A Beautiful Saviour

Chapter Nineteen

Joseph hastily caught at floating death, the trees and the boulders and so on. Jolting them to a stop with wide eyes he turned to looked at Elsa. Not only was she on the battle ground but she had pierced his shield.

“How?” No, why had she done that? How had she got passed his own shield? “Elsa, get back!” He cried to her. The weight was hard on his insides, it was his own veins and tendons and ligaments that held the magic within him and those fine fibres inside his body held such a burden. A mountain of all things! “Elsa, get back.”

“Don’t do this, Joseph come back to me, please.”

                Was this a mirage? Was he back in the desert and so thirsty he was seeing things again? Her very hair seemed to be golden, like the sand before the blood fell. Her face was so… so smooth and beautiful he felt as if he was looking a precious stone; smoothed down to perfection. Her dress was fluttering in a light breeze that he was sure was due to the magic that swirled around the clearing.

                But that was when he understood that he was not dreaming, this was no delusion brought on by a craving of sustenance, though he dearly needed some blood right at that moment. She was wearing a wedding dress and the lace that clung to the top of her body was delicious. Her pale skin underneath it was teasing him, even in the heat of battle he found her glorious to look at. But she wasn’t his, she was a married woman now, bound by human law and he couldn’t have her. He would not let her die though.

“Go back Elsa. Go back to your husband and have a happy life. Do not remember me. Go back.”

“I left him! I didn’t marry. Lilly came for me. Please don’t do this.”

“I have to. The King will do terrible things; even if he doesn’t win the war he’ll create a terrible age to come and I can’t let my kin go through what I did. I can’t do it Elsa.”

“But now you know I am not taken you don’t have to kill yourself, come to me, live!”

“I can’t do that. I am tainted Elsa. And it’s too late anyway, I cannot control these natural weapons I hold above my head unless I am outside the shield. They are heavy and even I have limitations; I can’t slip inside the shield and hold them at the same time. One has to give.”

“Then I’ll die with you!”

His heart broke.

“No! Never!” He wouldn’t be the cause of her death.

“Please Joseph, come to me.”

                He couldn’t belief the words she was saying, she had refused to come to him when he needed her and now everything was planned out, she was here. She was hurting him by making him see everything he had longed for with a craving so bad he had done terrible things when he knew it would never be sated. And now he had gone too far, he could have it all but his actions had already denied it.

                She stood watching him while her lungs gave out. Why had she not gone to him sooner. She was frozen to the spot, watching as he was giving himself up for this cause. She was losing him just as she had made him believe he had lost her. She deserved to see him die, she deserved that heartache but she didn’t want it! “Joseph.” She tried again, how foolish she had been. How ignorant she was of the atrocities of the world that she thought her father’s disapproval the harshest reality she could live through. Never before had she thought herself selfish but at that moment she did. She felt as if she was blame for his hasty action.

                The wedding dress felt dirty to her, it made her skin crawl to think it was designed for someone other than the man to whom she was a real Bride to. She hated the style of it, the thick skirt and tight bodice that screamed of the society she came from and the human restraints to which she had blindly conceded to. It rang out loud and clear her blinkered awareness of life. She had never considered another species of creature, let alone wars between them. She had never thought Joseph a man of so many emotions he struggled to contain them. And she paid dearly now for her childish view on life as she watched him shake with the strain of holding back his death… for her. So she could have her selfish last request.

“Please Joseph. Please.”

“I can’t. It’s too late.” Denying her what she pleaded with him for was heart shattering. To turn away from everything he wanted, to finish what he was doing was tearing up his insides more painfully than the king’s smoky claws. So he appealed to the only people he knew could do what he couldn’t.                 As his Bride, his shield was open and closed to her at her will. He refused to kill her with himself so he looked to Perttu, his… his brother. And he looked at Niklas and the enchantress and then at Jaol. Combined they could create a shield for her as thick as his and it would cage her and protect her without her being able to resist.

“My brothers and sisters.” He appealed to them. “Please, do this for I cannot.”

                They nodded and he watched as Elsa screamed in denial and agony. Now it was her turn to feel the rejection of a mate. Shields wrapped around her, bound her tightly and pulled her in towards Lily who held her dearly and tightly and rocked her weeping body. “I’m sorry Elsa.” Lily whispered, tears in her own eyes.

Joseph he looked back at the king who was dearly trying to erect a shield for himself. “Your shield will be too weak against a mountain; you’ll tire quickly when the weight collapses on you as mine would as well.”

“I am strong!” He cried. “I can beat you. I am strong. I am strong.”

                Like a mantra the king repeated the words again and again as the mountain fell from the sky, and the trees plummeted down. He repeated it over and over and over as he saw the water flood downwards and the heavy stones and rocks hit at his flimsy shield. The king held on for a little minute, he held at bay his own death… for a few minutes anyway….