MALACHI II

I still felt the hum of strength rushing through me from drinking blood. It was unlike anything I’ve experienced before. No wonder the older vampires laughed when I suggested we stop blood bonding. The power it offered was unmatched. I had accidentally snapped a seal in half when I was trying to send a letter by crow earlier. The small metal piece practically crumbled in my hands. The postmaster only chuckled. “First time drinking a person’s blood?” he had asked.

I was guilt ridden though. Every time I looked at Iara, I was reminded that my strength was found at the price of hers. She was pale and weak. I didn’t think she should have gone back to her normal schedule when the two days had passed, but she insisted. She said she was tired of being locked up in the room alone. I couldn’t protest at that. Isolating her wasn’t the answer either. I thought of swearing off drinking from her again, but that made my chest fill with dread. I was becoming a selfish creature. The thought of a mouthful of her blood made me salvate and my hands tremble. I was monstrous for still longing to do it again.

I pushed away my troubling thoughts and instead turned my attention to work. My boost of energy should be put to good use. Between hours I dedicated to scheduling and organizing the festival I had started to design something for Iara. I would be fixing up the old abandoned courtyard. I thought it would be perfect to plant almost everything she would need for her spells. I had asked Jer how he felt about it as well and he looked excited for life to be breathed back into the space. I had even contacted the palace’s herbalist and he helped me place orders for all the things we’d need. I planned to have a sundial next to the old fountain and a small gazebo just next to our old rusted gate. I planned to put benches along the stone paths through the entire place. The stone mason I commissioned was starting work today. I had hopes of showing her by the end of the week.

I knew it could take longer, but things seemed to run smoothly. When I would pause my work for a meal, I would check on the progress. Everyday it looked so much different. The herbalist already had sprouts all around us. Some even started to flower. The stone mason restored the fountain. I could hardly believe it was the same crumbling thing that had been there all these years. It was a white polished marble, the basin filled with fish and fresh lily pads. He already started to lay foundations for the sundial and the stone pathways.

Now the real challenge would be keeping Iara away from the courtyard until it was finished. I asked Jer to make sure she didn’t try to come out here during the night. When she would ask for me to take her on a walk in the woods I would say I was far too tired. I could tell she was getting frustrated, but I refused to waver. The pure joy and excitement I imagined her showing when she finally saw the final product kept me strong. I felt giddy getting it ready for her. The most time I’ve ever spent on a gift for anyone. I knew she would love it.

Once the bulk of the major things were laid down, I had a landscaper start the fine details. Replanting grass and decorative flowers to fill in any flat spaces, placing rocks and boulders about to tie everything in. I had been helping them work when I could. Tonight I had rolled up my sleeves and started taking the crawling ivy off the old stone walls. The vines clung and dug into the walls at some points so much I had to put all my weight into pulling them free.

One of the workers interrupted me though. “Prince Malachi, the King would like to see you,” he said after a low bow.

I brushed my hands off and turned my attention to the entrance. My father stood at one door. I made my way through the freshly planted gardens and greeted him. “Father. I thought you and Mother would have been gone by now.”

“We are leaving when day breaks. I wanted to give this to you before though,” he said. I hadn’t even noticed the small sapling in his hand. “It just came by boat. When I heard you were making a potions garden for the Princess I sent word out for one.”

I took it from his hands. The leaves on the sapling were barely budding, but their unusual color was striking. A very soft lavender. It was stark against the dark brown bark. It almost looked like it was painted, something right out of a fantasy book. “What is this?”

The gardener gasped when she saw it. “That’s a summoning tree.” She rushed over to us, her eyes lighting up. “A tree that can grow any fruit so long as you know the incantation.”

“Such a tree exists?” I asked, looking back down to the unassuming plant.

“May I?” Beatirce asked. She held her hands out to me, gesturing to the sapling.

“Oh, of course.” I handed it to her.

“It won’t bear fruit for many years but if we give it enough love. . .” she started to mutter. She absently turned away from us as she held it in her hand like a new born baby.

Father laughed. “I hope the Princess enjoys it. You will have to tell me what she thinks when you show her.”

I nodded. “Thank you Father. Have a safe journey.”

He bowed quickly to me. “Make sure everything runs smoothly in our absence.”

Later that night, I was going to the kitchen for some much needed tea. I planned to bring it to my office and work later than I normally would. I was behind on a few things and I couldn’t afford to keep that theme. Not to mention I was avoiding Iara a bit. My thoughts were consumed by the courtyard renovations. I couldn’t spoil the surprise by accidentally touching her. But while I was headed to the kitchens, a figure caught my eye. Hunched over with spindly horns, ragged robes hanging off shoulders. I blinked, taking a second look. My eyes didn’t deceive me. Lady Rey stood at the end of the hall.

“Prince Malachi Damien Bloodtide II,” she recited, her voice mocking.

“Rey The Old, witch of the west forest,” I called back in the same mocking tone.

“Have you seen Iara?” she asked.

I frowned, thinking back to when I saw her this morning. She had left before me, Elisif taking her to her usual classes. It was late, the sun rising. Iara should have been done with her daily duties by now. “Why don’t you go see her?” I asked.

The old elf hit my ankle hard with her walking stick. I cried out and glared at her. “You fool. I already know what’s happening. You need to go to her,” Lady Rey snapped.

“What do you mean?” I snapped right back. Interacting with this woman was infuriating as ever. I didn’t know if it was enraging or comforting to know she was the same as always. Just like the Priestess, she was mysterious and crazy.

“Go,” she yelled.

“Go where?”

She hit my other ankle with the same force. A man weaker than I would have been on his knees by now. “Iara will need you soon,” she told me. “Go now or you might never see her again.”

The thought sent a chill through my body. I knew this crazy old elf, for all her flaws, never lied. My mother had told me about her blessing. It made me all the more terrified. I turned back, forgetting about the work I needed to catch up on. Everything be damned. Iara could be anywhere, but I assumed my rooms would be a safe first bet. I rushed there, hoping no one would try to stop me. I rarely ran through the halls. If someone did see me they would surely be alarmed. When I reached my chamber door I threw it open. I sucked in a breath of air sharply. The scene in front of me horrified me to my core.

Iara was in the middle of the room. She had set out sheets of paper in a circle to write on. Blood stained the pages instead of the floor. Angry red runes lay in five points creating a pentacle. They were drawn sloppily, as if a child scrawled them. The lines were shaky and uneven. Above the runes was a portal. It cut through the very fabric of this realm and showed what I could only describe as a sea of souls. Crying, screaming, and agonizing yells emanate from the portal. Hundreds of pale faces writhed below the surface. The smell that filled the room made me sick to my stomach. People always said rotting flesh smelled different than other kinds of decay. I had never imagined it would be this horrid though. The faces of the damned contorted in pain and cried for help. Some had even taken notice of the portal and reached out for Iara. A few had already grabbed her hair, her clothes. Anything they could get a hold of. Their knobby and decaying hands clawed at her and at the edges of the portal. Iara was reaching in just like they were reaching out. A single soul was her only focus. The cursed being I realized was a woman. Iara had both of her hands reaching out to the decaying face.

The woman looked exactly like Iara, if Iara had died and decomposed. The thought haunted me. Her dead eyes and hollowed cheeks were features I hoped Iara never took on. But when Iara reached her, their skin meeting, the color seemed to come back to her dead face. Her murky expression focused on my wife. Her eyes sharpened to reveal bright blue irises. The cursed soul reached out to her just like the other arms that clawed and grabbed at her.

“Mom,” Iara whispered.

This was Alys? My heart skipped a beat. Alys was cursed and she was sent to this wretched place. I trembled at the realization. If Iara had opened the portal herself, this truly meant the gods favored her. To allow someone access to such a thing was unheard of. The gods would have surely stepped in before now.

Just then a spyglass caught my attention. It hovered over the scene, a small mirror with an all seeing eye reflected in it. The disk seemed to cut through the air, trying to get the best vantage point it could. Someone was trying to watch what happened. The thought made me more sick than the stench that flowed from the sea of the damned. I forced myself to move then, pushing away the fear I felt. I jumped forward, reaching for the spyglass. It looked at me in shock and then the reflection went black. It fell right to the ground and shattered. Glass shards erupted across the floor.

Iara jumped and looked back at me. She hadn’t even realized I was there. Her focus was interrupted. A few souls had already crawled half way out. She turned back to the portal and cried out in shock. She couldn’t move away, too many fingers tangled around her. I lurched forward again, sliding myself across the floor. I pushed the papers out of alignment to close the portal. It wasn’t the best way to close up a spell, but it was the fastest. As soon as the papers were moved from their positions, the portal seemed to blink shut. Alys along with all the other damned souls were cut off, plunged back into their eternal suffering.

“Are you alright?” I asked. I pulled myself up and rushed over to her. She had scrapes all along her arms and her palm was still bleeding from a large gash. The gash I assumed she made to get blood to write in.

Her eyes welled with tears and she shook her head. “My mother really was cursed,” she mumbled.

“You were almost dragged into the sea of the damned,” I snapped at her. “Do you know how stupid doing this was? How did you even find such a dangerous spell?”

She stood on wobbly legs and glared at me. “I’m not here to follow every one of your orders. I told you I still want to find out what happened to my mother.” Tears fell down her cheeks. “I thought she was dead, but this is far worse. I could have saved her if you didn’t come in like a madman.”

“You would have been trapped in the Underworld if I hadn’t come in here like a madman,” I yelled. I gestured to the glass all around us on the floor. “Someone was watching. Someone knew you were going to do this ritual and they were-”

“You’re bleeding,” Iara interrupted me.

I furrowed my brows and looked down. My palms both had deep cuts on them. It must have been from the spyglass. Some shards were still in my hands. Before my eyes, the cuts started to knit together. The glass was slowly pushed out of my skin and quietly clinked to the floor. I was still amazed at what human blood grants me. I shook my head, putting my attention back on Iara. “You are as well,” I sighed. “Did you even listen to me?”

She crouched down and picked up a shard of glass. “Do you know who it was?”

“No.”

Iara inspected the shard carefully. She must not have found what she was looking for because she threw it right back down where she had found it. “I got the book from a knight,” she told me. “Are the knights trying to spy on us?”

“What knight gave this to you?” I demanded. I knew Ivar was working with someone else, but that someone remained hidden. If it was a high ranking knight, we could assume more people were working under his orders than we previously thought.

“I think his name was Ban,” she muttered. “I saw him once before, after. . .” She trailed off.

I turned to the door. “Stay here,” I told her.

“Wait,” she cried, reaching for my arm. “Please don’t go.”

I felt rage bubble out of me in waves. I knew Ban. If he was conspiring with Ivar, everything was worse than I could have imagined. Who else could have been in his corner? The advisors? Members of my own family? Who could be trusted? What were they even planning? When Iara touched my wrist she stumbled back. She gasped at the contact. Her eyes widened in shock. She knew what I wanted to do. With her blood still giving me this much power, I could crush anyone with a flick of my wrist. I didn’t want to hold back.

“Malachi, you should calm down,” she breathed. She clutched her hands together and set her worried eyes on me in a silent plea.

My hand paused on the doorknob. I certainly should have stayed until I was calm, but I had never felt such anger before. I was angry at Iara for trying such a spell. I was angry that my home didn’t feel safe anymore. I was angry that I had to question if I could trust my own blood. But she was right. I should calm down before taking action. If I raised a scene I would be making the situation worse. I let my hand fall from the door and I hung my head low.

“Are you still bleeding?” I asked her.

“No,” she whispered. I looked over my shoulder to see her looking at her hand. The slash along her palm was deep, but it had scabbed over already.

I turned back to her. “Do you know how stupid that was?” I repeated. I wouldn’t let her change the subject this time.

Iara frowned at me. “I did what I thought was best. You hardly have time for me right now so I didn’t ask for help,” she shot at me.

“Don’t blame your choices on me. I am running a kingdom right now. You should know how much work that is if you paid any mind to what was going on.” I gestured to the floor. “But instead of that you opened up a gateway to hell in my room.”

“Our room,” she corrected.

The statement infuriated me more than I liked to admit. “It had been my room for years before you moved in.” I ran my hands through my hair, willing myself not to yell. I had to stop letting myself get out of control. “Yes, our room,” I added. I took a deep breath in and made sure my voice was even. “But you shouldn’t do these types of spells at all, let alone by yourself.”

Iara brushed her hair behind her ear and held onto her sides. She looked as if she were trying to hold herself together. “I know it was dangerous,” she whispered. “I just needed to know if my mother really was cursed. She didn’t fulfill the deal she made with Leda. What kind of price was she not willing to pay?”

I shook my head. “I don’t know. The gods wouldn’t have cursed her like that if it wasn’t important though.”

She sighed, the unsatisfying answer making her face sour. “I’m tired of the gods.”

I didn’t say anything in response. I knew there was nothing to say to console her. I only bent down and started picking up the bloody papers. “At least you made cleaning up easy,” I sighed.

She laughed. “Thanks.”

We cleaned up our room as much as we could and went to the infirmary. The doctor cleaned up her cuts and asked us what in the world we had been doing. I didn’t want any rumors to start circulating around so I hesitated as I thought of a lie.

“Just bedroom stuff,” Iara blurted.

The doctor turned red and nodded, letting us go without another question. She sure knew how to keep people from questioning further. Now instead of hearing of a portal being opened up to the Underworld, there would be whispers of our interesting sex life. I honestly didn’t know which was worse.

When we got back to our room, Elisif was there. Iara recounted what had happened with her handmaid and I let myself fall into bed. There was no way I had the energy now to even stand, let alone deal with someone as loud as Elisif was. I didn’t even realize I had fallen asleep when I was jarred awake by Iara. She was climbing into bed next to me.

“You really should change into sleep clothes. You ruin your day clothes,” she whispered to me.

I made an annoyed noise and pulled her close to me. “My day clothes would be my sleep clothes,” I mumbled.

“You know what I mean,” she giggled.

“Please don’t do something so reckless again,” I said, letting my eyes shut once more. The sunlight was seeping in through a crack in the curtain, warming my skin up where it fell.

I felt her hand touch my hair. “I won’t.” Her voice was cast low, soothing. She settled against me and pulled the blankets over us both.

My mind didn’t let me forget the dangers that we faced in my home, but the thoughts were eased when she was close to me. I hope she knew how much she meant to me.