A Ward's Tale

Chapter 15

After entering the carriage, the blindfold is removed and the bonds released but I know I am not freed as the Master sits next to me. The inside of the carriage is plush but not overly so as the royal ones are. The velvet seats are worn but the intricate designs carved into the wood are still beautiful. The carriage jerks forward as we head towards another unknown destination.

He/she sighs, "You have your suspicions about me, don't you? You are also probably wondering why I have stolen you away from the castle, are you not?"

"Yes, on both accounts." I say curtly. I have my arms crossed across my body. I feel childish, like a child who had their toy taken away, but I don't care. This person has pushed me to my breaking point. I wanted answers.

The Master takes a deep breath and pulls back his/her hood and removes the mask. Luscious  black hair is pulled up in thick braids piled on her head. The Master looks at me with beautiful blue eyes and a strong elegant face. She is very beautiful, not what I was expecting from this tough façade I've been introduced to.

"I see this doesn't surprise you much." Her voice is no longer a rough man's but a softer woman's. "I knew you were smart. You noticed when I was exposed after your explosion of energy. I could see you pondering earlier."

"Yes, I had my suspicions after that." I continue to be cold. The Master may be opening up to me but that doesn't change the fact that she kidnapped me. And on the eve of my wedding!

The Master looks at me. Her eyes are so blue, like the open skies. "I don't have to explain to you about the ways of men and how they see women, especially "small frail women" such as ourselves. I had to take on this disguise to gain the following I needed."

Keeping my arms cross, I shuffle in my seat to turn towards her some. "And just what do you need a following for?"

"To change the world, of course." The Master states matter-of-factly. There is no indication of a joke in her elegant face. Her jawline is set determinedly. As if just saying it is half the battle and she's already won that part.

"And just what is wrong with the world that you have to have a following to change it?" I am thrown off by her self-assurance. To me the world is fine, other than these Seekers who are trying to find this Chosen One. They are the ones causing trouble.

She throws her hands in the air, "This division of mages versus nomags. It needs to change. mages shouldn't have to live in fear or in secret villages hidden from nomags."

This makes me stop a moment. Her explosion of passion in her words throws me off. She truly believes in her cause. I can tell she will do anything to protect her people.

 "There are people living in fear of each other?" I ask, as far as I knew the kingdom was in peace and everyone lived happily with each other. Other than magic not being allowed within the castle walls, magic-users could live as they pleased. Magic was allowed in the kingdom outside the castle. There were those spurts of problems but those were usually over land ownership or bouts between families. No village lived in fear of another as far as I knew.

"Yes, oh dear child." The Master says, "Living in the castle does not show you the struggles of the people outside of those walls. The further you travel from the castle walls the more they struggle. The more they struggle the more they put blame on others not like them. Mage villages prosper more than a nomag village just on the fact that we can use our magic to help farm or cure illnesses and more. Nomags boil with jealousy and raid our villages stealing what we worked so hard to create. Mage villages now have protection spells that hide the village from unwanted eyes."

"But why do you not work together to create a village with both mages and non-magic people? These nomags you keep speaking of. Working together would benefit everyone and therefore no jealousy would be created." The land slides by outside the window and I wonder again where we are headed. This is the farthest I've ever been away from the castle. A part of me is excited about seeing more but after what this woman is saying I wonder if I really want to see.

"Oh dear Clarissa, you are so innocent. Nomags are not so easy. Let me show you the destruction they leave behind." The carriage stops and the Master replaces her mask and pulls her hood back over her head.

As she exits the carriage, she motions for me to follow. "Come." She says in the rough male voice. She lends me a hand out of the carriage. I look at her hand, it is small and feminine. How did I not notice before? Does she charm her physical attributes like she charms her voice?

I follow, surprised that I was not bound again. She must really be trying to earn my trust. Is she trying to get me to become one of her followers? Am I just a tool to her?

I exit the carriage and see a village.

Or what used to be a village.

The remains of the buildings look like blackened limbs reaching for the sky. Everything is burnt and crumbling, covered in ash. I cannot keep the horror off my face as we walk through the debris. No matter where you look there is some remanence of what once was there. I feel the agony and pain of the villagers who lived here. I stare in disbelief at the destruction. A small toy lays in the destruction covered in ash. Who could do this?

"This is not the only village." The Master says as she leads me back to the carriage. We traveled further and further, visiting three more destroyed villages. Each village was left with only the bones of what was there; houses crumbled, gardens ripped apart and salted, the ghostly remains of life lost.

As I stood at the last village, I was about to cry out I couldn't handle anymore, this was too much at once. My whole idealism of the kingdom was crumbling like these ruins. How could King Charles let this happen? How could there be so much strife between these people that it led to this?

The Master places a gentle hand on my back and I look up at her with tears threating fall. I took a deep breath, pushing down the urge to cry. I will not cry in front of this person, this person who has turned my life inside out, this person who has taken me away from everything I hold dear.

"There is hope." The Master says softly. Her voice is not charmed so it soft and feminine. I notice that her Seekers are just out of earshot. She wants to connect with me but still has to maintain her image. I have the urge to reach up and rip the mask off and expose her but I know that she is stronger than I am. She could have me on the ground before her mask was even in my hand.

We come to a small grove of trees on the other side of the village. I can feel there is magic but cannot pinpoint the location. The only ones here are the Master, a few of her followers and I, but I feel as if there are more people.

"Do you feel them? The ones who survived are close, can you feel their energies?" The Master inquires as she watches me. I look around but don't see anything but trees. I don't look behind me at the destruction, I want to pretend it's not there.

I nod, "But where are they?"

"Right here." She says walking into the nearest tree and disappearing. I gasp then realize this must be one of the hidden villages she had mentioned earlier. I take a breath to follow her then realize that this would be a golden opportunity to escape. Her followers are nearby but not close enough to catch me if I used my magic properly. The Master is now on the other side of the wall. I wonder if she can see me even though I cannot see her. If she can not see me then I could get a head start and possibly get away.

I glance at my chance of escape but curiosity keeps me here. I must know what these people are like. The only mages I have met are Peter, the Master and her Seekers. I must know the people my mother comes from. I must know the people I come from.