Ceva's Chance

by Lilli Carlisle

  “Good, it takes little effort but the shield will protect you while we’re in the estate. They will go after you first, and when they realize it’s having no effect on you, then it will be a whole new ballgame. Then it’s going to be a physical fight.” She wondered if her parents had dusted off their swords.

  The soldiers began to move out, and Ceva released her wings. This could be their last flight together. “Lothar, I…I….” She tried to tell him how much she loved him, how much he’d changed her life, but nothing would come out.

  “Shhh, it’s okay, beautiful. I know.” He gathered her into his arms. “I feel the same way.”

  She took a deep breath. “I need to tell you how much I love you, but the words don’t come close to strong enough to let you know what I feel.”

  “That’s because there are no words to describe this feeling between us. I love you more than I could ever explain, my witch.”

  Their lips touched, and what had started out as a tender moment turned into a fiery display of love and longing filled with the fear of what was to come. When they drew back, panting with want, they refused to let go of each other. But they knew they had a mission to complete, and there were two people to stop from destroying any more lives.

  When Ceva inched away and opened her wings, Lothar smiled. “Let’s get this over with so we can go back home and start the addition to the house.”

  She caressed his face, wishing this hideousness was behind them. “I can’t think of anything I want more.”

  They took to the sky, heading for the roof of the estate. They flew over a battlefield covered in blood, the two sides locked in a deadly fight. Ceva noticed that most of the injured were the ogres, giving her some hope. She lowered them down onto the roof, and almost immediately, ogres came out of the roof doorway and flooded the area. Both Ceva and Lothar stood, swords raised, waiting for the first to attack. They didn’t have to wait long. She threw one ogre after another off the roof while Lothar did the same to his attackers. The creatures really didn’t put up as big of a fight as she thought they would.

  After Lothar beheaded the last one, they moved to the roof doorway. Ceva led the way down into the house because she had studied the plans and knew where most of the rooms were, except she’d never seen the huge cellar that ran the length of the entire house. That was the one place no one had mapped. If the captives were anywhere, they were there, and that made it the place they had to go.

  They descended the spiral staircase to the third floor where they were met with an empty, open hallway, which was far scarier than one filled with ogres. There had to be traps set up ready to deploy with one wrong move.

  “Walk in my footsteps, Wolfie,” Ceva said as she crouched low to look for any tripwires. She saw none, but that didn’t mean there weren’t any traps. “It’s too quiet.”

  “Agreed.”

  She could still hear the battle waging outside the building. It seemed to be getting closer to the house, meaning the shifters were winning. She inched forward, every sense searching for anything out of the ordinary. In a few feet she found it, a loose floorboard running the width of the hallway. They’d have to go over it. Ceva pointed toward the floorboard, and Lothar nodded. They each took their time stepping over the trap, only the gods knew what the floorboard released, and she didn’t intend to find out.

  They continued down the corridor but found no more traps. It was like they were teasing her with the obvious one, not really wanting to stop her or Lothar, but wanting to put up the appearance that they had tried. That realization scared her the most.

  “It’s like they’re not even really trying to stop us. There isn’t much resistance,” Ceva said.

  “I don’t like it.”

  “Neither do I.”

  They continued down another set of stairs to the second floor—no traps, no ogres, nothing. When they reached the first floor, they found the ogres they were looking for. Their huge, hairy bodies emitted a pungent odor throughout the room. They were as deformed as the creatures outside, to varying degrees. Ceva rushed at the closest ogre, sword drawn high. She slashed and jabbed, and at some point, she saw Lothar doing the same but lost him in the fray. A burning pain sliced across her back as one of the ogres hit its mark. The wound was shallow; she’d deal with it later. Her invisible shield helped with magic wielders, but blades still made it through.

  They were almost through dispatching the group when they heard a horrific scream coming from the cellar. Quickly, they finished off the remaining beasts and headed for the cellar door. Spells were attacking them now, but their shields prevented any real damage. The old stone walls and staircase winded farther into the belly of the dank house. Now they could hear people crying and yelling for help—the villagers. Ceva wanted to run down the stairs but knew it was a trap; the villagers weren’t the only ones down there.

  She and Lothar choreographed each step together until they reached the bottom of the staircase. They continued down a stone corridor until they came upon one of the most horrific sights Ceva had ever seen. Piles of desiccated, emaciated, and skeletal bodies lay waist deep against the walls of the corridor. Lothar reached out and squeezed Ceva’s shoulder.

  As they passed the bodies, she knew they were close to whatever was happening down here as the corridor widened into a large cave carved out of the bedrock. Along the walls sat enormous cages with villagers in all of them. In the middle of the cave sat two tables side by side with wires and tubes hanging from them. On one table lay the skeletal remains of a villager, and on the other table an ogre was just sitting up. There were bins of bones off to the side, but they were larger than normal, signifying they were more than likely old ogre bones.

  At the head of the table Ceva’s father was removing tubes from the ogre’s side. Bile filled her mouth and she couldn’t help but shudder. They were draining the villagers’ bodies to bring the ogres back to life. It took a lot of magic to pull that off, more magic then Koen and Adela possessed alone. Speaking of her mother, she was nowhere in sight, which was odd. In the corner stood one of the largest ogres Ceva had ever seen. There was nothing wrong with this one; it was a perfect beast.

  “Welcome, Ceva, Lothar.” Koen never would call her daughter. As far as he was concerned, Ceva didn’t exist. She was surprised he even used her name.

  Lothar stood beside her, eyes scanning everything. They both knew one of the duo was missing.

  “Do come in. I’ve been waiting for you.”

  Ceva was disgusted by his cold, mannered words as he discarded another body from the second table. It would be a pleasure to remove Koen’s head. Cries for help continued from the cages.

  “Mate, I’ll take Koen. You release the prisoners,” Ceva said, and Lothar nodded, but she could see the concern in his eyes.

  They moved forward, and Ceva could feel Koen throwing spells at her. Her shield was holding without much strain. Eventually he stopped, realizing they were both shielded from his powers and more than likely he didn’t want to drain his own strength.

  “What have you done, Koen?” She needed to get him talking to get as much information as she could.

  “Built an army. You must have noticed,” Koen sneered.

  “Why do you need an army?”

  “Who doesn’t want an army to do their bidding? I can finally exterminate the wolf shifters from this world, and I can use their own people against them.”

  “What do you mean?” Ceva asked. Though she already knew the answer, she wanted information. She inched closer, ever watchful for any traps. Where was her mother?

  “I’m draining the life out of the shifters and bringing back life to the old bones of ogres. I thought that was obvious.”

  “You don’t have enough power to pull this off. Who are you working with?” That got Koen’s attention.

  “I am a powerful wizard, and with this little stone I can magnify that power.” Of course there had to be something helping him, but how did he get it? He held up a yellow stone
about the width of his palm. She had to get her hands on that.

  “And I know you didn’t come up with that all by yourself.”

  Koen growled, “You know nothing of what I am capable of.”

  “Oh, I know you’re capable of atrocities, evidenced by how much blood is on your hands trying to exterminate the wolf shifters. But that ends now, old man.”

  “You think you can win against me? You’re way outside your capabilities, child.”

  A clink from behind her caught Koen’s attention. Ceva glanced over to Lothar who was using an unlocking spell to open the cells. “I see you’ve mated one of those filthy wolves. He will die before this day is over.”

  “Doubt it, Mr. Crazy. Where’s Adela? I thought you two were never more than a few feet apart.” Ceva scanned the area again. Lothar had all the cages open and was ready to battle while the survivors ran for safety on their own.

  “Oh, my dear, Adela is here, only better now.” He turned and motioned his hand toward the huge ogre standing behind him that they’d noticed when they came in. “Who knew the more power you possessed, the larger the ogre. You should make a spectacular ogre.”

  Well, sanity has left the building. He sacrificed his own wife, but how is he not dead as well?

  Ceva could hear the growling coming from behind her. Lothar didn’t cotton onto that idea. Neither did she. The survivors started running for the stairs while Lothar joined Ceva.

  “You think I would let them go so easily?” Koen flicked his arm and the survivors all froze to the spot. “They are mine, to build my army with.”

  “Not going to happen. They’ll be free shortly, old man.” She’d make sure of it. No matter what else happened, she had to free these innocent people.

  Lothar could feel the spells attacking his shield, but he held them back. He thought time for talk was over but he knew Ceva was trying to get as much information as possible.

  “Tell me, who’s the one pulling your strings? The one in charge, because gods know you’re not it,” Ceva taunted.

  “He doesn’t pull the strings, I do,” Koen screamed. “Get them, Adela. Kill them!”

  Well, at least we know it’s a he and not a she.

  The abnormally large ogre lumbered forward, knuckles dragging, weapons clanging together. Its smaller-than-average head kept turning between Ceva and Lothar.

  “Once we kill Adela, Koen, your life will be forfeit by your mating. One mate cannot live without the other,” Ceva stated. “Shouldn’t you have died when you drained her?”

  “Oh, I was able to get out of that loophole. You’d be surprised at all the wonderful things this stone can make possible.”

  Adela lifted her weapons and attacked, slicing her sword through the air and letting a sharpened axe fly with the other hand. Both Lothar and Ceva crouched low, preparing for an opening. Adela swung her sword at Lothar’s head. He ducked, and Ceva took the opening and sliced the side of the beast open. Adela let out a horrible cry that rang through the cellar and left Lothar’s ears ringing. Adela came at them again, frantically waving her weapons in the air. Lothar saw his opening and buried his sword to the hilt in the beast’s stomach. He knew they had to remove its head or it would just keep on coming. Ceva doubled her efforts and kept the beast’s attention long enough for Lothar to jump up and slice his sword through the beast’s neck.

  Ceva smiled at him, but he could also see a touch of sadness. Adela had still been her mother. When they turned to find Koen, he was all the way across the cellar holding a child of maybe five years in front of him by the jaw with a knife to her tiny throat. Bastard. Coward!

  “Let the child go,” Lothar yelled as he and Ceva ran across the cellar to get closer to Koen.

  “No, and don’t come any closer, or I will slit her throat ear to ear.” Both Lothar and Ceva stopped immediately. “Now this is the way this is going to work. Either Ceva comes over here and takes the child’s place or I finish this child and go on to another until you do decide to take their places.”

  The villagers, though frozen to the spot, still managed to try to fight to get free to save the child, but it was all for naught. They couldn’t move. Lothar was petrified. He knew Ceva would sacrifice her own life for the child’s. Ceva looked over to him, sadness in her eyes as she nodded her head.

  “I will take the child’s place,” she said to Koen.

  She walked over to Lothar and handed him her sword. “I’m sorry, my mate. I’m afraid I’ve condemned us both.”

  “If you hadn’t taken the child’s place, you wouldn’t be the woman I fell in love with,” he murmured.

  Lothar dropped her sword and gathered Ceva into his arms and kissed her like there was no one around. All the passion and love he felt for her he put into that one kiss.

  “Let’s get this moving before I change my mind and kill the baby shifter anyway,” Koen yelled.

  Lothar didn’t want to release Ceva, but he did, and he stood back as the woman he loved, his mate, sacrificed her own life for a child’s. The pain was unbearable as Koen tossed the child aside and grabbed Ceva around the neck, pressing the knife to her jugular.

  “You will make a fine ogre,” Koen said, flashing the yellow stone in front of her, and then they were gone. He’d teleported away, taking Ceva with him.

  Lothar ran to the child and lifted her up into his arms. This would not be the last time he saw his mate. If Koen thought Lothar wouldn’t hunt him to the ends of the earth, he was sorely mistaken. Lothar would get his mate back.

  The other villagers began to move freely again, and a distraught woman came and gathered the little girl into her arms. Just then the door to the cellar crashed open. Lothar quickly put the woman and child behind him and raised Ceva’s sword. He’d protect them until the end. Other Alphas who had been imprisoned formed a line in front of the villagers to protect them with their bare hands. But instead of ogres, it was soldiers, their soldiers, coming to their rescue, but the rescue had already occurred at the cost of Ceva.

  “Lothar,” Rowl yelled as he ran to him. “We did it. We won the battle.”

  Lothar tried to smile, but all he could think about was finding his mate before Koen had the chance to hurt her.

  “What’s wrong?” Joseph asked as he rushed over, obviously seeing the pain that must be written all over Lothar’s face.

  “He took Ceva. My mate is gone.”

  Chapter Nine

  “If you honestly think you’ll be able to hold me here, you’re more insane than I gave you credit for,” Ceva growled as she was chained to the wall of the cave. It looked to be an old abandoned mine from the coal cart that sat in pieces against a far wall. She could hear water in the distance and the sounds of birds crying. They couldn’t be too far underground.

  “Oh, you’ll be too busy fighting against the stone’s power to be able to escape. Just like my dear wife, Adela. After I severed our bond, of course,” Koen explained, as if this were a normal conversation. “But you went and killed her.”

  “She was already dead when you sucked the life out of her to make that creature.”

  “I turned her into something better and of more use to me. She was the strongest of my ogres. Now you’ll have to take her place. Then you can hunt the wolves down for me,” Koen explained with a cold smile.

  He then proceeded to place the stone in a slot on a jeweled, golden idol that hung on the opposite wall from Ceva.

  “Why do you hate the wolf shifters so much? What have they ever done to you?” she demanded.

  “Wolves took my sister from me. All wolves need to pay for that,” he screamed.

  “Was it a real wolf or a wolf shifter?” Ceva had never heard of an unprovoked attack.

  “What does it matter? They all will die like she did,” he growled as he rubbed his hands together like some cartoon villain.

  “I refuse to believe a shifter would attack a child.” Nothing would convince her otherwise.

  “She wasn’t a child. She was full grown
and laying siege to a village when the monsters beheaded her.”

  Now she understood. The shifters were protecting their people and village. As a dark witch, Koen’s sister would have had to be beheaded as well.

  “Sounds like she got what she deserved.” The shifters were only responding to her attack.

  Koen growled low and began chanting. Ceva felt the magic flowing around her and into the now glowing stone until it shot out a bright beam of light straight at Ceva. It attacked her shield like a nest of hornets, and she pushed more power into it until she was forced to use all her power to hold the shield. It felt like she was being stung, and she knew she’d only be able to keep this up for maybe a few days at the most. She hoped Lothar found her before that, or she wouldn’t have enough strength to fight back. She did not want to become an ogre.

  “You bastard, you killed your own mate and now you’re going after your daughter. You’re truly insane.”

  “Yes, you’re right, dear, just like your mother was. Now be a good girl, give up and save us the time it will take to torture you.” As if someone flicked his switch, he went from vicious to saccharine sweetness.

  “That would be a no. I’ll never give up.” There was no way she’d surrender to him.

  “Then I leave you to the power of the stone. It will have you on your knees in no time,” Koen stated in an almost gleeful rage.

  Ceva pushed hard and held the shield. In her mind’s eye, she kept her beloved mate’s handsome face in the forefront. She swore she would die before being used to bring one of those beasts back to life.

  “We have to find her,” Lothar yelled at the top of his lungs. Things weren’t moving fast enough for him.

  “And we will, old friend,” Alpha Aldric said in a calm voice. How can he be calm when Ceva is missing? “We have white witches from her coven on their way to use their magic and locate her. We have people searching the surrounding area.”

  “He could be hurting her,” Lothar screamed, his fear flashing images of his mate struggling. Wait, that wasn’t his fear. He was getting an image. A bright light and pain.