לִילִית: Lilith's Story

Chapter Ten

Ambrose picked up Zelda and carried her into the basement where he placed her on the examination table and gingerly touched her broken ankle. The redhead yelped and dropped her head back onto the metal table, closing her eyes with a painful grimace. Ambrose held his hands over Zelda's ankle, muttering a spell under his breath then reached down to grasp the bone and with one sharp movement, he forced it back into place. Zelda gasped from the pain and flung her arm away from her body, reaching out with fingers splayed. She opened her eyes in surprise when she felt Lilith's hand grasping hers.

"It was you, wasn't it?" Lilith sounded awed as she held fast to Zelda's hand.

Frowning, the pain disorienting her, Zelda glanced down at Ambrose as he taped up her ankle, distracted; "What was me?"

Lilith gently moved Ambrose aside as he finished tapping Zelda's ankle, she reached down with her free hand and covered the ankle. Ambrose had fixed the bone but the muscles and tendons were still irritated and inflamed, it would take a couple of days to heal fully because it had been broken beyond what a mortal doctor could have repaired. Lilith closed her eyes and Zelda felt the dark haired witch's palm grow warm, emitting a soothing heat into her body and suddenly her pain was gone.

"It was you - the voice in the Seventh Circle that told me not to give up." Lilith moved from Zelda's ankle, still holding her hand. "You grabbed my hand and you told me I wasn't alone."

The High Priestess went to sit up and Lilith pulled gently to help her. Lilith reached out and traced the bruises along the redhead's cheek and temple with a soft frown. Her fingertips floated over the bruises along her collarbone and moved to look at the deep scratches that had landed on flesh. Zelda shifted uncomfortably, trying to pull the cloak around her bare flesh. The longer Lilith looked at the High Priestess, the more damage she saw; when her eyes met Zelda's, there were tears shimmering in them. Feeling like he was witnessing something more intimate than he should be privy to, Ambrose quietly moved back up the stairs and left the witches alone.

The witch had travelled back in Time and it had cost her her life, Lilith needed to understand why, "What were you doing there Zelda?"

Zelda cocked her head to the side, wincing a bit as the movement reminded her that there were bruises on her body that weren't visible to the naked eye. She squeezed Lilith's hand and reached up with her free one to brush dirty strands of black hair out of her eyes; "I needed to know more of your story." Her hand moved to cup Lilith's face, her thumb brushing dirt from her cheek; "I need to know if I could trust you."

Lilith felt her heart thumping against her chest at Zelda's touch and she held her breath, "So what did you decide?"

Zelda's hand fell from Lilith's face and she covered their clasped hands with it, pulling their pile of hands to her heart tenderly and in that motion, pulling Lilith closer; "I decided that I still don't know if I can trust you..." Lilith looked down, releasing the breath she was holding in a deep sigh, as Zelda continued, "...but I do know that no one deserves what you have faced at the hands of the Dark Lord. I know that you have been held against your will, toyed with, and abused for millennia."

When Zelda reached up to grasp Lilith's chin, forcing the Dawn of Doom to look at her, she was surprised to see tears on Lilith's cheeks, "...and I know that what I saw you endure in the Circles of Hell will haunt me until the day I die. I hate that he did that to you." She gently wiped the tears from Lilith's cheeks, her gaze soft and tender. "I don't know if I can trust you to keep me safe, Mother of Demons, but I do know you can trust me and I am willing to put myself in danger to keep you safe."

Lilith's heart burst as she dared believe what Zelda Spellman said, the weight of her emotions driving her to her knees. Her hands fell to Zelda's waist and she wrapped her arms around the redheaded witch, head falling into her lap as she released a millennia of emotions and began to sob uncontrollably.

Zelda's hands fell gently into Lilith's hair, petting the witch as she sobbed, her own tears falling in solidarity, and she murmured quietly; "You, my Queen, have suffered enough."