Bound By Blood

by C. H. Scarlett

  They all turned just before Kaléé’s image faded. The faces of the shifted, battle tired Theŕéan warriors relaxed only somewhat with the news.

  “I want answers.” Daŕēus kept a tight grip on Samanthŕa as his eyes glowed a deep red and his features softly distorted, showing hint of his beast. The supple outlines of a wolf growling from the deep shadow threatened to make complete the shift.

  “Then let us start with the symbol and what she knows,” Dĩas raged. “She saw the same necklace on the one Staphãyn renounced us for.” He boasted, as if he were somehow elevated by what he had to reveal about her brother.

  The illness, the pain, the whirlwind of attack came crashing over Samanthŕa again tenfold. Her body wavered against Daŕēus’s weight as she collapsed.

  “She saw him this day. She snuck away from Chymeŕah’s Realm and knows the answers we seek. Ask her,” Dĩas demanded. “It seems she isn’t so easily kept in a cage, now is she?” He mocked Daŕēus, who had taken his daughter to her mother’s because he claimed Dĩas lacked the ability to keep her safe.

  “Enough, Dĩas,” said Chymeŕah. “No one gave my daughter orders that she could not leave my Realm. I do not lock her up as you do. She broke no rules of mine or Daŕēus’s.”

  Dĩas sneered low. He was tired of Chymeŕah’s interference and he said so. “Staphãyn, my disappointment of a son, chose a Phãegen woman and her bastard children over his own blood.” Dĩas was clearly up to something. “Wish to know who was behind this attack? Look towards him. His armies head to the North carrying the corpses he gathered here as we speak. He carries them to the realm of the NORSŔAH as an offering to prove his loyalty. The sign, the symbol is of them.”

  “What is this he speaks of?” Daŕēus looked at Samanthŕa.

  Her face became pallid and sharp pains stabbed throughout her body. She couldn’t speak. She needed to get control of herself first. Her mind panicked. Did Dĩas know of Staphãyn’s children, or did he simply think the woman a whore who had conceived by another?

  “She will not tell you because she refuses to see him for what he is. It nearly kills me to speak of it but he made his choice. The NORSŔAH have returned but with war on their minds. They have joined forces with Syŕos Vrãe and have been secretly meeting with him. Staphãyn came to me wishing my allegiance to them even though they seek to destroy our bloodlines and create a world for NORSŔAH and Phãegen alone. When I refused, he renounced me and the blood. He ran to that woman and now he leads their armies. By attacking one of our families, he has allowed his true face to be known. Tell him, Samanthŕa. Do not protect him!” Dĩas yelled. “He paced back and forth with his hands behind his back. “Wonder why I join with the thirteen Evil bloodlines and make a truce? It is because we have a common enemy, the NORSŔAH. They will be your enemy too, Daŕēus; mark my words.”

  “N-no...” Samanthŕa barely whispered. It felt as though her throat was swelling up. She felt her beast start to claw underneath her skin. Was it the herbs or this horrible place? She couldn’t pin point it, which meant she could not get control.

  Daŕēus knelt down in front of her. He tore off his leather glove and felt her face. "She is burning with fever yet she shivers as though the cold has taken her. I sense she cannot speak. “Allow me to enter your mind. Do not make me struggle doing so,” he commanded.

  “I . . . I am trying…” she fought to say. “The pain…” Samanthŕa shook her head no again. It was hard, as she felt her muscles stiffening. It was so painful. Was the evil in this place making the pain she felt from the herbs worse? Was she under attack?

  “Stop lying to him, Samanthŕa,” Dĩas ordered. “Look at her. The Phãegen wench he was with has made her ill. She has been cursed! Can you not see?” He said this as if mocking the Father of the Blood.

  “Nod to me, Samanthŕa. Is it true what he says? Are you under a spell or curse? I will kill the woman if she has attacked you in any way.” His eyes became concentrated beacons of concern and threat.

  Samanthŕa shook her head again. This time, no matter how painful, she would force out words even if she died trying. She didn’t know what Dĩas was up to, but she would not allow any harm to come to Staphãyn or his woman. She remembered seeing Dalaŕéah outside. She thought of Staphãyn’s unborn children being like that. Dying in the womb? Her heart threatened to shatter. “Not…why…not…why…I’m...I’m...pain.” Just then, her body fell to the floor and her face turned slightly blue. Her throat felt as though it had swollen shut. She struggled for air. Her body began to jerk.

  Dĩas rushed towards her but Daŕēus growled. He lifted her up into his arms. Together they vanished. He would deal with Dĩas later. He would deal with all of them later.

  ~Chapter 13~

  Forsaken

  ***

  Wolves prance about in the flesh of sheep,

  Forcing blades into the hearts of the weak,

  Destroying the strong who may oppose me.

  So does rise the God of all that is bleak.

  And you swallow this easily,

  As I manipulate the Pagães of time.

  You love to fester in glorious hate,

  And I love to fester eternally in mine.

  In the end one question is left and asked,

  Did man create god or did god create man?

  Whose image hides behind its mask?

  How long will this masquerade last?

  You . . . the Forsaken.

  ***

  Spasms jerked and shook her body as if it were nothing more than a flimsy rag doll. Kaléé shoved a piece of wood between Samanthŕa’s teeth while she and Chymeŕah struggled to hold her down. Daŕēus raised his palm from the foot of the bed. He whispered something in an ancient tongue, causing her body to rise and fall peacefully. Her eyes rolled back into her head; her body was stiff, yet she was at least at a standstill now, motionless. He heard Maŕēus in his mind call for him. The two women worked quickly over Samanthŕa’s unconscious body. Daŕēus moved away and answered him.

  “We have found some sort of tracks leading north, Brother. We are following them now,” Maŕēus said.

  “Wait for me. I do not trust the situation. It’s too convenient,” Daŕēus replied, thinking of Dĩas and the wretched company he kept.

  “Brother, if you wish to remain with Samanthŕa, we certainly understand--” Maŕēus tried to say until Daŕēus bluntly interrupted him.

  “I said, wait for me.” He closed off the connection. He turned back around looking at Chymeŕah and Kaléé fussing over Samanthŕa’s body. He could not enter Samanthŕa’s mind or body with his. Whatever was harming her was beyond his reach. Whether she closed the connection somehow to him or the affliction caused it, he didn’t know. He only knew that he was about to lose his temper because he could not help her. If there had been more time, he thought, if she had allowed him to form a bond with her-- he stopped thinking. It was doing him no good. What was done was done and what couldn’t be done, well, there was no use in tormenting himself over it. It only caused him to become insanely angry. His anger would be better served against the ones his Brothers now hunted.

  “I think this would be the problem.” Chymeŕah hissed as she threw a leather pouch onto the bed. “I found it hidden in her wardrobe over there."

  "What is this?" Kaléé grabbed and sniffed it, curling her lips.

  "Dĩas’ imprint is all over it.” Chymeŕah's fists clenched.

  Daŕēus growled as he snatched up the pouch from the Vlachŕa's hands. He shook some of the contents out into his palm, inhaled, and then jerked away abruptly. He threw it back down to the bed.

  “Wonderful mixture, isn’t it?” Chymeŕah voice boiled with anger. Her eyes burned at Daŕēus. “It is just the thing to keep her Awakening at bay-- powerful enough to keep her blocked from you so that you cannot enter her mind so well or know her whereabouts and thoughts. Now we know how she made it to the village without any of us knowing. Now we know how she has been preventing her Awakening fo
r so long.”

  Kaléé took the bag and studied the contents. She moved the crushed herbs around in her hands. She raised a disgusted brow. “Don’t you mean-- powerful enough to kill her?” She spat toward the floor, cursing Dĩas’ stupidity. “Delirium Root, Death bane, Wormwood,” she stated. “All of these herbs are present in lethal doses and grown in Evil’s favorite playground, the Shadow Realm.” She hissed low, rising from the bed. “Vanadium dust laced with Plague venom. He hasn’t tried to put her Awakening at bay. He’s tried to bloody kill the beast within her!”

  Daŕēus growled again. It was becoming hard to control his anger now. His eyes began to glow a bright red. This was the foul substance that he’d sensed in her from the beginning.

  “Daŕēus, we must all give essence to her. She hasn’t enough strength to fight this on her own,” Chymeŕah told him. Her expression showed fear. “It was one thing to do this before the signs of her Awakening but to take it now, it’s a bloody wonder she was even walking around.”

  Daŕēus shook his head. He knew if he gave Samanthŕa his blood, it would intensify her Awakening. Would she take more of these poisons trying to stop it? He tried to foresee the outcome. He’d made a promise to her and before he ever intended on breaking it, she had to give him permission. But how would she give him permission now? How would he keep her trust if he didn’t get it?

  “We do not have a choice,” Kaléé told him, sensing his thoughts.

  Their quandary was interrupted as Samanthŕa began to toss and turn on the bed. She started to mumble words which made no sense as her body resisted Daŕēus’ power to still her. Kaléé leaned down quickly to hear what she was saying; Daŕēus and Chymeŕah joined together this time to make her still. Her body fell back to its original stiff position. The words stopped.

  “What did she say?” Chymeŕah asked, literally on pins and needles.

  Kaléé rose back up. She shook her head. “Most of it was idiom. I did manage to make out some of it, though.” She looked at Daŕēus with sorrowful eyes. “Save me so I can save my Brother."

  "The one called Staphãyn?" He asked.

  Kaléé nodded. "And she said, Dĩas lies. She said that threefold.” It brought the two women to tears. They could feel Samanthŕa’s sorrow and agony. He knew their empathy was soaring.

  Daŕēus’ heart sank as well. Without hesitation he looked at Chymeŕah. He had gained his permission, in one form or another. Samanthŕa wished to be saved in order to help Staphãyn. He knew only one way to do that. “Find a goblet.”

  She searched the room like a mad woman. Kaléé whispered to Daŕēus, “If her mind is aware of what is happening to her, if her thoughts worry more for Staphãyn, then that means she is stronger than we thought. That means it is not only the herbs which have harmed her but rather made her weak enough for something else to harm her, to bring her to this point.”

  Daŕēus nodded. He had already realized this. The energy hovering throughout the Theŕéan home had attacked her. “Get her sisters in here to aid you with the ritual. Force them to keep their wits about them and their minds off of the Brothers.”

  Chymeŕah brought a chalice to him.

  Daŕēus whispered as he held his wrist over the cup. “Bring forth thy blood. Summon thy essence.” Without having to cut himself or bring his flesh harm, blood began to fall from his pores like tears. He filled the cup about one third full; then the blood stopped. Chymeŕah and Kaléé would do the same.

  “Daŕēus, you should go to Maŕēus and the others now,” Kaléé told him. “Do not let Dĩas and his bloody sheep find whoever we hunt themselves. There is nothing more you can do here. It is now up to us women.”

  Daŕēus didn’t want to leave but he knew he had no choice. The ritual they had to do was between the Goddess and her daughters. No son of the God could be present. Only the essence of the son was called for. Before he left though, he leaned down and whispered something in Samanthŕa’s ear in an ancient tongue. He knew her soul would understand. He kept his words private from everyone else.

  The words meant, you will rise from this for my blood and strength is within you. You will survive for I have never taught you how to fail. I refuse you the freedom to learn on your own.

  He waved his hand over her eyes; her body relaxed slightly and then softly stirred. He knew she could hear him. Somehow, inside her mind, inside her soul, she could hear him.

  He vanished.

  ***

  Chymeŕah and Kaléé filled the chalice with their blood. It swirled and rippled with Daŕēus’s essence. Different colors of light bubbled up from the liquid, the bubbles snapping and popping, dissolving into the air. Samanthŕa’s sisters formed a circle around her bed. They began to chant in low soft voices as if singing.

  “Ascend, dear sister, into the warmth of the Goddess’s Many Lights. Dissolve thy poisons, sister, and rise.”

  Kaléé removed Samanthŕa’s clothes. She was still in the state of unconsciousness Daŕēus had left her in. Chymeŕah tied her hands to the posts of the bed. She did the same to her feet. While the sisters chanted, so did Kaléé and Chymeŕah; they began to smear the blood over Samanthŕa’s body. Her skin started to absorb it immediately.

  Her head began to toss and turn, rise, then fall. Her mouth opened and a black smoke like substance sprayed outward and then dispersed. It was the essence of the dark herbs she had taken. Suddenly her body began to spasm again and something formed at the edge of her mouth. Their chanting had forced it away just as it did the herbs. It had long, shadowy claws and it fought to hold onto her but the women intensified their chants. It bellowed and hissed until it was thrust out completely. The light in the room, even though dim, caused it to explode. Blackness scattered around them in millions of pieces; like microscopic bits of dust, it drifted softly downward until it disappeared into the stone floor.

  Samanthŕa’s body fell limp and relaxed. Her eyes closed and she slept. Kaléé untied her arms and legs and they dismissed the sisters. They had no idea of what just happened, but they knew it was no time to ask. Silence filled the room. Chymeŕah began to wipe the fever she had suffered from Samanthŕa’s brow. Kaléé brought the covers up and over her, whispering praise to the Goddess. The only question that was on their mind now: who or what did this to her? What attacked the Theŕéans and their realm?

  Before they could even ponder these things though, the floor to the palace began to shake. A power rippled throughout all of the realms and the skies above started to quake with power. They heard voices, many, speaking as one, echo throughout TEŔAH while something unheard of took place.

  “We of the bloodlines Lakéém, Vãlãh, Mãrquisŕa and Veŕatü renounce our bonds and loyalty to Evil. We dispel the waste of the Dark Matter. We reject our oaths and demand our freedom! In the name of the Goddess and the God of Many Lights, hear us now and set us free! By the laws of the old ways, so mote it be!”

  And then there was silence…

  There wasn’t a soul anywhere who did not hear the four bloodlines of Evil renounce their ties to them. Chymeŕah and Kaléé stood there with their jaws dropped while standing over Samanthŕa’s body in shock. The realms became quiet again. A shift of great power merged divisive bloodlines to their favor, but what did it mean? What could this all mean?

  ~Chapter 14~

  Starvation

  ***

  So does come misery’s rain,

  Saturating the grip of starvation and pain.

  Speak not of your suffering in vain.

  For this is the weathering of all beautiful things.

  ***

  “It was dim-witted, Samanthŕa! Sometimes I don’t understand you. Here you go on and on lecturing us on how we need to embrace our gifts, sharpen our skills, and make ourselves stronger, then you intentionally deny your own gifts and make yourself weak!” Dezarãe hissed at her.

  It had only been a few hours since Samanthŕa regained consciousness. It was only a few more hours since she had been able to get out
of bed and move around. Her head was still a bit dazed and her body weak. For the last hour or so, her sisters had stood over her shouting. Was this her karma? Her splitting headache told her it had to be.

  Morrgãyne jumped in. “Why don’t you just Awaken? Why would you almost kill yourself in order to avoid it? Do you fear being with a man that much? I am so sick of hearing how prideful you are. How no man will have power over you or shall make you his slave. Not all men are like our father, Samanthŕa, and you are one person who should know that. And they say you are the enlightened one?” Morrgãyne snorted. “Who ever heard of a Priestess being so foolish? Keep on and you shall lose that too.”

  “It doesn’t matter now, does it?” Keysãe said sadly. “Her one chance at Awakening is probably dead or lost. Maybe you will be blamed for that as well. After all, would Staphãyn betray his own people if you had formed the bonds between Vii and Strygĩ? He would have been stronger and not have fallen for the trickery of a Phãegen wench. He would have had a chance." Now they spoke over her, not to her.

  “That’s if Staphãyn was even her Awakener.” Samaŕah snorted. “There is still a chance that Dǒntáe is, so maybe there is hope for her yet if she stops acting so foolish. I mean really, Samanthŕa; it is time to grow up. The way you are, the way you act has brought ruin to us all over the course of the years.”

  “Oh, you mean like her mischief?” Sameŕald rolled her eyes. “If she had followed the rules and stopped acting so much like Chymeŕah, then Dĩas would not have sent us all away.”