance. With a frown, he turned and resumed closing the window. "Naturally," he said scathingly. "Of course that's why you're here. Why else would anyone come all the way up here?" He looked back at the sorceress, and saw that she was covered in mud, almost deathly pale, and had such dark circles under her eyes. "You look terrible. Well, come inside, we'll get you cleaned up, and I'll see what I can do."
He gestured to Rebecca to follow him as he returned to his tower room. The sorceress stared at his retreating back with a look of confusion, and insult. Gathering the front of her skirt, she nearly stomped inside.
"What is your problem?" she demanded to know.
Cedric spun around, his face frozen in what was now known as his usual scowl. "Isn't that what I'm supposed to ask you?"
"Is that any way to treat an old friend? Especially one in need?"
"Well, old friend, this is how I treat nearly everyone who comes up unannounced, only to beg me for a spell. Now, what is it you want?" He sat down at his desk, pressing his fingertips together, and taking great delight in how Rebecca opened her mouth only to silently close it again. "Come, come, out with it, I'm a very busy man."
"Okay, that does it."
Cedric sat straighter in his seat, looking around for the owner of the new voice. It sounded like it came from Rebecca, but it was definitely not her. The sorceress suddenly tensed, then shivered violently, as if shaking off a bad feeling. Before Cedric could ask what that was about, a long, thin snake with black and white bands came slithering out from underneath Rebecca's skirt, and came toward him at a great speed.
"Merlin's Mushrooms, what is that?!" he cried, jumping up in his seat, raising his feet off the floor.
"Hmph, rude," the reptile replied. "Do you even know what she's had to go through to get to you? She could've gone to any powerful sorcerer, but she chose you! And all you do is condescend her, insult her, treat her like dirt? Not while I'm here, human!" The blue krait opened her mouth wide, showcasing tiny fangs, and rushed toward him again.
"Rowena, no!" Rebecca shrieked, running the few steps and grabbing her friend by the tail to pick her up. "You can't just do that!"
Rowena glared at her companion as she twisted around to face her. "But he's the one who-!"
"That doesn't matter," the ginger interrupted. "Apologize."
Rowena glanced at the royal sorcerer, still up in his chair, and now his mouth was opening and closing silently. "No," she smirked, sliding up Rebecca's arms to settle around her shoulders, like a boa. "I won't. Not until he apologizes to you. He shouldn't have spoken to you like that."
"It can talk?!" Cedric finally gasped. "How? How is that…?"
"It is a she, thank you very much," the krait replied. "And you can thank Becca for my linguistic capabilities."
Cedric tentatively stepped off his chair and slowly walked toward them. "Amazing," he whispered in awe. "I've been working on a translating spell for Wormy for years now. How did…?"
"Take one step closer, sorcerer, and I won't let Becca stop me this time," Rowena warned.
"Ro!" Rebecca looked apologetically to Cedric. "Sorry, Ced, she's very protective. And please, don't ask how I did this, 'cause I can't tell you. It was a complete accident." She gave a sigh, and looked through the window at the falling rain. Her brown eyes hardened and she turned to look at her old friend with resignation. "Well, thank you for inviting me in, and I'm sorry for wasting your precious time. I'll be leaving now, then."
The sorceress spun around and was about to leave when Rowena stopped her.
"What? No! No, you're not going back out there when we've traveled so far for so long just to see him! Medusa's Mane, Rebecca, he was the only one you said you'd talk to about this! You wouldn't even let Goodwyn help you, and he practically knew everything the moment he saw you!"
"You went to see my father?" Cedric asked. Not that he was surprised, really; everyone preferred Goodwyn the Great over Cedric the Trainwreck. Wait, though… 'Did the snake say she wouldn't let him help?'
"I only went to him to ask him an important question," Rebecca bit out, now angrily spinning to face him. "'Do you know where Cedric is?' Try to imagine my surprise at learning you are now the Royal Sorcerer to King Roland II of Enchancia."
Cedric frowned. "Yes, I suppose it must have been a shock to discover that bumbling Cedric inherited one of the most coveted positions in the lands," he sarcastically drawled.
"Oh, knock it off," Rebecca snapped. "The shock wasn't the fact that you got the position, I never doubted you would. It was that you never told me! You had said that you were never going to come back here until you took your father's place, and I never got the confirmation that you did, so I assumed you found something else! Ced, why did you break your promise to me?!" she added furiously, taking a step closer.
Cedric fearfully took a step back. "P-promise?" he stuttered. He was bluffing. He remembered what he had said. The last time he had seen Rebecca this angry was when they were students at Hexley Hall. Her ire was not directed toward him at the time, but the memory still caused him to shiver. And to see her so angry at him… maybe pretending to forget his promise would cause her to be more forgiving.
But Rebecca was having none of it. She stepped even closer. "Oh, don't tell me you forgot! There's no way I'll ever believe that! You promised that you'd keep in touch! I must have sent you hundreds of letters, and you didn't reply to a single one! Why?" At this point, Cedric had backed into his desk, and Rebecca's face was really close to his, angry brown clashing with frightened gold. "Why?!"
"Well, why didn't you tell me that you were accepted at Castcraft?" Cedric angrily retorted, straightening up and shoving himself into her space.
Rebecca frowned in confusion. "Accepted…? What?"
"You told me that you were going to apprentice under your uncle," he reminded her. "You said nothing about becoming a student at one of the most advanced colleges in wizardry!"
Realization hit the sorceress, and she took a step back, crushed. "You didn't even read it," she whispered. "You took one look at the stationary, and you didn't read it. I see." Tears filled the brown eyes. "It's nice to know what our friendship meant to you after all these years, Cedric. I'm sorry I came. You probably wouldn't help anyway."
"Help with what?" Cedric asked. "Surely a student at Castcraft College could achieve nearly anything?"
"She's been cursed, you fool!" Rowena yelled, raising her head in front of Rebecca's face.
Rebecca flinched.
Cedric gawked. "Cursed?"
"She's been like this for months, and she's been trying to contact you, and when you didn't answer, she tried to find you! I tried to tell her to ask someone else for help, but she insisted on you! So we've been traveling for weeks! Hexley, Boartusks, even Magnolia's School of Magi, until she finally had the sense to ask your father where you were! He saw immediately that she was cursed, but she refused to tell him how and why, so he couldn't help, because she would only talk to you!"
"Ro…" Rebecca whispered, feeling betrayed.
"No, Rebecca! You're going to sit down, and talk to him, because I refuse to let you go out in that wretched rain again until you do!" The krait slipped off of her companion's shoulders and onto the floor, slithering underneath Wormwood's perch. "And as for you," she continued, glaring at Cedric, "you sit, listen, and if I don't like the way you speak to her, I will bite. Rebecca, sit."
"I liked it better when I couldn't understand you," Rebecca muttered sullenly.
"Blame the accident, woman, just as long as you listen to me."
Rebecca huffed before drawing her wand and conjuring a backless wooden stool with a lightly cushioned seat. She sat down with her arms crossed, glaring at the floor. Cedric simply stared at his former classmate before sitting back down in his armchair. They sat in silence, until Rebecca spoke up.
"I was never a student at Castcraft, Cedric. If you had read my first letter, you would've known." She snapped accusing eyes at him, and he had the decency to look ashamed. "My uncle is a professor there, and he lives on the campus. As if one of the most prestigious colleges would accept me."
"Well, why wouldn't they?" Cedric asked.
"Do you not remember how lousy my Transmutation skills are?" she responded. "Or how I'm merely adequate in everything else?"
"I recall some rather fantastic Invocation spells from you. Plus, you managed to cast a permanent Animal to Common spell," he pointed out, gesturing to the krait. "Impressive Divination magic."
"I've already said, that was an accident! I was trying to temporarily give myself the gift of tongues, the spell misfired, hit a prism, which dispersed the spell all over the room, and one of the things it hit was Rowena. It hasn't worn off, and I haven't been able to fix it."
"Not that I'm complaining," the snake muttered.
"What is this about a curse?" Cedric asked.
Rebecca's mouth twisted. "You know what? No." She stood up and began walking to the door a third time. "I'm sorry, Rowena, but I can't tell him anymore. He wouldn't care. Stay if you want, I won't force you to go out anymore. I'll come get you when I'm free. Do not bite anyone. Disappearo," she recited, pointing at her conjured stool.
It faded only a little, but ultimately remained, and her face flushed a bit as she repeated the Abjuration spell. The second attempt proved successful, and she straightened up, silently daring him to comment on it. When he said nothing, she merely wished him, "Goodbye, Cedric," before finally exiting the room.
Rowena raised her head. "Rebecca, wait!" She glared at the royal sorcerer. "Don't just stand there, fool! Go after her!"
"And do what?" Cedric retorted. "If she won't tell me what's wrong, I cannot help."
"It's obviously hard for her to talk about! She was hoping that a dear friend would help her get through this! Clearly, she overestimated the value of your friendship."
A knock sounded on Cedric's door. Rebecca opened it and stepped in, a little more red-faced. "Here." She tossed a small vial at the sorcerer, who caught it without thinking. "It's an antidote for Rowena's venom. It's rare, but sometimes she bites before she thinks. Blue krait venom has a very painful consequence."
Cedric stared at the vial before looking back up at his old friend. At that moment, another flash of lightning cracked through the sky, followed by an extremely loud crash of thunder. Terror filled the brown eyes as the sorceress stepped back, and tears leaked out before she could hide them from him. She quickly turned and left once again. Cedric only gaped at where the teardrops fell, then out at the rain.
"Was she here last night?" he softly asked.
"Yes," Rowena answered.
"Does the weather have anything to do with her curse?"
"It has everything to do with it."
Cedric thought back to one of their first days as students together at Hexley Hall. The little ginger had stood up from her desk and beamed at the class.
"My name is Rebecca Scott, and I'm here to study magic because I want to learn how to help as many people as I can! My favorite things to do are baking, and spending time in the sunshine!"
Many of the students had laughed at her enthusiasm, and someone had called out, "Doing what?"
"Anything, silly! I just love the warmth that both things give me!"
"Merlin's Mushrooms…" Cedric groaned. "I've messed up."