To the castle

"This looks better, doesn't it?" Zephyra said.

Bailewick had to admit. He had been going the wrong way about it. How did Cornelia not succeed in something so easy as Zephyra had just done.

The room once murderous and frightening to the average child was now looking better than Bailewick could have made it.

Drawings of the target from the perspective of all known witnesses including Zephyra's were now pasted on the wall. And also on the walls were charts showing all information on sea dwellers. The tables were covered with maps showing all the places where sea dwellers had been spotted.

"I have to admit," Bailewick said, impressed. "You did a wonderful job."

"Of course I did." Zephyra said, holding up her head in pride. "I am my father's daughter."

"Now since we have no harpoons or nets or anything to catch them, how would we ever get a chance to talk to one of them?" Bailewick said, and realised that he had just spoken like a ten year old.

"You are forgetting that the sea dwellers are not fish. They are civilized, magical creatures and we are going to treat them like civilized creatures." We will go down after them."

Bailewick suddenly realised that he had just thrown the monarchy of this operation into the hands of a starry-eyed child.

"Maybe we will discuss this later." Bailewick said, trying to shut down her idea in the nicest way possible.

"No. This is seriously important." Zephyra said. "If only we could get my mother's spell book."

"The queen left her spell book back in the castle." Bailewick said.

"Oh." Said Zephyra. "Then whe have no other choice but to meet Mr James."

"You realise that you are talking about the royal sorcerer." Bailewick said. "The same person who turned the king into a flamingo after getting a spell wrong. Ever since that Incident, your father only trusted the queen with magic and only kept James because he is a legacy."

"I'm sure he could do it." Zephyra said. "He is the son of the great Selsis the exceptional. He could do anything."

"And by it you mean what exactly?"

"Turn us into sea dwellers."

"What?" Normally Bailewick would be blown away by such ideas but his tone was surprisingly calm.

"Sea dwellers would only trust one of their kind. It is the only way." Zephyra said.

"That, I understand.", he did. "But telling James about sea dwellers could bring down our entire operation."

"We have to." Zephyra argued.

"No!" Bailewick made his tone as 'I'm-in-charge-ey' as possible. "I say it's too dangerous."

"What would James do?" Asked Zephyra. "Tell my parents? Refuse an opportunity to prove himself a good sorcerer?"

"I just do not trust anyone with this. We will find another way." Bailewick said.

Zephyra, ah, Zephyra. If only the starry-eyed child wasn't so stubborn.

++++××××××××××××××××××××++++

Cordelia's eyes opened.

She was standing alone.

No Nherisa.

The same spot on the beach she stood but the timing looked different. She was waking. Towards what? She didn't know.

Efforts to try to stop herself proved baseless, useless. She wasn't in control anymore.

For a second the thought that the her subconsciousness had taken over. But she was usually able to control it. Such a small spirit couldn't have such power.

She had walked into the village, passing by several cottages but not stopping to look at one. Her legs hurt still from shoes but this time she was stronger, more able to walk.

Her body felt different. Stronger, more weight. Like things weren't where they were supposed to be in her own body. Like she wasn't herself.

To make sure, she tried to look down at herself. When she did, her heart almost jumped out through her mouth (which she couldn't open, by the way).

She was shirtless, but her breast had redused to a small bump in her chest. Her head felt less heavy and there was a strange feeling in her crotch.

She was in the body of a man.

Why was she in the body of a man?

Who was it? What connection did she have with any human man?

Or was it not a human? It could have been a sea dweller. That would explain her hurting feet.

But she didn't have any man in her life. And didn't touch one in the past month. Who could it have been?

Cordelia looked around at the village. It looked different. The cottages more rustic, the dresses on the humans less neat.

It was a vision from the past. Far back into the past. Probably when her parents were still alive.

Before Cordelia could mourn her parents or think about their death long enough to cry and curse her parents killers, the new body she possessed turned to walk into a slightly large cottage.

Two men stood guard in front of the double doors but did not stop her from going inside.

The inside of the building looked more like a small hall. Cordelia realised that it had no windows on the front wall. The only source of air was a small window all the way on the back wall, far above the reach of the average man. The hall was lighted by candles and a candelabra hung over the centre of the room.

Men counted gold in a corner of the room. Some took away and some gave back.

Cordelia did not go there she walked on the wine coloured carpet towards a man that sat on a chair that spoke power.

With all the noise, Cordelia couldn't hear the request if her new host, but could manage to get meaning of the man-in-charge's response. "That is a lot if gold to draw from the castle. What assurance do we have that you will return it?"

"I offer you something greater in return." Said Cordelia's new host. He took a cup of water from a close table and poured the liquid content on his arm.

Like Cordelua feared, scales appeared on the skin where the water touched.

The man looked at Cordelia with a spark of both fear and of shock.

Cordelia's psychic eyes closed and her physical eyes opened.

She was alone in a room on a soft bed, in the dark.

Not this again.

She was not ready to deal with another witch. Not today, not ever.

"Nherisa!" She called, hoping it was her and not another crazed old fellow.

Nherisa entered the room holding a tray full of fruits in her hands. "I thought you would be hungry when you woke up." She said.

Cordelia sat up on the bed. "How long was I out?" She asked. "Is it night already?"

"It is not night yet." Nherisa said. "You were in stasis for a few hours."

"What is this place?" Cordelua asked.

"It's Eric's house." Nherisa said, bracing herself for Cordelia's reaction.

"What?" Cordelia threw the sheets off and tried to stand up. "Where is he?" She walked across the room towards the door, walking like she owned the place.

"He is not here." Nherisa said, Cordelua stopped. "He kept secrets from me like I did from him."

"What do you mean?" Cordelia asked.

"I didn't tell him that I was a sea dweller, he didn't tell me he lived in the castle."

The castle. Cordelia's mind travelled back to the vision. Gold, castle. What did it all mean. What was she shown.

"Why?"

"The neighbours say that he is the King's sixth cousin. He volunteered to act as the king's informant for a month. What luck I had to meet him in the right month."

"What luck?"

Nherisa didn't want to drag the matter further. "The king made him in charge after leaving the village in secret. At least that was what the neighbours told me."

Cornelian sat back on the bed. She looked at her legs. Her host in the vision gave her all the practice she needed to be able to walk like all the other humans.

The vision she had contained the utterance of the word castle and her being in the body of a man. Per haps it would be a good Idea to...

"Should we go back home?" Nherisa asked, not sure whether she meant their actual home in Encrea or the cave they barely lived in.

"No!" Cordelia said. "We have no home. We will go to that castle and Eric has to do something about the baby growing in you."

++++××××××××××××××××××××++++

"Mr James?" Zephyra walked into his room without knocking.

"What now, princess?" He was in the middle of a game of chess against himself. That was how broken he was.

"I need your help." Zephyra said.

"With what?" Washing the dishes too dirty to touch?. cleaning the deck and every other floor there was in the ship?. doing any other labour that was definitely not meant for a royal sorcerer?

"With a spell." Zephyra said.

"A spell?" James stood up on his feet and swept the chess board off the table. "What spell? I am ready to do anything."

Even though it felt right at the moment, Zephyra wondered whether it was such a good idea to tell James everything about the sea dwellers. "It really is a small spell." She said.

"Whatever it is, I am ready." James walked to his drawer and brought out a spell book and a wand.

"You don't really need your spell book." Zephyra said. "It is just a small spell."

James wasn't disappointed. He needed someone of royal blood to permit him to cast a spell. He needed it desperately.

"I want you to help me make some fushes appear so my father thinks that I caught them."

"But wouldn't that be wrong?"

"Will you cast the spell or not?" Zephyra made that sound as respectfully as she could.

"Yes, I will do it right away." James said, walking out unto the upper deck.

Acting quickly, Zephyra ran to the drawer which James left open.

The spell book stared at her as she stared back at its leather cover, decorated with fine coloured gem stones. She picked it up and, even though it was larger than her chest and heavier than should be carried around, carried it our the door.

She looked over the railing to find James on the lower deck, making fish appear out of thin air with his wand.

The sight made her think: He isn't that bad a sorcerer. He just needs a chance to prove himself.

But that chance seemed to be running away from him as the king walked out unto the deck. "What are you doing, James?"

Startled, James said the words wrong. His eyes were wide with fear, not of what the king would do to him, but of what he had just done.

Zephyra blamed herself, and quite a big blame it was as a mass so great landed on the deck that it caused the ship to lean. The king stared in amazement for the second that he managed to remain on his feet.

Zephyra blamed herself even more when, as she hit the railing, the heavy spell book left her grip. James only realised what Zephyra had done when his spell book landed on the great blue whale that was now sinking 'the regal II'.

"What is this, James?" Roland's anger was justified in surplus.

"I'll fix this right away, sire." Said James. "I just need to get my spell book." Which was on top of the whale. The odds were against him.

As he jumped on the giant mammal, he regretted ever trying to help Zephyra. His desperation had brought him to a much worse fate. Now it was inevitable. For almost killing the royal family, they would either make him walk the plank or lock him in a room and throw away the keys. How badly he hoped the almost in that thought was not wrong.

Climbing higher up the whale's head, James reached for the spell book. Every time he fell short but he was determined to grab the book as soon as he could reach it.

Zephyra felt he was taking too long. She wasn't going to watch her family drown. She turned her gaze to Bailewick who was on the floor next to her father. The look he gave her made a lump in her throat.

"Prepare the boats." Roland ordered Bailewick, losing faith in James.

Without thinking, Zephyra grabbed a rope and swung down towards the whale. Bailewick left the order that was given to him to watch Zephyra land on the head of the whale which was good news until they realised that when she landed, her legs hit the book and sent it sliding down the whale.

As its tail touched water, the whale started to paddle vigorously, hitting the water with a splash every time.

The tail swung the book as it reached it up onto the roof of stern castle.

Zephyra gave James an i'm so sorry look. James gave the king a sorry we are all going to die look.