40. CHAPTER FORTY
CHAPTER FORTY
Astaroth
T he balls of my feet struck the dirt outside the labyrinth walls. Dust moats floated around me as I rose from my squat, readying myself for who or what entered my realm. After the threat from one of the last exiles, and Mergle declaring they would come for him if he disappeared, I wasn’t taking any chances. Calista’s anger roared through me as I faced the single newcomer. I slammed the connection shut as quickly as I entombed her. My focus and safety were tantamount to hers. Because if I didn’t return, she would die there.
Bright green eyes held mine across the distance. I had never seen a hue so vibrant, not even on Earth. Not an ounce of fear weighed his gaze, which was something else I’d never encountered. Fiery red hair fell past the shoulders of his pristine frock that matched his irises. Not a rip, drop of blood, or speck of dirt marred his clothing. This fae was not an exile. He came here with purpose.
“Who are you?” I asked.
“Where is Mergle?”
I tilted my head. “Who is asking?”
“You may call me Serwin.”
“Well, Serwin, Mergle is indisposed. How may I be of service to you?”
This time he tilted his head. “Indisposed or disposed?”
“Indisposed, as I said.” I smiled, showing teeth.
“Then I wish to speak with Jessandra.”
I continued smiling when every particle of my being wanted to explode. How did he know Jessandra? Was she behind the treachery with Mergle? As secretive as she was, I wouldn’t put it past her. I couldn’t trust any of them anymore.
“You do not wish to speak with me?”
“No.”
I feigned sadness. “You haven’t asked who I am.”
“I know who you are.”
I raised my brows. “You do?”
“Quit playing games, Astaroth! It is imperative I speak with Mergle.”
“Why?”
His lips formed a thin line. “If you would like to keep your realm and your newly acquired prize, I suggest you take me to him.”
I blinked in front of him, hand around his creamy pink throat, only to discover his hand around mine, as well. Every time I squeezed, he did the same.
Nothing will be accomplished at this rate except for our discomfort if you continue to let your emotions rule you. Startled by the invasion of his voice in my head, I squeezed hard enough to hear a bone crack. I am not the threat nor your enemy. Release me.
Finger by finger, I forced my hand to open while his voice echoed in the cavern of my mind. That is not even a talent I possess. What else could he do? Could he overpower me? He said we weren’t enemies. How could I trust him when he worked with those who deceived me?
His hand relaxed along with mine. The moment we released one another, we took a step back. The bones in his throat pressed against his flesh at odd angles. They twitched beneath his skin and shifted back into place.
Serwin rubbed his neck and cleared his throat. “Shall we?”
A portal opened behind me to take us to the empty throne room. Everything had been taken to the arena for the celebration. I went through it without responding. With the snap of my fingers, my throne appeared on the dais. Serwin appeared as I sat, looking around the empty room.
“He is not here.”
I crossed my ankle over my knee. “No, he is not.”
Serwin’s nostrils flared. The only sign he gave that he was flustered. “I have a minuscule amount of time.”
“Time does not exist here.”
“Is that so?”
“Indeed.”
“It exists elsewhere. Therefore, it exists here.”
I thought of Calista’s strange turn of phrases. “Po-tay-to, Po-tot-o.”
Serwin stared at me. “Take me to Mergle!” his voice bellowed through the room.
The vibrations shook my anger loose. I stewed in it, allowed it to envelop me in the heat and build to a roaring fire. The misleading, manipulative actions of those closest to me. The half-truths so I wouldn’t discover their lies. Being used as a tool for their own means, whatever they may be…. They could shrivel to husks of their former selves for all I cared. I may just do it to them myself like I did the others.
Once his rage settled, I spun a small portal near the ground at the foot of the dais so the nearest goblin could poke their head through to see what I needed. A moment later, a big gray face with a long pipe protruding from his mouth popped through.
Smoke billowed out of his nostrils before he said, “Yes, sire?”
“I request Jessandra’s company.”
“Right away, sire. She was just next to me.” He disappeared, leaving only the aroma of everberry leaves in the air.
I increased the size of the portal and waited impatiently for her arrival. They were all in the arena celebrating with no idea Serwin had interrupted the party and their queen was trapped behind protective walls. Jessandra would know from both our absences and my wording that something was amiss.
Serwin stared at the swirling mass in front of him once again. Only this time, I caught the briefest glimpse of curiosity cross his features. It looked completely different from the portal he came through. I always wondered what it would feel like to pass through it. Would the energy feel different, too? I itched to ask him.
The portal undulated and Jessandra stepped into the throne room, her back to Serwin. She dropped to a knee, her hand resting on her concealed knife, and bowed her head, no doubt learning Serwin’s exact position. Her awareness and accuracy were terrifyingly accurate next to my own.
“You called for me, Your Highness?”
I almost smirked from her using a title while speaking to me. She never would unless forced, which was confirmation she understood our predicament. We would appear to be a united front.
Serwin took a step and hesitated. “Jessandra?”
She stood and spun on him, knife gripped and lying along her forearm. The mummified remains of a goblin peeked out of her pocket. Another one to add to the count. I shifted my attention to her and watched for any sign of deception, but only confusion etched the side of her brow.
He studied her from head to toe, lingering on her face and traveling over her long gray hair.
“Do-do I know you?”
His torso flinched, as if deflecting a blow. “I had hoped you would remember me.” He pressed his hand to his chest. “Serwin.” It came out of his mouth like he dug through his pain to find it and questioned if he even got it right.
Jessandra gripped the knife tighter. Did she remember him and refused to acknowledge his identity in front of me? She was clearly shaken. The day kept getting more and more interesting.
She squinted and shook her head. I had seen Calista wear that same uncertainty, as if random memories were resurfacing that didn’t make any sense.
Serwin came closer, and Jessandra raised her weapon. He stopped in an instant, with his palms turned out.
“Please remember,” he whispered.
She ignored his heart-aching plea and faced me. “What is happening?”
“I thought you could tell me.”
“Who is this…” Jessandra eyed him up and down. “Man?”
“Serwin.” I waved him forward. He approached and stood next to Jessandra, staring at her out of the corner of his eye. “Explain your purpose here.”
He huffed. “I cannot.”
“You don’t know why you’re here?” Jessandra asked.
“I cannot tell you why I’m here.” The words came out strained as if he pushed them through his teeth.
“See my conundrum?”
“For the last time, I need to speak with Mergle.”
Jessandra’s eyes widened. “How do you know Mergle?”
Serwin looked at her like he wanted to reveal all of his secrets and then some. “If only I could tell you, love.”
She jerked back and faced me. Were her cheeks pink? I do believe she was blushing.
Quickly clearing her throat, she said, “I need to see Mergle, too.”
I sighed. “Fine. I will take you both to him, but you,” I pointed at Jessandra, “will keep your mouth shut and observe.”
Her jaw clenched, but she nodded.
I took us to the dungeon. The moment we stepped inside the dark corridor, Serwin noticed the pixie orbs. He reached out for one but dropped his hand. “Why are they in there?”
“Why are they here?” I countered. When he didn’t respond, I asked, “Are they spies?”
Serwin smiled. “They can be used as such, among other things.”
A non-answer, answer. Now that someone was doing it to me, I understood Calista’s frustration when I did it to her.
“Where are we?” Jessandra asked as they followed me down the brick tunnel.
I debated whether I should tell them or let them discover it on their own. Mergle’s cell was quickly approaching down the first offshoot.
“The dungeon.”
“Dungeon?” They chimed together.
Serwin stormed up to me and took the lead in questioning. “Why is he in the dungeon?”
My teeth ached because I ground them so hard. “He committed treason.”
Jessandra’s voice came from over my other shoulder. “Mergle would never.”
“He did,” I seethed.
“What did he do?”
I spun on them. “He aligned with others to steal the stone in an attempt to wield my power.”
“No. I don’t believe it.”
“Believe it. He should wither with the rest of them—”
“You cannot allow that to happen!” Serwin lurched forward. “You need him!”
I needed him for more than information. Mergle was my confidant and friend. The only friend I had. Although he deserved it, I couldn’t leach his essence and watch him wither. Keeping Mergle here went against every fiber of my being, but I couldn’t trust him. This was the only safe place for him and me.
“Which is precisely why I didn’t.”
“Serwin?” Mergle called out. “Is that you?”
Serwin jerked his head in the direction of the voice. “Mergle!”
“Here! Follow my voice!”
He ran to the opening in the wall with Jessandra fast on his heels. They paused at the archway and took in the cells lining the corridor as I came to a stop behind them. Every hall appeared the same. Infinite. And a prison in its own right. One could get lost in the tunnels here, never to be found again.
“There are enough to house every occupant of the realm and then some.” I pushed between them and kept going. “If you were wondering.”
Their eyes burning into my back made me smile. If the anger rolling off them was anything to judge by, I would be dead soon. Only they would never make it out alive, and they knew this.
“I knew you would come, Serwin!” Mergle shouted and shook the bars. “Release me! Yas gink eht seod tahw? Emoc neeuq eht seod ro epacse na ereht si? Where are you?”
I slowed when Mergle began speaking gibberish and looked over my shoulder. Puzzled and concerned, Jessandra looked at Serwin, too. What was this tongue? He gave nothing away and continued to follow.
The light from the orbs cast my shadow along the wall in front of Mergle’s cell. He shook the door harder. “I am here!” Face drooping, his hands fell to his sides when I stepped in his line of sight.
“Not happy to see me?” I placed a hand on my chest. “That wound stings deeply, old one. I thought you would welcome the company.”
“Your pride will be your demise,” he muttered.
My jaw clenched. “The same attribute you instilled in me. Fitting.”
Mergle’s expression turned introspective before his attention went to his emerging guests. “Serwin! I am ecstatic to see you, friend.”
The term struck me and ran bitter poison through my veins. I questioned whether we were ever friends or if he pretended for my entire existence. I swallowed the frog in my throat that leaped around trying to climb out while he ran to the door again, full of hope and excitement.
Serwin crouched at the bars and looked Mergle over. “Are you alright?”
“I am well, considering my accommodations, albeit a tad lonely. The silence is deafening here and can drive one mad at times.”
“I would like to speak with him,” Serwin said over his shoulder.
“There is no one stopping you.”
He locked challenging gazes with me before facing Mergle again. “Yreaf sdoolf raef. Seixip gninruter eht ot sknaht kcigam dna etteilbuo reh fo sgnineppah eht swonk won ehs. Reirgna sworg neeuq eht.”
Mergle’s chin dropped, and he said something quietly that I couldn’t make out.
Jessandra leaned closer, and I tilted my head near hers. We didn’t stop watching this strange scene unfold. She whispered, “Of all the things I’ve seen in this realm, this is by far the most bizarre.”
“And here I was hoping you could translate.” I mumbled, “ Love .”
Her head whipped in my direction. “Your insinuations exhaust me.”
“Your elusiveness exhausts me.”
Her mouth snapped shut, and she turned back to them. “Can you decipher any of it?”
Mergle and Serwin chattered away in hushed tones. I couldn’t make out hide nor hair until I heard Serwin whisper, “Astaroth.”
I grabbed his hair and yanked his head back. He didn’t try to fight me or loosen my hold. “If you’d like to keep your tongue you best explain yourself.”
Mergle’s tired, sullen voice broke through my anger. “I’ve told you once, young one. We cannot.”
“Oh yes,” I sneered. “Your oath.”
“It is more than an oath,” Serwin stated.
“Then explain that to me.” I shoved his head to the side and released him. “Maybe I’ll be more understanding.”
Mergle stuttered and garbled nonsensical words. His forehead rested against the bars as he gripped them and shook with frustration.
“Allow me.” Serwin patted his hands. “I have the strength to expend.”
Mergle slid down the bars until his butt hit the floor. He leaned against them with an exhausted sigh and dropped his hands in his lap. “Thank you. I have tried many times through my life here. Each and every one has taken a nip out of my life source.”
Jessandra reflected my shock at his gratitude. I squatted next to Serwin and looked Mergle over. He appeared older than last I saw him. Skin darker. Wrinkles deeper. Eyes a tad less lively. Then, he slumped to the floor.
I blipped into the cell and knelt over him. “Mergle!” I patted his face and gently shook his shoulders, but he didn’t wake. “What is happening to him?”
“The geis is taking its stipend.” Sadness and regret filled Serwin’s eyes. “Only he doesn’t have enough energy to pay it.”
“Then what? He stays comatose forever?”
“Normally, yes. Or until he gives himself over to become one with Faery.” Serwin gazed around the dungeon. “But here… I fear this place will sense his weakness and come for every last morsel of his life source.”
“Isn’t that the same thing?”
“No. In Faery, your essence becomes one with all. You can be felt through all things and you never leave it. Over time, you are reborn to live it again in whatever vessel you choose. It is an eternal cycle.”
Although I tried to hide it, trepidation laced my words. “And here?”
He chose his words carefully. “This place was designed to devour and funnel the magic back to its creator.”
Jessandra knelt next to Serwin. “But it funnels it to Astaroth.”
“Therein lies our dilemma.”
They looked at me, and my gaze dropped to Mergle’s prone form propped up on my legs. “I don’t keep their essence for myself.” The thought never crossed my mind that I could.
“However, you feed it to the realm.”
“To keep us alive! It is what I’ve always done. It is my purpose.” The statement echoed through my mind, but I heard it in Mergle’s voice.
He encouraged me, molded me, and finally shoved me to put order to the chaos. He impaled the belief in my brain until it became my own. Now I shouldered a responsibility I desperately wished to unload. I became his tool, his weapon to yield when the chance arose. I scooped Mergle up and laid him on the cot. He was small, but mighty. The fear of losing him to the Hall of the Unnamed crept over me. I hadn’t felt it since my youth when he stopped withering.
“I am strong enough to feed the realm my power.”
“Yet, you haven’t withered. Not like them.”
“Neither has Jessandra. My power satisfies its insatiable hunger to a degree and filters back to me to recharge.”
They exchanged looks of confusion. Serwin’s held a hint of something else—something I felt when looking at Calista. Love, longing, sorrow. Living, breathing grief. He lifted a hand from his lap like he wanted to touch her but grabbed the bar instead.
“That we do not understand.”
“Just as we do not understand the language you share with Mergle,” I reminded him, bringing the conversation full circle.
Serwin forced the words out slowly and methodically. He didn’t have nearly the trouble Mergle had. “We are tongue-tied. The magic ensures we do not break our oath whether on purpose or by accident. No one can manipulate, trick, or coerce one under its thrall. We can communicate because we made a blood pact to the k—” Serwin choked and gasped for a breath— “eeper of our oath together.”
I wondered whom they made their pact with and how powerful they were. “That requires an immense amount of magic.”
Serwin relaxed against the bars. Perspiration beaded his forehead. “No more than you possess.”
I could see the fear in Jessandra’s eyes that I would experiment and subjugate her to test my theories. “Astaroth is different.”
The sardonic chuckle that erupted from Serwin stiffened my spine. “He’s no more special than any other I have crossed.”
His laughter died when he stared into my eyes. I could see the same eons in his that my brethren claimed to see within mine. Only his were the eons of his life. I didn’t understand how I could see it in his and not the others, but I wasn’t about to let this opportunity slip through my fingers.
I zipped from memory to memory he had stitched in his eternal tapestry as he fought my thrall. Serwin had experienced a multitude of happiness, adventures, friendships, and family. A white-haired woman took center stage in most. He fiercely protected her beauty and blocked her from my view.
Get out of my head, he roared.
Not yet.
If he could not reveal the truth, I would unveil it myself. I dove deeper, searching for what… I didn’t know. Serwin was quick to cover his thoughts, but not as fast as I. Secrets hid in the shadows. Shadows are where I thrived. I dispersed my essence and seeped into the crevices of his mind. Images of a rolling landscape and castle appeared. They were bright and breathtaking, but the emotions associated with them didn’t settle with me. I continued before Serwin could shut me out. I analyzed the fae in their blushed, creamy skin, stitched the landscape, courtyards, and halls of the castle to memory. They ended at a massive set of double doors inlaid with intricate gold work. I shoved against them, but they didn’t budge. I tried again to no avail.
No , he screamed.
I looked back and saw darkness sweeping down the hall as Serwin blocked his memories. With one last effort, I slipped beneath the crack under the door. I pulled my essence to me and materialized on the white marble floors. The same gold ebbed and flowed through the stone.
Serwin beat on the door trying to get in. Leave! You know not what you do!
I knew exactly what I was doing. Finding answers.
Rustling caught my attention. I turned to the center of the room and froze.
A woman stood in front of a throne. Her brightly colored gown was a stark contrast to my dark garb. The bejeweled crown on her golden head twinkled in the light filtering through the many windows around the room. It wasn’t how she dressed that caused me pause. Power, pure hatred, and disgust blazed within her familiar gaze.
“You received my message,” she called out.
Serwin withheld information. It was proof that he could not be trusted. “I’d rather hear it direct from the source.”
“I am coming for what is mine.” Her voice tinkled next to my ear as her painted lips curled. “Your demise is imminent.”
A wave of energy blasted me out of Serwin’s mind. I crashed into the wall of Mergle’s cell and landed on the floor. It felt like the energy from the Faery portals. I found their maker, and she was livid.
“Roth!”
I lifted my head and found Jessandra cradling Serwin’s twitching body. The tremors slowed until he slumped in her lap. I blinked outside the cage with my waning energy. I desperately needed to recharge.
“What do we do?”
“Nothing.” I grabbed him by the ankles and dragged him into Mergle’s cell. They could watch over each other if they woke up.
“Serwin needs help.” She jumped up and pointed at Mergle. “So does our brother.”
“When did you start caring?” I dropped his feet and stepped over his body.
Jessandra remained silent and confused.
His hand shot out and gripped my boot. Incoherent speech tumbled from his lips. I shook him off and shut the door behind me.
She watched him roll to his side and groan. “What happened between you two?”
“A battle of will.”
The cell door rattled. “Let me out. I must return home.”
“No.” A portal spun to life beside me.
Jessandra crouched next to Serwin to examine him through the bars. “We can’t leave them like this!”
“Then stay with them,” I said and stepped through.