by D L Goddard
“Sleep sweet one. You are safe now … they cannot enter here, together … we are strong. We will find our beloved and call him to us. Then, we will be safe … and stay safe … and forever be one.”
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The twins woke feeling groggy, their eyes blurry and gritty. They realized they were tied back to back with their feet tied in front of them. A huge fist tipped Mir’s head back pouring a strange tasting liquid into his mouth. He made to spit it out when a surprisingly gentle cultured voice spoke.
“Please drink … don’t spit it out. It will make you feel much better and gets rid of the grogginess as well as the sore blurry eyes. Trust me, you will feel better soon.”
Instinctively trusting the voice, Mir drank and was rewarded for his obedience. He felt better immediately. Val drank as well and found the ache in his head vanished completely. They realized the speaker was a very pleasant looking elderly man roughly seventy. In spite of his age, he was handsome with only laugh lines around the liveliest pair of blue eyes the twins had ever seen. Roughly six feet, broad shouldered but still trim and obviously very active, he was dressed in a tunic and breeches tied around the waist with a leather belt and attached soft leather pouch that chinked and clanked as he moved. Sturdy leather boots lashed around his calves gave him comfort as well as support and he carried neither weapon nor wand in his hands.
“My name is Keplin and we come from Arnosta. Our Queen was the Enchantress Lirima but since she has been gone for over a year … her spells have worn off enabling the land to recover and the folk to regain their true minds. We have realized what a tyrant and a beast the beautiful Enchantress is and we are hoping to find the Living Light first to stop her from returning.”
An Ogre beside Keplin roared out.
“Aye and to destroy her if possible! She has killed so many innocents with her foul magic and thousands have died over the years as a sacrifice to her black magic. She must be stopped.”
“Thank you Marcos. It’s alright … we will do all we can … I promise she will not return if I can help it. We must prevent her returning … at any cost.”
The twins were stunned at all they had heard. They weren’t sure why the man Keplin, they had figured him as a Wizard … and the Ogres were telling them all this. After all … they were tied up and Keplin and Marcos didn’t even know where their sympathies lay.
Finally Val spoke up.
“Why are you telling us all this? You know nothing about us or even if we support the Enchantress. Aren’t you are taking a great risk telling us all you have?”
The Wizard Keplin smiled. It was an honest friendly smile and Mir and Val found themselves smiling back.
“We have no worries about who you are and what your intentions are. You slaughtered six of my finest Ogre guards with your initial attack, but I felt it was a desperate attack when we really gave you no other choice. I knocked you out using magic … as you probably already guessed; I am a Wizard of no mean abilities. We were able to magically glean from your mind who you both were and who your beautiful companion is as well. We must find her before Lirima does, she is in danger from the Enchantress. What that woman wants to do to your Anya is too horrible even to relate. The woman is a beast wrapped in a glorious package that seems to trap all men into believing anything she says ... all men that is, except your Keeper and myself, but my magic protects me from her ‘charms’.”
Keplin laughed self-deprecatingly.
“I have only been free of her authority for a year and since then; I have managed to brew a potion that has broken the web she had wound around us all. So … as to who you are; we hope we can work together to free your world and ours from her evil. I think she has an ally on this world to help her; another like mind who is as twisted and evil as she is.”
Mir looked at Val and they smiled. It was good to have help in the fight against Lirima as she really was as powerful as she boasted.
“Are you going to untie us now … or do you still not trust us.”
Keplin laughed and motioned for Marcos to untie the twins. Marcos came at them with a sharp dagger that seemed to disappear in his massive fist. They felt a little nervous until he sliced their bonds and put the blade away. He smiled a sharp gap-toothed grin at Mir and Val then clumped away.
“Don’t worry about Marcos my friends, he is angry, and an angry Ogre is wonderful to have on your side, but a deadly enemy. His twin boys went missing eighteen months ago; they were only ten years old and the pride and joy of his heart. He did everything with them, teaching them of the woods and streams, to hunt and fish and to be true men to stand up for what is right no matter that no one sees your actions. He loved those boys with all he had, they were all that were left of his family when his wife took sick and even though I did all I could, the dear woman died when the twins were four years old.
When the boys went missing … Marcos searched for months looking everywhere he could, but nothing of them was ever found. Marcos had his suspicions of course, but nothing could ever be proven. Until the day the Enchantress didn’t return within the month she had indicated and her palace guard grew restless.
Marcos is the head of the guard who takes care of Lirima when she is at home and of the castle when she is absent. Marcos had been secretly investigating places in the castle where it was treason to enter. Finally after weeks of searching the Enchantress’ subterranean tunnels, he found her work rooms and brewing fires. What he saw there made Marcos violently ill and then, so enraged that we heard his roar all over the castle.
Suffice to say that what little remains of the numberless children Marcos found were tossed in giant cauldrons to be brewed up later. Skeletal body parts were scattered everywhere, looking like so many broken toys. Then, Marcos found the Enchantress’ diary. It was really more like a list of dates and places certain children were taken and at what time of the moon. There was a catalogue of what body part she needed for which particular potion she was brewing. She carefully wrote down the name and address so that she didn’t take too many children from a particular area too often and too close together to make the folk suspicious.
Marcos held the huge book in his trembling hands and read through every one of the names trying to remember each one. But when he came to his sons’ names; he couldn’t read any more. We found him brokenly weeping clutching the diary on the stone floor of her charnel house. There was over five thousand children’s names written down in the last decade alone. We had not noticed so many going missing because she has extended her reach and taken children from all over our world. But her secrets are finally out and she has nowhere to hide her crimes.
Marcos has placed the book into a glass case mounted on a massive marble pedestal about five feet high in the center of the market square with a plaque beside it with every child’s name engraved upon it and how they died. It is the most gruesome terrible list I have ever had the misfortune to read. All our engravers and artisans worked upon the list with scribes dictating the details. Many were the tears that fell onto the work as it was very carefully done ensuring no child’s name was left out or misspelled or even the way they died so cruelly so that the Enchantress’ crimes are there on a golden tablet as high as the pedestal and three times as wide for the folk to read and know the atrocities she has committed and hidden all these years … but no more.
We have had folk from all over our world come to read it to see if their lost children’s names are engraved there. So far, everyone who has come to find a child has left with rage in their heart knowing what their ‘Beloved Ruler’ has done to their innocent children.
It seems unbelievable, and yet we saw the proof with our own eyes. Something I know I will never forget and I will remember to my dying day.”
There were tears shining in Keplin’s eyes and as the twins looked at each other, they saw the same mirrored in their own.
“We will help you Keplin … you and your people. The Enchantress made a beast of my Uncle, the Keeper. But, he is a gentle,
noble soul and he will never be what he appears to be. She calls him beast and yet for all the beauty that shines from Lirima; she is the most loathsome foulest beast to ever have walked the many worlds. It seems to be a terrible joke played upon us all.”
They stood grouped loosely together and felt their bodies begin to loosen up. The bonds had been tightly tied and the men felt stiff from being in an awkward position for so long. While they had been talking together, they had been reaching out to Anya, but for some reason, they couldn’t feel her heart beating or her thoughts. Trying not to panic they wondered if Keplin could find her in the huge castle when they couldn’t. Something was blocking them and they could almost sense the barrier.
Val stretched out a hand and gripped Mir. He too was finding her missing presence unsettling. ‘How had they lost her so completely?’ She was so near birthing and knew nothing about what to expect when her son would be born. Abruptly, they both looked at one another, panic in each heart. Anya knew nothing of childbirth on their world, only the way humans birthed their young. If she tried to have her son like a human, the birth would kill her before she knew what was wrong. Anya had been so afraid and that was why she wanted either Arahir or the twins with her. Until now … they hadn’t realized just how afraid she had been. She had some inkling the birth would be different, but the intensity of the pains had taken her by surprise; they had seen the near panic in her eyes when she had collapsed but didn’t really understand. ‘How could they have been so blind?’ If they didn’t find Anya before her son decided to arrive, Arahir would lose not just his soul mate, but his son as well … and the twins … tears filled eyes that refused to shed them, going hard with determination. They would not lose her now, or the possible future they sensed with her. Somehow … they would find her before then.
“Keplin … is there any way you can locate our missing third party. She is very pregnant and was having contractions and we are very worried. She is carrying the Keeper’s son and is connected to us as well. But … for some reason we can’t feel her the way we usually do. Could you locate her in the castle for us? We must go to her she can’t be alone.”
Keplin nodded … closing his eyes. He could sense the feminine scent and soul of the woman, but where had the Light hidden her? He had felt the castle’s fear ever since he had arrived and he wondered how to calm the castle down. Suddenly he saw her. He pulled the location into an image the men could see. The twins saw their Anya; she was sleeping contentedly in midair it seemed, supported by nothing and in nothing. But she was surrounded by soft colors in every shade imaginable floating and drifting around her like a soft comforting presence that they could see and not just feel. It was obvious even to the onlookers that she was comforted by being wherever she was; a sweet smile was on her lovely face as she slept and she looked completely at peace.
“Where in Seren’s name is she?”
Keplin felt their distress and wanted to help them.
“It is alright my friends … the Living Light has called her and taken Anya into its inner self. The castle is now happy and strong again. It is waiting for the Keeper to arrive but until then, it should be able to resist the Enchantress’ incursions against the Living Light. Unfortunately … the Light is so happy with Anya; it doesn’t want to give her up. It seems to think she belongs to it because she belongs to the Keeper, the Light has decided Anya now belongs to it as well. I’m really not sure how we are going to get the Light to relinquish her. It seems there is something about your beautiful companion that linked her instantly to the Light and it felt a strong connection, almost as strong as with the Keeper. The Light intends to keep her until the Keeper arrives and even then, I’m not sure it is prepared to release her. She is making the Light so happy and at peace that the whole castle is feeling it. Have you noticed the color changes throughout the castle?”
The twins raised eyebrows at Keplin … whatever was the man talking about.
“I know you may not have noticed in your rather hurried entrance and passage through the castle, but the entire castle was decorated in white marble and black onyx with deep reds and hard golds. Now … look around this room … what do you see?”
Curiously, the twins looked around the room that appeared to be a sort of parlor. Mir remembered coming in and seeing dark burgundy leather on dark wood comfortable chairs with gold trim and gold cushions. The rugs were black and white patterned and the tapestries were deep red with black and white designs with heavy gold fringe. The furniture was unrelieved dark wood with burgundy or gold cushions and covers. Even the table for drinking tea was of the same style with an elegant gold and red tablecloth. It was a man’s room and even Mir admitted when catalogued in his head it sounded cold and hard as well as boringly ugly. But instead, it looked inviting and warm the way it was done, and it definitely made him feel at home when he had first seen it. Asking Val, his twin answered in the affirmative. It had definitely been a man’s room with a man’s taste in furniture.
But looking at the room now, the twin’s stared. The parlor was light and airy, with sheer lacey curtains hung from delicate French doors, pale lavender and lemon mats lined the white marble floors and the furniture was either fine hand-turned white or pale honey wood with cane accents, accompanied by multi-colored pastel throws and cushions. The table was a delicate confection of exquisite fine carving with a white lace tablecloth and an almost transparent fine bone china tea set with pale hints of lavender and lemon design. Tall white standing vases were filled almost to overflowing with fragrant beautiful tall flowers in every color and scent imaginable making the rooms look and smell glorious. It seemed all the colors the men had seen shifting around near Anya were displayed very artfully and with very feminine taste around the room.
Keplin looked around thoughtfully and then spoke rather sadly.
“It seems my friends … I am most certainly right … the Light has no intention of giving up your Anya at all and in fact is changing the entire castle for her to live here.”
The twins were shocked, staring at the Wizard. This was not something they had thought would or even could happen. One thing the two men did know though … no matter what it took … they could not live their lives without the woman they both loved. If they could not get Anya off the Living Light then, as a last ditch effort, if they couldn’t get her out of there; they would join her inside. Mir and Val simply could not continue to live without Anya in their arms. It was as simple and as difficult as that.
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Chapter Nineteen
Lirima stretched luxuriously. She had thoroughly enjoyed the night with Savage. Adam and she both enjoyed certain painful pleasures and it had added just that bit more spice to the adventure. Adam watched with obvious delight at the Enchantress’ morning waking. He knew no matter how often he saw her naked he would never tire of her astonishing beauty. Even fully clothed, there was no denying she was the most desirable sensual creature he had ever seen. Lord Savage considered himself the most fortunate of men to have such a friendly inventive partner both in a bed and out of it.
Lirima was looking forward to this particular day. They were going to travel to the castle with Arahir and her pet Troll to keep him in line. She had no real time for Adam’s two thugs although they had been very useful from time to time. She really wanted to return Arahir to the castle and carry out stage two of her plan. She really hadn’t told Adam much of what she wanted the Beast for; it might upset her proud Lord. But as he wasn’t going to be the one beside her … Arahir would be instead … she thought Adam might be a bit peeved.
Everything was going as she had planned … the signal had been sent to Keplin to attack the portal at noon today, giving her enough time to arrive at the castle. Lirima and Adam were going to make sure there were no nasty surprises waiting for them. The Troll looked a very capable warrior and he could take care of just about anything.
The Enchantress knew Arahir’s mate would try to find her way to the castle somehow. If she did, Lirima
would kill her and immediately force a bond with the Beast as soon as the soul bond was shattered with her passing. She could force a joining with Arahir by magic preventing him from dying with the death of his mate and their unborn son.
This was the ideal situation at any rate. But if Anya had no way to come to the castle then, Lirima would make a blood sacrifice using one who cared about her … in this case Adam, and use his lifeblood to signify the death she was trying to represent. Either way, a death would be required; it just depended on whose. Adam’s blood would not be as good as Anya’s but it would do with the added power she had built over the time studying in her secret laboratories. Even though many innocent deaths had been the price for the knowledge gained, it had been worth it to discover the dark magic to shatter a soul bond and attach a mate to her against their free will. Arahir would never consent to be her mate, but this way … he didn’t have a choice.
Once they were joined … she could use him to open the door portal however it was done, and finally claim the Living Light. She was so close. And of course if Adam was not needed in the first part of the spell, his death would be needed to transfer the Living Light solely to her. Because while Arahir was alive, he would never let her use the castle’s power for the purposes she intended. Once she tired of his body … she would want to rule Castle Barshael herself. She really hated sharing power, even for one as delectable as the Keeper of the Living Light. She had waited long enough; her body yearned for the perfectly delicious Seren and once they were joined, she had some other less savory experiments that required the use of the heart of a pure and noble fey. It was the most efficient form of recycling.
