Crossing paths, I want to take my feet off here,
We're colliding, the nights thriving in fear.
13th ☾
Treacherous Heart
"Your face doesn't seem that familiar. I'm sure I've known the Duke of Merillain's daughters quite well," Henry answered, studying me closely.
I cursed in my mind. So he knew the daughters of that duke. I trifled on what I was supposed to do; the dead silence ticked on as I panicked inside. And I wasn't sure if it was only my imagination. But since they had entered the room, the Head Sorcerer also hadn't taken his eyes off me.
I placed my best hopes on what Anthony had told me before, repeating it over to myself. The Head Sorcerer couldn't see through me. Nobody could peer in my identity. He was merely curious, perhaps.
"She's one of his daughters, Your Highness. I've paid them a visit earlier this year. I've known her since then," said Lancelot, coming to my rescue.
"Clave, is my child telling me that I am wrong?" Henry turned to his Head Sorcerer.
"I'm not sure, Your Highness. It seems like it," Clave indifferently answered.
Without saying another word, Henry went past me, heavily dragging his feet towards Lancelot. I caught my breath, turning my head back. My eyes were on Henry's sword. It was the worst thing I could imagine to happen.
But Henry raised his right hand, the one devoid of a sword. And with a forceful slap on the face, Lancelot fell straight to the floor, hurting his back when he hit the bedpost.
I couldn't say a word, as I began to shake uncontrollably.
Henry repeatedly kicked Lancelot in his stomach. There was pleasure in his hideous eyes. Lancelot could only scream in pain. There was a thick trail of blood seeping out of his open mouth and down his chin.
Stop it.
Tears were building up inside me, taking one step forward towards the pitiless tyrant. I knew it wasn't the right time yet. There was nothing I could do against this immortal. But Lancelot had only helped me find Alec Forthwind's location. It wasn't his fault. This was wrong.
Don't move from where you are standing. There was a voice in my head.
My eyes widened in astonishment. Only one person in this room could have done that. I turned to the tyrant's Head Sorcerer. Like what I thought, his eyes were pinned on me—dark and void. Without a word, the sorcerer subtly shook his head.
Could it be possible?
I'm in your thoughts, aye, lovebird. You are right. But don't get me wrong, I'm not helping you. We're not on the same side here. But I feel sorry for you, so I'm telling you this. Stand where you are, got it? Do not intervene.
Mind intrusion.
Clave, the Head Sorcerer, was doing mind intrusion, a far-advanced spell. This could only be done if a sorcerer was powerful enough to break down the barrier in another person's thoughts and make his way in.
Who was this person? Even Anthony hadn't mastered this skill yet. It was one of his frustrations, and I believed Bryce when he said that Anthony was one of the most powerful sorcerers in Incantasi. For he was. I'd seen it for myself.
But then here was Clave, who could do what Anthony was still struggling with. With this realization, I knew I had to get out of this place now. Proximity was relevant when it came to mind intrusion. And most importantly, I had no idea what else Clave could do. My identity could be in danger, and we hadn't known it yet.
Do you hear me, too? I asked him in my thoughts, just in case.
There was no hint of recognition in Clave's face.
I momentarily felt relieved. Mind intrusion was one-way. It wasn't the same as mind reading. The forces guarding magic spells had forbidden mind reading to happen. Mind intrusion was the closest thing to going in someone's head. There was another, the modified version of it, courtesy of the dark sorcerers, who had twisted the spell. But in order to do it, one would need the help of the dark spirits. They called it mind infliction.
Lancelot piercing cry filled the entire room.
Every part of me moved, fluidly shifting in motion. Even if Clave was telling me not to do anything, I was running towards Lancelot before I'd realized it, throwing myself between him and Henry.
Clave was in my head again, saying, Ah, there's a fool when you see one.
Henry was startled, halting right before his leather boots had hit me, too. With an angry voice, he shouted, "Step away from the boy!"
"Your Highness," Clave interrupted, calmly striding to Henry's side, "the ball is coming to an end. The guests are expecting you to close the night, together with Prince Lancelot. But he's not... well right now."
Henry wasn't delighted to be interrupted from what he was doing. With a scoff, he said, "Since you've taken pleasure in this room, I'll teach you a lesson and lock you in here. Do not step outside this room until I tell you so. Do you understand me, Lancelot?"
Even in his feeble state, Lancelot slowly stood up on his feet. I wanted him to use me as a support, because it was all I could offer. But he moved away from me, steadying himself as he leaned against the bedpost. "Yes, Your Highness."
"Good." Henry didn't spare him a look, heading towards the door. To the guards standing outside, he said, "Bring the girl home. Anyone who lets the boy out of this room will answer to my sword. Lock the doors!"
Clave was walking behind Henry. As he was about to exit the room as well, I heard him in my head once more, I have a good feeling we'll see each other again, lovebird. Something tells me that you'll be around. Until then, farewell.
I stared at Clave's departing figure, my heart pounding in my chest. An eerie feeling crept over me.
"Damn it," Lancelot said under his breath, digging his fingers to the bedpost.
"Are you okay?" I asked worriedly, holding him in my arms.
He quietly pushed my hands away. "Go."
"Lancelot..."
"Go your way, Miles," Lancelot replied, his piercing stares directed at me. "Please."
I didn't know what to say, feeling grieved. "I'm sorry."
Lancelot nodded once. "Just go."
"I... I don't know what to say. I didn't mean for this..." It was pointless, for the deed had been done. Lancelot was badly bruised, fairly drenched in his own blood. I wanted to wipe the trace of blood on his face, but he wasn't letting me touch him. He only stared at me, and I couldn't tell what he was thinking. "Lancelot... please, let me do something. I feel bad about all this. This is not supposed to happen. Not to you."
His eyes were growing tired, gradually giving in. "I want to rest, Miles. Do me a favor and leave this room."
I guiltily hung my head, defeated.
And from outside the bedroom window, someone called, "Miles!"
I turned to my right, and Anthony's silhouette was standing outside the bedroom window, his back against the light. I had no idea how long had he been there. Anthony motioned for me to hurry up.
It was time to go, and with a heavy heart, I heaved myself, walking towards the window and fulfilling Lancelot's request.
Holding on to the window sill, I glanced back at him. Lancelot wearily watched me as I took my leave. It was as if he was regretting that he had helped me.
As soon as I leapt outside and landed on the grass, Anthony hauled me by the wrist. His hand was chilly and so was the abrupt change of atmosphere in this outlandish castle.
"Anthony, there's someone working for Henry..." I said between breaths. Anthony and I were getting out of the scene in a very hasty manner, as if we were being chased. I glanced back, but there was no one was behind us.
We were almost out of the castle, and I could see the ashen walls. We didn't head back to the entrance. Instead, we trod a darker path. There was an iron gate, about the height of a person. Anthony unbolted the lock with a spell, and it fell on the grass.
"Miles?"
I glanced back at him. "What?"
"What are you waiting for? Go!" Anthony replied, urging me to move forward.
Doing what he had told me, I went out of the fence, thinking that Wilson and Bryce were waiting for us. But the forest was thicker on this side, and there was no dirt path that could be used for the carriage.
Stepping outside as well, Anthony fixed the lock on the gate, before saying, "Let's move."
"What's with the hurry?"
"We need to get back to camp." Anthony snapped his fingers, and a bluish-white flame appeared, lightening our path. "Enough with the talk, Miles."
"Anthony, listen to me," I called out his attention. He was walking ahead of me, and the distance between us kept on increasing. I had to jog a bit in order to catch up.
"Can't it wait?" Anthony replied, peeved.
It didn't matter. He had to know about Clave. So I continued, "There's a sorcerer who works for Henry and he's powerful. He could do mind intrusion with ease. He was in my head."
Anthony cussed, two creases formed in the space between his eyebrows. "I know."
"You knew?" I pushed away a tree branch that was in the way. "Henry called him as Clave."
Anthony halted from walking, clenching his right hand into a fist. "Trust me, I know him."
"You don't understand—"
But he interrupted me with a sharp voice, "Miles, I do."
I fell silent.
"He's my twin brother," he said.
My mouth hung open.
It wasn't the answer I was expecting. But if I remembered his appearance closely, Clave did resemble Anthony, but creating an opposite replica. Their height and stance were the same. But they had different hair colors, although both were long and flowing. They also differed with the manner they had dressed. White Head Sorcerer clothes against the black one Anthony wore, for he was part of the group of bandits.
With a bewildered voice, I asked him, "How's that possible?"
"I know it's him. He was the only sorcerer I knew who could do mind intrusion. He had always been good at it, ever since we were young," Anthony continued saying.
"Did he see you?"
"He can't," Anthony replied. "It's a special skill, like the way he could break down the designated walls created in every person's mind."
"Was it the reason why you wanted to come tonight?" Nothing was making sense. Anthony and Clave were brothers? Clave was working for Henry, while Anthony was plotting on overthrowing Henry from his throne. What kind of insanity was fate playing on this one?
Anthony nodded his head, and he resumed on walking. "Now I'm sure that it's him who is working as Henry's Head Sorcerer. He's back."
I asked again as I followed behind him, "From where?"
"The dark realm," Anthony replied numbly.
I had a fair knowledge when it came to the sorcerer's ways, those that I could recall from Ira's lessons. But they were only the basics. "Where's the dark realm? Where is it located?"
"I didn't expect him to serve Henry," Anthony said, feigning indifference. "You don't want to mess with Clave. No one should. Not even Henry. He doesn't know what my twin brother is capable of."
"Can't you just talk to him?" This was gravely confusing, not to mention alarming. If someone was powerful and capricious as Anthony had described was working alongside Henry, our chances of succeeding were becoming scarce.
Anthony listlessly laughed. "If it were that easy, I wouldn't be gravely disturbed by Clave's re-appearance. Our father would have been proud of him, what a fool."
We arrived at a less diverse path that paved way to a clearing. There was a carriage that was approaching from a distance. I raised my hand and cleared the dirt smoke as the carriage stopped in front of us.
"Done?" It was Bryce.
"Are you both alright?" Wilson, who was sitting beside him, asked after.
I nodded. "We're fine."
"Hardly," Anthony readily disagreed. "We need a change of plans. Let's get back to camp."
"What happened—" Bryce was about to ask, but Anthony already headed inside the carriage without another word. Bryce turned to me, wondering.
I shrugged my shoulders, looking defeated. "It's a long story."
"Alright," Bryce decided. "By the way, what happened to the burgundy dress?"
"Let's just say that it's also a long story."
Bryce replied, "Very well. We'll have the time later. Hop in, young lady."
♡ ♥ ♢ ♦ ♤ ♠ ♧ ♣
The ride back to camp had been vexing. Anthony didn't say a word about Clave and the dark realm while we were both inside the carriage. He had thrown me inquisitive glances, and I wondered what he was thinking. But before I could even say a word, Anthony diverted his attention elsewhere.
Lancelot's worn-out figure kept on re-appearing in my head, together with all the remembrance of the night. I wondered how he was doing. Shifting to my side, I stared at the darkness, wondering if he would ever forgive me.
The sun would rise in a few hours, but none of us had caught any sleep, except for Wilson. I heard every turn that Bryce had done ever since he had settled on his cot. There were also his deep, frustrated groans. Knowing that there was a sorcerer as powerful as Clave working for Henry, we couldn't help but feel bothered. We thought we could have won with Anthony on our side.
Alas, how wrong were we.
I pulled out my hands from the blanket, staring at my gloves as my eyes had adjusted to the darkness and I could reasonably see.
I couldn't tell them about the sword. But even if it was possible to obtain the sword that could kill an immortal, my will was getting shattered to pieces. If I did obtain that sword, how could we get past Henry's Head Sorcerer?
And to make it even worse, Lancelot didn't leave my thoughts. Beyond the mess we couldn't help but be entangled to, I started longing for him.
When I closed my eyes, all I could see was Lancelot's clear blue orbs. The dirt and the cuts on his face. The image of Henry beating the lights out of him.
I shook my head, thinking that I had no time to get sidetracked by this. All these unnecessary feelings would get me to nowhere.
"Lancelot..." I began to whisper, feeling the tears seeping out of my eyes. It was all wrong. I had a destiny to fulfill. I should be thinking of Alec Forthwind. I had to find him before the appearance of the crescent moons.
Then, as if in response, I saw my seal momentarily glow in the darkness. Lying flat on my back, I lifted my right hand and looked at it from a distance, as it cast light around me.
"Is it necessary for it to show off like that?" Bryce pensively asked.
My seal went back to its normal form. I turned on my side to face him. "It does something like this once in a while."
Bryce got up on his feet, not bothering to tidy his blanket. "Let's take a walk, kitty."
"Why?" I asked, but readily stood on my feet. Wilson was snoring like a wild bear beside me. Unlike Bryce, I tidied my spot before running along to catch up. Even if it was still an hour before daybreak, I wasn't in the mood to feign sleep. Walking side by side Bryce, I said, "Where are we going?"
"No place in particular," Bryce replied, putting his arms behind his head.
Anthony and Bryce briefly talked after we had arrived back at our small camp here near Wykeham Castle. Anthony informed Bryce that Clave was back. He didn't further elaborate on the details, but excused himself to have some time to think, disappearing to a place he only knew where.
"Where did you think Anthony go?" I asked Bryce.
"Nearby. He only needs time to think things over. His plans... I mean, all of our plans had been crushed back to zero now that Clave was working for Henry," Bryce replied.
"Does his presence really make such difference? Haven't we expect a sorcerer to be working with him. Every king has a Head Sorcerer."
With a sigh, Bryce nodded. "Unfortunately, it does. It's different now that it's Clave."
"Do they have some kind of a bad blood between them? I mean, Clave and Anthony," I asked him, kicking a pebble as we kept on walking, particularly heading nowhere.
"That is mildly putting it."
"What does that mean?"
"They've been rivals ever since they were young. Do you happen to know Henry's former Head Sorcerer? The one with him during the night Henry had conquered Forthwind Castle?"
I shook my head.
"His name is Gavin," Bryce said to me. "He's Anthony's father."
"No way," I said in response.
"That's correct," Bryce added.
"So, does that mean that his family originally served Henry?" I asked, shocked by this revelation.
Bryce moved his forefinger from side to side, emphasizing his point, "Not quite. Gavin became Henry's Head Sorcerer because they were acquainted, or that was what Gavin had thought. In the end, the night before his reign, Henry killed Gavin."
I gasped. "Why?"
"No one knows. Gavin was only able to leave a single hint for Anthony, so that he would know who had killed him. Or them. It appeared like Henry had killed everyone present in that room. That was also where King Oliver's body was found, together with the body of his wife, before their bodies had been burned in the town court."
The memory of the day my parents were killed flashed back in my head. All along, I had blamed Henry for my pain. But all these years, what I failed to realize was that it wasn't just me. This particular injustice wasn't done solely to me. I was only part of the vast number.
It didn't make the pain any comforting, nor did it alleviate it. Nothing could. But it made me feel less alone, and it felt even more rightly that Henry should be banished from the throne.
Bryce continued to speak, "An immense trace of dark magic spell was still present in the room when Anthony had managed to sneak inside, a week after the event. Something had happened in that room, and that was what he was trying to decipher."
"Was Anthony's reason for creating the group of bandits with you was because of his father?"
Bryce nodded in agreement. "He wanted to know what had really happened. And like most of us, he was sick of Henry's crooked ways."
"What about their son, Alec Forthwind?"
"He was not burned together with his parents. I was there in the town court when it had happened. But the papers claimed that Alec Forthwind was also dead," Bryce told me.
"But he's not."
"As you said," Bryce replied.
"Wait," I paused, "where was Clave during that time?"
He gave it a thought. "Hmm, let's see... during that time, Anthony was still attending a Learning Center. That was before he had met me. It was safe to assume that Clave was also attending one. Anthony mentioned that Clave disappeared after finishing the Learning Center course. As for Anthony, he attended Signet Academy for three more years, before deciding to find the most powerful warrior in the land."
"Which was you?" I roughly guessed. Bryce had a certain glitter in his eyes when he was about to talk highly of himself. I never missed the cue, no matter the situation.
"Of course!" Bryce replied, smiling indulgently.
"If Clave knew what had happened to their father, why did he still go to Henry after?"
"That's the missing puzzle piece," Bryce replied. "Anthony told Clave about the hint that their father had left. You won't believe what he said after."
"What?"
"He only laughed, calling his old man silly."
"That's low."
"Isn't it?" Bryce asked back. "From what Anthony mentioned before, since they were young, Clave saw things differently. There's no telling what he will do. We couldn't tell for sure why he had sided with Henry and for what purpose."
"Anthony mentioned that he was back from the dark realm," I told him.
"Shit!" Bryce exclaimed.
"What's wrong?"
"He said that?"
"Yeah." I nodded and he shut his eyes, taking a deep breath.
"That's bad news, kitty. Really bad news," Bryce concluded.
"Why?"
"I think that answers the question of where Clave had learned sorcery."
"They have another school for sorcery in the dark realm?" I had heard about the dark realm. Initially, I thought it was a place where the dark sorcerers gathered.
"Not another academy in particular. You see, if someone's interested with dark magic, they go the dark realm. There's no proper training or even lessons. You get to be taught by dark sorcerers. Or that's what they all say. No one knows for sure. We all haven't been there before," Bryce answered me.
"I see. The only thing I know about the dark sorcerers is that they defy all the sets of rules. There's no right and wrong for them, no moral to conflict their decisions with," I said to him. And Clave had been so near me. In my thoughts, even.
"One thing is clear, though, kitty," Bryce said, catching my eyes. "Those who had learned from the dark realm shouldn't be messed with."
With my heart pounding in my chest, I asked, "Clave had used mind intrusion with me. Could it be possible that he... knew of the seal, too? Of my identity?"
"There's no telling. The one who gave you the seal protected your identity well. But there's no telling to which extent. Only Anthony could answer your question," Bryce said to me.
"He seems to know her, too," I muttered.
"Who?"
"Keira—" The ring on my left hand stung.
"Something about your seal?" Bryce knowingly asked.
"Yeah," I said with a sigh. "Just take it that you didn't hear a word I said."
"Sure thing, kitty. Although, there's something I've been meaning to ask you since last night, after you and Anthony came back from the palace," Bryce said all of a sudden.
I waited.
His face turned serious. There was no hint of humor left in his eyes when he said, "What happened last night with Lancelot Wykeham?"
Inadvertently, I turned my gaze away. "Nothing."
"Are you sure about that?" Bryce asked again with a hard voice. "All these years, give us some credit. I know how you function. I could almost say what you were thinking just by looking in your eyes."
"It was a mistake. It won't happen again," I finally told him.
"Just make sure that it won't happen again. How about Alec Forthwind? Did you find out where he is?" Bryce asked again, this time more gently.
"He was exiled in Wedgemore."
"Okay, we're off to Wedgemore tomorrow," he said.
"With everyone?"
Shaking his head, Bryce replied, "No, only me and Anthony. Wilson will get back to our main camp. We'll leave the camp to him and Caspar."
"Are they going to be alright by themselves?"
"Don't worry, they'll be fine."
"Okay," I said.
"Kitty," Bryce said. I looked at him and he pointed back to the camp. "Go back and bring my sword with you. Let's go find a suitable place to practice. We'll continue your training today."
"Training?" I asked. Since we hadn't done any training for a while now, I thought we were already through with that. But the look on Bryce's face was unyielding.
From the east, I saw the early morning sun, hue of rose and blue filled the horizon. Bryce adjusted the piece of cloth on his head, tightening the knot. His dark hair fell across his face, before he pulled it back again. He also looked afar, to where the sun was rising. "I have a bad feeling about this."