Demons & Dragons

by Gina Kincade

  Edmund chose to call his bluff, as he saw it, being a shrewd businessman. “If you have access to such amazing powers, if I have such powers, then why did you never learn of me before now? Surely no inferior witch my mother hired could have stifled them.”

  “I am sorry, son, if it vexes you also we have been kept apart for so long. How could I want something I knew nothing about? You mother managed it, though, paying enough, hurting you enough, that both went hand in hand, I fear, to keep you from me. I did sense you, in a way, as I always wanted for something I could never quite define. It was maddening. For years I have been trying to gain things, never to be satisfied. I didn’t know it was you that I longed to have, that I faintly sensed out there without me. Now that I have learned of you, the longing has been silenced. Now, I want for nothing more than to be part of your life. I am making up for not finding you sooner with this simple rite of inclusion.”

  Edmund wondered at his father’s misunderstanding of his question. The man was so pompous he could only think Edmund would want the power he offered. Aelfin had not even chosen to enact caution before telling Edmund he may be more powerful. He held this slip of the arrogant man in the back of his mind for future courage, if he required it here soon. His father seemed to be wearing his heart upon his sleeve. If it had not been in such a way as this, he may have been forever touched by the gesture.

  “Edmund, tell me you are not thinking this over. His magic is not like mine. It is evil. It is dark. It will change you from the man I love,” Aubrey pleaded her case.

  He took notice again of the fear glazing over her eyes before looking back at the man who, by blood and by magic, was his father. He pondered his dismal odds of getting Aubrey out of here safely if he refused the man’s offer. The sea of bodies around him started to go out of focus.

  “From a religious opinion, all magic is evil, my dear.” Aelfin took hold of her free hand as he spoke. Edmund could feel what swirled within him strengthening again. “Is that not right, clergyman?”

  “I am not like you!” Aubrey hissed as tears began to fall over her cheeks.

  Edmund had always been crushed by her tears. This time, he angered more so watching her try to pull her hand from Aelfin’s hold. Twice she yanked, and twice he held on.

  “Let go of her!” Edmund grasped his father by the wrist, and a ball of light formed within the circle of three. It would have been blinding if not for the grayish mist present inside of it also, a war of light and dark amidst all of the colors in between.

  “Do you see how powerful we can be?” Aelfin’s voice found him.

  “Your father is powering the mind light. Look at the darkness that tries to cover our light, Edmund. He can not hide who he is.”

  “What do you know of it?” Something had changed in his father’s tone. It had become more harsh and deep.

  Even though he could still feel Aubrey, he did not like being separated from her by his father’s magic. The prophecy of the illusion abundantly clear, he broke the circle with a quick pull of his hands, and then grappled for Aubrey’s other one. He held her to him, even though he wished he could push her behind him and still hold her as tightly.

  “I trust she knows a great deal, father, and I am in awe of her knowledge. I bespeak of you, Aubrey, tell me what I need to know here.”

  “You remember how I taught you that magic is but a prayer of creation?” Her voice quiet, she obviously meant only for him. “When that prayer touches upon nature, if it is said with love, what one asks for can come to pass. Black magic, on the other hand, disregards the laws of nature because it creates through destruction. A black witch asks for personal gain without regard to the harmful consequences to other people or other things he sacrifices to obtain it. It gains its power from what is evil in our world in order to obtain more power or more wealth or even revenge.”

  “I can offer you so much.” Aelfin interjected.

  “Let her finish! Go on, Aubrey.”

  Taking a chance in further angering his father, he only hoped it would set him off balance. Trying to both listen to Aubrey for information that could prove useful, and form a plan of safe escape at the same time, Edmund made a grand attempt to thwart his whirlwind of thoughts, subduing them into something useful.

  “Actually, black magic only appears to be strong. It needs to call upon so much, it has to sacrifice so much, to achieve anything. It plays upon people’s fears because it is so primitive and savage. White magic accomplishes differently. Its aims and interests follow what is good for mankind along the lines of nature. It improves upon life working for what was once thought inconceivable. It works for rewards and blessings…”

  Her hurried words Aelfin interrupted again. “You have such a way with words, my dear. Bravo on your ability to present a convincing case. Yet, make no mistake as to the strength of my magic. Edmund…”

  Aubrey sought Edmund’s attention away from his father. “Black magic breaks the one law, to harm ye none. It casts with a great sacrifice to man, to beast, or to nature. A black witch cares for nothing but himself. This is not your way, Edmund. If it was, I could never have loved you.”

  “That was a good card to deal him," Aelfin stated, a genuine zest for her fight glimmered in his dark eyes. "It is obvious Aubrey is jealous of having to share you with me.”

  “You are wrong, Father.” Edmund finally took the floor. “I believe the boot is on the other leg now. Aubrey loves me as I am. She has never tried to change me, nor does she have a jealous bone in her beautiful body. It is you who wishes me to hang upon your sleeve. You do not wish to know the man I already am, therefore you do not respect me. I fear it is you who is jealous. It is you who cannot share. It is you who wants to change me. You played a good game providing us this wedding to appear to want us both. However, I daresay, you showed your true colors trying to pull me into your coven knowing it would exclude someone of Aubrey’s moral caliber.”

  “Careful, my son. I am a man used to getting what I want. You are outnumbered here. I wish for you to stay of your own will, but, if need be, I have other means.”

  Glancing at the truth of the number of those supporting Aelfin, Edmund came to realize them too weak to win as they stood here now. He whispered his request to Aubrey to turn him into the elemental beast. She whispered back that he had no need of her anymore. He had shifted enough now to do it alone. The beast would always live inside of him. All he had to do was find it and call it into being.

  “I will not have this! Whatever nonsense you are whispering is futile. You cannot beat me. You will join me!” Aelfin shouted the words while pulling up his hand.

  With a stiff arm and his palm facing Aubrey, he formed a ball of energy that would have been invisible except for the way it distorted the reality around it.

  The ball shot at Aubrey before Edmund could react. Once it had hit her chest, it grew to cover her form, paralyzing her. Stiff as a board, like a statue of herself carved in marble while still existing in her own skin, he still held her hand in his. His mother may have played Aubrey’s emotions and driven her away, but his father had gone one step further. The cold stone spoke of death as he touched his wife’s statue. Once again her soft flesh had been taken from him.

  “You will never win me if you harm her.”

  “Do not threaten me, boy.” Aelfin spoke in a cold and calculated tone. With a swirl of his hand, she changed, falling to Edmund’s feet like she contained no bones at all.

  He fell down beside her, gathering her limp body into his arms. Putting his ear to her chest, he could hear her weak heartbeat but she gave him no response at all. Then, he faced his father with the wrath of all he'd gained from the man which ran dark within him. Magical energy stirred inside of him. Powerful and enticing, yet he feared it and mistrusted it with everything good within.

  “Your eyes have blackened, my son, already. It is proof my magic courses through your veins. Give in to it and join with me.”

  “You plume yourself on use of this
magic?” Edmund held Aubrey’s body out toward him briefly before pulling her back to his chest in a protective embrace. “This is what you want for me, to be able to hurt caring and loving people?”

  “You forced my hand. It was not what I wanted. She is not hurt, only incapable of poisoning your mind against me. I deserve my say, and she was not allowing it. Neither of you know me, so do not judge me based on her opinions of my magic, which is your magic need I remind you.”

  “I would as soon have no magic than the darkness I feel disturbing me now. I understand why my mother tried to keep me from you. I am thankful that when I came into my powers again, it was Aubrey who directed me in their use.”

  Edmund looked down upon the lifeless woman in his arms. She had not only given him love but had given him life by allowing him to be who he wanted to me. Yet, she paid dearly for it again and again. On the other hand, every parent he had ever known had tried to control him. They had attempted to contour him to meet their needs. Hot anger stirred the baser powers within him, and he decided to use it just this once to escape his father. Laying Aubrey at his feet, he allowed his wrath to help him find his way into the form of the beast.

  Somehow, this time, the transformation took in a swift manner, sweeping through him so that he barely noticed the blinding pain. As the elemental being Aubrey had first made him, he towered above the crowd. Many moved backwards, bumping into one another. He ignored the chaos and fixated on Aelfin Pendle. He let his wings span out around him, increasing the size of his intimidation. He looked down on Aubrey, trying to come up with a way to pick her up and fly her away from here. He did not fear harming her following the beast’s more primitive instincts, for this time he'd chosen the transformation. Therefore, even in this shape, he stood more the man than the monster.

  The elaborate lace designs on her white wedding dress shimmered in the light. She seemed pure and frail within it. As much as he hated to destroy it, the gown proved his only means of taking her with him. The beast’s muscles strained as it bent the length of its neck down to the ground. With the care of a lover, he maneuvered the beast’s great mouth enough to grab only the material necessary to safely hold her without biting her flesh at the same time. Deliberate and slow, he raised her up and took off to flight.

  Upon his majestic ascent into the moon filled sky, a streak of magic like a black sword hit him. It pierced his hide just above the upper joint of his leg. The hot, searing pain impeded his control over his wings. Then, another black streak tore through one of his wings. Unable to recover his flight, he found himself moving back toward the ground. Given little time to prepare for his landing, he managed only to round onto his side so Aubrey would land upon him instead of him upon her. That he had made a mess of it tortured him. He had failed and knew not what would become of them now, though no worse than their plight at his father's hands before he'd shifted.

  “You are no match for me. Even if your powers are greater than mine, you have had no training to utilize them. Only I can provide you with what you need.” Aelfin came to stand beside the beast. Even lying on its side, Aelfin stood only eye-to-eye with it.

  “Stop acting like a child. You are a grown man; accept your gifts wisely. Shift back now, and you may both come to live with me. I fear I thrust the initiation upon you too quickly. I am sorry for that. It can wait until you are ready. If she loves you, she will come to accept it with time as well.”

  Edmund, still the beast, let Aubrey roll gently off of him while he raised himself back up to standing. It took a great bit of maneuvering with his injuries to get there, but his erratic movements had forced his father back into the crowd. The beast looked down upon her, and a brutal love mixed with the rush of passion both primitive and savage an electrical jolt through his body made him hyper aware of her, of himself, of everything around him. All the powers she had changed in him with her own magical influences surfaced. He sent all he had of the magic at his disposal to her with his love, and she began to awaken.

  At that moment, he realized that black magic only appeared to be stronger when it came to physical manifestations, just as she had said. White magic rooted in love, and it overpowered the savage hatred and selfish greed that was the unnatural source of black magic. As she came to a wobbly standing, she looked upon his beast with all the love he knew her to give so freely. A sudden need to thump his chest took over as he tapped into the good in him to overpower the bad.

  He stopped before the man who shared only his blood. As the beast, he had no final words to his father, but looking into his eyes he knew the man got the message loud and clear. With a fierce growl that shook the ground, he looked to Aubrey and then to Aelfin, jerking his head up in a desperate gesture toward his back.

  “I believe he wants you to help me up onto his back.” Aubrey said what he thought with quite a bit of compassion for all they had just experienced at Aelfin’s hands. “You must let us go, if you ever hope to have any relations with him at all. As it is now, he will fight to the death if he has to in order to get me safely away. He loves me because I love him as he is. This is your only chance is to do the same.”

  As the beast, he looked from Aubrey to Aelfin again. Without words, he tried to will thoughts to his father: if he helped them now, there may be a someday for them as father and son. When the man’s eyes lightened to a shade of dark gray and his stance relaxed, he grew hopeful his message had gotten through.

  Aelfin held out his hand to Aubrey, and spoke to the beast in a soft, deep voice. “I have not the privilege of knowing you still, but I love you. You fight what you have inherited from me. Aubrey is right. I have sacrificed to gain wealth and power. Yet, I see that if I use my power to keep you here, I will have already lost you. For the first time, my magic cannot gain me what I most want.”

  Aubrey took his hand, and he helped her up onto the beast’s back, careful of his injuries already healing. Edmund couldn't imagine the way they looked with his bride in her tattered dress upon the beast of her own creation, a monster bloodied from battle. Whatever pain it caused him, he would fly her away from here.

  “Thank you, Aelfin,” Aubrey said. “I am sure Edmund appreciates the gift you are granting us on the night of our wedding. This freedom comes at a great price for you, but it is the first sign of your true love for him. It is only because of this gift that you will see Edmund again. Remember that when the waiting gets hard. Otherwise, he'd have either fought you to the death or walked away for good. As it stands now, if you let us fly safely out of here, we will return someday soon. There will be a time for reconciliation. I know he will forgive you, because that is the man he is. But, he will never want to share in your magic.”

  Aelfin stumbled back from her words like a broken man, a shell of the being he'd been since he'd arrived. He turned from them, and Edmund experienced a twinge of their victory. They would fly away from here as husband and wife. Someday, he may be able to forgive this man. He looked to him one final time and froze, puzzled by the man’s movements. His father seemed to be having a seizure on the ground in front of him. He gave pause as to his father’s condition as his coven, who had witnessed the whole event, rushed to him. Like a practiced wave, the men bowed over him. He panicked, wondering if his father could be dying.

  None of his father’s actions made any sense, but he had never witnessed anything like them. He awaited a word from Aubrey, unable to ask her a question. Then, suddenly he felt his body changing, being strangled by millions of icy, individual fingers. The darkness took his sight and swirled around in his head, scrambling his thoughts. Thinking his heart had stopped its beat and his lungs stopped breathing, unable to return, he feared for Aubrey’s safety. Somehow, his father and the coven attempted to kill him, or at the very least, incapacitate him.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Aubrey, oppressed by a sorrow beyond words, sobbed over Edmund’s body lying in a clump at her feet. An amazing man of strength, both physically and spiritually, they'd reduced him to a naked heap
of muscles lying unconscious on the cold floor. Having no idea as to the nature of the spell cast upon him, her fever of affliction went well beyond obvious concerns for his situation. Her constant vigil of checking his breathing to ascertain the true plight of his grim constitution did little to ease the constriction in her chest.

  She could not keep her hands from him, running them over his skin and laying her body over his to provide him what warmth she could. With a benumbed groom to show for it, her wedding now seemed like ill gotten gains. Although given little choice in the matter, guilt attacked ruthlessly. Certain truths in reality had no bearing upon the heart.

  Edmund had taken a terrible risk in standing up to his father, but she loved him all the more for it. The transformation he had performed into the majestic beast had been swift and flawless, saying much of his bravery. After Aelfin’s men had dumped a wounded Edmund at her feet in this sore excuse for a prison, Aelfin had bound both of their powers. Their desire to be together on their own terms broken, this time they kept close in proximity and in the binds of their hearts.

  Helplessness a harsh reality of her standing in society, she tried to rein in her brooding by biting back upon the foreboding voice in her head who claimed all was lost. She attended to the arrangement of his limbs, making him appear more comfortable, because it was all she could do.

  She wished his father to perdition, or at the least wanted him hauled before the magistrate and clapped in irons. Only, from what she had seen of Aelfin Pendle, he had them on his purse strings, too. A servant to the black spy had outflanked them. Diverting her attentions to memories of the island, she knew she would gladly return undaunted if given the opportunity.

  She thought upon where their fatal tumble down the stairs of fate had begun, or better yet, who had originally pushed them. She wished she could have his mother manacled beside his father to be tortured together as a lovely couple for the rest of their days. It mattered none, she guessed, swallowing her bile. It would not gain her the vaguest idea of how they would wheedle their way out of this one with Aelfin ruling by magic and money. They currently had neither at the moment.