It was a moonless night. Julia hurried down the silent corridors in East Shore Castle. The black cloak fluttered behind her. She came to a staircase and went down. She reached the lower floor and continued towards the Entrance Hall. A warm light was visible in the far end of the corridor. Guards. Silently she walked towards it. She heard mumbles and movement, there were at least two of them. As she peaked around the corner she saw two guards playing with dices and a third snoozing against the wall, an empty pint beside him.
She drew back and moved into the deepest shadows in the corridor. There she sat herself down. The hood covered her face and the cloak hid the rest of her. Her breath became slow and controlled and she closed her eyes. The minutes went by. Suddenly she opened her eyes. They burned purple.
"Find me, guide me, lead the others away.
You my brother, be a ghost, be a phantom.
Howl in the night, for love or for fear.
Find me, guide me, lead the others away."
Beside her the shadows grew darker. They twisted and twirled creating a wolf. The shadow wolf looked her in the eyes for a split second and then leaped away. It swished around the corner, almost invisible when the light went through it.
"What was that?!"
One of the guards had seen it as it passed them and disappeared through a door.
"I saw it too", the other said, "let's go."
Julia heard how they stood up and left their places. She counted to ten and stood up. Still keeping the magic close she started to move. This was dangerous, if she lost control for just a moment the fire would consume her. Slowly she walked around the corner. It was no one there. She allowed herself to relax and the magic started to leave.
"What have we here?"
At the same time she spun around somebody slammed her against the wall pressing a knife against her throat. Julia recognized him, it was the sleeping guard.
"How stupid do you think we are? Everybody leaving their post?" His shoulders shook as he laughed silently. "Hm..." He looked at her, the hood covered most of her face. "Who are you? Let's see... Oh, Lady of the North, Julia was it? And what are you doing sneaking around the castle in the middle of the night? I heard Lord Devan is angry with you. You didn't want to share his bed? That has to be the first time he's been turned down. Maybe I should do him a favor and get rid of the woman who doesn't show him honor? He would be glad..."
His breath reeked of beer and he smelled of old sweat. He continued to mumble. The clock was ticking. Julia felt the panic creeping closer. She had to move on, she didn't have all night and this was the worst thing that could have happened. Somebody had seen her. Angry with herself she closed her eyes, giving the appearance of being scared, but on the inside she started to fuel the magic again and when she felt the spark turn into fire she opened her eyes.
The guard gasped. He took a step back, holding the knife in front of him.
"Witch..."
Julia pointed at him with three fingers. He looked scared. She felt the magic burning in her body. He deserves it.
"The wolf wants you."
The room was filled with purple light and then the sound of a body hitting stone. The man had flown into the opposite wall.
The magic was now leaving her, and with it the anger. When the last spark was gone she started to run. The other guards could be back any moment and she didn't want to leave any more bodies behind her. She reached the Entrance Hall without incidents.
What happened? That amount of power should have burned me out completely. She looked down at her hands. They looked normal. I have to be more careful. She looked around and found the doorway leading down to the dungeons. I don't have time to think about what happened. The sunrise was only a few hours away and there was still much to be done. Julia looked down into the darkness. Let's go.
At first she didn't dare use magic to see through the darkness, but when she tripped and fell down a few steps she realized she had no choice. Carefully she once again reached for the fire within. This time she didn't light more than a spark, just so her eyes started to glow and she saw where she was going. When she finally reached the dungeons it was only three hours left until sunrise. I hope I've got enough time... She walked past the cells, most of the empty, and found another staircase leading further down into the darkness.
Down she went, walking along corridors and past empty cells. When she reached the fourth staircase she knew she was close. No one had been this deep under the castle for at least two centuries. This was the last staircase and when she reached the bottom she draw her breath.
Before her was a vast hall. Pillars, carved as dragons, were holding up the ceiling. The walls were filled with inscriptions in an old and forgotten language. She walked forward, always feeling the eyes of the stone dragons on her, to the other end of the hall. There was an altar, plain and without any decorations, made of the same black stone as the rest of the room. She knelt before it and whispered:
"Oh dragons of the underworld, I, your humble servant, come before you in this time of darkness. Please guide me and I will repay you in any way I can."
It was a dangerous promise but one that had to be made. Time to start working. Julia climbed up onto the altar. She took of her cloak and let it fall to the floor. No time to think about what happened. No time to be scared. She let the little spark of magic grow into a roaring fire. Half of her mid was completely focused on not letting it take control and the other half went through everything that needed to be done. From a bag hanging in her belt she took some black and purple powder. This would be energy consuming, and the fact that she had spent energy on sending a guard flying didn't make it any easier.
"Spirits of the North and South, East and West,
hear my call!
Spirits of the skies and you of the underworld,
hear my call!"
She threw the powder up above her head. It hung there for a moment before it spread out in every direction and fell back onto the floor, forming a seven-pointed star, with her in the middle. Six of the points burned in purple flames. The seventh still waited for its call.
No comments:
Post a Comment