Crossing Into Forever

Chapter 50

Nicholas immediately ran to Nachton's quarters for help. He quickly explained to him what had happened. Hastily, Nachton started gathering weapons and stuffing his pockets with the necessary items while handing several off to Nicholas. Guns, knives, and clubs were all gathered and secured inside their jackets or carried over their backs with straps. The two men immediately left the school and ran to where they knew the portal was that crossed into Warbrotum. There was no time to waste and no time to dwell on the "what if's" or "how's" right now. Once at the proper area of the woods where Nicholas was told that the kidnapping had taken place, both men carefully walked into the wooded area and quietly crossed through the invisible portal. It wasn't long before they had crossed over and there was some vague familiarity to both men to where they stood. They were outside of the ruins of the old castle where Nicholas was sure Ella had to be. He had seen this castle before as a younger man when he was spying for his planet. There were many times he or others had been sent to observe the happenings of the lesser planet to assure themselves there was not a current threat to the people of Spirotests. 

"Wait, we have to move swiftly but quietly" Nicholas warned Nachton. The two made their way to the opening of the old castle, being very wary of their surroundings. Suddenly, from behind a group of trees, a large man jumped out toward them and began to swing a large club at them. Quickly and very quietly the two ducked down to avoid the attack. Nicholas immediately drew his saber and buried the blade into the man's abdomen while covering his mouth with his hand to muffle any sound the man could have made to warn the others of their oncoming attack. The man fell to the ground with a thud. Once he was no longer a threat, the two continued on inside the door. They could hear faint voices coming from the long dark hallway and they could see a dim light escaping from a partially opened door that apparently led into a room. The pair wasted no time in making their way down the hall while making no sound at all. Once at the door, Nicholas peaked in and could see there was another open door across the room that led to the outside. He could see that the opening led to some sort of courtyard. This is where the voices were emanating from. He could hear his heart pounding in his ears and felt the blood pulsating through his veins as he realized this was where Ella had to be. She had to be outside that door. He heard a woman and a man speaking but he could not make out what they were saying. The two quickly crossed the room to peak through the door. Nicholas's heart dropped when he realized Ella was strapped to an alter and he knew he didn't have much time to get to her.

Suddenly , there was a noise behind them as they saw a group of large burly looking men running toward them. Both men knew this would be a hard battle to fight but braced themselves for the attack. At the same time, Petronella jerked her head around and saw the commotion. She ordered Ansgar to stop the intruders so she could sacrifice the girl before the plan could be disrupted. She yelled at the group of men to attack the intruders. Nicholas and Nachton had already drawn their weapons but had noticed something strange happening. The group of men did not rush toward them but instead one spoke up and said, "save the queen!". Nicholas for a moment was caught off guard and didn't know if this was some kind of ploy to dupe them. As his weapons were drawn though, the man yelled at him again "Man, stop them from hurting the girl!" Nicholas knew he had no choice but to take this man as friend instead of foe at this point because Petronella was standing over Ella with knife in hand, getting ready to bury the sharp blade into her chest. Ella was in a daze, but turned her head to the side and noticed Nicholas was one of the many men that were making all of the commotion that was emitting from the room she had been in earlier. Tears started pouring down her cheeks again and she had a sudden glimmer of hope that rose up in her. She turned her head back to face the dagger as it was being driven down toward her and she closed her eyes and screamed, waiting for the pain of the dagger to plunged into her heart, but the pain didn't come. She heard more of a struggle beside her and realized Nicholas was there, overpowering the women that was holding the knife. At that time, Ansgar came to Petronella's defense and pulled Nicholas off her. The knife dropped to the floor, but Nicholas couldn't grab it as he was battling Ansgar now. The large group of men then came to Nicholas's defense and started fighting the wizard. Even though he was only one man, he had summoned the power from his evil spell to gain the strength of 10 men. As Nicholas was fighting for his own life now, along with his other newfound allies, Petronella sneakily reached down and grabbed the knife from the floor. She was determined to finish what she had started and complete the spell. Without that, she was sure to be killed. This group of men that were in this battle to the death with them had once been loyal to them, or so she thought, until tonight. Without them, there was no one left to protect her and Ansgar was starting to lose some of his power and strength in this battle. Though his powers were strong, he was fighting against a fierce group. While all of the men were fighting Ansgar, Nicholas was able to turn his attention back to the woman that was trying to kill his wife. He saw that she had retrieved the knife and had made her way to Ella again. He heard Ella scream as she raised the knife above her heart again. He was several steps away from them, but in two large strides, he jumped to his wife's side and although he had never hit a woman before, he with all of his might, slamming the back of his fist into her face, smashing her against the wall as a spatter of blood burst from her mouth and nose. She crumpled to the floor and the knife fell from her grip. There was no movement from her. As Ansgar noticed his accomplice was not moving and was bleeding profusely, he realized he himself was losing strength and power. For many years now, much of his power and skill, he had drawn from the evil that lived in Petronella because it was rightfully his own power. With the inherited power he had gained from his father, much of it had been given up to her. She had manipulated him to share it with her. In many ways, the two fed off from each other's evilness. But that meant when she died, part of his power died with her. This made him much more vulnerable. He couldn't hold the large group of men at bay any longer, and before long, he was overcome and finally with the forceful swing of a large razor-sharp sword by Nachton he was swiftly beheaded. His head rolled to rest at the body of his once overbearing companion, but neither were a threat to anyone now. Both of them were dead. Ella was finally safe from the sorcerer and his lady.

Nicholas was standing over his wife and tears were streaming down his face. He had almost lost her...again. This time, he swore no one would ever try to hurt her again. Ella was still somewhat in a daze although she knew Nicholas was there and that made her cry tears of joy. He finally got the ties that bound her loosened and he raised her up from the altar and held her in his arms. He held her so tight, and she was holding on to him as well. All the while Nachton stood over them still keeping a keen eye on the group of men that just helped them defeat the sorcerer and his lady. Neither of them understood exactly what had happened, and Nachton wasn't sure these men were not a threat to them now even though they had helped them. In his gut, he didn't feel they were bad, but he couldn't let his guard down just yet.

After several minutes of tears and Nicholas caressing his wife's face, he turned to the group of men.

"I don't understand what happened here, but I am grateful for your help in rescuing my wife." One in the group spoke up..."we have been tyrannized by these two and their cohorts for too long. They killed and abused our mothers. They were pure evil. We have been told since we were children about the horrendous acts that were brought on to our mothers and grandmothers that were citizens of the planet Losslurse. There was always a rumor that there was a descendent of their king that had survived, but no one knew for sure. We had to be very secretive while we searched out who he or she was. For years, we were controlled by the dark forces of these two. We had to show allegiance to them in order to get the information we needed. But we had always known that the truth would come to light one day. Most on this planet are peace loving. Our parents grew up watching how brutally their mothers were treated. When our parents would tell us of the ways their fathers treated their mothers, the resentment grew with every passing day for years. Even though many of our people are peace-loving, there are still those that want power and control and are abusive in their means to get it. The decision was made that we would not live under such an unfair tyrannical rule, and we would not allow our women and children to be treated so brutally, the way the generations before us were. It has taken many years to defeat the sorcerer's son, but we have done it now with your help. We know this is our queen. We had men watching and listening to Ansgar. We knew the Petronella and Ansgar planned on killing her, because as long as she survived, she was a threat to them. They were also going to use her heart to put a spell on all of us. The heart of a queen, the queen , to put a spell on all of the occupants of this planet so that we could be their slaves and they could have all of the power. That is what they wanted, but now we are safe from them. We will take care of the others that were fighting for their cause. We caught one trying to escape just before we entered this chamber... no doubt one of Ansgar's parasites. He won't be giving anybody any trouble anymore either. The rest will be easy to wipe out and we will take them all down. There will be no room for the sort of abuse that has been threatening our way of life now on this planet. We are a changed people from generations ago. Ironic it is that our leaders raided Losslurse with unimaginable violence and such disregard for the people to save their own planet and that very act is what made this planet evolve into a peace-loving planet. The women that were brought here to breed children for the warbrotums sabotaged their plan by birthing children that were born with the heart of a Losslursean."