Chapter Twenty-Five:

Head Sorcerer Mortimer

 

          The women came back in a few hours later, and brought Marium to the throne room. She didn’t see any way to escape, so she let them led her there. They passed hall after hall of shadows and finally entered a brightly lit room with two golden seats, a big one and a smaller one.

          Faede sat upon the smaller one, his royal mage outfit on. Marium remembered it from the first day they’d met. She’d tried to beat him in a magic duel. Now she knew he’d been only giving it a small effort. If he had meant to hurt her during that match, he most certainly could have.

          “Bow down, show respect to the young master!” All the magi in the room dropped to their hands and knees in reverence. Marium remained standing. Faede smirked.

          “Of course I don’t expect you to bow, Marium. We are both gods, aren’t we? You’re the goddess of darkness… and I’m your knight, god of the fire snake.” His smile was both charming and irritating. Marium stared, face blank.

          “Sir, we have brought the other prisoners as instructed.” A soldier stated, then Marium’s friends were marched in, wearing ropes around their wrists and magic wards to seal their powers.

          “Altaire…” her voice was weak, as were her knees. They’d allowed him to keep his staff. They were fools, she thought. To just throw prisoners in a dungeon with their weapons still with them. “You guys…”

          She started to move toward them, but a guard roughly grabbed her by her arm, and jerked her back to her place across the room from them. Faede immediately cast a fire ball at the magi, burning him to a skinless corpse. “Now, I still haven’t made myself clear, have I? Do not touch the girl. Next person that disobeys me will have it much worse than that.”

          Altaire turned and glanced at Faede. The young mage was sternly serious, and all those in the room knew it. But what was his goal in keeping them away from Marium?

          Altaire! Altaire, I’m so sorry, I was so afraid, and I was alone… Marium sent her thoughts to Altaire on a wave of her energy. Faede felt it, and frowned.

          “Now now, that would be cheating.” With a wave of his hand, Faede severed the mental link between the two embodiments of the god and goddess. Now Marium felt truly alone. “Until I can find a permanent solution to that problem, this will have to do.”

          “Head Sorcerer Mortimer has arrived.” A magi announced, and immediately, everyone dropped to the ground. The soldiers forced the prisoners to bow as well. Except for Marium, everyone, even Faede, was bowing low.

          “I see we have a juvenile delinquent in our midst. My future daughter-in-law is already off to a bad start.” The Head Sorcerer’s voice was cold, hard, and flowed with power. He was walking from shadow to shadow, Marium could not see his face.

          Her warning growl was low, and she meant it. The growl was an animal instinct that resided deep within every human, since humans were still animals too.

          The sorcerer chuckled heartily. “Bad girl, don’t attack me yet. I haven’t even spoken to you regarding your Goddess.”

          “Humph. If Yin was a true and just Goddess, she would have struck you down as a baby.” Marium mouthed off, getting a snicker of approval from Cadillac. He was immediately kicked by a nearby guard.

          “Such vulgarity from the High Priestess. It must be those girls from another world. All bark and no bite.”

          “Hehe. Faede can probably argue with that.” She shot back. Faede frowned, rubbing his hand in remembrance. Cadillac suppressed the urge to giggle again.

          “Hm. She has spunk, I’ll give her that. But no manners, or respect. Even to the father of the two men you love most on Pallas. Shame.” Mortimer spoke, stepping out of the shadows to sit on the larger throne.

          His hair was long, but at that moment it was tied into an ebony bun at the top of his head. He looked ageless, not even a wrinkle creased his albino skin. His eyes were the only feature that didn’t remind Marium of Faede. They were an almost heavenly shade of green.

          Faede seemed confused, as did Marium. “Father, you are speaking in riddles.”

          “Oh, I never told you, Faede my boy? You have a brother. An older one that’s been kept hidden from me by your wretched mother.” The Head Sorcerer smirked callously. “Can you guess who it is, or shall I just tell you?”

          “A-Altaire…?” Marium stammered, glancing from Faede to Altaire in disbelief. Now that she thought about it, they did look a lot alike, in some way. They had the same shape of eyes. And their ears were the same.

          Altaire shook his head. “I am an orphan, born in the heavens, Marium. It is not possible.”

          Cadillac gasped. He knew Faede’s mother. She had brought Altaire to him years before she brought Faede, saying that he was an orphan. It fit together…

          “It’s a lie! I won’t believe it!” Faede’s sudden outburst caught everyone by surprise. He was paler than humanly possible.

          His father grinned. “Ah, yes. Your rival in everything, from magic to combat, and yes, even LOVE…” the sorcerer glanced at Marium meaningfully. “Is your older brother. Altaire Zephyr. Zephyr, what a joke. That was your mother’s maiden name.”

          “Enough! This is so ruthlessly stupid! Torturing these two is something that I will not forgive! I’ll fight you alone if I have to! I’m not afraid to destroy you by myself any longer! It must be done!” Marium exclaimed, blushing from anger. She didn’t CARE about her premonition! She would crush this idiot…

          “You think you have a chance, girl? How interesting.” Mortimer pondered this a moment, then stepped back. “Why not? I haven’t had a good fight in awhile.”

          “Marium!” Placid called out, surprised at her carelessness. Altaire was struggling frantically to escape from the guards, and all the magi in the room were leaving to avoid the ruckus.

          Marium came forward, glaring intently at her target. “You first, by all means.”

          The sorcerer’s generosity wasn’t convincing. Marium slowly raised her undamaged hand to the round, blue jewel encrusted into her breastplate. “Summon… blue…”

          The mist dragon erupted from her jewel, causing instant chaos. It roared, shaking the castle furiously, then turned toward the group of magi left in the room that were guarding Marium’s friends. They were all dead within seconds.

          “Blue! Distract that bastard as long as you can!”

          “Priestess, I will need help.” The dragon spoke, calmly. Marium bit her lip, then put her hand on the red jewel that was set in her breastplate. “SUMMON RED!”

          The giant red dragon of fire stood next to his sister dragon. “Hold him off while I untie my friends!”

          “Leave it to us, Priestess!” Red boomed, a dragonish grin splitting his face. Marium ran to her friends.

          “Okay, um…” Marium patted Altaire down, searching for a knife. He squirmed from her touch. Suddenly, from behind her, Faede appeared.

          “Marium, watch out!” Jonah yelled in warning. It was too late, Faede was bringing the dagger down, hard…

 

          Altaire was free from the ropes very quickly. Marium was still cowering from the thought of the dagger slicing through her flesh again. Faede glanced at her, shook his head sadly, than moved on to Cadillac’s ropes.

          Marium resisted the urge to embrace Altaire, and instead, turned to check on her dragons. At that moment, Blue and Red both fell under a giant blast of energy. They stayed down.

          “Oh no! Blue, Red! Get up, he’s gonna kill you!” Marium ran toward her elemental dragons, and stopped. Mortimer was aiming his fingers at her. They glowed with an unholy black light, so bright that Marium shielded her eyes from it. It was a fatal mistake.

          The darkness arrow flashed forth from the sorcerer’s fingertips, and darted toward the blinded priestess… and hit Altaire.

          The priest had dived in front of her, making the arrow hit him. He dropped to the ground, lifeless, a satisfied smile on his lips. Marium shook her head, whispering strange words that no one understood. “… no no no…”

          She covered her ears with her hands and shut her eyes tight. “What is she doing?”

          “I don’t know, Placid!” Cadillac cried, jumping up to cast a spell. He quickly cast a barrier around Marium and Altaire. All he knew was that Marium was somehow gathering spiritual energy from somewhere. For what, he had no idea.

          Faede glared at his father, then turned his gaze to Marium, who was still shaking her head in shock. To think… he’d almost hurt her like that… it made his blood boil. “Flaming fang!”

          Fire in the shape of a giant cobra erupted from Faede’s hands, chasing toward his father. It bounced off him, harmlessly. “That… was my most powerful attack.”

          “What??” Jonah demanded, shocked. “I can’t believe this! Fine mess you’ve gotten us into, Faede! Now how do we get out of it alive?”

          Placid ran to where Altaire was, and began applying medicine. Finally, he used smelling salts to wake him up. The priest sat up, groggy. Marium was done charging up for whatever she was going to do.

          “Goddess of the earth and night, bless me with unholy light, destroy everything within my sight…” her voice was loud, commanding. Her eyes opened and she looked directly at Mortimer. Her aura was seething around her, surrounding her for about five feet around. “Final resort.”

          The energy within and surrounding Marium condensed in front of her, and formed a huge ball. It raced close to the ground, straight at the sorcerer. He tried to dodge it, but it was too late.

          Altaire had seen it all, and he knew… that Mortimer could not be defeated. He was just too strong at the moment. They had to retreat… but there was not way. Not without sacrifice.

          The dust cleared and Mortimer was still standing, barely bruised. Marium’s breath escaped her body in a loud ‘puff’, and she collapsed. Faede caught her before she could hit the ground. “Marium… c’mon, you’ll be okay… Don’t die…”

          A wicked, cruel laugh cut off Faede’s whispers as he clutched Marium close to his chest. “Is that ALL? She should have known that evil cannot hurt evil! Unless, of course, it’s more powerful than the other. Like me.”

          Faede continued to hold Marium protectively, but glanced up to send the worst death glare he’d ever made to his father. “You’re a monster. Marium is on the brink of death, and it’s because she wanted to kill you. To save us.”

          “She is a strange character, indeed. I do not think you are worthy to become her husband. It will take a man that can keep her in line.” His hint wasn’t taken lightly by either Altaire or Faede. “She, perhaps, would bear decent sons.”

          “Shut your mouth!” Cadillac screamed, enraged by the idea. “The only one she’ll do that for is Altair- Uh…”

          Altaire was standing up, shakily, and shot a glance at Cadillac to make him be quiet. The guru turned a shade of red and snapped his mouth shut. “Faede. Come here, bring Marium.”

          Faede wasn’t used to listening to what Altaire told him to do, but he tried to. He walked over to him with Marium in his arms. “We both know that we won’t all get out of here alive. Some one has to stay behind to distract him.”

          “I know. I’ll do it.” Faede was determined to repay his folly to the priestess in his arms. “I want to be worth something to her again.”

          Altaire smiled thinly. “Your magic would be no help. As the old man said, evil begets evil. We both know who must stay.”

          Jonah came up from behind Altaire and laid a hand on his shoulder. “You’ve grown so much since those years ago when Cad and I began to train you. Don’t worry. You won’t go alone.”

          “Thank you, dear friend.” Altaire stated, a little more comfortable at the idea. “You know you’re giving up your life to stay with me, correct?”

          “Of course I know. Or I wouldn’t have suggested.” Jonah finished, then turned to Cadillac. “Hey, you have enough energy left to teleport again?”

          Cadillac nibbled on his lip, nervously. “I might. But what about you two? How am I supposed to just leave you against him?”

          “Cadillac, you’re the only one that can pull off the teleport spell. Remember, Faede isn’t a guru yet.” Altaire commented to convince the little squirrelf. “Besides… Marium will need you.”

          His smile was heartbroken, as he turned his gaze to rest on the priestess in Faede’s arms. “She’ll be less trouble if she didn’t know until later.”

          At that moment, as if she knew that something was happening, Marium’s eyes fluttered open. “Ow… what happened? Altaire, you’re alright, thank god.”

          She tried to stand out of Faede’s arm, but collapsed again almost at once. Altaire caught her this time. She suddenly realized that everyone was looking at them with tears in their eyes. “W-what’s going on?”

          Then she also noted that Altaire was avoiding her eyes. “Someone, please tell me…”

          Cadillac cleared his throat. “Altaire’s staying behind with Jonah to fight Mortimer, while we…”

          “RUN AWAY?! And leave Altaire and Jonah to die?” she demanded, fuming with apparent rage. “This has to be a joke, right Altaire? We’ll fight him together, okay? I won’t leave you..”

          “Do as your told for once, Marium. You’ll be of more use to the world than I will now.” This fact sent Marium reeling.

          “Who cares? You know that I won’t let you go on without me.” She said. There was a blast against the barrier Faede had put around the group.

          “Marium, I…” he paused, then sighed. “I don’t WANT you here with me! Go with Cadillac, at least then you’ll be of some help! You’ll just get in the way!!”

          “W-what?” Marium questioned her own hearing.

          “You’ve always been a burden for me! I have to watch over you, protect you, and for what? For the Goddess Yin’s sake, if nothing else!” Altaire snapped again. “Irresponsible, little, weakling that doesn’t know what’s more important, her heart or the hearts of those around her!”

          “I don’t care what you say, I’m not going!!” Marium yelled, red in the face from all the insults. “Because even though you’re yelling at me, it’s just words, and what do words mean when I can tell what you’re thinking, Altaire?”

          “I told Faede that I wouldn’t tolerate him risking his own life for me, and I won’t tolerate it from you, either.” Marium finished, uncrossing her arms, she grabbed onto his cloak with her hands. Altaire glanced at Faede and they shared an unspoken thought.

          “Eltneg peels- WIND.” Faede spoke, and a sparkling silver breeze swept passed Marium, making her eyelids droop sleepily.

          Altaire caught her as she slumped into his arms. He was visibly shaken, more so than when he’d been shot by Mortimer. Her words were true, though. “Alright, Cadillac. Get ready to teleport away.”

          Marium. I’m doing this because I love you. Just as Faede used the last of his power to make the canceling ring for you. He loved you as well. You can’t always stand on your own, Marium. Some times you have to let others protect you. Altaire sent into her mind. She took a deep breath and cuddled closer into his arms. We’ll be together again, one day. Always remember that Cadillac will be there for you.

          Her eyebrows pulled together in dismay, even while she was sleeping. Altaire bent his head down to whisper in her ear. “Marium. This isn’t my destiny that fate has chosen. I chose this path now so that you may live tomorrow. It’s my choice. You taught me that I have a choice. For that and much more, I love you with all my heart.”

          Then he pulled up and gazed at her sleeping face. She looked so innocent and helpless right then. Finally, Cadillac called out to him that he was ready. Altaire brought her over to where Cad and the other were. LW bounded out from the shadows he’d been hiding in. After all, he was just an animal, and animals get scared easily.

          Altaire leaned down and softly kissed her lips, it was such a startlingly chaste kiss that the pure intensity of it woke Marium up. She blinked from underneath Altaire’s lips, confused. Her lips were responding instinctively, although she could not move any part of her body. Faede’s spell was strong.

          “Good bye for now, Marium.”

          Then her beloved priest turned away from her and strode toward the battlefield, his companion by his side. “No…”

          The tears that spilt from Marium’s eyes were very real. They rolled down her cheeks and splashed onto the cold ground. Her body was shaking again. Faede moved from his spot and wrapped his arms around her comfortingly.

          “Faede. Take care of her.” Altaire’s voice floated back to them. Faede nodded, even though Altaire could see him.

          Cadillac spoke the teleportation phrase and Marium was once again thrown into darkness with Faede’s arms as her only support.

 

End of Part One ^_~ Whew! Intermission, people! Get a drink; go to the bathroom!

 

Tifmonk@chichiri.com