Tallon sat staring morosely
into the fire, thoughts swirling in his head, all of them about
Max.
The fire was burning low in the
grate, all was still. The pale, pre-dawn light filtered in through
a crack in the curtains. Sunrise was still a while away yet. Max
had curled her body in close to Haven, an arm and a leg thrown over
him as if in possession. Gilster slept soundlessly in his own bed.
Tallon had fallen asleep in the arm-chair and was snoring
intermittently and Elkeira was still curled up on the divan,
wrapped in Haven’s cloak.
BANG! The door was thrown open
with such force it bounced back off the wall hitting the armed man
standing in the doorway. The occupants of the room leapt up,
instantly awakened by the violent intrusion, all except Haven who
was now almost catatonic. A dozen burly, armed men entered the room
strategically placing themselves to block off any escape.
‘What is the meaning of this,’
yelled Max still, shaking from the shock, ‘we are guests here, is
this the way you treat your guests?’
‘You
were
my guests,’ said
Benitoff striding through the gap his guards had made for him,
‘sadly that is no longer the case.’
‘I don’t understand, what has
changed?’ asked Gilster, his eyes darting about, taking in the
positions of everyone in the room.
‘The news of your friend has
arrived and now I have all the information I need.’
‘You found Daria?’ Max smiled
despite their predicament. ‘How is she? When can we rescue her?
Does she know we’re here?’
Benitoff smiled cruelly. ‘She’s
dead,’ he said so matter-of-factly that Max wasn’t sure she’d heard
correctly.
‘Sorry, she’s what?’
‘Dead, I said, dead, what are
you deaf?’
‘Dead,’ Max repeated stupidly,
unable to comprehend what she had just heard. She was in shock.
‘How did she die?’
‘I don’t know and I don’t
care,’ spat Benitoff, ‘she’s gone, that’s all I know.’
‘But she can’t be dead,’ said
Gilster, the shock evident in his voice, ‘she’s the Chosen.’
‘Apparently not,’ said
Benitoff, thoroughly enjoying himself. ‘Her last words were, “I’m
not the chosen,” which means, she is no loss to me.’
Gilster’s shoulders slumped.
One solitary tear fell silently to the floor.
Max was sobbing, ‘I can’t
believe it, I can’t believe I’m never going to see my friend again,
it’s not true, you’re lying.’
‘This is becoming tedious,’
said Benitoff, ‘take them to the cells. I now have all the Chosen
except one and it shouldn’t take long to find that one.’
Suddenly all hell broke, two
men grabbed Max and roughly dragged her towards the door, she began
to kick and scream, waking the others from the stupor they were in.
Gilster caught Tallon’s eye as two more men began to pull him
towards the door. He nodded his head towards Elkeira, she was still
in shock, sitting on the divan wrapped in Haven’s cloak, instantly
visible if looking directly at her; no one was. Tallon nodded in
return, letting Gilster know he understood. Three men grabbed him,
one trying to wrench his arm up behind his back, Tallon roared his
warrior cry; lifting his arms high in the air he began to shake
them off, adrenalin giving him strength. When more men came to help
subdue him they left a clear path to the door.
He yelled out to Elkeira. ‘Run
sister, run for your life.’
Fists smashed into Tallon’s
face, blood poured from his nose and mouth, slowly, five of the
guards managed to get him to his knees, pounding him with the hilts
of their swords and kicking him with steel boots. Max screamed.
Elkeira jumped up and ran, she weaved in and out the guards and was
gone out the door before anyone could stop her.
Benitoff was fuming. ‘You and
you,’ he said through clenched teeth, pointing to two guards
standing nearby, ‘go, find her and don’t come back until you do.
You have my permission to use whatever force is necessary, but
don’t kill her, I need her alive, she is one of the Chosen.’ They
bowed and left. Turning back to his remaining ‘guests’, he smiled.
‘She won’t get far she doesn’t know her way around the keep, soon
you will all be together again.’
‘Don’t hurt her,’ pleaded Max,
as two guards held her tight, ‘she’s just a child.’
‘I’m sure my guards will play
some games with her before she reaches the cells,’ he threw back
his head and laughed loudly at his own joke.
Tallon, who was covered in
blood and bruises, his head hanging in pain, snarled through his
bloodied lips. ‘If she is hurt in any way I will kill you.’
‘Yes, yes, whatever,’ Benitoff
laughed, dismissively flicking his hand at Tallon, ‘I hardly think
I need be scared of a savage like you.’ The guards began to drag
all of them out the door and down the corridor. ‘Don’t forget the
big one on the bed,’ said Benitoff, ‘you’ll have to carry him
though, it seems my little device is working too well.’
‘What little device, what are
you doing to him,’ said Max struggling to remain in the room until
she could see Haven.
‘Didn’t I tell you about that,’
said Benitoff smugly, ‘how remise of me. I tweaked the device my
father made for Anubis and now I can collect the energy from the
energy users; every time you use your gift I collect the energy and
store it, unfortunately for Haven he’s a telepath and they cannot
switch off their usage of energy so I’ve been draining him ever
since he arrived.’
‘You bastard,’ spat Max,
struggling with her guards.
Two burly guards picked up
Haven under his arms and dragged him from the room, closely
followed by Max. After Elkeira had escaped Gilster had stopped
fighting, he calmly walked towards Benitoff.
Stopping in front of him, he
said quietly, ‘you are most definitely no gentleman, you are just a
spiteful little man who should have had his arse kicked more often
when he was a child.’
One of the guards sniggered.
Benitoff stopped laughing, eyes blazing with insanity. He
backhanded Gilster savagely, the ring on his finger ripping open
Gilster’s cheek.
‘See,’ said Gilster, a small
smile on his face, ‘I’m an excellent judge of character.’
‘Get him out of here,’ shrieked
Benitoff, ‘get him out now, before I kill him.’
Max tended to everyone as best
she could without using her healing power. Gilster would have a
scar on his face but he seemed none the worse for wear. Haven was
still unconscious. Max and Gilster had managed to get him onto one
of the straw pallets in the cell so he could at least be as
comfortable as possible. It was Tallon who Max was concerned about,
he had taken a savage beating and she worried he might have
internal injuries or fractures.
‘I can’t do anything for him,’
she said looking at Gilster, ‘not without using my healing.’
‘I don’t think that would be a
good idea at the moment,’ said Gilster, ‘we don’t want to give
Benitoff any more energy than he already has.’
‘I can’t just sit here and do
nothing,’ said Max, ‘he could die.’
‘He is a strong man,’ replied
Gilster, ‘let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.’ At least Elkeira
managed to escape.
‘Yes,’ said Max, ‘thanks to her
brother causing a diversion, but he certainly paid for it.’ She
tenderly brushed a strand of hair from his face. ‘Come on Tallon,’
she whispered, ‘we need you, we’re a team remember? Hopefully,
Elkeira can find a way to get us out of here.’
‘Oh I don’t think there’s much
likelihood of that happening,’ said a familiar voice. It was
Benitoff come to gloat.
‘Please,’ said Max, jumping up
and grabbing the bars, her face pressed against them, ‘you must
help Tallon, he’s badly hurt, he could be dying.’
Benitoff smiled. ‘You’re the
only one who can help him, if he dies it will be on your conscience
not mine.’ He continued. ‘It seems I only need to find one more
chosen and I’ll have the complete set, Anubis will be furious when
he finds out.’
‘What are you talking about?’
said Max.
‘Isn’t it obvious,’ said
Benitoff smugly, ‘three people left Elaxier and one is dead.’ Max
felt guilty, she had been so worried about Tallon and Haven, she
had completely forgotten about poor Daria. ‘And that leaves two,’
continued Benitoff, ‘so the chosen has to be either Haven or
Gilster.’
Gilster strolled over to the
bars. ‘You don’t actually have three though, do you? Elkeira is
still free.’
Benitoff scowled. ‘A small
matter, she will be caught soon. I suspect she won’t go far while I
still have all of you,’ he waved his arm expansively. He smiled,
looking at Gilsters cheek, ‘I see you will have a constant reminder
of me to carry with you always.’
‘Yes,’ said Gilster, putting
his hand to his face, ‘makes me look rather dashing, don’t you
think.’
Benitoff banged his hand
against the bars making Max jump. ‘You have no idea how powerful I
am little man,’ he hissed.
‘I thought we’d already settled
that,’ said Gilster, casually leaning against the bars, ‘you’re the
only little man around here, I’m the well mannered one.
Remember?’
Benitoff roared in anger at his
inability to best Gilster. Turning on his heel, he stormed
off.
‘You probably shouldn’t bait
him like that,’ said Max.
‘I know,’ smiled Gilster, ‘but
he makes it so easy.’ Max grinned.
Guards came with water and food
and left again, Max had tried to ask them questions but they
ignored her. Haven hadn’t moved since they arrived, Max sat talking
to him for awhile, telling him all that had happened, hoping if he
heard the sound of her voice he could find his way back. Nothing
worked, the colour was leaving his face, his body was becoming cool
to the touch.
Max sobbed, ‘I don’t know how
much more of this he can take, I know he’s strong but I think he’s
reaching his limit, if we don’t do something soon he’s going to
die.’
‘The only thing that will save
him is if we can find a way to turn off the device,’ said Gilster,
‘unfortunately we don’t even know where it is.’
Max covered Haven with her
cloak, trying desperately to keep him warm. ‘Hang on Haven,’ she
whispered, ‘just hang on, for me and Ti Athra.’
Tallon groaned and tried to sit
up, ‘Elkeira,’ he said, his voice muffled as he tried to speak
through his swollen lips. ‘Elkeira, is she safe?’ Max sat next to
him and patted his arm reassuringly.
‘Thanks to you she escaped,’
she said, ‘but how do you feel, we were very worried about you, you
took such a beating.’ Tallon tried to smile.
‘That was just a play-fight,
you should see me when I’m really angry.’
Max smiled and so did Gilster,
who was standing over them both.
‘Glad to see you back in the
land of the living,’ he said, ‘you had poor Max worried to
death.’
Tallon looked at Max. ‘You were
worried about me?’
‘Of course I was, why wouldn’t
I be,’ she smiled, ‘you’re my friend, we’re all in this together,
remember?’
‘Friend, yes of course,’ he
said sadly. ‘How is Haven?’
‘Not good,’ said Max worriedly,
‘he hasn’t given any indication he can hear me and he hasn’t moved
for hours.’
Tallon sat up and leaned
against the wall, ‘I hope my sister is safe, where ever she is,’ he
said, ‘some protector I turned out to be.’
‘She’s a very resourceful young
woman, and she wouldn’t be free now if it wasn’t for you,’ said
Max, ‘you took a savage beating to save her.’
‘I would do the same for you if
it ever came to that,’ he whispered.
Max smiled and kissed his
bruised face. ‘I know you would,’ she said.
Tallon laughed, ‘now you are
just humouring me,’ he winced with pain.
Elkeira had taken off like the
wind after her brother had screamed for her to run. Still clutching
Haven’s cloak, she dodged the out stretched hands of the guards
making it to the doorway in one piece. Looking over her shoulder
she could just see her brother, broken and bleeding on the floor,
five men pummelling him with fists and sword hilts, her breath
caught in her throat. ‘Cowards,’ she sobbed, ‘you are all
cowards.’
Running down the hallway she
had to make a quick decision, head back the way they had come or
try an unfamiliar path. ‘I will stick with the familiar,’ she
thought reaching the top of the stairs. She almost flew down the
spiral staircase, her feet barely touching the steps. They were
coming after her now but she refused to be caught. She could hear
the clanking of swords and the harsh voices of the men chasing her.
‘Run Elkeira,’ she thought, ‘run for your life. Don’t let Tallon’s
sacrifice be in vain.’
Reaching the foot of the stairs
she continued running, wanting to reach the keep door before the
guards saw her. Her hand grabbed the heavy brass handle and pulled,
nothing happened, the door wouldn’t open. Her heart beating fast,
the sounds of her pursuers coming closer, she panicked, tugging and
pulling at the handle. ‘Open, please open,’ she begged. The guards
only had a few more spirals to circle and they would catch
her.
A soft voice spoke in her head,
‘turn the handle to open the door.’ She stopped tugging and turned
the handle, the door opened, ‘thank you mother,’ she said running
down the steps of the keep into the courtyard. It was empty, ‘where
to now,’ she thought, ‘where can I hide.’
‘Psst,’ she heard, ‘over
here.’
She saw movement out of the
corner of her eye. Turning her head she spied Thomas, the man who
had been with Fisher, the man who had their weapons. He beckoned
her over, ‘quickly, before they see you,’ he said.
Should she trust him? She
really had no other choice, the guards were at the bottom of the
stairs and would see her in a matter of seconds. Deciding to trust
her instincts, she ran towards Thomas; his head poking out of a
doorway over to her right. He was becoming frantic, ‘run,’ he
hissed. She made it with seconds to spare, the door closed behind
her just as she heard the guards burst into the courtyard.