Wielders of Magic, Book 2: The Trinity

"The dragon than blew terrible green gas at us, and I protected myself with a force field spell, locking the terrible stuff outside." Drusilla said dramatically, what seemed like fifty little Edoheths piled in front of her and listening with wide, wild cat eyes. "He some how got into my head than, trying to make me take down my magic and die in the gas, telling me my friends were eaten, and that he would wait until I was too tired to hold it and than devour me. I was terrified, and than suddenly everything went black. You could of asked Jackson, or Asha . . . or Arthur, but they all perished long ago." She paused, memories flashing in her mind. A hug from Jackson, a wry smile from Asha, a kiss from Arthur . . .

"Very long ago." She pushed back her sadness and smiled, running a hand through the chestnut hair of a little boy beside her, stroking his large fluffy ears.

"Why did you live?" One of them asked, buried in the crowd.

"Because I found some other friends." She stood up than, staring down into the bright tilled land of the catnip farms. Everything was golden or a deep, leafy green as the sun set, which made her mind wander a little.

"Drusilla!" A tall Edoheth ran towards her, pointing back at the palace of Master Leo. "One of your friends is out of control! He won't listen to reason, I think he is delirious!"

"Oh no, is it Jaden?" She asked, standing up and joining him in running back to the place.

"We don't know, but your other companions can not calm him down! He has killed his maid servant and injured three others . . . if you can not get him under control we will have to take matters into our own hands."

"I will, don't worry." They rounded a corner and ran into the castle.

Drusilla only wished they hadn't killed her friend already.

"Stay back!" Jaden threatened, his fists wrapped into tight balls and his eyes as red as rubies.

"Jaden please!" Lilith shouted, taking a step nearer to him as he pressed up against a wall, like a cornered rabbit. "We are not trying to hurt you!"

"Stay away from me!" He screamed in return, making her recoil in helplessness.

"Oh name of the gods!" Drusilla appeared at the end of the hallway, Steven following behind her. "My friend what is wrong?" She walked right up to him and looked him in the eye.

"Finally some help!" He grabbed her shoulders, his deranged eyes making her veer back a little. "These monsters are trying to destroy me! Quick, use your fire magic, they took my swords and I am defenseless!"

"Jaden, they aren't trying to attack you. That is Lilith and Rey." She set a hand on his shoulder, her eyes searching for the slightest bit of irregularity in his dark hair or olive skin.

She found nothing, not in his face; except for his eyes of course, which burned with delusional fever.

"What?" He gasped, obviously exhausted.

"Peace my friend, we will find a way to repair your mind." She took his hand and squeezed it. "Come, lets get you back into your room before you cause any more disruption."

"What is going on?" He asked, clutching his skull with his other cold clammy hand and looking at the world through wide, deranged eyes.

Drusilla got him back into his room and than had Rey and Lilith help her search for a spell to help heal him. First they had to find out what was wrong with him, than they would have to find a way to heal him.

Both things weren't easy, every healer knew that.

"Here, I found something." Rey held up a book about forest plants which was rather large in size and a little dusty. "This plant dwells in swamp arias-"

"Nope, didn't pass through one." Lilith corrected, slapping the back of his head. "Think brother, think about the area's we passed through, not what the book passed through."

"I have nothing to go by." He threw his hands in the air, staring at the two woman with helplessness. "We passed through an entire forest, how am I going to find something that matches his symptoms in less than a month? Yeah right, ladies."

"What did we eat the night before we came here?" Drusilla asked, running a frustrated hand through her strange colored hair.

"Rabbit stew." Lilith replied, shrugging.

"What was in it?"

"Rentham killed two rabbits, and Jaden said he found some herbs that he wanted to put in it . . ." Suddenly she became very serious, horror spreading across her face. "I know what he ate."

"What?" The Red Witch and Rey said simultaneously.

"He brought back some herbs and one I didn't recognize, so I told him it wasn't going in there. He seemed very sure that it was not poisonous but I still didn't believe him." She shook her head, looking over at the bed where he lay in troubled sleep. "Right in front of me, he bit into it and chewed it up, swallowing as well. It looked a little like a flower of some kind, deep purple and slender petals. He said that that proved it wasn't poisonous and I just shook my head. Turns out it was."

"One moment. Purple flower . . ." Rey mumbled as he flipped through the book of forest plants. He searched for about a minute until his hands slapped down on page one thousand, three hundred and forty five. "It is the Regonious plant, spawned from the Abyss. It gives hallucinations of demons and terrifying beings to all friendly faces the consumer comes in contact with."

"Will it kill him?" Drusilla asked.

"No, I do not believe so. It just needs a chance to get out of his system." He shook his head and gave the book back to the Red Witch. "He will come back to us."

"Why did he not see you as an enemy?" Lilith asked, staring at Drusilla as she put her things back into her bag.

"I don't know." She shrugged. "Maybe it is already starting to wear off?"

"Or he loves you." Rey said playfully, a grin cracking his thin lips. "You two kind of seem to have a thing for each other-"

"Rey, stop it please." She put a hand over her eyes, a blush traveling across her face. "Its not a funny matter."

"I think it is." Lilith chuckled.

"Well, I don't even know what that is anymore, so leave it alone. He doesn't think of me that way, no one does, and I am happy about that." She smiled a little than looked at the resting Jaden. "It means that if one of you dies, I won't lose part of that feeling anymore. Most of it is gone, and I don't want to risk anymore, not until the world is cured of its disease at least."

"Well, you try and stay dormant." Rey replied and stood up, his black robe fluttering about his ankles as he walked out with his older sister who towered above him. "Just see how well that works out for you. You can't control it, Drusilla, no one can."

"I have, and I will." She said to herself, walking over to the side of Jadens bed and staring down at him. He looked more at peace now, which made her more at peace as well. "Good, maybe you will finally get some sleep." She bent down and kissed his forehead before leaving the room, shutting the door softly behind her.

Jaden opened his eyes and stared at the shut entrance. He laughed a little, putting a weary hand over his eyes. "You have no idea, do you Drusilla?"

The night was young and the sky full of stars as the Edoheths started to prepare for their celebration. It was the night of the "Kitten", which was when all the Edoheth children of proper age became adults. It was a vast ceremony, and each child was prepared by their parents or guardian to partake of the ritual. Each child would be placed directly beneath a star, which would tell of what they would be in the future, or who they really were inside.

And the companions were invited as the guests of honor.

"Kalkira," Peace said softly to her brother, standing beside him in her ceremonial, pure white dress.

"Yes?" He asked.

"I'm scared." She started to cry, grasping his hand with every ounce of strength she could muster. "I don't want to do this, please don't make me do this."

"Its alright, my sister. This is one of the biggest moments of your life, and I know that it can be scary. But don't worry, all you feel is a little bit of a rush and than its over." He scratched behind one of her ears to calm her, his own flicking up to listen to the many conversations in the crowd. So far no one was planning to hurt her, and he was glad he could relax a little.

"Peace Snow!" Came the call of her personal cleric. He had arranged her star and everything she wore, making sure the ceremony was preformed correctly because her brother was not of age to do such things. He was like a father - no, more like a step father. He took care of them when Kalkira could not, but didn't really do anything else for them.

"Coming." She replied and slowly walked onto her star mark, standing beside a boy with chestnut hair. He was going on and on about the visitors story at their school, and how she had touched his hair. He was infatuated with the visitor, and frankly everyone was getting tired of it.

A hush went over the crowd as the ceremony began. Every Edoheth coming of age was standing in their place, and their clerics were ready.

"Is this the only magic your race possesses?" Retham asked Master Leo.

"Yes, it is. Some special ones can be in touch with an element, but that has only happened twice in our history. I am not going to say that it is not possible, but it is very, very rare. Like violet eyes being rare among the rest of you humanoids." He grinned, noticing the purple orbs laying inside Rentham's eye sockets. The fallen king smiled back and turned away, looking down at the children and wondering what they would become.

Everyone had a destiny written in the stars.

"You don't have to stay up here with me." Jaden said, sighing as he looked at the top of his bed canopy.

Drusilla didn't reply. Her slender fingers only turned a page in one of her spell books as her rose colored eyes flitted across the page as quick as a mouse.

The assassin looked out the window, seeing Lilith flirting with Steven, Rey being an antisocial drama king, and Rentham talking with Master Leo. They looked like they were having a good time, all except the dark warlock, but he chose not to. "You should be down there with them, attending the ceremony."

"I have no interest in it." She answered finally, not even looking up from a frost spell along the yellowed pages.

"Why not?" He sighed again, trying to sit up some more. "I didn't know you didn't like parties."

"I don't see the need to socialize with strange people I will never meet again." She shrugged, looking out the window than. "Besides, they are always loud, and its nice and quiet up here."

"Still . . ." Jaden sighed one last time, making Drusilla slam her book shut.

"Alright, I get the picture. I am going." She stood up and went to the door, which made him lurch and make a small whining sound.

"No don't go!" He cried, falling halfway out of bed.

"What in the name of the Abyss do you want?" She chuckled, going to help him up. "You don't want me here, but when I leave you do."

"Well, I didn't want you to think you needed to stay up here with me. 'Cause you don't need to, but I was just saying . . ." He shrugged as she fixed the sheets around him. "Sorry if you thought that."

"It's alright." She smiled a little than went to the window, her soft red locks flowing down past her thighs. "They do look like they are having quite the party down there."

"Yeah. Do you . . . never mind."

"What?" She turned than, locking eyes with him.

"I was wondering if you were a good story teller." He shook his head. "Doesn't matter."

"Well, the kids like me." She laughed a little and sat at the end of the bed with her legs crossed. "Once upon a time . . . there was an assassin. He had idiotically eaten a rare and dangerous forest plant that made his mind go all loopy for hours and hours on end. He eventually came back to the world, but insisted that he should be left alone."

"I was asking for a story, not a history lesson." He smiled sort of sadly. "But it was brilliantly told by the way."

"The skill of words is one of the most powerful ways to stir a heart. Why do you think men write poetry for woman? Or stories make you cry some times?" She looked down at the floor in thoughtfulness. "I never thought to write anything down though, I just get it off the top of my head."

"You sure stirred my heart." He mumbled.

"What did you just say?" Her face scrunched up a little in surprise.

"Oh nothing. Just a joke." He stared at his hands, his hard working, very decorated hands. He wore a lot of rings that increased his skill in wielding a swords and gave him some resistence against some things, but there was one he just wore for the fun of it.

His fathers signet family ring. He had left it behind, and even though he did not claim to be his son, he knew exactly who he was.

No one knew who he was, but they would soon find out sooner or later. The truth had to come out one time or another.

Everyone knows you can not hide from your siblings.