Chapter 21 #2
Then there she was. Amelia stood on the deck next to the helm where Dusan stood directing The Mystic like a king commanding his army to conquer his next kingdom. Her helm. Her ship. Her crew.
Her chest burned at the sight of them standing there leading The Mystic. But it wouldn’t be theirs for long. Not if Finley had a say in it.
Finley jumped off the ledge she’d been standing on, and grasping a rope, she slid down to the deck and landed on soft feet.
Magic wasn’t needed to make a sneak appearance.
The closer she crept toward the couple, the more the Shadow Slayers hummed, and it was so tempting to pull them out and be done with it.
She could possibly do it having all three on her person.
But it was too risky with Dusan right there.
One touch and he could drain what little magic Finley had left.
He looked taller and stronger somehow than the last time she’d seen him.
Like the magic he took not only made him more magically powerful but physically too.
While Amelia, on the other hand, was frailer.
There was a waifish quality to her limbs that made it seem like she could be swept away in the wind.
How did she not know what Dusan was doing? If Finley was able to figure it out after only a few weeks, surely Amelia had as well.
It would make things easier, though.
“You’ve certainly made yourselves at home,” Finley announced, making the pair turn to face her. They weren’t startled the way Finley had hoped they would be.
A smile spread across Amelia’s face. It was like she tried to make it warm and welcoming, but with how her face had thinned — and that Amelia probably didn’t know the meaning of warm and welcoming — her wide smile looked more like a feral pixie wanting a snack.
“Finley, I knew you’d return. And you brought the Shadow Slayers, I see. ”
Finley instinct was to grab them, to run and hide, but she kept her face and body neutral. “They tend to come in handy, and I don’t want them out of my sight.”
Dusan wore an overly confident smirk as he looked at the weapons strapped to Finley. He’d overpowered her once, but she wasn’t going to let him do it again now that she was prepared for it. “And what brings you back? Did you think you would have your ship returned to you?”
Finley’s lip curled. “Princess Eira and Prince Cadeyrn are getting married in a few days’ time in the mountains.
It’s a little last minute, but her father and Rose will be there.
I’m sure other nobles and members of the Council will be in attendance as well.
It sounds like a perfect opportunity for you. ”
Amelia narrowed her eyes and stalked toward Finley with arms crossed. She regarded Finley with the concentration of a cat watching a mouse. “And where is Ai?”
Anger burned within Finley, but she kept her cool. “You know where she is. I’ll bring you to Luana’s Castle and get you in, but your first stop will be to Ai to wake her up.”
The former queen stood almost nose to nose with Finley and stared at her, unblinking. There was no emotion in her face. No anger, excitement, pride, or confidence. Only a blank face with those piercing blue eyes their family was famous for. “I’m glad you’ve come to your senses.”
Then, with the swiftness of a shark on the attack, before Finley realized what was happening, Amelia shot an arm out and a splash of water sprayed before Finley’s face.
Amelia grabbed the Shadow Slayer sword and pulled it from its hilt at Finley’s side.
Finley yelled in surprise and choked on the water.
As she coughed tried to reach out, but even with her returned energy she wasn’t quick enough.
Amelia waved her arm again and a wall of water hit Finley.
She cried out as the water shoved her back and against the wall behind her.
Amelia shouldn’t have been able to move so nimbly and strongly as she had, but with another fast turn she swung at Dusan and shoved the sword deep into his stomach.
“No one takes my magic and gets away with it, and certainly not a man,” Amelia hissed. “If anyone is going to bring power back to the sorcerers, it will be me.”
Finley’s jaw dropped in shock, and she froze in place as Dusan screamed. Her body shook from the water and sound. It was an inhuman howl that made her want to cover her ears. He sounded like a creature from the depths of the sea who’d been attacked by a monster. Dusan wasn’t human at all.
Amelia started to speak in a language Finley didn’t know. It was clunky and strange and felt more like an attack than the sword that sliced into Dusan’s body.
Attack. Weapons.
Amelia had one Shadow Slayer, but Finley still had the other two. She willed her arms to move and then her legs. Any part of her body that could get to the weapons, but it was no use. Whatever spell Amelia put on her was too strong.
Dusan looked at Amelia with wide eyes then at his fatal wound and back at Amelia again.
He continued to scream and the ship shook and trembled so violently Finley slid to the deck.
The Mystic’s crew heard this one and there were cries and shouts all around, but the ship shook in such a way that none of them could approach as they fell to the ground.
Dusan’s screams echoed through the ship as he collapsed in a heap.
His body shook as smoke poured out of the wound then from his mouth and eyes and ears.
Little by little, as Amelia’s chants poured over him and overpowered his screams, his skin withered away.
It retreated to become green and gray and shrank against his skin like dried fruit that had all its juices sucked out all at once until his flesh vanished, leaving only the muscles and bone and blood underneath.
But that then started to dry and crumple and wither too.
The smoke swirled around and covered his body taking away every organ and bit of the former sorcerer leaving behind only his bones.
Finley needed to do something. Anything. Whatever Amelia wanted, it couldn’t be good, even if Finley couldn’t fault her for ending Dusan’s life. But she couldn’t move. It was like with the chant to kill and decay his remains also made Finley and everyone else on the ship frozen in place.
Amelia continued to chant and discarded the sword to the side. She took the bones which now lay in a heap on the deck and arranged them in a complicated circular shape with stars and other circles within them, leaving herself in the center.
Finley’s stomach dropped. No, whatever Amelia wanted to do couldn’t be good at all.
And Finley couldn’t move. Once again, her plans were ruined and there wasn’t anything she could do to stop the worst from happening.
The tiny piece inside Finley that was still holding onto hope and strength withered like Dusan’s body.
The smoke swirled and glowed around Amelia in a dark cloud.
Her skin began to change into its sorceress form with sparkling teal scales, and her hair floated around her head as though she was underwater.
The thinness of her cheeks filled out, and the wasting muscle beneath her skin grew and toned to make her even more beautiful and alluring than she’d been prior to Dusan draining her.
Amelia’s eyes glowed that bright blue even more dazzling than before.
Oh, fuck.
The smoke faded away, and all at once the ship stopped trembling.
Whatever had put the crew into a frozen state released them.
Finley gasped. Not daring to waste a moment she slid across the deck floor to where the sword had landed and she grasped it.
Only, het didn’t know what to do with it.
For once, her mind was completely blank and she had no idea what was to come next. She rose to her feet anyway.
Amelia walked toward her, seeming as if she floated in the air.
She spoke with a voice that wasn’t entirely her own.
It was distorted and airy and made Finley shake.
“Thank you for bringing the Shadow Slayers back to me. It was the final piece I needed to get my magic back and to take everything else of his. Now, I will be unstoppable.”
Finley raised the sword and charged toward her cousin, but Amelia lifted an arm and another wall of water surrounded her and splashed Finley back in an attack.
Water had never attacked Finley before and she coughed and sputtered…
and she had no magic to retaliate with. Amelia raised her other hand toward the helm, and it spun at her command, turning the ship toward Luana’s Castle.
Amelia chanted again, and the bones rose from the deck and spun around Finley until they built a tiny prison, enclosing her in place.
And the Shadow Slayers on the outside. Finley grabbed one of the bones and tried to shake it, but a searing pain ran down her arm.
She cried out and ripped her arm away. She was trapped, and Amelia was in command of The Mystic.
“You should have done as I said back when we were in Oxare, Finley,” Amelia said in that same strange voice as she collected the Shadow Slayers then seemingly floated on the air.
Finley stood in her prison of bones and stared out at the scene.
The crew yelled and tried to attack Amelia, but she only pushed walls of water at them or made them cry in pain.
The army of zombies followed and made a circle around her, growling threats at anyone who came near. None of the crew could help Finley.
Finley’s chest rose and fell in shaky breaths, and she clenched her hands at her sides. “I’m going to kill her.”
If Amelia didn’t kill them all first.