Talisman (89 page)

“Shiloh, all you did was charge the wand, you still have its powers.  Even though it
’s in his possession, its power is
not
his.  The wand is feeding off your energy because it’s near you.  It will be useless to him the farther you’re away from it.  We need to get out of here. 
NOW!
”

Lazarus
seemed too engrossed with the power the Wand of Adamas was exuding to notice that Tanner had helped me to my feet.

“GO!”
Tanner urged.  “Head for the stairs! I’ll be right behind you.”

Still
struggling to shake off an agonizing amount of pain, I rushed over to the bottom of the winding rock staircase and started to make my assent.  I looked back to see the light starting to dwindle from the wand.  Its energy was fading with every step I took away from it.  Unfortunately Lazarus and Ferrol noticed it too.

Ferrol was the first to spot me, but Tanner was on him before he knew it.  Lazarus breezed
past them both, with his eyes transfixed on me.  I raced up the stone staircase.  Halfway up, I grabbed the last carnelian from my pocket and hurled it down at Lazarus.  I watched as he used the diamond wand to bat the fiery stone away from him effortlessly like a major league hitter.  The carnelian didn’t explode upon impact with the diamond blade but instead, it was redirected towards Tanner, who had barely gotten out of its way before it struck the ground in front of him. 
Crap
, I grumbled as I hurried on up the staircase.

Lazarus had made it over to the bottom of the stairs and was now starting to climb up after me.  The diamond wand’s energy intensified with every step he took.  Anxiously, I charged
towards the mouth of the cave.  Within a second, I was there and quickly waved my hand to reveal the cave’s earthy portal.  I held on to the sides of the opening and paused to see how close Lazarus was trailing.  He was already halfway up the stairway.  Even though he was nowhere near as fast as I was, the Talisman was making pretty good time. I immediately turned to exit the cave, but before my foot even crossed its threshold, I jumped back in
terror.
  Unluckily, waiting outside the mouth of the cave was none other than the fiendish, billowy-black form of the Onyx, hovering fiercely and adversely
blocking my escape!

Chapter  26  —  Seraphina

Once
the initial shock had subsided, I shifted my stare back and forth between my two would-be assassins.  Lazarus was charging up the stairs after me, wielding a diamond sword and ready to drive it straight through me.  The Onyx was waiting patiently outside to claim my powers as his own, as well as seek his revenge for our run-in last night.  I let out a frustrated grunt as I slammed my foot down on the rocks.

Can’t I catch a freakin’
BREAK?!?

Lazarus was getting closer. 
My mind scrambled for a plan while I stared at the sinister black haze, whose form tonight actually resembled more of a ghostly-looking man.  I knew the enchantment Adamas had put on the cave kept the Onyx from entering, but I really needed to “get out”.  Gallia had claimed that the blue chalcedony would bind a Talisman’s powers for a while.  Surely he was still without them or weak at the very least.

Ho
pefully
, I thought.

I checked on Lazarus one more time and then redirected my gaze to the Onyx.  The situation had exasperated me to the point
where I screamed out combatively.  I threw my hand up towards the night sky and speedily summoned a bolt of lightning.  The Onyx had anticipated my move and saw the lightning streaming towards him.  He moved out of its path, leaving the doorway wide-open.  But what he hadn’t realized was that the bolt wasn’t meant to hit him.  As soon as the lightning came streaking into the cave, my awaiting hands caught it on the spot.  With the Onyx now back in front of the cave’s opening, and Lazarus approaching, I split the scorching bolt in two.  I threw half of it at the Onyx, knocking him from my path.  The other half I hurled towards Lazarus, who was now just a few feet from me.  He used the wand to protect himself, for the most part.  The bolt only grazed him, but it did send him tumbling halfway back down the spiral stone stairs.  With a much clearer path, I made a mad dash out of the cave and headed into the woods as fast as I could.

I shot through the forest knowing I couldn’t slow down,
not yet
.  I didn’t have a clue as to which one of them would catch up to me first. 
Lazarus?  The Onyx?
  I hoped Tanner was having better luck back in the cave with Ferrol.  My situation had gone from bad to worse, pretty daggone quick!

I spotted a cluster of t
rees that would provide some decent cover up ahead.  After I had camouflaged myself behind one of the larger pines, I peered out from behind it and began to survey the woods.

The scene was lifeless.  T
here was no movement whatsoever.  It was like even the animals knew something was amiss and had cautiously sought refuge elsewhere.  There was an eerie hush throughout the air that chilled the core of my bones.  You could even hear the faint rustling of leaves in the wind.  And it was
dark
.  Only the stars in the sky and the muted light reflecting from the moon that lay behind a mass of clouds illuminated my way.

My hands
rested on the tree as I continued to search the woods.  Suddenly, they felt
cold
. I took a curious, closer look at the tree.  Unexpectedly, its thick bark started to ice over.  Several snowflakes hit my cheek as I stepped away from it.  When I turned around, a turbulent stream of bitter cold air slapped my face.  A thick coat of snow was blanketing the forest at an uncanny rate, right before of my eyes.  This was no freak blizzard. 
It was Lazarus
.

He had to be close.  I clambered up the side of the pine tree to keep an eye out for his exact location.  I scanned the forest in a diligent manner.  The snow was now falling violently, and a steady blast of chilly air was whipping through the woods.  Its force was so powerful
that even the massive pine I was hiding in started to sway.  Soon, I spotted a glowing light approaching on the horizon. 
The wand
.  A menacing roar of laughter echoed through the trees as he drew closer.  The intensifying energy from the wand was leading him straight to me like supernatural GPS.

From behind the veil of a snow-covered tree limb, I watched Lazarus prowling the ground below me.  Thankfully, the thick snow had started falling after I’d stopped, so I hadn’t left any tracks.  Lazarus passed by the tree I was hiding in and
headed off in the distance.  He looked down at the wand and stopped.  Its light was beginning to fade.  Lazarus then dug his foot down into the snowy ground on the spot, pivoted around with the tenacity of a soldier on a life or death mission, and started marching back my way.  My heart pounded as I braced myself for his next move.

Lazarus stopped beside the tree.  He turned around in all directions, scanning fo
r any signs of me.  “There’s nowhere for you to
hide
.  The wand will seek you out, my dear,” he called out, never looking up.

I
wanted to hurl a bolt of lightning down on his arrogant ass so bad, but I knew he would just use the wand to drive it away.  Even though that “big head” of his provided an excellent target.  Then there I’d be, vulnerable and my cover regrettably blown.

“There’s no one to come to your rescue.  Tanner could be dead by now, and as for the other one
…
Well
, I’m afraid that little old birdie won’t be up to flying…
anytime soon
.”

Instantly, I held my breath to keep from gasping.  Apparently Lazarus knew about Beatrix, and by the wicked tone in his voice, a horrible feeling came over me that he’d done something
heinous to her.

I just left her
almost an hour ago, and she was fine
, I reflected nervously. 
What is he talking about?
  The only way I could look into his mind was by touching him, and that was simply out of the question.  His ambiguous declaration was driving me crazy with worry.  I could only hope that the self-righteous bastard would end up gloating about it.

“We followed you to her house.  Personally, I knew there was
something
about her that I didn’t like when we met last week.”  Lazarus laughed.  “I just thought it was because she was a bitter old hag.  But then I discovered today that she is also a Talisman.  But not just any Talisman. 
No, no
.  She’s possesses the golden topaz and reigns over the air, as do
I
.”

Lazarus started circling the tree, wh
ich only heightened my senses.

“Ferrol wanted to charge into her house and h
ash it out right then and there.  But I told him,
‘no’
.  There was no need for such violence.  He’s a bit of a sadistic barbarian when it comes to matters like these.  I prefer a more
civilized
approach. 
So
, I snuck in through her backdoor and poisoned the pot of cider on her stove.”

I tried to restrain my
escalating anger.  My body was trembling, and I could feel a tear starting to form in my eye. 
Oh no! Bea!

“I would
love
to possess her golden topaz…
almost
as much as the diamond,” Lazarus announced brazenly.  “It makes her nearly as impossible to kill as you.  But I would choose a more majestic creature to change into.  Anything but a
common
falcon.  Dreadful, savage creatures.  If the poison she drank hasn’t finished her off, I’m sure stopping back by her house tonight and driving my new wand through her chest will,
that is
…after I’m finished with
you
.”

Unconsciously, m
y fingernails began to dig into the bark of the tree while I listened to his taunts about Beatrix’s unknown condition.  Lazarus placed his hands on the trunk of the pine tree.

“We were in the cave
almost the
entire day
…but you
never
showed up.  It’s not polite to keep someone waiting, you know.  Then Karl called and told us that he’d captured you.  I instructed him to bring you to me, but you never arrived.  When he didn’t answer my call, we went back to the guesthouse. 
That was
disappointing
.  He was one of my best men.”  Lazarus let out an exaggerated sigh.  “Have you figured out
how
we finally caught up to you?”

I knew he realized I was close, but the way he spoke made me question “how close” he thought I was.

From behind the cover of the branches, I peered down to see his fingers running across the tree trunk.  Something glistening
on its bark immediately caught my eye.

I looked
down at my hands —
my blood-covered hands
— that were sparkling with the same diamond residue.  No sooner than I remembered laying them on the tree when I’d climbed it, Lazarus jerked his head up and stared me dead in the eyes where I sat perched on a large limb.

“Your trail of
blood
, of course,” Lazarus declared with a triumphant grin.

With that said, Lazarus brandished the dia
mond wand like an ax and in one swoop, sliced clear through the base of the pine.  Instinctively, I catapulted myself from the toppling tree into another one nearby.  That seemed to only excite Lazarus.  He proceeded to chop it down as well.  I hopped from tree to tree, desperately trying to escape while maintaining my safe cover.  The woods rumbled with the sights and sounds of trees crashing swiftly to the ground like dominos.  An open clearing lay just up ahead.  My natural shelter was quickly coming to an end.  I jumped down to the ground before the last one fell and dashed across the field, heading straight for another cluster of trees.  I tried to strategize a plan as I hurried across the mountainside, but my options were running out.  Without my amethyst, I couldn’t contact Tanner, and according to Lazarus, there wouldn’t be a falcon swooping down to save me either.  The wand deflected my lightning, so that was useless, and the Onyx was probably still out there somewhere, waiting for Lazarus to break me down, so he could casually pick me apart like a buzzard.

Fan-freakin-tastic!

As I charged across another small clearing, I tripped coming up a small embankment and fell to the ground.  Suddenly, I felt dizzy, and a wave of exhaustion came over me while I lay on the snow-covered ground.

What
NOW?

My
hand was resting on something — something hard. 
The railroad tracks
…
The
iron
railroad tracks
, I pondered.  Since I knew Lazarus’ stone reigned over the air, the iron would weaken him just as it did me.  My eyes followed the tracks.  There was a tunnel roughly a hundred yards to my right.  It dawned on me where I was — about a mile from the one of the coal tipples.  As I stared into the dark tunnel, a sound in the distance commanded my attention.  It was the whistle from a train that was heading this way.

I looked back down at the tracks
. 
That’ll work
.

I jumped to my feet and
quickly covered the iron rails back up with snow as best I could.  They were now completely concealed.  My trap was set and all I had to do now was wait for Lazarus to take the bait, and “the bait” unfortunately was
me
.

Before long, a soft glow of light
began to creep over the hill.  Undoubtedly the wand was leading him straight to me.  Lazarus appeared within seconds.  I stood still as he trekked closer, heading down the hill with his sights set on me.

He stopped a few feet from where I was, on the other side of the tracks.  I wanted his eyes
focused solely on me, to distract him from the unforeseen and treacherous nature of what lay at his feet.

“You haven’t given up have you?” Lazarus asked snidely.  “I’ve rather enjoyed our little game of cat and mouse.  This certainly has been more enjoyable than my incident with your father.  He really didn’t put up much of a fight
…
Pathetic
really
.”

My eyes glared at him, but I said nothing and remained motionless. 
Just a few more feet
…

Lazarus raised his head arrogantly.  “
See
, I knew you didn’t deserve to claim the wand’s powers.  Anyone who truly understands its nature would fight to the bitter, bloody end for it…and I’m afraid, my dear…
that’s not you
.  Why
it
chose
YOU
—
I have no idea!
 
Your father wasn’t even a Talisman!
  I’ve never heard of such a preposterous thing.  The essence of a Talisman is like being a blue-blood, from the highest of classes,” Lazarus scoffed as he prowled towards me.  “It’s not reserved for common, hillbilly trash such as you.”  He shrugged his shoulders and flashed me a haughty smile.  “But I guess even a diamond goes
slumming
…now and then.”

Lazarus flourished the wand in the air.  Its brilliant, glowing blade was now about a sword’s length from me.  He held it combatively, gripping the
hilt tightly up by his chest.