Sorceress' Blood (5 page)

...Permit me to dine with you this morning but, should fortune
allow, I will enjoy breakfast with you tomorrow morning in the normal
place.

Sincerely, as always,

Your host
Sebastian

Fortune never did allow, however, and each morning Rebecca and Ashley
ate with each other before moving upstairs to meet with Benjamin.
Mostly they didn't speak. Ashley was still withdrawn and only slowly
warming to Rebecca. Rebecca, on the other hand, just did not know
what to say to the little girl or what to talk about. For the first
few days, Rebecca stood in on the lessons out of a sense of care for
Ashley. Eventually she became comfortable in her new environment. She
smiled a friendly smile at the maids who delivered her breakfast and
was the first one to ask what Benjamin had planned for the day. She
tried to call him Ben once but after a disapproving glare , she never
tried that again. By the early afternoon she would move from his
study into the library. She didn’t read though; she rarely ever
did at home. She started to crave some TV but there were none in the
entirety of the castle. So Rebecca spent most afternoons napping in
the library, away from Benjamin’s magic lessons. While she did,
Benjamin would occasionally take Ashley to other parts of the
castle’s highest floor to teach her something and even down to
the gardens and the greenhouse once or twice. He always spirited her
back to the study before Rebecca woke up though. Benjamin knew that
if Rebecca awoke and went to see Ashley and they were not there, the
woman would panic and tear the castle apart in search for her.

Rebecca kept count of the days, even after the battery on her mobile
phone went flat and she no longer had a calendar. On Saturday she
woke up remembering that she would normally have coffee with her
friend Tabitha at around ten o’clock. She would have to miss it
that Saturday and she couldn’t even let Tabitha know.

When Tuesday came around, Rebecca didn’t take her regular nap
in the library but decided to go explore the gardens. While she was
walking, she remembered a phrase her mother used to use.
Ducking
around.
Rebecca smiled as she circled a rose bed.
Just ducking
around.
The phrase never made any sense to her. What was
‘ducking’ supposed to mean? It almost made her laugh.

"Maybe I'll ‘duck around’ the side of Lord
Sebastian’s castle and see what's there." Rebecca did
exactly that and found a sign post by the path. The sign read:
Stables
. Rebecca looked around but couldn’t see any
horses or even anything that looked like a stable. Rebecca shrugged
and decided she’d ‘duck’ back upstairs to the
library.

Rebecca never forgot that afternoon in the gardens or, when Ashley
came out of Benjamin’s study looking tired, she took the girl
back to their rooms and met with a pair of maids carrying dinner and
an apology letter from Lord Sebastian. The quiet, serene solitude of
the gardens and the ensuing dinner had been the calm before a storm.
The maids who were approaching their rooms had been twins. Twin maids
carrying twin platters with twin dinners. That night the two ate
separately but Ashley came into Rebecca’s room later in the
night.

“Can’t sleep?” Rebecca asked her with the casual
tone of talking to a friend but the concerned expression of looking
at a daughter.

“No.” Ashley still spoke very little and her face barely
showed any emotion. Occasionally she asked Benjamin a question but
mostly listened. Occasionally she told Rebecca that breakfast was
good but mostly she sat and ate while Rebecca tried to talk to her.

“Did your mum ever tell you a story when you couldn’t
sleep?”

“I don’t have one.”

“What about your dad?” Ashley just shook her head. “Would
you like me to tell you a story?” Rebecca asked. Just then she
realised that the only stories she actually knew were movie plots.
She hadn’t read a fairy tale in years.

“Yes, please,” Ashley muttered and climbed onto Rebecca’s
bed.

“Alright.” Rebecca smiled with some hesitation and tried
her hardest to think of a story she could tell Ashley. The only story
she could think of clearly was the plot to a bad horror movie she'd
seen as a teenager. It was hardly appropriate. Ashley looked at her
expectantly and Rebecca began her story even though she had yet to
think of one. “Once upon a time there was this princess. She
was a very beautiful princess named Leia who lived in a big castle
and was tended to by her butler, Alfred. Then one day when she was
walking in the garden she found this magic golden ring. She put it on
and suddenly she was taken away from her castle to this big maze
filled with goblins. The princess was very sad but she knew that if
she could just reach the Holy Grail at the centre of the maze then
she could drink from it and then say the magic words ‘there’s
no place like home’ and be taken back to her castle.”
Rebecca stumbled awkwardly through her story for a while until Ashley
looked as if she’d fallen asleep.

Rebecca gave a sigh of relief and stood up. Ashley could sleep there
tonight and she would take Ashley’s room. She moved quietly to
the door and stepped out into the hallway. Rebecca had no idea what
time it was but it was dark outside and a thick silence hung over the
castle. She started towards Ashley’s room, her feet making a
slight ruffling noise on the carpet, the only noise there was.

Her hand was just on the door handle when there was a sound like
thunder from beneath her. Following came the unmistakable sound of
battle. Rebecca ran to the stairs and looked down onto the entrance
hall. She saw men in long coats and shaved heads coming through a
hole in the wall where there used to be a door. Flames licked at the
windows from outside. Lord Sebastian’s knights had engaged
their enemy. Rebecca started to back away from the balcony. More
knights were coming down the stairs. They brushed against her as they
passed. Each drew his weapons and engaged the enemy. Rebecca spun
around and ran back to her bedroom.

“Ashley!” She cried and opened the door. The little girl
was already awake. She sat up in the bed, petrified. “Ashley,
we have to go.” Rebecca took her by the hand and bolted from
the room.

“There she is!” A voice called from down the hall. A
bullet zipped past and hit the door frame. “Don’t move!”
Rebecca never saw who it was shooting at her. She ran immediately for
the stair case leading to the next floor.

Ashley couldn’t keep up with Rebecca. Rebecca stopped only a
second to take Ashley into her arms. Their pursuer was shouting from
behind them. He called out to his allies to chase after Rebecca.
Another group of knights went by. Rebecca kept going up. There was
another explosion and something wet splashed against Rebecca’s
back. She didn’t want to know what it was. The Thralls had come
prepared and they had come in force. A bullet hit the ground just
behind her feet. Their pursuer would be on them any second now.
Rebecca entered the library. She slammed the door behind her and
begun weaving through the shelves. She pulled open a door and fled
through it. Suddenly she was outside and she could feel the heat of
flames behind her. She paused, awe struck and confused. A few feet
away from her was the sign pointing towards the stables.

“Don’t waste any time!” Rebecca turned and saw
Benjamin standing beside her. Flames were crawling up the vines that
clung to the house. “Go straight for the stables and leave.”

“What’s going on?” Rebecca asked but she was afraid
she already knew the answer.

“Lord Sebastian is leading the knights against the Thralls. I
was told to make sure you can escape.” Rebecca had been right
but she wished she wasn’t.

“What am I supposed to do?”

“Go to the stables and get out of here. You can drive, can’t
you?”

“Of course. But—”

“Go! And remember that there’s always a short sword under
the passenger seat.” Benjamin gave her a push and then suddenly
he had disappeared. There was another explosion from somewhere up in
the mansion and she heard glass shattering. That was all the pushing
she needed. Rebecca started running along the path, Ashley still in
her arms. Lord Sebastian Halford’s castle was burning away
behind her.

Rebecca reached the stable. Somewhere down the path behind her there
was another explosion and she heard glass shattering again. The
Thralls weren't holding anything back in their search for Ashley. She
could only assume the house was burning up on the inside now as well.
There were three stables in all and she went into the first. A row of
cars stood waiting in the dim light. Directly next to the entrance
was an office room. Through the door, Rebecca could see keys hanging
from the wall with numbers above them. Rebecca set Ashley down and
told her:

“Go find car number three and wait for me.” Ashley looked
up at her, full of uncertainty. Rebecca didn’t notice and went
into the office to get the keys. Ashley watched her silently and then
hesitantly ran off to find the car. She ducked down and saw a number
painted under the first car. It was number six. She checked the next
one along. Number seven. Ashley stood up and looked back at the
office. Through a window she saw Rebecca with her head down,
searching for something else. Rebecca wasn't giving up. Ashley got
her little legs moving again, faster this time. The next car she
checked was number four. She turned her head the opposite way.

“I found it!” Ashley called out. Rebecca came over to her
with the keys and unlocked the car.

“Good girl. Get in and put your seat belt on.” Ashley
didn’t need to be told twice; she climbed in. A switch in the
office had started opening the large doors on the front of the
stable. Rebecca started the car and put her seat belt on. The doors
opened and Rebecca saw the shaved heads of two Thralls waiting for
her. They said something but she couldn’t hear them. At that
moment adrenaline hit her and smothered her panic. Rebecca thought
quickly and switched on the car’s high beam lights. Blinded and
dazed, the Thralls lifted their arms to shield their eyes but stayed
exactly where they stood. Rebecca shifted the car into drive and
floored the pedal. They only saw one of the Thralls roll over the
front of the car. They felt the other go under the wheels and then
they didn’t see anyone at all. There was only the road and
Rebecca sped down the hill, away from Lord Sebastian’s burning
castle. Rebecca heard one more explosion from behind. Rebecca knew
that was the sound of her life shattering for the second time in a
week.

When they pulled onto the highway and Rebecca didn’t see anyone
following her, she breathed a sigh of relief.

“You hit them.” Ashley said softly.

“Yeah.” There was a heavy silence for a minute. “Oh
God, I did,” Rebecca finally said. Ashley didn’t say a
word. Rebecca wanted to tell herself that they deserved it and a part
of her believed it. She wanted to tell herself that there was no
other option and a part of her believed it. But the biggest feeling
welling up inside Rebecca was uncertainty, though. Whatever she
thought she knew about the world didn’t seem to make sense any
more and so why should the same morals she had always held to still
make sense? People killed each other left and right in the old days.
Men duelled to the death with pistols and way back before that you
were a noble, honourable person if you killed others. That was the
life of being a knight. She found it difficult to swallow but a sense
of urgency told her that now was not the time to get stuck on an
ethical debate with herself. There was a more pressing question that
needed answering: where did she go from here?

Rebecca just kept driving. She knew that she had to get as far away
from the battle as she could before they realised where she’d
gone. Benjamin hadn’t given her any instructions about where to
go or what to do. She suddenly remembered what Lord Sebastian had
said. The order had separated themselves from the Sorceress’
family a long time ago so that no one could find them. Was that what
was going on now? Had Lord Sebastian and Benjamin just shoved them
out on their own and hoped for the best? Rebecca didn’t have an
answer. Rebecca just kept driving.

After an hour, neither of them felt tired.

“Ashley, reach under the seat and tell me if you find
anything.” Ashley did as she was told without a word. She felt
around under her seat until her hand touched something cool and
solid. Something metallic was strapped to the bottom of her seat.

“There’s something stuck there.”

“What is it?”

“I don’t know.” Ashley took a firm hold on it and
tugged it a few times as hard as she could. Something clicked and
the thing came loose. “Got it.” Ashley withdrew her hand
and showed Rebecca what she’d found. The silver pistol Ashley
held looked a little smaller than Rebecca’s hand. Benjamin
wasn’t kidding when he said short. Rebecca was a little
confused that he’d called it a sword but the world she was in
now wasn’t the world she was in a week ago. In this world
garages were called stables, mansions were castles and now guns were
called swords.

“Is it loaded?” Ashley began to examine the weapon.
“Careful.”.

“How do I tell?”

“I don’t know. Here, put it in the glove box.”
Ashley did as she was told and shut it away tight. Rebecca kept on
driving a while and slowly Ashley began to drift off to sleep. When
her only company had fallen asleep and the road stretched out
endlessly in front of her, Rebecca began to feel her eyelids getting
heavy. The road was becoming blurry. The street lights became hazy
and their little bursts of light began to fuse together and become
one long tunnel of light. Her head rolled to one side and she yawned,
her cheeks pushing her eyes closed for a second too long and the car
swerved. Rebecca felt it move and suddenly tightened her grip and
took control of it again. Ashley rubbed her eyes and looked around
wearily, not quite awake.