“Yep, I’m here, sis!”
“Glad to hear your voice,” I sighed. “We’re okay here as well.”
“Jovi, Hansa,” Anjani’s voice jumped in on the open channel. “Good to hear you’ve made it to Stonewall. I hope we’ll see you all soon.”
“You will, I promise,” Jovi replied.
“In case anyone was wondering, I’m fine as well,” Tamara chimed in. “I’m due to reach the River Pyros soon, after which we’ll deploy to Stonewall. We should be there in a couple of days at most, provided everything runs smoothly.”
I didn’t like her, but the alliance needed her. I resigned myself to an eye roll and called out to the incubus instead, hoping he was still alive and getting things done for the invisibility spell.
“Bijarki, are you there?” I asked.
“I am. I’m a mile away from a spot where fire orchids are known to grow,” he replied.
“Good to hear that. I’ll be checking in with Vita later tonight. My body and mind are a bit drained right now. I tried reaching out earlier but no luck. I’m sure she’s okay, though. She’s doing her part from the inside.”
“I’ll get to her soon,” Bijarki said, his voice low and sad. My heart broke for him but I knew he had all the strength he needed to pull through and get our beloved fire fae out of Azazel’s castle.
“I know you will,” I tried to reassure him.
“Guys, we’re left with a bit of waiting time now,” Serena said. “We’ll be staying here until the alliance meeting. The Dearghs and the Tritones are already on their way.”
She said something else, but I could no longer hear her properly. Strange noises from outside broke my focus. I shook my head, trying to keep the connection open, but I failed. I was cut out, back in full consciousness. A low rumbling sound was coming through the open bedroom windows.
I looked out and saw Destroyers beyond the shield rolling dozens of large wooden barrels through the grass. I ran outside, calling out to the others on my way to the front lawn. Field, Anjani, and Phoenix soon joined my side, followed by the Daughter, Aura, Almandine, and Eva.
None of us said anything. We were stunned and stayed quiet as we watched Destroyers stacking wooden barrels against the protective shield. Goren barked his orders, telling them where to add more.
“Could those be the explosive charges they were talking about?” I asked.
“I am so tired of these monsters,” the Daughter burst out and walked toward the edge.
Phoenix took her hand and pulled her back, holding her close as he wrapped his arms around her.
“Everybody, keep calm,” he said. “The protective shield is Daughter magic. These are just explosives. I highly doubt they’ll do anything.”
“What if they do?” the Daughter shot back, tears streaming down her cheeks. “I don’t want anyone else getting hurt. I am tired of it all.”
She sounded strained and exhausted. I couldn’t blame her. She’d only been in this world for a matter of days, and she’d seen nothing but violence and fear. She probably felt helpless despite her immense power, contributing to her frustration. Phoenix seemed to have a soothing effect on her. He continued to hold her and whisper reassuring words to her until she relaxed in his grip.
We watched the Destroyers arm the charges with long fuses and set them alight, then run back to shelter behind nearby trees and boulders.
Field took my hand, and I glanced at him when he squeezed my fingers. His turquoise eyes seemed to tell me that no matter what happened, he’d never let go. It was enough to help me keep my cool.
Goren, the ever-unpleasant schmuck, was cackling about forty feet away from the shield.
“I’m looking forward to seeing all the little mice hiding in there like cowards!” he shouted at no one in particular, unable to hear or see us.
As the fuses burned, my heart inched higher in my throat.
They went off, one after another, with incredibly loud bangs and fiery explosions. They ripped the ground apart, causing a minor earthquake and forcing us to take a few steps back. The shield buzzed as the detonation shockwave made it shimmer.
Rolls of thick black smoke and dust began to rise, as chunks of dirt bounced off the Daughter’s spell. I held my breath until I realized that the explosive charges had done nothing to the protective shield.
They’d left massive craters beyond, but nothing had gone through.
Phoenix and the Daughter chuckled, reassured of the shield’s safety by the Destroyers’ utter failure.
“Well, now we know they can’t blow us up,” I said, prompting Field to grin as we watched Goren come out of hiding and curse at the shield and those hiding beneath.
He slithered toward us, his sword drawn and pointed toward us, fury further twisting his deformed features.
“I’ll get to you all, sooner or later, mice! I’ll crush you all! You hear me?” he roared, veins twitching on his thick neck.
“Yeah, we hear you,” I scoffed. “You keep telling yourself that.”
I knew he couldn’t hear me, but it felt nice to say that out loud. For once since Vita’s abduction, I felt safe under the shield. With the passage stone gone, there was no other way for the Destroyers to come through.
Vita
Damion took me on a tour of the castle after my meeting with Abrille. He’d been instructed to show me around, and I followed as he took me from hall to hall through each level of Luceria. I stayed close to his side, not that he made me feel safe, but the others were far more disgusting and dark.
I wasn’t that weary of Destroyers anymore, though. I’d already understood they weren’t allowed to harm me.
“Azazel would tear them apart limb from limb if they were to lay a hand on you,” Damion said as we reached a lower level of the castle, passing a group of Destroyers who couldn’t take their yellow eyes off me.
They hissed as we descended further down the stairs, my eyes constantly scanning my surroundings. I observed the black walls, the heavy iron pendant lamps with wax candles melting away, and the green fire torches which were my main point of interest. I knew Azazel was watching everything through them. They seemed to be strategically placed throughout the castle.
“He’s that protective of me?” I asked absently, counting the torches per castle level.
“I don’t see why that comes as a surprise,” he replied. “You are his most valuable asset. A fully functional Oracle. Abrille is virtually useless, and the other two are nearly comatose. You are his best shot at knowing the future.”
We made it down to the ground level where he showed me the kitchen and food supplies. There were dozens of incubi there. It was lunch time, and the meals were being distributed amongst the grunts. They all gazed at me, and I could feel them trying to influence me with their seductive nature.
They were all gorgeous males, and I found myself distracted, even lightheaded, as they measured me from head to toe and licked their lips. I heard Damion say something, but I didn’t listen.
“Vita? Did you hear me?” his voice broke through.
“What? No. Sorry,” I replied, shaking my head.
He frowned at me, then glanced at the incubi who shifted their gazes back to their plates, filling their mouths and avoiding eye contact with the Destroyer.
“Anyone who so much as looks at her the wrong way will be tossed in a cage with the rest of your species downstairs!” Damion barked at them, sending a shiver down my spine.
They all nodded slowly and kept to their plates.
I decided it was a good time to talk about the dungeons.
“I’d like to see the downstairs areas as well, please,” I said.
“Why? There’s nothing there for you. Just the prison,” he replied bluntly.
“I heard there are fae trapped in there. I’d like to see them. I need to understand who’s in the dungeons.”
“Why?” he raised an eyebrow at me.
“Until my friends and family get here, I’ll be on my own. The fae
downstairs are the closest thing I have to my species. I want to see them, that’s all. Maybe I can get them to be more cooperative with Azazel. Maybe I can persuade them to make their own lives easier,” I insisted, almost believing what I was saying.
He thought about it, then nodded toward a corridor to my right.
“Fine, but only for a few minutes. I’ll show you around, and that’s it. We could get in trouble, otherwise,” he said, then slithered toward the narrow hallway leading downstairs.
I quietly followed as we went down the black stone stairs lined with green torches until we reached the basement. It was an enormous structure, the size of an underground city, and it spanned beyond the borders of the castle itself.
Damion took me on a brief tour of the dungeons. I felt my heart shrink and twist and turn in painful beats as I saw the hundreds of creatures held captive in semi-darkness and absolute filth. There were incubi and succubi galore, as well as a few other species I didn’t immediately recognize.
There were a couple of Lamias and fae, the latter which I recognized by their tattered, once smooth and iridescent garments. They looked hopeless and weak. Obsidian shackles weighed heavy from their wrists, preventing them from using their elemental abilities.
Most didn’t bother to look at me as we passed by their cages.
I saw Patrik ahead, recognizing him from the night he’d abducted me and the wound covered in palm leaves still healing on his side. He stood in front of a cage, but as soon as he saw us coming, he straightened his back and slithered toward us.
My blood froze as I remembered their vicious attack, but I kept myself under control, also aware that he was currently struggling to break free of Azazel’s control spell. He stopped in front of us, his gaze fixed on me.
“I apologize for hurting you,” he muttered. “I had no other choice. I had to get you to come with us.”
“Well aware, thanks for the headache, go to hell,” I shot back, keeping my chin high.
Patrik gave Damion a short nod and then left us to continue walking past the cages. I had my attention focused on the one Patrik had just left behind. There was a Lamia inside with platinum blonde hair and amber colored eyes.
That must be Kyana, I thought to myself as we got closer.
We were due to pass by her cage soon. I decided to keep Damion distracted.
“So, tell me about the Destroyers,” I said. “How did you guys come to be?”
“We were once Druids, practitioners of light and dark arts,” he said, his back to me as he slithered forward. “Azazel started corrupting us, one by one. The moment one of us said yes, it allowed him to put us under a spell that binds our will to his welfare, making it impossible for any of us to betray him or take action against him.”
He went on describing the process, but I wasn’t listening anymore. I knew the story.
I stopped by Kyana’s cage as Damion kept moving and telling me about the Destroyers. I only had a few seconds to get her to listen to me.
“Kyana,” I breathed.
She looked up, surprised but weary as her gaze darted between Damion and me.
“Kyana, I’m Vita. I’m a friend of Tamara and Eva. Sort of. An ally. They’ve sided with Draven, son of Almus and Genevieve,” I whispered quickly.
“What are you talking about?” she managed to ask, her voice raspy and faded. Her eyes were bloodshot and puffy. She’d been crying.
“Tamara and Eva. They’re safe. Your sister asked me to give you a message so you’d know to trust me,” I replied. “She said to tell you that the jaspers are in full bloom this morning.”
Aida had told me about it during our first Oracle connection in hopes of making it easier for Kyana to trust and work with me on getting her out of there. It did.
The Lamia sprang to her knees, grasping the black iron cage bars to get closer to me, hope lighting up her face.
“What are you doing here? What’s going on?” she asked.
“Not important right now,” I said. “We need to get you out of here. If you’re gone, Azazel will have no leverage over Patrik.”
“You know,” she gasped.
“I’m an Oracle, let’s just stick with that for now. I need to get you out of here. How do we do it?”
“We need the key. I can’t turn into a snake because of these cuffs,” she replied, showing me her shackled wrists.
“Yeah, I know what you mean,” I showed her mine, prompting her to put on a bitter smile.
“The key. There’s a Destroyer in charge of this part of the dungeons, and he has all the keys. He likes to dangle them in front of me to annoy me when he comes by. His name is Heggel. One of those keys opens these cuffs. It’s a special key with powerful Druid magic. I tried breaking the cuffs, but it doesn’t work. Neither does picking the lock. Only that key can set me free, so I can turn into a snake and get out of here,” Kyana explained briefly.
“How do I get them?”
“He sleeps a lot at night. He gets bored. You could come down here later after midnight and…” she stopped as she saw Damion approaching us fast.
She moved back to the other side of the cage, fear marring her otherwise beautiful features. Damion was furious, his brows brought together in a dark frown.
“What are you doing?” he hissed.
“I… I just…” I didn’t have much to say. I wasn’t as good as making stuff up on the spot as Aida or Serena. They could get themselves out of trouble within seconds. I needed a bit more time to come up with a plausible story.
“You’re not allowed to speak to the prisoners,” Damion’s voice thundered throughout the dungeon.
“I didn’t… She just… She just wanted some water, that’s all,” I said innocently.
He glared at me, then at Kyana who sat motionless in the corner, watching us both with dread. He sighed, then grabbed my arm and pulled me away from the cages.
“The tour is over. I suggest you stay away from the dungeons going forward, or you will end up in a glass bubble,” Damion spat and dragged me out.
I pulled myself back, stopping him in his tracks.
“I can walk by myself, thank you,” I retorted, craning my neck to look him in his yellow eyes.
“Fine, then walk!” he barked, then slithered toward the corridor from which we’d come.
I looked over my shoulder at Kyana, who nodded at me.
I walked behind Damion as we went back up the stairs. I had a mission to undertake later that night. It seemed beyond perilous, but it was necessary since I couldn’t break those cuffs. I’d have to sneak back into the dungeons after midnight to see Kyana again. I’d have to snatch the keys off Heggel, provided he’d be asleep down there. I’d have to set her free, then find my way back to my chamber without anyone seeing me.
I took a deep breath, bracing myself for what was to come.
I was in for a rough night.
Aida
I spent the rest of my afternoon in the garden trying to relax so I could reach out to Vita again. I leaned against the magnolia tree and tuned everything out, finally getting a sense of her heartbeat. I followed the rhythm until I found myself standing in her chamber again.
She sat by the window, passing a finger over the symbols carved into her obsidian cuffs.
“Vita,” I called out.
She sprang to her feet when she saw me, putting on a bright and enthusiastic smile. She came forward and stopped a few inches away from me, letting out a heavy sigh.
“I wanted to hug you,” she muttered.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes, I am,” she nodded. “As creeped out as I am, and as much as I want to bash all their heads in, especially Azazel’s, they’re looking after me here. They’re keeping a close eye on me, but since Azazel accepted my terms and conditions, I’m allowed to move around a little.”
“A little?”
“Well, his green fires are burning everywhere, so it’s not like I can do whatever I want and get away with it. I saw Abrille, gave
her a piece of my mind, and then probably broke her heart when I told her I was siding with Azazel,” she pursed her lips, visibly displeased with her actions.
“You had to, I guess. Azazel had to buy your story, right?” I asked.
“Yeah. From the looks of it, he did. Oh, and Damion showed me around the castle. I even made it to the dungeons!”
“Did you see Kyana?”
“Yes. We can’t break these,” she raised her arms to bring the cuffs into focus, “but there’s a Destroyer downstairs named Heggel. She said he has the key. It’s a special key, she said, like serious Druid magic.”
“What will you do?”
I looked around, taking in as many details of her chamber as I could. I hoped to find something there that could help either of us. I saw a dresser and a chest of drawers, both probably filled with clothes.
“I’ll go down there tonight,” Vita said. “I’ll sneak out. Damion locks my room overnight for now. I guess they don’t fully trust me yet, not until I give them some visions. I can try and pick the lock.”
“I think I know how,” I said, and nodded at a vanity table.
She walked over to it and checked the objects stuffed in various boxes and baskets. There were several tweezers and brushes there. This room had once belonged to a female Druid, and those must have been part of her daily grooming habits.
“I think this might do,” she replied, holding a pair of tweezers between her index finger and her thumb.
“Be careful, Vita, please,” I pleaded with her, worried she was taking too many risks for the Lamia.
“I will. They’re not going to kill me or anything,” she gave me a reassuring smile. “I have to do this. You were right. I can’t just sit here and wait for Bijarki to rescue me. Azazel will expect some visions from me, so I might as well stir up some crap and let Kyana out. It’ll leave him without leverage over Patrik, and we need that now more than ever. Besides, I’ve seen where all the green fires burn. I think I can manage my way into the dungeons without getting caught.”
“What about that Destroyer, Heggel? How will you get the keys from him?”