Chapter Four #3
There was a large, curved staircase on one side of the room. Glancing up, Dagan could see the next floor above looked to be a library as the walls around the room were lined with books. The floor above that revealed a loft with a bed and other furniture.
Dagan could hear Sidonie behind him, sighing in awe of the wizard’s lair. It was quite the sight to Dagan as well, who was used to his grandfather’s smaller and much less extravagant space.
“Come, come. Sit by the fire. I will fetch the journals.” Leitis took the staircase up to the second level and began to rummage through the shelves.
Sidonie spun around in the middle of the room, completely beside herself in amazement.
She had never seen anything like this before.
She wandered over to the hearth, running her hands over the smooth stone by the fire.
There were urns lining the mantle. Each one had a different colored jewel embedded into the side.
Dagan stepped up beside her. “I know this isn’t a good time, but I think we should talk about what happened.”
Sidonie didn’t reply. She had almost forgotten she was angry with him. Almost.
“Sid, you can’t avoid it forever.”
“I can try.”
She turned away just as Leitis returned with a large stack of leather journals, bound with twine.
He sat them down on a small table and took one from the top.
This one was larger than the rest, with an emblem on the front of a tree on fire, embossed in silver.
He untied the strap holding it closed and flipped it open.
Sidonie nearly fainted at the sight of her mother, drawn on the very first page.
The portrait was up close, showing only her head and neck.
Anassa looked happy, smiling as she peered upward.
Sid could feel her eyes beginning to water.
She hadn’t seen her mother’s face since she was ten years old.
Even then, she’d never looked so youthful, so happy.
Ever since Sid was born, her mother had been ill.
It was strange for her to think of a time when her mother may have been young and healthy.
Dagan didn’t need to ask. The expression on Sid’s face confirmed that the woman in the drawing was certainly her mother, Anassa.
He’d never seen a portrait of the queen and was a bit surprised to see how beautiful she was.
From the stories he had heard and read, he’d always envisioned her to look like an angry, old wench.
Her reputation as an evil sorceress had survived time much better than any of her beauty.
Leitis watched Sidonie’s reaction as she turned away and stared into the fire. Then he asked, “Exactly, how much does she know about her mother?”
“Not much, I’m afraid,” Dagan replied. “Until a few months ago, she had no idea her mother even had magic, nor that she did. Her power was somehow triggered when we met. I can’t really explain it…”
“Well, maybe I can. You see, my father had a special relationship with Anassa. He was very much in love with her, before she… turned away from her family.”
“In love with her, you say?”
“Oh, yes. After the Shadow War, everyone thought Anassa had died. Killed in the battle she had started, was the tale, but my father knew better. When he found her, she had been injured but was very much alive. The problem, however, was that she had no memory of who she was or what she’d done.
Whatever happened to her, it erased her memory and sealed her magic. ”
“So why did she disappear? Why didn’t she just start over, in a new life?” Dagan asked.
Sid stepped closer, curious about the story Leitis was telling.
“Well, she did start over, you see, but she couldn’t live out in the open,” Leitis explained.
“The entire realm knew who she was and what she’d been involved in.
The people she’d hurt would never have let her live in peace, memories or not.
So my father helped her to hide away in the forest with the Sabras. ”
“The Sabras, who hate magic?”
“The very ones. He made Anassa believe that magic could kill her and she should do everything she could to avoid anyone else with magic. Her power was sealed. She couldn’t use it, but it was still there, in her blood.
That is why she lived secluded, in the wilderness, but it didn’t always go according to plan.
She fled the forest multiple times and each time she laid with a man and conceived a child.
The first time, she conceived your sister.
The second time was you.” He smiled at Sidonie, but she was still frowning.
“And that’s why we hunted down anyone with magic,” Sidonie replied. “The reason we lived in fear, wasn’t to protect Adelphie and me. It was to protect our mother.”
“Yes, and that is likely why your magic did not develop early in life. You lived far enough away from any other magic so that it could not trigger yours. Magic that is not used lays dormant. Sleeping, like a bear hibernates for winter.”
“So when I met Dagan, my magic somehow… I don’t know… recognized his magic and decided to show itself? Is that what happened?”