Dangerous, Diabolical
11.4

A smile crept onto my face at the thunderous expression he was wearing, as I imagined him telling me off. He would say ‘I told you to stay put!’ A knot formed deep in my stomach, which was kind of cold and warm at the same time. It seemed to take up all the room inside me but yet, nothing at all. I drew a breath, but my eyes burnt with tears. Pressing my fingertips into the gem I realised all I wanted to do was escape the stupid sacrifice contraption and just hug him and say thank you. And when I’d say ‘thank you’, I’d mean it.

Leofstan realised that my gaze was following him, and the glare on his face lifted a little, before giving me a firm smile that twitched into the corner of his lips. Then he promptly frowned at me again, scrunching his nose, and pointing his head towards the surrounding bodies.

Oh right! I tried to look as melancholic as possible staring off into the distance, wishing I wasn’t about to die. No matter how long I tried to keep my gaze away it was always pulled back each time Leo passed one of the bodies too closely, or he seemingly moved too quickly. I held my breath every moment I wasn’t checking.

Eventually, he grew close enough that the shadows of the candlelight flickered across his face, and I glimpsed the markings positioned over his skin. Several more runes peeked under his cloak, drawn over his arms and down through his torso.

Leofstan stood calmly at the first ring of bloody marks placed upon the floor, glancing out the corner of his eye as he evaluated if anybody was close enough in his vicinity to pay any mind. Coast clear, he slowly knelt to press one finger at the very edge of a line, before deftly wiping it away.

Painstakingly measured, he stood and moved to the next ring. This time he took longer, waiting and observing several marks below him. This time he used the edge of his cape to wipe off a complete drawing in a swift movement.

Leo didn’t go unnoticed by the body closest to him, which rotated to stare at him with hollow sockets. Delicately Leo tilted his head so that his hood covered his features. The body lingered for a moment more, and the figures which hadn’t moved throughout the hours seemed to take notice.

It wasn’t as if I could shout at him in warning that he was lacking subtly, so instead I clenched my teeth hoping it was merely an ill-timed coincidence.

Suddenly all the bodies began to move as one, triggered by an unseen cue, each stepping in time with the last until they arranged in a line staring at me. Leo stuck out like a sore thumb. He jolted into the same position, arms rammed straight by his sides.

The decomposing lines stepped aside as David made his way back to the front. Still smiling he grinned like a schoolboy with a haul of candy.

“It’s time.” He chortled with joy. Keeping my attention on him, and not on Leofstan was proving to be a challenge.

“Then it’s your last chance to let me go,” I replied steadily.

He simply snorted. “Let’s Begin.”

His puppets began to disperse, taking a space around the circles. Leo took the opportunity to inch back to hide behind one of the columns in the cavern, and I just about caught sight of his cloak disappearing around the corner of the stone.

David moved before me, his hand clasping a sharp curved blade already coated with the rusty tinge of dried blood. As he raised his hands, the room illuminated in a blaze of colours creating a blinding show.

Power flowed from the dead bodies into the floor and ended with David, where his magic source became muddied with the copper of dirty browns. Anytime now Leo! Pulling at the binding on my wrists I frantically tried to see what he was doing. His head popped around the corner, eyes wide.

“Wait!” he mouthed, holding up a steadying hand. I growled, frowning. I didn’t want to wait! Whatever was happening, I didn’t like it one bit. Why wasn’t he doing something? This was ridiculous. I was a dragon. I didn’t get scared! I was a mighty hunter!

The power in the room continued to build in the atmosphere, sending my hair to the edge and the room buzzing. Power swirled in the darkness of the ceiling and the runes upon the floor grew brighter. My heart reached an aching tempo as it tried to beat out of my chest. I clenched my face taking a deep breath, trying to do as Leo had said, and just wait.

“Sotoulan!” David spoke in the old language calmly, raising the blade to caress the tip of my neck. A giant crackle split into the room, and then, like a switch of a lightbulb, there was only silence.

Squinting, I swiftly evaluated the room, only to find David rushing off. “What did you do you morons!” He roared to some of the dead.

Leofstan didn’t waste a second, using the opportunity to move from the pillar and sprint his way over to me.

“The distraction won’t last long!” He hurriedly whispered, studying the shackles at my feet.

I really wanted to escape, and say thank you. Also, I was curious if he’d found Grahame. But this might be my only chance to tell him the most important thing on the list. “I did it Leo!” I urgently whispered back. He paused confusion evident on his face. I rolled my eyes. Of course, he’d be confused. “I figured out how to see remnants of magic.” I expanded upon it.

“What?” He hissed.

“You were right, I just had to stop looking.” I hurriedly told him, wiggling my limbs.

“Shhhh.” he urged, pressing a hand over my mouth as he crouched to look at the bindings on my wrists. “This is not the time!” he chastised, slightly smiling. He drew his eyebrows together suddenly, face growing serious again. “I told you to stay in the room, and you promised!”

I did nothing of the sort. In fact, I was only asked not to mess with the door charm, which I didn’t.

“Seriously Leo, I’m about to die if you’re giving me a lecture?” I snapped incredulously.

“Well when you end up in the underworld, I hope you remember that I told you so!” he shouted back. Neither of us was paying attention to the room anymore. We both jumped at the proximity of the voice.

“And just who might you be?” David snarled.

Leo immediately whirled, raising his hands, fingers splayed. He didn’t miss a beat. “I am Leofstan Ortwin of the Supernatural Policies Control Centre, head of the Magical Anomalies division. Under my authority you are under arrest for ritualistic sacrifice, perverting the natural order of death, and kidnap with the intent to cause harm.” As Leo spoke he gathered magic, pooling it around himself.

You’re in trouble now David! “Leo!” I whispered urgently, “Watch out for the portals, there’s no oxygen in there… and it’s seriously slimy.

“Noted.” he acknowledged without turning his attention from David, who ran a tongue under his cheek before popping into a tut.

“Listen here Leowin, I don’t care who you are, you’ll simply be another addition to my army.”

Fixated on the Dybbuk-possessed man in front of him, Leofstan didn’t break his attention for a second. From the corner of my eye, a couple of puppets subtly shifted to gather closer.

Leo replied, “I caution you that I will use force if you do not comply.”

David didn’t respond. Instead, upon their master’s silent cue, all hell broke loose. An explosive meteorite of spectral force unleashed from a point in the crowd directed towards the Druid. Leo didn’t bat an eyelid, striking it down with a swift flick of his wrist, leaving his cape billowing and the dust rushing past.

As the dust settled it caused the perfect opportunity for David to retreat into the safety of the bodies around him. Leofstan lifted a hand, finger pointed to the air. A wave of crackling electricity strobed from around him to gather, before he lowered his hand to release the forked jolts into the closest adversaries.

I wasn’t convinced the reaction as he hit the figures was his desired outcome. Several of them dropped, others spasmed and did not stop. They began to rapidly double in size, their bones fighting as to what they were meant to become. Their necrotic flesh ripped and didn’t repair as it stretched to accommodate morphing limbs.

The crowd had been formed of an eclectic gathering of spellcasters, shapeshifters and several things I couldn’t name that looked like the nightmares that would haunt even the Dybbuk.

“Ah, bugger.” I heard Leofstan mutter under his breath as the closest being took on a suspiciously troll-shaped figure, shooting out a hand to enclose around the Druid’s waist. He threw his hands down onto the creature’s fist, pushing with all of his might, legs squirming.

“Vesoul!” the word of power echoed out, and the crackle of a storm emerged from his palms. Thunder twitched the dead-trolls fingers open, releasing Leo to land nimbly. He dropped into a puff of dirt, just about dodging the next magic-infused attack. His cape flew open and the extent of the lines of runes drawn onto his skin were visible. Winding rune after rune interlinked down his arms and across his torso.

The loose fabric of his trousers concealed lines that ran collecting at his bare feet; where he had a continuous link to the earth to channel as much magic as possible.

He narrowly missed the large fist that came crashing down in an attempt to recapture its prey by rolling to his side. Which is when the sound I now recognised to be the distinctive tearing of a gate opening, resonated through my bones. Weaving between openings, with every step of a foot, casting of a spell and evasion of an attack, his movements flowed as harmoniously as water in a stream.

However, for each creature he dispatched, another took its place. If it still had legs, no matter the damage, it would return to attempting movement. Corpse after corpse crawled out of the opening portals only serving to further bolster David’s defences. The man had caught on that Leo was dispatching his minions with almost no problems and studying his movements carefully from afar.

Meanwhile, I had more important things to do, concentrating on the trickle of magic that should be accessible through the link I held to Leo. I try again to reach inside and metaphorically loop my hands around the tendrils of earth magic.

A vibrating wall of black flew across the room to strike Leofstan with a speed that scattered debris. With no time to prepare the impact sent the druid careening from his feet to heavily clash into the ground. David was still shimmering from the spell, and refusing to let Leo find his feet, sending a second blow to catapult him rolling across the ground.

With a groan, Leo lifted his head from the ground, his dark eyes shadowed and mouth pulled tight, shooting his attacker a scathing glare. David could channel magic so quickly that there was a narrow window which served as a warning, blink, and you missed it.

Leofstan curled his fist into the blackened ground, crushing dirt between his fingers. “Sivesa!” The ground shimmered, and he clasped his grip around an object, ripping his hand loose of the earth he freed a long staff. It released in a shower of grainy residue, the details solidifying as it grew airborne. The oaken body ran straight, ending by twisting around a white orb, where Leofstan’s magic gathered even quicker than before.

A jettison of flames poured over his head from a nearby fire caster, he wrapped the staff close to his body, rolling away to avoid the heat. Using his momentum as a starting point he launched to his feet; turning the stuff in a wide spin the air reverberated and a second enemy blast was sent tumbling away.

“Yes!” I whooped, grinning. A creature that I had no name for dropped from the roof above, latching around Leo who used his staff to attempt to bash its head off.

More dull hollow sounds signified more portals ripping into reality around him as he struggled to escape the clutches of the creature. David sent another relentless barrage that was deflected by a hastily constructed shield that ended up with Leofstan’s captor bearing the brunt of the injuries. The force of the strikes sent him staggering back towards a portal.

When he noticed the approaching threat; he began shooting jolts of electricity to strike anything within the local radius, illuminating the shadows in flashes and bursts.

After a few more staggered steps, Leo was inches away from falling into the chasm. And if Leo was the fall through, I’d lose my only chance to escape. If I was going to take any of his power - I had to do it now - he was mere millimetres from falling through.

Like a scavenger hunting for scraps, I desperately reached to grasp at the elusive power he held. Then he managed to shake himself free and I released a breath I didn’t realise I’d been holding as he blasted the creature away.

A member of the undead army that refused to return to death handed David a night black twisted stick of a staff. As soon as it entered his grasp, like Leo, the power he’d been channelling almost seemed to double. Leo clenched his teeth, chest rapidly rising and falling, nostrils flaring.

Down in these dark depths, amongst the slate and the coal; far removed from nature, his power had been rapidly dwindling. The fight taking place where David was surrounded by the darkness that existed hand in hand with death was turning the tide in his favour and he knew it. Strolling across the room at a leisurely pace he began whistling a merry tune.

Sweat trickled from Leo’s brow as he fixed a long glance towards me. His eyes grew soft and he mumbled something unintelligible over the noise of spells firing, the humming of portals and the sound of my blood gushing through my ears. He didn’t move as if waiting for an answer to his lost words, so I gave him a weak nod and a small half-smile. He returned the gesture, then, with a sharp thrust he wedged his staff into the ground.

“Heed me, Cernunnos!” He boomed with a shuddering cry that sent rocks tumbling free of the ceiling nets. A larger boulder crushed one of David’s abominations with a satisfying squelch as the cavern lit with the soft green hue of Leo’s magic. It drifted to him from every surface to each speck of dust, and even David himself. The speed quickened as it grew closer, flooding around Leo and for the briefest second, I felt a tug on our connection.

I grabbed hold.

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