“I am afraid I did not understand you, Milord.” Madonna stated politely but a cyclone of annoyance and hatred was brewing inside her.
She had never hated – nay – despised a person more than Alder. She absolutely loathed him.
“Simple dear, I wished for you put a memory spell on yourself so you could not remember anything after my task here is accomplished.” Madonna quietly looked around the dungeons they were walking through as she contemplated over his bizarre request.
He wanted her to help him with her magic while he narrated the past to supposedly her sister and he wanted Madonna to forget all the evil he had done.
Madonna knew they were in the Queen of crows castle. She was baffled first but as they were going through the long lanes of dungeons, she could feel her sister’s energy. Although it was faint, she could feel the same energy she got from their mother.
That was how Madonna confirmed that Fina was under Crow highness’ keeping.
What she was perplexed about was rather, why Alder would take her if he was to reveal the evil things he had done with her kin to Fina.
Was he not frightened of spoiling his innocence before her?
Tricking a memory spell was not a tough issue, she could simply do that without lifting a hand but there was something that she possibly could not do.
If she was to be there and to hear how he slaughtered her kin and how in the name of devil did he manage to coerce her mother to conceive Fina, she could not bear it.
She would go mad if she heard any of the atrocities that her sweet mother had to go through cause of the evil greedy man.
She might as well kill him without a second thought.
“If it was to be a secret, then I can as well be out of it rather prying my nose into it, Milord.” Madonna spoke in a nonchalant manner showing none of her vulnerability in her tone.
“Ah but I do want you to be there, dear. It shall be better and effective if we have the sorceress in the same place, don’t we?” His words confirmed Madonna’s qualms.
He was testing her.
He must have had his doubts on her and apparently he wanted to see how she would react when he narrated the horrible past events to her sister before her.
He was testing her with both the past details and with her sister. He wanted to see if she had any thing that could connect her with either of them.
Madonna felt trapped.
She could neither hear those atrocities from the past nor could see him abusing her dear sister. He wanted her to affirm the doubts he had on her.
However he had such thoughts of Madonna even being related to Fina or the Thorne family, she did not know but right that moment, she was evidently trapped.
Alder lead Madonna to the end of the tunnel and opened the last room. As Madonna followed Alder with a pounding heart, she was stunned to see her dear Fina was dirty and pale as she was asleep on the cold tiles of the chamber.
She had to gulp down her and pray to all the deities she knew of and to her mother and father to give her the strength to not lash out on what she was seeing and what she might hear.
“This little lady here is a Phoenix who shall be giving my purpose a new path tonight.” Alder turned to say as he eyed Madonna closely.
All he got was a scoff and a raise of a brow as Madonna looked at Fina as she scrunched her nose in disgust.
If it was not for the control she had been perfecting from years, she would not be able to pull out amusement in her eyes.
“A Phoenix, you say. I thought they were wiped out, Milord.” Alder looked closely at Madonna as he spoke of her question.
“They are indeed. She is the only one alive.” Madonna nodded showing him that he got her slightly interested.
Alder, however, was not foolish. He had his qualms on few issues relating to the young witch and he shall clear them up by the end of the day.
He walked to the corner of the cell camber where Fina was curled into a sleep and kicked her lightly with his foot.
Fina jerked awake with a start and yelped in pain at the sudden attack. Madonna nearly sliced the older Emor into pieces for what he did but she knew she had to control her emotions.
Fina glared at Alder as she paid no heed to Madonna which the latter was grateful of. She hoped Fina could get the hint and avoid her knowledge of her.
“I see you have come to see the person who shall behead you.” Fina said softly making Alder laugh out loudly as amusement took over his wrinkled features. Madonna, on the other hand, did not understand Fina’s confidence whatsoever.
“You sure got your mother’s impudence, little lady.” Alder laughed out as he turned back to Madonna gesturing her to continue with his request.
Madonna wordlessly pulled a memory spell on herself like Alder wished. However, she did pull out a trick of her own to save all the memories.
Alder was either a fool or overly confident to trust a simple spell. Being a Thorne, Madonna was gifted with several special streams of magic that could easily overpower other without giving the onlookers a hint.
Alder saw Madonna wave her delicate hands in a manner he knew of and produced a green wave of fog. Once he affirmed that Madonna was under a spell, his smile turned into a smirk as he crooked his head back to Fina.
The Crow Queen flew into the cell camber and stood beside Madonna which stunned her. She did not expect a fourth person to be present but looking at Alder, he sure was making a safety shield for himself.
“You certainly have many of your mother’s skills, little lady. Your impudence, the fire in your eyes, your delusion included, you are so much like your mother.” Alder snickered making Madonna grit her teeth.
The Queen beside her just smiled slyly at Fina and Alder as she kept a check on Madonna.
“You are asking for your death.” Fina warned when she heard her mother’s reference from the evil man. Oh, how she would love to kill him slowly and painfully if she could.
Fina wished she had at least a small of her sister’s powers so she could punish the man standing before her.
“You think you can even hurt me? You don’t know what happened to your mother and your kin, do you?” Alder laughed out as he snapped his fingers allowing the previously placed spell by Madonna into action.
“Let me tell you a tale, little one. There was once a very prominent and powerful family of sorcerers and they were called Thorne.” Alder started as he dragged the Thorne family as he glanced back at Madonna to see her looking just interested like an audience.
Alder could not find remorse, anger or hatred on Madonna’s face. All he could see was interest.
“Thorne family was extended kin with royals and was known to be one of the powerful families with greatest warlocks and Witches. They were a small group of Father, Mother and a son but only with just three in the family they were still powerful than several together. Considering their stand in the society, one day, I approached them politely with a small favor.” Alder narrated in a singing manner putting all his amusement in the tale.
Fina looked clearly troubled at what she was to seeing and hearing, while Madonna was hair away from attacking the old man. Madonna bit her inner cheek to take control on her rising anger and her face did not show her inner turmoil.
“I had always desired to be someone to whom everyone bowed to. In lieu of that, I went to the Thorne family and asked for their assistance in fulfilling the small motive of mine. But Thornes were very proud of their morals and rules in Magic wielders tribe. Even after approaching them several times, they still did not help me. Thornes and the Phoenix clan were constantly in my path of achieving my motive so I eliminated the Phoenix clan first as I was much more powerful than them.” Alder spoke pompously as though he was proud of his actions.
“Sounds exuberating.” Madonna remarked playfully but the fire inside her is another issue only she knew of.
“Indeed it was, dear. Good old days, I had such fun in eliminating the obstacles from my path. But sadly, only after wiping out the Phoenix clan was when I came to know of the power their blood carried. I regretted killed each of them without a second thought but luckily I was fortunate to know of a low ranked Phoenix warrior alive somewhere but heard that he was close to death. Do you know what I did then?” Fina’s eyes were already moist but Alder did not stop there.
“I know that the last living Phoenix, even with enough medication and healing he shall not live longer than few handful years, so I had to do something that no one could think of.”
Madonna gulped down the misery that was plaguing her as she swallowed back the tears that were forming in her eyes.
No she cannot hear it. She cannot see those visuals of what her kin, especially her mother had to go through.
~*~*~*~*~*~