Sorceress' Blood

by Carl Purcell

  Rebecca looked at the pistol in her hand. It was loaded, it was ready and somehow it seemed eager to draw blood. Of course it did; what other purpose did it have? But Rebecca wasn't so sure she was ready and she knew she wasn't at all eager to draw blood. Her mind drifted from the plane back to Lord Sebastian's castle. When they escaped she had run over a Thrall and left him for dead. That was the first time she ever killed someone. Then the Thralls found them at the motel and she had to shoot them. More dead Thralls. More bodies that stained her bloody hands. Now they were going face to face with countless Thralls. Rebecca was afraid. She didn't want to die but she didn't want to run away. She'd come too far to run away. Could she even try? What would the knights say if she told them she couldn't go ahead? Where would she go? What about Ashley? Rebecca ran a hand along the side of her weapon. The metal glistened in the setting sun out her window. There was no running away. Now Ashley and the world were relying on them, even if they didn't know it. Rebecca thought about the Thralls she'd killed and a new fear came over her. She didn't feel guilty any more. She couldn't remember if she ever did, really. She set the gun on the seat by her and closed her eyes. Maybe they deserved it. They hadn't given her much choice. But then, maybe that was just an excuse. Rebecca sighed. She didn't have an answer for her questions and so she did all she could ever think of doing and pushed the questions out of her mind. They weren't important enough to answer. Morality could wait. Right or not, it was done. Now she had to rescue Ashley and no one would stop her. There was a reassurance in that. She didn't want to kill any more Thralls but it was a better option compared to just letting them kill Ashley, summon the Sorceress and let her loose on an unsuspecting world.

  The plane landed at Victoria airport. Rebecca took the time to breathe fresh air and stretch her legs. Pan Wĕi stood with her muttering to himself, sometimes in English and sometimes in Chinese, about how desperately he wanted a cigarette. They sat waiting as the plane refuelled. Inside the plane, the pilot was trying explain their sudden arrival to the control tower with any reason except the true one. Jin had gone into the terminal to call the London order. So much depended on that call and the news he would bring back with him. Every noise sounded like his footsteps and every silence sounded like bad news. When Jin finally did come back he had an expression on his face that kept everything a secret. He walked past Rebecca and Pan Wĕi and went up the stairs onto the plane. Rebecca followed him up quickly, waiting for him to say something. The pilot was shouting something into his radio.

  “Well?” Rebecca asked. “What did they say?”

  “I told them the situation. I told them our plan. I told them when we will be getting to Scotland. They said they will time their arrival just before us. They are also going to call for the order in France to land with them.”

  “How many are there in France?”

  “When the Order retreated from the United Kingdom, the ones that lived went to France. There a Halford built his castle and gathered his knights. Some of the greatest knights and sorcerers are in the French castle.”

  “So when we land, do we meet with them?”

  “No. While the knights from London and France land in Glasgow to the south, the Order will also come from Sweden to land at Inverness. Two landings and separate airports.”

  “I thought you said we couldn't land at any of the airports.”

  “Right. We can't. When the Order lands, the Thralls will immediately start fighting no matter where they are. The Order will engage them but there will be a lot of knights. That means the Thralls will have to send more to help them.”

  “I think I understand. The two attacks at the airport are to thin the numbers at their castle. They're a distraction from our attack.”

  “Yes. Sweden and France are the closest castles to Scotland. They'll arrive before us to make it easy for us.”

  “And we're still jumping?”

  “Yes.”

  “Jin, all this sounds like it will get a lot of attention. No matter how powerful the Order is, this is going to cause you all a lot of trouble. Especially if anyone gets killed in the fight and I don't mean Thralls or knights.”

  “I know. But this is why their Order is here. We can't worry about what will happen when the Sorceress is about to return.”

  “You're all that dedicated? Alright. Then we can do this.” Rebecca looked at Jin and Pan Wĕi. Neither of them had any look of doubt or fear in their eyes. They were so certain that what they were doing was not only right but necessary and that no cost was too high. If their whole lives could have built to this one moment then Rebecca was sure that she could be just as sure and just as ready as they were. She felt a calmness all through her when the plane started moving again. There was one more stop and then there was no turning back. But the stop in Greenland came and went without notice. Rebecca never thought of running away again after that. All she had left was determination to win no matter what it cost. If, indeed, she'd ever had a chance of running away then it was a long time ago now. Everything had a sense of being far away. The entire world and fallen away and left only them in their little plane and the dangers awaiting them in Scotland. Rebecca's thoughts went to her mother. She could remember being a little girl. She was face to face with a big, angry dog with sharp teeth and a mean look on its face. It had got into their back yard and cornered Rebecca. Her mother heard Rebecca scream and came running. The dog turned and snapped at Rebecca's mother but she was determined and fearless – just like always. With one powerful kick she sent the dog running. Rebecca knew that it was now her turn to protect Ashley. If only it was only stray dog. If only it could be that simple. Things weren't as easy but that didn't change what Rebecca had to do and she knew it. If she had to kick a dog, she'd do it. If she had to kick a Thrall, she'd do that too. If it came down to kicking the Sorceress then that's what it came down to and she'd do it. She managed to sleep one more time on that long flight but she didn't dream. When she awoke they were over the ocean but nothing had changed inside her. This was the final battle she would have to fight and everything from pulling Ashley out of the way of that car to holding that gun in her hand and to strapping on the parachute as the plane lowered all came down to one last battle. The weight of the world was surprisingly light on her shoulders and perhaps it was because she knew she wasn't bearing it alone any more.

  “Hold my hand and do as I say,” Jin told her. Without saying anything, Pan Wĕi took Rebecca's other hand. She nodded and then one by one, as a chain, they leapt out of the plane. Then the pilot flew off into the sky and Rebecca never saw him again. She saw the ground coming towards her. She saw clouds zip by and then nothing but the cold, clean air. She saw Jin and Pan Wĕi staring with her. Then she heard Jin shouting, “Pull!” and her hands were free. For a moment she was alone in the sky and Jin and Pan Wĕi were floating gently above her. Then the ripcord was pulled and everything slowed down. She breathed a sigh of relief and knew that she would be okay.

  She landed on the ground in a run, for no other reason that that's what she'd seen them do on TV. She slowed until she stopped by tripping over her feet and landing face first on the grass. Rebecca was only too happy to be there on solid ground. Then she lifted herself up and freed herself from her parachute. Jin and Pan Wĕi landed not far from her but with far more grace. They regrouped and checked their weaponss were still there.

  “Are you ready?” Jin asked. “Once we go, there's no turning back.”

  “I'm ready.” Rebecca didn't need to think about it.

  “Good. Let's go.” From where they landed they could see the castle ruins across the wet, grassy meadows. There was the slight roll of hills and the sky was dim with grey clouds. The castle, jagged and old, stuck out of the ground like a tumour. That broken monument to ancient evil sat and motionlessly beckoned them. There wasn't even a slight wind to break the still silence on the meadows that day. A thousand years ago brave knights would have marched over this grass and the most powerful sorcerers the world had ever
seen, the Halford brothers, would have fought a deciding battle. Blood and unanswered prayers would have soaked the ground. The smoke of fires would have lit the sky and the world would have been alive with screams and battle cries. A thousand years ago these lands would have been a macabre thing to see but it was the hope of the world's future. Now that battle was being fought again but, instead of a war, it felt like a funeral. There was no sound and only three soldiers marched against the ancient and unstoppable evil that waited in the walls of that broken beast. Rebecca held her pistol in hand and walked towards it with single-mindedness. She was not going to let anything happen to Ashley.

  The castle rose up above them as they came closer and what had looked like a small ruin was now as much a fortress as it ever had been. In its sorry and broken state it was still colossal and frightening. A thousand years ago, in the prime of its days, it would have been an impenetrable stronghold for the Sorceress and her Thralls. Rebecca, Jin and Pan Wĕi, knights of The Order of The Witch-Hunter, and the last hope for the world, walked along the stone-walled castle until they found a gap. A hollow broken into the castle's east wall. They crept in quietly, each with weapon ready in hand. Everything was silent and Rebecca felt a sudden doubtfulness come over her. Was this the right castle? Did they expect them to come here and they’d taken Ashley somewhere else? She didn't say anything and kept following Jin through an empty doorway. The hollow had let them into the bottom of one of the castle's towers. Now they stood in a long empty room. They listened for the sound of anything but the only thing with them was dust. The knights moved softly through the room to the door. They were moving blindly with no idea where, in all that giant castle, they should look. Jin stepped through the door and was greeted by the sounds of a Thrall firing at him. He leapt back, stumbling through his companions.

  “Did I hit you?” They heard a Thrall call from the next room. “No? Well, why don't you let me try again?” Jin moved up to the door and waited a second. Then he leaned out the door and fired towards the Thrall then ducked back into the room.

  “Did you hit him?” Pan Wĕi asked. Jin shook his head.

  “No. But I think I hit one of the other four standing with him.”

  “You stay here and try to fight through them. We'll find another way around.” Pan Wĕi and Rebecca made for the door at the other end of the room. Jin tightened his grip on his sword and went at the Thralls again.

  Rebecca and Pan Wĕi found a gap in the wall and moved through it. The gap opened directly into the courtyard. There they saw Ashley standing in the centre by an open, stone coffin. A Thrall stood quietly beside her. Rebecca raised her handgun and aimed at him. Then there was a blast so sudden and frightening that she dropped her gun. It landed right beside the motionless corpse of Pan Wei. Struck with horror, Rebecca looked up just in time to see a Thrall punch her across the jaw. She fell backwards. For a moment the world spun, and darkened. She heard Ashley scream out for her and then the girl was silenced by a Thrall. Rebecca crashed against the wall. The world came back into focus.

  “We were wondering how long it would take you to get here,” someone said. She thought it was the Thrall by Ashley. Rebecca didn't say anything but went for her gun. The Thrall kicked her. Rebecca grabbed his leg and pulled him down with her. Within seconds she was on top of him, beating her fists against him. Seemingly from nowhere, another Thrall grabbed Rebecca. She was pulled off him and thrown against a wall. Rebecca looked around and counted at least six Thralls that she hadn't seen before. Somewhere in the castle she could hear Jin still fighting.

  “You're strong. That's to be expected. Now hold still and we'll finish this.” The Thrall Rebecca had been fighting stood up and drew a knife from his belt. Rebecca tried to get away but two Thralls pinned her against the wall. The knife came close to her. Rebecca braced for the end. The knife struck her across the cheek.

  “What? You're not killing me?” She asked, so surprised she forgot the danger she was in.

  “No. We want you to see what happens next.” The knife changed hands to the Thrall who was standing by Ashley. Rebecca saw his face for the first time and recognised the traitorous bastard. Edward held the knife up and smiled.

  “You need more than Thralls to bring back the Sorceress. You need an actual Sorcerer. A powerful one. You also need her corpse. Finally, you need the blood of her heir.”

  “Don't touch her!”

  “But we already have. You mean you don't know? Didn't you think it was strange that I told you what I'd done with Ashley? That I didn't stop you from leaving? That I let you use the Order to get here. The Thralls tried so many times to bring you here. But you're unnaturally strong, fast, and tenacious. Of course that's to be expected, given your blood line. But, as fortune would have it, you walked right into my hands.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “For a while I thought it was Ashley. No one had told me it was you. All I had to go on was your word that it was Ashley. So I separated you and put Ashley alone in the Tower where the Thralls could get her. Then I found out that I had given them the wrong one. Meanwhile you were wandering around making friends with all those damned knights. I'd foolishly ruined every chance of capturing just you. So I decided the only way we could get you to do anything was with the girl. I was right. So we took her, knowing you would deliver the blood to us personally.” Rebecca's eyes widened and her body felt weak all of a sudden. Everything became clear in that instant and she realised that in her desperate attempts to save Ashley, she had doomed her and the whole world. For the first time in her life things were becoming clear and she knew who she was and everything that had happened. Everything the Thralls had said to her. She had been lied to and manipulated and now they had the blood of the Sorceress dripping slowly from her cheek and from one small blade.

  All except the Thralls holding her gathered around Edward and the coffin. The sounds of battle within the castle had ceased. Rebecca watched as the knife was dropped into the coffin and Edward himself commanded the Sorceress to rise. There was a burst of flames which became a swarm of hundreds of little spiders. Inside the coffin those spiders crawled over the ancient skeleton and spun their black webs into a heart first and then lungs, veins and even bone where the skeleton had broken. Then they spun their web into muscle and into skin and long raven black hair. Then the spiders dug their way into the pink flesh of their creation. Rebecca saw a hand appear on the sides of the coffin and then effortlessly the Sorceress lifted herself out of the coffin and breathed deeply for the first time in a thousand years. She stood proudly as the frightening visage that she was. The Thralls all knelt to her and even Edward bowed low. The Sorceress looked over them with her beautiful, fiery red eyes and then cackled with wicked delight. She ran her hands up her naked flesh and through her long black hair that touched her ankles.

  “After one thousand years of waiting, I am alive again. Where is my heir?” She scanned the room and spied Rebecca and her cut cheek. “You. Yes, you are my heir. You are also my Thrall, now bow.”

  “Never.”

  “Then I have no further use for you.” The Sorceress raised her hand and with all her magic, she engulfed it in bright flames. “Die.” The flames leapt from her fingertips. They arced through the sky and came down at Rebecca. Rebecca kicked at one of the Thralls holding her and with her newly freed hand she grabbed the other Thrall and threw him in front of her. The fire swallowed the Thrall and incinerated him. Not even ash was left.

  “You dare defy me and cost me a Thrall? Wicked little creature!”

  “Go back to hell.” Rebecca reached for her weapon. The weapon was in reach but another Thrall tackled her and it was snatched away for a second time. Rebecca struggled against them with futile efforts.

  “Instant death is too good for her. Make it slow and painful,” Edward commanded. More Thralls rose and came towards Rebecca. The Sorceress watched with immeasurable delight and satisfaction.

  “Get off me!” Rebecca continued to pull and
kick at them.

  Then another voice rose up above the Sorceress' laughter and Rebecca's desperation.

  “Leave her alone!” This little voice cried with so much force that it rocked the castle. In an instant all the Thralls around Rebecca were thrown in every direction. Ashley clenched her fists until her knuckles were white and glared through the tears in her eyes. “I won't let you hurt her any more!” she warned them. Edward turned to her and drew his sword. Before he could strike, Ashley cried out again. “No!” The force threw him back against the Sorceress. The Sorceress, watching the whole time, didn't so much as blink and Edward's body disintegrated into nothing before it could touch her.

  Suddenly free, Rebecca picked up her gun and shot down all the Thralls around her. The Sorceress turned to her; that was all it took for Rebecca to be disarmed and forced to the ground.

  “Enough! Now you both die.”

  “Go away!” Ashley screamed at the Sorceress. The unprepared witch was forced off her feet and crashed down amongst the Thralls.

  “You little bitch. You'll be first.” The Sorceress levitated off the ground and raised her hand. “What will it be? Fire? Lightning? Or should I just turn you little body inside out?”

  “Jump!” was Ashley's response. Four of the Thralls lifted from the ground and flew at the Sorceress from all directions. The Sorceress quickly destroyed their bodies.

  “About as impressive as a rat,” the Sorceress hissed at her. This time Ashley was thrown across the room and her little body landed with a crack against the wall. She struggled to lift her body from the floor.

  Rebecca swung her pistol out wildly as the Thralls came close to her. She'd run out of bullets and tried desperately to club her attackers.

  The sound and fire of someone else's gun was her saviour. Jin shot them down with easy precision and then raised his sword at the Sorceress and fired again. The Sorceress, focused entirely on Ashley, was struck through her thigh. She screamed a scream that could only be described as the wail of a banshee and just as surely meant death for all of them. She purged the bullet from her leg and the wound closed seamlessly.