Blood Bond

I unrolled the scroll when we got back, revealing a drawing of the city's outer wall. There were circles marking out spots at the base of the wall along with detailed descriptions of the entrances. The detail on the drawing was impressive, one could make out the individual bricks on the wall, and the penmanship of the writing for the description was flawless. The quality of print rivaled those of my books, and those are royal books.

It is as I have feared.

My mind raced as I tried to see all the possible results from this, but it was all jumbled now. The future was murky.

"Tamas," I called out to the figure who was turning to leave. "I need you to tell Paroc," I said, wincing at my own decision. "To gather as many students as he can and leave the city."

Tamas tilted his head. He shot a questioning glance at Stonehand, whose face was impassive. "Are you sure? Many of them are quite gifted. They can help our cause."

"I'm even more certain because of that." A cup of warm tea settled in my hand and I turned to the girl who placed it there. I smiled at her. "Anya, I want you to go with them."

"What? No. I'm staying with you, Your Highness." Her eyes were wide as saucers as she pleaded with me.

I patted her hand. "I order you, Anya. They need you to guide them out. Memorize the paths on this scroll. And use your skills to make sure they aren't watched."

When Anya left to pack her things, I turned to Meris and Kael. "I need the two of you to go with her, and keep her safe."

Meris's gaze bore into me. "I can't do that. I'm your guardian."

"And I'm your protector." Kael echoed beside her.

"Please, I can't lose either of you. I don't know what might happen down there. But at least if it goes off, there is a chance I might survive. But if either of you were to be killed." I clutched at my chest. "I can't take that."

Meris reached over and fixed a stray strand of hair that had fallen over my eyes. "Child, when have you become like this? Whether I die or not, I won't let you face death alone."

I took hold of her hand. It turned to grip me with a familiar, yet firm warmth. She was immovable. Finally, my shoulders sagged. "No matter what you said before, I've changed."

When I shifted my gaze to Kael, his eyes narrowed. "I'm not giving in this time."

"If you stay safe, you can go with…"

"I'm your protector," he snapped back at me, cutting me off.

—

The clouds had covered the moon as Hope soared over the walls of the main keep. She flew over the rooftops, and was closing on a balcony with light spilling over it from a set of open doors.

I turned the rolled up scroll in my hand, which had been tied with a ribbon and sealed with my signature on wax. Once I let this go, everything will be set in motion.

Anya has already left with Tamas and Stonehand. Now, it was just me, Kael, and Meris. It doesn't feel like a bad thing. I smiled at the two of them.

"You both look way too serious."

I looked out over the dark training yard, and dark shadowy buildings hiding whatever watchers that might lurk out there. "If they come for me. Don't fight. There's no need to waste your lives. I'm sure they won't harm me."

I was sure that if they came, they would come in numbers.

Kael rushed forward. "Wait, what do you…"

CAWREE!!

The high pitched cry of an Aethelwing interrupted him, followed by the wind from the flapping of its massive wings. I raised the scroll up high and Hope grabbed it in her clawed talons before taking off into the night.

The die has been cast.

Meris was the first to notice. Her eyes shot toward a distorted section of air. Her dagger snapped into her hand, but my hands were already up. I shook my head at her.

A figure coalesced into view behind me, and I didn't have to turn to know it was an elf.

"Drop your weapons," a clear, crisp voice hissed out as cold steel was placed against my neck. Masked figures then stepped out of the shadows all around us. I was right. They did come in overwhelming numbers.

"I will cooperate, if you don't hurt my attendants."

A snort sounded as my arms were pulled behind my back. Heavy, cold metal shackles bit into my wrists, their weight a sudden shock. The smell of rust seeped in around me.

"As if you have a choice. But don't worry, they are meant for better things." The laugh my captors shared with one another made my blood run cold.

This path. I really hope I don't screw up.

They threw a black hood over my head, plunging me into darkness. The rough, musty-smelling fabric scraped my cheeks, muffling the world into a series of indistinct shuffles and grunts as I was pressed out of my chambers.

Through the thin, dark fabric, I vaguely recognized the entrance to the lower levels where I had argued with the guard this morning. None of the men stationed there stopped us when the elves ushered me through.

I half walked and half stumbled down a flight of spiral stairs. Then we were back on flat ground.

Frantic scratching of claws on stone announced critters scurrying away before me. I was shoved along, my slippers failing to find purchase on the slick, algae-coated surface of large rocks. The damp, heavy air moistened my skin, and assailed me with the foul, pungent odor of excrement and decay.

Metal bars lined the paths to each side of me, behind which hollow eyes stared out of the darkness. We were in the keep's dungeon.

The loud drawn-out groan of grinding rusted metal sounded as gates to cells were pulled open.

I was thrown into one of them. The hood was yanked off my head, but it didn't reveal much since the glowing orbs that sat on the dark pillars were dim and far between.

CLANG! CLANG!

A couple of gates slammed shut.

"Your Highness!" Meris's voice cried out. She sounded like she was in the cell next to me, but we were separated by a stone wall, so I couldn't be sure.

"I'm alright." I called out, but the gate to my cell wasn't closed yet. Two elves from the group that brought me here were standing silently next to me.

I wasn't allowed to sit, and was kept standing with my hands shackled behind my back. The minutes dragged on, denoted by the dripping of leaky pipes and the chittering of what must be rodents.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

My muscles were sore and aching by the time footsteps sounded down the hall. After a while, a figure in white appeared, tall, elegant, with flowing silver hair. For a second, I thought of Mother, but I knew better. Those icy blue eyes turned to me and her hair parted at the sides, revealing her sharp ears. Several other female elves in white satin robes trailed after her, but only she stepped inside.

"Really dear, we let you loose for one day and you're already making trouble left and right." Lelian's sing-song voice filled the cell.

"Isn't it a bit crude to kill so many just to stir things up?" I lifted my head, looking up into those cold eyes.

One corner of her lips curled. "Oh, but your family had settled into such an entrenched nest. So it really is your fault."

How dare she! I bit back the rage rising within and desperately searched for another way to change her mind. "Antara, he wouldn't approve of this. He protects us all!"

A light, flowery laugh blossomed out of her and echoed sickeningly against the dark walls. "Child of spring, you truly believe that? Tell me, what is he the god of?"

I felt a cold lump in my throat. The rendering of the Wardstone on the laptop screen burned in my mind.

"Some say that knowledge thrives most in times of need and conflict. From that look on your face, I think you already understand what that means." More laughter escaped her lips as she patted my cheek. "Speaking of knowledge. I'm curious, how did you get Tarallon to talk? And how exactly did you think you would disable our bombs?"

I didn't answer. Instead I sank into my Soul Seed and looked out through the molecular view. This was my one chance to strike at the root of the problem. If I can eliminate her, right now, then all else would fall into place. But when I turned toward her and there was just emptiness, a void where her molecules should be. There was nothing I could push against, nothing I could affect: no caustic stomach acid, no neurons firing. I turned to the elves beside me and they too were just voids in space. What is this?!

A realization sank in. Grand Saint: one of its legendary abilities was an aura that granted the saint and her allies Divine Protection. Is this it?

Lelian didn't even seem to notice me doing anything. "It doesn't matter if you don't tell us now. We will extract it from you in time. Along with the way you controlled that bird without a familiar link." Her long fingers tapped the red orb on my chest. "And to think, we thought it was completely useless."

Hope withered within me like ash in my lungs. I hadn't wanted to admit it to myself, but deep down I was hoping this would work. I am so close. She's still totally unaware! If only that void isn't there. I'm sure I have enough blood essence stored to fry her mind or burn through her stomach.

Lelian was about to exit my cell when one of the white robed elves approached her and whispered into her ear. She stopped, placing a finger at her chin as she looked curious back at me.

"Interesting…" Her eyes were roaming all over me when she came back.

I held my tongue, looking back and forth between that girl in white and Lelian. Whatever she told her couldn't be a good thing.

"I'm told that you're still quite injured, all over. I don't see it." The smile that formed over her lips held no warmth. "But perhaps I can help."

"No, I'm fine. I don't need any… Ouch!"

Lelian had one hand over my chest. A strange distorted glow had appeared from her palm, and although the area below felt briefly warm, my blood around there grew unresponsive. I couldn't sense through them anymore, as if the blood weren't mine anymore. I sensed my skin tearing beneath my dress and pain fired over the freshly exposed nerve endings there. A dot of blood soaked through the fine gray fabric.

I tried to jerk away, but the two elves beside me held me in place.

Lelian perked up at this, her eyes sparkling with excitement. "I never had this kind of reaction to my healing before. This truly is fascinating."

She inched her hand to the left. Another wavy glow lit up from her palm, this lasted a while longer. How much longer I couldn't tell because the excruciating pain that bore into me blew away all thought. The longer she held it, the larger the swath of unresponsive blood grew. More of my skin came apart, more nerve endings exposed.

I screamed, unable to hold back. Only stopping when she stopped. My head lolled to one side. I could only focus on breathing through the pain.

"Damn it! Leave her alone!" Meris cried out from the other cell. Kael's shout and the rattling of metal bars could be heard echoing down the hall.

Lelian however was focused on peeling aside the top of my blood soaked dress and examining what she had wrought. Her eyes studied the flayed flesh. It took a while, but after the glow was gone, my blood reconnected with me at scattered spots and there the wound was slowly being stitched back together. "I see. You have a very fast false healing that can close up wounds quickly. And that is reversed when I apply my slower true healing on the wound."

"Hmm…" She placed a finger to her lips as she looked back to the elf girl in the white robe. "Milander said you're completely covered in wounds. It's from the explosion right? I wonder how deep they are. How effective is this fake healing?"

"Wait… no…" I pleaded through labored breaths.

"Don't worry I won't go for anything vital. You're too valuable now." Lelian's voice was calm as she pulled the straps off my shoulder. Her hand hovered over me. The warmth from her glow touched my skin. Cracks formed as my skin split apart, widening into crevices of open, wet flesh. My muscles and sinews were revealed underneath, moving, throbbing.

Her healing. It felt as if it was focused on pulling out my nerve endings and scintillating them with fire. The sensation of my nerves being restored doused me in waves of searing agony, wrenching more and more screams out of me.

She stopped and the screaming stopped, leaving me a sobbing, snot-nosed wreck.

"So it seems this fake healing might actually do some real healing over time." She tilted her head, glancing from the blood dripping off of my torn up arm to me. "You're still conscious. I'm shocked. You can handle pain well it seems."

She lifted my dress exposing one of my legs. I couldn't stand anymore, but the other two elves held me up. More screams came gushing out of me as she repeated what she had done with my shoulder on my thigh. I dimly heard the others protesting out there and the hollow rattling of bars. My hoarse screams didn't sound like mine anymore.

She lifted my face with the bloody finger that she had used to prod my exposed muscles. "You know, I studied at the Academy here. A long while back. Can you guess my focus?" She grinned as she hissed into my ear. "Anatomy."

I couldn't do anything except for forcing breaths out of my lips and trying to hold back the sobs that wracked my body.

Lelian kept whispering into my ear. "You remember my Jarlen, yes? He's supposed to be apprenticing under Domin right now. But that isn't possible now because of you." She then eased back. "I wonder, would a Full Heal open you up, like one of those cadavers we studied?"

"No, don't… please." I was reduced to begging now.

"Don't worry, I will only channel a tad of Mana."

She raised her hand and that glow rained down upon me. A tingling warmth crawled all over my body, healing warmth, her healing coming in from all sides.

I shook my head at her pale eyes. Tears poured out, before blinding pain exploded into my mind, sundering my consciousness. Dark spots blotted out my vision, and the space around me rang with my screams.

I wasn't sure how long it lasted before they dropped me onto the ground, where I lay as a heap in a pool of my own blood. My body, dotted with splotches of exposed flesh and muscle, convulsed uncontrollably.

Lelian paused at the exit as she was leaving. "Thank you for this enlightening experience. I never realized healing could be so… invigorating. I will take my leave now. But I'm sure our vivisectionists will enjoy their time with you as well once you get to Deepwood."

She said something to one of the two elves beside me. He crouched over me and sliced off some of my hair with a knife. I looked up at him and my lips parted, but only gasps escaped. More tears poured out of my eyes. He grimaced at me. My pain-addled mind somehow registered that he had green hair.

"For your brother," Lelian said, looking down at me as she took the lock of hair.

"My lady, should we release her shackles? Or at least move her on to the bench?" the elf who cut my hair asked, glancing down at the large, black rats that had gathered at the edge of my blood.

Lelian wiped her bloody hands with a white handkerchief from one of her white-robed followers. "No, she will survive the night. A few rat bites won't damage her much."

Once she disappeared down the hall, the other elf beside me sped out of the room and then wretched onto the floor. They didn't waste time slamming the door to my cell shut and then the two of them fled the scene.

The quiet that settled afterwards was punctuated by the fits of my sobs. The pain was ebbing away, but I couldn't stop what had happened from replaying in my head. And every time it did my body would spasm against the hard stone ground. My dress was completely soaked.

"Your Highness, are you?" Meris's lone voice called out in the darkness. It was filled with fear.

"I just… need time Meris…" I wheezed between sobs and spasms.

The rats closed in, drinking from the spreading pool. But it was slowly becoming my blood again. I sensed points in the thick crimson. I was one with the blood now flowing in their veins. The memory of the healing light was fading, and I was starting to see through their eyes.

I need to send them forth soon, to save my city.

But now, I need a little rest.

Some escape from the pain.

I closed my eyes over the pool of dark red.