Artemis and Caspian: The Awakening

Chapter Fifteen

Lady Azura sat there with a smug expression plastered across her face when she saw a vein pop out of Lord Cerberus's neck. He was once again pacing about in front of her cell, waving a torch frantically as he went.

"They should have surrendered by now!" he seethed furiously, slamming his fist into a nearby dirt wall. "What's keeping them?" Despite the gnawing dread about her sister's safety, Lady Azura couldn't hold back a chortle at the Lord's apparent temper tantrum and looked away. She knew her sister too well, Leia was planning something big, she could feel it. Lord Cerberus noticed Lady Azura's apparent amusement and grabbed her by the collar.

"Why haven't they come for you yet, why haven't they surrendered? Don't they value your life at all?" When Lady Azura refused to say anything and instead met his intense gaze with a defiant glare, Lord Cerberus abruptly let go, causing the Lady to tumble back onto the damp floor of the cell.

"The sun's about to set on the last day of the fortnight and not one Celestian has surrendered..." Lord Cerberus pondered wildly, squeezing his brow in frustration. He looked up for a moment and sneered at Lady Azura. "They should know better than to stage a mutiny against me. I could wipe their entire army out faster than they could pray for their lives."

Lady Azura just continued to stare at him, trying to keep her expression neutral. A forming bruise on her head was an all too fresh reminder of the last time she tried to get smug with him. Despite her best efforts, the Lord could still see the fire burning in her eyes and it threw him over the edge.

"That's it! I know a way to speed up the surrendering process a bit," he snarled throwing open the cage door and dragging Lady Azura out by the hair. The Lady tried to ignore the tiny pin like pains rippling through her scalp as she struggled to look him dead in the eyes.

"Well my Lady, let's see if your people really love you."

He motioned for his guards to start walking as he shoved the Lady in front of him.

"Let's have a little visit with my executioner and see if his ax will convince your cockroach people to climb out from under the rocks they've been hiding under."

Lady Azura bit her tongue to stop a string of curses threatening to spill from her lips and reluctantly did as she was told, sending a secret prayer to the gods for the sake of her people.

Lord Cerberus finally pushed Lady Azura up the stairs and into the light of the castle's entryway. The sudden burst of blinding light made the Lady recoil after spending so many days in nothing but pitch-black darkness. When her eyes came into focus again, she saw a large man with a black mask, an ax with spots of dried blood clutched in his fisted hand. As he loomed closer, she took a shaky breath in but didn't flinch. She wasn't going to let this man or any man scare her, that satisfaction was too good for them. She could have sworn the man raised an eyebrow in surprise under the heavy mask when he was met with her steady, icy glower. His surprise quickly turning into obedience, he took Lady Azura by the arm and led her to the other side of the main entrance, stopping at a large winding, wooden staircase. When the man gruffly began to lead her up, she pulled against him.

"I know the way," she growled. The man's grip softened a little. "This is my castle after all."

"Was your castle," the man corrected in an emotionless tone. His response was followed by the noise of heavy footsteps as the Lord and his men followed the Lady up the stairs.

The stairway gave way to a mahogany floored hall, with large windows peering out into the forest beyond. Sunlight streamed through them and Lady Azura peered out, scanning the horizon for any sign of Leia or her people. All she saw were branches of the great tree clattering against the glass windows. Catching her looking, the executioner forced her head down and Lady Azura let him, hope about any rescue mission dwindling in her disappointed thoughts.

Finally, the group stopped outside Lady Azura's room. The entrance to her room was guarded by a large door, a pattern of black metal ivy winding its way up the frame. The doors were made from the wood of the great tree itself with large iron handles. Ancient Celestia lore believed that any room guarded by a door made from the great tree could ward off any danger.

"Any danger but this one," Lady Azua thought sadly to herself as the soldiers began to kick down her door. The splitting sound it made broke Lady Azura's heart. It splintered further and further until it cracked, bursting open. What she saw inside broke her heart even more.

Blood was splattered everywhere. It streaked across the walls and littered the floor. Her once white sheets were now soaked, blood pooling into her mattress and dripping off her bed frame. On the walls, bloody handprints of innocent people made Lady Azura fracture inside. She could see the nails of victims clawing at the walls, desperately looking for an escape. What Lady Azura saw next destroyed her.

Piled to the side were the bodies of guards and servants she'd sent to find safety, decapitated, slumped in their final resting places. Her strong exterior wouldn't hold any longer and she let a solitary tear slide down her face as she wept an ocean inside her heart. She turned away from Lord Cerberus and his soldiers, she didn't want them to see her small moment of weakness.

The group crossed to the other side of the Lady's room and opened glass doors that led onto a wooden balcony looking over the vast forest below. Lady Azura was forced down to her knees. Lord Cerberus proudly placed his foot on her back and leaned down so his face was inches from hers.

"I told you I would defeat you, it's a shame you won't be around to see me sit on your throne." He gave her a small jab to her ribs and stood up giving a signal to the executioner to finish the job. The executioner made a show of her death, raising the ax high above his head so he could bring it down in one deadly swing. Lady Azura bowed low and squeezed her eyes shut, her heart pounding in her ears.

"I will be brave, I will be brave," she repeated, thoughts alight with memories. Leia's horrified face played itself over and over in her mind.

"Take care of my sister," she pleaded to the gods. She heard the ax ringing through the air. Taking a deep breath, Lady Azura waited to be greeted by darkness, but the darkness never came. Instead, she heard a shrill cry. The executioner collapsed with a heavy thud, an arrow pierced through his heart. Blinking her eyes in relief and surprise, she saw her sister, backed by a mass of Celestian soldiers, her bow still raised.

"Let my sister go!"