CALLIBRA: THE CURSED EYE OF ARAK

CHAPTER THREE

The young woman in the maroon robe strode through the dimly lit corridor on the second floor of the castle. 

"Nika, sister," Amaia called to her from the doorway, just before she could take the turn that would lead her to her room. 

"Yes! Amaia, do you have news about my mother yet?" she asked, turning to speak to Amaia.

"I am afraid not, sister, your mother has asked for the cloak to be cast. The creatures, I hate to say it... but one of them is still out there and so we can not look for her," she said to Nika and she remained silent. 

She had last seen her mother at noon and since Lucia had come with a report about the Callibra and the Mandrins that had found it, she had not seen her again. She knew she was out there, somewhere, but she could not tell if she was all right.

"Where are the rest of them?" asked Nika, breaking the silence. She wanted to know where the other dragons had gone, because Amaia had confirmed to her that there was only one dragon out there. 

"I think they are taking shelter," she said, and Nika nodded.

"How big is it?" asked Nika out of curiosity. She had only seen these things in magic books that were on one of the dusty bookshelves in the archive. 

"It's big, big enough to take down half the castle," she replied, and Nika turned her back on her and walked carefully toward the corner where her room was. Amaia followed her.

"Do you think the cloak can take us through the night, is it strong enough to carry us through the night?" she asked and Amaia nodded.

"We have never had the need to cloak anything as big as the city, so I can not say much about that," Amaia said. 

Nika stopped walking. Her movement came to a halt the moment she realized how unsure Amaia was about their safety.

"We have to find my mother, she is more powerful than any of us here. She'll be able to hold it through the night," Nika said, remaining calm. 

"Sister, it's too dangerous for us out there. Your mother knows how dangerous these things are, and that's why she sent me and Lucia back to the tower," Amaia said.

"My mother is out there!" roared Nika. It was an outburst, she was ashamed, she had to drop her gaze to her feet.

"Sister, I am sorry... I am sorry, I am just worried about my mother," Nika said. 

"Your mother will be fine, she is the leader of our coven, she is more powerful than any of us. I do not think those creatures can hurt her," Amaia said and Nika nodded.

"She thinks that getting the callibra and bringing it to the castle might help us reverse the curse. We can look for her once the creature is gone," she said.

At that moment, Nika remembered the moment when Amaia mentioned that the other creatures had left the castle.

"What if the others are not out there seeking shelter, but are on their way to the castles beyond Ivádia?" said Nika to Amaia. Amaia's eyes widened the moment she thought about it.

"We must warn our sisters in Vocí, Piliá, and Landiá. They need to know about this before morning. We do not know exactly where the others are headed, so make sure they all take the same precautions we did," Nika instructed her, relaying the words to the other three coven leaders in the southern, eastern, and western regions of the Grasslands, Raythmore.

"I will do that," Amaia said as she fled the hallway as quickly as she could. 

* * * * *

After Nika instructed Amaia to inform the others, she wasted no time in locating the message room. 

She walked through the door and the darkness in the room engulfed her. Her eyes glowed blue as she made her way to the window. Her hands curled gently around the handle and she pushed the window open, allowing the moonlight to fall into the room, freeing it from absolute darkness.

"Incantra sei ci avatara al soté," she said to the doves, and only one of the 3 flew to her and settled on her outstretched palms.

"Tell them, tell the sisters of the south! Go to the tower of Vocí and tell them that a group of Mandrins, have found Callibra," she whispered in its ear, and it fled the room through the open window. 

The cloak cleared the way for him to leave the castle and it immediately healed itself.

"Incantra sei ci avatara al esté," she whispered to the doves. Only one of them, the messenger of the East, came to her. To it, too, she gave a message.

Now the last dove, the messenger of the West.

"Incantra sei ci avatara al weté," she called to the last, the messenger of the West. .

While Amaia was busy doing this, Nika had just entered her room. She could not turn her thoughts away from her mother, who was still out there. She looked at her dressing mirror, which was on the table in front of her chair, took her brush and began to stroke her hair gently and impassively.

Her hairbrush slipped from my hand and fell to the floor. She looked down at it carelessly and reached for it. 

Her eyebrows met as she suddenly caught her mother's scent. It was strong and spread throughout the room. She felt her presence in the room. She took the brush and looked behind, but she saw no one.

She sighed and slowly turned to the mirror.

Her eyes met the mirror and a gasp escaped her mouth.