Twisted Fate

Chapter Eleven: Prisoner

The blast of Dark magik came from directly below us.
Talon shoved me, both of us channelling backwards to opposite sides of the room as shadows broke through the floor and destroyed the bed and split the room in two.
Talon's eyes flared red as the shadows formed in the centre of the hole, floating and revealing Dorian staring at me.
Madness whipped his shadows around him and his eyes became wild when he raised his hands, finding his control magik no longer worked.
I crouched, ready to launch into shadows but Talon roared and came from the darkness behind Dorian.
A golden blade in his hand.
He plunged the dagger into Dorian's shoulder, making the Dark Lord scream and fall from the air.
Talon kicked and propelled for me, wrapping his arms around me and channeling us out of the manor.
Six more shadows fell behind us as we landed on the hill behind the manor.
Elias in his golden armour waited with five Sentries behind him.
Talon threw his hand towards the manor that started to fill with darkness and shadows, searching and crushing the stone and marble.
Light flared inside the manor, eliminating the shadows and the foundation cracked, caving in violently until there was nothing but ruins.
"We have to leave." Talon grabbed me and channelled us west.
Elias and the guards followed, more shadows of channelling joining us; the people of the estate.
I sighed, sensing the Faeling servants of the house were paired with a channel-able soldier.
I gripped Talon, his hands on me tightened.
Someone shrieked and I peered out of the shadows in time to see a stream of channeling be broken by a Gargoyle Demon.
Two bodies fell, one trailing blood from a deep wound.
I broke away from Talon, heading for Caitlin as she fell, the soldier managing to channel out of danger as the winged monster dove for her, smaller than a Banshee, it relied on its claws and teeth instead of screams to kill its prey.
I summoned a sword in time to hack its claw off before it could grab her.
She latched onto me as I grabbed her, channelling us out as the Gargoyle regained its focus.
It snarled and tried to follow, Elias appeared above it.
Falling out of his channel to spear the Gargoyle through the head before he channelled back out, giving me a wink as he headed for another Gargoyle ahead.
I counted.
At least forty Gargoyles left.
We had twenty soldiers, most carrying servants.
I had to get the servants out or they'd pick us off.
Talon had realised this.
A strong flood of channelling removed Caitlin from my arms.
I watched as multiple other channels were pulled from the soldiers streams, vanishing then to what I hoped was safety.
I searched for Talon, but my moment of distraction left me open.
An arrow speared through me, hitting my shoulder.
I faltered, falling out of my shadow.
Ripping the arrow out, I screamed. The wood burned my skin and the tip was covered in an odd salve.
My magik flickered.
Another arrow struck.
Fuck. Faewood sap. Poisonous to magik Fae.
The voice that hissed wasn't my own, nor was the magik that altered my clothes to my armour.
A flood of protection magik filled me, covering me with a light.
"Neeve! My magik!" I hissed quickly.
"Neeve can't channel." He clicked
I pointed to the ground that was fast approaching, my magik dying out with a final flare of shadows trying to cushion the fall.
Neeve realised, climbing to my chest and threw his hands up.
The light wasn't enough to completely break the fall, but it was enough to not kill us as we landed and rolled.
I tried to cover Neeve with my arms, but still lost him as a Gargoyle clawed into my leather, yanking me from the ground and tossed me into a tree.
I hit every thick branch on the way down, my armour barely padding me as my ribs shattered and I hit the ground.
Before I could recover, a band of metal clamped around my throat and I heard Talon snarl violently before he screamed.
I tried to look around but the collar froze my body in place with magik I couldn't fight.
My hair was grabbed and I was forced to my knees, surrounded by Dark Court guards dressed in armour of black and clouded in shadows.
The man who held my hair wore the circlet of the Captain around his short black hair. My heart raced when his eyes met mine.
They were so familiar.
He snarled at me, slamming a fist into my jaw, throwing my head sideways.
"We take them both!" He shouted and consumed me in shadow.
I tried to fight and scream but my magik was dead inside of me, not even an ember bloomed through my bond with Talon.
I hit solid ground, landing in a metal caged cell that hugged a stone wall.
The heat hit me first, scorching heat from the full blaze of the sun.
The stretch of death came next, drawing my attention to the bodies that laid in other cages beside me.
There was enough room to lay down, bars and a solid floor of metal with a heavy lock. I was able to move my head to look around but nothing else.
Decayed and picked at by the crows and vermin, dead for weeks and left to rot in the cages around me.
If I rose my head, I could see nothing but the open expanse of a desert.
Nothing but yellow sand and sparse animals and plants.
I could hear noises behind me, the voice of the Dark Captain yelling orders and his men following.
It wasn't until the sun began to set that my limbs started to regain feeling and I was able to hoist myself into a sitting position against a corner.
Two guards in thick hoods that covered their faces dragged me from the cell by a chain they attached to the collar around my neck. If I didn't force myself to walk with stumbling numb legs, they'd drag me.
The stone the cells sat against was a limestone circle wall with a pool of crystal clear water and a square stone building.
One of them kicked my legs, dropping me to my knees and shoved my head into the pool, barely giving me enough time to drink any amount of water that would be helpful. The other yanked the chain before I could got to my feet and forced me to crawl, laughing as we entered the building.
More cells lined the walls, the beaten and dead bodies of Beast Guards in six that I could see, none I could name, before I was kicked onto a wooden platform that started to descend down a deep hole with sounds of chains.
Most of my body was still numb and paralysed, but I managed to get to my feet before we got to the ground floor of wherever we were.
The Caves opened before us, dimly lit with sconces on the walls.
They dragged me through a maze of halls that all looked the same of shining black stone. The floor was paved with large slates, the gaps between tripped me, the guards grabbing my arms after I broke my nose on the stone.
Doors started to appear from shadows that fell from the walls.
A guard opened one of them while the other unclipped the chain. They stripped me to my underwear, smirking as they threw me into a hay filled sack that served as a bed into the corner of the room.
Chains hung in the middle with shackles dangling and covered in dried blood.
There was a bucket in the corner and a hug of brown water in the other.
One threw a heavy right hook to my already broken nose, splitting my cheek before the other guard kicked me in the stomach, hitting one of the slow-healing arrow wound there.
I cried out as they continued their assualt until I had stopped screaming, my blood choking me and the pain in my body reaching a level my mind couldn't comprehend.
They closed the door and I heard a lock seal me in.
I passed out when I realised I couldn't move far, being chained at one point to the wall beside the hay bed. Trying everything I could to find my magik or my bond.
I found nothing. Like I was a worthless Half-Fae again, or even Human.