The Seal of Oblivion (18 page)

“Right here?”
Laqiya asked just happening to look up.

Nightshield looked up and scowled.
“What idiot builds a house with the entrance to the attic right above the
stairs?”

Laqiya shrugged as she backed up so
Nightshield could lower the ladder.

“Help me,” Nightshield said when it
got stuck.

“Nothing’s up there is it? You
know, like a rat or bug that’ll drop?” Laqiya asked.

Nightshield shot her a disbelieving
look before going ahead and pulling down the ladder by herself and let go, only
for it to bounce back up.

“Looks like I’ll have to hold it,”
Nightshield said. “You go on up.”

Laqiya raised her eyebrows at
Nightshield. Nightshield only gave her a pointed look, and the girl gave in,
beginning to climb the ladder. She poked her head into the area, spotting bats
in the corner.

“See anything?”

“Bats,” Laqiya said climbing
further into the attic.

“That’s it?”

Laqiya sighed as she stood in the
attic and looked around before catching a shadow move.

“No. There’s something up here,”
Laqiya said trying to see with the limited light from outside.

“What?” Nightshield said.

“Hold on,” Laqiya said as she
walked toward where she had seen the shadow. She felt it in the back of her
mind, something telling her to back away, but still…

She felt something behind her and
turned around. That was it. Laqiya began to walk back to the ladder.

“What happened?” Nightshield asked.

“Something’s in here, and I’m not
sticking around to find out
wh
—”

Nightshield lost her grip on the
stairs, and they bounced back up, sealing off the attic door. Laqiya fell back,
narrowly missing getting hit in the face before crawling over and pounding on
the entrance.

“Nightshield.”

“It’s stuck,” the woman said from
the other side. “Hold on.”

“Hurry up. Something’s—” Laqiya
screamed as a shadow passed under where her fingers were on the ladder.

She jumped back only to see the
shadows began to swirl more, disturbing the bats in the corner. Laqiya batted
the flying rodents away and then entire room was swallowed up by the shadows.
On any normal occasion Laqiya wasn’t afraid of the dark. Sakura was afraid of
the dark. The difference now was that there was actually something in the dark
to be afraid of.

“You’re looking for me aren’t you?”

The shadows materialized into a
silhouette.

“Sahajah,” Laqiya said. “Where are
you? Let me out!”

“Always making demands,” Sahajah said.
“You’re on my turf now. I don’t have to answer you.”

Laqiya already knew this wasn’t the
real Sahajah, only an illusion, and so she began trying to push on the ladder.

“It won’t open,” the silhouette
said. “I warned you to stay out of my way.”

Laqiya ignored her.

“You know. I’ve been waiting on
you. I was beginning to wonder if you would ever come,” Sahajah said. “And
since I never knew you to be a coward in the past and didn’t think you’d be
born again a coward, with her spirit in you, I wondered what stopped you.”

“Certainly not
because I’m afraid of you.
You’re the one hiding behind an illusion,”
Laqiya said to her still pushing on the door.

“No. You’re not afraid of me. Even
better than that, you’re afraid of yourself,” Sahajah deadpanned. “You want
your staff because it gives you control. Otherwise, you don’t have it, right?
You can’t master the forces of nature without your staff. Nature masters you.”

Laqiya was silent.

“So selfish of
you.
Is that the only reason you want to face me? To get your precious
staff piece,” the silhouette sighed and said, “Come get it then.”

Laqiya looked at Sahajah in
surprise.

“What?”

“The veil’s in the basement. I’ll
be waiting for you, unless of course, you really are afraid of me,” said
Sahajah,

Laqiya had no reason to believe
her, and there was definitely malicious intent in her words, but she wasn’t
lying. The veil was in the basement, and for some reason Sahajah was trying to
draw her to her. It reminded her of the game Nephthys would play with her when
they were younger, purposely egging her on, usually to get her in trouble for
provoking the fight. The problem was Laqiya wasn’t one to start a fight.

“Laqiya?”
Nightshield said finally getting the door down as the shadows faded.

“The basement,” Laqiya said. “The
veil’s in the basement.”

It had gotten dark, so while
Nightshield’s expression wasn’t clear, Laqiya could feel her confusion as she
made her way down the stairs.

“The basement.
How’d you figure that out?” Nightshield asked.

Laqiya didn’t answer she made her way
past Adria and Chasity who must have helped Nightshield pulled down the door.
She met Plainshield, Isis, and Sakura at the bottom of the steps.

“Did you all find a basement when
you were looking or a door that looked like it led to the basement?” Laqiya
asked.

Sakura pointed across the living
room to a door right before the kitchen.

“You mean like that?” she asked.

“That would be it,” Laqiya
beginning to cross the room

“Wait a minute Laqiya. We didn’t go
that way because the floor is eaten away by—”

Laqiya yelped as the floor beneath
her gave way, and she fell through to basement. She instantly felt numb, but
ignored it so that she could roll out the way of the coffee table when it fell.
She then covered her head as more of the floor fell through with the table and
when she was sure she didn’t feel debris raining on top of her, she sat up to
see Sakura, Adria, and Isis peering down at her.

“Are you okay?” Adria asked

“Considering I
just fell through the floor?”
Laqiya asked looking up.
“Completely.”

“Well, that was certainly one way
to get down there,” Sakura said grinning at her.

“Shut up,” Laqiya muttered as she
brushed herself off.

“I think maybe I can find us a less
dangerous way to get down there,” Plainshield purred in amusement gesturing everyone
to follow her.

Laqiya tried to mutter “whatever”
but stopped at the sharp ache in her neck. She was certainly going to feel that
in the morning and the fact that the basement was cold didn’t exactly help.
Carefully she stood up, wishing she had Nightshield’s eyesight. She felt around
her and stepped to the side, looking for a wall or something. Hopefully the
crash had caused any pest to scatter.

Her hands found a wall, and
carefully, she began to make her way around. On the way, the wall disappeared,
and Laqiya used her foot to fill the space, finding stairs that led up and to
what she thought was outside, judging by the silvery glow coming from that way.
She started to keep going until it occurred to her that it wasn’t
that
dark outside yet. She climbed the
steps and stuck her hand into the empty space. It was a weird feeling, but she
could feel the veil. It felt like a drizzle of rain.

“Laqiya!”

The girl snatched her hand out the
veil and looked back, not that she could see.

“Ouch!” Sakura yelped as she hit
something. “It’s so dark down here.”

“It’s a basement!”

The sound of Chasity Pearl’s
sandals sliding across the floor helped Laqiya to hear the direction they were
going, the wrong direction.

“Over here,” Laqiya said.

“I see you,” Nightshield said
coming over to where she was, followed by the rest of the group.

Chasity Pearl snorted. “I should
have known it would have taken you falling through the floor to find the veil.
You always did get yourself into the most ridiculous situations.”

They all looked past Laqiya at the
veil and it was Sakura who asked, “Who’s going through first?”

“Plainshield,” Nightshield said.
“Then everyone
else,
and I’ll lead from behind.”

“Why can’t you go?” Plainshield
asked.

“Because I’m
guarding from behind.
Someone has to watch out for the group.”

“I’m right here,” Chasity Pearl
said dryly. “I’ll stay behind for everyone else.”

“You’re no guardian,” said
Nightshield, and she continued talking to her sister.

“But I’m here. I think it’s a
little ridiculous not to use extra help if you have it,” Chasity Pearl said,
“whether it’s willing or not.”

Laqiya exchanged a look with Isis,
Sakura, and Adria.

“And they talk about us,” Sakura
said.

Laqiya just shook her head and
walked through the veil, followed by Isis, Sakura, and Adria leaving the three
arguing guardians behind.

Chapter
Fourteen

Lady
Sahajah’s Castle

It was different than walking
through the veil leading to Al-Rana Palace. The transition seemed bumpier and
when they came out, Laqiya couldn’t tell up from down, therefore falling
forward on the ground. Isis, Adria, and Sakura fell forward in a similar
manner.

“Did we make it?” Sakura asked
raising her head to look around first.

“Do you have to ask?” Adria said as
she stood up and pointed to the nearby castle.

Laqiya stood up and looked around.
It looked like they were in a garden or something, but certainly on castle
grounds judging by the European styled wall and gate surrounding them.

“We have to get to the main part of
the castle,” Laqiya explained.

“Main part?”

“We’re on castle grounds,” Isis
explained. “This is just the gardens though. Our best bet would be to find the
courtyard or something. There will probably be some entrance that we can use
that’s not locked or something.”

“Why didn’t you wait on us?” Nightshield
asked coming through the veil and landing with much more grace than any of them
had, followed by Plainshield and Chasity Pearl.

“You all were taking too long, and
we’re losing time,” said Laqiya. “I need to get home before it’s late.”

“Tough luck,” said Nightshield.
“Just prepare your mind to be grounded.”

All four teens groaned in
frustration.

“Okay. Let’s head for the courtyard
then,” Laqiya said beginning to try and find her way through the gardens.

“Be careful,” Nightshield said,
“and watch your step. I’m sure I’m not the only one with a bad feeling about
this.”

Laqiya agreed with a nod of her
head as they began to make their way through the garden or rather get lost in
it, though they certainly got closer to the castle along the way, for eventually
they could touch the castle walls if they wanted. But they didn’t notice at
first, too mesmerized by the beauty of the garden.

“This is beautiful,” Adria said
looking at a tree with vines and blossoms wrapped around it. “If I didn’t know
this was a mistress’ realm, I’d think a gracious queen lived here or
something.”

“Don’t be fooled by the dark
mistresses’ liking for nice things and eye for aesthetics,” Nightshield warned.
“It’s a way to lure you into their trap, for us to let our guard down.”

“Still,” Isis said as she too began
to look around the garden.

Laqiya and Sakura did the same,
both reminded of how beautiful Sahajah looked in the museum. If any of them had
seen her on the streets or met her in real life, they would have thought the
dark mistress was a model. Laqiya gently picked off a piece of fruit and looked
at it.

“You’re not going to eat that are
you?” Adria asked her.

“Of course not,” Laqiya said as she
looked at the red fruit. “But it looks so…”

“
Eek!”

Laqiya turned to where Sakura had fallen
backwards on the ground. She sat stock
still,
the
stillest anyone had ever seen her. For all Sakura’s laziness, she was a bundle
of energy, hardly ever content to sit still.

“What?” Isis asked.

“Shhh…” Sakura said and then
pointed to something near her leg.
“A snake!”

All eyes went to the black scaly
creature next to Sakura’s leg. She began to tremble as the snake made its way
over her leg and then squeaked when it crawled over her hand.

“It’s barely a foot long. It’s
harmless,” said Adria rolling her eyes.

“You must not know anything about
snakes,” said Nightshield.

Laqiya shook her head as she got
that feeling, a warm prickly feeling in her back and the sudden need to be on
alert.

“That snake,” she said. “I know
that snake.”

“I don’t care. Get it off,” Sakura
whined and then squealed as it hissed and bore it’s fangs at her.

“Sakura if you don’t calm down,
you’ll scare it, and it’ll bite you,” Isis warned.

Sakura whined again. “I’m going to
die!”

“No you aren’t.”

Laqiya paused as she knelt in front
of Sakura, near the snake. The wind blew gently against the back of her neck, a
stray strand of hair getting in her face.

“Why hasn’t it bitten you?” she
asked.

“Laqiya!”
Sakura whined loudly and the snake reared back and showed its fangs again but
didn’t bite.

“See?” Laqiya asked. “It won’t
bite. I don’t think…”

Everyone detected the shift, and
Laqiya stood up shaking her head.

“The snake’s a warning,” she said
as it dawned on her, and she looked around. “We’re in a garden…”

The snake hissed once more and slithered
away.

“No wait,” Laqiya said about to
chase after it before yelping as she stumbled backwards when thorns from the
briar patch to the right of her shot at her side like missiles.

“What was that?” Isis asked.

“We’ve got to get out this garden,”
Laqiya said getting back up and pulling Sakura to her feet.

“Why?”

“It’s Delsaream,” Laqiya said, “And
we’re right in the middle of his—”

Adria screamed as a tree suddenly
struck where she had been standing. No one had anymore arguments at that point
and scrambled in various directions to get away from the offending plants.

“Stay together!” Nightshield
yelled.

“Too late for that,” Laqiya yelled.

Not that it mattered whether or not
they stayed together. Regardless, nowhere in the garden was safe. Everything from
the grass, to the vines and the roots of the trees were springing to life.

“Maybe if we sit still and don’t
move, it’ll stop,” Sakura suggested.

“You’ve been reading too many
fantasy books Sakura,” Adria yelled as she tried to at least press herself against
the wall of the castle.

“You have a better idea!” Sakura
yelled.

“Yes,” Laqiya said.
“Find Delsaream.
He’s doing this.”

“Easier said than done,”
Nightshield said as she and Plainshield joined Adria against the wall,
virtually useless against the plants.

“Wait a minute,” Laqiya said
noticing that she hadn’t heard a complaint from Chasity Pearl yet. She looked
up to see Chasity above the chaos in the sky, periodically shooting a plant or
thick branch with her arrows.

“Chasity!”
Laqiya yelled. “Can you find Delsaream from up there?”

“Already tried.
He has to be using some kind of camouflage!”

Laqiya started to say something
else before sensing something and shouting, “Chasity watch out.”

One of the briar patches
straightened up and shot thorns into the air, striking Chasity Pearl in her
wing. Now unable to stay airborne, she fell to the ground, letting out an
expletive as she crashed.

“Got anymore ideas?” Isis asked
trying to get out the patch of pansies attacking her feet.

Laqiya looked around the garden to
the castle and, to her luck, saw a balcony overlooking the garden. It was
pretty far but…

“Chasity!
The balcony!”
Laqiya yelled pointing to it.

“That doesn’t help you all.”

“I have an idea, but you have to
help them,” Laqiya said as she looked at the nearest tree.

She ran behind it, and sensing its
target in the other direction, it began trying to change the direction of its
attack.

“Earth!”
Laqiya said to stop the attack. It was certainly a struggle though. Not only
was she trying to keep a lock on her abilities, but fight against someone
else’s.

“Come on,” Laqiya muttered to
herself looking at the balcony, willing the branches of the tree to twist and
braid themselves together to form a bridge.

Delsaream, wherever he was, seemed
to figure out what Laqiya was doing and the assault began to focus on her.

“Laqiya,” Nightshield yelled.

“Hurry up!” Laqiya said cutting her
off. “I don’t know how long I can hold this!”

“Laqiya!”
Sakura yelled and then bravely made her way to where Laqiya was.

“Sakura no!”
Isis yelled.

“I can help her!”

Laqiya hissed as thorns from a
briar patch embedded themselves in her arm and braced
herself
for the tree branch that came that was coming her way. When she didn’t feel it,
she looked around and saw Sakura standing next to her holding up her hands, all
the attacks being deflected in random directions, away from Laqiya.

“Sakura…”

“Don’t worry! I’m fine!” Sakura
yelled.

Laqiya looked up even more
determined. “Hurry up!” she said to Nightshield, Plainshield, and Chasity Pearl
who were trying to help Isis and Adria safely across.

Once they were across, Laqiya
looked at Sakura.

“I can’t hold this for long. Go.”

“But what about
you?”
Sakura asked.

“Sakura!”

Sakura reluctantly began to crawl
up the tree and cross the bridge and then Laqiya followed, not sure how long
her focus would hold at this point. With that in mind, she snatched Sakura’s
hand and ran across the makeshift bridge, careful not to trip along the way.
Just as Delsaream began to gain control of the tree again, Laqiya and Sakura
climbed onto the balcony with Nightshield and Plainshield’s help.

“Duck!”
Laqiya yelled sensing the backlash coming from where Sakura had staved off the
attacked.

No sooner than they all fell to the
ground, a mixture of twigs, flowers, and rock shot over their heads and
shattered the glass doors behind them. Without saying a word, all of them made
their way into the castle through shattered door and then scrambled to their
feet, hearing the tree that had just been under Laqiya’s control rear back for
one last swing.

Not thinking about what might be on
the other side, Laqiya snatched the door open and everyone piled into the
hallway. Nightshield pulled the door closed behind them, just in time to hear
the tree crash into the bedroom, sharp branches poking through the wood doors
and stone walls.

When they were sure the attack
wouldn’t continue, they all relaxed, panting as the adrenaline rush in them
faded.

“Everyone okay?”
Plainshield asked first.

“No,” Isis said holding a passed
out Sakura.

“She’s fine,” Nightshield said
before anyone could begin to panic. “She really pushed herself back there.
She’s mentally spent. Don’t try to wake her up.”

“But we need to get moving,” Chasity
Pearl said, tone betraying that she was trying not to sound insensitive.

“I’ll carry her,” Plainshield said
picking the girl up. “We’ve got to get a move on. No telling what Sahajah has
waiting for us in this castle.”

Laqiya didn’t move as she leaned on
the wall, aware that Nightshield had turned to look at her.

“Let’s go.”

“Was it always like this?” she
asked.

“Like what?” Nightshield asked
kneeling next to her.

“It’s bad enough that I’m involved
in this mess, but does every else have to be?” Laqiya asked looking at her.
“Why do other people have to be involved?”

Nightshield smiled a little. “So
you won’t be lonely,” she said gently and held out her hand to help Laqiya up.

Laqiya only nodded and let
Nightshield help her stand.

“Where to?” she asked.

“It depends on what wing we’re in.
Looks like this
is
a living quarter or something,”
said Plainshield.

“She’s in the Northern tower,” Isis
suddenly said.

“How do you know?” Laqiya asked.

“I memorized her presence at the
museum. I can follow her presence,” Isis replied and pointed to her right. “We
need to go that way.”

“What side did we enter on though?”
Adria asked.

“The south side,” Laqiya replied.
“The ideal spot for gardens is on the south side. It’s the sunniest place in
the afternoon or whatever time it is here.”

“Do you know how long it’ll take to
cross to the other side of this place, that’s not counting if the Anaxars come,
and they know we’re here,” Nightshield said.

“Then I guess we have to move
quickly then,” Laqiya said as they started the way Isis had pointed for them.

Eventually, they came across a
staircase which took them down into a wide hall with many windows. Everyone
tensed, just waiting for something to come through them. Nothing did, and they
made it into what looked like a foyer with no trouble.

“That will lead us out,” Isis said
point to the left where two large double doors were. “We want to go that way.”

Everyone started in the direction
opening the doors on the other end of the greeting area, coming upon a
brilliant courtyard with flowers. Needless to say, they weren’t eager for a
repeat of what happened before, so they followed the stone path across the
yard, up some stairs and back into the castle arriving in a foyer that led into
three hallways with gothic structured windows.

“We need to go right,” Isis said.
“The stairs to the north tower are that way.”

Laqiya only nodded as they went to
their immediate right, and seeming to follow her lead, the whole group followed
in hushed silence. Their footsteps were the only noises as they moved with
tense caution through the halls, not eager to repeat the incident they had gone
through outside with the garden. The silence was painful, especially so because
anything could break it, including another surprise attack.

As they walked, the hallway began
to widen and the windows that let them see outside began to disappear.

“It seems like we’re heading into
some kind of dungeon,” Plainshield said as the hall continued to widen and
darken. “Odd.”

Laqiya took a flashlight out her
bag and flicked it on so they could see in front of them. It was nothing like
she had imagined; no cobwebs, no rats, and no dead roaches. It was beautiful.
If it weren’t for the fact that it was a dark mistress’ abode, she would have
felt right at home.