Pine Needles (Veil Realms Series) (18 page)

His hands finally stop thrashing and he rests his forehead against the translucent wall between us, pure anguish
settles across his masculine handsome face. “I had you Selene… we… finally had each other. I… I can’t go on without you.” His hand slowly glides along the veil and meets my own. I close my eyes and pretend I can feel his warmth, pretend our hands are truly entwined, and touching and I cherish it, second by second, until I know it’s time for me to leave.

The sudden howling before draws my nerves into a
bundle of knots as it becomes detectable and if I don’t run soon then I’m dead. I already feel this way without him, I’ve made my choice, and now I have to live it. I grasp for any bearings and stand. I send one last encouraging look at Tiffany and I run. I don’t have enough in me to tell him goodbye, and I lost all strength every time I saw that look of sadness swell in his eyes. We loved each other in that very pine grove and we broke each other’s hearts there too.

My feet carry me away as I hear him yelling, “Selene! Goddamn it Selene! Don’t ever doubt my lov—”

The last of his words are banished into oblivion as the scaly bound beasts pursue me wailing their hunting calls to their flock. Hungry, thirsty for anything they can sense within a reasonable distance. I weave my way in between the legion of trees, leaping over off-shooting deaden branches. My feet race with my heart as I soar across a ridge. I don’t question it, instead I push off with my hands and sense the energy redirect the gravity using it to my advantage to escape. A breath later I’m hurled a hundred yards away from where I was.

I crouch
low and look around the gnarly rooted ground in hopes to discover the path back to the mounds. The uncomfortable echoing of predators border the outskirts but they are far enough away I can make a run for it. The ground and the forest becomes a mind-twisting distortion. Colorful greens and shades of imbued browns blend quickly together as I flee to the only safety I know.

Chapter Nineteen

Reckoning

I break through the flood of trees and see the red clay mounds
. My bare feet tread spryly to the narrow dank opening. I glance back at the pacing shadows hidden in the tree-line, the sullen creatures roar out their disappointment for missing their meal. Stabilizing both of my hands securely on either side of the stone cold walls I slip into the darkness.

Slinking along the subterranean passageways my eyes fully dilate absorbing all that I can.
Each tunnel I turn to is blocked with mammoth sized stone doors. I run my hands over the smooth round surface searching for a way to grasp a lever. It’s designed to be removed only from the inside and that leaves me with no other choice but to keep moving. Miles of torch lit tunnels with no entrance. I pass the cryptic etchings on the walls. Murals of gruesome battle scenes flicker alive as I creep by and dread clutches a feral hold on me with each step.

Ten more paces and I’m at a winding staircase descending levels below, I scour the area looking behind me not sure where the warlords are. It’s too quiet and my heart
leaps with trepidation. Something’s wrong, very, very wrong. Footsteps clamor from the stone stairs and a blazing light grows more apparent with each frantic step. I back off flushing myself perfectly still along the nearest wall and wait. My hands prickle and burn with energy, I steady each breath as my body prepares to attack.

Out of the obscuring dimness a threadbare woman ascends meeting me head on, our eyes widen as we recognize the other.

“Nevaeh!” 

“Selene!”

She tugs on my chin as she inspects me, proudly she says, “You… you came back.”

“I did,” I utter with reprieve
. Seeing the look in her eyes of sheer adoration I know I made the right decision.

“Where is everyone, where’s Sirius?” A massive lump resides inside my throat as I ask, fear of what I have caused, of w
hat has been inflicted on him.

“War, Selene, between R
igel and Sirius. A battle of challenge, a battle of dominance. The passages have been sealed to protect us.”

She stares just beyond my shoulder and inclines her head down the tunnel I had trekked through. “Are you alone?”

“Yes, Tiffany, Louisa, and Rayden are safe, they made it to the other side but the others didn’t make it. The veil… there was a breech in the veil, Nevaeh, and I don’t know how or why. I don’t understand any of this really but that doesn’t matter right now.”

“And you didn’t want to go
with them?”

I study the way
her brows crease together as a million thoughts waver over her beautiful dark skinned face. “No, I know who I am now.”

Her lips turn up barely a smile surfaces before she walks away. “Come, we need to get you to the lower level, it’s safer there.”

I lightly grasp her arm making her look back at me. “Where is Sirius?” I bite out harshly. I need to find one thread of comfort that he’s alive. I have to know the truth.

Nevaeh
smiles and shakes her head. “You value him now do you?” She chides me.

“Of course I do, show me where he is. Take me to him… please
Nevaeh,” I implore her, my hand drops from her arm. Her torch casts a billow of clarifying light over our faces for a short time and I see the imperativeness in her eyes.

“
You do not know what you are asking, Selene. Once you go down there, there is no way out.”

“Where
Nevaeh? Damn it… just show me which tunnels to take and I’ll go alone.” She grabs my hand straightaway and pulls me behind her without any further discussion. I keep my gait the same haste and covertness as she does. Her voice rebounds off the small corridors stopping every so often she checks that the thousand pound doors are secure, “I’m taking you to the throne room, if he is alive that’s where he will be.”

We
stringently pad our way down the monumental staircase from another chamber and just as Nevaeh stated each corridor is impassable. Approaching the central part where I know all too well what rests behind the substantial disk-shaped door she steadily poses herself in front of a warlord. He’s considerably shorter in height than Sirius, smeared in black and gold warrior paint. No protective covering shields him except the elaborate loincloth garment and one solid gold band worn on his upper arm. His face stolid as his fingers reinforce his grip on the battle-axe in one hand the other raises halting any further action from us. A silent warning.

“Let her pass,”
Nevaeh bids. The veins in his thick neck extend as he juts his chin out toward me.

“Who is she?”
he belts out. His tenor is gruff and detached. Goose bumps spread along my arms and my shoulders all the way up to my neck sensing his unrepenting silver-toned eyes scrutinize every inch of me. I quickly note the raw jagged slashes and lesions mar the left side of his shaven head. Nevaeh yanks my wrist forward giving him full view of my mark.

“She belongs to Sirius, now let her pass,” she flouts back.
His abnormal grey lined pupils enlarge and his lips curl mutely back. He turns about facing the humongous door, inserts his hands into the slit located inside the center of the stone and rolls it back. It spools easily along the surface with the slightest sound, like two steppingstones grinding together. The door unveils gradually giving me full view of the banquet hall flanked with rows of blood stained semi-columns. I suck in a breath, confidently squeeze Nevaeh’s hand and slip through the opening. The stone circular door wheels shut behind me and I begin to perceive the outcome of their battle.

Pools of b
lood and bloody fragmented weapons combine with the medley floor. The columns are still intact but huge portions are absent. Some left over bits crumble to the ground making me jump at every sound. The shaft above throws off an unnatural light but it’s enough that I can tell there are no bodies. Smudge marks of bodily fluid indicate whatever remained was drug off to the succeeding rooms. At each war worn column I break for a moment and use the luminosity from the torches to spotlight the area. Only a few wooden torches linger lit, which gives the throne room a haunting, grisly, feeling.

I round the next column passing the last limestone slab
when her voice crawls out of the vagueness. Out of all the creatures I have encountered she’s the only one I cannot perceive with my abilities, no droning heartbeat palpitates through her whatsoever.

“You have caused all this…” her vocal sound is far from human but it translates
perfectly inside my mind. She’s deeply seated in her throne, almost hunched, the flicker of her talon-like claws glimmer back and forth from the glow of the torches.

“Where is Sirius?” I blare. M
y fingers grasp the nearest torch. My boldness weakens at the mere sight of her as I sweep the flames in front of me. She’s soaked to the skin in gold, her eyes livid red. Rising from her bone shrouded throne her footfalls are measured and deliberate, lugging behind her is a blood dripping cloak. Tattered and torn it drags with her as she slinks step by step in my direction. Her silhouette is a repugnant nightmare as bones arch out masking her doomful face.

The flames
quickly gust between us as I swipe the blazing torch forward in warning. “Where is he?” I demand, and again swat the flames between us. I wave back my useless deterrent in front of me, barely missing the queen. But this time her taloned hand grapples the torch. Her boney gilded fingers fondle the flaming crown of the torch. Her blacken tongue lashes out at the wildfire kindling at the tip. 

“You
do not need to worry any longer pet… your pain will surpass your plaguing concerns.” She pulls the fire closer to her face, exposing all the meticulous golden scars. Her tongue licks across the scorching flames once, before she seizes the torch from me. My eyes follow the flush of light soaring through the air as it drops like a weight to the floor. I uncurl my fists and push my palms outward, and immediately I’m grief-stricken when I see the queen still stands in front of me. She doesn’t move at first as her visage seems just as startled as my own.

Her hands vitally twist and claw
at the air, her whole slender body bends over as she sucks in a thick, throaty breath, uncoiling herself she smells the substance that’s suspended between us. It appears similar to the veil, clear, translucent and impenetrable. 

“
Chante-ishta, ishta…!” She screams in a language that I cannot interpret. Her inflamed eyes narrow through her white boned concealment. One vicious hand slashes out and instantly a flare of pain raptures the side of my face, the skin splits open and blood splatters everywhere. I try to push her with my energy backward to protect my face. But the queen’s lacerating claws still penetrate deep enough to cut open my uplifted hands and wrists. Her attacks are no longer calculated and cunning. They are more maddeningly fierce striking without any thought and that I fear more than anything. It blocks all my determination to fight her, leaving me susceptible for her invasion. She rears back and lunges through my protection, clutching me by the throat. She drags my stung body along the rough stone floor.

The her
claws wraparound my neck strangulating the life out of me when she heaves my body up, I can feel the rough ridges from the stone cold column grinding painfully against my back. We are barely eye level when she slams me against the column, my mouth goes slack and hangs open gasping for air. I groan in agony as her severe drilling talons puncture the flesh around my lips.

“Ishta…
is not for you! You pathetic, unserviceable bei—”

“Is.. S-
Sirius
alive?” My gurgling semblance of words is no more than a few spurts, but she recognizes my defiance of her. Her lower jaw extends and displays the rows of uneven jagged teeth. Abnormally wider, her hellish slaughterous mouth cracks open more and she contorts her head back. Lunging her rage at me in a bloodcurdling shriek as it expels from her. Foul, thick mucus pelts my face as an instant gleam of steel passes just a breath away from me. The rancid air is the only thing that hits me before the queen’s head separates from her body. The next moment I’m staring astounded over the headless body of the queen and see Sirius. At his full height gripping the double bladed battle axe anchored just above his massive shoulder and fully prepared for the next bout. His eyes glare loathsomely through his heinous barbaric helmet in battle mode as he stalks the chamber for the next threat. Her claws are still squeezing my neck, still pinning me to the column when I feel her decapitated body transform.

A crackling sound ricochets throughout the room as her
body stiffens. Her skin ruptures and peels at each fissuring line that runs every inch of her body. Turning to dust, brittle golden flecks break away but before the specks fall to the ground they dissipate into thin air. A deep veiny line travels up her arm, splitting apart her limb and her death hold on me is now released. My feet collide to the flooring making my knees quake in pain, promptly I clutch at my throat sucking in all the oxygen that I can.

I brace myself against the stone column
, fatigue stricken and gasping for air. I glance down at the queen’s inhuman skull, all that is left of her immortalized body and croak out, “You… you just killed your queen.”