Awakenings (A Witch's Coven Novel Book 1) (22 page)
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Authors: Ron Vitale
“Yes, for her. I do all of this for her.” He rose up and puffed up his artificial chest and let his robes fall back around him. “I want to have a normal life with her. I want to be whole again. Undoing the past is the only way I can truly be with her.”
“Then we should go and get this over with,” Stephen said.
Thaddeus pointed behind us and said, “We’re already there.”
The sun came out from behind the clouds, and the world had changed. The field had vanished as had the farmhouse and even the scythe had faded away. Behind us, in a great large square, a large crowd of people came together pushing forward to hear a man speaking to the crowd. He spoke loud and his voice sounded familiar but strained from speaking at such a high volume. Thaddeus pulled his robe’s hood up and over his head and pulled the folds of his robe close around him. A chill in the air caught me off guard, and I turned to see who the people listened to up on the makeshift stage in the square.
Alessia came close to me and leaned into me. “I’m tired and could use some rest. It’s been a long day.”
Stephen put on his shirt and shivered. “And it’s much colder here. Where are we?”
“We’re deep in the south. We’re in the city of Malis.” Thaddeus spoke low.
“I can’t find a way to keep warm.” Alessia shivered as did Stephen.
I pushed my way closer to the stage and tried to get a good look at the man speaking. He ran across the stage and pointed out to the crowd. “And you suffer each day, toiling in the fields, working for whom? For the king of the north? We are free men of the south and need to rise up. We need to break our chains.”
I stared at him and the familiarity came to me. I glanced over to Thaddeus with a question on my tongue.
He answered before I could speak. “Meet my brother, Damen. The leader of the Southern rebellion that causes the civil war.”
“Wonderful. Do you have any other great news for me?”
“I’m afraid I do.” He smiled and faced me fully. The crowd pressed around us, and he leaned in closer and said, “And you’re not going to like it.”
“There’s not much more you can do to surprise me.” I searched for Alessia in the crowd but could not find her. “Stephen, do you see …” I could not find him either.
Thaddeus waited for the crowd’s cheering at his brother’s words to subside and said, “They’re both gone. They were never even truly here.” He splayed his fingers in front of me. “It’s all magic. Illusions upon illusions.”
I wanted to cut the smile off his face and make him pay. My anger went deep to my heart. “Where are they?” I gathered my strength, but knew that if he fooled me so easily that I had underestimated his power greatly.
“They are on their own quest. Do not worry about them. Everything is flowing like a river, and there are moments of time that need to match. I have set the clock in motion and now the sands of time are falling down. The more time you waste with me, the less we have for getting back to them.” The crowd roared again, and he stopped speaking. We were jostled in the crowd by people pressing up against us, trying to get closer to the stage. When the roar died down, he said, “We are even now. You have my true name as well as my love’s. I have your daughter’s and lover’s fates in my hand. If we work together, we both win. If not, then we both fail. I rather like it that way. What do you think?”
“I will kill you for this. Trust my words.” I shouted at him, but the din of the crowd drowned me out.
“You already have. Let’s not forget that.” Thaddeus handed me the Moonstone. How he had stolen it back, I did not know. “Take this back and go find them. But if you do, what I become will chase after you. My true name only stops me, not the mummy I become. You’ve tried that, am I right?”
I would not give him the satisfaction to see my disappointment. His words were true.
“Take the stone and strike me down and it will stop nothing. You know I speak the truth.”
“What exactly do we need to do for me to get back to my daughter and Stephen?”
He motioned up to the stage. “First, we have to kill my brother and stop a rebellion.”
I watched as Damen jumped off the stage and lost himself in the crowd. The people chanted his name, and the roar was deafening. The crowd surged off to the right and people mulled past us, pushing and blindly following along. I faced Thaddeus and stood eye to eye to him and said, “Then let’s get started.”
Epilogue
Alessia stood in the hallway of the house and reached her hand out. “Mother?”
Her voice echoed through the empty hall.
“They both vanished.” Stephen took Alessia’s hand in his and clasped it tight. “But you’re real. You’re here. I feared that I was alone.”
“Where did they go and where are we?” She spun around in a circle, and they both heard a door opening down the opposite way.
Stephen recognized the décor. “We’re back in the house lord’s dwelling. Come on, we must get going.” He pulled her along down the end of the hall, and a woman nearly bumped into them.
“Stephen, is that you?” Mary carried a basket in her hand. “Where are you rushing off to?”
“I need to get back home.” He started to head away, but Mary stopped him.
“Is this the new maid that our master was talking about?” Mary leaned in close to get a better look at Alessia. “You’re not trying to sneak off with her, are you?”
“No, I was going to bring her downstairs to get her situated down below.” Stephen stammered a bit, but did his best.
“I can take care of her.” Mary looked to Alessia and then shooed Stephen away. “Go on and get going before I call the house lord.”
Another door opened down the hall and Thaddeus stepped out of a room and he quickly closed the door behind him. He looked back past Mary and smiled knowingly at Alessia and Stephen. He lingered for a moment, watching them, and the end of his mouth turned up in a slight smirk. Then, without a thought, he turned away and left them there.
Mary pushed Alessia down the hall in the opposite direction. “We don’t want to anger him. Our house lord has been moody lately. Come on, let’s get going.” To Stephen, she pushed him hard. “Get out of here and come back another day. It’s bad enough that I caught you two up here!”
Alessia headed down the stairs, and Mary followed close behind, carrying her basket filled with bread. Stephen followed in the rear, and once downstairs, they headed past the kitchen.
“I’ll see you later.” Stephen said.
“But where …” Alessia started to talk but Mary cut her off.
“You’ll do no such thing. Go home before you get into trouble. Shoo!” Mary put the basket down on a table and then waved him off.
Unsure of what to do, Stephen turned around and started to walk away.
A young Sabrina came out of the other kitchen door, at full speed, carrying a basket of bread to give to the soldiers and bumped right into him. “What are you doing here? I didn’t think I’d see you for a few days.”
Stephen’s face went pale and his mouth opened. Alessia rushed forward and put her arm around Stephen. “My cousin brought me here himself so that I can begin work today. He’s told me so much about you. I’m Alessia.”
Sabrina smiled and showed no sign that she recognized her daughter. “Pleased to meet you.” She turned to Stephen and asked, “Why didn’t you tell me that your cousin was coming here? I would have prepared for her.”
Stephen shrugged and smiled. “I wanted it to be a surprise for you.” He glanced over to Alessia, thought quickly, and added, “I thought having a new friend to talk to might be fun for you.”
“That was thoughtful of you.” She could see Mary giving her the stink eye so she kept her words short. With the bread basket still in her arms, she pushed past Stephen and said to him, “Go back to your home and we’ll see each other tomorrow.”
“See you tomorrow.” He waved at Sabrina and then headed off, not wanting to face Mary again.
Mary pulled Alessia away and set her to work while Sabrina carried the basket to the stairs and started to go up them but stopped. Thaddeus walked down the stairs toward her. He walked past her and she bowed to him, then noticed that he had stopped to look at her. Unsure what to do, she kept her head bowed. He watched her, a bemused look on his face, and said, “Sabrina, look at me.”
Surprised that he knew her name, she obeyed and glanced up at him. “Yes, my lord.”
“Tonight, come to my room at midnight. I have some people I wish to introduce you to.” He spoke to her dispassionately so she could not tell if he were angry or pleased with her.
“Yes, my lord. I’ll be there.”
He nodded and then, distracted by something else, walked away and left her to her tasks.
Thoughts and ideas swirled around inside her head as she wondered why he would want to see her. Maybe he wanted her as part of his rumored after midnight carnal games that the other girls spoke? She didn’t know, but would find out. Her heart beat fast and she wondered what she would do if he brought her upstairs and wanted to have his way with her. A shiver of fear ran through her, but she buried it deep and brought herself back to her work and carried her basket of bread upstairs. She would find out tonight what he wanted. But the hours could not fly by fast enough. She rushed onward, tried to dispel her thoughts and focus on her work, but found it hard to do. Whatever he wanted her for, she knew that she had better be prepared.
Thank you for reading
Awakenings
, the first book in the
Witch’s Coven series.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
I was born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. While growing up, I loved reading and was influenced J. R. R. Tolkien, Margaret Atwood, and Isaac Asimov (to name a few of my favorite authors). In my teens, I started writing fantasy stories based off of my Dungeons & Dragons role-playing sessions and after college kept writing and writing.
In the fall of 2008, I published my fantasy novel
Dorothea’s Song
as an audiobook on Podiobooks and for sale in the Amazon.com Kindle store, and from 2011-2014 wrote the three books of the
Cinderella's Secret Witch Diaries
series.
Currently, I keep myself busy writing my blog, and on learning how to be a good father to my kids all while working on my next book. Feel free to send me an email at
[email protected]
and say hello.
Learn more about all of the books written by Ron Vitale at
RonVitale.com
.
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