by A. W. Exley
What could I do?
The dim hallway opened out into the enormous dining hall, a long, narrow room with a soaring arched ceiling. A long table that could accommodate fifty people dominated the room. A fireplace taller than a man sat in the middle of the room. The mantel was far above my head and a cold fire blazed. No heat came from the flames. Millicent's touch sucked the warmth from everything.
The men hauled Ella up on the table and stretched her body between them. Still she struggled, never giving up or giving in. She continued to fight and yell insults.
I bit back a sob. This was too familiar. How many times had mother hauled Ella over the table and made Louise and me hold her arms while she took the lash to Ella's back? I never defended her. I was frozen while Ella was beaten, my mind trying to pretend it wasn't happening.
But no more.
This wasn't Ella's fight.
It was mine.
For years I lived under my mother's cruel regime. Never in a million years could I find the courage to stand up for myself, let alone defend Ella or anyone else. I could never answer back or question her humiliating treatment of either me or others. Now I could. Millicent was my torment in a tangible form, a fitting target for two decades of pent up frustration.
I was a new-born witch, untested, with no knowledge or repertoire of spells. But it didn't matter that I wasn't as powerful or experienced as Millicent. What mattered was I had to try. I had to do something.
You never know what you can achieve until you take a step and try.
Millicent kept hold of my hand and pulled me near. "I never had a daughter, yet you are the child of my dear sister. I would claim you as my own, Charlotte. I can lay the world at your feet, and you will be a princess at my court. Everything you could ever dream of having will be yours and more. All you have to do is prove your loyalty to me by severing the connection between Eleanor's physical body and her soul."
As Millicent spoke, she waved a hand and the raven flew around the room. Its black wings brushed the walls as it circled higher. Behind it, the walls quivered and shook. The wooden panels wavered and then transformed into a dense forest. Tree trunks pressed tight to each other, forming an impenetrable wall. Branches were raised to the roof, leaves and twigs entwined and sprouted large, four inch long thorns.
The raven flew higher until its feathers scraped against the roof and it gave a shrill cry. The ceiling dissolved to reveal a strange, purple-hued sky. The moon hung low, and a single shaft of silvery light dropped through the tree branches to illuminate the struggling form of Ella. Other ravens flew past the moon's face and called to Millicent's pet. We now stood in an enchanted wood, the trees formidable guards to ensure we didn't escape.
Magic soaked into my body, drifting from the leaves on the trees and sprinkled over my skin. The ember in my centre grew hotter and I grew drunk on the power flowing through my limbs. "You offer me anything I desire, and all I have to do is sacrifice Ella?"
"Anything Charlotte, and everything. What value is the life of one worthless scullery maid compared to being royalty?" She smiled at me, a cold empty smile that didn't reach her dead black gaze.
Over the last few months I had done a lot of thinking. When Elizabeth and Louise left our house and Henry deposited me at the manse, I was angry at Ella. She ripped my safe world from me and thrust me into the unknown. Me, a woman with noble blood, was forced to undertake menial work. I had muttered curses against my step-sister as my hands reddened from washing the dishes.
Then as days turned into weeks, I stopped complaining and no longer saw Ella as the source of all my problems. I found a quiet satisfaction in the small things. Like a well-baked biscuit. A happy hen laying me a big warm egg. Words of friendship from the other village women.
I grew content with my situation. And while I still dreamed, I did not want for anything.
Millicent was a woman like Elizabeth and Louise—those who have everything and yet can only see what they do not possess. As a duchess, Millicent yearned to be a queen. Would even that be enough to satisfy her? When our world fell before her, would she then try and reach for the moon?
In those quiet moments as I considered her offer, I gathered the power swirling in the vaulted room to me. I smiled at Millicent, and rather than using hate or revenge as she would do, I filled myself with compassion and understanding.
"I understand what needs to be done," I said.
Millicent's cackle turned into a raven's call from above.
Ella continued to struggle, her eyes wide. "No! Don't do this, Charlotte!"
I placed my hand over Millicent's and met her midnight gaze. The power swelled inside me, a wave racing toward the shore, and I rode the crest of it.
"It's time to wake up," I said and released the spell as a continuous flow that swept over Millicent's form and embraced her.
She frowned as my words wound themselves around her. "Wake up? Don't be silly, Charlotte. End Eleanor, do it now."
I kept hold of her hand and pulled her closer toward me.
"Wake up, Millicent," I whispered again.
Each letter of each syllable took on a life of its own as they burrowed into Millicent's body like hungry little caterpillars. Her gaze widened and she pulled her hand away from mine.
"No. You cannot do this." Millicent spun away from me.
Yet my words devoured her flesh, forming holes that showed the trees behind her. Millicent staggered to the table. The raven dropped from the purple sky and perched on her shoulder.
I took the opportunity to move among the men holding Ella. "I release you," I whispered to each in turn. One by one they let Ella go and dropped to the floor. Their bodies dissolved like small puddles under a summer's sun.
"No. This cannot be. A stupid girl cannot stop me!" Millicent pointed a finger at me and screamed. More pieces of her disappeared. She now resembled a colander that I used to drain the washed lettuce. "I will lock you in a world of torment and pain!"
"I've already been there, and thanks to Ella, I escaped," I murmured. Never again would a cruel woman control me.
Millicent pushed off the table and stepped back. She made circles in the air with her hands, drawing power to her. The raven cackled from her shoulder, laughing as though it knew what would come next.
I had freed enough men that Ella could shake off the rest and slide off the table and to her feet. I joined her and we threw ourselves to one side as a bolt of energy shot from Millicent's hands and split the huge table into two pieces. Splinters rained down upon us.
"What did you do?" Ella asked.
We stood and brushed slivers of wood from our clothing. "Millicent is waking up after being asleep for over three hundred years. You can't end her here, she's too powerful, but you can finish her when she revives in our world."
"I assume she doesn't like mornings, since she seems rather upset." Ella grabbed me and pushed me to one side as another bolt slid past us. Heated air ruffled my hair. The bolt struck the mass of trees, and trunks fractured and groaned.
"No!" Another shriek rent the air. Millicent tried to form more witchcraft, but her hands and arms were eaten by my spell. She no longer had fingers to make the required shapes to work her magic as inch by inch her flesh and bone disappeared.
"We need to get out of here if she is going to wake up in our world. Seth and your lieutenant will be unprepared." Worry for the others wrinkled the corner of her eyes.
Another scream erupted from Millicent and, like her captured creatures, she buckled at the knees and fell to the ground. It was as though we existed in a fairy tale and the witch dissolved when a bucket of water was thrown upon her. Millicent did something similar. My simple spell consumed her until there was nothing left, and she disappeared.
Ella and I exchanged quick smiles and a brief hug. The battle wasn't over. With Millicent gone, her world in the between realm also ceased to exist. The trees creaked and fell forward. Crashing giants split the floor, revealing a chasm of nothing beneath us.<
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"What's happening?" Ella asked.
"Without Millicent and the Turned to maintain it, the other realm is splitting apart. We need to get back to the manse, now. We have to wake up." I tried to remember the ancient book that lay open in the table. What did the spell say about how to return the sleeper to their physical body?
"Pinching won't work. Alice tried that this morning and I was still here. How was Alice here? She's still alive, and what happens to them as this place crumbles?" Ella pulled me to one side as another rift opened up in the floor.
More trees fell and shattered the floor under our feet. Pieces dropped into the space below to spin away into nothing.
"I don't know. Maybe it was because Alice and that life are familiar to us?" I stared at the void that devoured wood and edged closer to our feet. "I think we need to jump."
Ella's gaze widened and she glanced down. "Are you sure?"
"No." I had no idea; I stopped trying to think and relied on whatever witch instinct could guide me.
Ella took my hand. "Let's do it together, as friends."
"Friends," I repeated. Then as another tree fell and crashed toward the exact spot where we stood, we jumped into nothing.
24
Seth
Did you hear that?
* * *
The hardest thing I ever did was walk away from Ella, leaving her to do battle on her own. While on an intellectual level I understood the reverend's approach, that we needed to combat Millicent in this world and the one beyond, on an emotional level I rebelled. I would do what had to be done, but I wouldn't like it.
I had my foot on the accelerator and hard to the floor in the motorcar, racing back to Serenity House. Shingle spun under the tyres on each corner and Bain's fingers gripped the dash until his knuckles turned white. I stomped hard on the brake outside the front door and we both jumped from the car and ran up the steps.
Warrens pulled the door open a second before I ran into it.
"Cellars, bring lanterns," I yelled as I pounded down the long hall and headed for the original part of the house and the area that had once contained the kitchens.
It was easy to see why the old cellars had been long forgotten. The stairway had been bricked up and the wall plastered. Only the tiniest crack, and Warren's formidable determination and encyclopaedic knowledge of the house, found the entrance.
Frank had led the team to chip away the old bricks and mortar to reveal the dark hole that disappeared deeper into the ground. Someone had been determined to hide the entranceway and whatever rested down there. Bricks a foot thick had sealed the tomb.
Just last night, the men had finally broken through. All morning, while I was at the manse, Frank and his men had kept working to enlarge the hole. It was now large enough for a child to crawl through.
My half brother was covered in a light dusting of brick and plaster. "Nearly there," he said.
I shook my head. "Not soon enough. Ella has gone to fight Millicent in the other realm, so we need to find her physical body now."
I shrugged off my jacket and grabbed a nearby sledgehammer. I channelled all my worry and concern for Ella into the brick wall before me. Blow after blow rained shattered bits of brick around me, and the gaping hole grew larger.
Frank worked beside me. He never questioned what I did, he simply leant his back and strength to removing stones. Soon, with the two of us working like mad men, we had a gap big enough for a grown man to squeeze through. Assuming he hadn't over indulged at the dinner table.
I tossed the hammer to one side and climbed through. The rough bricks scraped my back and sides. I wiggled and crawled arm over arm, as though I crossed No Man's Land, until I emerged on the other side.
"Lantern," I barked.
Someone pushed a lantern through after me and I caught it and swung it into the dark. I stood on a small landing and stone steps spiralled away and called me downward. A quick glance behind showed first Frank and then Bain braving the short tunnel to stand next to me. Weapons were next and Frank handed me the sabre to buckle around my waist.
"Onward," I said. "The others can follow as they make it through."
More lanterns were passed along and soon the three of us each held a light high as we marched down into the earth beneath the house. The yellow light from the lanterns only penetrated a few feet at a time due to the sharp curve of the stairs. We walked a corkscrew, winding ourselves further into the ground.
I tried to gauge distance by judging the drop of each tread. Six inches over fifty steps put us twenty-fifty feet under the ground. A long way to haul potatoes if this was just a root cellar.
The stairs ended and the floor levelled off. We spread out, exploring the cellar. It wasn't overly large. Perhaps fifteen foot by fifteen foot. A wall of shelves had lain empty for centuries. Five large brandy barrels were lined up along the opposite wall.
The knock made me frown. Was there another door down here or did it come from above? Just as I convinced myself I had imagined it, the faint rap sounded again.
"Did you hear that?" I asked the other two.
We all paused. Then there were two raps in quick succession. Coming from one of the barrels.
"Over there," Frank waved his lantern at the barrel closest to the far end of the cellar.
I set my lantern on a shelf. Frank placed his on the floor. Then Lieutenant Bain held his light high as Frank and I rolled the barrel away from the others.
"Must be full, it's heavy," Frank grunted.
It didn't have the balanced feel of a liquid inside. And what could account for the noise? Perhaps it was nuts that had ripened and shed their outer husks with a short explosive burst?
I ran a hand along the top. "The lid is nailed down."
Bain fished in a pocket and handed me his Swiss Army knife. A handy invention, it allowed a soldier to keep a multitude of tools in his pocket. I flicked out the snub-nosed screw driver and banged the short length of metal between lid and barrel. As the knocking grew louder, I levered the nails out of the ancient wood.
As I reached half way, the rocking became more violent. I jumped back, pulling the knife away as the barrel lurched and the top exploded.
Frank jumped back with a yelp as the lid shot across the room.
I bit back a laugh. "Made you jump," I muttered.
He waved a finger at me. "Don't tell a soul—"
His words were cut off as the barrel toppled over and long pale fingers curled around the edge. A head with raven black hair followed. A woman looked around with curious black eyes as she slid the rest of her body from the tight confines of the barrel.
A very familiar looking woman.
"Wish I could say it was nice to meet you at last, Millicent." We would end her here. The stone walls would contain the fire when we doused her body with the kerosene in the lamps.
She rose on unsteady feet, the fabric of the dark gown she wore crushed after decades in the small space. She ignored us and held up a hand, staring at her fingers. She turned her hand this way and that, then she threw back her head and laughed. A hard sound that bounced off the stone walls. "I am here after so long. She failed! The useless girl failed."
A cold lead weight plummeted through my gut. "No." How could Ella fail? She was a competent soldier who I gladly took into battle at my side. She couldn't fail. Not the woman I loved.
I drew my sword. "If she has truly failed, then I will end you here and now in her name."
I took a step forward. Millicent's head shot up, as though she realised for the first time she wasn't alone. She sneered at me. "The current duke. A man in need of a wife to add a little something fatal to his night cap."
I swung the sword in my hand, limbering up my wrist. Although the idea of hacking clumsily at her slender white throat appealed. No torture would be enough if this witch had killed my Ella in the beyond.
Millicent tucked a piece of long hair behind her ear, her gaze drifted to her hand. Then the sneer froze on her face. "What ha
s she done?" The words rasped from her mouth. Her alabaster complexion turned grey as we watched, like the descent of twilight over the landscape. Her skin greyed and wrinkled before our eyes.
"No. This isn't possible." She clutched at her breast that went from pert to saggy in the space of a breath.
"Make it stop!" She yelled at us.
Make what stop? I hadn't struck her yet.
Deep lines in her face formed, like fissures during an earthquake running through soil. She clasped her hands to her cheeks and pulled away a layer of skin.
"What's going on?" Frank asked as he stepped closer to me.
Her skin turned from grey to black. The fissures became cracks as her skin and flesh crumbled and fell to the floor. Millicent began to scream. I closed my ears to the sound as she dropped to her knees. Her hair grew white and then thinned, long pieces falling from her scalp and littering the ground.
"If I had to hazard a guess, it looks as though Millicent is aging over three hundred years in less than three minutes," I said.
Her scream turned to a gurgle as her jaw dislocated and then the bone fell away. Her clothing disintegrated into dust first, leaving her skeletal form naked. What skin didn't peel away, blackened and clung to bone as muscle and flesh withered and vanished. Soon a stripped skeleton moaned on the floor. Then brittle bone could no longer sustain its own weight.
Millicent shattered like dropped porcelain.
"Sweep up the dust. Gather all of it. Don't miss a single speck." I turned to leave.
Frank put a hand on my arm. "Where are you going?"
"She said Ella failed." I didn't need to say anything else. The screaming inside my mind wouldn't stop until I either saw the truth and held Ella one last time, or proved Millicent to be the liar history said she was.
Ella
Out with the old, in with the new