Thirteen

Thirteen - Chapter Fourteen

The girl was beautiful with long curly golden hair tumbling down to her breasts in light waves and large silver eyes staring up at us with hidden curiosity. Her lightly tanned skin looked as if touched by the sun and it made her heart-shaped face full of beauty but I could also detect a sense of pain, which she would have been able to hide completely if I wasn't a shapeshifter. She was dressed like a princess and judging by the castle she obviously was.

    "Qui sunt vobis?" She asked again.

    "What did she say?" Naida whispered, keeping one eye on the girl.

    "She asked who we are," I replied. "Abraxas told me when the other guy said it" Naida nodded and shifted me on her arm. I could feel myself becoming heavier on my feet the more blood I lost.

    "I'm Naida and this is Dani," Naida smiled politely, looking down at the girl. Naida took a tighter grip on me when the cuts started burning and the room spun. "Can you help us? My friend got cut and I don't know what to do" Naida helped me back down the stairs.

    "May I have a look?" I removed my hand and the girl took hold of my arm gently. She studied the deep cuts and tried to clean it a little with her lace handkerchief. "I'm sure a little magic can clear this up. Come with me"

    Naida followed and dragged me through the grand castle to a backroom that looked like a medieval kitchen.

    A large stone island was placed in the middle of the vast room and counters lined the wall to our left. The wall at the back was just glass, picturing the monumental snow-dusted mountains and thousands of trees covering the surface below. Steaming pots and pans stood haphazardly on the stoves and oddly shaped vials and beakers sat on the marble-topped islands in the middle.

    "Please sit down," The girl smiled and sat down on a stool. I sat next to her and she took my arm in her soft hands, prodding gently at the cuts and I sat silently, observing as she made strange gestures and chanted odd words. Staring with my head tilted, I watched wide eyed as the cuts seemed to stitch and mend themselves back together and then there was peachy skin covered in blood, no signs of cuts at all. "So why are you here?" She asked, dipping a rag in water and dabbing at the blood.

    "Someone asked us to come because of a problem he has," I explained. "You might know him. He had dark blue hair and red-"

    "Red eyes? Yes, that's my brother John," She sighed. "Father was worried he would go find help..."

    "So, do you have a problem?" Naida asked, fiddling with a beaker.

    She nodded and looked grim. "I'm afraid so. John went to Earth in search of other magical beings who could help us. Father was against it but John refused to listen," She looked hopeful then. "Is he with you now?"

    "No. One of our... friends," I swatted Naida when she tried to protest to my choice of words. "They annoyed him and he threw us into the portal. After we landed in the forest the portal changed colour and we couldn't pass through it again"

    "You must've disabled it went you were forced through," She thought aloud. "Maybe it can sort itself out in a couple of weeks-"

    "What?!" Naida gasped and almost knocked over a strange pink liquid. "How long is a couple of weeks?"

    The girl paused and dipped the cloth in water again. Almost all of the blood was gone now. "It would take at least three weeks for the portal to fix itself. That means you'll have to find somewhere to stay..."

    "Hold on," I held up my hand to halt her nervous babbling. "Can you tell us what this problem is first?"

    She shook her head quickly. "Oh no. It's far too dangerous and you've just arrived; I couldn't ask for so much as a favor from you"