Lady X

by Claudy Conn

  “Ye best run, David Horwich. Shall I turn ye over to the magistrate?”

  David was off balance from drink, but he understood. He turned and ran as fast as his wobbly legs would take him.

  Hunter smiled to himself and straightened up as seamen approached. He waved them off. “Only grazed…naught…I’m fine. Go on aboot yer business.”

  A moment later he was on his horse and trotting out of town. Now, he had something to keep David in his place. He would visit Horwich House in the morning and handle it with David’s father. He had to do something before the 18th of June which is when he had to use his magic to shift to Waterloo and save his brother.

  When Baudali was destroyed, and his brother safe, he would return and take his woman by the hand to his castle in Scotland and make her his bride. The image this presented filled him with joy.

  ~ Chapter Four ~

  EXERILLA JUMPED TO her feet and looked around at what appeared to be an ancient dungeon that had been used for torturing its prisoners. She flinched as her scan of her surroundings found an iron maiden against one wall. She knew what that was used for, because she had seen her share of horror movies.

  She looked into Baudali’s cold eyes and the first thing she wished for was her jeans and sneakers. It would be so much more appropriate and allow her more agility. Her 19th century day gown was now dirty, torn, and totally inhibiting.

  He was watching her. She was aware that he was trying to penetrate her mind so she said, “It has been you, hasn’t it?”

  “What has been me?” he appeared mildly interested in her question.

  “Watching. I have felt I’ve been watched so many times,” she answered. She was hoping to keep him talking, while she looked for a way to use magic without her wand.

  “I find that for a human, you are quite remarkable. It is sad that you shall have to suffer what I am about to inflict on you. But I want him to feel what you feel. I want him to see you in his mind…being made, shall we say, uncomfortable.”

  “I don’t know what you are talking about, but I wish I did. Are you sure you have the right person?” She knew she sounded dumb, but the sorry truth was that she wasn’t sure what he was talking about.

  He came toward her as she held her hands out. “Human. You were transported by magic against your will, and yet you seem to have adjusted very quickly. In fact, you don’t seem in the least bit afraid. I find that odd. I should like to dissect you when I am done.”

  She had to pretend to be a human from the 19th century. She said, “Afraid? Yes, I am afraid and can only think this is the work of the devil.”

  He laughed and inclined his head, “In a manner of speaking, it is.”

  The next thing she knew she was thrown against the wall. Her arms were spread out and tethered with chains to bolts, as were her legs.

  He paced in front of her and made odd sounds, as he chewed on his bottom lip. He then stopped and put one finger to his nose “You are a great beauty. Will he let you die? This will be truly exciting to watch. But for now, I need him to feel you in pain. I am afraid we must begin.”

  “What the heck are you talking about? What do you want with me?”

  He stroked her cheek with a long black painted nail. “Brave, aren’t you? Not for long. I have to make you hurt. Here let me show you…” he said as he moved his wand.

  A burning sensation started at her toes. She looked down and saw that her walking shoes were on fire. She screamed. She was in agony. She could make it stop. She had the power to make it stop. She would have to face him. She didn’t know enough about him to ensure that she would come out of it alive. She had to bide her time and wait until he wasn’t expecting it. Pain took over and she howled with excruciating anguish. She could smell her flesh burning. Hell, she was in hell. She could make it stop. She could make it stop, but that would give herself away.

  “Hunter?” Baudali shouted into an orb he held in his hand. “Do you hear her screams? Your lady love is in pain and I am going to make certain she suffers. Do you hear me, Hunter?”

  Suddenly with the flick of his wrist the fire was gone. Her boots and clothing no longer burnt and her flesh untouched. It was as though she had not just been engulfed in flames only a moment ago.

  What the frig was going on? Why had he done this? Why would Hunter feel her pain?

  He said, “Illusion. It works very nicely and yet keeps the subject intact which is what I want. I can keep doing that to every part of you. I can make you feel pain over your entire body and I can do it over and over again. Or, I can make you relatively comfortable if you cooperate and maybe even beg Hunter MacTorry for your life. So, which will it be?”

  A human would want to be comfortable and appease him. She wasn’t human. Exerilla said, “Drop dead.” She just couldn’t say anything else. He was sure to make it all return. Baudali produced an ancient dagger and first cut her cheek, allowing the blood to run down her face, neck, and dress. Then he cut open her gown at her belly and stabbed her, over and over again.

  Sharp pain gutted through her as she cried out. Her inner witch came to her rescue. It was an illusion. He wasn’t cutting her. He would if she remained tethered like this. He would kill her in the end, but now he needed her alive. She didn’t know why. It had something to do with Hunter.

  She pretended to pass out while her inner witch kept her from feeling the pain the illusion called down on her.

  “Hunter, do you hear her?” Baudali shouted into the Orb. “We meet soon. In the meantime, I have her close and mean to enjoy this.” He evidently saw that she had fainted and lightly slapped her face. “It isn’t any fun if you are going to pass out on me, human.” She stayed deep within herself.

  He produced a bucket of water and without touching it, dropped the water on her face. “Don’t worry; it won’t be much longer now. Time in this dimension moves very differently. Hunter will soon be preparing to join his brother on the battlefield. He thinks to save him, but not all the dark magic he has attained will help him. I have a plan.” So saying, Baudali burst out laughing.

  X choked on the water, and as she shook it off. His words formed in her brain and took root. Hunter was a wizard.

  Hunter was trying to save his brother who might also be a wizard.

  She hadn’t detected it.

  Baudali slapped her hard and demanded she wake up. Silently she made a vow to find a way to destroy him. It was then that she felt her dark magic rising.

  It was do or die. She was going to take him down as painfully as she could, because she was so much more than she had allowed herself to be.

  * * *

  Hunter collected everything he needed, but most importantly he made certain his sword carried the spell he and his brother had devised a few months earlier. He had kept it hidden, never looking at it, and now relegated it to the air space where he kept his wand, ever ready to call upon.

  Baudali knew nothing about this sword or what it could do.

  Dressed in black leathers, warrior leathers, Hunter was mentally and physically ready for battle and just biding his time. He would have to wait until noon, another hour before he would magically shift into the heat of the battle at Waterloo, stand beside his brother, and take Baudali down!

  Just as he smiled at the thought, the first wave of pain hit him like a rocket going through him. Pain shot through his body, and in his mind, all he could see was his Exerilla!

  An agony of tearing pain continued to sweep over him, coursing through his body. He felt the flames of a fire whip at his skin. He was on fire, his clothes, his flesh, but it wasn’t his skin it was her skin. He could smell her skin burning off her body.

  And then he knew, beyond any doubt that Baudali had his Exerilla. He was torturing her. Somehow Baudali had discovered Exerilla was a part of his life and had taken her hostage. He was torturing her in such a way that he would know and feel what she was experiencing.

  “Damn your soul!” He told himself. He had everything it would take to defeat t
he Dark Wizard, but he had to remain calm and collected.

  His wee lass was human, she would be dead by now if she was really on fire. Baudali was using illusion on her.

  He sucked in air and tried to get his head on straight. He had to track her scent. Baudali wouldn’t realize that he was able to do that. He would be careless.

  A moment later, Hunter had zeroed in on her scent and sneered. Baudali had taken her to another dimension and one that Hunter had searched long ago when he was tracking the Dark Wizard.

  He reached for her through her scent and magic shifted through air and space.

  A moment later he stood, his boots firmly planted on the cold stone floor of Baudali’s dungeon, facing a surprised Baudali.

  He saw the look in his beloved’s eyes and frowned, uncertain of what she would think.

  “I am impressed,” Baudali said.

  “Let the woman go. She has no part in this,” Hunter spat at him.

  “Ah, but she does have a part in this. A very big part…and oh my, it is time!”

  Hunter realized too late as he reached out to stop Baudali, but the wizard had taken Exerilla in a cloud of dark smoke and vanished.

  * * *

  Eight miles south of Brussels, at noon on June 18th, 1815, Napoleon stood with his arm across his chest and his hand within his coat at his chest.

  With his tent at his back, and his generals around him, he contemplated the future as he made ready to give the order.

  He knew two large forces would face him under Wellington and Blucher, not far from his beloved France.

  That was the crux of it all. He could not allow them to invade France. His latest missive had informed him that if he did not withdraw, these countries would unite and take him on in his own dear lands. He could not withdraw.

  He had to strike now; he had to strike with his accumulated strength. He had to hit the coalition and reduce their numbers. He had to show them what it was to face a man such as himself! He had delayed giving battle until this moment, he had wanted the ground to dry.

  With some apprehension, he gave the orders to meet Wellington’s army positioned across the Brussels road on the Mont-Saint-Jean escarpment. And the battle of Waterloo moved into full swing!

  A shock wave went through him, as he realized that the Prussians had arrived and that their numbers were to be reckoned with.

  It didn’t take long before word got through to him that the Anglo-allied army’s counter attack had driven the French into disorder. Skirmishes had turned into a blood bath in the field.

  * * *

  Young Ferrell MacTorry looked around as he used both magic and his sword to slay the enemy and save his comrades. He knew what was coming. Although he had no memory of it, he knew because his brother had readied him.

  He had already exposed the traitor on Wellington’s staff, thanks to his brother’s information and the scoundrel had been arrested.

  He knew he could not allow himself to be killed, if for no other reason, than Hunter would not, could not accept it again. He had to find a way to stop the Dark Wizard. He had to be alert.

  He watched for a sign of Baudali, but as time went by he became engrossed in the battle, keeping his troop safe, though he silently mourned for the young French faces he put to earth.

  This is not what he wanted. If he survived this, he would give up soldiering, and then, all at once he saw Baudali and frowned as his heart pounded in his chest.

  Baudali had a young, beautiful woman in his grasp, and he held a dagger to her neck, all the while grinning!

  ~ Chapter Five ~

  HUNTER SAW BAUDALI vanish with Exerilla and cursed up a storm before he got control of himself and shifted with his immortal magic. He knew where Baudali was going, to the battlefield, to his brother. He used the portal he had constructed and entered the battlefield himself.

  Men were colliding, clashing, riding, being shot off their horses only to jump up and fight with whatever weapons were left to them.

  Blood covered the earth.

  So many young boys lying with blood soaked uniforms and glassy stares. He looked away from the horror only to find another and it struck him to the core.

  He saw his brother standing very still as Baudali held a dagger to Exerilla’s neck. He knew this was the moment; and he would have to be very careful.

  Baudali was unconcerned with the battle raging around them. They were insulated from it by a dark mist. They stood, his brother beside him, only a few feet away, facing the Dark Wizard’s wicked face.

  “Exerilla, m’love, I am sorry. I had no idea he knew about ye, would draw ye into this.”

  “I am not sure what is going on, but don’t worry about me. Just take care of each other; for from the looks of it, I am guessing this is your younger brother, he looks too much like you not to be.” Exerilla said quietly, and he saw a light in her green eyes. How he loved that light.

  “Enough, although I should allow you, a last good-bye to each other,” Baudali sneered.

  “Why?” Exerilla asked softly. “I should like to know why?”

  “Because I wanted their mother for my own, and when she refused, I killed her and her good husband. One has only to know the knack of killing an immortal, you see, and I made it my business to do so.”

  “Immortal?” Exerilla’s shock was evident in her voice and on her face. She had already had no choice but to assume that he was a wizard, but he was also immortal?

  “Ah, he did not tell you that. Yes, they are immortals, but I know the trick of ending their immortality.”

  “Do you?” she said quietly. “I see.”

  He frowned, “You take many things in your stride, now watch as I kill your lover’s young brother.”

  “Stop,” Hunter said. “I will make ye a deal, ye canna refuse.”

  “What is that?”

  “Take me in his place, in her place, and I’ll surrender up to ye, bend m’neck to ye for the taking…”

  Baudali laughed, “No, that is mine anyway, but I will give you the choice. Your brother or your lover!”

  “No, ye’ll not put that on me. Do ye take me for a fool, then? Do ye think I doona know ye mean to have us all? Tis in your nature.”

  Suddenly both Ferrell and Hunter had glinting swords in their hands and took a stance. Hunter smiled, “Our swords canna miss and are spelled against ye, specifically against ye. Now, best let her go.”

  Baudali hesitated and then snorted, “How will your swords get past her to me?”

  * * *

  Timing was everything, especially when backed up with patience. For an impulsive kinda gal, she was proud of herself, for she had waited, and waited, and now she was going to give this black wizard just what he deserved.

  “Like this!” Exerilla snapped as wand in hand she vanished from his hold and before he knew what had happened, she zapped him with a charge of White Magic.

  He cried out in pain, and she smiled, “And that, is not an illusion.”

  Ferrell and Hunter regarded one another with some astonishment but also sprang into action as they held him in place with their wands in their left hands and their swords in their right.

  Exerilla’s white powers were nearly at their peak. They would attain full power at Samhain, but even so, her mother had taught her a trick or two to be used when faced with dark magic’s devilry. Well, here was the darkness even worse than her father’s, and far more evil. She held him in her wand’s grip.

  “Now,” said Hunter as he moved in with his sword for the kill.

  Baudali was screaming in agony, burning from White Magic but even so, he summoned enough of his own dark brew to spell himself out of range.

  He found that as he did this, the shield that kept the roaring battle outside their circle, was broken.

  Coalition soldiers fighting French soldiers spilled into the fray and Exerilla, as well as Hunter and Ferrell had to put away their wands. They couldn’t chance hurting their own.

  Exerilla saw Baudali s
link into the fray, a slow grin on his face and Hunter’s brother said, “He is mine, brother.”

  “No, the time must pass, or he will kill you again. Allow me, young brother,” and Hunter shifted off in a wave of magic all his own.

  Ferrell looked at Exerilla and grinned, “I had hoped that whenever m’brother found a lass he meant to keep, we would meet under…er…different circumstances.”

  She laughed, and even as the questions in her mind arrived at her lips, she went silent and stood, unable to move. Oh no…oh no, was all she could think.

  She knew the risk when she had used her wand. But she thought she would have more time to say good-bye. How had her father found her so quickly?

  He marched right up to her, stared her down and before she could speak…

  ~ Chapter Six ~

  EXERILLA LOOKED OUT the mullioned window of the secluded Sag Harbor estate her father owned.

  She had not known of its existence before now.

  The ten acre grounds were walled in with stone and electric. The driveway had a gatehouse and the gatekeeper was licensed for the Glock he carried.

  A week had gone by and although she had tried to mind link with her mother, something was constantly blocking her.

  Her father had snatched away the pendant from her neck, as soon as he had compelled her to go with him. And all she knew after that was that everything she did moved her closer to this day, her wedding day.

  She glanced down at her gown of black lace. It was etched with white hand embroidered flowers, and clung to her figure.

  A salty tear rolled down her cheek, and she licked it and sniffed. She wished she had been strong enough to make it all stop. She wanted to resist her father’s compulsion spell and run away. She had her wand safely within her air space and no other could touch it. Yet, she was unable to call for it and escape.

  Her mother was nowhere to be found, but her father assured her that her mother was well, and she was making furious attempts to get to her. She was backed by her coven. She hoped they would be able to break her father’s dark wards.