He had to trick her some way. He could not allow her to help the sons of the night. She had great power and he could not let that part of his plan fail. Things were already too out of control.
“Elizabeth” he called again. “Open the door.”
Seeing that nothing happened he kicked the door breaking it to see that there was nobody in the room. He shouted in frustration and went down stairs running. He entered the closet and opened the door that led to the basement. He was furious.
“Gaia,” he said with a lilt in his voice, “I know that I haven´t been long in returning but I need you to make that spell now. That way I will attack before and catch them unprepared.”
As the wall slid open he saw a smiling Gaia. Before he had time to say anything, the witch had sprinkled him full of a paralyzing potion. Ian looked at her in disbelief.
“Do you know that you have done? Your Messenger will not last long.”
Those words had no effect on the smile that Gaia had on her lips.
“Neither will you,” she answered as she saw how the knees of the fallen one bent forward.
A strong blow resounded throughout the almost deserted palace. Venice turned round not knowing what was going on. She advanced towards the great hall to check it out. She heard more strong blows, again coming from outside. Opening the heavy door she found herself with six people in front of her; the Council and the Chief of Defense. She could barely believe it.
“Come in, come in quickly,” she said almost excited, “I was going to call you soon. It is a good thing that you have come. How could I have been so blind during such a long time?” she said to herself.
She directed them quickly to her study. At that moment the formalities were not needed.
“Oh my dear Francis, thank you for the help. I didn´t have time to speak to you this morning. I had to come quickly.”
The members of the Council looked at each other trying to find out what was happening. Argi as spokesperson of the group spoke.
“Empress, we have come to announce the foreseen war is imminent. We must do something. “
“Of course we should do something,” she answered energetically, “I have already found out about the weapons theft, so we have to contact the nuddles. We should deter the attack as long as possible. I do not doubt that they will first attack the city, seeing how the fallen ones and their mutants are. So we have to position ourselves. Call everyone who wants to fight for their Kingdom and for their life.”
The Council without understanding the empress´s attitude looked at Francis in search of answers, seeing as it appeared that he was the only one who understood what was happening. Francis looked at them and spoke in a firm tone.
“Yesterday she found Samantha. I told you that she had to see her and you thought that she would suffer a concussion. Well you can see that that is not the case. She has woken up. She has regenerated and we are ready to fight,” he finalized turning to look at the empress.
“What do you propose we do Fairiel?” the empress said wanting to know what he really thought.
“I believe that we should put strategic points,” she said a little insecure. “The only weak point that the wanderers and the Fallen Ones have is that they are not immortal. They can die as quick as we can, so they have to attack.” He said with more firmness. “I will contact the leader of the nuddles.”
“For my part,” said Angelica wishing to speak, “I think we should form a group to wait for the attack in the heart of the city. We are fighters with more power to hold them back in the entrance.”
“I agree,” conceded Venice, “get to it.”
They all shared out the different jobs as Francis stood there looking at her.
“You are forgetting something,” he said with determination.
She looked at him without understanding what he was referring to.
“Your daughters are great fighters. They have trained and have much more power than any Council or group put together. They are the only ones that can kill Ian. If he falls, his followers will too.”
Venice looked at him without believing what he was saying.
“I won´t allow my daughters to fight. Not now that I know they are well. They will not lose their life in this battle.”
“I am just letting you know what will happen. I don´t know how Elizabeth feels in this respect, but according to Kenneth, Samantha is as obstinate as her father. And I believe him,” having said this he left to help his companions.
Venice did not want to listen to him, but deep down she knew it was true. She couldn´t hold them back against their will.
A red shadow moved as Eric looked through the window. He thought that they were leaves falling, but then he paid a little more attention and saw something coming closer. Phoenix had spent hours searching for more spells in his books as Elizabeth and he spoke. He thought that his eyes were tired. He looked at Elizabeth who had fallen asleep and he looked again towards the window without seeing anything. When he turned his head again, there she was, in front of him.
“Susan?” he asked in disbelief “What are you doing here?”
“Quickly, pretend you are asleep and nothing will happen to you,” she said with emotion in her eyes for seeing him after so long.
“What are you talking about?” he blurted out as he heard noise in the corridor.
“Go away,” she ordered him.
“No,” he answered firmly.
“Oh,” she sighed, “you are never going to change. Why do you have to be so noble, gentlemanly and educated?” she said, not meaning that these words to leave her mouth nor her mind.
“What is happening?” Eric said with close to anger in his voice. He foresaw that something bad was about the happen.
“I am sorry,” Susan answered with real repentance in her voice.
Right after that she sprinkled some dust before his face that left him unconscious instantly.
A few seconds later Ian entered through the door displaying his shiny trunk to the light of the sun. He was proud of the plan that he had created in his mind.
“Take her,” he ordered his subjects.
Elizabeth opened her eyes noticing the rough touch of the wanderers on her arms that she knew too well. She started to shout seeing that Ian was in the door. She couldn´t go back with him. She didn´t want to. She tried to resist at all cost but before she could use her powers Susan sprinkled the magic dust in front of her face leaving her knocked out in a blink of an eye.
Ian smiled happily. His plan was working well. It was going very well.
Phoenix heard the noise and shouting but when he arrived to the study there was nobody. Eric was there alone apparently sleeping. He ran to him looking for answers.
“Eric wake up, Eric do you hear me,” he shook him, “Eric!” he shouted as he slapped him in the face.
He opened his eyes, confused and looked at the wizard who didn´t understand either.
“What happened? You slept through all that scandal?”
“Susan sprinkled something on me and I was knocked out. I tried to wake up, I didn´t know what was happening. But I didn´t do anything. It was my fault.”
“It has been both of ours fault. Don´t worry we will get her back.”
Eric looked at the chair where the sister of his beloved had been and as he thought about it an alarm lit in him.
“Let´s go,” he got up quickly. “Let´s go, let´s go” he shouted as contained his tears. We have to leave quickly.”
The wizard helped him to look for weapons and followed him without knowing where they were going.
Samantha was having a shower. She had just finished her afternoon snack. She was going to lie down and have a rest. Gabriel was almost angry seeing that she wasn´t listening to him. He really did worry about her. It had been an interesting day. She lay on the mattress as she thought.
Gabriel was sitting in the kitchen, going over the conversation he had with Samantha. It was fun, he liked her. All of a sudden he h
eard the door opening.
“Kenneth, I thought you weren´t going to arrive back,” he said as he got up and headed towards the lounge.
His words were cut short seeing a woman with red hair in the entrance.
“Who are you?” he asked with all signs of fun removed from his face.
“That is something that it is not convenient for you to know,” she said. “Let me come in and you will not suffer harm.”
Susan had convinced Ian to do things her way, so that nobody got hurt, but if they didn´t cooperate she couldn´t guarantee survivors.
“No,” he cut in bluntly.
Gabriel started to stare at her and made a pain go through her body. Susan looked at him without knowing that it was him that was doing that.
“Knee down,” whispered Gabriel.
Susan under his mental powers did as he asked. The pain was consuming her.
“Nobody comes into this house as long as I am alive,” concluded Gabriel.
“I wouldn´t be so sure of that,” he heard a voice come from behind him.
Losing visual contact with the girl, she was able to get up and quickly hit him on the head before Ian could kill him. He fell completely unconscious on the floor. Susan passed by his side a moment, thinking of his violet eyes.
“What a shame,” she exclaimed, “you have such beautiful eyes.”
She checked that nobody had heard her and went upstairs behind Ian until she got in front of him. She opened the door and saw Samantha lying down mouth up on the bed. She smiled to see her again. She put herself on the edge of the bed and leant over her until her head was above her.
Samantha, noticing something strange, opened her eyes and saw her. Her expression bore no compassion.
“You,” she whispered angrily.
“Hello Samantha, we meet again,” she said in a fun tone.
Before the princess could react, the dust fell on her face, leaving her fast asleep.
Susan looked at Ian who looked at the girl suspiciously.
“Let´s go, pick her up, don´t wait for me to do it,” Susan blurted bluntly as she left the room.
Ian picked her up and took her out of the house, avoiding Gabriel´s body that was still on the floor.
In a single blink they were already in his house. He smiled seeing that his plan continued to go well. He entered the house, crossed a passageway and entered into the closet. He went down the old staircase and waited as the wall slid open. His smile became wider seeing his two prisoners sitting on the floor. He dropped Samantha down without any care and tied her up with the other two girls. Gaia, the only one who was awake, watched him.
“How could you?” she asked him.
“It has all been thanks to you, my dear. After your potion to paralyze me failed in the second minute, I decided to change the plan a little. Not everything can be out of control. However there is definitely some merit in it for you.” He said this knowing that this thought would pursue her for the rest of her short life. “I couldn´t have done it without you.”
He left the room happy, leaving them there. He thought that he would never let them go.
Gaia tried to call the princesses, but she couldn´t wake them up. After containing so much tension she started to cry without refraining from thinking in all the bad she had caused. She had not only put the messenger in danger, but also the destiny of the Kingdom was tangled up in her hands. Now things were not going to end well.
Chapter 19
It was daytime when I opened my eyes. A blinding light was straight on my face. I tried to adapt my pupils to the light. Then I forcefully awoke to reality. My arms hurt, my wrists were burning from the rope that restrained them and I didn´t know where I was. It was a stone room, with only one window, one bed and one table. When I turned my head towards the wall I saw her, I was filled with hope.
“Hi,” I said joyful to have company. She was on my left, very close to me thanks to the cord.
“Hi,” she answered with a hoarse voice. “I am sorry. It is my fault that you are here.”
“Are you?...” I turned my head to my right and saw her. Her fair hair shone under the sunlight. Her skin was whiter than mine, she was stained with blood and I could see how her blue outfit was also stained.
I looked at the girl with as a matter of urgency.
“Is she alright? What happened to her?”
“I don´t know, when I arrived she was like that. Don´t worry, she is alive.”
Although I couldn´t see her face, I knew that she was telling the truth.
“What is your name?” I asked trying to find a solution to all that was going on.
“I am Gaia.”
“I am Samantha.”
“I know who you are. We all know,” she said with a neutral voice.
“Is there any way to free ourselves from these cords?”
“That is what I have been trying to do all night. But my skin is bleeding and I cannot bear the pain any longer.”
I remembered my daggers. Since I had found them I always had them on me. I trusted that what made others unable to touch them still worked to conserve them on my thighs. I moved my hands as I could until towards the left I felt it there. With all my strength I reached it. When I had it in my hand I started to cut the rope with her, but it fell from my fingers.
“How clumsy,” I muttered. “Why are you here?” I asked to try and distract us as I tried to grab the other dagger.
“I am a witch. Ian wanted me to cast a spell to make me immortal. And he has me prisoner. He threatened me last night and I didn´t obey him. Yesterday I paralyzed him with a potion but it didn´t work and as a result he went to look for you two.”
“What did he threaten you with?” I asked reaching the dagger with my fingers.
“With killing the man I love.”
That answer paralyzed me for a moment. I hadn´t thought about that. Elizabeth was with Eric when they captured her. And I didn´t have any way of finding out if he was alright. I managed to grasp the dagger and held it firmly. I started to cut the rope slowly and noticed how little by little the fibers starting to loosen. After a few minutes I managed to get set us free from that torture. Gaia got up rubbing her bleeding wrists. And I grabbed my sister and put her on the bed.
“She had a blow to the head which flowed with blood, it is now dry.” I pushed her hair aside and looked at her for the first time. We had never been together until this moment.
“Do you have any way of knowing if she is alright? Or any way to heal her? She has lost a lot of blood,” I looked at Gaia with desperate eyes.
“I don´t think it will work. I have never done it on twins. You, your body is different, it doesn´t work the same way that ours do. But I can try it,” she said as she thought about it with ideas going around in her head.
I watched her stir some things in the cauldrons that were on top of the table. In a short time, she returned with some herbs in her hands. I stood aside to give her space and watched as she knelt down in front of the bed. She put some herbs on her forehead and started to pronounce some words that I did not understand. A few minutes later she was quiet and put one hand on Elizabeth´s forehead and the other on her stomach. Then she got up and looked at me with empty eyes.
“I am sorry, I didn´t detect anything. I couldn´t even contact her body to know if she is well.”
“Thank you for trying,” I said.
I sat on the edge of the bed looking at her. Her face was peaceful. I took her right hand and put in between mine. I did nothing. I didn’t move, I simply closed my eyes and spoke to her through my mind.
<
I repeated these last words in my mind as though they were a mantra. My eyes were tightly closed when her hand moved. I opened my eyes suddenly and saw her blue eyes. There were like our mothers. I felt happy to be able to make that comparison. Because although the circumstances weren´t ideal, I had found my family.
“Elizabeth, are you alright?” I whispered stroking her hand.
“Samantha,” she exclaimed, “you have to stop being like that.”
“Like that? What do you mean?” I answered without having the minimal ideal what she was talking about.
“You cannot be so good to people, okay,” she said as she sat up. “Someday they will kill you for that. You cannot rescue me that way after all the harm I have done to you.”
Her crystal eyes looked at me. I knew that that was her way of thanking me. She hugged me tightly and smiled. She was alive.
“Very good,” she said getting up. “Let´s get out of here.”
“You cannot,” Gaia cut in, she was sitting in a corner.
Elizabeth who hadn´t known she was there ran towards her when she saw her.
“Are you alright?” she asked her worried.
“I am sorry, I shouldn´t have done it,” she said sobbing.
“No,” Elizabeth reprimanded her. “What you did was good. I would have done the same if I had had the opportunity.”
We were all standing. I looked at the high window in front of me, with its iron bars. We have to get out of here somehow.
“That is the only exit,” I said without taking my eyes off of the window.
“Yes,” Gaia confirmed. “The wall behind you moves, but it can only be opened from outside. So if we want to leave, it will have to be through there.
Elizabeth and I looked at each other. We had thought the same thing. I didn´t know if it would work but we had to try it. She put herself beside me and gave me her hand.
Darkness The Diary of Samantha Owen Page 21