Blood of Decusia

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty

"Shit!" I exclaimed "We have to go."
"What?" Sage muttered, "Clove, what was that?"
Instead of answering, I pushed the cell door.
"Clove," he said, a little more harshly.
"Lupidium," I sighed, turning to him, "Two Lupidium warriors and now we have to help them."
His good eye widened, in fear, surprise, or a mix of the two.
"No-," he murmured, taking a step back "No, no."
I didn't have time for this, Warner or Marcus or both were in trouble.
"He came for me, Sage," I said.
Sage froze, turning slowly to me.
"They murdered the only family I had left," my voice catching at the words, thinking of Mina, Una as she was really known.
"They took me," I continued, "but the Lupidium saved me. Even when they figured out who I was, they still saved me."
I could see the pain on his face.
"They haven't forgotten, Sage," I took a deep breath, "but they agreed to help."
"They wanted you to retrieve me," he murmured.
I didn't answer. That was all the confirmation he needed.
"I deserve it," he sighed, "So many people died because of me. Because I wanted revenge."
"You were angry," I soothed, "Hurt. Adolphus understands that."
His head whipped back toward me.
"You spoke to Adolphus?"
"Yeah," I gave a soft smile, "He showed me a picture of Dad. He told me about him, about you. He cares about you."
Sage hung his head and I could see his eye was shining with tears he was trying to hold back.
"I'm sorry," he muttered, "None of this was supposed to happen."
"Make it right," I said, "Help me save them."
    There was still wariness on his face, but he nodded fiercely and we stepped out of the cell.
    "There are stairs at the end of the hall that lead to the throne room," Sage said, hissing slightly from the pain, "I'm sure your friends are there."
    He didn't say it, but I knew that was where Dominus was too. We started climbing the stairs, Sage wincing at every step. I knew we needed to remain focused but, the question that had been burning in my brain since the moment I knew my brother was still alive rattled through my head.
"Why didn't you come back for me?" I murmured, "Why did you leave me?"
Sage froze, turning to me.
"I thought you were dead," I continued, my voice breaking, "They told me you were dead. But you weren't. You survived, but you left me. You knew about me, about this world and the dangers, but you chose to leave me."
A look of pain and shame crossed Sage's beaten features. There was a small pause, as if he was thinking carefully about his next words.
"The night that they-," he hesitated, "The night of the fire, Mom and Dad got into a huge fight. About you."
I remembered my vision. The necklace, my necklace, lying on the table between them. Sage and my dad against Mom.
"Dad didn't know that Mom had taken the necklace with her when they had fled," he continued, "She felt something, she said. It felt like a piece of her had broken, she explained. Later, I realized her people had been slaughtered,  but at the time Dad and I thought that the magic was corrupting her, trying to get her to return."
"So you knew?" I interrupted, "You knew about this world? About the stones?"
    He sighed.
"Not as much as I know now," he explained, "Mom and Dad told me about a year or so before that night. Both of them knew that it was a matter of time before something happened. They knew the power that the children of a Fauna and Lupidium would possess. They wanted me to be ready."
"But Mom wanted me to know that night," I said, "That's why you guys were fighting."
"Dad and I thought you were too young," he said, "We stupidly thought that there was more time and that you deserved to be a kid as long as possible. Because, Clove, the minute I found out about this place, everything, it changed me. I never felt safe, I always felt like something was watching me, waiting for me to let my guard down."
He paused, preparing himself for this next part.
"Obviously Dad and I won and you went to that sleepover. When Mom returned, the necklace was gone and the fight continued. It got so bad that I left, told them I was going to a friend's house to let off some steam. Instead, I went for a run. I was gone for 20 minutes. That was it."
His voice cracked.
"When I came back, the house was engulfed in flames. It must've happened right after I left because the fire department was already there. I knew immediately that Mom and Dad were trapped inside. I realized that it was probably magic, because it took twice as long for them to put out the fire and that was the only logical explanation for why they couldn't escape."
I could feel the lump in my throat, but instead focused on climbing the seemingly endless mountain of stairs.
"I ran," he said, "Before anyone could see me. I had reached the forest when I noticed it. One of the trees that was a couple feet in was shimmering. At first, I thought the smoke inhalation from the house was causing me to hallucinate. But then, I touched it. It was like putting my hand into a pool, my hand went right through. Whoever had set that fire had come through there and it hadn't faded yet."
He took a deep breath.
"I thought about going back for you," he said, "I really did. But I knew that this was my one chance to avenge Mom and Dad. I didn't know if the portal would still be open by the time I got you and came back. Also, this was your chance for a normal life. Away from the danger, away from everything.
So I went through. I was on my own for a while, running from Dominus, who realized who I was immediately. I finally found Lupidium, but I didn't know their feelings about Dad, so I hid my identity. Not that that mattered in the end. So again, I ran. I ran until I couldn't run anymore."
My heart ached, thinking about him all alone.
"The whole time I thought I was keeping you safe, I thought that if I kept running that he would be so preoccupied with me that he wouldn't figure out that you existed. I never thought that I would be the one that revealed you to him."
"That wasn't your decision to make," I said, quietly, "I didn't have a normal life, Sage. My parents were dead, I thought you were dead. I was the girl with the dead family. I would've given anything to see you, talk to any of you. All this time, you let me think that you were dead. But it was worse than that, you abandoned me. I had a right to know about this, all of this."
    "You're right," he said, hanging his head, "You deserved to know. I can't do anything to change the past. What I can do is spend the rest of my life trying to make it up to you, to get to know this grown-up you."
I didn't get the chance to try and think of a response, because we had finally reached the top of the steps. There was a large wooden door in front of us. Sage and I exchanged a look and pushed on it, and just as easily as the cell doors, it swung open.
This was nothing like the castle of Majestas. We had stepped into what seemed like a large lit cave. Torches hung on the wall, casting scary looking shadows across the dark, rocky walls. No paintings or anything hung from them, like in Majestas.
"The throne room is this way," Sage muttered, gesturing to the right.
I nodded slightly and started down the hall. I couldn't escape the feeling that something was hiding in the shadows, in the cracks of the rocks, waiting to slither out and attack. We made it a couple hundred feet before I noticed two shadow figures against the wall, one sitting, slumped against the wall, while the other was kneeling beside him.
I could feel Sage freeze next to me. I took a tentative step forward, squinting to try and make out the shapes. The one kneeling must've heard us, because they whirled around, and jumped up. It was Marcus.
"Oh my god," he breathed, running over to me.
He enveloped me into a hug, holding me tightly like he was clinging to a life raft. After a moment, he released and shifted his gaze, now hard to my brother. I could see my brother shift uncomfortably.
"Sage, this is Marcus," I said, gently, "He helped me get here. Marcus, this is my brother."
"I know," he said, coldly, "We've met."
I inwardly cringed. Sage was the reason that Marcus's father was dead. Sage, to his credit, did not shy away from Marcus's glare, but he looked obviously uncomfortable.
"Don't mind me," a weak voice interrupted, "I'm just bleeding out over here."
Marcus cursed under his breath and turned back to the other figure sitting on the ground.
"Warner?" I asked.
What I could in response was a weak groan. I quickly ran to his side and audibly gasped. His face looked very similar to my brothers. A gash on his forehead was gushing blood, one of his eyes was already turning black and blue, his lip split. But that wasn't what made me gasp. Warner was holding a piece of fabric to his side and even through the dim light I could see it was stained red.
"Oh my god," I muttered, "What happened?"
Warner pointed a weak finger to something that I hadn't noticed before. I couldn't see it's face, but I knew it was an Ostium. It's wings were shredded and pointed at odd angles, a pool of blood underneath was growing.
"It didn't lick me," he groaned, "But that thing has some sharp claws."
"It's clean, but deep," Marcus said.
"You need to get him out of here," I said, "He needs help."
"No," Marcus said, "We can't leave you."
Warner grimly nodded his agreement, wincing.
    "You won't be able to help me if you're dead."
    Marcus opened his mouth to say something, but I grabbed his hand. I looked between him and Warner, remembering the promise to myself that they would return home.
    "I have to do this," I said, turning back to Marcus, "And you need to save your friend."
Marcus looked back between me and Warner, whose face was now even paler and was fighting to keep his eyes open. He then reached to his side and handed something to Sage, his face grim. The dagger. He looked up and met my gaze.
Before I could say anything, Marcus grabbed my face in his hands and kissed me. Kissed me harder than he did on the mountain. The warmth from before was miniscule compared to the fire that was burning my whole body from the inside out. It felt like we were the only two people in the world. I never wanted this feeling to end.
When we broke apart, it was all I could to not go back for me. The space between us was electric.
"Well then," Warned coughed.
"Be safe," Marcus murmured, dropping his hands from my face.
I looked over at Sage, who was now standing, examining the dagger. I turned back to Marcus, memorizing his face. I gave Warner a quick kiss on the cheek and stood up to face my brother.
"Are you ready?" I asked.
His expression was iron-hard. He didn't respond, only a quick nod. I turned back to face my friends. Marcus was helping Warner to his feet, one hand applying pressure to his side. They met my gaze and I was immediately filled with gratitude as I thought of everything that they've done for me and what we've been through. I would not only fight for me, but for them.
I turned back to my brother and now he was facing the hall. I followed his gaze all the way to the massive iron door that waited for us. I felt my brother grab my hand and squeeze. Before we could take a step forward, the doors swung open with a loud creak.
"I've been wondering when you were going to show up."