The Night Rider

Chapter 6

Hearing her voice, I turn around in a quick movement. I hold the red apple in my hand a little firmer in my grip. Celeste stands in front of me with a little grimace on her lips. Her black dress shows her narrow body to full advantage. Her black hair lies like a curtain along her face.

I make a small bow to the woman who is so precious to me. A single nod is enough to express my affection to her, that's all she asks for. Her grimace turns into a sincere smile, the one I like to see. This woman is the most wise and honest woman I have met in my life.

'So what does the young princess do outside her room at night?' Although I know that this question is entirely rhetorical, I look at her with a serious look. 'Getting an apple'. My answer is with an undertone that declares her question crazy. At my answer I raise the apple in my hand. Her eyes follow my movement.

Her heels start tapping on the ground. She makes small steps around me. From how she just stood in front of me she now walks around me in a half curve. I follow her with my eyes without moving my head. 'You weren't at dinner either, you've been absent all day,' she concludes. I don't give a response.

She stops her steps as soon as she stands behind me. She forces me to turn this way. In a single movement I stand face to face with the black eyes, amused they look deep at me. They have a little sparkle in them that betrays her amusement. 'No answer?' Again Celeste breaks the silence and I don't answer. I only look at her in those deep black eyes.

As soon as she understands that I am not going to answer her rhetorical questions, she makes her way back past me. Her ticking heels give a familiar sound that glides along the walls of the tall building. Her back appears in my sight as soon as she walks to the door. She is silent and I don't move for seconds either.

'Come' This time she doesn't ask me a question but it's an order, that cannot be denied. Slowly she continues her way up the stairs. It's still dead quiet in the building. I want to ask where our path leads, but I keep my mouth shut wisely. Celeste answers my question faster than I thought. 'Follow me to the library'

In silence we continue our way through the corridors to one of the few wooden doors in the building. Celeste opens the door as soon as we arrive. The millions of books that fill this room come into my sight. I've always wondered at the huge amount of books. The centuries of history, knowledge and magic stored here is something we can learn a lot from.

Slowly I let the wooden door fall shut behind me. Celeste continues her way as if she knows exactly the route and the locations of the books. I follow in her footsteps. Often I don't enter this room, although I spent hours there with Celeste. A woman full of knowledge, from books and experience. A woman who grabs everyone's attention as soon as she has a chance. A woman who should be admired in her beauty.

Celeste stops at a closet that has an old look. She lets her fingers slide over the covers that may have been here for centuries. All this time this room has known dead silence until the wise woman breaks it. 'You know Rafiki, once I was like you. Young, fearless and, above all, curious'. Her fingers stop at a book with a brown cover. They grab it and remove the book from the closet.

'In my time, I've done and created things that haunt me today. Spells that should never have existed and situations that should never have happened', she continues her story. She has turned around and put the book on the table in front of us. The book carries a name. The name lifelinespells.

In an unexpected movement she opens the book on page 53. 'The curse you bear has an origin. This origin is much closer than you might think. We've often talked about the consequences and origin, but never about the one that is most important'. I listen attentively to the woman who lets her fingers slide over the page.

The origin of the curse you bear lies in the deadliest spell in the world, the spell that three people have ever completed and many have made a deadly attempt at it. The Narvik spell.' I let my eyes slide over the letters in the book. It's a moment of silence in which I can let this information come to me.

'With this spell, you give your life and magic at the source of what makes us breathe. You have to be so powerful for this that a single magician or any other creature cannot do this from his own nature. To magnify your own magic you will need the magic of others and that magic is often only available through the death of this person', Celeste stops in her story. She seems to be searching for the words.

'Once you have an idea of having this amount of power you go to the source in the Andes, follow the ritual, cut both your lifelines and veins, and let yourself bleed until life leaves you' My mouth is getting dry. Celeste seems to have sunk further and further into her words. As if she thinks about every letter that leaves her mouth.

'You have to hope for the blessing of nature to give you back life and wake up with an unprecedented amount of power. The power produced by nature is the most powerful magic we can carry, an endless source of power. The curse you carry with you is a bee branch that sprouts from this dreaded spell'. It is silent and she seems to have sunk deeper into her mind than ever. Every letter she now pronounces has had her concentration.

'As I said, there are only three people who have performed this spell. They're being declared mad, complete idiots and above all, the worst killers in the world'. 'The source of your curse is your mother'