Chapter 6 | magie cachée

magie cachée

Hidden magic

TO say that my head is throbbing will be an understatement right now. It is literally feeling like it is about to explode into a million pieces. With every ounce of energy left in me, I open my eyes. I am greeted with the familiar white ceiling of my room but the unfamiliar feeling of needles in my arm. I don't panic because I know something must have happened to me that put me in this situation. Analyse your surroundings and then react.

As I barely sit up, I find Alexander and Cal lying on my bed and holding my hand, completely dozed off. I can't get up with their weight on my legs, so I try to shake them. luckily, Cal wakes up. As he looks at me, a huge smile appears on his face and he grabs me in a hug that I can barely breathe.

"I can't breathe....my head aches..." I try to say.

Somehow Cal gets the signal and asks for the doctor to come in to check on me. As he shouts, Alexander gets up in a complete alert mode. He then faces me and a worried smile appears on his face. He moves towards me and hugs me softly.

"You scared the shit out of us, Olivia. Never ever pull a trick like that again." He says.

I want to tell him that I am okay, but nothing comes out of my mouth. I am just too tired. The doctor finally comes in and Alexander steps away from me. The doctor checks upon me and gives me some medicine.

"Have these twice a day for two weeks. One in the morning after breakfast and one after dinner. Got it?" he says and I nod.

What the hell happened to me?

My parents come rushing into my room next, almost knocking over the Arminda who was trying to open the door for them. My mother takes my face between her hands and cries.

For the first time in my life, I had seen my mother cry. She looked so scared. My father hugs me tightly, like he didn't want to let go of me at all. But my head was too messed up to process anything. I need to stop this headache or else I am certainly going to die.

Out of some kind of compulsion, I get up, releasing myself from the grasp of my parents, and walk towards the little pot kept near my balcony. I simply sit down and take that plant between my hands. I don't know how I did it, but somehow I make the plant transfer it's life source to me. It was an energy I had never felt before, but I more powerful than ever before.

The magic was... new. As soon as I let go of the plant, it's dead. But my headache is completely gone. In fact, I am normal again. I no longer feel any pain. I remove the needles from my arms, letting some blood flow out but I don't care.

What I care about is what the hell did I just do? I have no idea how I did it? what was the mantra that I chanted? How did I even know about it?

I turn to find my family staring at me. They looked as shocked as I did. My father, quickly dashes towards me.

"Olivia, whatever you did, never do that again. No matter in how much pain you are. Don't do whatever that magic compels you to do. Fight it. Promise me, you will fight it." he says as he takes my hand in his.

I simply nod.

"I promise." I say.

My father turns to my brothers and ask them to not to speak of this to anyone. I don't know but I can sense whatever I did was unnatural. The magic to take the life from someone or even something was unheard of. I haven't even read about it. But I think it would be better if our army knew about that. There would be less causalities, then.

Listening to my father is the lesson I have learnt the hard way and I think it must stay like that. So I choose to stay quite about this 'little incident' of mine. If he thinks it is dangerous, then it is. And I want to be a good ruler, not a danger to my own kingdom. The thought disgusts me. I have trained too hard to not be a good ruler, I can't let a stupid magic trick to come in between.

"Now if you all excuse me, I have to change. I have matters to attend to, a kingdom to govern." I say with a smile on my face. I don't want to appear to be rude but I have already lost a lot of time and patience. I need to deal with the Rebels as soon as possible.

My family excuses me and I ask for Ankita. She comes in my room, hurriedly and pulls me in a tight hug that I can barely breathe.

"I need to get ready." I tell her as she enters.

She simply nods and then goes to the washroom to prepare my bath. The familiar smell of lavender greets me and I immediately feel my muscles relaxing a bit. Ankita then walks out of the washroom, motioning me that the bath is ready and then turns to pick out my dress for the day. I take off the night gown I was wearing and slip into the bath.

The warmth of the water greets me and I feel relaxed. I feel safe from the cold outside. I want to feel safe even though I am not. Ankita comes in and starts washing my hair, massaging my shoulders at the same time. Her hand works miracles and I feel myself drifting to sleep. But I can't. I have work to do. When Ankita finishes, I get up to wrap myself in a towel and go outside to be greeted by the sight of Sebastian on my bed. A strong feeling of love greets me and I am lost for words. It had been such a long time since I met her.

Ankita excuses herself from my room when she sees Sebastian and I am left in a towel staring at my ex-lover. It is going to be very weird, a feeling in my stomach tells. He looks tired. If I had been out for three days, then it meant that he was through with his one-day court test and was now, possibly the Governor of Lagina. That makes me proud but I don't show it.

Any feeling of warmth can lead to something I will possibly regret later. His red eyes are filled with love and fear and I know that it is for me. He is not yet over me. This realization saddens me as I know I am not going to change my decision from earlier. I am busy than ever with the rebels and I refuse to let Sebastien because of my own mess. He had already lost his parents and he needs someone who can love him and be with him every moment of his life. That someone wasn't me.

He gets up and walk towards me. We are so close now that I can hear his heart racing in his chest. I look up to his eyes. Those eyes I fell in love with long ago. I dare not look at his lips because I know that I will loose control and surrender myself to him.

"What are you doing here, sir Sebastian?" I ask. He stiffens when I address him with sir, but that is how it is supposed to me now. I rejected him and he has to let go of me, someday.

"Cut the crap, Olivia. Don't do this to me." He says.

As soon as he says that, I feel his lips crush into mine. I am shocked for a moment, not knowing how to react. The feeling of his lips against me is familiar but somehow it doesn't feel right. It is something I wanted but it wasn't right. We weren't right.

I pull away from him, not meeting his gaze. I can't show him that I love him. It will make everything more complicated than they already are between us.

"Why can't you let go of me, Sebastian? Please. This is not good for any one of us. You know I will not have time for us. And now since you are the Governor of Lagina, assuming that you passed the test, you won't have time for me."I say. An annoying look appears on his face.

"What do you mean, Olivia? We can make it work. Your parents did. Mine did. Hell, even your brothers are doing that too. So why not us? Don't you love me anymore?" he says.

And I knew what I had to say to push him away.

"I don't care about you anymore, Sebastian. You were just a fling, a distraction. Now go away before I call upon the Arminda to kick you out!" I shout at Sebastien.

All blood drains out of Sebastian's face and I can feel the anger radiating out of him. But I stand out against him. Even if he was my lover, I am his princess, his superior and deserve his respect. I hold my guard up and he flies away from the room.

As soon as he leaves the room, I regret lasing out at him. It breaks my heart when I replay the words in my head. I really embarrassed him again. Why can't he get the fact that I am not ready to settle down as of now? Why can't he just leave me alone?

***

I don't have time to deal with my own problems because the kingdom is in danger and something must be done about it. I run towards the Magic Room and am greeted with the sight of Alvy trying their best to have a breakthrough on the rebels. They are doing the same task we were assigned long ago. We have made no progress and it is better that we do now. I have performed the spell and it must give me something. Anything at all will be nice and comforting.

The Alvy bow to me. There are in total eleven of them, me included. They are the best witches me and my mother could find and train in the Ruby kingdom. They gave up their families to be there. They are all women as the magic runs the most in the bloods of the women in our kingdom. That is why women are treated with the most respect in our kingdom, unlike the other kingdoms. we take pride in our culture, for sure.

"How are you feeling, your majesty?" Rita asks.

She is my second in command, that is if anything happens to me, she will take command of the Alvy temporarily until the next heir to the Alvy qualifies from the royal family.

"Enough talking about me, I am fine. But update me with the situation with the rebels." I say.

She nods and motions me to my room in the Magic room. I follow her. As we enter, she locks the door behind her and I get a good look of my room, which I must say is in hell of a shape. My books and works are thrown everywhere and there is a strong magic radiating from them. The magic is dark, I can assure that. It is so powerful that I can barely stand in my own room. I feel it on everything in my room, from my desk to even my cushion covers.

What the hell did I do here?

The bowl with the black Henrietta flower in still on the floor. The bowl is broken at some points, maybe because of the impact of it falling from my hands. The black liquid has spread everywhere and the holy water radiates black magic. I have committed a grave mistake and my parents were right to keep it all quiet. If others come to know about it, there will be panic which isn't needed at all here.

"I found you here when I opened the room in the morning. You were radiating some powerful magic from every inch of your body. Your body was almost burning. I couldn't even touch you. I called upon her majesty, the Enchantress and when she came to look on your condition, she dismissed me and everyone. She took you to your room through a portal I think, because she never came out of the room. I don't know how she stabilized you, but the magic you were radiating, it was so powerful, nothing like I have felt before. It was a part of you. It is a part of you, your majesty." She says.

I am shocked. Is she trying to say that I radiate black magic? That is impossible because I am the daughter of two pure Rubies, I am not a hybrid. There must be some other explanation to this.

"What about the map? Did I locate the source of the magic?" I ask her.

She then points towards the map which is now a heap of ash. What! All this effort for nothing! I can't believe this. What did I do wrong? Why is it impossible to locate the rebels? What the hell! I feel angrier than ever and the magic is starting to enter my body, I can feel it.

"Please, can I have some time alone, Rita?" I ask her and she simply nods and leaves the room.

I smash the bowl with all my force and it is shattered into a million pieces. I can't do this anymore. I am a failure, I can't even track a stupid rebel group, how am I supposed to lead an entire kingdom? This is impossible. There must be something I can do. There is a flaw in every plan. Nothing is perfect.

I remember the boy when I had used the spell. There must be a connection between him and the rebels. Hell, he can even be their leader. The way he was speaking to me, it appeared to me like he must be someone I must know about. I grab a new map from my desk and then grab a dagger from my coat. I always hide it in the pocket for protection. It is a necessity nowadays.

I know that I don't need any magic bowl and holy water to reach the person I wanted to talk to. I was strong enough now, I think. It was the magic radiating out of me that made me feel like I could do anything right now. It felt so good and.... Powerful. I make a small cut on my hand with the dagger and let some blood on the map. If my blood is the source of magic that was all over this room, then certainly there was a connection between the guy and me. The magic in my blood will help me to locate him, I knew it.

I focus on the magic around me and try to concentrate on the guy. I remembered him. His eyes, his hair and how he told me that our mother would be proud of me. I dreaded meeting him but I had to. I concentrated on his voice. I called upon him.

And then suddenly, I felt myself shift into another dimension. I was in the same place, again. The same forest. But this time, there were tents. Numerous white tents with a symbol of sun on all of them. The rebel camps. I knew it. It wasn't like we didn't have anything on the rebels, they were just difficult to find about. We knew their symbol, sun with orange flairs emerging out of it. They were sure to leave their flag anywhere they attacked, symbolizing our defeat to them. But this war was far from over.

Me and my brothers spent months trying to get to them. We had attacked numerous of their garages and secret operation centers. We had managed to fail many of their attacks. We had saved lives from them. We even managed to contact their leaders, through some connections and kicking the shit out of some helpers of the Rebels. But we never came to know about the location of their leaders. It was told that they would be found when they want to be found.

Their witches were the most dangerous ones to exist. Now that I know they are hybrids, I am scared but I have to be strong for myself and my kingdom. Millions are dependent on me to lead them. With my brothers by my side, I know I can protect my kingdom from these monsters. They were unnatural, a curse and need to be taken care of.

I need to stay here as long as possible and without anyone knowing I was here so that they don't know that their location has been known and that they need to shift. I needed sometime for the magic to locate them. I am still wearing my pants and top with coat from earlier and my crown. That will make me stand out when I need not be. That meant that I was actually here and not just my soul. So, I was stronger than before. I was right. I make my crown disappear back the palace as well as my fur. I will deal with my clothes later.

As I walk towards the tents, I spot people busy with their lives. They seem oblivious to the war that is brewing in the kingdom. Children are playing with each other, women are busy cooking and gossiping. It feel so normal. How could they be normal after all they have done? It disgusts me. I spot a wire with clothes hung on them and quickly grab a pair of jeans and a white top.

It looks cheap, but who am I to complain. I am a princess, so all my life I have been blessed with expensive clothes. I change into them behind a tree so that no one could notice me and I then vanish my clothes back to palace too. Then I simply walk into the crowd. They don't take notice of me as they are busy with their lives. I notice a tattoo of sun on each of their arms. That's how they can be identified. The tents are everywhere I look.

There are some shops with supplies and it looks they have their own small kingdom here. Can't wait to slit their king's throat, though. I keep on walking. I feel my magic doing wonders and I knew I was close to know the location of this camp. I know they were near the mountains but we are surrounded by mountains, so that's no specific. But the snow here was less, so that means they were down south. Clever.

They were far from the capital, so that they don't get hunted down that easily. Our magic is the strongest in the capital, so they have to try harder to cloak themselves. There are just so many people here! I can easily say at least a thousand people here. Their numbers were growing and that was just bad for us. When these children grow up, they would continue the rebels. We have to make them change their minds because I am not going to kill innocent children, it will be wrong.

The men and women look like commoners in our village. Their clothes aren't shabby but I won't say that clean either. They are... comfortable. The leader must really take care of their supporters.

The magic is just about to give me the location. I can feel it. What really confuse me is that unlike before, it is not being blocked. There was something wrong, I could feel it. Why was this too easy?

I didn't know where I was going but my feet knew where to take me. It was like a pull and I simply followed it. I arrived at a tent located at the farthest corner. It was separate from others. The clothes that hung on the wire showed that a male lived here, and I guess alone because there were a few of them. There were a few tents located a couple of metres behind it. But then, I entered the tent without even checking if someone was in there or not. It was a dangerous move but my body seemed to not listen to my mind.

As I enter, I am somewhat relaxed that there is no one here. I look through the person's stuff. The bed is unmade, it is covered with files and pictures. I am in all of them, that what creeps me out. As I look through the pictures, I am shocked. This person has my entire history! Since the day I starting training till now. There are pictures of me with my parents, my family, Ankita and even Sebastian. The one with Sebastian is when we were in training and we would sneak out to be alone with each other.

They were everywhere!

How was it even possible?! They are more dangerous than we thought they were. I turn away from those pictures and look at the desk kept at the end. There are magic potions kept there. Many of them. There are some magic flowers also but thankfully they don't have the Henrietta, yet. I look through his things and it appears to me that he is a person who likes to keep to himself. There is no sign of any family of his here. He appears to be so involved in the rebellion that he has forgotten to live his life. He reminds me of me. I don't know who is the owner of the tent but I have a feeling that it must be the guy I had met last time I used the magic. My gut tells me that.

I take some of the papers with me, some new spells he has been casting and the some of the files he has about the kingdom and mostly me. I use a duplicate magic to make copies of those files, as quick as possible. Duplicate magic creates a mirror image of the object it is caste on. I feel tired but I try to collect as much information as possible. But then I know I had to stop.

I need magic to go back. I am sure the location has been traced and when I inform my brothers of the same, we shall attack. Wipe them out of existence so that nobody dares to threaten the integrity of the kingdom again. It is essential to maintain the natural balance set by Lady Ruby in our kingdom. She knew what was best for the kingdom and we want to stick to that. What my life has taught me is that change is not good.

Play safe to be secure.

How does he know about me?

I use my magic and focus on the palace. I imagine the walls of the Magic room and soon I am pulled to another dimension. I open my eyes, and I back to the room. I don't sense any more magic circulating in the room, so I know for a fact that I have used all the magic spread in the room to find the guy. My clothes are on the floor with the crown on below them. I keep all the documents and the journal on the desk and look at the map.

I have them!

Finally!

My blood is collected on the south of the Ruby kingdom, just near the border that has the portal that connects the Ruby kingdom with the Outsiders. They are dangerously close to the portal and I believe they must use it to communicate with their branches in the other kingdoms. Their camp is in the White Mountains, the home to oldest witches. The witches who have completed their time in the palace and wish to retire, settle down there.

When they die, their magic gets suspended in the air. That's why it was harder to track them! The place is covered with the magic of thousands of powerful witches. But what really irritates me is that how I was able to connect to them today? I mean, it was too simple. It was like they wanted me to find out their location today. There is something coming up and I have a bad feeling about it. A really bad feeling.

I quickly change and shove the clothes in the closet in my room. No one must know what I have done. I look at the clock and it is 3 in the afternoon. I have been gone for 2 hours! I quickly take all the evidence I had collected and then adjust my crown. Then I storm out of my room. The Alvy are busy working. I approach Rita and ask for their status.

"We can't penetrate through their magic, your majesty. It is holding us back. Even if all of us are trying." She says. I simply nod. I alone was able to track them down, why the hell can't the best of the witches do it?

"Also, a guard came to inform you that your brothers are leaving for an important meeting by 5 in the evening. They want an audience with you when you are free. I had knocked on your room but you didn't answer so I assumed that you were busy so I left you undisturbed, your majesty." She says.

Oh no. My brother can't leave now that we have a war to plan. I have the most vital information I need and we have to use that. This the biggest breakthrough we have had in months! This was it! Before they cause any more harm to us we need to get stop them. I rush out of the room and run towards Alexander's office. It is 3 so he must be in his office with Cal. When he wasn't with me, he was with Cal. He was to important to be left alone, me and Cal felt. So we were there to protect him if anything ever went south.

I don't look at my surroundings at all. All I wanted to see was Alexander right now. I reach Alexander's office and let out a sigh. Finally the big, brown door I wanted to see. Without even knocking, I come in.

Alexander is seated on his chair, with his hair in a mess and bags under his eyes. He looks tired, but it is how all of us are nowadays. Cal is seated on the chair opposite to his and they are probably discussing something. They have maps and files all over the tables and I know that it is important. But it can wait.

They get up to look at me, Cal quickly rushing at my side.

"Is everything okay, Olivia?" he says.

I simply nod and then keep all the files and pictures on the sofa as there was no place on the desk.

"I found them." I say.

Alexander quickly rushes to my side and takes a look at the map that I had spread on the sofa. Cal examines the files in front and the pictures with them.

"They have been under our noses all the time. They have photos of us. While we were training, celebrating birthdays and what not. They could have attacked us then and there you know. These files show the location of their other small divisions in the kingdom. They are in the south, in the White Mountains and that is why it was harder to locate them. We finally have them!" I say.

Alexander looks at me and then grabs me in a hug. Cal hugs me from behind and I know that I have done well. I have made my brothers proud. Now what we had to do is sit together, call upon the council and our parents and discuss about this.

"Who else knows about this?" Alexander says.

"Only you two. I came here as soon as I returned." I say.

I mentally slap myself. I wasn't supposed to say returned. They would then know I used black magic.

"What do you mean returned?" Alexander asks as he lets go of me and so does Cal. Should I tell them the truth? I mean, they were my brothers after all and our relationship was based on trust and honesty.

"I don't know how, but when I was using my Locater spell, I actually transferred to the location their camp is located. There is at least a thousand of them. They have their own small kingdom settled down there. They have enough resources, that I know of. And then, there are children there too, Alexander. I mean, small children. God knows, what they have planned. We need to act fast." I tell my brothers.

They look concerned. Alexander has the expression on his face that shows that he is thinking of something. Maybe they have forgotten how alone I did something we weren't able to do for months. Cal doesn't let go of my hand, he is way too worried for me. But I am fine, I know it. Except my blood lust, I am all normal. And hungry, I guess. The magic really drains you of your energy but I don't have time to focus on it as such.

"We are meeting with some of the Rebels today. We leave at 5. We can't let them know that we have discovered their secret location. Or else they will shift. This meeting is important if we can avoid war without any bloodshed. Me and Cal will be going but you stay here with father and mother. They are not at their best state yet." Alexander says. I simply nod.

But I am worried. It was just too simple to know about their location for me! It felt like something is going to happen in this meeting. Something bad is coming and I know it. I should be present with my brothers to guard them, they are great fighters but I don't trust the rebels. They can do anything to get the crown. Anything.

"Are you sure? Brother, I have this bad feeling. Please, don't go to this meeting. They want blood and we know it. This meeting is a waste. There is not going to be any negotiations, I know it. Cal, say something!" I tell Alexander. Cal keeps his mouth shut, meaning he agrees with my brother on this.

Why can't they listen to me on this?! Something is going to happen!

I am angry that no body is listening to me. I storm out of the room and head towards mine. I need to calm down before I end up doing something that I will most probably regret. I don't visit my parents right now, I am too frustrated for this. They seem to have cut me off after this little incident of mine I pulled. If they come to know that I did it again, they will be angry.

I storm into my room, a thousand thoughts clouding my mind. I need to do something. How can I protect my brothers when they don't let me? Do they still think of me as the 'little sister' who isn't capable of protecting herself? I have defeated them multiple times in fights! They might be good but I know I am good too! I might even be better!

I grab a vase and smash it. I open my cabin and take out some liquor. I don't drink much, but when I am angry, I can't help it. I don't even take a glass to fill it in. I drink the entire bottle in one gulp. I am so frustrated.

Something bad is coming and we aren't prepared for it. I know it.

I stare on the ceiling, while lying on my bed. Slowly, my eyes close and I fall asleep.

Back to the darkness.