“What?” he asked as though he hadn’t really heard me, and then his eyes came back into focus. “Oh. Yes, much better.”
“Good. Then let’s go.”
All the lights in the warehouse were lit, they illuminated through the dirty windows, casting eerie shadows all around us. Kafkus pushed Kyle and me to the back of our formation while keeping Clifton and Quino up front with him.
I clutched my sword tight as we approached the doors. One of them was cracked, spilling light onto our path. My body flooded with fear. I couldn’t help but feel like we were playing right into their hands.
“So nice of you to join us, Quartessa,” a voice said coldly from deep inside the building. I recognized the voice. It was the Boru that the ring had bound me to, the one who was sucking my life away for his own selfish gain. I felt the anger and hatred that I felt for this greedy man rise up inside of me.
We entered the building with caution, prepared for an ambush, but none came. There must have been at least fifty Boru spread out in a semicircle around the perimeter of the room, each of them holding a weapon. They stood quite still, looking like intimidating statues. None of them moved as we made our way deeper into the room, and I was thankful for that seeing as there were only five of us.
In the center of the room stood my attacker. He looked confident and very pleased with our arrival. He was making no attempt to appear human, except for his clothes. Even though he was wearing a black, silk dress shirt and black slacks, he still looked intimidating. His green scaly skin glowed like toxic waste where I could see it. His hair and eyes illuminated like unnatural green fire. There was a sword sheath tied around his waist, but he made no attempt to draw it. He just stood there, smiling. The fact that he wasn’t sending his guards after us, or coming after us himself, unnerved me a little. Why wasn’t he doing anything?
I spotted Violet. She stood a few feet away from the Boru looking unhurt, but somehow different. I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand up I realized that I was afraid of her. I didn’t understand why; that is, until she opened her eyes. They glowed with a very unnatural and eerie green light. She smirked in a very un-Violet kind of way. The sight sent shivers down my spine. I couldn’t look at her, so I turned away.
“Thank you for bringing the witch. I counted on you transporting her here for me. She has made things much easier for us.”
“You have enthralled her!” Quino shouted.
“Something like that. Well, where are my manners? My name is Lynth.” He made the shallowest attempt at a bow. “I am the ruler here.”
I knew that name. He was the son of Dekem, the old Boru King. The man my father had put to death.
“I see that you are following in your father’s footsteps,” Kafkus said with just a hint of sarcasm.
“My father was a great man. He was wrongly executed for merely experiencing pleasures of the flesh. But we shall rectify that misdeed tonight.”
I stepped in front of my men, anger burning inside of me so fierce that I could feel my skin smoldering. “Your father raped and killed a Zolera Princess! She was my sister! He tortured her before mercilessly slaughtering her!”
He threw me a snide look that plainly said so what. “You never knew her.”
Pure anger and hatred pumped through my body. I wanted to see him dead, and I was prepared to do it. I took a step forward with my sword drawn.
“Violet!” he barked.
Her hands raised, directed at me. I flew up high into the air and hit the wall hard, dropping my sword and snapping my leg on impact.
Clifton started to come to my aid but Lynth held up his index finger and shook it at him like a naughty child. “Tisk, tisk.” His face filled with sudden fascination. “So, you are the half-breed that I have heard so much about.”
Clifton said nothing.
“You are more than welcome to come over to the winning side. We Boru are not as strict on the ties of blood as the rest of Kortis is. We couldn’t be with where we have been forced to live. ”
“I would never join you. I will never rest until each and every one of you is dead.”
“I enjoyed killing your mother. I do feel bad about killing your father though. He was a good man…in his time. That is, before he ran off with your whore of a mother. I only wish that I knew of your existence then. I would have made sure that you did not see another day.”
I could feel Clifton’s anger though he stifled it well.
“Violet,” Lynth said again.
I was dragged across the floor, as though an invisible lasso had caught me around the waist, pulling me to rest at Lynth’s feet. He stared down at me, looking very pleased with how the night’s events were unfolding, and flashed me an unsettling grin.
“No!” Kyle yelled and began sprinting across the room, knifes in hand.
Violet caught him with a spell and he was sent flying backwards. He lay sprawled out on the ground, unmoving. I stared at Kyle, hoping that he wasn’t dead, but he gave me no sign of life to reassure me.
“Anyone else want to try my patience?!”
No one moved.
“Stupid child,” Lynth growled while staring at Kyle’s limp form. “He never should have disobeyed me, the fool. Did he really think that he, a meager human, could have killed me?” He had himself good laugh before turning his gaze back to me. “Where is my helpful servant, Loach? I have not heard from him in a few days.”
“Dead.”
“Is he now?” He shrugged. “I would have killed him when this was all over with as I had no further use of him. It seems you’ve done me a favor.”
I glared at him, willing with my very soul for him to die.
He cackled madly. “I will not make it that easy for you, my dear Princess.” He pulled out a short knife from his pocket and held it to my arm. “With your blood I shall call forth the great King Dobbin to this world, and make things right.”
With his words the gears in my head clicked into place. My father wanting me to stay and Brent and Violet’s warnings made sense to me now. I thought that it was impossible to summon my father here, but with my blood, and Violet’s extraordinary power, I now thought it possible. “No!” I screamed as I tried to pull my arm from his tight grip. He was far too strong. I couldn’t break free.
My men stepped forward in line, weapons drawn.
“You will not do this!” Kafkus screamed.
A glittering golden dome formed from nowhere, encasing the three of us in its prison. Kafkus charged at it. He hit the dome hard and was knocked backwards, landing on his back. Unlike Kyle, Kafkus managed to get back up.
The three of them used their weapons to try to break through, but to no avail. I was trapped. There was nothing that I, or anyone, could do to stop what was going to happen.
I felt a hot stinging sensation in my forearm as he sliced it open and screamed out in pain.
Violet bent down and coated her hand in my blood. Her very touch sent shivers across my body. I had to reach her somehow. I looked into her cold, luminescent green eyes. “Violet, Please?” I saw nothing of the lifelong friend that I knew in her. Violet was gone, and with her went my hopes for survival.
“Oh but I want to.” She sounded positively delightful at the prospect of killing my father, but I knew that it wasn’t her. She dropped to her knees and raised her bloody hand towards the ceiling. She whispered words that I didn’t know under her breath as Lynth clapped and cackled with glee next to me.
I used my good leg to kick him hard in his shin, the only thing I could reach. He howled, and then bent down over me and cracked my injured leg, breaking it in a second place. “Don’t fuck with me little girl!”
A grey cloud started to form out of thin air, above Violet’s head. It grew larger and larger as bolts of lightning crashed around it. I felt a small earthquake shake the ground beneath me. I knew that it wasn’t from Violet’s spell, but from Clifton.
Clifton was in a towering temper. His eyes glowed red through the golden li
ght cast by Violet’s confinement spell. They looked like two blazing bonfires in the distance.
Lynth looked at me, a frightening desire in his eyes. “We do have some time to kill before your father arrives.” He brushed his hand lightly across my breasts and I shuttered from his unwanted touch. “What shall we do to fill the time?”
A commotion drew our attention, saving me for the moment. Kafkus, Quino and Clifton were fighting the Boru guards. They had already taken down at least six of them from what I could see. I marveled in the clean and precise sword strokes of Clifton’s blade. He was holding his own.
“Enough!” Lynth roared and placed his knife to my throat. “One more move and I slit the bitch’s throat!”
My men froze. He meant it. He had no more reason to keep me alive after getting what he wanted. They were not willing to risk my life. The three of them backed up and leaned against the wall, standing there quite motionless, but looking murderous. The remaining guards resumed their original positions looking ill-tempered. They didn’t even bother to move their dead.
Looking satisfied Lynth put his focus back on me, but he did not remove his knife from my throat. “I think that I shall partake in some pleasure while we wait. I think that it will be amusing for your men to watch as I ravage their precious Princess.”
In my desperate thinking to find some way out of this, I was struck with a stroke of brilliance. I knew that he would fall for it, he had to. “How about a swords duel instead?”
He seemed intrigued by the offer. I knew that he couldn’t refuse my challenge. No Boru would ever turn down the opportunity to show that they were the best at anything, especially fighting.
Clifton pounded on the dome. I didn’t look at him, my gaze stayed focused on Lynth. “You’re hurt! You can’t win! Please don’t!”
I said nothing. I knew that my plan was risky, but it was either this or let him rape me. I couldn’t bear the thought of him laying another finger on me. I knew that it would be difficult to fight with a busted leg and a gaping hole in my arm, but I had to try. I was the only one who could stop him. The time to prove myself was finally here. This was my fight!
“What are the rules of your offer?”
“A battle to the death. Swords only, no powers of any kind.”
He looked a little disappointed but it faded quickly, leaving behind a look of unmistakable eagerness. I looked up at the cloud. It was now covering almost the entire ceiling, and growing blacker with every passing second. I had to do this fast.
“I accept your challenge, Quartessa. It would be an honor to put you in the ground.”
“Oh, I do not plan on losing. I think that it is you that shall die here tonight, not me.”
His laugh boomed as if from a distant asylum. He backed away from me and pulled a large, rather heavy, silver sword from the sheath around his waist. “We shall see about that, Princess.”
My sword lay on the ground just outside the golden dome. “I will need my sword.”
He looked over at where I was indicating. “Violet, get her sword,” he ordered.
The blade flew through the air, passing through the dome as if it wasn’t even there, and Lynth caught it. He turned it around, offering me the hilt.
I took it from him, gripping it in my right hand tight. I attempted to stand, but fell back down. “You will need to fix my leg.”
He shook his head. “That was not part of our deal, Princess.”
A rush of adrenalin coursed through my veins. It dulled the pain, making it a little easier to ignore. I put my full weight on my good leg and used my sword to push myself into a standing position. I placed my hurt leg on the ground gently, careful not to put too much weight on it. I was able to balance fairly easily on my one leg. It gave me a little more confidence in what I was about to do.
We clashed swords, then we began.
He threw his sword in a strong downward motion and I blocked it with my own. As before, my sword seemed to know what to do. It blocked each of his attempts, making him furious. A look of surprise was buried deep inside of him. Though he hid it well, I could feel it. I knew that he was beginning to regret accepting my challenge as he saw how good I was. I felt amazingly agile and confident on my one leg as if I had two to stand on. He managed to catch me off guard and I felt a sharp pain in my side where his blade had sunken into my flesh. I winced at the sight of the wound. It was very deep, and hurt like hell! I was losing a lot of blood and I felt my remaining energy leaving my body. I struggled to remain upright. It was a fatal wound.
He stared at my gash with something resembling hunger. I didn’t know if Boru drank blood, but looking at his greedy expression, I could have guessed that they did.
Before my body could fall it began to glow with a soft blue light and I glanced at my men. The three of them were pressed up against the golden dome, each of them glowing too. I suddenly felt more powerful than I had felt before. It dulled my pain, though it did not vanish completely. And even though I knew that I probably wouldn’t make it out of this alive, I knew that I could at least take Lynth down with me. I wanted that more than anything.
“What is this magic?” Lynth asked, sounding nervous for the first time.
I answered him with a quick swing of my sword. He screamed as his unprotected arm fell to the ground. He looked livid. He swung the sword at me with his remaining arm, hoping to slice through me. I spun around on my toes, dodging his strike. I sliced downward with amazing strength and his other arm plopped onto the floor.
I hobbled towards him on my good leg. Lynth looked terrified. He knew that there was nothing to stop me from delivering my final strike. I brought my sword back, preparing for that fatal blow.
“Wait!”
I stood there, ready to see this asshole dead. “What?!” I didn’t care what he had to say, but I was willing to grant him his final words.
“Let me live and I will take the ring off. We will bother you no more, I swear it!” He sounded nothing like the man we had first encountered. He was cowering to me, desperate for me to spare him.
I laughed and it sounded very unlike me, a low and merciless cackle. This man would get no pity from me, not after everything he’d put me through. “I know how the ring works. If I kill you it will come off, and then I will be free of it as I become free of you.” I stared into his frightened face. His eyes were almost the same color as Clifton’s, except that they held not a trace of the love nor warmth that Clifton’s did. His eyes looked oddly hollow, empty even.
I swung with my last ounce of strength and severed his head from his body. It rolled onto the floor, landing sideways in front of my feet. “Bitch!” the head said rudely before its eyes glazed over and Lynth was no more. For good measure I pulled out my sacred dagger and shoved it through the top of his head. You never know if someone is really dead, even if their head is missing.
A small gust of wind sprung from the hole in his neck. It whirled around in a cylindrical motion like a miniature tornado. I watched as it grew larger and began moving towards me. I didn’t fear it, something told me not to. I let it surround me and it caressed my body like a soft blanket. Then it started to sink into my very skin. I cried out in pain as it stung like a million tiny needles piercing me. I opened my mouth, closed my eyes and breathed it in. It flooded my lungs, though I did not choke. I took it all in, and I heard a loud “click” and opened my eyes.
The ring was lying at my feet, inches away from Lynth’s severed head. I could feel my powers back inside of me, though they seemed stronger than I had remembered them to be. I felt like I had received more power than I had lost; as if I had taken in some of Lynth’s as well. Or maybe I had just been without them for so long that they just felt stronger by comparison.
I felt faint, my pain catching up with me now. I clasped my hand to my side and fell to the ground, unable to force myself to stand any longer. Blood was gushing through my fingers as I tried to hold it in. I may have beaten Lynth, but I was not going to live long enoug
h to enjoy it. I could feel myself beginning to slip away. I fell down on my side in a very awkward and uncomfortable position but couldn’t muster the energy to rearrange.
I was now staring in the direction of my men. I noticed that the golden dome had vanished. My men were now in full-fledged warfare with the remaining Boru. They didn’t know that I now lay dying on the opposite side of the room and I couldn’t bring myself to scream. My powers wouldn’t be able to help me now. If I was to live, I needed healing.
Violet was standing about fifteen feet away from me. Inch-by-inch, I dragged myself across the cold, hard floor, blood tracing my path like a slug. “Violet.” It was barely a whisper.
She sunk down on her knees in front of me. “Yes, Master, what is your desire?” Evidently since I had killed Lynth I was now in control of her.
I reached out my shaky hand and clasped it on her arm. “I release you from this spell,” I said with confidence, knowing that it would work.
She stared down at me for a moment with those eerie glowing eyes, but a moment later, they faded until they were the blue and purple color I remembered. She seemed to awaken from a long slumber. “I am so sorry, Quartessa. I never meant for this to happen.” She knew what she’d done. It must have been torture for her to watch herself do such horrible things.
“It wasn’t your fault, Violet.” My head became increasingly heavy and I couldn’t prevent it from hitting the ground hard. I could feel my life circling the drain. “I am dying Violet. I need your help.”
She placed her hands on my back and I felt the familiar cooling and warming sensation creep inside of my body. I felt my bones mend and my wounds heal. I was pulled back from the brink of death by my dearest friend.
Violet helped me to my feet. I put my full weight on my once broken leg and found it unhurt and whole once more. I lifted my shirt and saw that my side was healed, though I had a rather nasty looking scar in its place. My arm was no longer bleeding. I was healed. I felt strong again and I can’t even begin to tell you how great that felt.
I stared at the trail of blood that I had left behind. The sight was a real eye opener, I had almost died. But I couldn’t think about that now. I had to help my men.
Royal Affliction (The Anti-Princess Saga) Page 22
