The Raven's Curse Read online

  “All magic is inherently neutral. A sorcerer can only use dark magic, so their dark intentions make magic dark.”

  “So, what stops my mother from killing me and stealing my magic?”

  “If your intentions are good, you’re not going to have dark magic in you. Your magic will be white magic, so your mother can’t steal it.”

  “But if it’s inherently neutral, can’t she take it from me and make it dark?”

  “No. I mean, yes, but only by making you dark. You are the only one who can make your magic light or dark. Being a Sjau means you’re not forced to do the same magic as your family. Any Sjau can be any level of good or bad. Sorcerers can only be levels of bad and wizards can only be levels of good.”

  “The entire reason Veronica killed Sonya was so that she could steal Sonya’s light magic and turn it dark,” I said privately to Merlin.

  “You have an excellent point. We never discovered how she was able to do that. However, if Ilvera knew how to do that, why did she not do it when you were little?”

  “How do you know all this?” I asked Mason.

  “I’ve got a book. I’ll show you later.”

  At that point, we reached the dining table, where Mason’s parents and nine siblings were eating. Mason introduced them, although most of them ignored him and continued their conversations.

  All of Mason’s siblings were almost identical, except for their ages, which ranged from about ten years old to about twenty-five. The oldest six were Mason’s brothers. Masy, the girl who had answered the door, was actually Mason’s twin sister, but he was born first and, therefore, was a Sjau. After Masy, the next two children were daughters. All three girls were petite.

  I immediately realized I was wrong about Mason not being a runt; all of his brothers were taller and bulkier than him. Mason’s father, Mogral, had the blond hair and blue eyes of a wizard, but he was very tall and built like a warrior. It seemed very strange to me.

  Then Mason introduced Rita, his very petite mother, and I gaped rudely. “How did you have seven boys? You’re half my mother’s size.” She looked very much like Masy and way too young to be a mother of ten.

  She laughed and took her husband’s hand. “I was determined to get a daughter.”

  “And you got four of them,” the oldest boy joked, patting Mason’s head. Mason punched him in the arm, causing absolutely no harm.

  “Introduce yourself,” Merlin reminded me.

  “Oh, sorry. I’m Ayden.”

  “Do you have a family name, Ayden?” Rita asked. I nodded and she raised her eyebrows.

  “I’m Ayden Dracre.”

  It was dead silent.

  “I’m not like my family, though,” I explained quickly. “I’m a Sjau, like Mason. I only do light magic.”

  “Then why do I sense dark magic in you?” she asked.

  I opened my mouth, thought about it, shut my mouth, and shrugged. “I’ve done sorcery before, but I don’t hurt people. Lately, I’ve been focusing on breaking curses.”

  “Do you know Ilvera Dracre?” Mogral asked.

  I swallowed as my mind raced to come up with an answer that didn’t incriminate myself.

  “Now is the time for the truth, Ayden,” Merlin advised, imparting his unrequested wisdom. I knew it was the right thing to do, it was just really hard.

  “Yes.”

  “You don’t say a lot,” he said.

  Merlin scoffed.

  “She’s… my mother.” Rita stood suddenly with a look of horror on her face. I automatically flinched and backed up into Merlin.

  After a moment, she controlled her expression. “I’m sorry. I cannot imagine the misery she put you through. Sit down and eat. You’re always welcome here.”

  “You don’t hate me for being a sorcerer?”

  “We don’t hate anyone, not even your mother. Hate only hurts the person who holds it. We forgive our enemies because we deserve not to hold onto hate.”

  “The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is an attribute of the strong. I think we should return here instead of Magnus’s castle,” Merlin said.

  “This is Merlin. He’s a wizard, but from another world. He was cursed and I’m working on breaking it. He’s been helping me since I ran away from home almost six months ago. Before then, I didn’t know why I was different.”

  “Sit down, Ayden. You must be hungry.”

  Mason and Masy brought two chairs from another room for Merlin and me so we both sat. There wasn’t any meat, so Merlin ate fruit and vegetables without complaining. I nibbled on a piece of bread, too worried about saying the wrong thing and making the family of wizards turn on me.

  “So, why have you come?” Rita asked.

  “He came to learn about being a Sjau,” Mason said excitedly.

  “Actually, I didn’t know you knew anymore about it than I did,” I corrected him. “I do want to know all about it, but I’ve come to warn you.”

  He frowned. “Of what?”

  I sighed. “My mother. She knows about the Sjau. A few days ago, a seer came to me and told me my mother was going to kill all of us. Also, I can’t transport myself or be transported, which is why it took me so long to get here.”

  Everyone looked at Rita for her reaction. Her expression was very serious, but not worried. “Thank you for warning us. We will reinforce our defenses. Ilvera Dracre is very cunning.”

  “Do you know of Magnus?”

  “Of course. He disappeared.”

  “He’s back. Merlin and I live with him for now, and he was there when the seer came to us. He offered the protection of his castle, and a golem to make sure you get there safely.”

  “Is he offering it to all of us or just the Sjau?”

  “He would have to be a terrible fool to deny the rest of the Sjau’s family. There are fourteen of us. If we can all get to Magnus’s castle and use our combined defenses, not even my mother would be able to break through.”

  “Then, I guess we’re going on a trip.”

  Chapter 5

  “Wow. There really is a book on us,” I said, running my finger down the ancient spine. “And it really is old.” It was huge and bound in worn leather. Although it was once probably either black or brown, it was now splotchy and stained. There wasn’t a title.

  While his family packed, Mason, Merlin, and I were sitting in Mason’s bedroom. The room was very simple, with a bed, a writing desk, a foot chest, and a full-length mirror that was covered with an old, thin blanket.

  “It might be the first book ever written, but it isn’t just about us. This book is on all magic on Caldaca. Unfortunately, most of it is illegible. It’s also written in multiple languages. I wish we knew a historian who knew all the languages.”

  “I need to ask you about what you said earlier. My aunt, Livia, is a Sjau. Her first daughter was born a sorceress and tried to kill her, so she sealed her dark magic. Her second daughter was born with only light magic. They both had---”

  “An extra special ability?” Mason interrupted.

  I frowned. “Yes.”

  He nodded knowingly. “It’s in the book, too. Children of Sjau are like completely normal magic users, except they each have a very unique ability that suits their magic well.”

  “Okay, that makes sense. Veronica, her first daughter, can control animals. Sonya, her second daughter, can help people find their path to true happiness. However, Veronica killed Sonya to take her power, because apparently, she could reverse that ability to make people face their worst fears.”

  “Oh. And you’re worried that your mother can make your magic dark? That’s not possible. Veronica and Sonya may be normal magic users, but their special abilities come from their Sjau mother. It’s basically the same ability; it’s just their hearts that make it different.”

  “How does that mean my mother can’t turn my magic dark?”

  “The only way for her to do that, is if she first attains a lot of dark magic from one of you. And I mean a lot, as in the e
quivalent of at least five or six very powerful sorcerers. And she would have to be a blood relative… which she is, so never mind. Then, maybe she can make your heart dark, but it’s not going to be something she can do from a distance. She can’t just turn your magic dark; she has to change who you are. She would have to capture you, and changing your personality will not be fast or painless for you.”

  “Whatever you do, do not use transportation magic,” Merlin warned.

  “Is there a way to protect us from that?”

  “There might be, but I wouldn’t know. I’ll add that to the endless list of questions. The more I learn, the more I don’t know.”

  “I bet the dragons could answer all your questions. They didn’t answer all of mine, but I might have woken them up or irritated them.”

  His eyes widened. “You’ve talked to dragons? I thought they were extinct.”

  “They’re rare, but definitely not extinct. In fact, they may not even be as rare as we are.” I pulled the list out of my pocket and handed it to him.

  “These are the other Sjau?” Mason asked, reading over the list.

  “Yes. Have you met any of them?”

  “No, but I’ve heard of a few of the families. They’re not all going to be as easy as mine to convince, like Taorec. They’re sorcerers that live in the far north, and they have about the same reputation as yours.”

  “Maybe I shouldn’t warn them, then. They might want to ally themselves with my mother.”

  “Ayden, Zelli Taorec deserves to be warned. She might be just like you; a victim of her lineage.”

  “You’re right. I shouldn’t even have suggested that,” I said. I really didn’t know why I had even considered not warning Zelli. Even if she wanted to join with my mother, she didn’t deserve to be ambushed.

  “What?” Mason asked, confused.

  “I can hear Merlin in my head. He said it’s wrong not to warn Zelli and he’s right.”

  “He sounds very wise.”

  “He is. Merlin is hundreds of years old and has been to a bunch of different worlds. He accepts me for who I am, no matter who that is.”

  “It’s good to have a friend like that. I know I’m fortunate that my family accepts me and sticks up for me. Most people don’t understand that I’m different, but if anyone says something about me, my brothers will defend me. I knew we didn’t all have that.”

  Although his brothers teased him, it was with love, unlike what my brothers did to me. Mason was respected for being who he was. They weren’t rich, but they were a very close family.

  “When this is all over, you should stay with us for a while. You and I are not limited to wizardry, so we can teach each other,” he suggested as he got up to put the book away. I slipped the list of Sjau back into my pocket.

  “But I can’t learn mage magic.”

  He frowned. “Why not?”

  “I’m a sorcerer with wizardry.”

  “You’re a Sjau. You can learn whatever magic you want to learn. I’m a mage/wizard because in my heart, I’m a healer. That doesn’t mean I can’t learn seer magic. I probably can’t learn sorcery because it conflicts with my healing magic. You are a wizard/sorcerer because in your heart, you’re a curse breaker. That doesn’t mean you can’t learn healing magic. Being Sjau means that we aren’t confined to the magic that our families have.”

  “Why are we different just because we were born in a certain order?”

  “That I don’t know. It’s not as random as that. I’ve seen families have six sons and then a daughter, or have six daughters and the seventh is stillborn. There are only fourteen of us, seven boys and seven girls, allowed. One of us dies and another is born in the same moment. My sister and I were born a month early because it was meant to be, just like it was meant to be that I was born first. My father had joined the warrior’s guild the day he met my mother. Instead of going off on his first quest, he ran away to marry her. We’re not accidents; we’re this way for a reason.”

  “Hang on. Your father joined the warrior’s guild? I thought he was a wizard.” There was nothing wrong with a magic user being a warrior, but I had never heard of a wizard being one, because wizards usually wouldn’t do what a warrior had to.

  “No. We got our magic from our mother. Our father doesn’t have any magic. In fact, Mina doesn’t seem to have any magic.” Mina was the youngest child, but she was old enough to show signs of magic if she had it.

  Since I learned why I wasn’t a regular sorcerer and that my aunt was the same, I knew that my mother had chosen my father for a reason. It was because of my mother that I was born this way, so I resented her for the way she treated me. Knowing I could have been a daughter or stillborn changed things. “So we have a purpose, but you don’t know what it is?”

  He shook his head. “I’m not worried about it; someday, we’ll find out.”

  “Ask him about the pain in your chest,” Merlin said.

  “I don’t want to bother him with that. It’s probably just strain from riding on a unicorn.”

  He sighed and grumbled something out loud that I couldn’t make out. “At least ask him if he knows anything about the people losing their magic.”

  “Oh, right. On the way up here, I heard of a few people losing their magic. I met a mage who said she was. She still had some magic and I didn’t sense a curse or anything in her, but I thought it was odd. Have you heard of that happening?”

  “People shouldn’t lose magic. I haven’t heard of it happening and I don’t know why it would. Are you sure it wasn’t just some personal conflict?”

  “It could have been, I suppose. Your magic hasn’t been strange lately, has it?”

  He shook his head.

  The door opened and Masy said, “We’re ready to go.”

  We all went down to the living room and found the rest of Mason’s family gathered. I explained about calling Fluffy and getting a goblin guard, but Rita said not to bother. “We can transport ourselves right outside of his castle.”

  “You have to be able to see the place to do that, though.”

  “I have a magic mirror,” Mason reminded me. As he did, his two oldest brothers came down the stairs carrying his mirror. “Be careful with that.”

  “We know, brat.”

  “Why not go up to Mason’s room instead of bringing the mirror down?” I asked.

  “Because the princess doesn’t want us in his room.”

  “You stink up your own rooms enough!” Mason argued.

  They set the mirror down without retorting and pulled off the blanket. The mirror was framed in gold. Considering it was a full-length mirror, that was a lot of gold. “Wow. That must have been expensive.”

  “The Sjau who died when I was born was a family friend. He foresaw his death and that I would be born, so he gave it to my parents to give to me. He also gave them the book, although he didn’t tell them where it came from.” He pulled a wand out of his pocket. It was pure white with gold strands wrapped all around it and the tip was a moonstone set with gold. “Even though we aren’t restricted to wizardry or sorcery, we do still have to use wands or staffs like wizards and sorcerers.”

  “Even for your healing magic?”

  “Like with wizardry, I can do small magic without it, but any serious spell or wound requires my wand.” He pointed the wand at the mirror and a cool blue mist emitted from it. “Show me the castle of Magnus Vobristum.”

  The surface of the mirror turned white before the image of the castle appeared on it. It was showing the front of the castle with the metal gate closed. Then Rita pulled a beautiful pearlescent wand that looked more like stone than wood out of her sleeve. There were strands of silver wrapped around it. When she pointed the wand at the mirror, tiny silver bubbles emerged from the tip of the wand and floated into the mirror. The instant the first bubble touched the mirror, the imaged changed. Suddenly, it was like I was looking through a doorway to the castle instead of just an image of it.

  Merlin stepped betwee
n me and the mirror, his ears flickering with agitation. “What’s wrong?”

  “It bothers my wolf instincts.”

  “Now, are you going with us to Magnus’s castle?” Rita asked me.

  I shook my head. “I have to go find and warn the rest of the Sjau.”

  “I wish you well on your quest, curse breaker,” Mason said.

  “Thank you.”

  Mogral entered the mirror first and we could see him step onto the grass on the other side. After a moment, he made a motion with his hands. Mason and his siblings went through, followed by Rita. As soon as she stepped through, the strange portal became a mirror again.

  * * *

  Merlin and I went outside and found Kirin waiting for us. Without wasting time, I got the small mirror out of my saddlebag and pulled my wand out of my pocket. “Show me Blue Lecros.” My magic flowed through the wand into the mirror. I expected the sharp pain in my chest, which was annoying because there was no reason for it.

  The mirror showed me a girl who was about ten with dark brown hair and copper eyes. There was something very trustworthy and innocent about her. I turned the mirror so that Merlin could see her. Kirin stomped his foot and neighed with nervousness, so I pet his nose.

  “Show me how to find her.” Once again, the image on the mirror changed to a map. I groaned. “I didn’t think that through.” Blue was far south of Mokora, in a land called Tetaryn. “When Livia asked for the names to be listed from closest, it listed them in order of closest from Livia’s castle.” I pointed my wand at it again. “Show us a map of all Sjau.”

  The map changed to show the entire world, complete with names of the lands. I had seen drawings of it before in books, so I could at least make sense of it. It showed fourteen red dots and three blue dots. Three of the red dots marked Livia, Mason, and me. I also saw that one of the dots was north of us, on a land called Monhal. “That must be Zelli Taorec. She’s closest to us now.”

  “No. We need to save Blue next.”

  “Why? We’d have to travel ten days south and then turn around and travel fifteen days north, and that means using the boat even more.”