“Thanks for the welcome.” I smirked.
I circled around the dead bodies that laid on the golden floor, and blood pooled around my boots as I paced with my hands folded behind my back. My coven was deadly quiet, and as they stood still, I could sense their fear, hesitation, and even anger as I faced off with this demonic-looking Duke of the Greenwood.
After all this time, he was not as I’d imagined him to be. In the books, he’d been described as a robustly built man with sharp, angular features, a long auburn beard, and curly dark hair.
But this thing that stood in front of me was no man.
The duke was paler than snow, with two slits for a nose and large, red serpentine eyes. He was so thin his cheekbones were protruding from his face, and he looked more like a skeleton than a man.
“Yes, we finally meet,” he croaked. “It would appear you’ve taken care of my guards… well done.”
He drummed his skeletal fingers together and smiled at me, and his teeth were small, brown, and sharp like a gutter rat’s. Not only did he appear disgusting, but his stench wafted through the icy cold room as a revolting combination of rotting meat and decaying leaves.
Satan, he reeked of death.
“We slaughtered your men like sheep,” I taunted. “Now, it’s your turn.”
The duke slowly glanced down at the floor, and his mouth curled up into a wicked smile.
“I’m afraid not,” he whispered before he snapped his bony fingers.
The room suddenly shook, and then clouds of gray smoke popped up in different corners. We were now surrounded by a new set of guards, and they wore the same protective armor as the other soldiers, with the same crest, shields, and weapons. They were exactly the same as the dead soldiers on the floor, but then I realized something was different.
When I adjusted my eyes and studied our new opponents through the mist, I realized these guards had deformed faces. Then I looked even closer, and I noticed they resembled pigs. They had snouts for noses, and their eyes were small, beady, and black. Boils covered their pink, bumpy skin, crusted pus clung to the corners of their eyes, and the mutated guards all started to cackle and lick their puffy pink lips. Then they all shifted to stand between us and the duke, and my heart hammered in my ears as we faced off across the room.
I looked over the pig guards’ shoulders and met the eyes of Duke Malik as evenly as possible, and he smiled from ear to ear, as if he’d already won.
“What?” I sneered. “Are you too much of a coward to fight me yourself? You have to send another group of useless soldiers our way?”
“I never get my hands dirty unless I need to,” the duke replied in a bored voice.
“I don’t think that’s the reason,” I growled.
“You think you’re clever, don’t you?” Malik asked as he flicked his forked tongue like a snake. He then turned to look at his new set of guards and smiled. “Kill them. We have other matters to attend to. Be quick about it.”
The hideous guards all grinned hungrily in our direction as they stepped forward with their blades unsheathed and pointed right at us. My coven and I retreated into the center of the room until our backs pressed against each other, and we extended our wands out in front of us.
“Now what?” Akira hissed. “We can’t use magic on them.”
“I know,” I replied through gritted teeth.
There had to be a way to get around that problem, so I wildly glanced around the room and tried to think of a plan, and quickly. I looked up at the ceiling and stared at the massive, gold chandelier that hung directly above us. If I could lure the pig guards directly below the chandelier, then, perhaps, we might stand a chance.
But I had to be fast and discreet.
“Follow my lead,” I ordered under my breath.
Then I took a step back, away from the chandelier, and the coven did the same. The guards in turn stepped forward, and they stared at us as if we were prey in the wild.
“And just where do you think you’re going?” one of the guards laughed. “There’s nowhere to run and nowhere to hide.”
“We’re going to bleed you like a stuck pig,” another soldier snarled.
A thick, yellow mucus seeped from his engorged nostrils as he spoke, and I couldn’t help but smirk at him.
“Oh, there will be bleeding pigs,” I chuckled under my breath, “but it won’t be us.”
“What did you say, boy?” the same soldier growled.
I flashed him a smile before I raised my wand.
“Intermissum!” I yelled, and a deep purple bolt of light shot up toward the ceiling and hit the chandelier.
The golden chain immediately broke, and the guards all looked up as the massive ornament made its way down. They squealed in a panic, right before they were smashed underneath the massive chandelier. The floor shook as it broke into hundreds of pieces, and the bones of the guards snapped like twigs underneath the heavy metal. Their limbs slightly twitched underneath the broken ornament, and dark, green blood was splattered all over the room.
“You insolent bastard,” the duke growled as he shook his head in fury and took a giant step back. “I suppose you think you’re very clever, do you? Well, there’s more where that came from!”
“Your room is already stained with blood,” I remarked. “How much more blood are you willing to spill until you decide to face me yourself? Because in the end, that’s what it’s coming down to.”
His face curled up into a gruesome scowl, and I could feel his rage and contempt radiating off him. He wanted to kill me with his bare hands, and that’s exactly what I wanted.
“Are you insinuating I cannot face you myself?” Duke Malik snarled.
“That’s exactly what I’m saying,” I spat. “I think you’re too much of a coward.”
“What did you say?” he asked through his teeth.
“I said… ” I taunted with a smirk, “you’re a fucking coward.”
“I have the power of the Elder Gods flowing through my veins… they bestowed their power onto me, and your headmistress is a fool for not joining them! Other schools have already accepted the Elder Gods as the one true--”
“Yawn,” I cut him off, “you’re all talk and nothing more.”
The duke took a step forward, and as soon as he did, one of my witches lunged forward to defend me. I could tell from the corner of my eye that it was Morgana, since I saw the wisps of her curly dark hair move past me as she neared the duke.
“Volito!” she called out.
For a moment, I thought she’d surprised him, but I was wrong.
Duke Malik was too quick for her, and he raised his wand in a blur of motion.
“Novis!” he shouted, and his red eyes bulged with power.
The duke’s reversal spell hit Morgana’s in midair, and the white glow surged through her own hex and hit the brunette right in the chest. She went flying back and hit the wall with a painful thud, and when her head slid from the wall, it left a trail of blood. Then she fell limply to the floor, and the other witches gasped in horror as she laid there.
Faye’s lip trembled, Akira looked as if she might pass out, and Vesta’s arm shook as she desperately tried to keep her wand aimed at the Duke.
“She’s alive,” I reminded them. “Stay calm… that’s an order.”
My coven nodded gravely and composed themselves, and I turned to look back at the malicious duke and met his crimson eyes. He grinned again as if he had won by hurting Morgana, but I simply smiled to myself in return, because I knew exactly what I had to do.
Then I started to laugh like a madman.
Duke Malik stared long and hard at me, and his ugly smile faded. Then his distorted face curled up into a mask of rage.
“What the hell are you laughing at, boy?” he growled. “I just killed your woman. What in Satan’s name could be so fucking funny?”
“You.” I grinned. “Look at you… you’re nothing but a fucking instrument. A tool that other schools can use. They fuck you until your ass bleeds, and you still go crawling back to them, begging for more. It’s pathetic, and I almost feel sorry for you… with all your blinding pride, you didn’t realize you just committed the greatest mistake of your life.”
“What are you talking about… ?” he started to ask, but then his eyes went wide when he realized his grave error.
The reversal spell made him incapable of using magic for a full minute.
So, I raised my wand and aimed it at him.
Before I could utter a spell, though, he smirked as a wind picked up, and then suddenly, Duke Malik’s crimson eyes turned darker, and he muttered something inaudible under his breath.
Then a violent wind surged through the bloody room, the air turned even colder, and when I met his eyes, they were no longer red. They were dark as night and devoid of any human emotions. His face broke into a sinister smile, and it sent a shiver down my spine as the wind turned into a series of deep, dark voices that ran through my head. They were piercing my skull, and it felt like my bones were going to shatter.
You’re going to die here.
Just surrender yourself, Cole.
You are no match for the elder gods.
The voices were so loud and clear, and I tried to block them out, but it seemed impossible. My mouth was suddenly parched, and when I tried to speak, no voice left my lips.
“Do you feel it?” The Duke grinned because he was successfully buying himself time. “Can you feel their power now? It’s delicious, isn’t it? I tried to warn you… you were no match for us.”
“Cole!” I heard Akira shout.
“Don’t you dare attack,” I growled. “This is between me and him.”
I gritted my teeth and tried to fight back, but the voices were so overwhelming and chaotic I could barely focus on anything except the searing pain. The cold, icy air was beginning to affect my body as well, and I couldn’t feel my fingertips as I held onto my wand. I had to keep it up and aimed at him, though. If I dropped even an inch, he could kill me as soon as the effects of the reversal spell wore off.
I glared at this ugly bastard and tried not to show any weakness. Then, a sudden, sharp pain hit me in the back of my eyes, and it took all my willpower not to pass out from the torment. The voices were growing so loud that I thought my head was about to shatter into a million pieces, and my fingers went lax around my wand.
Let go, Cole.
Surrender.
“It hurts, doesn’t it?” the duke cackled. “Perhaps it is time for me to put you out of your misery.”
No. I had to fight back.
I kept my wand pointed right at him, but between the icy wind and the endless voices in my head, it felt nearly impossible. It seemed like my life was being drained from my body.
“Are you ready to die now?” he laughed.
“No,” I managed to grit out.
It came out as a whisper, but I knew he heard me.
“What did you say?” he breathed in disbelief as his dark eyes widened, and he raised his bony hand to aim his wand at me.
“I said, no!” I shouted back.
Suddenly, all the voices collectively stopped, and a deadly silence filled the air, but it didn’t last for long. I met his eyes, and I knew exactly what he was about to do.
“Mortuus cadunt!” he cried out.
The deadly bolt of red light headed my way, and for a moment, I felt death itself. I could feel as it slowly curled its cold, bony fingers around my heart, and my body grew cold as if my fate had already been sealed. I knew it was the elder god’s magic, though, and it was trying to trick me into believing I was already a dead man.
But I refused to listen to it.
So, just before the light hit me, I gathered every ounce of strength that I had left.
Then I retaliated.
“Novis!” I shouted.
The duke’s eyes widened in astonishment as a bright light shot out from my wand and met his deadly spell halfway across the room. His blackened eyes narrowed at me, and he clenched his jaw in fury as he struggled to overcome my incantation.
I also tried to push back, and sweat dripped into my eyes, even in the freezing cold. As I pushed my magic toward him, my feet started to move, and I realized my body was sliding backward as I tried to overpower him. Then I mentally pushed forward and watched with eager eyes as my light started to eat away at his spell. The red light was slowly edging toward him instead of me.
I was so fucking close.
“This… is… not possible,” Duke Malik croaked. “You’re nothing but a Scholomance student!”
“And you’re nothing but a useless sack of shit,” I retorted.
With the last of my strength, I focused on his spell and willed it to kill him. I could feel blood running from my ears and down my nose as I pushed harder, and my skull felt like it was about to split in half.
But even though my body was begging me to stop, I knew I had to keep pushing.
Finally, the white light from my wand ate the last of the red bolt of magic, and the duke stared down in horror as my reversal spell began to take effect on his body.
Malik opened his mouth, and a bright light erupted from his lips as he started to convulse. His eyes turned from black to white, and it was as if sunlight was coursing through his body. He looked up at the ceiling, and his eyes started to melt from his skull. They dripped down his face like candle wax, and then he shouted one last time before he completely exploded into a million shards of glass.
I covered my face and crouched down, but when the glass hit the floor and the air grew still, I looked over to where the Duke had once stood. Then I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw there was nothing left of him except for his cloak on the floor.
A steady silence hung above me as the room returned to an average temperature. The sunlight also seeped back into the room, and I could hear Morgana groaning as she roused from her unconscious state.
“What… what happened?” she asked as she rubbed the back of her head.
“He’s gone.” I smiled.
“How… how did you manage to do it?” Morgana breathed as her eyes widened.
“Yeah,” Akira replied. “The bastard was full of elder god magic. What did you do to overpower him?”
“I guess he underestimated me,” I said with a smirk. “Come on, we need to get out of here.”
My coven slowly glanced around the bloody room. We were all smiling, and for a brief moment, we relished in our glory. We’d actually managed to kill the Duke of the Greenwood, and I thought we were in the clear, but the moment was short-lived.
Soon, the entire room began to shake, and the walls started to crack.
“What’s happening?” Akira screamed.
“I don’t know!” Morgana shouted back.
The floor started to vibrate beneath our feet, and we could hear screaming all around us. The entire castle was breaking apart, and when I glanced up at the ceiling, I realized with horror that it was about to come crashing down on top of us.
“We have to shadow port back to the school,” I ordered. “Grab on to each other, now!”
My witches nodded, and we all held hands in a circle.
“Velut umbra!” Morgana yelled as soon as we were connected.
The golden room began to spin all around us and morph into shadows, and the screams and sounds of stone falling and cracking also started to fade.
Soon, everything turned to blackness, and a deadly silence filled the air once more.