The Sorcerer's Bride Ch. 04

"At last! I have you at my mercy at last!" Entraitenne's voice rose in pitch until it echoed through the cavern with a terrible inhuman shriek. "I will make you will crawl on your knees before me! Wallow in your own filth at my very feet! There is nothing you can do now to stop me!"

"You are right Entraitenne."

The Black Prince spoke softly as if in fear and Entraitenne could scarcely contain his glee. But the Prince had not finished speaking and his next words filled the warlock with a fear unlike any he had known before.

"I cannot stop you now vile beast, but there is one who can. Oh yes, there is one who can."

Entraitenne watched in bewildered horror as something behind the Prince began to glow, its light growing in brilliance until nothing could be seen of the Prince at all but his dark silhouette. The warlock's mouth went slack in open dismay as Samis stepped from behind her husband, her body lit from within by a blinding light. Entraitenne's eyes began to sting and burn as if the mere sight of her shining power was enough to hurt him, his mind gibbered in fear of her great light.

Some small part of Samis still wanted to deny the things Terregan had said, deny the truths her flesh knew even if her heart rebelled. But as she drew the power into her core, letting it fill her until she thought she might burst from its glorious heat, she knew he had been right. Samis gasped in awe as her eyes saw the world for the first time as it truly was, saw the beating heart of the earth and the veins of life shining with their own ethereal light. Everything was connected, every living being giving a part of its own spirit to the pulsing web. Even the very soil of the earth gave of itself, adding to the essence of the world. Samis knew in that instant that she did not exist as the separate entity she'd always believed she was, but as a small part of vast being made of billions of souls. She was the world, and the world was her.

With her newly awakened eyes she saw Entraitenne for what he truly was. A deluded vampire, drinking in the life of the world and hording it into himself. She saw his withered soul, grey and clinging like a malignant parasite that has invaded a sound body. Samis knew pity, for Entraitenne had committed the greatest crime against himself. He had fooled himself into believing his hatred was for anything but his own wretched soul and in so doing had robbed himself of the very thing he so desperately sought. It was her pity for him that finally allowed her to do what needed to be done. The wrenching sorrow for a crime that a living soul had committed against its own existence that allowed her to reach out and sever his tenuous link to the world into which he had been born.

Samis wept, knowing now that Entraitenne could have been a glorious light shining in the world's web if only he had understood the most important power of all was the power to love one's self. Her tears flowed free, glistening like stars against her cheeks. Samis looked upon the whole of the earth again, drank in the dazzling network of life in its truest form one last time. With the joy of that sight caught forever in her mind, she let go of her power.

Terregan caught his wife as she fell, the inner radiance that had burst from her body only moments before gone. For a moment he feared she had lost herself in the power, but his terror soon passed when he saw her chest rise and fall steadily. Laying her gently on the floor of the cavern he ran to his daughter's side, gathering her carefully into his arms. Sara's dark eyes watched him solemnly, as if her infant mind had understood all that had just passed in her midst. Terregan cradled her small form to his chest, his heart thudding with joy, relief, and worry all at the same time.

His fixed his gaze for a moment on the crumpled body laying a few feet away, wanting to hate who had once inhabited that body but finding that there was no room for hate in his heart anymore. Not after what he had witnessed that night. Instead he simply turned away, carrying Sara to where her mother laid waiting on the cavern floor. Samis' eyes fluttered open as he kneeled beside her and her smile made his heart soar.

Sara could hear her Da's voice calling her in the distance. She loved it when he played this game with her. He would never guess where she'd chosen to hide this time. Sara giggled into her hand, careful not to let the sound carry to far lest it give her away. It was only a few moments later when she saw her Da was standing far beneath her, his hands cupped around his mouth as he called her name. She almost giggled again as she made out the confused expression on his face through the old oak's thick canopy. Sara knew he'd figure out sooner or later that she had learned to fly, but for now she would have some fun watching him search for her.

"That's not a very nice thing to do young lady."

The quiet voice startled Sara and she nearly fell off the limb she'd been sitting on. She steadied herself first then turned to see her mommy sitting on the branch next to her with a reproachful look on her face. Sara almost pouted until she saw the sparkle in her mommy's eyes. She couldn't help herself then; she laughed out loud. A few seconds later her Da was shouting up at her from the forest floor.

"That is cheating Sara!"

THE END