CHAPTER 13
Sloane swore.
She watched as Hyde tried to smash the padlock, so they could open the doors to the chamber and help Vicky and Skinner. Nemo had caught a glimpse of the Dark Lord, just before the doors had rammed shut and his attention had been averted by a group of enraged orcs who were determined to have his entails for lunch.
The unflappable Indian captain had felt a icy finger trail up his spine; he could feel the man's malignant aura from outside the room.
Allan came running from the archway that the first group of combatants had entered from. He held his Winchester in both hands, and picked his way through the bodies of the dead orcs. "What happened here?"
"A fight," Sloane answered. "And Skinner and Vicky are in here. We need to get the padlock open."
"Let me do it," Allan said. He reached them and Hyde scowled, but stepped aside. "Do you have a pin?" Mina and Nemo looked at Sloane, who pulled out from her hair a bobby pin. Nemo raised both brows, amused. Allan propped Matilda against the wall as he opened the lock with deft wiggling of the pin inside the keyhole. Allan grabbed his gun, and at his signal, they entered the room, only to stopped short by a charm just after they stepped past the threshold.
"What is this?" Nemo asked. Sloane's brow was furrowed in concentration.
"Charm. I can reverse it, but that'll take time."
"Do it," Allan ordered. "And look!"
They turned. Vicky was exchanging powerful blows with the Dark Lord; Sloane felt revulsion swell up in her and redoubled her efforts to reverse the charm the blocked them. She knew Vicky much better than Vicky knew herself; the Aseyewrn was strong, but she would not last up long against him. Sloane began to sketch arcane symbols in the air with her forefinger. They appeared as smoke and stayed there. Sloane then started to cast the spell, keeping one eye on the situation. The charm used to block their entry was an ancient one, powerful and somewhat violate. If Vicky's condition failed, Sloane was willing to use much more powerful magicks to destroy the charm entirely; it was a major risk, but Sloane was willing to do it.
Vicky was tiring; Nemo could see it in her stance, the slight droop of her wings. It became apparent to him that they had been at it for some time. He surveyed the room and saw the back of Skinner's head. Mina followed his gaze and her eyes widened.
"Skinner!"
With another cry of war, Vicky swooped down on the man who had ruined her life, the subject of her nightmares for two decades. Her twin blades were deadly in her skilled hands, and she slashed, but he brought his saber down against her weapons. While she was pushed down by his sheer strength, he twisted and rammed his elbow down on the small area of exposed skin between the part where her wings sprouted, shattering the bone that connected them both, rendering them useless.
If she had not been so tired, she might have been able to twist around and slice off his arm.
Vicky screamed, and followed through with a fall on her belly. The pain was horrible; her whole back was on dipped in lava. Her wings were aflame. She writhed on the ground as she was kicked onto her back, which only made the agonizing pain worse. He raised the saber with both hands, above her writhing form, preparing to drive it through her chest.
Vicky...
Somewhere, in Skinner's consciousness, something lit up. He was falling asleep, and staying awake was getting harder by the minute. He watched the fight, helpless to do anything.
And then the Dark Lord overpowered her, the saber poised for a killing blow. The blade moved downwards...
Skinner struggled to move; he had to help her, to stop him....The darkness was there. It was claiming him; eternal sleep and bliss. Skinner fought hard. He was numb all over. Finally, he got his jaw to move, his vocal chords to work in a whisper as his fingers twitched.
"Vicky..."
Allan cursed. "Sloane, hurry!"
Sloane gritted her teeth and muttered a spell; the charm before them shattered like a glass vase hitting the ground. Shards of it exploded outward, but then it slowed, nearly freezing in their motion. The room darkened, leaving them in pitch darkness as the torches were put out by a strong gust of wind.
The eclipse had started.
Allan started forward in the darkness, but his lower body was stopped by half of the charm, not fully broken. Eclipses were the bane of the existence of anyone who practiced magick; they wrecked havoc on spells, causing to them to halt, then resume after the eclipse is over. Allan could move his head and upper extremities, but he had no such luck for the lower half of his body. Inwardly, he swore.
There was a sickening sound, a sound of a sword being driven through flesh.
There was a strangled cry.
Vicky's screams were no more.