Friends Who Became Villainesses

By Henry Cobb

Chapter Three: The Mermaid

"Angie, depending on Dark Sleep to overcome your nyctophobia would be terribly ironic in several ways, but it won't work."

"Why not, Amy? It blocks out my nightmares." I finished putting on my new running boots and looked up at Princess Amesombra.

"The sleep it imposes is too deep. It rests only the body and brain, not the mind. It may prove addictive, and the only person in the world who must confront the coming darkness instead of running or hiding from it is you. If you will not stand up to the challenge then all hope is truly lost."

"Why me? What makes you think that I alone have the light that overcomes the darkness?"

"Is there anything about you that I do not know?" Amesombra set off at a brisk walk around the inner curtain wall of the palace with Synthia and the two waited for me to catch up before continuing. "Must I offer you a bribe? Like, say a hint about the name of your father?"

"Who is he? Is he alive? Where is he now?" I increased my pace to keep up with them as Amesombra sped up into a jog.

"I do not know his current whereabouts or the exact day that he will appear. I only know the conditions that would ordinarily trigger his appearance, and none of these have been met yet. He could be already dead from factors of which I am currently unaware and I would never know. The same goes for your mother, Sharon Pureheart. But you are more likely to recognize her than I am."

I followed Amesombra and Synthia in silence twice around the palace, saving my breath for the run.

Without slowing down she said. "Angie, look at your left hand."

I suddenly realized that I had not felt anything from my left hand for several seconds and held this in front of me. It was covered from my wrist to past the tips of my fingers by a black blob. I tried to move my fingers but could feel no response. I tripped over my own feet and fell to hit the black blob against the ground and still felt nothing. My momentum carried me down to the ground and I wound up on my back, holding my darkness-shrouded hand above me.

Amesombra stopped and looked down at me. "Angie, are you hurt?"

"I can't feel any injury, but Amy, are my fingers broken inside of this?"

"No, it works both ways." Amesombra looked at my hand and the shadow vanished.

Sensation returned to my hand and I twitched my fingers without any pain.

Amesombra helped me to my feet and asked. "Angie, are you good to continue?"

I nodded then as we resumed our jog I asked her. "Amy, why didn't I hear your chant?"

"The degree of concentration required for magic depends on the precision and scale of the effect divided by the innate power, talent and learned skill of the practitioner. I can imagine effects that would require me to do an hour-long chant while dancing around and drawing a huge magic circle, but the process would wreak me and it might take me days to recover, if I even survived. It spoils nothing to tell you now that your game has a good ending when after you cast your biggest spell your chosen one picks up your apparently lifeless body and holds you in his arms. His tear lands on your cheek. Then you cough, he bends down to look at you, and you raise your head to kiss him. Supposibly you live happily ever after at that point. But we only get a montage of happy scenes, the triumphal return to the capital, your wedding, holding your newborn, and so on as the game credits roll. Whatever happens in your life after that I know not."

"Aren't I too young to be a mother?"

"This is all eight years in the future. Your eighteenth birthday sets several conditions that will then start the endgame. Unless of course, you fail in one of many different ways before that point. We four minibosses are your allies, not foes this time around. We shall challenge you to your limits, but this is to assist you. If you need help moving a body then call one of us, or Synthia, if you don't mind the Kind learning of what you did."

I found that letting Amesombra talk slowed her jogging down to a pace I could keep up with.

That afternoon Amesombra was dancing with me in the great hall while the royal musicians played for us when Prince Tenecoeur spoke up. "Sister, you're leading wrong."

"My apologies, Dear Brother." She pushed me towards him and then sat. "Please demonstrate so that I may watch."

He grabbed my hands in his and studied my face. "This urchin of yours is a lot less dirty than when you scraped her off the street."

"Angelica does clean up nicely, doesn't she? But aren't you here to show me how to dance with her, not wash her back?"

Tenecoeur told the royal musicians to play a faster-paced song and he hanked me around to the beat, then as I stumbled he tossed me to the side where I scraped my hand against a table.

Amesombra gasped. "Brother, you did it!"

The prince and I looked at my hand that Amesombra was pointing at. The scrape was glowing and the trickle of blood had stopped.

Prince Tenecoeur grabbed my wrist and pulled me to him. He studied how my wound glowed as it closed, then turned to Amesombra. "How long have you known that she has White Magic?"

"This is the first time I've seen her do this with my own eyes." Amesombra walked up and studied my hand. "Angelica, have you ever done this before?"

"Once in the slums I fell and scraped my arm. My mother cared for me while I lay with a fever. Then one morning I woke up without a scar. I haven't seen her or been sick since."

"Always with the careful wording, Sister. You saw this in your visions, didn't you?"

"And I have seen that making Angelica your queen is the best outcome for yourself and your kingdom."

"While White Magic is even rarer than your sinister Black Magic, many commoners have some slight magical potential. This proves nothing."

"The thousand years are almost up, Dear Brother. Who else do you have to light your way?"

"If I believed in those legends, then Dear Sister I would use my flames to burn away the forces of darkness in my own household first, before looking in those ancient ruins!" He pushed me into Amesombra's arms. "If you love your glowing pet so much then teach her to dance properly."

Instead, we spent the rest of the day with Amesombra teaching me to use my healing feeling in other ways. I learned how to make my fingers glow that day and the darkness never again threatened my dreams.

Over the next week, Amesombra taught me to dance, how to ride behind her on her black stallion Etanuit, and expanded my use of magic, while Synthia furthered my general education.

Then one morning I followed Amesombra after breakfast to her study where her three friends were waiting.

She had me sit beside her. "Angie, show them what you can do."

I closed my eyes and recited the chant that Amesombra had worked out for me. When I looked again I saw my tiny ball of light floating in front of my face.

The three young ladies let out a collective "Sqeee!" while Amesombra smiled.

Then Lady Yeuxpera turned to Amesombra. "Amy, we gave you two weeks and that's all you can do?"

The princess replied. "Yes, while I have the second highest magical potential, I am not the magical prodigy of the kingdom. We all look forward to what you can do, Yuki."

The two of them then began a fast-paced conversation in their shared language. Lady Malheurfla pulled a small notebook out of her pocket and instead of a quill, she used a wooden rod that had some sort of soft black substance embedded in it to write in a strange script in columns top to bottom then right to left. The other three looked over these notes and had her make corrections and additions.

I noted that while Lady Depecia said little, every time she did the others paused to consider her words and that this always seemed to resolve some dispute between Yeuxpera and Amesombra, which Malheurfla wrote down.

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When their conversation ended Lady Malheurfla moved to tuck her notebook away. Amesombra asked her a question and Malheurfla tapped the magic circle burned into the cover of the notebook before putting this back in her vest.

We then moved to the great hall where dozens of noble children were gathering, from age six to around eighteen. We all had lunch together and then there was a dance where Lady Yeuxpera was one of the three girls who had a chance to dance with Prince Tenecoeur. Amesombra seemed annoyed that I wasn't one of them.

As the noble children began to leave Lady Yeuxpera grabbed my hand. "Come along, Angelica."

I turned to Amesombra, who made a wave-off gesture towards me and then returned to thanking the children as they left.

I followed Lady Yeuxpera to her carriage, which had a box on top on which all of the clothing Amesombra had provided me was packed. We rode alone, other than the driver on the seat at the front of the carriage, and her two mounted guardsmen. I watched out the window as we drove through the capital and then for the first time in my life I saw the countryside and marveled at the vast fields and groves.

After a while, I asked. "Lady Yeuxpera, why do you dislike Princess Amesombra so?"

"What makes you think that? I have no closer friend in any world than Her Highness."

"Then why did you argue so much this morning?"

"Is that what it looked like to you? Amy and I have a no-holds-barred relationship in which no topic is forbidden. Whenever we get together we always discuss every aspect of every detail. We don't feel challenged by this, but rather relieved that the other has also considered these things. We're so much alike that we often depend on Daiya to think outside of our cozy little box. Amy knows that she can assign any task to me with a few words and I shall return with a succinct report. That frees up time to discuss the important things. It was during precisely such a discussion last year about some trifling detail that we remembered ourselves and then recognized the other for who she was. Then it was a simple matter to query all of the noble girls until we found Daiya and Misaki. We four trained as quickly as we could as we waited for the day that we knew you were to be at a specific location. Aren't you glad that we prevented you from getting beat up by that gang of thugs?"

"The thugs were after me, not the four of you?"

"They had been sent to rough you up so that a priest could rescue you. It's a plot we felt we could skip this time."

"Do you have the same foresight as the princess?"

"All four of us have roughly the same experience with your quest and have long compared notes about you. But that's only a general guideline for the future and tells us nothing about the present. So tell me please what Amy has taught you."

After I told Lady Yeuxpera about the incident with the prince that revealed my power she spoke up. "No, it's better for me to become Princess Amesombra's sister-in-law by marrying the prince. Who else can she depend on to run this kingdom for her? You can have your pick of the other conquerable characters. Amy needs to start laying the groundwork to rule the world after we curbstomp your quest."

I felt a vague dread about the way that Yeuxpera said this so I looked away out the window at the rapidly darkening twilight. "What's that light on the horizon?"

"Baiemurm, the kingdom's most important port. We're almost at my home."

A few minutes later we crossed over a ridge and Yeuxpera pointed to a shape that rose behind a hill that I dimly saw in the distance. "That's my home, Castle Baieduc. That's where Lady Yeuxpera Baieduc was born a decade ago. If that time really existed."

We ate dinner in her castle's modest great hall then retired to her room where the box of my few things had been brought and a cot had been set up next to her bed. It was much more comfortable than how I had slept most of my life, if nowhere near the equal of Amesombra's bed. But from the looks of it, Yeuxpera's bed wasn't either.

Yeuxpera woke me just before dawn and changed us into plain white pants of heavy cloth and short plain white tunics under short robes of the same material as the paints that were tied around the waist with belts of the same material.

I followed her to their great hall for a simple breakfast. She nodded to the few servants there at that hour then took me to one of her rooms that had no furniture or furnishings other than a very thick rug. She had me copy her motions for a half hour of stretching exercises and this was followed by an hour's instruction in how to fall over without hurting myself. When she was satisfied with that she then turned to a system of unarmed grappling and throws.

At the end of this, she looked down at where I lay flat on the rug after her latest throw. "Amy was right, you do learn fast. One thing you must not forget is to only use Judo against humans. I'll show you how to use daggers later, but if unarmed against animals or monsters use your magic or run." She grabbed my hand and pulled me to my feet. "Now that we're warmed up, let's take a jog."

As we ran around the castle I could see that it was much smaller than the palace in the capital. There was a wooden bridge from the land to the small island that the roughly pentagonal castle filled up. When we reached the rear gate of the castle Yeuxpera turned and followed a path that led down to a jetty.

She stopped in front of a fishing boat that was being unloaded. "Is that all you've caught this morning, Captain Poisson?"

"I regret that I lacked the assistance of Your Ladyship."

"Surely your three decades of experience must count for more than my young talent?"

"Please don't tell your family I said it, but in all my life I have not seen or heard of anyone close to being the equal of Your Ladyship."

"They know that already."

"Might I ask who is this other young Miss dressed in Your Ladyship's strange heraldry?"

"Captain Poisson, this is Miss Angelica Pureheart. She is my guest for the next two weeks."

"A pleasure to meet you, Miss Pureheart."

The stop had given me a chance to catch my breath. As we turned back to the castle I asked. "Lady Yeuxpera, am I to return to the palace in two weeks?"

"No, you'll spend a fortnight with each of us in turn. Then you will return after the birthday of Her Highness when we trigger the next fixed event in your quest. I don't ride a horse so I can't help you with that, but instead I'll prepare you for the other things that Daiya will train you on."

We went around the castle three more times before she looked back and waited for me to catch up. "Let's wash up then have lunch."

When I saw that the bath was a large wooden tub I said. "The palace has a heated bath."

"Fine." She placed her hand briefly on the surface and the water was steaming. "Go ahead."

The water was just a little bit warmer than was comfortable, but I decided it was best not to complain.

She squeezed into the tub with me. "What books have you read?"

"Just 'The Pawn Who Became Queen'."

"I bet Amy chuckled when she handed you that one."

"She's having an outfit made for me based on Penelope's."

"Now that is divinely wicked of her. I suspect she'll give you that on her birthday. Until then we need to strengthen your legs so you can outrun the wolves. And your arms, for what Daiya will have you do."

At lunch, Lady Yeuxpera introduced me to her father, Duke Baieduc, her mother the Duchess, and her two older sisters Vaironia and Cyprinia.

We went by her room to pick up a book then sat in a corner of the great hall where she put this in front of me. "What is the title?"

"It says it is the Diary of the Saint."

"Good. Now while this book is written in archaic language from a thousand years ago, it contains vital details that you should become familiar with. Read the book to me and I'll help you with the words you don't understand."

I read to her the story of the fourth daughter of an impoverished baron and had just gotten to the point where the author discovered that she had White Magic when Vaironia asked, "Yeuxpera, why are you wasting her time training somebody who's so dumb that she still can't read properly at ten?"

Yeuxpera turned around on the bench. The water from her mug flowed up into her hand and became a dagger of ice. She continued in a smooth motion and stood with her improvised weapon pointed at her four years older sister's throat. "Dear Sister, I believe what you really wanted to ask is why I am wasting my time with this ignorant commoner when there are so many things I need to teach you, like say self-defense. Is that correct?"

Vaironia nodded very slightly, so as to not impale her chin on the ice blade.

"Why didn't you say so? I always have time for my dear sisters." Yeuxpera dropped the dagger into the mug and it became water again. "Now, what is it you need me to teach you today?"

"That, right there. How do you make ice?"

"Please sit." Yeuxpera dipped a silver spoon into the water and then handed this to Vaironia. "Do you see the thin layer of moisture on the spoon? Water is composed of tiny molecules, far too small to be seen. Each of these molecules has three components arranged in an open angle. When many molecules of water gather they can have one of three forms. When the molecules bounce off each other and fly off we have steam. When they flow over each other in random patterns we have water, and when they are frozen in place, horn touching base, we have ice. I switch between these by taking that excess random motion from the water and pushing it out into the ether, or by gathering it from the ether into the water. Now there is no spoon, no table, no room. There is just yourself, my voice, that thin layer of moisture, and the flow of ether. Feel the flow and turn the spoon so that the ether flows through the base."

After a half hour of her little sister's instruction, Vaironia was finally able with great effort to master a chant to put a thin layer of frost on the spoon.

"I knew you could do it, Vaironia!" Yeuxpera hugged her and then asked. "Now, what did you need ice magic for?"

"The ice room is running low."

"I'll refreeze that. Go tell Cyprinia that in celebration of what you've learned today, we'll have ice cream at dinner."

"With strawberries?"

"I'll go check in the kitchen."

"Thanks!" Vaironia kissed Yeuxpera on the cheek then scampered off.

"She's such a child."

"Why did your sister change so rapidly after you threatened her with your ice dagger?"

"Yeuxpera was a monster before I remembered who I really am. I've toned down her bullying of her sisters gradually so that they can adapt to the real me."

"But you are the youngest of the three?"

"Amy told you how old she is. The rest of us are only a year or two younger. An office lady has a very short shelf life, and we knew each other in college."

After she refroze the ice blocks in the ice room, Yeuxpera had us change into dark skimpy tight clothes that she called "school swimsuits" and then led me down to the shore. "Do you see that line of stones just out of the water? That is the role of the four of us, to act as stepping stones to strengthen and train Angelica for your quest. Let me get ready then I'll have you walk along those stones."

She left her sandals at the shore then jumped into the water to emerge a moment later, covered from the waist down by a water vortex. "Like it? I call this the Vortex Mermaid. I can move, breathe, and sense underwater, but this way I can interact with things above water better. Now step along the stones."

The next few hours she had me walk and then run along the stones that were slippery from algae as she splashed waves at me. Each time I slipped off she was there to catch me.

Later as we sat on the shore I shivered until she reached over to touch my shoulder and suddenly the thin layer of water that clung to me became warm.

We then walked back to the castle where we took another bath to rinse off the seawater. Then I followed her to the kitchen.

"Why do you need two bowls?" I asked.

"It's crazy, right? Cream is mostly water, but my magic won't touch it, so I need to put that in one bowl and put that in a bowl of water to freeze it. When I overcome that limitation I'll be able to rip the blood right out of my foes. That won't help against the shadow monsters, but that's what we have you for. I can't create or destroy water, nor manipulate it past a certain level of contamination. That's why I use steel daggers on land, and that I can teach you."