Chapter 225 Worst Nightmare
ETAN
They'd rushed out of the castle and into the gardens, Etan in the lead. But as they approached the south-eastern corner, it was as if the air around them became thick, like water. Etan pushed on, but soon couldn't move beyond a tortured, crawling stride.
"What—"
"The witch is here!" Quwan snarled from behind him. He drew forward and bade them all to take hands. "Focus on the Father of Lights—remember his power and his victory!"
Etan struggled to pull his mind away from Ayleth—where was she? What was going on? But as the men around him clenched hands and pushed forward together, he turned his mind to the Father, and to his hope—for himself and Ayleth, and for his people.
Don't let evil win, he prayed. Don't let us fall to this enemy.
Quwan muttered a prayer, and suddenly the pressure on them released, so quickly they all stumbled forward. They caught themselves, then began to run again.
Again, and again, they hit walls of power, moments where their flesh couldn't fight the power thrumming in the air, and each time, Quwan urged them to come together. To call on the Father's power and His strength. To remember that He worked for the good of others and for their hearts, not for the power to win.
Victory was already His.
And each time, the quagmire of power that swirled around them, tugging at Etan's hair and pinching his skin, would release, until they were finally nearing the edge of the garden, where a copse of trees overhung a walled garden that Etan had never paid attention to. These areas in the garden were little used and wilder, the gardeners clearly taking less time.
But Etan didn't have time to evaluate the work of the servants for the grounds, he could feel Ayleth, just on the other side of that wall. He called for her and she answered, but her voice was high and tense, and as he rushed forward, lokoing for the doorway through the wall, Borsche and Falek at his heels, it was Quwan who stepped forward and warned them with a barked, "STOP!"
All three of them slid to a halt as the once-wizard stared at nothing, his face twisted in distaste. "She twists the laws of nature to serve her power," he spat.
"What—?" Etan began, but Quwan picked up a broken branch that had been blown from on the trees from the ground and pushed it between the vines of Ivy on the wall
—only to see the vines twist and curl around it until it snapped clean through.
Etan stared, horrified.
But Quwan threw the piece of the branch he still held to the side, then turned to the three of them. "This is not a battle for flesh and blood. You cannot beat her with your fists."
Etan nodded, but Quwan gave him a warning look. "You must remember what holds us and empowers us—and who. The power is the Father of Lights. Only Light can overcome the darkness, not might. Do you understand?!"
Etan nodded and looked at Falek and Borsche, who both stared at him, their jaws tight and jutting forward with determination.
"Do not fall to the deception of her weakness of body, and do not be distracted by a physical foe—the enemy is not flesh and blood, it is the power that runs in her veins, and the veins of evil the world over. You will only destroy it by the Father's fist, not your own. Remember that!"
Etan nodded again. "How do we get through?"
"I will break the hold she has on the vines, but until she's taken and her power extinguished she may throw other attacks at us. Do not let yourself be distracted, and do not fall to your instincts to fight—let the Father fight for you!"
Then without another word, Quwan took a deep breath, muttered a prayer for love and strength, and stepped into the vines.
They twisted and coiled like snakes, wrapping themselves around him but he didn't wrestle or tug, even when they tightened on his neck. Eyes closed and head bowed, his lips continued to move, and as Etan watched in stunned disbelief, the vines began to shrivel, then desiccate... then they fell away from the former wizard and crumbled was rising, twisting like a warrior to leap to her feet and throwing a hand towards Ayleth.
to dust.
"What—?"
"Go!" Quwan called, and Etan ran, the others right at his back, shoving the door into the wall open, and running into find Ayleth standing in the shadow of a huge statue of the Goddess and an altar—when had such things existed in the castle grounds?!
But there was no time to wonder.
"Are you safe?! Ayleth! Are you harmed!" he called as they ran towards her.
"No, I'm fine. I just... she just took me by surprise—"
An eerie yowl sounded from the ground at Ayleth's feet, then suddenly her mother was rising, twisting like a warrior to leap to her feet and throwing a hand towards Ayleth.
"Ayleth, watch out!" he screamed, but he wasn't sure she heard. Ayleth was already in motion, twisting herself into a high kick to take out the arm that her mother extended.
Everything seemed to slow as his wife's perfect form caught her mother's hand and there was a sharp crack.
Etan winced, believing it had to be a bone—but when Ayleth brought her foot back to the ground, she stared at her mother whose eyes and mouth were both wide, gaping at her mother's hand. Etan couldn't see what was in it, or what Ayleth's kick had done, but Ayleth's face suddenly paled and her jaw dropped.
Then she clutched at her own throat, and her eyes went wider.
"Ayleth?" Etan breathed. "AYLETH!"
He rushed the final steps to her side just as Ayleth took a step forward, clawing hands toward her mother—who stepped back and let Ayleth drop to the grass.
Behind in Quwan hissed, "The power—she used the power!"
"NO!" Etan bellowed as his wife slumped to the ground, then gave a ear-rending scream of pain.
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