The Amulet (14 page)

No longer were her feet on solid ground. They
were now dangling at least a foot above it. Something was holding
her around the neck and she grabbed at it in desperation, trying to
pull off whatever was holding her. Her eyes widened with horror
when her hands were grasping at nothing but thin air and realized
that nothing physical was holding her. How could she fight against
an imperceptible force? She kicked out with her feet in all
directions, hoping feebly that she could make contact with
something and maybe knock it off balance. But again, she made
contact with nothing, no one. A spine chilling cackle erupted at
her futile attempt to free herself from whatever was holding her
captive.

“We have waited patiently for this moment,”
the voice spoke again with revelry. Whoever it was, they were
certainly enjoying themselves.

She looked around wide eyed, trying to see
who else made up the ‘we’. But she couldn’t even see what was
holding her, let alone anyone else that may have been lurking in
the shadows. Faedra could feel the ring on her finger heat up even
more. It didn’t hurt, but it was a powerful reminder that she was
in very grave danger, a fact that hadn’t escaped her attention.

“Who are you?” she croaked through the
stranglehold on her neck. Her question was answered in an instant,
as a pair of eyes glowed in the darkness below her. She felt sick,
a deep retching, nauseous feeling resonated from the pit of her
stomach. “Oh, God, a redcap,” she continued through restrained
vocal chords.

There was another gravelly cackle and it
turned Faedra’s blood to ice. The force holding her began to move
her over towards the light from a streetlamp that was behind the
wall of the back entrance to the hotel. Whatever it was that was
holding her, backed her up until the circle of light from the
streetlamp illuminated them both.

Faedra looked down, terror-stricken, as the
figure holding her gradually came into view. Fear couldn’t even
begin to describe what she was feeling when her eyes sent what they
were seeing to her brain. It was grotesque. One of its long sinewy
arms was held upwards towards her. Spindly fingers with yellowed,
claw like nails were shaped as though they were gripping something
invisible. Then she realized they were… her neck. She was hovering
at least three feet up and away from the hand that was held out
towards her.

The creature couldn’t have been much more
than four feet tall, but what it lacked in stature, it made up for
in repulsiveness. It wore a long, dirty brown leather tunic that
came to mid thigh and was belted at the waist. What looked like
steel boots adorned its feet and they made a small clanking sound
as it walked. She remembered the sound from the woods when they had
been running, but hadn’t been able to put her finger on it at the
time.

It had an ominous looking dagger thrust
through its belt that was slightly rusty and stained with blood.
Its other hand had hold of a menacing looking weapon with a huge
axe blade at the top of a long handle that stood at least a foot
taller than the redcap, and was finished off with a spike at the
end. It, too, looked well used and blood stained.

Its face was gnarly, like old elephant hide,
with black soulless eyes that no longer glowed now that they were
in the light. A long crooked nose protruded out morosely from the
center of its face, and the jagged, uneven fangs it had for teeth,
jutted out from its lower jaw and were yellowed and rotting. On its
head it wore the article for which it was named, a red cap. It fit
its head like a glove, and although she didn’t want to admit to it,
she thought it looked like skin, but not its own skin, someone
else’s. It glistened moistly in the light from the streetlamp.

“What do you want from me?” Faedra croaked,
scanning the area. She still couldn’t see any more of them.

“Why, the amulet, of course,” the redcap spat
back at her in disgust, then turned his attention to the necklace
dangling from her neck.

“Why?”

“I don’t ask why, I just get to keep my
prize…you,” it cackled with delight.

In a flash, it had forced Faedra to her
knees. She was now almost eye level with the hideous creature as
she kneeled in front of it. She wrinkled her nose when it leaned in
close to her and wafted a breath over her face. It smelled
repugnant; she almost threw up right there and then. As much as she
wanted to, she couldn’t close her eyes. Faedra stared frozen in
time at it, as it examined her closely.

“I can understand why she wants you dead,” it
whispered with spine chilling contempt.

“Who wants me dead?” Faedra squeaked.

“That is of no consequence, Custodian,” it
replied, its gravelly voice scraping at her skin like a rough piece
of sand paper. He laid his axe-like weapon on the floor and took
hold of the amulet with his free hand. Faedra wasn’t sure what
happened next, but the creature was flung across the darkness. A
howl screeched through the air as it made contact with what she
assumed was the dumpster. She made to get up and run for her life,
but the creature was back on her in a flash. The redcap held her
neck with its actual hand this time; much more violently than
before. It held the palm of its other hand for her to see.

“The amulet is warded; only you can touch it.
It would seem no one else can while you live. So, it looks like I’m
going to have to kill you right here to take it from you. We were
looking forward to having much more fun with you than that, but,”
and it shrugged its shoulders, “needs must.” There was a glint in
its eyes when it said it.

Faedra moved her eyes downward to look at its
hand. She couldn’t move her head, it was being held too tightly.
The palm of its hand had been seared with the pattern from the
amulet, burning a permanent brand into its skin.

Her mind whirled as the oxygen was being cut
off to her brain. She couldn’t die, not here, not now.

“Faen,” she shouted through her constricted
vocal chords. Nothing more than a hushed whisper emanated from her
mouth. “Faen, help me,” she said again, futilely hoping that he
could somehow hear her or sense that she was in danger. She looked
over towards the courtyard, and her heart sank. It was still
empty.

She was quickly sinking into blackness; no,
she couldn’t let this happen.

Do something Faedra
, she commanded
herself.
You need to do something now, or you will die. Right
here, right now.

The thought of what it would do to her
father, to find his only daughter’s battered remains, lying
lifeless behind the hotel, sparked something deep within her. Her
fear turned to anger, which in itself, turned into the searing
sensation of energy flowing through her body. The streetlamp above
her flickered.

Faedra opened her eyes and summoned all the
energy she could from her body, then her mind started reaching
outside of her skull, searching for other sources. The light above
her flickered again, and she took hold of its energy, too, pulling
it inside her body and molding it with her own. The bulb in the
street lamp shattered, sending a shower of sparks raining to the
ground like one of those fancy fireworks she enjoyed watching on
Bonfire Night.

She looked straight into the redcap’s
eyes.
“Not tonight, you don’t,” her whisper was barely audible as she
channeled all the power she was controlling through her palms and
slammed it directly at its chest.

The intensity of it threw the redcap
violently back against the dumpster again. She couldn’t control the
immensity of the force she had created and it sent her flying
backwards, also. Her whole body was picked up by it and she was
hurled into the wall behind her with brutal propulsion. She caught
a glimpse of Faen exiting through the door into the courtyard. He
conjured his sword from nowhere and was spinning it in his hand as
he moved towards her. There was a blood-curdling crack as her head
slammed against the hard stone of the brick wall. She fell limply
to the ground.

“Faedra!” she heard Faen shout, just before
everything went black.

Faen moved with lightning speed to the
darkness of the area behind the hotel. The street lamp was broken
now, so the only light emanating there was the dim glow from the
floodlights in the courtyard. He moved with stealth over to the
redcap. It looked unconscious but he wasn’t taking any chances, and
ran it through with his sword. Faen mumbled something and the
redcap shimmered and disappeared. He stood up alert, his sword held
ready for battle. He scanned the area for anything else, but
couldn’t sense anything untoward. In the next heartbeat, he was
kneeling over Faedra’s lifeless body that was now lying face down
on the ground.

“No, no, no, not again. For the love of the
Gods, not again,” he cried as he carefully turned her over. She
felt limp in his hands, just like Lillith had eleven years ago. He
examined her face. She had a gash on her forehead; blood was
trickling from it down the side of her face. He gently moved a lock
of hair away from the gash so he could take a better look. It
didn’t look too deep and it started to heal right in front of his
eyes. He heaved a sigh of relief. She was not dead if her body was
healing.

“Faedra, can you hear me?” he asked, his
voice soft as silk.

She groaned in response. Her eyes flickered
open for just a second as she took in his features and could see
the agonized look in his eyes. It nearly broke her heart.

“I am taking you home,” he said, and she felt
the ground disappear beneath her.

Faedra attempted to try and comfort Faen with
a smile, and then sank back into the black abyss once more.

Faen made it to her home within moments of
lifting her from the cold hard ground. He lowered her cautiously to
her bed. He had to check and see if any bones were broken because,
if they were, they had to be set straight or they would heal
crookedly. He took each of her limbs and gently straightened them
one by one. He watched as the bruises disappeared almost before
they even had a chance to develop. After she turned of age, the
healing process her body possessed became even more efficient. He
took hold of each hand and examined her fingers. Nothing seemed to
have been broken and he rested them down on either side of her
body. He leaned forward and coaxed the tangled strands of hair away
from her face and waited.

The energy he had just witnessed her expend
probably had as much to blame for her state of unconsciousness than
her head being slammed against the wall. He went down into the
kitchen and rummaged through the cupboards until he found what he
was looking for. He filled a large glass with water, then filled it
almost half way with sugar, stirring it until it dissolved. He
returned to Faedra’s room with the glass and placed it on her
nightstand.

A few more moments passed. Faedra sucked in a
deep breath, as if she had been underwater and just come up to the
surface for air. Her eyes flew open; wide and scared. She scanned
her surroundings and saw Faen sitting beside her; she threw her
arms around him.

“You are safe now, Ms. Faedra,” he said
softly, in an effort to calm her. “Here, drink this; you need to
regain some of the energy you expended,” he said, handing her the
glass from the nightstand.

“What is it?” she asked. Although, she
trusted him implicitly, she still wanted to know what she was
putting in her body.

“Sugar water,” he stated.

She drank it without further comment.

“Did you see what I did?” she exclaimed
enthusiastically, after she had finished the entire glass.

“Yes, it was most impressive, Ms.
Faedra.”

She looked around again, a little
disoriented. “Wait. How long have I been gone from the party?” she
asked, looking down at her torn and dirty dress.

“About fifteen of your minutes, I estimate,”
he replied.

“Oh, good grief, I have to get back
there.”

She pushed herself past him and headed for
the closet. She certainly couldn’t return dressed like this; her
father would freak out.

“That is not a good idea.”

“I don’t care, Faen. My dad will be worried
sick. I don’t even have my cell phone; it’s in my purse that is
still on a table back at the party.” She ran over to the home phone
that was sitting in its charger on her nightstand, picked it up and
started dialing. Faedra made sure to put in the couple of digits
needed so that the number wouldn’t show on his caller ID. She hoped
he would think she was calling from her cell. She couldn’t stand
the thought of him worrying about her. “I’ll call him from
here.”

“Hello,” Henry answered. She could hear the
music in the background. Good the party was still in full
swing.

“Hey, Dad, it’s me.”

“Fae? Where on earth are you? I was starting
to get worried.”

“Don’t worry, I needed some fresh air and
went for a walk in the village.”

“On your own?” he exclaimed.

“No, Faen’s with me,” she cringed as soon as
she said his name, and Faen shot her a strained expression

“You went home to get your dog?” her dad
asked incredulously.

God, she hated lying to her father, and she
was hopeless at it.

“I thought he may need to go for a wee,” she
said cringing again. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

“Fae, you do the oddest things sometimes. I
tell you, that dog knows he has you wrapped around his paw.”

She raised her eyes to the heavens.
Oh, if
only he knew
.

His tone changed then. “Is Frederick with
you? He disappeared about the same time you did.”

“Yes, Dad, he’s with me. He didn’t want me
walking alone, so he asked if he could join me.” She listened as
her dad grumbled something into the phone, but, just at that
moment, a loud song started up in the background and she couldn’t
make out what he was saying. It was probably for the best. “I’ll
see you soon,” she yelled over the din.