The Enchantress (Wicked Book 1) (16 page)

Laura was panting
with exhaustion by the time they found their friends at the fountain.
  ‘Where the hell have you been?’ Leo shouted at their approached, his face red
with anger.
  ‘I saw mum,’ Laura managed to say between breaths.
  ‘We followed her back to a house. We know what they want,’ Drew added and
quickly gave them a run down on what they had heard, leaving the news of James
until last, ‘that was probably how they knew about Laura in the first place.
James told them.’
  A whimper left Stella’s lips and Leo rested a hand on her shoulder. Laura
could tell that it was as much for his own support as for hers.
  ‘How could he do this?’ Stella whispered.
  Laura glanced at Caspian for the first time since arriving and was shocked by
the discolouring of his face. James had been like a mentor to him. He had
already lost so much already, and Laura couldn’t bear to imagine how much pain
he was in. That they were all in, for that matter.
  ‘So they are searching for a soul, and they need Cara’s Black Market Charms
to do it,’ Stella eventually concluded.
  Drew nodded to her, ‘yes and I assume once they find it, they will come for
Laura.’
  ‘Do you know whose soul?’ Leo’s voice was urgent.
  Laura shook her head, ‘no, all James said was that
he
needed my power
to help his army grow stronger.’
  ‘We need to find this soul first, to use as a trade-off for Cara, and then we
need to make sure that whoever this
he
is doesn’t get a hold of Laura,’
Grace’s voice was sharp, her stance fierce.
  ‘We have to stop them, if they have an army of Wicked then who knows what
their plans are,’ Caspian added, his jaw set, his hand gripping the hilt of his
sword firmly.
  ‘Where do we start looking for the soul?’ Asked Gemma, glancing from Stella
to Leo.
  ‘Yeah, it could be anywhere,’ Logan agreed.
  That was when Laura caught a flash of chocolate hair. Moving around Stella
slightly, she locked eyes with her mother. Her heart was pounding in her
throat. Cara gave a little jerk of the head and Laura realised she was telling
her something. Blinking fast, she refocused her gaze on her mother’s face. Had
she seen Laura following them before?
  Cara jerked her head again, slight enough so that Marco didn’t notice, and
Laura turned her eyes to the direction she was gesturing in.
  At the top of a mountain, hidden by bush, was a temple. She turned back to
her mother and mouthed the word
soul
. Her mother gave the slightest nod,
before mouthing back
cave.
  Laura gave her mum the faintest hint of a smile, and Cara returned it before
mouthing
proud
.
  Laura bit back tears and watched her mother rip her eyes away, leading Marco
in the opposite direction.
  ‘We go up there,’ Laura declared, pointing to the temple, ‘that’s where the
soul is.’

‘Are you
sure your mum meant this place?’ Gemma asked, her eyes raking over the cracked
and rotting temple. The stone pillars were crumbling away, barely holding the
structure up.
  ‘They stopped using this temple thousands of years ago due to its weak
structure,’ Leo said.
  ‘Making it the perfect place to hide a soul,’ Drew insisted.
  ‘Besides, it’s in a cave near here,’ Grace said, looking around, ‘but I don’t
see any caves.’
  Laura’s eyes came to rest on the temple, ‘I think she meant we have to go
inside, because the cave is in there.’
  Logan crossed his arms, hugging his body as a gust of cold wind blew through
the trees around them, ‘so your mother must have access to the Charm.’
  ‘I think so, I think she knew we were there, so to buy us time, she lied.
That way we could go after the soul first. She can only hold them back for so
long, though.’
  ‘We’d better hurry then,’ Leo said, heading for the entrance.
  He cautiously pushed what was left of the decaying door open and peeked
inside. After a moment he pulled a torch from his pocket and re-adjusted his
sword, then entered the temple. ‘Be careful, no sudden movements and keep your
voices low.’ Leo instructed as Laura and her friends followed closely behind,
listening to the creaks and moans of the temple as the wind rattled through the
door after them.
  Laura carefully descended the stairs and wandered over the cracked marble
floor. Each of the four walls held double doorways, and in the centre of the
room stood an enormous statue. A man, crown upon his head, sat in a throne with
a forked staph in hand.
  ‘Marries, Emperor of the Gods, ruler of Alast,’ Caspian told her.
  ‘Is he still?’
  ‘God’s are immortal, so unless he commits a crime and is banished to hell, he
will be Emperor forever. Although, he can choose to pass down the crown.’
  ‘Hey, I think I see a cave through this door,’ Logan’s voice echoed
throughout the temple. They all froze. A thin dust showered down from the roof,
but the temple remained put, and they hurried to the door.
  ‘I wonder why there is a cave
in
the temple,’ Logan mused.
  ‘Whoever wanted to hide the soul must have built it, knowing no one came here,’
answered Drew, furrowing his brow as he crossed the threshold.
  ‘Let’s find this soul so we can get the hell out of here. This place gives me
the chills,’ Gemma said, pushing past them. She came to a stop at the cave’s
entrance, pulling her dagger from her belt. She whipped her head around,
‘coming?’
  Laura shrugged and followed, Leo close behind. He shone his torch into the
cave which held no effect. They still found themselves staring into the face of
darkness.
  They had barely been walking for ten minutes when they stumbled across a
clearing, but Leo’s torch was so dim that they could just make out the candle
against the wall before they were engulfed with darkness.
  ‘Anyone have matches?’ Leo asked, and Logan pulled a packet from his bag.
  Leo struck a match, pressing it to the wick. It lit with a
whoosh
and
the fire took off, running through a gutter of oil along the caves edge. The
group covered their faces for a moment, waiting for the fumes to settle.
  When they finally glanced up, they found themselves face to face with two
things. The first was the small stone podium in the centre of the room, a
wooden box placed on top. The second was the razor toothed creature that was
guarding it.

‘Get back
everyone,’ Leo commanded, drawing his blade as the jet black puma eyed him angrily,
snarling and snapping its teeth. He held his sword at the ready as it took
slow, calculated steps towards him, and Stella appeared at his side, pushing
her students back into the darkness of the tunnel.
  ‘Let us handle this!’ Stella ordered, casting them a knowing look.
  The puma advanced on them and although Stella had warned them, her students
drew their swords regardless. Laura followed suit, despite knowing in the pit
of her stomach that she would be useless. She hadn’t had any training lessons
with a sword yet, and she highly doubted she could fight off the enormous animal
with her lack of experience.
  A snarl split the air as the puma pounced for Leo. Stella threw herself into
the animal’s side before it had time to even touch Leo, sending it sprawling
across the ground.
  The puma bounced to its feet quicker than anticipated, and swiped at Stella.
She jumped back, but the cat connected with her arm, tearing through her battle
gear. She cried out as she spun to the left, further avoiding the enormous
beast’s claws, and Leo took advantage of the distraction, cutting through the
pumas paw.
  The creature howled and whimpered with pain as blood pooled from the wound, but
that didn’t stop it. If anything, it only made it stronger. The cut sealed over
and slowly, before their eyes, the paw grew back, the claws longer and sharper
than before.
  ‘What the hell?’ Drew gasped.
  Suddenly, the animal leapt across the ground, landing only a metre from where
Stella stood. Stella didn’t flinch. With a look of determination, she jammed
the blade into the puma’s chest. The animal snapped its jaws, screeching and
howling, but it didn’t die. It didn’t even fall down. It threw its head back
and roared as it swiped the sword from Stella’s hand, sending it clattering to
the floor, and advanced on her. She moved backwards, but found herself pressed
up against the gutter, the flames licking at the wall behind her. She was
trapped.
  Out of the corner of her eye, Laura saw a flash of blue light. Leo’s hands
were extended and a ball of sizzling Lightening grew bigger in his palms. Gritting
his teeth, he thrust his hands at the puma, the light shooting straight at it.
  Thunder clapped overhead as the blaze of Lightening lit up the room,
electrocuting the animal. It shook uncontrollably as it lifted off the ground,
the searing blue light surrounding its body. Leo’s glasses slipped down his
nose as concentration consumed him.
  Laura cringed at the horrid wails of the animal as it tried to break free, but
Leo didn’t stop.
  Stella retrieved her sword. Her hands were steady, her teeth bared and a yell
tore from her throat as she plunged her blade into the animal’s heart. She
drove it down further into the puma’s chest, and Leo drew back his hands, the
lightening retracting quickly before disappearing altogether. Stella pulled her
sword from the creature as it fell to the ground in a dead, black heap.
  Stella slowly crossed the room and fell into Leo’s arms. ‘Thank you,’ she
whispered.
  He just nodded, pushing his glasses back up to the bridge of his nose and
placing an arm around her affectionately.
  ‘Should we get the soul and get out of here?’ Drew asked quietly.
  Stella straightened, sheathed her sword, and turned to the podium.
  Laura stepped towards it, ‘why do people want to preserve their soul?’
  Stella was studying the patterns on the podium, ‘I assume it is so they can
live again. However one must receive a blessing from the Emperor of the Gods or
Devils to acquire the ability to preserve their soul.’ She knelt down, running her
hands over the indentations. ‘I think these patterns might be writing. The
Devil’s writing. I can’t read it though, I never learnt the language of the
Devils.’
  Leo dropped down by his wife’s side, ‘no I can’t read it either.’ He said,
running his hands over the markings, ‘it’s must be an ancient tongue.’
  ‘Let’s just take the box?’ Gemma begged, wrapping her arms around herself,
‘this place is creeping me out.’
 Caspian moved closer to the podium, curious.
  ‘We can’t just take it. If they went to all this trouble to protect it I can
guarantee the second we lift it off the podium a trap of some sort will be set
off,’ Leo said, rising to his feet.
  An arrow whizzed past Leo’s head imbedding itself into the dirt wall, shaking
the ceiling and showering dust over them. Leo stumbled forward, unable to
regain his balance, and knocked the box from its place, sending it tumbling to
the ground with a thud. An incredible white light shot from the open lid and
the cave began to tremble and shake.
  But no one was paying any attention to the soul that was about to escape,
for, blocking the exit, was James and Marco, along with half a dozen Wicked.

Wicked
swarmed into the cave. Laura backed up against the gutter, hiding in the
shadows, her legs trembling, threatening to buckle beneath her. She held her
sword in front of her body, but her hands were shaking beyond control and she
couldn’t keep a firm grip on the hilt.
  Within seconds, the Wicked were clashing blades with the Enchanted.
Laura’s body quivered as she felt the heat of the fire against her neck. She
could move no further back unless she wished to burn to death. Her only luck
was that no one seemed to have noticed her, yet.
  How was she meant to fight? A huge part of her wanted to help her friends,
but as she watched the blur of action, she knew her efforts would be futile.
Two training lessons wasn’t enough to prepare her for battle, as much as she
had wanted to believe she was ready.
  Lightening shot through the air and echoes of the battle swirled around her
as she compelled herself to move away from the gutter to help in any possible
way. All the while, the ground below her continued to tremble and shake as unceasing
dirt and debris rained down over the battle.
  Leo was clashing fiery swords with a tall, lanky Wicked, twisting and turning
at all the right moments. He had the Wicked pinned to the ground in seconds,
and Laura looked away as Leo finished the job.
  An incredible bright purple light was burning from Stella’s hands,
electrocuting an orange headed Witch. The Wicked was shaking uncontrollably as
she was lifted into the air, and no matter how hard she thrashed, she was
unable to free herself of the Lightening that was slowly but surely consuming
her. Stella was in complete control. There was no escape.
  Drew fought off a muscly Wicked, dodging his sloppy punches and striking
blows each time the Wizard tried to regain his balance, knocking him to the
ground over and over again, before he finally put his sword to the Wizard’s
neck.
  Gemma’s face was full of rage as she screamed into a Wicked’s ear while forcing
her sword against his neck, and Laura saw crimson red blood dribble down his
skin from beneath the blade.
  Grace and a Witch were battling it out, hot sparks shooting from their swords
when they clashed, spiralling up into the roof. The Wicked faked left and swiped
her sword to the right, but Grace had anticipated the move and she ducked,
pulled her dagger from her boot and imbedding it into the Witch’s stomach.
  Logan was remarkably winning his battle with not one, but two Wicked. He
ducked under one of the Wicked’s swords before thrusting his own blade out to
block the second Wicked’s red flash of Lightening. It rebounded, blasting into
his chest and sending him sprawling backwards. Spinning out of the way, Logan
watched as the second Wizard’s dagger left his fingers before he could withdraw
his throw, lodging itself in the staggering Wicked’s chest. He jammed his sword
into the remaining Wizard’s heart.
  Laura didn’t know how to fight like her companions. There was a small voice
in her head, screaming at her to stay away from the battle, despite what her
heart urged her to do. She didn’t know if she had the guts to kill, and if she
were to continue edging her way across the room, that was surely a choice she
would have to make. Could she take someone’s life?
  It seemed the time had come to make such a decision, for at that moment,
Laura realised that Marco was advancing on her. Fear pounded in her chest and she
retraced her steps back to the gutter, glancing wildly around the room for
help. Everyone was busy in battle, and as her eyes flickered to the exit, she
noticed that James was gone.
  She retrained her eyes upon Marco, tracing the fierce look of determination
in his face, the large muscles in his arms, the bolder-like fists, the stubby
legs.
  Her mind snapped into action. This man was one of the Wicked responsible for
her father’s death and the kidnapping of her mother, and now he was looming up
on her. He didn’t know who she was, and Laura knew that he would not hesitate
in snapping her neck.
  She didn’t want to die. The fear of his grimy hands on her was all she
needed. In that split second, she made a decision that changed her life
forever. She stopped backing away, raised her sword, and charged for Marco.
  She didn’t know how to work a sword, and she sure as hell didn’t know how to fight,
so she dug deep and followed her instincts, remembering Drew’s words from
training.
Stay on your feet
.
  As she charged for Marco, she dodged away at the last minute, confusing him
enough to unbalance him.
  She knew then that she had one advantage over him; he was huge, yes, but she
was small and could manoeuvre around him easily.
  She was quick to raise her sword and jam it down into his back while he was
still unbalanced, and she heard a satisfying cry rip through the air, shaking
the ground beneath her. He growled, spinning unexpectedly and slamming his fist
into her side, sending her sprawling across the ground. She landed with a thud
against the podium and searing pain shot up her arm as she staggered to her
feet, dragging her sword with her.
  Marco launched himself at her but she ducked out of the way, spinning the
sword in her hand and driving it down into his shoulder blade. She heard a crunch
as Marco stumbled backwards and she again charged for him, ducking under his
swinging fist. She didn’t duck low enough and he came in contact with her
shoulder.
  Pain rippled through her body as she let out a piercing scream. Marco took a
firm grip of her wrist, wrenching her around so they were face to face. He was
twisting her arm tightly the wrong way, forcing her to endure a type of agony
she had never felt before, and she grinded her teeth together, waiting for the
snap.
  And then a dagger whirled past her, sinking into Marco’s bicep.
  He let her go and she didn’t hesitate. She ripped her dagger from her belt
and rammed it into his chest, shoving him with every ounce of strength she
could muster into the trough of fire, pulling back her dagger as he fell.
  Marco’s screams filled the room as the fire and fuel burnt into his skin. His
hands were searching for something, anything, to grab a hold of so he could
drag himself out.
  Laura knew she would never forget his pleas for help. She felt sick, and turned
away from the gruesome sight, the smell of burning flesh filling the air. She
looked around at the bodies of Wicked strewn across the earth.
What did I
just do?
  Her hair hung loose around her face and she gasped for breath. She was so
completely and utterly revolted by what she had done that she couldn’t focus, couldn’t
breathe.
  Drew appeared at her side, immediately pulling her into him.
  ‘Calm down. You need to hold it together until we get out of here. Remember
your mum. Remember we need to find her. Okay? Now breathe, in, then out. In,
then out.’
  She took in a few shaky breaths, calming herself.
  ‘Thanks,’ she said, knowing it had been his dagger that saved her.
  ‘Any time.’
  The trembling of the cave became more apparent as the ground rumbled and
shook beneath them. Laura pulled away from Drew’s arms, frantically searching for
the soul, knowing it was her only hope of saving her mum. It was gone, leaving
behind only a dent in the dirt where it had fallen.
  Thicker clumps of dirt rained down over them and Stella shouted at them to
get out as she shoved Grace and Gemma through the exit.
The cave began to crumble away. Leo was pulling Logan along behind him, leaving
the darkness of battle behind.
  ‘Let’s get out of here!’ Drew cried, grabbing Laura by the wrist and dragging
her after him towards the exit.
  She sheathed her sword and they raced through the tunnel and emerged into the
room.
  The temple, too, shook and trembled as they blundered up the steps. Concrete
slabs fell from the roof around them, smashing into thousands of pieces against
the floor.
  They dove through the doors and could see the others well ahead of them,
almost out of the disintegrating structure. As they sprinted after them the
temple groaned and the walls began to crumbling apart around them.
  Laura raised her eyes to see Leo kicking the door open and ushering everyone
through as Stella screamed for them to hurry up.
  They were just sprinting up the steps when Laura heard a screech. Tilting her
head back, she watched as one of the stone pillars split apart, and she knew
that they wouldn’t make it in time.
  Drew jerked back, pulling Laura with him, and they tumbled down the steps, slid
along the floor and thudded against the statue.
  Drew grasped Laura’s wrist, pulling her behind the stone chair, shielding her
with his body as the pillar collapsed. Laura silently prayed that Stella had
made it out before the pillar crashed into the ground, smashing into pieces and
blocking their escape.
  The second the earth stopped rumbling beneath them, Drew pulled Laura to her
feet and the two of them sprinted up the steps to the only doorway that wasn’t
blocked off by stone.
  Laura choked on dirt and debris as she charged through the door behind Drew, discovering
that the back wall had crumbled away, forming an escape.
  Thanking the Gods, they climbed up over the concrete slabs, Laura breathing
heavily as they finally reached fresh air. They jumped down from the last wedge
of concrete just as the deafening sound of another crash echoed across the land,
spurring them on.
  They took off, moving towards the forest, and dove into the safety of the
trees, rolling to a stop in the bushes.
  Laura peered up in time to catch the sight of cracks running up the walls of
the temple, and then, they split. The temple’s walls fell in on themselves,
smashing to the ground. The roof seemed to hang in the air for a second, and
then it, too, came down, shattering into pieces as it struck the earth. A final
pillar fell, spraying dirt into the air as it came crashing down. Debris and concrete
powder rained down over the ruins, settling in the grass. Laura let out her
breath as she sat up, gawking at the wreckage.
  All was quiet.
  Drew stood, extending a hand to her, and she took it gratefully, allowing him
to pull her to her feet. ‘Are you okay?’ He asked.
  Blood was trickling down the side of his face from a cut above his eyebrow
and his hair was white with dust.
  She realised just how much pain her left arm was in. She could move it, which
was a good sign. ‘I’m probably going to ache for a while, but I don’t think
anything is broken.’
  She noticed that Drew’s knuckles were scraped raw.
  ‘What happened to you? Are
you
okay?’
  ‘It’s nothing, ill fix them back at the hotel.’ He reached up, wiping the
blood from his cheek, smearing it across his face. ‘Let’s go find the others.’
  They hadn’t walked far when Laura finally spotted her friends, and she was
about to run to them when she was suddenly jerked back into the trees.
  ‘Look,’ Drew whispered, and she trained her eyes not on her companions, but
on Mr Stark and his troops.
  ‘I think you know what crime’s you have committed. Withholding information.
Putting your students in incredible danger. Lying about leaving the country.
Looks like you have a lot of explaining to do,’ Mr Stark shouted.
  Stella was clearly frustrated, ‘we can explain it all, but Cara is in
terrible danger and so is Laura. We have to get moving
now
! Those deaths
of women and their unborn babies were an attempt to create someone like her-‘
  ‘Those deaths were
normal
occurrences, exactly as I told you in the emails.
There are always people of the Enchanted willing to fraternise with the Humans.’
  ‘No, you don’t understa-‘
  ‘I
do
understand. I understand that you will be spending the night in
jail before facing the Grand Courts tomorrow and being stripped of your
Identity Mark.’ Mr Stark gave a signal to his troops and they rounded everyone
up, handcuffing them and taking their weapons.
  Laura gasped, disgusted, ‘he can’t do that! They were only helping me!’
  ‘He can do that, because he is that much of a jerk,’ Drew growled.
  The group held their heads high as the troops lead them down the mountain. Laura
wasn’t sure what to do. She watched them disappear over the ridge, and as they
did so, she realised something.
  ‘Drew!’ she cried, grasping his arm, ’Drew where’s Caspian?’
  Drew’s eyes widened, realisation dawning on him.
  Panicked, they turned their attention to where the temple once stood.
  Then, they were sprinting for the ruins.