Guardian: Darkness Rising (19 page)

“
And... I bet
the Master is 
dying
 to see
you.” 

Switcheroo

Luke ran into his friends outside the throne
room; they were startled by his flushed face, instantly asking him
what had happened.

“
We’re in
trouble,” Luke said under his breath. “Chiara is in league with the
Master – and apparently,
he
believes we’re dead.”

“
What?” Felicity said; she was
looking at Luke this time. “Are you serious?”

“
Yeah,” Luke confirmed, “she
threatened me... we’ve got until sundown to finish our business
here and get going – then she calls the Master to capture Mari –
and probably finish us off.”

“
Oh boy,” Daisy said, nervously
plucking at her gloves. “Looks like we’ve got about... ten hours
left before everything goes to hell.”

“
We’re kind of in a sticky
situation right here...” Marco mumbled. “We’ll probably not be able
to get Mari and Felicity the help they need from
Chiara...”

“
You’re right,” Tony said, wearing
a grave expression on his face. “What should we do now,
then?”

Violina stood near the wall on the right,
rubbing her chin. “If we want to get this done, we’ll have to break
our promise,” she said. “I’ve got to get to my sister.”

Luke let out a soft, nervous chuckle. “Yeah.
And then we get executed for treason. Remember?”

Violina shrugged; she had a confident smirk on
her face. “I’m willing to take that chance.”

She received a grin from Luke in response.
“That’s the spirit.”

The plan seemed easy on paper;
Violina would try and reach her sister, then bring her to the
Guardians – where Eloine then would heal Mari and Felicity. Then,
the Guardians would be on their way before sundown.

Luke, of course, hadn’t told any of his
friends about the arranged marriage-related threats, and the reason
why he hadn’t done so was that Luke himself didn’t really count any
value to them. No one could force him to do anything against his
will.

Well, no one but the Master. That
was a proven fact... if the Master could control James, he could
control
anyone
.

When the time had come for the plan to be
executed, Violina requested Felicity to come along with her –
Violina put it as ‘to have her back in case things went wrong’, but
Felicity was sure that Violina believed that Felicity would be able
to convince Eloine to help them, even if the spell Violina had
described was still intact.

However, before the duo went to
see Eloine, Violina insisted to speak to Luke – she wanted to know
more about Chiara’s plans.

“
The reason I wanted to talk to
you, is because I believe you haven’t told your friends everything
Chiara has told you,” Violina told Luke. She’d taken him someplace
quiet; Luke tried to reassure Violina that she was wrong, but
eventually, Luke gave in.

“
Well,” Luke mumbled, “forgive me
for sounding weird, but... Chiara says I’ve got powerful magic, and
she wants to marry me in order to be able to access
those.”

Violina didn’t seem too surprised.
“Let me guess,” she said, “if you don’t marry her, she’ll call the
Master to capture us.”

Luke responded with a small nod.
“Exactly.”

Violina crossed her arms, her expression
serious, as if she was deep in thought. “So she’s doing it again,”
she thought. “Chiara’s still hungry for more power.”

“
Excuse me?” Luke asked. As
Violina explained the situation, she furiously started to pace in
front of Luke, across the hallway.

“
She’s been doing this for a long
time, Luke,” Violina said “Tricking young men into marrying her –
and once she’s done so, she sucks them dry.”

“
So, a black widow, huh?” Luke
joked. “But then about power and magic instead of
money.”

Violina snorted. “For money, too, if it were
possible. But...” She suddenly threw Luke a stern glare. “There’s
more to it.

“
All Chiara has to do to steal
one’s magic, is kiss them – hence the marriage shtick. She marries
them often in secret, or with as little people witnessing – or, if
she really can’t wait, she just simply kisses them straight on the
spot – and then, she ditches the body.”

Luke tilted his head. “What?”

“
She kills them,” Violina repeated
dryly. “Chiara is looking for power – and more than any man can
give her. So much even, that the Kiss of Death – that’s what I call
it, at least – drains both the magic and the life energy of its
victims right out of them.”

Luke spread his arms wide. “That does explain
why she looks s young...” he blurted. “But why doesn’t anyone stop
her, then?”

“
That’s how
strong this curse is, Luke,” Violina said with a wink. “No one
even
sees
it. And
it’s about time that we changed that.”

Luke rubbed his upper arms
uncomfortably. “The question is
how
...” he mumbled. “I mean – Chiara
is onto us. And if she
really
wants my magic, she’ll eventually grow impatient
and come and take it, right?”

Violina nodded slowly. “Yes,” she said, “but
we can prevent that. And here’s how...”

The Fixie got off her feet to be able to float
at Luke’s ear level, whispering a plan in his ear.

“
You’re truly willing to do that
for me?” Luke said unbelievingly. “You know what’ll happen
if-”

Violina cut him off. “I do, Luke. I am very
well aware of the consequences. But it’s worth a try – we’ll just
have to be careful around Chiara.”

Luke nodded decisively. “Fine, then,” he said.
“Let’s get started.”

*

Luke and Violina returned to their friends
shortly, and thus, Luke, Felicity and Violina went on their way to
find Eloine.

They had to walk through the halls
carefully; Violina figured Eloine would be in her study, which was
quite easy to find – almost
too
easy. But perhaps it only
seemed
easy, as Violina
did
know the castle
better than some of the servants – even though the castle had been
like this for only the past ten years.

Violina quietly knocked at the doors that led
to the study before entering. “Eloine?” she whispered; the blonde
Fixie sitting at the oak wooden desk instantly looked up.
“Vio!”

The two sisters happily approached
each other, exchanging a long hug. “What are you doing here, Vio?”
Eloine asked her sister.

“
The Guardians have returned,
Eloine,” Violina said. “And they need your help.”

Eloine’s eyes went wide in surprise. “Really?”
she said. “What happened? Why have they returned?”

“
The Master is trying to take
control over Lunaria again,” Violina explained. “The children of
the Guardians have to stand in, as the Master turned their parents
to stone... He also happens to have poisoned one of the children
with Dark Magic – if we don’t do something quickly, she’ll be lost
to the Master.”

“
That is a dreadful situation,
indeed,” Eloine said, holding her chin in her hand. “Lead me to
them. I’ll be glad to help.”

Felicity nodded at Queen Eloine.
“Thank you so much,” he said. “And... I was wondering if you could
heal my eyesight? I lost it on the mountain this
morning.”

“
Don’t worry, my child,” Eloine
smiled, seemingly proud that she instantly remembered his name,
“help is underway.”

“
I wouldn’t be too sure of
that.”

The trio started; Violina and
Felicity quickly turned around, to find Chiara and two guards
standing in the doorway. “I thought we’d made an agreement,
Violina.”

“
We had,”
Violina replied dryly, “until
you
decided to threaten us. That’s when I decided to
take matters into my own hands.”

“
Well, that was a mistake,” Chiara
sang. “Take them to the throne room, to their friends. I’d like to
show them something before throwing them in the darkest dungeon we
have.”

Violina’s heartbeat quickened as
one of the guards grabbed her and started to drag her across the
hallway, back to the throne room.
Luke.
She’s going to kill him.

Queen Eloine hurried after Chiara, who
followed her prisoners to the throne room.

“
Chiara,” Eloine said, “I hardly
believe this is necessary-”

Chiara stopped and made a heel
turn toward Eloine, her facial expression stern. “The Princess and
I made an agreement,” she stated emotionlessly. “This agreement
meant that the Princess would not try to wreak any havoc in my
kingdom
or
this
castle.

“
If she were to break these terms,
which I believe she has, I’d have her and her friends executed for
treason.”

“
Your
kingdom?” Eloine spat, sounding genuinely
insulted. “Are you implying something here,
Chiara?”

Chiara laughed. “Dear, if I were
to have the desire to become Queen, I would have
been
Queen by now. So
make yourself no illusions.” She turned back around, but turned her
head just so that she could look at Eloine. “Besides, you and I
both know this is
my
kingdom. Whether I am Queen or not.”

*

The doors of the throne room flung open by
magical force. It was obvious that Chiara was feeling
confident.

As Chiara passed by, Violina
couldn’t help but notice the strange object Chiara was holding. It
looked like some kind of bracelet, made of thick, black leather,
similar to the leather of the guards’ gloves. Violina wondered what
purpose the bracelet serve, but quickly figured out that it
probably did the same thing as the guards’ gloves did; block magic.
Luke’s magic.

Chiara made her prisoners stand in
a row. Violina, accompanied by a guard, stood in front of the
Guardians.

Nine guards stood by the prisoners; three at
each side (they stood at the back and the sides, careful not to
block anyone’s view).

Two guards stood beside Chiara,
who was standing on the elevated platform where the thrones stood.
“I’d like to demonstrate what happens when you stand in my way,”
Chiara said, gesturing at Luke. “You denied me. You denied my
power. But in the end, I
will
have what I want.”

The two guards walked down the stairs, taking
Luke back up with them. A few confused looks were exchanged in the
small crowd down below; Violina watched Luke struggle, but for some
reason, he failed to break free – as if his magic was being blocked
by the gloves, which wasn’t supposed to happen, as the gloves were
designed to block Fairy Magic only.

“
You see, Luke,”
Chiara said, “I’ll be honest with you. I did not want to marry you,
nor did I ever possess any desire to become Queen. I just wanted
your power.” She chuckled darkly. “I mean... you are not
half
as powerful as your
father, but he’s...
reserved
for the Master. So I’ll just have to settle for
second best;
your
power.

“
And your power, I shall
have.”

Violina’s chest tightened as she
watched Chiara move closer to Luke. This wasn’t going according to
plan.
Come on, you can do this,
Violina thought.
Please,
don’t leave me hanging.

But Luke still couldn’t break free.

“
VIOLINA!” Violina shouted, not
noticing she’d run her mouth, catching everyone but Chiara’s
attention.

Violina suddenly managed to break
free from the guards’ grip as she yelled out –
her own name
?

Violina sprinted forward to save Luke – but
she was too late. The Kiss of Death had already been
planted.

Luke’s body began to change shape as he fell
to his knees; his features changed to Violina’s. The same thing
happened to ‘Violina’, who stood at the end of the steps, panting
loudly, almost crying.

Chiara stood there; her body
motionless, her eyes menacing.

Violina grinned weakly before
sinking through her elbows. “Gotcha.”

“
YOU!” Chiara belted at Luke. “YOU
DID THIS!”

Luke slowly approached Chiara, part of him
already knowing that that was a bad idea. “Oops,” he said to
Chiara, as he in the meantime laid a concerned eye on Violina, but
noticed her sister had already come to her aid.

Two events occurred at the same
time; while Eloine consoled her dying sister, Luke confronted
Chiara.

Eloine sat on her knees, holding her dying
sister; the curse that had held the Queen captivated had been
broken. Kyan came rushing into the throne room, heading straight
for his wife; when she explained what had happened, Kyan finally
seemed to realise all the damage his mother had done.