The Magic Company - Part 1

The winged key fluttered beyond Florian’s cage; it was beautiful with butterfly wings of enamelled glass and gold that sparkled in the sunlight but she had learned long ago to loathe the sight of it for it had only been placed there to torment her; ever hovering near to the bars of her iron cage or even sometimes perching right upon the top of the cage only to fly quickly out of reach every time her little hands tried to grasp hold of it.

“Learn to love the bars of your cage”, a smirking Davorian had told her, “For they are now the limit of your world”.

Years ago Florian had had tears to shed and hope too and she had wept and pleaded with the merchant to release her but now there was scant hope left in the little girl’s heart and no more tears and all she did was drift in and out of her dreams; happy dreams, sometimes, of a man called Rancliffe who said that he too longed for the day when she would be free but they were just dreams weren’t they?

And always the nightmare face of Davorian would appear to interrupt them, “As long as I own you, little girl”, he would say, “I own magic and he who owns magic rules the world”.