Summoned (Black Sorcery Trilogy Book 2)

by Lisa E Parry

  My brain overloaded after that major revelation and I requested I return to my room alone – without Dorian. The idea of Dorian looking at me as though I were a stranger, or something worse, would’ve killed me.

  One thing was for sure though: I had to control the darkness that was absorbing my conscious state. I couldn’t let it devour me. To take my mind off my psychological problems, I worked through Adhelm’s exercises to control my mind and chase away those killing urges.

  Chapter 17

  A haunting nightmare jolted me out of a disturbed slumber. Pain blazed through my mind like fire. A Pandora’s box now open in my mind, I realised with abhorrence I had been reliving a memory of Avellana’s. I could still feel the tight press of armour upon my body, the enchanted daggers hidden within and the weight of the sword that flamed from the blade. The expressions on the faces of my victims though ... That was going to haunt me for a while. I had been merciless. I even remembered the barbaric triumph I had felt with each life I had cruelly snubbed out. Had I really been such a monster?

  If Avellana’s memories smothered mine, would it be possible that I might forget who I was? Where would she end and I begin? The black magic, coiled in wait, was bursting to get out and I could feel that Avellana relished it – wanted to feed on it. How could I control that? How could I subdue the corruption of those dark spells the Magia Ater had created as well as the part of me that wanted to use those wretched spells? It was a hopeless case – I was a hopeless case. I pressed my face into the soft pillow and began to sob. It was all too much. Sick of it all, I wanted it to end.

  “Melissa?” I was surprised by Cheri’s voice. With a sudden aversion to opening my eyes, I pressed my face harder into the pillow. I didn’t want to see anything that would remind me of another lifetime. But which lifetime did I want to forget?

  “Open your eyes, you silly girl,” she said in that annoyingly patronizing tone of hers. I did, and gave her the best filthy look I could muster. “That’s more like it. We can’t have you breaking down now, Melissa. Anarch is calling on you tonight. You’re going to need your faculties.” She looked tired, weary.

  “You don’t have to remind me,” I groaned, and let treacherous tears fall either side of my face as I lay back down and stared at the canopied ceiling of the bed. “Cheri, why me? I’m going to have to fight against you, like an obedient dog for Anarch, and somehow fight against him at the same time. I’m not sure I can do it.” I looked to her for an answer, but none came. It was a heartfelt question. Tears filled my eyes again, “I just want all this to be over. I don’t want to be here doing all this and fearing for my life. I can’t save everyone.” I took in a deep shuddering breath, squeezing a handful of the bedsheets.

  “You made a bargain with a Necromancer. There are always terrible repercussions in doing something like that, and I’m afraid there is no way to sugar-coat it. Fate has given you this path for a reason. Perhaps events were set in motion a long time ago, even before us. All I know is that you had to be here in this world and for this war - for a reason, Melissa.”

  I regarded her cool composure and how she delivered her words with determination and acceptance. That was how I should be. I should just suck it up and accept it, right? But I can’t. Bloody fate!I didn’t want to talk about it any longer and mindlessly looked around my very comfortable bedchambers. “Why are you here?” I sat up, my eyes coming back to hers.

  “I was here all night,” Cheri looked down and then back at me. “I thought you would not like to be alone when you woke up.” I didn’t know how to respond to that. Cheri had acted as though she cared. Does she care? Had she broken her cardinal rule? I didn’t want to push the matter.

  “Thank you,” I said sheepishly.

  “I’m sure Oliver would have done it, but I have noticed his absence far too often.” Cheri scanned the room as though she might spot him occupying a small dark corner.

  “Oh God, Oliver!” I turned to Cheri, “I think he is in some sort of trouble. He tried to tell me, but we were interrupted and he disappeared. I haven’t seen him since.” I didn’t want to mention it was she who interrupted us.

  Cheri’s brows angled together. “What did he say?”

  “Just that he wanted me to be on his side with something. Something is wrong,” I declared. “Oliver!” I yelled into the vacant space of the room. “Oliver, get your arse here now!” I waited a few seconds. “Oliver!”

  “Do stop yelling, it’s so uncouth. If he was going to respond to you, then he would have with the first shout.”

  Alarm and guilt threatened to smother me. How could I have forgotten our last conversation? Oliver was my safety net. He kept me sane and was ever the voice of reason to my nightmares. He was always there, and he’d promised never to leave me. Last night, if it hadn’t been for Cheri, I would have been alone.

  After a long pause, Cheri cleared her throat. Before her expression fell into that ever-present state of indifference, I saw concern had flashed there first. “He’ll turn up when he’s good and ready.” She stood up to smooth her gown down. Cheri still wore the dress she had adorned herself with yesterday. A little smoothing down would not iron out the tell-tale creases of an all-nighter. “There is a dress laid out for you on the chaise longue. You creased the other one terribly.” She patted the immaculate bun her black hair had been fiercely pulled into, and made for the door.

  “But I’m leaving tonight. Do you think he’ll come see me before then?”

  Cheri shrugged, “Who knows the inner workings of that young man’s mind?” With one hand on the door handle, she looked back. “We need to talk strategy for tonight, but I’ll give you time to recover yourself.” She opened the door and walked through sedately, then turned back, “The queen would like to see you first.” The door clicked shut.

  I snorted. Queen Elfina was the last person I wanted to see. I wanted no more interactions with her. She only saw a dead person in me – a long lost sister-in-arms and an echo of the past.

  I dragged myself out of bed, limbs heavy, and slowly pulled on Cheri’s chosen dress for the day. It was charcoal – not a colour I would’ve chosen - with black lace decorating the neckline as well as the short sleeves and the hem of the small train. It was beautiful, but dark. Not particularly my style, but it complimented my mood. Plus, Cheri had loosely laced it up so I only had to tug on it and therefore tie it myself.

  With a sigh, I looked at my reflection within a large, tarnished mirror. The ringlets from yesterday’s bath were passable. My skin was pale, a stark contrast to the dress, and as I stepped closer to the mirror I saw wrinkles decorating the corners of my eyes. I don’t even have my face cream! I tutted at myself, then a gasp escaped me when I saw something truly horrifying. I hit my nose on the mirror when I staggered forwards to check it out. A single white hair shone at me from the front of my hairline. Oh God, no! I yanked the bugger out and stared the little bastard down. It caught fire and turned to ash in my hand. “Huh, serves you right.”

  I slumped in defeat and leaned on the cold, hard mirror - power still surging through my fingertips. The surface of the mirror shimmered in response to the contact. I snatched my hand away. A smile crept over my face. A clear picture of the room I’d occupied at Aidan’s palace rocketed to the surface of my memory - including the two gilded mirrors propped up on either side of the fireplace. I had to find Dorian…

  Darting out of my room, I broke into a run down the grey stone corridors of the palace with my dress hitched up to scandalously reveal my ankles. I saw a very young servant boy with dirty blonde hair carrying a plate of fruit.

  “Excuse me! You with the fruit! Hang on a sec!” The young boy froze and looked at me with apprehension. He looked around to make sure there were no other boys carrying fruit in the vicinity and decided I must have been addressing him.

  “Yes, my lady?” he blinked innocently at me.

  I placed a hand on his bony shoulder and tried to catch my breath, “Please show me where the barr
acks for the palace warriors are.” After a little convincing, he agreed to take me. Upon arrival, I gave the boy a coin and he left. I stepped inside. There was a desk occupied by a heavily built man who looked profoundly bored. Courteously, he stood and bowed when he caught sight of me.

  “I need to see Dorian Danes on business that cannot be delayed.” Not entirely untrue.

  They guy looked me up and down, “Who are you?”

  “Melissa Thames.” Blank expression. I rolled my eyes. “From the Otherworld. He’s my warrior.”

  “Oh! Of course. Right this way, my lady.” I almost sniggered. He turned towards a narrow corner and marched purposefully down a maze of corridors. I picked up the pace to keep up with his long strides. Finally, he knocked on a plain door – one of many. “The lady Melissa Thames for you, warrior.” He nodded to me and left.

  The door opened and I rushed in past Dorian, then stopped dead in my tracks. The room was stiflingly small. It comprised of a single bed, complete with lumpy mattress, a simple table and chair, a cupboard and a rickety chest of drawers with a book shoved under one foot.

  “Melissa?” I heard a faraway voice in the dark room. There was a narrow window, but unlike the one it reminded me of, it had no bars. The walls started closing in and I imagined spiders crawling in the darkened corners of the room. Echoes of people sobbing in their cells bombarded me, and the rank smell of body odour from the guards patrolling the corridor…

  I backed off. “No, not again, never again.” I clutched at my hair and turned to the still open doorway. A tall figure blocked the way. Panic-stricken, I forcefully pushed it aside to get out. I ran down the narrow corridors unaware of my destination. I could never remember how to get out. Daylight heralded my escape, so I ran for it like a trapped animal making for freedom.

  Once outside, I ran and ran until air was fire in my lungs. My filigree bracelet became a hard band of metal scraping my skin. Strong hands caught my waist and lifted me to a dark corner - pinning me to an unrelenting, cold stone wall. I blindly struggled against their iron grip. I snatched at energy around me, creating a pool of anxious magic ready to lash out at anything.

  “Melissa no, it’s me!” I struggled again, not thinking straight. My magic was ready. “Melissa! It’s Dorian. Stop it, you are no longer at Henrik’s. You are at Queen Elfina’s palace.”

  I ceased struggling as those words penetrated my mind. My vision came back as a fog slowly cleared like sludge. Dorian’s face swam into view. No, I’m not at Henrik’s. I cried out with relief and fell into Dorian’s arms. I heard him murmur something. Over his shoulder I saw three other concerned-looking warriors, their expressions changing to outrage. They had followed the commotion I had embarrassingly caused. I sprang away from Dorian, in line with their code.

  Dorian accompanied me back to my room in silence. Occasionally his arm would brush mine in reassurance. By then the shakes had stopped. I sank onto the bed to try and regain my composure. Dorian sat beside me, wound an arm around my shoulders and waited.

  I leaned into him and shuddered, “Your room, it’s just like…”

  “I know. I saw it.” He tapped his temple. “I’m sorry.” He tucked my hair behind my ear to look at me.

  “Don’t be sorry, it’s not your fault your room looks like the one I was imprisoned in. Anyway, I need to run an idea by you.” I heard the desperation in my voice.

  “Melissa, you’re having a lot of funny turns.” He was hesitant. “I think you need to rest before tonight.”

  I pulled back and stared at him. “What?”

  “I’m worried about you - your mind. Last night and just now. We haven’t even talked about it.”

  “Why do we need to talk about it? I freaked out, I’ll get over it.” I stood and began to pace in front of him. “You deem it unnecessary to talk about your nightmares – nightmares about when you were a monster.”

  Surprise darkened his face before a wall fell over it. I knew Dorian was haunted by dreams of slowly becoming a wraith. How could he not be? The thing was subduing his soul, festering inside his body. His visions travelled along our telepathic link at night, all mental barriers down, and I saw them all. It wasn’t pretty. I had waited for him to bring it up, but he never did.

  I took advantage of his stunned silence. “I want to go back to Aidan’s palace and get reinforcements.”

  Dorian looked at me as though I belonged in a straightjacket. “What do you mean?”

  My fingers followed the framework of the mirror, tracing the knots in the wood. “I want to get Viola, Dayna and Nick back. They are awesome in a fight, you know that. Viola may even have got past that barrier by now. She’s our best healer. We’ll need her. You’ll need her.”

  Dorian stood and turned me away from the mirror. “You will weaken yourself too much. You need your strength to fight Anarch when he has released you. Your strength is already diminished.”

  “I feel fine.” I shrugged.

  “Your mental state, Melissa.” He’d said it so softly that I barely heard it. Betrayal spiked through me, causing me to take a step away from him.

  “You think I’ve finally gone off my rocker, don’t you?” I shook my head. “Don’t do this to me, I need you to believe in me.”

  “I’m just worried about you. Relax for the rest of the day and don’t use up your strength. I hear the queen wants to see how you’re doing. Have a chat with her. It might put your mind at ease, knowing she will be fighting with us.”

  My temper flared. “I don’t want to speak to her! I don’t know her, I’m not her best friend. I am a different person now. The person she knew is dead!”

  Taken aback at the ferocity of my words, Dorian pushed on. “Keep her happy, Melissa. She is a fearsome warrior sorceress, and we need her to have a chance at surviving this. If anyone stands a chance at rescuing you, then she does.”

  I sucked power in from my surroundings. “I already have friends. I don’t need her.” Without breaking eye-contact with Dorian, I slammed my hand onto the glass and it shimmered in response. “You … need …Viola.” I poured magic into the mirror and the surface coalesced like oil floating on the surface of water. When the waters cleared, I saw the room I had occupied at Aidan’s palace.

  It appeared that Viola now occupied that room. The sedate, white-haired Elf sat on the edge of the bed, her back bent as she pored over a large book. Nick came into view as he walked over to sit beside her and point something out in a book he held. Viola’s large purple eyes snapped to the mirror before Nick also felt the magic. They both stood and looked curiously at the mirror, Nick pushing Viola behind him slightly. My heart leaped at the sight of them. It felt like years since I’d seen them.

  “Melissa, what are you doing?” Dorian grabbed my arm and turned me back to face him. I could just about hear him through the roaring in my ears. Cheri chose that moment to enter the room unannounced, but I ignored her and pushed Dorian off me to step through the mirror. I felt that familiar thick substance stick to my skin as I began to step through. It sapped my energy, but I would make it …

  “Something like that?” I heard Viola ask Nick.

  “Err, yes. Something exactly like that,” he replied dumbfounded. I made it all the way through, and Nick rushed forwards to stop me collapsing.

  “My God, what the hell? Princess … How did you do that?”

  “I see how she did it. It’s quite clever really.” Viola’s large, purple eyes were even wider. She came over and they both helped me to the bed. The mirror was still activated and Viola stood to look through it. “Hey! There’s Dorian and Cheri! Whoa, they look pissed.”

  She backed off when Dorian began to emerge through the mirror, then she grabbed his outstretched hand. Seeing her struggle under Dorian’s weight, Nick quickly rose to help.

  “Are you coming, Cheri?” Viola shouted at the mirror. “Jeez, I’m talking to a mirror.” I squinted past Viola to see Cheri cross her arms, shake her head and then disappear through the door. Thankfu
lly, I let the power go and slumped on the bed, my breathing laboured.

  “Amazing,” Nick murmured. I stood and pulled him into a bear hug. I’d missed him terribly. They both reminded me of home. Nick lifted me up and then placed me back down. “It’s so good to see you, and all in one piece,” he added jovially.

  “Melissa, you shouldn’t have done that! What were you thinking?” Dorian barked. He stumbled a little as he approached me.

  “I get the feeling we should stay out of this.” Nick murmured. He stood next to Viola, his eyes almost as wide as hers with wonder at the potential of what I’d just done.

  “I can’t help but be glad this didn’t happen whilst I was dressing,” Viola added with a giggle. She looked beautiful in a maroon dress and Nick looked good in black – his garments much like Dorian’s.

  I turned on Dorian, “I had to, before you and Cheri stopped me.”

  “I meant your reasoning.”

  “I came here for backup!”

  “You need your strength! You came here out of desperation - you are not thinking clearly!” Dorian rubbed his eyes and then glared at me. We both stared at each other, interlocked in our usual silent argument.

  “Err, sorry to disrupt the domestic, but we have kinda figured out how to get back to our world.” He looked a little nervous interrupting us, but we both snapped out of it and bestowed our glares upon him.

  “What?” I asked with hope. “Are you kidding? That’s fantastic!” I ignored Dorian’s ‘this isn’t over’ glower. Relief washed over me at the prospect of going home. I could’ve cried. “This gives me something to fight for.” I turned to Dorian. “We can go home, to our home.” To make my point, I shot an image of our lodge into his mind. The anger on his face faltered. Point to me. “It was worth coming back for this news at least.” I clapped my hands triumphantly. “Anarch is not going to take this away from me.”