Chapter 16 My sister

Carita Bennett turned slowly on her side to check on the groaning man on the other side of her cell. She was not any better than he was but at least she could move unlike him, who was chained to ground in heavy chains. The clasps had rubbed on his skin for so long that they had created a grayish pink looking wound. He had similar wounds on his legs where the other chain tying him to the floor-that he could not stand - was. He fell unconscious three days prior, only coming to for a few minutes and then going under again. He seemed to be running a high fever he was delirious calling her name repeatedly in his sleep. Carita could do nothing to ease his discomfort, she lay there every day crying. She had tried calling for someone to bring him a doctor but when they came, they only looked at him, and made snide remarks about how he was a tough wolf and left without doing anything. Carita had tried everything including offering her life for his but all they did was ignore her efforts.

When she managed to turn, she had a full view of his malnutrition, filthy form lying in an awkward posture. Her heart skipped a beat as she feared the worst but then he started mumbling again deliriously,

He was now mentioning words, some were audible, but others were muffled.

"Celestine. ccccee. bbba... bbb... Baby.... Ddaan…dange... ddddanger..."he kept mumbling repeatedly.

Carita remembered his love for Celestine and her little child, before they had to hide the child from her own grandfather. Jasper loved Celestine as if she was his own child; she would come rushing through the door to look for him whenever she was allowed to venture out of her wing at the palace. He would go with her to the training field, where she mimicked what the training pack warriors were doing until one day her mother; Luna Samara came to Jasper.

“Can’t do that, she is nothing like you Sam, "Jasper said frustration evident on his face.

Casper the Emperor did not want his daughter to train like a warrior, he wanted her to be taught how to be a lady, a queen and an empress. He always argued with Samara that their daughter was not cut out to be a warrior like Luna Samara was.

Jasper, I know you are itching to train her but because your brother treats her like a delicate flower, you want to deny her what she already wants, Just look at her, is that a queen or empress only meant to decorate the throne of Grundolf with her presence?" she asked while pacing, frustration evident on her face.

Carita Bennett had been standing on the side, listening to their conversation but on instinct decided to do something that shocked the both of them. She went to where the eight-year-old Celeste was mimicking what was being done and smacked her on the back of her head. She turned to her furious, her eyes red and her eyes bulging with surprise.

“Fight me, if you can tackle me to the ground, you start training officially tomorrow"

Celestine was beyond reasoning point to hear what Carita had just said to her, she had only heard two words, "light me" and she was itching to do just that. She did not wait for Carita to get ready but pounced on her immediately and started raining blows on her head repeatedly. They were going in circles, Carita trying to protect her face from the hits she was getting from young Celestine,

Luna Samara, Jasper and all the warriors that had been training on the field, stopped what they were doing surprised by Celestine& strength. She had the upper hand against her aunt; she was exploiting all her weakness and using it against her aunt. Her small size allowed her to perch herself on Carita's back and attack her while Carita could do nothing except try to untangle her from her grasp but it was a futile attempt.

Suddenly something unexpected happened that changed what had been a simple sparring to a full-blown attack on Carita. While perched on the back of Carita, Celestine shifted into a whitish wolf with black patches on her neck, She bit into her shoulder causing her to scream in pain and fall on the ground on her knees. When she fell, they fell together and young Celestine, still in her wolf form collapsed. It had taken her a full month to recover from the attack but Jasper and Luna Samara all agreed she needed to be trained especially because it was unheard of for a wolf to shift at eight years old.

Celestine also took a whole month to wake from the comma induced by her shitting and she had surprised everyone when she came with a message from the moon goddess. She told her mother that she had been living with the moon goddess and had received messages to deliver to her father, uncle, aunt Carita and her mother; Luna Samara,

Even though she was not as tough as her mother was, she turned out to be a great fighter but did not join the army as expected of every one who trained in combat.

Carita smiled fondly, she could sense her as well as her daughter but was afraid that Casper had turned Angela; she had not realized that she was crying until tears trickled down her face. It hurt too much to look at Jasper's suffering; it hurt even more to think of what he had endured for the fifteen years she had been away. A sob escaped her, she tried to muffle it with her hand, but it seemed to have attracted the attention of the person in the cell next to her.

"What will happen to us if you break? We have been waiting for fifteen years for you to come rescue us," a feeble voice whispered just next to her. She could not see who it was but she thought she recognized that voice. It had been too long but she could never forget that voice.

"Kira?" she called out afraid to hear what she already knew in her heart to be true.

"Yes sister, it is I and almost half the coven is here with me," she replied her voice sounding too weak.

"He kept us alive until he was too weak to do anything for us," she continued to speak, pausing to catch her breath every time she said a word.

"What are you talking about? I thought you were all hidden awaiting for my return," she asked all her senses alert and her mind going at an accelerated pace. If half of her sisters were in the dungeon then that meant there was someone within the coven who betrayed them. The witches were a closely-knit group; nobody had the guts nor the power to infiltrate them.

"They hunted us down like animals and killed most of them, those that were not capture escaped to other realms!"

Carita was shocked to hear this, how could they sacrifice their lives by going to other realms where they were hated by the other creatures. As if she could read her mind, Kira attempted to laugh sarcastically but it came out as a cough

They would rather die at the hands of other creatures than die at the hands of Grundolf's tyrant!" after she finished speaking she coughed for some time.

All this time Carita had been inching close to where the voice was coming from, on the floor next to Kira was a woman she thought she recognized but was not sure until Kira looked at her sadly.

She is too weak, it was her duty last week to keep him alive," she said as she indicated with her finger at Jasper.

"I don't understand," Carita said confused.

"When we were brought in most of us were at death's door, but despite his weakness he spread his magical essence over each of us in turns to heal, comfort and cloak. We owe our existence to him, had it not been for him we would have been long dead by now," Kira said looking in Jasper's direction reverently.

"Oh, Carita was at a loss for words, she looked at her mate and husband and broke down in tears. He was à generous soul that never wanted to see anyone in pain, the way he protected her sisters was a mark of true love for her and her kind. She felt guilty for living a hassle free life on the third realm while he had to do all the hard work of keeping his sisters alive and protected. She was overwhelmed by the gesture, as she understood that he did so because he knew that is what she would have done.

Kira waited for her to stop sobbing before she could continue.

He taught us how to share our life essence to heal or energize, cloak or comfort each other," she told Carita when she thought she could now listen without her emotions cloaking the urgency of what they needed to do. She could not trust her weak voice or her stamina to be able to tell her everything she needed to know so that they can break out of the dungeon.

Carita was looking at Kira to ascertain whether she was delirious or she knew what she was talking about. She listened as Kira told her what Jasper had taught them, it took an hour because she would sometimes trail off when her energy drained but by the time she was done explaining Carita Bennett already had a plan. It would require everyone's attention; they had to be strong enough to move and to fight back but for that to happen they had to have at least half of their strength.

It was time to live up to her reputation as a great witch; guilt would only bring her weakness. She had wasted enough time already whining and sobbing because of her mate's condition but that was not helping him. If anything, he seemed to be giving up now that he knew she was alive and well. He had spent fifteen years protecting her sisters, now it was time she protected him,

When she looked around the dungeon, she was satisfied that they would be able to pull off the plan she had in mind. But first she needed someone, for the plan to succeed she needed Angela, Someone had to be on the outside, someone powerful enough to be able to do what needed to be done. The only challenge was that she had no way of reaching out to Angela.

"I need to talk to her," she mumbled to herself.

As if waiting to be sent, a carrier pigeon perched itself on the dungeon's window sill. It was too high up for Carita but as she was contemplating on how to get to it, the pigeon dropped a yellow parchment at her feet and flew out. She bent to pick it up and when she unfolded it; there was a message from the royal palace. She turned to Kira and told her, "It is time sister; we are getting out of this dungeon!"

Kira looked at Carita not comprehending what she meant by saying what she just said but Carita feared laser to where she was and whispered something in her ear.

Kira brightened up and repeated the same words spoken by Carita.

“It is time sister, we are getting out.”