PART 22!! ENJOY!
Chapter 21
I felt both Nate and Holly reach for my hands at the same time. Damn it's annoying having people who know exactly what you're feeling and thinking but it can't be helped.
"Come on its time." Nate said before tugging me and Holly towards the front entrance of the castle. If possible the castle felt more eerie and evil as the darkness deepened until you couldn't see your hand in front of your face. I felt myself being tugged towards the main entrance which looked like the gateway to hell. I shuddered at the through and then pushed it out of my mind when I saw the look on Holly's face. I thought of the prophesy and my family and how we would survive this no matter what.
Inspired by these thought I picked up my feet so that I was now walking alongside him instead of being dragged by him. "You seriously lived?" I asked as I once again surveyed the creepy castle.
"Yup." He replied and then began talking in hushed tones. "Right keep to the shadows we want to remain unseen for as long as possible. With that we walked through the huge doorway that looked like a giant gaping hole that was just waiting to swallow us whole. I blindly followed after Nate who didn't go far before he stopped next to a suit of armour. Using his magic he moved it out of the way and pressed a certain brick. I watched in amazement when about 5 paces away a doorway opened up. "Follow me and stay silent." Nate then disappeared behind the stone door and into the passage behind it. Holly and I were next followed by the rest of our group.
Once we were all inside the passages, Nate shut the door and your cool hear the slight crumble as the stone that had been pushed in moved back into its original place. He then took the lead placing my hand on his shoulder. "Tell the others to do the same." He whispered so I passed the message onto Holly who passed it onto the person behind her and so on. Nate started walking along the passageways as if from memory taking a turn every now and again. I was glad that Isadora was staying silent. I could sense that she was awake but it was if she could sense that her safety depended on silence.
We eventually stopped and Nate kissed my hand before removing it from his shoulder. He then brushed his fingers along the wall as if looking for something. After about 30 seconds there was a faint click and then the low rumble of stone moving over stone as a doorway appeared causing all of us to squint at the sudden light. We cautiously stepped into the throne room which looked deserted besides the gleaming at the front of the room. We watched as the other sorcerers emerged from another doorway on the other side of the throne room but strangely enough there was no sign of the King. I looked down at the floor and within the intricate mosaic pattern of the floor I could make out words. Oh shit the gateway to the demon realm is in the throne room, joy!!!
I heard a sharp intake of breath from above. "You're alive!!!" I saw a beautiful little girl about 8 years old looking down at Nate.
"Reli?" He asked cautiously.
"Natty it is you." She squealed with delight. "Wait there I'm coming down." Not even 30 seconds later she pushed through the crowds and leapt into his arms pressing her body tightly to his. If I wasn't so tense I would have thought how sweet it was.
"Why have you drawn on your face Natty?" She said tilting her head to the side before looking at me. "Oh she's pretty and look you match." She said with a squeal before reaching out towards me.
"This is Ari, my soul mate." He said. "And Ari this is my little sisterAurelial."
I smiled at the little girl. "Sorry I can't hold you cos of Izzy." I gestured towards the baby sleeping in front of me. She pouted before becoming excited.
"Ooh lemme see!!" She squealed again. So Nate walked closer to me so that she could see the sleeping baby. "Why'd you draw on her too. " She asked full of innocence. I was about to respond when a chilling voice permeated the air.
"Well, well, well. The prodigal son returns. And look he's brought his merry men." I moved my head frantically searching for the source of the voice but found nothing. " Are you really going to try and stop me son?" The way he spat the last words sent chills done my spines. "And look at this you have matching body art with your little girlfriend and oh how sweet a baby...you really shouldn't have come back Nathaniel. I could have ignored you but now I know what you are I'm going to have to kill you and your little family."
I watched as Aurelia gasped and cowered into Nate's side burying her head into his chest. She's too sweet and innocent to be caught up in all of this. I took Aurelia from Nate projecting my thoughts so he could hear them loud and clear and then handed her over to Ryan who cradled her to his chest looking at me confused. I then kissed Izzy on the head before removing her from the baby carrier and handing her to Ingrid. "You make sure that you, Sam and Ryan get out with the kids. I don't care what you have to do you just have to get out and keep them safe. " I said to Ingrid pushing them towards the passageways because I knew that although the King could hear us I somehow knew he couldn't see us at this point of time.
Ingrid, Sam and Ryan disappeared through the gap where we had emerged minutes before with Izzy and Aurelia being held by the men. I closed the passageway behind them but not before using my magic to light the way for them. I then turned back to the room to see the king standing in the centre of the room with a visible barrier protecting him.
"Let's get this over with!!" I growled at him. He chuckled darkly coming under the light so that I could see his familiar figure that I had seen so many times on the TV show. I felt Holly quiver beside me. No doubt she felt all of the evil emotions emanating from him. He looked just like Nate but older and uglier, like he would have been a handsome old man if it wasn't for the blackness of his soul which had somehow tainted him inside and out.
"Now, now. You children are soo impatient. Don't worry, you'll get want you want but first let's get the party started. He raised his hands and began murmuring under his breath. I watched as object from all around the room lifted off of the floor as if caught up in a whirlwind and flew towards the gathered sorcerers. Some hastily threw up shields so that the debris bounced off of them with a spark of light in different colours depending on the person. Huh...that's interesting. I was snapped out of my thoughts as a particularly large piece of furniture flew towards me. On instinct I raised both of my arms out in front of me with my palms facing outwards and slowly moved my arms outwards so that a huge wall of fire erupted in front of me and the wooden bench that had been hurtling towards me was incinerated on contact.
I then directed the fire at the sorcerer King and watched as his face became startled and his shield began to falter. "Noo!!" I watched as the King knelt down on the floor and placed his palms on the ground and began chanting. Oh no, this can't be good. I also saw that the top level was now lined with people with guns. They looked startled to see soo many sorcerers in one room and automatically chambered a bullet.
Damn TV people bringing guns here. I heard the gunshot before I saw what happened but next thing I knew the person next to me dropped to the floor. I looked down to see Nate clutching his leg. Okay not fatal but now I am pissed. I gave a great battle cry which startled the people around me and created a ball of flames in between my palms whilst all of the sorcerers bombarded the king with magical attacks that glowed brightly against his black shield, creepy that it was as dark and disturbing as him. I closed my eyes and focused on all of the people I could sense in the room and then I snapped my eyes open and blasted fire at all of those that I deemed a threat which meant the entire row of gun toting bastards. A few of them had shields that flared into life but looked startled by their luck.
I then tore my face back to the kind when I saw the ground split and dark things emerging from the crap.
"You've got to stop him now!!!" A voice shrieked behind me. I whirled around to see Blake looking kind of sick but I knew what he meant.
"Come on." I left Nate where he was and pulled Holly on the other side of the room so she was stood next to one of the sorcerers and then I moved so that I was like the third point of our triangle. "What do we do?" I shouted at Blake as more darkness and creatures emerged from the growing pit and headed towards the exit,s killing some of the sorcerers on the way out who didn't have their shields up.
"You've got to concentrate on your powers and throw everything you've got. Tay think of the earth and closing up the ground, about fire burning the demons and water is washing them away. Holly I want you to close your eyes and do the same but imagine a whirlwind picking up the King I sucking him into the earth. I want you to imagine lighting hitting the crack so that the edges are melted shut. Nate I want you to use you power and try and contain anything that emerges." He shouted over the roar of furious demons.
I could feel my brows furrowing in concentration as we did as Blake said. I heard a few gasps from around the room but I was concentrating too badly on what Blake's instructions.
"No..no...stop!!!" I heard the king shriek which caused my eyes to pop open to see his dark evil ass being dragged into the chasm. He was clawing desperately at the edges before I saw a shadow consume his body and he was dragged down. I immediately focused on closing the crack with my earth ability and I watched in wonder as lightning appeared out of nowhere and struck the remaining crack leaving a scorch mark but the hole sealed shut.
Everyone gave a cheer but it was abruptly stopped when a force erupted from the scorch mark and we were all blown off our feet. Those who were closer to the point of origin; Nate, Holly and I were thrown back with soo much force that we collided with the hard stone walls, my body thumping into the wall and dropping to the floor where my head collided with the stone making me fall into the darkness.
© Katherine Pocock 2010