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"What was the premonition about?"
"I don't know if you're going to believe this, but it was about Andy."
"Why wouldn't I like it then?"
"Because he's killing a man."
"What did the man look like?" Paige asked.
"I didn't see much of him."
"Why would Andy kill someone, and how would he do it anyway?" Piper sat in the chair at the desk.
"It was with a sword."
"A sword?" Piper chuckled, "who uses one of them?"
Grams turned to look at Paige, taking her by surprise.
"What?"
"What were you doing with Andy?" Grams face was serious and Paige felt her cheeks go red.
"Like I said before he was helping me with homework."
"Why did you get Andy to help you when you can get Piper or Phoebe?"
"He was just there at the time."
Grams continued to stare at Paige, making her feel uneasy.
"What else would Andy and Paige be doing?"
"Who really knows, we don't know what Paige gets up to," Phoebe said.
"What are you trying to suggest?" Piper and Phoebe continued to have their own conversation. Phoebe still held the notebook.
"Paige what aren't you telling me?"
"Nothing."
"You need to tell me because it might be important."
"There's nothing to tell Grams, I swear."
Grams took one last long look at Paige to try to tell if she was telling the truth and then exited the room.
Paige looked at Phoebe who was laughing at something Piper had just said. "What's the book?"
"Oh, I don't know, I picked it up and then I got the premonition," Phoebe was about to open it but Paige ran forward and grabbed it out of her hands.
"Whoa, easy girl."
"If its Prue's you shouldn't be going through it."
"It can't be that important if it's not hidden."
"Maybe she didn't hide it because she didn't expect nosy people to go through it."
"Ok, I get the point; you don't have to be so pushy."
"How would you like it if someone went through your stuff?"
"I don't leave anything lying around for people to find."
"Yeah right."
"Drop it both of you; it doesn't matter now does it?" Piper said.
"It does because when Prue comes back she won't want to find all her stuff fiddled with."
"I'll leave alright Paige?" Phoebe stood up and went to her own being louder than normal.
"What's gotten into you?" Piper quietly asked but left as well.
As soon as Paige was alone she sat down on Prue's bed, it was warm from where Phoebe had sat on it. Putting the notebook down on the pillow she knew she needed to talk to Andy. He had said to call him, but she didn't have his phone number. Prue must have it somewhere but she didn't want to go meddling in Prue's things to find it. She wondered where it might be where it would be easy to get to.
As if answering her thoughts the phone in the room rang and she instantly picked it up.
"Hello?"
"Hi Paige, its Andy," his voice said from the phone.
"How did you get our number?"
"Prue gave it to me and I figured you wouldn't know mine. I think we still need to talk about what happened with the book."
"I agree, but not over the phone."
"I'll meet you at Golden Gate Park in about ten minutes?"
"That's fine."
"Bring the book as well." Paige heard the phone click after Andy hung up so she put it back in its cradle. She was going to have to leave now if she had ten minutes to get to the park. She rushed to her room and picked up the book quickly, stroked Sera who tried following her. "Stay there." The white kitten didn't so Paige continued to go down the stairs. "I'm going out for awhile."
"When will you be home?"
"I don't know, but I won't be too long."
She picked up her door keys and went out the door.
It didn't take long to get to Golden Gate Park as Paige walked fast, she didn't know where exactly she was meeting Andy so she waited in the car park. She looked around to see if he was already there but it didn't look like it. A slightly old looking blue sports car parked into the empty space in front of her and she realised it was Andy.
"I didn't know you knew how to drive," she said as he stepped out of the car and slammed the door shut.
"You don't really know much about me anyway. It's not my car, it's my dad's, and I'll be getting my own soon."
"Cool, well I've got the book, so what did you want to talk about?"
"I want to try holding it again, and see if I can get the visions clearer."
"Where do you want to go?"
"Somewhere without loads of people around." They walked around for about five minutes and then they found a spot on the grass that no one was occupying or close enough to hear them talking.
Both of them sat on the warm grass, Paige put the book between them.
Andy looked at the book warily. "I hope this works."
"Just do what you did last time, but try to make out what's happening and don't let go so quickly."
He took the brownish red book into his hands and the visions came to play. They were familiar and from what he could tell there were the same ones as before. They were still too fast, but because he continued to keep his grasp on it they began to slow down. Not after long they were still fast he could see everything clearly.
The white dress was even more vibrant than it had been before. The woman was walking through a street with another man, the surrounding people stood way back and some bowed. She held an athame in her hand. Red blood tricked from the tip down the handle onto her hand. Andy felt his heart skip a beat when she suddenly walked up to a woman on her knees and killed her. She looked confused after the woman fell to the ground dead. She looked to the man next to her, she didn't seem to realise what she had just done. Then Andy saw her face.
Andy couldn't help dropping the book; well it was more like a throw than a drop. It landed about five feet from Paige.
Andy became aware that he was breathing fast and sweat beaded his forehead. Paige hadn't retrieved the book yet but remained sitting.
"Andy?"
He stood up and walked away. Paige rose to her feet and picked up the book running after him.
"What's wrong?"
He ignored her question and walked straight forward towards his car. Paige took the opportunity to stand in front of the car door so he couldn't get in.
"You asked me to bring the book, now you have to tell me what you saw."
"No I don't."
"You found out who the dress belongs to didn't you?"
"It was Prue," his voice was distant and he looked at the horizon over the car.
"Was she getting married or something?" Paige couldn't think of another reason for Prue to be wearing white. 'The training of the Axel will take as long as it needs to; varying with each female and how strong she is mentally. The first task is always to kill someone innocent who poses the need to be killed; that way the Axel can kill him or her easily thinking it's the right thing. After the first task killing becomes something not needing any thought and second nature to the Axel. Depending on the time spent between kills she becomes immune to emotional feeling and freedom. She forgets everything that she knew before she became an Axel and is left to be guided by the son of Ciel. Her sole is broken and lost, she is no longer a person and she can never be brought back to the person she used to be.' The words on their own came into Andy's head, he had no idea where they came from, and he knew he hadn't read them anywhere but they felt familiar.
"No.Prue wasn't getting married, it wasn't that kind of dress," Andy said to Paige's question. What did the words mean?
"What was she doing?" Paige thought how familiar Andy's visions were to Phoebe's premonitions, except his had something to do with the book. She chose not to tell Andy about what Phoebe had seen about him, he didn't need to know yet, and it wasn't even clear what it was about.
"Who's the son of Ciel?" Andy randomly asked, Paige had already told him all she knew, so it wasn't really a question to her.
"I don't know."
"What do you know about Axel's?"
"Nothing."
"I need you to read as much of the book as you can as quickly as possible and see if you can find out more about Axel's."
"What the hell are Axel's then?"
"Just do it."
"You didn't tell me what Prue was doing."
"She was killing a woman."
A bird flew overhead squawking through the air about something.
Everything was always about someone killing someone. That's what it seemed like to Paige, Andy was killing a man, Prue was killing a woman what was next?
"Prue wouldn't kill anyone."
Paige wondered why Andy was going against his own words.
"So then why was she?"
Andy thought hard trying to figure everything out, it was hard with all sorts of feelings and thoughts screaming at him. Maybe he should take the book himself and hopefully get to read it.
"I'll give you a lift home," he pushed her aside and sat in the driver's seat. Paige quickly got into the passenger one holding the book.
"Are we done then?"
"For now,"
The drive to the manor went without any talk. Andy stopped in front of the big house as Paige said thanks and stepped out Andy said "can I have the book to read?"
"But you-"
"I know but it will be quicker for me to do it."
'Men are so confusing, always changing their minds' Paige thought to herself. "How are you going to read it?"
"I'll figure it out."
She dropped it on the seat and slammed the door shut. "I want it back tomorrow."
"Ok."
He quickly sped off the side of the road as Paige heard meowing.
"Sera what are you doing out here?" She picked up the cat and stood there for awhile letting her mind relax.
Prue kept her head down as they went through the small village, it was bigger than the previous one but would that be because half of the other one was in ashes?
There were more people around. The children playing stopped and stared at the massive horses, while the adults did the same but were more interested by the people who were coming.
Isis stopped his horse in front of the nicest looking house, it looked like a dump but it was better than the others. Prue wondered why all the people seemed to be suffering, yes there were the attacks but that didn't explain why everyone looked so inadequate.
"Stay here, I'll be back soon." Isis knocked on the wooden door but entered before anyone replied. The door closed.
The four guards tied their horses to a post outside the house and headed towards what Prue guessed as an inn.
She wondered why one of them wasn't staying with her, but she wasn't too bothered except she didn't know what she was supposed to do while she waited. She dismounted and walked her horse to a small river letting it drink.
Unexpectedly rough hands grabbed her round her waist and a hand was placed over her mouth. She couldn't see who it was because her back was to them. She guessed it was a man because she could feel muscles tense and the body pressed against her was much bigger than her.
"Don't you dare try anything," a husky voice growled into her ear.
She saw more men come closer from the corner of her eye. She had no idea what was going on.
"What are we going to do first?" Another man asked.
"I can't decide, what do you think will work best to break her?"
Prue knew they weren't talking about breaking bones.
"Something that's very effective," a short man stood in front of her inspecting her.
"I know what I'd like to do personally with her," a huge man said,
She got the feeling that something terrible was going to happen to her, and seeing as it was just men around her she felt very scared for what they would do to her.
"You'll get a chance for that later, we all will but we need to teach her how to serve the people properly." The man behind her said. He grabbed a fistful of her hair and pulled her head painfully back so that she was looking directly into the sky. He no longer had his hand covering her mouth. "We are here to teach you how to be a servant to everyone, but we have little time to do it so we'll have to do it quickly."
Prue tried to ignore the pain in her neck muscles but felt her bottom lip quiver.
"Crying is definitely good."
Prue didn't want to show the men that they had control over her so kept herself from weeping. She hoped Isis would come out soon to get rid of these men.
Isis sat at a round table with a middle aged man. "Are your men with her now?"
"Yes, they've probably already started," the man replied. His hair was shaven and his skin as white as chalk.
"How long will it take?"
"Has she already killed?"
"Of course."
"Then it should take the remainder of the day and half the night."
"Good good."
"You don't think it's too early?"
"No, I want her soul broken."
"But she's so young."
"All the better don't you think?"
"My men don't have any mercy; you know what they'll do to her right?"
"Yes. But if they do their job then she won't even care afterwards."
"What are you going to have her do when they've finished?"
"I don't know yet, there's so much to do."
"I've read the prophecies Isis."
"Did you find anything interesting?"
"You need to watch your back; they say that the Shadow is coming very soon."
Isis rubbed his chin with his thumb and index finger. "I have no need to be worried about him, not when Prue becomes an Axel tomorrow."
"They say that he is going to overpower you and free her."
"That's impossible!" He bolted up from his seat. "No one can ever be brought back after their soul is gone!"
"I know that, I'm just telling you what I've read."
Isis sat back down in his chair.
"And it's a new Shadow."
"So how can he achieve anything then?"
"I guess we'll have to wait and see."
They heard a female scream from outside and they both knew it was Prue. "She's going to be great, I'll have her do everything that the people ask of her and then we can begin to take control of the people against us and I will rule everything."
The man pondered Isis's words. Isis was so greedy for power, he had brought many women to the town to become Axel's but they always ended up dying before the next day. He knew that Prue was a Charmed One, which was going to make it more difficult to break her soul. He had always disliked using females to become Axel's and then no longer be who they were, there was no proper need for them except Isis could get them to do the killing rather than making himself look bad.
Hours passed and it was the next morning. A man came crashing through the door, red blood splattered in places on his clothes, but it wasn't his own. He was one of the men with Prue. "We've got a problem."
"What is it?"
"Just come and look for yourself."
The three men went and went into a stone building that was the chamber where Axel candidates were taken. Inside the main room there was no ceiling letting the dark starry night fill the atmosphere. Prue was on her knees blood appearing everywhere on the white dress that was more pink now. Blood trickled from her mouth down her chin and dripped onto the floor. Her eyes were half closed; it had been a very long night,
"What's the problem?"
"She's too strong."
"What do you mean?"
The man who had been talking to Isis before, Briar stepped in front of Prue. Her dark eyes looked up at him, she tried to say something but found that she couldn't, the pain was too much. Whatever was holding her up so that she could sit on her knees only added to the soreness. Her eyes drifted back to the floor.
"She doesn't seem so strong now," Isis said.
Briar kneeled down on the floor, in a pool of blood.
"Normally by now she would have long been lost, but she's fighting all the way."
"Maybe you should break her the other way," Isis said to Briar.
"But it's never been performed before; it's a great chance that she'll die as well as me."
"You know enough for it to at least do something that'll affect her."
"I need you all to leave if I'm to do it." Isis shuffled the men out and finally went himself.
Rain began to fall and splattered on Prue and Briar as they sat on the ground.
"I'm sorry I have to do this," he said with deep meaning as he put both of his forefingers to Prue's temples. She screamed as excruciating pain soaring through her whole body, she collapsed on the ground, unable to move, and unable to even think, but one thing was clear, pain. There was nothing she could do to stop the pain, it was constant and never let up or became more, not that it could be any worse. Briar felt what Prue felt and could hardly contain it within himself as he released the magic into her. This was a way to break absolutely anyone, but it was never used anymore because both people ended up dead. He felt like his life was just about to slip away when it all ended, for him anyway. He knew that Prue was still suffering; she curled up on the floor trembling.
Briar ran his hands over his stubble of hair as he thought about what he had managed to do and watched Prue. He hated that he had had to do it. One day he would make it up to her, but there was no way that he would be able to now, the magic and pain had destroyed her now, it never failed to.
Prue left out a gasp as she tried to get hold of air, all she got was blood. She struggled again but it only made the burning in her lungs intensify.
He heard Prue breathing heavy for about two minutes and then it calmed down, she had managed to find a way herself to get oxygen circulating through her blood stream again. It would have been better if she had passed out from the pain, but the magic didn't allow that. All she would ever feel from now till the day of her death would be pain, pain of the people she would kill, pain from what people would do to her if they fought her and the pain of being an Axel.
That night Andy laid awake in his bed staring at the white ceiling, he had managed to read the book but in a very special way. When he touched it instead of reading the words they were shown to him. He had seen everything and remembered it all clearly. It had been so intense that he hadn't been able to put it done until he had finished capturing all the words.
He still tried to figure out what was happening to Prue, but he knew he needed to get to her and save her before anything happened. But he was a man without power, so how could he achieve such a thing? He didn't want to leave it up to Prue's sisters and Grams, he had a feeling inside that told him to do the job, that he was the only one for it. But what was it he was supposed to do? Get Prue, but from where? How? And then what? How would he get them both safely back home? How long would it take?
Prue had looked stunning in the dress but he couldn't get the picture of Prue's face after she killed the woman out of his head. While she had been walking her face showed no emotion but it was after that didn't make sense.
All the knowledge he knew now would help, but he needed to learn how to use it effectively.
'The one who wears the white dress is a slave to the people of Amory Tara, the Axel. But none have ever been able to last the torment of being broken. The one who does is the one who will get the Demi Xia, all the power from the ring hidden with the depths of the magic river.'
That was it exactly! Prue had been taken to become an Axel to Ciel's son and do as he orders. She had been wearing a white dress and the man she had been with was Ciel's son, he had ordered her to kill the woman. Andy was overjoyed that he had figured it out, but too much time had been wasted. Even though the book had said there was no way to save an Axel, he knew one way. He had to go to Emory Tara and find the Shadow, maybe he would start in Aren, the capital city.
He also needed to decide whether he should tell Paige. She had been the one to come across the book but he didn't want anyone else getting hurt or taken away, it was bad enough that Prue was suffering. He needed to help her as soon as possible hopefully before she was an Axel or it would prove so much harder to bring her to safety.
Andy felt himself fall asleep, but it was a restless sleep that wouldn't help him in any way shape or form.
He was so close to having so much power, yet things still needed to fall into place before he was in complete control. Isis couldn't be happier.
Briar had decided to come along with him and Prue, now that an Axel had been successful for the first time. He always rode next to Prue, why Isis didn't understand. She never said anything, never did anything, just kept her glazed eyes in front of her, just as an Axel was supposed to do.
He couldn't have cared less if Briar had died when he used the magic on Prue, but he hadn't. As long as Briar didn't get in the way then it was all good.
Nothing was going to stop him now, not Briar and especially not the Shadow. If it was a new Shadow then he certainly hadn't been taught the ways of being a Shadow. The last Shadow had been around before Isis had been born and they had always been silly men, having no knowledge of what they should have been doing and didn't hold the power of being a Shadow.
Isis had never known what the point of having Shadows was. They were all for keeping magic to help people rather than to gain every dream that needed to be fulfilled. They had always caused Isis's family problems and had started the rioting in the first place. Now the result was that people were disloyal to him and went against his rule, all they would get was death in return.
They were about half a day's ride on horse away from Aren, there Prue would rise to her responsibility, he knew there were going to be some of the people against him, the people for good magic waiting for him there, what they weren't going to expect is finding themselves against an Axel. He waited for when he would see their reactions and flees when their eyes set on Prue. But they would never get away.
"I don't believe this!" A young man, about 17 yelled out over the roar of machines churning away in his father's blacksmith shop. He had worked for his father since he had been old enough too. He specialised in making the swords people ordered his father to make, sometimes they were long elaborate ones, others simple ones only needed for protection. There was one that he had made for a very rich man but it wasn't to the man's standard and his father had scalded him for doing a wrong job, but it meant that he got to keep it. Lucio couldn't find anything wrong with it, so he practiced his fighting with it whenever he could and always kept it with him. At present moment his father was off travelling, selling his products in other cities and towns to people who couldn't reach Aren.
Lucio turned off all the machines bringing an eerie silence to the shop that was covered in soot and sawdust. His hands completely black left a hand print on one of the wood worktops.
"What have you done now?" A middle aged man asked. He was one of his father's workers who made other weapons like axes and maces.
"There's not enough coal to keep the fires running for even another hour."
"Well go and get some more, cut up some wood and bring it in at the same time."
Lucio was glad to be leaving the hot shop and have a break from working all the heavy machines and dealing with tonnes of metal. For his age he was well built, but never bothered with girlfriends. He would marry when he was older and inherit his father's fortunes and pass them on to his children then.
He pulled on a grey vest over his chest and headed out to the other business's in the same part of the huge city. He knew where it would be cheaper to get the coal he needed, his just hoped the shop owner's horse and cart was available for taking the load to his own shop.
"Ah, my boy Lucio, is your father back yet?" A man asked him. It was one of the regular customers, but Lucio didn't like him. He always wore fine clothes and boasted about his money. He wasn't as rich as the man who had refused the sword, but acted like he was. Lucio looked like a beggar standing next to him as his clothes were filthy from working.
"No he'll be back the day after tomorrow."
"I see he's still trying to find more money then." The man also loved the fact that Lucio and his father had no money. Lucio never knew his mother and was an only child which made it easier to keep costs down but money was still hard to come across.
"And from what I hear he's doing remarkably well," Lucio said to the man and rudely walked off, he wasn't lying. Earlier in the morning he had received a message from his father saying that he was making more money than he had ever before.
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"What was the premonition about?"
"I don't know if you're going to believe this, but it was about Andy."
"Why wouldn't I like it then?"
"Because he's killing a man."
"What did the man look like?" Paige asked.
"I didn't see much of him."
"Why would Andy kill someone, and how would he do it anyway?" Piper sat in the chair at the desk.
"It was with a sword."
"A sword?" Piper chuckled, "who uses one of them?"
Grams turned to look at Paige, taking her by surprise.
"What?"
"What were you doing with Andy?" Grams face was serious and Paige felt her cheeks go red.
"Like I said before he was helping me with homework."
"Why did you get Andy to help you when you can get Piper or Phoebe?"
"He was just there at the time."
Grams continued to stare at Paige, making her feel uneasy.
"What else would Andy and Paige be doing?"
"Who really knows, we don't know what Paige gets up to," Phoebe said.
"What are you trying to suggest?" Piper and Phoebe continued to have their own conversation. Phoebe still held the notebook.
"Paige what aren't you telling me?"
"Nothing."
"You need to tell me because it might be important."
"There's nothing to tell Grams, I swear."
Grams took one last long look at Paige to try to tell if she was telling the truth and then exited the room.
Paige looked at Phoebe who was laughing at something Piper had just said. "What's the book?"
"Oh, I don't know, I picked it up and then I got the premonition," Phoebe was about to open it but Paige ran forward and grabbed it out of her hands.
"Whoa, easy girl."
"If its Prue's you shouldn't be going through it."
"It can't be that important if it's not hidden."
"Maybe she didn't hide it because she didn't expect nosy people to go through it."
"Ok, I get the point; you don't have to be so pushy."
"How would you like it if someone went through your stuff?"
"I don't leave anything lying around for people to find."
"Yeah right."
"Drop it both of you; it doesn't matter now does it?" Piper said.
"It does because when Prue comes back she won't want to find all her stuff fiddled with."
"I'll leave alright Paige?" Phoebe stood up and went to her own being louder than normal.
"What's gotten into you?" Piper quietly asked but left as well.
As soon as Paige was alone she sat down on Prue's bed, it was warm from where Phoebe had sat on it. Putting the notebook down on the pillow she knew she needed to talk to Andy. He had said to call him, but she didn't have his phone number. Prue must have it somewhere but she didn't want to go meddling in Prue's things to find it. She wondered where it might be where it would be easy to get to.
As if answering her thoughts the phone in the room rang and she instantly picked it up.
"Hello?"
"Hi Paige, its Andy," his voice said from the phone.
"How did you get our number?"
"Prue gave it to me and I figured you wouldn't know mine. I think we still need to talk about what happened with the book."
"I agree, but not over the phone."
"I'll meet you at Golden Gate Park in about ten minutes?"
"That's fine."
"Bring the book as well." Paige heard the phone click after Andy hung up so she put it back in its cradle. She was going to have to leave now if she had ten minutes to get to the park. She rushed to her room and picked up the book quickly, stroked Sera who tried following her. "Stay there." The white kitten didn't so Paige continued to go down the stairs. "I'm going out for awhile."
"When will you be home?"
"I don't know, but I won't be too long."
She picked up her door keys and went out the door.
It didn't take long to get to Golden Gate Park as Paige walked fast, she didn't know where exactly she was meeting Andy so she waited in the car park. She looked around to see if he was already there but it didn't look like it. A slightly old looking blue sports car parked into the empty space in front of her and she realised it was Andy.
"I didn't know you knew how to drive," she said as he stepped out of the car and slammed the door shut.
"You don't really know much about me anyway. It's not my car, it's my dad's, and I'll be getting my own soon."
"Cool, well I've got the book, so what did you want to talk about?"
"I want to try holding it again, and see if I can get the visions clearer."
"Where do you want to go?"
"Somewhere without loads of people around." They walked around for about five minutes and then they found a spot on the grass that no one was occupying or close enough to hear them talking.
Both of them sat on the warm grass, Paige put the book between them.
Andy looked at the book warily. "I hope this works."
"Just do what you did last time, but try to make out what's happening and don't let go so quickly."
He took the brownish red book into his hands and the visions came to play. They were familiar and from what he could tell there were the same ones as before. They were still too fast, but because he continued to keep his grasp on it they began to slow down. Not after long they were still fast he could see everything clearly.
The white dress was even more vibrant than it had been before. The woman was walking through a street with another man, the surrounding people stood way back and some bowed. She held an athame in her hand. Red blood tricked from the tip down the handle onto her hand. Andy felt his heart skip a beat when she suddenly walked up to a woman on her knees and killed her. She looked confused after the woman fell to the ground dead. She looked to the man next to her, she didn't seem to realise what she had just done. Then Andy saw her face.
Andy couldn't help dropping the book; well it was more like a throw than a drop. It landed about five feet from Paige.
Andy became aware that he was breathing fast and sweat beaded his forehead. Paige hadn't retrieved the book yet but remained sitting.
"Andy?"
He stood up and walked away. Paige rose to her feet and picked up the book running after him.
"What's wrong?"
He ignored her question and walked straight forward towards his car. Paige took the opportunity to stand in front of the car door so he couldn't get in.
"You asked me to bring the book, now you have to tell me what you saw."
"No I don't."
"You found out who the dress belongs to didn't you?"
"It was Prue," his voice was distant and he looked at the horizon over the car.
"Was she getting married or something?" Paige couldn't think of another reason for Prue to be wearing white. 'The training of the Axel will take as long as it needs to; varying with each female and how strong she is mentally. The first task is always to kill someone innocent who poses the need to be killed; that way the Axel can kill him or her easily thinking it's the right thing. After the first task killing becomes something not needing any thought and second nature to the Axel. Depending on the time spent between kills she becomes immune to emotional feeling and freedom. She forgets everything that she knew before she became an Axel and is left to be guided by the son of Ciel. Her sole is broken and lost, she is no longer a person and she can never be brought back to the person she used to be.' The words on their own came into Andy's head, he had no idea where they came from, and he knew he hadn't read them anywhere but they felt familiar.
"No.Prue wasn't getting married, it wasn't that kind of dress," Andy said to Paige's question. What did the words mean?
"What was she doing?" Paige thought how familiar Andy's visions were to Phoebe's premonitions, except his had something to do with the book. She chose not to tell Andy about what Phoebe had seen about him, he didn't need to know yet, and it wasn't even clear what it was about.
"Who's the son of Ciel?" Andy randomly asked, Paige had already told him all she knew, so it wasn't really a question to her.
"I don't know."
"What do you know about Axel's?"
"Nothing."
"I need you to read as much of the book as you can as quickly as possible and see if you can find out more about Axel's."
"What the hell are Axel's then?"
"Just do it."
"You didn't tell me what Prue was doing."
"She was killing a woman."
A bird flew overhead squawking through the air about something.
Everything was always about someone killing someone. That's what it seemed like to Paige, Andy was killing a man, Prue was killing a woman what was next?
"Prue wouldn't kill anyone."
Paige wondered why Andy was going against his own words.
"So then why was she?"
Andy thought hard trying to figure everything out, it was hard with all sorts of feelings and thoughts screaming at him. Maybe he should take the book himself and hopefully get to read it.
"I'll give you a lift home," he pushed her aside and sat in the driver's seat. Paige quickly got into the passenger one holding the book.
"Are we done then?"
"For now,"
The drive to the manor went without any talk. Andy stopped in front of the big house as Paige said thanks and stepped out Andy said "can I have the book to read?"
"But you-"
"I know but it will be quicker for me to do it."
'Men are so confusing, always changing their minds' Paige thought to herself. "How are you going to read it?"
"I'll figure it out."
She dropped it on the seat and slammed the door shut. "I want it back tomorrow."
"Ok."
He quickly sped off the side of the road as Paige heard meowing.
"Sera what are you doing out here?" She picked up the cat and stood there for awhile letting her mind relax.
Prue kept her head down as they went through the small village, it was bigger than the previous one but would that be because half of the other one was in ashes?
There were more people around. The children playing stopped and stared at the massive horses, while the adults did the same but were more interested by the people who were coming.
Isis stopped his horse in front of the nicest looking house, it looked like a dump but it was better than the others. Prue wondered why all the people seemed to be suffering, yes there were the attacks but that didn't explain why everyone looked so inadequate.
"Stay here, I'll be back soon." Isis knocked on the wooden door but entered before anyone replied. The door closed.
The four guards tied their horses to a post outside the house and headed towards what Prue guessed as an inn.
She wondered why one of them wasn't staying with her, but she wasn't too bothered except she didn't know what she was supposed to do while she waited. She dismounted and walked her horse to a small river letting it drink.
Unexpectedly rough hands grabbed her round her waist and a hand was placed over her mouth. She couldn't see who it was because her back was to them. She guessed it was a man because she could feel muscles tense and the body pressed against her was much bigger than her.
"Don't you dare try anything," a husky voice growled into her ear.
She saw more men come closer from the corner of her eye. She had no idea what was going on.
"What are we going to do first?" Another man asked.
"I can't decide, what do you think will work best to break her?"
Prue knew they weren't talking about breaking bones.
"Something that's very effective," a short man stood in front of her inspecting her.
"I know what I'd like to do personally with her," a huge man said,
She got the feeling that something terrible was going to happen to her, and seeing as it was just men around her she felt very scared for what they would do to her.
"You'll get a chance for that later, we all will but we need to teach her how to serve the people properly." The man behind her said. He grabbed a fistful of her hair and pulled her head painfully back so that she was looking directly into the sky. He no longer had his hand covering her mouth. "We are here to teach you how to be a servant to everyone, but we have little time to do it so we'll have to do it quickly."
Prue tried to ignore the pain in her neck muscles but felt her bottom lip quiver.
"Crying is definitely good."
Prue didn't want to show the men that they had control over her so kept herself from weeping. She hoped Isis would come out soon to get rid of these men.
Isis sat at a round table with a middle aged man. "Are your men with her now?"
"Yes, they've probably already started," the man replied. His hair was shaven and his skin as white as chalk.
"How long will it take?"
"Has she already killed?"
"Of course."
"Then it should take the remainder of the day and half the night."
"Good good."
"You don't think it's too early?"
"No, I want her soul broken."
"But she's so young."
"All the better don't you think?"
"My men don't have any mercy; you know what they'll do to her right?"
"Yes. But if they do their job then she won't even care afterwards."
"What are you going to have her do when they've finished?"
"I don't know yet, there's so much to do."
"I've read the prophecies Isis."
"Did you find anything interesting?"
"You need to watch your back; they say that the Shadow is coming very soon."
Isis rubbed his chin with his thumb and index finger. "I have no need to be worried about him, not when Prue becomes an Axel tomorrow."
"They say that he is going to overpower you and free her."
"That's impossible!" He bolted up from his seat. "No one can ever be brought back after their soul is gone!"
"I know that, I'm just telling you what I've read."
Isis sat back down in his chair.
"And it's a new Shadow."
"So how can he achieve anything then?"
"I guess we'll have to wait and see."
They heard a female scream from outside and they both knew it was Prue. "She's going to be great, I'll have her do everything that the people ask of her and then we can begin to take control of the people against us and I will rule everything."
The man pondered Isis's words. Isis was so greedy for power, he had brought many women to the town to become Axel's but they always ended up dying before the next day. He knew that Prue was a Charmed One, which was going to make it more difficult to break her soul. He had always disliked using females to become Axel's and then no longer be who they were, there was no proper need for them except Isis could get them to do the killing rather than making himself look bad.
Hours passed and it was the next morning. A man came crashing through the door, red blood splattered in places on his clothes, but it wasn't his own. He was one of the men with Prue. "We've got a problem."
"What is it?"
"Just come and look for yourself."
The three men went and went into a stone building that was the chamber where Axel candidates were taken. Inside the main room there was no ceiling letting the dark starry night fill the atmosphere. Prue was on her knees blood appearing everywhere on the white dress that was more pink now. Blood trickled from her mouth down her chin and dripped onto the floor. Her eyes were half closed; it had been a very long night,
"What's the problem?"
"She's too strong."
"What do you mean?"
The man who had been talking to Isis before, Briar stepped in front of Prue. Her dark eyes looked up at him, she tried to say something but found that she couldn't, the pain was too much. Whatever was holding her up so that she could sit on her knees only added to the soreness. Her eyes drifted back to the floor.
"She doesn't seem so strong now," Isis said.
Briar kneeled down on the floor, in a pool of blood.
"Normally by now she would have long been lost, but she's fighting all the way."
"Maybe you should break her the other way," Isis said to Briar.
"But it's never been performed before; it's a great chance that she'll die as well as me."
"You know enough for it to at least do something that'll affect her."
"I need you all to leave if I'm to do it." Isis shuffled the men out and finally went himself.
Rain began to fall and splattered on Prue and Briar as they sat on the ground.
"I'm sorry I have to do this," he said with deep meaning as he put both of his forefingers to Prue's temples. She screamed as excruciating pain soaring through her whole body, she collapsed on the ground, unable to move, and unable to even think, but one thing was clear, pain. There was nothing she could do to stop the pain, it was constant and never let up or became more, not that it could be any worse. Briar felt what Prue felt and could hardly contain it within himself as he released the magic into her. This was a way to break absolutely anyone, but it was never used anymore because both people ended up dead. He felt like his life was just about to slip away when it all ended, for him anyway. He knew that Prue was still suffering; she curled up on the floor trembling.
Briar ran his hands over his stubble of hair as he thought about what he had managed to do and watched Prue. He hated that he had had to do it. One day he would make it up to her, but there was no way that he would be able to now, the magic and pain had destroyed her now, it never failed to.
Prue left out a gasp as she tried to get hold of air, all she got was blood. She struggled again but it only made the burning in her lungs intensify.
He heard Prue breathing heavy for about two minutes and then it calmed down, she had managed to find a way herself to get oxygen circulating through her blood stream again. It would have been better if she had passed out from the pain, but the magic didn't allow that. All she would ever feel from now till the day of her death would be pain, pain of the people she would kill, pain from what people would do to her if they fought her and the pain of being an Axel.
That night Andy laid awake in his bed staring at the white ceiling, he had managed to read the book but in a very special way. When he touched it instead of reading the words they were shown to him. He had seen everything and remembered it all clearly. It had been so intense that he hadn't been able to put it done until he had finished capturing all the words.
He still tried to figure out what was happening to Prue, but he knew he needed to get to her and save her before anything happened. But he was a man without power, so how could he achieve such a thing? He didn't want to leave it up to Prue's sisters and Grams, he had a feeling inside that told him to do the job, that he was the only one for it. But what was it he was supposed to do? Get Prue, but from where? How? And then what? How would he get them both safely back home? How long would it take?
Prue had looked stunning in the dress but he couldn't get the picture of Prue's face after she killed the woman out of his head. While she had been walking her face showed no emotion but it was after that didn't make sense.
All the knowledge he knew now would help, but he needed to learn how to use it effectively.
'The one who wears the white dress is a slave to the people of Amory Tara, the Axel. But none have ever been able to last the torment of being broken. The one who does is the one who will get the Demi Xia, all the power from the ring hidden with the depths of the magic river.'
That was it exactly! Prue had been taken to become an Axel to Ciel's son and do as he orders. She had been wearing a white dress and the man she had been with was Ciel's son, he had ordered her to kill the woman. Andy was overjoyed that he had figured it out, but too much time had been wasted. Even though the book had said there was no way to save an Axel, he knew one way. He had to go to Emory Tara and find the Shadow, maybe he would start in Aren, the capital city.
He also needed to decide whether he should tell Paige. She had been the one to come across the book but he didn't want anyone else getting hurt or taken away, it was bad enough that Prue was suffering. He needed to help her as soon as possible hopefully before she was an Axel or it would prove so much harder to bring her to safety.
Andy felt himself fall asleep, but it was a restless sleep that wouldn't help him in any way shape or form.
He was so close to having so much power, yet things still needed to fall into place before he was in complete control. Isis couldn't be happier.
Briar had decided to come along with him and Prue, now that an Axel had been successful for the first time. He always rode next to Prue, why Isis didn't understand. She never said anything, never did anything, just kept her glazed eyes in front of her, just as an Axel was supposed to do.
He couldn't have cared less if Briar had died when he used the magic on Prue, but he hadn't. As long as Briar didn't get in the way then it was all good.
Nothing was going to stop him now, not Briar and especially not the Shadow. If it was a new Shadow then he certainly hadn't been taught the ways of being a Shadow. The last Shadow had been around before Isis had been born and they had always been silly men, having no knowledge of what they should have been doing and didn't hold the power of being a Shadow.
Isis had never known what the point of having Shadows was. They were all for keeping magic to help people rather than to gain every dream that needed to be fulfilled. They had always caused Isis's family problems and had started the rioting in the first place. Now the result was that people were disloyal to him and went against his rule, all they would get was death in return.
They were about half a day's ride on horse away from Aren, there Prue would rise to her responsibility, he knew there were going to be some of the people against him, the people for good magic waiting for him there, what they weren't going to expect is finding themselves against an Axel. He waited for when he would see their reactions and flees when their eyes set on Prue. But they would never get away.
"I don't believe this!" A young man, about 17 yelled out over the roar of machines churning away in his father's blacksmith shop. He had worked for his father since he had been old enough too. He specialised in making the swords people ordered his father to make, sometimes they were long elaborate ones, others simple ones only needed for protection. There was one that he had made for a very rich man but it wasn't to the man's standard and his father had scalded him for doing a wrong job, but it meant that he got to keep it. Lucio couldn't find anything wrong with it, so he practiced his fighting with it whenever he could and always kept it with him. At present moment his father was off travelling, selling his products in other cities and towns to people who couldn't reach Aren.
Lucio turned off all the machines bringing an eerie silence to the shop that was covered in soot and sawdust. His hands completely black left a hand print on one of the wood worktops.
"What have you done now?" A middle aged man asked. He was one of his father's workers who made other weapons like axes and maces.
"There's not enough coal to keep the fires running for even another hour."
"Well go and get some more, cut up some wood and bring it in at the same time."
Lucio was glad to be leaving the hot shop and have a break from working all the heavy machines and dealing with tonnes of metal. For his age he was well built, but never bothered with girlfriends. He would marry when he was older and inherit his father's fortunes and pass them on to his children then.
He pulled on a grey vest over his chest and headed out to the other business's in the same part of the huge city. He knew where it would be cheaper to get the coal he needed, his just hoped the shop owner's horse and cart was available for taking the load to his own shop.
"Ah, my boy Lucio, is your father back yet?" A man asked him. It was one of the regular customers, but Lucio didn't like him. He always wore fine clothes and boasted about his money. He wasn't as rich as the man who had refused the sword, but acted like he was. Lucio looked like a beggar standing next to him as his clothes were filthy from working.
"No he'll be back the day after tomorrow."
"I see he's still trying to find more money then." The man also loved the fact that Lucio and his father had no money. Lucio never knew his mother and was an only child which made it easier to keep costs down but money was still hard to come across.
"And from what I hear he's doing remarkably well," Lucio said to the man and rudely walked off, he wasn't lying. Earlier in the morning he had received a message from his father saying that he was making more money than he had ever before.