My Merlin Awakening (33 page)

“I’ll take care of them. You get Merlin,” Vane said.

“Alright,” I said.

He gave me a suspicious look at the easy agreement. I moved to take a step out of the shadows. He yanked me back. “Before we get my brother, I want you to remember one thing.” Hard lips claimed mine in a possessive kiss. I barely had time to shiver from the shock of electricity the kiss pumped through me before Vane released me as abruptly as he’d captured me.

Vane ran out of the shadows at the guards. He shot a fireball at them and one at the door. The guards scattered. The door flew open. My heart racing with adrenaline, I followed. With my sword, I fought off one guard and entered into the nightmare Lelex had devised for Matt.

I stopped cold at the threshold. A lone sconce lit the stark stone box of a room. The glimpses I’d seen the night before had been nothing compared to the full horror before me. Matt hung from chains on the far wall. When he lifted his head, the light illuminated his face. My hand went to my mouth. I stifled a sob.

CHAPTER 16 – THE LION

CHAPTER 16

THE LION

Matt was almost completely naked.  A tattered loincloth and an ugly chain with a yellow diamond were his only apparel. His ribs poked out from under his skin. A skin whose color I couldn’t determine. The stench of blood, grime, and feces filled the room.

He’d been starved and beaten and who knew what else.

I walked toward him slowly. His head jerked at the sound of my footsteps. His mouth moved, but no sound came out. I doubted that his vocal chords even worked anymore. He couldn’t see. His eyelids looked too swollen for him to be able to open. I wondered if he could hear me. Dried blood caked the insides of his ears.

I reached up and touched the sides of his face. He shrank back. Fear spilled from him. It surrounded me, a palpable throbbing object in the air.

“Matt. It’s me,”
I thought to him.

He remained as he was. I closed my eyes and pictured the door again. I knocked on it. No one answered. I pounded on it. No one answered.

“You’re going to need more than that,” Vane said from behind me.

I opened my eyes.

“Guards won’t be bothering us.” From the doorway, he looked Matt over with dispassionate eyes. “This is worse than I thought.”

“Can you heal him?” I said through the lump in my throat.

“The damage is extensive. It’ll weaken me, but I can heal his body.” Vane stepped inside the room. “It won’t bring him back though. It won’t be enough.”

I turned back to Matt. “What do you mean?”

“His mind. He’s probably done the same thing I did. He’s locked himself inside a box. However, while I’ve spent the last month digging myself out of mine, he’s spent the month digging himself in deeper.”

I looked at Matt’s battered face. “What do we do?”

“Not we. You.” Vane came up behind me. “You’ll have to wake him first.”

“I’ve tried. The amulet isn’t working. There’s a door—”

“A what?” Vane shook his head. “Never mind. It doesn’t matter. I’m not talking about using the amulet. Call him back like you did at Akrotiri.”

My eyes fixed on Matt’s sealed ones. “I’m not sure what I did. It was the snake—”

“He almost died that day. You gave him a piece of yourself to bring him back. That piece is the key. Use it to find him. Once he wakes, he’ll be able to heal.”

I had no idea what he was talking about.

Vane put his hands around my waist. His lips grazed my ear. “Now, move—” He picked me up and set me aside. He waved his hand. Matt’s shackles and every link in the chains that held him blew apart.

I blinked at the underlying anger in Vane’s magic.

Matt fell forward into Vane’s arms. Vane laid him on the ground. I watched Vane. So far, he’d played it cool, but I saw the tight lines of his jaw and realized that seeing Matt like this upset him as much as it did me. Considering how hard the brothers went at each other, it surprised me a bit. Vane knelt by his brother and reached into his leather skirt. He drew out Lelex’s crown from a hidden pocket.

“Surprise. Surprise,” I muttered. “Is that why you killed him?”

“I had thought to steal it. As I recall, your obstinacy forced me to change that plan.”

“I’m not obstinate,” I said.

Vane snorted before uttering an incomprehensible magic word. Wind fluttered around us. The emerald on the crown glowed. Vane tapped it against the diamond on Matt’s chest. Matt shuddered. Vane kept the emerald against the diamond. Finally, the diamond dimmed. Vane waved his hand and the chain broke apart. Vane picked up the diamond and threw it across the room. Then, he looked up at me. He crooked a finger and beckoned me forward.

“Your turn.”

I knelt by Matt. Unshed tears stung behind my eyelids at the emaciated state of him. A thought came to me. My eyes flew to meet Vane’s. “If I bring him back, won’t he feel all this?”

“Yes. Wherever he is, he’s keeping the pain at bay. You’re going to be asking him to feel everything.”

I blanched. “But—”

He grabbed my hand and gave it a squeeze that was part reassurance, part force. “We don’t have a lot of time. Once they start thinking again upstairs, this is the first place the mermaids will come. We have to do this fast. That means he has to wake up and help with his healing.”

I untangled my hand from Vane’s. He let it go reluctantly. I closed my eyes. I saw the door again. I pounded on it again. I yelled. I pounded harder until my knuckles bled. The door remained unyielding, a wall of stone. I opened my eyes and shook my head.

“Alright, we do this the hard way.” Vane reached into his pocket and pulled out Medusa’s snake. “I took it off Lelex in the throne room.” He picked up the snake and opened the stopper.

I grabbed his hand to stop him. “That almost killed us last time.”

“It ties you together. This is our only option. He is the most powerful wizard I know. I don’t know how Lelex did this. He shouldn’t have been able to. Which means whatever we’re dealing with is dangerous and strong.” A harsh shadow fell across his face. He looked at me with heated intensity. “It’s going to take something extreme to bring him back. Do whatever it takes.”

He opened Matt’s mouth and let a single drop fall from the snake’s head. The effect was instantaneous. My body heaved in parallel. My hands slammed to the floor. I could no longer keep myself upright. On all fours, I heaved again. I fell on top of Matt.

In the cave tunnel, I saw the Minotaur. Its eyes glowed with hunger, but this time, it ran ahead of me. I held a spear in my hand. This time, I hunted it. I followed it down through the cave. Water sloshed at my feet. In front of me the Minotaur laughed. It liked the chase.

We ran into the endless dark until the bright opening at the end of the tunnel appeared again. The Minotaur stopped and his glowing eyes faced me. The bull-face sighed. “
You don’t have to go. Come back in the dark with me.”

The light at the opening expanded. I put my hand up to shield my eyes. The light faded. I looked around the cave. The Minotaur had disappeared. Still holding the spear, I stepped out of the cave.

“Soon
,” the Minotaur whispered from the dark behind me.

I ignored it. My feet sank into smooth sand. I walked along a calm beach. The same one I’d found Matt on before. I looked into the soft waves. There was no Siren. I looked up into the sky. Black clouds moved across the horizon. They creeped toward me.

I started running. Time was running out.

I didn’t see Matt in the water. He wasn’t anywhere on the beach. I looked back toward the cave and above it extended the side of a cliff. At the top of the cliff, I saw a thick tree with heavy branches. I squinted up. The sun shone down, reddening the rockface of the cliff.
Plenty of rock, but no Matt.

“Oh, he’s here,” a deep voice said. “He’s just hiding.”

I whirled around. Lelex sat on a rock at the edge of the beach. He wore his crown and held the trident. I said lamely, “Lelex is dead. You’re not him.”

“Am I not?” He laughed. “Yet I know where Merlin hides. He sought to trick me. To get me to tell him our secrets, but he did not realize, we are not merely mermaids. We are protectors.”

“Protectors of what?”

“The Minotaur, of course. Within Aegae, lies the realm of the Earth-Shaker. Those who seek him shall be consumed by him. Only the Fisher King may control him.”

“We seek only knowledge.”

“You seek power,” Lelex spat.

My hands tightened around the spear. “Where is Merlin?”

Lelex’s eyes sharpened. “He’s locked himself away. He doesn’t even know himself. How would you ever free him? You are naught, but a little girl.”

I glanced at the black clouds. They chased the surf, prowling closer. “And you’re a distraction.” I let the spear in my hand fly. It pierced the imaginary Lelex through the chest.

Lelex looked down at the spear. Red colored his chest. “Maybe not such a little girl after all.”

He fell backwards.

Above me, a lion roared from the top of the cliff. Rays of yellow sun shone down on the mammoth cat, highlighting the glitter in its tawny fur. I grimaced. I was going to have to climb the cliff. I glanced down at myself. I still wore the tunic and bikini I’d worn in the pit. My legs were bare and I’d lost the sandals. Yet, what choice was there?

I reached the top in what felt like an hour later. Black clouds crowded relentlessly forward. They’d be at the beach in a few minutes. Wherever they touched, I saw only a menacing emptiness. I hoisted myself up on the top of the cliff. I didn’t have to search for the lion. As soon as I landed on the rocky cliff, the lion jumped in front of me.

I was not going to put out my hand and say “Here, kitty.” I was pretty sure the lion would chomp my hand for a snack. I stood still and let the lion eye me. Up close, he was not the prettiest lion I’d ever seen. His ribs stuck out. His mangy fur was bare in places.

I had found Matt.

He was hungry. I stared into the sad, dark brown eyes. The desolate pain in them reminded me of the bull. I took a step toward him. The lion growled low in his throat. I stopped.

Vane had said, “Do what it takes.” There was only one answer. Slowly, I lowered myself to my knees and held out my hand. It shook. I forced it to still.

“Here, kitty,” I told him. “I taste good.”

He eyed me. “
I will hurt you.”

My heart skipped a beat at the sound of Matt’s voice.

“I know,”
I replied.

The lion took one leap. His powerful teeth clamping down on my arm. Massive jaws broke bone and flesh easily. I screamed. The lion roared again. Blue light filled my vision and thankfully, I saw no more.

***

I woke up with a start. My head was pounding. One arm throbbed with pain. I pushed myself up on my elbow with the arm that still functioned. I blinked and focused. Dim light told me I was back in the dungeon room.

“You’re alright,” Vane said.

I looked down at Matt’s stomach. He still lay on the floor. Vane sat on the other side of him. His hands idly draped on Matt’s side, but he wasn’t healing him.

“What are you doing?” I demanded.

Vane watched me with a strange look. “How are you feeling?”

“How is Matt?”

“Look for yourself,” he replied.

I really didn’t want to. I didn’t have the nerve.

“Look,” Vane ordered.

I gave him an annoyed glare. “I’ll look when I want to—”

Matt screamed. My head turned without thought. Blue light shimmered across his chest and face. He had my arm between his teeth.

I nearly gagged. Mutilated flesh best described the state of my arm. It was still attached to me, the bone broken but still there. It appeared rotted. Black veins crisscrossed from wrist to armpit. A chunk of skin had been torn off at the spot where Matt had bitten into the forearm.