Serafina and Angelica boarded the Southern Cross and found their cabin. It was small with just enough room for two bunk beds and a little bench and table. Light from a small porthole fell on the table but left most of the cabin in musty shadows. The ship rocked gently, pulling at the ropes that held it tied to the wooden dock. Angelica looked around the tiny cabin, delighted.
"Do you understand your instructions?" Serafina asked.
"I’m to stay locked in the cabin until we have been underway one full day. I will not open the door to anyone, no matter how urgent or clever the story."
"Good," Serafina said, "You have food and money for the voyage and a powerful love charm to secure the man of your dreams once you find him. Any questions?"
"You won’t tell my father where I’ve gone, will you?"
"No. As much as he drinks he will likely not realize you have gone for some time."
"I will always be grateful to you," Angelica said.
Serafina said nothing, but smiled as she thought, ‘and I to you.’
Serafina slipped quietly out of the cabin to wait, hidden, with a view of the gangplank where people, animals and supplies were still loading. She watched until she saw Muller the Spy. He appeared to chat casually with various members of the crew working on the dock, but in fact moved quickly from one to another until he cornered the ship’s purser. He spoke to him for several minutes, while others waiting in line complained at the delay. The spy left the purser and went to sit on a piling where he wrote a note on a scrap of paper. After speaking to one of the farmers unloading produce to be shipped, he returned to the dwindling line of passengers where he bought a ticket as the last of the passengers headed for their cabins.
Serafina waited until the spy had disappeared into the bowels of the ship with his cabin key in hand, then walked down the gangplank just before it was lifted. She told the purser she had changed her mind about making the voyage. She watched as the schooner was untied and pulled away from the dock by several small boats filled with sailors bent over their oars. Her sails were unfurled and quickly billowed as they caught the wind. She watched until the ship was a small dot on the horizon, then turned to begin the long walk back to Chase Bound.
"One down and two to go," she murmured.
She thought about the two remaining men she had seen in the crystal ball. One was most certainly her nephew. What sort of lad might he be? Probably better that I do not know, she thought, all I need to know is that he and his companion have come to take Electra back to Fernland and I cannot allow that.
When Serafina had taken the infant Electra, she had intended to keep the child for only a short time to punish Geoffrey and her sister. She had not envisioned how the child would idolize her. She had not planned to love the child. But it had happened. And now she could not bear to lose Electra. It would be worse than the loss of Geoffrey to Delphinia. She had to stop the King’s emissaries from their mission. And she had to stop them permanently.
As she made her way back home the words to a fire hex came to mind.
Io Ammon Io
Time be broken
Space be closed
Hear what’s spoken
Burn and glow
Io Ammon Io
"A fire hex," she murmured, "I’ve always wanted to try a fire hex."
Chapter 7
Swamp near Chase Bound
The swamp water lay flat as a mirror, the calm before the storm. Electra walked along its edge to a place overgrown with bushes and multi-trunked trees, a shady place favored by spiders. She broke the webs with a stick as she moved forward, looking for the web she sought. She saw it low to the ground, almost hidden from view. She touched the web gently with her stick, giving it the weight of a trapped fly. Then she waited for the spider to come out to investigate. Slowly, tentatively, the brown recluse spider emerged from under a bush. She continued to wait until he was completely in view, then unhooked his escape route with her stick and wound him, web and all, around her stick.
Electra dropped the brown recluse spider into a container and pushed the lid down tight. She took up the long list Serafina had left for her and drew a line through Brown Recluse. If not for the list and the rumpled bedding Electra would not have known Serafina had been home at all. She had fallen asleep waiting up for her. This morning when Electra woke up, her mother was already gone with no explanation—only this long list of items to gather left to mark her brief sojourn.
It was not unusual for Serafina to be gone for long periods of time. She often went on expeditions of one kind or another. But it was unusual for her to go without telling Electra where she was going and why. Electra worried that lately her mother’s behavior had been secretive and that she often seemed in a bad mood. Something was amiss and Electra very much wanted to know what that might be.
As Electra looked at ‘Witches Bane’, the next item on the list, a large drop of water plopped down atop the crossed out ‘Brown Recluse’. Several more drops followed. Electra looked up to see a large dark cloud moving quickly overhead. A North wind ruffled the water of the swamp around her and she quickly covered her collecting basket with her cloak and headed home.
She smiled through the pouring rain when she saw smoke coming from the chimney of their cabin. Her Mother was home. Electra ran to the cabin and rushed inside flinging net bags of flowers and herbs on to a wooden chair.
"Mother?" she called as she gently set the collection basket filled with little jars of insects on the table.
Electra looked around the empty cabin wondering how she could keep missing Serafina. She crossed to the fireplace and hugged the warmth into her damp clothes. As she shrugged her wet woolen cloak to the floor she noticed two little cloth horses with riders sitting atop the fireplace logs. Flames licked at the edges of the cloth miniatures. Without thinking, Electra swept them up in her hands just before they caught fire. She held the little figures, studying them. Were they an experiment gone wrong? She brought them close to breathe in their scent. Besides the smell of charred cloth there were scents she recognized. Blood root and mistletoe. These were certainly Serafina’s work. But why were they in the fire? Electra had a sudden uneasy feeling. Perhaps Serafina wanted them to burn. Perhaps her interference would anger her mother. No, she decided, they could always be burned later. Best to find out first. She slipped the little figures into her pocket.
Electra began to busy herself with sorting her collection. She placed the herbs on hooks above the fireplace to dry, stacked the containers of insects against the wall and sat at the table to sort through pebbles and crystals, but she found it increasingly difficult to concentrate. Where could Mother be? The question would not leave her. Finally she pushed her stones aside and reached for her crystal ball.
"Where is Mother?" Electra asked aloud, as she gazed at the little shifting shapes within the ball.
The forest north of Chase Bound was in flames. Electra began to shiver uncontrollably as she felt not only her Mother’s presence near the burning forest but the presence of those mysterious searchers as well. These men who search for me are in grave danger, she thought, and my mother may be in danger as well.
Was this somehow my doing? she wondered, throwing on her wet cloak and running for the door.
Chapter 8
Forest near Chase Bound
Prince Avor rode slowly behind General Pommell along the narrow trail through the vast forest. They had been on the road over a fortnight, sleeping out of doors most nights and riding all day most days. They were tired but still excited by the possibility of finding Electra. Avor leaned over his saddle horn, head lowered, as the rain seeped under his collar. It was only another few miles to the village of Chase Bound where they would be able to dry out and rest. They would rendezvous with Muller the Spy at their prearranged meeting place, the Wayfarer’s Inn in Chase Bound, to discuss the rumors and clues they had collected in their travels, the rumors and clues that might eventually lead them to Electra.
/> The drilling noise of the rain increased in intensity. Was it raining harder? Avor glanced up cautiously, blinking raindrops from his eyes. It seemed suddenly brighter and warmer. He pulled on his horse’s reins. The trees ahead were bursting into flames! The flames quickly surrounded them. The fire’s heat seared his lungs. General Pommell’s horse, Tyre, reared up and the general cried out as he fell to the ground.
Avor managed to calm his horse and slip down from the saddle as the fire suddenly abated, replaced by thick clouds of black smoke. He flattened himself to the earth and called out, coughing, "General, where are you?"
"Here Lad," the General whispered hoarsely. General Pommell was hunched over, gasping for breath. Avor helped the old man lie down. The General put one hand to his chest and used the other to bring Prince Avor close. The General’s mouth moved but no sound came out. Finally he managed a whispered message.
"I … may not be … going on with you … bad pain," he said, clutching his chest. The general’s face was ashen and contorted in pain.
Avor started to protest but the General shook his head and drew him closer. "There is … sorcery in this," he whispered, "no natural fire … burns in the rain."
Avor nodded at the general’s words, his throat too parched to speak. The forest fire that swept around them had begun in the middle of a downpour.
. "Go to the Inn … at Chase Bound and wait …for Muller." The General’s body tensed as he drew a final shuddering breath. His hand relaxed its hold on Avor’s shirt and fell to the ground.
"General?" Avor patted the fallen hand anxiously. He put his ear to the general’s silent chest. No breath escaped through the general’s parched lips. The life had gone out of him. Avor closed the general’s eyes and wept over his old friend’s body, feeling alone and afraid. The general had been his father’s friend from childhood, and Avor’s hero. He couldn’t believe he was gone so suddenly. He knelt beside the body, holding the general’s hand until the warmth left it. Finally he called back the general’s horse, talking softly to the frightened beast. He recalled the command the general had used to make his battle trained horse kneel down.
"Go down, Tyre," he commanded.
Slowly the great war horse bent his front legs down. With all his strength, Avor was able to push the general’s body across the saddle.
"Up, Tyre," he shouted.
Avor caught his breath and called to his own horse. He tied them one behind the other and led both horses through the lingering smoke of the burned out clearing. He stood at the edge of the clearing marveling at the destruction and his own salvation before swinging himself up onto his horse’s saddle and turning back to the trail toward Chase Bound.
It was late afternoon when he reached the Wayfarer’s Inn, leading the General’s body-laden horse behind him.
"’Ave Mercy!" the Innkeeper cried as he stood at the door to the Inn watching Avor approach. "Where was there a fire?" He stared from the doorway at the soot-covered young man as he dismounted. The Innkeeper stepped off the wooden porch and walked with Avor to the General’s body, slung over the back of the second horse. He felt for a pulse, then dropped the General’s scorched hand. "I’m sorry, was he kin to you?"
"A very old friend of my family," Avor said, biting his lip to stave off fresh tears. The Innkeeper put his arm around the boy and ushered him inside. "We’ll call the coffin fitter ta’ see ta’ yer old friend," he said.
Avor stopped, reluctant to leave the General’s body.
"There’s naught you can do for ‘im now but give ‘im a proper send off," the Innkeeper said. "We’ll sort it all out."
Chapter 9
Forest near Chase Bound
Serafina slowed her pace as flames shot up through the trees in the forest below. She watched from a hill above the green forest, pulling the hood of her cape forward to shield her eyes from the rain. As she continued to the edge of the forest the flames suddenly turned to black smoke. That should not have happened, she thought as she quickened her pace. She circled around upwind of the thick smoke to approach the burning section of forest. By the time she arrived at the blackened clearing, the heavy rain had reduced the smoke to a few lingering whiffs and the ground to a soggy mass of gray embers.
"Where are they?" she murmured as she searched the embers for footprints. She had been so pleased to see that her fire hex had worked in the midst of a cloudburst. It was a powerful hex, and the effigies had been carefully made with strong magic.
Serafina made a wider circle around the clearing and finally picked up the hoof prints. She cursed aloud. How could they have survived? She quickly set out following the trail that led in the direction of Chase Bound. As she walked, she went over the steps she had taken to prepare the fire hex. She could find no error. They should both be dead along with their mounts, she thought. She touched her fingers to a hoof print, testing the formation of crust around the edge. Only a few minutes ahead, she thought, as she quickened her pace.
She saw the horses tied in front of the Wayfarer’s Inn as she emerged from the forest. A body lay across the saddle of one of the horses. Too big for the King’s young son. So the powerful companion was dead. But the horses—still alive. And the son?
Serafina made her way to the rear of the Inn and once again entered through the back door into the storage area. Pulling the curtain a little to the side, she saw the Innkeeper sitting with a boy. The boy had Delphinia’s slight build and dark straight hair. He looked young but could have been fourteen or fifteen. His light complexion was hidden by soot and his wet clothes clung to his body. He looked pitiful, and indeed, seemed to have garnered the Innkeeper’s sympathy. The man fussed over the boy with tea and platitudes.
Serafina knew the Innkeeper to be a gossip and was certain that Electra’s name would soon come up if it had not already. If her nephew told the Innkeeper why he had come, Electra would hear of it. The whole of Chase Bound would hear of it. Serafina had to act to stop him and the sooner the better. She pushed the curtain aside and walked into the tavern.
"Serafina!" the Innkeeper said, "I’m surprised ta’ see ya’. I thought ya’ was on yer way to some sea voyage."
"Serafina?" Avor said. His hand shook as he placed his tea cup back on its saucer.
"Is that a body in front of the Inn?" she asked.
"That is the body of General Pommell," Avor said, moving closer to the Innkeeper.
"General Pommell. I knew him well in my youth. What a tragic loss," Serafina said.
Avor stared at Serafina in amazement. "Then you are my mother’s sister?" he asked.
"Of course. I have waited years for this meeting. You must come with me. Electra is anxious to meet you. We will discuss arrangements for General Pommell’s burial."
"Wait!" the Innkeeper said, touching his fingers to his forehead. "General Pommell, you say; why, I’ve a message fer ‘im."
He took a folded piece of paper from his apron pocket. "Come in just a while back from Seachase."
Avor took the scrap of paper from the Innkeeper’s hand and unfolded it. He read the message silently.
General Pommell,
‘Have followed Serafina and Electra on board ship The Southern Cross bound for Manoa. They are booked through to same. Suggest you follow by ship as soon as possible. I will leave word at port office in Manoa and stay on their trail.
Muller
Avor looked at Serafina, wondering if he should divulge his message.
"Why did you think Serafina and Electra were on a sea voyage?" he asked the Innkeeper.
The Innkeeper looked at Serafina. "Weren’t that yerself an’ Electra I seen early morn totin’ bags out a town?"
"We have been out gathering of late; lots of order to fill," Serafina said with a smile. She turned to Avor, "Come along now, you do want to meet Electra do you not?"
"Shall I send fer the coffin-fitter then?" the Innkeeper asked as Serafina took Avor’s arm and pulled him out the doo
r of the tavern.
Avor, caught off balance, half stumbled through the door.
"Yes, Milo," Serafina said. "We would appreciate that. Tell him to send the body on to Seachase when he’s finished with it. I will be in touch with him soon." The tavern door slammed shut behind her.
Chapter 10
Village of Chase Bound
Outside the Inn Avor slipped free of Serafina’s grasp.
"I…I should wait for the coffin-fitter and see to the horses before I leave. Perhaps we could all meet later here at the Inn," Avor said.
"If you wish," Serafina said, smiling.
Avor stared at his aunt’s face, so like his Mother’s. The same dark hair framing a light complexion. But the eyes were different. His mother’s eyes were a soft sky blue and Serafina’s eyes were dark with flashes of blue and green, as cold as the ocean depths.
"Electra will be disappointed," his aunt continued. "She made such a nice lunch for you."
"How did she know I was coming?" Avor asked, feigning surprise.
Serafina mimicked his feigned surprise. "Has no one told you I have the gift of second sight? I thought Delphinia would have told you."
Avor bit his lip. "She may have mentioned it."
"Ah, here comes the coffin-fitter now," Serafina said. "News of a body circulates quickly. Perhaps you’ll be able to come for lunch after all."
The coffin-fitter and his assistant eased General Pommell’s body off his horse into their cart.
"Don’t you worry none," the coffin-fitter said. "I’ll fix ‘im up real nice an’ make ‘im a good box ‘afore I send ‘im off ta’ Seachase."
"I’d appreciate that," Avor said as he handed over several gold coins. "He’s to be shipped to Rivers End from there."
Avor watched silently, wiping the moisture from his eyes with his handkerchief, as the cart rumbled down the street.
"He was a good man," Serafina said, "a warrior."
And he warned me not to trust you, Avor thought.
"I believe I will have to miss lunch," Avor said, "I must take care of the horses. They have wounds from the fire. Please give my apologies to Electra and tell her I look forward to meeting her this evening."