The Sorceress Mimika reached their joint cells first. Her golden streaked hair clashed against the gloom that surrounded the dungeon. A sinister smile spread her delicate lips as her violet eyes glimmered with malice.
Nim had often wondered how so much beauty could encompass so much wickedness. Her slender and lithe figure only made her appear more defenseless. It was a fortunate guise against all who thought her a weak opponent.
Yet her mind was sharp, her arms and hands swift to create magical wards, and her tongue fast to cast a spell. She was a stunning, ruthless killer shrouded in navy robes that clung enticingly to her body.
Lord Fennaris was a quick step behind her. His sword and dagger were at his waist as always. It was rumored that he not only slept with a dagger, but his sword at his side. A man like Fennaris had certainly made many enemies in his quick rise to power, as Nim recalled. Although, he was certain that even Lord Fennaris did not completely trust Mimika. He'd be a fool if he did.
From the corner where he huddled, Nim saw Lord Fennaris's tall frame approach his cell then walk past him to the girl. There was no reason for Lord Fennaris to approach him now. Not after he'd gotten what he wanted out of Nim.
Mimika cast back an appreciative glance at Fennaris in his light leather armor. In Mimika's estimation, his eyes, muddy green waters, held the real danger. Her grinned brightened as she opened Lily's cell door.
The door gave a high pitched creak at the hinges before giving way. Lily had long ceased breathing and lay motionless in fear, too weak to fight whatever was coming.
Her eyes were shut tight, an instinct to block out the horror that approached. She heard the heavier set of footfalls scrape the floor and stop beside her.
Lord Fennaris squatted beside her and caressed her cheek with the back of his fingers. The smile in Mimika's face vanished. Lily shivered at his touch and squeezed her eyes tighter. Shadows invaded her mind and transformed into murky shapes.
"Good. You're awake." His voice was as treacherous as thin ice. She remained silent; not knowing what to do or to where Nim had retreated. Fennaris stroked her hair behind her ear.
"Don't. Touch. Me." Lily clenched her jaw.
Lord Fennaris held a lock of hair in his hand. "You are uniquely special in power. But what makes you so, I wonder? Tell me about the other girl?" His voice held a jagged edge.
"What other girl?" He slapped her across the face. Her cheek stung though she knew he had restrained himself. Mimika smirked. Nim controlled his impulse to help. And Lily remained silent.
"Do not play the imbecile. Why else would you be there? Tell me about the other girl. What do you know about her?" He demanded while anger seethed at the surface.
"I don't know anything about another girl. I heard noises and I followed the sounds. Then I remember nothing. I don't even know how I got here or where here is."
Lily wished with all her heart that she wasn't a prisoner in an unknown place in a strange world. That she was with Aurora--- away and safe, but wishing would not fade reality. She was where she was. Hope in Aurora was all she could cling to now. Aurora would come---while she would remain silent.
Lily concentrated on Fennaris's voice. In her mind the image lightened from inky splotches to muddy water. She knew if she focused more there would be something she could discern. The effort to focus drained what little strength she had left.
"Do you have any idea of the curiosity, the doubts, you have stirred? Even that infernal knight was there."
She heard the hatred in his voice and wondered who this knight was. Maybe the knight had gotten to Aurora first?
"Was he after you too?"
She shook her head. "Why me?"
Lord Fennaris's laughter rumbled in his throat. "Do you truly think I will believe your little act?" Lily stiffened with fear anticipating another hit.
"The crystal reacted to you. To your powers." He stroked her hair again. She pushed herself back, away from his touch.
"Crystal? Knight? I, I don't know what any of that means." She swallowed and tried to even her breathing. "I have no powers."
"Oh, I think you do." Even through her blindness, she could hear his smile.
"I find it unlikely." Mimika's musical voice interrupted. She was tired of watching Fennaris caress the human oddity. Fennaris turned to Mimika; his face was cold and his stare steel. Mimika tried to ignore his annoyance and repeated her theory.
"I am certain, my lord, that the crystal was not reacting to her, but to the charged air around the fight. It was the magical residue from the other one to which the crystal reacted. Not this weak human. Look at her. How can you possibly believe there is any magic within her?
"We are wasting our time, and the rogue knight Blazewoods has the one we need. My lord, we cannot delay. He will soon deliver her." Mimika needed to open his eyes to what had to be done.
Fennaris absorbed all of Mimika's words and the meaning behind them. He had no intention of falling for Mimika's wiles again. She had been entertaining and eager, but he had quickly gotten bored of her. He would not be dissuaded from this girl.
His hand reached into one of his numerous pockets, found what he sought, and brought it out in his fisted hand. Before he opened his fist, Mimika knew what he held, the crystal. It bothered her to no end the fact that he didn't trust her with it. It should be hers by right; she lived for the Craft.
The lilac crystal captured her eyes as it gently began to rock. Fennaris's cocked eyebrow said it all. "What magical residue is activating it now? Or is it you?"
She pushed herself with her shoulder off the metal frame and took a couple of steps in. "The human is lying. That's the only explanation."
Fennaris quickly rose. Irritated. "What explanation? You see the evidence."
"No, she knows the other one. She must have had constant contact with her. Perhaps long term. That is why the crystal reacts. She is completely covered in the other one's magical essence. We are wasting our time. She's worthless." Contempt drenched her last word.
Lily was content to listen and hopefully be ignored and forgotten.
"We shall see."
"What are you doing?" Mimika stared blankly at her lord's outstretched palm with the crystal.
"Use it. Now. On her." His voice accepted no refusal. "But first allow me."
He removed a small flask from a pocket on his vest. The liquid vibrated an eerie blue. The flask was quickly uncorked as he squatted beside Lily again.
In turn, Lily tried to struggle against Fennaris, but it was useless, she was too weak. She felt his hand wrap behind her neck and lift.
Before she felt the smooth glass edge of the flask's opening, Nim's words rang in her ears as she fought against her fears. As soon as she felt the warm liquid pass her lips, she feigned choking and coughed out most of it.
Lord Fennaris shifted back to avoid being splashed, dropping the flask and causing it to break. Nim looked on from his hovelled form, proud of the girl. Fennaris stood against Mimika resting an arm around her hips.
"Harvest her energy through the crystal as you would with a beast. Imagine, my darling," he stepped so close to her that their cheeks almost brushed, "a much richer well of energy, here, at your disposal.
'Think of how more potent the magic, more pure and direct from a human source." He saw her eyes cloud with possibilities and knew he had won. "The power you could wield. Do it." His breath was hot against her delicate ear.
Mimika looked down at the curled mass on the floor eager to inflict pain. In the blink of an eye the girl had gone from pitiful to a power source ready to be harnessed. The anticipation to feel the human's essence of power course through her veins caused her mind to salivate. She could wait no longer.
Her robed arm rustled slightly as she out stretched it, flinging the crystal before her. It hovered before her hand with a sickly green light emanating from her palm through the crystal and striking Lily.
Nim felt sick. But there was nothing he could do.
There was no experience in her life to which Lily could compare the strange sensation she felt surging through her body. Something invaded her body, down to her core. It was a force that pounded through her from the inside.
It was more than the pain of being stretched and pulled in all directions at once. It was the feeling of having every fiber of her being ripped from her, pulling her off the ground. And there was no way of protecting herself.
Lily's body jerked and convulsed in the air, her groans of agony echoed through the dungeon. She felt more than just broken and bruised; she felt herself coming apart without knowing if she would ever be whole again.
In the numbing pain, clarity struck her, ripping open an unknown part of her. Hoarse cries escaped her. Pain choked her.
Mimika's eyes danced in exhilaration as the pure magical energy pulsed into her in gushes, washing her entire being. The magical energy was untainted and undiluted. It was easy to ignore the screams of agony that had turned into whimpering moans with her elevated sense of power.
Excitement filled Lord Fennaris. If Mimika could draw power from which ever girl was the true Key, then he could extrapolate that power into an unstoppable weapon. It was a provocative thought.
In time, he would seduce the girl, no hardship on his part, and mold her to his ways. For now, there was Mimika. Fennaris reached in front of Mimika to wrap his arm around her slim waist while his other snaked across her extended arm.
In a smooth caress his hand enclosed hers, trapping the crystal within. "Enough." Lily's body fell to the ground. "Tell me how you feel." His voice enticed her. She blinked.
"I feel...I feel magnificent. Unstoppable. I must go and test my powers. My strength." She turned to him, face triumphant.
He chuckled in his deep voice. "You see. She does have powers." A frown marred Mimika's beautiful face at the realization.
"Not for long." She turned quickly to finish draining Lily but found her lord's fist firmly still encasing her own. "Lord Fennaris there is more energy to be had. I know it. I want it."
"Yes, I know, but not today. Any more and you'd kill her, and then no more entertainment. We must stop, for now. We will return for another draining sooner than you think. This was just a test." His clever hands removed the crystal from her.
"Now we know something that neither the knight nor the traitor knew...there are two of them. This information will be our greatest weapon and it must be kept secret."
Begrudgingly, she conceded with her lord. Fennaris lead her out of the cell, closing it behind them in a clanging crash. But a thought struck her.
"We should move her back to the Labyrinth. Or better yet, send her to Morvien Tower." She purred her suggestion while pressing the length of her body to him.
He caught her hand in an iron grip before they wrapped around his neck. "I do not enjoy the distance the Labyrinth poses, much less your home. No, I will place more guards. Look at her. She is blind and can barely breathe, let alone walk. And only we know she's here."
"What about the other one? The one with the rogue knight?" Mimika searched his face for answers.
"I am certain he will make all haste to take her to Armindia and deliver the girl. I will go in search of them soon to retrieve the girl and bring her here. By the time anyone realizes we have this one, it will be too late."
Together they left the tunnel, their footsteps fading quickly along with their wicked thoughts. Mimika walked away relishing in her new power, while Fennaris plotted the seduction of the human girl.
Lily's quivering body clung to the moist floor in a sprawl of raw nerves. She gasped for air in short, quick pants but they weren't enough to fill her aching lungs. Her blood boiled, her skin sizzled and she was drenched in goblets of sweat. And yet in her fevered state she knew something had been awakened in her.
Nim was at her side now, coaxing her to drink from the metal cup he placed at her lips. "N-Nim?...I..." She did not recognize her own voice.
"Shh. Rest easy." Nim reassured her.
She shook her head restlessly. "Mmm, magic...in me!"
"Yes, yes, I know." He had been forced to witness her torture. Then he continued to press the cup to her lips but she refuse, shaking her head.
There was something she needed to say, hoping Nim would make sense of it, but darkness crept closer with each breath and she was beginning to welcome it. The darkness promised refuge for her splintered soul.
She clutched at his wrist. "Nim," her hoarse voice was barely above a whisper yet she knew she was screaming. "I... I saw h-her. I ss-saw Mimika." Her hands fell to the floor limp, her body depleted of strength, collapsed into blissful unconsciousness.