Order of The Rose: Forsaken Petal (7 page)

Aithnea paused before responding, “Well, enchantresses can only pull additional energy from their counterpart. Witches make pacts with the dark one so that they are able to draw power from those that surround them.”

Aithnea leaned forward and placed the book on the end table next to her chair. “I will have to gain a counterpart to truly be able to use my full power. Witches have to sacrifice others for their power. I have heard that they will actually kidnap young children to gain even more power.”

“
What about men, can they become witches or enchantresses?” Tom asked quietly.

Aithnea smiled at Tom. “It’s impossible. I mean, that is, I have never heard of one.” Aithnea lowered her eyes. “Actually, now that I think about it, I was reading a passage in an old book one time. It talked about a male enchanter whose counterpart was an enchantress. I always thought that it had been just a story, but now that you bring it up, I wonder.”

Aithnea suddenly got up and started looking at the bookshelves.

Cody squinted inquisitively at Tom. “The other night, I saw flashes of orange come through the window and hit the man. Do you remember that Tom?”

Tom looked away from Cody and nervously wrung his hands. “I d-d-don’t know, Cody.”

“
But...” Cody started but was interrupted by Aithnea.

“
Here it is,” Aithnea said as she thumbed through a book. “This book talks about a man who had a limited amount of ability in magic. He was able to do simple cantrips, but nothing that was really noteworthy. The man said that he had learned the cantrips from an ancient dragon.”

“
Dragon!” Cody exclaimed. “Now we know that it’s just a hoax.”

“
Not necessarily. Sometimes words that people use have different meanings in different ages. He may have been referring to an ancient witch or something like that,” Aithnea said. Turning back to the book, she continued, “The man said that he had been born with the power but didn’t know how to use it correctly until the ‘dragon’ took him in and taught him how.” Aithnea’s finger was moving quickly along as she skimmed the page. “Ah, this is interesting. It says here that the man mysteriously vanished one day but before he vanished he had an offspring that supposedly had the power. It says that the man had an affair with an enchantress and that the enchantress was taken. No one knows where she had been taken. The story continues talking about how if a male progeny were to come along that he may have some of the ability as well.”

Cody sat back hard. “Psh, that’s ridiculous, I have never heard of a male enchanter or of any man being able to wield anything more than the simplest of magic items.”

“What would happen if a man was able to use magic?” Tom asked. He began to fidget with his belt strap.

Aithnea paused in her reading and looked up at Tom. “I’m not sure, but according to this story the man didn’t have much magic. But that could be because he didn’t have a counterpart. Or maybe he just wasn’t born with a high amount of life energy.”

“Life energy? Don’t we all have life energy?” Tom asked.

“
Well, yes, but there are different grades, and amounts of life energy that a person has,” Aithnea said. “An average person may have a high amount but if the grade is not high enough, they can’t use magic. Witches can take that energy from a person and combine it with their own to produce the right kind. I have high amount of energy and it is high quality but it needs to be replenished through meditation and study.” She looked at the boys to see if they understood.

“
So, Aithnea, if a man were to have the right kind of energy and enough, what would that mean?” Cody asked, looking at Tom.

“
Well, that’s the problem. I have never heard of it other than in stories and they don’t really give many details,” Aithnea said.

“
But what would happen if it were possible.”

“
I would imagine that if he had high energy and the right grade. And he was to have a counterpart that was an enchantress then, theoretically he, or they would be very powerful. The problem would be how the bond between the two would be made. How would balance be maintained between the two sides?” Aithnea said.

She put the second book down and went to the bookcase again scanning the bookcase for yet another book. Tom quietly thought about what had happened to him the other night.
What did it mean? Maybe I just imagined the energy leaving my fingertips and flying toward the man holding Cody
. Tom furtively looked toward Cody, wondering if he had seen where the missiles had come from. Cody was staring at Tom with a dazed half smile.

Aithnea looked up at that moment, looking back and forth between the two boys. “You guys aren’t telling me something? What is it?” She walked closer to them. “Hey you two what’s going on?”

Cody looked at Aithnea, his hands up. “It’s not for me to say.”

She turned on Tom and glared at him. “Well?”

“I-I-I’m not quite sure actually. The other night when we were attacked, I was out on the tree and I saw Cody all bloody and a man looking like he was going to kill him and...” Tom’s voice died off.
What did happen?

“
And what, Tom?” Aithnea came closer to Tom.

Tom looked up at her sheepishly. “I felt an odd energy inside me and heard strange words go through my mind. I lifted my hand and two orange orbs shot out and hit the man.”

“That’s crazy. Are you sure that you were not imagining things, or maybe one of Kristiana’s missiles missed their target and flew across the yard and into a window hitting an unseen target.” Aithnea sat down, realizing what she was saying.

“
So, is it possible?” Cody asked excitedly.

Aithnea was deep in concentration pulling her feet up under herself. “I don’t know, I just don’t know.”

The library door opened and Kristiana came in. “Aithnea, it’s time that you come to bed.” She stopped when she saw the expressions on the kids’ face.

“
What are you guys up to?” She asked accusingly.

Aithnea stood up and walked toward Kristiana. “Are the stories true that talk about male enchanters?”

“It’s late and we need to sleep.” Kristiana put her hand to her head. “We will discuss this tomorrow.”

Kristiana left the room without another word.

“Well, I guess I better get going, it was nice talking to both of you. Have a good night,” Aithnea said following after Kristiana.

“
It was nice talking to you. You are a wealth of knowledge. We need to talk more often,” Cody said.

Tom was stunned about all that they had talked about. He continued sitting in the chair as Cody and Aithnea walked down the ramp. He tried so hard to understand the things that were happening to him. He couldn’t stop thinking about what Aithnea had said and how his life had changed so much already. He couldn’t even imagine how much more it would change in the coming years.

Hearing Cody and Aithnea at the bottom of the ramp, Tom decided he had better follow before getting lost. He slowly got up from his seat. Casually glancing at the bookcase, he noticed a book that was out of place. He walked to the bookshelf and tugged on the book. There was a grating noise and the shelf began to turn. He jumped back in surprise as musty, cold air hit him in the face.

“
What did you do?” Cody asked as he came running up the ramp.

“
Nothing, I-I just grabbed a book,” Tom said.

Cody looked at the opening there was a tunnel. “Huh, I wonder where it goes.”

“I don’t know. It looks like no one has been through it in years.”

Cody nodded in agreement.

Tom looked down the dark tunnel.  The stairs were rounded from heavy use and they wound steeply down. 
Uhg I hate spiders and there are probably plenty of them down there.
 

“
Let’s find a light and go down,” Cody said.

“
Are you sure we should do that? What if we aren’t supposed to go down there?” Tom said.

“
Who will know? Besides, I don’t think anyone has been down here for hundreds of years,” Cody said as he looked for a light.

“
What are you guys doing?” Aithnea said.

Cody pointed at the entrance. “Look what we found. It’s an entrance of some sort.”

Aithnea looked through the entrance and then at Cody. “What are you looking for?”

“
He’s looking for a light. I’m hoping he doesn’t find one,” Tom said quietly.

“
Oh, that’s easy,” Aithnea said.

She began to chant and with a flick of her fingers a bright sphere appeared above her head.

Tom’s eyes went wide. “How did you do that?”

“
It’s a simple cantrip that every enchantress learns within her first week of lessons.” Aithnea replied.

“
Cody, look at thi...” Tom stopped, but not soon enough.

“
What was that Tom?” Cody yelled back as he headed back up the ramp. “Ah, nice, that’s exactly what we need, let’s go.” 

Cody started down the stairs. Aithnea hesitated a moment but followed. Tom hesitated even longer but figuring he had nothing to lose followed as well. He slipped a couple of times on the smooth, steep steps. Luckily, he was able to catch himself before stumbling into Aithnea.

Tom followed the stairs down as they circled round and round. His feet were grateful when they finally came to level ground again. He looked up at the ceiling that seemed to encase him, being only a foot or so above him and saw cobwebs like a mist on the ceiling. The hard brick walls and floor were covered in dust.
How long has it been since anyone had been down here?

Cody inspected the sconces that lined the walls but the torches had all burned down long ago. He crept forward down the hallway loosening his sword at his side. “Who do you think made this place,” he said. 

“I have no idea. But it’s old,” Aithnea replied.

Cody came to a door and asked, “You ready for this?”

Tom grimaced and Cody just smiled as he slowly turned the knob and pushed on the heavy wooden door. Cody had to put all of his weight into the door to get it to move. A whooshing sound came from inside as air was sucked into the room. The room was filled with cob webs and the floor was covered in dust, an inch thick. Tom peeked over Cody’s shoulder through the door. A huge table was in the center of the room and bookshelves lined the walls. Tom jumped when he saw a skeleton sitting behind the table.

Cody let out a quick breath, but undaunted, continued into the room. Aithnea followed Cody, staying close to him as they approached the table. The skeleton was wearing a dark robe and a necklace hung around his neck.

“What is that around its neck?” Tom asked. He walked closer,
Where have I seen that necklace before?
Almost to the table, Tom stopped. He recognized where he had seen it before.
The old man in the alley had the exact necklace around his neck.
Tom forgot about the skeleton and reached for the necklace.

“
Tom, stop,” Cody yelled.

Tom jumped back as a huge black spider descended from the ceiling onto the table. The spider was as big as his head, its pincers were dripping green venom and its many eyes were staring intently at him. The spider began to scuttle across the table toward him. He stepped back and tripped on some loose rubble, his arms flailing every which way.

Cody jumped toward the spider to protect Tom, pulling his sword from its scabbard. The spider hesitated only a moment, then seeing new prey continued forward. Cody swung his sword in a menacing arc stopping the spider once again.

Tom jumped to his feet and pulled his pistol out.  He aimed at another spider falling from the ceiling and fired. The bullet screamed through the air hitting the spider, green goo rained down on them.

Aithnea screamed as more spiders fell all around them, their deadly pincers snapping.

“
Run,” Cody cried, “there are too many of them.”

Tom grabbed Aithnea’s arm heading toward the door. Cody backed toward the door swinging his sword to keep the spiders at bay. Another large black spider dropped in front of the door and began to crawl toward Tom and Aithnea. Tom pulled his sword from its scabbard and with a loud battle cry lunged toward the spider. He swung his sword in a wide arch, hitting the spider’s front leg. The spider screamed and scurried to a dark corner of the room. He smiled but not for long, seeing many more hairy black spiders emerging from the darkness around them. Two spiders were moving slowly toward him from the open door. He backed up from the spiders and bumped into Aithnea. As he touched Aithnea he felt a connection with her. He could feel her fear and hear her mind racing for an appropriate spell. His mind began to fill with words, at the same time feeling a power growing within him. Another separate power was combining with his becoming one within him. A strong bond grew between them. His hands began to glow.

“Duck Cody!” Aithnea screamed.

Aithnea was holding Tom’s arm and pushed more energy to him increasing the power within him. Tom chanted the words that came from Aithnea’s mind, concentrating the energy into his hand he threw his hand toward the ceiling and a bright white light boomed from it. A concussion wave extended from his hand and hit every corner of the room. He could hear several spiders falling from the ceiling and thudding lifeless to the ground. He fell exhausted to the ground and Cody jumped to his side looking for injuries.