22. Chapter Twenty-two
“You mustn’t give the key to Mortier,” said Syndeth. “We would be stuck here in her realm forever while she’s out causing havoc and misery throughout all of creation.”
“I know,” said Linorra, “but I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if any harm came to Viktor because of me.”
“And what about me?” Syndeth asked.
I dropped my pack at the side of the house, tucked it under a bush, then followed Aaron out into the open. I got a look at Magister Axel for the first time, standing just outside the door. He appeared younger than I had imagined, like a man in his prime who took excellent care of his health. He was tall and slender, statuesque even, and would have been attractive if not for the crazed expression of bloodlust plainly imprinted on his features.
The sleeves of his tunic were rolled up like he was prepared to do heavy work, and his wide-brimmed hat dripped with rainwater despite the umbrella. His tunic was belted with leather, and a matching sheath held a long dagger with an intricately filigreed golden handle.
The petite man had to stretch to hold the umbrella high enough that it didn’t catch fire from Axel’s torch. Axel gazed at the flames as if they were a precious treasure, then turned to Ward again, spotting us in the process.
“There!” he shouted, pointing a long finger at us. “Get them and bring them to me,” Axel said. He sounded thoroughly annoyed.
Calmly, Aaron thought to me, pulling my hand to walk toward Axel.
I’m trying, I responded. I took a deep breath in and out.
The three überzombies who weren’t holding the umbrella moved toward us, making Axel scowl deeply. “No, not you, Ellis!” he snapped. “You and you,” he said, pointing toward the other two. “Go get them!” He motioned to the man with auburn hair and said, “Ellis, guard the dog.”
Jesus. That’s Ward’s brother, I thought.
I clenched my teeth as we continued to walk toward the magister. Ward lay supine in some muddy grass to the right of Axel, his eyes closed. His newly healed face was covered in blood, his nose misshapen.
I’ve changed my mind, I thought. I could easily kill this man.
The two überzombies strode toward us. As they got closer, I noticed that they were both taller than Aaron, though not as tall as Axel. They had overly pale skin and the same brown eyes and black hair that dominated the region. They appeared unkempt, as if they hadn’t changed clothes or brushed their hair or teeth in the past decade. Their knee-length brown tunics were unbelted, more like potato sacks than clothing. They didn’t seem to notice the rain, nor did they understand that they couldn’t just come and grab us.
The largest of the überzombies approached on the right. He looked as though he could take Aaron in a fight on a good day. He had wide-set, vacant eyes, and a red puffy nose that made me wonder if he was ill. He coughed a few times, then stumbled but didn’t fall. This was not a good day for him, it seemed.
The one with short, curly hair approached on the left. He was positively skeletal, and his face and hands were covered in dirt. Both men had bloodshot eyes with dark circles under them. They truly did look like zombies in the sense that they were half dead from exhaustion and neglect.
Save yourself first, Spirit thought. You can’t do anything for these men right now.
The two überzombies came close and reached for our arms, only to bump up against the shield. They looked at each other in confusion, and then the big one walked behind us and pushed against the shield as if he were trying to push a boulder. It worked. The emaciated one stood to the side, keeping us from veering away.
We got to within ten feet of Axel when he lifted his hand to indicate that we should stop. “That’s far enough,” he said, overtly leering at my body. The creepy grin on his face sent shivers down my spine and it was all I could do to keep myself from bolting. “Now, release your shield and get down on your knees.”
Neither I nor Aaron moved. “No thanks,” I said. “I wouldn’t want you to get the wrong idea about me.”
Don’t taunt the psychopath, Aaron thought to me urgently.
Axel narrowed his eyes, his smirk fading, then he turned to Ward. “Ellis, kick the dog.” Ellis turned to Ward and viciously kicked him in his side. Ward grunted, opening his eyes for a moment, rolling a little, but then he closed them again, falling unconscious.
“No!” I screamed. “Ellis, he’s your brother. Leave him alone!” Ellis stared at me for a moment, confused, then his face went blank again. Like the other two überzombies, Ellis’s face was filthy, and he swayed a little, as if he might fall asleep where he stood. His hand was covered in blood, as mangled as Ward’s nose.
“Ellis belongs to me,” Axel said. “He will do what he’s told. Ellis, kick the dog again. Harder this time.”
Ellis did what he was told. He kicked Ward so hard that, despite my weak Earth hearing, I heard his ribs crack over the sound of the rain. Ward woke up to whimper, rolled to his side, and spit blood. His breath came in loud wheezes.
I almost went to him, but Aaron pulled me back, tucking me behind him as if to shield me from the sight of Ward’s pain. Thunder boomed somewhere in the distance, and the rain seemed to respond to Ward’s distress by increasing in intensity. Aaron and I were shielded from it, but the rain that streamed off the side blurred our view. We needed windshield wipers.
“What do you want, Axel?” Aaron demanded.
Axel cackled. “Now we get to it,” he said. “First you let your whore speak for you, and finally you step up and speak for yourself. Release your shield and get down on your knees.” Axel’s body looked relaxed, but his eyes never stopped tracking Aaron’s movements.
Still, Aaron and I didn’t move. “That’s not going to happen, Axel. Instead, you’re going to call off your thralls and leave this place.”
Axel laughed again. “Tell you what, Aaron. I’m feeling generous today. I will open up a bridge to Earth and send you over there. You leave the dog and the bitch here with me, and we both get what we want.”
Aaron was about to respond with an immediate no, but I stopped him. Wait, I thought, pulling him to the side, though his eyes remained trained on Axel.
I can protect myself, Aaron. You should take his deal.
What? Aaron’s eyes flicked to mine. Lee, I will not leave you here with this monster. He will kill you.
I don’t think so, I said. He wants me. I think we could negotiate for Ward. Take him back with you to Earth, and I will go with Axel to the palace with my shield up.
No, absolutely not,Aaron responded. I’m not leaving you.
But, Aaron—
No!Aaron thought to me. The word was absolute. I blinked at the finality of it. If you want to be rid of me, then I’ll leave, but not until you’re safe.
I stared up at him and shook my head, guilt creeping into my mind. No, I don’t.
“The Holy Daughter was right,” Axel said. I turned back to him to see that he’d been watching our interaction closely. “She is a talented connector. She’s already mastered internal communication. Interesting. She’d be a very valuable servant. And a healer as well.”
His eyes raked over my body again, lingering on my legs. Aaron’s warning about the tight pants suddenly made more sense. I would punch this douchebag right in his dick. If I could reach that high.
“Thanks, but I already have a job,” I said.
Axel chuckled. “Spirited,” he said. “The pit will fix that.”
“Your face is a pit,” I spat. I don’t know where it came from. The rain was pouring down, now, and we were all slowly sinking into the mud. I wasn’t so much terrified as I was pissed off. This guy was a lecherous, imbecilic troglodyte, and I wasn’t taking any more of his shit.
Lee, don’t taunt the psychopath.
Fuck this guy.
Aaron squeezed my hand, pulling me farther behind him so I couldn’t interact with Axel directly.
“Ellis, take out your weapon and point it at the dog’s head,” Axel said. Ellis did as he was told, and my heart skipped a beat. I became aware of the fact that the two überzombies who’d been guarding the back door were now slinking around the house through the dark. These two wore much finer clothes, similar to Axel’s, each with a wide hat and golden cloak. They were younger and much less bedraggled than the rest, though their hats didn’t save them from the deluge. They moved in to flank us. We were surrounded.
Aaron glanced over his shoulder at the newcomers, then back at Axel and said, calmly, as if he were giving a patient warning to a child, “This will not end well for you, Axel. Hurt him again and you will get to see why nobody has gotten to me all these years, despite their many, many attempts. You only brought six with you, and they all look like they need a hot meal and a week of sleep. That won’t be nearly enough to keep me from killing you.”
Axel hesitated, then clenched his jaw, his face filling with rage. “How dare you,” he growled. “You are a traitor, Aaron Atticus!”
I thought we weren’t supposed to piss off the psychopath,I thought, though I was really thinking about what he’d said about their attempts to “get him.” Ward had mentioned something about it, but Aaron had never spoken of that to me.
Too late for diplomacy,Aaron thought back.
“Accept my offer,” Axel hissed. “You’re lucky to be getting any offer at all. I will give you the dog, and I will take the bitch. She can even keep her shield up. I promise not to kill her.”
Without warning, Axel’s thoughts came to us in a flood through Spirit. I will make her scream though,he thought. First with pain, then with pleasure.
He was imagining all the things he would do to me, where he would take me, how he would subdue and bind me, and which instruments of torture he would use. He was getting hard just thinking about it.
Axel was an actual sadist, and he had done all these things before, usually to young girls from SONA. Occasionally, he was tasked with subduing the girls who were identified as greater protectors so that they could be inducted into the Rhoyal Healers Guild. They always had Protection; he always succeeded in breaking them. He had one that very minute, a girl of about fourteen, tied up in his manor and ready to deliver to the compound.
He marveled at his luck in getting two protectors so close together. He wondered how long he could keep me before he had to turn me over to Seleca. How many times could he rape me before he had to deliver? Enough to impregnate me? Maybe Seleca would let him keep me if that happened since it was so soon after giving the guild another one. Threats to a baby are always a good way to force a protected woman into staying. That’s how the Ministry always did it with the Rhoyal Healers.
He’d always wanted to bond a greater protector who could heal him in his own home every night instead of having to pay for the Ministry-owned healers. He was almost fifty, after all. Time to settle down. I wasn’t as exquisite as Farrah, but I was still a very valuable piece of property. He knew at least three others who might want to rent me. Valuable, indeed.
Aaron’s rage bubbled up underneath the onslaught of horrific thoughts and images. It nauseated me, making me feel unsteady. I had to rest my forehead on Aaron’s back to keep from falling over.
Stop, Spirit!Aaron demanded. That’s enough. We get it. I won’t let her go.
He’s pure evil, I thought. Pure evil. Pure evil. I shook uncontrollably. Aaron reached his arm back to steady me.
“Well, Aaron?” Axel demanded, his smirk firmly planted on his face again. “What will it be? Go on your way and everyone lives? Or put the dog down?”
Get ready to drop the shield, Lee.
What are we doing? I asked, panicking again.
I’m going to disarm Ellis. You grab Ward and pull the shield back up around all of us. Then we’ll leave.
Are you sure?
Yes,he thought, pulling out his own dagger. I will handle Ellis. You grab Ward.
Okay, I thought to him uncertainly. It was a simple enough plan, but it didn’t feel right. I could hear my own heart pounding.
It wasn’t until that moment that I truly grasped that this war with the Ministry would not be an idealist’s fantasy. People were going to die. Maybe lots of people. Maybe me. I had known it intellectually before, and I had gotten a taste of it when Seleca attacked us, but I hadn’t really believed it. I had believed, deep down, that I would make it home, bring Aaron and Ward back with me, find my parents, and everything would go back to normal.
I had been so naive, but I understood the situation now. Ward was lying on the ground, bleeding again. Dying again, at the hands of his own brother, who was in some kind of trance.
These enslaved men could be made to do anything, including ignoring basic needs like eating, sleeping, and bathing. They could be made to kill their own family. It was unthinkable. It was as if their minds were separated from their bodies, like they weren’t even aware of what they were experiencing.
Their souls are imprisoned, I thought, or lured away.
“By the beautiful light,” Spirit said.
Yes. The light. I can’t see it, but Spirit can.
That’s the Projection trance, Aaron thought. His contribution startled me. I had become so lost in my own thoughts that I had forgotten he could hear them.
Right.Projection. Aaron, what is the complement of Projection?
Transformation, he answered.
My mind raced. An idea had been bouncing around in the back of my head that I hadn’t yet acknowledged, and I now had to test it out. My life depended on the answer, but I was willing to take that risk for Ward. I just hoped I wasn’t sacrificing Aaron in the process.
Aaron, I need you to trust me, okay? When I let down my shield, let me handle Ellis. You defend us from the others. Do you think you can do that?
Lee, it’s too dangerous. Your idea has merit, but we don’t know if it will work.
Please, Aaron. I just need a moment. If it doesn’t work, I’ll pull the shield back up.
Aaron wanted to think about it, as he was inclined to do, but we were out of time. I thought he might give me his absolute no again, but he just turned to face me, considering. The rain was now torrential, and in the dark, with the shield around us, I could barely see beyond the transparent barrier. It felt almost private.
Okay, he thought, resting his forehead on mine. I trust you. That had cost him something. Giving away trust had been more difficult for him than admitting he loved me. I needed to do a better job of earning that trust.
“Love,” Axel sneered. He had to shout over the rain, but his voice was piercing, a disturbing intrusion into our stolen moment. “It’s a dangerous thing. It makes you take unnecessary risks to save what isn’t worth the mud beneath your boots. Ellis, kill the dog.” Then he turned and threw his torch into the open front door.