Bewitched

Chapter 1

Ilana Vale didn't consider herself very brave. but she never really needed to be. She'd had an easy life and hadn't had to work really hard for anything.

As a child her every whim was sated, except for that which she truly wanted. She wanted a life of adventure, of never knowing what the next day might bring. She wanted danger and to experience everything she could. She wanted to die knowing that there wasn't anything left for her to do.

Her family lived a life free of hard labour and full of luxury that wasn't often the case for herbomancers,magic users specializing in plant magic, by having close relations with terramancers. Terramancers are magic users who can manipulate earth who along with the other elementals governed the mystical population. Ilana was usually a very obedient and mild-mannered girl.But not now.

Mother's usually painfully neat hair was coiled angrily at her neck and her face bright red with exertion. "How could you possibly think I would just stand by and allow my daughter to abandon her family? And for what to 'find herself'!" she screamed. "Gerald, have you ever heard such nonsense? Does she have any idea of the horrors out there?' her eyes shut painfully as she leans heavily against my father as though the weight she was baring suddenly became too much.

"Mother", I say softly as I lay my hand gently on her shoulder, "I didn't mean to make it sound as though I wished to leave you. It's not an easy decision that I have made but is a decision I have had to make. I cannot spend the rest of my life locked in this house." I interlock our fingers and stare into eyes that mirror mine. "There is a huge wide world out there and there's probably terrible dangerous things out there, but there might also be brilliant amazing things there too. And I will not discover which unless I look."

My mother and I sit like statues waiting to see who will break first. the only sound is that of my father slowly working his way through a steak. After working through a particularly chewy chunk he opens his mouth with a pop and asks," So what's the plan?"

I lay out everything for him, every detail i have stayed up late planning. About the small town where I'll be staying, the quaint plant shop where I'll work, the route to be traveled, how it will be traveled, everything down to what shoes I'll be packing.

Mother's colour slowly returned to normal and her hands no longer trembled," And when will you be departing?" she asks softly.

"In about a week or so," I say excitedly, "If all goes to plan."

And with that the short-lived calm is burnt away under the pain of a mother having to deal with the heartbreak of her only child leaving the nest.

***

A week or so later, after a thousand hours of checking and rechecking every miniscule detail and thousands of hours more spent comforting her mother, Ilana was ready to leave.

"Are you sure you do not need more time before you go?" Mother asks as she absentmindedly twists her wedding ring on her finger.

"Oh, hush dear. All the time in the world wouldn't make her change her mind." Father says fondly as he wraps his arm around his wife. "Do not forget to write every week or else your mother will die of worry."

The spatiomancer taps his foot impatiently and I quickly wrap up by goodbyes. Spatiomancers specialize in travel magic and teleportation and I had to call in a lot of favours to be able to get one as skilled as Mr Faer. "I won't," I say as I wrap them both tightly in an embrace, "I love you both so much." I call while climbing into the carriage and as it starts to drive out the gate, I hear my mother shouting some last minute advice to me. But I'm soon too far away to hear it.

Outside the carriage everything rushes past in a blur of colours. With every hit of the spatiomancer's reigns the space around the clockwork horses bends and we  find ourselves a thousand miles from where we started. But even this doesn't last long before we're off again. The rhythmic beat of the hooves and the soft smack of the reigns lulls me into a dreamless sleep.

***

I awaken harshly as the carriage suddenly stops and my head slams against the back of the seat. Mr Faer opens my door smoothly and offers a gloved hand to help me out. I grasp his hand firmly as I climb out, my legs unsteady. He gives my small smile and I notice how beautiful he is. He's has almost unnaturally bright blue eyes and a light smattering of freckles across his nose. 

"Are you okay, miss?" His voice is a soft baritone and the lilt of his accent makes my heartbeat faster.

"Oh I'm fine. No need to worry,but thank you." I tell him embarrassed.

He shoots me another soft smile, tips his hat and launches himself back onto the driver's seat. He twirls his fingers in farewell and the carriage speeds away almost to fast to see.

All alone I look out at my new house. Its nothing in comparison to what I've left behind. Its covered head to toe in creeper vines, the 'garden' is full of broken ceramics and overgrown weeds, but even with all of that its stunning. Its a small  lodge with faded red roofing and solid brick walls. The sun shines brightly on the brass door knocker making it glow and reflects happily on the windows. Some luggage and furniture lie by the front and the rest should be inside already considering how much earlier than me it arrived.

I tie my long hair neatly with bright blue ribbon and get started. The feel of the weeds in my hands, the soft thwuck as the earth releases them, the smell of grass solidify the idea of the move being good . I delicately pick up the broken ceramic pieces and put them into an ancient wheelbarrow, that i found upside hidden in the bushes, with the weeds.

Hours later as the sun crests against the hills, I rub my hand across my achy shoulders that aren't used to such labour intensive work but if its what is needed for my adventure then I'll happily deal with it. I stares proudly at all I had achieved. It was still barely a garden but with all the broken ceramics and weeds gone it was easy to imagine how beautiful it would become.

Now with all the hard work done it was time for the fun. Kneeling on the soft  dry grass and I dig my hands into the warm crumbly soil. My mind reaches out to the plants, I call to them and ask what they need. The wordless plea from them breaks my heart, they'd been slowly dying for years, they begged for help. Focusing all my energy to my hands until I  starts to feel it beating like a second heart I then let it bled slowly to the plant's roots. The energy wraps slowly around the plants, fixing their broken stems, strengthening their roots and brightening the colourless leaves. Their bright gratitude holds my heart as they stretch up to the fading sun. 

I wheel the rusted wheelbarrow to an old garden shed camouflaged by thick vines stretched across it. I flick my wrist sharply and the vines fall limply off and make a mental note to get a trellis for it to grow on. Pushing the door open with the wheelbarrow and purposefully not looking too closely at what could live in this abandoned shed I leave it dead center and close the door. 

Walking back to the house I make a mental list of everything that I'll need when I go into town tomorrow and I try to keep my enthusiasm even as the list gets troublingly long. I take the house keys out of my pocket to unlock the door and alternate between dragging and pushing the stuff through the door aggravating my already aching shoulders. The inside of the house is painted in reds and golds from the sunset outside and it looks so beautiful that my soul aches with an unnamed longing.

I pick through one of the chests and snatch at anything I'll need tonight. Everything else can be dealt with tomorrow along with the other thousand things I plan on doing then. With the size of the house its not difficult at all for me to find my room and after changing into a soft cotton shift I crawl under the cool covers relishing in the weight on my tired bones. 

I try to imagine how my new life here will be, how my new house will look once its fixed up, the way the shop will look, the friends I might make. And some small traitorous part of me whispers,'Maybe you'll even fall in love'. The weight of that hope lands heavily on my chest knocking the air out of lungs before merciful sleep wraps around me.