by LJ Andrews
“Maurelle…stop…” Killian stammered, but soon stopped as Maurelle’s perfect lips, the dark smoldering color, locked onto Blake. Killian forgot about the brutal pain as blood spat from his open neck wound with each pounding beat, or the smoldering burn across his face as he watched Blake pull Maurelle closer into a fierce moment of passion.
When the queen finally stepped back she placed a pale hand against the side of Blake’s face. “You understand I cannot have any threat to my power or all we have worked for is finished.”
“Merlin’s warning could be wrong,” Blake whispered back leaning his forehead against hers. Killian’s stunned gaze at the surprising lovers was broken by a soft touch against his arm. Mercedes had broken free from Maurelle’s spell at the queen’s distraction with Blake.
“Mercedes get out of here,” Killian commanded quietly as Mercedes fussed over his bleeding wounds, her emerald eyes focused like a master working their trade, but a frightened storm billowed in their depths and Killian sensed her fear at the Architect’s identity.
“Mercedes, go get the others,” he prompted again, placing his hand lovingly over hers. She stopped meddling and looked at him fiercely. He sensed her torment between leaving him, or staying.
Suddenly, Mercedes’ head whipped back in a loud screech. Maurelle had a thick tuft of her chocolate colored hair wrapped in her pale palm, her normally peaceful face twisted into a malicious grin.
“I wouldn’t bother young empress,” she sneered close to Mercedes’ ear. “It’s too late for Killian, I can’t have such an ability threatening my plan. It is up to you if you live or die.”
Maurelle threw Mercedes with an unbelievable strength across the room where she landed in a crumpled heap.
"I don't want any interruptions," Maurelle said with such a poetic voice Killian believed he could forgive all and pick up their friendship again if only she asked. "So we'll just keep your friends at bay for a while.”
“There are more coming. You tried to control Dalia, but she fought against you,” Killian spat, watching Maurelle circle him like a hunting tiger. “Your control failed on her, and you’ll fail now.”
Her eyes narrowed, but she smiled widely. “I do not think so Killian. I’ve been preparing for this moment for far too long to fail now.” Maurelle lifted her palms above her head as a powerful surge of white light pierced the ceiling. Molten steel dripped and splattered above him threatening to scorch him. Trying to roll away, Killian cried out in fear as the burning ceiling fell upon him. Maurelle laughed maniacally when he opened his clenched eyes. The queen shot blue and ebony fire toward him. Holding up his arms defensively Killian pulsed the painful burning that surged through him defensively. An invisible shield met the Cimmerian fire blocking the spell from hitting his uncovered skin. He looked around, the laundry room had disappeared and he was encompassed in a beautiful dark world. The grass below him seemed bluish black and above him two fascinating moons shone brightly.
“Welcome to Cimmerian,” Maurelle hissed. “You said you wanted to see my land, a land that was once the greatest in the entire Hemisphere, but now is nothing more than a workshop for the Ponderi’s benefit. You can barely feel the magic in the earth!” Maurelle’s rant was drowned out by a deafening shriek that chilled Killian’s blood. The heat that normally pulsed through his veins from Infinium was now ice as if the power had fled from his body in fear at the sound.
Maurelle laughed and swept close to his face. “I want you to die knowing this land will rise again.”
Two female figures appeared in a billowing mist behind the queen. They both had similar flowing black hair that bobbed low on their backs. Their skin was as pale as death and their sweeping black dresses hid their feet, almost as if they were floating above the blue grass. Killian’s heart froze at their hideous faces. Neither woman had eyes, just empty black sockets with purple veins shooting off to their temples and their mouth was an open hole with black teeth and a much too flexible jaw as if the bones were dislocated.
Backing away Killian quickly found he was placed against a steep ledge with nowhere to go but toward the frightening women.
“Wraiths are commonly thought to be extinct in the Hemisphere, but when I disposed of my uncle after he drained my father of his blood I knew I would be wise to keep some of the darker creatures in my confidence.”
The two fearsome women looked up at the dark sky and shrieked their cry of attack. Killian covered his ears, the frosty feeling piercing his insides the longer their cry went on. The ghostly women circled him slapping their cold, pale hands across his face. Killian ducked his head from their beastly touch, trying to urge Infinium to do something, anything to rid him of the haunting women.
Suddenly his heart seemed to stop. Frightening images filled his mind. He saw a bloody massacre at the Praetorium, everyone he loved falling beneath gilded swords, steel arrows, and bloodied clubs. He saw Miller slung in a tree by his ankles, the old man lifeless as his blood dripped from open wounds. Killian clasped the sides of his head screaming for it to stop. He felt the cold women wrap their frigid palms around his wrists, forcing him to the ground on his back. They wrenched his arms and legs apart and held him tight with their weakening grip. Something about the wraiths seemed to freeze Infinium in its place. Killian felt no warmth, no urge for it to fight back. It was if the power was gone and destroyed from the creatures.
Maurelle quickly leapt next to Killian, wrapping her palms around his neck over the gash of blood. Instantly he felt his body growing weaker as she extracted what felt to be his very soul. He urged Infinium to save him and the burning responded, but like a dying ember. Too much was hindering his fight: betrayal, fear, exhaustion.
“You cannot even fight back,” the queen whispered close to his face. “Your family will finally pay for all you have done to my land and people.”
“You...you’ve been…planning this…since your father…” Killian tried to speak against the queen’s furious extraction, hoping to distract her even for a moment. The wraiths’ presence made it difficult to focus.
“Since James Thomas killed my father, yes. I’ve hunted down the Thomas’s for centuries, but you…I knew you were different. You should have been killed as a child but your parents made sure to hide you well. I knew I would find you Killian and after Mercedes dies with you I will have the relics.”
“I…I am…not alone. Ax…”
“You think the crazed Glacien is a threat to me? I forced the empress to reveal his existence. I wanted you to find him, why destroy one Infinium when I could destroy both?”
“You…were controlling…Gwyniera?” Small black spots began dotting Killian’s vision as the extraction took hold.
Maurelle chuckled wildly. “You underestimate my control over others, including Dalia,” Maurelle seethed. Killian gulped, surprised Maurelle knew of Axel. “Interesting she left you, yet the old Infinium went with her. Her instructions are clear and she will finish him off just as you will die.”
A loud crash sounded with a powerful suction of wind as a portal opened upon them.
“I have powers of my own,” Dalia hissed, blasting the steel arrow with a fiery shower of ebony and blue flames. The smoldering arrow struck the opposite side of the ledge as Maurelle shrieked in frustration at the sight of Dalia standing with Axel.
Maurelle dropped Killian. He gasped and coughed harnessing what little energy he had left. Someone rushed to his side as Maurelle engaged into a terrific fight with Dalia and Axel.
“Killian, are you hurt?” He met the kind gaze of Rhetta, his grandmother. She wrapped her arms around him and helped him off the ground.
“How…are you here?”
“Who do you think sent the word to sound the tolls in Glaciem? I only wish I could’ve found you sooner, the Trinity warriors are fierce fighters. Dalia found us and explained everything that had happened with the control spell in the mountains, and Axel led us back to you, but your young woman friend explained what the Queen had don
e. Dalia knew where she’d taken you at once. Come now we have to get you back to the Praetorium.”
Killian whipped his head around as Maurelle cried out in bitter rage. Axel was fighting the shrieking wraiths and slowly the frightening women disappeared little by little as he held his hands against their pale skin. Rhetta grabbed a hold of Killian and helped him rush toward the open doorway back to the Praetorium.
“Killian!” Maurelle’s voice shouted. Almost as if by force he turned just as a black dagger pierced his chest. He heard Rhetta scream and Dalia howl in frustration before the powerful suction of the portal sucked him back to the Praetorium laundry room.
The room was cool and chaotic. His eyes blurred against the images, but he saw many people. Blake fought against Mercedes and Egan had joined them. Billowing robes of Trinity warriors had filled the room and raged against the empress Gwyniera. He smiled wearily at the icy woman. There was no denying her fury when it came to defending her realm. Lucan had found them and was pinning a cloaked Trinity to the ground.
Slowly Rhetta rested his head in a corner trying to protect him from the chaos. He felt his body weakening with each beat of his heart, but he wasn’t afraid. Something calmed him and he felt strangely peaceful as his eyesight blurred more. Rhetta cried out in a furious rage when the red hair of Bant attacked her from behind. Killian met the eye of…could it really be? Nathaniel. The old man looked at him curiously before swiping a deadly dagger at Bant from behind. From behind Nathaniel another man rushed forward, with each step he took Killian felt more peace, more strange comfort. The Deshuit he’d escorted to the prison manipulated the battle with ease before sliding along the metal floor and hovering over Killian’s limp form.
“Killian…no, Killian,” the man breathed holding tight to his shoulders and dipping his palms in the chest wound attempting to stop the blood flow. “Hey kid, you stay with me.”
Something about the man brought strength, like the man had a missing piece that had filled him once again. Desperately the Deshuit ripped into his Ponderi prison uniform digging in the folds looking for something. Then Killian saw it. The battered gold still looked the same, the crack carving its way from the center of the charm to the outer edges was still there. The Deshuit placed the charm on Killian’s chest and held it there. Such a relief filled him, although he still felt his body weakening, his charm was back.
“The relic,” he whispered, smiling.
“You hold on to that, Killian. Take the power from it, please...come on now,” the Deshuit said desperately. Closing his eyes Killian let the relic’s power soak into his skin. He felt his body accept it like an old friend. Slowly the burn of Infinium prickled over the red raised brand on the back of his neck urging him up.
Shaking the fog from his head, Killian accepted the Deshuit’s help as he stood on his feet. His mind cleared like nothing had happened, and he glanced down at the open wound from Maurelle’s dagger. The blood still flowed freely, yet he didn’t feel weak he felt more powerful. Egan and Mercedes battled against Blake in such a way Killian had never seen. Egan roared as an infinite arrow sliced through his bicep, narrowly missing Mercedes who stood behind him.
A burst of power rushed forth and Dalia, Axel and Maurelle crossed over through another portal, thrashing one another with blue, ebony and white mist as they tried to dispose of the other. Axel held his hands in front of Dalia trying to protect her with his own power, but Maurelle seemed to break through and the old Infinium was thrown across the room landing in front of Blake and his battle with Mercedes and Egan.
Axel leapt to his feet twisting bits of the flooring up as he stood. The metal twisted and broke until a solid wall blocked Blake from Mercedes and Egan.
“How is he doing this?” Blake cried to Maurelle, his face flushed in fury. The queen bristled and threw a flash of red at Dalia, knocking the older Cimmerian to the floor.
Killian bounded closer to the fight, and flung a loose steel plate by urging a rage of power at Blake, just as Axel had. Blake dove as the steel cut through Axel’s metal wall, dodging the onslaught of the deadly metal and landed near a weakened Mercedes who had scampered over to Miller. The old man lay unconscious and pale from blood loss. Blake wrapped a toned arm around Mercedes neck before she could snatch her daggers from her wrist bands.
“Don’t come any closer Kill,” Blake heaved, a stream of fresh blood pooled over his brow. He flashed his eyes over Killian’s blood soaked chest and gaping wound that had not healed. He saw the gold charm soaking in the burgundy blood and his teeth turned up into a wretched sneer. “I’ll kill her and take the relic now if you keep coming.”
Killian slowed his pursuit, ignoring the bloody battle ensuing around him. “Blake, don’t be an idiot. You can’t beat us; a talented Cimmerian, an empress and relic guardian, and two Infinium. Use your head.”
Blake’s eyes widened and peered at Axel. “There are two?” That seemed meant as a question, but came out in breathless disbelief as if to convince himself of the truth.
“You didn’t know? Maurelle must have kept that from you, she knows how much you want Infinium I suppose. Maybe she thought you wouldn’t be able to control yourself.” Killian said coolly, moving ever closer to Mercedes who slowly reached for her daggers as Blake’s grip loosened as his mind processed what Killian insinuated. Killian reached out a hand and brushed Mercedes’ upper arm trying to pull her away. The subtle motion snapped Blake to attention.
“No!” He shouted and sliced his arrow across Killian’s chest, missing his already bleeding skin by inches.
Mercedes scowled and twisted from Blake’s grip. She leapt through the air slicing her jagged daggers menacingly toward him, locking her steel with his arrow. Killian backed away holding his palms out to the sides. Wood and steel croaked and tore from their hinges until two thick beams were in each hand. A hooded Trinity swung a sword from behind him, but Killian thrust one of his beams with ease into his midsection, bringing the gasping soldier to the floor. Swiping one hand in front of him, a surge of energy pushed the winded fighter out of his path and away from Mercedes and Blake.
More cloaked Trinity had joined in the fight and took on Rhetta and Dalia in the corner with spells and weapons from every realm. Rhetta seemed unbelievably skilled with her sword, but even more on her feet. The older woman was fast as she slid along the cool floor beneath the cloaks of the Trinity guard and sliced along their ankles. Dalia flung any loose debris through the air and seemed to bind it painfully to the necks, chests and heads of the Trinity soldiers, while deflecting extraction spells they spewed back at her.
Nathaniel fought alongside Axel against the queen. Maurelle was furious. Her face contorted as she blasted deadly spells at her combatants. Nathaniel moved swiftly, aware he was no match for the queen. He distracted her spells as Axel moved in and surged powerful blasts against her through his palms. Killian could almost see Infinium's red tint under his thin skin as it flowed out of his hands. He marveled at Axel's control and strength with the power; such a connection he hoped to achieve one day.
The Dehsuit pulled out his long gold blade Killian had seen many times before, bringing him back to his vulnerable situation. A Trinity fighter had noticed the two stationary men and angrily pursued them.
“How did you get your weapon?”
“Not important. Feeling better?” he said quickly sizing Killian up and down. Without waiting for his reply the Deshuit lunged into the fight against the crazed fighter. A glint of silver caught Killian’s eye. Smiling widely he rushed to the debris ridden corner and clasped his spear that had fallen during the battle. Taking a deep breath, he released the pointed spears and bolted toward the real enemy.
Maurelle screamed in frustration as Axel blocked her fiery spells and turned them against her. The old Glacien laughed loudly, a deep laugh that seemed part insane to Killian. Axel closed his eyes as the brief moment of insanity overtook him and doubled over laughing.
“You should have died on the Venture!” t
he queen shouted and blasted Axel hard with a unique blend of white, green and blue mist. It hit Axel square in the chest before he even realized what was happening and the old Glacien fell to the ground with a loud crack, unmoving.
Maurelle was not pleased; she didn’t laugh her normal chuckle of pleasure. Instead she reeled on Killian and raised her hands above her head just as she had with Axel.
“You’re a disgrace Killian Thomas. You’re a thief for stealing the power of the relics. They belong in Cimmerian and should never have been gifted to the other realms!” The same cocktail of hideous colors burst from her hands toward him. Killian tried to move, but something about the power of Maurelle held him firm, as if one of the colorful mists was magnetized to his body. His heart pounded like a loose rubber band as time seemed to slow. The Deshuit spurred into action from his victory over the Trinity fighter. The man's eyes were frightened, pure terror as he tried to jump into the line of fire, but he was beaten by another. Nathaniel burst in front of the attack as Killian watched helplessly as the older man took the hit square in the back.
Nathaniel’s skin grayed instantly, but slowly he pushed back against the spell until he grabbed a hold of Maurelle’s wrist. The queen screamed in pain as if his touch burned her.
“You can’t win today,” Nathaniel rasped, smiling up at the queen as he slowly lowered to the ground. Maurelle placed her other hand over his chest. Her brilliant teeth glaring through a hideous snarl as she pulled outward and extracted his life. Nathaniel slumped the rest of the way down to the ground in a lifeless mass.
Maurelle clasped her hand in a fist and instantly Blake was by her side, as if she had flung an invisible lasso around his waist. She glared at Killian once more. “It’s not over Killian. We will meet again soon.” And with that the queen and Blake disappeared in a cloud of black dust.
The room was encompassed in an eerie silence, only the shuffles of Dalia and Rhetta pinning the Trinity warriors against the wall could be heard.