Sorceress' Blood (15 page)

Then no one would want to tease or hit Ashley the Flying Girl any
more. That was why she smiled, in spite of all the pain surging
through her body as if it were her blood.

When the villagers, who had been enjoying the festivities around
their bonfire, saw Ashley lying on the ground and smiling like a
fool, they began to whisper to each other. It was all a different
language. Some of them tried talking to her.

“Sorry. I don't know what you're saying,” was all she
could think to say in response. A couple of the village men helped
Ashley to her feet. Ashley immediately sat down again and shook her
head.

“I need to sit down. I'm really tired.” The villagers
looked at her with the same confused expressions that she gave them
when they spoke to her. “Does anyone know how I can get into
that place?” Ashley pointed to the Tower. The villages followed
her finger and then one of them asked her something. Ashley shrugged.
“I don't know what you're saying. You don't know what I'm
saying either, do you?” Ashley sighed and looked at the fire.
The flames raised and fell and twirled and Ashley saw some people
examining the splintered pieces of her flying carpet. Now that she
had stopped talking, many of the villages were going back to what
they were doing before she arrived. Ashley didn't bother them again.
She was just happy to be warm by the fire.

“Are you a sorceress?” Ashley heard someone ask. She was
too surprised to respond at first and then she saw the boy talking to
her. He was much older than Ashley and Ashley right away noticed that
he had green eyes. The boy had a thick nose, the first signs of acne
creeping along the bridge of it. Then Ashley noticed something else
strange about him but at first she could not place it.

“You can understand me?”

“Yes. I had to learn English when I was trying to become a
knight. I was very good at it.” The boy had a thick accent but
he was fluent and Ashley understood him without trouble.

“Are you a knight?”

“No. I never passed the squire test. So I came back home to be
a farmer like my father.”

“Oh. Why did you fail?”

“I broke my leg when I was very little. It didn't heal right so
I can't run or jump very well.”

“That's sad.”

“It's okay. So are you a sorceress?”

“No. I'm still learning. Rebecca brought me here so I could
learn in the Tower but I couldn't get in.”

“Is she your mother?”

“Yes,” Ashley answered without thinking. “She's in
Lord Edward's castle.”

“Why are you here and not in the Tower?”

“I couldn't make the doors open.”

“I saw what you did with the fence boards. I'm sure you'll make
a great sorceress.”

“I hope so. But I can't even get into the Tower to learn more.”

“Do you think you could teach me to magic?”

“No.” Ashley shook her head. “I can't really
explain how to do it. I just do it and sometimes it works.”

“Oh.” There was a pause in the conversation. Somewhere on
the other side of the fire a woman was laughing. “Do you think
you could make my leg better?”

“I'm sorry. I don't know how. I've never done anything like
that. I just know how to make things move. I'm good at that.”

“Oh. What's your name?”

“Ashley.”

“Nice to meet you, Ashley.” The Chinese boy stood up and
brushed the dust from the seat of his pants. He walked away and
Ashley watched as he talked to some grown-ups and then went inside.
The grown-up he had spoken to, left the village by the road. All
alone again and feeling like an outsider she lay down by the fire and
closed her eyes. It was late and the day had seemed long and
exhausting. She tried to remember what she'd done that had made the
day so exhausting. Not long after she had rested her head on her arm,
she fell asleep. When Ashley woke again the fire had gone out and she
was cold, her arm had fallen asleep and she could barely see her own
hands in the dark. She blinked and rubbed her eyes and then noticed
someone standing above her.

“Ashley?” He had a deep voice that made her feel
uncomfortable.

“Yes?”

“I'm from the Tower. I've been wondering where you got to.”

“I couldn't open the door so I came here.”

“You were told to wait, weren't you?”

“I was cold and I didn't think anyone was coming.”

“I see. Your choice was foolish but, by the accounts I have
been given, you showed considerable skill in making it here. Take my
hand and we will return to the Tower.” He extended his hand and
Ashley stood up and took hold. She blinked wearily and when her eyes
were open again she was no longer in the darkness of the village.
Lanterns hung from beams above her and lit up the red room she now
stood in. Tapestries lined the walls and in front of her were a thin
mattress, pillow and blankets on the floor. Ashley looked around her
and saw an empty book shelf, a wooden chest with silver framing. Then
Ashley looked up at the man whom she had met in the village and saw
only his leather jacket and a hood that cast a shadow over his face.

“This is the second floor of the Tower and this is your room. I
will come for you in the morning and you may begin your tutelage in
magic. Good night.” The man let go of her hand and left the
room. Ashley was cold, dirty and she could feel both dry sweat on her
skin and mud caked in her hair. She sneezed and then she lay down
under her blankets and went to sleep. There was nothing else she
could think of doing and there was nothing else she'd been allowed to
do. She didn't take long to fall back into her deep sleep and was
thankful that she was at least a little drier and a little warmer.
She dreamed of Ashley the Flying girl, a fantasy that was so distant
and silly by then. Ashley the Flying girl had perhaps never existed
and she had never won any battle over the world. There was only
Ashley the Cold, Dirty and Tired.

When she was awoken early the next morning, too early for her still
weary body, the first thing she was told to do was shower. She was
thankful that she would be able to wash the dirt from her body and
for some hot water. But the water was only sometimes lukewarm and
mostly colder than the morning air. She looked around for shampoo or
soap and only found a small grey bar of unscented soap. Ashley had
mixed feelings of gratitude and desperation when the water abruptly
shut off while she was only half done. She dried herself and dressed
in the new clothes she'd been given. Ashley noticed the shoulder of
the jumper had a crest stitched on that she'd seen on Lord Edward's
shirt.

“Hurry up!” Ashley heard her instructor call through the
door. Ashley, fully dressed at that point, rushed to open the door
and step out next to her instructor. Now that she could see him
clearly in the daylight and with wakeful eyes she noticed that he was
a giant of a man. Ashley looked up at him and it was like looking up
at birds or aeroplanes. But while both those things could be
interesting and fun, looking at her instructor was only ever
frightening. He was dressed as he was the previous night, hood and
all, but now he was wearing gloves as well, and there's wasn't a
centimetre of skin visible on him. Ashley also noticed that nowhere
on his clothes was the crest that was on her jumper and almost
everybody she'd seen since she'd arrived in China had one. She was
going to ask him where it was when her instructor spoke first. “Are
you going to stare at me all day or are you ready?”

“What?”

“The correct answer is 'Yes sir.' and you will address me with
more respect from now on,” he reprimanded and Ashley decided it
would be safer just not to say anything and remain quiet. “Well?”
It wasn't safer, and when she spoke she did so the way a mouse sniffs
at delicious, yellow cheese hanging off some alien, metal
contraption.

“Yes sir.”

“Good.”

Everything in the Tower was the colour of blood. The second floor was
a maze of corridors lit by high hanging lanterns. Ashley wondered if
they had fires in them or electricity. She could never smell smoke
but she never saw a light switch, either. When she was taken by her
instructor up a flight of stairs to the third level of the Tower they
went through a door she hadn't seen before. The Tower didn't seem to
make sense. Everything worked because it worked and everything was
because it was. The third floor had the same uniform red and silver
as the second floor. Lanterns hung from the roof, casting away all
shadows; doors slid open to reveal more red-painted wood and more
silver, polished and shining under the warm glow of the lamps. This
floor was mostly one big open space. The room was cluttered with a
huge collection of unusual objects. Ashley looked around and saw
books sitting open with no words, statues of dogs looking curiously
at statues of frogs, a suit of armour rusting at the shoulders, a
ventriloquist dummy, half a piano and more things than she could
count or name if she had an entire day, and even more things were
piled beneath what she could see.

Ashley was reminded of a time she'd gone by a house having a garage
sale and they had tables overflowing with old toys, clothes, books
and even furniture that they were trying to sell. Of course, Ashley
couldn't buy anything but she liked looking at what they had. That
same compulsion drove her to walk over to the mountains of random
objects in this room and look over them.

“What are you doing?” Her instructor asked but it didn't
sound much like a question.

“This is not ‘walk off and do what you want’ hour,”
he said without waiting for an answer. “Now stand in the centre
of the room.”

“Yes sir.” Ashley did as she was told.

“Now, let's begin by seeing what you're capable of doing. One
of the most basic magic spells is telekinesis. Pick something you
like and bring it to you.”

“Anything?”

“I'm not going to waste time repeating myself, so don't you
waste time asking me to. Just do as you're told.”

“Yes sir.” Ashley turned her head and looked around the
room at all the things she had to pick from. She saw a statue of a
kitten toppled over on top on a pillow. The statue was small enough
that she could hold it in her hands if she wanted and it was a
friendly looking thing. She focused on it, just as she had focused on
the fence the night before, and held out her hands. “Come!”
she demanded and the vision she'd had in her mind became a reality as
the kitten statue flew across the room into her hand. Ashley caught
it, then dropped it and shook her sore hand. The statue had come too
fast and too hard to her already bruised hand.

“You're not completely hopeless after all.” Her
instructor told her. “Now blow it up.”

“What?” Ashley looked at her instructor with a surprised
expression that said all the things her instructor did not want to
hear. She didn't believe he'd said it. She didn't want to do it; she
was questioning his authority. Without looking, Ashley's instructor
grabbed the first thing his hand touched. He gripped the cracked
teacup and then flung it at Ashley. Ashley screamed and ducked, the
tea cup shattered against the wall behind her.

“Now, blow the statue up and, when you've done that, you can
put the cup back together.”

“I don't know how.”

“You don't know how? Aren't you the magical prodigy? Aren't you
the special little girl who can do anything? The Sorceress could
breathe a hurricane and destroy an entire forest when she was your
age and you can't even make a little statue explode? Aren't you
supposed to be her descendant? What a waste of time you are. But I
have to do as I've been told, and now you do too.” Ashley
stared, wide eyed, at her instructor. She had tried as hard as she
could to hold back her tears but her throat was too sore and his
words were too cruel. She couldn't help it. Tears began to pool in
her eyes. They became a torrent down her cheeks. She clenched her
fists and bit her lip. She didn't want to make any noise. “Now
what do you say to me?” Ashley kept quiet. She shut her eyes
and cried silently, where she stood. “I said what do you say to
me!” Ashley shook her head. She thought that if she opened her
mouth all she'd do was sob and that would make him even angrier.
People didn't like it when she sobbed and she'd be in more trouble.
“Answer me!” Ashley knew she had no choice. She opened
her eyes first and then she opened her mouth. The words got stuck in
her throat and she only a hoarse croak emerged..

“Answer me, you little brat!”

“I hate you.”

“What?”

“I hate you!” Ashley screamed. The lanterns flickered. “I
hate you!” She screamed again and she screamed it at her
instructor. “I hate you!” She screamed it at her mother.
“I hate you!” She screamed it at her father too, because
neither of them wanted to know her. “I hate you!” She
screamed it at
him
for all the time's he'd hit her and told
her that no one loved her and that she was only worth the money he
was paid to look after her. “I hate you! I hate you! I hate
you!” Ashley didn't know any other words any more. The rusting
suit of armour fell over. The shards of the tea cup shattered into
dust. The kitten statue flew off the ground and struck the
instructor's leg. “I hate you and I want you to die!” One
after the other the lanterns went out and fell to the floor. Then
Ashley cast the spell she'd been told to cast and her instructor
exploded into a million, bloody, unrecognisable pieces. Ashley was
alone in the darkness. Finally she let herself fall onto the floor
and sob. She didn't want to be there any more. She didn't want to
learn magic and she didn't want to stay in China. She just wanted to
find Rebecca and go away to somewhere safe like Rebecca had promised
they would. Ashley's sobs became louder but no one heard her and no
one was coming to pull her out of the darkness and away from the
Tower. The room began to smell of death but Ashley couldn't bring
herself to get up and she had nowhere to go even if she could.