The Obsidian Crown of the Lost Dominion

by Akira Knightley

  Stiffly, I turned around, keeping my face sideways to look at the Sorceress, “L−e−t them go! I stammered against the paralytic drug.

  “No, Abigail. I won’t. Don’t you believe that those who do wrong must be punished; those who deceive people should learn a lesson?”

  Without even a trace of a sudden movement, she flung the crystal dagger at me.

  “Not so fast, Sorcy,” I heard a whoosh and saw a baseball bat swing in front of my eyes. It hit the crystal dagger and splintered it on impact, sparkling crystals flying every where. Hailey stood there with the bat propped up over one shoulder. “Haven’t you heard of stainless steel knives? They don’t shatter like crystal ones do. Maybe get yourself a set for your next nefarious activity.”

  One of the hooded figures waved a hand and the bat flew in the air into the dark pit. The Sorceress didn’t even acknowledge her presence. She raised one hand and turned her palm upwards. In an instant a swirling ball of gas ignited into a fiery ball. She sent the fireball in the direction of my parents. My head spun back towards where they were crouching in the darkened tunnel. I saw my dad shielding my mom from the blast. I saw his wide eyes illuminated by the approaching fireball. I couldn’t do anything but watch. In the corner of my eye I saw a movement. Hailey put herself in front of my parents. She stood with her hands in front of her and at the last moment, I saw her launch a fireball directly at the one the Sorceress sent.

  With a deafening blast the two fireballs collided in midair. The cave was incandescent with the white-hot conflagration. It bobbed and swayed as the two forces battled each other. Sparks flew and silvery liquid dripped from the two. Soon the two distinct fireballs were replaced by one larger ball and started to get smaller and smaller to the point where it was no larger than a couple of inches in diameter. From it, yellowish liquid fire dripped on the floor like a spent candle. It ignited just one more time and made a small fizzing sound before it completely died out.

  “Bravo! Bravo! I see someone’s been studying the Codex,” the Sorceress said, clapping her gnarly hands together. “But a one-trick-pony like you has no hope to defeat me.”

  The hooded person on the left of the Sorceress lifted his arms and started to create figure-eight motions in front of him. He stopped with both hands clasped together. Then he moved his clasped hand to his right and opened them; a ball of something dark, like black smoke swirling around the ball hung suspended in the air. He repeated the same movement, creating three of the dark balls of swirling gas in front of him. Then he stepped the left side of the suspended weapons and he uttered an incantation. The ball on the right whirled and shot forward. In the darkness, I couldn’t see where the projectile was going. But I was determined to find it. A few feet in front of us, I saw the dark ball speeding and unwrapping itself. Then it revealed itself for what it was: A fireball of immense intensity. It was headed straight at Taylor. It was camouflaged before; I didn’t think Taylor would have enough time to react. But as gracefully as if she was performing in an Olympic competition, Taylor did a backflip, letting the ball pass under her. From where I stood, I could smell the rank scent of burning hair. Her ponytail must have been singed by the fireball. But she didn’t take the time to worry about that because as she landed, she sent a fireball flying back in return. The hooded figure put his arms and clapped them against each other from elbow to elbow and edge of the palm to the other. To the naked eye, nothing seemed to have happened but when the fireball hit, the fire raged against the magic shield as it tried to get through to the target.. He laughed out loud and yelled, “Amateurs! Amateurs!” Again he laughed and this time hood came off as he threw his head back. But even before the revelation of his face, his voice already betrayed Kieran’s identity.

  He became slightly disoriented when he realized he was exposed.

  “You bastard! After all we’ve done for you!” Hailey screamed and she let out a fireball towards Kieran. It was dead accurate and it was a much bigger and brighter ball than what Taylor threw.

  “Oohhh! Ohhh!” yelped Kieran as he tried to perform his shield but it was obvious he was missing something, either there was not enough time or his concentration was broken. He ended up cowering with his arm over his head just like when he used to hide from Blaise. It occurred to me what Blaise was trying to tell us: Kieran starts the fight but uses his diminutive stature to make it look like he is the underdog.

  This time, the hooded figure to the right of the Sorceress ran over in front of Kieran. All I could see was the sleeves of the robe follow a rolling pattern in the air and then there was concentrated energy so strong I saw the waves emanating from the sleeve-covered hands. The energy blast hit Hailey’s ball of fire and it stopped it in mid-air. It didn’t fizzle; it just stopped bobbing in air as if confused about its trajectory. Then slowly, the power from the hooded figure started to tilt the ball and turned it around once. With a will of force, the hooded figure reversed the ball’s direction. She was going to send it hurtling back towards Taylor.

  My eyes grew wide. Cold sweat trickled down my back as the certainty of what was about to happen hit my consciousness. Taylor was about to die.

  Not on my watch!

  The air around me crackled and the molecules of the air in front of my eyes begin to ripple. My anger was super-heating the energy around my body. I closed my eyes and felt a sudden release. I don’t know how but I knew I had somehow burned up every element of the drug they put in me.

  I opened my hands to each side of me and started to draw the energy from the air around me and the earth beneath my feet. I clapped my hands and rubbed them together. I pulled my hands away from each other and in between was a charged ball of energy. Without hesitation, I said, “Amplo”, and the ball got bigger and sent a current of will into the ball to imbue it with my feelings.

  Looking at the ball between my hands, I forced my hate to the surface and fueled it, then, “Incensa!” The incantation created a continuous stream of fire. Using both hands, I pointed the magical flamethrower at the fireball still spinning in the air. It hit it. The thrower’s force was enough to change the fireballs intended trajectory by an inch or two. “Taylor, get down!” I saw Taylor dive away just as I snuffed out the thrower’s flame. Taylor was saved. I looked at her. She was sprawled on the ground. She looked back at me and her eyes were wide with alarm. The stray fireball had ricocheted against the roof of the cave. I didn’t think there was anything there to burn until I realized that the roots of the trees coming through from above ground were alight with fire, like wicks of a thousand candles burning all at once; and it was expanding. The roof was incandescent.

  Kieran quickly sent another stealth fireball hurtling down the tunnel. We dove out of the way and braced ourselves against the oncoming blast. “Shields up!” I cried out loud to be heard over the roar of the overhead inferno. But this time there was nothing, it just passed us without shedding its cloak of swirling soot.

  I wasn’t sure what to think of it. We looked at each other, wondering what happened to the fireball. Was it a dud? Whatever it was, it didn’t work.

  We all turned to face the common enemy. “Looks like even the evil genius can come up with a dud fireball!” I chided Kieran.

  But none of them laughed at my joke. None of them even acknowledged I said anything. I looked at the hooded figure who came to Kieran’s rescue. The figure was standing sideways where the cowl covered the face entirely. There was just something about the robed figure was standing there, calm, collected almost stoic that gave me such a sense of déjà vu.

  This is no time to think about that, Abigail, I chastised myself.

  My thoughts returned to Kieran. I couldn’t fathom any kind of reasoning that would make someone to go to such lengths to gain something so intangible as power. “This is crazy, Kieran. Why are you doing this?” I asked.

  Slowly, the hooded figure turned away but Kieran spoke up and said, “ Isn’t it a noble
r act to sacrifice the few to save the many? To get the right result despite how you get there? It may not be the perfect way to do it, but in the end we want the same thing. I do it for that reason and because I am appreciated here. You guys were never going to give me a chance.” He kept talking but it must have been my total distrust of Kieran that I let his voice trail away and focused on the way his right hand was being kept well hidden behind his robes. The hooded figure was still obscuring part of Kieran’s body from my line of sight. I was not going to let Kieran trick me again. I watched him carefully. As soon as the hooded figure stepped aside, I saw him extend his right hand towards the tunnel. I followed the direction of his hand expecting some kind of weapon to fly out but he had nothing in his hand, and there was only darkness in the tunnel.

  I turned my head to look at Kieran again, confused as to what he was trying to do when I saw Kieran’s face screwed in concentration as he was muttering some kind of incantation. He lowered his hand and he nodded at the hooded figure. I knew something was about to happen and I braced myself for it. But there was no way anyone of us could have prepared for what happened next.

  There was a flash of light in the tunnel followed by a huge explosion. It sounded like thunder crashing against the night sky. Hailey dropped to the floor over my parents to protect them from the blast. Taylor flattened herself to the ground and I jumped to the side of the mouth of the tunnel, getting away from the line of fire.

  After a few seconds, I looked down at the cave tunnel where the blast came from and to my horror, I saw the entrance to the tunnel had collapsed. A moment of clarity hit me in midst of the crumbling exit; a time-delayed blast from a stealth fireball, that’s how Kieran managed to hit Blaise and himself with his own fireball. No sooner did I get to entertain that thought, before the sharp ringing in my ears snapped it out of existence. It was immediately replaced with the reality of our predicament.

  I ran into the tunnel and realized our only escape route into the Broken Mansion’s sitting room was now sealed.

  Taylor got up and started to run toward the rubble.

  Hailey rose from her crouching position and stopped Taylor. “Stay here with them.” She inclined her head towards my parents huddled on the floor. She looked at me and said, “Cover me!”

  I nodded and placed myself between them and the Sorceress and her followers.

  She walked past Taylor who decided to put her arms and body to protect them from the flying debris. My mom caught my hand as I was going past. “I’m not afraid, Abi. We trust you.”

  It took all I had to not break down into a heap of worthless goo. “I am so sorry, Mom. I should have been there.”

  She squeezed my hand. “We will get through this.”

  I pulled her hand to my face and gazed at her brown eyes. I justed want to be sure she really was still there with me.I shook myself back to truth and asked my dad to take care of her.

  CHAPTER 33

  The Last Stand

  I prepared myself as a goalie would. I needed to protect this tunnel. Nothing must come past me while Hailey and Taylor found us a way out. I knew I would have to buy her as much time as I could. I needed to keep them distracted.

  I found a stalagmite on the ground and hid behind it. In a loud voice, I asked, “I want to the talk with the doctor. What have you done with her?” I moved to another stalagmite to hide.

  “What did you think we did with her?” Kieran’s voice screeched out and as I suspected, he followed my voice and tried to catch me from where I was hiding. When he didn’t find me there, he let out a round of laughter. His laugh grated me and the more I heard it, and the more I hated myself for trusting him.

  The doctor’s voice answered, “I’m here.”

  “Are you ok?” I asked, as I jumped down to a lower foothold by the chasm where I wouldn’t be seen.

  “I’m alright. But—Abigail, there is no way out here. I’ve tried. You need to give yourself up. Your parents and your friends are all in danger if you don’t give yourself up,” the doctor said in a pleading tone.

  Kieran’s laughter echoed throughout the cavern. “Oh, this is fun! Come out, come out, sacrificial lamb!” He laughed again.

  “Don’t worry. If we get out of here, we will come back for you.” I rolled over to another boulder to hide.

  “There is no way out,” she responded.

  Kieran’s sinister laughing continued echoing through the chasm.

  I heard Hailey behind me, deep in the tunnel, moving debris to reopen the route. “I’m almost there! I can see the light!” I heard Hailey say.

  A guttural noise emitted from the Sorceress. Then in a voice full of controlled frustration, she said, “Let’s go, Mrs. Montserrat. I know it’s painful to lose but don’t think of it as losing. Think of it as fulfilling your destiny.”

  I heard my mom’s voice pleading with my father, “Please just leave me. I am in so much pain. I will hold you back.”

  “No, please try. Here, take my arm.” My father’s voice was coming in loud and halting whispers.

  I must buy more time.

  All of sudden, the Sorceress soared up about ten feet into the air, then swooped so close to the tunnel where I was that I had to back into the wall of the tunnel to hide.

  “Stop this nonsense! I will not continue to play this hide and seek! We don’t need to explain anything to you!” the Sorceress bellowed as she swooped back down and her robe covered what little light was illuminating the cavern as she descended back down like a gigantic bat.

  As if trying to solidify her decision, she glided a few inches off the ground and began to sway over the dirt back and forth. The pebbles and small stones quivered and trembled as her magic passed over them.

  I looked from behind the boulder I was hiding from. But she was ready for me. She was facing me as if she knew exactly where my eyes would be. Something happened I couldn’t really explain. I was mesmerized.

  The Sorceress was a fathomless blackness. The deeper I looked into the hood, the more I felt sucked into oblivion. I tried to fight it but I felt my mind becoming unhinged. I should be afraid, I should be panicking but there was nothing. As if the darkness within her had pulled my brain into separate and distinct molecules barely in one piece. If I stared anymore, I would lose myself, quite literally. I was beginning to feel the pull, the comforting feeling of letting go, the mental relief from the strain of fighting and the coziness of the thought that I have done all I could before I gave up. I wasn’t sure if she knew what I was thinking but at that moment in time, it seemed to not be so important. What came to my mind as the overriding truth was that I was able to come back from the brink of that void, and that as hard as the struggle may be, it was the only right choice for me. I tried to break eye contact to that depth of darkness. I willed myself to look away and bring back that part of my mind and soul I inadvertently shared with a faceless monster. To my surprise, my attempt to pull away was abruptly ended by her turning her head and breaking away first.

  “Aaaahhhh!” She boiled over in frustration.

  She nodded to Kieran and raised her right hand towards me. A bluish-white light formed on the palm of her hand; she raised it. She glided to right of me in a diagonal direction. I moved to block her attack, but as I did so, Kieran pushed the other hooded figure aside and went to the left. I tried to block him too but I saw that the Sorceress was twirling the ball, ready for release. I moved ahead closer to the Sorceress to prevent her assault. I saw it. With a twirl of her fingers in anti-clockwise motion to create momentum and build force within the throw, she released it straight at me.

  I saw the ball of white light hurling straight toward my face. I couldn’t stop it. There was no time for a shield.

  “Duck!” I yelled. I threw my body to the side of the tunnel mouth, craning my neck back to follow the trail of the fireball.

  Between the time I turned my he
ad and opened my mouth to yell my warning, the blinding light of the fireball hissed three inches from my cheek. I had barely enough time to move away as it singed part of my hair. I looked up to see Haley still trying to move rubble away from the mouth of the tunnel. I screamed her name.

  But it was too late. The ball hit her squarely in the back, throwing her body against the rubble. The blast was so hard that it shook the ground under our feet.I lost balance and fell back down to the ground.

  Then I heard Taylor scream.

  “No!”

  Two figures soared above our heads and to my dismay, I realized those were the flailing bodies of my parents trying to fight an invisible force. They were being yanked so hard, without respect or regard to them as human beings. Their bodies hit the serrated edges of exposed stones and sharp dead tree roots on the roof of the tunnel.

  I involuntarily joined Taylor’s agonized cry. I got up and ran after the bodies but I couldn’t catch up. They were well behind the Sorceress and her followers before anyone could do anything.

  I shook my head from the frustration, from exhaustion, and desperation. I didn’t know what I was going to do. Hailey’s body was sprawled on the rubble. Dirt was mixed with blood on her torn clothes and matted hair. Hailey groaned as she started to make sense of what just happened to her while the rubble continued to pummel her body with dislodging debris.

  The horrid spectacle of Hailey’s body, limp and still on the rubble was seared into my brain. It was only broken in places by the vision of my parents’ bodies being hauled away, whipping against the roof and walls of the tunnel. Two figures were being sucked back into the cavern as they were nothing more than just lifeless mannequins. My parents’ eyes bulged in surprise. Their arms and legs flailed in the sudden loss of gravity underneath their feet. With a thud, Kieran unceremoniously dumped their battered bodies on the ground in front of the bonfire. I heard my mom’s cries and sobs as my father ran to her.