Enchantment (3 page)

“No. She could, but she had been trained to use other methods.”“Who trained her?”

“The Order of Witches.” Her eyes widened and she shifted her attention from the mirror to Callum. “There was an Order of Witches?”

“Oh yes. They must have been disbanded after Casterix...” He trailed off and she didn’t push him.

Instead, she turned back to the mirror, pricked her thumb, and a drop of blood fell to the surface. It passed through as though the mirror was water then vanished without trace. A sigh of frustration welled up in her throat and she made to rise. Callum stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. “Look.” The mirror was clearing, becoming transparent as she stared into the darkness beyond, and was transported to another place.

Another body.

She stood at the top of a narrow staircase, her muscles aching from the climb. In front of her was a door inlaid with runes and pulsating with power. She touched her fingers to the ancient wood, awakening the magic. The heavy door swung open revealing a circular chamber bathed in starlight, and on a stone slab in the center of the room lay the Goddess, trapped in enchanted sleep. But she was restless; the magic that bound her weakening.

Her lids flickered open. “You came,” the Goddess murmured. “I’ve been waiting so long. We do not have much time. Come closer.”

She leaned in so she could hear the whispered words.

“Arroway is dying. You must bring together the three witches with the mark. Only they can free me and save the land.”

“Three witches? I don’t know...”

The Goddess waved away her words with a weak movement.

“Shayla, trust in the magic and beware the Dark One.” The vision faded. She fell forward and would have crashed into the mirror, but Callum caught her and held her, pulling her back so she rested against his broad chest. She shivered as the memory of the vision washed through her.

“I have to go back. I need to...” She shook her head. She had no clue what she needed to do, or what she had actually seen. The Goddess? She was a mere myth. Something the people believed in before the Laws of Segregation. If there had been a Goddess, she would not have allowed the witches to be persecuted in such a way.

“What did you see?” Callum’s question tore her from her thoughts.

“I saw a myth.”

“A myth?”

“I saw the Goddess.” She frowned. “At least I think I did. But how could I know, how could I be so sure?”

“What did she look like?” Shayla thought back to the vision. “Beautiful, long, black hair, white skin, and three sickle moons on her cheek. Right here.” She touched her finger to her own cheek.

Callum stared at her, wonder stamped on his face. “Where was she?”

“In a chamber, a circular room, with narrow windows and bare stone walls. She lay on a stone slab in the center, and she was asleep. Nothing natural; the place was thick with spells, heavy with moon magic. But it was weakening.”

“Was it something you’ve seen? A memory from the past?”

“No.” She frowned as she concentrated on the vision. “No.

She awoke and she told me...” She shrugged. “It wasn’t real, it couldn’t have been. The Goddess doesn’t exist.”

“You’re wrong. All this time, I thought we were forsaken, that Arroway had fallen into darkness, and the Goddess had abandoned us.”

“I don’t understand.”

“All this time she has been bewitched. What you saw is the north tower in the Keep of the Order.”

“But who would be powerful enough to bewitch a Goddess?”

“No one person, but perhaps together the Order could.”

But there was something else that made no sense. “It was moon magic I felt. Not the magic of the Order.” He pressed his fingers to his forehead. “I don’t know.”

“I remember something else.”

“You do?” She smiled and held out a hand to him. “My name is Shayla.”

~*~

Shayla couldn’t banish the vision from her mind. Three witches with the mark? She had never heard of any others. Except Casterix. Where was she supposed to begin? Besides, she was stuck here. How could she save the world when she didn’t even know who she was? “Shayla?” She rolled onto her back as Callum spoke her name. He sank onto the bed beside her.

“Don’t trouble your mind. We’re meant to be together. We’ll find a way.” He pulled her into his arms and lowered his head to hers. For a second she stiffened, then she relaxed against him.

He kissed her. His touch was gentle, tentative, and when he raised his head, his eyes filled with confusion. “You don’t taste like Casterix.” He kissed her again, harder this time, and she could sense the desperation. It matched her own, but however much she wanted to feel for him, his kiss filled her with unease. Behind her closed lids, an image of a man filled her mind. Dark hair tangled to his shoulders, a lean handsome face, and eyes the color of the sky above Arroway as the suns went down. Not Callum, and the sense of wrongness exploded in her mind.

Tallon! The name screamed inside her head, and she wrenched herself away, holding her hand palm out to ward Callum off.

“I chose Tallon,” she said. The words sounded so right that the tension oozed from her body.

Callum’s fingers tightened on her shoulders. “You’ve already chosen?” She shook her head as the image diminished. She tried to cling to it and was filled with a sense of loss as the dark-haired man faded from her mind. “I don’t know. I don’t remember.” He dropped his hands and stood up. “I was wrong. You can’t be Cass returned to me. She would never choose another.” Shayla reached out a hand, but he backed away from the bed.

He wandered a few feet away and sank down onto a stool, staring at the bare stone walls of his prison. Sadness washed off him in waves, and Shayla longed to go to him. But she knew he was right. She wasn’t Casterix. She didn’t belong with this man; she belonged with Tallon. Whoever and wherever he was. Screwing her eyes up tight, she tried to picture him again and got a brief flicker of intense purple eyes.

“We need to find a way to get you out of here.” She blinked as Callum spoke. “What?”

“You need to go. This is no place for you. I brought you here wrongly, and I’m sorry.”

“You brought me here?”

“I saw you in the mirror. I thought...” He shrugged. “Well, you know what I thought. But I was wrong. You need to go back to the real world.”

“We both do.”

“No, this is my world now.

“I can’t leave you here alone.”

“I no longer trust my judgment. I—” He broke off and whirled away, heading out of the narrow door, his footsteps heavy on the rock stairs, finally fading to silence. Shayla considered following him, but what could she say? She no longer believed they were meant to be together. But she could try and convince him to come with her when they broke out of this place.

~*~

No matter how she tried to shift him, he stood firm. Shayla hated the idea of leaving him here alone, but what could she do? She couldn’t stay. In truth, she didn’t want to. This place had a deadening effect on her nerves, and she wanted to feel alive.

There was also that nagging thought that there was some important task for her out there. And now, she was somehow tied to the Goddess. Shayla knew she had seen the vision for a purpose.

Another day went by. While the recent past remained elusive, earlier times were coming back. Shayla could now remember her childhood, her mother, and she couldn’t help but wonder where she was now. Was she worried for Shayla? And Tallon. She couldn’t remember their ever meeting, but she at least knew who he was. He was beautiful: long and lean and dangerous. She’d had a crush on him, from afar, since she was twelve years old. He was the Enforcer for the Order—it was his job to chase down their enemies, and she supposed that included her. How had they met? Ever since Casterix nearly destroyed the world, witches had been persecuted on Arroway. Most were now born within the Order’s breeding program and castrated of their magic at birth. That had been what happened to Shayla’s mother, Freya. She had been a pleasure slave, and had escaped the keep when she was pregnant with Shayla. She had told Shayla that she hadn’t been able to face the idea of the same happening to her child. She’d been ready to kill herself rather than let it happen, when a warlock had helped her escape. Freya hadn’t known why, and hadn’t cared enough to find out; she’d just wanted to get as far away from the Order as possible.

And they’d kept away. Until the magic began to grow inside Shayla. She hadn’t known how to control it; she would dream and crimson lightning would light up the sky for all to see. They’d been searching for someone who could help her harness the moon magic. The search led them ever back closer to the Keep and the Order.

Finally, they had found a man who spoke of a place they might find help, and maybe other witches. They’d been heading there when they were separated. Beyond that, Shayla could remember no more. It would come with time, but she didn’t have time.Shayla was at the mirror again, with Callum, searching for a way out, or at least another vision that would help her decide her next move, when white lightning flared in the sky above them.

She felt the tug of magic pulling at her, and as the veil between the worlds split wide, it was as though a curtain parted in her mind, and she remembered.

Tallon. And her mother in the dungeons of the Keep. And Casterix who now lived on Earth.

Through the fog, she saw the startled expression on Callum’s face, replaced by regret. The magic was tearing her away, but she had to tell him.

“Casterix is alive,” she screamed over the roar in her ears.

Callum was fading from her vision. At her words, he stepped toward her and reached out, but she was already too far and being dragged further with every passing second.

“I’ve seen her,” she shouted. “Casterix is alive.” Then he was gone, and she was whirling through space and time.

Tallon had watched in horror as Shayla was torn from him.

Raising his staff, he’d screamed out a spell. For a moment, she slowed but then she was whirling away, disappearing into the infinity between worlds. He’d whispered a following spell and felt himself tugged this way and that as if by invisible hands, but Shayla was gone.

After that, he’d lost his course. For what seemed like an eternity, he was adrift in the wasteland between worlds. He lost all track of time as despair filled his mind. Finally, when he gave up hope, he whispered the spell Casterix had taught them, and prayed to find his way home.

When he opened his eyes, he was back in the clearing on Arroway where he’d first found Shayla. He recognized the great standing stones that marked the spot where the veil between worlds was thinnest. Where someone with the power could rip those veils open and move between worlds.

It seemed like a lifetime ago that he’d stood in the shadow of the trees and watched Shayla bathe in the stream. So much had changed since then: his life, his allegiance, everything he believed in. As he looked around at the familiar surroundings, hope flared to life. Could Shayla have found her way back? But he was alone.

What had gone wrong? The spell had been correct. He had spoken it exactly as Casterix had instructed him. They had almost been home when something else had interfered. He’d felt powerful magic, stronger than anything he had ever experienced before. Old magic. But where had it come from? And who had wielded it? Maybe it was the Order, but he knew all of the warlocks and this had a flavor he’d never encountered before.

Who had taken Shayla? And why? Or was she still lost in the vast limbo? He had to find a way to discover if she had found a way home.

Was she even still alive? But...he would sense if she was dead. He’d only known her a few days, but in that short time, she had become a part of his very being. She couldn’t be dead. But she could be wandering alone, with the Order still hunting her. She was hardly defenseless, but she had no control over her magic. If she used it unwittingly, who knew what devastation she could wreak? The clearing was deep in the vast forests to the north of the Keep. He’d not noticed it the first time, as he’d been too busy watching Shayla, but now he realized that he actually stood at the center of a stone circle, much like the one they had just left on Earth. But here, the stones were half-hidden by the trees, over-grown with moss and brambles, much of it dead now.

This forest was ancient, had existed before the Keep had been built. And no doubt, the stones had stood hidden here long before that. A link between Arroway and the Earth. And maybe between other worlds as well.

Could Shayla have been taken to one of those worlds, and if so, how would he ever find her? At least he still had his staff clasped in his hand, his fingers white with tension around the smooth wood. He loosened his grip and breathed evenly trying to calm the panic inside him. Panic wouldn’t help. He needed a clear head if he were to somehow find Shayla and follow her wherever she had gone.

A noise rustled in the undergrowth behind him, and he whirled around, raising his staff. A man stepped out from between the trees and into the clearing, tall, with black hair cut close to his head, a short beard, and eyes like midnight. A shudder of unease ran through Tallon as he met that dark gaze. Tallon had tried to ignore the disquiet he’d felt in recent years whenever he was in this man’s company. Now, with some newfound inner sense; he knew he stood in the presence of evil.

Malachai was dressed much as when they had parted days past, in black pants and a black fur-trimmed cloak. He came to a halt as he caught sight of Tallon, then gestured behind him. Two of his guard emerged to position themselves at his back.

Every one of Tallon’s senses went on the alert. As head of the Order, Malachai rarely left the Keep. What was he doing here? How had he found this place? Tallon slowed his breathing. Malachai was the one who had sent him to kill Shayla. He mustn’t know what had happened.

Malachai frowned. “Tallon, where did you come from?”

“From the East. I lost the girl, but I received information that she was heading back here.”

“Really?” Malachai waved a hand around the clearing. “Well, she’s obviously not here yet.” His brows drew together. “You’re good. I have sentries placed all around the circle. You must have slipped past them.” Tallon gave an unconcerned shrug. “It was easy. They’ve grown careless in the Keep.”