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

The man who stood at the door of the castle had a sinister appearance, Iris observed. Starting from his hair that was a dirty shade of brown, his forehead was wrinkled and his eyes a sapphire blue. It was a strange combination and his eyes stood out the most, making him look even ominous than he actually seemed to be. He had a dark complexion, his beard stretched down to his chest along with his hair that was tied behind his head in sort of a bun. He wore long grey coloured robes and no footwear. He was evidently plump. Iris would call him something on the uglier side but other than that, he seemed quite different from the rest that she had seen in Acanthus. She wondered who he was, for most of the recruits in the coven were young. Younger than what he seemed to be.

She had not met anyone like him. It gave off a strange vibe as he walked past her carrying his staff that he softly stomped on the floor as he stepped ahead. Iris watched him walk by as did everyone else. When he went and stood in front of Lord Lucifer in the hall, the silence followed. Everyone turned their heads towards the centre of the hall, waiting to know what was about to happen. Amara and Azrael stood beside Iris. Eridanus stood opposite to them along with the other members of the coven.

“Welcome, m’Lord,” said Lord Lucifer, standing up and bowing his head in respect.

“I would like you to be introduced to my coven. We have the army of thirty-five Conjurers who will fight for us in this war,” Lord Lucifer said and gestured the man to turn around and look at everyone.

He then extended his arm to his right, indicating Ambrosius. “This is Ambrosius, my closest servant and the only one who is allowed to enter my chambers. He is very skilled at sacrificial rituals. Then we have Lilienne, the potion maker. She has been making potions since a hundred and ten years. Firdos here belongs to the nomadic sorcerers who have been practicing the element of Air for about two hundred and fifty years. Then there is Eridanus, our manipulation warrior who has nearly similar powers to that of our other young recruit, Iris.” Lord Lucifer looked towards her and so did the man.

She awkwardly blinked and gave a small smile in his direction. But the man’s expression was impassive. He did not react. His eyes merely flickered from one end to another as Lord Lucifer introduced all the other members of the coven. In the end he stopped at Amara.

“Amara happens to be our most skilled and powerful warrior. Water and Fire are her best elements. Sword-fighting is another one of her powers.”

Lord Lucifer’s voice trailed off in Amara’s mind as Azrael immediately shifted his head to look at her and slightly smirked. She glanced at him through the corner of her eye and struggled not to roll her eyes. He was thinking of the duel that they had had before they left to rescue Lord Lucifer from the clutches of the Mortuis Noctia Stella. How completely interesting that duel had been was something fresh in both of their minds. Every strange uncomfortable feeling that they were having since the past two days was now gone. The moment that Azrael had informed Amara about a new addition to the coven, the two of them had gotten busy in finding out who it was and later talking to Sienna about how they were going to help the spirits travel to the Sea of Cypress to protect Lady Calypsa, without being detected by Lord Mikhail.

Since then, they had shared a few moments like the ones during the night they spent in the woods, and had been comfortable around each other after that. Now there seemed to be no discomfort between them. Mostly because there was a war coming and they had to protect Lady Calypsa. Other than that, maybe it was because it did not matter anymore, the two of them had vaguely enough accepted the fact that there was some invisible string between them that held them together, however loose it may be; it was there. And both of them were sure of it.

“I would like to get all of you acquainted with our most elderly and learned member of the coven, Lord Khshathra Vairya. He won’t be fighting in the war, for he is a priest; and one of the most knowledgeable. He is here to ensure protection of the castle while we fight,” said Lord Lucifer, after he was done introducing Amara to Lord Vairya.

“He does not speak. Lord Vairya took the vow fifty years ago,” Lord Lucifer informed them.

“Ambrosius, escort the Lord to his chambers.”

When Ambrosius left with Lord Vairya, Lord Lucifer turned to the rest and instructed them to leave, only apart from Sienna, Azrael and Amara. As they were leaving, Eridanus grabbed Iris’s arm and pulled her in the direction of his own chambers. Amara watched the two leave and frowned in confusion before turning back to look at Lord Lucifer who stood there patiently waiting for the others to leave. When everyone else was gone, he switched his attention to the three apprentices that stood before him.

“When do you three plan on leaving for the Sea of Cypress?” He asked, sitting on his throne his fingertips joined together as he tried to collect his thoughts.

“We were thinking tonight, m’Lord,” said Azrael, glancing at the two women once. “Would you accompany us?” He raised his eyebrows.

“Is it required? I have been travelling a lot for the past month. It is exhausting and a war is coming. I cannot lose any strength at this moment. If it is really necessary. . .” he trailed off.

“No it is not,” said Amara. “It’s not so necessary, m’Lord. I think we can handle ourselves.”

She nervously looked at the other two. They looked at her disbelievingly. Of course it was required that the Lord accompanied them. They were not sure enough that they would be able to carry about ten spirits to the Sea of Cypress without being detected. It was a long journey and they needed a higher force. It would take all three of them to guard the spirits. To lead the way and fight off threats wasn’t something they would be capable of while handling ten souls. They had to protect each other as well.

“Are you sure?” Lord Lucifer asked, raising his eyebrows in suspicion.

He looked at all three of them pointedly.

“Yes, my Lord. You don’t have to worry. We shall leave tonight and return as soon as we can,” replied Amara, nodding in assurance.

“Alright then,” Lord Lucifer sighed. “I need to start preparing for the war now. Discuss strategies with the coven. Since the three of you may not return until the next few days, I will hold meetings again for you. But for now we need the preparations to begin. Try to return as soon as you can. And if you need anyone else to go with you then by all means do so. Keep the details to a minimum but other than that you can escort whomever you need. Do inform me of the same. Sienna, you may leave now. I have to speak to the two of them privately.”

Nodding her head, Sienna turned around and left with a lingering look in Amara’s direction, for everyone knew that she had made a foolish decision of not including Lord Lucifer with them. He was needed. It was unsafe without him.

“Lord Vairya is here to protect the spirit of Lilith; to keep an eye on any intrusions from Lord Mikhail and helping in guarding it. Being a very experienced priest, he has informed me about a trouble that we might be facing here. There is a spy that we have in the castle. Someone who is part of the coven; he couldn’t tell me the identity of the person, but he is assured that there is someone who has been sending messages to Lord Mikhail about confidential things. Things that only the two of you are aware of; I need the both of you to keep an eye on each and every member from now on, and find out whoever it is that is betraying us. Make sure you find the traitor.”

He stood up with a menacing look as he took a few steps forward and stared right at the two of them.

“I do not trust anybody at the moment and I want you to do the same. Trust no one, for it is crucial information that has been revealed to Lord Mikhail. I could sense it in the King’s court. And when I say anybody, I mean that if it turns out to be the ones I trust the most, the consequences of the same will be destructive. Be careful,” he whispered before vanishing out of sight.

Amara and Azrael stood there with chills running down their spines as the air suddenly turned cold. For a few long moments none of them spoke a single word. Then Azrael turned to her and offered a sad smile before walking off slowly. Trust no one, the Lord had said. Could she trust Azrael?

Sighing, Amara turned around and walked back to her chamber for gathering the required things for the trip to the Sea of Cypress. She took an enchanted bag, threw in her sword, a dagger and a box of the smallest needle like poisonous weapons that could be inserted into skin and end a life instantly. They were to be used only for extremely important and dangerous attackers. Amara concluded that they might face some problems on the way, so she sealed the box properly and carefully placed it in her bag. Moments later, she was out of her chamber, locking it securely before she rushed to the potions chamber. Sienna was already there, gathering the required potions for the journey into another small bag. When she spotted Amara walking in, she stopped doing her work and turned to face Amara.

“What is wrong with you? You are supposed to be one intelligent and brilliant witch. How could you say that we don’t need the Lord with us? Of course we need him! It could be dangerous! We need a powerful force with us if any attack occurs. Do you even realize the intensity of the situation? There are ten spirits that we are going to be carrying with us on a long journey where anything could happen. Those spirits could turn malignant if not given proper care to. The three of us alone cannot just-”

“Enough,” said Amara, raising her hand and cutting her off. “Do I come off as a fool to you? When I denied the Lord I had thought about what I was saying. He needs to be here. We have an elderly priest who is going to protect the spirit of Lilith. If he is protecting that dangerous spirit, we need to guard the protector as well. And only the Lord can do that. Nobody else in this coven is capable enough of handling spirits as much as you are. With you gone, no one else will be able to contain this. The castle needs the Lord more than we do. He told us that we can take others for our protection. I am sure we can. Leandra is also good at handling spirits. We can take her with us. She is young and she is strong. We can ask Iris as well, or even Eridanus. All three of them are strong enough to help us. This is not the time to argue amongst us. We have a war to fight.”

Sienna stared at Amara silently. She has a point, she thought.

“Women having arguments is always so fascinating. Did I miss something?” Azrael waltzed into the chamber carrying a bag of his own slung around his shoulder.

He stood beside Amara who sighed.

“Do you have everything we need?” He asked Sienna.

“Almost, I’ll meet you both at the horse-barn at midnight,” she replied.

“Why there?” He frowned.

“Aren’t we travelling on horses?” She asked, turning to them.

“No. We can’t. We’ll have to walk. The route to the Sea of Cypress is not something horses can handle. Or any wagon for that matter; it is required that the travellers walk if they have to reach Lady Calypsa,” answered Amara.

“Great,” Sienna rolled her eyes.

“Well someone could always carry you if needed.” Azrael shrugged nonchalantly in response.

“Yes. Get a dragon for me,” replied Sienna, smiling slyly as she walked past him swiftly.

Amara stared at Azrael. It was as though she was going to stab a dagger through his ribs. He raised his eyebrows in question. She just shook her head and ventured out of the chamber so fast, he had only just blinked. Azrael followed her outside and stopped her in the passageway.

“Is everything okay?” He asked, concerned.

Humans or sorcerers, males are always dim-witted, she thought to herself.

“Spectacular,” she replied, sarcasm dripping out of her tone.

She did not know what made her do that. She did not know why she had spoken that way and why she suddenly felt so angry. All she knew was that she did not like Sienna anymore, or maybe it was Azrael whom she wanted to kill repeatedly, for heaven knew what reason.

“You appear anything but spectacular,” he told her.

“Why do you care?” She snapped, walking away and he followed trying to keep up.

“I’m not entirely sure if I understand that question,” he said.

“Wouldn’t you rather get a dragon for Sienna instead of talking about silly things to me?” She stopped and turned to him with a feral expression that nearly scared Azrael for a moment.

And then suddenly a smirk hit his face as he realized what Amara was feeling at that point of time. How could I be so shallow? He thought. It wasn’t even his idea to make her jealous in the first place. What seemed like him being over-friendly to Sienna was actually him just offering a silly suggestion as a joke, which ended up in Amara feeling jealous.

“Get that smile away or I will hex you.” Amara pointed an index finger in his face before storming off, leaving Azrael standing there as he laughed his heart out at how interesting Amara was. Despite of putting up the tough and intimidating personality in front of everyone, there was still an ounce of a vulnerable girl inside that was ready to pounce whenever he was around her.

Shaking his head, Azrael walked back to his chamber and Amara cursed herself for feeling what she felt. Was it even sane? Was it necessary for him to affect her so much? He was just a coven member, someone that she was working with, and he should not matter to her at all. But was he just all of that? Or had things miraculously changed? She failed to understand a single thing. Deliberately, she pushed those thoughts away from her mind and began to approach Iris’s chamber. She knocked on the door once before entering. Leandra and Iris sat inside, talking in hushed whispers about something and giggling as they did so. Amara cleared her throat to get their attention.

“Amara,” Iris said, standing up.

There was a silly grin that she held, and it refused to go away. It rather annoyed Amara, for she had an idea as to what they had been talking about, and why she was smiling in that manner. Choosing to ignore it, Amara informed Iris about the journey and that it would be helpful if she accompanied her along.

“Leandra can join us if she wishes to,” she said, looking at Leandra who seemed eager enough to go with them.

“Well, okay. I don’t think we have anything else to do,” said Iris, nodding in agreement.

“Of course! We will join you,” Leandra said, smiling.

“Alright then, meet me at the gate in an hour. Gather whatever supplies you think will be necessary for the journey.”

With that, Amara turned around and left the chamber while Lea and Iris got themselves busy in preparing for the journey. An hour later, the five of them were assembled outside the castle gate, carrying one bag each.

“Everyone ready?” asked Azrael, looking at all of them.

They nodded and began to walk in the desired direction. Unknown to Lea and Iris, the ten spirits that Sienna had gathered invisibly followed them, settled all around them in a circle as though in guard. As they all strode ahead, Iris’s curiosity sprung up.

“Why are we going there?” She asked.

“Not to be disclosed, Iris. Your questions cannot be answered at this moment,” said Azrael, offering her a smile.

Iris sheepishly looked away, disappointed.

“Hopefully they will confess their feelings to each other,” Lea whispered to Iris who chuckled and nodded in response.

“Speaking of confessions. . .” Iris trailed off and Lea widened her eyes, turning to look at her curiously.

“What?” She said, excitedly.

“I was talking to Eridanus after the meeting in the great hall,” Iris began.

“Shush,” Amara hissed at the two of them before turning away.

The both of them then kept quiet and followed the other three in silence.

They had been travelling for the past four hours and when it seemed like they needed to rest, Azrael stopped in the valleys of some mountain. Throwing his bag down to the ground, he turned around to face the others.

“We’ll rest here for an hour. You two can get some sleep while we keep watch on any dangers,” he said to Iris and Lea who seemed eager enough to sleep since they felt quite tired after having walked for so long.

Soon they were sound asleep under a tree. Azrael then turned to Sienna, grabbed her arm and led her away from Iris and Lea so they would not overhear.

“There is a cave here. You could go and give the spirits some rest,” he told her quietly and she nodded in response.

Amara pushed herself to the ground, resting her back on the foot of a hill. She glanced at Azrael and Sienna. A pinching feeling struck her on the inside watching his hand on her arm. She turned away, ignoring the two along with the unknown feeling that was creeping inside of her. Letting out a sigh, she dug into her bag and pulled out a flask of water before gulping down some.

“May I have that?” said Azrael, extending his arm and pointing to the flask.

He sat before her, crouched down to his knees as he spoke. Without a word, Amara handed him the flask and looked away. Once again – unaware of what had made her so ignorant towards him – Azrael frowned in confusion as he gave the flask back to her and she refused to look in his direction, uninterestedly taking the flask and shoving it into her bag.

“You seem quite restless,” he said to her, settling right beside her at the foot of the hill.

His arm brushed the side of hers and she shifted away realizing that a certain chill ran down her skin at his touch. Amara mentally cursed herself for feeling things that she should not be feeling. It was silly. She decided not to look at him suspecting that her flaming cheeks would be obvious even in the darkness.

“Do I?” She replied, impassively.

“Are you really bothered about the fact that I talked to Sienna?” He asked, almost cursing himself for directly asking such a silly question to her when he knew what the answer was and how she was going to react.

“Why would I be bothered about something like that? Do I look like a twelve-year old?” She snapped, a bit annoyed.

Azrael struggled to bite back a chuckle.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that,” he told her, looking down.

“Just be quiet and get some rest,” she whispered back calmly before resting her head behind and closing her eyes.

Azrael looked at her for a long moment, smiled, and then sat up properly so he could keep watch while the others rested.

ӿ ӿ ӿ

They had not faced any dangers so far and were now stood at the Sea of Cypress, one day later. The spirits were all safe and everyone was quite tired yet content to arrive at their destination without having to face any qualms. The sun rose up from the east as they set foot in front of the huge sea where Lady Calypsa resided. There was a beautiful light that surrounded the Sea. Since it was early morning and Lady Calypsa would not see them before midnight, the lot decided to get some food and rest until the day ended. Sienna left to find a cave along with Lea who had been helping all this while, although unaware of the spirits. It was quite evident that there were some other companions with them - since Leandra herself dealt with spirits, she could sense the same but did not say so.

With her help, Sienna had been able to keep the spirits in control while the others enhanced the protection. Iris and Amara now sat on top of a huge rock, pulling out a few food items from the bag that Lea had prepared in the kitchen before they had left. There were a few fruits which Amara handed to Azrael and Iris before taking some for herself. Azrael sat on another rock with his legs extended in front of him.

“Iris,” he called out when she was busy talking to Amara about white witchcraft.

“Yes?” She turned to him, raising her eyebrows.

“Do you think you will be okay here alone?” He asked, stepping down from the rock that he was seated on.

She frowned.

“I think so. . .” she hesitated, glancing at a confused Amara.

“It’s safe, don’t worry. Besides, Lea is here, see,” he told her, in the end pointing at Leandra who was heading in their direction.

Iris shrugged in response.

“Lea, take care of her and don’t go wandering,” he said to her.

“Are you going somewhere?” She asked.

“Yes. Just be careful,” he replied before looking at Amara.

“Amara,” he spoke. She looked at him.

“Walk with me,” he said.

“Why?”

She narrowed her eyes in suspicion. She did not know what sort of suspicion it was, but nonetheless.

“Just walk with me,” he said again while Lea and Iris exchanged knowing looks, trying to hide their smirks. Sighing, Amara stepped down from the rock and began walking to where Azrael led her. Iris chuckled and looked at Lea as she sat next to Iris bemusedly. At a distance, Azrael led her away from there and silently they proceeded along the shore of the Sea.

“Do you have any doubts about who it could be?” He suddenly asked.

“Lord Mikhail’s messenger, you mean?” She replied, admiring the light of the sun that shone upon the Sea. He nodded in response.

“I’m not sure. It could be anyone.” She shrugged.

“Before we begin looking for the traitor, I need one thing cleared between us, since we have the task of revealing the same. I don’t how much you trust me. We don’t exactly know each other that well.”

He stopped walking and turned to her. “I don’t doubt you on that, nobody would doubt upon the fact that you could be the messenger, it’s just not possible. I, on the other hand, have joined the coven only recently. So if you want to know whether I am the traitor, I offer myself for any test that is needed. And when I pass that test, I want you to trust me completely so together we can find out who it is.”

He stepped forward and intently looked straight into her eyes. She stared back. Something inside her told her that it could not be him. At any cost, it wasn’t Azrael. She knew it. It was unclear to her how much she trusted him, but she knew for a fact that he wasn’t the traitor they were looking for. Yet the confirmation was required.

“I’m letting you into my mind. You can see whatever you need to,” he whispered.

With that, he opened the doors and Amara unintentionally entered his mind.