The Price of Magic

Chapter IV

“Prince David, have you heard anything of the village potter?” Prince Simeon asked.

            Prince David nodded. “Yes, Your Majesty, a bit.”

            “I still don’t trust him,” Simeon said. “I want him dead.”

            “Sir, don’t you think that’s a little…harsh?”

            “No, of course not,” Simeon replied, giving David an indignant look. “I believe that old potter is giving his daughter black magic lessons. The girl hasn’t been outside the house in weeks, not since I accused her of sorcery. Now he’s keeping her a secret, giving her secret lessons.”

            Prince David shrugged. “It is possible, I suppose, sir.”

            “Good. Now, I want the old man dead.”

***

            “Amelia?” Clara walked slowly around the forest clearing where the seer supposedly lived. “Amelia, I have a question, about one of your prophecies.”

            Clara circled the clearing again and again. It was small, only consisting of a cave, a pond, and some trees. It was nearly invisible from the edge of the village. After waiting for Donna and Christopher to fall asleep, Clara had snuck out of the house again. She was grateful that she didn’t see Sir Matthew on her way out of the village, although he would have made good company.

            “Amelia?” Clara called again. Finally, Clara saw someone coming out of the cave. She was shocked. Amelia was a child, no more than ten or eleven years old.

            “Who are you? Why are you here?” The child demanded.

            “Amelia, my name is Clara,” she said, keeping her distance from the young seer. “I’ve come to ask you about a prophecy.”

            “Which one?” Amelia asked, eyeing Clara suspiciously.

            “This one.” Clara held out the scroll.

            Amelia barely glanced at it and she knew what it was. “I knew you’d be coming here. You want to know what it means. I’m afraid I can’t tell you that. I receive the premonitions, but that doesn’t mean I know exactly how to interpret them. Most of the time, the events play out as they are in the prophecy, and only then I know what they truly mean. For now, we can only guess.”

            Clara sighed. “But bad things could happen if I don’t know what this means.”

            “You can’t avoid bad things in your life, Clara,” Amelia said. “Everyone has good and bad things in their lives, and sometimes the bad things outnumber the good things, but that doesn’t mean they should spoil them. Focus on the good things. Don’t worry about the prophecy; it’ll play out as it plays out, and you can’t do anything about it.”

            “But I’m supposed to do something! That’s what it says!” Clara argued.

            “And how might you know that?” Amelia retorted. “How do you know that’s talking about you? Because some old potter told you?”

            At the mention of Christopher, Clara got a weird feeling, like something was wrong. She turned and looked back at the village. “Something isn’t right,” she whispered. She turned back to look at Amelia, but the girl was gone.

            Clara ran toward the town, not caring if anyone saw her. Something was wrong, she could feel it. She reached her home and went around the back, finding the door open. She had not left it like that.