Authors: Claudy Conn
HUNTER SAW BAUDALI vanish with Exerilla and cursed up a storm before he got control of himself and shifted with his immortal magic. He knew where Baudali was going, to the battlefield, to his brother. He used the portal he had constructed and entered the battlefield himself.
Men were colliding, clashing, riding, being shot off their horses only to jump up and fight with whatever weapons were left to them.
Blood covered the earth.
So many young boys lying with blood soaked uniforms and glassy stares. He looked away from the horror only to find another and it struck him to the core.
He saw his brother standing very still as Baudali held a dagger to Exerilla’s neck. He knew this was the moment; and he would have to be very careful.
Baudali was unconcerned with the battle raging around them. They were insulated from it by a dark mist. They stood, his brother beside him, only a few feet away, facing the Dark Wizard’s wicked face.
“Exerilla, m’love, I am sorry. I had no idea he knew about ye, would draw ye into this.”
“I am not sure what is going on, but don’t worry about me. Just take care of each other; for from the looks of it, I am guessing this is your younger brother, he looks too much like you not to be.” Exerilla said quietly, and he saw a light in her green eyes. How he loved that light.
“Enough, although I should allow you, a last good-bye to each other,” Baudali sneered.
“Why?” Exerilla asked softly. “I should like to know why?”
“Because I wanted their mother for my own, and when she refused, I killed her and her good husband. One has only to know the knack of killing an immortal, you see, and I made it my business to do so.”
“Immortal?” Exerilla’s shock was evident in her voice and on her face. She had already had no choice but to assume that he was a wizard, but he was also immortal?
“Ah, he did not tell you that. Yes, they are immortals, but I know the trick of ending their immortality.”
“Do you?” she said quietly. “I see.”
He frowned, “You take many things in your stride, now watch as I kill your lover’s young brother.”
“Stop,” Hunter said. “I will make ye a deal, ye canna refuse.”
“What is that?”
“Take me in his place, in her place, and I’ll surrender up to ye, bend m’neck to ye for the taking…”
Baudali laughed, “No, that is mine anyway, but I will give you the choice. Your brother or your lover!”
“No, ye’ll not put that on me. Do ye take me for a fool, then? Do ye think I doona know ye mean to have us all? Tis in your nature.”
Suddenly both Ferrell and Hunter had glinting swords in their hands and took a stance. Hunter smiled, “Our swords canna miss and are spelled against ye, specifically against ye. Now, best let her go.”
Baudali hesitated and then snorted, “How will your swords get past her to me?”
* * *
Timing was everything, especially when backed up with patience. For an impulsive kinda gal, she was proud of herself, for she had waited, and waited, and now she was going to give this black wizard just what he deserved.
“Like this!” Exerilla snapped as wand in hand she vanished from his hold and before he knew what had happened, she zapped him with a charge of White Magic.
He cried out in pain, and she smiled, “And that,
is not
an illusion.”
Ferrell and Hunter regarded one another with some astonishment but also sprang into action as they held him in place with their wands in their left hands and their swords in their right.
Exerilla’s white powers were nearly at their peak. They would attain full power at Samhain, but even so, her mother had taught her a trick or two to be used when faced with dark magic’s devilry. Well, here was the darkness even worse than her father’s, and far more evil. She held him in her wand’s grip.
“Now,” said Hunter as he moved in with his sword for the kill.
Baudali was screaming in agony, burning from White Magic but even so, he summoned enough of his own dark brew to spell himself out of range.
He found that as he did this, the shield that kept the roaring battle outside their circle, was broken.
Coalition soldiers fighting French soldiers spilled into the fray and Exerilla, as well as Hunter and Ferrell had to put away their wands. They couldn’t chance hurting their own.
Exerilla saw Baudali slink into the fray, a slow grin on his face and Hunter’s brother said, “He is mine, brother.”
“No, the time must pass, or he will kill you again. Allow me, young brother,” and Hunter shifted off in a wave of magic all his own.
Ferrell looked at Exerilla and grinned, “I had hoped that whenever m’brother found a lass he meant to keep, we would meet under…er…different circumstances.”
She laughed, and even as the questions in her mind arrived at her lips, she went silent and stood, unable to move.
Oh no…oh no
, was all she could think.
She knew the risk when she had used her wand. But she thought she would have more time to say good-bye. How had her father found her so quickly?
He marched right up to her, stared her down and before she could speak…
EXERILLA LOOKED OUT the mullioned window of the secluded Sag Harbor estate her father owned.
She had not known of its existence before now.
The ten acre grounds were walled in with stone and electric. The driveway had a gatehouse and the gatekeeper was licensed for the Glock he carried.
A week had gone by and although she had tried to mind link with her mother, something was constantly blocking her.
Her father had snatched away the pendant from her neck, as soon as he had compelled her to go with him. And all she knew after that was that everything she did moved her closer to this day,
her wedding day.
She glanced down at her gown of black lace. It was etched with white hand embroidered flowers, and clung to her figure.
A salty tear rolled down her cheek, and she licked it and sniffed. She wished she had been strong enough to make it all stop. She wanted to resist her father’s compulsion spell and run away. She had her wand safely within her air space and no other could touch it. Yet, she was unable to call for it and escape.
Her mother was nowhere to be found, but her father assured her that her mother was well, and she was making furious attempts to get to her. She was backed by her coven. She hoped they would be able to break her father’s dark wards.
She regarded herself in the long mirror and a shaky laugh escaped her. She looked like the bride of Dracula.
A long black lace veil covered her shining black hair which was piled high at the top of her head. It fell in long curls past the nape of her neck. Her face looked deathly white, amplifying the dark horror she felt.
Her father arrived without speaking to her. He undid the small clip at her hip, which had held the black lace train in place. “It is time,” he said softly as he spread the train behind her.
She stared at him. He was tall and so beautiful. He was her father. She never thought he was capable of this. She couldn’t break the spell. Her mother had always told her that White Magic could defeat dark, but she couldn’t break the compulsion spell. She knew that her father’s coven had taken measures to keep her mother out, but her mother was one of the most powerful white witches that ever existed. Oh Mom, where are you?
Perhaps her mother would save her at the last minute.
Her instincts told her
no.
Her mother would not be able to enter without an invitation. Magic would keep her and her coven away.
Her father stood at her side, as she saw a look of triumph on his face. He was looking pleased while she was being tortured.
She made another attempt. “Please, if you love me don’t do this. I know you compelled me. You must have. I would never marry him. I loathe him, and besides…” she thought of Hunter and how she missed him. Hunter who she had discovered was an immortal and a wizard and forever gone from her.
“Besides?” her father frowned.
“Nothing papa, but know this. If you don’t save me from this, I will hate you forever. All the good memories will be destroyed by this last thing you are doing to
your
daughter
. All of this for your selfish gains.”
“You will feel differently very soon. When you are married to a Debbin, and my dark magic mixes with your White Magic, it will create something new. You will see how right I am. I am doing this for you. Your mother is the most powerful white witch alive and even she cannot snatch you away. Doesn’t that tell you something? Had you given in to my genes, X, my child, you would have enjoyed my dark force and you would not now be compelled,” he said and immediately bit his lip as though biting back the words.
What?
She could use this new knowledge.
“Never mind,” he answered sharply.
“Are you saying only a white witch can be compelled until she reaches her majority at Samhain?”
“I am not saying anything of the kind. At any rate, you are a white witch and have ignored your dark side,” he answered glibly.
“I will never forgive you,” she said softly. “When Samhain arrives, and I am my own person again I will leave you. I will leave him, and all of this will have been for nothing. I denounce you.”
“It will be too late,” he said softly.
Who was this man, she had called papa? What had he become? Was there no love left in him for her, for her mother? Was it all now just about the power? “You are transparent, my sweet X. You always were. You don’t understand that I am not concerned. Once you are married and a part of my dark coven, you will not wish to return to the simplicity and mundane frailty of White Magic. I shall not lose you.”
“I will never be a part of your coven,” she answered.
Music, hard and dark filtered through as he bent his arm. “
It is time.”
* * *
Hunter saw Baudali obviously shaken by the severity of the magic that had been used on him. He smiled as he followed the old wizards’ uneasy steps.
He didn’t know what his woman was, but he damned well meant to find out as soon as he could, after he beat the Dark Magic of Baudali.
“Tis time, old wizard,” Hunter shouted out.
Baudali shakily turned to face Hunter MacTorry. The Dark Wizard was thoroughly dazed as he stood between the fallen bodies and the thunderous sounds of battle in full swing.
Hunter could smell the blood all around and a wave of pity for all the soldiers swept through him.
“You have your mother’s eyes. When I killed your father, she looked at me just as you are looking at me now. You know, I killed him first. I was still hoping she would come with me,” Baudali murmured.
“Why did ye have to enter our lives? Ye are an abomination,” Hunter bellowed. The memory of his fallen parents swept through him like a sharp edged knife.
Baudali shrugged. “I am what I am. Why not call a truce with me and allow me to return to my secret dimension where I shall not ever bother you or yours again?”
Hunter heard the plea in the old man’s voice. He was not the sort that often stood cold against a plea. “Do ye think it is all that simple? Do ye think I will let ye live to fight another day? Think again, old wizard,” Hunter said with a sneer.
“Will you strike me when I am without my usual powers? Three of you against just one old man. Is that fair?” Baudali said.
“`Tis but one now--
me
. Och aye. It is more than fair. Ye killed m’parents without cause. Without giving them a chance and this is for them.”
Hunter held his sword in place, and with his wand pointed while keeping the Dark Wizard from moving with an electrifying invisible wall that surrounded him.
It was surreal, Hunter thought. Watching young men and boys being killed left and right. Bullets flying, rockets exploding, and cannons blasting through the smoky air.
As he started to put his sword in motion for the Death Blow, the one that would take off the Wizard’s head, something bright and magical interfered and made him blink.
It was Baudali’s twin, Rysdale
.
Hunter knew of the white wizard, but had never encountered him before. He was Baudali’s twin, but the two were complete opposites. Rysdale was all white haired, and bright-eyed with a cone hat of blue edged with silver as was his satin robe. His smile was almost angelic.
“I apologize. I would have been here sooner had I known. I did not realize what my brother was about to do until it was nearly too late. I am too late I know, to save your parents, but it appears the fates took care of your brother. It is time I took care of mine. Please, give up on your revenge. Go in peace. You shall not be bothered by him again.”
“You ask too much, for it is not revenge. It is justice,” Hunter said with a dark frown.
“Call it what you will. He is my brother and I do promise you, he will never bother you again. I am not always able to control him, but I have prepared a very potent spell. In the morning he will remember nothing of your parents, your brother, or you. Now, I think you have other matters to deal with…
your lady is in
trouble.”
Hunter spun around, terror suddenly filling his heart as Rysdale took his brother and vanished. He suddenly didn’t care. All he cared about was getting to Exerilla and that man who reaching out for her.
He ran toward them, but even as he arrived on the scene, he picked up on the scent of the immortal dark warlock. They were gone!
* * *
“Time? It will never be time.” X begged her father. “Papa, let me go. Please. I don’t love him. I love someone else.”
That made her father pause as he grabbed her shoulders. “You love someone else?”
A bright white exploded into the chamber and out of its sparkling center, Rachel Radley stepped in. She was in a silver embroidered satin gown and closed the portal with her wand before she turned on her husband.
She was in agony. Breaking the wards, that had been enacted to keep her out, was tortuously painful. She held her head up high and said, “Darling, don’t do this to our daughter.”
He frowned. “You are in pain. Rachel, you must leave.”
“I cannot. I no longer have the strength to leave. Lift the ward, my love, it is draining me.”
“No, your coven will come through and make a mockery of my lifestyle here. You must find a way to leave.”
She looked into his eyes. “Your eyes are coal black but there is an ember flickering for me. Let it live.” She collapsed in a heap.
“Rachel!” he shouted.
“Mom, Papa, Mom!” Exerilla watched all this and felt something dark inside. Something that had been stirring begin to grow. This is what her father wanted, for the dark in her to live. She beat it down. “Papa, do something!”
Her father picked up her mother and set her on the settee by the window and whispered a spell that ended with the words,
be at ease
.
“That will help her until after the ceremony. Then I will lift the wards and she will recoup,” he said once again going to his daughter and looking into her eyes, “Put your hand on my arm, and walk beside me. We will make our way down the aisle and you will marry Galen Debbin.”
* * *
A week of searching had not brought Hunter any closer to finding her. His orb would show her face, but the location was untraceable. She was in a room, often crying.
It was driving him mad. Hunter stayed on at Sir Jacob’s using it as a home base as he searched for Exerilla.
Ferrell had stayed on with Wellington after Waterloo. They had won the battle and the War. Napoleon would be exiled.
Swit was gone off to his new life and Sir Jacob was making plans to increase his stables. Lucas Osgood was staying with Jake for a few days more. Both men were forever at the stables, working with the horses and the new trainer Jacob had hired.
Ferrell surprised Hunter at Cressly Towers, shifting in while Hunter was in his room studying the orb. After some brotherly shoulder shaking, Ferrell frowned and asked, “Have ye not found her yet?
Certes
man! Why not?”
“The orb shows me her face and a room she seems to be locked away in, but it could be anywhere.” He frowned at his brother.
“Here is the thing, Hunter, something about the portal her warlock father used. It had a scent entirely foreign to me. I doona think it was anywhere I have been.”
“What do you mean? Tell me again, what did she say?”
“As I told ye, she called him papa and I got the feeling that he had been searching for her.” Ferrell shook his head. “I have been thinking that the scent I picked up on was the scent of another time. Ye know when we traveled back in time once; we were hit with a terrible smell…sulfur I think. I know you have lived beyond
this time
, and mayhap she comes from the future.”
Hunter punched his right fist into his left palm. “
Damned brilliant brat
, I knew there was a reason I needed to keep you alive! That was why she sounded so…different. She was from the future. Hiding from her warlock father here in the past. Aye. Not using her wand because she knew he would be able to trace her if she did. She was afraid of her own father, Ferrell—why? What does he mean to do to her? Och! Bloody hell, Ferrell. She used her wand to save us. She used her wand knowing he would trace its residue to her. I pray I am not too late.” He called for his Orb and this time, he told it to look into the future. It looked into the colonies, and what he saw made him tremble with emotion.
“Her father is a devil…”
* * *
Exerilla and her father stood at the entrance of a long wide room, with windows of stained glass dominating the walls. The scenes depicted in the stain glass made Exerilla cringe.
Exerilla walked beside her father on a long black velvet rug. With every step she tried to break free and run. Nothing happened. In her mind she was breaking free. In reality, she meekly walked beside him.
The room had been filled with black and red flowers. The chairs decorated with black satin ribbons. The guests were no more than twenty, but a coven of male dark warlocks stood staunchly. They were all in black silk suits, looking to her like gangsters from long ago.