Ch 39: The Puzzle Pieces and Reoccurring Problems

Knowing she wasn't going crazy had helped calm Astasha down a little bit. Well, maybe she was going crazy and it had just passed to Calder through their connection. But it was some comfort to know at least she wasn't going insane on her own.

Errant had insisted on tabling all further discussions until he felt she was stable enough to continue. Guilt at what she had almost done to everyone in the room was eating at her, despite Cal's constant reassurances that they were all alright.

She had almost cooked him from the inside out, along with herself. What was wrong with her? She'd never lost control of her power like that. In fact, she was suddenly aware that she didn't even know where the power was coming from. She hadn't pulled energy in what felt like forever. She should have been completely drained and depleted of everything.

Errant had gathered the four other sorcerers immediately to attempt a more complicated healing ritual, and much to Calder's relief, it had worked. The swelling and bruises went down, and the cuts finally began to mend. But she was still battered and she knew most of the damage would be visible for the rest of her life.

Once they had finished, Astasha had asked to be allowed to go outside, to ground herself and recharge under the warmth of the sun. Errant had agreed so long as Calder, Talib, he, and the water witch she learned was named Narelle, went with. He didn't want to risk another incident without those present he felt could handle it and counter her.

Now she stood, her toes in the grass of one of the gardens, her face turned up toward the sky, basking in the breeze and the light. The energy flowed freely into her, she could feel it without even trying as it swam through her veins.

There were so many questions, so many things that needed answers. But she just couldn't bring herself to think about them at that moment.

She felt his presence before his hand touched her waist. "It feels like forever since I've seen you this peaceful." Calder's words whispered into her ear.

She opened her eyes to see the beautiful blue looking down at her. "Not peaceful, just, I've always felt more at ease in nature."

"Is that why we always met in the woods?" he teased her.

Her eyes shot over his shoulder to where Errant and the water witch stood.

"He already knows everything, Tasha. I don't think that's his biggest concern at the moment."

She took a deep breath and looked back at him. "I'm sure it's still a concern. But you're right, there are much bigger ones to deal with."

"Yeah, like hacking a piece of shit demon to pieces and setting the fucking thing on fire." Talib had made his way over to them.

After the incident in the clearing, the King had filled him in on everything that had happened leading up to that point, and he was clearly not happy knowing the demon had pulled one over on him. Calder had spent quite a lot of time talking him out of resigning his post for not having caught on to the fact that the Prince had not actually been himself, finally threatening to have Astasha perform a spell that would rid Talib of his manhood if he didn't stop and accept that he was stuck as his Captain (not that she knew of any such spell, but it still did the trick).

"There has to be a connection between the dreams and the demon." said Astasha. "They didn't start until after I performed the blood magic ritual."

"Which means there might also be a connection to whatever is happening between the two of you as well." She knew Errant had been listening to everything they had said and she blushed. She still wasn't comfortable with him knowing all of her intimate memories with Calder.

The young water witch approached them. Astasha was grateful for what she had done to save Calder and herself, but couldn't shake the apprehensiveness she held. What had happened with Cordelia was still embedded in her mind, and as much as she didn't want to assume all water witches were the same, she was having a hard time trusting this one.

"I know I'm only just coming into the fold on all this, but if you don't mind me saying, it seems that by looking at the individual pieces of the puzzle, we may be missing the bigger picture." Her voice was light and pleasant, nothing like Cordelia's.

Calder sighed, his hand still on Astasha's waist. "I don't even know what pieces we're supposed to be looking at."

"Perhaps Sorceress Norelle is right." said Errant. "We need to stop examining each thing as individual events and actions and start viewing what the overall endgame could be."

"To burn the fucking world down." Talib's words were nonchalant, but everyone looked at him with unease.

Something about it wasn't sitting right with Astasha though. Yes, whatever it was that was speaking to her and Cal, whatever it was those black, terrifying eyes had belonged to, wanted the old to burn. But what was the old? What specifically did it want to see destroyed? And even more so, what was supposed to take its place? Not to mention, how were her and Calder supposed to be the ones to light the fire when they didn’t know the answers to any of those questions?

"Alas, this issue now goes beyond us." Astasha turned to look at Errant whose brow was furrowed again. "The High Council will be here in three days' time, and they will be wanting to speak with each of us to try to determine what the next move will be."

Astasha felt like her heart fell through her stomach. The High Council, the upholders of all magical law, the oldest and wisest of sorcerers, would want to know everything. Errant had sworn he would never try to strip her of her powers again, but the High Council was above even him, and she knew he would be powerless to stop them if they decided to punish her for the multitude of laws she had broken.

"Tasha?" Calder's eyes were on her. He had no doubt felt the despair and fear that washed over her.

She looked up at him, fighting to regain her composure.

To her surprise, Errant put his hand on her shoulder. "I will do everything I can to convince them that your actions have been only in the interest of saving the Prince and the kingdom. Until we understand the bond between you, they cannot do anything without risking harm to his majesty. But if they find a way to sever the bond..."

Calder's brows shot up and his hold on Astasha tightened. "You cannot be suggesting that the High Council is going to try to strip her of her magic again?"

Tasha tried to soothe him but the look on Errant's face sent him into a rage.

"No! This is bullshit! She saved my life! Risked her own! She went through hell and they still might try to banish or kill her?"

Astasha put her hand on Calder's arm. "Cal, even if they forgave everything that happened after your return, I knew the laws before you left. They won't see anything past the decision of a witch to bed a royal."

Cal was looking at her in shock. "Fuck that! It was every bit my decision too. Why are you the only one being punished?"

Talib cleared his throat. "If they see you react this way, I think they'll think taking her away will be punishment enough."

The daggers Calder's eyes threw at his Captain were nothing compared to the daggers Astasha felt in her heart. Talib was right. They couldn't hand down punishment of the kind she would face to the heir to the throne, but she could feel that forcing him to live without her would be far worse.

"This can't seriously be about to happen again." The defeat in Calder's voice almost broke Astasha.

"We don't know that that will happen yet love." She tried to comfort him, but she could feel it wasn't working. He was falling into a pit of despair, one she knew he thought they were just crawling out of when it came to their relationship.

The tiny water witch gently cleared her throat. “I know I’m probably not up to date completely on all the goings on, and perhaps it isn’t my place to ask but… it seems to me, considering the issue at hand has absolutely nothing to do with anything before his majesty returned from his journey, there is no reason for them to know of anything that happened before.”

Astasha shook her head. It was a pleasant thought, but she knew better than to have that kind of hope. “Once they begin investigating the bond that Cal and I share, they will no doubt delve into our past. As I said though, I knew what I was doing, and I will face whatever punishment they hand down. I won’t risk making things worse for anyone here who has become involved. I will accept full responsibility for everything.”

“No. Absolutely not.” Calder’s jaw was twitching, his fingers digging into her waist. “Whatever they do to you they’ll have to do to me too. I won’t just stand back and let them hurt you. Not again. Not ever.”

She looked up at her Prince. He was so dedicated to her. It would be his downfall, this she knew.

The tiny water witch hummed in thought. “I’m curious…”

Everyone turned to look at her but she simply stared off into space, her finger gently tapping her cheek.

“What is it you are curious about Sorceress?” Asked Errant.

“Well, the laws state that no one of magical blood shall *bed* a royal. There is nothing in them about loving one.”

Talib snorted. “I hate to be the one to tell you, but I seriously doubt the law has a clause regarding the difference in sleeping with someone for kicks and making love to them.”

Norelle shook her head and rolled her eyes. “I’m young, not naive. There is no doubt the High Council wouldn’t see a difference.”Talib blushed and cleared his throat awkwardly. The water witch’s face scrunched up and her hair flapped around her as she shook her head again. The more Astasha watched her, the more she realized she was quite the interesting little thing. “No, what I’m saying is, if they don’t know that you two engaged in more, private affairs, there is nothing they can do to you for being in love with him.”

"Sorceress Norelle, even if they agreed to let that fact go, which I seriously doubt they would, I strongly anticipate the High Council will leave nothing to interpretation and will wish to read each and every person involved, especially Astasha and the Prince. There would be no hiding their secrets then.” said Errant.

“And what if I told you there was a way to alter specific memories they would see?”

Astasha scoffed. “That can’t be possible.”

Norelle simply smiled at her. “But it is. If you think of memories as fluid, like a stream, and you take one in particular, and then cast a shocking spell straight into it, the memories surrounding it will alter. Like a pebble making ripples in water. If we find the correct memory and perform the spell at the correct time, the only thing they will see in the surrounding memories will be distortions of what actually happened.”

Everyone was silent for a moment.

"Wait, you can actually mess with people's heads like that?" said Talib flabbergasted.

"It's nothing permanent!" Squeaked Norelle. "It would take a very powerful or very dark magic to actually alter someone's memories permanently. With this spell, the owner of the memory still knows the truth and it only lasts until the ripples fade. It’s just a temporary way to keep the High Council from seeing exactly what happened in certain parts."

Errant held his hand up in resistance. “You realize that even if this were to work, we have all shared their memories. You would have to perform this spell on everyone involved and they would immediately suspect something should even the smallest detail be different.”

Astasha couldn't believe the High Sorcerer hadn't shot down the idea the second it had left Norelle’s lips. Her eyebrow rose involuntarily at him in surprise. It seemed they hadn’t just been empty words in the healing ward; Errant had meant what he had said.

“You witnessed their memories, which are simply copies of their energy. Alter that energy at its source, and the copies mimic its changes.” Norelle looked around at everyone as if this were the most common knowledge imaginable.

Astasha still didn't trust the little water witch, but at this point, what was the harm in trying? She had already accepted the fact that she was more than likely doomed. The High Council would stop at nothing to sever the bond between her and Calder, and once that was accomplished, she would meet her end. The laws had to be upheld, that was the council’s soul purpose. She only hoped she would have enough time to see the demon vanquished and her Prince and his kingdom safe before her punishment was executed.

"Fine." She said. “I see no reason not to try. When the time comes, just tell us what we must do.”