Waterfalls

Chapter Forty Two

So I have just come back from an awesome two week holiday in Scotland. This is a picture of a mountain we climbed called Suilven. It is a spectacular mountain and one of my faves. There are loads of new pictures I have now :D Also, please check out my new story Cold Fear.

"It's not working!" I growl in frustration. This week has been a slightly stressful week. Our new lesson plans have been put in place with more lessons focusing on what we'll need when war comes. I am in a magic lesson. Today, we're outside and I'm working on using lightning and making a storm. My teacher isn't princess Ariadne like we normally have. Instead, Queen Kayleigh has sent over a private magic teacher so I can work on my power. His name is Blue. Just Blue. No Lord or Prince title. Blue sighs, crossing his arms. Blue isn't a particularly tall man or muscular like any other shifter. In fact, he is fairly small. From his scent, I can not tell what he is, which is unusual. There is definitely something different about him. Though he refuses to tell me what he is and what power he has. He is very slim, like a twig. With short grey hair, highlighted with pale blue, and dark green eyes, he is very unusual in appearance. His skin is slightly wrinkled and sticks to his bony figure.

"Isla," he sighs. "It is going to take time." I sigh and sit on the floor, looking up at the sky. There are a few clouds there that I had made. Not anything like the thick black storm clouds that should be there.
"How did the Bluefire's do it?" I ask.
"Because it was their actual power," he explains. A frown crosses my face.
"Do you think about what makes the water move when you control it or do you just do it?" he asks.
"I can just do it," I say with a sigh.
"Exactly. That was the power of the Bluefire's. They didn't need to think about how the water moves to make lightning unlike you."
"Please, explain it to me again," I ask.
"Lightning happens in the clouds," he begins to explain. The vapour in the clouds turns into ice as the temperature is below freezing. These clumps of ice begin to move around and rub together, building an electrical charge. When the cloud is full of electrical charge, the lighter, positive charge rises to the top and the heavier, negative charge sinks to the bottom of the cloud. That is when there is a spark of lightning between the two. A build-up of positive charge builds up on the ground. The Negative charge is attracted to the positive and they form a spark between the ground and the clouds. Thus creating lightning. What you need to do, is control the water in the clouds. Nature does the rest. Think about the ice forming and colliding together." Closing my eyes, I try to make it happen. The clouds don't even move.

"Come on Isla!" he shouts at me. "You are just proving to me how weak you are! You act all tough, trapping Nightshades in a shield of ice then slaughtering them all. That isn't strong!" He growls angrily at me.

"I did what I had to do," I tell him anger building up inside me. Anger and guilt. It starts to rain.

"What you had to do? You acted like an angry scared little girl and now you feel guilty about it."

"Stop it!" I shout at him as the rain begins to get heavier.

"Why, you don't want to hear the truth little girl? You are out of your depth. You are weak and you are going to get everyone you love killed. Tanya, Serenity, Toryn." I scream. It is a mixture of burning anger, guilt and fear. As I scream there is a blinding light and a terrifying, ground shaking boom. I go flying back, landing on the floor heavily. Blue lies on the ground further away from me, getting up slowly. In the grass is a huge burnt hole. The rain still slams against my skin heavily. I glare at Blue as he walks over to me.

"Well done," he says, voice now even and calm. "Now we need to focus on you using your powers whenever you want instead of just using it when you are emotionally weak." I stand up quickly and walk away, the rain still hammering. I can't cope with him right now.

"Isla!" he calls back. "I didn't mean what I said, I was just trying to wind you up so you could use your power." I look back at him, my own tears mixing with the rain pouring down my face.

"I know," I whisper back and continue to walk away.  He is right. I am a little girl in over my head. I let my anger get the best of me and I lead my friends to slaughter NightShade warriors. We didn't even give them a chance... No matter how much I tell myself it needed to happen, that I was protecting my people, I still feel so incredibly guilty. I walk into the woodland and find a spot to sit. The rain still hasn't settled as I squelch in the mud. I sob. I can't do this. I am a monster. I am just as bad as the NightShades. Those people we killed would have had families and I've done to them what they did to me.

It is Toryn who finds me.

"Isla," he sighs as he picks me up and wraps his arms around me. "What is the matter?" he asks.

"I'm a monster Toryn, those people we killed..."

"Were planning more attacks on our people. It is our jobs as rulers to ensure that our people are safe. You did the right thing."

"Did I?" I ask him. He nods his head.

"We killed so our people didn't have to. We feel the guilt so that they don't have to. That is what makes us good rulers. You are not a monster, Isla. You are protecting us in the best way you can. The Shifters are grateful for you." I nod my head and we walk back inside and out of the heavy rain.

"Go and get dry Isla, you are covered in mud and water." I just pull all the water off my uniform and scrape off the now dry mud.

"We have a lesson to go to," I tell him. "We can't mess around getting changed and skipping lessons we insisted that we had."

"Fine, but I'm telling Lord Black that you and I are working together today. I don't think anyone would be able to handle your anger," he laughs as we walk to fight training. I punch his arm lightly.

"Be prepared brother," I joke as he wraps his arm around my waist.

Darcy walks past with a sneer. She goes to say something.

"Has the weak little queen given up? I knew you wouldn't be able to handle it," she grins. I glare at her. Toryn holds my arm tightly now, making sure I don't attack. She laughs and begins to walk away.

"Be careful Darcy!" I shout at her. "I am still your queen. You wouldn't want your family to lose their title now, would you? It would be so easy to take away your important family status."

"You wouldn't do that to my mother."

"No, I wouldn't. But when the new high ruler is chosen, it will be you who takes over and I could easily do it to you."  She hisses and walks away. Toryn laughs.

"You really are starting to learn how to make non-violent threats," he chuckles. "There may be a queen in there yet." I slap him jokingly and smile.