Chapter 35: Chapter 33: Crimson Moon

The Hero Became a Mousegirl
Chapter 33 - Crimson Moon

“You’re lying!” I cried as I poured more and more of my magic into Cesarina’s body. “She’s not dead, I can save her.” 

Sola sighed as she watched me. “So this is the secret power you wield, holy magic. I’m sure the King will be thrilled to hear of this. Now then Caelan, I know how much it hurts to lose a friend, but I cannot give you time to mourn. I’m going to arrest you now, I’m really sorry.” 

For a moment, I thought to strike at Sola. If I had a blade at my side I would’ve drawn it and swung for her. Unfortunately, all I had was my magic and my fists, neither of which would be of any use to me. Going limp, I allowed Sola to pull my arms behind my back. She attached manacles around my wrists before pulling me to my feet, guiding me to a carriage made out of bars. 

“You’re going to be fine,” Sola whispered to me as she waited for one of her knights to open the cage. “I’ll make sure you’re not harassed on our way back, and you’ll be fed from the Knights’ own rations.” 

My heart was too sickened with emotion to reply to Sola’s words. Who cared how they treated me, I’d allowed my friends to die. Cesarina had done everything she could to protect me, and I had just watched. Why hadn’t I tried to help?  Even if it was meaningless why hadn’t I struggled more?  Cesarina had died because of my inaction, and I would have to live with that for the rest of my life. 

The carriage’s iron door hissed as a knight pulled it open. I took a step toward it, the flames of rebellion, nothing more than smoldering ash in my heart. I’d nearly reached the carriage with a twisting cyclone of blue fire collided with Sola sending the knight to the ground. The other knights readied their weapons only to find themselves moored to the earth as dirt and rocks rose up around their feet to ensnare them. 

“Caelan, come on,” Cesarina called. Turning around I saw her, tail swaying wildly behind her, as she cupped her tiny hands to her mouth to scream at me. Cesarina was alive. 

“How?!” I asked as I ran to her side, only to have Cesarina point me toward Aivi. 

“Grab her, we’ll talk later.”

Lifting Aivi over my shoulders I ran after Cesarina who darted from tree, to alleyway, to the shadows of various streets. Making her way up to the wall that was built around Andetor’s heart, Cesarina blew a hole in the wood with a torrent of Razer-like wind before guiding me outside. 

“We gotta keep running,” Cesarina wheezed. “Bleh this body isn’t suited for physical activity.”

“There’s a grove of trees up ahead, we can catch our breath there.” 

“No, we can’t. There’s no way I killed Sola with that attack. We have to keep running to get as far away from her as possible.” 

“Then do you know some magic to help us flee?” 

“I can fly, but I can’t bring the two of you with me when I do. I don’t have enough mastery to manage that many wind currents at once.” 

“Don’t worry about us, I can still run.  Fly ahead of us Rina, I’ll catch up to you.” 

“You sure?” 

“Yeah. I still have a lot of energy to burn, I can run all night if I have to, even with Aivi on my shoulders.” 

“Alright then, run straight, I’ll meet up with you once I think we’ve gone far enough.” 

Cesarina took to the air while I began barreling forward into the woods that surrounded Andetor. I ran through the night, until rays from the morning sun began to peak through the trees around me. Only then did I stumble, with a ragged breath I sat Aivi down underneath a large tree and sat beside her breathing deeply to soothe my burning lungs. 

Not long after I’d stopped Cesarina slipped through the trees, a sheepish smile on her lips. “You did great Caelan, we can rest easy now.” 

“I… how did you survive?” 

“Dark magic. Even if I can no longer command it the way I did when I was a vampire, I can still use as much as any mortal. With it I created an illusion of your magic not working, while in reality you healed me in seconds.”

“But Sola’s anti-magic…” 

“Ended the moment my specters began to appear. That was the whole plan, with me dead and Aivi unconscious she had no reason to use her anti-magic, leaving herself vulnerable to attack.” 

“How could you even summon them with the anti-magic in place?” 

“That’s the beauty of dark magic, it can overpower the anti-magic used by Hexbreakers. Honestly the fact that it could beat Hexbreakers was a big reason for why I thought becoming a vampire would help be destroy the bands. If the paltry dark magic I could use as a human was strong enough to overcome anti-magic, perhaps the dark magic I’d gain as a vampire could overwhelm the bands. Unfortunately I was wrong.” 

“You really scared me Rina.” 

“I know, I’m sorry Caelan. This was the only strategy I could think of at the time.” 

Forcing myself to my feet I wrapped my arms around Cesarina and pulled her into a tight hug. “I’m just glad you’re safe. I don’t think I could’ve lived with myself if I let you die.” 

“After everything I’ve done to you,” Cesarina muttered nuzzling her face into my chest. “You shouldn’t care so much about me.” 

“You did a bad thing, and I’m still unhappy with you. But that doesn’t mean I want to see you dead.” 

“I’ll try not to die then.” 

“You better. Now what do we do? Are we just going to go to the Empire on foot?” 

“That’s impossible, there isn’t any land connecting us to them. We’ll need to go somewhere where we can charter a boat.” 

“Do we have money for that?”

“We’re cute, I’m sure we’ll figure something out,” Cesarina giggled. “But first, let’s make camp. You look tired, I’m feeling some serious mana fatigue, and Aivi hasn’t shook off the drugged wine. We all need time to rest.” 

Curling up beside Aivi, Cesarina laid her head on her chest and closed her eyes. 

“Shouldn’t we post a watch… for animals and stuff?” 

“I’m too exhausted to do anything,” Cesarina shrugged without opening her eyes. “I’m sure it will be fine. These forests are regularly patrolled by hunters looking for prey, I doubt any creatures will come near us.” 

“What about demons?” 

“None have been spotted in the east for a century at least. It’s not a problem here.” 

“Alright,” I sighed and sat down again. “Sweet dreams, Rina.” 

“You too Caelan.” 

At first I tried to remain awake while Aivi and Cesarina slept, so that we’d have someone watching over our little makeshift camp. Exhaustion soon caught up with me, however, my eyelids became too heavy to hold open, and I fell asleep. While I slept I dreamt of a blue-haired goblin girl feeding me a pastry in a back alley.  Something about the dream felt so real, as if it were a memory, perhaps it was. 

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“Good evening Caelan,” Aivi smiled at me when I opened my eyes. “Cesarina told me what happened after I fell unconscious, thank you for saving us.” 

“Rina!” Cesarina squealed from behind a tree. “Just call me Rina, like Caelan does, Aivi.” 

“Umm… what is Rina doing?” 

“Waiting on her clothes to dry. She’s still suffering from mana fatigue, so she cannot risk drying them magically.” 

“Wait… why are her clothes wet?”

“Because she washed them.” 

“Isn’t this kind of a bad time to be concerned with dirty clothes?” 

“Well…” Aivi glanced toward the trees. “If it was just a bit of dirt I believe she would’ve waited. But… the way her clothes were soiled made it necessary to wash them right away.” 

“I’m not following.” 

“She had an accident while she was sleeping, Caelan,” Aivi whispered. 

“You’re kidding?” 

“I can still hear you!” Cesarina cried. “It’s this stupid body… vampires don’t have to worry about things like this!” 

“Ah… well I have wind magic, maybe Rina can teach me how to dry clothing?”

“No!  You might shred them!” 

“Let’s just let her clothes dry naturally,” Aivi said, patting my shoulder. “How about you and I go searching for some wild berries or something? I’m getting a bit hungry.” 

“Yeah, that sounds fun.” 

Aivi and I slipped into the forest, and began to look for bushes laden with fruit. Only a few of them were ripe enough to harvest, but by nightfall we both had handfuls of berries as we returned to our camp. 

“Let’s eat and then start walking, we don’t want to remain in any one place too long,” Cesarina grumbled, now dressed in her heavily wrinkled, but otherwise dry clothes. 

“We can eat as we walk,” Aivi noted, seeing me look down at my handful of fruit.  

Nodding I shared half of my portion with Cesarina and the three of us took off through the trees at a leisurely pace. Having come close to drying up all of her mana, Cesarina needed several days to recover, leaving her nearly powerless. I on the other hand, felt fine, other than a bit of soreness in my legs. 

“You should start practicing your wind magic, to cut the branches and brush out of our way,” Cesarina noted. “I’ll walk you thorough it.” 

It took me a bit of effort, but with Cesarina coaching me, I was able to gain some control over my wind magic. Once I was using it without further instruction, we moved on to earth magic. My request to learn fire magic was shot down, however, as Cesarina feared I might start a fire I couldn’t control. If that happened the bright flames and plumes of smoke would lead Sola’s knights right to us. 

“Who is Sola?” I asked after her name came up in conversation a few times. “You knew who she was before she ever introduced herself.” 

“Lady Latonia Grace Sola, of all the Hexbreakers who’ve sworn fealty to the King, she’s the one I fear most. She’s the one who killed my mother.” 

“Rina… I’m so sorry.” 

“It’s okay. Someday, Sola and I will fight for real, and I will extract from her every tear I ever cried. For now, I can’t risk it. There is no one capable of leading the Spellcaster’s Guild if I were to perish today.” 

“Don’t think about dying. If you fight Sola again, I want you to win.” 

Cesarina gave me a bitter smile. “I’ll do my best. My mother was a genius, someone capable of bending magic in ways never before seen. If she couldn’t beat her…” 

“We just have to grow so strong she doesn’t stand a chance.” 

“Even without your memories, you’re still the same. Seriously Caelan, the hero act doesn’t suit someone as cute as you.” 

“I’m no hero… you fought with everything you had, all I did was watch.” I hung my head. I’d let everyone down. I was supposed to be strong, even if I didn’t remember, if I tried hard enough maybe I could’ve called upon that strength. I didn’t even try. 

“That’s my fault Caelan,” Cesarina gazed up at the stars through the treetops. “I tried to bend your personality to make you more sheepish. I thought if I made you scared of conflict, it’d be easier to protect you.” 

“It’s hard to protect a restless idiot who forces her help on everyone she meets, huh?” 

“Did Aivi tell you that?” 

“Are you mad?” 

“No of course not,” Cesarina gripped Aivi’s hand tightly in her own. “Maybe I would’ve been, but honestly, none of this has gone according to plan. I’m just tired and frustrated with myself. I should’ve waited for you.” 

“We’ll do better next time Rina. Maybe I’ll even be able to convince Eyrina to help me make you an adult again, once my memories are back.” 

“I’d like that. I really don’t want to live through a second childhood.” 

“Personally, I like you better this way,” Aivi noted with a soft chuckle. “You’re so cute and tiny. I’m looking forward to spending forever with you this way.” 

“I’m still going to grow up!” Cesarina hissed. “I won’t be tiny forever!  Right Caelan? I’m going to grow up normally even if you do nothing, right?” 

“Ugh… I have no idea. I used the magic Eyrina gifted me to make you a kitten, I wasn’t really thinking about what happens next.” 

“See,” Aivi lifted Cesarina up into a princess carry. “You might remain tiny and cute like this for the rest of eternity.” 

“Please no… Caelan I’m sorry! Please fix me!!” 

“I’ll try.” 

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