Deadlands (The Healer Series, #2) (15 page)

Willow gasped next to Declan and gripped his arm when she saw the group of Banshees
emerge. They scared her most among all the hideous looking creatures protruding from the tunnel. They were like a walking death, leaving fear in their wake. They were disgusting hags, and most wore black cloaks to hide their mangled forms. Cù-Sìths and Black Hounds brought up the rear of the company descending down to the black castle. The Black Hounds were large dogs covered in fire. They were the blackest of black and their eyes were but empty sockets in their head. Their paws were bigger than a man’s hand and they had precariously sharp claws dragging along the ground, leaving deep scratches in the hardened rock. To make a deep imprint in hardened lava like that was alarming. They chomped and growled at each other viciously.

A gripping terror rippled
through her body when she heard someone coming up behind them. She turned her head slowly. Nothing was there. She heard the sound of the falls and swore she heard a whooshing noise, but it must have only been the sound of the sizzling, churning lava. Seconds later, excruciating pain sliced into her arms when sharp talons gripped into her shoulders. She screamed in fear as she was lifted into the air. Her legs kicked out from under her and the charred black ground loomed dizzily below her. She was being whisked away up, up, up into the air. Hot wind rushed into her face, blowing her hair wildly around her. She screamed when she saw the ravens above her, flying on all sides, trapping her in a vortex. Using her arms, she beat at the Wakwaks holding her and suddenly they let go of her and she dropped.

Her heart exploded and her stomach wrapped in knots as she
cascaded towards the boiling lava. She screamed trying to grab something, anything to keep her from falling into oblivion. There was nothing there! There was nothing! She was falling! She was going to die! She squeezed her eyes shut bracing for impact as gravity rammed her down at an incredible rate. Then, she was lifted into the air again as the Wakwak birds caught her, pushing their claws deep into her shoulders and arms. They pulled up and she was hanging in the air by just her arms. Her body weight pushed her down but the birds pulled her up. It hurt so badly! The weight was too much to bear! A brutal popping sound made Willow scream in pain as both her shoulders dislocated from the sockets!

The birds were dropping
down, and the black castle was getting closer and closer to her. Suddenly, the birds released her and she dropped on the top of a tower landing hard on her back. She screamed and cried out in pain, rolling on the ground. It wasn’t long before someone was picking her up. The movement caused pain to rip through her body again and she screamed. She needed someone to pop her shoulders back in place so she could heal correctly! Her body was healing too fast! The burning, tingling sensation ignited in her body, aiding her, healing her.

“Help me! HELP!” she screamed and then she
was falling towards the ground. Someone rammed hard into her captor and she fell to the hard ground.

“I’m here Willow,” Declan said hastily above her. Her eyes were locked tight and her mouth was clenched in pain. Warm liquid dripped on her face, and she managed to slit open her eyes to see what was happening. Declan was above her, touching her body. His blood was dripping and falling on her face as he hunched over her. Streaks of blood cascaded down his body from his head, shoulders and arms, covering him in red liquid.

“What can I—AHHHH!” He cried out when a body collided into him sending him flying away from Willow. She screamed for him and heard the sounds of grunting and yelling. He was fighting something! Willow was immobile on the ground, searing pain shooting through her.

“SOMEBODY HELP ME!” she screamed.

“Healer…” Elirana’s voice said above her hysterically. “What is it? What is it?”

“
MY SHOULDERS ARE DISLOCATED! PUT THEM BACK NOW!” She screamed as the healing burned in her arms. The entire length of both arms went numb and it scared her. She would be deformed and never be able to use her arms again if they healed too quickly in the wrong way. Then, she cried out when a loud snapping noise in her right arm popped and connected. Her bones were set back into place. Elirana moved to the other and did the same. Willow could do nothing by lay there and scream and scream. The pain rushed to her head sending waves of nausea and dizziness to assail her body.

“NO! NO!” Willow
cried when Elirana screamed and was pulled back. Someone snatched her. Just then, a high pitched noise wrenched through the air covering her cries. The BANSHEE! The great bellow of the Banshee filled the night with her piercing wail. Willow couldn’t cover her ears that were now ringing with the sound. She couldn’t do anything but lay there helpless and hurting.

“DECLAN WHERE ARE YOU?” She screamed. She was being lifted! Something big grabbed her around
the waist hoisting her over his shoulder and he started trudging away. She used all her efforts to kick the creature, her arms were just laying limp with burning fire. She opened her eyes. Stairs! They were descending down stairs! They were taking her into the black castle!

Somewhere in the distance, a wolf
howled menacingly. Was it Chase? “CHASE! CHASE! WHERE ARE YOU?” She screamed for the Werewolf. Something hard punched into her side and she screamed feeling some of her ribs crack inside of her. They splintered and sprained and she coughed, breathless from the sudden impact. She couldn’t take in enough oxygen. She was sucking in air as fast as she could, but her breaths just became shallower and shallower. Pain spiked in her body and the intensity was enough to make her pass out.

In one last effort to break free, she reared her leg back and kicked the creature in the stomach
with all her might. He bellowed and fell forward down the stairs, releasing Willow from his clutches. She fell and tumbled in the darkness and landed hard on the ground, something bashed into her head and her vision clouded instantly. She heard another crack where her already bruised ribs were breaking.
Stay awake! Stay awake!
She willed herself, but already her brain was going fuzzy. She strayed out of thought soon after, the blackness took her.

******

She dreamt of fire. Orange and blue flames would reach out to her and lick her face playfully as she stood in the middle of a sulfur pit. Instead of intense heat, the fire would only feel cool against her skin. There was wind here, but it fanned the flames, whipping her hair all around her and chilling her bones.

Three beings stood before her around a massive bubbling cauldron. The cauldron smoked white fire. All the beings wore cloaks and were running their hand
s over the pot, chanting low. Their hair came out of their cloaks, but their faces were hidden. One had long pure white hair, the other, long blue hair, and the middle one had pitch black hair. They were taller than any tree and towered over Willow. She cowered, watching the three figures chant, hoping they didn’t notice her standing below them immobilized.

Eye of the goat and ear of a pig

Skin of the rat and berry of fig

Extract of venom, hair of a dog

Blood of a dead man, leg of a frog

Three sisters as one, replaces the three

That dear sister locked-oh brave Hekate.

The sister white has sought out light
.

The sister blue has changed anew
.

The sister black
has taken back

Their power is ours, their souls to take

And so we rule and bend the fate. 

Willow watched the chanting take place and couldn’t believe what she was hearing! A spell! A dark casting, evil spell that slid over her skin like a snake as the slimy words reached her ears. This spell didn’t make any sense, yet it made perfect sense. Who were the three sisters before her? They certainly weren’t her sisters. They were locked in a box of souls. She searched her mind for the answer. It was right there at the tip of her thoughts, yet she couldn’t grasp it! It was so frustrating!

Then, the mi
ddle figure looked up and straight at her. Black eyes burned into her and she cried out in pain as the fire reached out to singe her skin. It was Hekate!!

“
Your sisters are dead, and soon you will be. I will take all your power and cast into me. You cannot stop the force of the Three! Die! Die! COME TO ME!”

Willow pulled
out of her dream in a cold sweat. “DECLAAAAANNNN!” She screamed for him in the dark nothingness. No response. She fell down on the cold stone floor of her prison and shook with unbridled fear. Was that a vision or just a dream? She needed Declan to calm her! She needed him! Where was he? She needed him! NOW!

Willow tried to calm her panic
by herself. It wasn’t working. She was in a caged cell. Metal bars locked all around her. There was no light. Everywhere she looked faces popped out of the holes and scared her. She screamed at them, but then they disappeared, until they reappeared through the bars again and she screamed in fear. But it was just her imagination. When she looked back, the faces had vanished.

“Lucerna,” Willow sat up and cast a yellow light around her.
Her body still tingled all over from healing itself. While she was having nightmares, her body had been healing from her dislocated shoulders, but she had to admit, even with her scary dreams, the sleep allowed her to heal more rapidly. She rolled them in circles to release some of the tension. If it hadn’t been for Elirana, she would probably be in a heaping, mangled mess right now.

Willow looked around her. Where was she?
She was in a black pit. Tears fells out of her eyes staining the stone floor with water. Her sisters were dead? That couldn’t be! She would feel it in the Coven’s bond. They were still alive. So what was the dream about? It didn’t make sense!

Suddenly, a terrible cry that made her heart stop echoed down the long corridor.
Her gut churned. She knew that cry. Running up to the bars, she gripped them and screamed for him. “DECLAN!” Her voice echoed in the dark. “DECLAN! DECLAN!”  Nothing. The sound of Declan’s suffering tore through her. She couldn’t get to him. She couldn’t heal him.

She pounded on the cells uttering every spell imaginable to break the
steel bars surrounding her, but stopped when nothing worked. She realized she was in an enchanted prison. It must’ve been designed especially for Witches. Who knew how to lace spells in the metal that made it impossible for Witches to break out? Even the Fey and the Elves could not mimic a magic casters’ spell.

A form moved in the shadows. She thrust a shield around her. Ste
pping into the light were two guards dressed in chain metal with flowing red capes and metal helmets. Pale skin showed under their hats. They also had fangs. Oh shit. They were Vampires. They came up to the cell bars and Willow backed up away from them until the back of the cell hit her back and she couldn’t retreat anymore. One of them tapped on the cell with the tip of a spear. Both were very tall and broad.

The one closest to her took a deep breath as if smelling for something.
Then he growled low in his throat. “Mmmm.” He smiled. “Hi sweetheart,” his velvety voice said. Willow trembled and crossed her arms, keeping her shield up.

“St
op messing with her Milosh, the King wants to see her. Now.” the other Vampire said.

“
I just wanted to see if he was right about her smell. Can’t you smell her Oden?” Milosh asked, his eyes widened and he licked his lips hungrily.

“Of course I can smell her.
But we can’t do anything about it,” Oden grumbled pushing him out of the way to unlock the jail cell.

“I’ll get her,” Milosh
said pushing Oden out of the way. He approached Willow and reached out to touch her, but her shield zapped him and he stepped back shaking his hand to get rid of the pain. “You little bitch!” Milosh spat at her, his fangs elongated in fury.

“Drop your shield, W
itch,” Oden said poking his spear at her. It almost seemed like he was scared of her.

With a sha
ky voice, Willow faced the two Vampires. “No. I will follow you, but you will not touch me.”

“
You don’t give the orders around here, wench,” Oden said approaching her again. “Now drop your shield.”

“No,” Willow said adamantly.

“Then we’ll make the Warlock suffer more. She’s partial to him,” Milosh said turning to Oden. “He was the one she was crying out for. I’m sure of it.”

“NO!” Willow yelled. “No you can’t! I’ll let the shield down just please stop hurting him!”

Milosh smiled wide revealing his fangs. Willow let her shield down and Milosh reached out timidly. When he didn’t get zapped he gripped her upper arm extremely tight. “See? That wasn’t so hard, was it?” Milosh said in her ear. Oden grabbed her other arm and they hustled her out of the dark cell. “But unfortunately for you, I don’t get to make that decision.”

“What!” Willow exclaimed and pulled her arm to try to get them to release their hold. It only tightened. “You gave me your word!”

“I had to make you drop your shield somehow,” Milosh hissed menacingly.