The Obsidian Arrow

The Obsidian Arrow: Chapter 19

            “Stop!” She cried.

            The sorceress gripped her scepter tight to her breast and stared down at Starlyn. Her black hair consistently blew to her left from the wind circling inside the chamber and her face stayed firm. She seemed to be wearing some form of makeup around her eyes as they seemed to be deep black to match both her collar and hair.

            “You have broken.” The woman spoke softly.

            “Yes… yes I will do as you command… please no more.” Starlyn begged with tears escalating down her face in streams thicker than a river.

            “Then you will be taken for your vows and trials to become an Ikchani.” The woman seemed to smile but showed no teeth before nodding to the blond woman. “Bound her.”

            The sorceress with blond hair stalked forward grabbing leather cuffs that she bound eagerly and tightly against Starlyn’s hands that were held behind her back. Starlyn was forced up with the help of both the blond and brown haired sorceress. She was urged forward by the two women fighting to see if she could use her feet or not.

            Starlyn shivered at the thought of the sorceress as she sat at her desk with the haunting memories tormenting her mind. She had only seen three, the most powerful, but now she knew that there were thousands. The three that she had seen she would never forget: Raven, with black hair, was the leader of the sorceresses; Vireo, with blond hair, and the most bitter of the sorceresses; Sparrow, with medium-brown hair, and the mellowest of the sorceresses.

            She hadn’t confessed everything to them, in fact far from it. As an elf they spoke the truth in as little as possible and she was good at it. She merely said she was getting sick and traveled seeking a cure. It was as close to the truth as she could get. Nobody questioned her, especially after the trials. Shivers ran down her spine as she thought about the trials.

            Raven had only given her a sip from a water skin before tossing her into a dark room followed by a short golden dagger. Starlyn clutched the weapon in her hand before glancing back to the shutting stone door. The ground beneath her was wet and she fought up to her knees looking around. There was nothing to be seen and all she could hear was the slow dripping of water on stone. She rose to her feet still feeling the fresh blood dripping from her wounds. Her body wasn’t at its full strength either and still clung with the soreness that kept her weak during her journey. The illness that could not be healed still tormented her.

            Torches erupted in the darkness creating light that followed by snarls in the darkness. She clutched the dagger closer to her naked flesh as she looked around. The immediate area surrounding her was viewable now in the torchlight but anything further than fifteen paces was pure darkness. Feet shuffled the ground in the darkness that caught Starlyn at edge. One hand clutched the dagger while the other tightly held her stomach where a sharp pain rose to her chest.

            Out of the darkness appeared four men with heavy weapons approaching her. She looked from one to the other with the various weapons. There was a broadsword, mace, axe, and flail. Each flaunted their weapons slashing the air and showing their knowledge of the weapon. None wore helmets but had leather armor protecting their bodies while Starlyn held nothing on her body.

            “Ah at last… after years of you taking advantage of us… it is time for us to take advantage of you.” A bitter blond spoke holding a spiked round mace.

            Starlyn took a step back and clutched her gold dagger until her palm changed from red to white. A man with spiked flaming red hair and a flail in his grip approached her first. The large spiked ball attached to its chain fell towards her head and she dropped out of the way feeling the wind brush against the top of her tangled blond hair. There wasn’t much time for a reaction afterwards as an axe struck near her head. She had barely enough time to uppercut her golden dagger to deflect the blow. The strength behind the axe caused her to drop the dagger.