“You’re welcome, Decker. Your turn.” A smile played on one side of her mouth.
“Blood? We really should sort this before your daddy shows up. I do sense whatever you did has drawn him nearer. We can work out something for my blood later, if you really want some. I’m much more palatable than you though.” He helped her to the edge of the water.
“Don’t call him that. We don’t know that yet.” Even as she said it, she realized they did know that. He was the only light elf living there with the witches. Again, she wondered if she could talk to him and reason with him about the water. Alice scanned the area around them. “I don’t need blood. Can you do the hands thing so I feel better?”
“You will need to come back to the cave so the oracle can undo this. Much as I enjoy your company, this is a bit much between friends.” He raised the side of his lip and shrugged. Before she responded, he wrapped his arms around her, flooding her with warmth and energy. While he held her, he worked the spell to connect them. “Don’t dally. We have company fast approaching.”
“Fast? He’s coming here, now?” Her eyes grew wide.
“Go on. I’m ready for him.” With a last burst of energy to heal her, he patted her back. “There, now you are ready. Look here.” Decker waited for their eyes to lock.
“What?” She felt herself slipping toward him, though not physically.
His blinking slowed. “You will remain solely focused on the spells. Nothing else matters. I don’t matter. Kheelan doesn’t matter. Only the casting matters. You can do this.”
“Nothing else matters aside from casting. Don’t kill him, please,” she said when he broke the trance. “And don’t do that again. Whatever you did, it felt intrusive.”
He held her eyes for a long moment. “Totem. Now. Tick-tock, sweet.”
Alice squinted her eyes, amazed at how things between them went from hot to cold. She sat on the wet earth and took off her boots. Before she slipped in, she glanced to the small nick, it appeared healed, and no blood remained. “You don’t think that will be enough to change things again, do you?”
Decker knelt and took her arm. He placed his hand over it. “It’s not bleeding.” He pulled it to his mouth and licked her skin. “No awful taste, I got it all.”
She rolled her eyes. “Be ready. I’m not good at swimming.”
“You can do this. Go.” Decker stood straight and scanned the swamp beside them.
Alice waded out to the drop, and dove under. The water felt sludgy, even though it was clear enough to see to the bottom. Words floated across her consciousness. They were the words her and Jasper spent hours deciphering. She ignored them and swam deeper, kicking as hard as her legs would.
Clear tendrils wrapped her as they had before, but this time they didn’t grab at her ankles. They yanked her hands, stopping her inches from being able to reach the totem.
The intention to break free and swim didn’t work. Alice backed it with her name and felt some loosening.
Without hesitation, she pulled the two soul names from the grimoire to her consciousness. She bent the letters, stretched syllables and pried their hold of her away.
When Alice wrapped her freed hand around the totem, a searing pain came from her burning flesh. She ignored the pain and flipped so that her feet rested on the muddy bottom.
After she had both hands on it, she pushed with all her strength, making it wiggle. Some of Jasper’s wisdom floated across her thoughts. You are a mage, not a warrior. Your strength is in your soul.
Alice cast a fast spell, pulling the words from her heart as she went. The force she needed filled her muscles. With one more push, the totem pulled free.
Bubbles formed around it as it heated in her hands. She tore away one hand, ripping away flesh that had melded onto the metal object. With the top layer of skin seared off, the water set her exposed nerves on fire.
The resulting gasp gave her a mouthful of water. Alice pushed off and swam as fast as she could toward the surface. The light from the totem no longer made the entire pool clear. As she swam, it acted as a torch whose intensity hurt her eyes.
The time it took to get to the surface seemed an eternity, though it was only seconds. While they passed more slowly than they should, the words of the magic in the totem swirled around her.
Relief washed over Alice that they were the exact words from the spell. The peace it gave her didn’t last as she swallowed another mouthful of water.
One more kick and her head broke the surface. She coughed and started swimming toward the shore. Each time she stroked with her right hand the night lit up with an electric flash.
Under the surface the sludge surrounded her, slowing her pace. The disrupted magic no longer thinned the mire that made each motion a trial.
Alice looked over to see Decker on the ground, with a glowing figure perched above him. While her first instinct was to call out, she didn’t want to draw attention to herself.
A chant echoed in the silent night.
The sludge thickened, holding her in place.
“ARE WE READY to finish what we started?” Kheelan stepped into the opening, leaving a pool of murk between them. The shimmer of his skin said he was armed and ready to cast. It was time to settle scores.
“Yes, letting you live was a mistake.” Decker stepped toward the pool. “Though your child proved amusing and most helpful. Irony at its finest that I only live because of her.”
“That is easily remedied. Are they all dead? Did you abandon your clan when things grew difficult?” Kheelan flipped his hand, the fingers rubbing together. “Come here.”
“Trust my clan is in order. One of us has no clan.” Decker laughed, and sprung over the pool, his hands smashing into Kheelan’s chest. A growl from deep in his gut filled the night.
Animals scurried away.
Kheelan dropped as the air left his lungs under the force of the blow. His attention turned to the water. There were only seconds to decide. Decker would have him ripped to pieces, if they brawled. He expected Alice to be at the surface sooner and hadn’t counted on her magic being too weak to bring up the totem.
With his attention divided, he cast two spells. One released the totem to Alice and the other syphoned physical power from Decker into himself.
Decker swung, his fist gripped his dagger as it slashed across Kheelan’s upper arm, missing his throat. The noise that came from him was one of frustration. Decker tightened his grip on the handle, twisted and ripped it out.
Kheelan turned his full attention back to Decker in time to throw him off balance with a fast wave of magic. Summoning magic from the air around them, Kheelan flipped Decker off him. “Not good enough, darkling. You’ve grown weak. Did the water do that to you?”
As he crawled over Decker, Kheelan laughed a deep, booming laugh. He reached down and pried at the dagger in Decker’s grip.
The blackness vanished, bright gave way to dark several times as Alice’s hand with the totem breached and submerged with her strokes.
Decker screamed and dropped the dagger.
Kheelan threw back his head, still laughing and turned toward the water where Alice was trying to swim to the shore. “Seems she was useful to us both.” With his hand outstretched, he murmured, filling the swamp with muck again and adding something to it for Alice. “Shall we let her watch while I carve you in to pieces?”
Decker trembled from the intensity of the light.
Kheelen perched above him, with the dagger in his hand. Where to start taking his revenge? His heart would make a nice totem.
Chapter Twenty-One
THE MIRE CONGEALED around Alice. Strange elfin words, some Jasper taught her and others she didn’t know, swirled around her, forming strands like she’d seen in other elf magic. It wasn’t Decker’s doing.
As she wriggled she sank further, and stilled all but her hand holding the totem. The effort it took to get the totem in her pocket left her winded, even though it no longer burned with magic.
&nb
sp; Why had Kheelan broke both spells for them? Could he want her dead more than he wanted the elves poisoned? Why? He might not be aware the elves were all safe, save two dead guards. How could he want his own daughter dead? Could he not know?
Alice glanced toward the elves when she heard laughter deepening. “Kheelan!” Her shouts filled the still air. “Please, I’m your daughter.”
Kheelan removed the dagger from Decker’s shoulder, and slid it into his abdomen to the hilt. “Darling Alice, daddy is busy. I’ll take care of you when I’m done here.”
“No. He’s not like you think.” Alice sunk as she started to struggle, and stilled herself. “Let me free, please. He won’t hurt you.”
“No, he won’t hurt anyone again.” Kheelan waved his long fingers toward her.
Alice shivered as the cold mud reached her chin. “Please, don’t.”
Both sides of his mouth curled up, and his fingers waved a little more. He watched until the sludge covered her mouth. “Hush now?”
Anger replaced panic when it struck Alice in the soul that he called himself daddy before casting against her. Decker was right. Her father wasn’t there for a reunion, and he wasn’t a gentle creature.
One of the elves in the swamp had healed her, and protected her from the other. It wasn’t her father. Not the benevolent creature that glowed with light, but the dark thing that also chewed her flesh. Jasper’s history of the elves seemed to fit.
She put her broken heart on hold and closed her eyes, focusing on the magic holding her in place. Once she had an idea of what he did, Alice used the technique Jasper taught her to work a reversal spell using Kheelan’s soul name.
Alice glanced over to make sure he wasn’t coming before she started to move. He didn’t seem to notice or care what she did as he stabbed Decker with slow strikes.
The laughter coming from the rise was a mix of menace and amusement that didn’t blend. His concentration on inflicting pain, and wounds that would draw out suffering distracted him while Alice undid his new spell.
Free, she used the thickness around her to propel forward. The mud remained on her like a coat of camouflage as she crawled out of the pool and got to her feet.
The glow coming off Kheelan let her see that he had Decker restrained with thorny growths. Decker writhed with each stab, soft moans barely audible came from his clenched teeth.
She didn’t gasp when Decker bit in to Kheelan, tearing away a hunk of his shoulder. Alice was glad Decker still had the energy to fight, and took advantage of Kheelan’s miscalculation.
The blade in Kheelan’s hand didn’t glint due to the blood that sheathed it. The glowing arm raised and dropped, letting her know Decker paid for his bite with a deep stab.
Before moving closer, Alice made sure she was connected to the magic in the environment. The strong pulses from Kheelan dictated she needed to be ready for anything. Alice stepped toward the rise and the next pool. Her footfalls fell silent as she sent that intention to the universe.
When the scene came into focus, her eyes locked on Decker’s bloody body. His chest made shallow rises with long pauses between each one.
Her father was killing him, slowly, drawing it out in an act of sadistic pleasure. Kheelan could have taken Decker swiftly with magic, no blood on his hands, yet the golden elf in front of her was painted in a macabre spattering of Decker’s blood. The bite on his shoulder, flesh exposed, added to the ghoulish sight.
Jasper only showed her a few offensive things, because she insisted they learn more about the water. Now she was glad he persisted in teaching her what he did.
“Dad!” Her voice drew Kheelan’s attention.
The air around her swirled and the ground under them rumbled as she drew up energy.
Kheelan stood, cocked his head and narrowed his eyes. The look on his face said he wasn’t expecting her to have the magic to have freed herself, or to work with it as she was then.
He pressed into her mind, wrapping around her will. “Sweetheart, daddy is busy. Stop that.”
A twinge of pain splintered across her, followed by a peaceful sensation. Alice didn’t understand where the compulsion to stop came from, but she fought it. Once she had the command of her desires, she flung a shot of energy at him, knocking him back a step.
Kheelan looked down at Decker’s unmoving form. “Very well. You first. I did tell your mother, children would be nothing but trouble.”
Her mouth dropped and a gasp escaped. Alice took a step back, drawing a protective force around herself, before she flicked both hands, sending a shot of white toward him. “Did you kill her?”
“Would have been simpler than loving her.” Kheelan took a long, relaxed step in her direction. With the wave of his hand, he redirected her attack. The strike set a tree on fire to their left. “Look at me. Make this easy and I will afford you a painless death.”
“Why?” She knew not to let him stare into her eyes and watched his lips. “Please, we can talk. Whatever your reasons, we can fix this. The water is better. I can… did you kill him?”
“Not yet. Look at me.” He strode through the pool.
Alice took a step back. Her voice trembled when she spoke. “I don’t want to hurt you. You are all I have left.”
When he raised his hands, she drew his name into her mind and closed her eyes. The power she saw in her head, radiating from him, startled her.
You will have his name, and he doesn’t know yours. Jasper’s words gave her more reassurance then than they did when he spoke them.
She used her own elf magic to make strands that she wound around him. The tips of the strands pressed against his, trying to find a way in.
The back of his hand smacked across her face.
Pain ruptured into her awareness.
He laughed, anger tinging his amusement. “You would bind me?”
It’s all you will have, don’t let him bait you into a battle of strength or casting. She could almost feel Jasper’s hand in hers as it had been when he was teaching her.
His magic wrestled to get free. “Repulsive witch.”
Alice observed through her mind’s eye as her magic invaded his, severing his command on it. Each time her concentration wavered, she could feel him gain control. A binding wouldn’t work. Not with the power he had.
“You want to live with the dark elves, you can die like them.” Kheelan wrapped his hands around her throat, lifting her off the ground and squeezing. “Brutality. Is that what my little monstrosity likes?”
Alice’s mind was in another place, though she could tell her concentration fluctuated as she was unable to draw in air. She continued to whisper his name, drawing his soul to hers where she could work stronger magic. Her hands remained on his chest, fingers digging at his skin.
Jasper taught her bindings, and ways to weaken him, but they were not strong enough. His power was more than she had at her command. As she lost the battle against him, she cast a glamour to appear dead.
Alice went limp in Kheelan’s grasp and he flung her to the ground.
With Kheelan bound, the restraints holding Decker crumbled.
“Abomination.” He spat on her and walked back to Decker, kicking him. “Where was I?”
Alice’s body lay motionless as her mind regained its clarity. Tiny filaments tethered her to Decker, letting her know there was still time to save him.
If she had not been so deep in the strands that connected everything, would she have died in her body? Her soul knew the answer was yes. Her father killed her, or thought he did. She let her soul eyes follow the filaments, seeing the way he connected with the power in the universe.
There were separate strands, glowing gold. Those were the ones she bound. His power. They were still wriggling in an effort to free themselves, even though Kheelan no longer focused on anything other than torturing Decker.
Alice didn’t understand how she did, but she knew how to sever his body from soul. The things she knew when connected to her soul astonished her.
She couldn’t kill. Not him, and probably not anyone.
Take it into yourself, like the water. The voice was her own, a wiser self. The old soul Jasper glimpsed when they mingled souls.
With a focused mind, she unwound his gold strands, taking them in hers, absorbing his lifetime of power and knowledge. While in the layer of the soul, time slowed; only minutes passed in the physical.
Alice looked at Kheelan’s soul once more, making sure she didn’t leave anything damaged. With all her remaining strength she focused on drawing her own soul back into herself. Her body convulsed when her soul rejoined it.
She sat up and coughed as air forced its way down her sore throat. Pain radiated from where his fingers bruised her.
Kheelan whirled his head to see her stumbling to her feet. He narrowed his eyes on her. The intensity of hate coming from him said he knew what she had done. “You!”
Alice trained her gaze on him. “Come here.”
Kheelan left Decker and walked toward Alice.
When he neared, she pointed to the ground. “Kneel and give me his dagger.”
Kheelan bent, resting on one knee and extended the dagger to her, handle first.
“Did you kill my mother?” Alice needed that answer before she decided what to do next.
“No. I love your mother. I will never hurt her.” Kheelan released the knife when she took it from him.
Only concerned with if he had killed her, Alice didn’t catch that he spoke as if her mom still lived. He had killed elves, and intended them all to die along with her.
Moments ago, he strangled the life from her body, unaware she would survive. He intended to kill her with his bare hands. The blood shroud he wore suited his tarnished heart.
Her gaze flicked to Decker. His chest still rose in an uneven rhythm. Alice put both of her hands on Kheelan’s head, one on each side, and plunged into his mind.
She changed his emotions regarding Decker and the clan, leaving his fear and distaste that came natural, but removing his need for vengeance. Should she leave him with a desire to know her, or to care? No. That needed to be real, if it ever happened.
Tainted Waters: A Dark Paranormal Fantasy Novel (Paranormal Peacekeepers Book 1) Page 21
