Chapter 13: In the Forest

It has been a year since Sarah came to the magic realm. A year since she ventured into the cursed garden. A year since Phileas told her to stay away from the darkness. But not a year since she began to meet Jake secretly again. He often sneaked in letters to her using his magic bird. She almost got caught once, but Ella convinced Phileas that she was just trying to entertain her with some magic. By now Ella knew Sarah was not ordinary and that she could not use magic, but she had become close to her so she kept it to herself. She would tell the others that the noble lady simply did not like to show off her powers.

A year and Sarah still could not manage to find her magic. Phileas thought her exposure to the cursed garden would have awakened something, but nothing changed. He escorted her close to the garden a few more times after that day, but there was no sign of change. He decided that was not the solution. Going near the darkness would make Sarah paranoid, so he kept her away from there completely. Instead he let her into the rooms her parents used when they were alive. Sarah stood gazing at the large paintings of her parents there wondering what it would have been to be brought up by them. They were just strangers to her now. She walked over to the crib she slept in before she was carried away to the human realm. But there was no sign of magic in her. Phileas himself tried out a range of spells and magic in front of her to expose her to the power of the magic core hoping to awaken her core somehow, but nothing happened.

One day after half a year since her arrival to the palace, Phileas introduced her to Sir Hanns. Sir Hanns was nostalgic and embraced her as if she were his own daughter. Sarah felt very calm in his embrace as she ran her fingers through the feathers of his wings. He told her stories about her parents, about how he was close friends with the late king. Unfortunately, he did not know how to awaken her core. All he recalled was -

"Your father handed you to me really fast that day. I was half aware of my surroundings. He might have told me something, but I cannot recall. I believe your core just has been absent from magic too long. You were taken to the human realm too soon after birth, your core did not have time to mature. Perhaps you just need more time. Maybe you should start exposing yourself to natural magic".

"Natural magic, meaning?"

"Meaning, magic in the nature. The nature itself has life. Every life here has its own core. Familiarise yourself with the core of life, maybe that will help," he smiled at her. He had such a warm smile, unlike Phileas who did not smile at all.

Since then she got the opportunity to walk out of the palace and into the surrounding woods sometimes. She would spend time there under the supervision of Phileas himself and if not him, then the young maid Ella or Phileas' attendant Adam. She would touch the trees, sit under them, and sometimes press her ears to the tree trunks. But she did not feel connected to them, or feel their core. This is when she got the opportunity to meet secretly with Jake.

A year after her arrival to the palace, one fine day out in the woods Jake met with her again. They did not do much, just walked around and talked about things she did in the palace or her attempts at trying magic but failing. Jake showed her a few tricks and watched her giggle away. What about Ella and Adam? Jake put them into a trance before meeting her. Before she left, he just woke them up. He told her it was like hypnosis.

They were walking into the woods together when Sarah tripped over a tree root. Jake caught her hand to keep her steady. It made her blush. Jake asked is she was okay, and smiled warmly. Spending time with Jake made her happy. Jake suddenly began to walk up to her until he was only inches away from her. Sarah's face flushed red when he brought his hand up to pull a leaf off her hair. Jake noticed her face go red. He smiled a little and tucked her curl behind her ear. She looked at his face and could see his pale brown eyes, as clear as spring water, staring into her eyes. They were so calming that she did not realise when his hand had touched her face. It felt warm and she felt like she wanted to continue to be sucked into the depths of his eyes.

A sound interrupted them and Sarah broke off from her trance. They turned to see Phileas with his wings opened wide. He had just flown into the forest and the sound of his landing is what caught their attention. He flew into Jake and pinned him to a tree. Sarah fell back due to the force of the wind.

"What the hell were you doing, Brave," it seemed more like an imposing sentence than a question coming from Phileas. Veins had begun to show on his temple, "What were you thinking?" he screamed at Jake.

Jake showed his palms in surrender, "Relax, Phil. We just thought meeting like this was easier".

Phileas strengthened his hold around Jake's neck. Sarah got up hastily and pulled on Phileas.

"Let go Phil! You will choke him! Let go!"

"What were you going to do with her? I saw you, tell me!"

"Nothing, P-Phil," he strained to speak, "I was j-just admiring her f-face".

He pulled him off the tree and threw him on the ground. Sarah tried to run to his aid, but Phileas held her back so strongly that she knew instantly there was no use fighting out of it.

"Using a forbidden spell to hypnotise the royal servants, how dare you! Do you have any idea how suspicious your actions are at this point? Do you have any idea whom you are messing with? She is the princess! And you are already black-listed by prophecy!"

Jake coughed out blood and wiped his mouth with the edge of his sleeve, "Hey, hey, I did not hurt her okay. She enjoys meeting me and I do too. You wouldn't cooperate with us, we had no choice".

"Forbidden tricks, Brave! You are a criminal as of this instant!"

"Phileas, please let this slide. I allowed him to do this. I wasn't aware of it being forbidden by law. Let him go this once, okay? I am sorry. I just really really wanted to see him," Sarah plead.

Phileas did not waste any more time. He picked up Sarah in his arms and flew out of the forest leaving Jake on the forest ground. Jake watched them disappear out of the woods.

"Sorry, Sarah. I had no choice," he muttered to himself as he lay there panting.