Our Magic Binds Us

2. Sabine and Chiron

Sabine was a witch, it was all she knew and for a long time it was all that she cared about. She had been brought up in the forest by her mother and father and her grandmother close by. Her life had been happy. She practiced her witchcraft with her parents and when she visited her grandmother she taught her more exciting things that her parents thought she wasn't ready for, but her Mamar (this is what she called her grandmother) knew that she was, for Sabine possessed a power that was so magnificent its potential had scared her parents. This sort of power had not been seen for centuries and with it they knew would come immense responsibility. Something they weren't sure they wanted for their only child, not for selfish reasons they just wanted her to have fun, to grow up without the worry of responsibility to affect her decisions. They wanted her to grow into the woman she wanted to be, not who she thought that she should be because of what was expected. So for a long time they kept quiet her amazing ability, but this was not something that could go unnoticed for long. The witches were part of a large community of many beings and creatures within the forest, and all lived peacefully together for a long time. Or at least that's what Sabine thought when she was a child, although now she thought about it she supposed it wasn't that simple and that her parents and the other adults around the community probably gave this impression to the children so as not to scare them or give them anything to worry about. Keeping their innocence alive for as long as possible. And it worked. Sabine enjoyed her life immensely; she had a number of friends all of whom she enjoyed spending time with but there were four that she felt a connection with from the moment they met. Centaurs, three males and one female. Chiron, Pholus, Cyllarus and Hylonome. They met outside her Mamar's cottage when they were quite young. Hylonome had been trying to pick some of Mamar's strawberries for herself and her three friends, Sabine had seen what she was dong but said nothing and just watched concealed behind one of her grandmother's favourite bushes, entranced by the creatures' beauty. Mamar came out and caught Hylonome and started shouting about stealing when Sabine appeared from behind the bush and said that she knew them all extremely well and that she had already given permission for Hylonome to pick the strawberries. Mamar gave her quite a telling off that afternoon, but even then Sabine suspected it was more to do with the fact that Mamar knew she was lying, she always did. However at the same time she couldn't help feeling that Mamar also concealed some pride that Sabine had stuck up for the creatures even though she didn't know them. Of course her grandmother couldn't let on that she knew any of this but as Sabine got older and wiser she began to understand more and more about lots of things one of which being the way her Mamars mind worked. From that day forward anyway the five of them were inseparable. Playing when they were young getting up to mischief as they grew. During the daylight hours when the centaurs took their human form they would all swim together in the stream, watching transfixed as Sabine enchanted flowers and sticks to dance around them, and by night when the centaurs transformed and when they could all sneak out after dark they would ride through the forest, Sabine riding on one of their backs, chasing fireflies and bats or just racing each other without a care in the world. As they grew older Cyllarus and Hylonome grew closer and as soon as they came of age were married. Pholus had his share of females but never showed any signs of wanting to marry like his best friends. And that left Chiron...... Sabine and Chiron had a connection; she knew it from that day by the strawberries as he looked at her with those piercing blue eyes as her grandmother reprimanded her. However it wasn't until Cyllarus and Hylonome were married that Sabine's relationship with Chiron became more than just best friends. Even though they all knew it, it just seemed to take Sabine and Chiron a little bit longer to admit the truth to themselves. They adored each other; theirs was a relationship so strong that nothing could break it, nothing, until the ruling that is. The Centaur elders were not happy, like many others they felt that the mixing of magical and centaur blood lines was wrong, but love as they say conquers all and Sabine and Chiron were no exception.

Before Sabine and Chiron became lovers, and before Cyllarus and Hylonome were married, whilst they were all still innocent and all best friends together, something dreadful happened that made them all wake up to the fact that things definitely were not as straight forward as it had always been made out to be. A new race came to the forest, new to the young ones, however the adults certainly seemed to recognize them as they were not met with the hospitality that had always been shown to visitors before them. A fight broke out which turned into an out and out war. The young were sent into the cottages to hide but they kept watch through the windows. They were scared to look but couldn't tear themselves away. Pholus lost his father that day, Hylonome two brothers and Sabine her mother and father. Things were never the same again after that. The young were no longer innocent and the five friends locked safely in the cottage became, if possible, even closer than before, turning to each other for comfort. It transpired that this "new" race were jealous of the community that had been built up over the centuries and all of the allegiances between races, they were threatened by it and wanted to eradicate it so as to ensure that it could never be used against them. Un-be known to the young friends the adults had been taking watches throughout the day and night for years, ensuring these enemies were kept from their home and in turn keeping the peace. But the war that started on that fateful day raged on and on. The Ogres were from another realm, large and strong with faces that showed pure hate. With over sized heads, hands and feet and tiny black eyes. Their skin was grey and tough like leather and they had yellowed large razor sharp teeth protruding from their slobbery mouths and curling up around their disgusting and large noses. Over time they found more and more that magic was something that they feared above all else. Because of this they targeted those with magic over all the other beings and creatures in the forest eradicating whole families in one go. Of course anybody close to those with magic or seen to be helping them were targeted too. And so this became a way of life, people eventually began to go about their daily lives as before but always weary, always on the lookout for trouble, the people of the forest soon learned only to fight when absolutely necessary. News continued to travel back to them that another magical family had been murdered during the night, or perhaps that someone had strayed too far out on their own and was never seen again. From the night of her parents' death, Sabine was shown more and more of what she was capable of by her Mamar, spells, potions, enchantments all so complex all required extreme concentration and strong will but all came naturally to her. Her powers grew stronger every day, and every day news would travel back that someone else had been found murdered or was missing. She had never performed or even heard of most of these spells before now but somehow felt that they were familiar. She shared this information with her best friends asking their thoughts, (centaurs were known throughout all of the realms to have knowledge, wisdom and strength beyond all others) they believed that this was because of her amazing power and they recalled to her that in times gone by very few people who possessed magic held a power quite like hers, it was something that occurred only every few centuries and when it happened the person had a natural ability, more so than anyone else, these people were called: Dins Amours Bugic and according to legend the memories of her ancestors were in her mind waiting to be unlocked, meaning that each time a new witch with these abilities came about they were more powerful than the last as they took on their knowledge, and only by embracing it could that person really fulfil their true potential. As unlikely and mad as it sounded Sabine valued their thoughts and knew that they more than anyone (possibly even Mamar) would know the true meaning.

Over time Mamar got older and became sick. Sabine healed her with magic and extended her life long enough for Mamar to pass on more and more information about her ancestors and the true potential that Sabine possessed. However eventually fate took over and Sabine knew that Mamar did not have much time left. (For nothing can prevent death forever, not even magic). She made her comfortable and moved into the cottage that her grandmother had lived in for such a long time (and where Sabine remained) in order to be with her during her last days. It was during these last days that Mamar confided one last nugget of information. Within the magical realm since the beginning of time, every time there was a magical death, murdered or natural, the powers from that person would flow back into the earth. This she knew, she had been taught this from a young age, all magical children were. However one piece of information regarding this was never shared and it was this that on her death bed her grandmother now shared with her. Whenever anyone was blessed with the powers that Sabine possessed, the magic that flowed through the earth from all of the past witches throughout time was channelled and flowed through them, the power becoming stronger with each new Dins Amours Bugic because of this.