Chapter 42
CHAPTER FORTY TWO
M agdor convulsed more and more, and I stopped fighting against my restraints as she jerked and groaned, shock making me fall still as I stared at the gruesome display. The cloying feeling of that dark magic she had called to us only grew stronger, a sense of dread burrowing deep into my bones.
She released a guttural noise that sounded as if it had come somewhere from the pit of her stomach, and the ritualistic chanting pouring from her lips turned into a rasp as she fought to go on with it.
I was helpless in the face of this tainted magic, the iron holding me down making my muscles weak and useless.
Magdor buckled over, grasping her stomach and crying out, the chanting finally ending as she groaned in pain and panted hard. I didn’t dare to hope she’d somehow done herself harm though, instead watching her with trepidation as I waited to see what would happen next.
She snapped upright, her eyes two hollow pits of black bone as blood trickled down her cheeks in a pair of agonising tears.
A grimace pulled at my features as she moved towards me, her back straightening and those empty eyes flashing with a wild hunger.
My heart broke into a gallop as though it were looking to burst free of my chest and escape the horrors which closed in on us in this chamber.
“Stay back,” I commanded.
I bucked against my iron chains, a renewed terror filling me as the witch drew nearer.
If she takes control of me, I'll never save Osaria. Austyn will be forced to marry her son. The emperor will never be free of her.
“You want the coin?” I snapped, desperately trying to think of a way to hold her off. “I don't have it anymore. A thief took it after I made this command.”
Her lips curved into a knowing smile. “Liar.” She moved to the end of the stone table, climbing onto it between my legs and crouching there like some kind of demon spider.
I recoiled into the stone, trying to bring a knee up to hold her off, but I couldn't do anything except jerk against my restraints and watch this unfold. She crawled over me, resting her knees either side of my hips and leaning down so her hair created a curtain around us.
Her cold, empty eyes bored into mine and I ground my jaw as I glared back at her, refusing to show fear even in the face of this monster.
“Get off of me,” I snarled, but her response was an empty laugh.
She lowered her mouth to my chest, and a wave of nausea gripped me as her wet lips moved down my body.
Her tongue slicked out against my skin and repulsion filled me as she groaned in delight, but there was nothing sexual about this.
No, her hunger was for my flesh, just as it had been for that innocent boy’s.
I bucked my hips violently, but I couldn't get her away, the thundering pulse of my heart racing so fast that I feared it would burst at any moment. Was she going to fucking eat me?
She dug her teeth into my stomach, encasing my navel with her lips and I roared in agony as the razor-sharp points of her teeth drove deeper.
“Bitch!” I fought as hard as I could against the strength-sapping iron, but she continued to bite down and pain raced through my skin as she sliced her teeth through my flesh.
The thought of being devoured bite by bite was a horror beyond anything I had known before. Any torture was preferable to that.
When she lifted her head, a circular ring of bloody teeth marks was imprinted on my skin, and I scowled at her, fighting the fear which threatened to undo me.
I am made of steel.
Her empty eye sockets flickered with an unholy flame, and she threw her head back, her dark hair tumbling around her shoulders as she released a low growl.
I bellowed a roar for all the good it did me, wondering if my voice might travel far enough to the ears of someone willing to come seek me out. But even if they did, I was in the grip of a monster, and her power clearly ran far deeper than anything I could have predicted.
She hunched forward and coughed heavily, raising a hand to her mouth.
A disgusted look had taken up permanent residence on my face, but she didn’t pay me any attention. Blood wet my ankles and wrists from the strength of my fight against my restraints, coating the iron manacles as I struggled in their hold.
“What the fuck do you want from me?” I demanded, but she didn’t bother to acknowledge me.
She coughed once more then lowered her hand from her mouth, revealing a large, shining golden beetle in her palm, a doting smile on her face as she looked at it like it was a new-born babe.
“Take his mind,” she whispered to it as I gazed on in horror.
She let the bug crawl from her hand onto my stomach and I jerked wildly to try and get it off. Its little legs brushed across my skin as it moved, darting towards the bloody marks around my navel with intent.
“What is that?” I barked as Magdor sat back on her heels to watch, excitement lighting her eyes.
When the beetle reached the wound, it starting burrowing into my body and I cried out at the horrible feeling of the vile little creature driving itself under my skin.
“No!” I roared as it made its way beneath my flesh and a bump raised on my stomach, starting to scuttle upwards.
The pain of it was nothing in the face of the panic that was rising in me, the beetle tearing its way up my body from the inside.
I couldn't do anything but thrash and beg that this thing would stop its ascent as I cursed Magdor’s name under the name of every lost god, begging for them to wake from their slumber and come save me from this hell of a fate.
A shadow rushed through the room and my gaze whipped sideways just in time to see Drake slamming into Magdor, throwing her from the table. She hit the ground, rolling into a crouch, and baring her sharpened teeth at him with a growl.
“ You ,” she spat.
“Drake,” I gasped as he raised a sword in his grip, pointing it at Magdor as she rose to her feet, her back straightening and making a cracking noise that was wholly unnatural.
Drake lunged forward again, swinging the sword with a furious blow, but Magdor moved with inhuman speed, darting out of reach and appearing behind him. She grabbed a fistful of his hair, yanking him backwards and throwing him across the cave with impossible strength.
He hit the wall with a yell and Kyra screamed as she ran to his aid, falling to her knees beside him.
“Master, tell me what you need,” she gasped, but he was already back on his feet, running to intercept Magdor again.
“Kyra!” I cried, looking down at the beetle beneath my flesh as it scrabbled its way over my ribcage, fighting to get higher. The magic girl ran to my aid as Drake swung violent blows at Magdor, keeping her running as she shot out of the way of his strikes.
Kyra looked down at me with wide eyes as she took in the bug moving up my chest, the bump in my skin climbing ever higher.
“Get it out,” I spoke through my teeth as I fought to bear the foul sensation of its sharp pincers cutting into me.
“Hang on, Cassius. I’ll rescue you.” Kyra fetched a silver cup from Magdor’s potion stores and slammed it down over the beetle to halt its movements, looking around for something to help her remove it.
Drake cried out as he was thrown into the stone table I was chained to, his sword clattering onto the ground.
Kyra whirled away from me and the cup went flying as she rushed to help him, kicking the sword back in his direction before Magdor could descend on him.
Drake’s hand curled around the hilt the moment Magdor collided with him, the monstrous woman driving her teeth into his arm and tearing a lump out of his flesh.
He roared in anger, swinging the sword up, but she sped away again before the blade’s edge could cut into her.
“ Kyra ,” I begged, and she swung back to me as the beetle made it to my collar bone.
She grabbed the cup and slammed it over the bug once more, a deep frown furrowing her brow.
“I’ll bash it dead,” she decided, and I nodded, anything but letting it get further than it already had. But as she lifted the cup and smashed the bottom end of the cup down on the bug, the beetle bit deep into bone, trying to burrow away from her hand.
“Stop!” I cried and Kyra dropped the cup in dismay.
“Sorry, sullen man,” she said, looking around for another answer. “Maybe Drake can wish it free.”
My eyes wheeled onto Drake as he slammed into Magdor, finally catching her, and cracking her head back against the cave wall. She slumped to the ground at his feet, and he raised his sword as if unsure whether to strike at her again.
“I need help,” Kyra called, and Drake turned, racing over to us in an instant and looking down at the bug as she pointed it out on my body.
“Cut it out!” I commanded; my voice hoarse as the creature made it to my throat.
“What the fuck is that?” Drake gasped.
“Get. It. Out,” I snarled as the beetle crawled up the side of my neck, the sickening feeling of its legs scraping a path beneath my flesh making my entire body tense and my heart thunder in my chest.
“You can wish it free,” Kyra suggested.
“No time.” Drake snatched a dagger from his hip and slammed his palm onto my throat to stop the thing advancing. The tip of his blade scored into my skin and pain burst through the wound as he twisted the dagger.
“Motherfucker,” I snarled.
He squeezed the cut and I ground my teeth hard as he forced the vile insect from my skin. It tumbled to the floor, and Kyra leapt onto it, smashing her heel down on it again and again until the thing was crushed and unmoving.
“You could have wished it free,” I hissed and Drake shrugged innocently.
“Did you see that?” Kyra breathed to herself. “Well, that’s not a nice thing to say. I’m sure Cassius cares that his brain hasn’t been eaten.”
“We need to apprehend Magdor and bring her before the royal court,” I said urgently, looking over to where she lay still on the ground.