Chapter 21: To the Tower

Riada Swamp

         May stumbled and fell to her knees into the mud, not having any strength left. The red flower, she found on the edge of the forest began glowing in the dark, its flakes spread wide, which meant she was on the right way. She clenched her teeth and got up, following the path through the marshes.

         The rain was stopping, and she saw the glimpse of the setting sun. She was almost sure that she was on the right way, and most of the distance was already covered. When she was about to give up, she reminded herself that she passed the point of no return – now she could only go forward. With all the willpower, she forced her body to move ahead, her knees trembling from exhaustion. Slowly, she made her way down the path, step by step, but forward.

         It took a lot of effort, not to stray from the path in the night. The forest was dark; the light of moon and stars couldn’t penetrate the shadow cast by the trees. The treacherous Riada Swamp wanted to devour her, and she got almost sucked in a couple of times, but the glowing red flower was showing her the safe path.  From time to time, she heard rustling and all kinds of noises made by animals. Every time, she flinched, thinking it was Aedain, who would want to murder her. And that will probably happen, if I don’t get to Lavena soon, she thought, speeding up despite her sore legs.

         “Dad, mom, Hailey, I will get out of this alive,” she muttered, encouraging herself. With a newfound determination, she marched to her destination.

         Aedain was circling over the forest, covering nearly the entire Riada Swamp. He was in very bad mood. First he wasted the entire day on chasing illusions, and now he had to pursuit the idiot woman and his precious Key.

         The heavy rain made following the woman’s scent difficult, so he had to search blindly for any trace of her, hoping, that he would find it by accident.

         The dragon gritted his teeth, as he thought, how foolish he was to trust a human. The whole time he let her travel with him; he kept her alive, safe and fed, and now she dared to escape from him! He even planned on letting her live until death of old age! He couldn’t forgive her such ingratitude and betrayal. The worst was, that she not only broke her word, but also took the child and the key with herself, forfeiting all his plans. Aedain felt blood boiling in his veins from rage.

         Aedain growled with fury and changed the direction of the flight. Then he smiled maliciously, as he picked up a familiar scent. The trail was fresh.

         Woman, you will be punished for escaping me, he thought.

         May tripped and fell, when her legs refused to move properly. Slowly, she pulled herself back up and looked around. She was standing on the edge of a small clearing. The sunrays were seeping through the leaves, making the dark forest brighter than at night. The surroundings changed as well – the hostile environment of gurgling marshes and wilderness became replaced with that of a regular forest. The red flower, which had been guiding May all along withered after the night, shedding the flakes. However, May didn’t feel like she needed it anymore, as this part of the swamp looked safe.

         She took a few steps more and saw more light behind the trees in front of her. She squinted her eyes and smiled faintly, when she saw the fields, that looked very familiar. Between the distant village and the edge of the forest, Lavena’s tower was standing proud.

         She made it! May laughed, her voice creaking a bit – she was almost at her destination. Gathering her strength, May made her way to the tower.

         “Hello, May.” A deep voice sent chills down her May’s her greatest fears came true.

         Slowly, May turned around, mortified. Few feet from her stood no one other than Aedain, glaring at her with raw fury. May was paralyzed; she felt like a deer in the headlights. The demon sent her predatory look and clenched his fingers. That was enough for her to figure out what would happen next. Desperate, she whirled around and darted towards the tower with all the speed she could manage.

         She made only a few steps, when she felt something grabbing her shoulder and slamming her into the nearest tree. May screamed, when the demon roughly pinned her to the tree, nearly crushing her small frame. He was clutching her shoulder, tightening the grip of his fingers. On her, once white dress red stains began appearing, as the man pressed her flesh so forcefully, he broke her skin. He was so close to her that May’s any movement would be blocked. She couldn’t breathe, as her ribcage was squished between the tree and Aedain’s crimson armor.

         The demon leaned to the terrified girl and inhaled her scent. May trembled, when she felt his lips brushing against her earlobe, his hot breath against her neck. The demon slowly slid his hand from her shoulder to the neck, tracing her artery with his thumb.

         “I told you not to escape from me,” he whispered to May’s ear, before pulling back to look at her. May’s eyes met his cold gaze.

         “Aedain, I’m…”  she stuttered, trying to defend herself, but stopped, when she saw the expression of rage showing on the demon’s face.

         “I will not forgive you!” the man growled and clutched May’s throat.

         She choked and desperately gripped his wrist, digging her nails in it in a failed attempt to make him release her. She struggled, as the demon’s fingers were slowly tightening and crushing her windpipe. May’s vision blurred, her movements became weaker.

         Then he released her, throwing her to the forest floor. She gasped, sharply inhaling the air. After the first shock, when the oxygen filled her lungs again, she pulled herself to the sitting position and looked at the demon. Aedain towered over her and made no move, as though he was waiting for some kind of reaction from her.

         “What do you want from me?” May spoke, her voice shaking, as tears began to well in her eyes. She didn’t understand why he didn’t finish her just now. Did he change his mind about killing her?

         The demon smirked at her.

         “It would be not amusing, if I ended your life swiftly and easily, would it?” he responded.

         May opened her eyes wider, realizing what he just said. The demon wanted her to suffer before she died, and he would enjoy that. She couldn’t see another option than fight. She wouldn’t give up her life easily, even if it meant doing exactly what he wanted.

         May quickly jumped back on her feet and ran. Aedain only waited for that. The demon leaped after her and knocked her down, sending her to the ground. She rolled several meters and crashed against a tree. She gritted her teeth and got up, ignoring the pain. She darted off.

         Aedain rushed after her. May gasped, as he appeared in front of her and pinned her to a tree again. He brought his face so close to hers that their noses were nearly touching.

         “Ready to beg me for your life?” he asked, smiling cruelly.

         May sent him an angry glare and started to struggle. He pinned her right arm above her head, twisting it painfully, gripping her throat at the same time. May hissed.

         “Well?” asked the demon with a sickening grin plastered across his face. Knowing, she would be dead soon anyway, May spat in his face.

         “Never!” she screamed at him.

         His grip tightened, as he returned the glare.

         May slowly reached with her free hand for the weapon tucked behind her sash and grabbed the hilt of her knife. Carefully, she pulled it out of the sheath, not averting her eyes from Aedain’s golden ones.

         He growled and was about to take action when May moved her arm with all the speed and accuracy she could manage; she stabbed the demon in his chest, right above the armor, hoping the blade would reach his heart.

         The demon let go of her arm and jumped back, the shock on his face, as he stared at the knife sticking out of his body. He grabbed the hilt and pulled it out, letting the blade fall to the ground. Then, he looked at the girl, who was still standing in place, unable to move. When their eyes met, May could see his golden eyes reflect surprise that gradually was changing into animalistic rage. She made a desperate attempt to flee, but he was on her in a heartbeat, painfully pressing her back to the trunk.

         He grabbed her throat and started squeezing it.

         “Die!” he growled, about to snap her neck.

         May closed her eyes, praying for the death to come quickly.

         Suddenly, she heard a strange sound. She opened her eyes and saw something flying swiftly towards them. Aedain released her throat, when his armor got cracked and something pierced the tree, right next to May’s cheek. May turned her head to see what it was.

         A spear. The spear went through Aedain’s shoulder, shattering his armor and wounding him quite a bit.

         May stayed plastered to the tree, without a clue what should she do now. The pole of the spear was sticking out of the tree half of an inch from her ear. The demon kept his composure despite his injury, but it was clear to her that he was immobilized, at least for now. May looked over Aedain’s shoulder to see who threw the weapon at the demon; a group of women was standing at the edge of the forest. Over two dozens of red-haired women bore the same determined expressions on their faces; each of them was wielding either a spear or a bow, ready to engage in battle with the demon.

         The one, who looked like she was the leader of the group made eye-contact with May. The blue-eyed woman smiled and pulled the bowstring. May nodded.

         “NOW!” the red-haired female warrior yelled, as arrows and spears rained upon Aedain.

         May gasped, realizing, that she was standing there like an idiot. Instantly, she darted away from Aedain. The sound of arrows whistling in the air everywhere around her was frightening, but she kept on running away from the demon.

         When attacked, Aedain hissed from frustration, furious that he had to let May  slip out of his grasp. Ignoring the pain, he broke the pole of the spear pining him to the tree and whirled around, drawing one of his swords. He had to use all of his focus to deflect the arrows and dodge the spears. It would be a lot easier if his right arm was not injured so much. Aedain glanced toward May, who was just getting away. When the warrior women made a brief pause in attacking, Aedain yelled with all the anger he felt and suddenly threw Dorreach in May’s direction. She tripped, as the sword pinned the sleeve of her dress to the tree. The black-haired demon swiftly drew his other sword, just in time to deflect the second wave of attack.

         When the red-haired women ran out of arrows, Aedain leapt forwards, as though he wished to charge onto them and wipe all of them out at once, but their leader turned out to be quite smart.

         “Scatter!” the woman called to her comrades, and they ran in all directions, hiding in the trees.

         Aedain cursed loudly, apparently burning with need to kill someone. Then, his eyes turned toward someone who was still around and began making his way to her.

         May gasped in horror as the demon was slowly stalking towards her. She still struggled with her sleeve, pinned against the tree, feeling panic welling in her. He was getting closer!

         Suddenly, she saw arrows flying in Aedain’s direction once again. The demon glanced that way as well and then gasped, swiftly dodging them. One of the arrows brushed past his face, cutting his cheek. The demon hissed with irritation and glared at the one, who sent the arrows, but the red-haired woman disappeared in the branches of a tree like a forest spirit.

         “Damn the witch and her wenches,” the angered demon growled, clenching his fist.

         May took the chance, that someone distracted him and pulled the sleeve. The fabric ripped, freeing her. She darted forward, leaving the sounds of raging battle behind her.

         “Over here!” May heard a voice from her right. She noticed a flicker of red from behind one of the trees. She decided to trust the voice and ran in that direction.

         “Here, girl!”

         “This way!”

         May was sprinting as fast as she could, guided by the voices of the forest creatures. She had no clue how much longer would she have to run, but it was the one race she couldn’t afford to lose – her life was at stake.

         Finally, Aedain managed to escape the constant attacks of the witch’s minions and darted after May. He was close to catching her, when the leader of the red-haired women stepped into his way, with the bow ready to fire.

         “You won’t be getting her,” the leader said confidently and then called to May: “RUN STRAIGHT AHEAD, GIRL!”

         May’s eyes widened when she was the witch’s tower right in front of her, maybe two hundred meters away. Her knees felt like giving up, but she kept running. She didn’t slow down when she heard a characteristic whizz of an arrow and a metallic sound, she kept going when a woman’s pained scream pierced the air, she didn’t even look back when she heard someone run after her. She didn’t have to; she knew perfectly who was chasing her – Aedain.

         May focused her gaze on the tower; she felt her pursuer gaining on to her quickly. Then, she felt the tips of Aedain’s fingers brush against her hair as the ground trembled and grass literally disappeared from under her feet. May shrieked when she lost her footing and fell through a hole in ground.

         She groaned when she slammed into the hard surface. May rolled onto her fours and felt a firm cold stone under her fingers. She lifted her head and saw the dark passageway in front of her eyes. A tunnel.

         “Hurry!” she heard a voice coming from one of the ends of the tunnel.

         Instantly remembering that Aedain was right behind her, May looked up, panicked. However, there was no sign of the demon anywhere, the ceiling of the tunnel was whole, as though she hadn’t damaged it while falling down here.

         “Come on, girl!” May heard the voice again.

         She got back onto her feet and began running along the ancient hallway. She kept tripping in the darkness, and the roots of trees kept catching on her hair, making the run a nightmare. The corridor wasn’t straight – it seemed more like a labyrinth designed to confuse anybody in here. Fortunately, the mysterious yet friendly female voice was guiding her all the way.

         “You’re almost there,” the disembodied voice said, encouraging May to keep moving.

Then, she heard a creak and bright light blinded her. Shielding her eyes with the arm, May blinked, seeing a silhouette engulfed by the glow.

         “Get inside!” a female voice called, and May got pulled right into the light.

         May bent in half and was panting heavily, trying to catch a breath. After a while, she straightened her back to see a skinny, gray-haired elderly lady with an aura of dignity and wisdom surrounding her. May assumed she was Lavena, the witch of the Riada Swamp. The sorceress was a total stranger, but the warm look in her gray eyes told May that she could be trusted.

         “It’s a miracle you made it,” the Lavena said with relief in her voice.

         She looked at May, scanning her up and down. May looked terrible after the whole day-and-night  on the run – her thin cotton dress, once white, was now dirty and torn, shreds of fabric hanging from her bare shoulder. She was covered in mud from the toes to the neck; her hair was a mess; blood was seeping from her injured shoulder, and she had nasty bruises on her throat.

         “I’m fine,” May assured Lavena.

         The silver-haired witch nodded, not entirely convinced. She glanced nervously at the still opened door to the tunnel and bit her lower lip, troubled. Then she lifted her head and strode toward May. Lavena gently took a hold of her chin and forced May to look her in the eye.

         “I know, that you came here from the world beyond the Veil through the soul-switching mirror,” she said, the tone of her voice deadly serious. “Now tell me, traveler, why did you come here? What is your purpose?”

         May furrowed her brows, feeling as though Lavena just accused her of having some evil intentions.

         “I don’t have any purpose. I just want to get home!” she exclaimed, fiercely returning Lavena’s wary look. “I got my soul switched by that damn mirror by damn accident! I looked into this cursed mirror and the next thing I knew I was already here, in the body of Duke’s daughter.”

         Lavena was observing May’s face for a longer while, not saying anything, but persistently staring into her eyes. Then, she released her chin and the stern expression on the witch’s face softened.

         “I saw no lie in your eyes,” she told May, sounding much less hostile now. “ I believe, you have no ill intentions. Didn’t you know of the Kal Laismarr before?”

         May shook her head and Lavena sighed.

         “You have the worst luck then,” she informed May.

         “I guess so,” May muttered, agreeing with the sorceress.

         Lavena smiled gracefully and placed her elegant hand on her shoulder in a calming gesture.

         “Don’t worry, your misfortunes will end very soon. I’ll return you to your world right away. The Messenger will soon be in position. The portal will open,” the silver-haired witch sincerely assured May.

         May raised her eyebrow, thinking that Lavena seemed a bit too friendly. It was nice of her to help a total stranger in need, but at the same time it was awfully suspicious that she would risk Aedain’s wrath out of a goodness of her heart.

         “Why are you helping me?” May asked. The cordial smile slowly faded away from Lavena’s lips.

         “Your presence is a danger for the inhabitants of this world,” the witch said straightforwardly. “Even if your heart is pure and good, your knowledge could be used by evildoers for their own purposes. You are a like a weapon, girl, and it is unwise to leave a sharp knife in a reach of mischievous children.”

         May smiled sadly, understanding Lavena’s train of thoughts – theoretically she could tell Aedain how to create a gun or A-bomb.

         “Fine. You’re going to send me back then?” she made sure.

         Lavena nodded and glanced at the other door, the ones, that were slightly opened. “I almost forgot, someone’s waiting for you. Come, child!”

         May let out a joyful sigh, when she saw Erik, who was darting toward the underground chamber, a wide, relieved smile on his lips.

         “May!” Erik exclaimed, throwing himself onto her and trapping her waist in an almost crushing embrace.

         The both of them were hugging each other without saying a word. They didn’t need to – the happy smiles on their faces said all, showing their joy from the safe reunion. May felt the tears of relief and joy run down her cheeks. She lifted her head and looked at the witch.

         “Thank you, thank you very much,” May said, her voice cracking. “You saved our lives.”

          Lavena smiled, looking at May and Erik, and slammed the door shut, right in time.

         The door barely closed, when something heavy collided with the wood, creating a loud thud. Erik shrieked and May instinctively stepped back from it, pulling the child after her. The banging noise was repeating over and over again, as though someone tried to get inside – and May perfectly knew, who it was.

         “Calm down!” Lavena exclaimed, seeing the terrified looks on May’s and Erik’s  faces. The witch folded her arms confidently. “The wards around this chamber are strong. Even Prince Aedain won’t get through.”

         May nodded, acknowledging her words, but the constant banging on the door wasn’t helping her to calm down.

         “No more wasting time,” the witch spoke energetically, ignoring the heavy atmosphere inside the dimly lit chamber, and stalked towards the middle of the room. “I’ll start preparing the gateway.”

         May sat down on the dusty floor, comforting trembling Erik, who attached himself to her like a baby koala to its mother. May was patting the child’s head, while looking around the chamber.

         The underground room was spacious and filled with items commonly classified as junk. In fact, the place reminded her of her dad’s basement back in Baltimore – the books were mixed with ancient objects in the same unruly way. Lavena was struggling to remove a large piece of cloth from a tall thing. Once she finally pulled the thick fabric off it, May could see that the object was a mirror. It was about ten feet tall; the triangular shape was encased in a solid frame made of sparkling transparent crystal. The stone looked too fine to be mere quartz; May suspected to be made of genuine diamond. There were markings carved on the edges of the mirror, but May couldn’t read them.

         She felt a sting of fear when she was looking at the mirror – she had a bad experience with a magical looking glass before. Lavena began setting tall candles and drawing complicated patterns on the floor around the triangular mirror.

         Erik clutched May’s dress tighter when the banging on the door stopped after a while. Somehow the silence was even more unsettling that the constant noise – before she at least knew where Aedain was.

         May sighed when she observed Lavena weaving some spell, which was supposed to make the portal work. Erik kept eying the door suspiciously. The boy squeaked and flinched when the pounding sounds began anew.

         From time to time, single noises resounded throughout the chamber as Aedain tried to barge in from the outside. So far, there was a little success, but the sounds were coming from all the directions, even from under the floor. It was a bad sign. It meant, that the demon began thinking and was searching for a weak point in the magical barrier set around the chamber.

         Afterwards, the whole room shook, as something hit the ceiling powerfully. There was a series of rumbling sounds and then the stones began assuming a red color. Erik inhaled the air sharply and yelped, scared. May had the impression, that it was beginning to get slightly warmer in the chilly chamber.

         “He wants to smoke us out,” Lavena said grimly, making a short break in her incantations to look at the ceiling.

         The witch applied the finishing touches to the pattern on the floor and stood up, looking at the huge mirror in front of her.

         “It’s nearly ready,” Lavena announced, closing her eyes.

         She touched the diamond frame and began muttering some incoherent words. May couldn’t make out what she were chanting, but the words had a certain strange monotonous melody.

         May jumped onto her feet when the diamond frame began sparkling, as though there was light coming from the inside of the gem. The winding pattern on the dusty floor flared with bright silver glow, as the candles lit all of a sudden, all by themselves. There was magic at work here. May took Erik’s hand and hesitantly approached the mirror.

         Then, the mirror broke into million pieces. To May it looked like it exploded; the shards began circling Lavena and breaking into smaller pieces until they were reduced to the size of a grain of sand. The mirror dust flew toward the pattern on the floor. As the tiny pieces of the looking glass touched the glowing lines, they became liquid like mercury. The strange liquid first covered the pattern Lavena had drawn, and then it filled the inside of it, creating a small pond of silver.

         Erik gasped and entwined his arms around May’s waist, as though scared to be separated from his friend by force. He shook his head and looked up, silently pleading to take him along on what journey laid ahead of May.

         She nodded with a gentle smile on her lips. There was no way she could leave Erik in the Callesmere. She wanted to keep the child safe from Aedain, but there was another reason as well; by whisking the Guardian of the Key and the Key itself out of the demons’ grasp, she’d save the humankind in the Callesmere Empire from the power thirsty Aeadain and the others like him.

         “Erik’s coming with me,” May announced to Lavena. “Aedain will kill him if he stays here.”

         The old witch stared at her and the little boy for a while, but then nodded in agreement.

         Suddenly, the chamber shook violently; the fragments of the stone ceiling and dust began falling onto the floor. May looked up, wiping the sweat out of her forehead – the stones building the ceiling were enlightening the cellar with an orange glow, heated by the dragon fire. The temperature in the room rose so much, that May felt the clothing glue to her damp, sweating body.

         Then, the chamber shook again, as a stone block fell from the ceiling in the far corner across the room.

         “Oh no,” Lavena muttered and looked at May. “Get ready, girl!”

         May bit her lower lip, she was scared. She knew what was happening – Aedain was about to barge in.

         Lavena started chanting the final part of the spell; her chants were hastier, as the witch struggled to make it in time before Aedain got inside.

         “Hala Veiten Lar!” the witch exclaimed in the Laismaran language, the language used in all the spells she knew.

         “Calla Etne Seancinne!”she yelled, finishing the incantation.

         The bright light suddenly erupted from the sapphire pendant on the Erik’s chest and traveled toward the passageway, opening it.

         The pool of liquid silver glowed brightly now, and its surface slowly became foggy, as the reflection of the ceiling was disappearing. May clutched Erik’s hand tighter and jogged closer to the portal, stopping only a step away from the passageway. She took a deep breath, knowing that she’d be soon home. If Aedain didn’t get inside sooner.

         Erik squeaked when the floor beneath their feet shook, and more stone blocks fell inside the chamber. May coughed as the dust filled her lungs. She glanced towards the source of commotion and stiffened.

         The light of sun was engulfing the chamber in its warm glow when half of the ceiling disappeared, along with the entire tower which used to be over the cellar.

         Then, everything happened just too fast. May saw a glimpse of crimson scales, as a huge dragon landed in the chamber. The deafening roar made May’s ears ring. The beast batted its wings, and the blow of the air knocked Lavena off her feet. May lost her balance and fell backwards toward the pool of liquid silver; she slammed into the surface which turned out to be solid, and reached out for Erik’s hand. She saw barely anything in the dust and steam.

         May felt her fingers brush against the little boy’s fingertips, when the floor swayed once again under her. She tried to support herself on her elbows, but suddenly the firm surface became soft and gave in, sucking her into the darkness. May gasped, feeling an unpleasant tingling in her body. She tried to free herself, but soon the softness engulfed the rest of her body as well. She wanted to call out, but once the mirror swallowed her, she felt as though she was suffocating. May felt Erik’s fingers slip out of her hold; she tried to grip them more firmly, but then an excruciating pain shot through her body. May opened the mouth, desperate to get a lungful of air, but there was no air in the dark emptiness.

         Then, all the torturing sensations stopped, leaving her in the darkness. May drew a breath, panicked. Her first instinct was to get on her feet and look around, but she couldn’t move properly. Her heart began beating faster, as the fear overwhelmed her – she could barely lift a limb; she felt as though she was laying on something hard, with a foreign object digging in her back. She shifted and heard rustling all around her body.

         “He…” she began, wanting to call out for help, but something filled her mouth when she opened it. May began coughing, spitting it out. She lifted her hand to her mouth, getting rid of it – she recognized by the taste and scent that it was sawdust. She suspected that wherever she was, she was laying in sawdust.

         May took a deep calming breath. Actually, it wasn’t the worst of signs. At least, she knew that she wasn’t stuck somewhere in space between the worlds – she doubted that the mystical Veil separating dimensions would consist of sawdust.

         A bit less panicked, she reached out with her hands with the intention to explore crefully the place she was stuck in. She found a solid surface in front of her and ran her fingers over it. The wood. May bit her lower lip, trying not to panic. She was locked in some sort of a wooden case, like in a coffin. Her rational mind told her to keep her calm and use as little oxygen as possible, but she wanted to thrash and scream. May began pounding with her fists on the wooden surface. She was hitting it so forcefully that her knuckles hurt, but she didn’t stop.

         “HELP!” she yelled, wildly knocking on the case with the fists and knees.

         May felt tears wetting her cheeks, as she was screaming and hitting the inside of the wooden case.

         Then, she heard a creak and light blinded her.

         “May!” she heard a familiar voice and then a pair of hands pulled her out from the coffin-like prison.

         May looked at her savior and exclaimed with joy:

         “Hailey!” she cried and clutched her younger sister, feeling a wave of relief wash over her.

         She made it. She returned home.

         May’s heart filled with joy, as everything she experienced in the Callesmere Empire was nothing but a nightmare now and she had just awoken. Then, her eyes snapped open, as she remembered something very important, something she forgot because of her fear.

          “Erik!” she breathed out and spun around. She looked at the wooden case she was locked in. Inside laid a triangular frameless a similar one to the artifact in Lavena’s cellar. The mirror was covered in the sawdust, which protected the item from shattering. May desperately reached inside, frantically throwing the fistfuls of sawdust away, but there was nobody there. Her bleeding hands hit the solid surface of the mirror.

         May closed her eyes and shook her head, realizing that she came through the mirror alone. She had failed Erik. If only she were holding his hand stronger…

         “I’m so sorry Erik,” May whispered. She was about to turn away from the mirror, when she saw a glimpse of something sparkling in sawdust. She reached there and found a small object, probably the same, which was digging into her back a while earlier. May fished it out and opened her palm to look at it.

         She gasped, when she saw it.

         Erik’s sapphire necklace.