Zenora

As Markus was chanting in the strange language, the blood in the bowl started to boil. My breathing became irregular now and my chest was really hurting me. Markus his chanting became louder and an orb of light started to leave my chest, I screamed in torture. Knowing he would take all my powers, I cried. The orb was hanging above my chest.

Brock’s point of view:

The moment she fell on the ground almost a month ago, I knew something was wrong. She is a strong, young woman; it was strange for her to just faint without any reason. Within a short amount of time, I had arranged for Cirilya to get to the Hunter's Lodge and I went to the castle to get Michael and Brandon to search for clues. When I arrived at the Lodge again, Emily was still not awake. Cirilya had told me, that the waters couldn’t help her, as the poison was still in her body. I became so angry that I had walked outside and broke my hand by hitting the wall.

The next days we still couldn’t find any clues, as to who could have done this to her. Again, I felt so hopeless, just like the time I saw her walking up to that tree in the forest. I screamed and yelled and she nearly didn’t come back to me. So, when she wouldn’t wake up and her body was deteriorating, I started to think that she would be better off without me. She began to look so weak after a few days that I couldn’t bear to see her anymore. Her body was in so much danger and I couldn’t do one single thing about it. It was all my fault! If I wasn’t so much in love with her, I would’ve seen the danger and followed my instinct. But her beautiful body and amazing character just let me down my guard. I let her get into this danger. I had to be strong for her, so she could grow old with someone else. My love for her will always be there, but as her partner I couldn’t keep her safe. I had to be the general and act as that role.

I pointed my anger towards the hunters at the lodge. Not necessarily hurting them, but training them so much, just to keep my mind away from her. I knew I was pushing them to the edge, but I had so much anger in my body that I had to release it in some way.

When she finally came outside after two whole weeks, while I was trying to avoid her with excuses, I couldn’t manage to look her in the eyes when she walked angrily towards me. She hit me in the face but I didn't care. I had to be strong and reject her there, that moment, before I’d change my mind. It was the most difficult thing I ever did in my life. Giving up the love of my life, in return for her safety.

But everything I did was not for the better, as I found out the next morning. It was for the worst. She had left the lodge, with her gear and Bastet, and was nowhere to be found. I got scolded by the King for not paying attention and breaking her heart. Anna and Cirilya were mad at me as well, they couldn’t understand why I broke up with her.

After a few days of searching, Michael and Brandon found out from Arch's servant, that he was the one that did this to her. The servant admitted that he gave Emily the substance in her wine, as someone paid him a lot of money. He couldn't tell who it was though, since it was all arranged by letters. The servant got himself punished for what he did, as an attack towards the Princess will be 'rewarded' with the death sentence.

Arch felt terrible, when he found out that his servant poisoned her. But I assured him that it wasn't his fault.

We got a tip from a farmer, who had seen a strange, purple creature flying around so we took that lead first and flew off in the middle of the night. After a few hours we found out that the tip was actually a lie, as one of our mages contacted me and notified me about it. The mage found out, that where we were flying to, no farms were there at all. So, we spend almost all night with flying up to nowhere. I got angry; we aren’t getting anywhere! Where is she?!

We had been searching in almost every direction and still weren’t able to find her. We had reached the castle again in the morning, so I took some hours of sleep and ate lunch after.

When it was evening, Cirilya yelled to me that Bastet was flying outside the castle. I heard loud squeaks from up in the sky and saw Bastet being frantic. I was so relieved to see her! But where was Emily?

With Cirilya and a few of my men, we followed her in the fastest way we could and kept flying for hours. All night I kept awake and I almost lost hope of ever finding her alive. It was later in the morning and Bastet guided us towards this strange farm house in the middle of nowhere. I hope I was not too late!

I jumped off of Nightwing's back and the others followed me suit. We heard some weird chanting and Cirilya told me a powerful spell was being cast. I swung the door open and I saw the head-doctor channelling a spell. He got surprised by my appearance, apparently, he expected me to be far away. Maybe the lead from the farmer came from him?

“No this isn’t possible! You shouldn’t be here!” He yelled to me.

An orb of light was hanging above a night stand, almost dropping into a bowl of red liquid. “Don’t let him finish that spell!” Cirilya yelled to me when she saw that orb hanging. I didn’t think twice and walked over towards him and knocked him unconscious. He was going to feel my wrath later.

As the spell was now interrupted, I hoped that this orb of light went into her body again, but it didn’t. I had recognised the spell as I have seen an orb leave her body before. I really hoped that I did the right thing, as the orb kept hovering over the bowl.

“Na goren itys, to en galéh.

Imeary itys, to en galéh.”

I heard Cirilya whisper and saw her shoot a ray of light into the sky, right before Emily fell unconscious. The orb was still hanging above the bowl.

I walked over to Emily and watched all the wounds on her body, she has been tortured for hours! She must have been in so much pain. Oh no! What have I done to her? A huge wave of guilt raged into my body as I saw that her pants were off. I felt so terrible, did he touch her? Or worse, rape her? She was punished by me breaking up with her, she left because of it and now she was tortured, maybe sexually assaulted as well! I felt horrified, but I’m glad that I reached her just in time. Just before her powers would be taken also.

Then, an amazing light appeared in the room, it was the Moonlight Goddess! Cirilya had called for her but I couldn’t understand a word of Elfish, so I didn’t know what to say.

"Please don't take her powers, please return them to her! She has lost everything already! Please!" I begged her.

The Goddess spoke some sentences in the Elven tongue but I just frowned my brows. Cirilya, talked to her and pointed at me and Emily. It looked like their conversation lasted for several minutes, while I tried to make something out of what they said.

I looked back and forth, switching my eyes between Cirilya and the Goddess. Waiting for some action of the Goddess which got me agitated. Then I heard Emily moan in her sleep and figured she must have a nightmare now.

"Please, I beg of you, give her, her powers back!" I yelled.

The Goddess just smiled to me and started to chant. The orb that was hanging above the bowl, returned to Emily’s body and when it entered her chest, she took a breath so big that her torso lifted from the bed.

“A dui ty I makto mar.” The Goddess had said, but again I didn’t know what it meant.

After Cirilya thanked the Moonlight Goddess, she stepped back into the bright light again and left the old farm house.

Cirilya smiled to me, but didn’t say a thing. She walked over to Emily and started healing her wounds with the sacred waters and song. The waters only shut the wounds but she still had to regain a huge amount of blood, which would take some time, Cirilya said. Then she helped me putting Emily her pants back on.

Emily was weak and still passed out, I picked her up from the old, dirty bed and carried her outside. My men dragged the doctor out and strapped him onto his fragile gryphon, which on its turn was tied up to one of my men’s gryphons.

I held Emily in front of me on Nightwing, and Bastet followed us closely. She never let Emily out of her sight.