The Magician's Witch

Transgression

One of the two men Eilis had stuffed into the wardrobe opened the door a crack and peaked out. It had been nearly half an hour since a heavy silence had fallen around them. No one was there except the owl who danced and hooted on his perch, flapping his wings with indignant grace at being abandoned so abruptly. He attempted to fly off, but his tether kept him earthbound.

He turned and nodded to his companion, and pushed the door of the wardrobe wider. They stepped out, looking towards the shattered front door, making sure no one was standing guard outside the room.

The first man clutched Eilis' ring in his fist as he walked over to the main entrance and shut the now bowed and broken door, the hinges whining in protest as he closed it.

"Where do you think they took her," the second man whispered.

"Mostly likely, the Shah's private chambers," the first man responded in a low hum. "You heard what the grand vizier said."

The second man shuddered. "They're both dead men. Erik is one man I would never underestimate. And they just stole his wife away."

The first man ran his fingers through his unkempt locks. "And if he finds us here like this, I doubt he will ask questions first."

The second man grimaced. "What do we do?"

Just then the click of a door sounded and both of them turned into statues in an instant as a hidden door at the back of the room swung open, and Bakhita and Laleh stepped through.

Bakhita looked up and halted when she saw the two men standing there stock-still. Laleh frowned at her friend, then traced her line of sight to the objects she was staring at, and gasped, stepping back into the shadow of the hidden doorway.

The first man held up his hands to them.

"We mean no harm. We...uh, that is...we know Eilis and Erik."

"Intimately," the other man mumbled in a dry tone.

"I have never seen you in here before," Bakhita growled. "And I come in here quite a bit."

The first man smirked. "We've been here just as long. You don't recognize us because we no longer have fur...or webbed feet." He nodded over his shoulder to his companion.

Both girls' eyes bulged open in shock. They glanced at the now empty shelf, the shards of glass and wood on the floor, the busted front door, and then back at the two men.

"H-how," Laleh stammered. "What happened?"

The first man shook his head, concern flooding his face.

"We don't know. Eilis was working on packing, when all of a sudden, we were transformed. She was surprised as well. I think something happened to her magic."

"Where is my wife?"

That voice, which could have inspired a new ice age, came from behind Laleh within the depths of the hidden passageway.

Laleh leapt forward into the room, making way for the dark figure behind her. Bakhita moved to the side, clutching the belongings in her arms.

All eyes were on Erik as he stepped into the room. The look in his eyes behind the white mask made everyone present quail with terror.

"Where. Is. Eilis?"

The first man swallowed hard, then held out the hand that held Eilis' ring, opening his fist.

"She told me to give this to you," he mumbled, barely able to utter the words.

Erik stared at the silver band, the emerald's facets glittering in the light. His long fingers plucked it from the stranger's palm. He raised his unfathomable eyes, fury rising behind his gaze.