A Touch of Magic

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty

Evergreen

As we climbed over the wall together the next morning, I felt no fear. No doubt. We would win. We would win this battle together.
We headed back to Haggolthorn. We needed a place to stay, a person to trust. Once there, we would make plans to meet up with Demetry and his army. We didn't know much beyond that.
The woods felt ready to pounce at any moment as we made our way quietly past the stream. Once we got to Haggolthorn, we would be safe.
His cottage door opened, and he welcomed us in surprise. He ushered us inside and swiftly bolted the door.
"Where is Demetry and his army?"
I asked immediately. Brikwood swallowed.
"I can answer that. Queen Night Cast has them locked in her dungeons."
I had to remind myself that this was not Brikwood's fault. Not completely.
"We need a safe place to stay the night."
I begged.
"We are planning to take back what we've lost."
I didn't specify what exactly we had lost. You never know who you can trust. Haggolthorn nodded.
"My doors are always open to you, my friends."
Brikwood shook his hand gratefully.
"Thank you so much."
The attic looked the same as the last time I'd been here. The blue leather book was still sitting on the bed. I picked it up and settled myself on the bed.
It wouldn't hurt to learn more about these vile creatures. At least to learn to fend them off. Vepo, chapter one.
"I felt all the air leaving my lungs as I plunged into the icy water. The cliff I had just thrown myself from was exactly a two hundred foot drop.
A quick way to pass on. Instead of the relief of nothingness, however, I was met with the tingling and convulsing of my legs.
Green scales quickly replaced my skin as my legs fused together, forming what looked like a fish tail. No. This wasn't real. But it was. It seems the sea God's have had mercy on me. I had become.... A mermaid."
I closed the book in frustration. I didn't see the correlation between a beautiful mermaid and the revolting vepo.
Then, the words of the elf in the woods drifted back to me. Magic can corrupt you. I pondered this. Was it possible that the vepo had once been beautiful mermaids?
I flipped through the next few pages, only skimming them. I stopped on a page towards the middle of the book.
"For magical abilities can corrupt you. I had many. Many magical powers were slowly consuming me from the inside out.
Those sailors. I could never bring them back. As I looked over my reflection in the crystal mirror, my appearance began to shift.
Dark scraggly hair, pale death, white skin, and black soulless eyes that most likely reflect the inside of my heart. Empty. Dark. Dead."
I slammed the book shut. Vepo had once been mermaids. The elf had been right. I sent up a silent prayer to the elves that my companion and I would not be corrupted as well.