by Emma Glass
23
Elliott
I was untethered, and my rage knew no bounds.
Flinging myself into the room, I suddenly felt incredibly weakened. My boots stumbled against the wet stone and I gasped for air. Everything was dim and hazy for a moment, but the bright lights scrawled across the entire cell stuck out to me.
Binding sigils…
Crudely drawn in chalk, the symbols glowed ominously across every wall. In my studies, I’d seen marks like these before; they were meant to dampen magical power – all magical power.
The effect seemed to amplify for me.
Even worse, the sigils seemed to be canceling out the extrasensory awareness I normally gained by being near Clara. I could feel them numbing my mind and blurring my thoughts…
Nobody in the room seemed to even notice me. Clara looked out for the count; the other two were too preoccupied with their grappling brawl. In the fracas, they were both reduced to punching and clawing like savage animals.
It didn’t matter.
Saving Clara was the important part…
They finally noticed me as I reached my girl. She’d smacked her head against the stone and was in a slight daze, but she was breathing.
“Lord Elliott!” Sabine desperately gasped from behind me. “Help me! Your sister’s trying to take Clara away and sell her to–”
She was cut off by the sound of a hard boot connecting with soft flesh. “Silence, traitor!”
Ignoring them both, I scooped Clara up off of the ground in my arms. Her limp body dangled as I took a stumbling step forward, desperate to get both of us out of the radius of the sigils.
Sabine gasped from behind. “Lord Elliott…!”
I grunted, feeling the slightest sensation of a burden lifting from my shoulders. The dungeons were a little clearer now; I could see that I hadn’t even been walking us towards the door after all.
“My Lord, if you’d just turn around…”
I vowed to personally deal with my sister’s betrayal once I’d gotten Clara to safety. The only priority to me was getting her out of here. Once I was a little further out of the sigils’ radius, I could think clearer…
“Elliott Craven, take another step and die.”
I stopped in an instant.
With a furious grunt, I gently lowered Clara to the floor; I turned around to face the vile source of that imminent threat.
Sabine stood poised over the slumped body of my sister, her glowing hands raised defensively. “You really should have listened to me, Elliott. If you’d helped me deal with her, it wouldn’t have needed to come to this…”
My vacant, heavy stare lowered to Nikki. Her defeated form looked pitiful under Sabine’s robes. Trace marks of a few spells left bruises and marks against her pale skin, and I began to slowly piece things together.
Stoically, I lifted my weary gaze to Sabine’s smug smile. Nikki might have abducted Clara, but it was obvious now that she hadn’t been the true danger here. Clearly, in her insanity she’d tried to devise some trap that had gone wildly wrong…
“Tell me why,” I commanded her.
Sabine’s confident grin only grew even wider. “Let’s be crystal clear on this, my Lord...” her voice took a mocking tone. “I really don’t have to follow any order you give me, especially not anymore.”
“Humor me, then. It’s apparent you didn’t get this far alone; don’t pretend it was with the help of the woman at your feet.” I scowled at Nikki’s slumped body again. “I ask that you grant me the satisfaction, sorceress, of learning who ultimately enabled you to betray me.”
Sabine smiled wickedly. “Lord Azuzi.”
“Ah,” I nodded thoughtfully. Mulling over the revelation, I replied: “It seems so obvious now…”
“I was exiled from the Falvian Badlands many years ago,” Sabine informed me. “I’ve stayed here in Stonehold, waiting patiently through centuries for the opportunity to earn my place back in Lord Azuzi’s court…”
Her attention drifted to the unconscious body behind me. This sorceress has proven herself quite the bad luck charm for Clara, hasn’t she?
“My true master promised me a handsome reward, if were I to bring him the human. But that was before I discovered her special resistance to magic, and when she told me she had a witch’s lineage, well…” Sabine shrugged. “Plans change.”
A witch’s lineage? My gaze slid back to Clara. I’ll have to ask her about that soon…
“And my sister?”
“Nikki attempted to trick me with an alliance. She might have even beaten me, but I made sure that our fight rubbed away enough of the sigils to reclaim some of my power. I may still be weak, but it’s enough to deal with her…”
Her menacing stare lingered.
“And plenty enough to deal with you…”
Within a single stride, I crossed the room; in the blink of an eye, my elbow found itself lodged deep into her stomach.
“Wh-wha–?” She gasped for air.
“The sigils weakened my power too, as you’ve clearly noticed,” I hissed in her ear. “When your strength began dripping back into your veins, my foolish sorceress… so did mine.”
When I yanked my elbow free from her, she cradled her abdomen in pain. With a violent snarl, Sabine gnarled the fingers of both hands, drawing them to her sides and preparing to try and strike me down in a burst of magic.
“Fool!” Sabine laughed maniacally. “The meek strength of the world’s youngest vampire lord is nothing to a sorceress of war! To a sorceress of the Court of the Falvian Badlands!”
But she didn’t get the chance to attack.
Nikki spun a kick out from beneath, dropping Sabine to the floor around her. My sister lunged up, delivering a powerful kick to her skull.
“You idiot! I am cloaked in shielded magic!” Sabine snapped as she rebelliously hopped back to her feet. But she didn’t get a change to counter; I grabbed her by her wrist and hurled her across the dungeon cell.
The sorceress slammed against the opposite wall and crumpled against the unforgiving floor. It would only be a small matter of time before her failing magical shield was completely gone.
“I… will kill… you both…”
Nikki defiantly rose beside me.
We shared a silent glare before turning on the weakened sorceress. Unsteadily, Sabine crackled an arc of lightning in the air towards us; Nikki slid below as I flipped above it. Both of us effortlessly dodged the blast, and the next, and the third, until we descended together upon our enemy.
“No!” Sabine roared in her wrath; she readied her burning palms to scorch both of us alive in a powerful blast. “All the time that I’ve waited for this! I won’t let you take this away from me!”
Nikki threw up her wrist in an arc, clicking her fingers to deflect the fireball. I dove in the gap after it, throwing my arms around the sorceress to restrain her the old-fashioned way as I dropped to a kneeling position at her back. My sister was right behind me, drawing a pair of fingers in the air in a specific motion as she splayed her free hand across Sabine’s head.
She screamed: “You can’t do this to me!”
The sorceress fought my embrace, but I had too strong a grip. Filled with an eternal hatred, she glared daggers up at my sister; Nikki chanted a quick incantation as she matched the traitor’s righteous anger with the same uncompromising level of passion.
“It doesn’t matter!” Sabine descended into evil laughter. “You can’t stop my master! Even as I fail, even as my chance at greatness is ripped from my grasp, Azuzi Akachi will destroy you all–”
With her fingers still splayed around Sabine’s head, Nikki uttered the final syllable. The instant she finished chanting, the sorceress’s eyes flew open as her skull recoiled from magical whiplash. Her body went completely limp in my arms.
I released my tight grip on Sabine, letting her flop limply against the floor. Dusting myself off, I rose to my feet. “Tell me you didn’t kill her, Nikki. I can’t questio
n a dead traitor.”
“Do you think me an idiot?” My sister smirked like a maniac. “How am I supposed to take out all my anger on my enemy if she’s dead? All I did was put her to sleep, just like she did to Clara. Only, my way is a little… rougher, maybe.”
I glanced down at the defeated sorceress, left crumpled at my feet. “She doesn’t look asleep…”
Nikki sighed. “Then check if she’s breathing.”
Following the suggestion, I held my fingers under her nose. Sure enough, Sabine’s exhalations rolled over my digits in a telltale rhythm. “Fine. But that’s one of the deepest sleeps I’ve ever seen.”
“Like I said, ‘just like she did to Clara.’”
I focused an irritated glance Nikki’s way.
“There’s no telling if she did that on purpose. Either way, I thought it fitting to magically force her into the same sort of coma,” my sister noted calmly. “She will remain like this for a good few days…. long enough for you to decide what to do with her, and how to interrogate her.”
“You are aware, of course, that Sabine won’t be the only one who will be questioned,” I darkly narrowed my eyes. “Those sigils took a great deal of time to draw, Nikki. You were waiting for her to arrive, and you’ve got a lot of explaining to do.”
“Oh, that can wait,” my sister smiled with just a hint of deviancy. “I believe your sleeping little pet over there is waking up…”
I glanced expectantly over my shoulder.
As it turned out, Nikki was right. After a few desperate strides, I was kneeling at Clara’s side and ripping out her gag. Once I carefully worked her out of her bindings, I held her trembling hand in both of mine.
Clara stirred. She touched her head painfully and winced at the raw sensation. “Ah!” She hissed. “Why do I feel like I got hit with a bat…?”
“You took a small tumble,” I replied. “Struck your head against the floor. It knocked you out. We’ll probably have to have you checked for a concussion later...”
“If we could just stop putting me in comas, that would be just great.” Clara saw the concerned look on my face and beamed. “You know, Elliott, you’re sorta handsome when you’re worried about me.”
“Don’t scare me like that,” I replied softly.
She blinked, studying my eyes briefly. “You really were afraid I was in danger, weren’t you?”
“Of course I was, Clara. When I came back and you had been taken, the only thing that mattered was finding and protecting you…”
“That has to be the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me,” she whispered.
“You have become irreplaceable in my life,” I told her, stroking a few stray strands of hair from her face. “I’m sorry that it’s taken me this long to come to terms with that, but it’s true, Clara. I need you. The very thought of something happening to endanger you makes me feel a crushing fear that I’ve never known…”
Clara’s eyes sparkled with raw emotion. The impulse to kiss her overwhelmed me, and just as I started to lean in…
“Lord Elliott!”
I was pulled from my affectionate daze as the three worst protectors in the world burst onto the scene. Wilhelm, Viktor, and Asarra froze as they saw us. Then, their shocked gaze took in the rest of the chamber’s sights: the dimming sigils, my weary sister, even the crumpled sorceress…
“What happened here?” Viktor blurted out.
“How did you find us?” I asked suspiciously.
Wilhelm accusingly squinted at my sister. “Well, Lord Elliott, funny story there… once your darling little psychopath over there turned on us with some of that wacky magical business, she decided to make things okay again by jamming a couple of detailed notes in our pockets.”
Viktor shook his head in disbelief. “Didn’t even know she could do magic.” He crossed his arms and expectantly turned to Wilhelm.
“What, you think I knew?” The knight threw his hands up in disgust. “It’s madness! They don’t bother to tell us anything anymore!”
Asarra grunted and ignored her companions. “Lady Craven’s notes brought us here and pointed Sabine as a traitor. She also went out of her way to make nonsensical accusations about our mothers, and she left ‘apologies’ in the form of scribbling out little animal drawings.”
“Mine’s a duck,” Wilhelm helpfully added.
“You will have to explain to me what caused you to let your guard down,” I told them firmly. “But, as for now…” I turned back to Clara. “I’m just happy to see that you’re alive and well.”
“I always am when you’re close, Elliott.”
A warm smile crossed my face.
It was almost enough to silence the nagging, rising paranoia in my heart. Some part deep down knew that this couldn’t last – but I needed to have this moment with her, safe and sound. Filled with relief, I pulled Clara to my chest and memorized the way her body felt pressed against mine, and how her hair smelled against my face.
She was protected for now.
And that’s all I cared about.
24
Elliott
The sensation of victory didn’t last for long.
I was eager to put this all as far behind me as I could, and Clara clearly agreed. But it wasn’t meant to be. Not even halfway through dinner, a frantic servant rushed into the dining hall.
“My Lord? Something has happened!”
I glanced over from the table, recognizing the guard as one I’d stationed in the dungeon tonight.
“It’s been a very long and draining night,” I carefully warned him as I begrudgingly set down my silverware. “What’s the matter now?”
The guard was hesitant. “It’s the sorceress…”
I was out of my chair in an instant and at his side. “Don’t tell me she’s escaped!”
“My Lord,” he trembled at my mounting fury, “you should come with me. I think you’re going to want to see this for yourself…”
There was no way that I was allowing Clara out of my sight so quickly, so she accompanied me with her appointed protectors.
The chrysm node system was back online; we took the express trip down into the dungeon. My refined senses picked up the scent before we even came into view. Once we had turned the last corner and stepped into sight of Sabine’s cell, I realized to my horror what had transpired here.
“Wait!” I tried to stop her. “Clara, don’t–”
She threw a hand over her mouth.
“Oh my god!”
I stood between her and the cell, but I already knew the image had burned into her mind. I could only hope that time would be merciful to her; one day, I hoped, it would make Clara forget.
“Elliott, I…” She wept into my embrace.
Defensively, I held her close. “I know.”
Wilhelm, Viktor, and Asarra slowly crept up to Sabine’s cell in various levels of disgust. Several guards were already standing near it; our escort looked at me in sympathy before joining them.
“I have to go over there,” I whispered to her.
Clara nodded tearfully. “Okay.”
“Don’t turn back around. I’ll have the others take you wherever in the castle you’d like to go. But you should leave this place. I don’t want this affecting you more than it already has. Okay?”
Staring into my eyes, she nodded.
“Good.” I turned my head, still holding myself in her way. “You three. I’ll take over from there.”
It was a mistake to bring her down here...
Her guardians were quick to follow my order, clearly shaken by the sight. I gave a resolved nod; the three guardians quickly swarmed Clara and safely removed her from the dungeon.
As repeat waves of the overwhelming stench struck me, I vigilantly walked towards the cell.
The remaining guards parted at my approach. Scattering to the sides, they covered their faces or kept their eyes away from the gruesome sight.
I walked up to the sorceress and crouched.
&nbs
p; At this point, Sabine’s scorched remains were barely recognizable. It appeared that the magical fire burned its way out from the inside; even upon death, her blackened face had been contorted into a smug, wicked and hellish smile.
“How did this happen?” The escorting guard shook his head in total disbelief. “I mean, I don’t really know my magic, but weren’t all these runes here meant to stop her from casting spells?”
“This isn’t a traditional spell,” I disagreed. “All I can gather is that she had some sort of failsafe in her body. It takes something powerful to trigger a reaction like this. Apparently, our friend here was fully prepared for the possibility of capture, or the discovery of her plot…”
He shook his head. “I honestly don’t like to meet any vampire who can smile like that while burning alive. Although, now that I say that…”
“Don’t worry. She didn’t feel pain.”
“What? Are you kidding?”
“The magic Sabine used for this was strong enough to evade all these binding runes. It stands to reason that the traitor could craft together a triggered reaction that would spare her the pain of a gruesome death.” I gloomily focused on him. “Death by immolation is a horrific way to go. You see that smile on her face? The sorceress wanted us to know that she didn’t suffer…”
The guard looked at her again and shuddered. “You don’t say… you really think so?”
“Yes,” I nodded. “It’s incredibly likely that one of two things happened: either Sabine’s magic canceled out her pain receptors, or she enjoyed a far more peaceful passing first – before the spell burst the body left behind into flames.”
I rose to my feet; I looked around at the runes. They’d done their job, but they weren’t designed for this kind of technicality. The loophole here is that Sabine didn’t have to actually cast anything…
“What do you want us to do with her?”
