by Laura Marie
For a moment it took the Dark Prince by surprise and h looked at her in awe. Then he put back his head and laughed like a maniac. Darcy looked at him quizzically. She had hit him with the fireball, one of the most influential piece of magic she knew. But it had done nothing to him. In fact, he seemed all the more invigorated.
The dark prince screeched like an animal and taking advantage of her confusion, he threw a ray of blue light in her direction.
Suddenly Darcy felt as if she was paralyzed. She couldn’t move her limb or talk. Even her breath was coming labored and hard drawn. The dark prince advanced towards her throwing out his hand and Darcy fell hard against the hard forest ground. Still she couldn’t move her body. It was as if she was being tied up in ropes.
The Dark Prince knelt beside her and put his hand on her neck, then pressed her hard against the ground. Darcy choked. She could only make short raspy sounds and she could move neither her hands nor her legs to hit back.
“Don’t even try sweetheart. It’s the oldest forms of arresting magic. You won’t be able to fight it. And don’t worry, I am not going to kill you, I just want you to deliver a message to Arturo for me…” the Prince was saying pressing harder on her neck.
Darcy was losing consciousness and her vision was blurring.”
“Tell him not to try and save your worthless lives. Tell him I am going to kill all my four soldiers who failed me by not killing him and his woman. The countdown is already started. One down, three to go!” he sniggered and Darcy tried hard to make some kind of noise to alert the others.
“I am going to kill each one of you traitors. And then I am going after him. And tell him not to try and interfere while I am killing my defectors again or else..”
Darcy was about to puke. Her head felt heavy and breathing was becoming extremely difficult for her. Just then, through the blur in front of her eyes she saw a blast of white light. There was a sudden blast of cold and then she was free from her shackles. Thought she was still so weak from the assault that she just lay there trying to draw slow short breaths.
“Next time you have a message for me, be a man and deliver it to me yourself Digor.” A familiar voice was saying. It was too hard to be either Andrea or Rebecca, and too deep and strong to be Zack, and it was not even Weylin, because Weylin was dead. It was Arthur! Darcy thought as she lay on her side now shivering. Each breath she drew was sending shafts of pain through her body.
From the slits of her eyes she saw Arthur throw a blast of blue light towards the Dark Prince, whom he had just called Digor. But Digor quickly moved a step back and pulled out an amulet from his side. He held it out to the blue blast headed his way and the magic simply was absorbed in. Digor howled in triumph.
“Do not try to save their worthless lives Arturo, they do not mean anything to either of us. Just give me their blood in sacrifice so I can make this amulet mine.” He said and this time Arthur was quick to move. He threw another shaft of blue light and this time it did hit Digor. The Dark Prince wailed as if he was in pain and started moving in tight round circles like a top.”
“I will never give you my friends, Digor. Not even if you take all my magic.” Arthur said throwing another shaft of blue at him and Digor cried out again in agony. This time he spun around faster and in a quick moment, he disappeared.
The last thing Darcy remembered was Arthur picking her up from the ground as if she weighed no more than a doll and striding away into the direction of the pharmacy. Just as her eyes closed and she lost consciousness she heard him saying.
“Don’t worry Darcy. I will never let him take you. Even if it cost me my life or worse my magic.”
Chapter 22
“I want answers!” Darcy said lumbering out of her bedroom and facing Arthur straightaway as he stood emptying the takeout bags on the kitchen island.
“And I want Pizza.” Arthur said smiling but not looking up at her. Darcy was about to say something when Rebecca flew in from the sitting room and threw herself at her.
“Darcy! Oh Darcy! Oh, you are all right! God, I will never forgive myself for leaving you alone. If something had happened to you…” She kept crying and sobbing and talking all at once while she looked Darcy over thoroughly.
“Ro…I am ok. And I am the one who owes you an apology. I stepped way out my limits. It will not happen again.” Darcy said to Rebecca as the two walked out into the sitting room of their house above the pharmacy. Zack who had been watching them all this while, just looked up at Darcy without saying anything. As she left Rebecca’s side and came towards him he looked away, drawing his hand over his face as if wiping it.
“Zack...” Rebecca said sitting next to him on the sofa and trying to turn him to her.
“I left you alone. I will never ever forgive myself for that…” he said turning to her reluctantly and said fiercely. He seemed angry and sort of wild.
“Well if you want a doctor’s opinion, there’s nothing a slice of pepperoni pizza and cold beer cannot cure.” Arthur said as he came into the room followed by Andrea. He had somehow managed to hold two plates one above the other in one hand and another couple in the other, like the servers in busy diners do. Andrea brought in the beer.
Once everyone was settled around with Pizza, Darcy turned to Arthur and Andrea who sat side by side on the two-sitter sofa from across the one on which she sat next to Zack while Rebecca sat alone in one of the stuffed sofa chairs.
“I think I owe you two an apology.”
“It’s ok Darcy. You were distressed.” Andrea said quickly while Arthur nodded his head, his mouth stuffed with Pizza.
“Why did Digor steel your amulet?” Darcy asked him while she picked at her own food.
“You have to live, even if Weylin is dead. I understand your guilt. It happens to survivors of people who die in accidents all the time. But you have to go on” Arthur said ignoring her question completely.
“I am not going to live or breath or go on unless and until I have killed the bastard.” Darcy said looking sternly back at Arthur.
“Well then there are no answers for anyone of you anymore. You all get information only if we are clear on some ground rules here. One, we go after Digor as a team, two, you all do exactly as I say and three, when the time comes I am the one who will kill Digor. He is an Unrivaled and none of you can kill him.” He said looking around him with challenge. Andrea was the first and the most prompt to reply.
“I am ok with your terms. Just tell me the whole story.” She said turning to her brother. He looked at her with mock disapproval.
“Me too. I am too curious not to accept your terms.” Rebecca said eying Arthur.
“I accept too. They are fair enough. But I say we must get a chance to help you in everything that you do. And you should be transparent with us.” Zack put in cautiously.
“Done!” Arthur said and everyone turned to Darcy. She was looking down into her plate chewing on a small corner of her pizza. When she looked up from her plate, she saw everyone waiting for an answer.
“Fine! I agree.”
“To all my terms?” Arthur asked. She looked at him this time and nodded confidently.
“Yes, to all three. But like Zack said we help.” She warned.
“Agreed.” Arthur replied sincerely.
“So why did he take your amulet?” Darcy asked taking a slow sip of her beer.
“That amulet belonged to my grandfather. He too was an Unrivaled.”
“You mean it belonged to Arturo’s grandfather!” Darcy asked
“Yes. And in the last thousand years Arturo has been born seven times. Each time as he turns seventeen the council calls him and awards him his amulet. When he dies the amulet is returned to the council. They do it for all the seventeen Unrivaled, except for Harold of course. He is the grandmaster of the council and he is thirteen hundred years old.”
“How does the council keep records?” Darcy asked skeptically.
“They have bailiffs who keep records, arrange council
meetings and do all the rest of the clerical work.”
“So, what happened to your grandfather?” Zack asked.
“Well, he was killed when Arturo and Andrea were children. He used to teach us magic because our parents had no magic. He used to teach us from an ancient book called the Book of The Unrivaled. It was passed on to him by his master. The book contains all you ever want to know about ancient and modern spells and forms of magic, benevolent as well as the dark ones.”
“Did Digor kill your grandfather for the book?” Rebecca put in.
“Yes. Grandfather had decided to give the book into the custody of the council. He felt that it would be more useful if everyone could use it. But before he could take it to the council Digor killed him. Till the end grandfather did not reveal to Digor the location of the book.
“Why didn’t he take the amulet the day he killed Grand-Father?”
“He tried but Grandfather had used powerful ancient magic to secure it to his neck. When he was found dead in the woods there were scars and abrasions around his neck. Everyone thought it was done by the killer while he choked him, but it was in fact done while he tried to snatch the amulet and failed.”
“So, he killed an Unrivaled and got neither the amulet nor the Ledger. Must have been pretty frustrating for him.” Zack said and Arthur nodded.
“It was. That’s why he attacked our village within days of killing grandfather.”
“But you were gone from there by that time. That vision we saw, of Andrea giving you the amulet, that was when you left the place along with the Ledger.” Darcy put in excited and Arthur nodded.
“He ravaged my village and my people and burnt every single thing there was to the ground while I escaped with the ledger and the amulet to return it to the council. I was young and foolish and wanted to do a service to the council my grandfather spoke so highly of.”
“Did they harm you when you reached them?” Andrea asked worriedly.
“Very badly.” Arthur said looking away into oblivion.
“Did they try to kill you?”
“Worse. They made me a part of the council. They made me join them. They took all my freedom as an individual. Since that day I have been nothing but one of them, an Unrivaled.”
No one spoke for some time. Andrea got up from next to him and collected everyone’s plates, then took them to the kitchen.
“I will help you clean up.” Zack said following.
“I will get going. My next shift starts at six in the morning.” Arthur said rising from his place.
“Why don’t you guys come over to my place tomorrow. We will grill some stakes, talk some more, relax!” he said at the door. Everyone just nodded as he walked out.
Chapter 23
Rebecca spent the morning in the shop all alone with dozens of customers calling upon her attention. Customers shopping for Halloween and Christmas were generally crazily excited. Rebecca cursed herself for being the compassionate friend and the kind soul that she was. Darcy was still weak from her confrontation with Digor and Rebecca had insisted she come down to the shop only after lunch.
At noon Darcy brought grilled sandwiches for Rebecca and Andrea.
“Aw…you shouldn’t have taken the trouble…” Andrea said as she bit into her second sandwich and ate like she had been hungry for days. Suddenly she looked up from her sandwich, her mouth stuffed with lettuce and cheese. Darcy and Rebecca were eying her curiously.
“What? Losing your memory can make you very hungry!” She complained as she swallowed her food with the help of root beer. Rebecca and Darcy looked at each other then back at Andrea and the three girls burst out laughing.
After the short but happy meal Rebecca declared that Darcy should take a look at the stocks and orders and stay in the shop while she went out to do deliveries. Andrea promised to keep an eye on her while Rebecca was gone and Rebecca looked at her two friends skeptically.
“Don’t hex each other while I am gone.” Rebecca warned as she got into her truck. Her two friends stood on the pavement with expressions too innocent for their usual selves and Rebecca drove away wondering what they were up to.
As soon as the car had turned around the corner down the road Darcy and Andrea looked at each other with a mischievous gleam.
“You would never be able to hex me, I am too fast for you.” Darcy said to Andrea. Andrea smiled slyly.
“We’ll see about that.” Then she turned and ran through the thin lane between the shop and the library that led to the woods behind. Darcy threw harmless bolts of cold fire, that did not really burn, at her from behind.
Andrea looked back over her shoulder, smiled at Darcy cunningly and zigzagged through the forest trail. Darcy followed her trying to keep pace while she threw cords of magical fire at her.
“Looks like you are not that fast after all.” Andrea said laughing haltingly as she ran.
“I will show you who you are dealing with, Witch.” Darcy said laughingly back. The two played at fetch for a while then Darcy caught hold of Andrea in the middle of a small clearing and they sparred for a moment. The afternoon was warm and rays of sun filtered through the thick overhead cover of the trees. The weather was balmy and they thoroughly enjoyed their game.
As they exchanged hexes, one of Andrea’s power bolts hit Darcy and the girl fell flat to the ground. She was about to taunt her laughingly when she saw the expression on the other girl’s face and she stopped short. Darcy was still on the ground but very alert. She was looking suspiciously at the shrubs around the periphery of the clearing.
Andrea felt the presence too and turned around. It was male, around thirty-five, he had the craft and was trying to block her impression of him. Not only that he was trying to force an image into her mind. And then her resistance broke and she could clearly see the image in her mind. It was a huge bouquet of white roses. Just as Andrea saw a flash of the bunch of roses in her mind she saw a man coming into view from behind the trees that lined the circumference of the small clearing.
Andrea was stunned to her place while the man didn’t even spare her so much of a glance. He was tall and muscular. His nose was very straight and pointed and slightly crooked. His eyes were grey-green and his hair was close-cropped and sandy grey. He was taking a bite out of what looked like a pear and as he advanced upon the fallen Darcy he pointed at her with the fruit still in.
“Your delivery his slow. And use your wrist when you flip rather than the arm.” He said as he kept pointing at her.
Even before Andrea could say anything Darcy hurled herself up from her place on the ground and shot a single bolt of lightning at the man. He caught it into his fist as if he had caught a fly, and held it by his side, next to his thigh. Then he took one last bite out of the pear that he held in the other hand before he threw it to the ground. Then he brought up his hand with the magic bolt up near his chest and turned the bright light into a ball of silver blue smoke and kept turning it in his hands.
“Woman, you are a dangerous witch. Don’t you understand the meaning of white flowers? It's peace!” He said to Darcy as the ball of magic disappeared from his hands and was replaced by a real bouquet of white roses. He held it out to her and Darcy promptly hit the bouquet with a slap of her hand and it fell to the ground.
“Stop playing mind games with me and stop showing me images.”
“Or else what?” the man said quickly taking a step towards her menacingly.
“Nothing! We are about done here. Andrea come!” Darcy said looking the man straight in his eyes while she grabbed Andrea’s hand and pulled her away.
But the man took another two steps and blocked their way. Darcy was about to turn sideways when he caught hold of her hand at the wrist, then with his other free hand he grabbed Andrea’s other hand. They were now standing in a circle, all three of them linked together by their hands.
As soon as the circle was complete, Andrea and Darcy felt a strange force travel through their body. It was coming from the hands of the str
anger and traveling up into theirs and spreading into their entire being.
Suddenly the woods around them disappeared and they felt as if they were being sucked into oblivion. Then as if they had lost their vision suddenly there was nothing.
Chapter 24
Slowly their senses came back and they were surrounded by thick bright light. The light dimmed gradually and the surroundings came into view. They were however not in the woods behind the pharmacy. They were in a deeply forested area. Darcy saw herself running up the side of a hill. She tried to stop herself but couldn’t. It was as if the other girl had her face, her body, even her mind, but she was completely out of Darcy’s control. It was as if she was watching herself in a movie, only she was also inside the movie, watching from a distance.
Then she realized she was not alone Andrea was also running alongside her. The two girls ran as if their lives depended on it. Right in front of them was the tall man. He had the same broad shoulders, the same green eyes, except there was a worry in them. The two girls were chasing him and he was running from them. His clothes were torn, he wore no shoes, his nose and jaw were broken and he was badly limping. Even then he was trying to get away from them as fast as possible.
“Stop…you piece of scum.” Darcy was saying. He looked back over his shoulder and threw shots of magical curses at them.
The forest was thick and there were dry twigs, leaves and fallen branches in the way. Even in his injured state the man was jumping all hurdles with an easy gait. The foliage was lush and only a little sunlight trickled through the ceiling created by the treetops above. The road was getting difficult by the minute as they were running uphill.
“You are just making this difficult for yourself. The more you run the worse it’s going to be when we catch up with you.” Andrea called out in a sing-along way.