Faerie's Champion

by M. H. Johnson

  Jess's smile was grim, implacable. Her voice chill as the grave.

  “I will hunt down anyone who dares to cross my family, Zerona. Hunt them down and rip out their beating hearts before I tear their very souls asunder! Unless you want to be counted among my foes, headmistress, I suggest you think very carefully before you send your masters any letters whatsoever that disparage my character. For I swear to you, should any repercussion fall upon my House, the first heart I shall rip free from quivering flesh will be your own! Do we have an understanding, woman, or do you think I speak in jest?”

  Jess raised her clenching hands and smiled grimly into the terrified woman's face, slowly shaking her head. “No, I don't think we are done here, Zerona. I think one more demonstration is still in order.”

  Jess's eyes flickered around the room, coming at last to the granite wall of the Headmistress's chambers that faced a window open to the glorious view of the gala below, and the starry night sky above. Jess gazed but a moment at the peaceful view, carefully noting how deep the fine glass window was set within the wall, at least two feet thick. For the sturdy wall was, in fact, a part of the outer fortifications of the great building they were in.

  Jess flashed the headmistress a bleak little smile, not worthy of the scream the shaking thing emitted, surely, for all that Jess felt as if a storm of darkness was swelling inside her, catalyzed to terrible life by the rage and fury she felt, trapped and strangled in this strange, poisonous den, with those she loved most in life being held hostage by cackling shadowy foes, the very thought of which set her blood boiling.

  “Tell me, Zerona, such hands as these could do far worse than grind your bones to kindling, should they actually have the strength to slay a lord of Hell, as the stories about me claim. Wouldn’t you agree?” Jess began to laugh then, feeling a terrible sense of liberation, as all the trappings of guilt, duty, and compulsion were savagely ripped away. She would be free.

  No matter the cost, no matter whose blood she had to spill, she would be no one's pawn.

  Jess ignored the odd cackling that seemed to echo endlessly in that room as she locked her gaze upon the pale-faced woman clenching her shattered arm close, gazing at Jess in speechless horror.

  “Hands so terrible would have no trouble tearing free the beating hearts of my enemies, no? Let us test it then! Should my hand crack against the walls of your office, and I be mewling like a babe upon your floor, you know me for an overconfident, foolish girl who needs to be put in her place.” Her eyes blazed, and the headmistress shuddered. “But let us agree as well, that should I actually manage to shatter such a fortification as this, then I am just as terrible as your puppetmasters secretly fear me to be, and I had best be respected, for to cross me is death!”

  Her laughter rang out once more, and even Rulia gazed at Jess with a fascinated sort of horror.

  “By all means, you mad girl,” the headmistress sobbed, shaking visibly. “If you wish to shatter your hand against the wall, far be it for me to stop you!”

  Jess grinned even as her sister cried out. “Jess, don’t be a fool! A bull himself would shatter his skull against such a wall of granite. Please, Jess, you are losing yourself!”

  Rulia just shook her head and whistled. “Where you go, I will follow, though I fear you tread upon a dark path indeed, my Jess.”

  Jess gazed at the imposing wall with a fierce intensity. Her whole body started to tremble as she tore free the last shackles upon her psyche, allowing glorious madness to at last bleed free. With a terrible roar that caused all to flinch, the Headmistress herself swooning as blood began to pour from her nose, Jess charged forward, a coiled fulcrum of inhuman speed and power, slamming her fist with all her force and fury against the wall.

  27

  Apple frantically closed her eyes and covered her ears, unable to bear the thought of her sister's screams, yet still she heard a terrific crunch and felt herself swoon, terrified to hear her sister's agonized shrieks at what must have been the sound of bone crackling and snapping, Jess smashing her fist so furiously against an indestructible obstacle.

  “By the gods, I don’t believe it,” Apple heard Rulia whisper in awe.

  Apple blinked, gazing first at Rulia who was staring transfixed at the wall, her expression one of utter disbelief.

  Apple found herself shivering. Terrified at what she would find. But hoping, somehow, that her sister's arm was not a mangled mess.

  Yet when she turned to face what had once been a stone bulwark stout enough to resist the pounding of a catapult, she found herself facing something far more awful than her sister's shattered arm. The imposing granite wall now looked as if it had been struck by a trebuchet. Blocks well over a solid foot thick had been pulverized, leaving behind a vast gaping hole big enough to shove a struggling man through to crash hideously to the ground, far below. Powdered rock could be seen throughout the room. And standing beside the shattered barrier, washed in the brilliant rays of the moon, was a twisted apparition gazing about itself as if it had been summoned forth from the very depths of Hell. Its eyes crackled and burned like flaring coals. A hideous, inhuman smile sent Apple's heart racing in sudden terror. Never had Apple seen anything so terrible in all her days, and it bore only a passing resemblance to her sister.

  Apple couldn’t stop herself. Immediately she crumpled up and wretched, even as she heard Rulia cheer.

  “By the gods, Jess, that was incredible. Unbelievable! How in the name of creation did you pull such a feat? By Justice, Erovering Delvers are made of strong stuff!”

  Apple, however, didn't dare gaze for a second longer at the crimson eyed berserker who had so savagely and gleefully torn through Kipu's troops with what she had always thought was secretly a bloodthirsty joy. Her sister, for all that she had saved Apple's life, also terrified her. Much like their mother, Apple was all too aware of the fearsome darkness lurking within the depths of her sister's soul. An awful presence that Apple was secretly afraid would somehow, someday, break free.

  Apple began to mewl and whimper, unable to help herself, when the terrible creature that had taken over her sister raised blazing eyes to meet Apple's own, disregarding her with the merest flick, gaze focusing instead upon the panicked looking Lady Zerona. Grimly it lurched forward, fists clenching and unclenching, the right one flecked with drops of blood and covered in powdered granite, uttering vile curses that froze Apple to her core.

  Lazy Zerona lurched back in a panic as the terrible apparition approached, frantically struggling to get up and flee, made clumsy by her shattered arm, at the end just begging and pleading as Jess coldly grabbed her attire, yanking the headmistress free of her chair, dragging her towards the gaping hole in the granite wall.

  The nightmare that had somehow taken Jessica's place did not even flinch as the panicked lady smacked and struck her, and with an effortless flick, it tore away the knife belt the headmistress wore, even as the shrieking woman desperately grasped for the blade.

  The struggling Lady Zerona howled in absolute terror when her head and torso were grimly shoved through the gaping hole in the granite wall. And they all could hear the poor woman's screams turn to shrieks of utter panic as her captor coldly left her dangling by her ankle, now possessing such awful strength that her arms did not budge an iota as the Headmistress kicked and flailed, wailing with abandon as she gazed down at her own death, perhaps moments away from being sent plummeting to the pitiless flagstones, far below.

  "And now you understand, Headmistress, why I am not one to cross." The terrible creature spoke with a voice cold and pitiless as the grave, eyes flickering with the fires of Hades, flashing a twisted grin that promised hideous death.

  It was the demon Apple had always secretly feared lurked deep within her sister's soul. And it was far worse than any nightmare that Apple would lurch awake from, shrieking in her mother's arms the days after Kipu's death, Agda's knowing gaze making it clear she understood all too well the unspoken source of her daughter's horror.
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  Grimly, Jess plucked the frantically struggling Headmistress out of the gaping hole in the buttressed wall, forcing the sobbing woman to meet her gaze. When she spoke, the very walls seemed to tremble with the terrible weight of her words. “If I find out that even one more move is made against me or mine while I am here, then I will know the cause. And I swear to you, Zerona, you will pay a catastrophic price for setting your pieces against my own.”

  Jess's smile was vicious, like a wolf’s. “I suggest nothing but the most glowing of reports about my studies, and my character.”

  “Yes!” Zerona shrieked. “By the gods, the most glowing reports imaginable! I give you leave to do whatever the hell you want, just please, please spare me, I beg of you!” Zerona sobbed, all former traces of potency and dominance utterly fled. Shaking and trembling at Jess's feet was nothing more than a middle-aged woman, exhausted and horrified beyond words, pleading simply to be allowed to live.

  “Good,” Jess nodded coldly. “Remember, woman, I will be no one’s bitch, no one’s plaything. I will not be a tool to be used and thrown away by anyone! I care nothing for your petty games of politics and power. But rest assured, should anyone think to cross me, I will butcher them, and all that stand with them! Am I clear, headmistress?”

  Tears freely streaming from Zerona's panicked features, the poor woman nodded frantically, yet for some reason, Jess did not look pleased. Lady Zerona suddenly screamed for mercy when Jess abruptly yanked her off her feet and dangled her outside the gaping hole once more, and it seemed that Jess might just decide to drop her, after all.

  “I doubt your sincerity, treacherous worm. Look into my eyes, Zerona, and swear it! Swear you will make no move against me or mine. Swear it upon your life, or I promise you I will throw you clear to the pavement below!”

  “I swear it, dark mistress! I swear by all that is holy that I will never move against you and yours, for all my days!” The headmistress begged and wailed, pleading for mercy, her voice garbling into an endless sob, and Jess's gaze grew increasingly chill, for all that Apple was sickened by the words.

  "Jess!" Apple screamed in panicked alarm, no longer sure if the creature that was her sister was bluffing, or truly about to drop the headmistress. Jess shivered before abruptly pulling Lady Zerona back, effortlessly carrying her like a sack of burlap before dropping Zerona back into her chair, where the object of Jess's fierce display of temper spent some moments gasping and shuddering, even as the distant thumping upon the door increased in intensity.

  "I swear it, Lady Jessica! Nothing but the most flattering reports for you and your sister both. I will make no move against you or yours, my life upon it!" The woman breathlessly begged even as she squeezed her eyes tight with pain and terror, looking ready to faint in her chair.

  “Good,” a mollified Jess said, gazing at the room before her. And just like that, she appeared human again.

  Apple blinked in awe, unable to believe how rapidly and completely Jess had shifted appearance without a single physical feature changing in any way that she could describe. It was, Apple thought, as if the hideous thing that had been gazing through Jessica’s eyes but moments before had suddenly receded, leaving her sister once more at the helm.

  Apple shivered. Her gut roiled with the leaden weight of anxious dread as she realized that as much as she both loved and feared her sister, she still had only the faintest glimmer of what Jessica was capable of. How terrible she could be when pressed.

  Apple breathed deep, collecting herself while Jess quickly gathered up the largest chunks of granite and flung them out the gaping hole, as casually as Apple herself would flick free a piece of lint, before effortlessly grabbing one of the massive bookcases that creaked under its own weight. Yet with a cold glare from Jess it immediately stiffened, and only the slightest bit off balance, Jess carried the massive case over to the gaping hole, dropping it with a crash. She gave it a critical eye and nodded once to herself before turning to the head of their school, still gazing at Jess in horrified awe.

  "Very well then," Jess continued in a voice that no longer resonated eerily through the chamber. "I do believe we are done here, headmistress, unless you have something you care to add about my choice of attire, or my right to attend or cut any class I damn well please?"

  The headmistress shuddered, shaking her head emphatically to the contrary. Jess then turned to her companions. “Come, Apple, Rulia, I do believe we have had a most productive meeting with our headmistress. No doubt she needs a time of calm reflection. A chance to appreciate the fine view that stretches out for miles from her window. Almost like standing on the edge of a vast precipice. One she could fall over at any moment. Let's leave her to that, shall we?”

  Rulia gave a shaky smile and nodded. “By the gods, Jess. That’s all I can say.” She spared a quick glance for the still deathly pale head of their school.

  “Great sense of tact, Jess,” Apple quipped sardonically, struggling to play the role of sister who was fully one with Jessica’s madness, and not terrified of it. “Now, if you will give me but a moment, I fear final words must be said.”

  Girding herself with a deep breath after receiving a nod from her still terrifying sister, Apple slowly strode toward the head of their school, realizing from the stench that the woman had lost all control of her bowels in the height of her terror. Apple could only imagine the utter shame of it, and suppressed a disgusted shudder of her own, pretending to be unaware of the stink, and thus save the woman at least that humiliation.

  Apple forced herself to bear the headmistress's look of horror and loathing as she approached. Though sickened, Apple locked gazes with the terrified woman, choking out the words that needed to be said.

  “Jess has a beau. Who is also of the Guild, and every bit as terrible as she is. One could argue he is even closer to the edge of madness, though I doubt you’ll believe it.” Apple took a shuddering breath. "Even if you did manage to arrange a strike against Jess and our family, though the rest of us may not survive it, Jess surely will. And the things she will do to you and yours? you cannot even fathom." Her voice began to shake. "I've seen her kill, Mistress Zerona. Kill men she thought were a threat to me. What she did? Still gives me nightmares, for all that I owe her my life. And headmistress? What she starts, her beau will surely finish. Her beau, who is high within the power structure of the Guild, an organization full of mad hellions just like those two, Delvers who would welcome any excuse for slaughter, should you or your cohorts actually be stupid enough to cross us again." With that, Apple turned around and joined her sister and Rulia.

  “Well said.” Jess gave her sister a coolly approving nod.

  "Well I don't see how we can possibly do any more damage, so let's just get the hell out of here." Apple quipped, her sister's laughter sounding almost human, Rulia shaking her head and smiling at the both of them as they made their exit.

  28

  "Now that we've managed to terrify the head of the school, what are our plans for the rest of the night?" Rulia all but trembled with excitement, kissing Jess with sudden heat.

  Jess shrugged and grinned, feeling utterly exhilarated, as if she were riding the crest of a furious wave, one that could send her crashing to the shoals at any moment. It was like sipping the sweetest of brandies in her lover's arms, the mad heady joy of facing her opponents down in all their festering malignance, and laying them low.

  “Well for one thing, best we open the doors.” With a gentle touch, the fine oaken doors snapped open, a surprised Drake and Armond immediately taking in the situation.

  "We heard commotion. Is all well?" Drake asked, giving the girls before him a quiet nod.

  Rulia smiled. "Quite all right. I'm afraid the door got stuck with this damp weather and all. We've been trying like mad to open it! The headmistress was just giving us permission to wear what attire suited us and to attend what courses we chose, in thanks for the services we rendered good Duke Smida, escorting he and his son through the dark to the g
ala they enjoy even now. Is that not right, Headmistress Zerona?"

  A trembling nod was her only response, the noblewoman pale as a sheet, grimacing with pain she tried desperately to hide.

  Rulia sighed. “Sadly, the headmistress suffered a stumble and landed on her wrist quite abruptly. We helped her back to her chair, as any good student would, but I fear she might need the healer to look at it. Is that not right, headmistress?”

  The pair of guardsmen pointedly glanced at the rubble, the state of the headmistress, the powdered granite coating half the room, but receiving no contradictory statements from the Headmistress, just shrugged and led them out.

  "You play a dangerous game, Dame Jess, but I know a cornered cat when I see one, and you are more honorable than most who attend here. May your gambit not cost you more than you are willing to lose," Drake said moments later with a strangely sympathetic smile, even as he returned their sheathed blades.

  Jess chuckled softly. “Fear not, dear Drake. For the game being played is every bit as nasty as the captain suspects. I merely let my opponent know that we both have pieces in play. If she wishes to call the game a draw, I will accept that. If not?” Jess's bleak smile caused even Drake to flinch and step away, before Apple gently grabbed her shoulder.

  “Stop that, Jess. Let these good guardsmen get the healer to attend to the dear headmistress's... fall, while we go on our way.”

  Rulia gave Jess a fierce hug, stroking back her lover’s hair gently when they returned to their quarters. “What a boldly brilliant maneuver, my sweet. The utter gall of it, cutting through all innuendo, skunking past the spider queen’s own web of games by sheer brute force and intimidation. Purely brilliant!”