Chapter 14

"Andrew," Joshua said softly, an angry bitterness in his voice that was nowhere near enough to convey his loathing for the man before him.

"Welcome home, my son," Andrew replied, his deep cultured voice striking a chord deep within Joshua that made him want to cringe and somehow erase the voice from his memory.

"Do you receive all your guests this way?" was the reply, for Joshua was determined to match Andrew in both shallow courtesy and thinly veiled insults.

"Most of my guests don't drop through the roof," Andrew answered with a dangerous smile.

"I merely thought you'd like a little variety. If the front door is more convenient; I'll remember to use that if I ever return."

"Not to mention if you ever leave."

"And do you plan to stop me?" Joshua inquired. "I doubt you have the power; you didn't seem all that keen to halt Vincent."

"I had no reason to keep those two monsters here," Andrew answered lazily, keeping his dark, murderous eyes fixed on his son. "They'll be just as dead out there and with far less effort on my part."

"And now I've exerted myself far more than I should have," Joshua continued bitterly, knowing that Andrew would have said it anyway. "Well done, Andrew. You didn't dare attempt to battle me when I'm at full strength, you seem to be scared of that. So you weaken me before your 'grand victory'?"

"In a word, yes. I see no reason to be noble. I want you dead, Joshua, and I am going to see it done."

Joshua shrugged eloquently. "Then let's begin. I tire of your games."

Andrew laughed at him, then slipped a thin golden ring off his finger. He let go of it and it hung in the air for a moment as the staff began to appear, a deep brown wood that seemed almost black in the light of the setting sun. The ring would float around the staff like a halo. Joshua, however, decided to fight as fair as his father would and lunged for the older man before he could retaliate.

"Bad form," Andrew said with a sneer, ducking Joshua with ease. Joshua cried out softly and clutched at his stomach. He had known Andrew would not abide by the rules but he hadn't thought… no one ever broke that rule, no one. It was the only law that, as far as Joshua had known, had never been ignored. And yet Andrew had. The castle suddenly shook, as if being pummeled by a huge fist. Joshua sank to the floor, his hands clenching his side as Andrew just laughed and laughed.

.,\.,\.

"Are we there yet?" Lizzie whined to Diana. Diana growled under her metaphorical breath.

"No, you silly girl, can you see a castle in the distance?"

"What's taking so long?" Lizzie didn't mean to sound like a petulant child, but she simply couldn't help it. She was worried, dreadfully worried, about her fiancé.

"We're flying," Diana answered. "Even though it's much faster than a horse could ever travel, we still have a good two hours before we reach the castle.

"Two hours," Lizzie repeated. How was she ever going to survive two more hours of Diana. There was definitely another reason wizards didn't learn like this ordinarily; having an older mage in one's head is enough to drive a person insane.

They flew on at a remarkably fast rate that Lizzie still felt was far too slow. She wanted to be there now; she feared for Joshua, the man who still hadn't promised to return alive. He'll return alive, she swore. If he dies, it will be over my dead body! Lizzie paused in her internal monologue as the implications of that sunk in. She shivered, not really wanting to contemplate that. Although it would save her the trouble of bearing Andrew a child. She still attempted to deny that Andrew had truly managed to fill her womb, but with magic, it was undoubtedly all too easy to conceive. And if he wanted to hurt her and Joshua even more than he already had, this was the way to do it. And what could she do now? She knew there were spells to kill an infant in the womb, but she could not do it. She had grown up with the knowledge that every life was sacred, even one begun by such an evil man. Joshua was also that man's son and he had become the most wonderful person in the world. But there was so much more than that. What would Joshua say when she told him? Would he hate her? And even if he did not, surely someone would notice that she was pregnant before her marriage. That was not an easy stigma to escape, even if this child were to be born a mage.

She sighed and hid her head in her hands. This was not what she should be worrying about now; she had to save both herself and the love of her life. She drifted off into a daydream, letting her mind wander and relying on Diana to call out when they had drawn near to the castle.

Lizzie's reliance on the mage in her head was not ill founded and, as soon as the battlements of Andrew's home drew into view, an irritated yell reverberated through Lizzie's head, awakening her from the light doze she had been enjoying.

"Get up, you lazy girl!" Diana shouted cheerfully.

"Silence, you old hag," Lizzie growled good naturedly in reply.

"Sharp tongued shrew," Diana retorted happily.

"That would be a good example of the pot calling the kettle black, would it not?" Lizzie grinned, pleased at herself.

"Save your word games for Andrew," Diana replied sharply, irritated at having lost to this chit of a girl. "Now I need you to listen to me. When we reach the castle, you're going to need as much agility and endurance as you have. The air surrounding his fortress is heavily protected with numerous spells, none of which you will survive if they hit you. The spells going off will draw Andrew's attention to you, but since he will undoubtedly be occupied, courtesy of Joshua, he will not come out to deal with us personally and so we should survive the initial trip onto the roof."

"And then what?"

"And then you get yourself killed by Andrew."

"Your faith in me is so reassuring," Lizzie drawled.

Diana seemed to shrug. "I'm merely being practical."

Lizzie rubbed her eyes with the heels of her hands. "Don't be." I keep telling myself that I have to fight, she thought to herself. I have to survive until Joshua has kissed me at least one more time. But how likely is that? Diana's right, I don't have a chance. True, I have the knowledge, but I simply don't have the experience that Andrew does.

"Get ready," Diana warned. Lizzie took a deep breath and screamed it all out as an enormous fireball came hurtling towards them at a terrifying speed. She ducked it as best she could and nearly flew head on into another flying inferno, right on the tail of the previous one. What began then was a desperate flight as Lizzie struggled to remain alive. She whirled through the air as swiftly as the magic allowed, performing dangerous feats without even realizing and, finally, when all else failed, ending her magic and dropping a good forty feet before speeding back up and landing in relative safety on the roof of the castle. Two gigantic green balls of lightning that had been following her swooped down, gaining on her with every second. Lizzie sprinted towards the door and used magic to turn it to ashes, not caring that she might as well have sent ahead a calling card for all the stealth she was using. She dashed through the door and down a hallway as the lightning struck the building. It was too big to fit through the door and exploded on impact with the stones, making the entire castle rock as if struck by an earthquake.

"Keep running!" Diana cried to her. Lizzie didn't need to be told twice. She kept going down the hall, the bag on her back bouncing against her body, jolting her painfully, and yet she didn't dare stop and fix it. She had no doubt that Andrew's attacks directed at her were only beginning.

The halls of Gilld Castle were extremely twisted and completely impossible to navigate. Diana vaguely remembered the layout, Lizzie hadn't the faintest idea which way to go. Running purely on fear and anger, she used her magic to blow a hole in the wall that would lead her straight to the room in which she could find both her beloved and the bane of her existence.

"Wait a minute," Diana said. Lizzie ignored her. "I said, wait!" Lizzie slowed down slightly.

"Why in the name of all that is holy would I want to do that?"

"So that you could put on the dress that you've stolen from me and stuffed ever so disrespectfully into your bag."

"I refer you to my previous question."

"Stop running!" Lizzie finally did as directed and, to the sounds of Diana explaining herself, stripped out of her worn, dirty and singed traveling clothes and into the marvelous silver dress.

"So you see," Diana concluded, "It's not exactly good form to battle wearing clothing that can serve as a magical aide, but women never fight fair and I doubt Andrew will." Lizzie used magic to secure the back. "Besides that, this dress has a special significance. The last time I wore it was when I found out I was pregnant with my son, Joshua."

Lizzie swallowed the lump building in her throat and took off at a dead run, refusing to even ponder the possible irony that this dress would witness both her fiancé's creation and destruction. It was far more difficult to run now that she was wearing skirts, but Lizzie trusted Diana when she said that it was to her benefit to be wearing the dress. And it was barely even a minute of delay.

The long, newly created hallway stretched before her, a mass of rubble and broken stone. At the end of it, Lizzie could see at least one figure, if only because he seemed to be dressed in all too distinctive cloth of gold. She knew that was Andrew, her Joshua just wasn't that pretentious. There seemed to be something on the floor in front of him, but Lizzie couldn't tell what.

She drew ever closer, her heart pounding in her breast as she realized that this was it. It was now or never. Lizzie shut her eyes as she prepared, once and for all, to risk her life for the man she loved. After all, he would have done the same for her.

.,\.,\.

Joshua groaned and glared up into his father's face. "You bastard!" he hissed, clenching his jaw and trying to hide the pain shooting through him like lightning.

"You have such a beautiful face," Andrew murmured, his hands resting lightly on the mask. "I don't see why you cover it."

"It's the face of a monster," Joshua replied, his eyes narrowing. Andrew untied the mask and let it fall from his son's face. Joshua lowered his head, letting his long, blond, now unbound hair flow freely to hide his face. Andrew, however, had other plans. He grabbed his son's chin and forced his face up. Wincing in pain, Joshua looked back into his father's eyes.

"You can make me look like you," Joshua growled, trying to free himself from the man's iron grip. "You can't make me you."

"I can leave you dead," Andrew purred.

"You will anyway." The pain in his side was greater now and he was growing dizzy from all the blood he was losing.

Andrew suddenly let his son go, whirling around as he heard something behind them. About ten feet away, and closing fast, was the figure of a young woman. Her hair was blown back by the wind she created and she was dressed in a magnificent dressed that seemed spun of silver. In her hands she held a rowan and silver wand. Andrew stared at her, marveling at how like Diana she was. Proud and fierce with the heart of a warrior. Oh yes, he thought to himself, the boy inside of her will turn out very well indeed. I must be careful not to kill her now.

Joshua, grateful for the respite, ducked his head again. He would be damned if he died now, not even having the decency to kill his father in the process. Andrew was distracted now, he could weave a spell that would kill them both. He didn't care why his father's attention had wandered, he was just grateful it had. And then he heard the voice of the newcomer, the distraction, and found that he cared very much indeed.

"Andrew Gilld," Lizzie hissed, filled with an indescribable rage that came in equal parts from the possessive looks Andrew was giving her and the small pool of blood already developing around her fiancé. It wasn't that difficult to see the knife protruding from his side, though his hands were clutching at it, trying to stop the bleeding. She was overflowing with anger and, at that moment, would have struck him dead with a glance, had looks been able to kill. And then her blood ran cold. For Joshua, compelled by the sound of her voice, looked up into her eyes and she saw him, for the first time, without his mask on. And in that instant of time, she understood why he kept it covered. For his face was that of a horrifying beast, a monster that was even more terrible than what Vincent had been, for this was a monster in human shape. Joshua's face, feature for feature, was exactly identical to that of his father's and it made Lizzie want to die when she realized that every time she would look at her beloved, she would see the face of her mortal enemy.

T.B.C.

A/N – There! Happy? I finally told you what was behind the mask. And for those of you who had asked before, the mask covered half of Joshua's face down to the bottom of his nose and most of his cheeks. His mouth, obviously, is visible.

Now, the thank yous. It occurred to me that if I waited longer between updates, I might garnish more reviewers. But that would make me even crueler and eviler (so not a word) than I already am. Being mean to characters is one thing, but being mean to reviewers… some things are beyond the pale. So this chapter is dedicated to Kate, for joining my legions of adoring fans (you can have a legion of four, right?). And I don't know how Joshua will react, but I hope, for Lizzie's sake, he doesn't take it too badly. Now, the minor topic of Joshua's mortality. I'd like him to live, but my characters don't always talk to me before they do things (example – Andrew). So I won't promise he'll live but if I ruin your life, just know that I am heartily sorry about it. Was that reassuring? No?

Oh, and I don't have the faintest idea where my ideas come from. They show up in my head unannounced and demand to be written. Terry Pratchett thinks that little particles of inspiration fly through the air and, if you're lucky (or possibly unlucky), you get hit. I think I may have a magnet for them. And nice though it would be, I can't clone Joshua for you, shortstef. The mages haven't figured out how to do it yet (do you honestly think Andrew would bother with progeny if he could just Xerox himself, so to speak). And I'm glad you like Joshua when he actually bothers thinking. Intelligence can be surprisingly attractive. Damn, I'm falling in love with another fictional character. This has got to stop!

Oh well, thanks for reading and, if all goes well, another update will be here shortly.

Levana (Damian)