The Queen's Curse (42 page)

Sempervirens laughed and cried at the same time
, madly; throwing her head backwards, coming into her direction.

Just a few breaths later Tirsa moved her painful legs and checked her hands
, which were bruised and bloody. Her shoulders ached extremely too; but even so she tried to stand.

‘Oh dear, did you hurt yourself?’ She heard Sempervirens say viciously and when she looked up she saw her standing firm
, looking disdainfully down at her. She waited a few moments, trying to look beaten, but then she reached out quickly, grabbing her ankle, yanking her to the ground. She would have fallen if her invisible hand had not caught her. Gracefully she sat on the hand and crossed her legs alluringly. Tirsa lay on the floor, when they heard a soft moan from the other end. It was Artride.

‘What did you say, my dear?’ the sorceress sarcastically sniggered. ‘Are you hurt?’

Tirsa felt anger rising up inside of her.
How can she? She has not changed a bit! She’ll never!

Sempervirens flew on the
invisible hand through the large hallway over to Artride who was rubbing her painful head.

‘Have
a headache, dear?’

‘Semper
… virens, you have to believe me.’ Her voice was small and showed hurt.

‘Oh be quiet
. Do you want me to strike you again?’

‘No, don’t!’ they heard Tirsa scream and she came running toward
s the sorceress.

‘Where do you think you’re going?’ and she raised one hand and a ball of fire flaming from her eyes hit
Tirsa in her stomach. The power of the ball threw her backwards. Her nightgown was on fire and she tried to extinguish it with her hands.

‘Well, this could get amusing after all!’

Artride rose and even though she felt as if she had been kicked by a horse she begged her to stop, standing in front of her strongly.

‘I am on to you, ladies. I must admit that it was cleverly done. So you had a plan A and a plan B? Hmm, very cunning.’ And she stepped of
f the hand, walking away towards her big bedroom.

‘A shame really, you had
such potential. However, I cannot possible live together with people like you. There remain two choices; locked up in my dungeons or … death. It’s up to you.’ And she laughed wickedly.

Artride walked over to Tirsa who was recovering from the fireball.

‘Separately of course.’

She heard them whispering
, and shouted at them before being about to close her door,

‘That is not very polite in public!’

They walked slowly over to her, showing no fear, which surprised Sempervirens.

‘We are not impressed by your magic, Sempervirens. You can change the floor into ceiling and fire into water for all I care.’ Artride spoke softly, clearly in pain. ‘I would be impressed
, however ,and that would be a true miracle if … you could release one negative emotion and change it into something positive.’

The face of the sorceress was unreadable again, but her eyes did flicker once.

She walked away towards her bed, concealing her face.

Artride followed her and Tirsa tried to stop her
; warning her, but failed.

When
Sempervirens realised Artride was walking in her footsteps, she pushed her back with the invisible hand, without glancing back.

Tirsa broke
Artride’s fall. Angrily Artride yelled, ‘You can push me or hit me every time I get close to you, but you know I am right!’

‘It is not a matter of right or wrong, Artride,’ she sounded
in a softer voice, her face lowered.

‘It is a
matter of pride.’ And the sorceress turned round facing them again. When she did she stared into Artride’s deep blue eyes and right into the glittering blade of a tiny dagger. She did not flinch, but smiled instead. ‘Oh, Artride you scare me so!’ she joked.

Tirsa came to stand behind her. She had been very quick
in picking the knife up, so rapidly she had not noticed the queen doing so. She must have seen it lying beside the bed. Tirsa wondered why it had been there in the first place. Perhaps she used it during her cruel ‘lovemaking’ to one of her servants.

Both women could see how the hand of Artride shook while she pointed the knife in front of the sorceress’ chest.

‘Why, you cannot hurt me! You … love me!’ and she laughed aloud.

When Sempervirens
stopped laughing, she snapped, ‘Weapons cannot hurt me. I am immortal. Eolas must have told you?’

‘Yes he did. Stop fighting it, let go of your hatred. We have come so far. Once you have overcome your fear you will be truly powerful.’

‘Why Artride? What does it matter to you now? So you can feel power over me? Power you never had? Or perhaps it is your compassion for my slaves? For surely you do not need me. Eolas no doubt promised to create you the counter spell once he is free, when I die.’

‘He and all the rest can only be free when you are, but that does not have to be in death. There is a different way.’
Artride said.

A stream of blood run from Artride’s nose, she felt it but did not wipe it away
, and her lip and cheek was swollen. Sempervirens saw it and again felt something. She felt it in her heart. She didn’t like it. She wanted to step into her bed and hide under the sheets and sleep. She felt so tired suddenly and didn’t want to fight anymore.

‘I know you can do it. I still believe in you
,’ Artride honestly spoke and lowered the knife.

She raised one eyebrow questionabl
y and started laughing madly. That was the only way to deal with it all; laugh and cry at the same time. So many new emotions rushed through her body she did not recognise, but Tirsa saw it the wrong way. She knew these sort of people could be unpredictable, and made her own move. Sempervirens did not expect it any more than Artride did.

She quickly pushed her
queen in the back and with that the blade fell into the exposed chest of the sorceress. They could both feel it slide in and touch the ribs at the side of the blade.

Sempervirens barely made a sound and stared unbelievabl
y at her own chest; feeling an enormous sense of pain exploding in her chest, weakening her.

‘Impossible!’ she gasped. Artride quickly let go of the knife as if it was burning her and turned around to face Tirsa
, with a horrified expression and open mouth.

Tirsa put her arms around Artride, but she pulled away with a disgusted look.

‘How could you? I was so close…’

Sempervirens still stared at the blade stuck in her chest
, trying to figure out how it was possible it had touched and … cut through her heart. She couldn’t have been that weak? Had her stone heart been softened by those woman’s words? How could that have happened, it was a magic spell, how could Artride have broken her magic, thawed her stone heart?

She was dying. She felt the life flowing out of her along with the red blood gus
hing from her chest, darkening the nightgown, dripping down her stomach and legs to the floor. Her legs felt feeble and she dropped down to her knees. The queen dropped in front of her, with one hand at her open mouth, tears swelling up in her eyes. Sempervirens stared at her, still amazed. ‘How?’

‘You did let go
… I guess … you were vulnerable.’

‘I
… should have known … with your … you … really could.’ And Sempervirens grabbed her by the shoulders in awe. She gasped, and Artride swallowed hard while she reached to support her head from falling back. Sempervirens brown eyes still sparkled so bright, so alive, orange specks like sunshine appeared in her eyes. Blood ran from her mouth. She tried to swallow it back and coughed up more.

‘I
… know … you meant well … now. I never would have … bel …’

‘Is there something we can do? I mean, you’re powerful and this is the magical land! Roalda; could she help?’
Artride asked.

Sempervirens smiled; an honest smile, tears running down her cheeks. She stared up at Tirsa who had kneeled beside Artride
, looking guiltily on ‘Never … forget … how lucky … you both are.’

She reached out and
took hold of one of Artride’s hands and squeezed it slightly. It was amazing how long she could live with the blade stuck in her ever-beating, dying heart; but it wasn’t surprising for a powerful sorceress as she was. Her voice had altered and was a mere hoarse whisper now, so she had to lean close to hear her last words, ‘My … real name’s … Sovalis.’

‘Sovalis,’ Artride repeated. ‘A beautiful name.’

‘I can see … clearly now … thanks to…you. Thank you. For … give me … so that … my soul … may rest.’

Artride swallowed hard and nodded
, tears streaming down her face, ‘I forgive you. I hope you will find rest in the afterlife.’

Saying that Sempervirens/Sovalis’ head sunk in Artride’s hand, with tear
-stung open eyes. A soft yellow light emerged from the body, rising to the ceiling. They both saw it.

Tirsa pictured in her mind a small child smiling down at her. The child Sovalis took one of the hands of adult Sempervirens and together they walked away into that yellow comforting tunnel of light.

Looking down at the body of the sorceress she knew she was no longer there. She had her rest, finally after more than three centuries. A deadly silence came over the place and over the two women. Something hung in the air.

CHAPTER
22

We are only human and make mistakes

Though some of us can see further than others.

But no one is perfect. Perfectible, maybe, in the fullness of time. Not perfect.

M.Z. Bradley

The lifeless body of the sorceress in front of them changed before their eyes. First the soft tanned skin got thinner and greener then grey and looser around the bones. Her face showed visible wrinkles around the eyes and cheeks, and her black chin length hair suddenly started growing and colouring white. Sempervirens/ Sovalis finally aged for the first time and she was a beautiful old woman.

Both women stared with wonder and horror when it did not stop there. She shrunk a little more and her teeth turned yellow and fell out of her thinner mouth. Slowly she began to decay; the greyed skin crumbled until the brownish bone was to be seen and the dark red
, dried organs; all fell apart and sunk to the floor until nothing was left of her but dust.

Artride had lowered her head, covering her eyes, sickened by what she saw, but Tirsa was amazed.

They stared at the pile of grey dust.

‘Farewell
,’ Tirsa whispered.
You have been dead ever since you came here. Ever since you turned your back on everything and everyone, even the world.
And she realised by killing her she had killed that part in herself as well; the selfish, self-indulgent part, wrapped up in her own grief away from the world, inside her own little world. Now she too, could start to change for the better.

Artride used the back of her hand to wipe a tear away.

‘All is well now,’ Tirsa concluded and she placed a warm hand on her back. ‘As it should be.’ She had saved her, truly and let her pass on. Artride was a hero.

‘Then why do I feel so bad about it?’

‘Because I forced you to push the knife in and together we took a life. It was perfect timing; there was no other way. But she was grateful, couldn’t you tell?’

Artride nodded. ‘I suppose, but I just mourn for the loss. For her life that was wasted with hate and foul games.’

‘At least she died turning away from evil, with love touching her very heart and soul.’ They heard a familiar voice speak behind them.

Turning around they spotted a tall dark-skinned man clothed in a black long robe. He had not lied; he was beautiful, truly a god. A smile lay upon his full lips in his bronze face while his pit
-black ancient eyes glittered like stars. His hair was short and close cropped to his skull.

‘Eolas?’ Tirsa asked
, open mouthed.

He bowed lightly. ‘Back in the
land of the living, thanks to you two.’

Both women smiled at him.

‘Gods, you two are attractive, did it not make her jealous?’ he said walking towards them.

Artride stood up and bowed her head lightly. ‘Artride Cumhachd of Ceartas, please
d to meet you.’

‘And Tirsa Lathabris.’

He took their hands warmly. His hands felt very real, very mortal.

‘Good to see the faces that match those pretty voices. And I will try to look at just your faces
,’ he said with humour.

His glance shifted to the pile of dust on the floor and his joyous mood changed. He kneeled at the dust and wiped a finger in it; feeling the dust crunch between his fingers, whispering soft words in the ancient tongue.

When he rose again he nodded at them, but especially at Artride.

‘I’m most proud of you. I can imagine it must be hard to have reached her like you did. You understood that the only way to get to her was to weaken her by talking to her after you understood what befell her. It was truly a psychological perspicacious ploy and it worked. And even though your intentions were never to take her life, but to save her, you did.’

He stepped closer and made a movement with his hands.

‘You see, you broke open the stone shell around her heart. It was for self protection a wall around her heart had turned to stone and she kept it that way by magic. With your wise
, genuine words and love you must have broken the wall and touched the sleeping crystal which was her true heart inside. Something I have tried for years. It must have lasted long enough without closing over, even though it must have confused and probably angered her; it would have taken her lots of energy and time to restore it, which there wasn’t. That must have been a secret of hers, which I suspected but couldn’t be sure of.’ And he drew a deep breath, darting his eyes around the room, which hadn’t changed much since he last seen it, three-hundred years ago. ‘Great power demands an equal sacrifice; her heart. And with that sacrifice came a great responsibility.’

And he glanced at the blond
e woman and smiled kindly. ‘You Tirsa, took advantage of that precious weak moment of hers and acted wisely by stabbing into her exposed heart.’ He nodded approvingly. ‘You have proven yourself to be an excellent team. Alone you could never have done it. Tirsa could not; because she lacked the patience, compassion and insight to open her up and Artride could not; because she lacked the courage to actually try and kill her. Although she did kill the evil
in
her or made a start. However, who knows what he or she is capable of when you have to do it by yourself? What matters now is the final result. Thousands of lives are saved, Dochas
and
Ceartas are free at last!’ and he spread his arms and seemed to rise in height while a green-bluish light surrounded him.

The women could not help but smile and jumped in
to each other’s arms; still hardly able to fathom the magnitude of their actions. They held each other close. Words were not needed. They had succeeded in their task. All Tirsa whispered in Artride’s ear was, ‘You were amazing.’

Now all
that was left was to ask for the counter spell and return home.

‘Of course you shall have the spell, and all you ask for!’ Eolas gloriously said.

‘And I am sure the TalamhClann agree with me.’

‘Yes, what about the servants, is the spell on them released as well?’

‘Indeed, but they must be very confused, so I must see to them at once!’

‘Can we come with you?’ Artride asked.

‘I’m sorry, it will disturb them too much to meet more people. They will have to heal first and that might take some time. I will show you the fastest way out and we’ll meet outside later.’

First they came in
to a big hall with huge statues that Eolas had long ago sculptured, according to him. Then there were three natural corridors and two of them different parts of the cave, but only one to the western part: the exit. That had to be the middle one according to the god and trusting him they took that corridor. It was colder here and they ran a little to get warmer, but there were lots of loose rocks on the sandy floor.

‘She did not take much care of this part of the cave. It looks abandoned
,’ the queen stated.

‘At least it looks more natural and that gives me a better feeling.’

‘Do you think all of the magic illusions disappeared with her death?’

‘Probably, yes, why?’ Tirsa asked back.

‘No particular reason, but it explains this cold corridor. If it’s the only way out she had to use this corridor as well, occasionally. It must have been prettier when she was alive, I reckon.’

‘Like everything was.’ Tirsa stopped for a moment staring at the
queen. ‘Do you regret it?’

‘What? Regret what?’ she asked incredulously.

‘Well … taking her life, leaving–’

‘How dare you say such a thing, Tirsa? You know better than that!’ and she braced herself against the cold, narrowing her eyes at her companion.

Tirsa bit her lip in remorse and stared at her bare feet. ‘I do, I’m sorry. It’s just … her magic, her presence was very overwhelming to us all.’

‘
It was, but don’t you ever imply again that I would have wanted a different outcome to all of this. It’s true of course I would have wanted to keep Sempervirens alive to give her the chance to heal. And with that she could have had another chance in helping us and the rest. But alas, there was too little time for that anyway and her distrust too great. But you heard Eolas! It’s supposed to be this way. Roalda will be pleased too. Dochas is free and Ceartas soon is! How could I regret that? How could I not want this? We can discuss whether I want to be a queen or not, or whether I want to escape my fate; but do I want freedom for my country? Of course I do! And freedom for all these kind and magical beings? Yes, yes, yes!’

‘Are you angry at me?’ Tirsa
suddenly asked, silently walking on the sand, trying to avoid the rocks.

Artride’s breathing became slower and her eyes gentle again.

‘I just thought you knew me better by now.’

‘I do. I know you want to save the whole world if possible and I don’t blame you for wanting to save her. On the contrary, I
… admire you for that.’

‘But you wonder if I would have killed her?’

Tirsa’s eyes softened and acknowledged the question.

Artride sighed. ‘Well, let’s not forget I wasn’t alone. You reminded me of the importance of our mission. You were my conscience, Tirsa and I thank you for that.’

Tirsa nodded and shuddered suddenly, feeling a little cold walking in this unheated part of the cave.

‘We made it happen, let’s never forget that, toge
ther. We’re both tired.’ And Artride grabbed her hand and led her further into the dark corridor.

It was long and winding at points
, and heavily covered with rocks, like they had come down to block their way. ‘Perhaps this was how it originally was like,’ Artride pointed out.

After some miles it became even darker
, to a point where it was impossible to distinguish anything. All they knew was that they had to go straight forward. Sometimes they stumbled on rocks and nearly fell. Both of their feet felt bruised and battered, and even though they were close to the exit, both of them were near fatigue.

‘Careful, Artride, these rocks
– ouch!’

‘What is it?’

Artride got no answer and she searched in the dark for Tirsa with her hands. She touched her head; she was sitting on the ground.

‘What happened, Tirsa?’

Tirsa moaned softly, sobbing tremendously, unable to speak. Artride knelt down, touching her hair, her shoulders.

‘Where does it hurt?’

‘My leg,’ she hissed through clenched teeth, and whimpered in pain like a puppy.

The
queen moved her hands towards her leg and felt the bone stick out through the skin. ‘Gods,’ she whispered horrified, but soothingly to Tirsa, not wanting to upset her, ‘It’s broken, Tirsa. The sooner we are outside the sooner I can fix it and ease your pain. Come on, lean on me.’

‘I can’t
… it hurts so much.’

Artride stood and used all her
remaining strength to help her up. Tears were running down her face from pain as she leaned on the queen and her good leg; panting and sweating heavily.

‘I feel sick.’

‘Hold on, lean on me. You are used to pain, you’ll live. Come on.’

Tirsa did not move an inch, but just held on to the
queen before doubling over and retching over her shoulder, away from the queen.

Artride rubbed her back and gave her a moment.

‘We can stand here all day – or night – whatever it is anyway, but that won’t do you any good. I cannot heal you in here, Tirs. The sooner we’re out, the quicker I can take away your pain.’

‘I can’t
… go on, A … Artride. Just … leave me … here.’ She felt suddenly so very tired, as if finally she could let go now they had found their prize. As if all her energy had gone into that and was now drained.

‘What? Do not talk that way, come on.’ And she tried to drag her with her, but Tirsa objected and sat down.

‘No … don’t. It hurts too much. I need some rest. You … go on. You’ve got what you came for. Eolas will meet you outside. Leave me … here. Go.’

‘Just hold on to me, Tirs. I shall get you out of here, but you must help a little. I cannot drag you out or carry you as I cannot see much. Stand on your good leg and jump like this, do not worry about the other leg.’

She heard the other woman swallow hard. ‘I’ll just sit here.’

‘Listen to me! Just a few more steps
–’ and she suddenly stopped talking. ‘You feel that? It’s the wind, Tirs, I felt the wind! It’s not long now; the outside world is close, the trees and the grass, smell it! I can even smell the ocean! That’s right, the ocean, Tirs! The ocean no one has ever seen from inland! We’ll be the first humans after Sempervirens to see it, Tirs. Come on, that surely is worth telling your brother!’

‘I’m no longer needed, Artride. I should have had to protect and encourage you
… not the other way around,’ she said, drunk with tiredness and defeat.

‘Oh, but you are mistaken, I still need you.’ Her voice suddenly became a whisper and then a sob. Was it possible she was crying?