Witch Queen (24 page)

After about ten minutes of walking through a
labyrinth of hallways, I was completely lost. There was no way to
remember all the turns, the chambers, and the stairs that led to
the floors above us. Every hallway looked exactly the same. And I
hated it.

The dread I felt made it hard to keep
breathing, let alone keep moving. Every step felt heavy with
foreboding. Every time I thought of Jon, tears welled in my eyes.
Although I quickly blinked them away, they came so fast that I
could feel myself losing control. I wanted to be alone somewhere so
I could scream and cry. The thought of Jon’s warm body crushing
mine nearly sent me to my knees. I needed him so badly. I felt so
small in this endless stone abyss.

But what life could I have if we didn’t
defeat the priests? How could I save anyone locked away in this
godforsaken fortress? And why did these trials scare the hell out
of me?

Deep down, I knew the trials were going to
be really bad.

I couldn’t stop sobbing quietly.

Damn the witch king. Damn all these witches.
Damn this bloody world.

I couldn’t break down. I needed to be
strong. I had at least to pretend I knew what I was doing. The men
counted on me to get them out of here and to assemble an army of
witches.

It was clear that the king had probably
subjected my mother to these trials, too. Whatever they had been,
they had been bad enough to force her to flee to a land where she
would be hunted and killed, and ironically, to a land where she had
found love with a human and had me.

“Are you all right?” inquired Fawkes. “You
look like you’re having an argument with yourself.”

“No, I’m not all right,” I snapped a little
too loudly, and I regretted it immediately.

Two of the coven guards turned to look at
me, and I glowered at them. After they had given me a disgusted
look, they turned around and kept walking. I wanted to brand their
foreheads with a new symbol,
SM
, for steel maiden.

I looked at Fawkes. “I’m as well as could be
expected, I guess. Where are they taking us?”

Fawkes looked straight ahead.

“This part of the fortress is the west
tower. It’s where they keep prisoners and punish the guilty. It’s
the least favored part of the fortress. If I were to guess…I’d say
we’re probably heading towards the dungeons.”

“Of course, the dungeons,” I growled. “Well,
as honored guests, I thought we’d get the best suites in this stone
palace. But we probably smell like we belong in the bowels of the
fortress, don’t we? What I’d do for a bath.”

I managed to get a smile from Fawkes.

I felt so conflicted. “I’m sorry,
Fawkes.”

He frowned. “For what?”

“For dragging you down with us.” I sighed.
“From what the witch king said, I gather that you had left his
court because of something that happened in your past. And here I
am, dragging you back for a nice stay in the bloody dungeons.”

“I knew it wouldn’t be easy to convince the
king. And I also knew what I was risking coming back here. I have a
long history with the witch king. But the witch I knew then has
changed. His soul has been poisoned and twisted by hate and the
lust for power. There’s still a chance that he might come around.
If not, there are others who can help.”

Fawkes was silent for a moment and then
added, “It could have been worse.”

“Worse than being escorted to a stinking
dungeon?”

“We’re still breathing, aren’t we?”

I nodded. “You have a point.”

I sighed heavily again. We
were
all
still alive, even the men, and that in itself was a miracle.

“I’m not sure I could have survived another
hit of his magic. It was unlike anything I’ve felt before, infinite
and dark. But it’s not black magic. It’s something else.”

The coven guards flinched at my reference to
black magic and their king, but they kept on walking.

“The witch king is from a long line of dark
witches. He’s the most powerful witch of that clan and has been for
centuries.”

“So he could kill you?”

Fawkes was the strongest witch I’d ever
known or seen in action. But then again, I hadn’t seen much, and I
knew even less when it came to witches.

Fawkes blinked at me. “Yes. Yes, he
could.”

I didn’t like to think about a witch king
with such power. Only a seriously deranged witch would be sick
enough to put human hides on display like trophies. I didn’t want
to think about what other atrocities he had committed in the name
of war and magic.

“But he didn’t,” I continued. “At one point
he
wanted
to kill you. I saw it in his eyes. But he
didn’t.”

Fawkes shook his head. “Obviously.”

“Why not?”

I saw Fawkes fold in on himself again, like
he’d done in the mountain pass, and I knew he wouldn’t answer.

“So why did you come,” I asked, trying
another approach. “If you knew how he’d react when he saw you. Why
risk it?”

“Because it was a risk I was willing to
take. I’d vowed never to come back, but you needed my help. Without
me, you would have never made it past the gatehouse. Because I knew
that the darkness the necromancers were conjuring would spread to
Witchdom, too. I know you think that all witches hate humans, but
not all of us are that way. There are still witches out there who
believe.”

“Believe in what?”

His expression tightened. “In the old ways,
the old teachings, and the laws of magic. That we can still live in
peace with humans. That magic is a natural part of this world, and
that we shouldn’t tamper with it. Conduits are not part of natural
magic. They corrupt and twist. They shouldn’t be.”

I had no idea what he was talking about.
“What are—”

“Do you think they’ll give us some water and
maybe something to eat?” Leo interrupted.

I slowed my step and waited for him to walk
beside me.

“I’m not sure. But if they want to keep us
alive, then I imagine they’ll have to feed us.”

“I wouldn’t trust anything they might give
us,” barked Nugar.

His eyes were wild, and I feared he might
hit one of the coven guards.

“It’ll be poisoned. I’d rather starve.”

“I wouldn’t,” said Will. He looked dejected,
and I could see dark circles had stained the skin below his eyes.
“I’ll eat and drink whatever they give me.”

“Me, too,” said Lucas. I was surprised. The
strain in his voice was apparent, and I almost felt sorry for him,
almost.

We took a left turn. The smell of smoke from
braziers, mildew, and damp stone greeted us. The air had shifted
and become much cooler than the rest of the fortress, as though a
window or door had been left open to the outside. But the air
wasn’t fresh. It was stale and cold.

Eventually there were no more windows, just
endless walls of black granite. And then the wall sconces grew
scarcer, and we were sunken in an almost unbearable darkness.

Then I smelled rot, piss, the coppery tang
of blood, and unwashed bodies. It hit me like a slap in the face.
It was revolting and yet familiar. It was the same putrid smell I
remembered from the prison in the high priest’s golden temple. It
was the smell of prisoners who had been forced to live in their own
filth.

The coven guards led us down another narrow
and dim corridor until we arrived at a larger chamber. It was still
dimly lit, but at least it was spacious. I could see manacles that
were mounted on the walls and long tables with a collection of
sharp tools and weapons. The floor was filthy and covered in maroon
stains.

In the middle of the room was an opening, a
great circular hole in the floor. Unlike my little secret trapdoor
under Rose’s living area, this opening was large enough to fit
three men. And from where I was standing, I couldn’t see the
bottom.

Before I even registered what was happening,
the guards’ pendants glowed with yellow power, and filaments of
black and golden energy shot through their fingers. I flinched, but
their magic passed right by me and grabbed Leo, Will, Nugar and
Lucas. It pulled them forward and dropped them though the hole in
the floor.

I heard the horrifying snap of bones as
their bodies hit a hard floor far, far below.

“No!” I ran forward, but I was hit in the
stomach by something hard. I went sailing back and hit the wall
behind me with a horrifying crack. I slid down the wall. I could
feel that the back of my throbbing head was moist with blood.

I shook my head and tried to blink the black
spots from my eyes. I could hear the moans coming from below. Fury
took control, and I sprang to my feet again.

“I’m going to kill you,
bastards
!”

But as I lunged towards them, the guard
closest to me sent another jolt of magic, and I went crashing on
the floor. The hard granite cut into my hip, and I hissed at the
pain.

But I was on my feet again, boiling with
anger.

“What are you waiting for? Come on, you
spineless pricks. Let’s see you try that again. Go ahead. Come and
take me, you weak, branded bastards.”

The coven guards growled, and their pendants
flared with power. I braced myself for their next attack, and I
hoped they couldn’t kill me.

“I’m not sure that’s very helpful, Elena,”
said Fawkes.

His eyes gleamed in the darkness, but I
could see that the strain of having spent all his magic on us meant
that he couldn’t fight these guards. But there was something so
disturbing about being thrown into a hole in the ground that I
wouldn’t go without a fight.

“Human filth belongs in the oubliette,” said
the coven guard who had attacked me. He smiled at my distress. “By
order of the witch king, you and the elemental witch are to be kept
in the upper chambers of the west tower.”

My face fell. At first I was relieved, but
then I was ashamed that I wouldn’t be in that stinking hole with
the others. A moan from the oubliette reached me, and I cringed. I
made my way towards the hole carefully and peered down inside.

The oubliette was a black hole, and I
couldn’t see anything but darkness. The smell of feces, piss, and
vomit made me gag. I covered my mouth, and my eyes watered at the
stench. It was like peeking into hell.

“Leo? Will? Guys? Are you all right?” I
lowered myself to my knees, but I couldn’t hear anything.

I whirled on the guards. “You’ve killed
them. The king promised he would spare their lives.”

“I assure you they are very much alive.”

“Elena?” Leo’s faint voice rose from
below.

“Leo!” My heart slammed against my chest.
“Are you hurt? I can’t see anything. You sound so far away…”

Silence, and then Leo’s voice sounded again.
“Still alive.”

His voice was so faint that it was obvious
it had taken him a great effort just to speak.

I angled my head over the edge of the
oubliette. “I’ll get you out of there. I promise.”

I waited, but he never answered back.

“Leo?” I called. “Did you hear what I said?
I will come for you. I—”

The trap door over the hole closed in my
tear-stained face with a last disgusting waft of putrid feces.

I glared at the guard who had closed the
trap door. “Will they get food and water?”

“They’ll live,” said the guard. “Now
move.”

The guard grabbed me by my upper arm and
dragged me to my feet.

I didn’t fight back.

He dragged me out of the chamber and back
into the hall. I was numb with shame, and I barely registered my
steps as I walked clumsily after the guards. Fawkes was a few steps
behind me and was eyeing me warily lest I collapse. I was ashamed
that I had abandoned the men. I’d been stupid not to trust
Fawkes.

Rose had always told me.
Listen to your
elders’ advice, not because they are always right but because they
have more experiences of being wrong. Learn from the people who
have walked the path before you…respect them.

I couldn’t help but feel that I had betrayed
Jon in abandoning his closest friends. I had somehow let him down,
and part of him was also lost in the oubliette.

CHAPTER 20

T
HE COVEN GUARDS LED us up a flight
of stone steps and down another dim and narrow corridor. The guard
had let go of my arm, but I could still feel the soreness of my
bruised flesh and the heat from my healing magic. And although we’d
left the oubliette behind, the smell still clung to me like the
spray of a skunk. It wouldn’t let me forget the men in that
stinking black pit. And rightly so.

Fawkes kept casting nervous glances at me,
which only made me more uneasy.

“They’ll be fine, Elena,” his voice was
gentler and kinder than I’d ever heard from him. “I’ll see to it
that they get food and water. You have my word.”