‘I told you, I can’t locate it,’ she growled against her restraints.
‘Oh Cara, Cara, Cara,’ James tsked and shook his head in disappointment, ‘you have an abundance of Black Magic within you, yet you can’t trace one simple little soul.’
‘This soul is far from little,’ Cara spat, ‘I only paid for the Charms I would need to protect my daughter.’
‘Ah, yes, dear little Laura,’ Drew tensed as her name left James’ lips, ‘sweet girl isn’t she? I wonder what she thinks of her mother now that she knows the truth.’
Cara glared at him, fire in her eyes, ‘my daughter has nothing to do with this.’
‘Oh but she does, sweet Cara. He wants her. He needs her strength, her power, to complete his plan. Without her, his army will never rise.’
Who was he?
‘Now, Marco here will accompany you back out. When you return, you better know where it is or your night will not be pleasant.’
Cara’s escort, Marco, stepped forward, untying her and forced her to her feet. Cara broke free of his grip and lunged at James, gripping him by his shirt, ‘James, if you dare lay one hand on my daughter I’ll-‘
‘You’ll what?’ he spat and Marco grabbed her by the collar, pulling her from James.
‘I’ll kill you,’ she hissed through her bared teeth.
Marco dragged her through the door.
‘Come on, we have to go,’ Drew whispered and took her arm, tugging her across the yard and through the streets.
Laura was panting with exhaustion by the time they found their friends at the fountain.
‘Where the hell have you been?’ Leo shouted at their approached, his face red with anger.
‘I saw mum,’ Laura managed to say between breaths.
‘We followed her back to a house. We know what they want,’ Drew added and quickly gave them a run down on what they had heard, leaving the news of James until last, ‘that was probably how they knew about Laura in the first place. James told them.’
A whimper left Stella’s lips and Leo rested a hand on her shoulder. Laura could tell that it was as much for his own support as for hers.
‘How could he do this?’ Stella whispered.
Laura glanced at Caspian for the first time since arriving and was shocked by the discolouring of his face. James had been like a mentor to him. He had already lost so much already, and Laura couldn’t bear to imagine how much pain he was in. That they were all in, for that matter.
‘So they are searching for a soul, and they need Cara’s Black Market Charms to do it,’ Stella eventually concluded.
Drew nodded to her, ‘yes and I assume once they find it, they will come for Laura.’
‘Do you know whose soul?’ Leo’s voice was urgent.
Laura shook her head, ‘no, all James said was that he needed my power to help his army grow stronger.’
‘We need to find this soul first, to use as a trade-off for Cara, and then we need to make sure that whoever this he is doesn’t get a hold of Laura,’ Grace’s voice was sharp, her stance fierce.
‘We have to stop them, if they have an army of Wicked then who knows what their plans are,’ Caspian added, his jaw set, his hand gripping the hilt of his sword firmly.
‘Where do we start looking for the soul?’ Asked Gemma, glancing from Stella to Leo.
‘Yeah, it could be anywhere,’ Logan agreed.
That was when Laura caught a flash of chocolate hair. Moving around Stella slightly, she locked eyes with her mother. Her heart was pounding in her throat. Cara gave a little jerk of the head and Laura realised she was telling her something. Blinking fast, she refocused her gaze on her mother’s face. Had she seen Laura following them before?
Cara jerked her head again, slight enough so that Marco didn’t notice, and Laura turned her eyes to the direction she was gesturing in.
At the top of a mountain, hidden by bush, was a temple. She turned back to her mother and mouthed the word soul. Her mother gave the slightest nod, before mouthing back cave.
Laura gave her mum the faintest hint of a smile, and Cara returned it before mouthing proud.
Laura bit back tears and watched her mother rip her eyes away, leading Marco in the opposite direction.
‘We go up there,’ Laura declared, pointing to the temple, ‘that’s where the soul is.’
Chapter Eighteen
The Temple Of Lost Souls
‘Are you sure your mum meant this place?’ Gemma asked, her eyes raking over the cracked and rotting temple. The stone pillars were crumbling away, barely holding the structure up.
‘They stopped using this temple thousands of years ago due to its weak structure,’ Leo said.
‘Making it the perfect place to hide a soul,’ Drew insisted.
‘Besides, it’s in a cave near here,’ Grace said, looking around, ‘but I don’t see any caves.’
Laura’s eyes came to rest on the temple, ‘I think she meant we have to go inside, because the cave is in there.’
Logan crossed his arms, hugging his body as a gust of cold wind blew through the trees around them, ‘so your mother must have access to the Charm.’
‘I think so, I think she knew we were there, so to buy us time, she lied. That way we could go after the soul first. She can only hold them back for so long, though.’
‘We’d better hurry then,’ Leo said, heading for the entrance.
He cautiously pushed what was left of the decaying door open and peeked inside. After a moment he pulled a torch from his pocket and re-adjusted his sword, then entered the temple. ‘Be careful, no sudden movements and keep your voices low.’ Leo instructed as Laura and her friends followed closely behind, listening to the creaks and moans of the temple as the wind rattled through the door after them.
Laura carefully descended the stairs and wandered over the cracked marble floor. Each of the four walls held double doorways, and in the centre of the room stood an enormous statue. A man, crown upon his head, sat in a throne with a forked staph in hand.
‘Marries, Emperor of the Gods, ruler of Alast,’ Caspian told her.
‘Is he still?’
‘God’s are immortal, so unless he commits a crime and is banished to hell, he will be Emperor forever. Although, he can choose to pass down the crown.’
‘Hey, I think I see a cave through this door,’ Logan’s voice echoed throughout the temple. They all froze. A thin dust showered down from the roof, but the temple remained put, and they hurried to the door.
‘I wonder why there is a cave in the temple,’ Logan mused.
‘Whoever wanted to hide the soul must have built it, knowing no one came here,’ answered Drew, furrowing his brow as he crossed the threshold.
‘Let’s find this soul so we can get the hell out of here. This place gives me the chills,’ Gemma said, pushing past them. She came to a stop at the cave’s entrance, pulling her dagger from her belt. She whipped her head around, ‘coming?’
Laura shrugged and followed, Leo close behind. He shone his torch into the cave which held no effect. They still found themselves staring into the face of darkness.
They had barely been walking for ten minutes when they stumbled across a clearing, but Leo’s torch was so dim that they could just make out the candle against the wall before they were engulfed with darkness.
‘Anyone have matches?’ Leo asked, and Logan pulled a packet from his bag.
Leo struck a match, pressing it to the wick. It lit with a whoosh and the fire took off, running through a gutter of oil along the caves edge. The group covered their faces for a moment, waiting for the fumes to settle.
When they finally glanced up, they found themselves face to face with two things. The first was the small stone podium in the centre of the room, a wooden box placed on top. The second was the razor toothed creature that was guarding it.
‘Get back everyone,’ Leo commanded, drawing his blade as the jet black puma eyed him angrily, snarling and snapping its teeth. He held his
sword at the ready as it took slow, calculated steps towards him, and Stella appeared at his side, pushing her students back into the darkness of the tunnel.
‘Let us handle this!’ Stella ordered, casting them a knowing look.
The puma advanced on them and although Stella had warned them, her students drew their swords regardless. Laura followed suit, despite knowing in the pit of her stomach that she would be useless. She hadn’t had any training lessons with a sword yet, and she highly doubted she could fight off the enormous animal with her lack of experience.
A snarl split the air as the puma pounced for Leo. Stella threw herself into the animal’s side before it had time to even touch Leo, sending it sprawling across the ground.
The puma bounced to its feet quicker than anticipated, and swiped at Stella. She jumped back, but the cat connected with her arm, tearing through her battle gear. She cried out as she spun to the left, further avoiding the enormous beast’s claws, and Leo took advantage of the distraction, cutting through the pumas paw.
The creature howled and whimpered with pain as blood pooled from the wound, but that didn’t stop it. If anything, it only made it stronger. The cut sealed over and slowly, before their eyes, the paw grew back, the claws longer and sharper than before.
‘What the hell?’ Drew gasped.
Suddenly, the animal leapt across the ground, landing only a metre from where Stella stood. Stella didn’t flinch. With a look of determination, she jammed the blade into the puma’s chest. The animal snapped its jaws, screeching and howling, but it didn’t die. It didn’t even fall down. It threw its head back and roared as it swiped the sword from Stella’s hand, sending it clattering to the floor, and advanced on her. She moved backwards, but found herself pressed up against the gutter, the flames licking at the wall behind her. She was trapped.
Out of the corner of her eye, Laura saw a flash of blue light. Leo’s hands were extended and a ball of sizzling Lightening grew bigger in his palms. Gritting his teeth, he thrust his hands at the puma, the light shooting straight at it.
Thunder clapped overhead as the blaze of Lightening lit up the room, electrocuting the animal. It shook uncontrollably as it lifted off the ground, the searing blue light surrounding its body. Leo’s glasses slipped down his nose as concentration consumed him.
Laura cringed at the horrid wails of the animal as it tried to break free, but Leo didn’t stop.
Stella retrieved her sword. Her hands were steady, her teeth bared and a yell tore from her throat as she plunged her blade into the animal’s heart. She drove it down further into the puma’s chest, and Leo drew back his hands, the lightening retracting quickly before disappearing altogether. Stella pulled her sword from the creature as it fell to the ground in a dead, black heap.
Stella slowly crossed the room and fell into Leo’s arms. ‘Thank you,’ she whispered.
He just nodded, pushing his glasses back up to the bridge of his nose and placing an arm around her affectionately.
‘Should we get the soul and get out of here?’ Drew asked quietly.
Stella straightened, sheathed her sword, and turned to the podium.
Laura stepped towards it, ‘why do people want to preserve their soul?’
Stella was studying the patterns on the podium, ‘I assume it is so they can live again. However one must receive a blessing from the Emperor of the Gods or Devils to acquire the ability to preserve their soul.’ She knelt down, running her hands over the indentations. ‘I think these patterns might be writing. The Devil’s writing. I can’t read it though, I never learnt the language of the Devils.’
Leo dropped down by his wife’s side, ‘no I can’t read it either.’ He said, running his hands over the markings, ‘it’s must be an ancient tongue.’
‘Let’s just take the box?’ Gemma begged, wrapping her arms around herself, ‘this place is creeping me out.’
Caspian moved closer to the podium, curious.
‘We can’t just take it. If they went to all this trouble to protect it I can guarantee the second we lift it off the podium a trap of some sort will be set off,’ Leo said, rising to his feet.
An arrow whizzed past Leo’s head imbedding itself into the dirt wall, shaking the ceiling and showering dust over them. Leo stumbled forward, unable to regain his balance, and knocked the box from its place, sending it tumbling to the ground with a thud. An incredible white light shot from the open lid and the cave began to tremble and shake.
But no one was paying any attention to the soul that was about to escape, for, blocking the exit, was James and Marco, along with half a dozen Wicked.
Chapter Nineteen
To Live Or Not To
Wicked swarmed into the cave. Laura backed up against the gutter, hiding in the shadows, her legs trembling, threatening to buckle beneath her. She held her sword in front of her body, but her hands were shaking beyond control and she couldn’t keep a firm grip on the hilt.
Within seconds, the Wicked were clashing blades with the Enchanted.
Laura’s body quivered as she felt the heat of the fire against her neck. She could move no further back unless she wished to burn to death. Her only luck was that no one seemed to have noticed her, yet.
How was she meant to fight? A huge part of her wanted to help her friends, but as she watched the blur of action, she knew her efforts would be futile. Two training lessons wasn’t enough to prepare her for battle, as much as she had wanted to believe she was ready.
Lightening shot through the air and echoes of the battle swirled around her as she compelled herself to move away from the gutter to help in any possible way. All the while, the ground below her continued to tremble and shake as unceasing dirt and debris rained down over the battle.
Leo was clashing fiery swords with a tall, lanky Wicked, twisting and turning at all the right moments. He had the Wicked pinned to the ground in seconds, and Laura looked away as Leo finished the job.
An incredible bright purple light was burning from Stella’s hands, electrocuting an orange headed Witch. The Wicked was shaking uncontrollably as she was lifted into the air, and no matter how hard she thrashed, she was unable to free herself of the Lightening that was slowly but surely consuming her. Stella was in complete control. There was no escape.
Drew fought off a muscly Wicked, dodging his sloppy punches and striking blows each time the Wizard tried to regain his balance, knocking him to the ground over and over again, before he finally put his sword to the Wizard’s neck.
Gemma’s face was full of rage as she screamed into a Wicked’s ear while forcing her sword against his neck, and Laura saw crimson red blood dribble down his skin from beneath the blade.
Grace and a Witch were battling it out, hot sparks shooting from their swords when they clashed, spiralling up into the roof. The Wicked faked left and swiped her sword to the right, but Grace had anticipated the move and she ducked, pulled her dagger from her boot and imbedding it into the Witch’s stomach.
Logan was remarkably winning his battle with not one, but two Wicked. He ducked under one of the Wicked’s swords before thrusting his own blade out to block the second Wicked’s red flash of Lightening. It rebounded, blasting into his chest and sending him sprawling backwards. Spinning out of the way, Logan watched as the second Wizard’s dagger left his fingers before he could withdraw his throw, lodging itself in the staggering Wicked’s chest. He jammed his sword into the remaining Wizard’s heart.
Laura didn’t know how to fight like her companions. There was a small voice in her head, screaming at her to stay away from the battle, despite what her heart urged her to do. She didn’t know if she had the guts to kill, and if she were to continue edging her way across the room, that was surely a choice she would have to make. Could she take someone’s life?
It seemed the time had come to make such a decision, for at that moment, Laura realised that Marco was advancing on her. Fear pounded in her chest and she retraced her steps back to the gutter, glancing wildly arou
nd the room for help. Everyone was busy in battle, and as her eyes flickered to the exit, she noticed that James was gone.
She retrained her eyes upon Marco, tracing the fierce look of determination in his face, the large muscles in his arms, the bolder-like fists, the stubby legs.
Her mind snapped into action. This man was one of the Wicked responsible for her father’s death and the kidnapping of her mother, and now he was looming up on her. He didn’t know who she was, and Laura knew that he would not hesitate in snapping her neck.
She didn’t want to die. The fear of his grimy hands on her was all she needed. In that split second, she made a decision that changed her life forever. She stopped backing away, raised her sword, and charged for Marco.
She didn’t know how to work a sword, and she sure as hell didn’t know how to fight, so she dug deep and followed her instincts, remembering Drew’s words from training. Stay on your feet.
As she charged for Marco, she dodged away at the last minute, confusing him enough to unbalance him.
She knew then that she had one advantage over him; he was huge, yes, but she was small and could manoeuvre around him easily.
She was quick to raise her sword and jam it down into his back while he was still unbalanced, and she heard a satisfying cry rip through the air, shaking the ground beneath her. He growled, spinning unexpectedly and slamming his fist into her side, sending her sprawling across the ground. She landed with a thud against the podium and searing pain shot up her arm as she staggered to her feet, dragging her sword with her.
Marco launched himself at her but she ducked out of the way, spinning the sword in her hand and driving it down into his shoulder blade. She heard a crunch as Marco stumbled backwards and she again charged for him, ducking under his swinging fist. She didn’t duck low enough and he came in contact with her shoulder.
Pain rippled through her body as she let out a piercing scream. Marco took a firm grip of her wrist, wrenching her around so they were face to face. He was twisting her arm tightly the wrong way, forcing her to endure a type of agony she had never felt before, and she grinded her teeth together, waiting for the snap.
The Enchantress (Wicked Book 1) Page 18