by Olivia Ash
“Sophia,” a soothing voice said. She instantly recognized it as the female elder arbor.
Sophia turned and faced her. “Yes?”
The female smiled and said, “Torra’s guilt weighs on her. She blames herself for what happened back at the village.”
Sophia nodded. “I’ve already forgiven her.” She added a smile so that she could end the conversation and get on with preparing for a fight and leaving the mountain.
“Might you do her the honor of allowing her to guide you to the castle?” the female elder arbor asked. “She wishes to make up for the misunderstanding and warns there are endless tunnels and labyrinths within the castle that ends in steep drops. It would give her peace of mind to see you safely through.”
“There’s no need,” Sophia said, and her eyes caught sight of Torra standing off to the side, appearing forlorn and possibly abandoned. She supposed that forgiveness wasn’t enough. She sighed. “On second thought, she can guide us. That would be very helpful.”
The female elder arbor smiled. “Excellent. She will be pleased.”
“My pleasure,” Sophia said.
The elder arbor turned and returned to Torra. The girl’s face lit up as did that strange glow. Sophia smiled. At least she was happy.
Sophia finalized the last of the preparations as Andreas returned from his scouting. He shared with her the information he found out about the entrances not being guarded. She thought that was odd but shrugged it off, believing his explanation that Lady Naomi had grown cocky.
Once Edric, Ezekiel, and Torra joined them, they set off.
The trip to the castle was uneventful, and Torra led them to a secret entrance hidden by a hollow boulder at the front of the castle.
Torra seemed nervous. “Watch your footing. The way is dangerous.”
Concern rippled through Sophia, setting her intuition on high alert. She shrugged it off, though, as the girl met her gaze and she smiled in that gentle way she usually did. Torra always gave off the impression that she was opposed to conflict. Maybe she wasn’t used to war and the possibility of death.
Once on the platform at the bottom of the stairs, they climbed down from the grate. Torra led them down a steep, dark tunnel. Ezekiel conjured a few balls of witchlight to walk by, making it easier to see where they were going. When it eventually evened out, a doorway opened into an abandoned chamber under the castle. It was dark, the shadows too thick to see through, though it is evident that a ledge with windows hovered near the ceiling. Torches hung on pillars that bordered the room, and there were small statues of creatures Sophia could only hint at standing on podiums between the pillars.
Torra ran to the center of the room and yelled, “I’ve brought them!”
What? Sophia couldn’t believe her ears or her eyes. That sweet, elvish, gentle girl who was meek and shied away from conflict had just betrayed her to the one person she asked Sophia to kill. She thought she could depend on the girl to help lead them out of the mountain. But the girl gave them over to Lady Naomi and her forces. That stung. Sophia’s trust in the girl was forever broken. That pain quickly turned to anger.
The torches instantly burned to life, illuminating the shadows as hundreds of soldiers crawled out of every possible hiding spot provided in the room. Sophia and her team sprung for a fight. She narrowed her gaze on Torra. She would be the first to die for betraying them. She had shown her enough mercy, and now the traitor needed to die.
Just as soon as Sophia made a move toward the girl, she was overwhelmed by a group of soldiers. They pinned her down before she could so much as pull her sword or conjure her magic to disarm them. Magical cuffs were slapped onto her wrists to prevent her from using her power. Or, at least they limited her abilities as she still felt her magic humming beneath the surface of her skin. She just couldn’t bring it forth.
Sophia’s eyes found Torra’s again, and though she seemed apologetic at first, she lifted her chin defiantly and said, “I demand that Lady Naomi lives up to her end of the deal.”
“Very well,” the woman said. “Your people are free to go.”
Satisfied, and with tears in her eyes, Torra said to Sophia, “I’m truly sorry. I did it for my people. The elder arbors may never forgive my betrayal of their savior, but it was a small price to pay for the freedom of my people. The people that I love.”
Sophia cried out in frustration as she was dragged into the shadows. Away from her men and away from the girl that betrayed her. She wanted blood, she wanted to fight. She wanted a way out of the mountain, so she could see her men live. All of that was taken from her, and she would be damned if she didn’t go down without a fight.
Chapter Thirty
Sophia
The shackles felt too familiar. They were similar to the machine’s magic. The one that pushed her to her limits during the Headmistress’s tests.
Lady Naomi led her men and Sophia into a tall room with a domed ceiling that let daylight stream in from overhead. And it struck her as a way out of the mountain. That would make sense. The castle would need a few exits out of the mountain, and it was extremely plausible that the entire fortress was an elaborate gate barring the exit from the mountain.
She considered Torra had lied to them from the start. Though some of her actions didn’t seem as so in hindsight.
The thugs tossed her into an elaborate machine made of crystal and metal, and she clenched her teeth as she was strapped in.
Lady Naomi walked casually through the room, eyeing her. She seemed rather at ease with the progress of the events that landed Sophia in this predicament.
Sophia wanted to wipe that proud smirk off her face and said, “Interesting to bring me to a room with my exit. I think I’ll be going now.”
The woman laughed. “Oh, I doubt that.”
“Why? Because I’m strapped to this machine? Please. Simple. And when I do get out, you’ll have nowhere to escape except for going up.”
“If you are working to pry out of me that this,” she pointed up, “is the only exit out of the mountain, then you would be correct. Which makes this all the more pleasing. Watching you stripped of your power when so close to your goal. That was your goal wasn’t it?” She faced Sophia with her hands behind her back. “To leave the mountain?”
Sophia didn’t answer. Instead she jutted her chin forward and braced herself for what would be another painful experiment.
“This is my gem and testament to the power I’ve accumulated for myself.” She pulled a key dangling on a chain from between her breasts. “This is the key to the only way out.” She tucked the key back into place. “You, however, won’t be leaving this place. In fact, you’ll never see the surface again.”
Sophia watched as the woman approached the switch on the outside of the door into the machine. She flipped it on, instantly searing Sophia’s nerves with the electrifying pain that threatened to burn her from the inside out.
Through the pain, Sophia gritted her teeth and watched as crystals filled with her magical power, glow when full.
Lady Naomi smiled and said, “Do you like my contraptions? The idea of these crystals is to store your power for later use. I’m going to slowly bleed you dry, Sophia. You and your men.”
She snapped her fingers and curtains opened to reveal her men, each in similar machines and also being drained.
Anger blossomed in Sophia’s gut. She needed to save her men but breaking from the machine was going to take time and effort. Straining against the machine, she asked, “Is this what happened to the heirs of Nighthelm?”
Lady Naomi’s expression twisted into genuine confusion. “Who?”
Dammit. So, the heirs weren’t in the castle after all. Another dead end. Not that she didn’t have high hopes that the girl in the coffin was an heir. She just needed to know if they were here, in case she wasn’t one.
But the question worked to gain a bit of a distraction. She looked at her tattoo. She felt Haris deep within her soul, itching to come out. She had
never tried to call on him without touching his image before, but this time, she desperately needed him. Biting against the pain, she focused herself and uttered, “Vocavi.”
Haris’s form disappeared from Sophia’s arm, and green smoke appeared behind Naomi. He solidified right behind her. He must have known about the danger and wanted to appear right where he knew she would need him. He speared Naomi with an antler, knocking her off balance and taking the key.
That’s my yakshi.
But the woman regained her composure and stood, turned, and started to blast Haris with fire magic. Being an earth creature, he didn’t stand much of a chance. Sophia needed a way out of the machine and fast.
Funneling all her magic into the machine, much like she did before, the contraption made grinding and metallic screeching noises as crystal started to shatter.
Lady Naomi looked over her shoulder at Sophia and glared. She increased the fire toward Haris, and he luckily was able to hold her off. But for how much longer, Sophia wasn’t sure.
She focused on her magic, summoning it, calling it to the machine. Sparks covered her body and pulse with intense pressure. A kick in her gut made her question if anything would be left once everything was said and done, but she couldn’t stop it now. She could only try to control it by focusing her energy on the machine and not everything in the room.
Her bones felt like they were being crushed under a great weight, and fire burned through her veins. All at once, the energy blew, knocking out the machine and freeing her from the seat.
She didn’t incinerate everything within a fifty-foot radius around her. She didn’t pass out, and she wasn’t naked, for once. She stood tall, feeling more powerful than ever. The change in her suited her. Power fit her like a glove. And now that she had access to the key, she could free her men and leave this place for good. But she was a woman of her word.
Despite Torra’s betrayal, she would still live up to her end of the bargain and end Naomi once and for all.
Chapter Thirty-One
Sophia
Sophia’s gaze met Lady Naomi’s. Fire burned within the woman’s eyes as Sophia held her head high and made her way toward her men. Haris knocked his antlers against Naomi, deflecting a bolt of fire she shot at Sophia. He pinned her against the wall to allow Sophia to work.
She freed her men while alarms echoed throughout the fortress, threatening to rupture her eardrums. After flipping the switches on the machines and helping each of her men to stand—they didn’t look like they were doing too well—Sophia turned to find hundreds of guards pooling into the room they were in.
Sophia’s eyes darted to Haris, she called out to him, “Find the exit.”
He huffed, shaking his head.
“Haris, you’re our only hope. Please, find it. We’ll be fine here.” She pushed as much love and warning into her words as possible. “We will need to escape, and quickly.”
His eyes focused on hers, filled with pleading to let him stay and fight by her side. But she couldn’t let him. She knew he would die if he stayed, and she had to find the exit so they could all escape. She shook her head once. He finally ran off in a rush.
Sophia turned and faced Lady Naomi, who seemed out of breath, and rage burned in her eyes the color of magma. She smiled wickedly at her and took steps backward to try and escape the room or hide behind her thugs.
She wanted to run after the woman, but her men weren’t recovered from the machine. She couldn’t leave them to their deaths.
“Go,” Edric said. “We’ll cover you.”
She met his gaze, then Ezekiel’s and Andreas’s. Each of the men gave a nod and prepared to fight off the guards. Worry for her men filled her. She dreaded leaving them, but she had to fight Lady Naomi and end her one way or another.
Sophia dashed toward the wall, letting the last of the guards file into the room. She watched as Edric and Andreas started to fight them off. The two men took weapons from them, quickly killing them, while Ezekiel used his magic to disarm the others.
Taking in a deep breath, she scurried along the wall to the back of the room where Lady Naomi leaned against the wall, nursing her wounds from Haris. She panted as she tore at her clothes to mend puncture wounds in her arms.
She kept to the shadows as she moved closer, she pulled a sword from the thug closest to her. He had two, so it wasn’t like he needed both. Her magic hummed along the surface of her skin, sparking and arching. Once she was close enough, she stepped into Naomi’s view. The other woman’s eyes widened, and she searched for a way out. Realizing there was none, she stood straighter and rolled her shoulders.
“Come to finish the job?” she asked, voice soothing and dangerous.
“I have,” Sophia said and held the sword out toward her. Her magic sparked along the blade as well. She wanted to marvel at that and see what else she could do, but Lady Naomi pulled her attention.
“Such a shame we met under such circumstances. We could’ve been friends.” Her eyes glowed with the fury within her magic and Sophia noted, on the edge of her vision, Lady Naomi’s hands started to glow with fire.
“Too bad I would never be friends with you.” Sophia jutted her sword closer to the woman who just smiled and shook her head.
“Silly little girl, you would be under my control. Just like everyone here. Your will would be my will. And there would be nothing you could do about it.”
“Is that how you enslaved all the people of Ripthorn?” Sophia asked.
She smiled. “I do have a way of making people do what I want them to. That’s the beauty of all of this.” She gestured around her. “I serve my queen beautifully, don’t you think?”
No. “You’ve forced people under your rule. Made a majority of them your slaves and killed anyone that stands against you or threatens your seat.” Sophia shook her head. “You’re a tyrant who will not live to see another day.”
She chuckled, long and dark. “We shall see about that.”
Naomi conjured her fire sword, the flames turned blue and white. She admired her work for a moment and shifted her gaze to Sophia, who narrowed her eyes on the woman and summoned all the strength she had within her. Her sword hummed with the electric static covering her blade. She swung at the woman, and her attack was parried with a swing of the woman’s sword.
Every step Sophia made, Naomi anticipated and parried with an attack of her own. Though Sophia managed to avoid being burned by the sword, her skin still blistered with the heat of the narrow misses. Anger boiled through her veins and she pushed more force, more magic, into her attacks.
Lady Naomi’s eyes widened, and she was forced back a few steps with each strike, but she still managed to block and parry the blows. Sophia knew she wouldn’t be able to keep up the intensity forever. She had to think of a way to disarm the woman. But Sophia’s gaze was captured by a glint on the woman’s forehead. Sweat. She must have been stepping up her game to try to best Sophia. If she could out-maneuver the woman and maintain her intensity, she could kill the woman before she drained Sophia of her energy completely.
“What’s the matter, girl?” Lady Naomi asked. “Running out of steam?”
Sophia ignored the woman’s comment as well as the way she emphasized “girl.” She was more concerned with checking on her men. Ezekiel was still pale, but he managed to hold his own. Edric, ever the soldier, refused to let his weariness show even though she knew that he too was weakened by the mountain magic.
Lady Naomi tried to take advantage of her distraction and attacked. Sophia saw it coming, and parried, reciprocating the attack. She looked to her men again.
Andreas fared quite differently. He fought in his human form, even though he was stronger and faster, and much, much deadlier in his wraith form. Still, he fought brilliantly against the thugs, managing to take them down. But his shoulders were tense, his arms shook, and sweat soaked his hair, making it stick to his forehead. If he shifted, he could take the majority of these assholes out within a matter of minutes
, but she knew the vexsnare was after him. And his wraith form made it so much easier to track him.
She knew the creature had been close by, narrowing in on her man bit by precious bit. And seeing him strain against the urge to shift made her wish he could change. But the last thing they needed was the vexsnare on top of the army of thugs and Lady Naomi.
She dodged a fire ball, ducking and rolling to the side then shooting out a bolt of light toward the woman. Naomi didn’t have time to block. The bolt smashed into her chest. Jumping up, she stood over the woman with her feet on either side and held her sword aimed at her chest.
Naomi gasped and clawed at the charred circle in her chest as her eyes darted around for what Sophia assumed was a means of escape.
Not this time.
The woman’s eyes met Sophia’s, and the realization that she was going to die filled them. Sophia didn’t particularly enjoy seeing that in the woman who had come to acknowledge her fate. But it was a necessary means to an end.
Sophia said, “The people of Ripthorn deserve a life outside of chains and fearmongering. They deserve freedom of will and the chance to prosper on their own terms. They deserve a life without you.”
She shoved the sword downward into the woman’s gut. Lady Naomi’s eyes widened as she grasped at the blade in futility. As the fiery light faded from the woman’s eyes, her skin started to ash and flake.
Taking a few steps away, Sophia watched as the woman’s body seemed to catch fire and burn away into nothing.
Her end of the bargain had been satisfied. But the fight wasn’t over. She turned and started to fight off the remaining thugs with her men.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Andreas
Even in their weakened state, Edric and Zeke fought admirably. He was proud to call them brothers and even grateful that they fought at his side. Though, it pained him to fight in his human form. It seemed to drain him of his energy faster, and he couldn’t move as quickly as he wanted or fight as hard as he needed to.