by JK Ensley
*****
Vareen held tightly to her beloved son.
“I am so happy for you, Varick. It has been a long time in coming. My heart swells to see the light in your eyes again. You sparkle instead of glow, my son. You glide instead of walk.”
“I am elated, Mother. My existence is now complete. I finally have my Anicee. I never knew joy and love could be this exhilarating. The only hard part was telling Vareilious. He is my dearest brother. He stands above all in my heart. I will hold to his sadness until he too is as happy as I am.”
“I am also glad to see the maiden is finally making peace with her past. Tell me, Varick. Why did you not join her? I know the people of Ashgard cannot see your glorious ethereal beauty. But Alzeen’s form is pleasing to Jenevier as well, is it not?”
“What do you mean?”
“In Tamar Broden. Why did you not join her there? I am certain they will be as thrilled as we all were. But the news would have been grander still, were she on the arm of her intended.”
“You must be mistaken, Mother. Jenevier is not in Tamar Broden. She is taking care of her last summons. She will be here on the morrow.”
The lovely seer’s eyes went wide, and then narrowed in concern.
“I have received no summons for Jenevier, past Haven.”
“What?”
He searched his mother’s face, refusing to accept her words.
“Varick, I saw her clearly in Tamar Broden. Standing outside that little rose-covered cottage Marlise once dwelt.”
Pain and confusion were clearly painted across his angelic brow. “But… Why would she feel the need to lie to me about something such as this? I would have gladly accompanied her return with our blissful news. Unless… Mother, search her out. Now.”
“Apologies, my dear son. All went black in my visions of her only today. I assumed it was because she was returning here.”
“I must find Vareilious.” He rushed toward the door. “Go, tell Father what has happened.”
“What, Varick? What do you fear?”
“He has taken her!” Varick yelled back to his mother as he frantically flew off in search of his mighty warrior brother.
*****
Jenevier sat perfectly still. She had been thus for nearly an hour.
Like a cat watching her prey, Alastyn thought.
Darkness was nigh when two hooded figures entered the tavern, seating themselves with the enchanting woman he would always love. She moved not. She remained as she had been, didn’t even acknowledge their company.
How strange. She stays still within the shadows as if… she were sleeping.
A cold wind suddenly blew through the Broken Wheel, extinguishing every frantic little flame. The jarring sound of the slamming door sent Alastyn into panic mode. He leapt to his feet and ran to her side. She was gone.
He tried to keep up with their feverish pace, but soon the hooded figures were out of sight. Alastyn had to rely on his tracking skills alone. He stayed not too far behind her abductors, but he couldn’t catch them completely. They didn’t stop for rest and their footsteps never faltered.
It was nearing dawn when Alastyn wearily lifted his gaze. Fresh, raw fear shot through his heart as the rising sun revealed a new day. And with it, the outline of the enormous Palace of Wrothdem came into view.
No, not there… anywhere but there…
Chapter 58
Merodach
(MHER-ah-doc)
“Boy! Come here, boy. I shall have words with you.”
Merodach stormed through the castle, taking his rage out upon all who dared near him.
“I am here,” Alastyn said, stepping into the hallway.
“Boy, why is it you try to change the rules of the game? Did we not agree as men? If you continue to press this course of action, I will be forced to remove you from her realm. Is that what you want? Truly?”
Alastyn’s tone was low and dry when he answered, “You never asked me what I wanted.”
“That’s because it’s my game,” Merodach hissed.
“She is not a game!”
“She is now, boy. And I will see her dead before I let you or that meddlesome witch have her. A deal’s a deal. Live with your part in it.”
“My part in it? I never wanted this. She never wanted this. We never had a deal and I have done nothing to impair your game.” Alastyn rubbed his forehead in exasperation. “Merodach, think about it. How can I affect anything? You don’t even give me a voice.”
“Watch your tone with me, boy, or Jenevier just might find her beloved stallion disemboweled within the filthy stall you now call home.”
“What could I have possibly done to wrong you?” He mirrored the Prince’s determined glare. “I spend day and night in that hell you call paradise.”
“You deny pulling others into the magic of the realm?”
“As I said, I spend day and night with her. Your accusations are of no consequence to me. You give me no power. You give me nothing. How could I possibly pull anyone or anything into your magical world?”
“You spoke not a word to anyone?” Merodach pressed.
“I have not seen nor have I spoken with another living soul since you drugged and kidnapped her. I gave chase.” Alastyn half snarled at the Prince. “I didn’t take time to leave a note, Sire. And then you captured me, right outside your ivory walls no less. Who have I seen, save you… and the pitiful shadow of the woman I love you’ve got locked up in there?” He jabbed his thumb back toward the closed door. “You now have everything, Merodach. You possess everything. Tell me. What more do you want from us? What more is there for either of us to give?”
“And, what of the witch? Have you made contact with that witch woman?”
Alastyn rolled his eyes and sighed. “Jezreel does her own will. She would never listen to me, anyway. Besides, she’s in Tamar Broden. How am I to be speaking with her at all?”
Merodach considered Alastyn’s words. I cannot deny what the boy says. Yet, still… He narrowed his black eyes, studying hard. “Hmm… I am certain I smelled something magical, something Otherworldly, as we stood outside on her patio. Perhaps I should set a guard…”
Alastyn turned from the Prince, heading back into the fake world where Jenevier now lived.
“Do what you will, Merodach. I’m returning to my prison cell. Let me suffer in silence. I have not wronged you. She has not wronged you. The only guilt to be claimed here belongs to you and you alone.”
“One more thing, boy.”
Alastyn stopped, listening for the Prince’s next demand.
“Tell me. Why the dramatic bolt for freedom? Why did you run wildly into that damn river? What were you thinking? You could have killed her.”
“I know not what happened. It remains a blur within my mind still.” He glared at the dark Prince. “You tell me. Why did you send a storm, anyway? Did you think it was funny—scaring the hell out of her like that?”
“What are you talking about? I would never scare her. That is not my intent. I wish only to make her love me. How can that happen if she is terrified?”
“What? And you didn’t think that a haunted voice carried on the wind would be a scary thing? Huh?”
“That wasn’t my doing, boy,” he spat.
“And that growl. Holy hell, Merodach. Who in their right mind wouldn’t be utterly terrified of a growl like that? I have never even heard it’s like.”
The furrow in Prince Merodach’s brow only deepened. “What growl?”
“The growl that sounded like the Devil himself was kicking in our door. You didn’t hear it?”
“If I had heard it, would I be asking?”
Alastyn snorted. “No, not if you had heard this growl. It was scary, yes. But there was something else to it as well. Something, I don’t know… oddly possessive, perhaps. Like when you stumble upon a beast’s den—the way they roar at you. Like… they’re warning you of your impending death if you should harm those they love.”
&
nbsp; “Those they love?” Merodach huffed out a sardonic laugh. “Then the growl must have come from you, boy. Who else loves that tiny woman in there more than you?”
“It wasn’t me. But you already knew that.” Alastyn narrowed his eyes. “Tell me. Who else can affect your realm? Who else has power, has magic enough to rival even your spells?”
“That’s what I’ve been trying to figure out myself. When we were standing together on her patio… I don’t know. I felt something odd—a presence of some kind. I’ve never felt anything quite like it before.” Merodach shook his head. “I don’t know how, but someone has found a way into the world I made for her. Now… I only need to find them, crush them. She is mine, boy. Even if the Devil himself tried to touch her, I would slay him.” A wicked smile parted his flawless lips. “Cut him down and walk away… smiling.”
*****
“Ugh! I have never been this frustrated before!” Vareilious yelled. “We are warriors by the hand of God. How is it we cannot even find one of our own?”
“I don’t understand it either, Brother. We have walked those damnable palace halls a hundred times. Do you not think if she were there we would have seen her, have felt her?”
Varick was near to tears. He had spent centuries waiting for Jenevier’s heart, and the very day he had won her, she had vanished without a trace.
“We should go back to that gnarled witch’s home.”
“No, Vareilious. She is more lost than we are.”
The ethereal Guardian displayed his trademark smirk as he crossed his arms over his massive chest. “How can that even be possible?”
Varick ignored him. His mind was on finding a ray of hope for his beloved Anicee.
“I felt a surge of warmth in but one room of that forsaken castle. She had to be in there at some point. I just know it. I can almost feel it.”
Vareilious snorted. “Yes, well if that’s where he held her, then she has obviously been moved. That damnable room didn’t have a single thing in it.”
Varick stared, unbelieving, at his frustrated brother. “So… you felt something in there as well? Why didn’t you say anything?” His eyes narrowed. “If you felt it too, Brother, it must have been her.”
The warrior shrugged his shoulders. “I didn’t think it important at the time. It was but a chill up my spine, a tingling within my wings.”
“Is that why you roared like a Dragon?”
Vareilious snorted again. “Yeah. So? What of it?”
Varick only smiled, knowingly.
“What struck me as odd was the sheer emptiness of the place.”
“True, Vareilious. That palace is filled to bursting with luxuries and extravagance galore.”
“Save for those two rooms,” Vareilious mumbled.
“Yes. And one of them stank of death and sorrow,” Varick whispered. “Only within the last did I feel the warmth of her soul.”
“Then why would she not sense us as well? Why not call out for us?” He threw up his arms in frustration. “And how in the holy hell is she being held against her will? That vicious little Angel could wipe out this whole realm, if she got mad enough. Who is strong enough to contain her if she did not wish it to be thus? No one, that’s who.”
Varick shared in his exasperation. “We have never dealt with magic such as this, Brother. We should return to Vareen, tell her what we have found. She may be able to see through the blackness if she knows exactly where to look.”
“You go on, Varick.” His voice was low and distant, pain furrowed his brow. “I cannot bear to leave her here alone. Go. Find out all you can. I’m going to stand in the middle of that forsaken room and listen for her heart. Or… try to sense her fear.” He spread his wings to fly back to the palace in Wrothdem. “God’s speed to you, Brother,” Vareilious yelled back over his shoulder.
“And you as well. If you find her—”
“Yeah. I know. I know.” A defiant smirk turned up one corner of his mouth. “But if you don’t make it back in time, I will gobble her up… manacle and all.”
*****
“Witch! I shall have words with you,” Merodach bellowed.
“How is it you enter the home of a black witch and expect to leave unharmed?” Jezreel said.
“Because your pitiful sort of magic is but parlor tricks to me, hideous creature.” Prince Merodach looked down his regal nose at Jezreel’s wasted form, narrowing his glare. “Why is it you toy with me? Did you think you could stop my game so easily?”
“Merodach, your games are the devil’s playground.”
“Is that so? And just what devil do you know, Hag?”
Jezreel laughed. “I haven’t found a way to get in. Not yet. But I will.”
“What are you saying? Of course you have entered the realm. I dragged your putrid likeness from within only today.”
“The mighty Prince of Wrothdem must be mistaken. My spells circle your castle home, yes. But none have yet been granted entrance. If magic played with you this day, Mad Merodach, it was much older and far more powerful than mine.”
“Not yours?” He snorted sardonically. “You lie, Witch. Shall I drug you once more and hear you speak the truth you now spit upon?”
“Do what you will to me, oh wise one. I do not fear you. Your idle threats… they are as nothing to my withered form.”
“Nothing, you say? What if I were to snap your wrinkled old neck? Would that seem idle to you? Tempt me not, Witch, or I shall.”
Jezreel turned a venomous eye to the wickedly handsome man. “You are no threat to me, you vile lizard. What can you cast upon me any worse than what I already bear? Will you take my beauty, my youth, my love, my wealth? Gone! All gone! There is nothing you can steal from me, for I have nothing left of value. I pray you snap my neck. Do it now. I would be far happier in the Otherworld than here, trapped inside this decrepit old body.”
Merodach laughed. “You speak the truth, old hag. Halora has harmed you far more than I ever could have. The pain I would have inflicted upon you, you would have born through spite alone. But the crushing blow your pride received by the hand of that cruel woman, it has severed your determination fatally.”
She narrowed her eyes and willed him to feel her ever-growing hatred. He only smiled in return.
“Get out of my house, now. And see that your demon stench returns here no more.”
“As you wish, fair maiden.” He matched her glare with a haughty smirk. “I’m off to be with my enchanting Jenevier. She is falling in love with me, you know. She let me bathe her, every inch of her.” His eyes betrayed a slight softness with the memory. “She is perfect… like an Angel.”
Merodach shook his head then, trying to chase those warming thoughts from his mind. He returned to taunting her childhood friend.
“She desires me, dreams of my sweet kisses, my gentle touch. I can taste her upon my lips already. I will admit, I was prepared to end her life. But now… now, I believe I will keep her for a while. She amuses me.”
Jezreel could still hear Merodach’s evil laugh long after he had slammed her door.
*****
Varick burst into his parent’s home.
“Have you no news, Mother? Has nothing been revealed?”
“Apologies, my dear son. God has not opened my sight to Jenevier. I fear He does not want me to see what has become of her.”
“What do you mean? Nothing has become of her. I refuse to lose hope, Mother. She is Vanir. God must show you where she is.”
“Do not tempt God,” Vareen warned. “He knows far better than you or I what He plans for your lovely Anicee.”
“How is this justice?” Varick growled out in frustration. “Tell me, Mother. How is this fair?”
“Fair? Varick, how many thousand missions have you judged where everyone had been dealt fairly with? How many summons have had no victims? Were all the atrocities committed against the innocents fair? No, of course not. And we are no different, my son.” She lovingly placed her hand upon his arm
. “Being Vanir ensures no luxuries, no guarantees. What is it that makes you or any other Vanir exempt? Yes, bad things happen to good people… such is life. If horrific, unfair things can happen to innocents every single day, what makes you think you, or your lovely Anicee, deserve exemption?”
*****
Alastyn met Prince Merodach at the entrance to the deceitfully magical realm.
“What is it now, boy? Can you not see how this is best for your beloved maiden? You are with her every blessed day. She sings to you, kisses your nose, brushes your hair. In my realm she truly loves you. Is that not what you have always wanted?”
“Do not speak of that which you do not know. And love is something you definitely do not know. I remain here as her beloved horse only so I can do whatever is within my power to protect her from you. How can you be happy with her like this, Merodach? She’s not even herself anymore. She is but a walking, talking shell of the woman I love.”
“What’s the alternative, then?” Merodach challenged. “Release her? I have shown you her dreams, boy. You have seen her constant misery. Wherever she has been these last ten years, whatever it is she had to become, it is a horror far worse than anything I could do to her. She smiles daily now. She’s happy. For the first time in many long, obviously violent and bloody years, she feels nothing but peace and love. Are her nightmares not lessening since she has been within the realm? She has even had a couple truly beautiful dreams.”
Tears filled Alastyn’s emerald eyes. “She should be free to decide what she feels on her own, not be caged and drugged and treated as your little puppet.”
“So, you say her morbid, violent reality was better for her than my simulated paradise?” He placed his hand upon the young man’s shoulder. “Have I harmed her in any way? Tell me true. Have I mistreated your beloved Jenevier? Have I been anything other than gentle and kind?”