Screaming erupted from the other side of the huge double doors. The sound of metal on metal found its way to me. I knew I should have gone out there to find out what happened but I couldn’t find it in me to leave Yelson. I held him closer to me as I tried to block out the noise from outside.
“I won’t leave you Yelson. I promise you that,” I whispered to his lifeless body.
I wasn’t sure if the sound from outside had stopped or if I was just getting better at blocking things out but soon there was no sound in the huge room. The only thing I could hear was the sound of my crying.
I had to stop. Yelson wouldn’t want me to act like this right now. Not when my life was on the line as well. He would want me to keep fighting, kill Daruka, and return home with my family but I couldn’t.
Yelson was my family also. Now he was gone. Ripped apart from me without a goodbye. I wasn’t sure how much more death I could handle before breaking down.
“I know what I have to do,” I whispered to him. “I love you. I’m so sorry this is what it took me to tell you Yelson. I hope you will be able to forgive me, please be able to forgive me for everything I am about to do.”
Gently, I lowered him back to the ground. His heated skin had already started to cool. I placed one kiss on his forehead before I lifted myself from the ground and walked out the doors.
Chapter Seventeen
I entered the hall that Yelson and I had occupied hours ago. Blood soaked the floor where people had been slaughtered. Their bodies littered the area. That was the screaming I had heard. Someone had brought these people down here and murdered them.
Daruka’s name was written all over it. He had done this to his own people. But why would he?
I walked past the bloody hallway until the stair came into view. No one living was around as I ascended them and exited the small house that hid the secret passage way.
Smoke encased the entire village. The fire must have been put out because it would have surely spread to everything and many of the houses were still in tacked. Just like before the only other persons around were the dead bodies on the floor. Only this time it was the ones Yelson and I had killed.
I moved around them, trying not to think too much about how they died, until I was on the main street once again. The smoke prevented me from seeing anything more than a few feet away from me. I stood on high alert.
There was no sound of fighting like there had been before. The only thing I could hear was the sound of my heavy breathing. I would have preferred for something to have attacked me, that way I would at least be doing something other than walking around to who knows where.
Somehow I found myself in the center of the village. The small carts that once held food and weapons were on the floor, their contents trampled over. A small dagger glinted underneath some crushed fruit. I picked it up. I needed something to protect myself with.
“Anastasia,” someone yelled from behind me. I turned to see Cabel standing just feet from me. His tattooed face looked frightened at seeing me out in the open. His clothing were torn and covered in blood. His eyes frantically moved around us as if searching for something.
“Cabel, what happened? Where is my father?”
“You must leave now. This is worse than what we had planned. You have to leave this place immediately,” he whispered as he tried to push me towards the exit. He shaking hands could barely grab onto my arm.
“What? No, I need to find Daruka.”
“It’s too late. He has the sword of Ustrina now. He is unstoppab-“ He stopped talking and his eyes grew wide. He looked down to his chest where the sword of Ustrina had entered him. His body exploded in flames in seconds.
“No,” I screamed as his body turned to ash in front of me.
Daruka stood behind where Cabel once was a huge smile on his face. My sword was in his hands but it didn’t glow blue like it did when I touched it. The only symbol that glowed was the Sirens which gave it the power to kill.
Cabel was right. This was worse than we had imagined. Now that Daruka had my sword he could do whatever he wanted. No one would dare try to stop him. No one but me.
“I should have known the wolf would have helped you escape. Where is he anyways?” Daruka looked around as if he were really searching for him. He knew he was dead, that was the only reason he had put him in the room with me. He wanted him to die in front of me to show me that no one was going to make it out of here alive except for Daruka. A slow smile spread across his lips at my silence. “Well, it is finally just the two of us. How about we have some uncle niece bonding time.”
“I have a proposal to make you instead,” I said standing my ground. I wasn’t about to let him intimated me. This was all going to end right now one way or another.
“Oh,” he said shocked. He expected me to either surrender or fight till my death.
“Yes. I think you will be happy with my plan. It will benefit the both of us.” He gave me a look to continue. “You want me dead. I just want you to stop hurting the people I love. I don’t care what the prophecy says, I can’t kill you. So, if you agree to bring back Yelson and stop terrorizing my family and the people I care about then you can kill me.”
“I can’t bring back the dead.”
“Not if you killed them with that sword. Then their souls are gone forever but we both know if someone is killed any other way their sprit is still here and able to return to its body. After all, we can see them. You are one of the most powerful sorcerer to live are you not?”
“Did you see your precious Yelson?” He knew I hadn’t but that was only because he had put a spell on the room to stop my powers from working. If I wasn’t able to cast a spell then I wouldn’t have been able to see Yelson’s sprit.
“No but we know why I couldn’t.”
Daruka looked down to the sword in his hands. He wanted to see my blood spilled on the end. To know that I would never have a chance of returning. It wouldn’t take much convincing to get him to agree to my deal. All we had to do now was seal it in blood and then I would be able to rule out my plan.
I may not be leaving this place alive but I would make sure Daruka never took another step for the rest of his life. Emilie’s words rang out about the page in my spell book. There wasn’t a spell written on it because there wasn’t a need for words to be spoken. As long as my intentions were true it would work. It had to work.
“Fine.” Daruka closed his eyes and whispered a spell under his breath. A trial of blue mist left his hands and trailed behind him. It would go down to where Yelson’s body was and console his soul into coming back. There was a chance it wouldn’t work but I had faith that Yelson wouldn’t have left me yet.
The mist disappeared telling us that it had reached his body. We had no way of knowing if it worked or not. I could only hope.
“Now, princess, we have a deal to seal.” Daruka pulled out a dagger from his waistband and cut open his palm. I cringed when the blade made contact with his skin. He handed the dagger to me. I grabbed it and quickly repeated what he did closing my eyes so I wouldn’t see my blood fall to the floor.
Daruka held his hand out for me to grab. I repeated our deal in my head making sure there were no holes in it. If it went correctly Daruka wouldn’t be able to move after this. He would be frozen forever unable to hurt anyone.
I grasped his hand with mine. A blue flame exploded from our touch and encompassed us in a circle.
“You think it would be that easy princess,” Daruka whispered as his grip on my hand tightened. My blood began to boil and my lungs constricted preventing me from breathing. My body froze. I didn’t know what was happening but I just knew I had made a mistake. “I would never let you trap me in my own body forever. Now, your family gets to watch as I kill you leaving them with no hope.”
My eyes widen. How stupid was I that I forgot to put up the walls in my head that blocked Daruka from reading my mind? Why could I never do anything right?
He squeezed my hand harder. My b
reath left me and I couldn’t get it back. My blood felt like it was cooking me from the inside out. I heard screaming around me. When I looked I saw a blue force field of some sort surrounding Daruka and I. Yelson was pounding away at it. I smiled at knowing Daruka’s spell worked.
I could see Emilie crying behind him as my brother held her. My father was nowhere in sight. They all looked like they had been through hell, covered in blood that I hoped wasn’t theirs.
Daruka chuckled as he took the life out of me. Black spots clouded my vision. This was the end. I failed everyone. Now Daruka was going to kill me and everyone else I loved.
I looked to Yelson. He was still pounding away at the blue wall that blocked him from reaching me. He was screaming as he kicked and hit it until his skin was bloody from the impact.
I’m sorry Yelson.I sent to him before my world went black.
The end for now…
About the author:
Heaven Lyanne Flores was born in Los Angeles, raised in Las Vegas, and now resides in sunny San Diego with her family.
She is currently going to school to become a nurse but loves to spend her free time reading and writing while also managing the book blog, Indie Authors, Books & More. She also loves anything Disney princess related and has an unhealthy obsession with zombies.
For more information on the Bolton series be sure to log onto
www.facebook.com/authorheavenlyanne
Anastasia (The Bolton Series Book 1) Page 20
