Until Forever (1st draft)

Part the Thirty-First

Geneva had no idea what awaited beyond the doorway above because she was immediately plunged into darkness after scaling the ladder. Brilliant flashes of lightning appeared through small circular windows, but that only provided teasing glimpses of a drafty room until Kraw brought up a torch from the stairwell to light the lanterns within. The long dormant tallow sizzled and spat before finally coming to life and illuminating an overwhelmingly cluttered, one-room structure. Though there did appear to be some semblance of order, the sanctum was overflowing with contents. There was no empty space whatsoever. A continuing series of desks, tables, bookshelves, and a small piano encircled the large room end-to-end, interrupted only by a pair of windowless doors that shook and rattled with each rumble of thunder.  Every desktop, table, and shelf was covered in multicolored glass jars, corked decanters, carved wooden boxes, thick tomes, and strange objects impossible to describe. There were also numerous stuffed and mounted displays of what Geneva guessed to be imaginary creatures—yet they looked so lifelike. Cobwebs were the prominent décor, and the entire sanctum was covered in thick dust. Clearly the wizard had been absent for some time.

"Give me the Starheart," Kraw said abruptly as he walked toward her with an outstretched hand, his command punctuated by wall-shaking thunder. The monster looming before her was mesmerizing in his repulsiveness, yet somehow she could still envision his previous form: the kind and handsome man who had stolen her heart. How could something so vile and hideous be cloaked within something so completely beautiful? How could something seem so tender and vulnerable inside, but in reality be encased in a shell of impermeable evil?

And then something occurred to Geneva.

Wait a minute...

"The Starheart," Kraw repeated as he came closer, leaning Steekbunk's horn on the floor against an overstocked bookshelf. There was an added edge to his crackly voice now. The finality of the situation was near and he was anxious for the triumphant resolution. But Geneva's mind, still spinning with fear, was pondering a wild idea. She was clinging to something that was now stuck in her mind, a hot spark seeking kindling to fuel its development.

An impermeable shell...but vulnerable inside.

Perhaps the outer flesh of Kraw the Fallen was invulnerable, but what about his internal organs?

Geneva's desperate scheming was forgotten in an instant as Kraw cocked a fist and roared at her. "Give it to me now!" There was no more time to plan, only to act! She snatched up the horn and raced to the rattling doors, smashing them both open with one swipe of the makeshift weapon. The doors practically disintegrated, allowing the storm to burst through like an explosion. Who knows how long the howling winds and driving rain had assailed the magical barriers of the wizard's sanctum, but they unleashed their pent-up frustration in a raging gust that separated Geneva from the horn and threw her back into the room.

Her instantly soaked body slid across the wooden floorboards and became plastered in a whirlwind of blowing papers until a vice-like grip seized her wrist, bringing her to an abrupt stop and causing her to gasp in pain. She grabbed a leg of the nearby piano with her free hand but the hold on her wrist was too tight, the force behind it too strong, and she was yanked away from the piano into a jarring collision with Kraw's rigid chest. His grip constricted as if powered by hydraulics, forcing her veins to bulge and her fingers to turn blue, then he grabbed a handful of Geneva's hair and wrenched her head back at an unnatural angle. Something popped in the back of her neck, sending a sharp burning sensation down into her shoulders.

Kraw leaned in close to her to growl a warning. Hot, sour breath that had once enticed her with its hypnotic honey flavor now triggered a gag reflex and caused her to choke because her throat was twisted at such an angle. Thunder boomed so close it rattled her bones.