consequences

        Leaves danced in the wind before slowly falling towards the solid rock ground that was the road on the streets of Fantascia. The same leaves, soft leather boots trampled on. The same boots that Cordelia had stolen for herself and her sister to hide their feet in.

        "You never told me where you were." Nherisz was first go break the cold silence in the streets. "For the past month."

        Cordelia took a bite of the apple, which she bought with some money she found in Eric's cottage. "I went into Encrea?"

        "And stayed a whole month?" Nherisa asked.

        "I went to find what I could about our mother's killers." Cordelia continued. "Before I could do anything, I saw a few men. They were enslaving a whale. Forcing it to do work."

        "And you...?"

        "I couldn't have let them do that to the poor, innocent creature."

        "But you could have stayed out of Encrea."

        "You know I needed to go there."

        "I know you should let this go." Nherisa said.

        "Mother needs Justice, Nherisa."

        "Mother is dead, Cordelia." Nherisa was almost loud this time.

        "We shouldn't be having this conversation on the streets." Cordelia was right. A few people were staring at them. " How far is the castle?"

        "Not very far now." Nherisa said. She waited until the people looked away and asked: "Why did you stay the month?"

        "I didn't wish to." Cordelia wondered why a chill went down her spine whenever she remembered that incident. Being trapped in her mind was the toughest experience she faced. And she had lost both her parents. "After the outburst, I fainted and was taken away by a witch."

        "The same witch who...?"

        "...cast a spell on you, yes. She kept me in stasis for a whole month, Nherisa. I barely remembered who I was. I wasn't myself."

        "I wonder what that old sea dweller has against us." Nherisa said as they walked between two small cottages to the lake front.

        "She said she was just trying to fulfil destiny."

        "I think she is just crazy." Nherisa said. But Cordelia didn't hear her.

        "Is that it?" Cordelia asked.

        "Indeed it is." Nherisa said. "Isn't she august?"

        It truly was the castle. Standing on its own private island, it stood almost as tall as the vertical cities of Encrea and certainly many times as wide as the hall of Echoes.

        "Quite befitting the king of such a large mass of land that stands small in comparison to the surface area of Encrea." Nherisa praised. She had seen the castle a couple of times with Eric. She had loved it. (He had asked her if she did). It looked just as beautiful every time.

        "It really is." Cordelia said. "But how do we get there?"

        "We have to find a boat." Said Nherisa. "Everyone has one around here."

        "I found some." Cordelia was talking about a bunch of boats tied to a pier built off the solid rock ground not far from where they stood.

        Nherisa immediately walked towards the pier. Cordelia followed. She was confident that she was so close. But the sight of a few men that stood on the pier scared her. And she was not scared for herself.

       "Why do you wish to go to the castle?" One of the men asked. He looked clean, more sophisticated than the rest. Cordelia immediately guessed that he was their boss and that he worked for the king.

        Before Nherisa could step up and make up a reasonable excuse, Cordelia opened her big mouth, and words came flying out of it. "We come in search of Eric. I believe he resides in your castle."

      "Do you perhaps have an appointment or any important message for him?" The man asked.

        "We came to talk to him." Cordelia said.

        "I'm afraid you can't be allowed to meet him given your status." The man said.

        "Meaning?"

        "Meaning you should leave." Said the man.

        "I knew it would get to this." Cordelia said.

        "Get to what?" The man asked.

        "No, Cordelia, it hasn't gotten to this. It hasn't gotten to anything."

         "It's the only way, Nherisa." There was no spark in her eyes... until...

        "No, there has to be another way." Said Nherisa.

        "Fredrick, Bosh, Clog." The man called. "Lead them out of here."

        Three sailors(three big, strong sailors) walked towards the sea dwellers with threatening looks. One of them, big, covered in tattoos, pierced ears, eyes that stared like a pirate, grabbed Nherisa by the arm.

        Then the spark appeared.

        The sailor watched as water rose up from the lake and wrapped around him.

        "Leave her alone." Cordelia said. The sailor turned around to look around her. The spark in her eyes was as scary to him as a monster's bloodshot eyes would be to a child. "Or else."

        The other two sailors reached to grab Cordelia by the arm.

        This time, the water rose in full force on either side of the pier to hit either of them and send them falling towards the ground.

        Scared, the tattooed sailor let go of Nherisa.

        Sailors from there all the way down to the end of the pier charged towards Cordelia.

        "What now?" Nherisa managed to ask in all the chaos.

        Without responding, Cordelia stretched her hand towards the pier. Nhrisa was astonished as the water rose up to form a wall, cutting through the pier.

        The pulverised part off the pier where the sailors stood floated away and slowly sunk.

        "What are you?" Asked the man in charge, looking at Cordelia.

        "She told you it didn't have to come to this." Cordelia said and boarded a boat. "Are you coming, Nherisa?"

        "Yes, I'm coming." Nherisa said, trying to shake off what she just would happen. She sat in the boat beside Cordelia. "I told you not to lose control. We could have found another way."

        "I wasn't going to use my powers to get us a boat. I was just going to steal one. Until he touched you... and I got furious." Cordelia picked a couple of oars.

        "You have to learn to control your anger."

        "Yes, yes, I'll try." Cordelia said. She threw the oars off the boat and made the water push the boat towards the castle. But not before making it capsize all the other boats at the pier.

         ++++××××××××××××××××××××++++

         The death of the Fantascia royal family was clear in front of all eyes. The whale's weight was overwhelming the ship, and the captain, even in all this commotion, was starting to question the strength and durability of his very own creation.

         Zephyra, on the other hand, feared death. But even more feared the death of her family being her fault.

        Roland feared losing his family and also thought of what would happen to his kingdom without him. But somewhere amidst these thoughts was the blame which he placed on James. He definitely wasn't going to let him touch a wand again. Not ever in his life.

        James had the worst plight of them all. He feared that the royal family was going to die. And it was all his fault.

        "Zephyra." Thevking ran towards the whale. "Come down, dear. We have to get you to safety."

        Zephyra would have jumped down easily, but in all the mess that she caused, she had totally forgotten that her mother was still inside. "But what about mother?"

        Turns out the king had also forgotten his beautiful queen. The last he had seen her was in the dining room on the higher deck.

        "Prepare the life boats, Bailewick." The king said. "And get the princess to safety."

        With that, he ran back inside the stern castle like a king with proper etiquette should and would never.

        He wouldn't let his family die. Not in the hands of a whale.

        Surely, the queen must have felt something. Why wouldn't she come out?

        She wasn't in the dining room when he got there. If she was in any other room in the ship, she would have seen something as the rooms on the ship were more than adequately supplied with windows viewing the sea. She would have noticed that had she been in any other room on the ship.

        Bailewick lost all hope of living when he reached the boats, and they were already sunken underwater. In fact, small ripples in the water were high enough to climb aboard the deck. And they did.

        All this time, zephyra had been staring at James.

        Finally, he looked back at her.

        "I'm so sorry." She said, stretching a hand towards him.

        "You could have told me you needed my spell book." James said, climbing up on his own. "Then we wouldn't be sinking."

        James saw her face brighten at that question. Not with idea, but with joy, surprise, and questioning all at once.

        Had he said the opposite of what he had meant? Or was Zephyra just going crazy? He eventually looked back after realising that she was looking at something behind him.

        The ship was now well above the water, and surprisingly, the deck was suddenly big enough for the whale to fit.

        The whale seemed to get smaller and smaller until Zephyra could barely share its back with James anymore.

        James almost jumped out of joy. Zephyra literally cried.

       "Did you do that?" She asked.

       James looked at her. As much as he wanted to brutally wipe the innocent, joyous look on her face, he was just as happy to be alive. "It was her." He was pointing in the direction of the stern castle.

        Roland looked out the window, his falling a hundred miles of relief back to its rightful position in his chest as he did. Bailewick came around the corner to the front of the stern castle as happy as expected. The servants who had jumped off to try to find their way to safety (perhaps by relieving one of the boats of its current contents and then boarding it) climbed back aboard.

        All eyes, amazed and grateful for life, pointed towards the ever beautiful, ever daring, ever dear adult woman who now knelt in front of the stern castle doors. I say this in reference to the King's feelings at the moment.

        Roland loved her even more. She saved his life. She saved everyone on that ship. Such a selfless yet selfish act. Selfless that she drained herself of all strength in order to save them instead of merely saving herself and selfish that she had saved them knowing that she would not be able to live with herself if anything happened to them.

        At that moment, he felt like he was the luckiest man in the world. Like he was the husband Merlin (if Merlin were a girl).

        "Mother!" Zephyra ran towards the queen who fell onto her lap as soon as she sat on the floor beside her.

        James contained joy inside him such that he couldn't hold in. The fact that he wasn't responsible for the death of anyone. His joy became fear as his gaze shifted towards the king who just walked unto the deck.

      What would his punishment be? Would've been thrown overboard, abandoned there to become the shark's lunch. Would he be locked in the dark room all alone until his brain rotted and he started talking to himself? Or would he be pardoned?

        "James!" The wrath of the king was deafening in his ears.

        "S...sire,...I..."

       "Do you realise what you have done?"

       "I swear it wasn't my fault, sire."

       "Please calm down, Roland." Cornelia managed to dig into the meagre supply of energy she had left to say that. "Don't let your anger get the better of you."

        Roland looked back. Cornelia's current condition made him wonder why he ever needed a royal sorcerer. At least one that was so unreliable should have been kicked out of his post long ago, and certainly after the last mishap, should have been made to walk the plank.

        But Cornelia was right. Such behaviour was expected of pirates and not of a man of such high standards. Coulat least spare his life.

        "You take the next boat back to the castle where you will collect your things and le immediately to become  commoner. And never again are you to touch another wand or speak another spell as if you are caught doing do, the punishment would be dire." Roland said. "One of the guards will accompany you on your journey to make sure you arrive safe and that you follow my instructions to the word." 

        Roland turned away from the pitiful look on James' face to Cornelia and Zephyra. He helped Cornelia up and led her, along with Zephyra, inside.

       "Dad, you don't need to punish James. It wasn't his fault." Zephyra begged before Roland fully succeeded in pulling her past the door.

        "I understand what you are saying, but it is not considered a mistake when it happens more than twice." Roland said.

        "But... but..."

        The doors closed behind them, and that was the last James heard of his own trial.