Fall of the Spectrum

Chapter Eleven, Part One

As soon as she landed on the other side of the fence, Gwen took off running. She followed the call of the artifact deeper into the garden, the diamond-encased phoenix feather thumping steadily against her chest with every step. Even with Phenex, Forneus, and the horde of monsters under her control covering her escape, there were still many who could slip past and attack her at any moment. So she kept running, ignoring the sharp-edged leaves and branches tearing at her cheeks, the rest of her body fortunately still protected by the ethereal armour.

It was only when she could no longer see the Laburnum Arch's path that she realized she was completely alone. Unfortunately, this did nothing to ease her suspicions. However powerful Phenex and Forneus were, she knew they couldn't hold off Reeves' forces indefinitely. Who knew how long before the persuasion wore off on the other monsters?

The sounds of battle were faint behind her, but she could distinctly hear the whoomph! of fire igniting, the bellow of monsters as they were struck down by Forneus's sword, the ring of steel echoing between the Laburnum trees. Though the thought of being followed still filled her with unease, Gwen decided to keep moving, knowing that the sooner she located the artifact—the Cauldron of Cerridwen, as Forneus had told her—the sooner the three of them could get out of there.

As she pushed past one exotic plant after another, she thought to herself that under different circumstances, she might have enjoyed the luxuriant garden; might have even stopped to wonder what each of the brilliant coloured blooms were and if they could be planted back home. Now was not the time for sightseeing, though. Not when she knew the artifact was within easy reach.

She had just spotted it, the cauldron glowing faintly from a tangle of thorny branches of a nearby bush, when the back of her neck prickled warningly.

Looks like I'm not as alone as I thought. She turned in time to see a shadowy figure rise up from the ground several feet away, twisting and writhing as it took physical form.

Reeves. From the grin that lit his face, it was clear he had seen the cauldron too, his gaze flitting toward the bush and back to Gwen.

"My, my. Seems you're quite the gifted little tracker after all." Before she could react, he was right in front of her, his hand closing around her throat in spite of the fact that he couldn't hurt her with the armour in the way. "No wonder they want to keep you all for themselves."

Gwen experienced a thrill of fear at his closeness, then remembering what the armour could do, concentrated. There was a flash of brilliant green light, and Reeves released her, recoiling with a hiss of pain. Vapour curled up from his gloved hand, the leather—or at least it looked like leather—veined with pulsating green and blue light.

"What did you just do to me?" he growled, advancing toward her once again.

Seeing the warning flicker in his eyes, Gwen dove toward the bush, reaching for the cauldron as she hit the ground. Reeves lunged forward at the same time, and with the help of one of the shadowy tendrils coiling from his shoulders, snatched the cauldron right out from under her.

"Give it back!" Gwen demanded. She didn't know why she even bothered. There was no chance of him actually returning it to her and yet the words came out, regardless.

"Well, aren't you bold," Reeves chuckled, smirking down at her with the cauldron in hand. "To think, a human daring to make demands of a demon. I guess being the tenth seal has gone to your head, eh chickadee?"

"What are you talking about?" Gwen began, slowly getting to her feet. "I'm not—"

"Gwen!" At the sound of Forneus's voice, she turned in time to see one of Phenex's fireballs whizz past, Reeves avoiding it just barely as he disappeared from sight.