by Mae Doyle
I could see myself being happy in the realms, but not if Etris was still alive. I’d have to kill her. It was the only way.
Chapter 19
I knew that Aruer wanted me to spend the night in his bed with him, but I had to sleep by myself. Or, rather, I wanted to. It would have been impossible to sneak out of his room in the middle of the night, but I knew that I could escape from my room in the tower easily enough.
At least, I hoped so. I was counting on it, in fact. I’d been quiet most of the afternoon, taking dinner with the gods, but wandering in the gardens on my own as much as possible.
It wasn’t that I didn’t want to be around them. In fact, not being around them felt like it was tearing me apart. More than once I’d been tempted to go to them. They knew how to put me back together, I knew that now, but that wasn’t what I needed.
I needed to see Etris dead, and apparently, I was the only one who could do it. None of the gods were willing to tell me why I was the only one in the realm who could kill her, but it didn’t matter. All that mattered is that I could.
I figured that it had something to do with the runes. Somehow, even without knowing what I was doing, I’d been able to pull her power from her and turn it on her. That was something for me to remember and to try to do again.
My life depended on it.
I waited until the moon was directly overhead, lighting up most of the gardens, then I slipped from my bed. In just a few minutes I was dressed and carefully walking down the hidden staircase, a soft light glowing in my hand to light the way.
I’d just have to be careful with my magic for a bit. Not only did I not want to let it consume me like it had earlier, but I had to make sure that I had enough for Etris. She was down below me somewhere, trapped in a cell, and she had no idea that I was coming for her.
Tentatively, I stretched out my aura, feeling around for the gods. They were all still and relaxed, hopefully sound asleep. Satisfied, I slipped from the staircase and made my way down the long hall in the castle. Even though I wasn’t sure where Etris’ cell was, I knew that it wasn’t near the great dining hall or the kitchen. It had to be in the far back of the castle.
Pausing at a doorway, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, trying to let my magic do the work for me. Honestly, I was a little scared to reach out for Etris with my aura. Chances were good that she would feel it and know that I was coming, and I wanted the element of surprise.
Even though I didn’t reach out for her, when I calmed myself and took some deep breaths, I could feel…well, not her, exactly, but something that I knew it be her. It was hate. Seething hate, pulsing deep from under the castle. There was very little chance that it was anything but Etris, locked away in a cell so that she couldn’t hurt me.
She couldn’t hurt me, not locked up where she was, but I was determined to kill her.
I took a left, then when down a short hall before turning right down a flight of stairs. These wound down and down, seemingly forever, until I was almost dizzy. Twice I had to stop and rest so that I didn’t get sick on the way down and around, but by the time I left the stairs and was on solid ground again, I could feel her stronger than ever.
She wasn’t angry, so I didn’t think that she knew I was coming. She was just seething with hatred. Hatred for me, the gods, my sister. It gave me pause with how strong it was, and I wondered for a moment if I was making a huge mistake.
If maybe I should turn back and get help.
But no, if what they told me was true, and I had no reason not to believe them, then I was the only one who could stop Etris. The only one who could kill her. I had no idea how to do that, not really, or what I was going to come face-to-face with when I finally reached her cell, but standing at the bottom of the stairs like a ninny wasn’t going to help any.
It was time to put on my big girl panties and avenge Sara’s death. After all, don’t all heroes have a tragic backstory? At least my parents were still alive, and I wanted to keep it that way. Etris had to die for that to happen, for them to remain safe, and I had to be the one to do it.
It was cooler down there below the castle than it had been up by the roaring fires. There weren’t any fireplaces down here, just a handful of torches stuck into the wall to light the way. I took tentative steps down the row of cells, wondering just how many of them would be full.
How many creatures did Aruer need to lock away to ensure the safety of the Autumn realm? Was I about to discover a horrid secret of him keeping multiple creatures locked away for years?
I held my breath as I walked past the first half dozen cells, but they were all empty, and I paused, exhaling and trying to clear my head. No, Aruer wouldn’t just lock creatures up, not unless they deserved it. These cells all felt empty. Well, all except one at the end.
As I drew closer to it I could see that it wasn’t a regular cell like the ones I’d been walking past. Etris was a goddess and loaded with power and magic, which meant that the cell had to be designed to keep her locked away.
There was a strange glow emanating from the cell. It pulsed and almost seemed to breathe, like it was something alive that was keeping her penned up and away from me. As I got closer, I could feel the rush of hot air each time the light pulsed, and I began to get an uneasy feeling.
It sure felt alive.
Before I even reached her cell, though, Etris called out to me. I’d recognize her voice anywhere – the way it got into your head and twisted its way through your veins. I stopped, wishing that I’d brought a weapon.
Was my fledgling magic going to be enough to defeat her?
“You come to try to finish me off?” Her voice was light and mocking, and at first, I thought about turning tail and running, but I knew that I wouldn’t get another opportunity to try to come here and kill her. If she mentioned my visit to any of the gods then they were sure to put a stop to it.
When I didn’t answer her, she called out again. “because I don’t think that you’re brave enough. Or strong enough. Or smart enough. So why don’t you come closer to me so we can talk about it?”
She leaned her arms through the bars of her cell, her hands clasping together in front of her. They glowed slightly, and I hoped that it was some magic spell to bind her power so that she couldn’t try to hurt me.
I didn’t feel completely in control of my legs as I took tentative steps towards her. It had seemed like such a great idea to come down here and confront her, but actually walking up to her seemed stupid.
“Do you know why I’m here?” If I couldn’t walk without trouble, at least I could try to sound brave. My voice came out clear and strong and I closed my eyes for a moment to thank the gods. At least I had that going for me, although I wasn’t entirely sure how long my good luck would last.
“To kill me, probably. Or rather, to try. I don’t think that you’re strong enough to do it, my dear. Your magic is new. Undeveloped.” She snickered and stepped back into her cell. I couldn’t see her, but I knew that she was close, and there wasn’t any way that I was going to walk right up to the bars, no matter what kind of binding spell she had on her.
The light and warmth kept waxing and waning as I walked up to the cell. I made sure to stop about five feet away, keeping my eyes locked on her to make sure that she didn’t try something stupid.
“My magic is enough,” I told her, thinking about how I’d scorched the ground outside. I’d needed Wydar to save me from burning up, but I didn’t want to tell her that.
“Is it? Your parents and your sister didn’t have enough magic to save her, you know. What makes you think that you’re any different?” Her voice was a sneer, and she raised an eyebrow at me as she waited for my response.
Gods, I hated her. I hated everything about her, including how she’d killed my sister and then tried to kill me. She was evil, no matter if she was the goddess of Spring. Growing up, I never knew how evil she was. I always figured that she represented all that was good in the world. She was the reason we had fl
owers and butterflies.
I thought that Wydar was the one I’d need to be afraid of. That the god of Winter would be the one to destroy, not to create. But I had it all wrong. I had no idea how wrong I was – that Etris was truly evil and that only the gods could save me.
Etris leaned against a wall in her cell, her arms crossed. She hadn’t changed out of her clothing from the ceremony where she murdered my sister, but the gorgeous petals that had made up her dress had wilted some. Her hair hung around her face and she looked gaunt and exhausted.
Good. I wanted her to hurt. I wanted to make her suffer before I killed her. Assuming that I was able to kill her in the end. I didn’t doubt my devotion to doing it, but I was afraid that I wouldn’t be strong enough.
I had to know for sure. As bravely as I could, I walked up to her cell, taking a deep breath to summon all of the energy in my body. I’d completely drained myself earlier in the garden, but Wydar had helped me put myself back together. I could feel magic and power coursing through my body and I knew that all I had to do was access it and I’d be fine.
“You think that’ll work?” Etris’ eyes glittered as she watched me and I did my best to ignore me.
A slight wind rose around me, lifting my hair up and laying it back down around my shoulders. Again, the wind came, and again, and I felt energy start to form in my core. I closed my eyes, trying my best to center myself as I felt the power flow through me.
I had it.
It felt like I was trying to hang onto the end of a lightning bolt. The magic was hot and sharp, slipping from my fingers no matter how hard I tried to keep it close to me, but that was okay. I wasn’t about to let it go, and I finally managed to get a good grasp on it.
Never in my life did I think that I’d have this much power. I felt it flow through me. It was leaking out of my fingertips, dripping from my eyes. I looked at Etris again, but my vision was blurred by the magic that was pooling in my eyes.
“Enough. I have enough.” It was my voice, but deeper. Angrier. The power flowed through me and I suddenly jerked my hand forward, pointing right at Etris. A bolt of energy shot from my, bright light that poured from my fingertips and my palm, streaking through the cell bars and flying across the empty space towards her.
It hit her square in the chest, throwing her up against the wall. She cried out at the impact but didn’t try to move away. Magic and power, strength and energy, all of them poured from me, leaving my hand in a whoosh of pain and light and slamming her harder into the wall.
She was pinned, hanging there, but she never flailed. She never tried to escape, and I gritted my teeth, trying to send even more power in her direction. I wanted to destroy her. I wanted to make sure that it hurt.
My power was waning. I paused for a moment, the magic falling from between my hand and her body, allowing her to slip to the ground. I needed to get closer to her. I needed to put my hands on her, stop her heart, something. From out here I could hurt her, but she lifted her head and stared at me defiantly, and I knew that I couldn’t stop her from out here.
I had to get closer.
Even though Etris was staring at me, she hadn’t moved. I walked up to the bars and ran my fingers over them. Power surged through them in smooth waves at the same time that the light brightened and dimmed.
It was like…well, it was stupid, but it was like something was alive. Something breathing and living was keeping her captive, but that something would have to be incredibly strong.
“You’re right.” Etris pushed herself up to a sit with a sigh. “Something is alive keeping me here. Are you willing to kill it in order to get to me?”
She had to know that that was tempting. I stared at her, considering my options. Power and magic still surged just below the surface of my skin, the power that I felt making me a little dizzy. I was going to have to release it or I was going to destroy something like I had in the garden.
I had to release it on her.
“Killing you is worth killing anything,” I told her, reaching out to grasp the bars. They were thick, but my hands fit easily around them, and I was sure that with a little concentration, I could separate them.
“Don’t you want to know who’s keeping me here? You don’t want to look the jailkeeper in the eye before you kill them?” Etris mocked me, and I risked a glance at her.
“I don’t have to kill them to get to you,” I told her, but I began to feel uncomfortable. If she was telling the truth, then that would mean that I was going to take an innocent down with me. I didn’t want to be responsible for any blood spilling except for hers.
“Sure you do.” Etris pointed past me, lifting both hands because of the cuffs. “In the alcove.”
There wasn’t any alcove, but I spun around anyway, convinced that she was lying. My jaw dropped open.
How the fuck did I miss an alcove directly across from her cell? I must have been so focused on getting to Etris and killing her that it never crossed my mind to look around me and see what else was in the corridor.
The alcove was set into the wall about waist high, and although I hoped that Etris was lying and that I’d turn around to see that it was empty, there was something in it.
No, not something. Someone. Someone small was sitting in the alcove. They had their legs crossed and their hands resting on their knees like they were meditating. Short hair was cut up and around their face, showing off their pointed ears.
An elf? I walked closer, almost completely forgetting the angry goddess behind me. The young girl in the alcove had her eyes closed and looked like she was completely focused on something.
I waved my hand in front of her face.
Nothing.
“Hello?” My voice sounded strange echoing back at me from the alcove.
Also nothing.
Who the hell was that girl?
Chapter 20
I spun around to face Etris. “What the hell did you do to her? Is she okay? Is she hurt?” Did I need to get help? I was sure that I could run upstairs and get Goreon to help me, but the problem was that he would end up telling Aruer that I’d been down to see Etris.
No, I probably needed to help her myself.
Etris slowly walked back to up to the front of her cell. “She’s my guardian,” she said, her voice dark and angry, like we weren’t talking about a little girl. “As long as she sits there, doing her thing, I can’t leave, but you can’t enter. You can’t kill me from out there, Emily. That little girl?” She pointed, but I resisted the urge to look over my shoulder at the girl. “She’s my insurance.”
Fuck. I didn’t come all of the way down here, hell, all of the way to another realm just to walk away right then. I wanted to look back at the little girl, but there wasn’t any way that I was going to turn my back on Etris. She was caged, sure, but she was still terribly dangerous, and I didn’t want to see what would happen if I let her get the jump on me.
“You have to kill her if you want to kill me.” Now Etris sounded bored, and I narrowed my eyes at her.
She had to be bluffing. Her arms were resting between the bars and I moved quickly, grabbing onto her bare skin and squeezing. She couldn’t pull back if she tried as my magic wound its way around her wrists, burning into her skin.
A terrible smell rose up and hit my nostrils, but I still held her. Etris yanked, like she was trying to pull her arms away, but I didn’t let her go. After a moment, I released her, fully expecting to see permanent burns in her arms.
I watched in horror as her skin healed itself, quickly growing over the burns. It looked like I’d never touched her.
She laughed, a terrible sound that made me shiver. “What did I tell you, Emily? You can’t kill me! You’re not strong enough from out there! You want to get revenge for your whore of a sister? You have to stop the magic. You have to kill her.”
No. I could wake her up. She was probably in a trance, but that didn’t mean that I wouldn’t be able to make her wake so that she could drop the magical protection.
Panting, I turned back and crossed the corridor to the alcove, grabbing the girl’s shoulders and shaking them.
“Wake up!” I screamed right into her face, but she didn’t move. Her breathing was slow and deep. If she was meditating, she was definitely deeper than I thought. “You have to wake up!” I shook her harder before grabbing her hands and pulling them off of her knees.
The light coming from Etris’ cell dimmed, but it didn’t go out. The girl started to breath faster, and I felt the pulse of heat from the cell speed up in time with her breath.
They really were tied together. This girl wasn’t just sitting here, she was somehow part of the cell itself. Etris was right, as much as I hated to admit it. If I wanted to stop the girl from keeping Etris secure in her cell, then I was going to have to do something much more drastic than simply shake her.
I took a step back and held out a shaking hand. Light sparked from my fingertips and I paused. Could I do it? Could I use my magic to stop her?
I could just wake her up. No reason to kill her. My heart pounding in my chest and I bit my lower lip hard enough to draw blood before conjuring magic up to the surface. It bubbled under my skin and I pointed at the girl, sending a spark to hit her in the shoulder.
Nothing. It fizzled out on contact and the girl kept her eyes shut. She didn’t seemed phased, and she certainly didn’t drop the shields around the cell.
“Kill her.” The command came from behind me, but I didn’t bother to turn around. “You know that you want to, Emily. You know as well as I do that it’s the only way that you can feel better about your sister dying. Kill her and then you can kill me.”
I wasn’t going to listen to her. Instead, I tried a bit more magic, just wanting to shock the girl enough to wake her up. She didn’t move.
“Fuck!” I screamed, whipping around to look at Etris. She looked bored, but had a wicked smile on her face that made my skin crawl. “Why can’t I just fucking kill you? You bitch!”
