Jungle Witch

Ebony watched Naveen make his way towards the city and shook her head. She couldn't really blame him for wanting to put more distance between himself and Basilisk Jungle. But still... He was such a coward. Her eyes trailed over to the commander. He saw her gaze and offered her a small smile.

"You're strange," she informed him, deciding to be blunt.

"Why?"

"Because you're not afraid of me, and you don't hate me." She hesitated and tried to find the words to explain her thoughts. "No human has ever not been afraid or not hated me."

"I don't blame a child for her father's crimes," he replied as he turned to the city. "You were only nine years old when your father died. A child. An innocent child."

She followed his gaze. In front of them, across the acres of spice fields and farmland, the octagon shaped city was spread out in a man-made clearing. Tall walls surrounded Rivera, imprisoning the people inside. She, like the humans, once thought of those walls as protection.

Buildings of dark hardwood surrounded an enormous, dome-roofed building called The Hall of Lords. Even from here, she could tell that the city was split into four districts separated by very wide streets. In the center of each district was a large, stone manor where the lord of that district lived. The south manor, Bura's Manor, had been her home until the mob came.

The black eyes for which she was named were filled with anger. "No child of Lord Bura is innocent. Being born made me guilty."

"The sins of the father do not belong to the child."

The snake slithered down to her wrist and wrapped herself around there like a bracelet. Ebony stroked the snakes smooth scales, grateful for that small comfort, before taking a step towards the city.

After going down a hill, they came to a small fork in the road where Naveen waited for them. Saying nothing, he fell into step beside Abhay, making sure to keep the commander between himself and the Jungle Witch.

They turned down the fork that led to the city gates, and passed between row after row of spice plants. Lines of people carrying baskets walked up and down the rows of crops singing a chipper tune as they picked today's harvest. The scent of peppers, garlic, cinnamon, and various other spices filled her senses, making her nose itch.

Ebony knew that the songs could be replaced with an angry chant, and the smell of spice could be replaced by torch smoke.

Her mind drifted to the dark night she'd been run out of the city walls. Lighted torches and men screaming had jerked her out of one nightmare and into another one. She could hear them chanting over and over, "Burn the witch." Without thinking, she ran. The cobblestone had hurt her bare feet and the tears stung her eyes. Her own screams and whimpers seemed to echo down the unfamiliar alleyways.

Ebony pulled herself out of the memory with shear force of will. Now was not the time to dwell on the unpleasantness of the past. There would be enough to cause her stress once she was inside those walls again.

As the city walls got larger and the distance between her and it shrank, nerves began dancing up her spine. She could hear the rumble of conversations and muffled music.

"Should I expect a mob to be waiting for me with torches and pitchforks?" she asked Abhay, careful to keep any fear of that likely event out of her voice. Her dark eyes stayed focused on the city walls.

"No. No one but the Mista family and the other two lords are aware of you coming," Abhay answered her, unaware of her struggle with the past.

Raj's tail swished with agitation. "Good. Then few will miss us if we don't go in."

"Sith told me to," Ebony countered, wishing she could just turn around and go back home.

When they reached the gates, Ebony buried her fingers in Raj's fur, seeking comfort. She could feel his muscles quivering with tension, and knew she wasn't the only one upset about all this. Raj had just as much reason to hate humans as she did and had the scar to prove it.

As they passed through, the guards stood at attention for Commander Abhay, while giving Ebony cautious looks. Abhay nodded in greeting without stopping to speak to them as he usually would.

The moment she stepped through the gates and into the city, Ebony froze and closed her eyes in pure defense. The combination of sounds, smells, and sights were too much for her to handle. The only time she'd been near this many people was when the angry mob had chased her out.

Knots of tension began to form at the base of her skull.

Because her eyes were closed, she missed the odd stares that people gave the tiger standing at her side, and the people of the city missed her solid black eyes. She did hear someone hesitantly ask the commander if the tiger was safe. Whoever it was trusted Abhay enough to believe him when he said yes.

Ebony soon decided that the best thing about having Raj was that everyone was too busy watching the tiger to pay any attention to her.

Desperately, she searched for something, anything to make this easier. A memory of an elderly man wearing plain brown clothing came into her mind. He'd been her father's butler when she'd been a child. She couldn't remember his name, but she did know that he'd always had a smile for her. It was probably her fondness for him that allowed him to die of old age instead of by Bura's sadistic hands - Bura liked the people that made her happy. He'd been one of the only two humans she could remember having any fondness for. His granddaughter being the other.

"Are you alright?" Abhay asked her, placing a hand on her shoulder when he noticed she wasn't moving.

She shook her head, opening her eyes. Now she could see that everyone was giving them a very wide berth, careful to keep cautious eyes on Raj.

"I don't know," she finally admitted, trying to decide if she was okay or not. "It's been so long."

His eyes narrowed. "Maybe I should have brought you in through the Southeast Gate. It's quieter because it only has the specialty shops, but that gate is on the other side of the city. I wanted to get you to the Western Manor as quickly as possible."

Because she hated showing weakness in front of humans, Ebony forced herself to meet Abhay's eyes. "I'll be alright. What do you mean by 'Southeast Gate'?"

"How can you not know?" Naveen demanded with a 'are you stupid' tone. "You lived here once didn't you?"

Ebony shot him a glare. "I was nine years old, you moron, and was rarely let out of my father's manor."

"You remember that the city is split into the four districts, right?" Abhay asked, shooting Naveen a pointed look that told him to be quiet.

Naveen scuffed at the ground a little, but obeyed the silent command.

"Yes. They're called by the cardinal direction they're in, and they're separated by the wide roads." Ebony replied, feeling a little annoyed that he bothered asking her that. She was technically the lord of the Southern District so of course she knew about the districts. "And the narrow streets within the districts are called alleys. This isn't answering my question about the Southeast Gate."

"At the end of each of those wide roads are the gates to the city, so there are four of them," Abhay said, ignoring her annoyance. "The gates are each named for the direction they're facing. The busiest is the Northwest, the one we're on now, because of the bazaar."

Memories were coming back, including the fact that three of the main roads had bazaars on them where Rivera's people did their shopping and the fourth road was military housing. Each of the three bazaars specialized in a particular type of item.

She looked at the stands lining the street. Fruits filled the air with their sweet aroma. Lettuce, broccoli, and other assorted vegetables spilled out of bowls and had children making nasty faces. Other stands sold meat, which consisted mostly of fish. Obviously, this was the produce bazaar.

"Let's go," she almost pleaded, rubbing at her temples.

The headache was really starting to take bloom now. All she cared about at the moment was getting away from the noise and people.

Abhay nodded and led the way down the road.

Naveen followed his commander silently.

Her eyes caught the sight of someone who'd just stepped into view. The stranger saw Raj first and stiffened with fear. When he saw Abhay, the stranger relaxed instantly.

She looked up at Abhay in consideration. To be able to calm people the way he did, he had to have tons of respect and trust. There were other signs that this was true. The soldiers stood at attention as he passed. Civilians waved and smiled at him, and he never failed to return their greeting. Not only well respected, but well liked.

She wasn't sure how she felt about that, considering he had probably earned that respect by murdering her father. Then again, he wouldn't have been able to maintain that respect if there wasn't something more to it than hero worship.

Shaking her head, she dismissed the thoughts. None of this mattered because Abhay was still a human. She turned her attention back to the streets around her.

Lining each side of the street were small, square buildings that would house entire families. The farther into the city they got, the bigger and nicer the buildings became. She gave a cynical smile. The wealthy needed to be close to the Hall of Lords to make sure everyone knew just how important they were.

"How do you keep everything so clean?"

"Magic," Abhay finally replied once he calmed two women who'd nearly fainted at the sight of Raj. "We have wizards that use spells to get rid of the trash."

Naveen stayed stubbornly silent. He absolutely refused to speak to the Jungle Witch unless absolutely necessary.

Ebony didn't say much more, because she was too busy grumbling about wizards reduced to clean up. Didn't they have any pride?

Eventually, Abhay turned down one of the alleys that took them into the Western District. Unlike the bazaar roads, the alleys were narrow with only enough room for two people to stand side by side in most places. Much to Ebony's relief, there were fewer people here than in the bazaar. The decrease in noise and scents did wonders to ease her headache. She relaxed the fingers threaded in Raj's fur but kept the contact with him.

She tried to keep track of which direction Abhay was taking her but lost track of everything after they made what seemed like twenty turns. Was the city always this confusing, she wondered. Maybe it was a good thing she hadn't stayed here. How was anyone supposed to get anywhere with all these roads and buildings in the way?

They came around a corner and she saw the enormous stone manor surrounded by a small wall. The wooden homes around the manor only made it's grand size even more impressive than when seen from outside the city. Everything about the manor screamed of wealth and privilege from it's size to the glass in the windows.

She didn't get much time to examine the house, because Abhay was already leading the way through the small gate.

A man stood in front of the doors waiting for them. He wore a bright red, long sleeved shirt that came to his mid thigh and had side slits from the waist down to allow movement. His pants were brown and loose fitting. On his feet he wore very simple sandals. His aristocratic nose wrinkled when he saw Ebony.

She'd never taken much concern for her appearance, but under his intense scrutiny, she felt dirty. Her hair was dingy from the dirt covering it, and she was suddenly aware that she was wearing clothes similar to this man's, but hers were brown, old, and two sizes too big for her. In short, she looked like she lived in a jungle.

"What is this?" the man demanded. His disapproving brown eyes on her, making it obvious that she was the 'this' he was talking about. He moved to include the tiger into the disapproval. "And that?"

"Greetings, Kishan," commander Abhay greeted with a slight bow. He gestured towards the Jungle Witch. "This is Lady Ebony of the Southern District. The tiger is with her."

Kishan's face paled instantly and his hands shook. "The Jungle Witch?"

"I am not a witch," she snapped, insulted. "I'm a wizard."

No one was listening. Kishan took one step back with caution but gave her a smile and a small bow. He probably thought she would turn him into a frog but wasn't going to let that stop him from doing his job and being semi pleasant. "Greetings, Lady Ebony."

To Ebony, Abhay said, "This is Kishan, the butler. He's in charge of the upkeep of the house."

Ebony gave the man a closer look. A butler, just like the one from her memory. Kishan was about the same age as her father's butler had been. She could also vaguely recall her father's butler being very touchy about dirt as well.

"I heard you'd gone to get her," Kishan said nervously, obviously unwilling to speak directly to her, "but I never thought that was true."

"We need her," Naveen pointed out, placing a hand over the mark on his forearm. "You know what happened four days ago."

The butler's eyes swapped from fear to sympathy. "Of course. Everyone in the household has heard about it."

"Then you know there was no other choice."

Ebony frowned. So they'd left out some detail that resulted in asking for her help. Well, she'd find out what it was soon enough. In order to do them any good, she'd have to know everything.

"We need to take her to see Lord Devdan," Abhay informed Kishan.

"She can't go into the house looking like that," the butler sputtered. He seemed to find that idea more terrifying than her turning him into a frog. "She'll have to be cleaned first."

"You do realize that we only have seven days before Naveen transforms?" Abhay asked pushing past Kishan. "I'm not about to take time just so you can give the girl a bath. I'm sure Lord Devdan will be able to handle her as she is right now."

As she walked by, Ebony saw the absolute horror on Kishan's face at the idea of letting her see the Lord looking like she did. Like her father's butler, it was probably Kishan's responsibility to make sure that everything was as clean and presentable as possible before it went through these doors. She was surprised to find that she felt bad for him.

"Is it really that important?" she asked in a sigh.

"Of course. I pride myself on my work." As if he just realized who he was talking to, he added hastily, "But I understand you have a time restraint, my lady."

She sighed again wishing everyone would quit treating her like a troll. "Alright then. I'll take care of it."

"We don't have time for you to bathe," Naveen reiterated what Abhay had already said.

"It won't take that long," she replied as she stepped away from them.

Closing her eyes, she focused her magic and clenched her will. Her magic flowed over her own body.

In her mind she heard her father's voice teaching her the first lesson of any wizard. "The key to a wizard's power is to maintain absolute control over the magical energy within you. Know what you want and then manipulate the power until you have it." Here her father would always hold up a finger in warning. "But be careful, my little one. Magic does follow certain laws of its own creation. If you create fire, then you are taking heat from somewhere. If you create water, then it is coming from somewhere. Think things through or you'll strain yourself trying to do something impossible."

Keeping this rule in mind, she carefully worked through the method she'd use. Her skin began to tingle and cool. For a moment, she felt wet and her hair became heavier. A little tug had the water surrounding the dirt. She pushed downward and all the water slid off of her taking the oil and dirt with it. And because she never did a job halfway, Ebony heated up the air around her to evaporate the mess away.

Finally she opened her eyes to find the three men staring at her in shock. In the last five heartbeats, they had only seen a flash of light around her body followed by steam rising from the ground. Naveen and Kishan had even stumbled away from her several steps.

"What?" she demanded irritably. "Your wizards clean things too."

"It's just that you look..." Naveen stuttered a little, trying to come up with a reasonable answer. It was one thing to know she could use magic and another to see it. He rubbed the back of his head and looked away, afraid to meet her eyes. Settling on the only other thing that stood out, he said, "It's just that you look much different. You're hair isn't brown. It's blond."

"I know that," she growled, reaching up to brush a hand over a sun-kissed strand.

Her appearance was another legacy from her father. He'd been a foreigner in this land, and so his hair hadn't been the traditional black. To make things worse, she had his pale skin as well. No one in the city would mistake her for anyone other than his daughter. Even if they didn't realize who she was, she was willing to bet that they distrusted anyone with blond hair and pale skin on principle.

"That isn't why you're backing up though," she pointed out, walking towards the doors.

Why did they always stare at her? Did they think she was some heartless troll that would turn her magic on them? She spun around to face them, and thought about doing just that. "Well, are you coming?"

Abhay was the first to shed his shock. "Of course, my lady."

"And don't call me that. It's Ebony."

The commander nodded his head in acceptance and walked past her. "Alright then. Let's get inside, Ebony."

Ebony said nothing else as she followed Abhay through the double doors. The sound of boots and sandals behind her told her that Naveen and Kishan were right behind them.

As they stepped into the parlor, she looked around curiously. The inside was as grand as the outside. The stones glistened in the sunlight coming through the windows. The stone floors were softened with bold red carpets that felt warm against her bare feet. Huge couches were positioned in front of a large fireplace. Breathtaking paintings and colorful pottery were strategically placed to catch the eye.

Humans did enjoy their comforts, she thought a little snidely. She'd never met one that would handle living permanently in her jungle. They wanted their beds and hot baths and secure walls. Such spoiled creatures.

She turned when a door burst open. Five men came into the room shouting at each other. The one in the lead looked a great deal like a much older Naveen. She assumed he was Naveen's father, Lord Devdan.

"This can't be allowed, Devdan," one of the men snapped.

The speaker was rail thin and wore a simple shirt made out of silk, a small sign of his wealth, and pants tucked into black boots. She saw something in his eyes that made her think of a snake, cold and calculating. As soon as she thought it, she shook it away. Venom would be insulted at being compared to a human, no matter how accurate the comparison.

"You can't just bring the Jungle Witch back into our city," the third man agreed. This one was fat and wore elaborate gold and white silk shirt with long sleeves. He gave her the impression of someone unwilling to do any kind of work unless absolutely necessary.

"This matter doesn't concern you or your districts. I've asked her here for personal reasons," Lord Devdan informed them in a cold voice.

"What are you two even doing here," one of the two younger men demanded.

He looked like another older Naveen, so she assumed he was part of the Mista family. His hair was dark and his lively brown eyes were hot with temper. His brows were drawn together in a frown as he snarled at the two men arguing with Devdan.

"This is a family matter," the last of the men agreed. He looked nothing like the Mistas. Instead of black hair, his was the color of mud, and his skin was as pale as her own.

"My Lord," Kishan interrupted hesitantly. Interrupting was usually frowned upon, but if he didn't interrupt the guests would hear the fight. "Commander Abhay, Master Naveen, and Lady Ebony are here."

"He nearly choked on that 'Lady' part," Raj growled, his tail lashing a little.

"I heard," she murmured. "Behave."

He didn't like it, but the tiger quit growling.

Fear flashed in Devdan's eyes, but he quickly masked it. "Thank you for coming, Lady Ebony." He gestured towards the other men with him. "These are Lord Mohana and Lord Parth. My oldest son, Indra, and my son-in-law Var Tamboli."

So, all of the lords were present. She didn't move an inch, not even to bow her head. If they thought she would show them even one iota of respect they were sadly mistaken.

Before she could say anything, the snake-eyed man called Lord Mohana rounded on Abhay. "Commander, you got where you are by killing her father. Now you undo that by bringing the Jungle Witch back here."

"I'm doing what is best for those under my command," the commander replied coolly.

"Don't give us that," the fat one snapped. Lord Parth kept his fear filled eyes on Ebony as if she were a predator about to pounce. "Bringing her will only cause more trouble once word gets out, and believe me, we'll make sure it gets out."

Since he had no delusions that the city wouldn't find out with or without the lord's help, Abhay said nothing to that threat. "This is not for me to decide. Lord Devdan requested her presence, so I was obliged to bring her."

"Then we're requesting that you get her out again," Parth retorted, his chubby face red with rage.

"This is no concern of yours," Devdan reiterated, impatient. "I brought her here for family business, which is none of yours. Indra, Var, please show Parth and Mohana out."

"We can find our own way," Mohana said much more calmly than he felt. "But you will hear from us again on this matter, Devdan."

With that promise, the other two lords left in an angry huff.

Ebony had watched the show with some entertainment. Now that it was over, it was time to get to the point, then get out. "Commander Abhay said something about a curse you want me to do something with."

Devdan sighed a little. She was obviously not going to make this easy. "Yes, my lady."

"Just Ebony," she interrupted. "I don't want anything to do with your titles or government."

"As you wish then," Devdan agreed. "I'm sure Abhay and Naveen told you what happened to those possessed by our curse?"

"Yes."

"Can you help?"

"I don't know." She sighed a little. "Magic isn't as simple as can or can't, especially not wizarding magic."

"But you're a witch," Indra objected, showing himself to be just as ignorant of magic as Naveen.

She took in a calming breath. It didn't help. "I am not a witch. My father was a wizard. There is no witch in my family. So not even by association can I be called a witch. I am, and this is the last time I'm going to say this, a wizard."

Indra quickly bowed his head and placed the tips of his fingers to his forehead, the sign for apology. "My apologies."

Because he sounded sincere, she nodded in acceptance. "I'll need to return to my father's manor to see if he left any notes about how he suppressed the curse. Also, do you have any clues about who cast it?"

"Your father told us that it was the wizards in Kylor," Devdan informed her, referring to the city four hundred leagues north of Rivera, "but there hasn't been any proof."

"Did you try asking them?" she asked a little dryly. Who in the world would take her father's word for it? Humans could be such morons.

"Of course not," Var replied. Only his eyes gave away his apprehension. "Our city and Kylor have always had tension between them. We couldn't trust their word, so why bother asking?"

So you trusted a sadistic wizard known for toying with people, she thought with annoyance. Her father had probably known who cast the curse, but he wouldn't have told anyone. That would be something he kept in his pocket to pull out later when he could get some enjoyment out of it.

She glanced out a window, her thoughts circling. It didn't really make any sense for it to have been the wizards from Kylor. They specialized in defensive powers because of the enormous trolls that populated the mountain range next to the city.

From what Sith the Basilisk told her, the mountain trolls made their forest dwelling cousins seem tame. Thankfully, her jungle didn't have any forest trolls, and there weren't any mountains in this area, so she'd never personally dealt with either variety of troll.

Because of a mountain troll's sheer size and toughness, Kylor wizards perfected shields and blasting powers in order to combat them. If they had wished to confront this city, they would have been more direct.

"This could take a while," she sighed.

"I thought you said all you had to do was examine the person the magic was cast on to break it," Naveen snapped. He'd been stretched thin because of his upcoming transformation and having to deal with the Jungle Witch wasn't making things any easier.

She glared at him. "No, I said I had to examine him. I didn't say that was all I had to do. Like I said earlier, magic of any kind isn't that simple. Curses like this are nearly as complicated as it gets."

"Please explain this?" Var asked her. Devdan's son-in-law was taking this much calmer than his in-laws.

"Two separate wizards can never cast the same magic," She explained. "They may get the same results, but the process will always be slightly different. Unless they're doing something incredibly simple."

"Why?" Abhay asked, looking intrigued.

"Because a wizard's magic is done using his or her mind, and no two people think alike. That's why one wizard has a hard time undoing the magic of another." She hesitated, unsure of how much of an education to give them.

Deciding that was enough for now, she crossed her arms and did a mental tug on her powers that allowed her to see spells. It was a rare talent for a wizard to be able to see magic. Not because other wizards weren't capable - they were all capable - but because most never learned how. Those wizards were satisfied with just being able to sense magic. In her case, it was one of the first things her father taught her.

Her brows creased again, this time in confusion. The magic mixed with Lord Devdan's blood was very complex and intricate. A masterpiece among spells, so to speak. First, each piece of the magic was tied to Devdan's blood so that it would spread to his descendants like a disease. The inner most layer was the transformation magic with the loss of sanity locked to it. A time element was woven through the entire mess, acting as a trigger.

The time element was the only one she probably had any prayer of undoing right now. Actually, the spell was woven very similarly to the way she would do it herself. It was still a tangled mess that she wouldn't even think about touching until she knew more. With it tied to the blood, she might kill Devdan trying to undo it.

"Definitely going to take a while," she said, feeling dread at the very idea. So much for breaking the curse in a tenday then going home. A thought occurred to her and she smiled a little. "We could always kill Devdan to see if it would get rid of the curse. He does bear the core of it."

There was absolute silence for about five heartbeats.

Devdan swallowed hard. "I'd rather avoid that method if at all possible."

She had another thought, as she realized how much she sounded like her father just then. The difference was, Bura would have just killed Devdan. He would have thought it funny to tell the Mistas he could help, only to surprise them by using such a cruel method. Why hadn't he? Bura had been too clever not to think of the method, and there was some validity to the suggestion.

Ebony shrugged as if it didn't matter to her. "You're choice. I'll need to brush up on my transformation magic."

"I'm afraid we lack information on magic in our libraries," Lord Devdan said slowly, "and wizards are very reluctant to let others see their books from what I understand."

"I won't need their books or your library." Her blood chilled with both guilt and grief. "I'll have to go to my father's manor. He has a library. That is," she added, eyeing the lord, "if it's still standing."

"Of course it is," Indra said sharply, his fear getting the better of him. "The few times someone tried to go inside, they never came back out."

Ebony let out a small sigh. Again, humans were such morons. They really should learn something about what they were dealing with before trying to invade a wizard's library or workroom. The wizards of this continent guarded those rooms jealously with very powerful magic.

"Of course." She thought about it and sighed again. There would be a new addition to her father's home when she got there. Her father specialized in transformation spells, so naturally, that's what he used to protect his workspace.

"Now, I have two questions," she said, changing the subject. She held up a finger as she counted each off. "First, why did you seek my help now? And second, why does your son-in-law live here rather than with his family?"

She knew that second question wasn't important to the situation, but wanted the answer anyway. Even she knew that when a daughter married, she usually moved in with her husband's family. Besides, maybe it did have something to do with the situation. She wouldn't know until she had the answer.

"We're asking you now because one of my sons was severely injured during Indra's transformation just four days ago," Devdan answered without questioning her need for those answers, "and we're afraid that next time, someone will be killed."

Indra winced in shame and guilt at the mention of that incident. Ebony felt a small twinge of sympathy and understanding.

"Is your son okay?" she found herself asking, surprising everyone, including herself.

"He'll be fine," the commander responded when no one else did. He wasn't too surprised at her concern, just that she would show it. "His injury will be healed in a few tendays."

Devdan shed his own shock and, because he didn't know how to handle her sympathy, decided it was best to change the subject. "For your second question, no one in our family can travel too far from here because of the curse. So when my oldest daughter married, Var agreed to move here until we found a way to break the curse."

"That must be difficult for you," she said a little quietly. "A great deal of trading has to be done in person."

"Var takes care of what he can," Devdan replied, trying to read her expression.

Now it all made sense, she thought. Money was what made the world go around in Rivera. The Mista family had most of it, making them the most powerful family in the city. They'd lose money to cages and being unable to trade in person. With this curse eating away those coins, their reign as the most powerful family wouldn't last.

"Why don't we have a servant show you to your room, then you can go to your father's manor," Devdan suggested, gesturing towards the stairs where the bedrooms would be located.

She shook her head. "No."

Despite the relief on his face, Var asked, "Why not?"

"Because you make me uncomfortable, and I need to be able to study whenever I want, not just when you say I can." Ebony's black eyes narrowed. "I am not about to give you any control over me. I'll live on my own, thank you very much."

Devdan shifted uncomfortably. He would have been much happier if she'd just stay here where he could keep an eye on her, but he wasn't about to tell her that. If he insulted her, she just may decide that killing him was the only way to break the curse.

"That's fine with me," the western lord agreed. His eyes landed on Naveen. Inspiration struck, and he added, "But I would like Naveen to stay with you if that's okay with Commander Abhay."

Abhay was a little hesitant to send Naveen out alone with Ebony, but he had to start trusting his trainee with these things eventually.

"That's probably a good idea," Abhay agreed. He added over both Naveen's and Ebony's objections, "That way, if you have any questions, he can answer them. He'll also be able to show you around the city."

Because she just might need someone to show her around, Ebony glared at the commander before turning away. "Fine."

Naveen started to object again, but one look from Abhay had him shutting his mouth before the words left it. With one final glare for his father and commander, he stalked out of the manor behind Ebony. He couldn't believe he was stuck babysitting the witch.