A Void Within the Door

Chapter 17

A lone shadow creature soldier was patrolling around the castle-like fortress, when Mannix grabbed him, and pinned the soldier to the wall, and held the tip of the magenta-flame sword to his chest. 

"Location of Princess Eleanor, now, and if you shout I'll cut you in two." Mannix demanded, through clenched teeth. 

"I'd rather die!" the shadow creature exclaimed, showing no sign of fear to the threat. 

"Then perish you shall, even if it's temporarily." Mannix coldly growled. 

_*_

(Grimhill is in his shadow creature form)

Grimhill circled Eleanor, who was sitting stiffly on a stool, her eyes blank of emotion, and her skin a sickly pale color. 

A grin was plastered on the Shadow creature's face, and he halted directly in front of Eleanor's blank face. His soldiers may have failed many times before but not this time. 

Grimhill lifted his pointer finger, and placed it in the middle of Eleanor's forehead; a black wave came from the touch, and his grin grew even wider. 

A moan of pain escaped from Eleanor's colorless lips, but it soon stopped abruptly., and her eyes were glazed over with a blanket of red light. 

"Now let's finish what I started." Grimhill said to himself, but his victorious thoughts were interrupted by a commotion out in the halls. 

The shadow creature turned around in time to see one of his soldiers go flying past the open dungeon door, and a certain plain-walker to appear in the door-way. 

Breathing heavily, and his sword tightly gripped in his hand, Mannix turned his head towards Grimhill, his eyes flaring with pure rage. 

"I see you made it through your trip down memory lane." the shadow creature smirked; at one point in time, Grimhill would have been scared of Mannix, but after  finding out his weakness, there wasn't a single drop of fear in him when he faced the plain-walker. 

"Yeah, no thanks to you," Mannix exclaimed, taking a few steps forward towards the Shadow Creatures' King. 

Grimhill thrusted a knife out from his cloak, and placed the tip of the blade on Eleanor's neck; the princess didn't even flinch. 

Mannix halted, and a scared look crossed his face, but the defiant expression wasn't scarce for to long. 

"You won't kill her. You need her to win this war." he pointed out, his knuckles white from gripping his hilt so tightly. Mannix may have sounded confident and defiant, but he was terrified that this King's threat would be fulfilled right in front of his. 

"I'm winning this war either way. Having the young Princess on our side will just make things quicker." Grimhill pushed the tip in deeper, and Mannix winced as a drop of trailed down Eleanor's pale skin. 

"Princess Eleanor is under my control, and cannot defend herself unless I allow it. Killing her would be so easy, just one, swift movement, and her life is no more." the shadow creature taunted, as he traced Eleanor's jaw line with the blade. Mannix could almost feel the cold, metallic knife himself. 

Knowing Grimhill would most likely make good on his threat, the conflicted Plain-walker un-ignited his sword, and put the hilt away. 

"Good choice," the shadow creature said, removing the knife from Eleanor's skin. 

Once the knife was away from Eleanor, Mannix lunged at Grimhill, pining him to the cobble-stone floor. 

"Release her from the spell, or I will tear you to shreds." he hissed, knowing he wouldn't be able to cure Eleanor on his own. 

Grimhill said nothing, but chuckled before snapping his thin fingers. Mannix raised his eyebrow in confusion, but then felt a sharp pain explode in the back of his head. 

He collapsed to the side, and his vision blurred. As he tried to re-collect his scattered sight, Mannix vaguely saw Eleanor standing over him, red light where her eyes should be. 

Grimhill stood up next to her, and grinned. "What part of "under my control" did you not get?" 

Eleanor lifted her foot, and brought it down towards Mannix's head, and that's the last thing, the plain-walker saw before the world went black. 

_*_

The  dungeon door opened, the sudden light blinding a chained-up, and gagged Mannix. 

Grimhill waltzed into the dark, stone room, and stopped in front of the Plain-walker. "Just wondering how my favorite prisoner is doing before I set off to Kririn's capital city." he exclaimed, with a smirk. 

Mannix's eyes snapped up, and widened with terror. He tried to teleport, but something in the chains were blocking his power; most likely magic. 

"Do not worry about your dear Princess Eleanor. She will continue to live, but no as Queen, but as my own personal weapon." Grimhill finished. 

Mannix tried to yell something defiantly, but was muffled by the dirty cloth gagging him. 

Grimhill smirked once more, enjoying the fact that this once mighty Plain-walker was now helpless, and powerless. He turned on his heel, and strolled out of the dungeon, the sound of muffled yells, and clanking chains sounding behind him. 

The metal door slammed shut, plunging the room into darkness. 

A/N: Wow, what a cliffhanger *evil laughter* What will happen to Eleanor and Mannix? Has Kririn been doomed from the beginning? Theories? Feedback is always appreciated!