Two Worlds of Oblivion

by Angelina J. Steffort

  “He was kind of clingy.” Heck shrugged and pulled the blade out of the man with some effort. “Now to the real challenge.”

  He didn’t even stop to wipe the blood off of the steel and instead started running without delay—much to Jemin’s liking, and together, they left the dying guard and the noise of fighting behind. They had been wasting too much time—first in the cell, then with that guard he should have eliminated the first time—and Maray’s chances were shrinking. He pushed himself forward until he passed Heck at a familiar corner. He had been there before with Maray. He slowed and glanced back over his shoulder and held his fingers to his lips, letting Heck know that they were almost there. As both of them went into stealth mode, a metallic laugh burst through the otherwise silent, cave-like stone corridor.

  Jemin didn’t need to guess; he knew it was Rhia. And as he instinctively sped up again, the door he’d walked through before to rescue Laura came into view. It was cracked open, leaving a gap big enough to peek through and get an idea of what they were dealing with.

  He pointed at the band of light that lay ahead of them, indicating for Heck to take position on the side so he could catch a glimpse of what had triggered Rhia’s amusement. As he crouched next to the door, another laugh filled the air, and it tightened his chest with anxiety. But it was not triggered by Rhia’s evil entertainment but by the absence of Maray’s voice; Maray, he knew as he bent forward and peeked through the gap, laid motionless and ashen like a corpse on the Cornay bed.

  He swallowed the bitter taste of what he might be looking at and readied himself to storm into the room, Heck’s raised eyebrow the only thing that kept him from forgetting all protocol. Rhia was in there beside Maray, obviously waiting for something and talking to someone to pass the time. Her murmur was unintelligible from his position at the door. He lifted a hand and gestured for Heck to get ready. They had trained on how to use the element of surprise, and now, more than ever, they needed this advantage. Jemin was just about to tear the door open when he noticed three shadows in the corridor behind them from the corner of his eye. He jerked around, saber in hand and Heck spinning with him—

  Wil’s pale face was the first of them to become visible in the dim light. Then Gerwin and Corey stepped forward. Corey lifted a finger to her lips, the same way he had done for Heck. Gerwin gave him a long look that let him know they were ready. It was time to face the monster.

  Maray

  Maray noticed the voices first, and then the pain joined whatever little made it over the threshold of her perception.

  “Step away from the bed.”

  “You can lay down next to her while you die, Boyd.” It was Rhia, speaking in her horrible voice—no longer even remotely similar to her own—to someone whose words were like a warm ray of light in the cold darkness that had been enclosing her ever since Rhia had hooked her up to those tubes.

  There were more voices, some of them reasoning, some of them arguing with Rhia, but the queen’s answer to everything seemed to be a death threat, whether it was the soldier with the bright-blue eyes or the grinning hero or the ebony-skinned girl. Each of them were figures in a dream now. She could no longer tell what was real and what was not. In that city she had moved to with her father a couple of weeks ago… the gardens, the palace, the—

  Yutu. The wolf-bear. The soldier with the bright-blue eyes. The feeling of his lips on hers.

  Maray tried to move her head. It was heavy and reluctant to answer to her request. But her eyelids cooperated. They lifted the curtain of night, brought back by the heroes and the monsters, and there was one person there who belonged in both worlds: her father.

  “Dad?” she whispered, and the evil queen standing uncomfortably close to her gave her a look that made her wonder if she’d expected to ever hear Maray’s voice again.

  “I am here.” Gerwin inched closer in her peripheral vision, letting her believe that this was real. They all were, including the pain, including Jemin.

  “One more step, Boyd, and I will end her.” Rhia let her claws sink into Maray’s flesh again; this time it was at her throat, and she gasped for air as the monster’s fingers tightened.

  Maray tried to look Jemin in the eye, to let him know it was okay if she died, as long as they stopped Rhia from achieving her goal. But Rhia had forced her head down enough to make all of the heroes from her dream vanish, and Maray’s arms and legs reacted as if they were their own entities, tearing at the leather straps in a new attempt to free themselves.

  Gerwin’s objection was verbal as was Corey’s and the two boys’. Of course they weren’t going to lift a finger against Rhia as long as Maray was still alive enough to serve as leverage. Wasn’t there anything she could do? She had healed a man from a heart attack and burned down a network of underground corridors. There had to be something. But before she found a solution, her strength was used up, and as Rhia’s hand lifted from her throat, she was too exhausted to even try to gulp down air.

  It was then that a rush of heat touched her from the side. She sucked in a breath she hadn’t believed she would ever take again, and there was sudden movement in the room. Maray forced her eyes open again just in time to watch Jemin land on his feet right next to her on the other side of the bed from where a squealing and singe-faced Rhia stood. Maray shrank away from her, only to be held back by the leather once more.

  “Wait—” Jemin stopped her with the gentlest of touches as he laid one hand on her shoulder, reaching over with the other one and cutting her loose with a blade. He glanced up, and Maray followed his gaze as he checked to see if it was safe to pull her off of the bed, but Rhia had recovered from the momentary shock.

  “Do that again, and I will end you, devil-child,” she threatened and took a step away from the bed.

  What had Corey done? Had she conjured a fire? Had she actually shown the power-hungry queen that there were others with that particular gift?

  While Maray was still trying to wrap her lagging head around what was happening, the blurry movements had reached the bed. Mary recognized her father and Wil, and there were two more familiar faces mixing into the scene: Pete and Goran, who Wil and her father must have freed while the others had kept Rhia busy.

  The queen’s squealing slowly changed into a wail as she lashed out with her claws; forcefully at first, then after what seemed like an eternity, her movements became slow enough for even Maray to make sense of them. Jemin’s hand disappeared from her shoulder as he lifted his sword, obviously readying himself to tackle Rhia.

  “Don’t kill her,” Corey called in between the small strikes of flames that were keeping Rhia too busy to efficiently defend herself. “We’ll need answers, and who better to ask than her?”

  “There is a free cell just around the corner,” Heck’s voice suggested, and Goran and Pete appeared, weapons in hand. As they dove for the weakened queen, Rhia whirled around and jabbed at both of them, and their bodies vanished out of Maray’s field of vision. Goran’s cursing reassured her they were alive, and when Rhia turned around again, focusing on Maray and diving down toward her arm once more, eyes red and face a mask, it made Maray wonder if the decaying queen was going to simply sink her teeth into her flesh and drink her blood.

  It was then that Goran and Pete flipped back into view behind Rhia. Wil was with them, his short sword ready to strike, but instead of sneaking up on the queen, he flung it at Rhia, releasing it from his grasp as he did, and the blade sunk into her shoulder.

  With a shriek that sounded less human than any noise she had heard from the queen so far, Rhia collapsed onto Maray, face-first, her saliva drooling onto Maray’s chest. Maray gasped when, under the unexpected weight, all of the air was pressed out of her lungs.

  Maray hadn’t taken another breath until Jemin grabbed the queen by her shoulder and pushed her off of Maray. “Can you breathe?” he asked and took a deep breath as if breathing for her.

  Maray nodded, not sure she was breathing at all, but listening to Rhia’s angry w
himpering with morbid fascination.

  Pete and Goran pulled Rhia to her feet and dragged her forward until Wil was able to extract his sword from her flesh, and Corey, flames licking from her fingers, made sure Rhia wouldn’t take even one step in the wrong direction.

  Maray couldn’t see her grandmother’s face, but Rhia yelled, “You don’t actually believe you can lock me in a cell,” as they pushed her forward, further and further away from the bed and toward the door which led to the chambers.

  As Goran and Pete, with Corey’s and Heck’s help, escorted Rhia out of the room, Gerwin’s voice surfaced, making Jemin’s head turn beside her. “Get Maray out of here.”

  Jemin’s hand reappeared on her arm as he pulled out the needle and applied pressure with his fingers to stop the bleeding. It wasn’t the gentle touch from before, but it was a deliberate, professional touch.

  “Everything will be fine,” he promised, and his face, framed in caramel strands, showed above hers, his blue eyes telling her that he meant it. But there was more in the brightness of his gaze. “I thought I’d lost you.” Between the background noise and her own drumming heartbeat, his voice was so low she wasn’t certain he was actually speaking. The blue fire was burning, blazing with emotion as he let go of her arm and slid his hand under her neck to gently lift her head. His lips curved at one side, relieving all fear from her system as they enclosed hers in a long, warm kiss.

  Maray woke to the sound of whispers and the smell of flowers. As she opened her eyes, she found herself in a familiar room: Corey’s spare room where wounded Jemin and rescued Laura had spent some time in recovery. Now, it was her turn.

  A cold ran through her body that she hadn’t noticed before, and she shivered despite the thick blanket that covered her. On the threshold, Jemin’s broad shoulders were resting against the doorframe. He had changed out of his armor and was wearing a plain, white linen shirt which made his slightly bronzed neck and cheeks appear darker than usual. He was talking to someone in a hushed voice, the curls in is ponytail bouncing as he gestured something with his hands. Maray’s stomach tightened with something more than the gratitude of being alive. Had she imagined it in her almost-death-hallucination that he had kissed her? She rolled to the side to have a better view of him and pulled her knees to her stomach so she would warm up a little.

  Triggered by her movement, Jemin’s head snapped up, and his face brightened as he noticed she was awake. “Good morning.” He sped to her side and crouched down on the floor, one hand reaching up to feel her cheek. He remained still, just watching her as she waited and stared into his eyes, making her feel as if there were words stuck in him that he couldn’t bear to get out. Maray sucked in and involuntary breath as he leaned closer as if he was about to wrap both arms around her. But instead, he pulled his lips into a smile. “You’re still freezing,” he noted and rubbed her shoulder with his free hand.

  Maray enjoyed the warmth for a moment before she answered, “That’s what massive blood-loss does to you.”

  “And a concussion,” Jemin laughed.

  Maray remembered crashing face-first to the ground in the dungeons and made a face.

  “Can we come in and see the patient?” Corey and Wil stuck their heads in through the door, and Maray slid her head out from under Jemin’s hand, not even knowing who else was going to join.

  They entered hand in hand.

  “Is Rhia dead?” was the first thing Maray wanted to know. She had seen when Corey had attacked the queen with flames, and she remembered how deadly that type of magic could be.

  “She is safely locked up in the dungeons under twenty-four-seven watch,” said Wil with surprising ease.

  Maray’s stomach squirmed, with fear this time, as she imagined decaying Rhia down in the cells. “What if she gets out?” Momentary heat ran through her as she remembered what the queen was capable of. “She has taken down people with the mere touch of her hand,” she said, reminding the others of what Rhia had done during the emergency meeting. “How can we make sure she won’t turn the guards back to her side the way she did before? How can we be certain she won’t use her magic to escape?”

  Wil and Corey were oddly relaxed about Maray’s concerns. Even Jemin didn’t flinch and rush for his blade the way he normally did at the mention of danger. Instead, he met her anxious glance with a smile.

  “Neelis positioned part of his pack at the cell. And they are loyal to him. And Neelis, after what Rhia had Feris do to him, has no intention of ever letting the Queen out.”

  Right. Neelis and his pack. Neelis had mentioned back in the safe house that there were more Yutu-shifters than just Langley, him, and his daughter Seri. But exactly what ‘more’ meant had yet to be explained to Maray. Her head hurt as she shifted under the weight of the thought of a Yutu-pack.

  “Neelis’ pack is just the backup,” Wil pointed out. “Corey put a fortification spell on the cell, so Rhia can’t use her magic to get out… or, in case she does melt away eventually, she can’t just trickle through the bars.”

  Corey chuckled at his words, and he eyed her with pride in his features as he ran his fingers over her cheek. “This girl is magic.”

  Corey gave Maray an embarrassed glance, and Maray smiled. When had this happened?

  “And Mom and Dad?” she asked instead of commenting on Wil and Corey’s new intimacy. “And Heck?”

  “Your father is with your mother at Neelis’ safe house. Scott showed up in time to free her when the guards loyal to Rhia attacked…” Corey’s voice trailed away as she noticed that Maray couldn’t follow her any longer.

  “Heck is there with the shifters, too,” Jemin added. “The only one missing is Feris.”

  “He wasn’t there when I was with Rhia,” Maray let them know. “Rhia spoke about a binding spell and that she made sure he was going to perform it.”

  “He must be hiding in Allinan,” Jemin concluded, “Somewhere nearby, within reach for Rhia to get to him with your blood. What if he comes for you now that Rhia is locked up?”

  Corey’s concern showed in her black eyes. “What if he returns to the warlock quarters? We need to find him before he can do anything irreversible.”

  Wil nodded next to her, his face revealing how affected he was by Corey’s inner struggles.

  “You mean anything else irreversible,” Jemin insensitively said, referring to his involvement in the experiments on Langley, Neelis, and making Rhia immortal.

  “Corey, you need to find out what she meant by that binding spell. If she used the same thing on Mom, maybe it wasn’t irreversible after all.” Maray reached up to her head, unable to process everything at once, and Jemin’s expression changed from seriously upset to seriously worried.

  Corey nodded, her own expression turning darker than her skin-tone.

  “You need to rest, Maray. You’ve been through a lot.”

  Maray felt like she could sleep for at least forty-eight hours before she’d even be capable of thinking clearly. Even with Corey’s healing powers…

  Corey nodded, as did Wil, but he hesitated before they left the room. “The two guards you pulled to your side are screening the woods for him,” he said, “How did you get their loyalty?” His brown eyes twinkled curiously as he asked.

  “That’s a story for another time.” Maray was tired, her body still recovering. But there was one more thing that she needed to know before she would be able to rest again. “What happened to my blood?”

  “Rhia mixed something into it, so I had to get rid of it to make sure no one else would get their hands on it,” Jemin said, face unreadable for a cloudy moment before his eyes cleared back into the bright-blue she knew and loved.

  The winter sun warmed Maray’s face, painting red and pink patterns behind her shut eyelids.

  “It’s all right, Pen,” she said to the Gurnyak who was nudging her shoulder, almost pushing her off the stairs that led from the cottage into the clearing. “He will be here soon.”

  It had been a
couple of days since they had locked Rhia in the dungeons. Maray had fully recovered from her concussion due to Corey’s magical healing abilities, but her own magic had not once shown since she had healed Goran. She hadn’t told anyone about it. One day, Corey would learn, but for now, not being able to access her magic meant that she couldn’t accidentally burn down anything, either, and that was a good thing.

  Now she was waiting for her fighting instructor to join her. Even with Rhia in the dungeons, Allinan was a much more dangerous place now that people knew about her. With Feris missing and hiding God only knew where, and Langley, whose death hadn’t been confirmed, potentially still rallying people against her, Maray wasn’t any safer than the first time she’d come to Allinan. And then there was the lingering feeling that there was more to what Rhia had shared. The demons in the other worlds, the binding spell… Maray was surprised her parents had agreed to let her meet her fighting instructor out here in the clearing where Langley had ambushed her. But then, with Commander Scott and his loyal guards stationed in the forest around the cabin, Heck, Seri, and Corey among them, and Pen at her side, ready to breathe poisonous smoke, she was in good hands. As long as Rhia was in the dungeons, even Langley’s motives—should he still be alive—were mute.