Fencliff: Part IV

The dimly-lit corridor has torches flickering either side, creating just enough light for me to find the doorway. The cool handle feels the same under my palm, yet in my bones I know it’s different *other*. As though I’ve been here before, but somehow everything is changed.

Asha sits proudly, the way I remember her from when we first met. The crinkling of the skin around her eyes as she breaks into a smile almost makes me want to smile back at her.

My guard is up, and my expression remains neutral. I think I see her falter for a moment, but the moment is brief before she gestures for me to take a sit opposite.

The room is different. An orb sits in front of her, a warm glow gently illuminating the space around us. The room is surrounded by the most unusual flowers I’ve ever seen. Tall, curved stems give way to ghostly white petals; so thin and fragile that they’re also translucent. Like bowing apparitions huddled around us to listen.

“Treska poppies” Asha comments, noting my interest.

“The ones in the medicine they’ve been giving you?”

Asha nods, gently running a hand over the delicate surface of the petals.

“They have an effective analgesic effect, but they also dull any external magical abilities”

The poppies dominate the space, imposing but *peaceful?* The atmosphere in the room is strange. I can feel Asha’s magic vibrating around us, simmering, unable to escape.

“Is it frustrating?” I ask “Having your abilities locked up?”

Asha raises a brow at my jibe, silence her only answer to my question.

“They are not what you imagined, are they?” She asks, gesturing to the poppies.

“No” I reply, unsure where this line of conversation is headed.

“Are they different in your world? Earth poppies?”

I try to school my expression, but I know the shock is evident on my face. Asha had said when we Ayris and I first met her at The Veil Barter that she sensed I was not from this realm, but the fact that she knows my home world catches me completely off-guard.

Asha smiles, turning back to face me.

“You knew more about me than you let on” I finally respond, and she nods in agreement.

“Zora has taken a… *keen* interest in you, Laurel. There is so much you do not know”.

“Then explain it to me, Asha. You owe me that, surely”.

I see the guilt flash in her eyes, but she doesn’t offer apologies.

“The first attack in Stornhold was swift. The mantis took a woman foraging on the outskirts of town. She had a babe at home no older than 3. We had heard rumours of strange creature attacks to the north but paid it little mind until we were the demons’ next victims”

I see the pain in her eyes and I wonder how well Asha knew this woman.

“The Veiling… It changed everything. Nobody was prepared”

I tilt my head in confusion.

“Prepared for what?” I ask.

“Zora’s plans had gone without a hitch up until that point. But I knew. I knew as soon as I saw you what you were”

“What I am?”

“The true Velythian heir”

Peri’s words ring in my ears. The words I’d pushed deep down and hadn’t yet had a chance to process. But I remember them clearly from the night I’d dreamwalked whilst the king had kept me as his prisoner.

*It is a true honour to serve the last remaining Princess of Velythia*

I swallow, trying to compose myself. It seems Asha has been far more clued up on things than I’d realised. *How had I been so blind to this?*

“It was my job to be informed, Laurel. Deception is necessary when in the servitude of the coven”.

I glare at Asha, my anger palpable. The calm way she describes betraying us and the way she seems to enjoy divulging clues but providing no context for her words.

“Zora’s coven?” I spit. Asha only nods. “*Why?*” I demand, my emotions bubbling over. “How could you choose that… *monster* over us? I thought you were my friend…”

“My acceptance into the coven was determined before you and I had even met”

I can no longer mask the shock that mars my face. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised, in truth. Why should being deceived from the very beginning be anymore hurtful?

“So everything was a lie? You were working for the coven from the very beginning?”

Asha sighs, leaning forward in her seat.

“You paint such a black and white picture, Laurel. Not everything is as clear cut as you portray it”

“I’m struggling to understand how you working for our enemy is anything other than cold-hearted deception, Asha. You’re no better than Zora. *Worse*, infact”

Zora’s eyebrow lifts in surprise. No doubt shocked at my tone.

“At least Zora didn’t try to disguise her contempt for me, or pretend to be my friend. I can respect her honesty, if little else”.

“I *am* your friend” She insists and I scoff at her words.

“I did what I could. I knew Zora would doubt my loyalty eventually”

I say nothing, her admission creating even more questions in my head.

Asha has the good grace to look slightly ashamed, but still holds my gaze before gesturing to the glowing orb between us.

“There is so much you don’t understand, Laurel. Place your hands upon it. It will show you everything you wish to know”.

I shake my head as I stand abruptly. “I don’t trust you, Asha, I’m not doing anything you tell me-“

“My child” Asha interrupts. My heart squeezes at the pet name. “You know in your heart that what I say is true. The orbs are transportative, it will take you deeper into my consciousness, inside my memories. It will show you my path”.