The Cursed

Chapter Thirty

Lilura

There are steps that must be taken to find the ideal companion for the Queen's demise. I can't just walk into a tavern and select a few fighters from the crowd. Nor can I hang posters asking for help to commit treason. Besides, the Queen's murder has to be perfect, much like a child's coming-of-age birthday. The evening must be immaculate, so when looked at in history books, it will be remembered with class and elegance. I want everyone to know just how cruel their beloved monarch is, and how merciful I shall be as Queen. A title I shall handle with delicacy and grace, once I tear the Queen's head off of her shoulders. It shall be spectacular.

Which is the purpose of needing to find the perfect company to surround myself with for the anticipated night. I have given myself three days until the protections are broken down. One of which has nearly passed. I spent the night making the protections, but spent the day  paying the price of such strong magic, asleep in my bed. I have awoken and sit in Willa's library. Although, I suppose it's mine now, looking for demons I could summon, or spells of enough strength to raise an army from dragon's teeth.

I flip through another book, eaten away by rats, with no luck of finding any summoning circle. Willa has hidden away all knowledge of darkness, as to not lure the darkness out of her I'm sure. However, in this hour of need, I find myself more thankful to not have her nagging voice to talk me out of this. Yet, the clock ticks down and I have no soldiers to train. Going to a tavern seems to be a better and better option.

Alepou has been nothing but helpful, fetching me books and ingredients, so I may attempt some of the spells. Once again though, to no prevail. Alepou comes up to me, a red leather-bound book gripped firmly in his jaws. He sets it at my feet, where it could be swallowed by the mountains of discarded books around me. I pick it up and begin to flip through the yellowing pages.

The first few pages are of the fantastical beasts I could conjure up. When I recognize the page as the one I found with the locket I used to summon the mermaid. Hope flickers to life in me. I could find other creatures to accompany me. I flip through and see images of beasts covered in fur with claws and blood stained fangs, beast with leathery wings stretched behind them, and beasts with horns protruding  from their foreheads. I decide to summon those with the horns, as I assume they would have the cleverness to fight the Queen, and smart enough to not cross me.

I set the book on a table next to me, shoving the previously looked through ones to the floor in a heap. It sits on the otherwise empty table. The dying embers from the sun shining onto the book, lighting the words for me to read. I gather the few ingredients Alepou brought to me and set them in a line.

Blood of a tree born from fire.
Feather of a golden bird.
Lavender grown from death.
Scales of a dragon.
Tears of the sky.

All labeled by Willa, who had to come up with the most ridiculous names for them. However, they match the names in the books. I read through the summoning spell twice before stepping away from the table and clearing a space on the floor with my foot.

I flick my wrist to send an invisible hand to lift the lavender to me. It floats beside me, while I uncork it and bring the flowers out of the jar. They flutter around me before settling on the ground in a circle. I send the lavender back and repeat the steps with the rain water. Once it returns to its space on the table, I bring the blood of the tree born from fire to my side like the lavender and rainwater, but rather than place it in the circle. I dip my finger into the reddish liquid. Its cool despite the heat of the room and summer, and it slippery between my fingertips. I kneel down and write the tunes onto the floor. Once I write the last one, they begin to glow faintly, pulsing with light. I send the blood back and lay down the golden feather in the center of the circle. Once the feather makes contact with the runes, the glow even brighter, filling the room with humming.

"With the power of a Phoenix, blood of the tree that defied death, connection to your homeland, I summon you, the Seven Sins," I call out into the room. The room shakes, making several books fall off the shelves. Smoke fills the circle, swirling and every so often a flame will shoot into the air. Alepou cowers under the table, staring at the swirling smoke.

As the flames begin to grow stronger, the smoke begins to clear. I see figures writhing under the flame, their darkened forms contorted in pain. With an agonizing scream the fire flickers to a small burn on the floor, contained by the circle. Seven figures step out of the subsided smoke. Their form covered in black robes, which still smoke at the frayed edges. They all have blank faces with white eyes, each with horns extending from their bare heads then swirling in different directions. Their horns are the only thing that sets them apart.

"We serve you as you've summoned us. We are at your service for three days time," they say. They're voices all overlap in a monotonous chorus and echo. It sends shivers down my back, and as habits are hard to break, I begin to dig my fingernails into my palms.

But I take a deep breath. I have the world at my feet, and before long the Queen will be dead.

"Thank you. I wish you to introduce yourselves," I say. They nod in unison.

"We are the deadliest creatures, born from the fallen feathers from an angel cast down from the sky," they say in unison once more. Perhaps they are not as clever as I thought.

"Your names. I require your names," I snap.

"I am Lust," says the tallest of them. Their voice is genderless and never changes pitch. Their horns are curved from the forehead around to they're ears which are pointed, similar to an elf.

"I am Greed," says the next. They have thick horns that are shortest, extending only a few inches from their head.

"I am Pride," says the third. Their horns are curved into a spiral with the faintest white shining in the grooves.

"I am Wrath," says the fourth. They're voice is slightly lower than the rest, their words harsher too. Their horns look sharp enough to kill with the tips dipped in silver.

"I am Gluttony." They step forward, and I see their horns are round and look the least menacing.

"I, Envy." They step forward. Their horns glimmer with a shine that the others do not have, curling around to near their ears like Lust's.

"I am Sloth," says the final demon. They step forward. Their horns remind me of a goats, small and misshapen, but they, like the rest have a glimmer in their eyes promising pain.

I smile at my soldiers.

"Welcome to my home," I say and open my arms, which causes the circle around them to disappear, seething the seven deadly sins loose in the world under my control.