CHAPTER SIXTEEN: A shiny red ruby.
Jude was sitting happily in a chair staring at the pretty redheaded girl next to him. His brain felt so warm and cosy, like floating on a cloud. But he started to feel himself start to slowly drift down from the cloud; he had this nagging sense that he was supposed to be doing something. The thought kept intruding in the soft, fuzziness of his mind. The harder he tried to grasp the thought the more elusive it became. He glanced at the girl again, he knew her name, he was sure of it, he knew who she was and for some reason it was vitally important he tell her her name. But the name was also eluding him. He fought harder against the treacle which was sticking up his thoughts. He looked at her again, she was dressed in hospital pyjamas the same as him, her feet were bare. Her feet, he had an image of something shiny and red.
“Ruby,” he said. “You’re name’s Ruby.”
She turned to him.
“My name’s Ruby?” she asked.
“Yes, your name is Ruby.”
He was certain of it now, things were starting to fall into place; he could feel more thoughts queuing up to be heard.
“Okay then, my name’s Ruby. What is yours going to be?” she said vaguely.
She didn’t remember her name. He took her shoulders and looked into her eyes.
“Your name’s Ruby, please remember.” She just looked confused. He felt she was really important and he needed her to remember her name and something else, but he couldn’t remember what that was. He shook her. “Ruby you need to remember who you are.”
“Oww.”
One of the bouncers started moving towards them. Jude knew he needed to get out of here and he needed to take her with him. He pulled her up and over his shoulder in a fireman’s lift and started to run in the opposite direction to the nurse who was coming towards him. Other nurses blocked all the doors, he needed to get out. He ran over to one of the windows, putting Ruby down, he started pulling at the bars covering it. This was useless he was never going to get out of here, but he needed to now, he knew it. He redoubled his efforts; the nurse was nearly on him, taking his time confident that he wasn’t going anywhere. The bars started groaning. Jude couldn’t believe it and pulled even harder. The nurse started in surprise but was soon on him, grabbing his arm. Jude twisted sharply and was as surprised as the nurse to find that his arm was free and the nurse fell backwards in surprise. Jude pulled at the bars again and the brackets holding them grated against the stone as they started to come loose. Two more nurses jumped on top of him pinning him to the floor, he felt a prick in his arm and the warm fuzziness engulfed him. The image of a shiny red ruby stayed with him thou.
Doctor Anderson walked into the room disturbed by all the commotion.
“What on earth is going on in here?”
He walked over to where Jude was still being pinned to the floor. “Goodness me, Jude, you’re not causing trouble are you, what would your dear mother say.”
“Let me out of here,” he shouted. “I don’t think I’m mad.”
“But of course you are Jude,” he laughed. “Otherwise why would you be in a mad house?”
“What have you done to Ruby?”
“We’ve just trying to make her better. The same as we’re doing with you. No need to worry about anything anymore.”
He turned to the nurse with the syringe.
“How much did you give him? It obviously wasn’t enough.” The nurse held up the empty syringe.
“Well it would seem that the drugs aren’t working on you Jude, ha, ha. We’ll just have to try a different treatment.” He glanced at the window bars. “We’d better check these bars, they’re old, and they’re obviously getting a bit rotten. We don’t want any more escape attempts do we. Ha, ha.”
Jude was put in a strait jacket and taken back to a padded cell.
Jude didn’t know how long he’d been in the cell; he’d dozed off for a bit and lost all sense of time. The cell had no natural light so he couldn’t even tell if it was day or night and no one had come into the cell, he was feeling hungry too. The door quietly opened and a tall, dark figure entered. It was Edrea, she put a hand over his mouth and dragged him out of the cell, and glancing around her as she went to make sure they weren’t seen. The fog in Jude’s brain had lifted and even though he did want to be out of the cell, he wasn’t quite sure if he wouldn’t be safer back inside it. He started to try and wriggle free. Edrea slammed him against a wall, knocking all the air out of him and drew her dagger, pointing it at his throat.
“Not a sound or a struggle from you, understand?” she hissed at him.
Jude nodded and allowed himself to be dragged along the corridor with the dagger still at his throat. He seemed to be lucky when he was about to die, perhaps his luck would continue and something would turn up to save him. They came across no one the length of the corridor and came to a door, which they went through and down some dark steps. This must be the basement thought Jude miserably, it looks very unfrequented. Edrea pulled him further into the depths of the basement.
They eventually stopped and she pushed him against a wall.
“I’ve got family,” he said desperately. “I’m going to be missed from Ravenscar, you know, you can’t just kill me.”
She held the knife to his throat.
“Oh but I can. You are going to be just one of the casualties. No one is going to notice that you died just a little bit sooner than the rest or how.” She brought the dagger closer to his throat, the point pricking the skin. “You have been causing a bit too much trouble, you should have stayed quiet.”
She came closer to him, Jude could see her eyes gleam; she looked into his eyes and paused.
“You do have the most unusual eyes,” she said quietly, they reminded her of someone.
“You’re human?”
“Erm…yes.” Jude was slightly hopeful; if she were stalling he’d certainly go along with it.
“What of this family you mentioned?”
“Okay it’s just my mum really.”
“What about your father?”
“I never really knew him, he died in a car crash or something when I was very young. I don’t really remember him.”
“Hmm.” She was looking at him thoughtfully.
“I get my eyes from my father, apparently.” He was hoping to stall a bit longer if possible.
“You do?” she said sharply. “His eyes were the same as yours?”
“Yes, so I’m told.”
She stroked his cheek looking into his eyes. “His eyes were the same as yours.” She stated lost in thought. “Stay here.” She used one of the straps of the strait jacket to tie him to a pipe. “Keep quiet, you wouldn’t want anything else finding you.”
She turned around in a swirl of midnight black fabric and disappeared into the gloom of the basement, leaving Jude alone to ponder on what on earth had just happened.
Edrea hurried away from Jude, she was feeling something in her chest she had not felt in a long time, something was pulling at her. Something was calling to her, an instinct; a need to protect what she had very nearly killed without a thought. She would have slashed his throat in an instant, as she’d been instructed to do, if it hadn’t been for something Branwell had said to her. Her chest continued to pull at her at the thought of him.
She strode into the room, banging the door behind her. Branwell was still tied to a chair in the middle of the room, the look of boredom instantly lifted as he saw her approach and he smiled up at her. She grabbed him by both shoulders, her nails digging into his skin.
“What do you know of the boy?” she demanded of him. “Tell me.”
“I know very little of him, my dark angel.”
“Why did you tell me to look at his eyes?”
“I saw something in him and something in you, my beloved, which you seemed to have in common.”
“Who is he?”
“I think you know the answer to that better than me.”
“No, he can’t be,
” she said relaxing her grip on him and looking away.
“Listen to your heart, it will give you the answer. It is not too dark that it cannot feel the truth.”
She released him and clutched at her chest.
“It can’t be.”
“Are you afraid you might have found something other than your hate of humans to live with. Leave your hate and try and love instead.”
“No.” She hammered her fists on his chest. “No, no.” She stopped and looked at him, he was still smiling at her.
“My dark angel,” he whispered softly.
She seized his face and kissed him passionately on the lips. She looked into his eyes again.
“I’ll never abandon you as he did,” he said. She released his bonds in silence. “You know I can’t leave without the girl as well.”
“What I’m getting you out of here and you…” He kissed her into silence.
“Jealous already,” he smiled at her.
“He loves her?”
Branwell nodded.
Edrea went through the door first to check all was clear. Then waving to Branwell he followed her. She went into the room next to the one they’d just left and came back with his leather coat and swords. He put them on.
“You kept them safe for me.” He smiled at her.
“They’re nice swords.” She didn’t make eye contact with him. “It seemed a shame to let some ugly Orc to get them dirty.”
“I appreciate it. Thank you.”
“Come on, if you want to get the girl.” He followed her down the corridor. “She’ll be in her room asleep as it’s night time.”
Anyone they met on the way Edrea enchanted so they didn’t see them pass. They stopped outside a door.
“This is the one,” Edrea said having a quick look around before sending a small plume of green smoke from her finger into the door lock. It opened and they went inside. Ruby was laid asleep on a bed. Branwell quietly scooped her up, but she didn’t awaken. He followed Edrea out of the room carrying Ruby in his arms. She took them along the same corridor she’d taken Jude and down into the basement.
“Branwell.” Jude exclaimed when he saw him approach. Then he saw what he was carrying. “Ruby. Is she okay?”
“Yes, just sleeping.”
He saw Edrea behind him.
“Erm…whose side is she on exactly? I’m a bit confused.”
“Ours,” replied Branwell.
She went up to Jude and stroked his face.
“You’re a very lucky boy,” she said and untied the strait jacket. She then dangled a small silver disc on a cord in front of him. “Very lucky.”
It was his amulet; he took it from her and put it back round his neck. “Thank you.”
“Lets get out of here.” They followed her further into the basement and to a door hidden in a wall, which led down a dark tunnel.
“Do you have some magic light of something to light this tunnel?” asked Jude.
“Yes I do,” she replied. “But the torches on that shelf take less effort.”
They followed her into the tunnel. It came out on the edge of the Industrial Estate. Jude felt his heart sink, not this place again. They skirted around the outside edge of it and fortunately didn’t come across any Orcs. When the edge of the wood was in sight, Jude hurried his steps to get to the tree line. He felt safe under cover of the trees. Branwell was just behind him and Jude could see he also felt happier there. Edrea approached the trees slowly, not looking as happy. Branwell laid Ruby down next to Jude and went to her.
“You are still an Elf,” he said taking her hands. “You have just spent too long away from trees and your own kind.”
“I do not expect a welcome here, Dark Elves and Wood Elves do not always see eye to eye. Apart from my former alliance with the Orcs.”
“We do not have to go into Aldea. I’ll just see Jude and Ruby safe and we can leave here together. Find some dark pine woods more to your taste.”
“That’s nice of you. But would you really leave the humans when the Orcs are about to attack.”
“But without a leader and your magic, they will fight amongst themselves and soon go their separate ways.”
She laughed.
“I’m flattered that you think it was me that organised all this, but I’m afraid I am not their leader and I don’t have enough power to wrought the magic that is about to descend on this country.”
“There’s another.”
“Yes. So you see I must enter Aldea however unwelcome I am, because you’ll be wanting to know what his plans are.” She walked ahead of them through the trees.