Amelia didn’t bat an eye.
“When did it happen?” Curtis asked her. “When did your simple plans turn into evil intentions?”
“Sometimes there is a price to do what’s right!” she spat back at him. “Sacrifices need to be made.”
“As long as they’re not yours,” Curtis said.
Her lips curled and her palm shot up in front of her, a spell releasing against Curtis. It hit him, his body sailing backwards, hitting a tree. He slumped to the ground. Jae raced over. Curtis was still breathing.
“All you have to do is say yes, Jae, and I will break the bond,” Amelia said, her voice on the edge of frenzied. “You have my word. You help me with my quest and then I give you your freedom. A cure. A life.”
He wanted to say yes and nearly let it slip out of his mouth, forcibly biting his tongue to stop himself. What would saying yes mean? More killing? Hurting more people? And who? People that deserved it? People that didn’t? And who was he or this woman to decide? If he had learned anything it was that no one person should have this kind of power.
“No,” he spoke clearly. He looked her in the eyes so there was no question. “No. The answer will always be no. I would just be trading one beast master for another. “I will kill myself –again- before I allow anyone else to force me back into servitude.”
“Have it your way,” Amelia answered with finality.
Footsteps approached hurriedly, coming to a stop just inside the prison door. It was Owen, the young boy and messenger of the seer.
“I’m sorry to interrupt,” he spoke, out of breath. “Urgent news.” He ignored the prisoners behind her.
“Yes, speak,” she returned unpleasantly.
“Attack. There’s an attack coming!”
“When?” she demanded, stepping closer to the boy.
“Soon.”
She twisted around and took one last glance in Jae’s direction.
“You might just get your wish to die,” she said. “Lock the gate,” she ordered, following Owen back into the village center where all were gathering. As she neared, Colton appeared.
“Everyone should be here.”
“Good,” she answered. “We have new and urgent business to discuss, Colton. Urgent news from the seer. Time is no longer on our side.”
She reached into a pocket and removed two short vials, each filled with a thick, rust-colored liquid. A satisfied grin spread across her face. “Time to see if my trade with Fazendiin will pay off,” she mumbled to herself. She looked up at her followers, who eagerly awaited her orders.
“Welcome my friends!” she spoke intensely. “The moment we have worked so long and hard for is upon us. Today, we forge a new world. A better world. Today, at last, we begin.”
Chapter 6
Juliska Blackwell sucked in a deep breath of the cool morning air. Autumn was quickly giving way to winter and a thick layer of frost covered the ground.
She had moved off the main island, taking up residence once again in the stone fort. It had just one road in and out that was lined with sharp barb-like rocks. Juliska stood on her balcony of frosty stone overlooking her conquest.
“Isn’t it a breathtaking sight?” she asked Pajak, her pet spider. It clanked its glass-like legs together in reply.
A permanent dark cloud kept the main island in near darkness. The echo of the Scratchers’ screeching howls wafted over the ocean waves. “Music to my ears,” she whispered in a flat voice. She watched as her winged beasts flew over the island, keeping watch over her new prisoners. There was no escape for the Svoda. They were finally all hers, to do with as she pleased.
“Excuse me, my Queen,” spoke a gruff voice from behind her. “Your guest has arrived.”
“Thank you, Jenner. You may return to your post,” she told him, letting him know she wished to be alone with her guest. “Ah, my reinforcements are here.”
“Juliska Blackwell,” spoke the Striper leader, KarNavan.
She lowered her head in greeting but did not walk closer.
“You are not alone, I see,” said Juliska.
“This is my second, Ardon. She will be returning to the island with me. If you prefer she can wait with your guard.”
“I have nothing to hide,” said Juliska with a wink. The woman named Ardon stood back near the entrance while KarNavan and Juliska took a seat.
“I hope cold stone doesn’t bother you?” said Juliska, noting the Striper’s lack of warm clothing.
“Now, now, you know that our lizard blood runs a lot warmer than your cold blooded skin.” His words had a bite to them.
“So you are what I’ve been sent... I guess you’ll have to do,” said Juliska.
“And what, may I ask, would you like us to do here? I understand you have finally taken over, for real.”
“Yes, you should have seen it. It was all rather dramatic,” she said, her eyes swimming with wild satisfaction. “The people are mine. I simply need some help keeping things under control.”
“And why not just end it all now?”
“Oh no. Now would be... fast. I want them to suffer, a lot.”
KarNavan shook his head, looking amused by her. “I have to ask... what is it that makes you hate these people so much? To spend years planning and implementing this betrayal and still, you want them to suffer. I gotta say, I kind of like this side of you.”
“Of course you do,” she replied hotly. “Your story after all is legend. You abandoned these people to their likely doom, in the middle of a vicious battle, leaving them to suffer and die by the enemies of the Grosvenor while at sea, during your journey to a new home. This home,” she pointed toward the main land.
“We just saw things a little... differently,” he mused.
She sighed, seeing he was not going to give up his quest for answers so easily. And for some reason she felt like telling. She was so happy with everything that had happened she nearly felt as giddy as a schoolgirl in love. Her aspirations were finally coming to pass.
“When I first came to live with the Svoda, I had no memory of my life before then,” she told KarNavan. “They found me and brought me to the island. There was no explanation of why I did not have any memories but regardless, I was a magical child and needed protection and training. A family adopted me, the Cobb family.”
KarNavan’s eyes lit up, he knew of the Cobb family, most notably Amelia Cobb. To his knowledge, the rest of the Cobb family resided on the island. Amelia was the only Cobb banished.
“I was instantly a middle child of five,” she continued. “Two very much younger and very much older siblings. None of whom I ever really got to know well or got along with. Then, a few years later, I was deemed a Firemancer and I was sent to train with a seer. They were all jealous over the attention I got after that.”
She made a snooty face, wrinkling her nose as if trying to be cute. Her face straightened and turned serious after her overdone display.
“I don’t know how much you know, KarNavan, but when I was twenty I was selected to participate in a quest, on behalf of the then Banon. A group whose goal was to scour the world and search out a new home; we were outgrowing the island.”
“I do recall this quest. However, only that it occurred and went badly.”
“Bad in some people’s opinions perhaps,” she replied thoughtfully. “I do not believe you know that during this quest I was taken prisoner, by none other than Jurekai Fazendiin. I was frightened, at first. Thought I would die. Then he told me the most astounding thing. That he had taken me because he smelled my blood. A bloodline he had not smelled in hundreds of years. One he had believed had died out after the Shogharne clan, his clan, was wiped out...”
“After the Grosvenor were first created,” finished KarNavan, his voice intrigued. “When the remaining magical folk, before they became the Svoda, killed the lot off, fearing they’d somehow be recruited by the Grosvenor. You’re one of them,” he said. “You are a descendant of the Shogharne, a Vampyre. Your family su
rvived.”
“Yes. More so than telling me who I was, Fazendiin did something no one else could do. He gave me back my memories.”
“Ah,” said the Striper, leaning back. “And what did you remember?”
“My mother. My father. Both very old and dying, but not until they had told me everything about my history and what these Svoda,” she pointed toward the dark island, “had done to my people. Wiping them out of existence.”
“How old were your parents when they died?” he asked.
“I do not know. The Vampyre cannot sustain us forever. We can feed but over time you need more and more life force and after awhile you will never have enough. Death with claim you. It’s not true immortality.”
The Striper leader got a knowing gleam in his eye. “And this is what you truly want, isn’t it? True immortality.”
She did not answer, but shot him a look that said, why not?
“So how did you end up back here? And their leader? I’ve always wanted to know how you made that happen?”
“I didn’t want to come back,” she explained. “Not once I knew the truth. But I wanted them to suffer slowly, so I planned, schemed and plotted my revenge when a terrible truth hit me!”
She paused, standing.
“I had to go back. Even with all I had learned, I had to return.”
“Why?”
“Would you believe, love?”
He laughed. Then laughed harder.
“Hard to stomach isn’t it? But truth. I was young and in love. Fazendiin let me go, left it up to me to decide. He would not spill his own clan’s blood. I told the Svoda I had escaped... they are so stupid! Like you escape an immortal!” she laughed manically, her eyes wild.
“Then again, I could say the same about myself back then. Stupid and in love.”
“And where is said lover today?” he asked daringly.
“Dead,” she answered simply.
“How?”
“The coward took his own life after betraying me on our wedding day,” she explained, anger clinging to her words. “Colin Edward Gillivray was his name. I called him Eddy.” She held no fondness in her tone. “After his death I knew what I had to do. I would never again be made the fool! I would never again suffer as I had suffered at the hands of these people,” she spat out, as if the words themselves were poisonous.
“I contacted Fazendiin and told him I would do whatever it took but I wanted these people to suffer. He started by helping me kill my mentor and I took her place as the seer to the Banon. After a time, he suddenly grew ill and could not be healed by magic. He died quite quickly,” she continued, her tone now lighthearted. “I could recount history all night. Long story short, I became the next Banon with a little help from my friend in higher places... and then I drove them apart, one by one, until the banished were driven from the island. I laid out one fear after another until I drove the rest back into hiding, traveling aimlessly in tiny groups, broken from their friends and family.” She savored each word as if it were a mouthwatering desert.
“They suffered. I liked it. I controlled every aspect of their lives.” She turned swiftly, staring out over the dark island. “And the best part is, they loved me for it! I could do no wrong. So blind. Preferring to live in ignorant bliss.”
KarNavan nodded, impressed. “And now, after all is finished, you hope to gain immortality... the Immortality Stone is long lost.”
She just lifted her shoulders in reply.
She knew he was probing for information.
If the stone had been found, the Stripers were the last people that needed to get their hands on it. She ignored his attempts to speak of immortality, instead turning the focus onto him.
“It’s your turn, KarNavan,” she said. “Spill. What’s in all of this for you? I know you tend to play the winning side, but this seems a little low, even for you.”
He stood and took a curt bow. “As you said, I like to play the winning side. Winning is living. Nothing more.”
She hadn’t expected him to be honest with her. She eyed him distrustingly. Just what agreements had he made with Fazendiin?
“So what may we help the Queen of the Svoda with first?” he asked her instead.
“Sharing time is over then,” she pouted. “Fine. There is a task I need handled straight away. One that will require a bit of finesse.”
KarNavan nodded towards his second, Ardon, who strode to his side, then nodded toward Juliska. She was a shorter woman, with the same lizard skin stripes lining her body as the Stripers were known for, but she held a tall posture and tough gaze.
“A small band of rebels escaped,” explained Juliska. “They’re hiding somewhere on the island. I want them captured. I want to make an example out of them with a nifty little gift Fazendiin gave me,” she explained, taking something out of her pocket.
She showed it to KarNavan. It was a small round, smooth stone. “No need to explain what this is to you.”
“I see you’re finally in the loop,” he retorted, somewhat dismayed.
“You may have caught me off guard in the meadow, draining everyone’s magical powers with the stones Fazendiin gave you, but you didn’t actually think he’d keep me in the dark, did you? I’m blood. Best to remember that.”
“Of course, my Queen,” he nodded curtly. “So what of these rebels?”
“They cannot have gotten far, the protections I have on the island will keep them prisoner here. I want them rounded up and brought to me.”
“Very well,” he began, but she stopped him.
“There’s more. There is a young couple that somehow did escape the magical prison I created, and it is my belief that this band of rebels know something about this. I aim to find out. I want one of these young people returned to me. I believe she may have been taken against her will.”
“I see,” said the Striper leader. “There can only be so many places to hide, it is an island after all. Our magic trackers will get on it. It shouldn’t take long to locate them.”
“Excuse me,” spoke the stern looking Ardon. “If I may ask a question.”
“Yes.”
“Do you truly believe these rebels will talk? Even once captured and their lives threatened?”
“Why do you ask?” Juliska replied.
“It’s just that, I have found that people tend to be loyal in these circumstances, and I have another idea. One that might get you everything you’re looking for, with a lot less effort on your part.”
Juliska cracked a slow smile. “I’m listening.”
##
“Colby, I’m tired, I need to sit for a few minutes,” said Meghan. He had spent hours showing her around the grounds of his home, sharing a few memories of the place, the last being when his father had found the Catawitch, Elisha, wandering around the gates and brought her to his son. This made her miss Nona and remember how lonely she felt without her by her side.
She had no idea how much time had gone by since he’d taken her. Hours? Days? Weeks? Time did not seem to work the same inside memories.
She had witnessed Colby in classes, which was boring. She had seen his grandmother, whose soul was stuck inside the stained glass, her life never moving forward.
“I’m sorry about your grandmother,” she told him as they took a seat on a moss-covered rock.
“Yes, one of those things done by those Svoda you hold in such high esteem,” he spouted. “They stole her soul and hid her body, thinking they could use this as leverage against my father. My grandmother wouldn’t allow it though. She refused to let him give in. One day, he will find her body and return her soul. We’ll have an actual living grandmother,” he added, sounding thrilled by the thought. “She’s tough though. Strict. I guess that’s where our father gets it from.”
Meghan refused to reply, partly due to being exhausted and partly due to feeling completely overwhelmed. Traveling through memories was much more tiring than one would think, never mind that realizing that the woman stuck in the st
ained glass was also her grandmother. She had gained a family she knew nothing about, and wanted to know nothing about. She would never truly be a member of this family. She didn’t see the point in learning about them.
“Let’s eat,” Colby suddenly suggested.
“There’s no food. Memories remember?”
“Lucky for you, I have endless magical powers and can call some food for us. What would you like?”
Without meaning to, her thoughts went instantly to pizza. Her ultimate comfort food. It had been years...
“I’ve never tried that,” he said, catching the thought.
“You’ve never had pizza. How is that possible?” she asked incredulously.
“My dad is against anything he hasn’t grown himself.”
“Grown, like veggies?”
“Just veggies,” Colby clarified.
“You mean your dad is a vegan?”
“Didn’t expect that, huh?”
“Not really, no.”
“He doesn’t believe in what he calls false foods. He wants to eat only what comes from the land, says it’s healthier. Keeps the mind sharper.”
“Have you ever eaten meat?” she asked him.
“Yup. But... he doesn’t know that,” he added in a tone that said let’s keep it that way!
“I won’t tell,” she replied in an annoyed tone. “Don’t plan on having any conversations with him.”
Colby shrugged. “You might not have a choice.”
“Whatever,” she said, not wanting to argue.
She sighed. Now that she had pizza on the brain, she could not let go of the idea of it. She could not help but think of her favorite pizza place, in southern Maine. She could see them tossing the dough, slathering the crust with cheese and sauce and watching it arrive at the table all bubbly and...
“Wh-where are we?” she asked, not realizing they had jumped to another memory.
“At that pizza place you were just thinking about. Don’t worry, no one can see us.”
She just stared at the entrance with her mouth gaping. A man stepped out of the door with a large box in his hand, walking right past them. A car pulled into the parking lot and another man jumped out and ran inside. She turned around and around, in disbelief of where she was. Cars. People. Civilization.
Taken (Book Six) (Fated Saga Fantasy Series) Page 8
