The howl road the Winds and wrapped itself around the tower.
Neither of her guards moved, or made a sound.
Her howl ended abruptly.
Before it could finish singing upon the Winds that blew through the scorching heat, the vines burst to life. Lush green leaves sprouted. Bright green sparks exploded. Pink and purple flowers bloomed. The vines writhed away, and revealed a sealed archway. The Wolf Queen rushed back to her guards when the ground shook. They themselves remained still as statues. The fractured Bloodstone sank further into the sands, but appeared as bright dawn stars as it was brought upwards. For even the sands did not want such a damned artifact. Dark, damp, and vine wrapped stones rose from the sandy depths, a walkway that the Wolf jumped upon.
The empty stonewall before the Wolf Queen twisted and turned, an archway and door formed. A blue glow emanated like cold fire from the shadows. She passed low to the ground, picking up Bloodstone in her jaw before she entered. The sand fell like a parted waterfall. The doorway sealed silently as the Wolves bushy tail crossed the threshold.
A spiral staircase climbed before her, nearly dark for the tower’s creators built no windows. The way was lit by wisps of blue fires contained within multi-faceted crystal orbs. The orbs hung from bronze chains within the crevices along the wall. The bright orbs seemed to sway back and forth like a pendulum, but only when one did not look directly at it. Should the Wolf stare at the fires, they hung perfectly still, straight down like a weight. The Wolf took her time climbing the spiral staircase. She did her best to stay away from the flames. The Wolf Queen hated them with every fiber of her being. Their unnatural cold heat spooked even her. A moan and a wail pierced her ears. It made her fur stand on ends. Tail between her legs. Her body low she continued up. She tried her hardest to stare at the orbs, for their swaying disoriented her. Like all times before the steps disappeared as she ascended. Exit, and escape prevented.
The Wolf Queen stopped before an ornate archway. Bricks a deep azure, that held tight to black gems. They speckled brilliantly throughout. She paused as she always did and stared into the empty room. She knew this to be a rouse. Looking back, there was nothing but a bottomless black abyss where the stairs once were. Far below, stars swirled within a violet, milky vortex. The blue fires extinguished, save for the one next to her. Though its own light was nothing compared to the sun that shone in through the doorway.
“It is rude to merely stand there waiting,” a shrill voice called from the empty room. The doorway rippled. The Wolf Queen winced back. Her paw slipped upon the step. She would rather have jumped, then enter.
“Well?” The voice called a second time, “Enter.”
With a huff, and great reluctance, the Wolf Queen entered the door. A cool numbing rushed her body. The sensation of hot cobwebs dancing upon her fur did not leave until she shook.
A four post bed, massive wardrobe, and many other odd magical apothecary scattered about appeared in a puff of sparkling pink-rose smoke that filled the room, and her senses. It smelled sweetly of vanilla and dark sour cherries. Mirrors sparkled to life. Hundreds littered the walls, wooden beams high above, and all around. The Wolf Queen shook her head and blinked her eyes thrice to remove both the dots of light from reflecting Mirrors, and the scent of she who had spoken.
Before the Wolf an imposing woman, with hair the color of corn stood before the window in flowing silk robes of pink, and baby blue. The woman’s golden hair fell in waves. Blonde locks twisted, turned, and wrapped all over the room. They wove around the posts of the bed. The Wolf Queen looked back, and found she stared at a reflection. Her breath fogged the Mirror until she could not see herself.
“About time you have returned, Conwenna” the woman looked upon the creature coldly. The woman tapped her foot.
The beast shed its bright red fur and growled naked before the woman, “My name is Asena Aithne!”
On the windows ledge, two dried husks of what would have been ravens were ritualistically placed. They disintegrated into dust as a harsh dry wind blew in. The dust disappeared in the light of the sun.
“Oh yes. Conwenna was your mother,” the woman chuckled with a click of her tongue, “How is she?”
Asena ignored the woman’s personal question. A question she had no answer to. A huff, before Asena ran a hand through her thick flowing red locks, “Alive. Yours?”
The mysterious woman scoffed at the naked beast before her. With a wide smile that could have eaten the moon, Asena approached with hand outstretched. The fractured Bloodstone clinked gently as the two halves touched. The red glass shined and shimmered brilliantly in the sunlight that streamed in. Asena was blinded by its brilliance. Jade eyes squinted as she looked upon them.
“And you want what? Praise? For bringing me broken trinkets? Perhaps you waste away as a Wolf too long,” the woman cackled.
“Fix it!” Asena thrust her hand forward, the broken Bloodstone rolled towards her fingers. They clinked and chimed like bells as they touched.
“This is not—”
A low growl in Asena’s throat cut the woman off,
“You will fix it, Witch!”
“Tell me all I need to know. Then I will fix that which you have broken,” the Witch crossed her arms and.
“I did not break it!”
“Then why should I fix it?” The Witch crossed her arms before her plump bosom. Her voice gave off a laugh.
“Fix my Bloodstone!” Asena thrust the jewel again towards the Witch.
Pursed lips and raised eyebrow, the Witch turned back around, “Ah, I see. The fabled Bloodstone—”
“Once you have fixed it, I will tell you what you want,” Asena played with her fiery red locks with a single finger.
“Very well,” the Witch smiled with a crooked lip. She raised her hands into the air and wiggled her slender and unnatural long fingers around. They sparkled pink as the two halves of the fractured Bloodstone removed themselves from the creature’s palm. The Bloodstone spun around. Great light and heat emanated from it.
“Bibbidy Bobbidy Boo!”
The two halves touched. A great golden light cemented and sealed the two halves together in a shower of lights and sparks. It lingered in the air, pulsing like a heart. A flick of her fingers and the stone delicately found its way to the Witches hand. It rolled to her fingers where it was held tight between two. There she stared at it with great curiosity. A golden corona surrounded it as the suns warm light laid its eyes upon it. Asena took a step forward, but the Witch threw a hand in the air,
“Tell me, what you know, Wolf,” the Witch played with the Bloodstone. She rolled it in her palm with a finger. She loved how it felt massaging the muscles and skin. Its magic tingled her flesh lightly.
Asena fought the Witches magic that kept her in place, “Return it!”
The Witch held tight to the Bloodstone, clutching it until her knuckles turned white. Her gaze turned to the Wolf in Human skin.
“Why were you sent to Zhan’ding?” The Witch asked the Wolf Queen. Asena struggled to remain silent, but knowing that she lost the upper hand, bared her teeth and reluctantly huffed loudly.
“It is not there,” Asena played with a strand of hair. It curled naturally around her thick finger.
“Lies! The Mirror had to be there! You searched all of Zhan’ding for it? You did as instructed?” The Witch screamed. Finger like an arrow pointed at the Wolf. Words short and precise as spit flew about. Blonde hair wrapped around the room twitched violently. Wood of the four-post bed moaned in agony. Asena heard everything creek terribly.
“Answer me!” The Witch shrieked.
The Wolf Queen rolled her eyes with a shrug of shoulders, “My subjects and I found nothing. In the end, that little bitch of a ruler, Lady Red, would rather die than give us any information!”
“You killed her!”
“She killed herself,” Asena laughed, “I merely watched her fall.”
“I am not prepared to wage war!” The Witch bel
lowed, “The House of White is surely to be alerted, if they are not aware already!”
“Lady Red was too stubborn to send for help,” Asena justified her actions and agenda. Her eyes greedily locked upon the Bloodstone, “She deserved whatever fate she chose.”
“FOOL!” The Witch’s voice shook every Mirror. Hair, once tangled all around, rushed upon the Wolf Queen. The Witch’s hands were balled high in the air. A great pink and blue fire raged around her. It swirled around her and it danced upon her skin. It was a thick aura. The light of the sun cowered away at her might.
“IMBECILE!” The Witch bellowed with a guttural rage to her voice.
Asena jumped away from the enraged Witch. Body contorted and grew fur. Wolf form low. She growled. Teeth bore. Her tiny attempt at challenging the Witch failed. The mighty Wolf yelped as strands of hair wrapped around her paws and neck. With ease, the Witch lifted the beast off the ground, and brought her close.
“I should drain every ounce of your life for your insubordination.” Nose almost touched the creature’s snout, “But the Fairy assures me, that you may still have a purpose.”
Asena growled. Her jaw snapped at the Witches nose. She pushed her away slightly, unable to stand the smell that came from the Wolves mouth. It was of rancid blood, and flesh. The Witch wondered how much belonged to Lady Red. She did not care for a high, deep voice called out from the darkest shadows of the tower,
“Not a significant purpose, but a purpose all the same.”
Almost on command, a bright wisp of aqua, and grey smoke sparked to life near the Mirror that the Wolf entered. Asena bit at the strands of hair. The creature whimpered and howled as the strands wrapped tighter around limbs. The wisp of smoke approached closer, “Speak. Beast.”
Every word spoken by the wisp of smoke was precise and well formulated. The strange voice sent chills down the Wolf Queen’s spine.
“Lady Red. Thought I meant—the spell book. But she knew other. Things,” the Wolf spoke in spurts as the Witch’s hair tightened its grip around her neck. Asena gasped for air.
“What things?” Hair stopped writhing about, but still held tight.
“Release. Me. Witch!” Asena barked. The beast struggled, but another strand held tight around her ankles.
“Tell me, and then we shall see if I am in a mood to release you.”
Asena huffed and puffed for air. Air that was becoming less and less available to her lungs, “She chose to die. Than—say anything.”
The Witch’s hair released the beast. She fell to the floor hard as human. Her tongue licked her sore and bruised wrists tenderly. The Witch’s hair receded back. Several strands wrapped around pieces of furniture. She took a step forward and towered over the naked woman on the floor. A sharp finger with great gold ring pointed down, “Continue, mongrel.”
“That which has been hidden, shall not be found,” Asena coughed, the Witch rushed past.
“Stay where you are, my pet.”
The woman’s delicate rose pink gown looked almost like mist to the Wolf Queen. A layer of baby blue was magically mixed in like water at sunset. Scent almost as delicate, delicious to the Wolf. It smelled of vanilla and almonds, but with an odor she could not place. It scared her, but made her heart race wildly with lust at the same time. She wanted to pounce upon the Witch, and claim the bitch as her own. Put her in her place, as servant to the Wolves. She wanted to feel the Witches tongue run over every inch of her body, before their fingers enjoyed one another until sexual release. Deep inhale, and the intoxicating scent was gone. The idea of ripping out the Witches throat. To enjoy the taste of her sweet flesh and blood returned. She wanted to pounce, but her legs were numb. She was cemented to the floor, unable to move a single muscle.
The Witched waved a slender hand before the Mirrored doorway. Golden bangles Asena had ignored before jingled as they slid down the Witches slender arm. The Mirror sparkled, rippled, and before her eyes a shadowy, ghostly image appeared. The fog was heavy. She waved her hand thrice more, but even her magic could not penetrate the magic being cast. The Witch’s eyes lit up and her lip twitched.
“The House of White is not as foolish as Dame Mother perceived them to be,” the Witch talked to herself, “Very clever indeed.”
“I have told you everything I know. Return the Bloodstone!” Asena barked from the floor. The bark turned into a cough, as her throat remained sore. The Witch stared at the Mirror, contemplating, scheming.
“Yes, quite Wolf,” The Witch dropped the Bloodstone. Magically it rolled to the naked Asena’s feet. She ignored the beast and continued to talk to herself.
The Wolf laughed to herself, which turned into a howl as she clutched the Bloodstone close, “Now that I have the Bloodstone, we are slaves to no one!” Asena held the Bloodstone between two fingers tightly. The sun hit and illuminated the room in a dull red glow, her pale skin on fire.
The Witch cackled loudly to herself turning upon the woman. The fog faded as it does as her gaze ended, “you will get no where with that trinket, Wolf.”
“What have you done to it?” Asena’s teeth glared at the Witch. Incisors sharp, ready to tear flesh apart. Feet dug into the floor.
“I have done nothing. You, who are so blinded by your attempts to reunite your fractured Empire, will gladly take anything that resembles the Bloodstone. I assume, to make sure it was never found again,” the Witch barely looked at the Wolf.
“They made copies!”
“So the mongrel can think and understand,” the Fairies wisp commented. Asena growled at the wisp as it floated about her. A strange cool numbness came over the flesh as the creature touched her skin.
“That would have been an idiotic thing to do, but so it seems,” the Witch shrugged, and continued to stare at the woman, “The jewel would have been of better use to them whole rather than fractured. But father never did understand such concepts.”
“How many?” The Wolf Queen demanded. The Bloodstone still held out before her, tight in two fingers.
The Witch looked at the beast with disdain. The snap of her fingers resounded like thunder in the circular room. The Wolf Queen winced slightly. She hated the sound of thunder. Before the sound ended the Bloodstone glowed. She released it from her fingers where it burned bright within the air. Faint, ghostly echoes cast itself out in a circle from the original. The echoes orbited around. The Bloodstone burned brighter than the sun. Asena wanted to look but could not. The ghost image turned into six before five disintegrated away.
“It would seem six copies in all were made of your Bloodstone, Wolf,” the ghostly image shattered. Remains were both cold and warm to the touch. It sprinkled down in glittering snowflakes, “I have gathered five, that were, lets just say, not well protected by the proper enchantments.”
“Where is the last?” Asena queried as the Bloodstone fell into her open hand. It was ice cold, but glowed as if it should have been on fire.
“That,” the Witch folded her arms and walked to the window. She pushed past the Wolf Queen, “ is beyond even my power.”
“Then you are not all powerful as you say,” the Wolf howled at the Witch, teeth bared, legs prepared to pounce, one swipe to kill her, “to which the Wolves have no use for you!”
A thick strand of hair slapped Asena across the face, before another wrapped and writhed its way around her neck. The Witch had the Wolf Queen above the floor. She struggled, like a fly caught in a spider’s web. “Release me!”
“Hold your tongue!” A deep voice called from the mist that the Wolf Queen ignored.
The Fairies mist disappeared in a flash brighter than the sun that shone through the window. The mist blew about. Asena sneezed violently. When the mist cleared, a tall, imposing statue stood, dressed in tight black leather cloaks and robes. Bright opals ran down as buttons to the floor. Arms crossed across a thick chest. Ophiuchi stared at the Wolf Queen with hungry eyes that unnerved Asena, for they were prismatic, and possessed no irises. The creature’s skin was pale, but
with the shimmer of rain damp stone.
“The Bloodstone is a magical device not of my making, Wolf. It is beyond my powers, I will humbly admit, but it does not mean, I am powerless. Best you remember this lesson. Well,” the Witch allowed her hair to wrap tighter.
Asena struggled, pale face blue. Nails clawed at the strands. Feet dangled and swung about wildly.
“A gift, for such wonderful obedience, first, perhaps?” The Witch released her grasp only so that Asena would not suffocate. Hair writhed and wiggled its way around the woman’s body. She became completely encased in a cocoon above the ground.
Asena broke one arm free of the hair. Sharp nails tried to slice through the Witch’s hair. “I want no gift from you!”
“Oh but you shall have it, and not from me my dear, Wolf. But Ophiuchi,” as the Witch pointed back, Ophiuchi moved forward and looked at the Wolf unblinking. Asena struggled more. The Fairy approached and stopped just inches before the cocooned woman. Another strand of blonde hair wrapped thrice around Asena’s hand and pulled it to the side. She winced and yelped as the hair pulled and yanked. The Fairy, with sharp black nail, sliced slowly through Asena’s flesh. Three drops of blood trickled to the Fairies’ open palm.
A deep voice rang out in a singsong fashion, “My gift I give to you is such. That which was lost shall be regained, your Empire and the Bloodstone reformed, but only one shall be possessed by the Wolves while you live.”
Ophiuchi waved fingers around the open palm. The blood boiled away into black smoke. The Fairy flicked fingers towards Asena. The smoke followed. It slithered like a snake where sparks of grey, and aqua fluttered all around the Wolf Queen’s head. Her eyes glazed over milky white as she inhaled the sparks and smoke. Her head spun. Eyes fluttered.
The Witch released Asena from her grip. Landing on her side, she shook her head, “You will pay for what you have done.”
Asena growled at the Witch and Fairy before her. They both smirked at the beast before them.
“You have your gift. Now be gone!” The Witch pointed sharply to the door. The Mirror rippled and seemed to disappear. It showed the stairwell down, “Do not return until you have completed your original task!”
Bound by Roses (The Bound Series Book 1) Page 9