Ch 55: The Darkness In The Watch Tower

Once the two sorceresses had confirmed that the guard post was indeed abandoned, they went to work placing as many protective spells and barriers as they could around it. The horses were allowed to drink from the river and tethered near the entrance to graze and rest.

It was decided that one of them would always be awake and on guard, Helia offering to take the first shift so that Astasha could finally sleep. After they had both rested, they would determine their route from there, and continue on.

The stone tower was dark and dank, covered in cobwebs and dust. There was an old wooden table and a cot, a couple broken chairs and an empty hearth. There was debate of whether or not the person on watch should go up to the lookout, but in the dark they would sense someone before they would see them, and it seemed more important to make a quick escape from the ground.

Despite the deep black outside, they dared not risk the smoke of a fire being seen or smelled, so they took turns igniting flames in their hands to warm their blood.

At last, Astasha settled on the cot and attempted to rest. But once she was still, there was no fighting the emotions and thoughts that came flooding over her, or her mind from filling with questions she knew there were no answers to; was Cal alright? Had he persuaded the High Council to their cause? And if not, what was his plan from there? Would she see him again? Or would she perish in their quest?

The tether around her wrist pulled her toward him, but she felt so very far from her Prince, so much so, that she could no longer determine if the emotions she felt had anything to do with his. With his face in her mind and tears in her eyes, she willed herself to rest, and finally, the exhaustion took hold, and she drifted into sleep.

-----

She knew this place, and now that it had a name, she knew the feeling that had enveloped her all along; damnation. This was where the souls cursed to live eternally in misery came. This was where she was destined to go.

‘Astasha.’

The voice still sent ice through her veins, though her breath was level. She would not let it frighten her this time.

‘It has begun. The fires of change are alight. Embrace the truth, Astasha, and you will be free.’

The great doors of the dark stone castle stood before her. To enter here would mean there was no going back. Of that, she was certain.

Her gaze moved to the tower, the one she knew the mage was waiting for her in. And there she saw them; the eyes of black that consumed the light and bred horror and fear.

‘Come to me, Astasha, and we shall burn all those who oppose us.’

She wanted to respond, to curse the monster who had cursed her, to turn and run and leave this place forever, but she was frozen.

She felt a darkness swirl inside her, a whisper of a magic she had known was there all along, but had never acknowledged. It burned cold within her, and she tried to break from it, to snuff it out, but it built and grew.

‘Embrace your power, Astasha.’

Like a great wave, she felt it crash against her, and the will to stand against it brought a scream tearing from her lips.

-----

“Astasha!”

It took a moment for her mind to comprehend what was happening.

Helia stood not far from her, her hands up, her power waining against the black flames that threatened to consume her, flames that poured from the scars on Tasha’s chest.

The sight sent a wave of shock and fear through the young sorceress and she gasped for air, the tendrils dissipating like smoke in the wind.

She began to tremble. What was happening to her?

She collapsed back onto the cot and Helia rushed to her side.

“Astasha, speak to me. Are you alright?”

She shook her head. “I was there, again, in the Forest of the Damned. The mage, she…”

The older fire witch took her hands. “You’re cold as ice.”

Tasha was still shaking, but it wasn’t from a chill.

“There’s something wrong with me.” She whispered.

Helia shook her head. “No—“

“Yes. There’s this darkness inside, I’ve felt it before, in the War Room. I wanted to let it in, wanted to unleash it, but this time… it was consuming me.”

Her companion took a deep breath. “Astasha, there’s something you should know. Dark magic, it isn’t something learned. A sorcerer is either born with it, or not. While there are those who would seek to do evil with their powers, real dark mages who can harness the power of darkness, it runs in their blood. If you were born to a sorcerer of such…” She trailed off, the implication clear.

So it was true. Errant had been right to try to strip her powers. How long could she keep it at bay if not? She was heading straight into a trap set to unleash that which she had kept buried deep inside without even knowing. All these years it had laid dormant, unnoticed, until…

“I must go back.” She said. “The High Council, they are the only ones who can stop this, stop me.”

“And do you think that would truly stop what is to come? You are not the only witch born of dark magic sorceress, but there is something in you that the next may not have… light. Whether it came from your mother, or your love of Calder, it is there, and it has kept you from straying into a web you cannot escape. *That* is what will stop this.”

Astasha shook her head. She had been strong for so long, she didn’t think she could any more. “How, when I am so clearly capable of things I would have never imagined?”

“By using another power you are unknowingly capable of. I kept wondering why only Cordelia was affected by the power you and Calder unleashed on the turrets. And then I remembered what it did to the demon in the clearing.”

She didn’t understand what it was Helia was getting at. Whatever that blast was, she didn’t know how or why it happened.

Her companion continued. “Don’t you see? That is the very power of love and light. It only works when you and Calder wish to protect each other, and it only affects those of pure evil. Cordelia was unscathed, yet she writhed in pain. It was the demon inside her suffering. Something that can only touch the darkness, can only come from something of light.”

Astasha tried to comprehend what she was hearing. If this were true, it could be a way to end this, once and for all. But her mind still refused to let go of the fact that there was something inside her she clearly had no control over.

“And what if the darkness takes hold before I can summon the light?”

Helia smiled. “So long as your Prince is there, there is no darkness that can touch you. The love you have for each other is unyielding, and I have seen it time and again pull you both from the brink of death and destruction.”

“And what if he doesn’t make it? What if I reach the castle in the forest and he isn’t by my side? You saw what happened when I faced it in a dream. What horrors could I unleash without him to keep me in the light?”

“My dear,” said her fellow fire sorceress, “love has no earthly bounds. We just have to train you to harness it.”

Could it be possible? To teach herself to draw upon her connection to Calder to save herself from the pull of darkness?

“I don’t know how it will work, but if you will aid me, I will try to find a way.”

“Good. No more talk of despair.” She squeezed Astasha’s hands. There was something different about her, she noticed. She seemed older than normal, worn, and tired. No doubt the exertion of protecting herself from Tasha’s unintentional assault.

“You should rest.” She said. “I don’t think I would be able to sleep again if I tried.”

There was understanding on her face as Helia nodded. The older fire witch began to settle in, but stopped and turned to her.

“I’m curious. What was it, that Calder promised you?”

It was ironic, after what had just happened, now that she knew what power she possessed, that she had been worried about Cal, when in reality, it was her who should have made the promise.

She grasped her wrist, a habit she now realized she did every time she longed to feel his touch. “That he would never lose himself to darkness.”

Something began to creep into her mind. Cal’s powers had come from her, from the blood magic ritual. As Helia had once said, their essence was now muddled together. If the power of dark magic was within her, then it was in him as well. The power of their love might be that of light, but what would happen if that burst of energy was of darkness?

She froze, the horrible reality washing over her.

That was it.

That was the piece of the puzzle they had been missing.

Astasha and Calder weren’t conduits for the mage to harness the spirit, they were her weapon against it.