Hall of Shadows [The Celestial Chronicles #2]

Chapter Thirty-One: Unforgiven

"So, when the last and dreadful hour,

This crumbling pageant shall devour,

The trumpet shall be heard high,

The dead shall live, the living die,

And music shall untune the sky!"

- John Dryden, "A Song for St. Cecilia's Day"

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Soundtrack of the chapter: Unforgiven by Two Steps From Hell ( Do play it!)

Media: The Iambicum Trimetrium

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Chapter Thirty-One: Unforgiven

Eli was on his feet the next second, running toward the shrieks. Pure terror swept through the Hall like a hurricane, washing everyone out. Raphine fell backward on his throne, shivering. Eli couldn't go back to check on his grandfather even if it tore at his very heartstrings to see him go into shock. If what he suspected was true, everyone in the Hall was in grave danger.

The Hall was supposed to be dusted with blood flower incense and water. Amueh had promised it would forever keep out the evil thrall of Mandrakes as long as it was replenished every year. A single dose was enough. Jasper was in charge of it, and Eli had witnessed him cleansing the entire Hall.

Jasper...oh no.

He never thought there would be a traitor among the Oracles, and one on the side of the Walkers. Naïve, he had been too naïve. He trusted Jasper with his life, and he had not let him down. But this tribulation shook him to his very core, shattering everything that had built up trust into nothing but rubble and dust.

What did Jasper want? That wasn't the only question clashing inside Eli's head. More flooded in, crashing around, so much that Eli stopped and pressed his forehead against the cold wall, hoping that the chill would ease off the buzzing pain. What wasn't a question, but how.

Death shall reap the person who started it all. He didn't like the sound of it. Whatever Jasper was attempting to do, it sounded like outright murder.

Another scream ensued. His blood ran cold. There must be more than one Mandrake lurking in the Hall. One Mandrake was deadly enough...two and a high possibility of more was enough to make him retch. Eli knew he was immune to the Mandrakes for time being, having consumed a vial of blood flowers brewed concoction for his leg. But for the others, it was only a matter of time before they were all wiped out from fear.

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Jasper Silverbird was already far away from the Hall of Spirits when the Mandrakes struck. He had hidden the Mandrakes in spots which the Oracles would never guess, and would never suspect. Too many nights he had spent in the Hall, exploring every room, every hook and cranny for loopholes. It was all for this night.

All these years, he stayed in the Darkling Woods, busting his mind trying to come up with plans to enter the Hall of Spirits. It wasn't easy, at all. Nobody in their right mind would admit a rogue Physician, even if he was very adept with his job.

When Raphine Sanguinis offered him a high regarded place in the Hall of Spirits, it was like giving a sleepy man a pillow, a key to unlock the Hall's very defenses served to him on a golden platter. Raphine Sanguinis... the name made him want to spit, spit it onto the ground where his horse would trample on. It was an abomination, his name the epitome of evil. It filled his being with loathe and disgust. Hate was too subtle a word to express his detestation against that man.