Enchantress Awakening: Part One of the Book of Water (The Elemental Cycle 1) (30 page)

The charm filled her up and her mind opened ready to absorb all the desires floating around in the vicinity. Nothing of any substance or power drew her thoughts or unveiled before her mind’s eye. “I sense no strong lust here.”

“Mayhap the protective seals are stopping you.”

“Perhaps and also they are too chaste here. A pity there are no women here for them.” Caleigh resorted to her own memories though they were not fresh. Her power began to build but not to the extent it had been in the great bath room in Minerva. “Forgive my use of you.” Caleigh warned then kissed Vaughn on the lips and worked his wand free left hand inside her robes to feel his touch on her left breast.

“Any help?”

“Some.” Caleigh now moved her hand underneath his long tunic and pushed her fingers into his drawers.

“Dear gods.” Vaughn whimpered. Caleigh’s roving hand found its way around his stiffening manhood stroking it gently to fullness then pulling it free to work its length. Guided by his reactions both internal and external she built up a rhythm that brought him greater pleasure, at last sitting alongside him with her arm around his shoulder and stroking for all her worth. She could feel her pleasure rising with his and her power growing with it. Waiting until the very moment he gushed onto the hay Caleigh then released her charm in a blast against the wall as if to force her power through and all the way to Stonecairn.

Vaughn panted in relief and Caleigh kissed his cheek then gripped his shoulders. “Now, Vaughn before the power goes!” Vaughn screwed his eyes shut and struck the wall behind them with his wand almost shouting the words in a language Caleigh did not know. The walls of the cell chamber started to blur and the air roared like a waterfall in a gale. Behind them a vision of Stonecairn by starlight glared in their faces. “Come on!” Caleigh said pulling Vaughn from the bench and through the translucent wall. The world span in front of their eyes the grey of stone and green of grass fused together, there was a thud followed by another then all was darkness.

28. Rising Strength

All was light, Caleigh blinked and squinted blearily, on review grey was closer; the grey cloud line of an overcast day. Caleigh started; it was day! She tried to raise her head and her body quickly and firmly informed her that it wouldn’t be happening any time soon. If she couldn’t feel grass beneath her back she would’ve sworn she was floating on water such was the rocking sensation in her limbs. “Caerddyn’s beard! What did I drink?” Caleigh tried to locate Vaughn’s voice by swivelling her eyes alone. Eventually he came into the periphery of her vision crawling on all fours them slumping on his chest. “Caleigh? Is that you?” He spoke from the ground. Caleigh let out an affirmative groan. Vaughn drew his wand up to his temple and mumbled something into the earth. His body trembled for a moment and then with a long stretch of all his limbs he pulled himself up to his feet swayed for a few yards then sat down cross legged next to her.

Caleigh twisted her head round and just about managed to extend her finger in a point at Vaughn’s groin. “What? Oh, shit!” Vaughn quickly adjusted his undergarments to regain his dignity.

“Where are we?”

“Stonecairn.”

“Why is it day time?”

“Well...I can think of two answers. One, we’ve been asleep since we arrived or two, it took until now to get here. Either way, all things considered that makes for some impressive use of magic and probably for the best. If I feel this bad now I’d hate to imagine how bad I would’ve felt any time earlier.”

“Cedric!” Caleigh exclaimed and forced her arms out rigid. Vaughn took the cue and pulled her to her feet.

Back at the inn Dana was sitting at a table alone and jumped to her feet the moment they entered.

“Where’ve you been? We haven’t seen you since last night!”

“There is not the time for the telling of that tale. Where is everyone else?” Vaughn demanded.

“We heard they were building a pyre in the main square so they went to try and do something. I waited here for you, we should join them now.” Agreement was instantaneous and universal and with that they sped away from the inn to join the others. A crowd was gathering around the main square and Caleigh could not see beyond their backs and heads.

“No smoke is rising. That is a good sign, people would not linger after the flames had died out.” Vaughn reassured. They pressed on past the outlying spectators and deep into the throng to a point where they could see the pyre ringed by Cruxiars with their long swords drawn. In the middle of the pyre Cedric was tied to a pole by thick cords around his ankle, waist and shoulders. More Cruxiars were bringing additional timber to shore up the base of the structure, so far nothing was on fire. Hands on Caliegh’s shoulder made her turn and there were Bryn, Rhiannon, Aethelbald, Rosamund and Diarmund.

“What is happening?” Caleigh inquired.

“Very little so far.” Bryn answered for the group. “They tried to start a fire before but they found the logs were too wet to light.” As he said this he looked sidelong at Diarmund.

“Selecting the right timber can be difficult.”

“And then when they tried again the whole thing fell apart and some of them tripped on the bits that were rolling away.” Aethelbald raised his hand and nodded at this part of the description.

“It was really quite good.” Rosamund said proudly.

“So they haven’t been able to get going yet, have they? Unfortunately, we can’t get close enough to do anything more without those Cruxiars noticing us. What should we do?”

“We need to get him out of there in a way that convinces the Cruxiars to leave.” Vaughn surmised.

“You mean use our powers to full effect?” Queried Aethelbald.

“No, I meant doing something that does not look like magic. They will be expecting an attack we need them to think they’ve won.”

“How can we do that?”

“I know not, perhaps Rosamuund if you could conjure an illusion that...” Vaughn stopped seeing Caleigh strip off her outer robes and hand them to Brian. “What are you doing?”

“You are right. They will be expecting us; mayhap I can get closer without our colours.” At that Caleigh squirmed further forward into the front rows of the crowd before any of the others could stop her.

“What are you...?” It was too late Caleigh was out of reach.

“What is she planning?” Bryn asked.

“I know not but we should be ready to support it as soon as it happens.”

Three Cruxiars brought long flaming torches into the square and dipped them into the underside of the pyre until the straw filling became ablaze and started to work on the wood around it. Thick streaks of smoke peeled upwards yet for the most part were kept away from Cedric by favourable breezes. The Cruxiars continued to apply their torches and soon Cedric was surrounded by flame. If he did not choke then he would burn for sure.

A loud crack like thunder echoed in the street to the left making all heads turn thither; all heads except Caleigh’s, who, seeing the opening slipped through the ring of guards as they turned to look. “Hey, get away from there!” Shouted one; alerting the others. The ring turned inward and a pair of Cruxiars tried to grab Caleigh but she eluded them and reached the fire side. They hesitated, torn between stopping her and getting too close to what was now almost an inferno. Resolve and faith in the protection of armour overcame fear and the closest Cruxiars ran forth to try to drag her away.

Caleigh leapt upon the pyre and climbed to the top though the flames clung to her dress. The crowd screamed at the sight of an innocent caught within the blaze and the Cruxiars stood dumbly attempting intermittently to get closer then retreating in the face of the heat and billowing smoke. One made a determined rush and reached the pyre before his surcoat caught fire and his comrades hurriedly dragged him back.

Amid the inferno there was movement and Cedric emerged through the heat tumbling down the side of the stack wreathed in trails of smoke. He hit the cobblestone and did not move. Caleigh followed after him, the pyre creaked ominously and in a roar and eruption of sparks collapsed scattering flaming logs and staves and sinking her within the wreckage.

There was moment of shock then chaos and some from the crowd tried to surge forward to save her and the Cruxiars were forced to push them back lest any others get lost. The few of them who were not involved in this action tried to reach Cedric and it was then that Caleigh appeared from the burning wreck utterly aflame. More screams came from the crowd, panic and confusion took hold. The Cruxiars standing over Cedric at first looked to move towards Caleigh then hastily backed away as she surged forward wafting her arms at them. The still burning pile released a huge grey-white cloud forcing Cruxiar and crowd alike to fall back from the centre of the square.

When the smoke passed it revealed Vaughn, Rosamund, Aethelbald, Diarmund, Rhiannon and Dana crouching over two blackened figures lying prone next to the now smouldering pyre. The Cruxiars wandered over but seemed warded off by Rhiannon’s sudden wail of tears. “They are dead. Are you not satisfied?” Diarmund barked at them. Bryn covered Caleigh with her outer robe and Vaughn put his cloak over Cedric. The crowd jeered and not a few sobbed. A stone pelted one of the Cruxiars and, sensing the mood was firmly against them and their work being finished, moved out of the square.

…

“What is happening?” Aethelbald asked Diarmund upon his appearance at the Elevered lunch table.

“The Chapter Master arrived and demanded to know what transpired. He did not stay long when the townsfolk told him that Caleigh had died trying to pull Cedric out of the flames. In truth, he seemed very confused about how you came to be there at all and rode of in quite a hurry.”

“He should take better care of his guests if he does not want them to leave unexpectedly.” Caleigh commented. “How is Cedric?”

“He is well. However you tamed that fire you spared him from anything more than slight burns. He did swallow some smoke so he will be sore for a few days but otherwise he is miraculously unhurt.”

“And his mother?”

“She is recovered and understandably confused and concerned about all that has happened. And what about you?”

“I am well. Tovrik told me I am not to go anywhere until I had bathed, changed, eaten and rested so I should be able to go and visit Cedric and his mother soon.” Tovrik loomed in the doorway and looked at Caleigh with a mixture of amusement and concern.

“When I said you needed to be rested I meant, properly rested by which I mean no adventures, no travel and no magic at least for the rest of the day. I marvel at your enthusiasm but even you should know your limits.”

“What about the Cruxiars? Will they realise what we did?”

“Dear Caleigh, I fully intend to tell them but think not on it or anything interesting or exciting for now. You need to rest.”

Caleigh’s annoyance at her enforced retirement to her chamber quickly evaporated when she settled down on her mattress. All in all she had had quite enough excitement and the moment she closed her eyes they stayed closed until the evening.

…

After dinner everyone, unusually, stayed put at Tovrik’s request. The near hundred group of scholars, groundsmen, blacksmiths and wizards were soon joined by a matching number of Order Knights from the barracks who gathered around the edges of the room and wherever else there was space. Everyone looked to Tovrik, standing at the high table scanning the heads of the crowds. “Thank you all for being present. This will not take long. I beg your indulgence only briefly. Could everyone now move beside the right hand wall with the exception of the following people; ...” There followed much shuffling and murmuring as people rose to their feet and gathered together in one crowd “Gideon, Mabon, Caleigh, Diarmund, Vaughn, Rosamund. Could you please move to the left hand side?”

Having moved as instructed Caleigh started to feel self-conscious, being part of the small group looking across at the much larger one on the other side. She turned to Vaughn looking for an explanation and got only an encouraging smile. “Good, now Aethelbald, Rhiannon, Dana, Bryn if you would join them. Now, let me see...ah Sir Edgar, of course and err El...”

“Elwyn.” Ellie completed.

“Elwyn, would you and Sir Edgar care to move across.” They nodded and joined the smaller group the former slipping in next to Caleigh and putting her arm around her waist. Tovrik gestured to a pale, freckled, skinny, ginger-haired young man bidding him to come forward. “What is your name, young man?”

“Walter, sir.”

“And what do you study here, Walter?”

“Cartography, sir.”

“Ah, a most useful subject. Please, Walter, join this group.” Walter stepped across nervously smiling shyly at Rosamund’s supportive nod. Tovrik gestured to a young woman scholar and she came forth as hesitantly as Walter. “And you, young lady, what is your name?”

“A...Abigail. I...I...I am studying translations.”

“Another important task. Please...” Tovrik gestured to the left hand side of the room and Abigail shuffled over. Turning back to the larger group he pointed his staff at three Order Knights and let them come forward in respectively. “Tam...”

“Tamric, Master Tovrik.” Tamric assisted then with a bow of acknowledgement crossed the hall, winking at Ellie as he took his place. Next forward was a knight as tall as Ceol, though not as broad, with wavy blond hair swept about his face and a thin moustache that noticed little.

“By the Gods, he is handsome.” Caliegh whispered to Ellie.

“You can barely imagine.” She whispered back. “I’ve seen him undressed and he has the body of a Senatian statue.” They stifled their giggles to avoid attention as the knight introduced himself as Leofric and confidently strode over to join them and making the most of the opportunity to run his gaze over Caleigh’s body.

“Oh.” Caleigh said feeling the mental images.

“He likes you?” 

“I would say so.” The third knight came forth and he was even taller than Leofric, indeed Caleigh couldn’t remember ever meeting anyone so tall. He had shoulder length dark hair and a prominent drooping moustache.

“Baldir, is it not?” Tovrik asked.

“Yes, Master Tovrik.” Baldir bowed and moved alongside Leofric and Tamric, also taking the chance to look over Caleigh in passing. This time Caleigh nodded before Ellie had a chance to ask.

“Very well, everyone else feel free to leave. I thank you for your patience.” The greater portion of people exited the banquet hall. Penric went with them looking over with disappointment at being separated from his friends. When the departing group had all left Tovrik addressed those remaining behind. “Tomorrow, we shall travel as a group along the ley lines. You have been selected because you all have enough magical talent to make that journey with little or no ill effects and that is important. I ask that you be ready to leave as soon have broken your fast and that you are adorned in the robes of our Order.” With no further explanation Tovrik said his thanks and left leaving the others to depart at their own pace. Caleigh and Ellie found themselves at the back of the group unintentionally enabling the knights to tarry for them.

“Did Tovrik mean that I have some magical talent?” Ellie asked Caleigh as they moved towards the exit.