~
Trik knew that Tamsin was doing something to slow his progress as he made his way across the light elf realm. He had been running for weeks, which didn’t really surprise him. Their land was vast and you could run for miles about miles without seeing a single elf. He stopped at the top of a hill and in a loud voice he yelled.
“Tamsin! I come in peace. I need to see my Chosen please stop hindering me.”
He waited and the silence was deafening. Finally, after several minutes, he got his response.
“She needs to heal, let her be Triktapic.” Tamsin’s voice traveled on the wind and seemed to surround him.
“You know that I can’t do that. I need her and she needs me. Even now I can feel her pain.”
“And whose fault is that?” Tamsin asked.
Trik growled a completely inhuman sound. “We all make mistakes, King. You know this.”
“Some greater than others,” the Light Elf King mocked.
“Do not test my patience, Tamsin. I do not want to force your submission but I will. If you do not let me see my Chosen, my Queen, I will make you bow before me, before your true King.”
Trik felt the surprise and the momentary fear that quickly morphed into hope and suddenly Tamsin was standing before him.
“You spoke with the Forest Lords?”
Trik smiled weakly. “They found me.”
Tamsin laughed. “They have a way of getting your attention when you refuse them an audience.”
Trik nodded. “Yeah, well they definitely got my attention.” Trik’s eyes narrowed and he cocked his head to the side. “You knew?”
“I’ve been doing some research. I wasn’t supposed to tell you. The Forest Lords were adamant that it all must be your choice. Even now you have many choices before you.”
Trik crouched down as he let out a deep breath. More pain, more agony at the separation.
“I have to see her Tamsin,” Trik confessed with heart breaking honesty. “I’m dying without her and I know she has to be hurting. I need her to know how I feel. I need her to know that,” he tried to finish but the words choked up in his throat. He loved her. He loved her so much that he was drowning in the emotions that were so unfamiliar to him. He couldn’t remember if he had ever loved this deeply before. His mother, a friend? He didn’t think so and he understood why he hadn’t. There was no one else in his life who had ever met the need that Cassie did. She made him a better man. She brought out the good in him and without her he was lost. Without her life was meaningless and the world might as well burn up because Trik would give in to the darkness. He would rip the world apart one piece at a time if he lost his Chosen.
“I have work to do Tamsin, and I cannot do it without her. She is my everything and she will restore me.”
Tamsin knelt slowly and his eyes met Trik’s.
“She is already restoring you. I pledge my fealty to you King Triktapic of the elven race.” Tamsin placed his hand across his heart and bowed his head.
Trik stood and for the first time in a long time he felt right, like he was where he belonged.
“Stand King Tamsin, you will not bow to me. You, who never turned from your people, can teach me much.”
Tamsin stood and nodded, then motioned for Trik to follow him.
“Come with me.” And then they were running.
Within a matter of minutes they were before the light elf castle. Tamsin lead Trik into the castle and to the throne room. He sent one of his warriors to get Cassie.
“Do you think she will see me?” Trik asked in a very rare show of vulnerability.
“I think that she is hurt and confused, but yes I think she will see you.”
The warrior Tamsin had sent came rushing back into the throne room and Syndra was on his heels.
“Tamsin,” Syndra was breathless as she approached her mate. The worry in her eyes put both Trik and Tamsin on edge.
“Where is Cassandra?” Trik asked briskly.
The warrior looked from Trik to Tamsin and it was apparent that he did not want to be the one to reveal the news, so Syndra took over.
“She’s gone.”
“What do you mean gone?” Trik’s voice was a very soft whisper and the power that had been buried deep began to pulse around him.
Syndra took a step back, and her mouth dropped open. She immediately dropped to her knee and bowed her head.
“My King,” she said “It is good to have you back.”
“Rise Syndra, Queen of the Light Elves, we do not have time for formalities. Where is my Chosen?”
“She’s gone back to the human realm. We didn’t realize she had left,” Syndra explained. One of the female elves saw her leaving through the mirrors in the bathing rooms.
“And she did not think that this was information you might need to know?” Trik’s voice began to deepen as his anger surfaced. “Where is the she-elf?”
Syndra reached out for her subject.
Ava, the female elf who had seen Cassie leave came rushing into the throne room.
“You called,” she spoke to Syndra.
“Ava, how long ago did Cassie leave?” Syndra asked.
“It’s been four or five days now,” she told them.
Trik cursed in their language and headed for the reflective walls of the throne room.
“Where will you go?” Tamsin asked.
“Enigma,” Trik called over his shoulder.
Syndra and Tamsin hurried after him, both hoping that Cassie was indeed there with her best friend.
As Trik passed through the wall he pictured Lisa’s store in his mind and emerged into her storeroom. Instantly he knew that Cassie was not there. He closed his eyes and searched for her in the human realm, seeking out her soul. Nothing, he felt nothing and he knew that she was in trouble. Something was blocking her, keeping him from feeling her soul.
He roared into the small room and Syndra who had emerged behind him reached out to touch his arm gently.
“We will get her back Trik.”
“He has her,” Trik growled. “That slime of a King has my Chosen!”
Tamsin reached out for the leader of his warriors. Within a minute Taegan was coming through the mirror.
“Liege,” he bowed his head at Tamsin and then to Trik, “My King.” Trik simply shook his head. He was leaking Royal power all over the place and the other elves could feel it. He would worry about the implications of that later
Tamsin looked at Trik, his mouth tightened into a thin line. “Who would Lorsan use as his spy now that you are not at his disposal?”
“Alok,” Trik answered without hesitation.
“Find him,” Tamsin told Taegan. The warrior nodded and was gone in a flash.
“I could track him more quickly,” Trik told the King.
Tamsin shook his head. “You need to visit Lorsan. He needs to know who he is dealing with.”
Trik laughed. “Oh I imagine he knows already. That is probably what had him move against me.”
Syndra was quiet and it brought the two King’s attention to her because of her uncharacteristic silence.
“What is it my love?” Tamsin asked her.
“I’m trying to reach into the magic of our realm. You know that sometimes the wind will speak. Maybe it can tell us why Cassie left.”
They waited as Syndra sought out her answers.
Several minutes later Syndra was rushing towards the storeroom door. She called out for Lisa as she walked into the store.
“LISA!”
Lisa came around the counter to see the three elves standing there. The two males looked fierce and angry while Syndra appeared frantic, very un-Syndra like.
“Syndra what’s going on?” Lisa asked with worried eyes and a shaky voice, knowing that it couldn’t be good.
“Where is Elora? Has she seen Cassie lately?”
Just then the store’s front door opened and Elora came walking in. Her eyes widened at the sight of the elves.
?
??What’s happened,” she asked immediately registering that something was definitely wrong.
“Have you seen Cassie?” Trik asked before Syndra could.
Elora’s lips tightened and her eyes narrowed. “What has happened? Where is she?”
“So you haven’t seen her?” Trik asked without bothering to acknowledge her questions.
“No, I’ve been at school, why would I have seen her?” Elora looked over at her mom. “What’s going on Lisa?”
Lisa shook her head, obviously not knowing anything more than her.
Syndra closed her eyes and her brow scrounged in frustration. “Cassie received a text from you about a week ago, and agreed to meet you in this realm at a coffee shop,” she told Elora.
“A week ago?” Elora asked outraged. “She’s been missing for a freaking week?” Elora shook her head. “I can’t believe we are just now realizing she’s not here. I haven’t been able to make it to see her and she hasn’t returned my text, but I figured she was just pining over him,” she said pointing at Trik. “The best thing to do when Cassie is in a mood is to just leave her alone. Damn if I’ll ever do the best thing again. If I had just checked on her we would have known sooner. I wouldn’t have let her come here.”
“It’s not your fault, Elora,” Syndra stepped towards her. “We all had been giving her space. She’s been hurting and we all thought it best to let her grieve in her own way. If anyone is at fault it is Tamsin and I. We promised to protect her and we failed.”
Elora’s eyes had begun to tear up and she wiped at them angrily. She hated to show emotion, especially in front of other people. Without another word, Elora turned to leave.
“Where are you going?” Trik asked after her.
“To the coffee shop, I want to know who she met.”
They all followed after Elora and Lisa turned the ‘open’ sign in the window to ‘closed’ and locked the door behind her. They hurried after Elora who was walking at a pace that would rival the speed of an elf.
They arrived at the coffee shop and as they walked in, heads turned and eyes stared. Though the elves had put on their human guises, they were beautiful and their presence commanded the attention of the room.
Elora headed for the counter and saw that one of the girls who Cassie and she saw on a regular basis was working.
“Megan,” she called out to the girl.
Megan smiled and waved. “Hey Elora, how’s it going?”
Elora ignored the question and asked one of her own. “Has Cassie been in recently?
“Uh,” she thought for a second. “Not since you both were here about a week ago, but I haven’t seen her since then,” Megan told her with confusion written across her face. She looked past Elora and saw the elves and her eyes widened.
“Who are the tall, too beautiful for words, people who came in with you?”
Elora rolled her eyes. “Distant relatives,” she said dryly. Trik stepped around Elora blocking her from Megan.
“Did Cassie look alright when she was in here?” He asked the girl.
Megan took a step back as the intensity and power from Trik’s worry and anger reached out to her. Trik tried to leash it and managed to tamp it down slightly.
“She um, she,” Megan stumbled. “She looked fine.”
Trik nodded and turned, walking quickly through the door not bothering to walk around people just heading straight for them and not worrying if they got out of his way, which they did.
The others followed Trik as he headed back for Lisa’s store. He opened the door without Lisa having to unlock it and she decided now wasn’t the time to ask how in the world he managed it. He walked back to the storeroom and began to pace.
“What now?” Elora asked.
Before Trik could respond a body crashed into the wall, having been flung through the mirror and Taegan emerged behind it. He looked over at Trik and smiled.
“He wasn’t too hard to find; he’s been following you.”
Trik moved swiftly as his anger flared. He grabbed the slumped form that was Alok and threw him in a chair. The dark elf was unconscious and Trik slapped him hard across the face immediately bringing him around. Trik’s eyes began to glow intense silver and the glory that was his kingship, his blessing from the Forest Lords began to radiate from him. He wrapped a hand around the elf’s neck and began to squeeze.
“Where is my Chosen?” He growled menacingly.
Lisa gasped. “Trik!” She had never seen someone so angry with a look so cruel on his face. She was sure that he was going to murder the man sitting before him.
Trik’s head whipped around at the call of his name and his eyes narrowed. A soft glow began to hum around him and he took a step towards her.
Trik watched as Syndra placed a hand on Lisa’s shoulder to prevent her from moving any closer to him. He looked around the room at the shocked faces. To his surprise, Elora had sat in a chair; her usually indifferent stare was gone as tears streaked her cheeks. Lisa too had begun to cry as tears streamed down her face and they suddenly both looked exhausted, as if they had gone days without sleep.
His eyes snapped back to Alok.
“Where. Is. She.” Trik’s words were clipped and vibrated with rage.
Alok started to speak but there was a commotion behind Trik. He turned to see one of Tamsin’s light elves step through the mirror, dragging a woman behind him. Trik realized quickly that it was Vashti, Lorsan’s transmuter. He turned back to Tamsin.
“What the hell is going on, Tamsin?”
“Elora, Lisa, I think it would be best if you left the room,” Tamsin told them in a calm voice though his eyes never left Trik.
Elora rolled her eyes. “I’m not going anywhere, not until Cassie is back.”
Tamsin told Vesperr, the elf who had dragged in Vashti, to put her in the chair next to Alok. Trik slapped her across the face just as hard as he had Alok and watched in growing anger as she awoke. He held them in their chairs by his will alone. Their eyes widened as they took in Trik and then they both began to struggle against his hold.
“I’m going to ask one more time. Where is my Chosen?”
At his words of claiming, Elora felt the shock and pain and anger bubble up to the top and she could no longer contain herself. She jumped up and ran towards Trik. Her fist slammed into his chest and she let loose of all of it.
“THIS IS YOUR FAULT! IF YOU WOULD HAVE JUST CHOSEN HER, SHE WOULD BE HERE WITH US! YOU SELFISH JACKASS! SHE’S GONE! THAT PSYCHO OF A KING THAT YOU WORSHIP HAS HER!” Elora collapsed at his feet, her breathing was ragged and the tears poured freely down her face. “You could have kept her safe,” her voice was barely a whisper. “You could have protected her. Nobody dares to mess with Mr. Bad Ass assassin, huh? Well you can’t protect her if you are not with her.” Elora rose back to her feet. “So this is on YOU!” She jabbed a finger at him.
Lisa stepped forward and pulled Elora into a hug. The fact that she allowed the physical contact was a testament to the amount of pain Elora was feeling at losing her best friend.
Trik stared at the human. She was so small, so breakable, and for a moment he was tempted to remind her that he was not one to be trifled with. But he knew that she was hurting for her friend and that hurt brought about anger and anger caused people to often do things they would not normally do, so he would let her insolence slide. Not to mention, she was exactly right.
He looked back to the two prisoners.
“Alok,” Trik said his name softly.
“It’s been a while Trik,” Alok said as he composed himself and tried to tamp down his fear. His words were conversational though his voice shook.
“I’ve been busy.”
Alok seemed to gather his courage. “Busy being a deserter? A traitor to your people?” He spat at his former leader.
Trik simply stared at him. Alok’s eyes shifted nervously.
“I’m going to ask you some questions,” Trik said calmly, too calmly. “You have one chance to
answer them.”
Alok simply stared back.
“Where is Cassie being kept?”
No answer.
“That’s one,” Trik told him. “Has she been hurt?”
No answer.
“That’s two.” Trik’s voice never raised, his composure never wavered. “What does Lorsan want with her?”
No answer.
“That’s three.” Trik stepped back.
“Just get it over with and kill me, Triktapic,” Alok snarled.
Trik ignored him. He looked over to Lisa. “Do you have a tool box?”
Lisa slowly nodded her head.
“Could you please bring it to me?”
“Trik,” Tamsin warned.
Trik looked up at the King. “She is my Chosen, what would you have me do? What would you do to find Syndra if she had been taken?”
“Anything,” Tamsin answered without hesitation.
Lisa returned with the toolbox and handed it to Trik. Trik set it down on the floor next to his feet. He then looked over at Lisa, Elora and Syndra. “It would be best if you closed your store and left.”
Syndra rolled her eyes. “I’m not leaving Trik. I’ve seen it all. But I agree Elora and Lisa should not see this.”
Lisa started to pull Elora from the room but Elora pulled away and walked over to the chair where Alok sat. She looked into his eyes, her mind registering that this elf knew where Cassie was, knew what was being done to her. Before she had even made the decision she slapped him hard across the face. She then turned to the female.
“Who is she?” She asked the room.
“She is one of Lorsan’s warriors. She’s a transmuter; she can mimic the appearance and voice of another. That is who lured Cassie away,” Trik explained his voice deceptively calm as he watched Elora.
Elora looked deep into the she-elf’s eyes and it took everything in her not to punch the woman in the face.
“If we don’t get Cassie back I will personally beat the ever loving crap out of you. I don’t care who you are or how black your soul is. If my best friend comes to harm because of you, you will know what evil is because I will rip you apart myself and smile while I do it.” She turned to look at Trik. “Get her back.”
Everyone in the room was silent and their mouths had dropped open at the sight of the human girl threatening to do unspeakable things to a dark elf, and she meant it. There was not a doubt in their minds that Elora was not bluffing.
Trik bowed his head to her as a show of submission to her wishes.
Elora turned and left the storeroom without another word, Lisa following behind her, the shocked look still plastered on her face.
Trik knelt down and opened the toolbox. He found what he was looking for and stood back up.
“I told you that you had one chance to answer my questions. I never said I was going to kill you.” As he spoke he took Alok’s hand and held it steady. The needle nose pliers he held, guided by his experienced hand, latched onto the first fingernail. They were short so he had to push the nose of the pliers under the nail to be able to grab it. Without any warning he ripped the nail from his finger.
Alok screamed in pain. Trik didn’t appear to hear him as he moved to the next nail and then the next. He stopped after the third nail had been torn away. Alok was writhing in pain, breathing heavily. His face was red, his brow damp with sweat.
“Three questions not answered. Three nails ripped from your hand.” Trik set the pliers down on the counter and stood before Alok, just as calm as before he had tortured the elf.
“I am going to ask you some questions. You have one chance to answer them.” Trik repeated his earlier words.
Alok groaned and gritted his teeth. “I won’t betray my race as you did, Trik. I won’t betray my King.”
Trik smiled, and it was not the smile of a sane man. The temperature in the room seemed to drop several degrees.
“Then you will suffer,” Trik responded smoothly.
Trik once again picked up the pliers.
“Where is Cassie being held?”
No answer.
Two more questions and two more silence responses later, Trik, just as emotionless as before, ripped three more nails from Alok’s hands. Alok’s screams reverberated off the walls.
Vashti sat in stunned silence as she continued to struggle against the invisible hold from Trik’s power. She was sweating and though nothing had been done to her yet, she felt Alok’s pain and dreaded what was to come.
Trik waited for Alok to compose himself. “I’m going to ask you some questions.”
“It’s not going to work, Trik, can’t you see that,” Alok blurted out interrupting the assassin. “I will scream but I will not become a traitor to my people.”
“You have one chance to answer.” Trik continued as if Alok hadn’t spoken at all.
Trik didn’t notice the look Syndra gave Tamsin, or the slight shake of his head that Tamsin responded to his Chosen. Syndra let out a deep breath but didn’t say anything.
It was much later when he broke. After all of his nails had been removed from his body, each finger broken individually by a hammer that Trik had found in the tool box, each toe broken individually by the same hammer, it was the screws that finally got him. Trik had found a Philips-head screwdriver and a handful of screws. Alok began begging him to stop after the first one had been screwed into his foot.
“Talk,” Trik told him.
“Lorsan has her. She’s staying in the castle. He, he has her on Rapture.” He stumbled over his words as the pain from his inflictions began to catch up with his mind.
Trik showed the first sign of emotion since he had begun to torture his former comrade. His lips tightened and his eyes narrowed.
“He is testing it on her, to observe the long-term effects on humans.”
“How long has she been on it?” Trik asked.
“A week.”
“Have there been any side effects so far?” Trik’s anger and fear began to increase as he watched Alok blanch at his question.
“Lorsan didn’t know what would happen,” he stammered. “He had only tried it on a few humans before and only in small doses.”
Trik took a step towards the man who he had worked with for so long. “He didn’t know what would happen?”
“It’s addictive; to some more than others. She’s addicted to it.” Alok watched as Trik’s face morphed from anger to rage. His speech increased as he tried to get out everything before Trik began to torture him again. “It took one time, one drink, and as soon as it began to wear off she was begging for more. If you haven’t noticed Lorsan has managed to block all the entry points into Sanctuary except for the one that comes directly from his throne room. He has her dancing at Sanctuary.”
Trik lunged for the dark elf but Tamsin was there in an instant. “Wait!”
Alok let out a sardonic laugh. “You needn’t bother rescuing her, Trik. She is not the girl you knew. She would not leave with you, not unless you promised her Rapture. The girl you knew was good and pure and innocent. You knew Cassie. But it’s like the drug draws out a side of the humans that is buried deep. They lose inhibitions, but that’s not all, they begin to give into that part of them that they keep buried, the part of them that wants all the pleasures life can bring and damn the consequences. Your Chosen is sultry, sexy, and more than one elf has petitioned Lorsan to have her.”
Trik roared and Tamsin lost his grip on him. Power pulsed through the room driving the other elves to their knees. Alok and Vashti cowered in their chairs as Triktapic, King of the Elves lost his cool façade. He grabbed Alok from the chair and threw him across the room. The dark elf hit the brick wall with such force that shards of debris broke off the wall and scattered across the floor. Trik moved towards Vashti and had her by the throat in a matter of seconds.
“You are the reason she is gone. You are responsible for what is being done to her and I, Triktapic, King of the Elven race, chosen by the Forest Lords,
sentence you to death.
Vashti’s face morphed into a look of contempt as she looked down at Trik.
“You sentence me to death? You have killed thousands, you have tortured thousands upon thousands and you think you have the right to sentence me to death because your little human is addicted to a plant?”
“Careful she-elf, I hold your fate in my hands. I can kill you quickly and it will be over, or I can drag it out for decades and the pain will be so atrocious that you will beg for me to break your pathetic neck,” Trik snarled. He used his power to put pressure on her mind and her organs. She would feel like she was being crushed from the inside. He watched as she struggled to breathe and panic began to settle in.
“I have killed, I have tortured, and I will suffer the consequences of my choices. That life is over for me. I am your King; you will not speak to me with such insolence.” Trik eased up on his power and Vashti took in a deep ragged breath.
“Lorsan will kill her and you,” Vashti told him. “No matter what you do to me she is already dead, and that is no more than you deserve. You should suffer as those you made suffer.” And before he could stop her Vashti produced a knife out of thin air and stabbed herself in the heart.
Trik dropped her body to the floor and it hit with a sickening thud. He looked down in disgust at the one responsible for his Chosen’s capture and knew that her words were true. He deserved to suffer. He deserved to die, but Cassie did not and he would not leave her in the hands of the Dark Elf King.
“Tamsin,” Trik turned to address the Light Elf King.
“My lord,” Tamsin bowed his head and waited.
“I will not ask you or any of your warriors to assist me. I do not deserve your loyalty. I would ask that if I get Cassie out, that you would care for her and protect her.”
Syndra stepped forward and met Trik’s eyes. “We will always care for our Queen, but you must return, Trik. Do not let the words of a mad she-elf turn you from your fate. The Forest Lords have called to you and want to see you fulfill your purpose, don’t let the judgment of those who do not matter keep you from your path.”
A slight smile appeared on Trik’s face, though it was brief. “Tamsin, I do believe your Chosen is wise.”
Tamsin smiled and looked at Syndra. “She is more than wise, Triktapic, and you would do well to hear her words.”
“I hear them. I will not fail my people a second time.” Trik turned back to where Alok’s body lay. The elf still breathed but he was unconscious.
“Put him in a prison. I will not grant him the mercy of death just yet,” Trik told Tamsin. “I will meet you at your castle in a few days. I imagine that I will have to make my way through Lorsan’s land and he will not make it easy on me, though I have some old tricks up my sleeves that he will not expect.”
“Before you go, I have some things that belong to you,” Tamsin told him. “Come back with me to the castle and then you can depart from there.”
Trik’s head cocked to the side. “Things?”
Tamsin smiled slyly. “The Forest Lords did not leave you unarmed and defenseless.”