An Embittered Witch, page 22
We locked eyes and in that moment I saw the determination of her decision. She’d thrown her lot in with me, and in doing so was throwing away her future and all she’d worked to achieve. But then she squeezed her eyes shut. Above us, a dragon took shape in the air. Its fearsome maw snarled as it wove around Cate. It was only an illusion, this dragon, the fiery breath not even singing Cate’s hair. But it served to distract her and stop the laser on Rob.
It also gave me the opportunity to take one last shot at the older witch. The final one. Because I had no energy, little magic left in me, and the blood still streamed from the wound in my ear. I hurled an ice ball at her, it took almost everything I had left, but it missed its mark and merely glanced off the side of her head.
It reminded her of my presence. Cate turned to me, red spots of anger in her cheeks starkly contrasting with the paleness of her skin. Her hand rose to swat at me like an annoying mosquito.
Mustering up everything I had, I got another blast of fire off at her. This one smacked her right in her face. She faltered, yet would have easily recovered if not for the sound that rang through the enclosed space.
Right at that moment, the two heavy doors leading into the courtyard smashed open simultaneously, the ancient wood cracking with the force.
Amidst the screams of terror, all heads turned toward the carnage of the splintered doors. A great cloud of dust arose, obscuring the sides of the courtyard. From its swirling depths first stepped one figure, and then another.
Nachtan and Li Minh. With the adamantite orbs smashed, their curses were lifted. The great witches had been awakened, and they were beyond pissed.
Shit was about to get real. I would have cried with joy, if I’d had anything left in me.
Thirty-Six
Nachtan strode into the courtyard, his normally gray face livid with color for the first time in many years. Dust flew from his robes, swirling in the light of the spotlights as the crowd melted back to form a corridor for his passage. He approached the staircase with rage in his eyes.
Through the smoke, I saw Li Minh framed in the open portal to the Imperial Garden, her simple yellow robe flowing to the ground beneath her feet. She did not move.
Cate recovered quickly, seizing me by my shoulders, thrusting me in front of her.
‘This one, Nachtan,’ she called through the smoke of the dragon’s fire. ‘This is the one responsible.’
Of course, he knew the difference, as did Li Minh and Win. But the crowd below didn’t. If she threw me down into the Covenanters before Nachtan could muster his old bones up the stairs, I would be finished.
And there was no one to lift a hand to save me. Rob had been securely trussed by Cromwell’s cronies.
Yet, there. At the top of the stairs behind us, the Hall door opened. Hugh made his entrance. He stood stunned, looking at everything below him. From his vantage, my struggle with Cate was clear. I didn’t know what it looked like to him, whether he thought I was attacking Cate or if he saw the truth, but his hesitation enraged me. No magic was left in me, my stores had been depleted along with the blood flowing from my wound. But I still had spite, and that fueled me.
Without thinking, I reached around and grabbed Cate by her flowing black hair, wrapping the length around my wrist to give me purchase. Hugh’s eyes widened in horror at my action. That did it.
Perhaps it was my past as the despised half-blood spurring me on. I’d learned to fight dirty as a kid, learned to defend myself against the Kin kids in any way I could. On pure instinct, I yanked my hardest, angling her before pushing her with all my might, while at the same time letting her hair loose.
She’d been expecting something magical from me but that was how I overcame her. She stumbled over her broken wooden chest and then, in glorious slow motion, tumbled down the marble stairs, the smooth silk of her gown greasing her descent.
Margaret’s orb fell with her, smashing to fragments on the way.
The entire courtyard fell silent, even Win’s dragon ceased snorting. The smoke cleared and everyone could see Cate as she finally lay, unmoving, at Nachtan’s feet. The dragon slowly dissipated into thin air, unnoticed now as it returned to the ether from whence Win had summoned it.
‘Dara, what have you done?’ Hugh’s voice rang through the stone yard. Win gaped up at him in disbelief as I turned to face him.
‘What have I done?’ I repeated, my breath panting as I tried to find sense in his words. I’d just single-handedly taken down the evil witch of the Avalon, that’s what I’d done. Had little help from anyone but Win, and Hugh hadn’t been around to watch my success. I yelled up the steps to him, ‘Where the hell were you?’
He drew himself up stiffly, perhaps affronted at my tone. Or maybe he just then realized my dress was full of drying blood, my hair every which way after my fight, and I definitely whiffed of dragon smoke. No doubt, I was offending him on many levels.
Hugh took a deep breath, and began to walk down the many steps. He looked first at me, then at Margaret still standing in the shadows of the far wall. And then his eyes fixed on Cate. Broken, lifeless Cate.
Below us, Nachtan had already set an unholy glow over Cate’s head to keep her unconscious and stable while he directed Cromwell and the Covenanters to strap her to a stretcher.
She wasn’t dead then. Maybe that was just as well. I didn’t want to be branded as a murderer, and I wanted Cate to be alive to receive her full judgement.
We all watched as the witches scurried to do Nachtan’s bidding. Their faces reflected their confusion at what had just happened, puzzled at how Cate had transformed from being the hero of the day to being the subject of the Venerable’s great anger. But they obeyed him, nonetheless, for the Kin was a hierarchical organization. While Nachtan had no official title within this organization, for example he wasn’t a Grand Master like Johanna, still he had claimed the title ‘Venerable’ and no one was going to challenge his orders. Much like the army, there was little room for independent thought. Its soldiers were taught to obey.
There was dead silence as Cate was carried out the side portal to the secure hospital wing, the heavy door leaning off its hinges after Nachtan’s grand entrance.
He swept his gaze up the stairs, up to where Win and I still stood. He stared at me for what felt like an hour, but it could only have been thirty seconds. But in that short time, I felt he saw right through me.
I began to sweat in the hot spotlights, despite the coolness of the night. I could only imagine what was going through his mind. I had been specially chosen to study under him, the Venerable Nachtan. Look at the situation I’d gotten myself into now. He must be realizing what a wasted effort I’d been for his energies.
It couldn’t look good for me. I’d just taken down the hero of the Kin. The witch who had called everyone here this evening, witches from all over the world, and who had promised to expose the evil doer responsible for the terrible deeds done to the revered ones. Was he going to demand that I too be seized? Would he hold that same golden globe over my head to subdue me?
I looked back at him with weary eyes, and I knew, right in the depths of my being, that no matter the outcome, I was finished with the Kin. I wanted nothing more to do with this falseness, with the politics. Power, even magical power, and wealth meant nothing if I couldn’t have peace in my life. Peace and freedom to do as I wished. I wanted to be shot of this life, one way or another.
My eyes lifted up to Margaret, still sitting on the opposite wall. All this, I’d done for her, at least I had thought at the time, fighting to keep her from being wrongly accused.
But now I realized that wasn’t true, not at all. I’d done it all for me, so that I could live as free as she appeared to be. I wouldn’t have a trust fund to buoy up a beachside life of martinis and sun, but that wasn’t my goal in life.
I looked back at Nachtan. He had followed my gaze to Margaret, and a soft smile almost lit the cracks of his face, the anger melting completely away.
Of course. He knew I wasn’t part of Cate’s nefarious schemes. There would be no jail time for me, no being cursed to end my days in the depths of the Edinburgh Vaults. Cate’s face had been the last one he’d seen as he fell into his deep slumber.
He wouldn’t allow the Covenanters to arrest me. I didn’t have to fight to prove my innocence.
I saw in his eyes only kindness toward me now, and understanding, as if he knew more about me than I knew myself. He raised his eyebrows slightly, letting me know that what happened next was in my hands. That my life had always been my own to choose. I may not have made the best decisions all the time in my life, but they’d been my decisions, and they had led me to this very place. To the Imperial Palace in China, yes, but also to this major crossroads of my life.
I smiled back at him, my mind and heart clear and free now. Without further ado, I stepped over to Win and lightly placed my arm around her.
I glanced up behind me. Hugh had paused on his descent. His face was a mass of confusion. I would let him figure it all out on his own time.
‘Nachtan, I present to you Win Chen,’ I said, loudly and clearly so that all in the enclosed space could hear me. ‘Win saved the day. She vanquished Cate, at much risk to herself.’
She started under my embrace, and half turned to me, to deny my words, to give the glory to where it possibly really lay. I squeezed her shoulder. ‘Just go along with me,’ I whispered.
‘But you were the one,’ she argued. Her face twisted in puzzlement. She began to shake her head. Her black hair gleamed in the spotlights. ‘Why would you give me the credit?’
‘Let’s just say, this will make both of us happier in the long run.’ I smiled at Win even as she stared back in consternation.
‘No,’ she said. ‘I’ll tell them the difference, what really happened.’ She made to speak out to Nachtan.
I put my hand on her arm, staying her words. ‘Wait.’
I looked at her, still looking perfect in her blue silk gown, not a hair out of place from her elaborate updo. Then I looked down at myself. I was bloodied, dirtied and exhausted.
‘But it was you who was in danger from Cate.’ She wouldn’t let it go. ‘I… I was prepared to do everything she wanted. I was prepared to hurt you, Dara!’
I could afford to beam at her with forgiveness. ‘Doesn’t matter. What’s done is done. You’re planning to stick around with the Kin? Work your way up through the ranks?’
She nodded. ‘Of course. It’s all I’ve ever wanted.’
I laughed. ‘I used to think that’s what I wanted, too. But not anymore.’
It took a moment for my words to filter through to her. ‘Wait. You don’t hate me for what I did?’
I shook my head. ‘Life is too short for that,’ I said. ‘Let’s just say you owe me one, okay?’
‘Win Chen,’ Nachtan thundered from below. The long sleep must have cleared up his lungs, for his deep voice reached every ear in the courtyard. ‘Win, you have done a great service for the international Kin on this night.’
Every single voice there began the chant, softly at first, then growing louder. Well, every voice except mine, and Win’s and Margaret’s. We were the only ones who’d actually seen what had happened. Win’s dragon and its smoke had obscured the sightlines. All they’d seen was the flashy dragon magic and sparks and smoke emanating from the illusion.
The single word which floated up to us, repeated over and over, was ‘Win.’ Her name echoed amongst the susurrations in every language, starting softly then growing. I took her hand and thrust her arm up into the air, making sure the spotlight remained trained on her while I stepped back into her shadow.
Win. They were buying it. I could bow out. Which I did, gracefully, allowing Win in her gleaming blue silk gown with not a hair out of place to take center stage.
It was better this way. She looked better, too, more like the Kin’s idea of how a hero should look. I scratched my neck, the blood had dried and itched like crazy now.
‘What happened?’ Hugh had come down all the stairs to join us. His eyes searched mine.
‘Where the hell were you during all this?’ I let go of Win and spread my arm out to encompass the courtyard, although the only evidence of the evening’s work was on my physical body, and the slivers of smashed crystal lying on the steps before us.
‘I was creating a holding cell for Margaret. Cate tasked me with this,’ he said, a smidgeon of pride in his voice. ‘But…’
He looked up across the courtyard to where Margaret had sat just moments before. The witch had disappeared. ‘But she’s still free.’ That and so much more.
‘I tried to tell you, but you wouldn’t listen. It wasn’t Margaret behind the cursing. It was Cate all along.’
I took another breath to rail at him, to blame him for his blinkered eyes in refusing to see evil where it had been, but I stopped myself. Why bother? All that I’d thought Hugh was, everything I’d pinned on him, but he was just a human witch. A product of his time and place. Hugh was the heir to a Duchy, and intrinsically linked to the Kin and their politics. He thrived in that atmosphere. He would never, could never renounce this life. It was in his blood.
But it wasn’t in mine.
I thought of that horrid ghastly ring of his family’s, and I shuddered. This was for the best.
‘What, you’re turning your back on me?’
I paused from my climb up the stairway and looked at him through my new vision. ‘Hugh, actually I think… I’m sorry to do it like this, but I think I’m breaking up with you.’
‘You can’t do that,’ he sputtered. ‘Not here. Not like this.’
‘I can. I am. But you know I wish you the best. Always.’
I left the courtyard in my soft cloth slippers, not making a sound. I walked out on the Kin, and Hugh, and Nachtan, and in doing so, walked out on my whole life. It was a deliberate choice, although at the time I felt as if I was watching myself from a distance, as if through a glass darkly. One part of my brain cried and grieved for all I had desired, for the recognition within the Kin, for the orderly life, even for the easy paycheck.
But the real part of me knew this was the right thing to do. The only thing to do. I walked through the Palace of Heavenly Purity, hardly seeing the magnificence all around me, the gold glowing in the incandescent light. It was all so beautiful, the palaces of the Forbidden City and the hidden gardens, yes, but the opulence was overwhelming after a while. The accumulation of so much blatant wealth was sickening to look upon.
A nice place to visit, but I wouldn’t want to live there.
I walked alone, up and down marble stairs, through the Halls of varying Harmonies. As I exited the last, the Hall of Supreme Harmony, I felt Margaret fall into step beside me. We crossed the small plaza, and as we started down the steps leading to the gates, she spoke.
‘She would never have fooled me, you know.’
I darted a glance at her. Her face was calm and assured. ‘Don’t be so certain of yourself,’ I replied. ‘I only understood how the spell worked after she was doing it to me. It was addictive, that music, that single note that was calibrated to each individual, so much so that I wanted to grab the sphere and do the job myself.’
After a pause, she muttered, ‘Weak.’
I didn’t reply.
‘Well, what are you going to now?’ she asked plaintively. ‘You burned that bridge to nowhere. I don’t see you being welcomed into the Duchy now.’
I shook my head. We’d reached the Gate of Supreme Harmony. ‘I don’t know,’ I said slowly. ‘I guess I’ll have to rely on my own two feet, and see where they lead me.’
Before we exited through the grand gates, we both turned at the sound of running behind us. Rob. We paused and let him catch up.
He stood before us, still huffing a little as he collected his breath. His right eye was bruised, and his thick glasses sat askew.
‘Lady Margaret, I presume.’
She inclined her head to him. ‘Nephew Robert.’
We all turned and walked through the Gate of Supreme Harmony.
‘Your trust fund has issues.’
‘So I’ve heard.’
The Thai sun was warm on my legs as I sat half-shaded by the umbrella woven of palm fronds. I lay the icy glass back on the glass-topped table and breathed deeply of the salt tropical breeze off the turquoise ocean. This was, indeed, the life. All compliments of Margaret, for the next little while anyway.
It was the least she could do, considering everything I’d done for her.
I let out my breath, feeling the sun’s rays wash away any lingering tension. My phone buzzed by my side. I glanced at it. Mom. Hmm.
She and Dad had received the expurgated version of the China trip and subsequent breakup with Hugh. I was putting off the inevitable scolding and drama. That could wait. I knew I was taking the coward’s way out, yes, but I was learning to accept myself as I truly was. And if I was a coward, then so be it.
A shadow crossed my sunbeam, and I squinted up. It was just Rob on his way into the ocean. He’d discovered snorkeling in the balmy waters of the resort, the safe kind which didn’t involve going into the water over his head. I smiled despite myself. He was surely the whitest white man ever, lathered as he was in his protective coating of sunscreen. As he picked his way down over the white sand with the flippers on his feet, he resembled some sort of stick insect with his long limbs.
He seemed in no hurry to return home to his law practice.
I closed my eyes again and thought of my week in China and shivered despite my tropical surroundings. My ear was healed, just about, although Margaret said there might be traces of adamantite left in the scar. Who knew what effect that might have, later on down the road? I preferred not to think about it.
Cate was eventually brought to justice, of a kind. The Kin kind, that is, the sort of justice meted out to those who hold power and position, which is to say not much real justice at all. Her side argued that no one could prove she’d done anything at all.
