The Dark Witch Chronicles Book One: The Curse of The Cymmerien Dragon
Chapter Four: The Mind Reader

Erasmus looked at Iris disbelievingly. He was awarethat her powers were not refined and went haywire more often than one wouldlike; but he did not think she would invade someone’s mind so easily. Maybe herpowers were too strong for her to handle which ended in her doing silly thingswithout noticing. “You invaded Amara’s mind?” He asked, raising his eyebrows.

Out of all the people that she could have entered theminds of, she chose Amara. After knowing that Iris could read minds, he hadthought it would take time for her to develop into that habit and would needtraining. Because invading a complex and intimidating mind like Amara’s was noteasy. Iris’s ability to do the same was astounding enough, yet there were flawssince she was new to it and certainly wasn’t used to walking into minds likethat. To learn the control and to shield herself from being recognized, she wasyet to discover. A sixteen-year-old witch obviously did not have the ability ofbeing so focussed to control it all on her own. She had a lot to learn.

“I don’t know how it happened,” Iris replied,shrugging.

She was aware of the fact that reading Amara’s mindand seeing things that she saw, was not something she should have done. Eventhough she was new to this, Iris could conclude that Amara’s mind was a havenfor many thoughts that were unlimited, complicated, and extremely difficult toput a finger on. They were also highly disturbed. Of that, she was sure.Erasmus was not helping at all; he made it look like she had just committed acrime. However, she could not be blamed entirely for what happened; she had nocontrol over it. It just came and went all by itself, without letting herrealize what she had accidentally done.

“Iris, listen. You cannot control someone else’s mindwhen you’re not sure you can control your own,” he said, emphasizing everyword.

“But I-” she began.

“I’ll tell you something about Amara.” He cut heroff. “She is the most convoluted witch you can ever come across. Her lifebefore she came here wasn’t easy, and that has made her harsh andinconsiderate. While some of us are caring and human enough in many ways, sheis not. Her behaviour, the way she talks, and the way she keeps to herself, howshe does not appreciate anyone interfering in what she does, is different. Wecan all be cruel when we want to and when the need arises, but she is the sameevery single moment of the day. She does not care about anyone apart from theLord; most of the time she does not care about herself either.” He concluded.

“She is reckless.” He continued. “And someone I have failed to understand however hard I’ve tried. We all have friends, acquaintances, we even have ourmates. We have human emotions that she evidently lacks. She likes no one – andwhen I say no one – I mean absolutely no one. The only person she would evercome close to liking or admiring would be the Lord. She speaks to no one unlessneeded. Besides, she tortures. She tortures infernally and I am sure you haveexperienced it yourself. If she replaces out you invaded her mind, believe me,Iris, it’s not going to be a wonderful sight.”

When he finished talking, Iris stared at Erasmus blankly.She could not digest everything that he had said at once. The image that he had created about Amara inher head was terrifying. She was not someone with whom one would like tomeddle. Dangerous was the perfect word for Amara. Iris wondered how in ahundred years none of the sorcerers had fallen for her.

“Believe me, a lot of us have,” Erasmus chuckled.

Iris frowned at him.

“Did I say that out loud?” she asked quizzically.

“No, I can read minds to an extent.” He smirked. “ButI’m not as strong as you,” he added, nodding his head.

“So you mean to say that if she replaces out that Iinvaded her mind, she’d kill me?” Iris asked, furrowing her forehead.

Erasmus shook his head. “Killing is an easy job forher. Amara believes in torturing and then killing. You saw how she killed thosemen; she didn’t end their lives straightforward. It was torture for them,correct?” He raised an eyebrow.

Iris’s mind went back to how Amara had slit throatsand made two of the remaining victims see how the other one died. She not onlytortured them physically but mentally as well. Also, taking their souls awayand trapping them inside a dead dove’s body was not the end of torture. It wasonly the beginning of how the souls were going to be sacrificed in a ritual.One does not come across that every day.

“So you must realize that there is a possibility thatshe replaces out and tortures you as well,” Erasmus said, breaking her train ofthought.

Panic was starting to build up inside Iris and sheheld her breath for a long moment, thinking of what Amara would do to her onceshe replaces out. A thought flashed across her head to enter into Amara’s mindagain and see if she had found out or not; but she knew it would be a foolishidea. She could not do that. If she did, then the possibilities of Amarareplaceing out about it would be higher than what they already were.

“What do I do?” Iris whispered almost to herself.

“Wait and watch. That’s all you can do and besides-”a loud screeching noise cut him off mid-sentence.

Erasmus snapped his head in the direction of thesound as did Iris. Squeezing her eyes shut at the shrill sound, she got upalong with Erasmus who was now starting to walk to the door of the chamber asthe sound continued to vibrate the walls. For a human it would have beendeafening but it did not make much of a difference to Erasmus. Iris, on theother hand, felt a little pain in her ears but it was not her topic ofconcern. All that was on her mind wasAmara torturing her to the point of insanity. As the sound began once again,Iris pushed Amara’s thoughts out of her head and started walking further.

They followed the trail of the sound and reached thecastle hall where Iris had first met Amara and the others. She blinked as avision flashed in front of her eyes and blinded her for a long moment. Iriscaught hold of a windowsill on the side to steady herself. She had thought thatgetting visions similar to her dreams would stop, since she was now where shewas supposed to be, yet the flashes continued. Although, this time it wasdifferent, it was unfamiliar; not something that she had seen before and in asecond, it was gone. As soon as she stopped seeing those visions, Iris followedErasmus further in until they were standing along with others who had come tosee what the noise was. A man stood right in the middle of the room, a hoodcovering his face like most and a huge staff in his hand. So that was where the noise came from, Iris thought. The man hadpossibly dragged the staff on the stone floors that made the screeching sound.

“Who is he?” Iris whispered to Erasmus who stoodthere confused.

A moment later, his expression changed into that ofshock and he stared at the man wide-eyed, while Iris stood there, her headtilted to the side curiously. Why did this man look like he had just come outof her dream? Her doubts were cleared when Lord Lucifer entered the hall andthe man took off his hood. Even though she had not seen his face clearly in thedreams, she knew it was the same man; her intuitions prominent in her head.

“Who is he?” Iris persisted, stressing each word asshe did so, nudging her elbow in Erasmus’s rib.

He turned and glared at her warningly. Getting the message, she looked down to thefloor and decided it was better not to become enemies with Erasmus – her onlysaving grace in this otherwise daunting surrounding, where people seemed likethey were ready to torture anybody who came along. Erasmus concentrated on whatwas about to happen. He was fairly aware of why the man was here.

“May I ask as to why you decided to grace us withyour presence, this evening?” said Lord Lucifer, taking his seat.

“Where is she?” The man asked, dropping his staff tothe floor loudly.

Iris winced at the shrill sound echoing through thewalls. Whoever this man was, he did not seem too glad to be there. Amara, Iris thought; he’s talking about Amara. Something waswrong, and Amara had everything to do with it. The man was only thinking abouther name.

“Who are you talking about?” Lord Lucifer replieduninterestingly with his eyes examining his slender fingers.

“You know who I am talking about. You know what shehas done.”

The man took a step forward threateningly, but LordLucifer did not seem the least bit affected.

“That was her job,” he said calmly.

“A job? Shekilled three innocent humans; I don’t reckon that would be a simple job.”

The man was now fuming. Iris could feel it. Numerousvisions flashed across her eyes, ranging from a woman’s child crying to a deadman’s wife weeping, to another man’s family destroyed. Iris blinked to clear itall away. She stared blankly at the man standing there. Were those humans innocent? She wondered. Why had Amara lied to hersaying those humans had been witch-hunters?

“What imbecile told you those humans were innocent?”Lord Lucifer scowled softly.

Iris was surprised as to how easily he was handlingthe situation when the man was now on the verge of burning their place down.

“Of course they were. What had they ever done toher?” The man shouted throwing his arms in the air in frustration.

“If she killed some humans, then she must have had areason. She does not kill people for fun and frolic, Lord Mikhail.”

“They were following my orders. And as far as I know,that is not a crime,” Lord Mikhail shot back, anger evident in his tone.

Iris’s mind was pushed into another vision where LordMikhail was addressing the two men and the woman Amara had killed a night ago.She could not hear the voices, but she could see Mikhail giving them animportant message. A moment later, she was brought back to the present andshook her head to clear the fog in her mind.

“Were those not the orders of stealing my powers,Lord Mikhail?” Amara glided in through a door, proceeding towards Lord Mikhailslowly, her voice as calm and cool as that of Lord Lucifer’s. She did not seemaffected by Lord Mikhail’s outburst either; but of course, she could be just asbrutal as she was calm.

“You” hissed Lord Mikhail, pointing his index fingerthat was shaking with anger, “Had no right to kill my servants,” he completedglaring at Amara.

Amara threw her head back and let out a maliciouslaugh, to everyone’s surprise. She sounded so devilish in that moment; it wasfrightening. Iris shuddered at the sound, as chills ran down her spine, drawingon every nerve inside. She was still not used to this extent of evil lingeringaround her in every part.

“Lord Mikhail, surely you know who you are speakingto, don’t you?” She retorted menacingly, taking a step forward in hisdirection.

“You have broken the law. Do you want me to remindyou of that?” Lord Mikhail barked, his eyebrows raised.

“It is forbidden to kill innocent humans; I’m awareof that,” said Amara disinterestedly. “Although, may I remind you that the humans were certainly notinnocent?” she growled, crossing her arms across her chest as she stood thereproudly.

“For the last time, they were carrying out myorders.” Spat Lord Mikhail.

Lord Mikhail was getting impatient with every passingmoment and that was not a surprise to everyone else around. His face showed itclearly; it was evident that he was not happy about what Amara had done. Amara,on the other hand, looked like she had done a great deed and that Lord Mikhailwas a fool to come and argue with her about nothing so much close to a validpoint.

“Lord Mikhail, your servants were trying to diminishmy powers. Do you think I would let them do that?” Amara asked, raising aneyebrow questioningly.

“You are a threat to our kind,” he spat, taking astep back. His voice was confident, yet he looked a bit off; intimidating asAmara was.

“You make me laugh, Minister,” she scoffed. “Have youno knowledge that I am the one who has always followed the laws and stuck todoing what was right? I was the one that helped you kill the witch-hunters thatwere close to ending your existence. Youcall me a threat. If that isn’t you being dim-witted, then I don’t know whatis.”

Amara shook her head disappointedly, a menacing smirkacross her face as though she was ready to kill Lord Mikhail using his ownstaff. She could not believe the fact that he thought she was a threat to theirkind, when everyone was aware of how helpful she had always been.

Lord Mikhail sighed, picking up his staff. Thereseemed to be no way he could fight back. She was not wrong; his orders were todiminish some of her powers since her rise was turning out to be a huge problemfor some of his loyal and exceptional apprentices. He also had another motivethat was not to be discussed in Lord Lucifer’s castle; for it was dangerous todo so. That she had saved him was not a lie either, but if that was going tocreate rifts between his ardent apprentices and him, then sure enough, she wasa threat. Getting rid of some of her powers would not make her any less of agreat witch. It would just make her a little weaker, so he could let himselfget what he needed. He wanted her out of his way. If that came with a price topay, he was ready to do it. Nevertheless, arguing with a witch like Amara andtrying to prove her wrong was one of the most foolish ideas he could ever havecome up with and he knew that. Yet he wanted to fight. Losing it was anothermatter entirely.

Seeing he had no hope left, he decided to leavewithout having any more indignant words thrown at him. Pulling his hood up,Lord Mikhail turned to look at Lord Lucifer who sat there, smiling proudly. Amaraalways seemed to surprise him with her answers and the way she fought back,giving him a sense of satisfaction knowing that he had created her, made herthis powerful, yet it was her own will that had added to all the skills he hadtaught her. She was a brilliant witch and the best one he could ever have had.

“Shall I escort you out, Lord Mikhail?” Amara askedsilkily.

Without a word, Lord Mikhail turned around andswiftly on his heel and walked out of the great and resplendent hall. Amararolled her eyes and glanced at Iris for a moment who was staring after himblankly. Again, she had invaded someone’s mind without having any control overit. If only I had not been able to dothat, thought Iris, I could haveavoided watching families cry for the Death of their loved ones. However,the word ‘love’ did not exist as long as Amara was around.

“Amara,” Lord Lucifer said.

“My Lord,” she replied, bowing her head.

“He might send someone again. Be careful.”

“Always am, m’Lord.” She nodded her head and a momentlater, Lord Lucifer vanished from the hall.

Erasmus grabbed Iris’s hand, pulled her out of thehall and dragged her back into the chamber that they had come from. They failedto notice that Amara was still watching Iris. She had observed how Iris hadflinched every now and then, as she kept her eyes fixed on Lord Mikhail, andher doubts about Iris invading her own mind were confirmed. From the corner ofher eye, she saw Erasmus dragging her back into the chamber and stealthilyenough, Amara crept up behind them, making her way all the way up to the ceilinginside the chamber; settling herself in a corner where they could not spot her.Erasmus shut the door behind him without noticing that Amara had followed them.They sat on opposite chairs while Amara stood there suspended in mid-airwaiting for them to begin talking.

“Wh-wh-what was th-that?” Iris stuttered, assuredthat Erasmus would answer her now and not brush her off.

“Lord Mikhail works for the King who makes the lawsfor us and controls everything that we do. Apparently, the humans that Amarakilled were out on Lord Mikhail’s orders and he certainly did not approve ofwhat she had done. So he was here to give her some punishment but we all knowhow cunning Amara is,” Erasmus told her.

Up from where she had positioned herself Amara raisedher eyebrows in amusement at, and smirked at his description of her.

“I might have entered his mind,” Iris managed with asheepishly.

Erasmus’s eyes shot up to look at her.

“You invaded Lord Mikhail’s mind, as well?” He askeddisbelief clearly visible in his voice.

“I couldn’t help it.” She shrugged.

“You already got yourself into trouble by invadingAmara’s mind, and now you went into a powerful sorcerer’s head.” Erasmusslapped his palm on his forehead.

She needs some serioustraining, he thought.

“I don’t know how I’m supposed to control it.” Shesaid, worried. Before Erasmus could reply, the door of the chamber opened andsomeone stepped inside.

“Erasmus, the Lord want to see you,” said the man whostood at the door.

“Alright,” Erasmus replied and stood up withoutwaiting for Iris to ask him any more questions. The door shut by itself andIris sighed. She slumped in defeat.

“Tell me, Iris. Is it easy to set foot in someone’smind?”

Iris’s head snapped up to replace Amara floating inmid-air above her. She has heardeverything, Iris thought in dread. Petrified, she held her gaze onto Amaraas she landed on the floor without a sound. She looked spine-chilling and Iriswas at a loss of words and movements. Amara’s eyes were infiltrating herinsides, making her feel like every part of her was being torn apart, yet shefelt absolutely no pain. Her gaze scrutinized her, piercing into her veins thatIris was surprised as to how she managed to stand on her feet. She took a stepback, stumbling a bit in the process.

“Reading thoughts is such an interesting power, isn’tit?” Amara drawled, tilting her head to the side, while Iris kept movingbackwards.

Before Iris could justify herself, or even utter asingle word, her body went rigid as Amara fixated her eyes on her. Iris openedher mouth to scream, expecting the same pain that she went through before, butit never came. Moments later, something burned inside of her, prickling throughevery part of her skin, consuming her and her eyes went still; her breath caughtin her throat. At that moment, the only thought that crossed Iris’s mind, wasthat of Death.