The Dark Witch Chronicles Book One: The Curse of The Cymmerien Dragon

Iris had been spending most of her time with Leandra who was now her closest friend. Not even Erasmus could compete with that. He would try to spend with her but she was always busy with Lea. There were times when he would get upset, but then he let it go, thinking that he had no business when two women were busy with each other. He was aware of the fact that he had been avoiding her for a while since he was busy practicing his powers and keeping in contact with Nicholas to find out what exactly Lord Mikhail had been up to. But there was no such progress in the matter. That was why he had gone back to spending time with Iris but now, she was out of his grip. It had been roughly three months since Lea arrived and she had become acquainted with the castle’s inhabitants nicely enough to have them all quite amused by her.

As far as Amara had observed, she had managed to make everyone happy at the time of panic since the war was coming nearer. Even Amara had to admit that Lea was very charming, and she was also relieved about the fact that because Lea was around, she didn’t have to keep an eye on Iris as much. Since she was a trusted witch of the Lord, Amara had thought it was okay to leave Iris under her watch. She had even talked to Leandra about it and she was gladly up for it. And so, Amara wasn’t as worried about Iris anymore. She felt reassured as she had other things to worry about.

The apprentices of the coven had not realized the importance of the war, which meant they were not paying as much attention to strengthening their powers. Under the absence of Lord Lucifer, it was Amara’s job to make sure they all understood the gravity of the situation. So she called an immediate meeting in the great hall one morning. Everyone was busy having tea outside the castle, laughing and chatting while Lea cracked jokes. Amara had sent an instant order through Fabian to summon all of them back inside. As soon as they did, Amara had wanted to whack some sense into them, but she decided to take it calmly.

“I have summoned you all here to give you a fair warning about what is going to come,” she began firmly. “There isn’t much time and we all need to be prepared for the war that Lord Mikhail has declared against us. I have been observant enough to notice that none of you are properly acquainted with practice for strengthening your powers. The war can strike at any point. It might even begin in a few minutes, you never know. It is mandatory for all of you to be prepared for whenever they strike. I hope you understand the danger that we are facing right now. With the Lord gone, we need to be strong enough to protect each other. We need the strength. So I would like all of you to end the chattering phase and get to work. I won’t take no for an answer, and I certainly won’t appreciate if you lot are busy having fun when we are facing a crisis,” she concluded.

They all nodded in understanding, realizing that they had been ignorant all this while since the Lord wasn’t there. If he were, the discipline would have been extensive and none of them would be sitting and laughing without a care in the world. None of them had even thought that Amara would be addressing them in place of Lord Lucifer, even though they were well aware that she was in charge. Her hold over all of them was necessary and fortunately they realized the fact. Amara watched them all, expecting some answers but they merely nodded and didn’t say a word. The one that spoke, however, was Azrael who had been sitting at the far right corner of the hall, examining the walls as though he wasn’t paying attention at all.

“Have you been practicing your powers, m’Lady?” He said, with one eyebrow raised as he looked at Amara, eyes narrowed in suspicion.

In all the time that he had been there, Amara had tried her hardest to tolerate him but to no avail. He had been as obnoxious and interfering as he had been when he first arrived. She didn’t like his presence around her at all. The dislike that she felt for him was obvious and everyone around could feel the hatred burning in each of them. They clearly didn’t appreciate the other. It was in the air when they were anywhere close to thirty metres around one another.

“I believe I am not answerable to you, but since you have asked. Yes, I have been practicing enough,” she told him, crossing her arms across her chest.

“Why don’t we see it then?” He shot back, taking a step forward.

With a curt nod in his direction, Amara proceeded to walk outside the castle and everyone else followed. Azrael sauntered forward and stood in front of her, the others circling around as though watching a duel. They were all certain that there was going to be some big argument. That, or Amara was going to end up hexing him to Death. She had raised her arms in the air to prove herself right when he stopped her, raising a hand.

“Not the elemental powers. I’m talking about your meditation powers. There are other warriors in the opposite coven who have the capability of invading minds. How good your control is over your mind, that is what we want to see,” he said to her.

Amara quietly stared at him before nodding once and giving a slight shrug. She was ready for whatever he wanted to battle her with.

“Now, I will try to control your mind without entering it,” he shot a glance at Iris who stood next to Lea. “And you will shield yourself, because I might end up manipulating you into damaging your soul,” he completed smugly. He looked directly at Amara who let out a sigh, preparing herself for what was coming.

“Go ahead,” she whispered and sat herself down, cross-legged, her eyes closed.

Azrael focussed his attention on her. There was complete silence around, apart from the rustling of the leaves on the trees. Everyone standing there held their breaths in anticipation of what was going to happen. Amara concentrated on his voice, cancelling everything else out, even the sound of her own breathing. Azrael stepped forward, right in front of her and kneeled below so he was eye-level with her. With his eyes focussed on hers, he strained his mind to keep his attention solely on her. His mind began the work, and without even blinking once, he put his powers into force.

First, he concentrated on her hand, trying to raise it in the air as the beginning step. His eyes were a blazing dark blue, as they stared right at her and Amara’s hand twitched from where it was resting on her knee. The fingers moved, rising and dropping back as she resisted whatever he was trying to do. He pushed the powers stronger, and her fingers raised themselves yet again, only to drop back into position. They didn’t move after. Instead in the flash of a second, he shifted his attention to her head, and in a moment, she was half-way in the air.

He had merely diverted her focus to the hand that he was concentrating on, and she hadn’t realized when he managed to make her move right up from the ground. Amara now understood his strategy. Normally no one else would have, because his tactics had the ability to make one go highly baffled since he kept his attention wavering from one thing to another, rendering the victim helpless and under his control. But Amara was smart enough to get it in one go, she knew he would change his point of focus at what time, and she was prepared. She didn’t try to put herself back onto the ground from where she was suspended in mid-air. Instead, she waited for his next move. She knew he would be expecting her to counter his strategy, but she did nothing of that sort.

That ended up perplexing him. But being well aware of her powers, he began to raise her body higher in the air when Amara struck back with equal force, and her legs dropped to the ground. Now she stood right up waiting for his next attack. Azrael inwardly smirked to himself, impressed. He once again focussed his attention on her in an attempt to twist her body backwards. He was sure she would resist it, and then he would snap his focus onto her hand that would grip her own neck to strangle her. With his concentration focussed on her back, he held it right there and she slowly began to bend backwards. He frowned and before he could strike another attack, Amara shot up with such a force that Azrael dropped to the ground, his head hitting the bark of a tree.

Then, she opened her eyes, the carbon black that they were. They shone so clearly that everyone around could sense the strength in her. Lea watched with admiration. She wasn’t bothered about the fact that Amara had just defeated her powerful brother, who was known for his manipulative ways. Though he gave her a tough fight, she had managed to knock him off and use his own powers against him. Iris stood there, struggling to stifle the chuckle that was about to come out. She knew there was no way he would be able to manipulate someone like Amara. It was unfeasible.

Azrael stood up, dusting his cloak off the dirt. He was more impressed than angry about the fact that she managed to defeat him using his own powers. His interpretations about her were being proven wrong. She could exceed his expectations and leave him with no answer to how she did it. There was always something unpredictable that she did, and it would have him thinking of how powerful she really was. Hard as he tried to prove them wrong – those who sung her praises – he was met with all the reasons that meant what they said was right. She was exceptional. In all his time, no one had managed to strike back so easily. There was nothing that she could not do.

Amara walked towards him with a determined expression. With her hands linked behind her back just like he did, she leaned closer and whispered, “There might be witches and great sorcerers who are capable of manipulating us, but that does not mean we are incapable of controlling ourselves.”

That being said, she strolled back into the castle, leaving everyone standing there in utter shock and admiration. As galvanized as they were with Azrael’s powers, they were more under the spell of the charismatic witch that managed to increase the respect that they all had for her. Brilliant, Iris thought and smiled to herself.

“Let’s go inside,” she said to Lea and turned around to leave.

“You go on. I’ll be in a few,” she replied and Iris shrugged before walking back into the castle.

Lea walked over to Azrael as she held a mocking grin. He responded with a scowl. She went and stood in front of him, clearing her throat in amusement when Azrael looked at her disinterestedly.

“What do you want?” He said, starting to walk into the castle.

“Why do you keep clawing her brains out every time when you know she’s got the most brilliant responses?” She said to him, grinning.

“They’re not that brilliant. I just like competing with someone who can stand before me confidently,” he replied, looking down.

“Of course, wait. Does this mean you have started to fancy her?” Lea questioned with a smirk.

Azrael stopped in his tracks. She had to be cracked for saying something like that. He turned to look at her with his eyes narrowed.

“Might I ask, dear sister, what in the devil’s name is wrong with your tiny brain?” He said, tapping her forehead lightly.

“Oh drop the act,” she told him, in all seriousness.

“You’re delusional,” he responded before vanishing out of her sight.

She let out a sigh, muttering something like ’what an idiot’ and began walking back into the castle. Erasmus watched her going back inside and lingered at the window of his chamber for a while before closing it and shutting the curtains back. Closing his eyes, he connected his mind to Nicholas’s and transferred a silent message to him. Nicholas, who was in the land of Arum Commune, busy summoning the spirit of the great witch Lilith under the orders of Lord Lucifer, got the message from Erasmus and conveyed the same to his eagle Pelagi. The eagle flew away and got to work.

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Amara sat in the library reading about torturous spells, when someone slid into the seat in front of her across the table. She lifted her head to find Azrael. She shut the book and raised her eyebrows, silently questioning what he wanted. She didn’t like being disturbed when she was busy reading. But Amara was well aware that nothing would stop him from intruding her personal space.

“I need to speak to you about the prophecy,” he said to her in a low tone.

She was taken aback and stared at him uncertainly for a long moment. How does he know about the prophecy? She wondered.

“What prophecy?” She said, breaking eye-contact.

“You know what prophecy I’m talking about.”

That confused Amara even more. The Lord and herself were the only ones aware about the prophecy and other than the two of them, it was only Lord Mikhail who knew that there existed some prophecy. But he didn’t know what it held. Amara looked at Azrael with clear confusion.

“You’re not the only one aware of what lays in the Sea of Cypress,” he said.

“You know about the whole prophecy?” She looked at him dubiously.

“No, just a small part, but I reckon we need to think over it,” he replied, leaning back.

How many things had the Lord lied to her about? Why did she not know that there was someone else that knew about the prophecy? The amount of things that she had been kept in the dark about, were increasing every day, and her trust began to waver. She was starting to think that the Lord had lied to her about everything, yet her loyalty and former trust stopped her from believing that. What if Azrael was lying? What if he had found out about the prophecy by manipulating the Lord? She didn’t know what to believe. Her tangled web kept getting even more complicated as she found out such things. At this rate, how was she supposed to believe anything that anyone told her?

“Tell me what you know,” she said to him, not wanting to believe him just yet.

“I don’t suppose this is the place to talk about that. Can we go somewhere else?” He stood up, pushing his chair back.

Amara sat there, biting her lip for a moment before standing up herself.

“The tower,” she said and promptly began to tread out of the library.

Azrael followed wordlessly. When they reached the tower, Amara stood in place, watching the sculpture of a fairy standing there in a corner, the wings wrapping her body and her head bent low, as though she was mourning over something. The last time she had seen the sculpture – that Iris told her Leandra had created – it had been standing with its wings spread and ready to fly. Am I just imagining things? Shaking the image out of her head, she proceeded to stand next to the railing. There were more important things to discuss rather than thinking about the sculpture of a fairy.

“I know just a part of the prophecy, one which you are not aware of,” said Azrael. “I don’t know about the part that you do. The knowledge of the prophecy was split so as to keep it protected, since without the whole, the answer cannot be found. The Lord knows both the parts that we do. He gave us one each. Now, to decipher the complete prophecy, one needs to unite the two parts that reside with us. Only then will the seeker be capable of summoning Lady Calypsa to know the rest of the prophecy, which later will help one get closer to the treasures that are hidden in the great Sea,” he concluded.

“But none of us seek the treasure. At least I don’t. Then why would we want to unite the two parts?” Amara said, looking at him.

“Neither do I. The point is, Amara, that if we unite the two parts that we know of, we get closer to protecting the whole prophecy. Lady Calypsa is under threat. No doubt that she is capable of protecting the treasures, but she sometimes loses control over herself, and might get defeated, which is why we need to be strong enough to be aware of the prophecy and guard it ourselves. The Lord informed me that the Lady is in danger, and that is why he asked me to speak with you, so we can gain her trust with the two parts that we know of, which will in turn provide us with the entire prophecy so we can protect it.”

“But Lady Calypsa has to be aware of who you are, and she should trust you. Otherwise even though you know both the parts, you won’t get any closer if she has no faith.”

“Yes. When the Lord was sure that I was trained enough and he trusted me, he made me get an audience with Lady Calypsa. I took the oath, sacrificed my blood and only then was I informed about the part of the prophecy after swearing to protect it.”

Amara nodded her head in understanding. Maybe the Lord didn’t lie to me, she thought, but Azrael knew that I have the other part, and I was kept in the dark about him entirely. She was unaware of who he was until he showed up three months ago. But if this meant protecting the prophecy, she would ignore the fact that her trust was starting to fade, and do her duty for which she had sworn with her blood.

“So you mean that we should divulge the parts that we know of to each other, and then go to Lady Calypsa to find out the rest?” She said to him, raising her eyebrows.

“I mean exactly that.” He nodded.

“I think that transferring the message through our minds would be better rather than speaking it out loud,” she told him.

“Of course,” he replied.

“We’ll send the message at the same time.” She turned to face him completely, her attention focussed on him.

With a nod, Azrael closed his eyes and so did Amara, opening their minds to each other while shielding them from others entering. Moments later, the message settled itself into her mind and the same happened with him. Amara read the thought that had just been planted into her head.

One can die at one’s own will

She held her breath, joining the two parts together. To possess it, a loved one must be killed. One can die at one’s own will. In that context, it meant that if a loved one was killed and the seeker was in possession of the treasure, he or she will have the power of choosing when to die. But there was something missing. The part that was known to Lady Calypsa held the link to the parts that were now known to Azrael and Amara. Similar thoughts were running in his mind as soon as he received the message. There had to be a link, and the link was surely with Lady Calypsa. If they found out about it, they would be closer to knowing what the treasure really was.

Both of them opened their eyes at the same time and looked at each other.

“When do we go to the Sea of Cypress?” Amara asked, forgetting all about her dislike towards him. All she was concerned about was the prophecy and the treasure.

“Tomorrow, we’ll leave early morning,” he replied.

“But who will be in charge of the castle then? We don’t know how long it will take.”

There was a pause.

“I think it’s time to ask Nicholas to return,” Azrael said.