But she was again one step ahead of me. Before I could even finish my sentence, she fired at me. I jumped behind a boulder for cover.
I can’t believe it! I did it again. I keep getting distracted by my emotions when I should be focusing on the fight!
I peeked to see if I could shoot back but Kieran was ready for me. I barely got my face out of the way as his fireball whizzed by. I sent one of my own but with no hope of hitting the target.
I chastised myself for being distracted. I saw Kieran send one of his time-delayed fireballs around where I was. Before he could detonate it, I was able to jump over the boulder. I fired. I got a clean shot at Kieran.
“Aaahhh! Noo! Help! I’m going to die! I’m going to die!” Kieran screamed as he fell on his back with the front of his robe ablaze.
The doctor sent magic over Kieran’s clothes and it stopped the fire but not before I smell burnt flesh and saw blistering all over Kieran’s upper body.
“Am I going to die? Am I going to die? I don’t want to die!” Kieran kept bleating.
“No you’re not. Just be still! You’ll be fine,” the doctor shouted at him.
The doctor, still severely injured from my earlier shot, limped over to Kieran’s side. She hovered her hands over Kieran and chanted a healing spell. Kieran started to cough and sat up with the help of the doctor.
“You are a fool, Abigail! You don’t know what you are doing! I keep trying to tell you to remember who you are and yet you refuse to believe what is in front of you. Foolish kid! You don’t know what’s at stake! You will be the death of everyone!” Doctor McGrath said in anguish. I was surprised to see tears in her eyes.
It doesn’t matter whether it was lie, whatever she was saying, she really believed it to be true.
“You only see what is in front of you. There is a bigger picture. There is a bigger plan.”
“Shut up, Esmeralda!” the Sorceress shouted. I nearly forgot about her in my rage. She had since seated herself and was still holding my parents suspended in midair. I turned my head just in time to see her yank at her invisible rope. From the top of the cavern, the shrieks and screams of my parents reminded me of what was at stake and I backed down.
The Sorceress continued speaking amidst the cries up above as if nothing was happening. “Well played, well played. You might as well take out as many pawns as you can,” she said as she looked at the doctor and Kieran huddled together. She got up from her seat and motioned to the doctor who raised her hands to take over the spell holding my parents afloat. “I guarantee you; you won’t be win this game. But if you really want to play, I will give you a taste.”
Without warning, she sent out several fireballs in rapid succession. Each time she threw one, she walked determinedly towards my direction. They came in so fast I didn’t have time to react. She sent the first one. I bend over backwards as far away from the fire as I could. She followed it up with another and another. I kept dodging them but the frequency was getting shorter and shorter. I lost count of how many attacks she sent me but the cave was hazy with the smoke from the fireballs and the putrid smell of phosphorous. I was losing energy and fast. She threw another and this time I had no time or energy to move out of the way. I put my right arm over my head to cover me from the fire and slid down on the ground at the same time. I howled in pain as the fire licked at my exposed arm. The next will be a fatal blow if I don’t move! I collected my power on my good hand and threw out a fireball without any regard for accuracy as I rolled away from her. I scooted backwards to hide behind a stalagmite.
I saw her reel towards her right from the contact. I kept my back tightly against the rock. I took the time to breathe. I had lost a lot of energy and my lower left arm was in agonizing pain. Wincing, I inspected my wound. Third degree burns on the upper side, not too deep. Thankfully, it was just a regular fireball and a glancing hit. I focused my energy and conjured a fireball. Good! I can still summon power with it.
I sent the fireball hurtling towards the Sorceress. But this time, she was ready. She merely levitated over it. I closed my eyes from disappointment. I couldn’t afford to waste what little energy I had. I reached out my arm to collect more energy. I sent one ball away. She dodged it. I steeled myself against the pain and sent one from my injured hand immediately. She didn’t expect that. It was a direct hit!
I was about to cheer when she just got up and brushed the dirt off her robe as if nothing happened. Without any precursor movement, no incantations, no twirl of hand, she sent a gust of wind that hit me in my stomach like a ten-pound weight. I doubled up from the pain. She sent another one. This time a cold freeze shot up through me like an icicle and hit me in my chest. Another fireball. This time it glanced my face. The impact felt like my head got hit with a two-by-four. My eyes started to swell. Blood trickled down from my forehead. The odor of my own burnt hair and skin assaulted my senses. It didn’t take too long before she made her next move. An invisible force jerked my hands upwards, making me lose whatever collected energy I had stored. The next thing I felt was burning heat all over my arms and hands. Then she turned it up and I felt the blistering of my skin and smelled the burning of my flesh.
I cried out in pain as I crashed down on the floor with my arms severely burned. I watched while smoke swirled away from my scorched hands and arms. I couldn’t do anymore. I’d played all my cards and now I was done. But that didn’t mean I would let her win.
“I admire you and your seemingly bottomless supply of hope. You came in here despite all odds; you fought as if you had a slight chance.” The Sorceress kept the monotone discourse while she shot smaller fireballs at me for her amusement.
I kept crawling away from her. I needed to get close enough to the chasm. Meanwhile, small fireballs were boring small holes into my jeans. I writhed as they burned my skin.
I kept creeping closer and closer to the abyss. I needed to get there. I needed to have enough energy to get to the chasm. If I can kill myself first, then she can’t use my blood to activate the crown.
“But you know, doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result is the definition of insanity,” she said softly as continued to torture me.
She sent another fireball that hit on my back. I cried out loud as I arched my back backwards to keep the burning shirt from sticking to my skin. When I dropped back down on the ground, I took the chance to move closer to the dark gaping hole.
“To know you are completely and hopelessly defeated and still be willing to fight with the last...”
She stopped, staring at me. I also stopped, hoping she didn’t catch on to what I was about to do.
In a stern and cold voice, no longer the lilting voice she used to demean me, she said, “Oohhh...I don’t think so!”
She willed the crown to her hand and then she said, “Surrender or I will kill your parents. What will it be? Make your choice quickly; I don’t have much patience left!”
I hesitated. I was trying to make a mental calculation of how far I was from the chasm.
“So be it! You made your choice!” She flung her hand sideways and it threw the doctor across to the floor, effectively cutting the magic holding my parents up in the air. With an ear-splitting cry, my mother and father tumbled against each other as they plummeted towards the ground.
I turned to the Sorceress. “No, don’t! I surrender. Take me!” I pleaded.
“I accept your surrender! You lose!” she yelled and started to laugh her maniacal laugh.
I looked at my parents again and then fell into the gaping hole of the cavern’s floor. I tried to reach out to them with my blistered and bleeding hands. But I was too late. I heard my mother’s voice calling my name for help. “Save them!” I cried out but the Sorceress laughed some more.
“You traitor!” I yelled as I turned in every direction of the cave. “Now! Now! Now!”
There were confused looks
between the Sorceress and her followers. The instant I gave the signal, Raphael appeared in midair with his glorious white wings fully extended. He swooped into the chasm and disappeared into the darkness. I forgot all my pains. I leaned over as far as I could into the hole, trying desperately to catch any sight of Raphael. But it was far too dark. There was a long period of silence. All parties waited for any sign from deep below the cave. Then the flapping of wings became louder and louder as Raphael rose from the rift, pulling my parents up with him.
“You cannot do this, Raphael! I had a bargain!” cried the Sorceress.
“That you broke!” was the answer that came echoing as the ex-angel rose from the pit like the savior he was. His wings flapped in the wind with graceful but powerful strokes. He fanned the wind to gain momentum; the cool breeze touched my face and somehow eased my suffering.
The Sorceress cried and she opened fire on Raphael and his charges. But the fireballs dissipated on contact with the ex-angel’s shield. I watched as he took them higher and higher, finally disappearing beyond the crack above the cave and into the starlit sky.
I laid there on the floor of the cave, hands hanging over the chasm. I ached all over but I was content. My parents were out of danger, my friends, my true friends, were no longer at risk.
I can breathe now.
My head drooped and hit the ground but I did not care. I didn’t care that the rough soil scraped against my swollen eye, that the wound on my forehead continued to bleed. I didn’t care that my body and spirit were both in this mangled state. My family and friends were safe.
And now... I can ... die.
The Sorceress laughed her mirthless cackle. “Once again you surprise me. Congratulations, but I still have you and you are all I need. Besides, they will meet their deaths soon enough.” She turned to me with that faceless hood and raised her right hand.
CHAPTER 37
Finding My Voice
The Sorceress’ invisible rope yanked me away from the edge of the chasm and I found myself flailing in the air with my hair whipping against my swollen eye as she dragged me towards her.
“You treacherous little bitch! You dare to double-cross me again?” she yelled as he yanked the rope left to right, shaking me like a toy. She pulled me to her once again.
Oh no! This will not happen. I cannot let her capture me. I cannot and will not activate the crown for her. Diwatha’s words rang in my head. “Do not make a bargain with the Fae; we will be powerless to help you.” I need to get to the pit on my own. They will not help me break my oath with the Sorceress much help me to commit suicide. Still this is the only way.
I spread my arms out and gathered as much power as I could from the air around me. I concentrated all of it to repel her pull. I lowered myself so that my heels touched the ground and I dug them into the dirt. But she was stronger than I am. My heels scraped the dirt as I was pulled closer and closer to that face of blackness.
“Why are you prolonging the inevitable, King Maker? Stop fighting your destiny,” she purred softly.
It took everything I had to resist the pull of her magic but I had used every spell I learned, every incantation I’d memorized and every trick I knew. I was fighting it with all my physical and magical strength but the Sorceress was tugging at me more and more, and I was losing. She was using more and more power. Then I remembered, it was not the words, not the spells, it was the sound that causes the vibrations in the fabric of the magical universe. I remembered the golden runes Diwatha embedded in me. I closed my eyes one more time. I summoned the magic within. I felt the surge of energy. I let it take its course through my being. I let it take its course.
From within my mind or my soul, I didn’t rightly know which, came the sound I knew I needed to make. The strategy I needed to take.
I steadied myself and under my breath, with scarcely more than a whisper, I made the sound I needed to make. I said it again to make sure I had it right. Then I opened my legs slightly and put one foot in front of the other. “Ayaiya shimamat uro buro matiyasha grrrraaramaya!” At first, nothing happened. I said it again, with more conviction. “Ayaiya shimamat uro buro matiyasha grrrraaramaya!” I yelled. Suddenly, parts of my skin started to glow from the sigils Diwatha channeled to into me. First a soft yellow and then it intensified into bright gold. I heaved for one last pull as I dug my heels inches into the ground while I bent my knees for leverage. For a third time, I shouted, “Ayaiya shimamat uro buro matiyasha grrrraaramaya!” and yanked the Sorceress towards me.
The Sorceress gasped in shock from the sudden change in the direction of the pull. She redoubled her effort and sent more power into her invisible rope. I held my ground.
“Do not disobey me! Come to me!” ordered the Sorceress as she struggled to pull me in.
But I didn’t budge. Instead, I kept pulling her towards me, matching her force with mine.
Then without warning, I released all restraints. The sudden lack of opposing force made my body flow directly towards her. My entire 110 pounds of flesh and bones slammed against her body like a wrecking ball. If she were human, she probably would not have survived it. She fought, clawing with her sharp nails as I wrestled her to the ground. I tried to pry the crown from her hand but she levitated both of us off the ground. She pushed me away with her free hand and I fell to the ground.
She laughed while floating in air, hovering over in front of me holding the crown. “Activate the crown!” she barked at me. I took that momentary confusion to draw on my inner magic one more time.
“Assenion na me na me. Naaaah!” I rose into the air, soaring straight at her and tackled her against the wall using my shoulder. She fell in a heap on the floor of the cave, the crown clanking next to her. I landed and stood over her. I wanted to expose her for what she really was. I wanted the doctor and Kieran to see they had been following an evil person. I reached up to pull her hood and expose the depth of her evil soul.
I scrunched up a handful of her robe and picked her up from the ground. I was surprised to notice she was actually very small. She didn’t weigh much of anything at all. She turned her head away from me, sensing what I was about to do. In a desperate move, she took the crown and threw it up in the air. I was caught by surprise. I let go of her and tried to catch the crown. It rocked precariously on my hands and I had to keep stepping back to catch it without getting stabbed by the sharp stones. I grabbed the crown one last time and just as I suspected the sharp edges pierced my still raw and wounded palm. Instinctively, I let go. But it was too late because I could see the magic of the Obsidian Crown coursing through my veins, branching out in black webs as it entered my bloodstream. I grabbed my lower arm to stop the infection. The crown fell to the ground.
I saw the Sorceress threw her hand out to will the crown towards her. It wobbled tentatively and flew to follow her command.
I can’t allow this. I need to do something.
“Incensa!” It was the only thing I can think of to do. The fiery orb hit the crown and it burst into pieces. Everyone stared speechless as the debris of the broken crown laid scattered on the ground.
“Ahhhh! How could you...You stupid little girl!”
She brought both her hands over the broken pieces. She made a figure eight, muttering an incantation. She lifted her hands palms up. All the shards began to lift off the ground and became airborne. They all started lining up to face me. Then she used both hands and sent them flying at me. Despite the pain, I put both hands out and willed a shield in front of me. But the attack was strong and the shards kept trying to force their way through the shield. I looked behind me and saw I was getting nearer the chasm. I keep putting more of my will into the shield but the Sorceress was pushing the shards harder and harder. I had to keep stepping back to get some leverage. I saw her push harder and I stepped back to get a foothold but I was already at the edge. I lost my balance on a loose rock. I directed my will to the
center of the shield where most of the shards were trying to penetrate. But my concentration faltered and my foot slipped. Shards whizzed by me on all sides of the shield. I keep empowering the part covering my body. But there was no more ground.
I tried to control my fall by using my right hand to hold on to the ground in case I fell into the pit. I pulled one of my hands away from powering the shield to hold on to the ground. Immediately, the shield lost half of its strength. I shoved the shield sideways and gave it a push. The shards bounced off the shield and ricocheted into the cave wall. But one small piece, the size of an egg got through and impaled itself on my hand.
The pain was immediate. The magic from my pierced palm shot straight to my brain like a splinter. I fell to my knees, shuddering in agony as the magic from the stone permeated my body. I closed my eyes to control the burning liquid now intermingled with my blood. But to no avail. I still had my hand up even though my shield already failed me the minute the agony coursed through me.
I was holding my hand with the broken shard when I noticed the Obsidian Crown was turning a bright purple. I didn’t know what that meant but it couldn’t be good. I looked at my hand and the piece embedded in me had also turned a pulsing bright purple. I realized I was not the only one who saw that because the Sorceress started to laugh a freakish laugh of glee.
That laughter from the depth of the dark hood grated me from the inside. My temper flared up and overtook the pain.
“You want some this? Then here it is, take it!” I forced the shard from my palm and willed it straight at that dark space inside her hood.
The shard flew out of my hand, squirting dark purple blood all over. I pulled my hand back and covered it with the edge of my shirt while stepping safely away from the abyss. The shard sailed fast and unrelenting towards it new target: the Sorceress’ face. In a few more seconds, this would be all over; I comforted myself through my throbbing pain and unbridled fury.
The Obsidian Crown of the Lost Dominion Page 26