Chapter 27 A Sight for Sore Eyes

A figure wearing all black crouched waiting, she had sent the pigeon to her sisters on the inside after sensing the great witch Carita Bennett. Colleen waited patiently; it had taken five of them to find the dungeons location. They had performed a screening ritual that would reveal the location of the dungeons where their sisters were held by Casper. She knew that if they were alive, the pigeon would come back with a message, she wanted to let them know and prepare for Carita Bennett not knowing she was already in the dungeons with her other sisters. Colleen had spent years trying to locate her fellow witches, one day by chance she found two soldiers talking about the cloaked dungeons. She had listened as they talked of the way the prisoners were treated ruthlessly and denied food; others were rotting in there slowly and had no hope of coming out alive. There were prominent people locked in the dungeons and at the mention of Jasper Adolfo, her interest had been roused.

Word had gone round the kingdom saying that he had taken his life while he was incarcerated because he could not stand the way his mate, the great witch had betrayed the emperor. A very grand funeral had been held all over the kingdom and everybody observed a period of mourning. He was after all the emperors' brother and crown prince of Grundolf. To hear that he was alive and rotting in the dungeons meant that her coven sisters could be alive as well in the dungeons. The pigeon was meant to do the scoping with the hopes that one of her sisters would tell her how many of them there were in the dungeons and their condition.

Colleen did not have to wait very long, the pigeon came carrying something that was tied to its hind leg. Her heart skipped a beat; the only person in their coven that tied messages to a pigeon's hind leg was Carita Bennett. She stretched her arm where the bird landed and sure enough, the message came from Carita.

When she looked at the parchment sent, she immediately recognized it as the one she had sent in but it had been wiped clean. Only one person had the aptitude to do such a thing, her excitement knew no bounds. She could not believe that she was holding a message from Carita herself, by the looks of it the parchment was empty, but as a witch she knew there was a message hidden. She needed to hurry back to her other sisters, the message was clear and loud; Carita Bennett was back and it was time to regroup.

Back in the dungeons, the sisters had come together in a group. Carita was the only one strong enough to share her healing essence with those that were too weak to move. It would give them the strength they needed when help came. After sharing her essence with the rest of the coven sisters, their magic revived threefold.

Most of their weakness was due to the distance and absence of their leader but now that she was here and had shared her essence with them, they were strong enough to break through the barrier placed by Casper. Kira had the gift of healing, she came and lay her hands on Carita's broken ribs, and they healed instantly. Mirabel, Carita's niece came running to hug her aunt, they both held on to each other sobbing and after some time they separated and looked simultaneously at Jasper. He was sleeping but still mumbling, sweating profusely and shivering at the same time. With her health restored and pain gone, Carita stood and stretched her hands towards the bars separating her from her beloved mate. They snapped into two giving her access to Jasper, she rushed to him and snapped the chains that held him in place and those placed on his hands.

She moved the chains carefully to avoid scraping the open wounds on his hands and feet. Tears kept falling from her eyes, the state he was in was not something a living being was supposed to experience, she felt guilt overwhelm her, and regretted leaving him. He was on the verge of giving up, the moment he had ascertained that Carita was okay he seemed to think that he was no longer needed. Kira and Mirabel came to where Carita was holding Jasper and put their hands on each side of her shoulder to give her comfort.

"Aunt, we can heal him, we have a little bit of strength in us left," they both said in unison.

"Preserve your energy for when we need to leave from this place, I'll need you to be strong enough to fight back," she stated as a matter of fact.

The two young ladies looked at each other and at Carita, they were obviously afraid of going against her but they had learned something from Jasper that they believed would be work to their advantage when the time came. Without saying a word to her, they moved to where the others were and they all nodded in agreement of what they were about to do. They sat in a circle and held hands, Carita Bennett was too engrossed in her grief and guilt that she did not see or hear the sisters chanting lowly. They were directing all their energy towards Jasper and sharing their gift of healing, strengthening, and nourishing. After a while, they stopped chanting and waited, it was not long after that they heard him breathing evenly as a person who slept deeply. Carita had not noticed anything happening and was still sobbing, her face buried in his filthy coat.

"I never thought that the sound of a sobbing woman would sound so sweet to my ears, ." his voice came out as a croak but it held some vitality.

Carita thought she was imagining the deep rumble that came from his throat was too audible from his chest that she could not deny Jasper was awake. Her head snapped very fast, her head lifted to look at him. She sobbed more while laughing; she could not believe that he was awake and talking. Carita hugged him so tightly that he winced; kissed his eyes, cheeks, mouth, and every place she could manage to land her kisses while sobbing.

He took her face in his hands and looked at her deeply, "You are a sight for sore eyes my love” He kissed her on the mouth, she responded hungrily, their audience forgotten until Mirabel giggled bringing them both to a stop.

Jasper looked at them, "Hello girls, I see my lessons have come in handy. I was already on my way but you brought me back, thank you.

"What are you talking about?" Carita asked not understanding what Jasper was talking about but suspecting that his sudden health was not miraculous but someone was responsible.

Jasper laughed, he had a deep throaty laugh that Carita had missed for so many years that the sound of him laughing was enough to send shivers all over her body.

"Don't look so surprised, the time spent together gave us a lot of time to learn from each other and grow. Your girls have been nothing except exceptional, I am proud of them and you, my little witch should be too," he told her as he poked her nose lovingly and gathering her in his arms.

"I am, when they said they could share their healing essence with you I was afraid that they would be too weak to be able to make it but now I can see I was wrong. Thank you for taking care of my sisters, "she said. Carita had longed and even dreamed of being in her mate's arms, now here she was in his embrace.

The task ahead seemed like a child's play compared to earlier when she was contemplating on the casualties they would have when the plan they had was set in motion.

Suddenly Jasper pushed Carita out of his arms, she was hurt by the gesture, but when he stood, he took her hand and pulled her to embrace her in his arms again.

"There is someone we need to check on, are you up to it?" he asked.

"What do you mean?" she asked not understanding what he meant.

"When I was brought here, they tortured me that most of the time I was always out cold of semi-conscious but even then I could not mistake the voice of someone very close to me.

He is here and was trying to bargain for my life, asking the impostor to let me go," he said watching Carita to see if she understood whom he was talking about.

Carita could not guess whom Jasper was talking about but when he saw that she did not understand he told her, "My brother"

Carita's eyes opened wide with surprise, her mouth parted and she remained motionless not believing her ears. Could it be that the years spent in the dungeon had caused damage to his brain? Wasn't his brother the emperor that ruled Grundolf? With these questions going around in her head, Carita braced herself to find a subtle way to let him know that his brother wasn't in danger but was alive, well and thriving while he rotted away in the dungeons. She did not know how she was going to remind him that it was the same brother he was talking about that had kept him locked for seventeen years but she was determined to try.

"My love ..." Carita started but Jasper could already read her thoughts.

"I know what you think but listen, I only need you to use your skills and get me to the end of this dungeon. There you will ask me the question you want to ask and tell me what you want to but for now I want you to trust me," he pleaded with her.

Carita had never denied her mate anything and she was not about to start now, she knew the best way to settle things was to make sure she understood his perspective fully before stating her side of the story.' "Okay, which way, she asked.

Jasper kissed her on the forehead, happy that she trusted him without a doubt and that she trusted him without a doubt and followed his request.

"This way," he said pointing to the opposite direction of where he had been chained.

Carita broke the iron bars without effort: Jasper took her hands in his and went over the broken bars on the floor to the other side of the dungeon where he thought he had heard a voice that had haunted him for seventeen years. They could not walk fast because of the darkness; the stench too coming towards them was very strong, indicating that there were more people in this part of the dungeon. It was getting darker as they moved but Carita clicked fingers and said, "Incendia" and a ball of fire started in her palm. It was bright enough to illuminate the way; dozens of people lay on the floor of the dungeon.

Carita passed the ball of fire over each individual but they were unrecognizable until just before the end of the path a voice recognized Jasper.

"My prince, is that you"

The voice was unmistakable; it was that of their butler!

"Bertrand?" Jasper called out in surprised

"Aye my prince, it is I," the voice croaked.

"How are you here?" he crouched on one knee to be able to hear him well and to help him avoid straining his voice.

"Young master, it is not I you should bother checking on. Check in the corner over there," he said as he pointed further down from where he was.

Carita and Jasper rushed to where he had pointed and on the floor lay an emaciated figure but the cloak on his body was unmistakable.

It was his brother!