25. Primrose’s first lesson with an expert

As they left the room, Primrose asked her grandfather why he wore the gauntlets.

‘To keep everyone safe; oh granddaughter mine. My Dark Magic is very powerful and without these I would, in time, be just like my evil twin. They have been specifically designed for me; silver for everyone’s protection and to keep me in touch with my softer side and emotions; pewter to control my energy and miniscule veins of gold to boost the powers of the metals.’

‘And I thought you wore them just because they looked good,’ Primrose joked.

Her grandfather smiled at her comment and opened a door, beckoning her inside. Primrose found herself inside a large underground cave. She had never seen anything like it before and marvelled at its beauty, but her grandfather gave her no time to admire her surroundings - she was here to learn.

The cave was lit with many flickering candles that shone off the wet walls that were coloured in many shades of orange. From the ceiling hung wonderful formations of stalactites and from the floor stalagmites stretched majestically towards their hanging cousins. Deep pools mirrored the light and the ceiling, giving the illusion of unknown depths and dangers.

True to his word, Primrose was shown how to tighten her shield around her body to maintain both her invisibility and safety. Afterwards, she was shown how to create the smallest of black, magical orbs which resembled grains of rice but still packed a powerful punch. Her grandfather then made his own orbs and sent them spinning and skidding around the cave, weaving them skilfully around the fantastic rock formations and across still pools of water, enhancing the optical illusion of depth and danger. Primrose watched spellbound as she studied his movements closely.

‘Stop gawking and chase my spheres with your own,’ he ordered in a tone not to be argued with.

For the next few minutes, with Primrose’s skill improving, she managed to hit just one of his orbs. She believed it to be by pure luck, as she cut off its course when it spun round one of the cave’s formations. She waited nervously for the impending explosion, but none came, and her hesitation made her lose all of her orbs to her grandfather.

‘Where my brother is concerned, there can be no hesitation. One moment’s loss of concentration and you are…’

Suddenly, Primrose found herself the target of all her grandfather’s orbs and had to dodge, jump and run to avoid them.

‘Not fair…’ she screamed at him.

‘Nothing is fair in war. Fight back Primrose. Darius taught you better than to run.’

‘But, this is … ow… not a… ow… computer… ow…game!’

‘Then make it one!’ he laughed back at her. ‘If you are going to use magic, you need to know what it feels like too.’

It was the laugh that did it. Primrose would have no one laugh at her, not any more. She tightened her shield, surprised by how much she had allowed it to weaken. She had been too concerned about the explosions that never materialised.

Primrose made several of her own orbs. Her grandfather’s orbs were now bouncing quietly off her shield and disintegrating, without a single flash.

Now that she felt more confident, and knew there would be no explosions, Primrose was able concentrate and go in for the attack, even though she knew there could be a possibility of gaining a few more painful bruises.

‘Well done, oh granddaughter mine, I commend your spirit. Aim for me.’

Her grandfather did not let up. He forced her to maintain her shield and control her orbs while under continuous fire. She had never felt so exhilarated, so engrossed and so energised, but so frustrated at the same time. Then she remembered something Darius had told her - if she was not making progress through a level, she needed to examine her technique and change tactics.

Primrose gathered all her orbs together to change her attack; her grandfather disappeared. She spun around quickly but he was gone.

‘Ow!’ she cried, as another orb smashed into her; once again she had let her shield weaken.

‘You were too easy to read, if you change tactics, so do I,’ he goaded her.

Primrose nearly stamped her foot in annoyance as she tightened her shield once more, but this time she closed her mind to all thoughts, except for the space she was in. She secretly praised her grandfather for making her think much harder and testing her skills more thoroughly, but chided herself for continually letting her shield weaken.

With amazing speed Primrose fired all her orbs together and outwards in every direction in a vicious salvo. They ricocheted off the cavern walls, bounced off the stalactites and criss-crossed the cave like an intricate spider’s web.

She heard a surprised cry from her grandfather and danced ecstatically up and down on the spot with immense satisfaction.

‘Gotcha!’ she screamed. Instantly, she regretted it, as her grandfather once again taught her the valuable lesson of maintaining her shield and controlling her emotions, even when you believe yourself to be victorious.

Once their ‘computer game’ was over, they both sat down, breathing heavily. Primrose had many dark bruises, whereas her grandfather’s ghostly form was unmarked, but both were laughing as they re-lived their various moves and techniques.

‘You did well, Primrose. No one as young as you has ever managed to hit me, not even Darius. I must be getting old.’

‘I understand the inexperience thing now,’ she said, leaning against him as he put an arm round her, ‘I may have some magic, I might even be good at it… for my age,’ she laughed and looked at him, ‘but I’m not good at controlling my feelings. I’ve got a lot to learn.’

‘Mastery will come, and I for one am looking forward to training you. Meanwhile, I had better create a fitness programme in order to increase my stamina. You made me work too hard and I am not used to that!’

Primrose felt a little strange, knowing she had just been praised and complimented for real. She quite liked it.

‘Primrose,’ her grandfather’s tone had suddenly turned serious, ‘what you want and what you need might not be the same thing. It’s taken your grandmother a long time to plan the saving of our family. Even now her plans hang in the balance. My brother is ruthless. Please don’t let the saving of the Tree jeopardise the outcome of this long, dreadful ‘game’, because that is how my brother views this. You can always get a new home and hopefully it will be with us. Trust your grandmother, Primrose. She has all of us in her thoughts and dreams and always will.’ Her grandfather paused for a moment and then continued, hugging Primrose closer, ‘Some family members though, can never be replaced.’

Her grandfather kissed Primrose’s forehead softly.

Primrose realised that her grandfather not only referred to her, but his missing daughter as well.

‘Do not let me lose the first granddaughter that dared to hug me and try to kill me on my first day of knowing her… it would break my heart.’

Primrose looked at her grandfather, knowing he spoke honestly with her. She could have cried because of the love she saw in his eyes.

‘Don’t go all soppy on me, Gramps,’ she said with a watery smile, ‘I may love you too and I will promise you this: I won’t do anything stupid. I think I would like to practise with you too, but next time I won’t make allowances for your age!’

Laughing and joking, they made their way back to Elina and Forrestiana.

After many hugs and warnings to remain vigilant, Elina and Primrose used their bracelets to take them back to the Ancient Tree.

On their return, Elina and Primrose were surprised to see how clean the inside of the tree looked; nothing was out of place, despite the damage the explosion should have made. However, as they turned to look at the panel expecting to see a huge hole to their utter astonishment and joy they saw another carving.

Etched into the wood were two girls standing next to each other; one with a single finger touching the centre of a mark; the other alert and waiting, holding a silver net with two proud, young wolves standing close by and ready for action.

Together both girls left the Ancient Tree in search of Dilly and Shadow, each deep within their own thoughts and comforted by each other’s presence. It had been a very long day and night, but the new day was still a few hours away. However, neither one of them would sleep until they knew for certain that both Dilly and Shadow were safe and back in their care.

Elina could not wait to see Shadow again, something had begun to worry her. She had a horrible sense of foreboding and it concerned Orion and Ebony, Dilly’s parents. She could not understand why they had not come searching for her.

Primrose, though, couldn’t believe how lucky she was. She had found some unlikely allies and friends in the past few weeks: a wolf that she had injured badly, a sister she never knew she had and ghosts! Primrose was no longer alone. Her life had had a truly unexpected way of sorting itself out. Primrose knew that she could not take her good fortune for granted; their future was still full of uncertainty, but she felt more than ready to face the danger that threatened them, especially if she had her new friends by her side.

Look out for the third book in the Battle of the Roses series,

A Show of Force.