The Last of the Twenty: Broken Pawns

Chapter 52

Delilah stood amongst the other remaining enslaved. He was beckoning her to him, a beckoning she was powerless to resist. When she had entered Nadia's mind in order to find her he had tapped into her memories. He knew everything she did, had seen through her eyes everything she had ever done. The moment the dark fire had taken her she had received his order. An order she was now forced to fulfill.

"Come child, I don't like to be kept waiting." He called.

The others stepped out of her way as she approached his stone chair. She held in her hand the object he had ordered her to steal. Within her own mind she fought the actions of her body, screaming out to herself to stop and run. But like a puppet on a string she walked forward and kneeled at the feet of the dark one, holding out the object like an offering.

"Very good." He said, taking the silver box out of her hand.

He waved his hand over the box, listening to the series of clicks the complicated lock made as it opened. He cracked the lid back gently, peeking inside. The box held a single white feather. Although the edges of the feather were singed, it still glowed a dull white with trapped power. Ludolf grinned, it was exactly what he was hoping it would be.

He reached down and put his hand under Delilah's chin, lifting her face to meet his own as he stood her to her feet. He stroked her cheek with his thumb, enjoying the torment he sensed from her as she tried to resist from within herself. She was a prisoner in her own body, a body he would use as a weapon against those whom he had sworn revenge against.

"Do you know what this is?" he asked, waving the box in front of Delilah's face. "Of course you do. But do you know what it contains?" he picked the feather up between his fingers and ran it along her face. "This is the feather of a very special angel, one whom I need dearly. It contains a drop of his true power, not much, but for this a drop is all I need."

Ludolf placed the feather back into the box and snapped it shut. Then he held the box out on the palm of his hand and mumbled a series of incantations over it. The box began to melt, forming a silver pool that began to twist and mold itself into a different shape. The metal grew long and thin, shaping itself into the double-edged blade of a silver dagger. Ludolf blew gently across the metal, cooling it with dark magic. He gipped it in his hand and grinned at Delilah, pushing her to the side as he stepped away from his stone chair.

"Now watch." He said, plunging the dagger into the ground.

The cave filled with a cracking, splintering sound as the ground around the blade fell in on itself, creating a dark opening. A hissing, bubbling sound came from its darkness as the opening filled with a thick, black liquid. As Delilah was forced to watch a form emerged, crawling and pulling itself out of the tar, thick tendrils of liquid dripping from his limbs. The figure yelled out and cursed as he pulled himself free of the black poison.

In her mind Delilah screamed out with rage and horror, he own consciousness thrashing itself within her mind as she tried to break free of the spell. But her body remained still as her glowing eyes watched an ancient enemy free himself from the bowels of hell. Although she had never seen him in life, she knew why the dark one wanted that box and who he was summoning.

He was calling Thorfinn Bloodaxe back to theworld of the living.