I turned to see Jon ram his sword into the other guard’s chest, and then I was running again.
I gripped my sword tightly in my clammy hands and ran up the steps and into the main hall without pausing to admire the golden walls or the elaborate stone pillars. I hoped that the footfalls behind me belonged to Jon and his crew.
I bolted in the direction of the altar where I had been brought to face the high priest the first time. I saw the blur of cream and black shapes as I rushed past concubines and priests, but I didn’t stop. I had to get to the stone before Landon handed it over to the priest.
Shouts reverberated around the hall, and temple guards came running towards me from a side corridor. I strained to go faster as I flew down the slippery polished floors.
Three priests stood with their backs to me, and I slammed into them as hard as I could, never stopping. They pitched forward and sprawled on the ground.
“How dare you touch a priest! Woman!”
“Damn you all to hell, priests!” I yelled back and hoped I had busted some ribs. I skidded to a stop at the edge of the altar room, and my heart leapt in my throat.
The room was packed with temple guards, priests, and the men I recognized from Landon’s company. Their attention had been on the platform and the altar, but like a giant wave all the heads turned when I barreled in. I could feel the weight of the hundreds of eyes that were on me. The priests grinned with that same wickedness as their beloved high priest. Six red monks stood at attention against the walls. I was completely surrounded. I had walked into my own trap.
I saw a flash of blonde hair. Thea glared down at me ferociously from next to the altar.
The high priest stood on the altar. The jewels and golden thread on his white silk robe sparkled like a sun in the dimly lit room. He held a jeweled staff like the one I had seen on the first day of the race, and the same crippled, shadowy creature knelt next to him. Its empty eyes were focused on me.
And there standing next to him was Prince Landon. The Heart of Arcania, safely inside its golden cage, rested in his hands.
In spite of the warmth of the room, a nasty shiver went down my back.
The high priest turned his pale eyes to me and sneered.
“Ah, Elena. You’re just in time. I must say, it’s unfortunate that you failed to bring me what I asked. And yet you still played your part well. None of this would have been possible without you.”
He raised his arms and gestured towards the rest of the room.
I didn’t want to think about what he referred to, but I knew I had been partly responsible for it.
My gaze fell on Landon, but he wouldn’t meet my eyes.
Two long ceremonial tables covered with human skulls and candles were positioned on either side of the altar. Coils of green smoke rose from metal containers and filled the air with a stench of sulfur that burned my lungs. The braziers of green fire of the altars reflected an eerie green light off the polished floors.
A large red ring had been painted on the floor, and it circled the altar. Strange symbols and letters were drawn in maroon and covered the floor inside the ring. All of them were different, and they were written in a language I’d never seen before. There was something sinister about them, like they had been drawn in blood and were the key to unlock some great evil.
I looked down at my feet. My boots were inches away from the edge of the circle, and I wondered what would happen if I stepped on it.
The air moved at my back and Jon, Will, and Leo came up behind me. Their eyes widened when they saw the stone in Landon’s hands.
“Bastard,” hissed Jon.
Although I couldn’t agree with him more, I still felt a pang in my chest for Landon. Maybe he didn’t know what he was doing. Maybe he didn’t have a choice. Maybe the priests had blackmailed him, too. Maybe I was fooling myself.
Guards and priests crowded between the altar and me. I would never make it in time.
“We’re too late. It’s over.” Jon cursed.
“Landon!” with panic in my voice I called out into the chamber.
“Don’t do this. Don’t be a fool. You’ll never get your title back. Don’t you see? He’s lying.”
Landon’s jaw twitched, but he still wouldn’t look at me. Even from where I stood, I could see the flush spread on his face.
“Landon. I know a part of you believes me. I can see it plainly on your face. Deep down, you know it’s the truth. You know he’s a liar. Landon, look at me. Look at me!”
It took all my effort not to rush across the room and slap the stupid look from his face. I needed to make him look at me. But I knew if I made a move, it would all be over.
The prince still wouldn’t meet my eyes.
The high priest glared at me.
“You can shout and cry all you want, but the fact remains that you’ve lost the race. It seems you are a poor loser, Elena. But it doesn’t change the fact that the prince won. He has the right to do what he chooses with his prize, and as it turns out, the prince and I have struck a deal. I am a man of my word, and we have made an oath that neither can break.”
He turned back to the prince and bowed. He reached out with his left hand.
“Your Highness,” he said so pleasantly it almost felt sincere. “As we agreed. The stone, if you please.”
Everything seemed to slow down. The prince turned towards the high priest, and I could see the sweat dripping from his forehead and the tightness in his shoulders. There was no time to think. I needed to act now.
Before I even registered that I was moving, I took three strides and threw my sword like a spear straight at the priest’s heart. It flew straight and true.
The high priest reached out and caught my sword like it was nothing more than a harmless stick. He clicked his tongue and shook his head slightly.
“I’ll deal with you later.”
He snapped his fingers, and the temple guards came at us.
“Run!” Jon screamed as he and his men doubled back the way we came.
I bolted, but I wasn’t fast enough. Something hit me in the lower back, and I landed hard on the cold stone floor. I lay still for a moment and blinked the black spots from my eyes. I smelled the faint coppery tang of blood. I pushed myself up on my knees and stared down at a puddle of my own blood.
“You’re not going anywhere, daughter.”
Brother Edgar loomed over me. His sword dripped with my blood.
“I’m going to finish what I started nine years ago. There’s nowhere to run this time. No one to help you.”
I was not going to let him kill me like he did my mother. I staggered to my feet, but before I could move a beefy temple guard pinned my arms together in his powerful hold. The smell of male sweat almost overwhelmed me. I twisted and kicked, but he yanked me off my feet effortlessly and held me dangling in the air.
Brother Edgar lined up his sword against my neck.
“Time to rectify my mistake, witch.”
“Go to hell,” I spat.
I moved, but I felt the wound in my back tear, and warm blood trickled down to the back of my thighs.
Brother Edgar lifted his sword, his face contorted in fury.
“Move,” he said to the guard. “Or I’ll cut you along with her.”
The guard’s grip loosened, and I dropped to my feet. Brother Edgar raised his sword high above his head. He was going to decapitate me—
“Enough!” the high priest shouted angrily.
Brother Edgar froze.
“Now is not the time, Brother Edgar. I need you here by the altar, as I need all the priests. Lower your sword and come stand next to your brothers so that we may proceed. You can kill her after the ceremony.”
Brother Edgar scowled, and for a moment I thought he might defy his master. But slowly, very slowly, he lowered his sword.
“Don’t let her out of your sight,” he said and moved towards the altar.
I was dizzy from the lack of blood, but I could already feel my wou
nd begin to heal. I feared it wouldn’t heal fast enough to give me the strength I needed.
Jon was moving to help me, but two temple guards stepped in front of him and put their swords to his throat. Leo and Will were both on their knees and surrounded. It was too late to flee. Too late for anything.
The high priest cleared his throat. “Now, if we can dispense with this interruption, we may continue.”
He turned his attention back to the prince and stretched out his hand again.
“Your Majesty. The stone.”
Prince Landon watched the high priest’s face with a myriad of emotions. I could see fear, doubt, anger, and confusion. He stood straight, but his shoulders were tense. He gripped the golden cage and extended his arm towards the high priest.
“Landon! No!” I made to move forward, but a sword appeared at my heart, and I staggered back.
The prince turned towards me and his eyes lit up. For a moment I thought I had reached him, that he wouldn’t give the stone to the high priest. But then something dark flashed across his face, and he turned his gaze to Jon. He looked at me one last time, and then handed the stone to the high priest.
CHAPTER 34
I WATCHED IN HORROR as the scene unfolded. The high priest held the stone, and a strange, wicked smile appeared on his face. His hand trembled, and it wasn’t from fear.
“Goddess, forgive us,” I breathed.
If the witches were right, this was the beginning of the end. And I had failed them. I fell to my knees, stifling a sob and biting my tongue against a scream.
Prince Landon cleared his throat and wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his wrist.
“I held my end of the bargain,” said the prince.
I saw the muscles in his jaw tense. “Now it’s your turn, priest. Swear to all here. Swear that you’ll give back all our family’s lands, our titles, and our guards. Swear that I will be crowned King of Anglia, and that you will restore the monarchy as it was. Swear that the Empire will recognize my family’s titles and the titles of those of noble birth. Acknowledge my right to rule by the will of the Creator. It is what we agreed.”
For a moment the high priest said nothing. He held the golden cage with that same wicked glimmer in his eyes. My chest tightened.
“I made no such agreement.”
Prince Landon frowned and took a step towards the priest.
“But you said,” he complained. “You swore! You vowed before the Creator! What kind of priest are you?”
The high priest gripped the cage and raised his free hand. Black energy sparkled around his fingers. With a flick of his wrist he sent out a blast of energy that hit the prince square in the chest. The force threw the prince across the room, and he crashed against the wall with a nauseating crunch. The wall splintered under the force. Prince Landon slid to the ground in a crumple of broken bones. His blue eyes stared into space lifelessly.
With an earsplitting wail that stopped my heart, Thea rushed across the chamber and fell next to her fallen prince. She cradled him and kissed his face. Her mouth was wet with tears, and she kissed him over and over, as though he was merely asleep, and she could wake him with kisses.
“No, no, no, no,” she cried as she rocked him gently. “You can’t be dead. You can’t be dead. Please don’t leave me, please.”
I fought very hard not to cry. Although I had hated, truly hated, the prince, he didn’t deserve to die like this.
I looked at the high priest with a new sense of fear. Only a witch could unleash such supernatural power. The high priest must be a sorcerer.
The room had darkened, and the smell of sulfur had increased tenfold. I could see the fear in the other priests’ faces. They were just as shaken as I was.
The eerie silence that followed was broken by the small voice of a mousy-looking priest.
“Your eminence, what have you done?”
His eyes darted to the dead prince and back to the high priest.
“He was of noble birth. And you killed him. Your actions have desecrated your vows to God, desecrated our holy temple and broken our sacred oaths to the Creator. You are no priest. Only the devil could possess such skill. You are an abomination. Are you in league with the Devil? Have you sided with the occult? What was this magic? Answer us!”
The high priest grinned, took the cage with the stone in it, and set it on top of his staff. With a twist of his wrist, the golden cage clicked into place. It had been specifically designed to fit the top of the staff.
He raised his staff with a wild look in his eyes. A hum reverberated throughout the chamber, and then a pulsing of power that I recognized from when I had held the stone. The Heart of Arcania was beating. I could feel it resonating inside me.
Suddenly, the stone flashed bright white, and then it dulled to black. I could still feel the pulsing energy in the walls, in the floor, and in the air, but this time it wasn’t warm. It was as cold as death.
The high priest threw back his head in a high-pitched laugh that sounded anything but human. A chill rattled in my bones.
“Elena. What’s happening?” Jon pulled me to my feet.
“I’m not sure,” I said. “But Ada was right. The high priest is no mere man, but something much worse.”
“Well, if I had to take a guess, I’d say our high priest is a sorcerer.”
While I felt noticeably sturdier than before, and the tear on my back had healed, the wound on my neck burned like hell. It was almost like it was warning me. But warning me of what?
If dark magic could wound a steel maiden like me, who was supposedly immune to magic, I could only imagine the effects it would have on a normal person, let alone on an entire village.
Jon shook his head. “This is bad. Really bad.”
“And I have a feeling it’s about to get worse.”
Brother Edgar had managed to make his way to just below the altar, but the familiar loathing frown on his face was not directed at me this time.
He pointed a finger at the high priest. “The Temple of the Sun will not stand for this! How dare you masquerade as a priest when you’re nothing but a male witch.”
He spat. “You put shame on the name of the Creator. You have shamed us! You will hang for this. Imposter! Charlatan!”
Spit flew from his mouth, and soon a handful of priests who felt bold enough to denounce the high priest joined him.
But the high priest ignored them. He stood on the altar with his arms spread out like he was about to take a bow. He was waiting for something.
I noticed that the shadowy creature was still cowering behind the priest’s gown. Again, no one seemed troubled at the sight of it.
The red symbols on the floor suddenly glowed green. The stone pulsed, and a wave of black energy blasted into the priest. He staggered, and his face contorted as though he was in pain. The chamber shook, small rocks fell around me like a hailstorm, and the air moved with an invisible wind. Then the room went silent again.
All eyes were on the high priest. It was as though we were all watching a performance on stage and waiting for the grand finale. The high priest paled until he was nearly translucent. I could see black veins pulse through his face, his neck, and his arms. He opened his eyes, and they were completely black, like the bottomless pits of hell.
“We need to leave,” said Jon. Both Will and Leo’s eyes were wide with alarm, but they didn’t move.
“It’s too late to get the stone. We’ll have to come up with another plan. There’s nothing else we can do right now.”
I nodded, but I couldn’t tear my eyes away just yet. I had to see if my fears would come true.
The priests below the altar had stood frozen in fear momentarily, but then they scattered like a herd of frightened deer, pushing and shoving each other.
“I’ve waited three hundred years for this moment,” the high priest boasted.
He looked at the priests below him.
“You God-fearing, paranoid, delusional fools. Your minds
are weak, and your bodies are weaker. You never understood the true purpose of the Temple of the Sun. You want to fear a real God? Then fear me!”
The high priest surveyed the room again. “I’ll give you the cleansing you’ve all been waiting for. I give you the Black Blight.”
I watched transfixed as he lifted his staff and spoke an incantation in a language I’d never heard before. The stone pulsed, and a black radiance spun like the wind around the room. It wrapped around me, wrapped around everything and everyone in the room, and tightened until I could barely breathe. And then a surge of black tendrils blasted out from the stone. Like a fork of black lightning, it struck the priests first, coiled around their bodies, and paralyzed them.
“Get back!”
Jon pulled me down against the far side of the wall, next to Will and Leo. The energy shot out again and connected with the temple guards this time. If we hadn’t moved when we did, we would have been hit, too.
The guards opened their mouths in silent screams as the black magic wormed its way into their souls. The whites of their eyes dulled to black, and their skin paled and thinned until they looked like corpses. Their emaciated faces reminded me of the demons we had seen in the mist. I could see black pulses through the veins on their necks and faces. Their skin began to rot and blister. It looked like an infection of black magic.
Every priest and guard inside the temple had become an emaciated demon.
Brother Edgar’s black eyes flickered with an eerie intelligence, but the man was gone. I wasn’t sorry about that. Only the red monks appeared to be untouched by the black magic. I wondered if they weren’t already creatures bent to the will of hell.
It had all happened in under a minute. What had once been a throng of pompous and vile priests and guards had become an army of demons possessed by black magic.
The high priest turned to me.
“I have no more use for you, Steel Maiden.” His voice sounded as though he was right next to me. His smiled widened. “You’re far too dangerous to keep alive. You’ll die today. Kill her. Kill them all!”
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