The eagle looked properly chagrined as his leader gave him orders. “As you wish,” he replied and bent to allow Emilia to climb onto his back.
Once they were all seated, the eagles took to the skies. Carrie could feel the powerful muscles of her eagle’s back ripple as his wings beat the air. She clung on for dear life, forbidding herself to look down at the disappearing ground below and trying to enjoy the exhilarating feel of the wind rushing past her face. She turned and saw Rebecca grinning with joy, her long dark hair streaming behind her in an ebony banner, and Carrie felt a twinge of regret that she kept her own cut so short. Lindsay was to her left, howling with laughter. Carrie turned and saw that she was attempting to ride her eagle without holding on and had her hands above her head as if she were riding a roller coaster at a theme park. Emilia was the opposite of her three friends, and Carrie could see her eyes were firmly shut and she was muttering to herself as if praying she would not fall. Then, as soon as it had begun, the ride was over, and the eagles had landed on the roof of Asmodeus’ castle. They had finally reached their destination.
Carrie slid off her eagle’s back as all her friends did the same. They turned and offered their sincere appreciation for the help given. Standing in a group, Carrie, Lindsay, Rebecca, and Adom turned to Emilia for her to lead the way inside. However, before anyone could get a word out, the floor gave way from under them, and they all fell into the suffocating darkness below.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Printsesin Emilia
Carrie landed hard onto the stone floor below. She heard the thuds of her friends falling around her and dimly saw them land. Large wooden torches lined the walls surrounding them, casting everything in a flickering light.
Carrie saw Lindsay and Rebecca sitting on the floor across from her. Adom was immediately to her right. She could also make out another figure huddled in the corner of the room. Carrie shakily stood and tested her limbs to ensure she had not been injured in the fall and began to explore the space she was in. The walls were entirely made of the same grey stone that made up the cold, hard floor. Names and dates were carved into nearly every available space, some too faint to read. Carrie could make out the names David, John, Marcia, and Emilia. Her eyes widened upon reading the last name. She turned quickly and realized that they were all locked in a cell. The wall directly across from her was lined with cold iron bars. She ran toward them and began tugging at them as if she could move them by sheer will. She could hear her friends behind her begging her to stop but paid no attention to their voices. From the other side of the bars, she heard footsteps approaching them and could just make out a figure coming their way. She gasped in fright when she saw Emilia approach, one hand held mockingly on her hip, red lips curled into a cruel smile.
“Scared, little Carrie?” Emilia asked. All kindness and warmth had been drained from her voice. “Did you really think you could best me at my own game? Did you really believe you could succeed and beat me? Beat the master of manipulation? Defeat me?” Her eyes were alight with the flames of the torches. Her red hair seemed to be made up of fire, burning the air around her.
“I don’t understand,” Carrie said. Her eyes widened in confusion and shock. She had thought Asmodeus was behind the troubles in this world. Why was Emilia behaving this way? Saying these words? “What are you doing? I thought—I thought we were…” she could not bring herself to finish the sentence.
“Friends?” Emilia sneered. “You what? You thought we were friends?” She mockingly pouted at Carrie, Lindsay, and Rebecca trapped behind the bars of the cell. “You still do not understand what is right in front of your face.”
“Explain it to us,” Rebecca said drily. “We’re obviously too stupid to get it.”
Emilia let out a loud cackle. “I can see that,” she said to them. “Asmodeus would never leave anything to chance. Why would the king of dybbuks just sit alone in his castle waiting for you to come and try to take the strings away from him?”
“He wouldn’t,” Lindsay said softly. “He sent you. He used you to trap us.”
Emilia laughed. “No,” she said. “He trusts no one. Why do you think no two stories describe him the same way? Why do you think nobody really knows what he looks like?” The air around her seemed to shimmer and distort. Her form shifted and grew. Long red hair became black and seemed to disappear into her skull. Her dress became robes, stitched with flames that seemed to flicker as they moved. Her slim, feminine figure morphed into one that exuded masculine power. Soon, where Emilia once stood was a man who looked at them through Emilia’s eyes, now cold and hard with hatred.
“You’re Asmodeus?” Carrie asked incredulously. Her entire body was tense with fear.
Asmodeus smirked at her. “Stupid child. You stood no chance at all against me.” His voice was gravelly and cold. “You should never have come here at all. You should have stayed at home and played with your little friends instead of dragging them along with you to die.”
“It was you all along,” Carrie said angrily. “You broke the mirror. You locked us inside the Golden Mountain. You were behind all our problems.”
“You do not know half of what I have done.” Asmodeus changed his appearance a second time, and Carrie found herself face-to-face with the crone from the cave. “Would you like to make another trade, little girlie? Might as well make you think you were getting ahead on your quest. What did I care about how you were going to enter my castle? Your final destination was always to be this cell.” Asmodeus cackled hysterically. “Now you’re on your own, with no way to protect yourself. It is too sad.” Asmodeus became Emilia once more. He cried, tears falling freely down his face. “I cannot believe I must do this to my own best friends.” He laughed again and took on his masculine form once more.
“But you saved my life!” Lindsay protested. “You got that dybbuk to leave my body!” She shook her head, unwilling to believe what was happening.
Asmodeus smiled. “That dybbuk was a fool,” he said, “thinking I wanted him to remove you as a threat. He had to obey his king. He knew who I was when faced with me. He accomplished one thing—he got little Lindsay to trust me.” He smiled cruelly at them, turned, and strode down the hall away from the girls.
Rebecca ran to the bars of their cell. “What are you going to do with us?” she cried after him.
Asmodeus looked and regarded her with pity. “I’m going to leave you there to be destroyed when I have succeeded in facilitating the destruction of this world,” he told her. “It will only add to my pleasure knowing that you three will join Hadariah in its death.” He threw back his head and laughed, a low guttural sound. Then he spun on his heel, and in a flash of fire, Asmodeus vanished and left them in their cell, waiting for darkness to consume them.
Carrie sank down to the floor and buried her face in her hands. She felt so stupid, so incompetent. Her friends were in danger, and it was all her fault. She could not bear to look any of them in the eye. Adom walked over to her and butted his head against her leg. She ignored the gesture.
“Now is not the time for you to wallow in self-pity,” he told her. “We need to come up with a plan to escape this prison.”
Carrie peered at him over her fingers. “There is no way out,” she told him. Her voice was hollow, conveying her hopelessness.
Lindsay stood and took a quick look around their cell. Her gaze fell upon the figure in the corner. “Guys,” she said, trying to get their attention. “We’re not alone in here.” She crossed over to the pile of rags that seemed to cover a human figure.
“Careful,” Rebecca cautioned. “We don’t know who or what that is.”
Lindsay paid no attention to Rebecca’s warning and kneeled in front of the person. She cautiously reached out and gently shook them. “Hey,” she said softly. “Are you okay? We don’t want to hurt you. We’re here to help.” She got no response. She tried shaking the figure a little harder to no avail. She reached out and pulled one of the rags away from its face and pulle
d back in surprise. “Guys,” she called across the cell. “I think I’ve found the real Emilia.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Ha printsesin b’Tfise
The girl’s face was dirt-stained. Her clothes were torn and soiled. What they could see of her hands and feet were cut, and several nails were broken. Her long, red hair was matted and darkened by dirt and filth. Her cheeks were sunken in, and her face was pale and sickly with lips that were dry and cracked, but they could not deny that it was Emilia.
“What’s happened to her?” Rebecca asked. “How long do you think she’s been trapped here?”
Adom carefully sniffed at the fallen princess. “It seems as if she has been down here for quite some time,” he said. He frowned in concern. “I fear for her health.” He turned to Rebecca. “Do you still have some of those leaves that you used on Lindsay’s hands?”
Rebecca looked around the cell. “It seems that Asmodeus has taken our bags,” she said. “But I did put some of the leaves in my pockets. I hope they’ll be enough.”
Carrie suddenly looked up. “I don’t think we should help her,” she said angrily. “What if this is another trap?”
“Why would Asmodeus do that? He already has us where he wants us,” Lindsay said. “Look at her.” She gestured to Emilia. “She’s sick. She may be dying. I’ve been shaking her, talking to her, moving her, and she hasn’t woken up at all. She needs our help.”
Carrie looked at the frighteningly pale girl balled up in the corner. She did look horrible. She felt frustrated with their situation, angry at herself for wanting to callously ignore the girl’s plight, but afraid she might be making another mistake. “Let’s do what we can to help her,” she finally said. She turned to Adom. “Can you help us prepare the leaves?”
Adom was already in the middle of shredding the leaves from Rebecca’s pockets with his paws. “We need water to mix these into,” he told Carrie. “See if you can find some.”
Carrie rose from her position on the floor and began to search the cell in earnest. She came across a small chamber pot tucked away in a corner that seemed to be filled with a clear liquid. She gingerly smelled its contents and was relieved to find that the liquid inside was odourless. She brought it over to Adom and set it down beside him.
“I’m assuming that this is water,” Carrie said. She didn’t want to think about the alternative.
Adom peered into the pot and lapped at the liquid inside. Carrie made a disgusted face. “It is water,” he told her. “Put the leaves into the water and stir them together.”
Carrie did as she was told and used her hands to mix the two ingredients. She then carried the pot over to where Emilia lay.
“Try to get her to drink it,” Adom commanded her.
Lindsay did her best to prop Emilia into a sitting position and held her head upright while Carrie tried to pour the water into her mouth. She winced as she spilled half the liquid down the front of Emilia’s dress. When Adom was satisfied that Emilia had drunk enough, he motioned with his paw for Carrie to stop. All three girls watched Emilia intently, waiting for some sign that it had worked. Slowly, they saw some colour come to her cheeks. Her face took on a more nourished look, and her eyes began to open. Carrie noted to herself that this Emilia also lacked a shadow, just as her father had.
“Where am I?” Emilia asked. Her voice was rough. She peered about the cell, getting her bearings. “I am still trapped,” she said morosely. She finally noticed the three girls sitting around her. “Who are you?” she asked.
“My name is Carrie,” Carrie told her. “These are my friends, Lindsay, Rebecca, and Adom.” She gestured to each one in turn, speaking slowly and trying to see if Emilia was truly a friendly presence in the cell.
“Why are you here?” Emilia asked, struggling to her feet. “Why has my father trapped you here with me?” She teetered a bit and seemed to be having difficulty staying upright.
“Sit back down,” Rebecca said. She stood and tried to help Emilia back onto the floor. “We’ll tell you everything. Just sit.”
Emilia did as she was told. She looked at Adom. “I know of you,” she said to him. “You are the king’s emissary. If you are here, then these must be the mortals my father was screaming about. The ones who have come for the strings.”
Adom nodded. “They are,” he told her. “Why are you locked away in here?”
Emilia gave a hollow laugh. “My father caught me trying to steal them away from him,” she told Adom. “He locked me away for being duplicitous. I do not see why not wanting to die is a crime.”
“If you truly want to get out of here,” Carrie said, eyeing her shrewdly, “then perhaps you can show us a way to escape.”
Emilia regarded her new cellmates with interest. “If I truly knew a way out,” she told them, “I would not still be sitting here. But then again…” She looked carefully at the fox. “Follow me.” She stood and led them over to a spot where the bars met the wall. She knelt and cautiously pried a stone from the floor. “This is how I destroyed my nails,” she told them. “I decided to try and dig my way out. However, I only made this small amount of progress.” She turned to Adom. “I do not suppose you could fit through this hole? If so, the keys hang on a small hook down the hall. Perhaps you could retrieve them for us?”
Adom regarded the hole for a moment. It gave a tiny opening under the bars, like a small tunnel to burrow under to freedom on the other side. His whiskers twitched as he pondered his size versus the size of the hole. He took a deep breath and attempted to squeeze his small body through, wriggling this way and that, pushing himself as hard as he could, but to no avail.
“I should very much not like to try that again,” he told them with as much dignity as he could muster. “It is a most unpleasant experience.”
Carrie laughed drily. “Don’t worry,” she said to him. “We won’t force you to do it. You obviously can’t fit.”
Emilia looked dejected. “I had hoped it would work,” she said. “We will never break free of our prison.”
Carrie went over every possibility for escape in her mind. If they did not find a way out, Asmodeus would win, and they were all doomed. She bent and examined the door to their cell as carefully as she could. The hinges were welded securely; there was no way to pry the screws out. None of them were small enough to squeeze between the bars. If Adom could not fit through the hole Emilia had created, she had no idea as to how to break out.
“Rebecca,” Carrie said. “Any thoughts?”
“Sorry,” Rebecca replied. “I left my lock-picking kit at home.”
“Wait!” Lindsay exclaimed. “I have an idea! I want to try something.”
Lindsay approached the door and pulled a bobby pin from her hair. She bent it straight and inserted it into the lock. She jiggled it around and heard nothing.
“I need something else to work with this pin,” she said.
“You know how to pick a lock?” Emilia asked.
“With the amount of times I lost my keys,” Lindsay explained, “I had to figure out how to let myself into my house.”
“Hang on,” Rebecca said. She pulled her belt off and handed it to Lindsay. “Use part of the buckle.
Lindsay thanked her and inserted it in alongside the bobby pin. After several tense minutes, she heard a loud metallic click.
“Success!” Lindsay cried. “Let’s get out of here!”
“Awesome!” Rebecca exclaimed. “You are totally my hero now!” She gave her friend a huge hug.
Emilia turned to her saviours. “You are all amazing,” she said, relief written all over her face. “Now I shall take you to my father and the strings,” she told them. “We shall finish this.” She turned and led the way down the hall with Carrie following close behind.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Imut
The door to Asmodeus’ throne room was high, almost reaching the hallway’s vaulted ceiling. Its wood was dark mahogany, worn smooth over the years. Its handle was bras
s, round, and far too large for Carrie’s small hands to fit all the way around. She stood for a long time, feeling the metal warm to her touch, terrified to take the first step and walk into the room behind that door.
“Are you sure we should just waltz right in there?” Lindsay asked for what seemed like the hundredth time since they had escaped Asmodeus’ dungeon.
“It will be what my father least expects us to do,” Emilia explained patiently. “We shall have the element of surprise on our side. He may not even be inside the throne room. He is a most unpredictable man.”
“Well, I can’t think of a better plan,” Rebecca said. “I suppose it’s now or never.”
Carrie called up every ounce of courage she had, took a deep breath, and turned the handle. The door made no sound at all as it swung smoothly away from her. Carrie, Lindsay, and Rebecca walked cautiously into the room with Adom and Emilia close behind them. Like their cell, the floor and walls were made of the same grey stone, and burning torches hung from the walls, casting a flickering light over everything. The throne took up a large portion of the wall to their right; large and austere, carved from mahogany with grimacing faces on its arms, it faced an enormous window looking out on a vast, starless sky. The room was empty, except for the throne and a stone dais upon which rested four silver strings atop a mirror. Carrie wanted desperately to run up and snatch them, to end her mission. Yet she hesitated. It was far too easy. She turned to Emilia, who stood looking around the room, tense and apprehensive.
“What’s wrong?” Carrie asked her. She got no response. Carrie turned to Lindsay and Rebecca and shrugged. They shook their heads, not knowing what to do.
“It seems odd,” Adom said as he walked over to the dais. “Why would Asmodeus leave the strings so unprotected?”
The Song of Hadariah: Dybbuk Scrolls Trilogy: Book 1 (Dybbuk Scrolls Trillogy) Page 15