Arcanus

[6]

Author's Note: This chapter is dedicated to @reppeb for continuously nagging me to update. Sorry for the inconvenience!

    "Your eyes-" Katrina couldn't help but gasp. They glowed magenta, light golden specks dancing where the light hit them.
    Mari cried out a bit as she sat up. She clutched her chest, then her head.
    "It- my chest- my head- everything hurts."
    The Enchantress studied the confused Wanderer for a moment.
    "Come with me." She said shortly, walking away elegantly, her cape sweeping behind her, leaving mini dust storms in her wake.
    Bat helped a groaning Mari up, and carefully strapped her to the harness, her wings extending to follow her.
    Katrina sighed internally. Her leopard tugged at her chest. Begging for it's release.
    I could travel much faster with the leopard.
    And without thinking, she shifted. The earth seemed to bend, the golden canyon blurring out of sight.
    She was running as fast as she could, heading towards town. Heading somewhere where she wasn't assigned to protect her enemy's friend.
    Then something seemed to restrain her, snap at her. She tugged against her restraint, believing it only mental.
    She looked back, and she was literally on a leash. She snapped and growled at the Enchantress who held her, and amused smile underneath the hood.
    "Come on, kitty. That's not the way."
    With a flourish, she spun around, and headed towards the Arcanus Forest. Bat landed next to her, her wings folding, Mari asleep in the harness.
    A growl rose in Katrina's throat, but she pushed it down. Bat was her charge, and to protect her, she couldn't be on bad terms with her.
    Why are we going into the forest? Katrina padded slowly and distastefully beside them, the shimmering silver leash taunting her. The Arcanus Forest- it's rumored to have monsters, to kill everybody.
    Katrina's claws gripped the floor tightly. If only this accursed leash would come off, she would kill everyone here. Even Bat. A thought came to her quickly.
    Kylie's dead...hmm. She won't know if Bat dies. Nothing will happen to me. Maybe if I change form, this leash will dissipate.
    She attempted to free herself from the leopard body, but failed miserably. A waft of silver floated from her neck, changing color, becoming a thick purple strand. It tied neatly around her eyes.
    She roared in protest, but that earned her a muzzle.
    "Bat and Mari have the blindfolds too." The Enchantress chided Katrina. "And none of them are complaining. This is for security reasons."
    Katrina whimpered softly. She hated being blind. Not knowing where you were going, being led by a complete stranger somewhere. It went completely against her survival instincts.
    "I'll let you take your human form." The Enchantress said after a pause. "But you'll retain the blindfold. Whimper once if you would like that. Shake violently from side to side of you would prefer to stay a leopard."
    She sure has a creative way of communicating. Katrina whimpered pathetically. What would Master say if he saw this?
    She felt her leopard again, retreating back into her. For once, it wasn't as spirited and free as it used to be. It felt almost numbing to have it again.
    "Side effects of the leash." The Enchantress explained. "It's coming out from it's sleep."
    Katrina grunted, her hands reaching out to grasp her katanas, which she could normally summon at will because of the stones in their hilts, and the stones that adorned her rings had a special connection, formed by Michæl, the most powerful magician that Katrina had ever met, and forged by Hëtus, the best magic blacksmith in the world.
    But she couldn't summon them. She touched the jewels on her rings, then closed her hand around the air again, expecting to feel the worn leather grip, but once again, her hands met air.
    Trying to act nonchalant, Katrina decided to bring up Michæl. If this Enchantress could overpower his magic, and Hëtus' magic combined, than she had to know.
    "Have you heard of a magician named Michæl?" Katrina asked slowly. "He's very powerful."
    "Never heard of him." Judging by the sound of her footsteps, she had not slowed down.
    "Well, he's this super powerful magician I was summoned to protect once, and I didn't need to do anything except kill those in magic resistant armour. Wow he was amazing."
    Katrina remembered that battle on the top of the hill, protecting a super rare potion brewing item, and the blast of blinding blue light and the ashes of the soldiers afterwards, bodies lying crumpled, stabbed or burnt, sometimes just a pile of ash.
    "How about Hëtus?" Katrina tried again. The Enchantress kept walking. "Hëtus Zerá? I grew up with him, and he visits me from time to time. Only I know how to disarm his magic, and he knows my 'kryptonite'. We were childhood friends, and we still are friends. I encouraged him to pursue his childhood crush, Adítê Gröve. Unfortunately, I had to leave after that."
    Katrina sucked in a gasp. "They didn't end up together, you know. Adítê Gröve decided to chase after Ärês Gwâr instead. They got married and had three kids."
    Katrina felt the Enchantress's' presence enter her mind. It felt like someone was quietly stepping through the brain, and memories came out in flashes. Numbness swept over Katrina, as she watched her entire life flash by, gradually slowing down until the right memory played.
"The first was Hestia Gröve." The Enchantress whispered. "The fire and flame. The next was Charmêns Gwár. The earth, the ground. The final one- the youngest of them all, the one who had to live up to her sibling's great accomplishments, was Katrína Gröve, the storm, the wrath of the wind."
    Katrina felt the Enchantress leave her mind.
    "You're Adítê's child?" Bat asked, breaking the silence.
    Katrina hesitated.
    "Naw." She said playfully. "I wish. Katrína Gröve was such a better assassin. My last name is Fírenze. Katrina Fírenze. My mother named me after Katrína Gröve since she and Adítê were childhood friends."
    "Katrína Gröve was an assassin too?"
    "She was Princess in the royal court." The Enchantress said. "She went missing a week before King Mábeth planned to coronate her. They say she disappeared into the Arcanus Forest, never to be seen again. Queen Óhlia was stricken with grief, from losing what seemed like a daughter to her, and she fled into the Forest. I found her body two days after she entered."
    Katrina was shocked. She didn't expect such a mysterious hermit to know about Katrína Gröve, the best assassin history could provide.
    "I don't believe she is dead though." The Enchantress whispered, and sent a glance at Katrina, who imagined a chest sweeping up all the private memories and being locked with a giant padlock. The golden, glimmering key appeared, summoned from Katrina's mind. She dissolved it into tiny golden fragments, sending them to the dark pits of her mind where no one in their right mind would go in.
    The rest of the walk was silent. Bat attempted to make small talk, and it was shot down by Katrina.
    "So, Miz Enchantress Lady...what's your name? I think I should know the name of our rescuer...?"
    "She only rescued Mari." Katrina snarled the name. "You are only here because you want to help your friend. I'm only here because Kylie ordered me to protect you."
    "That's not her name." Bat protested.
    "Whatever."
    "My name's Seraphina." Amusement creeped into the Enchantress' tone.
    What seemed like an eternity of silence later, the ground beneath them changed from bumpy, squishy earth into something solid. Wood or stone, perhaps.
    Magic tickled Katrina's feet, then her blindfold dissapated. Bat unharnessed Mari, who had woken up from the tickling.
    "Woah." Mari managed to make out, before she collapsed onto the floor.

A/N: It's been busy for me, with school starting and all. I've been on hiatus for quite some time now: I've already written up to chapter 9 on a google doc, but I don't have time right now to put it in Wattpad, 'cause I'll have to redo italics, etc. it's just a real big pain.

Anyway, enough about me. How are you guys doing? How are you enjoying the story so far? I'd appreciate it if you could click that little star in the corner to make your presence known, and to support this story. Bye!