Memory in the End

Chapter 19: Home Sweet Castle

Getting back to the castle would take a day and a half at most. Michael quickly shot down any suggestions to go slower in regards to his health, claiming repeatedly that he was fine. Ivan would walk next to me, quietly whispering more advice on fighting. Once in awhile I'd look over and see Michael casting glances back at us before turning his attention back to his conversation with Owyne and Henry. As always, Aru was running through the tops of the trees, keeping watch for any signs of incoming danger.

With all the events that have transpired since I left the castle, I was able to ignore the unease about leaving my father in the hands of Victor. From the moment I set foot outside those walls, the thought of my father's fragile haunted my mind. But I had forced the worries to the side, because I knew if I didn't then I wouldn't be able to focus and move forward with this journey. Whenever a thought did occur, I told myself that my father must be still alive. Even if it was a lie, I wanted to believe that he was alive. Now, as we headed towards the castle, I would have to face the reality of the situation. When we got there I would find out if Victor had ultimately killed the king or not.

We stopped just on the edge of the outskirts leading to the castle. The weapons shop where Michael and I had met would be on the other side, where there was more civilization. The side we were on was less developed and the forest was thicker here. We needed to go over our plan for entering the city surrounding the castle. There was no doubt that I would still be a wanted felon, and the Magnificent Five were hated exiles. If we weren't careful then things could go terribly wrong. Michael took out several candies. They were the same ones I had taken when we were in that city with the nobles; the disguise charm candy.

"Arrabella used these before," he gave an explanation for Owyne and Ivan as he handed each of us a candy, "And they seem to work quite well. The charm lasts for just less than a day, though, so we won't have much time to wander about. Our main objective is to get to the castle and find Victor.". He stopped for a moment and looked around, then back at the remaining candy in his hand, "I was sure I had bought enough so that each of us could have one.".

He looked at Aru, who was making a sheepish face. "Um, I might have tried one or two to see how I'd look.".

Michael let out a long sigh, "Well Arrabella needs one.".

"No problem, no problem," Aru said quickly. He unwrapped his candy and with a swift blade of wind sliced it into two pieces, "See, it's all good.".

"Are you sure?" I asked, taking my half of the candy.

"Yeah the effect should all be the same, right?", Aru smiles and pops the candy into his mouth. The others do the same. Michael offers to trade his with mine, but I shake my head. It'd be worse if something goes wrong with Michael's disguise. Michael and I take our charms, and I look around at all of their transformations.

Michael's dark brown hair faded into a light silver color, and the length was lost. His hair was much shorter, and it no longer covered his face, save for a couple bangs that fell over one of his crystal blue eyes. His skin grew paler and his physique became a bit slimmer. Aru's sandy colored hair became an obsidian black, and was combed back to reveal his matching dark eyes and tanned face. His hair reached down to just touch his shoulder blades. His jawline became a bit sharper, and he grew taller. Henry's new height was just past past Aru's, which was amusing to see as Henry was normally the shortest of all of them. His hair didn't change much, it became a bit longer and had bagns that fell over his eyes. Owyne, on the other hand, shrunk to about Henry's original height. His hair became a bright blonde that went down to just above his shoulders, and his eyes were a lovely amethyst violet. Ivan, whom normally had coal black hair with bangs that covered his left eye, now had red wavy hair with strands the framed the sides of his face, accenting his new jade green eyes. They definitely would not be recognized as the Magnificent Five. None of their looks matched their well known descriptions.