by D L Goddard
The Beast looked confused.
“Who do you want me to kill? Do you want Alexandros to go first because he’s the strongest, or Marcos because he’s a traitor? Then there’s Keplin; he’s dangerous because of his magic or the two brothers because they work together and they’re an unknown quantity? They’re all very good fighters and very dangerous. Who do you hate most, or is it the ones that insulted you? Tell me which one you’d prefer? Is it important? Should I know who to keep until last? Do you want to make an example of any one of them? Do you want me to kill slowly or just to end their lives? Who is first on your list? ”
Arahir was deliberately blathering driving Lirima crazy. Suddenly she stood, jerked from her seat with something like a scream.
“Stop! In gods’ name … just stop! I don’t care who you kill first or last, or how, when, or who … in fact … I’ll leave it all up to you. Just take your pick. Choose anyone … kill anyone you like. How does that sound? Will that make you happy?”
Lirima collapsed on her throne exhausted. ‘What in gods’ name was Arahir on about?’ All she wanted was the death of everyone but the Beast and herself in the room. Then, she would find out where his son was hidden and find a way to bind Arahir closer to her than he was now. He had far too much freedom at the moment. She needed a puppet that performed on command without question. His conscience was getting in the way much too often. Even Lirima recognized a delaying tactic when she heard it.
Arahir’s face froze before he gave himself away. He could do nothing while the barrier was still in place. Sword poised, he looked toward the Enchantress. She lifted the staff and the barrier vanished. Arahir took one step forward. It was done.
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Chapter Thirty-Six
Arahir’s next actions totally confused the Enchantress. She knew he was lightning fast and knew he would be able to kill every prisoner within moments. They would barely see him. But instead … he walked up to the Troll smiling and handed him the sword. The Troll smiled broadly at the Beast thanking him for his blade back. Lirima wondered if he had planned on giving the Troll a fighting chance. But in the blink of an eye, all the men were armed once more. It was getting very confusing. The group then advanced toward the throne grinning in a way she knew she didn’t like.
“What in gods’ name are you doing Arahir? I just wanted you to kill them. Why are you arming them? Are you so sure of you prowess that you are giving them a fighting chance or is this a new game you are playing?”
Arahir looked up at the Enchantress and smiled … for the first time, fear trickled like ice down her spine. Something about the Beast made her very afraid in that moment.
“We are not playing a game my love and I have played your game just as you told me to. But finally … the game playing is over.”
The Beast walked up to her, standing barely inches away looming over her. He indicated she stay seated and Lirima froze, unmoving on her throne. She was seething, but something made her wait and see what Arahir had in mind. It was as if a veil was removed from his humanity and she couldn’t think what was going on. For the first time the Enchantress felt caution was the best move.
The men had regrouped around Anya and the twins were cradling the dead body. She dismissed them without further thought. Weak pitiful fools so caught up in love they were helpless once their love died. Lirima sneered at the group who completely ignored her. Lirima shook her head, she felt as if something had shifted the balance of power in the room, but she couldn’t for the life of her understand why everyone but Arahir was treating her as if she ceased to exist. Determined to remind them she could easily kill them, she stood, angry and frustrated at the men’s strange behavior. She raised her staff when a swift shove caught her off guard and she was toppled back onto her seat.
Eyes blazing she was about to screech at the Beast when the look in his eyes made the words die in her throat. Something was wrong with the power he was giving off and it was sending waves of real terror down her spine. His eyes were like swirling flames, there was nothing passive or subservient about his face now. Arahir’s glorious mane seemed to shimmer right in front of her eyes. Startled she looked again and realized it truly was one golden crackling fiery flame. Terrified she hunched down wondering what she had tied her life together with. The glow of soft indigo that was beginning to cover Arahir didn’t resemble anything even remotely human, and racking her memory wasn’t helping either, nothing she knew of or had come across in her travels looked anything like Arahir did right now.
Arahir shook himself free from the power overload and became the Beast again. The smile he gave her was anticipatory, but not at all reassuring.
“Lirima my love, I may be bound to you, but it struck me as strange that you never took the time to find out what sort of being you tied yourself to. You wanted me at any price, but you and I could never have what Anya and I had because Anya was not human as you had thought. Rather she was the only one of my world’s people ever to have been born outside Serenor. I found my true soul mate in her and you ripped that away from me because of your overwhelming desire for power and me. Not once did you stop to consider what you had done, who you had hurt or killed. And the most ironic thing about all this is you spent all those years and destroyed thousands of precious lives for nothing. For you see my love … you will never be ‘Queen’ of the worlds, never control the portals, in fact you will never even be able to enter the Living Light.”
Lirima jerked to her feet.
“You will not stop me! You must do as I say! If I make you take me there you have to obey!”
Arahir cross his arms over his chest, standing with his feet braced as he smiled sardonically at the exquisitely beautiful woman who had never been denied anything after she realized how to use her beauty against men. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the twins flame around Anya hiding what they were doing. The three men watching stood loosely grouped protecting the others from Lirima’s sight.
“What are they doing … why aren’t you killing them as I commanded? How can you please yourself all of a sudden?”
The Beast’s smile grew even wider.
“I may be joined to you truly, but we managed to stop the blood flow just in time, allowing me to think and be myself while I had to obey you. I may not have been able to disobey a direct order but your wording was very important. I can choose to select which words to obey when you give me a choice and you gave me a choice. I chose not to kill any of my friends.”
“But you have obeyed everything I said to the letter up until now, was it all acting?”
He leaned forward and kissed her lips. She still pulled at his body and he needed help to do what Seren asked. But only the initial push. The rest would just take on a life of its own.
“No, my dear, because you did make sure I wanted you in spite of everything. The fact that you and I both know it wasn’t real didn’t make any difference to the magic. Even though you took Anya from me … what we had was real. That’s what I clung onto to help me survive the times we were together. But I do have to obey you most of the time; I am just carrying out your last command.”
Lirima had gotten lost in the direction the conversation was taking. Did he have to do what she wanted or not? And what did he mean she couldn’t rule through the Light?
“I don’t believe any of this. Take me to the Light. I will prove to you I will rule.”
She totally ignored the others in the room, they were cradling Anya’s dead body and useless for anything. She couldn’t see much past the great hulking shapes of Marcos and Alexandros and the Wizard seemed to have conjured some sort of light she couldn’t see, but she could deal with them later. She wasn’t threatened by any of them so until she personally killed them, she would deal with the Beast. It was time to bring him into line.
“Tell the Light to bring me your son. Obviously … the binding wasn’t thorough enough and a death is going to be required.”
Arahir was shocked. She hadn’t listened to h
im at all when he said he wouldn’t take her, or give her his son. He clenched his fists, hands down at his sides. Anger radiated from every pore.
“I am not giving you my son. I am not taking you to the Light.”
The words were said firmly, calmly and softly. There was no fear; he would not yield to her.
“I demand you do as I tell you. Take me to the Light!”
“I couldn’t take you even if I wanted to which I don’t. You cannot enter through the portal because only one of my people could enter if the Light allowed it.”
“Why? Why is it so important I am one of your world? What difference would it make to the Light anyway?”
Arahir laughed. It was a joyful carefree sound. He flamed instantly turning himself into a rich indigo torch generating so much heat that Lirima squealed and leapt backwards.
“What … what the … what are you?”
“I am of Serenor. I am one of her true children. I am a fire elemental and my ‘human’ form is only secondary. Because you bound yourself to me, you have prevented me from truly joining to my real soul mate. Sex with you … pales into less than nothing when two of my people mate. We blend into each other and become one flame. It is then we become truly one. What you want is nothing, so physical and shallow. You stole from me my life, my soul blending and I will never have that again.”
Fear was written on Lirima’s face as she stared at the burning indigo flames, trying to understand how she could control something so untamed. There was nothing recognizable of Arahir in the flame before her.
“You see Lirima … only as a flame can you pass the portal and enter the Living Light. Your body that you take such overweening pride in is useless on our world. You will never rule the worlds; never pass through the first doorway.”
She could hear the amusement in Arahir’s voice and it made her furious.
“Then you will have to do it for me; I will make you enter after I strengthen the bond. I will rule Arahir … I have spent millennia learning what it will take to make you obey me. And seeing as you have managed to disobey me, I will ensure you never have the chance again.”
The look that Arahir gave her was so alien and strange it made her shiver. His voice crackled and hissed, but the words terrified her.
“But my love … you have not understood. I am obeying your command. You told me you didn’t care who I killed first or last. You said to take my pick. Will that make me happy? Killing will not make me happy, but I will kill for you Lirima. I have been fighting against the joining since it was put in place. Every time I had violent thoughts, your magic made the feelings turn to loving endearments. I could never harm you unless you directly told me to harm or kill. You have just given me all the permission I needed to end your life. Take my pick you said. I don’t care who you kill. Thank you for permission to end your evil life. I could never harm you any other way.”
Arahir swiftly changed back into his human self. The Enchantress was standing stunned at everything he had revealed. He was free from her commands, never having to obey her again. She had signed her death sentence and it had released him to truly execute the evil witch. He felt rather than heard Anya being revived. He felt her life in tune with his own as she grew stronger, coming back from her ‘death’. Standing shakily, she let out a huge breath, the men cheered; hugging her until she protested worrying her body would be bruised from the excitement.
Lirima gaped at the sight of Anya. It was totally impossible. Anya was dead. Arahir had killed her. She had verified it with her magic. It just wasn’t happening. She grabbed her staff ready to blast the young woman into tiny fragments when she felt her wrist enclosed in a vice.
“No Lirima … never ever again are you going to hurt another soul.”
“Let me go you beast … I command it!”
“Ahhh … now the true face of Lirima comes to the fore. Come to my arms my love. Isn’t that what you always wanted?”
Lirima struggled desperately trying to stop Arahir from wrapping her in his arms. She would once have given anything to be in the Beast’s arms; not this time … the flame was already flickering in his eyes. Lirima was terribly afraid of fire; she used it to harm others, in her spells and to destroy the homes of those she wanted to get rid of. Lirima’s darkest secret, her biggest fear was … fire. Suddenly she understood Arahir’s intent and her struggles became frenzied.
“No … no, no, nooooo. Let me go! Get away from me Arahir, I command it!”
He was relentless, preventing her from using any spells; her staff lay smashed where he had tossed it to the marble floor, shattering with the force behind it. Black light flared from the ebony crystal as it exploded with the release of the spells that had bound it from its making all so long ago. They were all blinded momentarily. Lirima screeched in rage.
“You witless bastard! Do you realize what you have done? That staff was crafted by the very first Enchanter. It took hundreds of deaths and spells that are totally lost to us today. I can never make another like it!”
Arahir shook her roughly, forcing her to look into his eyes.
“That is wonderful news. The less evil that can be done, the safer our worlds will be. That accursed staff should have been destroyed millennia ago.”
Arahir turned toward Anya to say goodbye. They were all in human form, but they backed further away to give the Beast the space he needed.
“Goodbye my love, I love you and I am so blessed that Seren sent you to me. I will meet you again when Seren holds us in her heart. Goodbye my Anya, my life is ever yours.”
Anya had tears in her eyes as she whispered her love and her goodbye. Nothing more needed to be said. They had said everything they had to, made love like never before and Anya knew as long as she lived, she would never forget her Beast. The memory was stored away where she could share it in its entirety. It was one of the most wonderful gifts of being the fey she was.
She turned her head and was enveloped in Mir and Val’s strong arms. They were her life now and she cherished them. They would all raise their son and have others together. Being a family in ways none could ever understand, but they anchored her and their love would help her to mourn her Beast and still be able to love them as they all needed. She needed them now. Weeping, she watched through blurry eyes.
Arahir looked down at the struggling Enchantress.
“Goodbye Lirima, don’t struggle … I will make your death as swift and as painless as possible; which is more than you have ever done for any of your victims.”
“No, no, nooooo … let me go Arahir. Let me gooooo!”
Arahir instantly flamed, indigo flames blazed so high and hot that everyone fled the room. They could see through the doorway, the Enchantress’ beautiful body, her perfect face burning and blackening in the heat. The smell of roasting meat filled the air and the group huddled together and felt sick to their stomachs. In spite of the horror of the scene they could not look away. They had to ensure the witch truly was dead.
She screamed and screamed as the flesh melted from her bones, until she had no vocal chords to scream with. Her gorgeous hair sizzled as a bleached skeleton could start to be seen. As they watched, they were amazed to see the Enchantress was still alive. The bones began to laugh. It was a horrifying, terrifying sound and the hairs rose on the nape of Anya’s neck.
Arahir spoke to his Anya, begging her to channel the twins flame. Then, he needed the group to leave the area completely. The room was going to get hot beyond even their ability to bear it. Arahir was going to have to heat things up so much that even he would be consumed. He had known it might come to this but he knew it was necessary to kill the powerful magic that kept Lirima alive. She had unwittingly told him how to kill her truly. He needed to reduce every part of her body to powder. He needed the intense heat for that. Tightening his hold on the laughing bones, he turned up the flames.
Anya, Mir and Val sent him every bit of power they could, completely draining their own reserves, changing Arahir into a pillar
of scorching volcanic flame. Arahir then brought out Seren’s gift; the glowing ball was placed in his heart. The group took off as the room instantly exploded in the blast of the flame. The heat was unbearable and they raced through the castle. They needn’t have worried; the Light sealed the area letting the fire only touch the few rooms. She would repair the damage later.
The Living Light showed them that there was nothing left of the Enchantress but ash. The sword began to sing in Alexandros hand, pulling him toward the fiery room. It dragged the Troll King into the inferno and Anya screamed, calling the Light to suffocate the flames. Instantly, the flames died. There was no sign of the Keeper of Castle Barshael. But of the Enchantress, all that remained was a small mound of grey smoking ash in the center of the blackened floor.
The sword flared and practically dove into the ash mound, piercing the center. Everyone jumped when an eerie heart rending scream sounded from the Enchantress’ remains. Lirima’s ghostly form rose from her ashes, hanging above the sword screaming in pain.
“Witless fool! What have you done? You have separated my soul from my magic. Now I can never be reanimated. I will truly die. I have lived for millennia and you have destroyed my last hope.”
She shrieked seeming to be in excruciating agony as she faded into nothing, her voice growing fainter until both shade and scream were gone. Deep red blood poured from the ash mound as from a mortal wound, flowing swiftly across the burnt scarred marble. The soot muddied the flow creating a murky viscous appearance. It seemed the Enchantress’ life source was still active until the First Keeper’s gift to Alexandros’ ancestor detected her magic still alive and waiting to be reactivated. Watching the blood congeal on the marble, they all realized with a huge feeling of relief that Enchantress Lirima was truly dead, never to return.
