Betrayal

Betrayed
From the Draiks and Angels universe
Written by Celebuial aka Draconissa


It was the first quiet day in a long while.  Most of the soldiers were sleeping near the front, but the Enemy hadn't attacked in several days, allowing for some much needed rest and relaxation.  I had returned to the Protected area to rest and resupply, because I knew that being at the un-Protected front would only tempt the Enemy to come after me.  I didn't want to endanger all the others' first real rest in months.  

There were a few members of the human group that supported us still in the Protected area.  I never learned what they called themselves, so I just referred to them as the Cult.  The advisors never liked it when I said it out loud, but still never told me their real name, saying that it was "beneath me to concern myself with such lowly humans."  They say that, but those "lowly humans" supply all our food and clothing.  You would think learning their name would be fair.

I was sitting near a small fire, eating some meat and vegetable stew, along with about six Cult members.  It was a little too sweet for my liking. No one was talking, just staring at the fire, and that suited me fine.  I wasn't in the mood for conversation.  I was trying to plan how I could get the Leader of the Enemy to face me so that I could finally defeat him.  But dang him, after my first attempt barely failed, he would just send wave after wave of cronies.  Too many to bypass, but not enough to actually take our side out.  What could have been settled in a week had dragged out into months of battle, all because I hadn't managed to defeat him at the beginning.  Dang it all!

Ugh, the too-sweet stew was too much.  I set down the bowl, and heard someone call from the darkness behind me.  

"Archangel, may we speak to you over here, please?"

I turned to see three male humans at the edge of the trees that surrounded the glen where the fire was.  One was a beast of a man, almost as tall as I was, and about twice as muscular.  His hair looked like it had been shaved and grown back in the last few weeks, and it looked like his nose had been broken once and set badly.  Second was a male who was at most 18 years of age.  He looked well-built for his age, but almost drowned in the shadow cast by the large man.  Last was a stocky, middle aged man with sweeping hair and a short beard that blended into his sideburns.  All three were wearing the simple tunics that marked the laborers of the Cult.  All three wore the same color, excluding the trim which had different patterns for each man.  The trim colors were probably different, too, but I couldn't see them with my fire-dulled eyes.

They didn't wait for my response, but turned and walked a few steps into the woods.  I shrugged and followed.  It was a little unusual for laborers to want to talk to me, but they could have easily been ordered to by someone higher in the Cult.  As we walked, the middle-aged man led the way and the other two flanked me on either side.  I sighed.  Even in the Protected area, they were trying to protect me. Why did everyone insist on doing that?

"I can take care of myself," I thought, but knowing it didn't matter to them, I didn't say it out loud.

We walked in silence for less than a minute, but until we were well out of hearing from anyone in the Protected area.  The man leading finally stopped, turned and faced me.

"What is so important that we had to come all the way out here?" I said. Or at least I tried to say.  I opened my mouth, but no sound came out!

Before I could react to losing my voice, the teen and the brute jumped on me from both sides.  They took thick, black bands of leather and shoved them over the top joints of my wings so that I couldn't open them.  I shoved at them with my hands, pushing the teen back a few steps.  The brute, however, just grabbed my wrist with a hand like a vice and tugged hard, pulling me off balance.  The middle aged man came up on my other side and grabbed my free hand.  He pulled hard in the opposite direction, stretching me between them.  I struggled against the pair, but when the middle aged man was joined by the teenager at my right hand, I knew I no longer had a chance at breaking away from them.

"What on earth are you doing?!" I tried to yell at them, but of course nothing came out of my mouth.  How did they steal my voice?!

"I see the drug was as effective as you claimed it would be," a feminine voice came from the darkness in front of me.

Drug? When was I drugged?  Then it dawned on me: the stew!  It was too sweet because there was a drug in it!

Silently as a shadow, a woman appeared out of the dark.  By now my eyes had adjusted to seeing with only the moonlight, and I saw an average height, female human.  She was wearing a flowing top with a hood that covered her hair and sleeves that came all the way to her wrists.  She wore simple pants of the same fabric and typical sandals. Most striking was a thick gold headband that was about an inch wide and peaked simply at her forehead.  She wore a similar style necklace that looked as though it had been formed to fit her neckline exactly.

The middle aged man answered her, "It has a strict time limit, though.  We should proceed with the plan."

"Of course."

The woman pulled something out of her sleeve, and I saw it glint in the light before the brute suddenly pulled my arm back and shoved me forward with a strong arm between my shoulder blades. The teen shifted closer and placed a firm hand on the back of my head, forcing it forward a little, though he was not strong enough to do much more than keep me from tilting it back. [*1]

I finally looked ahead and saw what it was that the woman had pulled out.  It was a metal mask, which looked like it would cover all the way from my chin to about the bridge of my nose, and from ear to ear.  There was what looked like a metal bit sticking out right where my mouth would go.  It was a gag!  The drug was going to wear off, but this gag would still prevent anything useful from leaving my mouth!

I tried to back away from the slowly approaching mask, but the brute's hand was still on my back, pushing me forward. I turned my head away, not willing to give up my speech easily.  The middle aged man grabbed my chin with his free hand and pulled as hard as he could to turn my head back. The teen's hand on the back of my head pushed harder and I could feel my neck muscles tiring.  I tried to quickly turn my head the other way, but when I did, the middle aged man pushed harder on my chin than I thought he could, stopping my head facing forward.

The woman shot forward with the mask, smashing the bit on my gritted teeth.  There was no way I was going to open my mouth!  They may have been able to overpower my limbs, but they can't force my teeth apart.  And if I was able to delay long enough, my voice might come back and I could defeat them with a word!

They had a plan for everything it seemed, though, because then the brute twisted my arm violently behind me.  I yelped in pain, or would have if I had a voice, but I would not open my teeth.  He just kept twisting farther and farther, until I was sure he was going to break my arm!  With one jerking twist, it was too much and I tried to yell in pain.  At that instant, the woman slammed the mask the rest of the way.  The metal bit was larger in my mouth than I though it would be, and pinned my tongue almost completely down.

The brute didn't let up on my arm until the mask had been buckled securely just below my left ear.  The hands on my head were taken away and I shook my head experimentally, trying to push the bit out of my mouth with my tongue.  It was as though the mask was molded to my face, though, because there was absolutely no movement at all.

I felt vice hands pulling my arms together behind my wings and started struggling again.  I twisted around, trying to get a good kicking angle at anyone, and pulled as hard as I could against the man holding me.  It was as if he was a statue, though, for he didn't budge and I couldn't get free!  I felt a leather cord around my wrists and tried to interfere with my fingers, grabbing at the soon-to-be-bonds.  Despite my efforts, soon the cord was tied, cutting tightly into my wrists.

"We have a ways to go.  I hope you can control him until we get there," the woman spoke to the obvious leader of these Cultist laborers, the middle aged man.

After hearing that, there was no way I wasn't going to resist as much as I could.  The brute shoved me forward and I did my best to run off to the right.  I was caught short as he pulled back on my bound wrists and I saw a few stars from the sudden pain in my shoulders.  Once again he tried to direct me in the direction the teen and the woman had already started moving, and I dug my heels into the dirt, pushing back as hard as I could against the giant of a man.  Him and the middle aged man each grabbed one of my upper arms and started dragging me forward, leaving a trail in the leaves and dirt where my heels left ruts. [*2]

The woman had turned, watching my struggling, and finally said, "This won't do.  If he leaves such an obvious trail, they might find the Circle and trace it back."

So fast that I could barely tell what was happening, the brute grabbed me by the back of the neck, pushed my feet out from under me with his own leg, and slammed me hard on my stomach to the forest floor.[*3]  As I gasped through the mask for air, which only came in from the gaps around my nose, the middle aged man produced another length of leather cord and tied my feet together.  The brute hoisted me up and over his shoulder so that I was looking at his chest.  I kicked at him and struggled against his arm, but with my feet tied together, I couldn't get enough leverage to actually hit him with any kind of force.  My wings stuck up ungracefully in the air, and all the effort required more air than I could get through the mask.  I did my best to continue to fight, but a desire for air calmed my movements into being ineffective. [*4]

The combination of not enough air and the blood rushing to my head made me space out for however long it took us to arrive at our destination.  I next was aware of being slammed roughly onto my stomach on something hard and smooth.  I looked at what I had landed on, and saw an extremely large, flat, white stone that had markings carved into it.  It was taller than I was and probably a perfect circle if I knew anything about magic.  I could feel that we were still in the Protected area, meaning that we hadn't run into any perimeter guards.  I wondered what the stone circle was for, but I hadn't quite recovered from the rushing blood to think about it clearly.

"Before you release him," the woman spoke, "I need to give you your instructions.  You must use the special cords I gave you earlier to bind him as close to the center of the Anti-Summoning Circle as possible.  His body needs to cover this convergence of lines, and the closer his heart is to that point, the better.  He needs to be spread as open as possible for the magic to work on him, for he is very powerful, even if he can't cast any spells right now."

An Anti-Summoning Circle? Meaning that instead of summoning something, it sends something? Meaning it sends me! Sends me where?! Why?!  I tried to grunt against my gag, but still nothing came out.  Stupid drug was still working.

I felt a knife against my wrists and ankles as the cord binding them was cut.  Before I could do anything, they rolled me onto my back and each one jumped onto one of my limbs, pinning me down.  The brute managed to simultaneously hold one of my legs and shove me so that I was centered in the circle.

"We need to start at his right hand, go around and end with his left hand," the woman explained.

She was pinning down my right hand, and so while kneeling on my lower arm to make sure I couldn't move, she tied a thick black leather cord around my wrist.  The mere touch of the cord hurt my skin in a way I had never felt, as though it was covered in thousands of tiny needles.  How could something like this make it into the Protected area?!  With so much pain, the woman had an easy time pulling my arm above my head and to the right, tying it to a stake outside of the stone circle.

Next was the middle aged man at my right ankle, followed by the brute with my left ankle.  All that was needed was my left hand, and I would be tied spread-eagle on top of the circle.

"I can't find the cord!" the teen cried in a panic.

"Idiot!" the woman hissed back, "We must use that cord to bind him or it won't work! Find it!"

With that, all four left to search for the mystical leather cord that would send me wherever they were planning.  They didn't bother binding my left hand, and as I tried to reach my other limbs, I could see why.  Bound as tight as I was, there was no way I could reach any of the cords binding me.

"At least I can make it as hard as possible," I thought to myself as I used my free hand to shift my body off of the center as much as I could.  Even stretched out as much as I was, there was the slightest give, enough that if I bent my right leg, I could move all the way off of the convergence of lines the woman mentioned.

The needle feeling had gotten stronger with each limb that they bound, and I grunted in pain as my wrist and ankles throbbed. Then I stopped short.  I grunted! My voice was back! And while I couldn't reach my limbs, I could reach the buckle on the mask!  I reached to my neck and started fumbling with the buckle.  It was tighter than I was expecting it to be, and I was getting frustrated with only being able to use one hand.  I grunted again, and someone else heard my noise!

"His voice is back! And he is trying to remove the mask!" the teen yelled, and jumped onto my hand, doing his best to wrest it away from the buckle.

He was not very strong, but he was able to prevent me from working on the buckle as he wrestled with my arm.  Before too long, the others returned, the middle aged one carrying the missing cord.  The teen knelt on my arm, pinning it again, and the middle aged man tied the leather around my wrist.  The teen stepped back as other man pulled on the bond, dragging my arm towards the stake it would soon be tied to. [*5]  

"Wait!" the woman called, "He is no longer centered.  He needs to be in the center!"

The teen ran back into the circle, grabbed my arm, and tried to pull my whole body into the center.  The brute shoved the ineffective teen off my arm, grabbed my wrist, and dragged me simply to where they had left me.  The pain as I was stretched out again shot through my tired limbs and I yelled in pain.  The gag was effective and only a small sound escaped.

After the cord was securely tied, the woman motioned for the men to stand to one side.  Then she stood above my head, outside the circle, and began to chant.  I could feel the familiar gathering of magic as she spoke the words.  The markings began to glow black, and the pain from the needle-cords shot through the roof!  I involuntarily screamed as the magic reached its peak and the world dissolved around me.

My surroundings began to gather again after only a second of pure darkness. The needle-pain in my limbs was gone, replaced by a heavier feeling.  I looked and found that now I was chained in the exact same position, on an identical stone circle.  Only this time I was inside a large, black-stone room, surrounded by the Enemy!

---

It had been two months since I was betrayed and captured by the Enemy.  My hair had grown into my eyes.  It was annoying.  But I couldn't even shake my head to get it out of the way.

When I was sent to the Enemy's castle, they immediately took me from the circle and put me in this cell.  They chained my arms behind my back and a large metal band was locked around my upper arms and wings. Then they chained my hands, the band and the mask to the cell walls, so tight that my bonds supported all of my weight. [*6]

I spent every hour of every day chained as I was, almost completely immobile.  If I wanted to spend the energy, I could struggle a little, but the chains were so tight that they didn't even make any noise when I did so.

Once a day, about twenty Enemy cronies come to feed me.  They carefully remove only my mask and hand feed me.  If I try to speak at all, they slam the mask back on, and mealtime is over.  I had learned quickly that trying to cast any spells was ineffective because of their precaution. I could only get out one or two words before being gagged again, and I would only get weaker from being denied food.

But I will never give up!  There has to be a one or two word spell that I can use to escape!  I spend my vast amounts of time thinking about what I can do.  Every once in a while I try my latest spell, but so far I haven't found one short enough.  Today is going to be another attempt.  I think I have it this time.  It will be tricky because the spells that work on metal take a while, but I think I can manage it.

The mob of Enemy cronies emerged from the floor with the daily meal.  Several unnecessarily hold my arms, and several more man the mask.  They unbuckle the accursed piece of metal and as it withdraws I see the indents in the bit where my teeth had been.  I shake my head, savoring the little movement.  A crony holds out a piece of bread, and I open my mouth as if to receive it.

As fast as I can, I speak my spell! "blessed fire!"

A rush of white fire shoots out from my body in all directions.  It disintegrates all the evil beings around me, and leaves a silvery sheen on all the solid objects in the room, the walls, ceiling and floor.  It should prevent them from entering the room while I finish my escape.  

"Skin protection, heat and fire, melt metal!" is my next spell.

The chains surrounding my body slowly drop off in puddles of molten metal, which I carefully dodge as I head for the far wall of my cell.

Placing my hand on the stones, I cast another spell, "Mind's eye, follow stone."

In my mind I see a full picture of the castle, and know the best path for escape.  If I bust through the side wall of my cell, go down a hallway and brake through the wall at the end, I will be outside!

Using another spell, I blow out the wall and step into the dust-filled hallway.  Before me are about a hundred Enemy cronies and a slightly taller, feminine form.  She appears to be made of the same black substance as the rest of the Enemy, but she is wearing the outfit I had seen on the woman in the forest.  Then in hit me: she is a Thrall!  Once human, she became a slave to the Enemy and degraded into a will-less drone.  A drone with magical abilities, however, seeing as she was able to use magic to send me here in the first place.

"Blessed fire!" I yell again.

Catching them by surprise, white fire shoots towards the mass, disintegrating them all.  As the magical fire speeds towards the Thrall, she tears off her clothes and throws them in between the white magic and herself.  They burst into black flames and stop the white fire in its tracks, eliminating them both.

"You cannot defeat me," she speaks with a voice that is deep and piercing, with a high feminine overtone. "You cannot escape."

She mumbles something and a lash of black flames shoots from her hand and wraps around my wrist. The pain is excruciating! I yell out in pain and drop to one knee.  I am weak from inadequate food and from using so much magic.  I only have enough for one more spell.  I only know one that can kill this Thrall with the amount I have left.

I only wanted to use this spell on the Leader of the Enemy, and even then only if I had to.  But now, after almost managing to escape, I see that I would rather die than get recaptured and locked in that cell again. The spell is in a language older than my own.  I don't even know how it is translated.

I gather all my strength and speak the words, "fariir escanuur eturna cesti."

I can feel all my remaining magic being drawn into the spell.  It leaves my soul, gathering around the words.  When I am drained, the magic forcibly re-enters the source of my spirit, starting a chain reaction.  I scream in pain as the magic expands suddenly inside me.  Somehow I am now able to see myself from outside my body. My whole body begins to glow white.  When it becomes too bright for even my ethereal self to look at, the magic explodes massively!  As I fade from existence I see the Thrall disintegrate, along with any other cronies and a huge chunk of the castle I was held in.

I hope my successor fares better than I.