Search for the Crystal Key (A Continuation of Dark Escape)

Chapter 20

Things were serious. Tara was clearly dying. To add to this dilemma, they were in the company of a sorceress who'd been raised in Shadow Land and had been living under the protection of Joshua who one of Balthazar's most prized and powerful soldiers.

After spending time with Fiona, Luella's defenses slowly lowered, and she responded readily to the woman's questions. It was obvious Fiona was a woman with only the best intent for Dennis and his sister. Since she risked everything, including her life, to see Dennis to safety she saw the advantage in teaming up with her ideas, powers and skills.

"So, enchantress, I'm at your disposal," Luella offered.

"Aye, as I am you," Fiona replied with a sincerity that tugged at something deep inside the other woman.

"Can I ask ya how ya came to be living in Shadow Land?" Fiona asked. "Much of ya has changed, but I can still see that ya are human."

Surprised at the woman's boldness, Luella chewed on her words before answering. It was obvious she couldn't get away with lying and for some crazy reason it mattered to her what the enchantress thought of both her and her mother. She decided to tell the truth and hope for the best.

"My mother was a beautiful woman with a heart. She spent her younger years aspiring to be a powerful enchantress, but somewhere along the path she took a different direction and turned to sorcery instead. She was good at it," Luella said.

Fiona nodded that she understood. There was a fine line between good magic performed by an enchantress and evil magic wielded by sorcery. There were occasions when she was called upon to wield just such, but it was always in defense against the dark side, never against good.

"One day when I was quite young," Luella continued, "she packed up a few meager belongings and told me we were going to seek our fame and fortune in another land. She brought me through the boundary, killing anything that stood in her way with her magic and walked boldly through the portal to Shadow Land as if she was queen. Balthazar was so impressed with her fearlessness and so taken by her beauty that he immediately placed her in the position of palace sorceress and head mistress." Luella sighed, "I was raised within those palace walls and enjoyed my life immensely until..."

Fiona remained quiet while she watched a myriad of emotions consume the raven-haired beauty. She could easily see why Dennis fell for the young woman. Not only was she lovely to look at, but under that evil exterior remained bits and pieces of the innocence and gentleness of a good-hearted human. Her true self hadn't been lost, simply buried and conditioned.

"Until the day Balthazar tired of her and cast her out," Luella continued. "He threw us away like trash." Her eyes welled up with tears that she quickly wiped away, hoping they hadn't been noticed. "Mother returned to the human realm, although I know not where. As for me, well I don't remember my life in the human realm. I was such a young girl when we left. Shadow Land was all I knew. Fortunately, Joshua found me appealing enough to take me under his protection. If he hadn't, I can't even imagine my fate."

A chill ran down Fiona's back every time Luella mentioned Joshua. She was aware he was the demon soldier who had seduced Tara into entering Shadow Land, but it was more than that. She decided to dig a little deeper.

"Tell me a little about this Joshua," Fiona said in a gentle, but commanding tone.

"Really?" Luella asked with surprise.

To have the enchantress interested in a soldier of Balthazar was unusual, but then this entire experience was unusual. Shrugging her shoulders, she obliged Fiona with as much information about her former lover and protector as she could remember. When she got to the part of explaining that Joshua had gone into the future and disguised himself in the body of a human named Dominic in order to lure Tara into giving him the thaumaturgic key, but failed in accomplishing this task, Fiona's blood froze. Her ears roared with the flow of her own adrenaline, making it difficult to hear the rest of Luella's tale of Joshua's plans for Dennis's demise.