Protector of the Enchanted

What should I do? Should I step out of this circle? But no. We only have one chance to get this right. I can’t mess it all up now. Yet still, indecision sinks into my veins, my eyes alternating between the pendant in my hand the approaching assailants. I should continue the spell. But…

There are so many of them.

And most of them are just innocent civilians put under a spell, like puppets unable to refuse the task they’ve been given. Another flash of anger goes through me at the thought of all these people stuck in their own minds, unable to control their bodies. It’s just so…Wrong.

Since I got my memories back, it seems a part of me had started to believe that nothing would be able to hurt me anymore. That I’d be ready for whatever came my way. I…Just didn’t think I would be feeling so helpless. All the power in the world and it’s all useless when it matters most.

A part of me just wants to jump out of this ritual and fight the people approaching us. The more sensible part of my mind reminds me that I can’t. I can’t step out of this circle because it would make all our work the past few days meaningless. There’s more at stake here than just my life.

But still…

Another growl sounds from their direction. I can see Gem pull out of her daggers, Theo’s hands glowing with power. They’re at a standstill waiting for our opponents to make a move. Cylen’s the closest to me, eyes wandering between me and the army they’ve built.

I make to say something to him, but the words are stuck in my throat as a loud bang sounds from their direction. Eyes snapping up just in time to see the dark mist surrounding them, seeping into the skins of their victims. I feel horror build within me as I see it sink into their eyes and ears.

The blank stares are turned rabid. They look feral now. Oh no. Oh crap. This can’t be happening. This cannot be happening. What-

Screeching, they attack like a swarm of hornets, being powered by their puppet masters. I feel sick. These poor people. Even worse, they’re the enemy. Another lash of fury hits me along with the nausea. She’s using my weaknesses against me. She’s making me choose between saving them and breaking the curse.

Either I exhaust my magic dispelling their control or use it to power a spell strong enough to undo a thousand-year-old curse. And somehow…

She’s right. I can’t risk my people’s lives over a spell we can always do some other time. I can’t risk their wellbeing for this. It’s something I simply will not do. I can’t.

Didn’t I just take a vow that I would protect them? The heavy weight on my head is a reminder that I swore I would do right by them. With that logic, the right decision would be to step out of this circle and help them. Yet I still hesitate.

Because breaking this curse is also doing right by them. It would give them back their memories. It would give them back their homes and their life. A chance to break the cycle of pain and suffering. To find love and be themselves again.

My eyes ricochet between the clanking of weapons and the circle. They’re trying. I can see that they are. But I don’t know if it will be enough. Although it seems Mira and Theo are holding them off well, there’s just too many of them. A cold shiver goes down my spine. Just how long can they keep it up until…

I just don’t know. I don’t know what the right thing is. I don’t-

“Just focus on the spell.” My head snaps back to lock eyes with my trusty guard. “We’ll handle the rest.” He smiles. “I know you. Which is why I know you want to save them, but you don’t have to do everything by yourself. Let us handle this,” he pleads. “Trust us to do the right thingforyou.” He dips into a slight bow, holding his spear out towards me, “Let me be your sword.”

Let me be your sword.

Oh. I blink in surprise. I. I’d forgotten. Tears well up in my eyes, pooling but not falling. I’d gotten used to having to do everything by myself.

How foolish. I’d thought I’d somehow magically shake off the loneliness and sense of self sufficiency by having the memories back. Oh, how wrong I was. Isn’t this the perfect example?

Surrounded by enemies and their victims, my stupid mind makes me feel like everything is depending on me. Never mind that I’m not alone. That I’m with the three of them. When push comes to shove, I revert back to the mind set that I have to do everything by myself.

Oh, what a fool I’ve been.I feel so stupid. I…No. No time for that now.

“Alright,” I tell Cylen instead. “Just make sure you don’t fatally wound the villagers; they have no control over their actions and shouldn’t be punished for it.”

He smiles, straightening and placing a hand on his heart. “As my princess commands.”

Then he’s walking away to join the foray. Stopping an axe from hitting the back of Theo’s head. The ice pooling in Theo’s hands spreads so it’s under Cylen’s feet as well, ready to form a shield if the occasion arises. A possessed man shoots an arrow at Cylen’s face, which is swiftly knocked off course by one of Gem’s daggers.

In the distraction one of the red-cloaked beings moves to strike her in the back. It screeches when it’s elongated fingers meet a wall of ice instead. Gem yelps back in shock when she sees it but quickly recovers in time to block the dagger aimed at Theo’s side with a sword. My sword to be exact.

All around me clanks and crashes reverberate like a symphony, intermixed with growls and screeches. Yet none of the assailants make it past the wall the barrier the three of them have made. None of the possessed men or women are harmed too harshly. When I narrow my eyes I see that Theo’s dark magic is seeping out and knocking them out and placing them out of the fight’s path.

Yet. I can also see the strain it’ll take on them if I take too long sorting this out. The thought makes me snap back into focus, determination replacing the earlier horror and indecision.

Right. Time to get to work. I close my eyes and let my magic seep out again. The objects are still coated with my earlier release of it, but without a potion or the ingredients for one, I need to individually imbue them with what I want them to do. A gentle glow surrounds them, as I close my eyes.

“On these sacred lands,

I imbue these objects with magic of power,

With these hands,

I use this power to reverse what has been done,

And make things right.

First imbue this trident,

With the power to reverse time’s clock,

Break the chains and release their might.

A wand given to show a precedent,

Of beginnings started and then rotted,

It’s power given to the mermaid’s shell,

To undo what resentful hands have done,

And release all memories from their cage,

Let truth and forgiveness be the light in the dark.” The whispered words, spoken in a rush make the objects glow brighter.

“Crash!” I have to stop myself from wincing when I hear another crash. No. Don’t try and look. You have a job to do.

Waving my hands, I lift the residual light and move it through the air into the pendant. It glows lightly on my chest, but I can feel the positive energy it now holds. Finally, I throw my hands up in the air and fire blooms over the lines of the pentagram. It’s a gentle blaze, not hot enough to burn, but adds more power to the ritual.

“Clang! Screech! Growl!”

I inhale deeply, opening my eyes to peer at the moon to centre my emotions. Clear your mind. I hold the breath for only a second before exhaling and turning my gaze to the pentagram in front of me.

Everything’s in place. Good.

The little girl sat on her father’s lap, reading over the orders he was writing. Her little eyebrows scrunched up in confusion. She mouthed the words slowly, her young brain not quite knowing what every word meant. She knew enough to get the general gist of the situation.

“Why did we send so many people there, papa?” She turned her head up so that she was leaning against his chest.

“Because there’s a fight.” He murmured, writing in the instructions for the troops.

He didn’t think the skirmish would take too long to sort out, but he had to deploy the troops, so they didn’t get any ideas. It was bad enough when it was only the kingdom and Cordelia he needed to protect, but now he had a daughter as well. So he had to put an end to it quickly. No harm was to come to her.

His darling daughter squished her little nose as she frowned up at him. “Why can’t you go and fix it yourself?”

Chuckling a little at her innocence, he bent down to give his toddler a kiss on her forehead. “I would love to do that little warrior, but I have a lot of things to do that are more important.”

The scowl grew deeper, a little pout on her face as she looked at him accusingly. “What’s more important than fixing this?”

“A lot of things,” he told her gently, amusement growing at her indignation. If it were her mother, he would have a different reaction. Hells, if she was older than she was, he’d be more worried. But the indignation of a three-year-old child was simply amusing.

“Like what?”

He smiled, rolling up the paper with one hand and setting it aside. Then, he leaned down and started tickling her sides. “Like you, you little monster.” She giggled and squirmed in his arms, which only made him smile wider.

They’d taken to calling her a little monster since she’d gone straight from crawling to running and then from learning the alphabet to simply reading pages of a book. He was glad to know his daughter was capable, but they’d both been a little confused by the quick progress. Thankfully, the healer had told them that children were very different and developed at different speeds. Thus, there was no need to worry.

Then, they’d simply gone straight to proud. It was the most logical course of action. A fond smile pulled the corner of his lips. At least he knew the kingdom would be in safe hands after they were gone.

But that was a long way away.

Right now, his daughter was a pouting toddler that didn’t know much of anything. Yes she was smarter than some, and apparently learnt at the speed of a hellion, but she was still but a child. It was their job to teach her all she needed to know and then some.

With that thought he once again kissed the centre of her forehead and then again to smooth the frown lines. She started giggling after the third one.

“Papa!”

“Yes, my darling daughter?”

She crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes at him. “You still didn’t answer my question.”

Smothering his laughter, he shook his head. Gods, his daughter was cute. Well, he supposed now was as good a time as any for words of wisdom. Even if there was very little chance she’d remember. At least according to the healer.

“We can’t do everything on our own darling. There’s no way to be everywhere at once and sometimes you have to choose to do one thing that’s important and not everything. Which is why we have the troops. They can be places I can’t.”

He pressed another kiss to her face.

“And because I can’t always see what’s going on, I have to have people I can trust to do things for me.”

“Like mama?”

Another kiss. “Yes. Like your mama.” He leaned back to look into her gold-hued eyes, “So promise me that you’ll find people like that in the future. People you can rely on and trust to make decisions if you’re not there. So that you don’t have to carry everything on your shoulders.”

“I pwomise.” She nodded her head, but he could tell she wasn’t fully convinced. He sighed internally, another fond smile on his lips.

Looks like this was a lesson that may need to be repeated in the future. Possibly more than a few times. Ah well. He messed up her hair. That was a problem for another day.

Another screech bellowed from beside me, but I ignored it. My magic built in waves until it was swirling around the pentagram and lifting the objects into the air. I close my eyes and allow it to send its messages to me directly before whispering the incantation.

“Mend what has broken by malicious hands,

Heal the hurt inflicted by pain,

Take these objects and cleanse the lands,

Wash away the binds and let love rain,

Bring back the memories of happier days.

Under the light of this full moon,

On this sacred ground where changes begin,

Undo what has been done and do it soon,

Misery given, now a sin,

Let these lands experience love’s rays,

Forgiveness given and truth revealed,

Mend the bonds,

Fix the binds,

And heal the minds.

Let love loose,

And break this curse!”

On the last word, I throw my hands into the air, adding emphasis to what I want the magic to do. I feel it building like a crescendo around me, a weight in my mind. My magic creates a warm wave as it rushes towards me, sinking to my feet as it reaches the centre.

I feel it connecting to the objects and emptying their magic. My body glows with the effort and I feel as if I’m being stretched thin. My eyes close, sweat beading on my forehead as it keeps building. I brush away the doubts and just allow it to build.

Breaking the magic now would only make it worse. Just when I think I might pass out from the effort, I feel a snap. And then the magic in the pentagram is rushing out in a whoosh. The air around my ears feels warmer as it goes past. My eyes snap open to see it spreading out like light rays.

An exhilarated laugh leaves my mouth. It worked! I know it worked. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have taken so much effort to undo. It almost drained my magic to undo both Theo’s curse and bring back the memories from the past.

With sweat cooling on my forehead and back, a part of me wants to sit down. But the sound of bodies hitting the floor has me coming back into focus. Alert, I glance towards the source of the sound, only to gasp in surprise.

The people who were possessed are all lying on the ground. A circle of light covers them and the dark tendrils controlling them are being dispelled. The red-cloaked creatures hiss menacingly but are now out-numbered. A sense of satisfaction goes through me to see my friends have already defeated all but three.

They look around warily as Cylen starts to inch closer, with Theo simply stalking towards one rapidly retreating one. Gem holds the sword towards the remaining one as I step out of pentagram which is now nothing but a pile of sand.

Without even seeing their faces, I can tell that they’re nervous. A grin curves my lips as I hold my hand out for a fireball. It’s weak, but still fire. For a second, we’re at a standstill, the creatures look between themselves and us.

“Going somewhere?” I ask, walking so I’m standing in front of them.

Theo grins and then vanishes, reappearing behind them. “Without even saying goodbye. How sad.”

“After all the trouble you’ve put us through,” Cylen drawls, moving to the left with his spear ready to attack. His eyes are narrowed on them. “I still owe you for the last time.”

At my approach Gem moves to the right, the sword grasped securely in her hands as she finishes the cage we’ve created. “Do you think you can just leave after the stunt you pulled?” The words are deceptively calm considering the fury in her eyes.

We wait a beat and then simultaneously rush into the centre. The hooded beings shriek, trying to move out of the way. My fireball hits one in the chest and it starts frantically looking for water. Theo kindly puts it out with his ice shard, but considering it stabs it in the heart in the process, I doubt it’d be thankful.

Now there’s only two. One of them has been grazed by Cylen’s spear and is now missing a limb. I knew imbuing it with light magic was a good idea! The last has a stab wound from the sword and is now shrieking like a banshee.

It works. We all wince and make to cover our ears. Just as the ringing in my ears fades, I see them huddled together in the centre. Before we can move, red mist surrounds them. A loud hiss remaining in their spot. I’m guessing it’s a last taunt, but lack of understanding renders it useless.

“They’re gone.”

“Ran away more like,” Cylen mutters. He’s currently poking at the squirming limb with his sphere. He watches it wiggle for a few seconds before turning a deadpan look around the circle we’ve made around him. “A little help here?”

I snort, snapping my fingers. In the next second there’s nothing remaining of it and all the other red corpses but ashes in the wind.

“Well,” Mira claps her hands, “I for one am glad that it’s all over.”

Theo chuckles. “Yes but there’s still-”

A loud groan behind us interrupts whatever he was going to say. Immediately, we’re all alert, weapons at the ready as we turn. Only to find there’s no need for them. I extinguish the fire when I see it’s one of the women those things had used as puppets.

The other’s still look a little wary, but their positions slacken. I move forward to hold my hand out for her when she sits up.

“Are you alright?”

Her head snaps up and I breathe a sigh of relief to see they’re a radiant brown instead of the blank stare they’d been. The eyes which are now looking at me with something akin awe and respect. A shaky smile pulls her lips as she hesitantly lets me help her up.

As soon as she’s upright, she bends down into a curtsey. “It’s a pleasure, your highness.” I blink as she looks up through her lashes with a smile. “Thank you for saving us from their grasps.”

“You don’t need to bow that low,” I tell her, motioning for her to straighten. “What’s your name?”

“Frigga. Princess.”

“It is very nice to meet you Frigga.”

“So you remember?” Mira’s excited voice cuts in as she comes bounding up beside me. “Everything?” Frigga’s eyes widen as she takes her in, and she once again tries to fall into a curtsey before Gem gently stops her. “There’s no need for that right now, please answer the question instead.”

“Indeed I do M’lady,” Frigga smiles, “I remember it all and I can’t say how grateful I am for you saving us. Both then and now. Although I must say…” She trails off as another person awakens. “Carl!” She looks hesitantly towards us, but I wave a hand dismissively.

“Go. You no doubt need this.” She shoots me a quick smile before running to glomp who I’m assuming is her husband.

Cylen steps in on my other side, “So…I guess it worked.”

“Never doubted you for a second, love.” Theo grins, “And must I say you look incredible in that outfit.”

I throw him a glare. He knows how much I hate this robe. Just as I open my mouth to give a scathing reply, a chorus of “your highness” has me turning around. As I do, the now awake civilians fall into a bow. And I realise I’m stupid for forgetting I’m still wearing the tiara.

The man in the lead looks up at me with a sheepish smile. “We pay our respects to the heir, Princess Celeste. Long may she reign.”

My eyes widen when the crowd echoes the sentiment, and I have to fight the blush that wants to enter my cheeks. A thousand years of being incorporeal and eighteen years of loneliness have made me unused to this treatment. Annoyingly enough, Cylen joins in soon after and smiles at my accusing stare.

I turn to give them a smile, and motion for them to stand. “Thank you for your support,” I say, looking around, “but it needs to be said that there will be a more formal ceremony, so I’d prefer if you didn’t spread this information around just yet.”

“Of course, your highness,” Frigga says as she moves closer again. Which is once again echoed by the crowd. I shoot them a grateful smile.

“This is my husband, Carl.” Ah ha! So, I was right.

“It is a pleasure to meet you Carl.”

He visibly gulps and bows towards me. “I believe the pleasure is all mine, your highness.” He smiles. “If I may say so, it is good to see you.”

“You may,” I give him what I hope is a reassuring smile, “and thank you.”

Gods. A little more of this and my head might not fit into a room. I can see Cylen smiling behind him. Carl follows my gaze, and his eyes widen.

“And you as well Captain Greyhill.”

Now it’s my turn to smile as Cylen’s face starts to turn red. He never did get used to that title. A glance back shows my amusement is mirrored. All of us shamelessly watch as Cylen is surrounded by what seems are his adoring fans. He deserves it for all the effort he puts in.

As I watch some of them coming over to pay their respects to Theo and Mira as well, it finally sinks in. It worked. The curse is broken. I already knew that, but seeing the recognition in these people’s eyes and hearing them speak about both who they were before the curse and during it with each other, it seems more real.

It worked.

I turn to the others, “will you be alright without me?” And then to Frigga and Carl, “Do you suppose you’ll be alright to get home?” She smiles and nods.

“If you ever have need of me, you know where to find me,” I remind her and then glance towards my friends.

“Are you fine with getting home with Theo?” At their nod, I grin, bidding farewell to the people before moving away.

“Where are you going?” Theo calls out, although it seems he already knows the answer as he doesn’t make to stop me.

“Get back without me, I have some people I need to see.” I don’t wait for a reply before vanishing.