by Hanna Peach
Alyx shook off her metal skin and felt her consciousness recapture within her body. She opened her eyes. The two bars were now shining a brilliant gold. Pure gold, soft enough that even teeth could dent it.
She made two chips in the golden bars, one higher, one lower, with her demonsword. She sheathed the demonsword back to her hip, then kicked at the middles of the bars. They broke along the cuts and the two rods of gold fell to the floor, leaving a meter-tall gap. Wide enough for her to fit through.
Alyx paused – don’t go in there unless you have to – before slipping inside. Israel was struggling furiously as she knelt beside him.
“It’s okay, Israel. I’m here.” She cut the ropes around his wrists and pulled the cloth down from his mouth.
He gasped. “It’s a trap.”
Time seemed to slow for Alyx. She was now aware of the presence behind her. The presence that had been there, waiting for her, watching patiently, silently. Of course. It had been too easy. The ease with which she had penetrated the wards, the absence of guards in the Hollows…they had been waiting for her.
Alyx started to turn, started to grab for her sword. But it was already too late. She was imprisoned within several strong arms. She recognized the hard faces of the lightwarriors who held her: Stantanople and Do’hann. They dragged her from the cell, their hands rough on her.
“Let her go,” Israel yelled. “If you hurt her, I’ll kill you.”
More hands dragged him.
Chapter 41
Alyx was thrown into a cell and Israel was locked into the cell opposite her. She was searched and stripped of her weapons. They took her halolight and all her jewelry: the pirate’s cuff, Elijah’s pick, Jordan’s ring…she almost cried when they took Raphael’s charm. But there was nothing she could do.
The iron key in Do’hann’s hand turned with a clank inside the lock. There was barely any light. Only the dim halolight coming from Stantanople, who was standing guard some meters away.
Israel pressed up against the bars of his cell. “You came for me.”
“Of course I came.” Alyx moved to her own bars. It was torture to be this close to him and still be unable to touch him. Her skin ached for him. “Did they hurt you?” I’ll kill them if they hurt you.
“No. Not really.”
A second light came towards them through the tunnel. Do’hann had returned. With Elder Michael.
“Consorting with mortals.” Michael’s face screwed up in disgust. “Leave us,” he yelled to Do’hann and Stantanople.
Their halolights disappeared down the tunnel. Elder Michael stopped in front of her cell. He pulled his fist from his cloak and thrust it open towards her. Her heart leaped to her throat. There, in his palm, was the pirate’s cuff, Elijah’s pick, Jordan’s ring and Raphael’s charm.
“What are these?”
Alyx shrugged and tried to look nonchalant. If she could just convince him... “They’re just bits of jewelry.”
“You’re lying to me. Which one leads to the missing piece of the Amulet?”
The Trinity Amulet. It actually exists. Is that what Raphael’s charm led to? “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Michael’s face twisted. “You expect me to believe that?” He pushed her jewelry back into his cloak and pulled a sword from his belt. It was the demonsword that Do’hann and Stantanople had confiscated from Alyx. “Are you going to tell me you don’t know about this as well?”
Alyx was silent.
Michael waved the point at her. “Where did you get Black Stone?”
“It’s not mine.”
“Liar,” his voice echoed off the tunnel walls. “You think you can lie to me? I’ll make you talk. Guards.”
The two guards returned. Michael removed his cloak and began rolling up the sleeves of his dark shirt. “Chain her up.”
Alyx backed away from the bars as Do’hann pulled an iron key from around his neck and unlocked her cell. Her eyes flicked to the set of iron clamps on the rock wall, her heart pounding in her chest.
Israel was yelling, “What are you doing? Get away from her.”
“Shut up, mortal, or you’re next.”
“Israel, please be quiet,” Alyx pleaded. “You’re not helping.”
Israel slammed his bars with his palms but remained silent.
Alyx struggled as the two guards grabbed her by the arms, but she was no match for their collective strength. They pushed her against the wall, pulled her arms straight out from her shoulders and slotted her wrists into the clamps. They closed the clamps around her wrists and they pushed the long, sharp nails through. Alyx cried out as they pierced through each wrist, pinning her to the wall in a cross.
The guards exited the cell and stood on either side of the door, their backs to her. Michael entered and stood before her. Now that he was cloakless, she could see that he wore several things on his belt: a blade, a whip and several short lengths of barbed chains. His fingers teased back and forth across the items on his belt as if wondering, which one first?
His fingers found the whip.
“You will tell me everything.”
Alyx closed her eyes and bit her lip. She would not scream. She would not scream. She heard the whip lashing, felt it opening up her skin. And began to bleed.
Chapter 42
“You are starting to bore me,” Michael said, wiping the sweat from his brow with the back of his hand. His fingers were stained red.
Alyx could barely hear him. Her ears were fuzzy, filled with the internal noise of her body screaming. She didn’t have any energy left to stand so she hung from her wrists, which were still bleeding.
Michael wiped the blood off each side of his small blade against her cheek. Her head lolled back against the wall. “I am done here. For now.”
Michael exited the cell. Do’hann and Stantanople entered and pulled the nails from her wrists. She dropped into a pool of her own blood. She could smell the tang of it and taste the salt of it from her split lips.
Do’hann locked her cell door behind them. Michael looked at her through the bars, his eyes cold. “You know, you could have a place in my army, Alyxandria. As a flock leader. If you just cooperate.”
“Never.” Her lips cracked as she struggled to speak. “I will never cooperate with a monster like you.”
“Me? A monster? No. It’s the mortals who are the monsters. Look at them. Killing each other, poisoning our earth, destroying our planet. Look at them now, all of them so susceptible to the demons. They have become the monsters. They need to be cleansed. And like the Great Flood, we will cleanse this Earth.”
“Who gives you the right to pass judgment?”
Michael leaned his face close to the bars, his eyes cold. “God does.”
A chill ran through her spine. He really believed it. He really believed that God was on his side.
Michael turned to leave. “Next time I’ll use Black Stone.”
Unable to cope with the pain anymore, Alyx passed out.
* * *
“Alyx, please. Wake up.”
The voice, faraway, was familiar. She wanted to be close to it, so she let it pull her towards wakefulness. But with wakefulness, the pain returned.
No. Not yet. Don’t wake yet.
Alyx resisted. It saddened her to move away from the voice but she couldn’t wake yet. It hurt too much.
The voice faded.
* * *
Alyx felt herself waking. With her eyes closed, she tested her fingers, then her arms. Her body felt stiff and weak but at least she was no longer in pain. Her skin felt whole, the wounds having closed themselves, but her body felt tacky. From her blood.
She opened her eyes. The single halolight from the guards farther down the tunnel just reached her cell. She could barely see Israel sitting there, watching her.
“Oh thank God,” he said. “I thought he had killed you.”
She struggled into a seated position. Her head spun and she had to close her eyes. “I’m
okay.”
“I’m so sorry I took off without you. I thought I was doing the right thing. I was so stupid. The demon Adere, she tricked me. She found a way into my dream.”
“She probably found you using your sword. The Darkened from the den had the sword you were carrying,” Alyx said. “What happened?”
Israel told Alyx about his relationship with Adere, about the dream, about his leaving the warehouse to meet her, about the trap.
“You see,” he said, “I had to try and save her.”
Cold realization wrapped around Alyx’s body. Israel had been in love with Adere when she was human. And he still loved her. That’s why he had been so desperate to save her. Everything had been for Adere.
How had Alyx not seen it? She had been a fool.
An image of his hands on Adere’s body flashed through her mind. The same hands that then touched her. She was just a distraction until he got Adere back. How easily she had given herself to him. She felt sick, dirty.
She turned away from Israel and lay herself back down on the ground, flaking with her dried blood. She stared at the back wall and allowed the silent tears to roll down her cheeks. She wanted to scream. So badly, she wanted to scream.
Her hands found her stomach. She couldn’t tell Israel what she knew. God willing, she didn’t have his child growing inside her. A surge of despair almost caused a sob to escape her. What a horrible person she was for wishing that. She prayed silently to God, if he could hear her, to forgive her. But she just didn’t know whether she could love a child who bore the face of her biggest mistake.
“Alyx? Say something. Does this mean you hate me? Please tell me you don’t hate me.”
It doesn’t matter how I feel, we are bonded. If you die, I die. “It’s okay,” she lied. “I don’t hate you.”
“Thank you.” His voice gushed with relief.
She pretended to fall sleep so that Israel would leave her alone. She had nothing more to say to him. What was there to say anyway?
Don’t love her...love me.
Chapter 43
The waiting was the worst. Not knowing when Michael would return. Not being able to sleep in case he did. Every figure approaching down the craggy tunnel sent Alyx’s heart into a whirlwind and caused Israel to jump to his feet. So far it had just been another lightwarrior who had come to relieve a guard of their duty.
Alyx recognized all the guards as part of Varian’s warrior flock. Mostly they kept their distance and refused to speak back to her when she tried to talk to them. But Yael and Do’hann called her names and taunted her when they stood guard.
Alyx tried to DreamCall Jordan but without his ring, she wasn’t sure that it had worked. She tried to use her Alchemist bloodink on the bars but the magic just dissipated in the air as if blown away by a strong wind.
Alyx touched the walls of her cell. All of this was Mayrekk’s blood. And now her blood had been added.
It was hopeless.
* * *
Alyx was curled in a corner of her cell when a voice came through the tunnels. “I’ve been sent to take your place, Mauro.”
She knew that voice. She rolled around and up to her feet. A small glimmer of hope rose in her when she recognized his face. It was Passar. His eyes widened for a moment upon seeing her.
Mauro frowned. “Where is Quade? Why isn’t he relieving me?”
“Quade said something about a thing with a seraphelle. Said he couldn’t find anyone else from your flock. Asked me to take his place.”
“I didn’t realize that you and Quade were such good friends.”
“Oh yeah. Quade trusts me. I’m here, aren’t I?”
Mauro looked at Alyx, then his eyes narrowed at Passar. “Didn’t you used to train with her?”
“Making her betrayal all the more disgusting. I can’t believe I used to fight alongside her.” Passar’s face screwed up. “I heard you found a demonsword on her, proving her allegiance to them.” Passar turned to Jerome, the other lightwarrior on guard. “Didn’t you lose a warrior to the Darkened last week?”
“Austine,” Jerome said. “She was a good warrior.”
“My best friend was killed by the Darkened.” Passar pulled out his kris and pointed the blade at Alyx like an accusing finger. “In siding with them, she may as well have cut that final blow, don’t you agree?”
The three of them turned their eyes to her.
Her heart dropped. No, not Passar. He was her friend. He was supposed to be on her side. Why had he turned on her now? Was he faking it?
Her hope faded when Passar gave her a searing look of disgust and spat at her. It caught her pant leg. Passar started laughing and Jerome joined in. Alyx wiped the spit off her as best as she could, keeping her face tilted towards the ground just in case the tears burning in her eyes could no longer be contained. She wouldn’t give them the pleasure of seeing her cry.
Passar’s laughter faded and his voice became serious. “I was hoping for some time in the cell with her, you know? Teach her a bit of a lesson.”
Mauro shuffled. “What are you talking about?”
“Don’t tell me you don’t want to get in there and...” Passar slashed the air with his kris. “You know she deserves to suffer some more.”
Jerome glared at Alyx and nodded his head. She shrank back from the bars, her heart aching. Passar had turned against her. Alyx looked at Mauro and pleaded with her eyes. Please speak up. Tell them this isn’t right.
Mauro held her gaze for a second before he looked away, biting his lip.
“Have you got the cell key?” Passar asked Jerome.
“Yes.”
“I was thinking, you let me into her cell and lock the door behind me. You give me two minutes in there with her. Then we can swap, if you want.”
“I’m good. But I’ll give you some time with her, for sure.” There was a wild glint in Jerome’s eyes. Alyx knew the type. Jerome was the kind of coward who took pleasure in watching others suffer but who wouldn’t get his own hands dirty. She had seen it once or twice when she had come across a group of lightwarriors “playing” with a Darkened before they killed him. There was always one who was just watching.
“I don’t think you should do this,” Mauro said.
Alyx felt a glimmer of hope.
“If you’re too much of a wimp to deal with it then take a hike, Mauro,” said Jerome, his eyes still on her. “You’ve officially been relieved of your post.”
“But−”
“Are you siding with her now?”
“No.”
“So stay and shut up or take a hike.”
“Whatever,” Mauro grumbled. He floated off without looking back. Her hope floated away with him.
Jerome pulled the thick iron key from around his neck and began to unlock the cell door. Passar was watching from behind him.
Her heart was hurting. Did her childhood friend really believe that she crossed to the demons’ side? Did he really blame her for Elijah’s death? Did he hate her so much that he now wanted to hurt her?
By now Israel was screaming and banging against his bars, but Alyx could barely hear him. She was focused on the knife...the knife in Passar’s hand.
The cell door opened.
Passar raised the knife and held it to Jerome’s neck. “Now give me the key.”
“Passar,” Jerome cried, “what the hell?”
“Hand it to me slowly.”
Jerome raised his hands, the key pinched between two fingers.
Passar snatched the key from him with his other hand. “Get out, Alyx. Take his weapons off him.”
Alyx almost cried with relief as she moved from her cell. Passar hadn’t turned against her. He was risking his life to rescue her. She found a soris and two boot daggers on Jerome. Passar kicked Jerome into the cell and locked the door behind him.
“They’ll execute you for this.” Jerome hit the bars of his cells in anger. “You won’t even get past the wards.”
Passar turned to
Israel’s cell and within seconds he was freed.
Alyx gripped Passar’s shoulder. “Thank you. You don’t know what this means to me.”
“Come on,” said Passar with a frown. “We’re not out of here yet.”
“We can’t leave her in here, Passar,” Alyx said as the trio moved down the tunnels.
“But we don’t even know her. If they catch us…”
“Passar,” admonished Alyx. “You want to leave a young girl to rot in here?”
Passar sighed and rolled his eyes. “Fine.”
His reaction surprised Alyx, but she said no more. They approached the girl’s cell. This time there was no singing. The girl whimpered as she shied away from the bars.
“She’s human,” said Israel, surprise in his voice.
“Alyx, are you sure this is a good idea?” asked Passar.
“I’m not leaving her in here.” Alyx unlocked the cell door and slipped inside. “We’re going to get you out of here.”
The girl cowered even lower into her rags.
“Come on, Alyx,” said Passar. “We’re wasting time.”
Alyx ignored him and showed her palms to the girl. “Look, nothing there. See? No weapons.” The girl’s whimpering softened. Alyx offered out her right hand. “Come on. Come with me. I’ll get you out of here.” The girl stared at Alyx’s outstretched hand, then at Alyx. Alyx nodded. “That’s it, come with me.”
The girl sniffed the air. And again.
“What is she doing?” asked Israel. “I can’t smell anything.”
“Come on, little one. Let’s get out of here,” she coaxed.
Finally the girl put out her hand and placed it in Alyx’s. Her fingers felt delicate like glass. Alyx smiled. “That’s a girl.”
“Great,” said Passar. “Can we go now?”
The girl didn’t like to go near the two men, tugging at Alyx’s hand when they got close to them. Passar and Israel went first and Alyx and the girl walked some way behind. They emerged cautiously from the mouth of the Hollows into the evening air, cool and crisp against Alyx’s skin.
