Guardian of the Moon Pendant (16 page)

I heard a thundering sound below, along with the resonance of rattling metal. That all got drowned out when I heard the Bloody Baron, battering the steps with his heavy boots, speeding up the stairs, getting ready to do, who knows what to me.

The line was taut, vibrating beneath my hands. Blane was down below switching the counterweight. I promptly repelled down to the ground, silky raven hair blowing above
my head, flying past the Bloody Baron perched on a railing, a surprised look on his heinous face, and waving to him briefly as I descended.

“Nice seeing you again,” I said to Blane flying past me.

Blane nodded back, his thick arms curled around on the other pulley rope, his barbaric torso soaring up into the sky, his chestnut hair waving wildly in the wind.

I craned my neck up, squinting
hard,
trying to see if I could really see what was under his kilt.

No such luck.

I pummeled down toward the ground floor, my feet landing in the center of the chilly dungeon. Arching my back, I hollered up the hollow of the stone tower, “
Yo
! Baron! Come and get your sweets!”

I barely even blinked when the Bloody Baron popped his head out from above the open grate, foaming at the mouth and growling. He jumped down inside the dingy dungeon, his iron-clad boots making a sickening thud as they landed in front of me, his back humped over, a dapple of blood trickling down his brow, his eyes narrowed in on me as he sneered.

“Now, Blane!”
I yelled up into the dim abyss of the tower.

The Bloody Baron smirked, crouching low to the ground, shifting his weight from bent knee to bent knee, sticking the iron pike in
to
my face.

I gulped.

“I said
now
, Blane!” tugging at my rope, foolishly.

His fingernails drummed along the iron pike, sharp and talon-like, tapping one nail at a time; over and over again, he continued on, repeating the same beat, drumming against it as if it was some sort of tribal ceremony he was preparing for, before he chopped me up into little chicken
McNuggets
.

“Blane?”
I whimpered, “I’m really, really sorry about the Braveheart jokes.”

The Bloody Baron inched closer, his hot breath heating my face, he shoved his crooked nose out, and with a few quick snorts,
he
blissfully inhaled the air around me.
“Sweeter than sweet.”

“Blane!
BLANE!?!?!
”

Blane’s voice called from above, “I can’t, lass! It’s stuck!”

Great, that’s the last thing I needed to hear with this creepy faery getting ready to make instant Izzy minced meat pies out of me. I let out a deprecating laugh and then winced waiting to be chopped up and served in his Red Cap made Shepherd’s pie.

The Bloody Baron’s lips curled into a demonic grin, his lips quivering against his razor-sharp teeth, wheezing as he snickered.

He knew I was doomed.

Chapter 11

♦♦♦

Anabel

Finally, I arrived on the upper landing of the circular stone tower. “What do I do?” I asked Blane, scanning the empty space, noticing only a wooden ladder and a mere slit of a window.

“I doona know, lass” he answered, leaning over the railing, standing guard, his eyes casting down into the dark tunnel below, the wheel of the pulley suspended above his head. “The Guardians always did it alone.”

I rolled my eyes. Seriously, I thought, he was here to help me. I traipsed across the floor to the window shaped like a thin cross, wanting some fresh air and curious to see how high up I was.

“Blane!”
Izzy shrieked from the darkness below.

Blane vaulted over the banister and ran back down the stairs, leaving me all alone.

I gazed out the window, studying the beautiful landscape of Scotland. Even under the darkened skies I could see the lush green hillsides, covered in a blanket of deep purple heather, rolling into one another. I sighed enjoying a faint breeze softly brushing my cheek, a spark of electricity pricked at my chest. My eyes cast down to the Moon Pendant, flickering on and off with a brilliant blue light on its outer set of stones.

The wind!

It made sense to me; I needed to charge the Moon Pendant with the element of air. Hence, it needed the power of the wind. The only open area in this tower was the rooftop. Quickly, I darted over to the ladder and shimmied up it, cracking open a heavy trap door, throwing it open with a deafening bang. I crawled onto the stone roof, searching for a wind source.

Instead, I found myself encircled by a thousand white flickering orbs, buoyantly bobbing in the still air.

“Will-o’-the-wisp,” I whispered to myself, lifting my finger out to touch one, its iridescent bubble bouncing softly in the air, and then drifting aimlessly as if they were bobbing on the ocean.

There was no breeze, no wind at all on the roof, just the mystical lit orbs wobbling serenely above my head.  A single feather swayed in its own breeze, arcing upward, gliding within its own breath of life about ten feet above the stone floor, and two feet away from the tower itself, hovering over the endless drop, down to the solid ground below. There was no way I could reach it. Not unless, I paused, eyeing the metal barren flagpole shooting up from the stone floor. If I could just climb up it to reach the feather, I knew something would happen.

I hugged the flagpole, straddling it with my arms and legs, slowly scaling it, hoisting my body upward inch by inch. At last I was level with the white feather, flittering in the moonlight. I extended my arm out, feeling the spring breeze kissing my skin, my fingers
flailing outward, the Moon Pendant flickering on and off, gaining more and more strength the further I reached out.

“Guardian!” bellowed Blane from below me, “you mustn’t move,” his broad body positioned below me, opening his burly arms out, waiting to catch me if I fell. “Lass, just slide back down and I’ll catch you!”

“I’m fine, Blane,” I answered. My left hand curled around the pole, my body arching back as far as it could go, stretching toward the soft fluttering feather. Boldly, I leapt into the warm stream of air.

“Anabel!”

♦♦♦

Izzy

Yup!
I was doomed for sure! The Bloody Baron pricked the edge of his iron pike into my neck, tapping into his sweet supply of sugary nectar, and my wild berry blood trickled down the nape of my neck. I watched his lanky finger dip into it, soaking up all its goodness, his finger rolling around in his filthy mouth, eyes rolled back into his head in ecstasy, sucking it dry.

“Good, huh?”
I said with a note of hysteria.

I could’ve shivered inside, got sick by hurling up my dinner, projectile vomiting into his asinine face, not that it would have made him look any better, but I didn’t. I needed time, precious time, and I was going to get it!

I released the pulley’s rope, my eyes fixed on the Bloody Baron, fiddling with the laces on my glove, untying them, raising up my scar to this demon’s face. “Look here,” I said frankly; offering him my wound, “you have direct access to the bloodline!” I wiped off my bloody neck with my glove, shoving it up into his wooly nose.

His crimson eyes studied me, shifting sideways, his head lowered down, cunningly, sniffing my bloody glove. His eyes dazzled in delight, I could tell he was hooked on my drug.

“
Ahh
, ‘tis good,” I said, nodding my head up and down. I crumpled the glove up hastily into a ball, flinging it across the cell like a chew toy, trying to play fetch with my new pet.

The Bloody Baron didn’t hesitate and sped across the dark cell.

Looking up, I flung myself into the air, reaching for the edge of the steel gate, barely grazing it with my fingertips.

The Bloody Baron was hunched over, licking my glove in pure delight; his body whirled around, fixing his blood red eyes on me.

I hopped up once again into the air, still missing the edge of the dungeon’s main floor.

His face twisted into a malicious demon, seething, raging with a boiling heat, and racing toward me.

I vaulted into the air like the acrobat that I am (not!), clasping my hands onto the steel gate, bending my knees upward, focusing all my energy into my feet. I plunged the heels of my boots into the Bloody Baron’s chest, hurling him back against the stone wall, crashing his curved back against it, his leathery bod
y sliding down and landing on hi
s arse.

I giggled on the inside, knowing that I somehow won a silent victory, but the palms of my hands were now covered in sweat and blood, and slipping from the grate.

I dangled on the edge for a moment, watching the Bloody Baron rise to his iron feet.

He smiled at me, an ugly shady smile, but still a smile. He seemed amused that I had some chutzpah.

Smile or no smile, I knew he was still gunning for me.

Round one, Izzy.

Round, two, unknown.

As round two began, I anxiously tried to dry my right hand from the blood and sweat, fervently rubbing it against my shirt. But I lost my grip, slamming back down into dungeon’s wet floor.

The Bloody Baron swiftly moved in front of me, his black lips curling up, hissing at me.

“Come on,” I said sarcastically, wrapping the pulley rope around my waist, “I can’t be the sweetest blood you ever had?”

He scowled.

“My sister now,” I continued, hoping another plan would pop into my head. The only plan I had was to stall him from slicing me up into mince meat. “You can’t get any more sugary sweet than her.”

The Bloody Baron’s nails began to drum on his iron pike again. I guess my plan to stall him was getting vetoed by the Bloody Baron himself. So much for a nice quiet holiday in Scotland, I sighed to myself.  The Bloody Baron clenched his pike, grey knuckled, rearing it back, preparing to spear me in the throat.

I closed my eyes tightly waiting for the inevitable.

I heard a shrilling cry, wailing like a banshee, beating against my eardrum. I cringed inside, not wanting to look at his putrid face, thinking to myself that this was another one of his ceremonial pre-butchering the American girl’s rituals he had.

Instead, I felt a warm hand grasp the back of my shirt collar, yanking me out of the dungeon’s pit, tossing me
on
to
the
stone floor. I was still alive and didn’t turn into
the
Red Cap
’s
food! Oh, happy days!

The latticed gate slammed shut,
Blane quickly slid the dead bolt
, locking it into place, imprisoning the Bloody Baron below.

I was in total shock. Braveheart actually came through for me. How about that? I thought of actually giving him a hug. After deciding, he wasn’t such a drip after all.

I crouched to the prison below. The Bloody Baron hissed like a snake, springing up toward the metal gate, clawing and lashing his dirty talon-nails at me.

“Round two,” I beamed into his fiery red eyes, “Izzy.”

♦♦♦

Anabel

The Moon Pendant became alive! Electrical energy surged through its outer stones, bursting into a white hot light. I glided down to the tall blades of grass, sweeping past the cross windows, drifting past all the layers of stones, fluttering on the wind like a feather. I sensed that I could control the air around me as I slowly descended into the dewy grass.

Fergus cocked his head to the side, looking at me and then peering up to the pinnacle of the tower, scratching his head. I raised my finger to my lips, informing him to keep our secret. He gave me a clever smile and nodded.

I felt good having control over the air, and sauntered proudly over to the tower’s front door. The door creaked open, my nose peeked into the darkness, and I sneaked back into the tower, hoping to shock Blane with my ability to coast down from an insane height and to perhaps get a well deserved kiss for completing the first task.

Instead, I found myself in disbelief. Blane’s brawny arms were cinched around Izzy’s waist, squeezing her firmly as they stared into each other’s eyes. My heart sank into the pit of my stomach, twisting and writhing around, slowly being devoured by stomach acid. How could Izzy be so cruel? She knew I was developing feelings for Blane. Sure, I’m supposed to marry Edgar. But, we all can change our minds, can’t we? She knows that after this task we’re supposed to… My thoughts trailed off, as my blood began to boil.

My eyes swept over Izzy and Blane arm in arm. They both gave a half smile as if they were innocent. I tightened my lips into a grim line, scowling at Izzy. She just furrowed her brows at me giving me a “What gives?” look.

I stepped onto the steel gate still steaming inside. Crouching, I stared at the Bloody Baron caged in like a wild animal. I felt the sting of venom coiling in my gut.

“Being behind bars would probably suit you, Izzy, being the crazed animal that you are,” I said with disdain, watching Blane release her from his arms.