40. Chapter 39
40
Chapter 39
Dacias
All Dacias wanted to do was cradle Julen in his arms, but Souzie made the very valid point that somebody had to kill Haligran.
“Where did he go? Did anyone see?” Dacias asked.
“Hush.” Anjular closed her eyes. When she reopened them, they glowed silver, then slowly returned to normal. “He fled up there.” She motioned toward a staircase that led to an observational area. “There’s a secret passage. Let’s move.”
They rushed up the stairs and saw a door. Anjular went to open it. Locked. She gripped the handle, emitting a glowing silver sheen that covered the handle intently, and it shattered.
Damn, she’s powerful.
Dacias held Julen’s hand as they entered a dark corridor that smelled of dampness and decay.
Torches on the wall lit the way, but they were few and far between. Dacias looked back to ensure they weren’t being followed and nearly had a stroke at the vision of the four terrifying monsters trailing behind them.
His face must have shown his fear because the snake woman hissed, and her tongue slithered out. “See something, human ?”
What next ?
He faced forward again. At least these creatures could help if they were attacked. Still, the cramped space had awful visibility, and they didn’t know what lay ahead. Anyone could ambush them at any moment. Dacias didn’t like it one bit.
A flight of stairs going down met them at the end of the corridor. They descended and reached the bottom, which opened up to a crypt. They continued moving and began passing barred cells, each containing a prisoner. Julen stopped. “We should try and free them. Perhaps we can—”
Before Julen could finish, the people in the cells made pained croaking sounds. It sounded like the prisoners were moaning and choking on fluid at the same time. The haunting garbling noises made Dacias’s blood run cold.
The group looked around as the prisoners continued making their grotesque noises.
Suddenly, Souzie called out, “Father!”
She rushed to a cell, reaching between the bars, but jolted back and gasped when he stepped into the light.
The man’s black eyes stared at Souzie, and an inky slime dripped from his mouth. Her father looked at Souzie with no awareness of who she was, baring his oil-covered teeth like a rabid animal.
“What’s happened to him?” Souzie screamed.
Her teeth began to chatter as her father’s terrifying moaning intensified. Soon, all the inmates drew closer to the bars. They each had black eyes, released long, sorrowful moans, and drooled the black liquid.
The prisoners started screeching, hopping up and down, and gnashing their teeth as their outstretched arms reached for the group.
“It’s Morab’s council,” Julen yelled. “Souzie!”
Klorin, Julen, and Dacias rushed to her as she fell to the ground, sobbing.
Julen knelt beside Souzie and wrapped his arms around her. “I’ll free him! I can do it—like I did for them…” He motioned to the creatures.
Julen stood and clenched his hand. An amethyst orb appeared, and he launched it through the bars at Souzie’s father.
It hit his chest and began to spin, and her father howled as the orb released lightning and then sucked the dark magic from his body. Once finished, the orb sailed back to Julen, and he absorbed it.
He hissed in pain, and Dacias rushed to him. “What is it?”
Julen looked uneasy as he pressed a hand to his abdomen. “It’s different this time. The sensation of absorbing the magic was painful. It wasn’t like that when I freed the Caligoneans.”
Souzie’s father looked back at them with clear eyes, but his mouth trembled and was unable to form words. The fear on his face broke Dacias’s heart.
In tears, Souzie approached the cell. “Father. It’s me. It’s Souzie. Do you see me?”
Her father didn’t respond. His eyes stared off into the distance, out of focus and not fixed on anything in the crypt. He watched something the rest of them couldn’t see while murmuring gibberish. His fingers tapped against his legs, almost as if he were sending a code or signal.
Souzie spoke through the sob that escaped her mouth. “Please, daddy. Look at me.”
Her father continued his pitiful stammering, looking at nothing and tapping his sides. Souzie sank to the ground again. Julen and Klorin ran to her, and she curled into Klorin’s lap, burying her head into his chest.
“I’ve got you. I’ve got you.” Klorin whispered.
Julen rested his hand on his friend’s shoulder. “Souzie, I promise I will kill my father for what he’s done to you.”