The Broken Destiny (33 page)

“You fool!” He howled. “Bring me his body at once! I need his seed.”

Shock rippled through my body and hit me square in the chest.
What did he mean, would they cut him open?

“But, father…” Enoch began to protest.

“Hush, boy.” He laughed. “This is even better than I could have hoped for.”

“We use
his
seed,” Enoch said softly.

The old man nodded in confirmation.

“It would seem those two souls have come a long way, the weapon is closer than I could have imagined. The great warlock has failed where her grandfather succeeded. And, best of all, he has no idea what’s hiding right in front of him.” It was almost as if his smile spread right across his entire face, reveling in his epiphany.

His yellow-stained eyes dotted with dark irises looked me over. I shivered. It felt like he was looking into every corner of my soul, searching for more answers as to how this weapon could be unleashed; the one I had just learned was inside of my soul somehow.

His contorted fingers pointed at me.

“She will bear me the perfect broken blood, and she will lead us to victory over all.”

“Father…” Enoch began to protest again.

His father smirked at him, but kept his gaze on me. “You can have your way with her after we have implanted the seed of the
Ignited
one.”

My heart jerked in my chest. How could I be so stupid? His father was also one of the founders of genetic experimentation on our kind. This meant that what had happened to my mother would now happen to me! But worse than that, they were about to cut Troy in order to do so.

“
No!
” I shouted in my head. Enoch just smiled.

“Wait,” the witchdoctor said slowly, his eyes falling on his staff. “It would be better to extract the seed while he is alive.” He looked to me, the rottenness seeping through his smirk. “For the sake of the ancestors, of course.”

Alive? What the hell is he talking about?
My mind raced.

“We have ways of bringing the dead back.” Enoch confirmed.

Oh gosh, they would revive him and then cut him like all the other muti killings. No, no, no! What would get us out of this and how would I get us out of this?

The Isithunzi’s smile tightened. “Bring me my sister. Together we will revive this young boy.”

My mind was spinning.
Nomsa is here? That would explain why I didn’t see her last night. So, she is on their side after all.

“But first, the resurrection of the ancient one is upon us. Take her away!” He shouted, waving his skinny arms in my general direction as if shooing an irritating bug from his face.

I lowered my head to the ground and closed my eyes, hoping that by doing so would wake me from the terrible nightmare in which I had found myself.

“Prepare her for the ceremony. The moons will smile on us tomorrow.” I heard him say.

As a troop of warriors closed in on me, the other queens ran for the young girl who was still standing next to me, shaking uncontrollably.
This is bad. This is very bad
, I thought. The warriors began to drag me away, but then I caught sight of a troop of younger warriors rushing toward the witchdoctor. I heard him shriek, followed by a loud bang and then lightning struck the ground just in front of my feet. I collapsed, terrified. My pulse raced. The warriors laughed and bowed as the witchdoctor approached. In a matter of seconds, his ugly face was right in front of mine. How I had stood up, I do not know. I was in shock. I had just witnessed the impossible.

His finger shot out like a needle and poked me in the chest. “It would seem that my sister has escaped.”

Relief washed over me. She wasn’t one of them. The witchdoctor pushed down harder into my chest. The patch of skin where he was touching me was on fire, and the longer he kept his finger to my skin, the more I felt his rottenness shoot through my veins – like a dark acid fire penetrating into my chest. He, too, noticed this and pulled back, his panic almost visible in the tight set of his mouth.

“You will find her for me.” His voice was filled with fury.

I didn’t quite understand what he meant. He read the confusion on my face.

“You do not know how to harness your cognitive powers yet?” He seemed amused. “The warlock is a fool. Trust him to procrastinate and leave you to your own devices.” He snorted. “Well, leave it up to me. I will show you the way.” His evil chuckle cut through the air, rippling cold sweats swept through my entire body.

“Father, no.” Enoch was at his side. “You promised I would be the first. She is
my
future queen. I should be the one to break her innocence.”

My innocence? Break it? Oh, no. They are talking about my virginity!

“It’s too late,” I said quickly and loudly, forcing the confidence into my tone.

“You lie.” Enoch took a step toward me. He glared at me, cold and fierce.

I had to block my mind. If a single thought to the contrary were to cross it, he would instantly know the truth. Technically, my virginity was still intact, because when I had been raped, I had been sodomized.
I can’t let him know. I have to block it out.
I began thinking in a language he didn’t understand – Afrikaans.

“How would you know? We never slept together.”

He continued to stare at me.

I shrugged. “I
do
have taste.” This was said with a hint of a smile in my voice, just to make it believable.

Enoch leaned in closer, his frown deepening. “We have ways of finding out the truth.”

He was completely unruffled. I had never seen him so calm and it was troubling.

The witchdoctor laughed. “Look at you, son! You think you have what it takes to break this young woman, the White Divine!” He laughed again. “You are my only son, but your mother was a Minoan.” He shook his head. “I don’t know if you have it in you, boy.”

“Let me prove it, father,” Enoch said with conviction.

He pressed his body against mine. I backed up as his glacier eyes tried to cut through me.

“I will break her.” His mouth twitched.

A cold, dark, hollow fear swelled inside me, subduing any rage that once fueled me.

When we arrived in ‘my’ chambers, I was shocked. It wasn’t at all what I had expected. It was fit for a queen, the large stone room luxurious, complete with animal skins, vibrant pots of clay in every color, shape and size. A plethora of animal furs covered the four-poster ivory bed. In the far corner of the room beside a gigantic fire place, a large copper bath stood on golden stilts. I stared into the green flames crackling and bursting with scorching heat. I wondered when my ‘family’ and friends would come for me. The fire had heated the room so severely; I had to take off Enoch’s jacket almost immediately. I turned to see the guards close the door behind me. I dropped the jacket to the floor, moved my wet muddy boots over to the bed. I sat with my wet dress and soaked, dripping hair on top of the black and white sheets trying not to cry. There was a soft knock at the door. I stood covering my bust with my arms.

“Princess?” a young female voice enquired.

The large, wooden door slowly creaked open. It was the young queen. Her eyes had returned to their normal golden brown. She bowed.

I walked up to her and took her hand.

“Please, help me,” I begged, as a string of young maids entered with an array of colored bottles, soaps and perfume, freshly cut flowers, bowls of rose petals, branches of jasmine, lavender and tea tree oils. While they filled the bathtub, I walked over to the large glassless window. My body ached with each step I took. In the distance, past the scorched land, tiny fires burned outside the round huts. I wondered how the Zulus could have populated their nation in such a short time since arriving on Poseidon. As far as I knew, it had only been Nomsa, her brother, and her father from the Zulu nation that had arrived with the rest of our colony. But, then again, anything was possible at that point. I turned to watch the girls move around the room. Although I wasn’t alone in the room, I had never felt so alone and so isolated in my entire life. I felt myself beginning to crumble. I bit down on the pain. Four guards entered, followed by Enoch, all dressed in traditional Zulu attire. Skirts made up of animal skins, twisted into thick dreads that hung down to their knees, leopard print tails tied around their heads that acted as a crown symbolizing the royal guards. Again, I wondered where on our planet they could have hunted and killed animals that didn’t exist, but then I remembered that the Isithunzi had stolen the traveling mirror from Kronan. Enoch stood before me with his Minoan bow in one hand, blue and purple feathers dangling from the tip of what was now a spear. I stiffened as my heart started to pound against my chest so hard that I struggled to breathe. The mere sight of him sent mixed feelings warring inside me. His lengthy legs enabled him to cross the room in three long strides where he had come to a standstill inches away from me, stroking my face. I pulled away immediately, but he grabbed my wrist and drew me closer into his naked chest.

“I hate you.” I spoke through clenched teeth.

“Good,” he smirked. “Hate is a passionate emotion.” He said, pulling his face into an all-knowing scowl.

He was condescendingly calm. Somehow, he sensed I was scared even though I was constantly thinking in Afrikaans. He knew me by now. We had many a night alone, talking – amongst other things. I shivered with disgust at that thought. He was a stranger to me now. I swallowed the pain once more. I didn’t know how much more heartache I could take at that point. I snorted and turned away from him, but his fingers twisted my chin back toward him.

“We were once beautiful together, we can be again.”

“Nothing about you is beautiful,” I spat, my chin still clenched in his palm.

“You will learn to love me and respect me in time.” He kept his glare fixed on my face.

“Ha!” I spat. “Love? You don’t know the true meaning of love.” I, too, kept my eyes on his.

I saw the ice in his eyes melt.

“I could,” he said.

“Obsession,” I mocked.

His glare intensified “You
will
love me.”

My smirk gave way, his magic was not working on me anymore, and he couldn’t force ideas into my head any longer.

I can get to this prince. The Prince of Lies,
I thought to myself. He summoned the maids as he let go of me. They pulled me to the tub. The sickly sweet scent of all the flowers mixed with the steam made my stomach ill. I crossed my arms and motioned with my head for Enoch to leave the room. His smirk widened, his eyes trailed over my body. I recoiled from the girls, but the warriors closed in on me. Enoch slowly sat down on a well-worn, brown, leather armchair just a few paces away from the tub. The warriors cut the dress from me, the soft material falling to the floor like scattered leaves from a tree in mourning. Still, I refused to cry. Enoch’s gaze fell on my underwear, and for a moment, the thump of my heart was all I could hear.

“Enoch, no. Please?” I begged, swallowing hard against flaming tears that burned my throat and shook my voice.

He nodded toward the girls; quickly they surrounded me, wrapping a thin, white cloth around my body, pulling my underwear off as they dragged me into the tub. With a flick of his hand, he commanded the guards to wait outside as the girls removed the cloth. A tear escaped. I was humiliated. Enoch stood up. Leaning into the tub, he swirled the water around with his hand. I tried to cover myself up as much as I could. His smirk lighted up his entire face.

With an eyebrow raised he said, “You’re already breaking.”

Troy’s face flashed before me and something within snapped. I shot to my feet, water pouring from my body and punched him in the face. He turned back toward me – smiling!

“Soon my love, soon,” he said.

I tried to punch him again, but he caught my hand and kissed it. I pulled away from him and just stood there. His eyes searched my naked body.

I pulled a face, like one would when you smell something rotten. “Take a good look asshole!” I spat. “You might have this body, but you’ll never have my heart.”

“I only need your soul, princess,” he muttered and left the room.

I stood there staring at the girls. I had never expected what just had happened. They looked away. I slumped back into the water, staring blankly ahead as the girls bathed me. Their eyes never met mine, not even once.
I will NOT be raped. Never again will I let that happen to me.
My heart raced so much; I could hardly stand the pain.

“Why are you letting him do this to you?” I asked furiously. “You deserve more than this.”

The young queen’s eyes finally fell on mine. “We have no choice, princess.”

“Stop calling me that!” I said heatedly. “They will not break me. I don’t belong here.” I stared each one of them down. “Let me help you. We can defeat this Isithunzi.”

“His magic is too strong, my lady,” she said softly.

“That might be true, but his magic also makes him weak. The more he uses, the weaker he becomes.”