Riddle Of The Owl - YA Fantasy

Chapter Sixteen

Alleria knew that it would be pointless to struggle, and yet when the exorcist came near, she squirmed and bucked, pulling against the leather straps that held her limbs in place. The younger tan-skinned priest pushed down her head, pressing her ear and cheek against the cold stone tabletop. Johannes drew three marks on the side of her neck with a blunt pen.

"The demon possesses the vessel in three channels of occult energy that pass through the physical body," the exorcist explained in a dry, calm, scholarly tone. Alleria wondered if the explanation was for the Oracle's sake, or for the priests — or was it for her? "The energetic bonds run through the bloodstream. To successfully cut them, one must disturb the whole body's balance. The procedure's goal is to trigger the eventual emergence of the demon's grotesque form, but only when the body is sufficiently weakened and the bond between the vessel and the demon is almost entirely severed."

Johannes put away the pen and pulled out his small knife, the same one he had used on himself to perform the ritual that killed Cassel. "Does the knife have to be of a particular metal?" asked the old balding priest — so this lecture was for his sake.

"No, it simply must be a sharp knife and the cuts are to be done with precision. We want to avoid the Carotid artery over here. The demonic energy will not allow us to kill the host so easily. If I were to slit its throat, the demon-grotesque would instantly emerge as a defence mechanism, healing the body and we would be helpless against it. For that same reason, we must take particular care to apply pressure on the Jugular vein during the second and third cut to prevent the blood from flowing too quickly."

"What will we do once the demon-grotesque appears?"

Alleria stopped her struggling as she felt the cold metal of the blade against her skin.

"We do nothing. The whole point of the ritual is that by the time the demon appears, the bond between demon and vessel will be sufficiently weakened and it will be too late for the host to survive."

The blade broke her skin, there was a dull, piercing pain before it burned. Then she felt nothing more than her warm liquid blood course down her neck and pool at her chin and around the ear that was pressed to the stone.

There was complete silence, Alleria didn't dare to move.

Someone winced — one of the priests. The exorcist chuckled. "Not a fan of blood?"

"I can't say I like this done to young girls," said the young priest at Alleria's head. Why did that voice sound so familiar?

"Remember," the exorcist said, pressing down the knife to deliver the second cut, "it is no longer a girl."

Alleria began feeling dizzy, the room previously presented with the aid of adrenaline in such stark relief was slowly falling out of focus. Everything took on an airy dream-like quality. She could feel the effort of her heart as it pumped her diminishing blood to her brain, her lungs burned while she struggled to keep conscious.

"She's fading," Johannes gasped. He made a mistake. He acknowledged that Alleria was a person, and not a thing. The thought circulated in her mind, somehow in the warped logic that happened near death, this detail seemed like something that would help her survive. Johannes was convinced in his truth, but even that had limits.

"Is that a problem?" asked the older priest. His voice was coming from a distance. It echoed, echoed, echoed.

"It could bring about the demon too soon," the exorcist said. "Do you hear me, girl? Stay awake, we're almost finished."

She could feel her blood pooling, wet and sticky and hot. She couldn't control the growing darkness at the edge of her vision. Johannes pressed the blade to her skin to deliver the third cut.