by Emera Rose
I ran out of those chambers with my heart in my throat. I was scared out of my mind, but I knew that I could do this, I stopped for a second in the small room that you used to be mine and retrieved the makeshift key that I never thought I would use again.. It would allow me to open the cells in the slave quarters and let those people free.
I ran downstairs, any Makin that was left in the building already preoccupied fighting other vampires or being killed by the slave warriors. I made it down to the slave quarters without so much as a hiccup.
“Midi! Midi, are you here?” I whispered into the dark. I had no flame to light, so I could barely see anything in front of my face.
“Laramie?”
“Yes! It’s me. I’m going to release you guys, be calm, and don’t just run off. Everyone hear me?” I said a little louder, hoping that by releasing them, I wouldn’t start a stampede.
There was a chorus of yeses, I ran to each door, and my makeshift key slid in effortlessly, I released dozens of slaves, but that wasn’t the hard part, that would be getting them out of there without being seen.
“Midi, was the tunnel finished in the library?”
His eyes lit up in recognition. “Nearly, I saw trees, but the opening was not big enough for us to get through. We could make it through now if we weren’t worried about the noise.”
“I want you to break through as fast as possible, and then you will lead all of these people into the backwoods, you will not make it off the island, but at least you won’t be here when this place goes up in flames.” I turned to look at the crowd that had surrounded me. “You all have to be strong now; do not panic; this is not your time. As slaves, we are taught that we are less than the vampires and the noble court, it’s false. We are just as powerful as they are. We are strong and united, we are unbeatable. Stay together and watch each other’s back. You will make it through.”
“You have to come with us!” Melissa said from where she was standing.
“Yeah! We need you, Laramie.” Another slave spoke out.
“Come with us!”
“We will all follow you.”
I put my hand up to stop the talking, there was no time for this, “That is not my mission. I have to make sure we are not taken over by a foreign force. I need to stay here and fight.” The gravity of what I had just said struck me hard. I had spent my entire life being beaten and told that I was weak, never fighting back but always surviving. I waited for the right time, now was my time to fight for my life, the right time to fight for my freedom.
“Get into a line and hold each other’s hand, we are going to move fast and quietly, do not let go of your partners hand no matter what you do, everyone understand?” I grabbed Midi’s hand and watched as everyone grabbed everyone’s hand, forming a long snake-like chain.
“Alright, let’s go.” I pulled Midi, and we were off, we stayed to the lower levels, and for the most part, it didn’t look like any Makins made their way back down here. They were all upstairs. That was good news for us. We made it to the back staircase that would lead straight up to the main banquet area. I could hear the bang of swords and shields; I knew that there would be some enemies when we made it out of the stairs.
I pushed open the door, and just as I thought, there were a handful of Makins and a few Froize soldiers in the banquet area, fighting. We were center stage as soon as the door opened. I turned to Midi quickly, “You all stay here if I fall, you take these people, and you run to the library, get as many folks out as you can. Do you understand me?”
Midi nodded his head, yes, but there was fear in his eyes.
“Don’t be afraid.” I looked at him, trying to give him some of my confidence.
I walked away and into the fight.
“Would you look at this, it’s my lucky day. I get a snack,” the man growled. This vampire was a trained fighter, and he wore the leather armor that the rest of his army wore. He was here to fight, but he didn’t think he would get one from me. He was dead wrong.
He flashed over to where I was standing, and I made sure to stand with my back close to a wall so that he wouldn’t be able to get behind me. I swung out my staff and knocked him back, swinging where I guessed he would end up. Vampires were predictable; they were fast, but if you were smart, you’d be able to predict where they would move to before they could get there.
Usually, if they were right-handed, they wanted to feed off the left side of your neck. I swung and made a solid connection with him. He stumbled backward, his momentum doing most of the work for me. He swung his arm, and again his moves were telepathed; I blocked it easily. We went back and forth like this for a while, him attacking and me predicting where the next move would come from.
I was getting tired, Tahmas was right, I couldn’t stay on defense forever. I blocked his next attack, and in the same motion, I released the blades and brought them down on his hand, severing it completely from his body. He looked down in shock, clearly not expecting that. Once he realized that he was indeed without his hand, he roared out in anger and tried to rush me. I swung my staff quickly and chopped into the side of his head. The super sharp willow acid drenched metal slicing through bone and flesh like churned butter.
I moved onto the next Makin, who was busy fighting one of our human warriors. I ran up behind him and used my staff to cut through one of his legs, allowing the human to get the upper hand. One by one, I helped take down our Makin enemies until it was clear that we would win the room. I turned back toward Midi. “Let’s move!” I whispered to him, and they all followed him out, and I grabbed his hand to complete our journey. We exited the banquet hall and walked stealthily down the corridors until we made it to the library. Luckily there was no one there. We rushed into the back area of the library, and they funneled into the opening.
“Laramie, are you sure that you can’t come with us?” Midi asked before he stepped inside.
“My place is here. I’ll find you all when it is safe. Or the vampires will if you can get your freedom go for it, but above all, just stay alive ok.” He nodded, and I squeezed his shoulder once before I pushed him into the makeshift tunnel and closed it up with one of the book stacks. Now that my mission was complete, I would have to make it back to the king’s chambers so we could light the hellfire.
One way or another, this would be the end.
Chapter 23
I made it back to the King’s chambers without a problem, the corridors were littered with bodies, but I couldn’t tell if it was more Makin soldiers or Froize soldiers. It seemed like an even number.
I walked into the chambers, and to my surprise, Tahmas had already called up a few of the soldiers.
“You made it.” Jett flashed to me and cradled my face in his hands tenderly. I didn’t want that to affect me, but it seemed like he was relieved I was safe.
“You have no faith,” I said as I walked away from him. I went over to where Tahmas and the other warriors were. “What’s the plan?”
“They will make their way through the corridors as quickly as possible, dousing everything they can with the hellfire, they will then make their way back here, and we will light it. If those Makin scum don’t go up in the flame, the fumes will force them out.” Tahmas continued handing out the bottles of hellfire. “And what about us? How will we be safe?”
“These doors are made to keep out anything, hellfire included. As long as we stay within the chambers, we will be fine. It’s just going to be a long wait for it to all burn itself out.” Jett said from behind me.
The process was faster than I thought possible. Within a few minutes, all of those that went out to spread the hellfire had made it back to the king’s chambers. All that was left to do now was to light it. Once we put a flame to the liquid, it would spread and burn wherever the hellfire was poured, burning hot and creating fumes that no one would be able to stand. We would successfully push them back and live to fight another day.
There were at least a dozen of the elite soldiers in the room,
including Tahmas, king Jett, queen Margot, and four nobles that were stuck inside the castle walls with us. If everyone died on the outside of these doors, we would be the only surviving citizens of Froize. It was a sobering thought I could only hope that Midi was able to get everyone as far away from the castle as possible.
“Light it up,” I said loudly, and Tahmas took the order immediately, he started a flame with his flint and a torch and walked to the door, took a few steps out and threw the flame to the ground. The fire that erupted was beautiful. It burned neon, green and white, and it moved fast. Before Tahmas had the chance to make it back to the chambers, a small part of the fumes leaked into the area, we all began coughing and trying to suck in clean air. That stuff was lethal. Tahmas closed the door, and we used whatever we could to fan away the fumes. After a few seconds, we were able to catch our breath. I went to lean on the wall, all the emotions and stress of the day, finally weighing heavy on my mind and body. I cried softly as not to bring any attention to myself, but Jett could see. He made his way over to me and engulfed me into a hug. I didn’t want his arms around me, I didn’t want to need him as much as I did, but at that moment I did. I let him hold me and just took comfort in the fact that I had made it, that I fought, and I survived.
A low growl caused the hairs on the back of my neck to stand up before I could look up Jett was being torn out of my arms, and queen Margot was hurling herself at me. Her eyes deranged and focused on me all at the same time.
“He’s mine!” She screamed as she threw herself onto me. I hit the wall behind me hard and use the staff in my hand to keep her away from me. She tried to push through it, and I could hear the wood splintering and getting ready to break, without this, I would have nothing to protect myself. She snarled, and saliva dripped out of her mouth as she tore at my arms and continued breaking the staff keeping her sharp teeth away from my neck.
I felt a gush of wind come up from behind Margot and could see Jett standing behind her; finally he would move her away. Instead, he reached over her shoulder and placed his hand on top of mine, using my finger to release the blades inside my staff. The blades opened and lodged itself right into the throat of my queen.
I gasped loudly just as she also did, neither one of us understanding what was going on. She was just stabbed and I was the one who stabbed her. Jett made me stab the Queen of Froize. I would be tortured and die slowly for my crime against the crown. He knew he just killed me.
I pulled the blade from her neck and watched her head fall from her shoulders and bounce on the floor before her body had time to fall.
Even Tahmas looked at me in shock. He knew just as I that I was a dead woman.
A loud round of growls erupted from the nobles as they took a second to realize what I had done. I dropped the staff immediately and backed up to the wall; there was no use in fighting. Not this time.
“Halt!” King Jett yelled his command from his throne. I had no idea when he even flashed back there. I was too busy staring at the open dead eyes of my prior queen.
“My king! She has killed the Queen! It is our duty and our right to enact vengeance! She must die! Nothing that you can say can protect her!”
Jett growled and stood on his podium, “You would dare commit a crime against the crown!”
The nobles stood back for a second, clearly not understanding what king Jett was talking about.
“We are the nobles and citizens of Froize, are we not?”
“We are.”
“We must follow the laws and the commandments as dictated by our ancestors, correct?”
The nobles looked among each other, still confused, “Yes, of course.”
“Then you must stand down in your attempt to kill Laramie.” He stepped down from his throne and looked me straight in the eye. “Queen Margot was a just and generous queen, but she failed in one regard. She did not choose or produce an heir. She had no living family, so the royal line ended when her head fell to the stone floor. According to our customs and laws, if the royal line is to end with no heir in the midst of battle, then the victor of that battle shall be exalted to the highest level, and their blood shall run gold.” Jett finished.
I turned to look at Tahmas, and there was a smile from ear to ear on his face. He knew something that I did not.
“No, this can’t happen; this has never happened before.” One of the nobles said, shaking his head in disbelief.
“Yet it is unless you are telling me that you will go against doctrine, in which case I will punish you for high treason.”
“No. my king.” All the nobles answered immediately. Then one by one, every single person in the chambers took a knee.
“What are you doing? What is this?” I was beginning to panic; I was putting two and two together, but there was no way. No way whatsoever.
King Jett stood tall and walked stiffly in my direction, stopping directly in front of me he issued a low bow. “All hail,” he stood back up to look me in my eyes, “Laramie, Queen of Froize.”
The air seemed to be too thick, and I couldn’t catch my breath. I placed a hand to my chest, trying to get myself together. I was the new Queen. I was the leader that everyone said that I should be but never wanted. I had no idea what would come of this, but I knew one thing for sure my fight was far from over.
Epilogue -Tahmas POV
I saw it when it happened. I saw the blades slide out from their casing, the look of surprise on Laramie’s face, the look of shock on that bitch Margot’s. I saw it all, but I had no idea that in that one second all my plans would fall into place.
King Jett is a good man, but he isn’t strong enough to lead, he doesn’t deserve the seat that he was given. It should be mine, and I will do whatever I need to do to get it. I will ensure Laramie’s survival; she will make a good queen for me. Bear my children, obey, and stay in line. I am sure of it. I’ll play the slave for a little while longer, but soon I will make my move, and Froize will be mine.
About the Author
Emera Rose is a mother of two, a nurse, an optimist and a believer in the unknown. Her paranormal journey started from an early childhood age when her mother used to tell her stories about ghosts that she would see walking around the house. ‘They are here for a reason’, she would say.
Her first paranormal love was the show, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Her fascination with all things paranormal only grew exponentially from there. Emera believes in the possibility of anything being possible and she hopes to bring joy and wonder to those that read her words.
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Emera Rose also writes under the Amazon Bestselling penname, Rae B. Lake. If you enjoy contemporary romance be sure to check out her work there!
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