The Guardians Complete Series 1 Box Set: Contains Mercy, The Ferryman, Crossroads, Witchfinder, Infernum

by Wendy Saunders

  ‘Olivia?’ a strangely familiar voice spoke softly. ‘Olivia?’

  She’d recognize that lilting musical island accent anywhere. Lifting her head slowly and sucking in a sharp breath at the pain shooting across her shoulder, she twisted her head in the direction of the voice and blinked as her eyes adjusted to the dim light.

  ‘Tituba?’ she croaked, her rough voice sounding foreign to her ears.

  ‘Olivia,’ Tituba repeated in concern. She tried to get closer but there was a sudden chink of chains and her movements halted. ‘Olivia I can’t get no closer, you ‘ave to come to me.’

  ‘No I’m good’ Olivia muttered, dropping her head down on the ground. ‘I think I’ll just stay here for a while.’

  ‘Olivia!’ Tituba’s voice snapped with authority, ‘don’t close your eyes, don’t sleep. You ‘ave to move, I can’t help you unless you come close.’

  She knew the beautiful slave woman was right, she shouldn’t go to sleep. Somewhere in the back of her mind she knew that with the trauma her body had sustained there was a chance she could go into shock. But she was so tired, physically and mentally exhausted. It wouldn’t end, Nathaniel may not have gotten any answers from her yet but it was only a matter of time before he came back and began again. In fact, the only reason he’d stopped was because her body had passed its point of tolerance and she kept passing out. So he’d dragged her broken body down to the cellar to rest before he started on round two.

  She could feel the numbness creeping in again and her eyes drifted closed.

  ‘OLIVIA!’ Tituba snapped again, ‘open your eyes!’

  She was right, she had to fight, she couldn’t give in. If she stood any chance of getting out of this house of horrors she had to move. Raising her head again she forced herself to roll over. A pained cry tore from her lips as her shoulder pulled again, but at least it was no longer trapped under the weight of her body. Her left arm dangled uselessly at her side. Not only was her shoulder dislocated but her hand was a mess. When Nathaniel had first removed the pincers he’d amused himself by pulling off her nails one by one and just when she’d thought it couldn’t get any worse he’d proceeded to break every single bone in her left hand, starting with each of her fingers. She couldn’t even feel it now, let alone move it. She’d tried not to look at it as it now resembled canned ham. Fortunately, she thought, he hadn’t had a chance to fuck up her other arm yet so at least she could still use that and one of her legs. Her right leg was a different matter, there were several puncture marks which ran the length of her leg where he’d slowly screwed vicious looking white hot metal pins into the bone along her shin.

  Knowing she had to move she gritted her teeth. Steeling herself against the jolting agony she slowly and painstakingly dragged herself along the floor, inch by torturous inch. It seemed to take an eternity, the room silent but for her labored breaths. She could feel Tituba watching, feel the waves of sympathy and concern rolling off her.

  When she was finally close enough Tituba reached out and pulled her the rest of the way. Collapsing exhaustedly into her arms, her breaths came in deep gasps. It was only by good fortune that Tituba was chained to the wall by her ankle which left her hands free. She pressed and probed Olivia’s shoulder whilst she tried not to cry out in pain.

  ‘Your shoulder is out of place’ she told her softly, ‘I will have to put it back.’

  Olivia nodded slowly, knowing it was going to hurt like hell.

  ‘Brace yourself’ she told her, wrapping her arm around Olivia’s torso and gripping her arm firmly.

  Gritting her teeth, she couldn’t quite silence the groan of pain and rush of nausea as Tituba cracked her shoulder back into place. She grabbed onto the slave woman with her good hand, squeezing her eyes shut and taking deep measured breaths until the pain slowly began to subside. Although her shoulder still hurt like hell she felt almost instant relief once it was back in place and no longer dangling uselessly. As the feeling suddenly rushed back into her damaged hand she sucked in an involuntary gasp.

  Tituba stroked her hair back from her swollen face and crooned to her softly as if she were a child. Her jaw was badly swollen and bruised, her lip was split and one eye was almost swollen shut.

  ‘I bet I look good don’t I?’ Olivia murmured in a low scratchy voice.

  ‘Trust me, being locked in this place I seen a lot worse.’

  ‘How did you end up here?’

  Tituba sighed, her head dropping back against the wall.

  ‘After I was accused by Betty and Abby I was beaten and arrested. I was put on trial along with the others.’

  ‘But they didn’t hang you?’ Olivia replied in puzzlement. ‘Don’t get me wrong, I’m real glad they didn’t but it doesn’t make sense. As a black slave, accused of witchcraft, I would’ve thought they would have been desperate to make an example of you.’

  ‘Plenty of them were,’ she replied.

  ‘Then how?’

  ‘Nathaniel’ she replied. ‘He know I had magic in me, just as he know the others who hung did not.’

  ‘He made sure you were protected from the death penalty,’ Olivia whispered, ‘because he wanted you alive?’

  ‘Yes, I was left to rot in the prison. When sanity finally return and the court finished, all the accused were released but I. I was not free; I was still Master Parris’ property. He did not wish me to return and so I was sold to a new master. When they took me from the prison I thought I would be taken to a new household but instead I was brought here. Nathaniel hired another man to buy me on his behalf so no one know I’m here.’

  ‘How long have you been here?’

  Olivia felt rather than saw her shrug.

  ‘It doesn’t matter, there no way out for me.’

  She picked up the chain and rattled it. Olivia’s eyes narrowed as her gaze landed on the metal band around the woman’s ankle. The lettering inscribed deeply into the metal was familiar. She’d seen that design before on the demon collar her mother and Nathaniel had put on the Ferryman. No wonder she couldn’t escape, the chains were probably blocking her powers the same way the rope had blocked her own.

  The rope.

  Olivia glanced down to her own wrists, the rope wasn’t there. He’d untied her from the chair and left the rope attached to the chair instead of her. He probably figured she was too weak to cause any trouble.

  Moron.

  Reaching deep down she felt for her power. It was there and despite her exhaustion she could reach it. Turning to look at Tituba her good eye narrowed. If the shackles used on Tituba were indeed the same as the ones used to restrain Charon, then she should be able to break them the same way.

  ‘Help me sit up,’ she croaked.

  ‘Olivia you should rest.’

  ‘No,’ she shook her head, ‘help me.’

  She reached out and grasped Olivia gently and after a few awkward moments she managed to help her into a sitting position. Cradling her damaged hand against her chest Olivia laid her other hand gently on the metal. It felt cool to the touch and vibrated like a plucked string as she traced her fingers along its surface. The writing suddenly glowed with sapphire blue fire and she knew it was the same as the demon collar, forged in Hell fire.

  As it had before, in the Turkish Baths of the abandoned Boatman hotel back in Mercy, the whole room seemed to fade away and her eyes drifted closed. She could hear a low murmur, a whisper in the furthest corner of her mind, a language so ancient it had not been spoken in millions of years. A language from the very beginning of time. It spoke to her soul and she realized with a start that she recognized it. It was the same voice which had been whispering to her since the moment she’d landed in Salem.

  When she opened her eyes they were no longer a warm whiskey color but deep blue and held within their depths countless eons and such a vastness of power. The words rose unbidden to her lips as she murmured the language that came to her so easily. The shackles grew warm under
her touch and as she wrapped her fingers around the side and tugged, it came apart in her hand with an inaudible click.

  When she looked up Tituba was watching her intently. She didn’t appear at all surprised but instead seemed to be appraising her in some way. Olivia’s eyes had lost the bright blue flame and settled back into their warm natural whiskey color. But the whispering didn’t stop, she could still hear it.

  ‘Do you hear that?’

  ‘Hear what?’ she asked Olivia curiously. ‘What exactly do you hear?’

  ‘Whispering,’ she murmured absently, her attention firmly fixed on the voices.

  ‘What do they say, the whispers?’

  ‘I’m not sure exactly, I don’t think I can put it into words. The language is old and very complex.’

  They both looked up suddenly as they heard footsteps on the stairs leading down to the door. Olivia grabbed the hem of Tituba’s ragged dress and pulled it over her ankle, to hide the fact she was no longer shackled.

  ‘When he comes for me,’ Olivia spoke quickly, ‘you have to let him take me.’

  ‘Olivia no,’ she shook her head.

  ‘You have to’ she rushed on, ‘while he’s distracted with me, sneak out and find Theo.’

  ‘I’m not leaving you.’

  ‘Please,’ Olivia breathed, ‘you have to find Theo and warn him the demon Zachary is going to kill him.’

  The door suddenly swung open and Nathaniel strode towards them. Wrapping the witch rope around her throat he pulled her backwards, dragging her away from Tituba.

  ‘I realized I’d forgotten to restrain you. I thought you’d be in too much pain to cause any mischief,’ he smiled as he looked down at her where she lay on the floor, breathing heavily. ‘I see I underestimated your recovery time.’

  ‘Go to Hell,’ she hissed.

  ‘Already been,’ he replied humorously as he hauled her up easily and slung her body over his shoulder. ‘I hope you’re looking forward to this as much as I am.’

  She said nothing, watching Tituba’s face as he carried her from the room and back up the stairs towards the study. Before she knew it she was tied back in the chair, and now the witch rope burned at her throat as well as her wrists.

  ‘Now where were we?’ he leaned over the instruments which he’d yet to use.

  She watched as he pulled out what looked like three long thin wickedly sharp needles but as she looked closer she could see a spiral of metal winding the length of each of them, making them look like long thin corkscrews.

  ‘I know Zachary wanted me to wait for this part,’ his mouth curved, ‘but I’m sure he’ll forgive my impatience.’

  She clamped her lips together as he lined up one of the needles against her shoulder and slowly pressed it into her skin, she bit her lip so hard she drew more blood. But as he slowly began to twist it, viciously screwing it deeper into her flesh and through her bone, she couldn’t bite back the scream of white hot agony which ripped from her throat.

  Theo looked up at his brother in confusion.

  ‘What do you mean you know everything?’ he asked cagily.

  ‘After James was arrested Stephen and I were sent to search his house.’ He turned to James contritely, ‘sorry about that.’

  James’ eyes narrowed and his jaw clenched tightly.

  ‘While Stephen was in the other room I found the first book, the book of magic,’ he shook his head softly in remembrance. ‘I knew what it was, it seemed to confirm everything they were saying about James. But then…I found this.’

  He held up his mother’s journal.

  ‘I recognized her handwriting straight away,’ he continued. ‘At first I couldn’t understand why it was there or what was going on. I was going to hide both books until I could look at them and decide what to do. But unfortunately Stephen walked in. I managed to hide mother’s journal in my coat but he’d already seen the witch’s book. I had no choice but to hand it over to Nathaniel.’

  He took a deep breath, his eyes locking on his brother.

  ‘I took the journal home with me and spent every minute reading it. Then I went back and read it again and again. It was like walking out of the darkness into the sunlight and for the first time in years I could see everything so clearly. See every single mistake I’d ever made. I could see where my hate and anger had led me.’

  ‘Reading that book was like finally being able to breathe again. I could hear mother’s voice in my head with every page I turned.’

  He shook his head, restlessly pacing the room, absently stopping in front of the window and looking down upon Nathaniel’s house.

  ‘I took a long hard look at the man I was, at the man I had become and I didn’t like what I saw. She wouldn’t have wanted that for me.’ He turned to look at Theo his eyes dark and filled with pain, ‘she would’ve been ashamed of me.’

  Theo kept his mouth shut, he didn’t know what to say, didn’t know what to believe. After all the timeline had changed, he had no way of knowing which of his memories were real or which were left over from a reality that now never happened.

  ‘You tried to warn me,’ Logan continued, ‘tried to save me but I wouldn’t listen and it cost us Temperance. I should have been at home looking after her, not following Nathaniel around like a trained puppy. I failed her, just as I failed you,’ he shook his head sadly. ‘Why didn’t you tell me?’

  ‘Tell you what?’ Theo asked carefully.

  ‘You know what,’ he whispered. ‘You and Temperance both have magical abilities and so did our mother, and…’ His gaze cut across to James who wisely chose not to interfere with this moment between the two brothers, ‘…your father.’

  So, he knew about James, Theo thought.

  ‘You may not have known about James when we were children, but you knew that you and Tempy were different. Why didn’t you come to me?’

  ‘I was protecting you,’ Theo replied quietly, ‘and us.’ He blew out a deeply frustrated breath and raked both of his hands through his hair.

  ‘I didn’t know what to do, I made the best decision I could at the time but I always regretted it.’

  ‘I would have protected you,’ Logan said quietly.

  ‘Would you?’

  ‘Of course I would have’ he replied, ‘you’re my brother and I love you. When I found out the truth about you, I came to a Crossroads in my life. I had to make a choice, between what I had been taught was right and wrong and what my own conscience was telling me was right and wrong. I chose you… I knew I had to get you as far away from Nathaniel as I could, that’s why I treated you the way I did. I needed you out of Salem and back at the farm where I knew you’d be safe.’

  ‘But all the things you did, the accused…’

  ‘You saw exactly what I needed you to see, everyone did.’

  ‘I don’t understand,’ Theo frowned.

  ‘He saved them,’ a new voice spoke up from the doorway.

  James and Theo turned to see a tall blond haired man step into the room. For a moment Theo’s stomach jolted, he looked almost identical to his best friend Jake back in Mercy.

  ‘Justin,’ James replied in confusion, ‘what are you doing here?’

  ‘I’m a part of Logan’s story,’ he walked into the room.

  ‘Theo,’ James introduced them, ‘this is my friend Justin Gilbert.’

  Theo nodded in acknowledgment. ‘What do you mean he saved them?’ he asked, latching on to what he’d said when he walked in.

  ‘When Logan had his epiphany he came to me. He wanted to find a way to stop the killing, stop Nathaniel,’ Justin picked up the story. ‘He was going to publicly denounce Nathaniel. Being the closest one to him, he was privy to many of his secrets. However, being a part of Nathaniel’s inner circle made him far too valuable. We needed to see how far Nathaniel’s reach stretched, so Logan agreed to stay close to Nathaniel and work with us. We managed to save so many, thanks to Logan’s information. That’s what
this place is, ‘The Salted Bone’, it’s a safe place for the accused to hide until we could smuggle them out of Salem.’

  ‘You were the one who told Justin that Nathaniel was holding me at his house?’ James turned to Logan.

  He nodded slowly, ‘I’m sorry it took us so long to get you out, we needed to know that Justin had the backing of the Governor in case Nathaniel refused to hand you over.’

  ‘You saved my life,’ he replied quietly.

  Logan shrugged, ‘don’t waste your gratitude on me, I don’t deserve it. Whatever lives I had a hand in saving in no way makes up for those I failed…for those poor souls who were hung on Gallows Hill.’

  ‘Logan,’ Justin sighed.

  ‘It’s true Justin,’ Logan insisted, ‘you know it is.’

  ‘So you both have been playing Nathaniel?’ Theo frowned trying to understand. ‘You made him believe he could trust you and you used that information to save those he’d had accused or arrested?’

  ‘It’s so much more complex than that’ Logan told him, looking to Justin.

  Justin met his gaze and an unspoken agreement seemed to pass between them. Finally, he nodded as if giving his permission for Logan to continue.

  ‘Theo,’ Logan spoke softly, ‘we know what Nathaniel is. We know that he is a demon.’

  ‘What?’ Theo gasped.

  ‘Once we understood what we were dealing with, we realized this went far beyond merely denouncing him and having him arrested. We knew it wouldn’t do any good. Have you read Mother’s journal yet?’

  Theo shook his head. ‘James has but I didn’t get the chance.’

  ‘Mother saw a great many things; she was an incredibly gifted seer. She knew about Nathaniel and his search for a book she called Infernum.’

  ‘The Hell book,’ Theo nodded.