Katherine slips her arms around my back, weakly returning my hug. “I’m sorry Katherine. If I had listened to you, then this would have never happened.”

“I’m sorry,” I repeat as I fall out of her arms. I crash to the floor flat on my back. “Katherine, I’m not going to make it unless you heal me.”

Katherine sits up alarmed. She takes one look at my legs and her hands shoot over her mouth in horror. I don’t have to explain the details of what happened to me because the thick trail of blood stretching from the far wall to my position tells everything.

“Katherine I need the Miracle Heal spell. It’s a grandmaster-level spell, but you can do it. You’ve done it before without realizing it. For example, when I was at the brink of death from the goblin arrows, you kept me alive using the Miracle Heal spell. You thought that you were using the Mend spell, but you weren’t. I understood this when you healed the inquisitor that I injured. You have the immense magical power of Shaman Terranostra, but you don’t know how to control it consistently. The spells Mend, Heal, Major Heal, and Miracle Heal are all essentially the same spell separated only by the amount of mana used when casting them. Don’t worry about the details, just use your father’s wand and do your best. I know that you can do it.”

Katherine summons her father’s wand and positions herself over my legs. “This is going to hurt,” she warns. She takes hold of one of the black lances in my leg. With a quick yank, she pulls it out and tosses it away. I grit my teeth and scream silently. Again, she pulls out another lance. The pain is maddening, but I do my best to endure it. Again and again, she yanks out the black lances until they’re all removed. I can tell that their removal agitates my wounds and the blood begins to pour freely from my legs once more. My life is entirely dependent upon Katherine now.

She gently places the tip of her wand on my left leg. Channeling her mana, she casts the Miracle Heal spell, causing the somber gray room to flash bright white. My leg feels better, but it’s going to take more than one spell to heal wounds as severe as the ones that I have. She focuses and repeats the spell. My wounds are starting to close, but they’re still not healed yet. “Again,” I tell her.

She obeys and repeats the spell. “One more,” I request.

The room illuminates with one final flash and I feel strong enough to stand. I rise to my feet in celebration. “Katherine you did it! I knew that you could.”

I turn towards her and we immediately hug one another. Affectionately, I rub my cheek against her soft, smooth cheek. “I was so scared Katherine. I don’t know what I would do without you.”

“You won’t be without me. I have to stay with you for three months, remember?”

Oh right. Three months. Only. I hide my frown by keeping my face pressed against hers. I’ll have to worry about what to do when her time as my indentured servant ends later. For now our top priority is getting out of here before Master Simon comes back. I release Katherine, so that I can withdraw my Portal spell book. Ripping out a page, I create a blue portal in the room right next to me.

“Where are we going?” Katherine asks.

“To Magali. We’ve got to tell the Chief Inquisitor about Master Simon.”

Katherine tugs on my arm. “But we just left there after I stole my father’s wand. What if they put us in prison?”

“I know Katherine, but we don’t have a choice. You go through the portal first, and I’ll follow.”

Katherine silently obeys and passes through. I follow behind her. The portal takes us to where the cobblestone pavement begins just a short distance outside of the city gates. To my surprise the sky, which was gray at Master Simon’s chateau, is blue here although the sun is starting to set. The whole affair that occurred at Master Simon’s chateau took no longer than an hour, nonetheless, it felt like I crawled towards Katherine for days. But objectively speaking it was only an hour, so when the gate guards see us they’re duly surprised.

“Hey you two! You’re under arrest!” one of the guards shouts.

While they run towards us with their swords drawn, Katherine and I raise our hands into the air to surrender. They immediately confiscate my staff and Katherine’s wand. She tries to fight with the guard a little bit, but his strength overcomes hers and he rips the wand from her hand. Right away, her lips droop into pouting. I feel bad for Katherine, but this has to be done. As the guards lead us to prison, I try to calmly explain the situation. “ You have to take us to the see the Chief Inquisitor. I have to warn him about a very dangerous death mage.”

“What are you barking about?” one of the guards asks.

“I’m talking about a Vampire, my former Master. It turns out that he’s been teaching Death Magic and plotting against the king.”

The guards stop in their tracks. “What did you say?”

“Just take me to the Chief Inquisitor and I’ll explain everything to him.”

The two guards stare at each other briefly and then nod. While we pass through Magali on the way to the Chief Inquisitor’s office, a white dove randomly lands on my shoulder. I take it for a pigeon at first and try to shake it off, but it doesn’t fly away. After closer inspection, I realize that it’s a dove. “Look Katherine. A dove landed on my shoulder.”

One of the guards arresting us sneers. “A dove is supposed to represent good luck. But seeing as you’re going to jail, I don’t take it for your lucky day mate.”

“You never know,” I answer.

Once we reach the castle, I try to reason with the dove. “Listen little dove. You don’t want to go in there. You’ll get lost and be trapped in there forever. Or even worse, the cooks might catch you and serve you to the king. You should fly away now.”

Like magic, as soon as I say the words, the dove flies away. We all watch in marvel for a moment until one of the guards gets impatient and shoves me along. Next, we stop in front of the office of the Chief Inquisitor. They open his door without knocking and push me and Katherine through. They follow through the door behind us. “Chief, these are the two who stole the wand of Shaman Terranostra. This guy here was saying something about a death mage. We thought that you might want to talk to him.”

Silently, the Chief Inquisitor pushes his chair away from his desk and rises to his feet. Then he steps around his desk and moves in front of Katherine and me. I bet he’s practiced the whole silent treatment routine a thousand times. He probably thinks that he can intimidate us with his size. But even as big as he is, I distinctly remember putting my shoe in his face with a flying roundhouse kick. I quietly smirk to myself at the thought.

“You again?” he asks.

“Did you miss me?”

He ignores me. “You’re the girl who stole the wand of Shaman Terranostra? What possessed you to do that?”

Katherine takes a step closer to him thereby having to tilt her head all the way back to look him in the eyes while she talks. “I did it because none of you have the right to have it!”

He asks the same question that I did. “And I suppose you do?”

“That’s right! Shaman Terranostra was my father, and I don’t care anymore who knows it! Despite whatever you may think about him, my father was a good man and he doesn’t deserve to have his wand on display like some relic!”

The Chief Inquisitor folds his arms resting his chin in the fingers of his right hand. “Your mother was that botanist then? The one with the huge glasses?”

“Huh? You know my mother?”

“I see.” He turns his attention from Katherine to the two gate guards. “Give her back her father’s wand. It’s her right to have it.”

The two guards look at each other puzzled. One of them summons up the courage to question his boss. “But sir, surely you don’t mean to give this young girl the powerful wand of that heretic Terranostra?”

The Chief replies, “Do as I said. Shaman Terranostra was a good man. His daughter should have his wand.”

Now the guard pushes his luck. “Sir you can’t mean that wild savage-of-a-man shaman.”

His words anger Des Chevaliers. He steps forward beyond Katherine and me and stands hovering over the smaller guard. “Are you questioning my judgment soldier? I was there personally in Ouroboros. I watched Shaman Terranostra sacrifice his life to save his people. I will not have such a man badmouthed in my office! Do I make myself clear?”

When he raises his voice the small guard nearly wets his chainmail knickers. He quickly hands off Terranostra’s wand to Katherine and then he and the other guard flee the scene leaving us alone with the Chief Inquisitor. Katherine clenches her now official new wand to her chest. “Thank you,” she says to the Chief Inquisitor.

He ignores her. “You had something to say about a death mage?”

“Yes. It’s my master, Master Simon Bruhar. He’s a Vampire and a teacher amongst the death mages. Not only that, but he’s also the one who tricked Sidney Butterfly into becoming a death mage. It turns out that he was manipulating me to do his work. I don’t quite understand what he was saying, but he told me that something would happen to Sidney and then he could kill the king and take the throne for himself. You have to stop him.”

The Chief Inquisitor resumes his pensive stance. “So Lord Bruhar is a death mage after all? And a Vampire Lord to boot: a lord being a regional teacher and leader. Perhaps even, he’s the dreaded Death Mage Overlord of Âme Kingdom for whom we’ve searched for years. Tell me, did he mention anything about an Overlord or being an Overlord?”

I answer honestly, “I don’t know. All I know is that he’s extremely powerful and extremely dangerous. He nearly killed Katherine and me. You have to do something about him.”

I briefly look up at the single window in the office. It’s just an open hole in the brick wall with two iron bars in the center. The little dove that had landed on my shoulder earlier is standing in the window just past the bars, but not quite in the office. “Hey look the dove that landed on my shoulder,” I say pointing.

For no apparent reason, the Chief dashes over to the window and scares the dove away. “The last thing that I need is a bird flying around my office messing up my papers,” he says. Then clearing his throat, he continues, “ If what you say is true Souladonis, I fear your master is even more dangerous than you think. We’ll have to go after him right away. Meet me here tomorrow morning. I have to find a certain man to give us backup. Then the three of us will go after Bruhar.”

I’m not sure I understand what he’s saying. “The three of us? Don’t you have an army of inquisitors for that? Why do you need me at all?”

“Unfortunately, none of my men are capable of fighting a Death Mage Lord. You will guide us to Bruhar, and then my partner and I will defeat him. Be here at sunrise. Is that clear?”

I cross my arms displeased. “No deal. I don’t see why I should help at all. Nothing would please me more than to see Master Simon pay for what he did to me, Katherine, and Sidney, but it’s your job to fight death mages not mine.”

Calmly, the Chief Inquisitor clasps his hands together behind his back, knowing full well that he’s about to trap me in a checkmate. He says, “I know of a man who has knowledge of the petrification curse. It happened back when I was a rookie inquisitor, but there was a bizarre incident that I’ve never forgotten. Somehow an alchemy professor got his entire staff of research students petrified. Half of his right arm was petrified, but the rest of his body was unaffected. I remember that when questioned all he would say was, ‘It was just a fantasy. The gods don’t allow it.’ If you help me Souladonis, then I’ll get you all of the information on him that I can find. He’s the only man to ever survive being petrified and he’s your best shot at finding a cure. That’s what you’re looking for right? A cure to the petrification curse?”

“How do you know that?”

“Sidney told me. She told me a lot about you. So do we have a deal?”

I sigh in submission. At this point I no longer even have a choice. He had me with the word “cure.” I nod my head.

“Deal.”

Katherine and I then leave his office. We go to a local restaurant and have a quiet dinner, during which we barely speak. I don’t mean to neglect Katherine, but I’m too consumed with my thoughts. More honestly I should say that I’m too consumed with my fear. Even if I fight alongside Chief Inquisitor Des Chevaliers and his partner, we still might not be able to defeat Master Simon. After dinner we retire to the Sterlington Suites. Katherine and I exchange a few pleasantries before bed, but I know that she can tell what I’m thinking. If things go wrong tomorrow, then tonight will be our last night together.