Chapter Fifty-Three
"What the hell is going on?" Blaise shouted over the roaring of the relentless, savage wind that was picking up dust and debris as it span faster and faster.
"You have broken circle!" Tennengong shouted. "Girls angry! We need to calm them. You must help me!"
"What do you want me to do?" Blaise asked in disbelief.
"You must remake circle. I will calm them!" The shamen told him and Blaise fought his way to the centre of the room. It was like wading through ice-cold treacle as he stumbled to the edge of the circle. The wind was absent in the very centre of the room and Blaise crawled around on his hands and knees, locating the fallen candles and re-igniting them. Tennengong returned to the circle and sat cross legged upon the floor, he began his chanting once more and the tumult died instantly.
"You come sit." Tennengong said when the spirits were fully pacified. "You part of ceremony now!"
Blaise did as Tennengong suggested and joined the strange little man upon the floor. Blaise looked around at the accoutrements laid out inside the circle. There were incense burners, feathers, the bowl of the blood-like substance, a large black jar, a black silk handkerchief and a bone-handled dagger. As he gazed ponderously into the bowl he saw the surface begin to swirl. The shamen continued his chanting and Blaise leant closer to the surface, watching as the swirling pattern began to take on the appearance of a female face. Blaise gasped as the face began to move it's lips.
"Hhhhhhelp us!" The voice said, and Blaise almost knocked the candles over again as he jolted backwards.
"Hhhhhhelp us! Plllllllease!" The voice begged, and Blaise again sat forward. Behind the first face he saw countless others swimming in the surface of the blood.
"We are the victims of Bertram Villanos the Second, he took our mortal lives from us in this house and after taking possession of our spirits he imprisoned our immortal souls, so that we can never escape from him or his wrathful hunger. Please set us free!" The voice again pleaded.
Blaise looked around, unsure about what to say or do. He turned to look at Tennengong but he couldn't get a reaction from the chanting shamen, so he turned back to the sorrowful faces in the bowl.
"We are going to help you." Blaise said, moved by the plight of these poor young women. "I promise you that."
…...
Hermione hung naked and lifeless in the atrocious room, her body was daubed with symbols that appeared to have been written in blood. Nothing held her up, she just dangled there in mid-air, arms outstretched and head fallen forwards onto her chest. Draco knelt before her, naked to his waist, he also had the strange symbols drawn upon his skin. His head was bowed but his arms were lifted high, a shining metal knife, glinted threateningly, clasped between his hands. All the while he muttered words Aurelia could not understand. Aurelia stood helplessly by as she desperately tried to think of a course of action.
…...
Tennengong came out of his trance and he picked up an incense burner and a feather. He handed the feather to Blaise and directed him to sweep the smoke towards the surface of the blood in the bowl. He continued to chant as Blaise undertook his orders and Blaise noticed that the faces disappeared from view. A few minutes of this passed by and Tennengong placed the incense burner back on the floor and Blaise followed suit, returning the feather to it's place. Then the shamen picked up the bone-handled knife and rose it above his head. Blaise watched in fear as the shamen brought it down with force upon the wooden bowl, cleaving it in two, spilling the blood across the circle. Tennengong and Blaise were splattered with the surprisingly warm liquid, and as Blaise raised his hand to wipe some of the blood from his eyelid, he heard a girl's voice and he span around.