Burial of hearts the black widow's malice (16 page)

I walked upon the shore, hiding behind a
pile of crates as two persons walked past. I could hear them clearly talking to
each other in quite a sharp, aggressive manner.

“You shall
not
be given it and
that is final; I will not have any further word on this”.

“Father, you do not understand, it is my
destiny that I shall hold the power that it
shall
give me”.

“
No
, you will
not
. You
will only use it to destroy. There is no one, myself included, whom will
sacrifice for you. Now you have to prepare. You are to be married today”.

“I
will not
marry him father, he
is unknown to my heart,
I
refuse
”.

Grabbing her by the hair, he faced her,
his skin now ignited to a scorching red as his anger rose.

“You shall honour my choices for you; do
you not know how fragile my reign here is as of late? Through war, we have lost
great amounts”.

“Father, you are
hurting
me”.

“Perhaps I will let go when the pain in
my soul stops ripping at me; when you show some compassion for me and do as
I
rightly say; when you stop acting like your mother once did; come with me”.

He grabbed her by the arm tightly,
pulling her along as she struggled to keep grip upon the ground, eventually
giving in and walking with heavy footsteps alongside him. I followed, trying to
get as close to them as I could without being seen. As she walked she turned
towards my direction, I could see her face clearly, but it could not be her
surely? Hecate, but younger and she only had one body and not three. I stood
there confused with what was occurring, but how could she call him father when
he was dead.

They walked along the path that trailed
the side of a mighty wall; often I would hear shouting and crying coming from
her as he continued to forcefully make her follow him.

Turning the corner, I was stunned, as if
I was seeing a mirage, I could see the fields and the entrance to the city; but
this city was Rartonvie, I could have not travelled as far out as I had through
the cavern. I entered and as I did, I presented the guards with my pass; but
they paid no attention, as if I was an illusion to them; very well I thought
and walked in.

I followed them through a most familiar
route, past the centre of the city, weaving beyond the shops towards where
Hecate lived. There must have been something very wrong in the city today, as
all the people I often spoke to, ignored me completely.

The guards were not stood at their posts,
this will infuriate Hecate, I thought; she was one for the tightest of security
at her home. I walked up towards the door that was left wide open, Hecate was
huddled on the floor, while the father, presumably Tartarus, was looking down
upon her.

“Sorry, I did not mean to interrupt, I
just wanted to make sure you were both ok”. I said after finally receiving the
courage to speak up.

They did not respond in any form. Am I
invisible today or something? I stood watching as they argued.

“I have told you, no more, you will
not
have it”.

Turning towards the back of the room, he
ran his finger over the gems upon the door, each one igniting in colour as his
fingers trailed over them; the final one lightning, the door opened before him.
He walked into the room, turning back to Hecate.

“This is the
last
you will see of
this amulet”.

He placed it down within the room, then
closed the door with a motion of his hand.

“I
hate
you”. Hecate roared,
rising up from the floor, her face showing the malicious thoughts her mind grazed
upon.

“This is for your own good; you may one
day learn to appreciate this”.

“
Lies
, I shall
never
forgive you for this, you foolish old man”.

She paced closer to him, her eyes locked
without blinking, tears of hatred fell, her body tense and her lips stiff,
bleeding from where she had bitten.

“For your small gesture, I feel I must
return one back, do you recognise this, my loving…
father”.

She said as she walked over to the side of
the room. Turning around, she had the golden vessel that Camerine had shown me,
but it had the gem rested within it.

“What are you doing Hecate? Do not be
stupid”.

“
Stupid
, so now I am
stupid?
”.
She laughed in a manner that seemed fitting to a tale of
the horrors of war.

She placed her hands firmly upon the
gem, wrapping her fingers one by one around it, then pulled it from the vessel,
raising it into the air above her.

“So you wished to exchange
my
destiny with yours; well
father…
let us exchange your spirit with that
of the ancients”.

“Hecate,
no
, you do not know what
you are doing”.

“But I do… ”. She smiled.

Gazing at the radiant jewel, she recited
words that should have never been spoken of; reserved for an age where evil
crept through every place upon the land.  Dark embers surrounded them
both, encircling into smoke; a funnel of light was released in a rampage aimed
towards Tartarus. All around Hecate, creatures of the blackest realms spewed forth,
their bodies joining onto hers; her head shook wildly, faster than any man
could comprehend, madness in the truest form. Tartarus cried out as his spirit
was taken from within, his eyes upon Hecate, he looked distressed as her new
form was exposed.

“So…
father
, what do you think of
us now?
”.

He lowered his head, not wishing to look
at what his daughter had become.

“Disapproval from my father?
”.

She grabbed his hair tightly, as he had
done to her before.

“How does this feel, to be reigned over,
to feel
powerless
?
”.

“I did not mean to upset you. You are my
daughter, please…
”.

“We are
not
yours, I demand that
you stand up before us”.

He stood up exhausted, his face an image
of delay. Hecate swung towards him, knocking him off his feet.

“You see, we are powerful now, you are
weak
.
You could have been by our side, but now… now we will tread on you”. Hecate
looked directly at me, her eyes intense and loathsome.

 “And anyone, who stands in our
way”.

Chapter 10

My face was upon the floor; I
leant myself up, I was in the tomb of Tartarus and had the parchment on the
edge of my fingertips. Lifting my head, I could see up the stairs. The doorway was
open. Racing up the stairs the fog had lifted from around the fields and now I
could see clearly. I was stood in confusion wondering what had just ensued, was
that a dream, or was it real?

I looked all around the outside
of the city walls for the small cottages that I had seen twice now, but there
were none. There was a lake, but if there had been any buildings they were now
long destroyed.

Walking back, I thought about
what it said on the parchment. Camerine is the one whom showed me the vessel,
but now he is locked away.

“Pass please?
”.
Said the guard; a somehow welcome confirmation that I still existed.

I needed desperately to go see a
member of the panotti. Knocking on Camerine’s door, I was greeted by his wife,
who was not too pleased to have whom she saw as the reason behind his departure
stood at the door.

“What is it you want? Do you not
think you have caused enough mess for me and my family already?
”.

“I am sorry, I did not mean for
any of this to happen, if I could take it back I would, but you know it is
impossible”.

“You are sorry? You should be
more than sorry, you should be a mess, broken inside like me, that is what you
have made me”.

“In a way I know how you… ”.

“Do not
dare
say you know
how I feel, no one knows how I feel, no one, just
go away
”.

“No wait, please, I need your
help”.

“You need
my
help? And you
expect
me
to help you? Have you truly lost your mind, or are you trying
to ruin the rest of my family. So really, if you need
my
help, what
exactly do you need
my
help with?
”.

I passed her the piece of
parchment I had found in the tomb, her face plummeted as she read the words
upon it.

“Where did you get this
Avis
?
”.

“In his tomb… ”.

“You
disturbed
his tomb?
So not only do you have people put to death, but you also
continue
to
torment them after you have taken their lives away”.

“
No
, I did not have her
killed, it was the
guards
”.

“Really… and would she of been
near them
guards
if you had not of shown up?
”.

I sank my head.

She looked at me for a moment,
thinking to herself and asked for me to wait. A short moment passed by, I
looked around the room; it had not been cleared for some time, bread and meat
were left sat to go stale, though Monty did not mind, eating the meat with no
interest to what state it was in.

A man accompanied her back up; he
was clearly aged, with a stern look upon his face he spoke:

“Avis, I am upmost repulsed that
you would think it a necessity to enter into a tomb, it is not only a bypass
upon the deceased, it is also unlawful within the city, punishable by ten years
spent in prison. So you come to us now, after all that has occurred and
why
would you expect us
not
to hand you over to the authorities? What is it
that you have for us that would oppress this trespass? Please do not say it is
this parchment; what use does it have to us, it just shows the possibility that
the folklores are true; it does not change
anything
”.

“I will rid the city of Hecate. I
just need your help with it; I need the vessel you have”.

He burst out in a sarcastic laugh.

“So you are one of those; the
people who believe it holds powers to destroy, do you not know how powerful she
is? She would
crush
you without even trying”.

“Yes I do believe them; I had a
dream…
”.

“You had a
dream
… such a factual
basis to judge everything upon; a dream, surely not even you are that backwards
that you would act upon it”.

“You do not understand, what I
saw, it did not feel like a dream, it was as if I was there, I saw Tartarus”.

“Avis, you are quite amusing, he
has been dead for quite some time and you think that you saw him? I have had
enough of this, please leave and do not trouble my people any more, you have
caused enough disorder, I do not wish for anything else to occur at your
hands”.

“Please, I will not lie; I want
rid of Hecate for myself as well; but would it not also help you and the
panotti if she were to be overcome?
”.

“It would, but you talk on a
basis of dreams and tales of old, how could I even begin to think about
allowing you to take the vessel when there is not but a single shred of factual
proof?
”.

“But there was no proof in
magick, but you still believed in it and that belief makes it true and you
developed and now you are able to appreciate it”.

“Quite true; I do understand your
statement, but I still struggle with this”.

Sitting down, he relaxed into the
chair, looking up to the ceiling deep in thought, all the while tapping his
fingers in an irritating way.

“Perhaps I could consider this,
but
only
if you are able to prove yourself”.

“Ok, anything you want; I just
want to help”.

“Very well, Camerine is held
within the city prison, I do not know if he has told you at all, but the
guards, or should I more rightly say Hecate, enjoys taking away items which we
hold sacred. There is a book locked away there ‘The Grimoire of Pansel’ it was
taken away by Hecate, it holds the guiding principles from one of our greatest
individuals. Long had it been used to teach the younger members of our society
on the works of magick, but now, because of her, it has become much harder to
truly teach the children our ways. If you were to somehow manage to retrieve
this, then perhaps I could consider offering you the vessel in exchange”.