The Obsidian Crown, page 27
If I can kill myself first, then she can’t use my blood to activate the crown.
“But you know, doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result is the definition of insanity,” she purred softly.
She sent another fireball that hit my back. I cried out loud as I arched my back to keep the burning shirt from sticking to my skin. When I dropped back down on the ground, I took the chance to move closer to the dark gaping hole.
“To know you are completely and hopelessly defeated and still be willing to fight with the last...”
She stopped, staring at me. I also stopped, hoping she didn’t catch on to what I was about to do.
In a stern and cold voice, no longer the mocking voice she used to demean me, she said, “Oohhh…I don’t think so!”
She willed the crown to her hand, and then she said, “Surrender or I will kill your parents, what will it be? Make your choice quickly; I don’t have much patience left!”
I hesitated. I was trying to make a mental calculation of how far I was from the chasm.
“So be it! You made your choice!” She flung her hand sideways and her force threw the Doctor across the floor, effectively cutting the magic holding my parents up in the air. With an ear-splitting cry, my mother and father tumbled against each other as they plummeted towards the chasm.
I turned to the Sorceress, “No don’t! I surrender. Take me!” I pleaded.
“I accept your surrender! You lose!” she yelled and started to laugh her maniacal laugh.
I looked at my parents again as they fell into the gaping hole of the cavern’s floor. I tried to reach out to them with my blistered and bleeding hands. But I was too late. I heard my mother’s voice calling my name for help. “Save them!” I cried out, but the Sorceress laughed some more.
“You traitor!” I yelled as I turned in every direction of the cave. “Now! Now! Now!” I called out.
There were confused looks between the Sorceress and her followers. The instant I gave the signal, Raphael appeared in midair with his glorious white wings fully extended. He swooped into the chasm and disappeared into the darkness. I forgot all my pains. I leaned over as far as I could into the hole, trying desperately to catch any sight of Raphael. But it was far too dark. There was a long period of silence.
Everyone waited for any sign from deep below. Then the flapping of wings became louder and louder as Raphael rose from the rift, pulling my parents up with him.
“You cannot do this, Raphael! I had a bargain!” cried the Sorceress.
“That you broke!” was the answer that came echoing as the ex-angel rose from the pit like the savior he was. His wings flapped in the wind with graceful but powerful strokes. He fanned the wind to gain momentum; the cool breeze touched my face and somehow eased my suffering.
The Sorceress cried, and she opened fire on Raphael and his charges. But the fireballs just dissipated on contact with the ex-angel’s shield. I watched as he took them higher and higher, finally disappearing beyond the crack above the cave and into the starlit sky.
I laid there on the floor of the cave, hands hanging over the chasm. I ached all over, but I was contented. My parents were out of danger, my friends; my true friends, were no longer at risk.
I can breathe now.
My head drooped and hit the ground, but I did not care. I didn’t care that the gravelly soil rubbed against my swollen eye, that the wound on my forehead continued to bleed. I didn’t care that my body and spirit were both in this mangled state. My family and friends were safe.
And now…I can … die.
The Sorceress laughed her mirthless cackle, “Once again you surprise me. Congratulations, but I still have you and you are all I need. Besides, they will meet their deaths soon enough.” She turned to me with that faceless hood and raised her right hand and the crown flew straight into her grasp.
CHAPTER 37
Finding My Voice
The Sorceress’s invisible rope yanked me away from the edge of the chasm. I found myself flailing in the air with hair whipping against my swollen eye as she dragged me closer to her.
“You treacherous little bitch! You dare to double-cross me again?” she yelled as he yanked the rope left to right, shaking me like a toy. She pulled me to her.
Oh no! This will not happen. I cannot let her capture me. I cannot and will not activate the crown for her. Diwatha’s words rang in my head. “Do not make a bargain with the Fae; we will be powerless to help you.” I need to get to the pit on my own. They will not help me break my oath with the Sorceress much less help me to commit suicide, even if it is for a good cause. Still, this is the only way.
I spread my arms out and gathered as much power as I could from the air around me. I concentrated all of it to repel her pull. I lowered myself so that my heels touched the ground, and I dug them into the dirt. But she was stronger than I am. My heels scraped the soil as I was pulled closer and closer to that face of blackness.
“Why are you prolonging the inevitable, King Maker? Stop fighting your destiny,” she purred softly.
It took everything I had to resist the pull of her magic, but I had used every spell I learned, every incantation I’d memorized and every trick I knew. I was fighting it with all my physical and magical strength, but the Sorceress was tugging at me more and more, and I was losing. She was using more and more power. Then I remembered, it was not the words, not the spells; it was the sound that causes the vibrations in the fabric of the magical universe. I remembered the golden runes Diwatha embedded in me. I closed my eyes one more time. I summoned the magic within and felt a spark. Something in me became alive. I collected more energy from the air, earth, wind and the fires up above, and the writings began to travel up and down my skin. I let it take its course all through out my very being.
From within my mind or my soul, I didn’t rightly know which, came the sound I knew I needed to make—the strategy I needed to take.
I steadied myself, and under my breath, with scarcely more than a whisper, I made the sound that I needed to make. I repeated it to make sure I had it right. Then I took my fighting stance, legs slightly apart, one foot in front of the other, finding my perfect balance. “Ayaiya shimamat uro pusori a kali, Dei utasha!” At first, nothing happened. I said it again, with more conviction. “Ayaiya shimamat uro pusori a kali, Dei utasha!” I yelled. Suddenly, parts of my skin started to glow. The sigils Diwatha channeled into me. First a soft yellow, and then it intensified into bright gold. I heaved for one last pull as I dug my heels inches into the ground while I bent my knees for leverage. For a third time, I shouted the words and caused the invisible fabric of magic to yank at the Sorceress.
She gasped in shock from the sudden change in the direction of the pull. She redoubled her effort and sent more power into her invisible rope. I held my ground.
“Do not disobey me! Come to me!” ordered the Sorceress as she struggled to pull me in.
But I didn’t budge. Instead, I kept pulling her towards me matching her force with mine.
Then without warning, I released all restraints. The sudden lack of opposing force made my body fly directly towards her. My entire one hundred ten pounds of flesh and bones slammed against her body like a wrecking ball. If she were human, she probably would not have survived it. She fought, clawing with her sharp nails as I wrestled her to the ground. I tried to pry the crown from her hand, but she levitated both of us up. She pushed me away with her free hand, and I fell.
She laughed while still floating in the air, hovering over in front of me, holding the crown. “Activate the crown!” she barked. She followed up with more screaming and shouting which I ignored. Instead, I took that moment to draw on my inner magic once more.
“Ascendo!” And I rose into the air, soaring straight at her, and tackled her against the wall using my shoulder. She fell in a heap on the floor of the cave, the crown clanking next to her. I landed and stood over her. I wanted to expose her for what she really was. I wanted the doctor and Kieran to see they had been following an evil person. So I reached up to pull her hood and expose the depth of her evil soul.
I scrunched up a handful of her robe and picked her up from the floor. I was surprised to notice she was actually very small. She didn’t weigh much of anything at all. She turned her head away from me, sensing what I was about to do. In a desperate move, she took the crown and threw the crown up in the air. I was caught by surprise. I let go of her and tried to catch the crown. It teetered on my hands, and I had to keep stepping back to catch it without getting stabbed by the sharp stones. I grabbed the crown one last time, and just as I suspected, the sharp edges pierced my still raw and wounded palm. Instinctively, I let go. But it was too late because I could see the poison of the Obsidian coursing through my veins, branching out in black webs from the point of entry. I grabbed my lower arm to stop the infection. The crown fell to the ground.
The Sorceress threw her hand out to will the crown towards her. It wobbled tentatively and flew to follow her command.
I can’t allow this. I need to do something.
“Incensa!” It was the only thing I can think of. The fiery orb hit the crown, and it burst into pieces. Everyone stared speechless as the debris of the broken crown showered down.
“No! How could you…You stupid little girl!” She cried in desperation! The doctor rushed over too but stopped when she saw the hundreds of sharp obsidian peppering the ground. The Sorceress bent over, her hand shaking over the pile of black glass, moaning and crying as if her only child died in front of her.
Suddenly, she brought both her hands over the broken pieces and in a steady and determined fashion she followed a pattern over the shards, muttering an incantation. Her voice started as a low murmur but by the time she lifted her hands, it has gone to a fevered crescendo. The pieces began to lift off the ground and become airborne. They all started lining up to face me. Then she screamed an incantation and the sharp projectiles came flying at me. Despite the pain, I put both hands out and willed a shield in front of me. But the attack was strong, and the shards kept trying to force their way through the shield. I looked behind me and saw I was getting nearer to the chasm. I keep putting more of my will into the shield, but the Sorceress was pushing the shards harder and harder. I had to keep stepping back to get some leverage. I saw her push harder and I stepped back to get a foothold, but I was already at the edge. I lost my balance on a loose rock. I directed my will to the center of the shield, where most of the shards were trying to penetrate. But my concentration faltered, and my foot slipped. Shards whizzed by me on all sides of the shield. I keep empowering the part covering my body. But there was no more ground. Right behind me was the great gulf, metaphorically and physically.
I tried to control my fall by using my right hand to hold on to the ground in case I fell into the pit. I pulled one of my hands away from powering the shield to hold on to the ground. Immediately, the shield lost half of its strength. I shoved the shield sideways and gave it a push. The shards bounced off the shield and ricocheted into the cave wall. But one small piece, the size of a small egg, got through and impaled itself on my hand.
The pain was immediate. The magic from my pierced palm shot straight to my brain like a splinter. I fell to my knees, shuddering in agony as the magic from the stone permeated my body. I closed my eyes to control the burning liquid now intermingled with my blood, but to no avail. I still had my hand up even though my shield already failed me the minute the agony flowed through me.
I was holding my hand with the broken shard when I noticed the Obsidian Crown was turning a bright purple. I didn’t know what that meant, but it couldn’t be good. The piece embedded in me had also turned a pulsing bright purple. I realized I was not the only one who saw that because the Sorceress started to laugh a freakish laugh of glee.
That laughter from the depth of the dark hood grated me from the inside. My temper flared up and overtook the pain.
“You want some this? Then here it is, take it!” I forced the shard from my palm and willed it straight to that dark space inside her hood.
The shard flew out of my hand, squirting dark purple blood all over. I pulled my hand back and covered it with the edge of my shirt while stepping safely away from the abyss. The piece sailed fast and unrelenting towards its new target, the Sorceress’s face. In a few more seconds, this will be all over; I comforted myself through my throbbing pain and unbridled fury.
I expected the Sorceress to get hit by the shard in the face. I expected her to be surprised. I expected her to die.
But instead, she put her right foot back and rested her body weight on it. Then she raised both her hands in front of her with her palms facing each other but horizontal to the floor, right hand under the left. Then, leaving the right hand where it was, she lifted the left and shouted an incantation. From between the palms, a shimmering bubble formed, with a thicker membrane than that made of soap but the same flimsy-looking undulating blob. The shard went top speed, straight into the iridescent bubble.
What she did next went so fast that I couldn’t do anything except watch with my mouth open.
The blob distended towards her chest as the pulsating purple shard pierced through its outer membrane and was then trying to impale itself into its original target. The struggling shard came within an inch of her heaving chest, and yet the Sorceress did not lose focus, did not even waver in her singular task. She stared ahead, holding the blob in between her crooked hands, chanting her incantation without pause, without distraction, as if she was not afraid of what the shard could do to her. Then I realized it was not that the shard posed no threat to her at all; it was just that if she failed to capture it, she would rather die. The bargain was struck, her life for the obsidian shard. Soon, the momentum of the projectile diminished, and the blob subsided to its round form, still quivering from the unspent energy from the jagged stone.
The Sorceress reached out with one hand and gracefully twirled the blob with it. She laughed again. The tone this time was that of unmistakable victory.
“Good show! But you still have a lot of things to learn, King Maker!” she said.
I didn’t have the energy, the wit, or the will to trade insults with her. I just stood there watching her glide over to where the doctor and Kieran were.
She laughed with one hand holding the blob containing the shard. The doctor’s head was hung low, but Kieran was clapping happily. The Sorceress turned to me and said, “Since you are so insistent in doing this, let me help you.” She flicked her hand as if driving away an errant fly. A gust of strong wind hit me, and I toppled over, straight into the pit.
I welcomed the darkness. I welcomed the comforting thought of shedding the pain. I spread my arms and relaxed my body and mind. I got myself ready for the final battle with life. I closed my eyes and waited…for my eternal rest.
CHAPTER 38
Looking To The Future
In front of the Portland Police Department were a few dozen reporters, all pointing their recorders at the man speaking at the podium, Uncle Jake. Right next to him were my mother and father; behind them were Detectives Dewitt and Mercado. I stood as far in the back as I could.
“We are pleased to finally bring this mystery to an end. My brother-in-law and my dear sister have been found yesterday. Their plane went down on July 5th. Since then, little was known about their whereabouts but we are glad to say that they have now been rescued. Found in an abandoned mine, my sister with a broken ankle but other than that, quite healthy and happy to be home. I would like to thank my niece and her wonderful friends who never gave up. They searched for them tirelessly even when the authorities had all but given up. They will take a few questions, yes?” He pointed to one of the reporters.
He continued, but I decided it was a good time to leave. Hailey, Taylor, and Blaise walked away from the press conference with me.
“Does anyone feel like tea at the Black Rose? I have a few people I would like to thank,” I said.
“Anytime!” answered all of them in unison. Then we laughed at the silliness of it.
Taylor drove us and parked in front of the Victorian mansion. I got out of the car and went straight to the elm tree by the parking lot. I gave it three knocks and said, “If you’re there, we will need some tea at the café.” I walked back to the curious looks of my friends.
We entered the Black Rose and made our way to the same table overlooking the river we used in the past. I looked out the window and marveled at the gigantic apple tree in the back garden.
Hailey asked, “Exactly how did you survive that fall?”
“The Brotherhood took me,” I lied.
“I thought they couldn’t interfere?” Hailey said.
“They waited until the Sorceress released me from the bargain. As soon as she threw me off the cliff, it meant she didn’t want me anymore, so the Brotherhood was able to rescue me,” I lied again.
“I still can’t believe you fought her on your own. And won!” Hailey exclaimed.
“But how did your parents get saved and how come they don’t remember a thing?” Taylor asked.
“When I thought I was about to die, I called the Brotherhood and asked them if they could take my parents as soon as they were released from the Sorceress’ bind. I know she was going to double-cross me, I just didn’t know how. But once they were rescued, the Brotherhood wiped their memory and replaced it with the crash story you will see on the news feeds.” In the background, we heard the news recapping the live interview of my parents. I turned my head to watch the news as my dad’s voice filled the café, saying, “Yes we were in a plane crash and the only shelter we could find was the abandoned mansion. Unfortunately, we fell into the chasm and had been living in the caves, waiting for rescue. Thankfully our daughter and her friends were able to find us.”
