THE RISING OF THE WICCA

Help me get to her

"How is she doing?" Rokan's voice sounded gravelly.

"She has been doing very well and has gotten extremely stronger." Duman straightened up and looked Rokan in the eyes before continuing, "However, lately there has been some trouble. With powers like hers, she has drawn a lot of attention. She had been nominated to lead the wizards and the witches of the continent."

Rokan knew that with great power comes great responsibility, but he knew that Evanora can handle it. He worried about her and about the troubles she might face but there was another reason for Duman's visit, he could tell from the frown on his face that this was not it.

"But she is sacrificing herself in order to please Silas and be that leader. She clearly doesn't want the title or the responsibility, she won't be free to come and go as she pleases, in fact, right now she is under obligation from Silas to stay in the Tower." Duman explained.

"So she wants to leave but they are locking her up in there?" Rokan asked, his voice menacing.

"Silas offered her the chance to leave it all behind, but she will also have to forget about ever finding anything about her father. Eva is a prisoner of her own past and Silas is using that to manipulate her. She refuses to let her stay and effort go to waste, she won't leave unless she gets the answers she wants about her father." Duman explained,
"What makes matters worse is that I suspect that Silas is hiding something about her father, everyone avoids the topic, and I couldn't get any information from anyone. Everyone is acting as if her father never existed, yet Silas keeps promising Eva a family reunion..." Duman trailed off.

"Can you help me get to her?" Rokan had a determined look on his face, he was willing to accept anything as long as it was her decision and as long as she was happy, but being threatened by her grandfather did not seem like the free will he had imagined she would have in the Tower. The thought of her being taken advantage of made his blood boil.

Duman smiled at the question and nodded. The king of the Kassi kingdom started preparing to leave immediately. He summoned Theon and asked him to call Sir Arthur to the castle and to plan an urgent closed meeting, where he announced to everyone that he was heading to the Tower and asked Sir Arthur to act as his replacement.

Rokan looked around the table scanning the faces of the people he was entrusting the kingdom to. Brianna smiled warmly while Akare nodded at him with that usual fire in his eyes, silently reminding him that he would serve and protect the people with his life. Theon promised to do his best to support Sir Arthur and help manage everything as usual.

As the sun started setting that day, two shadows were seen riding up the hills to the enchanted forest.

"From this point on, you are on your own," Duman announced as they could clearly see the old bridge that led directly to the Tower. "We cannot be seen together or things will get complicated. Try not to attract any attention and use the entrance I told you about. The spells I cast on you should help you cross the magical shields."

"Remember to avoid the top floor. Silas spends most of his time there and is most likely to recognize you, even if you haven't crossed paths when he last visited Evanora in Kassi. He may have had eyes on you for a while." Duman advised.

"Where does Evanora stay?" Rokan asked.

"The top floor.." Duman hesitated, knowing well what was to come.

Rokan caressed Aragorn's fur as he nodded and prepared to head to the Tower. They had met the beast when they were crossing the enchanted forest and he followed them through their journey. Aragorn leaned into Rokan's caress, almost restless for having to part ways, he then pulled away and disappeared into the woods they left behind.

Once Duman was certain he had done everything in his power to help his friend reach his destination, he teleported to the main gate of the Tower. He identified himself to the guards and then rushed in looking for his wife.

He found her in their room, sitting quietly and reading one of her books. She looked up when she heard a knock on the window next to her. Duman's black crow was standing on the window still. Realizing Duman was back, she turned around and found herself face-to-face with him. She couldn't see his face under the mask, but something in his eyes told her he was smiling, and wondered if it had anything to do with her.

"He is here." He put down his mask and bag as he informed her, "Things will probably get more tense now, be careful."

"It will be fine." She assured him, "Hopefully he will convince her to leave this place while she still has a choice."

"There is always a choice." He said.

She crooked up an eyebrow and put down her books.

"Even when my father told me I had no choice but to marry you, I thought that I could still leave it all behind and wander around the continent. But somehow I chose to go through with the marriage," he explained.

Aelia looked surprised by his sudden confession. To her, it had always seemed that he was forced into marrying her and that he never had a choice to go against his father, just like her. She had never thought she had a choice. She had felt trapped and eventually agreed for the sake of the family.

"Did you regret your choice?" She found herself asking him.

Duman smiled and nodded, rendering Aelia's face pale.

"At first I did. I thought I had doomed myself to be with a selfish person who only cared about herself and her family. Someone who agreed with whatever the council decided because it was for her own good. Someone who only used her powers for herself."
Duman approached her and kneeled down in front of her. "I'm sorry for giving you a hard time. I'm sorry for thinking that way of you. I have missed you tremendously and it occurred to me that I won't ever be able to bear living away from you."

Aelia's eyes widened at his words. She thought that she still despised him for the way he treated her before. He had ignored her and accused her of betraying her own people, judging her without realizing she had a storm raging inside of her. She expected to never feel anything for him yet her heart started beating faster and her fingers squeezed back the hands that carefully rested on her knee.

Things were starting to change between the two of them. Seeing Duman smile at her tenderly made her cheeks flush. She turned her head sideways before he noticed.