A snarling roar echoed in the distance, coming from well outside the tower, beyond the gates of the city.
“Ah,” said Duessa, perking up at the sound. “Perhaps here comes your little Una now.”
Wrath sat a little straighter. He recognized the roar as well, the sound of that beautiful creature Duessa had brought over from Annwyn. If it had returned, that could only mean it had brought Una with it. He could only hope that she was still in one piece.
They waited a few long minutes while the snarls of the monster grew louder. Soon, a great, black shadow crossed the threshold into the room. The chamber took on a slight green hue as its glowing eyes illuminated its path ahead.
But Wrath frowned the moment it appeared, as did Duessa. For it was alone. It carried no girl in its arms or slung over its back. There was no evidence to suggest it had even fought with Una and Britomart, much less succeeded. Though Wrath knew from the glimpses he got of Britomart that something had happened. They had been separated. So where was Una now?
“No,” breathed Duessa. Her eyes stared up at the creature, though in that moment she almost appeared to be staring down at him, her small body appearing more dangerous than ever as she snarled back at the creature. “What have you done?”
It was then that Wrath saw it. From his position near the back of the room he hadn’t noticed, but now the demon turned slightly as it cowered under Duessa’s gaze, and he saw it. In its claws hung the tattered, bloody remains of a girdle. Una’s girdle.
Wrath pushed himself upright in an instant, his eyes flashing a dangerous fire. Elsewhere in the castle, he felt his lions respond to his action, and he almost considered summoning them. Let them feed on this creature for what it had done.
In the end, he did not summon them, but he did bring his magic to bear, hurling it forward and compelling the monster to stagger to its knees.
White hot rage burned inside him, and it fueled his power as he floated down from his position to where the beast and Duessa stood.
“Hold, Wrath,” said the Sin of Pride. “We must know all the facts.”
“This mindless beast will not tell us anything,” he snapped. “If he’s killed Una, he’s ruined your plans to bring back our master.” With Una dead, his own plans would be ruined too, though of course he would not mention that.
Duessa stepped forward and took the bloodied girdle out of the shaking hands of the beast. No longer did it appear as a terrifying monstrosity. Now it quivered with fear, knowing in whose presence it now stood. Though it still snapped its jaws as though in instinctual defense. Wrath sneered.
“We might still be able to work with this,” said Duessa, gazing at the girdle. She tapped her chin lightly with her free hand as the other held Una’s girdle aloft. “Yes, the ritual might still be completed.”
Wrath glared at her, not liking the way she had seemingly forgotten that Una might well be dead. “I thought you needed the girl alive?”
“Ideally. Her magic could not be wholly siphoned away otherwise. But you forget that she is among the strongest of the old blood, at least in this realm. Even this small amount of blood should be saturated with power. It might not be enough, but we shall see.”
“And have you forgotten that this creature disobeyed your orders? Una could be dead out there.”
Duessa put the girdle down on her desk and faced him, truly meeting his eyes in earnest. “Do not let your feelings cloud your mind. If she is alive, we will soon know it. If such is the case I will personally extract her, but not you. You must stay away from her or she will be your undoing.”
“The prophecy says no such thing.”
“It says a woman will be the one to defeat you, and there is none more powerful than Una. She is therefore your greatest threat.”
Wrath scoffed. “I knew staying here with you was a mistake.”
“Wrath.”
“No,” he barked. “For all we know, the prophesy could have been talking about you, or Acrasia, or any of the others. I will not hide just because of ancient words spoken during the reign of the gods, gods that are long dead and gone.” He turned and made his way to the hall entrance.
“Wrath!” her voice stopped him in his tracks, its sharpness suggesting almost a desperation he had never heard from her before. He glared back at her, willing his eyes to reflect the pure hatred he felt in that moment. He would not be detained, and she needed to know that. With barely a thought, he began summoning his lions from throughout the City of Pride. Instantly they responded, coming nearer and climbing the tower where he now stood. They would arrive in less than a minute.
To her credit, Duessa did not try to restrain him. She probably felt the approaching lions and knew that trying to keep him from leaving would be a difficult task. She could do it, maybe, but she knew as well as he did that attempting to do so would be more trouble than it was worth.
“Never let your guard down,” she said, finally.
“You think so little of me,” he said, before turning once again towards the door. Before he could reach it, his lions burst through. With a chorus of roars, a dozen of the beasts hurtled at the dark shape at the center of the room, still held in place by Wrath’s power. It could do nothing but scream as a dozen of the most powerful jaws in the animal kingdom began tearing at it.
Duessa did nothing as Wrath’s lions tore her demon messenger apart. She knew as well as he did that the beast deserved its fate. Even if Una still lived, it had failed in bringing her to them. And now it was time to pay.
Its shrieks continued as Wrath exited through the door and made his way down the winding staircase. But soon all he could hear was the fury of his lions tearing at the demon’s body. All sounds of life from the monster itself had ceased.
Wrath found one of his largest lions waiting for him at the base of the tower, just as he had commanded. It bowed his head and put one paw forward, both a gesture of subjection and an invitation to ride. Wrath obliged the creature and climbed onto its back. Soon they were bounding out past the gates of the City of Pride and into the Forest of Arden.
His steed could run with supernatural speed, and its tracking skills were unmatched. Soon he would find the path Duessa’s demon had followed, he would track its course to learn what had become of Una. He would have answers. And if Una was dead, Duessa had better hope that her ‘clone’ was as authentic as she claimed.
The roar of his lion echoed into the distance as they hurtled through the forest at top speed.
20
Una’s eyes fluttered open, and she blinked furiously as the sun threatened to blind her. For a second, she had no idea where she was. There was an irksome smell in the air: fish, a lot of fish. The ground beneath her was moving, rising and falling gently on…
She was on a boat, out beyond the shore. That accounted for the gentle up and down motion. But she quickly forgot all about that as the past events caught up with her. She scrambled to a sitting position and quickly found the coast nearby. There was no sign of the monster that had tried to hunt her down.
She glanced at the sky. Perhaps her orientation was off, but she was sure that the sun had been later in the afternoon when the beast had attacked, and now it was clearly morning. Had she been out for all that time? There had been something poisonous in that creature’s fangs, but not fatal. Temporary sleep and paralysis maybe? That would also explain why she also felt like her muscles were actively working to resist her movements.
“Good to see you awake,” said a voice from behind her. She spun, or at least tried to spin. Her body did not react as fast as she expected it to. Behind her lay the rest of the boat, a small fisherman’s vessel with one prominent sail. Tending to that sail was a man of middle age, with graying brown hair that hung down to his shoulders, and a beard that clearly hadn’t seen a barber’s blade in weeks.
“Who are you?” she asked, feeling every one of her survival instincts come to the forefront. The man didn’t seem to be a threat, and if he had meant her harm he could have
taken advantage of her while she slept. But that didn’t stop her from being wary.
“Just a fisherman. My name is Kenelm,” he replied. “But I think I’m more entitled to ask who you are? You fell into my boat from the sky.”
“You’re a Saxon,” she said, noting his accent and name.
He nodded. “Are you going to kill me?”
Una cocked her head at him, but realization slowly dawned on her. The Saxons were a superstitious lot, and he had clearly seen her land in the boat using her magic. He had probably caught a glimpse of the monster along the shore. That explained why he had simply remained out in the ocean this whole time instead of returning to his home, wherever that was.
“I won’t hurt you,” she said.
He appeared to relax a bit, but only just. “You were fighting that...thing.”
She nodded, “Did you see what happened to it after I lost consciousness?”
“It ran off, I did not see where. But I remained here in case it would come back.”
Una put a hand to her chin, nodding slightly, her suspicions confirmed. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For not trying anything stupid,” she said, glancing at him with a look that suggested he would have regretted any such actions. “Can you get me back to shore?”
“I can,” he seemed to hesitate.
“What is it?”
“Well, you’re a Briton, aren’t you?”
“Yes,” she kept a wary eye on him.
“Well, you won’t get far without much help. I could keep you safe.”
“I will get by on my own. I am not helpless.”
“Ah, yes. But, it is...well, you are very beautiful, and I thought…”
The relief Una had begun to feel slowly drained from her body and she gave the man a scathing look. “You thought what?”
“That perhaps you could give a poor fisherman a reward.”
Una felt at her waist, but her suspicions were confirmed. “I don’t have money. It must have come loose when that monster ripped off my girdle. If you take me back to shore, I’m sure I can compensate you.”
“I...uh, wasn’t talking about gold.”
Una’s eyes darkened, and a familiar heat began to boil in her blood. So he was just like all the rest. “Money is all you could have expected me to give, though you can forget about it now.”
“Come now,” said the man, trying to act reasonably. “Surely it’s not much for you to give. A girl like you…”
“I am a woman,” said Una, planting her feet squarely despite the gentle flow of the boat. “You must have seen the magic I wielded to get here. Do you think I will not destroy you if you so much as think about touching me?” The air seemed to darken around her, and power crackled at her fingertips.
She was not the only one who could see the effects of her magic at work. The man’s eyes widened slightly, and he took a half-step back. “Be reasonable. It’s not much of me to ask.”
“Not much?” Una seethed. “Not much! Do you have any idea the sacred nature of what you ask for? It is not to be thrown around like trash to be soiled.”
“Other women…”
“Have continued to be taken advantage of by the pressures of men like you. Why are so many of you the same?”
Her blood had fully risen to her face now, and magic literally cracked the air around her. A small voice in the back of her head warned her that she shouldn’t get angry. But she would not listen. She’d had it with men like this, men who wanted nothing but their own pleasure. When would they ever learn to master themselves?”
Despite the look of fear in the man’s eyes, he had not learned to keep his mouth shut. “You owe me, owe me for not doing anything while you slept, for not throwing you into the water for being a witch.”
That was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Una snarled, “I owe you nothing.”
She gathered her magic around her, prepared it to reach out, to create a wall of air, and hurl it at the man. She’d see how he faired when he was thrown into the sea. Maybe she would persuade the water to be less buoyant, to watch as he sank to its depths and drowned. It was no more than he deserved. Him and all other men like him. She would make them all pay. She would…
A flash of blinding light blazed from above, like a bolt of lightning cracking through the dark sky. It was only then that Una noticed that clouds had obscured the morning sun and where circling above her with angry motions. Had she done that?
The man looked up and this time there truly was fear in his eyes. He said no word, but only scrambled to the back of his boat, possibly preparing to jump off. But before he had taken two steps back, another crack of lightning blinded them both as it hurtled from the sky.
The man screamed as its power struck. Una blinked and when the afterglow faded, she found nothing but a body in front of her, a nasty spread of red and black lines emanating from his neck where the lightning had obviously hit. His body smoked, and the scent of charred flesh and hair assaulted her nostrils.
Una’s eyes widened. That couldn’t have been her, she hadn’t called the thunder, nor the clouds above. Or had she? She stared up at the sky. Was she somehow subconsciously using her magic, or had the old voices that had seemingly silenced themselves somehow taken control again?
She tested her strength. No, she was still in control, and as far as she knew, her magic was not being called on for any of this. So what was…
“You can thank me later,” said a voice.
Her eyes shot back to the other end of the small boat where the man had stood. But in his place, sitting on his corpse and leaning back against the bow of the vessel with both hands resting on its sides like he was sitting upon a throne, was Wrath.
“You,” she breathed. “You did all this.” It was not a question.
He tapped a finger to his temple and smiled. “I must say I am extremely glad to find you alive. We had thought you were dead. I must thank you for your little fit just now. It was exactly what I needed to find you. And it felt so delicious.”
She had to get out of here, use her magic to escape. Or perhaps she could attack, use her magic to eliminate him here and now. Could she do it?
Bringing her power to bear, she hurled it at the Sin, willing it to hold him in its grip and cut him off from the source of his power just as she’d done with Acrasia.
The magic melted off of him.
“Now now, is that any way to treat the man who just killed your enemy for you?”
She said nothing, only intensified her attack. Blood rushed to her face and a vein throbbed in her temple, but none of it worked. Frustration threatened to break through.
“Now let’s have none of that,” said Wrath, still completely unafraid. With a casual wave of his hand, she felt invisible bonds wrap around her body, pinning her hands to her sides.
Wrath stood and stared her down.
“Perhaps now we can have that talk. I’ve long wanted to speak to you, Una, and like I said before, I mean you no harm.”
Una tried to struggle, tried to speak or move any muscle, but she found she could not do so. She had to calm herself. Instinctively she knew that her anger had either weakened her or strengthened Wrath. Either way her magic would not work against him as long as she remained angry.
She did her best to draw a deep breath and close her eyes, forcing her frustration and contention down into the recesses of her mind.
“Hm,” said Wrath, possibly noticing her attempt to calm herself. “Yes, you can try that. And you might be able to break free of my grip eventually. But we need to talk. Perhaps a change of scenery is in order.”
Before Una could protest or even know what was happening, Wrath hurled her backwards with a thought, head first into the chill waves.
She panicked. Was he trying to kill her? He was not bringing her back to the surface. In fact, from the rushing water around her, she must have been speeding away from the boat at an incredible speed.
The salt water
kept her from opening her eyes and getting her bearings. She could not tell if Wrath was following her, or where she was in relation to the boat. But she kept holding her breath. Wrath had said he wanted to talk. That had to mean that he was not going to kill her.
Mere seconds after she had been thrown into the sea, she broke the water, felt hard rock beneath her and found she could move again. But as she sputtered and tried to wipe her hair and the salt water from her eyes, she realized that she could not see. Where was she?
The sound of another form breaking through the water came beside her, and in the next instant torches all around lit up with unnatural fire.
Una stared. Wrath stood there, clearly the one who had just come from the water. The two of them were in a pool of sorts in the middle of a giant cave. Torches lined the walls of the cave and Una could make out various instruments lining the walls, everything from some tables and chairs, to what looked like torture devices. There was blood on those, looking a lot like the blood on Wrath’s clothing which had somehow not washed away with the ocean water.
What puzzled Una at first was the fact that she could not see the entrance to the cave. There was no sign of the sky, only the pool she still lay in. But realization quickly dawned on her. The entrance to the cave was underwater. That’s why Wrath had pushed her in rather than taking her to shore. She and Brit would have never found the entrance from where they had traveled. It had never been visible from above water.
“There,” said Wrath. “Perhaps here we can get more comfortable.” He waved a hand towards one of the tables that had two chairs surrounding it.
Una followed his gesture, but quickly looked back at the pool. She could escape, propel her body through the water just as Wrath had.
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