Freya was lost in a nightmare. A nightmare made flesh. "This isn't," Victor said behind her.
"My home," Freya said looking up at the darkened castle that had seen better days a decade ago. "They torched it."
They had fallen out of the portal Rina had created in the middle of what had been a bountiful marketplace, that was now in tatters. Vendor stalls long since abandoned, clearly looted by thieves or worse. The once forbidding castle with the long Mage tower that oversaw everything was riddled with holes. Less a castle and more ruins before them.
"This must've been after the siege."
"Siege?" Freya asked.
"Well, it started as a siege but escalated into a war." Xander mused, glancing at Freya. "Did you really think Wilhelm would ever stomach anyone on your throne after you were gone?" Xander said, running a hand over his face. "We spent years gathering forces. Two years to the day you were cursed, he descended upon this place like a plague. Destroying the black Knights that followed him."
"Evanora?" Freya whispered.
"Had died not long after the curse. Its final price was her life." Aline said.
"And the dark shadow that it cast on her descendants." Ava pointed out before she started to walk up the steps to the castle. She turned on the third step to look back at Freya. "We've come this far," Ava said.
"The only way left is forward," Freya said glancing back at Victor and Xander. Rina crossed her arms as she watched them walk into the castle.
"Aren't you coming," Aline asked as she walked up to Rina who had walked away from the castle.
"I think I'm going to give them space," Rina said, her eyes narrowing on the town. "Maybe look for weapons."
Aline watched the demon walk away with apprehension. "I should prep the area around the castle," Aline said. "Wouldn't want unnecessary intruders." She said. "Come on Charlotte, you can give me a hand."
I'm a university professor following a Witch in a Viking stronghold. There's no amount of therapy for this."
The castle itself felt like a place that had gone too long without anything or anyone to occupy it. Dust covered every surface, light invading every hole or crevice it could pierce. Freya walked among the old stones that had made this castle her home. She went to the hall, that led to the entrance chamber her fingers tracing the grooves of the worn stone.
"I had pierced here with a sword during training with Wilhelm. The mark is still here." Freya said, the weight of Victor's gaze a warmth in the hollow place her castle had become. She entered the chamber her modern-age boots making a hard sound on the stone.
In the middle of the room, a circular mural still sat a representation of the crescent moon and the stars. Freya remembered the violet midnight blue hues that had decorated the floor as the moonlight shone through the slits of stone.
She raised her eyes to the throne her eyes narrowing as she looked at the throne that should have been hers. "It's changed," Freya said quietly.
"What's changed?" Ava asked.
"The throne." She said looking at Ava as she joined her. "It had been black and my uncle had put his own emblem."
"Wilhelm," Xander said from behind her. "He changed it after the war." He said gazing at the dark green throne with indigo velvet braid threaded into its base. "He never stopped believing you would one day return."
Ava put a gentle hand on Freya's arm before she walked toward Victor. "I should check the Mage Tower. Come with me," she said gesturing at Victor, pulling his sleeve as she passed him.
With a final look at Freya's turned back, he followed Ava out. Into the depths of this ancient castle that held so much memory for Freya. "Wilhelm," Victor muttered as they made their way upstairs.
"Freya and Wilhelm grew up together in the castle. She had few good memories here, but almost all of them were with him." Ava said.
"How could you know that?" Victor muttered as they began the spiral staircase within the Mage tower. Victor glanced around at the space that had shelves along its wall with bound scrolls and potion ingredients.
"Because Evanora did," Ava said pushing open the oak door, that led into Evanora's old chambers. Victor looked up at the gaping maw of the tower that showed the sky. Evanora's place was open to the elements the walls covered in ivy and vibrant blooms that looked dangerous. On her shelves were glass jars of different ingredients some were herbs that Victor had used in recipes but there were other things, like pure white stone, that Victor was pretty sure wasn't actual stone, sharpened bone fragments, and what looked like body parts from various animals.
Ava's boots clicked loudly on the stone as she approached a work table that had a mass of cloth in a rounded large shape that oozed black fluid. Ava glanced at Victor, "This is probably not going to be pretty, but we do need this." she said, gingerly lifting the thick cloth carefully away.
Victor yelped leaping back as she revealed the remains of a wolf head almost as large as Freya's wolf form. "Is that?" he gasped. Taking a cautious step forward to look at the skull that was still moist.
"Yeah," Ava said glancing at him. "The original Wolf, from the spell, in all its gruesome splendor," she said with a grin. "What a relief."
Victor looked at her sharply. "You needed the original wolf?"
Ava nodded. "Yes and one more thing."
"What's that," Victor said tiredly.
"We need you."
"Me?"
"You brought her out of her wolf form." Ava reminded him.
"Because she thought I looked like Wilhelm," Victor muttered.
"You were the one she worried for when we heard you disappeared. No matter what you might believe, you are the one she turns to when she's upset. She needs you to be there when she takes her final leap into her humanity.
"We know he's probably in the forest right now," Xander said suddenly in the gloom of the chamber. Freya did not have to ask which 'him' he spoke of. It was the only one she ever thought of.
"Out there, but not here in the castle," Freya murmured.
"He never would have taken your throne, not with you gone," Xander said.
"Gone?" Freya huffed. "I was a monster. Only worth hunting for. At least during this time."
"Do you remember that night? At all?" Xander asked taking a seat on the lower steps that led to the throne.
"That night?" Freya said playing with the brittle wood that made the throne. Her gaze went upwards to the circular window that sat high on the wall overlooking the chamber. "I remember seeing the storm and being worried about what evil Ava had summoned for my people. Then there was only pain. Feeling like my insides were tearing themselves apart. That my blood was boiling under my skin. The horror as claws started to appear. I ran from everyone. I wanted to save them from the horror I could feel myself becoming. Then Wilhelm found me." Freya said smiling slightly as she turned to look at Xander.
"He always found you," he murmured.
"I begged him to go. To save my people and always keep them safe." Freya said facing her throne and turning to Xander. "It's why he went after my Uncle, isn't it?"
"He would've always gone after your uncle," Xander replied. "It was always your plan. And he always made sure to see them through. Even if Evanora had still been alive he would've gone after him too."
Freya sighed, taking a step back and taking a seat on the throne that should have always been hers. The throne she fought and bled for. The throne that was the cause of all her pain and suffering in the body of a wolf. Rina and Aline walked in at that moment, both of them bending respectfully in her direction.
Charlotte whistled as she walked in, nodding respectfully in Freya's direction. "If only I could document this moment," Charlotte said with a sigh. "A Queen on the throne wearing jeans."
"Oh yes. Focus on that. Not the fact that she's finally on the throne that your ancestors have all fought to make sure would stay for her." Xander said.
"Semantics," Charlotte said.
Aline rolled her eyes. "I prepped the perimeter around the city," Aline said.
"The whole city?" Xander said.
"You think that is really necessary."
"I don't think it's going to matter," Rina said, blinking as everyone turned to look at her in surprise.
"What do you mean?" Freya said leaning forward in her chair.
Rina crossed her arms. "I've seen countless curses performed, cast, and broken. As much as you prepare for the worst. Is the more the world will throw something unexpected, at you."
"You think something will go wrong?" Xander asked.
"I think Ava and Freya came to me for help and then the main ingredients of her curse were kidnapped by my old frenemy. The world is defined in circles, and it never stops turning."
The doors behind the throne were flung open suddenly making everyone but Freya jump. Out of the near darkness of the ancient staircase, Ava walked out draped in black velvet looking every bit the witch that came before her.
"Oh good. Everyone's here." Ava said walking into the chamber, bowing slightly as she passed Freya. Freya looked past her, breath catching in her throat, as Victor walked in wearing black leather pants, and a billowy white shirt, his hair brushed away from his face.
"Where did you get that?" Freya asked quietly, staring with disbelief at how closely Victor now resembled Wilhelm.
"I was ordered against my will," Victor replied dryly.
"You stand over here," Ava said marching him into a spot on the floor. Victor scowled but stood watching curiously as she dropped a handful of sand that circled around Victor.
"Ashwood?" Xander asked.
"Monkswood actually," Ava said positioning Xander opposite both Freya and Victor. "You are going to represent the past and present as someone who was around for both." She said moving her hands the ground itself cracking to form a circle. Ava turned to look at Freya who gazed at her wryly.
"This isn't going to be pleasant is it?" Freya asked.
"Almost as painful as the initial curse."
Freya smiled wolfishly at her. "Bring it on."