WINDOWS: A BROKEN FAIRY TALE (31 page)

Finally Malleus
felt the sword pierce her chest.
 
Brian
sneered into the ashen face and blood red eyes.
 
“I told you, I’m the best.”

           
Daniel
bent over Elspeth working furiously.
 
That potion of Raven’s managed to close the wound a little but the
countess was still bleeding too much.
 
There wasn’t much time.
 
He
commanded Bekah and Liz to place their hands on his shoulders.
 
With a quizzical glance they did so.

           
“Do
you trust me?”
 
He sweat dripped from his
forehead.

           
Bekah
didn’t answer but looked at Liz.
 
“With
my life.”
 
The brunette whispered with a
soft smile.

           
“You
have to focus all the magic you can into me.
 
Can you do that?”

           
In
response the two girls closed their eyes.
 
Immediately Daniel felt energy coursing through him.

           
Daniel
opened his eyes to a world he never expected.
 
One of Valentria’s flags snapped sharply in the rising wind.
 
He stared transfixed.
 
Despite the deepening gloom of the storm
overhead he continued watching the frayed bit of cloth he had seen a thousand
times before.
 
Small beads of light were
quilted into its fabric, almost hypnotizing as they shimmered and danced.
 
This ragged and time worn flag was the
perfect example of all that should be, a pinnacle for everything to
aspire.
 
The stones of the parapet they
were on pulsed azure beneath his hands, each a wonder to behold.
 
Above him the storm flashed an angry, violent
red as he watched in rapture.
 
Then he
felt Felicity’s hand on his shoulder and turned, stunned but not surprised to
see her glowing like a sunset in his eyes, multi-hued and glorious.
 
Gossamer strands of color were interwoven,
connecting everything.
 
With care he
stroked one of the fragile lines like a harpist.
 
It thrummed gently and a lilting music filled
the world; a symphony felt more than heard.
 
Softer than a cloud the sound brushed his cheek and caressed his
heart.
 
Words formed on his lips but he
was too amazed to breathe them.
 
He knew
the name of this song but dared not speak for fear of breaking the spell; The
Whisper of Creation.

           
Something
else was there.
 
No, Daniel corrected
himself, something wasn’t there yet still pulled his eyes to a spot beneath the
lowest floors of the castle, a nothingness that drew all to it.
 
He almost missed it at first, and most
certainly would have had it not been for the bands of light bending and arching
towards it, among the webs of color crisscrossing the world.
 
It was a white shapeless mass from which
tendrils terribly bright extended and snaked their way around the richly tinted
fibers.
 
Slowly, searchingly one crept
along the diaphanous strand he plucked.
 
As the emptiness brushed ever closer, another sound could be heard over
The Whisper.
 
A discordant, terrible
shriek crashed against his ears, the death throes of a universe given voice,
demanding to be heard.
 
Daniel bit his
tongue.
 
He refused to utter the name of
that abominable emptiness as it pierced his chest.
 
To give it a name would be to give it
power.
 
Yet in the end a name did fall
from his lips; The Hymn of the Void.

Then a voice
called to him, quiet at first, barely heard in the cacophony of sound.
 
It rang more clearly.
 
Daniel looked past the glow and saw a woman
bleeding.
 
Slowly he pressed his hands to
the wound and the energy flowed between the two of them.
 
Focusing himself Daniel forced the energy to
do what he needed.
 
It rushed over the
wounded woman; damaged tissue healed itself, severed veins and arteries
reattached, stemming the flow of blood.
 

           
At
last the magic vanished.
 
Elspeth looked
up, her eyes clear and smiled at her surrounded family.
 
Her daughters cheered, Stephen smiled and
Daniel promptly passed out from fatigue.

           
Sarah
rounded the corner to hallway where the entrance to the secret room was located
at full speed and pulled up short, nearly stumbling.
 
She hadn’t realized it on the way out but
there had to be twenty statues of knights that all looked exactly the same
lining the right wall.
 
Reaching the
nearest one she tugged on the sword the statue held in its hand.
 
It slid down easily but before she could be
thankful, she heard a barely audible click from behind her.
 
She ducked at the last second as a spear
thudded into the wall where her head had just been.

“You have got to
be kidding me.”
 
She muttered.
 
“Booby trapped?”

Wrenching the
spear from the wall Sarah carefully used it to pull down the sword the next
statue was holding.
 
Another click and
this time a trapdoor opened at the feet of the knight.
 
Sarah carefully walked around it, glancing to
see if there was a bottom and tried the next.

The demon looked
calmly at the weapon sticking out of it.
 
“Well done, Brian.
 
Your blade
pierced one and a quarter inches to the inside of my breast, neatly between the
ribs, not even touching the bone.
 
Exactly the center of where a human heart would be.”
 
It hissed, “How fortuitous that I lack such a
thing.”

           
He
barely registered what those words meant when Malleus punched out with her
right palm.
 
The swordsman slid a few
steps backwards still clutching his sword.
 
Blue fire sprang from the hole in Malleus’s chest, searing the wound
closed.
 
Calmly the creature walked to
Raven’s sword stuck in the center of the destroyed rune.
 
The grating sound of metal on rock made Brian
wince as the weapon was slowly withdrawn.
 

A look of surprise
twisted Malleus’s features.
 
The runes
inscribed on this allowed the weapon to bend to the power of who ever wielded
it.
 
“You’ve surprised me, Branwyen.
 
I didn’t think you were capable of crafting
such a thing.”

“What are you
talking about?”
 
Brian lurched forward
but a puzzling sight stopped him.
 
The
sword Malleus held was changing shape.

The runes drank
the power Malleus poured into them greedily.
 
Slowly the handle elongated as the blade curved, bent and expanded.

Brian stared.
 
He never heard of magic that could do
this.
 
The sword was now a massive war
hammer.
 
It looked about two feet long
and the thick head was at least half that.
 
A single link of chain crafted from a heavy looking metal attached to
the base.
 

“W- what?”
 
He stammered.

“I am known as
‘the Witches’ Hammer’, but it isn’t my name.
 
That’s what mortals called me after seeing this.”
 
Malleus tugged at the link of chain and more
chain slid from the handle.
 
Almost
lazily the demon swung it in tight circles.

Without warning
Malleus released the weapon.
 
Brian
jumped aside and the hammer buried into the wall with enough force to shake the
room.
 
He meant to attack while the
creature was defenseless but before he could move, the demon was once more idly
swinging the hammer.
 
Again the heavy
weapon whistled through the air and Brian knew he couldn’t dodge this time so
he held up the unbreakable sword taken from Raven.
 
Like a rock breaking a pane of glass the
hammer smashed through the feeble defense.
 
Shards of metal stung Brian’s face and he felt his internal organs
crushed to a pulp.

Malleus strode
over to inspect her kill but the man wasn’t dead yet.
 
Weakly, blood pouring from his mouth, he
raised his arms as the hammer crashed down with a sickening finality.

           
Dabbing
her fingers into the blood pooling on the floor, Malleus raised them to her
mouth and smacked hungrily.
 
But already
this meal was getting cold.
 
The other
would be fresh and warm for a while.
 
Licking her lips, the monster turned to find dinner.

           
Amanda
witnessed her husband’s death, too shocked and frightened to make even a
whimper.
 
Then she felt his murderer’s
eyes find her and she started scrabbling backwards, using her feet to push
away.
 
The sound of scuttling terror
mocked her as it bounced off the walls.

           
Reaching
down, Malleus calmly dragged the girl to her feet.
 
Fresh blood ran in rivulets where talons
pierced Amanda’s shoulder.
 
Leaning in close,
barely able to contain her hunger, the demon whispered, “It’s so much better
when you scream.”

           
Suddenly
a fist smashed into Malleus’s face, knocking her away from her victim.
 
Amanda cried as she fell to the floor
again.
 
The demon rolled to her feet and
sent a powerful fireball at her new enemy, but Sarah dodged it.
 
The demon stared quizzically at the intruder.

           
“Why
are you protecting her, Sarah?”

           
Standing
resolutely in front of Mandy, Sarah snarled.
 
“I couldn’t care less about her but it would destroy Raven if she died
because of you.”

 
          
“Branwyen
has killed.
 
You know this.”
 
Malleus meandered in a slow circle around
Sarah and Amanda, skipping from one patch of blue light to the next, the
perfect predator sizing up its prey.
 
Sarah could barely keep the thing in her sight.

           
“Amanda
can’t fight back anymore,” Sarah’s voice was firm despite the terror that
threatened to overwhelm her at any moment, “this battle is over.
 
Raven would never murder a defenseless
person.”

           
Malleus
shimmered and Sarah lost sight of her completely.
 
A voice from a shadow to her left spoke,
“Yes, you are right.
 
Branwyen never did
have much of a killer instinct.”
 
Sarah
whirled but now the voice came from behind.

           
“Of
course, Branwyen’s wants or needs are no longer of any consequence.”

           
Sarah
spun again, her gray eyes searching desperately in the shadows cast by the
flickering torches.
 
“What do you
mean?”
 
She whispered, afraid of the
answer but asking anyway to buy some precious moments.

           
“The
vassal is now mine.”

           
“I
know you’re lying.
 
I know she can hear
me.”
 
Acceptance replaced the fear Sarah
felt.
 
It might be the last thing she did
but she wanted to say the words to Raven just once.

           
The
demon with crimson eyes materialized and grabbed her by the throat.
 
Pain fired through Sarah’s body as Malleus
leaned in; their faces so close Sarah could feel breath on her skin.
 
“What makes you so sure?”

With renewed
determination Sarah pulled Malleus’s lips to her own and whispered into the
leering face of madness.

CHAPTER
29: TRUE LOVES KISS

           
The girl struggled for the surface but
couldn’t be sure which way was up.
 
Darkness filled her world as she thrashed helplessly.
 
What felt like millions of worms groped her
body, forcing their way into her pores, dragging her further down.
 
She could feel her strength fading.
 
Already her arms felt like lead and responded
sluggishly to her commands.
 
Lungs
bursting, she opened her mouth to scream but countless tendrils filled the new
opening, causing her to gag.
 
Finally
beaten and exhausted, the girl stopped fighting.
 
Slowly she sank into Oblivion.

           
Then something grasped the back of
her shirt and pulled.
 
It tugged
valiantly but the darkness would not surrender its prey so easily.
 
Another tendril, this one thicker and heavier
than the others, wrapped itself around her foot.
 
Caught in a fierce tug-of-war the girl
gathered the last of her strength and kicked.

           
With a heaving gasp, the girl broke
through the surface and collapsed on the stone floor as fresh air filled her
lungs.
 
Through the haze of pain she
noticed a figure bathed in blinding light bending over her.
 
With a wry grin, the girl reached out and
stroked the figures’ hair

           
“Silly Lil’bit, I’m supposed to
protect you.”

           
“Welcome
back.”
 
Sarah smiled painfully as she
looked into Raven’s bright green eyes.

Raven brushed her
fingers over Sarah’s cheeks, searching for signs of injury.
 
Finding none, she forced her own small
smile.
 
“Thanks, Lil’bit.
 
Is everyone alright?”

Sarah shook her
head gravely.
 
“Els and I are fine, and I
think Amanda will live but Brian is dead.”

A mournful cry
broke from behind them.
 
Raven turned and
looked at her youngest sister.
 
She was
dirty and drying blood stained her shirt.
 
She tried desperately to scurry away until she bumped into a
pillar.
 
Raven noticed there was a thumb
sized hole in Amanda’s shoulder but didn’t bother to ask about it.

“You killed him!”
 
She shrieked.
 
“You’re a demon!”

Raven sadly shook
her head.
 
“No.
 
I just happen to share a body with one.”
 
She tried to walk over to Amanda, nearly
collapsing with the effort.
 
Sarah caught
her and tried to ease her to the ground but Raven was insistent.
  

“We have to get
you to Daniel.
 
The guards will be here
shortly.”
 
Sarah cajoled, trying to get
Raven to listen to reason.

Raven pointed at
Mandy.
 
“I have to do something about her
before they get here.”
 

Sarah didn’t know
what to expect.
 
Would Raven kill Amanda
in cold blood to protect her secret?
 
Was
she going to threaten or somehow force the girl to remain quite about
Malleus?
 
She didn’t know but decided
that she would have to trust Raven.
 
Amanda quaked with fear as Raven slowly limped towards her.

Sarah watched as
Raven knelt down and pressed a forefinger against her forehead.
 
Slowly she withdrew the finger and pressed it
against Amanda’s.
 
A thin stream of
light, fine as spider silk, glowed between the two sisters.
 
Amanda’s eyes rolled back in her head and
both girls went still as stone.

Elspeth opened her
eyes and smiled.
 
Felicity and Rebekah
stood on either side of her bed, charred around the edges and covered head to
toe in soot, but beaming widely at their mother.
 
Stephen and Daniel stood at the foot of the
bed, each wearing a broad grin.

Her Grace sat up
straighter, and after hugs from everybody gathered, asked where Raven and Sarah
were.
 
A somber silence told her that
nobody knew.
 
Reacting quickly like the
leader she was, Elspeth ordered Daniel, Bekah and Liz to go find the two girls
and bring them back.
 
Liz complained
about leaving but Elspeth was resolute.

“Raven and Sarah
saved all of us.
 
I’ll be fine so go
help.”

Still looking like
she wanted to argue, Liz stormed off in a huff, following Bekah and
Daniel.
 
When they were alone, Elspeth
slouched wearily against the head board.
 
Stephen locked the bedroom door and sat down on the bed.

“The fire turned
blue.”
 
Elspeth said, after a pause.

Stephen took her
hand in his.
 
“Yes, on the embankment as
well.”

“That child is an
absolute whiz at keeping secrets.”
 
Elspeth gently squeezed Stephen’s hand.
 
The large man nodded.

“Do you think
Rebekah knows?”

The Duchess
chuckled softly, answering with a question of her own.
 
“Who else do you think would help her cover
it up?
 
Branwyen is the vassal of Malleus
Maleficarum, and that is a big thing to hide.”

“So what are we
going to do about it?”
 
Stephen searched
the regal face for signs of worry.
 
There
were none.

“We’ll wait and
see what happens.
 
They’ll tell us when
they need to, so we’ll just need to have faith in them for now.”

In another dark room, inhabited by another
redheaded girl, this one visibly shaken, Raven suddenly materialized and looked
around.
 

“It’s changed since the last time I was
here.”
 
She remarked casually to Amanda,
who looked up with red, puffy eyes.
 
Gone
were the pictures of Amanda’s family that had once adorned the walls.
 
Gone was the comfortable couch that sat in
the middle of the room.
 
The only
decoration that Raven could see was a small picture of Brian hanging between
the two large windows.
 
This room was
barren and lifeless, offering no warmth.

“Where are we, Raven?”
 
Amanda’s voice filled with anger.

“Inside your mind.”
 
Raven snapped her fingers and started
thumbing through a large codex box that appeared in front of her.

“In my mind?
 
What are you talking about?”

Raven pulled out a card and mentioned in an
off-handed fashion that she had to clear up a few loose ends before Amanda was
imprisoned back in the real world.

Ignoring the girl who was slowly creeping up
behind her, Raven read the card in disbelief.
 
She just finished reading what she needed when Amanda swung her
fist.
 
The attack had no effect at all.

“Physical attacks won’t work in here.”
 
Raven explained as she re-filed the card and
picked up another one.
 

Amanda lay cursing on the floor, asking
exactly what Raven thought she was doing.
 
Raven said that she needed to know who Amanda and Brian were working for
and since neither was in any condition to answer questions this seemed the most
pragmatic option.

“Plus,” Raven turned her eyes on her
youngest sister in disgust, “I can’t very well have you telling our enemies
about Malleus, so I’m going to lock those memories away.”

Amanda managed a small laugh.
 
“You think I’m just going to forget that
you’re half demon?”

Raven gave a thin lipped smile and walked
towards a safe that suddenly appeared in the wall of the room.
 
“I don’t see why not.”
 
After placing the papers inside, she slammed
the metal door shut and the safe faded.
 
“It’s worked every other time I’ve tried it.”

“Every other time you’ve tried what?”
 
Amanda demanded, eyeing Raven with some suspicion.
 
“Get out of my head, Branwyen.
 
Leave me alone.”

Raven just grimaced.
 
The only thing Amanda would remember is that
they had somehow lost.
 
Snapping her
fingers a final time, Raven retreated into back into her own mind.
 

Raven swooned into
Sarah’s waiting arms, weeping.
 
Amanda
fell backwards and knocked her head against the stone pillar, unconscious.

“Are you
alright?”
 
Sarah cradled Raven’s head
against her chest.
 
Great body-wracking
sobs answered her.
 

The blonde was
gently rocking the redhead back and forth when three people burst into the
chamber.
 

Liz leaned over
Mandy.
 
“Daniel,” she shouted, “She’s
hurt pretty badly.”

Daniel stood
frozen, not seeming to hear.
 
He looked
down on the remains of Brian Tully, though the only reason he knew they had
once been his friend was because of the clothes still draped over the mass
barely recognizable as human.
 
Liz
started to walk over but Daniel barked at her to stay away.
 
She didn’t need to see this.
 
Whatever hit Brian did so with enough force
to make his head explode.
 
Bits of brains
and teeth were scattered on the ground and a piece of meat that looked like a
tongue hung limply to one side of the cavity.
 
Daniel leaned against a nearby pillar and vomited until he couldn’t
bring anything else up and then dry heaved until he thought he’d pass out.
 
It wasn’t the site of blood, as a doctor he’d
seen plenty of horrific injuries, but rather the ferocity of the attack that
made him sick.
 
He glanced at Raven, who
was still crying.
 
No, he shook his head,
it couldn’t have been her.
 
So what had
butchered arguably the greatest swordsman of their time?

Bekah reached for
Raven, trying to drag her out of Sarah’s arms, but Raven clung tight.
 
Bekah wanted to comfort her Sis, to tell her
it was alright but she didn’t know exactly what happened.
 
So she did the only thing she knew to do.
 
She reached back and slapped Raven as hard as
she could.

Instantly the
whimpering stopped.
 
“Ouch, you
bitch!”
 
Raven snapped, rubbing her
cheek.
 
“I was crying here if you hadn’t
noticed.”

Bekah shrugged her
shoulders, “Sucks to be you.
 
Stop the
pity fest and tell me what happened.”

Raven struggled to
her feet with Sarah’s help.
 
Despite
recent events Sarah felt sure that things would be alright now if the two of
them were bickering.
 
It provided a sense
of normalcy the world hadn’t seen for some time.

“They,” Raven indicated
Mandy and Brian with her chin, “tried to kill Elspeth and take over Valentria.”

“No kidding,
really!’
 
Bekah stared at Raven as if the
girl had suddenly gone bonkers.
 
“I know
that.
 
I want to know why you didn’t give
me a hug as soon as I walked in.”

It was Raven’s
turn to look as if she were talking to a crazy person.
 
“Cause Sarah’s hugs are warm and
comfortable.
 
Yours are cold and kind of
creepy.”

Sarah thought they
might actually start fighting but Daniel cleared his throat.
 
“Ladies, now isn’t the time.
 
There’s a dead man…”
 
The doctor jumped out of the way as a
fireball from Bekah hurtled past.
 
Flames
engulfed Brian’s body, quickly reducing it to a vaguely human sized pile of
ashes.

“Let’s get
something very clear before anybody leaves this room.”
 
Bekah was standing with her arms crossed,
daring anybody to argue or question her.
 
No one did.
 
“Brian was killed by
Raven in the fight.
 
We put out the fire
when we got down here.
 
Understood?”

 
          
Everyone
nodded and Bekah seemed satisfied.
 
“Sis,”
she whispered with more gentleness than Sarah believed she possessed, “mom
wants to see you and Sarah as soon as possible.
 
Do you feel up to it?”

           
Raven
glanced at Sarah, who shrugged noncommittally.
 
“Yeah, let’s go while everything is still fresh in our minds.”

Bekah bent forward
and Raven leaned on her for support.
 
After checking with Sarah to make sure she was alright, Liz went
too.
 
Daniel helped Sarah to her feet
then hugged her tightly.

“You must’ve been
scared.
 
Sorry I couldn’t do
anything.”
 
He said, wiping her cheek.