The Sorceress's Murderous Companion

Chapter 14: Catherine

Every muscle ached as Catherine stirred. She opened her eyes to a mix of leafy canopies and clear skies. Dark gray stones blanketed in moss shadowed her like monoliths. She pushed up to sit and saw Thistle not far from her, sitting quietly against a monument.

When she moved, her limbs felt heavy and bruised, but when she checked, there were no injuries. Around them, statues with wings, fins, and horns stood proudly carved in stone amidst rows of small flat stones bearing names. It was so familiar, she almost didn't remember. A place in Sylvan Hollow had been built exactly like it. Down to the statues of elementals, dryads, and merfolk, the gray stone arch that marked the entrance, and every plant laid out in the surrounding garden. It was mournfully beautiful. Just beyond the gray stone arch a flat stone path led to a temple with a set of stairs and a wide open mouth to pass through. The entire structure was covered in moss, a language burned into the walls that Catherine couldn't understand, but she still knew where they were. It was a cemetery. But they weren't dead. They were somewhere on the Nymphamore archipelago.

It was all because of the Void spell. It hadn't been her time, yet Thorn had forced her sister to use it on her, just to get rid of her. And deep down, after seeing his face up close, she finally remembered him.

She'd been young, still learning. Still being trained and taken advantage of. When Thorn came to her door with Spike, his father had been there, Cyrus, whispering in her ear. Cyrus promised her that he could bring her mother back. Promised over and over, it would take some significant amount of magic. The magic at the tower, in the stones. At first, she wanted to heal anyone who came to her doors, but he reminded Catherine that her power took life where she gave it. And though at the time, she hadn't known who Thorn was to him, he had.

So with all this unknowing, Thorn thought to be a stranger to both of them, she was pushed to turn him away.

Catherine wondered what the angle was for that. If Cyrus wanted Thorn's brother to die. Spike. Thistle had told her his name was Spike. It was such a dryad host of names and she suspected Aster named all of them.

Then there were the rumors that made people detest her. Because she turned folks away to die she didn't care about them. Folk healers were banned from practicing in the town perimeter. Catherine hadn't started any of those, and she only suspected Cyrus after it was too late. Not only had it damaged her image, but her relationships with people in town were strained. She'd held it together with promises to heal, but things had started spiraling out of control ever since Cyrus disappeared. Of course, she later learned he was dead after trying to seek him out. That's how she'd met Thistle. Cyrus' death had shattered a delicate thread woven into Alden Town's politics.

Thistle broke the silence, tearing Catherine from her thoughts. "Where are we?"

How could she break it to Thistle that they were essentially lost to the world? That here was where her journey ended, regardless if she was alive or not. Catherine was human, she wasn't supposed to be here yet. And Thistle, well, she could probably get away with living on the islands permanently, but there was no telling how the island's inhabitants would take her partial humanity. "We are on Nymphamore Archipelago. This is..." She thought of a gentle way to word it. "This is where Kali and I are supposed to go when we move on. As we die we're programmed to return here using the portal. It is so our souls and magic return here."

"Are we dead?"

"Not dead, but we are in a cemetery."

"So what happens when you come here before your time?"

"Well normally, there would be a funeral procession." The memories of her time on the island as a young child flooded her mind as though a gate opened. "I saw one when I was here. My teachers on the island would be up in the front with anyone else who knew me when I was taught, they'd all stand respectfully in the back. They dress in gray and say a few prayers in their languages. Then they follow the light of the soul as it makes its round around the island before merging with the others. There's a spot for that, but I was never shown."