“What is this you speak,” said Brit, who had pulled herself to her feet and was brandishing her blade.
But Una’s eyes had gone wide. He didn’t mean…
“Oh yes,” he said, continuing to smile. “Una, I’ve had my eye on you for some time. And you too, Britomart, dear. You’re both so...how shall I say...delicious.”
“You sent me that lion?”
This was new information she had never considered. It never entered her head before that Wrath would be anything but another villain to fight. To hear that he was somehow involved with her from the very start, when she was just beginning to realize that she had magic. What did this mean?
Her wall of air faltered just as Brit burst out, “This is the Sin we were looking for, no? Then let us end him!”
“Brit, no!”
But Britomart was not listening. Raising her weapon, she charged at Wrath on his lion. In the time it took for Brit to close the distance, Wrath left his perch atop the beast and grinned. Brit slashed at him, but he easily sidestepped. She attacked again and once more he avoided the blow.
Brit looked at him, confused. She attacked again and again, and each time it appeared as though Wrath became something fluid, somehow managing to avoid each and every strike with little to no effort at all.
Frustrated, Brit yelled and redoubled her efforts, never making contact with the man.
“Brit, you have to stop,” said Una. “You’re getting angry.”
But it was too late, Brit’s face was red with fury, she slashed and hacked to no avail, and all the while Wrath smiled at Una, barely paying notice to Brit. Even as Una watched, the dark air settled over Brit’s head. The angrier she got, the less her attacks made an impact against Wrath.
Finally, Wrath snapped his fingers and his lion shot forward.
Brit screamed as she was knocked backward by the massive beast, its front paws pinning her to the ground. Una put forth her hands and shouted, but the lion held its peace. It only kept Brit immobile against the grass.
“Believe it or not,” said Wrath in his weirdly calm tone. “I do not wish to harm you.”
Una shook her head to try and clear it. This was one of the Sins, perhaps one of the strongest, and she could not take his power lightly. She could not listen to him. She had to use her magic now and end him where he stood. She would likely never have a better chance.
Gathering all her strength, she thrust her magic outward, much as she had done for Acrasia, shooting power at her foe, readying it to hold him and cut him off from the source of his strength. The magic lashed out, ready to be used, ready to enact justice against one of the most dangerous beings alive. It reached his position.
And melted away completely.
Una breathed out in a rush, bringing her magic to bear again, hurtling it towards Wrath. But the magic did little good.
“I am indestructible,” said Wrath with no apparent fear of her attacks. “Your magic will not harm me. Especially in this place. The Saxons hunger for blood. Every day they seek the death of the Britons. And the Britons are much the same. Their anger fuels me. I think you will find I am not so easily cowed. Not like my poor sister Acrasia nor the coward Mammon. For as long as there is hate, there will I be. And hate...hate is eternal.”
He said it as a flash of hunger played across his eyes.
“What do you want?” said Una, knowing her and Brit’s attacks were useless. But they were not dead yet, which meant Wrath had some other purpose for them.
“I am so very glad you asked,” said Wrath. For someone who fed on anger, he was surprisingly jovial in his demeanor. “As I said before, I’ve been keeping an eye on you for some time.”
“Why?” Una narrowed her eyes.
“Because of who you are. I believe the two of us could be a force like no one this world has ever seen. I wanted to come and make it clear that I bear you no ill will.”
“And why should we believe you?” said Una. She took a moment to glance at Brit who was still pinned down under the lion, but who watched the conversation with some interest. She appeared to have calmed down somewhat, given the fact that there was an enormous monster poised to tear her throat out.
“Because you are still alive now. There is much I could offer you, if you would but…”
Almost without thinking about it, Una directed a tendril of her own magic towards Brit, not enough that someone like Wrath would notice, but just enough to convince the air between them to carry a message.
“Do not grow angry,” Una whispered so softly that no one but herself could hear, and she kept her lips from moving so that Wrath would not see. Brit blinked, but her eyes locked with Una’s. Una suppressed a smile. Her tiny spell was working. She continued. “Brit, he is fueled by anger. The more you can control your emotions, the more likely we can have the upper hand. It’s preventing me from touching him.”
Brit paused, and for a moment Una wondered if she was even capable of controlling her emotions. But a moment later, she received the barest hint of a nod from the Armorican. That would have to do.
“Of course, Duessa might not see it my way,” Wrath said, continuing whatever speech he had been giving. “She does not admire you, Una, as I do. But she will come to learn in time.”
Una took a deep, centering breath, no longer listening to the Sin. Instead, she did what she could to rid herself of all emotion, to become nothing but purpose. A stillness lay on her like a mantle, and she grasped for her magic once more.
Opening her eyes, she flung her power outward, this time not at Wrath, but at his lion. The beast bellowed as Una pushed it off of Brit. It flew through the air some twenty paces.
Brit sprang to her feet, and from Una’s vantage point she could see no emotion on her visage. Brit brought her sword swinging upward right at Wrath’s face.
Wrath, surprised, took a single step back but it wasn’t quite enough. The blade nicked his cheek, and drew a line of blood, fresh blood that had not already stained his garments. Una managed a small smile. This blood was his own. He was not invulnerable as he claimed.
Brit attacked again but this time Wrath dodged as he had before. Was he putting forth more effort into the motion this time?
“I see I am not yet welcome.” His voice was still calm, though there was an edge to it now. “But I will be watching. You will come to understand me in time.”
He retreated and hopped on the lion who had just pushed itself to its feet. “Think about what I’ve said,” he shouted as the lion made its retreat. “I can offer you far more than Gloriana ever could.”
And with that, he was gone.
Una took a deep breath. That...well that had not been what she expected.
“We hurt him,” said Brit, bringing her sword in front of her to gaze at the tip, which carried a thin line of blood. Wrath’s blood.
“Yes,” said Una. “But his magic is different than Acrasia’s. I can’t just use my own power against him and hope to win. He had to be drained of his power first somehow.”
“How?”
“It’s like he said, he’s fueled by the hate of the Saxons and Britons. Their conflict makes him almost indestructible.”
“Well we can hardly stop that fight,” said Brit with an air of finality.
“What worried me,” Una went on. “Is why he let us live.”
“Yes, he appears to want you,” said Brit, nodding.
Una’s eyes widened slightly at Brit’s bluntness. “What...I don’t know if he looks at me quite...”
“He looks at you like the tall knight,” said Brit, as though there was no doubt. “Thank the gods, Una. It is what saved us today. It is his weakness.”
Una looked from Brit off into the distance where Wrath had disappeared on the lion. She didn’t like it, but Brit was probably right. Una sighed. Yet another man wanting that which he could not have. Yet this one was dangerous in a way that none of the others were. He possessed true power that even Una could not break, not under normal circumstances
anyway.
And what had he meant by saying he could offer her more than Gloriana? Did he mean he could offer her answers? Una swallowed as she considered that question. What if Wrath knew who her father was?
Acrasia had claimed to know the answer to that question, though she kept it to herself. And even she admitted that it was only an educated guess. Did Wrath know more?
The thought troubled her as she helped Brit brush herself off and chase down her horse, which took the better part of three hours. They now had to decide what to do next. Una wasn’t sure she would like whatever happened from now on.
14
Wrath sped across the plain and through forests with unnatural speed. He reveled in the power coursing through him. That woman, the Armorican, she had given him far more power than he would have expected from a single knight. Even in the moment before she grazed him with her sword, she had still been holding back a torrent of rage, if not quite as much as before. He would have to watch that one.
But it was Una who set his own heart aflame. There had been a time when all he cared about was hate and blood. But then he had exited Annwyn into this reality, the first time he had stepped foot on its soil in literal ages of man, and her face had been among the first he laid eyes upon.
Wrath had been one of the first to emerge from Annwyn, given strength by the ongoing conflict between the Saxons and the Britons. He’d accompanied the dragon out of the breach at Castle Silene, but unlike his scaly companion, he had decided to escape the castle and find the source of conflict across the land, so he could feed on it. He’d been drawn to one, Pellinore, whose hatred sustained him more than almost anyone else in the land, though Pellinore himself kept his rage well checked.
It had been he who led Wrath to Una. As an adolescent, she already exhibited her strength in magic. He knew immediately that she was special, though it had taken him years to uncover why. It wasn’t until the other Sins emerged from the breaches that he became sure. That was when Una’s magical abilities increased, making their source far more obvious.
He had sent the lion then, to act as a sort of safeguard against stray threats from Annwyn that might do her harm. And it was a good thing too. That imbecile knight of Duessa’s had killed it and would have killed Una too had she not further discovered the uses of her abilities, a discovery brought on by her interaction with the lion. In a way, she owed her safety to Wrath.
And now she was more than a curiosity to him. She was someone to be admired. The way she had attacked Acrasia and severed her from the power of Sin was absolutely incredible. He had no concerns that she would do the same to him, of course. She had tried just now along the coast, but her efforts had been in vain. Wrath was protected by magic unlike that of any of the other Sins, except perhaps Duessa. She was the only one who commanded Wrath’s respect. And it was to her that he traveled now.
His lion bounded through the dark trees of the Forest of Arden, once the domain of the Faerie Queen, but increasingly given to darkness born of the City of Pride. Duessa had called him there, and he was not yet such a fool as to ignore her.
The trees parted to reveal a small valley, at the center of which stood the City of Pride, a tall, seven-towered fortress of myth and legend. All life in its immediate vicinity had shriveled up and died, and nothing was left save black earth. It was beautiful.
When he entered the gates, Duessa was waiting for him.
“You fool!” she snapped as he brought the lion to a halt and dismounted. The lion growled under its breath and Wrath gently patted it on its side.
“You know as well as I that Una would be a far better asset than an enemy. I was merely presenting myself as someone she could trust.”
“And you don’t seem to remember the prophecy, that you will only be defeated by a woman.” Duessa said, the air around her growing darker. “And here you go speaking to two women who would wish you dead, even injuring yourself. You grow too confident.”
Wrath shrugged, dabbing one hand at the small wound on his cheek. A drop of blood showed on his fingers. “Tis but a scratch. The conflict in this part of the land is far too hot to allow my strength to weaken.”
“You would do well not to underestimate the girl,” said Duessa, her voice cold. “Remember what she did to Acrasia.”
“Acrasia never was one to understand true power. Anger trumps lust in any era. You should know, pride is perhaps the most widespread of vices among humanity.”
“Which is why you must listen to me. You are forbidden from going after Una again, or the other one.”
Wrath scowled. “You are not my mother.”
“Based on your actions, I might as well be,” Duessa snapped. “But do not worry, I have other plans for her.”
“You had better hurry,” said Wrath. “Or there will be none of the Sins left by the time you break her.”
“Something tells me she will never fully commit to our cause. But there are other ways to ensure her help.” Duessa turned and began walking back to the tallest of the seven towers.
“Enlighten me,” said Wrath, following.
“Oh, there are old magics that not even you know about, magics that could facilitate the return of our Lord. And Una will be instrumental in that regard, whether she wants it or not. If we cannot have her help willingly, we will simply fashion someone who can. But I will need your help.”
“Is that why you summoned me?”
“Partially,” she intoned. “But also to save you from your own stupidity.” She half turned with her lip curled to make her disapproval clear. Wrath fought down the urge to roll his eyes and shrug. Just because someone long dead had once said that he would one day die at the hands of a woman, and a virgin no less, didn’t mean he had to avoid every woman in sight. He was reasonably certain Una wasn’t a virgin, given all the men who constantly expressed an interest in her. They were all dead eventually, of course, and most by his hand. But it also meant he was safe from her.
And the other, well she was equally unlikely to be a virgin, venturing out among the Saxons as she’d done. The Saxons were a rather fierce people. He couldn’t count the number of women they had ravished since their arrival. The Britons were no better. It was probably just their way of life. No, he had nothing to worry about from either of them.
Duessa wouldn’t see it that way, of course. Now there was a woman worth his respect, at least for now. He knew for a fact that Duessa was not the woman who would vanquish him. But she was certainly powerful enough to stop him if she wanted it. If she forbade him from seeing Una again, he couldn’t simply disobey outright. Or maybe he could if he stepped carefully. He would have to think this through.
He followed Duessa up the long spiral staircase in the seventh, tallest tower until they reached the top. There they stepped into the large amphitheater-like chamber, with multiple descending levels that led to the center of the room, where great chains caked with dried blood lay connected to three central pillars that held up the roof. It was one of Duessa’s favorite laboratories of sorts, a place where she could toy with her prey.
There was something new, this time. Along the wall stood many desks full of stray papers, not to mention various liquids and animal body parts contained in glass jars. At least, he thought they were animal parts.
“I recovered much of this from the rubble of Castle Silene,” said Duessa, waving a hand at all the desks. “Most was destroyed but I found many of the papers intact.”
“You’re trying to open another doorway to the Otherworld…” said Wrath, for once in awe.
“I’m doing what I can,” she said. “Opening it requires willing sacrifices from those of this realm, which means we cannot open a doorway ourselves. But sometimes there is something…”
A whimpering came from the center of the room and up above, and it was only then that Wrath realized they were not alone. There was a third person there, a girl, hanging suspended from the ceiling by both arms, her feet dangling high enough that Wrath hadn’t seen her when they
first came in. Now he peered at her.
She was a young woman, perhaps sixteen or seventeen with short strawberry-blond hair and olive skin. Under different circumstances, without all the blood streaming down her arms from the chains that held her, she would have been considered beautiful. Her body bore all the markings of a form most men in this realm would want to possess. Much like Una’s form. Though Wrath was not interested in Una for her beauty, but for the powers that lay nearly untouched within her, even now.
“This is Amoret,” said Duessa, waving a hand at the suspended girl above. “She is the daughter of the Faerie Queen.”
Wrath did a double take, gazing up at the girl with new eyes. “I did not know the Faerie Queen had a daughter.”
“She has had many offspring over the centuries,” said Duessa, picking up a few papers and glancing through them. “It is one way to keep faith in her existence, by spreading her seed throughout the nations.”
“And the Faerie Queen just let you have her?” asked Wrath with an upraised eyebrow.
“She may not know, but even if she did, I doubt she cares much,” said Duessa. Wrath shrugged. That was probably true. He cared little to learn of his own offspring after all these centuries. If he had any more he would not care about them either, other than as tools to spread his own greatness.
“So why is she here?”
“She has been the key to my success of late,” said Duessa, retrieving a small, empty bottle from a nearby shelf and stepping down to the center of the room. With the pull of a lever, Duessa brought the chains that held the girl down with a crash. The girl screamed in utter agony as her body collapsed to the ground. And there she lay, still conscious but unmoving. It was almost admirable that she could take all that abuse, a testament to her parentage.
Though the girl was already bleeding, Duessa produced a slim knife and shallowly sliced the girl’s palm. Amoret whimpered in pain, though it was likely nothing compared to the ache of her limbs. Wrath continued to watch with curiosity as Duessa let some blood drip into the empty vile.
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