Olivia didn't know for how long she stared at the three bodies lying on the grass without daring to move as the sun finished setting and left behind a dark pink blanket.
Ever since the disaster at the lake, which had almost ended with Mantok's life, she had been haunted by the fear that one day she would commit the unthinkable without being able to do anything to stop it. And now this had materialized in the figure of those three young people, for whom magical creatures were nothing more than a distant dream and whose only mistake had been to become friends with her, totally unaware of what that could entail.
Olivia and Silas should never have joined the group. They should have left on their own the moment Dawn had decided to communicate with her. In the end, it was just as Daephennya had wanted: a weapon that could go out of control at any moment.She thought she had time, that she could solve it on her own, that it was just a matter of knowing how to control her own thoughts, but she had been wrong. She had acted irresponsibly and now the consequences lay before her.
“Calm down,” said a voice. “They're just sleeping.”
Olivia took a moment to react before turning her head to Silas.
“What did you say?”
He frowned.
“I didn't say anything.”
“But someone just said...” Olivia swallowed, and crawled over to Elyssa first. The girl was as petrified as stone, but when Olivia placed a hand very close to her face without touching her, she felt the slight caress of her slow, deep breathing.
She took a deep breath in like someone coming up to the surface and immediately did the same with Alder and Celestia.
Like their sister, their breathing was barely perceptible, but they were indeed alive.
She had not killed them.
But then relief gave way to fury.
“You made me believe they were dead!” she shouted at Silas.
He, still leaning against the tree with his arms crossed, let out an exhalation.
“I never told you they were dead.”
“”But you didn't say otherwise either!”
He shrugged his shoulders.
“After what you did to me, it was the least I could do.”
Despite the recent shock, Olivia was assaulted by a killer instinct that drove her to throttle his neck.
“What possible evil could I have done to you to punish me like this?”
“You know very well what I mean.”
Olivia's fingers twitched like claws, ready to pounce on him.
“No, I don't know! Do you think if I remembered anything I would have spent all this time grieving?”
He looked at her a little uncomfortably as if he wanted to move away but his pride prevented him from doing so.
“If you must know, you made me float in the air and almost dismembered me, but those three just showed up and you knocked them out with one move.”
Olivia took a deep breath trying to calm down. What he had done was low, but it was understandable that he reacted that way after she, or, in fact the witch who supposedly possessed her, had tried to hurt him.
“True, that was the actual order of events,” the voice suddenly said, “but the part where I almost dismembered him is a bit of an exaggeration.”
“Who is talking?”
Silas looked back at her quizzically.
“There's no one here except us and those three.”
Olivia finally understood what was going on and approached the riverbank. Despite the dim light of the sunset it was still possible to see her darkened reflection.
But it was not her face that she encountered. Among the trembling ripples of the water, a dark-skinned girl with flower-adorned hair was looking at her smiling.
“Hello!” said the witch.
“You are not Dawn.”
The girl shook her head.
“Nope, I'm Clover.”
“Who are you talking to?” Silas had taken his place next to her and was looking at the water with narrowed eyes.
“Can't you see her?” Olivia asked.
“See who? You're talking to the water alone.”
“He can't see or hear me,” said Clover. “I can only talk to you.”
“Why did you hurt him?” Olivia's voice took on an accusatory tone.
“Hurt him?” Clover giggled. “It's true that I scared him and shook him a little in the air, but I never did anything to hurt him. He's a crybaby. But I did have to put your other friends to sleep. By the time I realized they were around, it was too late. They'll wake up any minute and have forgotten what they saw. Maybe I overdid it but it's nothing more than a very deep sleep.”
“You didn't have to do any of that.”
Clover wrinkled his lips.
“He was being very cruel to you. I had to teach him a lesson. After saving him from the water he should feel grateful.”
“Was it you who helped me save him?”
“Who saved me?” asked Silas, visibly annoyed at being left out of the conversation.
“Well, of course,” said the witch proudly raising her chin.
“I thank you very much then, but for the future I don't need you to defend me from him.”
“What are you talking about, what is that witch saying about me?” Sila brought his face close to the water to the point of almost falling into the river.
“She says you're lying, and that she didn't do you any harm,” Olivia repeated.
“She's the one who's lying!”
Olivia thought that might also be a possibility, since she was not yet willing to trust those magic beings completely, although she wasn't sure who she should believe either. Whether the witch or the chimera.
“Are you going to believe this arrogant chimera who belittled you?” Clover reproached her. “After all we've helped you?”
“What lie is she telling you now?” asked Silas.
“Liar...” replied Clover in a singsong voice. “Chimera liar.”
The young girl felt ridiculous having an argument between two people who couldn't even hear each other, so she changed the subject.
“I never asked for your help,” she said to the witch.
“We witches have to take care of each other,” Clover insisted.
“What about the lake? Was that to protect me?”
“Ah... that...” she looked ashamed, although in her eyes there was still a hint of mischief. “That was an extreme measure... someone had to break the seal. Besides, we didn't kill anyone... and we took care of the wizards who wanted to capture you.”
“And the promontory?”
“The promontory,” Clover's voice denoted contempt. “You have no idea of anything.”
“Because you don't tell me anything!”
“We have a reason for that... All you need to know is that we're looking out for you. We're not your enemy. Quite the opposite.”
“But Daephennya...”
“Daephennya is no match for any of us.”
“Are you telling me that witches are more powerful than elves?”
Beside her, she felt Silas stiffen.
“What are you saying?” he asked.
“I've already told you too much, and I hear someone approaching.”
That said, Clover's reflection disappeared from the water giving way to Olivia's confused face.
In the distance, several screams could be heard approaching. It was Deema and Gorwan, accompanied by other members of the group, who were looking for them.
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“Ah, there they are!” exclaimed Deema relieved, but when she found her three children asleep on the grass her expression changed to a cautious one. “What happened?”
“Ah...” Olivia took a moment to think of an excuse. “They wanted to wait to see the starry sky, but they ended up falling asleep.”
“All three at the same time?” Gorwan asked scratching his head.
Deema walked over to her children and began to shake them. Olivia's heart started pumping hard. Gorwan also went over to wake them up but it took several attempts before they began to react.
“By the Nymph,” sighed Deema, running a hand over her forehead. “Such a deep sleep. What happened to you?”
“Uh...” Alder straightened up, “Is it dark already? But...”
The three siblings felt disoriented. They did not understand what had happened. They had run into Olivia and Silas and suddenly everything had gone dark.
Trying not to let her guilt creep into her words, Olivia repeated again what she had told Deema. She looked to Silas for help, and he merely confirmed what she just had said.
They all went back to the camp and the rest of the night continued without any further surprises. Olivia could breathe easy now that she had made sure that none of the three siblings remembered anything, but a new anxiety began to well up in her as they sat eating dinner around the campfire and her eyes met Deema's who watched her silently.
Four more days passed until they reached the next town. During that time, Olivia and Silas tried to avoid each other as much as possible. They were both still angry about every word they had exchanged that afternoon. Now, when Silas wandered away from the camp for a while, she didn't follow him again. She feared that he would do something crazy while trying to transform, but she couldn't risk getting upset again and let another of the witches intervene.
To the rest of the group, it looked like they had ended their relationship. Celestia and Elyssa began to comfort Olivia when she insisted that she didn't want to talk about it no matter how much they asked. Alder also went over to talk to her, initiating his attempts at courtship. However, even if Olivia had felt something for him, which she didn't, she wouldn't have had the heart to get his hopes up. A human like him couldn't expect anything good relating to her. None of them really.
Deema also seemed to think the same way, since every time she found Alder and Olivia alone, the woman would ask his son for some special task. Both she and Gorwan were still treating them kindly, but after the strange event by the river, both must have thought that something strange was happening with the new members of the group. Olivia tried to reassure herself that it must be the protective instinct that every parent feels for their children, something she knew more than well.
The girl couldn't wait to reach the town, since once there everyone would stop worrying about them and the main focus would be on the preparations for the first show of the evening. She decided that this time her participation would take a back seat as she did not feel like having fun anymore.
The first thing she would do was buy a map. She hadn't wanted to ask the actors for it because she wanted to avoid them continuing to ask her questions about her future plans, but, just before leaving the first village, Gorwan had given both Silas and Olivia a couple of coins as payment for their work.
Despite the fact that she had lived in a castle with every possible luxury, she couldn't help but feel proud. Silas, on the other hand, looked at the coins as if he were looking at a couple of stones he had picked up from the road and handed them to Olivia. He wanted nothing to do with human currency, and she understood his natural lack of interest.
So now she had in her possession a small fortune, although, to be honest, she had no idea of the real value of those coins. There was a possibility that they were not enough to buy a map, or even a piece of parchment, but she could not ask anyone because more suspicion would fall on them.
While she was planning a visit to the market, which she would carry out alone, the wagon in which they were traveling came to a sudden stop at the entrance to the town. Both she and her companions stuck their heads out of the vehicle and found a group of soldiers guarding the place.
One of them approached and began to question Gorwan about the reason for their visit.
“That's odd,” muttered Elyssa, sitting next to Olivia. “This has never happened to us the previous times we've been here.”
“There are even a couple of wizards nearby,” commented Alder.
“Wizards?” Olivia had to stifle a jump and turned her eyes to meet the inscrutable gaze of Silas who put a hand to his chest where the talisman should be.
The young people inside the wagon remained attentive listening to the words of Gorwan who was explaining to the soldiers that they were nothing more than actors who, like every year, visited the town to perform their plays.
“Ah, yes, of course!” exclaimed one of the soldiers. “I always go to the square to see their plays with my family. They are honest and very funny people, by the way.”
“Anyway,” replied another soldier sternly. “We can't let you pass until you've been inspected by the wizards.”
“What?” Celestia and Elyssa looked at each other.
Hearing that, Alder frowned, and was the first to jump out of the wagon. The others followed him.
Silas and Olivia were the last to get off and stood next to the rest of the actors who had formed a line as two middle-aged wizards in red tunics held up their hands spinning them in front of them. By the way they wiggled their fingers, Olivia knew they were assessing each other's magical power and a shiver ran through her body.
“Tell me,” said one of the wizards as he broke away from Gorwan. “Do any of your companions possess magical abilities?”
“Magic?” laughed Gorwan scratching his head. “No, no magic... unless you mean this.”
Gorwan brought a hand up to the wizard's ear. Then withdrew it and showed him a coin.The wizard looked at him irritated and did not bother to respond as he continued with his task.
The time it took the two men to approach her seemed like an eternity. In all that while she had been trying to take deep breaths to relieve her anxiety, but also in a way that wasn't obvious. The sun's rays hit her hard and she felt beads of sweat trickling down her back. She dared not look at Silas.
The worst that could happen was that Clover, Dawn or any of the other witches decided to manifest themselves right at that moment. That could perhaps save them from those two wizards, but from then on they would be persecuted, not only by them but by the entire Council.
As she was getting the idea that all was lost, one of the wizards finally reached her and raised his hand in front of her chest. The man's gaze, at first indifferent, became curious. When she saw his eyes narrow, Olivia thought she was about to faint or, worse, lose consciousness so that a witch could take her place.
“Young girl, I think you should abandon the group,” said the wizard, lowering his hand.
Olivia's breath caught. She could already feel the darkness looming over her.
“W... w... w... why?” the words stuck in her throat.
The wizard pursed his lips.
“I sense some magic in you. Perhaps you have enough to become an Initiate.”
“Ah...” Olivia breathed again. Despite everything that had happened, it seemed that her body still resembled that of a human, even if it was on the surface. Those wizards must not have known how to manifest the Codes any more than Eldrin or Leander did, otherwise they would have discovered her right away. Due to her growing concern, she had forgotten that many Masters lacking the sufficient level to integrate an Order of Magic were appointed to work in small villages where advanced skills were not required.
“With the help of a good Master you might be able to get a good position someday,” the wizard continued.
“Ah... but... I like being an actress,” Olivia replied, feigning shyness.
The wizard raised his eyebrows a little disgruntled.
“That's a pity. Think about it. If you change your mind you can meet me at the Town Hall. I know some people at the Council. We could come to an arrangement between you and me.”
A sudden disgust came over her as she imagined what the wizard meant to imply with those words but she managed to restrain herself.
“Thank you, I'm flattered, I'll keep that in mind.”
“Don't think you're such a big deal,” the wizard warned her. “You're already quite old, it will be difficult for you to start... but... with a good hand...” he licked his lips.
Olivia was tempted to respond in a scathing manner, but remembered in time that she was no longer a noblewoman.
Suddenly, she felt an arm rest on her shoulders. Turning her head she found herself very close to Silas' cheek to the point that her lips were as close as if she was about to kiss him. She felt the warmth rise up her neck and turned her head in the opposite direction, though without breaking away from him.
Silas even pulled her closer to him as he spoke to the wizard.
“She already told you she doesn't want to be a wizard.”
Olivia panicked. The calmness she had felt when she found out that the wizard wasn't capable of discovering her hidden power vanished as soon as Silas said those words. How could he be so oblivious and just when they were standing in front of a wizard?
The man gave him a contemptuous look and raised his hand in front of Silas.
“If I may,” he said, gesturing with his head for the boy to separate from Olivia.
Silas, reluctantly, or so it seemed to Olivia, separated from her and made a defiant gesture to the wizard.
Stupid chimera, stupid chimera, he was going to be the downfall of them both.
“Damn, boy,” said the wizard with satisfaction after a moment. “I don't feel even a hint of magical power in you. It's a good thing you decided to be an actor because you wouldn't have stood a chance of reaching the Initiate level.”
Olivia couldn't believe it but the wizard was trying to make Silas feel inferior because of his supposed lack of power.
Humans, Eldrin had once explained to her, though far inferior to magical beings, having been created from the remains of the giant Yorgad, blessed with the blood of the Nymph Nemertyss, held in their Code a tiny bit of magical power that allowed them to use magic to some extent. In reality, there were very few, though not rare, humans who lacked this attribute that could only be developed with proper training.
The talisman created by Dawn seemed to be much more powerful than they had initially thought, and Olivia thanked the witch silently hoping that she could somehow sense it. If only she could talk to her again sometime, she had been the only one willing to tell her something about her true origins.
Silas, still staring at the wizard, did not respond to the provocation and the man walked away from them, but not without saying something else to Olivia.
“If you change your mind, you'll find me at the Town Hall, though I don't know, maybe I'll go see your acting,” the wizard bit his lips and Olivia felt her stomach churn. She could have thrown up her breakfast right there.
Now she was more than sure she wouldn't perform anymore, at least in that town.
“What a disgusting man,” Elyssa said once they were back in the wagon, which continued to rattle through the narrow streets of the town. “Wizards are usually quite arrogant. I've never liked them.”
Silas, folding his arms, nodded in agreement.
The whole group had witnessed the scene with revulsion, but no one except him had dared to confront the wizard.
“Good thing Silas was there to protect you, Olivia,” commented Celestia with a mischievous smile and this time Silas looked away.
The other one who did not look happy was Alder who also folded his arms and stayed in the same position until they reached the square.
Like the previous time, the first thing they did was to look for an inn with available rooms and then have something to eat before starting with the stage preparation. Once everyone was seated around the table with their dishes served, Gorwan took the opportunity to ask the innkeeper about the unusual vigilance at the entrance to the town. Everyone turned in the man's direction waiting for his answer.
“You know how wizards are,” the innkeeper mumbled. “They are never willing to spill the truth... but... a few days ago one of them went to drink at the tavern and got so drunk that he was convinced by the other customers to disclose something...”
It had all started just a couple of days ago after some wizards who were traveling around perceived some kind of strange energy that they could not identify. Apparently it had been something so fast that it was impossible for them to identify in time the place where it came from. After that, they sent a warning to all the neighboring towns to be on alert and to control the movements of all the travelers.
“I don't know if it's true or just pure fantasy,” the innkeeper added. “But after everything that happened at the lake...”
“Ah, yes, terrible, terrible,” lamented Deema who had heard about the tragic event shortly after Silas and Olivia joined them. “I have a couple of cousins who go there every year. I have written to them to see how they are doing but have received no reply.”
“They should be fine, apparently there weren't many human wounded. The worst part was taken by the sirenians.”
“It's unbelievable,” sighed one of the actresses. “I can't believe they were wizards. What will happen to us ordinary mortals if they decide to take control of the kingdom?”
“We'll go pray to the Nymph as soon as we can,” said Deema. “She will protect us. It has been a long time since we have visited the temple. Because of all our hard work, we have neglected our spiritual duties.”
The rest of the group agreed and continued with the meal. From there the topic of conversation turned to the list of tasks that needed to be done to get everything ready for the first performance.
Olivia tried to eat but her stomach still felt upset and it wasn't because of the interest that repulsive wizard had taken in her.
At some point she looked in the direction of Silas on the other side of the table. He barely looked at her for a moment, but it was enough to see the same concern reflected in his eyes.