Mistfall (28 page)

I opened the bedroom door and immediately
regretted my decision to leave Heimdall’s sword behind. Abel and
the Aelfadl were awaiting me. Melissa and John, already captured,
were sitting on the floor, restrained from doing anything to help
by magical bonds.

The bonds were made by the dwarves of
Elemental Deep. The bonds melded with a prisoner’s magic, rendering
their power unusable. It was near impossible to break through them.
Only a key that had joined with the prisoner’s magical DNA could
free one from the bonds.

I only had one, very slim chance to get past
them. Jumping backwards into the room, I intended to grab Hofuo. My
feet had scarcely left the ground when I was pulled through the air
by an invisible hand and slammed into the wall across from me.

“Oomph.” I felt as if a bear had parked its
rear end on my chest as I gasped for air.

Finn appeared from behind one of the Aelfadl.
I smacked myself in the forehead.
I should’ve known…

“There’s no use in fighting this time
Magdalene,” Abel warned me. “I brought the best of my warriors and
have found this Fae,” he pointed at Finn, “to be rather malleable
to my will.”

Still wheezing, I stood up, the Aelfadl
making no move to stop me. They must have thought that I posed no
threat as their stance was unusually relaxed. I was unable to tell
anything from their faces as they were obscured by masks.

“I’d be careful of that one,” I said in
reference to Finn, “he’s temperamental.”

Abel laughed silently to himself, the joke
lost on me. “Yes. He is rather difficult, but that is my own
fault.”

I raised an eyebrow at his vagary.
What
did he mean by that?

“I can’t give my hand away now can I?” he
asked though the question was rhetorical. “It wouldn’t be as
entertaining for me if I did.”

Abel was a sly devil. He had been the Elven
king for over a millennia. You don’t stay in charge for that long
without having a few tricks up your sleeve.

Once Abel got the Dwarf bracelets on me,
there was no way I’d be able to escape. My only chance was to fight
back right here. Even dying sounded like a better alternative.
Alerting the other Fae to Abel’s presence sounded like a good idea.
I would have the reinforcements and protection I needed. I decided
on doing both things at once.

I didn’t have the time to let the energy
build up in my hands to be able to attack everyone at once.
Whatever I was going to do, it would have to be quick.

“Sorry Abel, but I won’t be able to stick
around for your scheming today,” I said, unleashing a few
concussive blasts at the ground. I aimed at the floor by John and
Melissa. I was planning to catch everyone off guard. Then, I would
escape by jumping down the hole I had created, all while slowing
Melissa and John’s descent.

It should have been neat and tidy, crisis
averted, and Fae alerted. For the second time in minutes I found
that I had never been more wrong in my life. Nothing happened, no
holes, no shock and awe, nothing. I tried again. Same thing. It
looked like Abel had remembered to bring his invisible shield and
had taught it a few new tricks. He must’ve known I’d try and rescue
my friends.

I didn’t have time for the games. Every
second I wasted gave Abel an advantage. He was already up in that
department since he had cornered me like a dog. There were plenty
of other targets and directions I could fire away at. There was no
way Abel’s shield extended that far. I’d bring down the entire
building if it had the required effect.

Lifting my hands, I began launching fireballs
everywhere. I aimed over their heads, at their feet, and even
lobbed a shot to my side in order to determine where the shield
ended. I was so busy trying to find the chink in the invisible
armor that I didn’t notice the Aelfadl who were guarding John and
Melissa take a defensive stance.

That should’ve been my clue. None of the rest
of Abel’s guard had so much as flinched during my assault. It was
only when I let a barrage of shots off at Abel that I found out why
he seemed so calm.

My arms were yanked down to my sides by
invisible hands and a white hot burning sensation began creeping up
from my wrist to my arm. I felt as if someone was sticking me with
a red hot poker and screamed out in pain. I tried to fight back at
the unseen enemy, but that just caused my pain to increase.

Abel’s face shone in triumph as he took a
step towards me. “There’s no need to scream Magdalene, though I do
enjoy the sound of it. You see, I had Finn poison all the fairy
wine. In small amounts it does no harm. The Fae however, love to
drink to excess at their celebrations. They won’t wake up for
days.”

“You should have just said something,” I
grimaced through the pain. “I wouldn’t have stood in your way if I
knew you and your merry bunch of cobblers just wanted time to fix
all of the Fae’s shoes.”

“Insolent bitch!” Abel shouted, backhanding
me in the face. “I’ve told you time and time again to watch your
mouth. I promise, I will make it my personal mission to teach you
some manners, little girl.”

My face smarted, but in no way felt worse
than the continued burning I felt on my wrists. Just when I thought
that couldn’t get any worse, my whole right side felt as if it had
burst into flames.

I screamed again as my legs gave out from
underneath me, but I did not fall. Whatever it was that had a hold
of my wrists kept me from falling to my knees. The pain was
unimaginable. Invisible flames licked at my arms and sides, melting
my skin and branding me with their mark. I looked down at my arms,
while I could still hold my head up, to see the carnage. There were
no marks or burns. My skin told no tales of the torment it was
currently under. I knew of no kind of being that had both the power
of invisibility and a fiery touch.

My screaming continued. Abel and his men
laughed at my torture, finding it entertaining. I was unable to use
my magic. My invisible attackers had been absorbing my magic, first
with the fireballs and blasts and now by touching me. I was
overwhelmed with the pain and quickly became weak. I was as useless
as a human against an oncoming train.

As suddenly as the burning feeling started,
it stopped. Only a smoldering feeling was left on my arms. As
relieved as I was, I couldn’t move.

Abel knew I was harmless when he stood before
me. He lifted my chin so he could speak to me face to face as I was
unable to lift my own head “I feel it my duty to tell you that your
friends over there have been dishonest with you,” he informed me,
pointing to Melissa and John with his turquoise eyes.

“Liar,” I spat, barely above a whisper.

“Regardless of your feelings towards me, I am
telling you the truth,” he replied while turning my face this way
and that, inspecting me. “I have two children, both sons,” he
informed me. “You’ve already met Luca.” I’d introduce you to the
other, but I think you already know him. His intended wife is here
as well, but yet again you refuse me the honors of
introduction.”

My eyes grew as wide as hubcaps and I
attempted to shake my head in denial. I looked over at Melissa and
John, still restrained on the ground. They couldn’t reassure me of
Abel’s lies due to the duct tape covering their mouths (Yes, even
Otherworlder’s know the benefit of duct tape). Their eyes, however,
spoke volumes. Guilt emanated from the two of them like a bullhorn
in church.

I was devastated. The tears I had been
holding back from the pain of torture began to well and flow freely
down my face.

“I bet you didn’t know I sent this son as
well as Luca to kill you and that other abomination five years ago
either,” Abel said, wickedly enjoying his one sided conversation
and the pain it brought me.

Abel looked thoughtful for a moment. “What is
it about my sons finding the need to seduce you?” he mused. “I
think everything we’ve worked for could have been accomplished
without that, but I guess the ends justify the means. However, John
has been a bit of a disappointment. I think he may have actually
fallen in love with you.”

He wiped a tear from my eye, inspecting it as
if it was some alien life he had never encountered before. I
wondered if the man had a soul at all. He wiped his fingers on his
pants and returned to my torment. “His marriage to the Witch was
arranged years ago. The union will give me more power in regards to
the alliance with the Witches.”

Done with me, Abel let my head drop and
turned to his men. “Let’s get this show on the road, shall we?”

Two of the Aelfadl grabbed Melissa and John,
hoisting them over their shoulders and headed downstairs, with Finn
in tow.

Abel turned his attention back to me, yet
again and yanked me up by the hair. “I’ve been horrible with
introductions today, haven’t I? Well, don’t worry Magdalene. I have
some friends you haven’t met yet, though you’ve felt their
power.”

Abel ordered my invisible captors to show
themselves. I was faced with the answer to my question about whose
magic had been protecting Abel.

Wraiths. When jinn who are bound inside
objects are forgotten by time and their masters, they turn into
wraiths. Over time the jinn lose their sanity, turning into
something inhuman and animalistic. It is conceivably the worst
torture on the planet.

Even jinn bound to, but not inside, objects
that are lost fare a better fate. Occasionally an object will be
found and they endure servitude. For the most part though, they
enjoyed relative freedom as objects usually stayed buried and
forgotten.

Iblis, as cruel and sadistic as he could be,
led the hunt to find these lost jinn six hundred years ago. They
couldn’t be released back into the world. His mercy for them was
death, an end to their suffering.

The call was put out to all Otherworlders to
help find the wraiths. Sympathy moved most to help. Even Abel
contributed, finding the majority of wraiths. The wraiths, once
found, were returned to the great scorching fire all jinn were
created from.

“I’m sure you’ve noticed the color of the
wraiths,” Abel pointed out, interrupting my thoughts.

I had. Almost ghost-like, all the wraiths
were a muddied purple color. I didn’t know how it was possible he
had these creatures.

Abel put my questions to rest as he spoke
again. “Yes Magdalene, you even recognize that these are no
ordinary wraiths. You see, when Iblis asked for help all those
years ago, I concurred with the Otherworld community. To exist as a
caged animal must have been one horrifying nightmare after
another.

I found many of the wraiths, contributing the
most to the cause. I sent many Ifrits and Marids to a humane end.
It wasn’t until I encountered one of your kind that I realized a
wraith’s worth.

I was in rural Russia on a tip about a cache
of wraiths. My information, it turned out, was wrong and I only
came across one.

I had been poking around the ruins of a
house, burned to the ground long ago. I had been ready to give up
my search when I spied a slight depression in the earth, near the
house. I decided to give finding the cache one last try. I
attempted to cause the earth to remove itself, but a spell
protected the site. I dug the earth by hand for over an hour when
my shovel hit something solid.

I had dug up an old oaken box. I knew then
that I didn’t have what I was looking for. If as many jinn had been
trapped in that box as I had been told, the energy from all of them
would have blown this area to kingdom come, like they did in
Tunguska.

Curious to what the box retained, I opened
it. Inside laid a colorful matryoshka doll. It, unlike the box that
held it, had been untouched by time.

I had recently begun to release the wraiths
from their confines, curious as to the power they wielded, before
returning them to Iblis. Overall, I was unimpressed. That was until
I opened the doll.

The jinn’s previous master was cruel, a trait
I admired. Each doll was not just nestled within the other, but
locked magically. It was the work of a powerful Warlock and it took
me days to release the locks.

I’ll admit, at first I didn’t recognize that
the place I had found the doll in had once been the home of
Rasputin.” (Rasputin was much older than the human history books
state. His gruesome end, however, was true.)

“When I did realize that, I understood the
reasoning for the locks. The power of the creature he had bound
must have been so great that containing it was his only option. I
grew excited as I came to the last lock.

What came out of the doll almost killed me,
it was so powerful. I was just able to fight it off and contain it
once again. There was something that stood out about that
particular wraith. The Ifrit wraiths were a sickly yellow color and
the Marids a blue-grey. The wraith I had just released was dusty
heather, an Iblian.

I sent this one back to Iblis, it being too
powerful for me to control. I continued my search, not for lost
jinn, but for lost Iblian jinn. Later on our world believed all the
wraiths to be found and put to eternal rest, but I had a secret
though.

I collected the Iblian wraiths that weren’t
completely insane. Oh, they have no sense of humanity left in them,
but they can still take orders from their master. I almost thought
I had lost them after the war when the gods eradicated your kind.
Luckily for me, the gods didn’t even recognize these creatures.

I’ve had them for over six hundred years.
They are my creatures who do my bidding and they do their job very
well.”

Abel had finally finished his diatribe. I
really didn’t think it possible to hate him more, but was surprised
when I found that I could.

I managed to lift my head up. “Good for you
Abel. You’re an asshole that likes to play with dolls,” I gritted
through my teeth and then spit at him.