WINDOWS: A BROKEN FAIRY TALE (29 page)

CHAPTER
26: MATRICIDE

           
The girl stood in the center of the room
flipping through a book that had suddenly appeared before her.
 
She needed to know something about the room
they were in, something that would give her an edge.
 
Finding nothing helpful in that tome, the
girl whistled sharply and a second volume floated down to her.
 
She started flipping through it, heedless of
anything else.

           
The shadow remained silent but not inactive.
 
A small tendril, careful to avoid the large
patches of light that shone on the floor, snaked its way towards the girl who
was too preoccupied to notice.
 

T
he uniform brown stone walls eroded any real sense
of time, but Sarah figured they trekked downwards for at least five minutes.
 
Finally she felt the ground leveling out,
meaning they were close to the bottom.
 
A
heavy oak door was waiting for them and Raven slowly opened it, careful not to
make a sound.

           
Never even knowing this
place existed, Sarah looked around.
 
It
was about 15 feet high with torches burning along square pillars ringing the
circular cavern.
 
There were runes drawn
all over the floor and she asked about them.

           
“They
negate magic.
 
It’s been here for
centuries, a place for the royal family to escape to in desperate times.”

           
Raven
couldn’t tell Sarah everything, no matter how much she wanted to.
 
This room would be the only place anybody
would stand a chance of defeating Malleus if she ever got loose.
 
Brian bringing Elspeth down here meant things
would be a bit more difficult.

           
“Stay
hidden.”
 
Raven stepped behind a pillar
close to the door where they could see and hear anybody coming in.

           
“You’ll
need my help.”
 
Sara insisted.

           
Raven
turned and the shadows flickering in the emerald eyes unnerved Sarah.
 
“I know I will, which is why it needs to be a
surprise you’re here.”

           
The
blonde nodded slowly as Raven pressed a vial of magic healing salve into her
hand.
 
“When I distract him, get Mandy
and Elspeth back to Stephen.
 
If they’re
injured, use this.”

           
“And
I suppose you want me to wait until you join us?”

           
Raven
forced a cheerful laugh, “Hell no, I want you to send every soldier you can
find down here.
 
In a fair fight Brian
would kick my pale ass.”

           
Both
girls quit talking and hunkered down deeper into the shadows as a door
opened.
 
They heard Mandy’s voice telling
Elspeth that this was the best plan.
 
A
lock clicked and Brian said something to soft to hear.
 
After checking to make sure Sarah was safely
hidden, Raven rose out of the shadows, brandishing her sword.

           
“Step
away from them now, Brian.”

           
Three
pairs of eyes followed her movements as Raven positioned herself between Brian
and the two women, careful to make sure Sarah was behind Elspeth and Mandy.

           
“That
is a nice sword, Raven.
 
Did Sarah make
that for you?”
 
Brian was remarkably
nonchalant considering an extraordinarily pissed off young woman was currently shoving
that particular sword under his chin.

           
“Yeah,
had her whip it up for me on the off chance I lost the other one.”

           
“So
you were behind this Branwyen.”
 
Elspeth
spat as Mandy tried pulling her mother out of harm’s way.
 
Sarah watched them come closer and felt the
tension rising in the air.

           
Without
daring to take her eyes off the enemy, Raven smirked.
 
“I’m saving your butt while Bryson is taking
care of things topside.
 
Now if you would
kindly shut up while I kill this traitor.”

           
“Raven,
NO!”
 
Mandy shouted to stop Raven, her
voice near panic.
 
Sarah noticed that her
hand never left Lady Chandlish’s arm nor did she move towards her sister.
 
“He’s not the traitor.”

           
Raven
wouldn’t be swayed, “Who has access to all of our information?
 
Who knew when we were separated so they could
frame me and Sarah?”

           
Mandy
sounded like she was near tears.
 
“Dozens
of people are in on Mom’s meetings and everybody in the castle knows when we go
out, it’s for security.”

           
Raven’s
eyes never left Brian’s sneering face.
 
She growled, “Yeah, well whose bright idea was it to take Elspeth away
from Stephen?”

           
“Mine.”
 
Amanda said plainly.

           
Sarah
reacted quickly when she saw the glint of the knife Mandy drew from a sheath on
her back.
 
She shouted a warning and
tried desperately to close the distance between them but she wasn’t close.
 
The Duchess’s look of surprise turned to one
of pain as the blade pierced her back and Elspeth slumped to the floor.
 
Sarah’s right fist struck Amanda under the
chin, sending her reeling towards Raven.

           
Raven
spun when Mandy spoke; Of course, there would have to be two traitors but she
couldn’t believe the other was Mandy.
 
Then she saw Els falling and Sarah swinging at her baby sister.
 
Her attention was off Brian for just an
instant but that was too much time to give an expert swordsman.
 
His blade cut through the air but Raven had
been expecting it and ducked low, catching Amanda on her shoulder and throwing
the girl onto her husband.
 
The two
would-be-murderers landed in a jumble on the floor.

           
“GO,
NOW!”
 
Raven ordered Sarah as she pressed
a hidden latch near the door before leaping at Brian and Amanda.
 
Sarah heard the clanging of metal as she half
carried, half dragged the Countess out of the room.

           
Once
they were in the hall Sarah uncorked the bottle Raven gave her and poured a
small amount into Elspeth’s mouth.
 
With
a sigh of relief she saw the ugly red gash starting to close but that relief
was short lived.
 
The wound opened up
again.

           
Grim
faced, Sarah pushed the bottle against the Duchesses’ lips.
 
“You have to drink the whole thing, Your
Grace.”

           
Elspeth
nearly choked on the viscous, cloyingly sweet liquid being forced down her
throat.
 
With a last cough the bottle was
drained.
 
The wound was still seeping
blood though not nearly as much.
 
“I
think you can call me Elspeth, now.”
 
She
said with a pained smile.

           
Sarah
grinned, despite the tears in her eyes.
 
She couldn’t remember when she started crying or why but it wasn’t
really important.
 
“I won’t be calling
anybody anything if I don’t get you to Stephen like Raven said.”
 
The two women, a Duchess supported by a black
smith, slowly made their way through the castle.

“Brian and Amanda
Tully, for the crimes of high treason and attempted murder I am placing you
under arrest.
 
Try to resist and I will
kill you.”
 
Raven’s matter-of-fact stance
and cold voice belied the sorrow she felt.
 
The three combatants stood a few yards apart, eyeing each other
warily.
 
Already Amanda’s face was
beginning to swell where Sarah punched her.

 
“Bekah, you alright?”
 
Liz turned in the middle of the carnage,
desperation mounting with every second.

 
A smoldering pile of debris started cussing,
“Well I’m alive but this outfit is ruined.”
 
Bekah tried brushing off the soot that now covered her from head to toe
but only succeeded in smearing the ash around.
 
“Still, it’s a good thing you saw that bomb and got the shield up in
time or we’d have been dead for sure.”

Liz knew they had been
lucky.
 
Her magic absorbed most of the
blast and already the men in the platoons they were leading were stepping out
of the rubble; some singed and smoking but alive.
 

They heard a tremendous
crash in the distance and turned.
 
Bryson
had just thrown the last remaining airship into the side of the mountain.
 
The dragon howled in victory and Liz
smiled.
 
Having her sister, and the
unbeatable dragon who was her familiar, back made winning fights a lot
easier.
 
Nothing would dare attack
Valentria now.

CHAPTER
27: A LOSING BATTLE

“I’m going to die!
 
I’m going to die!
 
I am going to FREAKING DIE!”
 
The girl repeated the mantra over and over as
if somehow it would speed up her search for any sort of plan.
 
It was one thing to hold off Brian without
the aid of magic long enough for help to arrive.
 
She hadn’t planned on Mandy being involved.

           
Quickly the redhead skimmed over
books, desperate for hope.
 
Magic was
made impossible in the room they were in by an ancient and powerful rune.
 
If she could break it she would win easily but
the rune that sealed magic was protected by five more shield runes.
 
She could destroy each in turn with her new
sword but had no idea where they were.
 
While random destruction was always a useful idea, the fact there were
two great fighters who wanted her dead meant she should probably focus a bit
more.

           
“Damn.
 
And I wanted to have dessert one more time
before I kicked the bucket.”
 
The girl
dropped her book and drew a sword out of mid-air.
 
It shone a dark purple, pulsing with power.

           
The tendril waited until the girl’s
attention was diverted.
 
Slowly it inched
its way along the stone, curling around a boot, the girl completely unaware of
its movements.
 
It had waited a long time
for this, to be out of that accursed chamber the vassal and its wretched
sibling forced it to fight in.
 

Still there was a final act for the girl to
play.
 
Here it was safe, wrapped in a
cocoon of magic that sprung from the vassal itself but the shadow could feel
the emptiness of the room they were in.
 
For the mortals it merely dampened their power but for it-- a creature composed
of magic-- to expose itself would mean utter destruction.

No, it intended the girl to destroy the
runes and then it would be free once again after a millennium in prison.
 
The tendril worked its way under the skin of
the girl, only the tiniest bit was necessary.
 
Slowly, so slowly, the darkness fed the girl its arcane knowledge.

Raven forced her
eyes to remain on Brian and Amanda instead of looking at the pillars.
 
Five of them were glowing softly in her
peripheral vision and she could make out intricate markings.
 

Of course!
 
She wasn’t really concerned where the new
knowledge came from but happy to have it.
 
Five pillars were acting as the keystone runes.
 
She would have to destroy each one, which was
no easy trick, but at least now she could act.
 
As casually as she dared, hoping to not give away her scheme, Raven
strolled to the nearest, about three feet to her right.
 

“Come on you two,
give up already.”
 
With patience honed
from years of dealing with Elspeth Chandlish and a hint of sarcasm perfected by
being related to Sis, Raven drug the tip of her sword’s blade across the stone,
destroying the rune.

Brian leapt
forward, his blade slicing through the air.
 
Raven ducked and spun, using her momentum to dodge Amanda’s blow.
 
She jumped to her feet and searched for the
next rune.
 
She spotted it a few steps in
front of her and considered breaking it right then but she couldn’t make it to
obvious.
 
While she was trying to figure
things out, Amanda feinted in, catching her by surprise.
 
Raven felt the blade cut into her right arm,
not deep enough to do any real damage but it did hurt.
 
Brian followed up his wife’s attack and Raven
saw her opening.
 
She danced forward and
swung her blade in what looked like a killing blow but she hesitated for half a
heartbeat.
 
Any quicker and Brian would have
blocked it with his blade.
 
Instead he
moved out of the way and Raven’s sword slid through another rune, sparks
spitting in its wake.
 
Two down, but now
Brian and Amanda blocked her path to the others she could see.

The two would be
murderers approached from either side.
 
Surprising them, and herself, Raven jumped over their swords and rolled
of Brian’s back.
 
As she landed on her
feet, Raven swung her sword towards Amanda’s neck, forgetting about the plan,
intent only on separating her sister’s head from her shoulders.
 
Luck was with both of them though.
 
Amanda slipped and fell out of harms way as
Raven’s blade passed cleanly through the third rune.
 
Now there were only two more to go.

Inside
the walls, Sarah labored to support Elspeth, who was still weak from loss of
blood, as they limped up the stairs.
 
Only three more flights, Sarah muttered to herself in dark humor.
 
Usually this castle would be swarming with
people falling all over themselves to lend a hand but now it was deserted.
 

Sarah
wanted to remain behind to help but knew they would just be in the way so she
needed to trust that Raven wouldn’t do anything foolish.
 
The thought actually made her laugh.
 
Elspeth asked what was so funny at a time
like this.

“Maybe
Raven isn’t doing something reckless.”

Elspeth
rolled her eyes and slowly but steadily the women worked their way up the
castle stairs and to help.

Outside the castle, the
battle turned completely in Valentria’s favor.
 
After Bryson disposed of the warships, the remaining enemy forces lost
their will to fight and fled, streaming out of the courtyard.
 
Daniel came rushing up to Stephen to tell him
that the last pockets of violence were being quelled.
 
Stephen barely acknowledged the doctor.
 
This battle, at least, was over but Bryson had
saved them which meant Raven wasn’t the traitor.
 
So who was it that had betrayed them?

Stephen’s thoughts
turned briefly to Elspeth but she was in the inner sanctum, guarded by two people
he knew he could trust.
 
After securing
the castle, he could make sure she was alright.

‘Oh you have got
to be kidding me.’
 
Raven’s fussed silently.
 
The last two runes were all the way back across
the room and half a dozen wounds were working to slow her down.

Bit by bit, never
turning her back to Brian and Amanda, Raven circled the room.
 
Amanda whispered something to Brian who
snorted cruelly.
 
“Give it up,
Branwyen.”
 
Her brother-in-law said,
closing the gap between them.

“Yeah, sis,”
Amanda snarled, “We know what you’re trying to do.”

Raven was tired
but stuck out her tongue.
 
Without
looking over her shoulder, she drove the sword into the rune she was standing
in front of.
 
If they knew there was no
sense in hiding it.
 
“Yet you’re letting
me do it.
 
That’s not very smart.”

Brian rushed
forward to attack and Raven only just managed to parry his thrust.
 
Amanda looked indifferent.
 
“Why is it stupid?
 
Runes can only be broken by magic and magic
is impossible in here.”
 
Amanda eyes shot
daggers at Raven and her voice dripped venom.
 
“Even for you.”

She hates me.
 
Truly hates me.
 
Raven found that hurt her more than any of
the sword slashes covering her body.
 
Moist blooms dotted her clothes now.
 
Her boots felt like they were made out of cement blocks and they
squished every time she took a step.
 
Red
hair, dark with sweat, plastered her forehead.
 
Drips of salty perspiration stung her eyes.

“So you going to
let me get rid of the final rune since you’re so confident?”
 
Raven’s voice wheezed with exhaustion.
 
This was taking way to much damned time,
where was Sarah with help?

Amanda shook her
head as Brian attacked again.
 
Raven
moved but still felt the blade sink into her thigh.
 
“No, I don’t think we will.
 
Somehow you know which runes to destroy even
though I can’t tell the difference.
 
That
means you’re too dangerous to be allowed to live.
 
Kill her, Brian.”

Brian smiled and
raised his sword.

Gathering the last
of her strength, Raven launched herself into him.
 
It wasn’t a hard blow but Brian was caught by
surprise and they landed heavily on the floor.
 
She jumped up in a flash, running towards Amanda who stood in front of
the last rune.
 
Without pausing to
consider what she was doing, which was a good thing because any time for
reflection would almost certainly have convinced her it was a stupid idea,
Raven drove herself onto Amanda’s sword.
 
The blade slid easily into the supple flesh of her left shoulder as her
own blade sank into the stone of the pillar.
 

Unnoticed by Brian
or Amanda, a faint glow spread over the floor of the sanctum.
 
Raven stumbled backwards into its center and
collapsed to her knees.
 
Her purple shirt
turned black and heavy with blood rushing from the wound in her arm.
 
But the five protection runes were
destroyed.
 
Now only the rune that
dampened magic remained.

“Well?”
 
Amanda sang in a mocking voice while she
helped her husband stand.
 
“Can you use
your magic yet?”
 

Raven tried to
blink back the darkness gnawing at the edges of her vision.
 
She was almost done, just one more thing.

“So you wasted all
of our time for nothing?”
 
Brian walked
over and kicked Raven hard in the face.
 
She flopped hard on her back, the wind rushing out of her lungs.
 
Amanda giggled at the sight.
 
Here was her beautiful and powerful older
sister, writhing on the ground like a worm on hot pavement.
 
The fact Raven was down here meant that the
soldiers sent to help them escape after her mother’s murder were probably
dead.
 
Still, even though her sister
managed to stop them this time there was a back-up plan in place.

Brian’s boot
landed heavily in Raven’s side.
 
She
flopped over on her back, gasping for air as a broken rib punctured her
lung.
 
He meant to kick her a third time
but Amanda pulled him back.
 
“Let her die
on her feet, honey.
 
We owe her at least
that much.”

Using her sword as
a prop, Raven stood shakily but instead of attacking, posed a question.
 
“Have you ever wondered about the differences
between witches and sorceresses?”

Amanda and Brian
laughed loudly.
 
“Seriously, now really
isn’t the time for lectures.”

“Come on Raven, at
least die with some dignity.”
 
Brian was
tired of waiting.

Raven grimaced,
“It’s not a lecture.
 
It’s a fundamental
fact I’ve been thinking about for years.”
 
She spit a large glob of blood on the floor.
 
“Witches use the world’s energy to create
spells.
 
A sorceress uses her own energy
to create magic.
 
That’s how we inscribe
runes.”

Amanda
yawned.
 
This was all basic stuff they
learned in school.
 
“Get to the point,
sis.”
 
She made a hurrying motion with
her hand that Raven ignored.

“Don’t call me ‘sis’
anymore and the point is the runes in this room don’t negate magic, they force
it to dissipate into a vacuum.”
 
A
coughing fit racked Raven’s body and more blood spurted from her mouth.
 
Wiping the back of a hand across her chin,
leaving a crimson swath, she smiled viciously.
 
“Knowing this, would it be possible for a sorceress to inscribe a weapon
that could act as a focal point for her power, a weapon that would ignore the
affects of outside influences?
 
Like say
a sword that her business partner made in case hers was stolen.”

Understanding mixed with rage rolled over
Amanda as she saw Raven’s pained grimace, “Stop her!” she shouted but it was
already too late.
 
Raven fell forward
with all of her strength and plunged the sword deep into the ground.
 
A ring of eldritch energy erupted from the
hole, knocking the Tully’s backward.