Malignant Transfiguration (Endeavor Series Book 2)

by A E M

  So they were being sent away. Beau wrapped an arm around his mother. “You and father will like that.”

  “You could find love again, son.” She blurted out.

  He frowned. “That’s not how this works. You know that.”

  She sighed and straightened. “You need to mourn first, I’m sorry.”

  “It’s okay, mother.” He hugged her and stared at the closed door. He would mourn, but not until he knew that Charlotte was really gone.

  The door opened, and Bliss strode out to them. Her eyes were sorrowful, and her mouth was turned down. “Mother, brother. I am sorry to have kept you waiting. My meetings run so long right now as I am learning how to lead.”

  “Of course.” Wynn said. “We know you came as soon as you could.”

  Bliss reached out a hand to each of them. “I heard about Charlotte’s death.” She knelt down in front of Beau. “Brother, I am so sorry for the loss of your beloved.”

  “Thank you, sister.” Beau kept his eyes down.

  “Would you like me to have a service for her here? I don’t mind at all.”

  Beau looked up without thinking. “No, please.” He dropped his eyes back down to the floor and let his shoulders slump. “Forgive me, sister. I forgot my station.”

  “You are mourning.” Bliss said kindly. “Or trying to.”

  “I don’t think he’s fully accepted it.” Wynn added. She grasped his hand. “It’s okay, son. Sometimes, it takes time to accept the truth.”

  Beau winced.

  “You haven’t accepted it, have you?” Bliss stood up. “Brother, you must leave us immediately. You must go see the truth.” She looked over at her mother. “It’s the only way, isn’t it? He must find out where and when and how she died. He must fight against those who killed her.”

  Wynn paled, then nodded.

  “Go now, brother. Say your goodbyes to mother and father, and then join the fight against this enemy. Face the truth, and then avenge your sweetheart.”

  “What about my job?” Beau lifted his eyes just slightly. “Shouldn’t I learn from my uncle right now?”

  Bliss knelt back down in front of him. “Nonsense. I’ll find a replacement. Right now you must do what’s best for you. I’ll get the paperwork together for you and you’ll report to the Maguard right after you safely see mother and father to the castle. I want them protected as they travel.” She kissed him on the forehead. “Goodbye, brother.” She kissed her mother on forehead. “Goodbye, mother.”

  Wynn and Beau waited until she had left the room before they stood and joined shaking hands. They dared not utter a word as they walked out of the office and down the hall to the hospital wing. Beau stared numbly down the hallway at the guards. He forced his feet to walk firmly across the tiles. They were all being sent away. That didn’t surprise him, but he had been surprised that his sister was sending him to fight. He straightened his back and relaxed his wings. His kid sister wanted him dead. He smiled over at his mother. He would see his parents to safety. He would find Charlotte. He would marry her. He would live, and his sister would someday regret her thirst for power.

  Wilder saw the panic in his wife’s eyes when she entered his hospital room. He raised his right hand immediately, and she and Beau stopped in their tracks. He slowly lowered it, then waved them over. Her eyes were softer now. The panic was still there, but she was in control. He pulled her to his chest and kissed her. “Is it time to travel to our new home, dear one?”

  She nodded. “Bliss has granted us safe passage with Beau.”

  “Considerate and protective.” Wilder smiled. “We raised her well.” He waved Beau over, but he dared not ask him what was going on just yet. Beau’s muscles were tight and his eyes were fierce. Wilder wanted his family out safe, and that wouldn’t happen if Beau reacted publicly to whatever had just happened.

  “I know you are mourning.” Wilder sat up in bed and took a firmer tone with his son. “But I hope you remember your responsibilities and our expectations of you.”

  Beau grabbed his hand and squeezed. “Thank you for reminding me, father.”

  Wilder nodded. “Let’s get you to the castle where you can mourn.”

  Beau’s jaw tightened and his eyes narrowed.

  Wilder placed his arm on his son’s shoulder and pressed down. “I am honored to have your escort.”

  Beau placed his hand on his father’s hand. He closed his eyes briefly. “I am honored to be your escort.”

  Wilder hugged him and tousled his hair. “Let’s go, son.”

  They packed their meager important belongings quickly under the constant supervision of the guard. Wynn was the last to leave. She lingered, her eyes trailing across each inch of their home since their wedding. At last, she emerged, eyes red. She walked purposefully across the pathway to the platform where Wilder and Beau stood. A guard of ten young women stood in a line nearby. Wynn tensed. There was no typical goodbye crowd. She looked up at the palace windows. Where was Bliss?

  “Wynn. It’s time.” Wilder placed a hand on his wife’s back. “You must let adult children fly, remember?”

  “Yes, of course. I merely miss her already.” She gave one last look at the guards. They didn’t look armed, but that meant nothing. Her people were good.

  “Come, mother.” Beau placed a hand on her back as well. “It’s time for you to build a new nest.”

  But Wynn didn’t want to go. She wanted to march back into that throne room and knock some sense into her daughter. She shivered and felt her husband’s hand press deeper into her back. They stood at the edge of the platform. It was snowing today below. Wynn could smell it. The sound of the ancient bell in the palace courtyard rang out. She tensed. It rang out again and again. She looked into her husband’s eyes. A single tear fell down his face. His brother was dead. The bell would ring 24 times in honor of his life. Bliss would reign. There would be a coronation, but they would not be in attendance. They may not even live to see the end of this day. She inched her toes past the edge, spread her wings out, and fell into the dark, cloudy sky.

  26

  The Second Stronghold

  Vincent raced into the cabin. “D!” He called out. “D! Where are you?”

  “In the kitchen, bud. What is it?” David wiped his hands on his pants and came into the living room.

  Vincent grabbed his hand. Tears poured down his face. “D, I did something terrible. It was an accident.

  I didn’t mean to kill it.”

  David froze. “Vincent, take me there now.”

  “Please still love me, D. Please don’t get rid of me.”

  “Vincent, show me now.”

  The door opened and the light flickered back on. Charlotte pressed her body against the cold cell wall. The man chuckled as he passed her cell. He hit each bar of her cell with the large ring he wore on his left hand as he walked by. She shivered and forced her eyes away from her throbbing elbows where he had dug his rings into her skin until she had bled. He paused at the last bar, gripped it, and then let his hand slide down slowly.

  “Feeling more obedient?” He let go of the bar and ran his hand through his oily hair. “I hated to hurt you earlier, but I simply cannot concentrate on my work with a silly girl screaming nearby.”

  “I’m sorry.” Charlotte said softly. “I’ve only been an apprentice for a few days.”

  The man backed up. “I was an apprentice once, you know. I understand how hard it is.”

  A tear fell down Charlotte’s face. “I’ll try harder.”

  The man stared at her. “This next round will be a test. If you are good, then I will reward you.”

  She nodded, but curled up in a ball.

  “Tsk, tsk.” The man banged on her bars as he passed by them again. “I could teach you so much if you would only look past your fear.”

  Charlotte listened to the stomp of the man’s boots as he walked down the hallway. He had started from the end of the hallway last time. He pulled the dwarf out of his cell and to
rtured him with magical spells that twisted and contorted the man until his bones were all broken. Charlotte had curled up under the bench in her cell, hands over her ears, but eventually she screamed out. The man had come for her then. He yanked her in the hall with the dwarf and made her watch as he finished breaking the rest of his bones. Then, when the dwarf had taken his last breath, he hurt her and threw her back into her cell.

  “Let’s try this again. Scream during the next one and I’ll break one of your bones.” The man stomped down the hallway.

  Charlotte buried herself in her mind.

  “What’s this?” The man yelled. “A life wasted?” He yelled out. “I hate a waste of life!” He screamed and stomped back down the hall and out the door. Charlotte pressed her face into her knees and took deeps breaths. She was the wind. She was the wind blowing across the sand, smoothing it on a cold night when everything was still and quiet. The heat settled.

  The gangly man returned with two of his servants. The first servant was the one who had parts of a cheetah. The second servant was a dwarf with the head and tail and paws of a wolf. They removed the body. The man paced up and down the hallway, muttering to himself.

  Charlotte pictured herself as a horse galloping through the fields, the wind rushing across her back as she raced toward a beautiful sunset.

  The man walked to the back of the hallway. Charlotte heard the slam of two doors and the grunt of two dwarves being pulled out and thrown onto the floor. The gangly man strode back to the door. He whistled down the hallway. “Suppertime, my pets.” Ten beasts of different concoctions rushed into the hallway and raced the dwarves. The screaming began.

  The man looked to Charlotte. “I hate a waste of life.” The door slammed shut. The light went out. The screaming continued.

  The door opened again. The man whistled. The beasts left the hallway. Bright lights blared overhead. Charlotte stared numbly at the ceiling. She lay on the floor; the rats that bit her fingers and toes no longer bothered her. She listened as the leftovers of the bodies were hauled away and the floor was mopped down. How many dwarves were left? Was she next? The gangly man walked through the hallway once it was complete. He stopped outside of her cell.

  “I used to have a name, but I’ve forgotten it.”

  Charlotte sat up. “I used to have a name, but I’m not that person anymore.”

  He nodded and left the hallway.

  The next day the gangly man did not come. Instead, he sent his servants to line them up and take them out of the cells and out of the hallway. Four dwarves walked in front of her. They were marched down another hall and placed into separate rooms. Charlotte was fed and bathed and given new clothes to wear. A female dwarf with a tongue of snake and the flippers of a seal attended to her, and then tucked her into a bed with a stuffed animal that was half bear and half bunny. Next door a dwarf screamed.

  The gangly man came for her the next morning. He took her by the hand and led her around the body in the hall that was half dwarf and half kangaroo. The man caressed the creature as he walked by. “This one cooperated with me and he has been rewarded with a new life.”

  The dwarf blinked.

  “It will take him some time to adjust.” The man explained to Charlotte as they walked up the stairs. “I try to give them space during the process.”

  “What is the process?” Charlotte asked.

  “Ah, inquisitive, are we?” The man smiled down at her. “I chose well.” He caressed her head. “I saw you and I wanted you, you know.”

  Charlotte frowned up at him. “What do you mean?”

  “Let me show you.” The man picked her up and carried her through a maze of halls until they reached a large room of windows that overlooked a room that was even bigger than the great hall in the dwarves’ den. He sat her down on the bench by the windows and pressed his greasy fingers on the glass. “I can make them do whatever I want them to do. They are part of me in a way.” He clapped his hands and the creatures that had been resting on the floor all stood and stared up at the man.

  “If I want, I can see what they see. I can smell and hear what they hear.”

  “You saw me through that beast that bit me that day in the woods.” Charlotte said.

  “You’ll see that I recovered my pet.” The man pointed down. “I take good care of what’s mine.”

  Charlotte nodded. “You came to rescue your pet.”

  “Yes.” The man sat down beside her. “But I also came to collect the others for my tests.” He leaned forward and looked into her eyes. “I came to collect you.”

  “Why me?” Charlotte asked quietly. She thought of a small stream winding through its rocky bed on a warm, sunny day.

  “Once I was an apprentice like you.” The man sat back. “But I didn’t finish my apprenticeship.”

  “I don’t think I’ll finish mine.” Charlotte looked down at the gigantic room of beasts that had been mismatched into new creatures.

  “I thought I recognized a friend.”

  “Why didn’t you finish yours?”

  “I struggled with transfiguration.” He stood and dug his fingers into his hips. “I tried to learn on my own to catch up and my master caught me. He took me before the Weaver Council and they stripped me of my magic and removed the bond.”

  Charlotte’s heart fell.

  “Oh, your master didn’t tell you that part, did he?”

  She shook her head no.

  The gangly man sat back down. “As you can see, I’ve acquired magic another way and learned on my own.” He grinned.

  “So I could learn on my own?”

  The man snickered. “I’m afraid you are too young to go out on your own, my dear. That, and you’ve seen too much already. You will have to be content with being mine.” He scooted closer. “And then someday, when you are older, you will be mine in another way.”

  Charlotte ran, but her legs froze and she fell to the floor.

  “Oh, dear.” The man hauled her up. “I’m afraid it’s time for you to learn not to run from me.”

  The snake tongue woman sat in a chair in the corner and flapped her feet against the concrete floor. Charlotte stared up at the ceiling in her room and tried to ignore the pain. Across the hall another dwarf screamed. She closed her eyes, but she had no more tears. When the screaming stopped, as it always eventually did, she sang the song in her head as she had for each one.

  Warrior strong, go now in peace.

  Your battle is finished,

  Your honor was true.

  Faithful to the end, we will remember you.

  The door opened and the gangly man sat down at the end of her bed. He wiped his bloody hands on his blood-smeared apron and tapped her feet. “No more running, little one. Do you understand?”

  She nodded at him.

  “Good girl.” He placed his hand on her leg and all the pain drifted away. “Better?” He lifted his eyebrows.

  “Yes, thank you.” She sat up. “You should have a name.”

  “I told you that I couldn’t remember my name.” He gripped her leg.

  “Melder.”

  His grip relaxed. “Fine.”

  “You should call your pets something.”

  He slapped her. “You women always want to change things.” He rubbed his hand. “But the idea is a good one.” He stroked her face and the pain disappeared. “You are useful. I will keep you.”

  He tucked her in. “I call my pets meldants.” He tucked her bunny-bear in beside her. “You see, I’ve already been thinking of names.” His eyes narrowed. “So don’t think that you will best me or trick me or manipulate me.” He patted her blanket. “I will call you brat.”

  The next morning he carried her through the maze of hallways again and left her alone in a room with a pot and a tray of food and water. It was two days before he returned. He carried her back through the maze and placed her in bed next to the last dwarf. Charlotte screamed. It was Barnabas. The man tied her down to the bed and left.

  “Hus
h, child.” Barnabas said. “The end comes for us all.” He coughed up blood.

  “I will sing for you when it’s time. I sang for all the others.”

  “You did us a great honor.” He said. “Now, how about I leave you with a story.”

  “Oh, Barnabas.” A tear slipped down her face. She thought she had none left.

  He turned his head to her. “How do you know me?”

  She stared into his eyes and shook her head. The room was empty, but she didn’t trust anyone or anything. He stared back at her for several minutes, then finally, his eyes flashed and a tear rolled down his face.

  “Oh, my darling child.” He closed his eyes. “I do have one long story to tell you. And when you get out of here, you’ll know what to do, my dear.”

  She listened to his story, and then she held him and sang to him until he took his last breath of air.

  They carried him away in the morning, but Charlotte wasn’t even sure if it was morning. She wasn’t sure of anything anymore. She only assumed it was because they woke her and fed her. She was taken back up to the room with the large windows. Melder was there, and he wore robes this time. He took her by the hand and led her through a new section of his lair. Here the walls and parts of the floors were covered with metal vines with large thorns.

  “If you run from me again, I’ll have you run through this hallway with one of my meldants at your heels.”

  “I won’t run from you ever again.”

  “I didn’t think you would.”

  Charlotte walked quietly beside him. She tested the bond. It was still pulsing, but very slowly. Where was Vincent? Could she last long enough for him to find her? She relaxed her grip on the bond and focused back on the man. She had given up on trying to figure out his lair. It was too complicated. The hallways twisted and turned, and sometimes the doors were false. Always his creatures roamed the halls. She heard a loud sound and flinched. Did he have a new group of magani to torture?

  “Through here.” He pulled her into a room. Charlotte fell to her knees. In the middle of a large room was a large iron tree with orbs hanging off of the branches. This was a stronghold. “It’s time for a magic lesson.” He helped her to her feet.