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As I sucked in as much of the blood scented air as I could to relieve my burning lungs, a subtle movement at the edges of my vison echoed the warning ache tingling along my spine. Following the urge, I jumped to my feet just as a hairy fist smashed down into the blackened rubble just inches from where my head had previously been resting. Another werewolf, this one with greasy grey and black striped fur and yellowed fangs dripping with blood, curled its lips high to bare a snarl in my direction. Two eyes totally suffused with thick red blood stood in place of the normal golden glowing orbs that I had come to associate with werewolves, with that and a severely twisted, hunched spine to show for the dark magic that had mutated whatever person had been so unlucky enough to fall prey to its desperate clutches.
The beast continued to snarl and slaver, lunging at me with open jaws as I skipped aside each openmouthed charge. I pitied the poor person whoever they had been at one time—but not enough to try and help them now. I formed a ball-sized orb of golden light in my palm and threw it right between the creature’s shoulder blades and neck. Light seared flesh with a burning stench as it immediately took effect, the wolf dropping to the floor without a sound and now fully unconscious.
Not wasting time with the body, I hiked my muddy, wet skirts up in my fists and merged into the screaming mass of people as the best I could. The black blood along my hem mixed with red as the dark magic cursed ones preyed on the commoners, but yet injured themselves further by squabbling over their prey with jabbing talons and slicing claws till they too were dead as well. As I raced through the smoky hazy of madness, I kept an orb burning in my hand the whole way – it didn’t matter who saw me now and I didn’t really care. Whatever key my magic seemed to hold, it apparently injured any of the dark beasts that trailed around as they all shied away from the light like it was acid ready to eat through their murky bodies.
One thing I did notice was that the more the beasts ate, the worse distorted they became till they were nothing more than the shapeless wraths I knew as Bloodwraths. What was even more horrifying the mass carnage was the transformations, it was not long before I heard a wolf scream in pain around a mouthful of dripping human entrails as its arms melted into its body. Another one that had been a similar feathered bird-snake-tree thing like the leader of the Raven’s guild had mutated into the boiling black lump of writhing tentacles and cavernous fangs right before my eyes.
What Alec said was true. It must have been something to do with the black magic cursing them from their human forms. They must have a hunger for human flesh, but the more they eat, the more they become distorted into unrecognizable beasts themselves.
Whether fortunately or unfortunately for me, the monsters began to clear out the closer I drew to the royal castle. The gleaming golden gates that I had exited through before now laid in the soft green grass of the lawn, having been ripped completely off their hinges and thrown aside like garbage as the bloody tracks of whoever the one had been to perform the action continued on inside unhindered. Wait a minute, make that with a little opposition. The discarded torso of one of the soldiers laid across the front steps like a gory door mat to welcome any visitors. Wasn’t that just lovely?
I passed the body without looking at it too hard, deciding against going inside the doors that were now bloodied, broken, and swinging from the hinges like discarded trash themselves. The windows on all the front facing levels had been broken out, the still clinging glass shards shining like gaping teeth in the moonlight. I dreaded the thought of what might be awaiting inside, but I wondered if Rosa or any of the others were trapped inside or already dead – or perhaps they had already suffered an even worse fate by becoming corrupted by the dark magic that swirled around like a dark black fog. The memory of Rosa’s scared eyes gazing up at me while she mumbled her stuttered fears about the dark magic was one that I was not going to forget easily. I hope she made it out alive.
A bone-chilling scream from the garden dashed that little flame of hope. The glass shards crunched underneath my feet as I ran around the side of the house, my magic tingling against my fingertips as I extended it out all the way like a sword. I could hear a deep growing and snarling, like before with the mutated wolf but this one was different. It almost sounded... fiercer?
I rounded the corner in a slide and came to a stop at the edge of the garden. The Datura vines had overtaking everything, the thick viney ropes of the plant having spread across every surface like muscular green tentacles trying to swallow everything in their path. The white trumpet shaped blooms covered the flat surface of the garden floor like a carpet, the thick pointed leaves nearly obscured by the sheer mass of poisonous white blossoms. In the center of the leafy mass, Rosa and Sandra protectively hovered over three more ladies that were huddled down against the stone flooring, the faint hint of grey stones looking almost unnatural against the mass of green and white vines. Defending the ladies was Thorn and Alec slicing at the vines with a lethal combination of a deadly sharp blade and razor tipped claws, trying desperately to drive back the spreading tentacles of the plant before they too were overcome. The former by using his army standard issue blade while the later had transformed into his werewolf form and was using his sharp claws to sever the thick vines with quick movements. A sticky sap I remembered all too well from trying to trim the malicious vine dripped from Thorn’s blade and had pasted the dense fur together on Alec’s arms, not to mention how it had spattered both of their shirts with the gluey mess.
Thorn was in the process of spinning on his heel, his blade neatly spearing one of the thick vines creeping forward up to midway of his blade, using his free hand to wipe away the stinging sweat dripping down his face when he caught sight of me standing there against the corner of the wall. “Well, if it isn’t the lovely lady Kyri! When dear Rosa informed us of your unlucky disappearance, we had all assumed you were dead or had encountered some other unfortunate fate. I’m am glad to see that you’re fine and appear fit as a fiddle, except for the mess currently decorating your dress.”
“Thorn, shut up. You’re wasting time.” Alec’s normal toneless, if only slightly deeper, voice rumbled from his massive chest. I thought that he had previously been unable to take this form, but I noticed that someone had removed the enchanted cuffs from his thick wrists, leaving him now able to fully use his magic but with thick bloody scrapes encircling the narrowed edge of his wrists where the skin had been rubbed raw.
While he pulled and severed more and more of the green vines with methodical purpose, our eyes met across the distance and I felt a tug pull deep in my chest once more. My magic began to simmer along my skin, threatening to boil over as the Datura shook with fury at its lost limbs and stretched out again, sending baby shoots out to grow and lengthen with stunning speed and accuracy. Within the span of a second, the tiny light green shoots that were no longer than my thumb grew nearly as long as the original vines themselves, each one slapping and writhing at their assailants while more bundles of creamy white blossomed into the familiar trumpet shaped blooms.
Any edge that Alec and Thorn had gained in their attempted escape was quickly closed up as they were forced back to stand with Rosa, Sandra, and the three frightened women. With arms held over their faces, they tried to shield themselves from the worst of the slapping blows, but the demonic plant was too strong. They needed help.
Since the dark magic mutated beasts had such an intense reaction to my light magic, I was hoping that this plant would have some as well. I cupped both my palms together, letting the light fizzle and pop between my fingers as it grew to ball sized proportions before I threaded my fingers through the very heart of it and pulled. The magic was springy beneath my touch, a very similar texture to fresh dough and it shaped just as easily. I stretched and stretched till I formed a bow and arrow of light, the golden glow shining as bright and clean as fresh spring sunshine. For whatever reason may be, the plant had not seemed to notice me yet – I was counting that as a blessing at least – as it was so devoted in its pursuit of my friends, but that would not last long when I fired the arrow in my hand. I only had one shot and I had to make it count.
So, I aimed for the heart of the Datura, the thick coiling mass perched atop the highest point of the trellis and covered with the poisonous white trumpets. The arrow flew from my fingers with as much as accuracy as a normal one, easily slicing through the air to bury its pointed end deep in the green vines.
I was completely unprepared for what followed.
The ground trembled beneath my feet as an ear splitting female screech sounded out from both within the heart of the plant and from somewhere above in the air. A scream of pure pain that had no beginning and no end, I clutched my hands over my ears and I faintly registered that I was not the only one to have done so in the haze of pain that felt like my head was splitting open from the inside. Thorn and Alec had also been driven to the ground with their hands clamped over their ears. I couldn’t see the others, but I felt the shuddering ground cease beneath my feet as the screaming came to a slowly trickling halt. Removing my hands carefully from my ears, I opened my eyes to see the Datura vine laying completely limp and lifeless as the thick vines rapidly withered into burnt brownish twigs, a pitiful shell of their former lustrous self. Standing in the center of the drying mass was Alec, his jaws and fangs dripping with the remains of the Datura’s poisonous sap. His shirt had been shredded, exposing long bloody slashes where the vines had whipped his chest, back, and shoulders completely raw. His golden eyes were slightly unfocused as he gazed towards me glassily, swaying on his feet as the deadly poison that had entered his bloodstream went to work with startling quick efficiency.
“Alec!” I ran forward over the decaying vines—barely avoiding falling face forward on the ground myself—and caught his upper half just as he slumped forward on his knees. His breathing was harsh and hot against my skin, even though it was matched by his skin growing hotter by the second as a the first hints of a deadly fever began to bloom along with who knows what else effects that were yet to come. What did even happen if you were poison by a Datura anyway?
“Easy there, cousin. You just couldn’t resist playing the dashing hero, now could you? That was supposed to be my role.” Thorn dropped to his knees beside Alec and pulled a clean white handkerchief from his pocket, red blood immediately soiling the clean fabric a light pink as he reluctantly dabbed at one of the largest wounds on Alec’s shoulder. “Now hold still, this is really something nasty.”
“With my strength and speed, I held the best chance of severing the heart of the plant and stopping its defensive tactic. Your reflexes and pain capabilities would not have allowed you to get as close to the Datura as mine did, you would have simply went mad.” With that said, Alec pushed his cousin’s hand away and heaved himself to his feet, still swaying side to side in a dangerous tilt despite my hands supporting his shoulders.
“You don’t have to worry, Alec, Thorn is already mad and has been for quite some time. It’s the rest of us that you need to worry about.” Sandra muttered underneath her breath as she hustled the women and Rosa to their feet before turning to face me with a scowl on her features. “Ya know, you could have told a friend where you were going. Can you imagine the stress that poor Rosa was under when she tried to explain where you were? The poor thing, we like to never have been able to understand her after she knocked out the prison guard with her skillet and let us all out. Her stutter was almost unbelievable. By the way, you look like something that has been dragged through the forest backwards. Just what have you been doing while we’ve been fighting for our lives?”
I looked down at my blood, mud, and who knows what laden dress and I could just faintly see the clumps of mud hanging thick in the free strands of my hair. Evidently this was not my finest moment. No wonder everyone was giving me frightened looks, after having a battle in a mucky sewer, I probably looked like one of the dark magic cursed beasts myself. “I went looking for a little help in setting you guys free and ran into the head of the Raven’s Guild after he had been transformed into some kind of freaky monster. I did win, just so you know, and he told me that I couldn’t stop what was coming right before he died. When I came back above ground, all the walls had fell and the people were under attack.”
“It’s the dark magic running rampant. Nikos must have tried to conjure the dark magic again.” Alec growled. His slightly unfocused but still fierce golden eyes cast a cool calculating glance up towards one window on the third floor of the mansion, one of the few that had a balcony that overlooked the garden. “For the amount of uncontrolled dark magic of this size and state, the old fool must have tried something extremely large. The dark magic is growing and still gathering power, so whatever spell he tried, it’s not finished yet. He has to be stopped. That’s the only way that this is going to cease.”
“As lovely as that all sounds, how exactly do you propose we do that?” Thorn asked.
“We are not going to do anything. I am going up there to stop him by whatever means are necessary while you are going to take the ladies to safety at the appointed target. I trust that you will be able to handle that without my assistance?” The clipped tone of Alec’s voice led his last words to be more of a statement than a question.
“Be careful, cousin. Grandmother will have my head if anything happens to the future king of Highguard.” Thorn readied his blade in hand and gave a curious salute, one hand wrapped around the nape of his neck and trailed around before sliding down his shoulder. “Come ladies, let’s beat it from this place.”
“Wait a minute, you’re just going to charge off alone? Facing who knows what kind of creepy crawly creature in a place that you have never seen before? With Datura poison in your system?” I said, more than a little skeptical of his current capabilities.
“Was I unclear about my plan? Then, yes. That is exactly what I plan to do. None of you all have the strength or stamina that would be required to battle any monster that may lay inside and take down the king if necessary. While I have great faith in my companions combat abilities, I would rather not take unnecessary risks at this stage by sending in a less than qualified opponent.” He returned back with startling quickness as his golden gaze bored into the very depths of my thoughts.
“Good, then you won’t mind me accompanying you to even the battlefield. My light magic has a tendency to ward off the creatures and I have previous knowledge to get you inside the mansion and up to the king’s room.” I held his unwavering gaze with equal amounts of determination.
“Miss Kyri, as proud as I am that you have come into your abilities so fondly-“Thorn’s speech was cut off as Sandra quickly clamped a hand over his lips to silence him.
“What the windbag means is that even though your powers have grown stronger, you’ll still be beast chow if you met any real threats. We are much more trained than you and we still had trouble with creatures as strong as these. You need to come with us to safety.” Sandra said.
I started to speak out in protest but Alec beat me to it. “She has a point. Kyri’s light magic has a special repellant action to dark magic that would be extremely useful, and I can protect her if need be. I won’t decline her help if she is willing to come along with me, but she may do as she wishes.”
I gaped at the wolf in shock while Thorn and Sandra’s eyes simultaneously threatened to bulge from their sockets with surprise till they looked like a bug-eyed frog fresh from its hiding place. Alec crossed his thick arms across his chest and gazed around in silent expectation for his orders to be followed. “Kyri, whenever you are ready, we can go. Thorn and Sandra, take heed of my previous orders and continue on as planned. We will meet you at the point if successful.”
With a one fingered salute, Thorn smartly marched off with his fiancée in tow, expertly herding Rosa and the ladies off to the east as I turned to follow Alec to the door of the castle. His stride seems to have improved after a few minutes rest, his legs weren’t near as shaky as they were previously and I felt a little better about going in to face a crazy king with a more or less powerful wolf at my side.
“Just what did you mean we will meet them at the point if we are successful?” I murmured, letting my curiosity get the best of me.
Alec laced his fingers around the partially destructed door of the castle and finished pulling the wooden item off its hinges, discarding it over his shoulder as casually as one might toss an apple core. “I meant if we are not killed or otherwise injured in the process of stopping the mad king.” He poked his fuzzy head inside to check the surroundings before gesturing me forward with a grand sweep of his arm – was it really strange that I was just now noticing that his head was almost as furry as the dog who used to hang around out building looking for scraps?
“Oh.” So much for the happy thoughts and all that stuff. I stepped forward into the darkened interior of the castle and Alec followed close behind.
Where the outside had been destroyed, the interior of the castle looked like a total battlefield had taken place. Walls were broken down with gaping holes smashed through the center like the open mouth of a cave, the ornate rugs that were scattered about the floor were tattered into nothing but simple shreds of threads in lumps about the floor, the smooth wooden floors that had been polished to within an inch of their life after the party were gouged up and slashed deep with clawmarks. All the paintings and other decorations that had hung so proudly from the walls were now completely missing or destroyed beyond recognition with long spatters of dark blood decorating the walls in its place.
“If we go down to this end of this hall, the staircase that leads all the way up to the third floor where Nikos’s room is the one situated-“I started but didn’t get to finish. A shadowy beast of eight hairy legs as thick as tree trunks and large jutting fangs climbed down the steps of the staircase I had been about to climb, a barrelish lumpy body banging against each one lowering step with a fleshy thump of the bulbous abdomen. A spider crossed with a barrel of wine, the thing was quickly joined by another that clomped down the steps in quick succession. Eight blister like eyes were situated on top of the flattish surface that formed a head before sloping down into those monstrous gaping fangs that clenched through the air with jabbing swipes. For just the briefest hint of a second, I saw the moonlight light up those eyes in a familiar empty gaze that made me shiver in both fear and revulsion.
Of course, the twins had to be spiders.
“Stay here, I’ll take care of these two.” Alec grumbled before leaping out in a flash of claws and silvery blonde fur. He landed feet first on the back of the first spider, his claws and powerful jaws sinking deep into the armored flesh at the separated junction of the head and body. The spider beast squealed in fright, the first four legs tossing up in the air like a champion stallion rearing up on command. The hairy body bucked wildly to try and dislodge him, his legs dangling completely free from the spider’s body while his hands and jaws stayed buried in the flesh, black blood fountaining down his chest with quickly increasing speed. In confusion of her sister’s sudden wildness, the twin spider charged forward, eight legs thumping against the ground like hoofbeats as her fanged jaws barely missed Alec’s head as he tucked down tight against the first spider’s body. The muscles along his arms and shoulders bulged with the effort of clinging on to the rampaging spider, nearly being slung free twice but each time he held on.
With both of the spiders totally focused on Alec, I was able to stretch a few golden ribbons between my fingers and string them across the floor like a web itself. The spider sisters paid me no mind as they continued snapping their fangs in his direction, trying but failing with each swipe. Their aim left much to be desired as one of the sister’s accidently lopped off her matching sister’s leg. The now seven legged spider turned on her sister, their two upper halves meeting in a fleshy clash as they reared up like cobras and pawed at each other with their jointed legs. Alec, sensing the opportunity to escape with his skin intact, jumped from the spider’s back to land feet first on the staircase above me. The sisters never noticed, their fangs embedded too deeply in each other’s skin while they tumbled forward nearly within reach of the ribbons I had threated between the halls. Alec motioned me forward with an urgent wave of his hand, and I kept one eye on the spiders and my back to the wall as I ran, barely missing being stomped into dust by one giant hairy leg as the whistle of air sliced by my skull. Alec slung one muscular arm around my shoulders and pulled me closer to him just as the spiders tripped over the ribbon, falling to the ground in a heap of screeching spider legs, black dripping bloody fangs, and thick bulky bodies. As they rolled together, there was two sickening wet squelches, like a knife being pulled from wet meat. Instantly the spiders stilled, a gushing pool of black blood quickly forming on the floor where they laid before dissolving into an inky black puddle of pure goop.
“Come on, we need to get to the king and stop this madness.” Alec whispered in my ear, the short stiff fur on his muzzle tickling the skin around my neck. I nodded mutely, allowing him to guide me upwards till we reached the top of the staircase. While we climbed upwards to the lair of the mad one himself, I noticed that the one and only remaining painting still hanging upright was the one of the queen herself. Maribelle, in all her queenly glory, stood just as proud and tall as she had before, those mesmerizing blue eyes still following my every movement and once again I felt that slithering sensation of fear creep down my spine like slimy black tentacles. I was glad she was dead, or I would be certain that she was the one we were going to face rather than the king himself.
Noticing my hesitation, Alec looked up at the object of my attention, conjured a thick mass of silver magic in his palm, and cast the magic laden ball towards the object. The gilded golden frame cracked under the pressure as the canvas ripped free, the entire mass falling to the floor in a mess of shattered splinters and tiny bits of fabric.
“Alec! Do you know who that was?” I screeched unintentionally loud enough that his pointed ears flattened along the lines of his skull. My hands raising to my lips in horror. He just completely destroyed the painting of the queen! I could just imagine it now, if we all did by some miracle managed to make it out of this nightmare alive, Travain would throw such a tantrum in the likes that the kingdom had never seen since the royal portrait of his mother was destroyed beyond repair. He would have my head and Alec’s too.
Alec shrugged his massive shoulders. “Does it matter? The image frightened you, so I destroyed it and it will not trouble you again.”
“Well, yes. I did think it was creepy. But that was the most beloved queen in Althea, Queen Mirabelle, Nikos’s wife and Travain’s mother. They will have your head for this.”
Alec laughed, a dry sound that rumbled from his throat like raw honey.“You forgot that he was going to kill me anyway. If he survives, that is.”
I had briefly forgotten his promise that he would stop the king by any means necessary, including killing him. So I would assume that extends to the prince as well.
We continued on up the flights of stairs till we reached the third floor, the surroundings growing more lavish and slightly less mangled as if the battle had not yet touched this floor as much. Only two doors stood open, the others boarded up to contain the sprawling rooms inside. Travain lived on the right side of the hallway, overlooking the front of the mansion and the gate, where the king lived on the left, overlooking his beloved gardens or what remained of it. As with the rest of the rooms in the castle, the door to Niko’s side was left completely open and swinging softly in the night breeze that drifted in through the open windows. The entire hallway so suspiciously quiet that I jumped slightly when Alec’s heavy hand descended on my shoulder.
“Shh,” His voice whispered in my ear, one finger held to his lips to tell me to be quiet and he softly patted my shoulder, indicating that I should stay here. No way! I had come this far, I wasn’t being left behind now to be monster chow. I shook my head and the golden glittering gleam of his eyes narrowed to darker slits, a light scowl forming across his features as his lupine lips silently formed the words “Stay here!” I shook my head again and smiled, trying to ignore the sick feeling of nerves rolling through my stomach and trying desperately to heave upwards. He sighed again, and something unexpected glimmered in his eyes, concern. One of his hands rose up like a small phantom, the very tips of his fingers trailing along the curve of my shoulder to my neck oh-so-delicately with those sharp claws that had ripped into flesh as easily as knives. He seemed to be on the verge of saying something, but I didn’t know what.
As much as I wanted to continue this moment, an unholy screech came from within the king’s room and we turned, Alec cautiously peeping around the corner of the wall while I pushed against the solid wall of muscle to peer around his shoulder. Nikos’s room was long but empty, all of the ornate furniture shoved against the walls while a lone, hunched figure sat bowed in front of the window, darkened in shadows till the features were indistinguishable. Small and short, there was no doubt in my mind just who this figure was. The king himself.
“Nikos! What have you done to create this madness?” Alec’s deep voice boomed out like thunder against the relative silence. From up here, I couldn’t hear the screams of the people being slaughtered, or the monstrous howls of those being transformed into creatures beyond comprehension. It was actually quite peaceful, serene almost to the point of appearing in a storybook scene for a moonlight night. But it was wrong, it felt so wrong. The moonlight was too cold and white, washing out the warm golden tones of the wooden floor and turning everything into a shade of pale normally only reserved for the bleached bones of the dead.
“Nikos, Stop it! Too many innocent people have been hurt by your actions! How much longer are you going to work on this insane quest for power?” One of Alec’s clawed hands reached out to shake the nonresponsive king on the shoulder, but the prone body toppled over onto the floor with only the barest brush of his hand against the hunched shoulder. The bald head rolled across the floor till it stopped against the edge of a broken sofa pushed against the wall, leaving behind a streaked trail of blood where the severed neck had met in contact with the floor. The limbs fell apart like a badly put together jig-saw puzzle, an arm here and a foot there. The mass of white beard that had sprouted from Niko’s jaw now laid under what remained of his skinny torso, stained completely scarlet from the last gushes of life’s blood that had emptied from his veins sometime prior to our arrival.
“The king... is dead...” I trailed off into stunned silence as my eyes tried to make sense out of what I was seeing. For all his manic energy, it just didn’t seem right that the king was dead. If anything, I had expected him to stay around as some kind of walking skeleton or something.
“It would appear that someone reached the king before we did. One with a particular level of cruelty to have dismembered the old man in such a vile fashion.” Alec murmured, wiping his palm off on his pants while he inspected the pile of limbs with a grotesque curiosty.
“Well, well. It seems the beast does has a bit of a brain after all.” A figure emerged from the depths of the shadows like a grim reaper himself. Travain, a smug smile on his face as he idly wiped the blood from his sword on one of the fluttering curtains. “It’s a shame really, one of the most brilliant minds from Highguard executed for murdering a rivaling kingdom’s ruler and threating his heir. Your parents will be so disappointed in you. I can only imagine the sorrow on their faces as they realized just what a monster they have raised.”
It clicked in my head piece by piece. The hatred, the attack. The shadows always brewing and bubbling around the prince, just like the portrait of his mother. Travain had inherited his mother’s gift for magic. “You murdered your father in cold blood.” I whispered softly.
“You know very well that this pathetic excuse for a man wasn’t my father!” The prince spat, his hand waving the blade aloft in the air to serve as a visible point of his anger. “He only served as a placeholder for the kingdom while I came of age to wear the crown myself. The stupid fool! He couldn’t even control the magic properly, allowing it to drive him insane. He should have been killed long ago instead of wasting valuable time.”
I saw Alec’s eyes dart to mine and he inclined his shaggy head just a little to the side, enough that it would catch my attention without drawing Travain’s. He wanted me to go, I could tell from the way his eyes darted from me to the doorway, but I couldn’t leave him here alone, not with a mad prince bearing a weapon that could potentially kill him with one stroke. The silver in the blade obviously shimmered in the moonlight while Travain walked around, producing an eerily powerful glow that was so similar to the arrowheads that I had pulled from Alec’s back.
“Besides that, no one would believe such a loyal son as I could ever murder my beloved stepfather and their ruler. No, it would be far more likely that the dirty dog who had been captured in prison would break out and murder our fair and just ruler. The unsavory villain who performed such a treacherous act could have only been assisted by a witch who had disguised herself as the daughter of one of the king’s dearest departed friends and wormed her way into the castle and the king’s good graces. Imagine how the people will revolt when they learn how all of you filthy magic users have squirmed your ways into our houses and lives, and that even goes double when they learn how our kingdom’s protective walls have fell due to such a poisonous influence and exposed their friends and loved ones to the evil corruption that is black magic. It will be a declaration of war on the outside territories.” Travain neatly sliced through one of the billowing curtains with the blade, the moonlight shimmering off the reflective silver surface like moonlight on water, producing a dazzling array of light like thousands of tiny faeries dancing over the surface of the ceiling.
“You would so easily risk the well-being of the people of your kingdom for war? You are more of a fool than what I thought. You don’t deserve the title of prince.” Alec’s growled low, subtly sliding his feet in my direction in small stretching movements as not to draw the attention of the rampaging prince.
“Of course I don’t,” Travain scoffed. “I’m the king! The only true son of the king and queen!”
What did he mean by the only true son? I didn’t have time to finish consider that line of thought as the prince suddenly charged forward with his blade swinging. I’m not ashamed to say I squealed, leaping aside and slamming my hands to the floor while the wooden surface erupted in a blinding burst of golden light. Alec wasn’t so lucky to avoid the prince’s blade as I was, the blade caught on the remaining fabric of his shirt and split it completely open, leaving him now topless but otherwise unharmed. He didn’t seem to notice or care about his current state as he continued on towards the door, pausing just long enough that he tucked me under his arm like a doll before continuing on in a steady lope towards the open doors, towards freedom, only to have them close tightly in our faces.
“You idiots! There is no escape!” Travain hissed, sounded every inch as crazy as his stepfather had been as ran towards us with his blade extended yet again like he planned to run us straight through. Alec clawed at the door, muscled arms gouging into the wood but it refused to relent its status. There was only a split second before Travain would reach us, so I acted. I slipped from Alec’s arms, dropping down to the floor, and let the magic flow through my hands into razor blade claws that would have stopped any further movement of the blade, except I didn’t need too. Alec had already snatched the blade up between his hands, the silver blade biting deep into the skin of his palms. Scarlet blood spattered on the floor from where it dripped from the wound in his hands, the eerily familiar black veins quickly blossoming like a stretch of unwanted weeds across the thick skin as the poison began to surge in his veins. Alec’s lips were drawn back in a snarl, exposing the white fangs that had sharpened from blunt human teeth along with his shifting to his other self. A snarl that was echoed by the prince himself as the royal heir tried to force Alec backwards by using the sheer weight of his maddened strength. It shouldn’t have been possible that Travain would have been able to push Alec backwards, but so he was doing.
With the spiky claws still formed in my hand, I lunged forward in a crawling maneuver, keeping myself low to the ground to avoid any wayward swings from the blade while ready to plunge my finger born weapons into the prince’s thigh. When my hand was only a few inches away from its target, one of the embroidered coils of gold twisted away from Travain’s clothing to rear up and strike out, the elegant golden stitching quickly shifting into an inky black expanse of smooth scales as a long serpentine body formed and grew from what was mere fabric. The hinged jaws flexed open as the thick body lunged for my hand, the sheer weight of the length black coils squeezing tight against my fist. The magic shattered like glass as I screamed with fright, the golden claws falling to a fine golden powder onto the floor below. I screamed and screamed, my voice becoming hoarse as I pulled at the stiffened length of coils with my free hand before I slammed my weight arm down on the remains of a desk, trying to stun the shadowy reptile but the coils refused to budge. Instead, the depthless jaws opened and lunged for my face, needle sharp white fangs extended and dripping some vile yellowish liquid that was probably a poison of the worst order.
Taking a chance again, I whipped my bound hand through the air, altering the snakes aim while I formed a claw on the pointer finger of my left hand. With one quick movement, I slammed my right hand on the wooden surface again, the snake was ready with its head already upraised to travel along the length of my arm except I speared it right through the center of its mouth with the claw on my left. The now lifeless body fell from my arm like dust, the coils landing with a light thud before melting into a pool of smooth black ink on the scarred wooden top.
“Well, well. You do seem to have a remarkable talent for breaking my little shadow darlings, now don’t you Miss Kyri?” A voice thick and rich as fresh oil, the one I had heard plotting with Milasy that night in the hall, whispered from the darkened depths of the shadows. As if on cue in a play, Angelo stepped free from the shadows, the blackness clinging to his dapper grey suit and bowtie like streams of black ink.
I don’t know why I didn’t see it before.
“I told you to stay out of this!” Travain growled, his momentary focus on Alec lost as he advanced on the shadow wielder with his blade upraised only to be stopped by thick twisting vines of shadows that sprouted up from the floor and snatched the weapon from his hands. “I do not need your pathetic reliance on such means.”
“Oh, my poor delusional brother. How easily you forget how glad you were to use our mother’s talents to achieve your own goals. How else would such a weak, whiny creature such as yourself have flourished into the strapping prince you are today had it not been for our mother’s selective gifts.” Angelo crooned with a sinister smile. One that was so eerily familiar to the painting of the queen that Alec had destroyed earlier. So by some shape or form, Angelo was also the queen’s son.
Travain shrugged off the hold of the veins and charged towards the butler, his fists swinging and blade forgotten from where it had fell to the ground. Sensing the momentary lapse in attention in our favor, Alec and I slunk away to the hall. By now the poison from the silver was reacting with his body in the most terrible fashion yet, his legs shaking and barely able to function as I took his hand, his skin and fur now burning hot with fever, and guided – actually I pretty much pulled him down the hall and towards the staircase. The toxin’s journey was only accelerated by the many cuts and slashes he had received curtesy of Travain’s onslaught of attacks. Even though it felt like it was yards away to the base, each shaky step down was taken with the upmost care until he did the one thing I was hoping he wouldn’t. He fell down to his knees on the fifth step, his bones snapping, crackling, and popping, as his magic was unable to sustain his wolf form any longer.
“Come on! We can’t stop now!” I urged while attempting to pull him to his feet. Now that the wolf was gone and the man remained, he was either lacking the strength to argue or just didn’t care any longer, but he pushed his legs beneath him and tottered down the last six steps to the second floor. I really wanted to leave this place, but I knew that he couldn’t make it, not in his current dazed state. So I settled for the next best option.
I pushed him into the library.
The stamping thunder of feet on the floor above my head was a signal that the brother’s must have decided to end their feud and remembered their true purpose, probably sending some sort of shadow beasts down the stairs in pursuit of us if I had to guess.
Well, shit. That was just great. I suppose it couldn’t last forever.
Giving another harsh shove to Alec’s muscular shoulders that sent him sprawling into one of the chairs scattered about the library, I slammed the door firmly shut behind us while the wood rumbled beneath my hands, our pursuer’s body smacking into the sturdy surface from the opposite side with a strength that nearly sent me sprawling with the pure force of the impact. Still wordless, Alec limped to my side and lended me some of his strength by leaning his heavy form against the doorframe, but it still wasn’t enough to truly keep out whatever stood on the other side. Daring to take a hand off the door for a moment, I smoothed a hand through the sweat slicked strands of my hair while I frantically glanced over my shoulder, my eyes bouncing off every surface as I searched for something, anything that might be of use to help ward off the assailants even for only a moment.
Stored in a holder beside the fireplace and rather unnoticeable any other time, an plain iron poker rested in waiting to be used for the next time to stoke a fire, but perhaps it could be a sturdy weapon as well. Daring to take my weight from the door for just a moment, I darted over to the fireplace grabbed the smooth iron rod item, thrusting it through the handles of the doors and creating a rather sturdy lock that would hopefully hold for the moment.
“Good choice.” Alec’s simple statement was rather brisk with doubt as words were cast in doubt as the doors continued to bulge dangerously with each pound from the opposite side.
“I’m glad you think so, because I sure don’t. Come on!” I ran towards the wall of windows that normally allowed the morning light to flood the room in soft warmth. My fingers fought with the stiff latch before it relented and I flung the smooth glass planes open with one shove. Beneath outer edge of the window casing, the castle walls jutted out in oddly spaced angles, the layers upon layers of stonework creating almost like a jagged ladder down to the ground if one had the prerequisite agility necessary to navigate such a terrain.
Unfortunately, I did not.
There was no way I could climb down the surface myself, not without breaking my neck and many other bones in the process. Alec could have carried me if he was in his wolf form, but judging by his current shakiness and the grey cast to his skin, he would be lucky to escape alive himself because he didn’t appear to be capable of lifting a flea. Of course there was always the particular bit that he was the one that Travain wanted to kill, and if my luck could continue to hold out, I might could keep the shadow beasts away for just long enough for me to escape through one of the tunnels buried further in the mansion – I hope.
“Listen, you jump out the window and scale down the side. There’s nobody at the bottom yet, and I’ll keep the ones away from you up here. Run as fast as you can.” I babbled in a rush, trying not to let myself think about my plan too much while I pushed him towards the window.
“That was not the plan! We can still accomplish what we first came to do-!”
“Forget the damn plan! We are going to be killed like sitting pigeons if we don’t do something quick.” My tongue darted out to wet along the dry edges of my lips as I looked to the doors, the wood surface straining to hold against the battering onslaught and threating to burst into a shower of splinters at any moment. “Just go, alright! You’re in no shape to battle these things. At least maybe I can hold them off long enough that you might can get further away enough to be safe.”
Something changed in his expression, The glazed look in his eyes vanished, the light emerald green tinged with gold once again as the inky expanse of black pupil threatened to swallow me whole. His fingers gripped onto my arms with a desperate ferocity, sure to leave purple bruises in the shape of his fingers along my biceps if I should survive till tomorrow and see them. “I won’t leave you behind! Not now! Not ever!” His voice was so deep it was just a husky growl, a rumbling of the magical beast beneath the skin that was ever so slowly rising to the surface again.
“You’re not leaving me behind. I’m choosing to stay. I’ll be fine. Please, just go!” I promised.
“I will come for you, no matter the consequences.” He sealed the heated promise with a sudden descent of his lips on mine.
Oh, and it was so sweet.
A teasing brush of his lips against mine at first, it turned into something hungrier, hotter when I pushed back. My hand came up from his shoulders to grip into the thick silky mass of his hair and tugged on the strands, earning a pure snarl from his lips just as the strained wood of the door crackled loudly. He ripped his face from mine and growled towards the door, his bones and muscles quivering and popping under my hands as he grew and shifted, becoming something both flesh and ice together.
“Don’t worry,” I promised again, pressing a kiss to the underside of his neck to try and persuade him away before the doors collapsed completely. With a heavy sigh, he relented, releasing me to swing his long limbs out the window in one smooth motion.
I shivered in the night breeze, my skin feeling as cold as the kiss of winter itself as I turned back towards the doors. I could do this. I could win this. All I had to do was keep my light burning long enough for Alec to get away. I inhaled deeply, searching for that inner latch that held back the golden light and released it with a mental flick. The magic simmered to life as two golden orbs balanced in the base of my palms, each one flickering and dancing like a living miniature sun itself when the doors collapsed.
A wave of pure blackness surged forward in a relentless tide, sweeping across the surface of the room with a sinister motion that blotted out ever shred of light. I tried to fight it, raising the orbs of light above my head and pushing every ounce of energy that I had into making the light as bright as I could, but the darkness swept over me as easily as water, pulling me down into its silky depths.