A Whisper to the North

Chapter XXXIX ✠ The Blood Sacrifice

Alaric sighed and turned around to look at Una.

"It's true, my queen," Alaric admitted looking down.

He was starting to lose his bearings. He wanted so badly to plunge the dagger into Wilona's heart. However, Alaric knew Una and Ingrid would die from this action if he even attempted to point the blade at her.

"May I cut her, instead of stabbing her. Your child requires a strong heart, and giving it a heart that has been pierced would weaken it." Alaric thought quickly on his toes.

Wilona thought for a moment. She would eat the heart of Una whole, and all the blood would spill out from it if it were pierced like the other girls.

"Very well. Slash her wrists then. I shall drink from them directly. I am glad you have come to your senses, Alaric. You see, love blinds people from reality. You are brilliant to think about the condition of the heart. I'll invite you as my honored guest to drink from the other wrist." Wilona laughed and patted him on the cheek.

"Thank you. I am honored," Alaric said.

He then bent down and grabbed one of Una's arms. Not only was Alaric well versed in medicine, but human anatomy as well. He knew that a vertical cut to the wrist meant certain death. An amount horizontally would imply that there would be blood loss, but Una would survive. He quickly cut into Una's wrists, avoiding going too deep so she would still have feeling in her hands. A steady stream of steaming crimson came gushing out of her hands.

"How gorgeous, that color." Wilona squealed in delight as Alaric cut the other wrist.

The blood was dark red and not bright, so Alaric did well not to cut too far. This blood did not come straight from the heart, so he knew Una would live if Wilona didn't rip her heart out.

"Feast first, my beloved Alaric." Wilona insisted as she licked her lips in anticipation.

The circle got closer around them. Alaric panicked. He put his lips on her wound, but he refused to open his lips to allow the blood in his mouth.

"How does it taste?" Wilona asked with wide eyes, as silver as the night.

Alaric pulled back, and the blood dripped down his chin and neck.

"Good." Alaric hesitated.

He felt like vomiting.

"Join us! There is plenty for all. When no blood drips further, you must stop. Leave me her heart!" She laughed as she began to suck and eat the blood from Una's wrists.

"Ahh! I can feel her energy in my blood. My child is joyous and grows invincible!" She moaned as she suckled the gash on Una's wrist.

Alaric slowly walked back and broke through the circle as he watched everyone take their turn drinking from Una.

"Ingrid!" Alaric screamed as he ran over to Ingrid, who was alone now.

She was still with her face buried in the mud.

"Ingrid!" Alaric pulled her head up out of the mud.

Blood was dripping out of her broken nose, and the whites of her eyes were solid red. Her cheeks were speckled with red and purple. Her skin was pale, and Alaric put his hand on her bare chest. It would not rise.

"Ingrid!" Alaric began to cry.

Her mouth was ajar, and he tried desperately to wipe away the mud. Her mouth was loose, and he opened her mouth wider only to see that it had blocked her air.

"No." Alaric cried.

Ingrid had died a miserable death. She was cold, naked, stuffed in mud, and broken. As Alaric cried for her, Wilona became intoxicated on Una's blood. She thought the virgin blood was the most potent she had ever tasted. The stream of blood began to slow due to its clotting being exposed in the air. Wilona took this as a sign of immediate death coming.

"Enough!" She screamed.

The men and women in the circle sighed as they could not drink from such a sweet feast any longer.

"My dagger!" She threw her hand out and noticed that Alaric was not in the circle any longer.

She did not care, all she wanted now was Una's heart, and she would have it. She would carve up Una's chest delicately to retrieve it. A man grabbed it off of the soft moss and handed it to her.

"Away from me, I must call upon them now," Wilona demanded.

She was going to kill Una now and eat her heart to give her child the strength of ten dragons. This was the moment she had been waiting for so long. She was going to end her miserable life. She hoped Wealas and Snowdonia burned to ash without Una. Without Una, now winning her war was possible. She would take her throne as the pendragon Goddess of Wessex. From there, she will spread her dark reign like a plague. It was time for the old kingdom to die and for hers to rise forth reborn like a phoenix out of ash. Wilona was going to end the war. With Una's heart ripped out of her chest, she will end the reign of Wessex once and for all.