Angels Blood (46 page)

Wollfen came and sat beside her on the deck.  Crying her heart out she held him close and sobbed against his chest.

“
They destroyed me and I helped them do it.”

Wollfen put his arms around her,

“
Shh, it's not your fault, you cannot blame yourself at all Madeira, you could not have known any better.”

It didn’t make her feel any better. Wollfen watched over her for the next few days. Madeira had become morose and withdrawn not eating much at all, staying in her cot. If she didn’t come out of it soon he would have to do something. He understood this was a mourning process not for someone who had died, but something almost as fundamental. A part of her had died in a sense, her faith in all her beliefs was destroyed and all her ideals had been taken away. He was sure she felt like her legs had been cut from under her.

He thought about the entire process that had been going on since two weeks into the voyage. Wollfen knew he was right to have kept the truth from her for so long.  With all her ideals gone, she would eventually fall back onto the new morality he had been teaching her. If Madeira had learned the truth early on, she would be lost now with no chance of coming back. No chance of saving her soul.

All of a sudden she sat up and looked at him, he gave her a questioning look. Getting up she grabbed his hand with a ‘come on’ and out the door they went. She led him to the bow of the ship and pulled him behind her. Placing his arms around her, looking up at the stars she asked,

“
Is it true many or most things happen for a reason?”

“
For the most part yes that is true but we also play a part with the choices we make in our lives.”

He watched her think on that,

“
Then my life has a purpose does it not?”

“
Yes we all have a purpose.”

“
Then it is also true that as long as I try to do what is right and serve our gods and their intent, I shall be doing good?”

Wollfen nodded. She went quiet for a while again.

“
Tell me, I have a feeling you allowed yourself to be taken to Isogorr, am I right?” Wollfen nodded once more, “Then it also follows you are here to change things aren’t you?”

Again the nod but Wollfen also added,

“
I am going to try and set things right.”

Madeira pulled in a deep breath and let it out again.

“
This isn’t about the war then.”

She made it as a statement not a question, she knew now what Wollfen was about. Turning in his arms she placed her own arms around his neck.

“
I am with you all the way, you have an ally to count on, Wollfen of the Kingdom.”

Wollfen looked out over the ocean, they had just over a month to come up with some sort of plan before they arrived at Isogorr.

“
We will need to make preparations, we will have to keep what we know quiet until we are ready.”

Madeira nodded, for the first time in her life she felt she was in control of her own destiny, it was strange, she had never thought like that before and now in spite of the real dangers they may be facing Madeira was exhilarated.

“
First things first, I will need to know whatever you can tell me of the Queen.”

Madeira thought on this,

“
Well she certainly aspires to power more than she already has, I do know that the reason we are going to Kassandrea is to go down into the depths below the castle, there is an ancient stone stairway there that descends into the bowels of the world. There is something down deep in there that she wants to acquire, some old power from the days when the gods walked the land, but beyond that I don’t know. What is there is kept even from all the other sorcs of the Clique. The Queen is very suspicious of us and only lets us know as much as is needed to accomplish her aims.”

Wollfen thought on this, an ancient power buried deep below Kassandrea? He knew nothing of it at all and as far back as he could remember there had never been any mention or even rumor of anything. He didn’t even know the staircase existed.

He went and sat at the bench along the railing deep in thought. Madeira sat patiently beside him till he was ready to speak again. If the Queen had mobilized an entire army to conquer a foreign land to attain another instrument of power when she was already at the pinnacle of power in her own land, it meant her aspirations were outgrowing even Isogorr.

That also means she has every intention of spreading her kind beyond her borders, to subject not only her country but others to her rule. It may just mean that no country was safe. Wollfen couldn’t imagine what it would be like if every country was the same with every peoples subjected to the same harsh rules of life. No, it couldn’t be allowed to happen. It was bad enough that the Isogorrean people lived the lifestyle they had because of her.

“
Madeira, you have said that I am to be the instrument by which this power will be released yes?” She nodded, “Do you know of how she intends to make me do it?”

“
I was under the impression she was going to be able to convince you to do it willingly since you also follow the words of Vincent.”

To Wollfen it sounded like the Queen was naive and he didn’t think that was the case. There wasn’t much to go on at all.

“
How was the current Queen picked? What protocols are there when it comes to her eventual death?”

Madeira gave him a quizzical look,

“
You know I really don’t know, she has always been the queen for as long I have been alive.”

A warning bell sounded in Wollfen's head.

“
How old does she look?”

Madeira responded without hesitation,

“
Very young and beautiful, she appears to be as young as me.”

He was coming to a slow realization of what he may be facing here.

“
Tell me more of what she looks like Madeira, describe her physically and her features.”

“
She is very tall, I’d say a couple of inches taller than you and she has a very fine bone structure but still appears athletic. Her face has fine angular features and she has the finest long flowing white hair, I cant really describe her skin.”

“
It will be a smooth and even complexion, perfect to look at with the color of  sun bleached bone.” Wollfen remarked.

“
Yes you are right,” Madeira looked at him, “You know her?”

Wollfen shook his head,

“
No, what you have described is an elf.”

Madeira looked at him in shock.

“
But that cant be! Elvenkind are mythical creatures.”

“
No I have known many elves and I count quite a few as friends. You know it will explain why she is able to treat your people with such disdain.  She truly believes that she is superior to you all.”

Madeira wasn’t so shocked at the revelation, she was getting used to Wollfen springing surprises on her.

“
So what is she doing in Isogorr?”

Wollfen contemplated that, almost all elves that he knew of stayed in the enchanted realms they had created for themselves beyond the mountains of the north.

“
The only thing I can think of is that she was at some time excommunicated from her own lands or maybe she simply rejected them and left, I can’t say beyond that. But I can say they are a very long lived race and 250 years is considered a normal lifespan for them.”

It also meant there would be problems, Elvenkind were very strong when it came to magics and this one would be no exception. Safeguards would have to be prepared for Madeira, Wollfen knew she wouldn’t be able to stand a close mental scrutiny by the Queen and if she delved into Madeira’s mind she would discover everything.

“
Madeira, I am going to have to ask you to put your trust in me, the Queen will have more power than you can handle and I am sure she will ask you to lower your shields so she can look into your mind.”

Madeira nodded,

“
Yes that’s a normal practice for any sorc who returns from a long mission and this will be no exception, but what do you think you will be able to do for me?”

“
I will need you to lower your shields so that I can enter your mind and begin a restructuring of your memory patterns. I will need to keep them intact, but at the same time mask those things that we don’t want her to see.  This will take a few hours each day for about a week I should think and then one more session just before we get off the boat.

But that’s not all, I will also have to delve into your fear centers and make sure that they are for want of a better word, ‘turned off’ when she glides over the masked areas. I don’t want to arouse her suspicion when she enters your mind and finds you react in fear to her looking at certain memories.  It’s a bit more complicated than that, but I can’t think of better words to explain. If she feels a natural fear response it will encourage her to look more deeply in the masked areas.  If she actively delves into those areas, she will be able to push through the masks easily. I can’t block her at all, that would tip her off too if she found any blocks.”

Madeira nodded, she was adept at magics but what Wollfen was talking about was something of which she had never heard.

“
You have so much knowledge of magic and the more you show me the more I realize that we your captors really were lucky in picking you up huh?”

Wollfen grinned at that,

“
Yeah well all the magic in the world won’t stop a sword blow to the side of the head if you aren’t expecting it. I must say though, that sorc I faced in the tavern that day was very powerful.”

“
That’s not surprising really.  Each sorc that goes out on patrol is backed up by six sorcs complementing her powers. You weren’t fighting one sorc.  You were dealing with the power of seven. It is also why we knew you were the one when we captured you.  No one could possibly have that sort of power to resist normally.”

Wollfen thought about how coincidences happened and how little things influenced huge events. It was almost as if what was happening was meant to be and whenever he thought about that sort of thing it always made him wonder just how much in control he really was of his own life.

“
So, when do you want to start?”

Madeira looked at Wollfen, he could see she trusted him.

“
I have to tell you, it isn’t pleasant, sometimes it will manifest itself as physical pain from time to time too. But once I start you will not be able to resist, you will be under my full control.”

She nodded hesitantly,

“
Will it be strong pain?”

“
I’m afraid it is different for everyone, sometimes a strong mind means it will cause a lot of pain to change it, then sometimes it makes it easier, there are too many factors to say.”

After some thought Madeira made her decision.

“
We don’t really have a choice on this, it has to be done, especially if I am to live. What I know now would get me killed instantly if the Queen ever knew. No, you must do this Wollfen, not just for the sake of me but for so many others too.”

He nodded,

“
We will do it every evening for the next week as it will take a long time and both of us will be exhausted, we will probably wake up with headaches each morning too.”

“
I understand and while I am not really looking forward to it, I have made my decision. So where do you want me?”

Wollfen thought about the mechanics of how to handle such a long session,

“
We will have to be in the cabin obviously, but also when I start, you will go totally limp so at the very least you will need to be lying down.  As for me, to hold a single position for more than two hours means I’ll have to be comfortable too.  Once we start I won’t be able to stop till the session is done.”

Madeira added her bit.

“
Then we will need to be lying in a cot together while you work.”

Wollfen agreed, in the confines of that small cabin there wasn’t much else to do.

“
Very well let’s go now and start.”

He took her hand and led her back to the cabin. Once inside they both laid down on a cot facing each other.

“
Are you ready?”

Madeira took a deep breath,

“
As ready as I will ever be I guess, we wait any longer and I’ll chicken out.”

He smiled, he couldn’t imagine her chickening out on anything. Now he slid one hand under her head and cradled it from below as she lay there, then slid his other hand on the other side, his palms were on her cheeks and he looked deep into her eyes.

“
Lower your shields, open up to me.”

He reached in with his mind and found her shields dissolving, he waited a little then delved further in. It wasn’t unlike the universe inside a person’s mind. A dark void filled with pinpoints of light, but the real difference was all these pinpoints were connected by tendrils of light like shiny strings. The points were her memories of things and events, the tendrils were those things that connected them.