Chapter Twenty-Four:
Faede’s Tour of Ragnarok; Secret Passages
The
trek to Castle Ragnarok was extremely uneventful and boring, in Marium’s
opinion. But she was sure that things were about to get interesting.
“Alright.
There’s a secret door on the side of the castle, next to the east side of the
moat. Once the soldier goes back to his post we’ll sneak in.” Faede whispered,
then lead them into the castle. “There are five stories from here to Father’s
sleeping chambers. We’ll hide in there until he comes in to sleep tonight. I’m
sure he’ll be caught off guard, and tired from a long day.”
“He
won’t know what hit him, huh?” Jonah questioned as they darted toward the
nearest stairway.
Placid
glanced at every shadow they passed. “Sounds too easy.”
“It
will be easy.” Faede assured him. “It’s a sure thing. We go in, and come out.
The world’ll be a better place when we’re done. Right Priestess?”
Marium
almost jumped out of her skin when she heard Faede speak to here. “A much
better place, from what I gather.”
Faede’s
frown was deep, and not intended for her to actually see. “Well, we’ll see in
the end.”
They
reached the Head Sorcerer’s chambers via a hidden passage behind an oil
painting. Faede quickly closed the painting back onto the wall, hiding the
hole. “See? Not one disturbance.”
“Wow,
you’re wonderful, Faede!” Marium stated, happily. She was relieved that none of
her friends had been hurt on the way up there.
Jonah,
Placid and Cadillac chatted in a corner, while Altaire stood next to Marium. No
one noticed Faede move to the main door and reach into his pocket. He produced
a large, metal key and slipped it into the door’s lock. It unlocked with a
click.
“Faede?”
Marium inquired, inquisitively. She didn’t know why in the world Faede would
open the door once they were already in the room.
His
smile was wicked as he turned to face Altaire. “Since we were children… no,
before then even, you’ve always gotten what ever you wanted.”
“Faede.
This is not the time to joke around.” Altaire spoke, eyes locked with Faede’s.
“You know your place is to protect the Priestess, that’s your destiny…”
Faede’s
laugh cut the High Priest off. It was an evil, insane laugh, and it brought
footsteps to the now unlocked door. “What if I say my destiny in this life is
to get what I want? Finally, I’ll get the rewards I deserve.”
His
eyes rested on Marium, who was quite bewildered. “Faede? I don’t understand
this.”
“Explain
it to her, you bastard!” Jonah erupted, having enough of Faede’s gloating
smirk. Marium’s eyes widened surprised; Jonah never yelled! “Tell her how
you’re betraying us and that you’re a piece of..!”
Jonah
stopped abruptly when he heard Marium take a step back. Her face was pale, and
her hands and body were trembling badly. “B-betray? Faede, you’re… doing
what…?”
She
spun around to face him, only to see the wooden door swing open and row after
row of heavily armed magi-soldiers enter the room and surround them. Faede’s
voice rang clearly in the room. “Take them all to the dungeon.”
He
stopped, thoughts running wildly through his mind in a brief moment. “Wait.
Take the men to the dungeon. Bring the girl to my chambers. I wish to speak
with her.”
Altaire,
who had remained quiet the whole time, had had enough. He raised his staff in
the air and began to cast a destructive spell. But he was cut off when Marium
screamed in protest. Faede had his arms wrapped around her from behind, his
dagger poised to slit her throat in an instant.
“I’ve spilt her blood
before, I do not have any problem with doing it again.” Faede commented,
referring to when he and Marium had blood tied. Altaire’s lips stopped moving,
and his staff lowered.
But
Marium wasn’t going to give up so easily. Swiftly she wrestled one arm free,
and tried to grab the dagger from him. Faede jerked his hand up, which caused
two things to happen at the same time. Marium accidentally got the blade of the
dagger in her hand, slicing it open, and bit down on Faede’s hand as well, the
one holding the dagger. This managed to draw out some of Faede’s blood also.
In
the end, Faede shouted and dropped the dagger, which Marium had been holding on
to, resulting in Marium now having the dagger. She switched it around to face
blade out, blood dripping aimlessly from her wound.
The
magi-soldiers in the room immediately charged forward, seeing the heir to the
Head Sorcerer being assaulted by the girl, only to be stopped again. “NO! I
said DON’T TOUCH THE GIRL! Under no circumstances are you to lay a hand on
her!”
“Sir,
we should take all this scum down to the dungeon and…” one of the sergeants
spoke up.
“Scum?
HAH!” Faede laughed, glaring at the magi. “You get your powers from this ‘scum’.
She is the High Priestess Yin.”
There
were no more incidents. Faede grabbed Marium’s arm and twisted it, making her
drop the dagger. A regiment of soldiers led the men toward to dungeon. Marium
cried out for Altaire, to no avail. “Please!!! I can’t fight alone! Altaire,
Cadillac! Jonah! Placid!!! Don’t leave me alone!”
“Marium!!”
Cadillac’s small hand reached out as he was dragged passed her. Her eyes were
flooding with tears, and her hand still bled profusely. “Don’t worry, Marium!
You’ll be alright! We’ll see you soon, okay?!”
“Cad…!”
she screamed as one of the soldiers hit the poor guru hard on his head to get
him to walk on. “No…”
Marium
was put in another room, all by herself until a group of women came in and
attended to her needs. They were firm, but gentle, which confused Marium, since
she was supposed to be a prisoner. “Please, just take me to the dungeon…”
“The
dungeon? No no, Priestess!” one of them said, smiling. “The dungeon is not a
place for a young woman such as yourself to be.”
“She
looks so beautiful. I’m so proud of my liege for finally finding a bride
suitable of his elegance!” another proclaimed. Marium knew it would be hopeless
to ask anything else, so she just let them undress and redress her in a strange
outfit. It was black, and a dress/robe… that much she could tell, but she
couldn’t tell what it was made out of.
A
male soldier knocked on the door. One of the women opened it, and he whispered
something to her. “I see.”
The
women suddenly filed out, and all was silent. A few minutes later, Faede came
in. He shut the door behind himself and locked it.
“…”
Marium stared at him, eyes empty of any kind of emotion besides distrust
and contempt. It seemed to have an
effect on him.
“I
don’t expect you to understand, Marium.” He started, coming toward her.
Reaching out a hand to her arm, he tenderly folded away the sleeve of the dress
robe to reveal her bandaged hand. “That was quite the sacrifice you made. I
suppose it hurts a great deal right about now.”
Out
of no where, he untied the cloth and began to lift her hand to his lips. Before
he could kiss her wound, she slapped him with her other hand, hard across his
cheek. He looked at her, tears springing in his eyes from the sting to his face
and pride. She stared back into his beautiful violet eyes surrounded by soft,
black lashes sprinkled with droplets of tears. She knew her own red irises must
have been devoid of the usual flame that had resided there. Empty, she felt
completely empty, except that he was there. And right then, all she could feel
for Faede was silent, livid anger that was storming like an emotional
thunderstorm inside her.
“You
have no right to judge me, you don’t know why I’ve done this.” He snapped,
defensively at an unspoken question. Marium blinked, taken back.
“Nothing
can justify handing your friends over to evil. Not even in exchange for someone
you love. Understand that, Faede? I have something I want to tell you. Right
now.” Marium stated, sitting down on the
near by bed. “While I was unconscious from whatever Cadillac did to us
when he teleported us here, I saw a memory. From my past life as the goddess,
Yin.”
Faede
stared at her, slightly interested. She took a breath, and continued. “You were
in it, Faede. The you from then. You didn’t want her to leave, the goddess. The
quest to reunite her with Yang was too dangerous, right? You loved her.”
“You.”
He suddenly spoke, voice quivering. His eyes met hers once more. “You, not her.
You ARE her. That was then, when I was … the knight of Yin, Warrior of the
Snake. You wouldn’t listen to me then, and you still won’t now. I’m doing this
to protect you…”
“DON’T
you understand yet, Faede?!” Marium reprimanded, blushing from hearing such
selfish things coming from someone she cared so deeply for. He flinched
slightly. “The Goddess… I mean… I, wasn’t doing it to BE with Yang. Not
entirely. I mostly wanted to be equal in power to him. I loved him, yes. As I
love Altaire now. And I loved you then as I love you now.”
“But
that won’t allow me to forgive you for hurting my friends like this.” She finished,
coldly, turning her back on him as she sat on the bed.
“My father will be returning soon.” He said, quietly. “I’ve
made my decision. This is my destiny, I’ve come to realize that, Marium. You
should too.”