Page 108 of Poisoned Empire

“Sorry. I got a bit carried away, knowing you were watching.”

“No wonder everyone gives you a wide berth,” she said half in admiration, half in shock. She shook herself from her astonishment at the swift and uncompromising violence. “Alright, I’m less worried now. Let’s get Selene.”

Marduk smiled, a touch wild, and nodded.

“Stay behind me.”

They descended into the dungeons, abandoning the warmth and light of summer for cold darkness broken up by flickering sconces. As they reached the bottom, the voices of others echoed in the darkness. Marduk chanced a quick peek at the speakers.

“She squealed like a sow! Ha!” Miroslav crowed.

“Best get her cleaned up for when His Majesty returns,” the shadow mage said.

“I don’t need a damned shadow mage son of a whore to tell me what to do! The only one who needs a new robe is sitting right here. I’m the one with poison bitch blood on me,” Miroslav said.

“I meant no offense, Your Grace,” the shadow mage said.

“Pour me another glass, Kosta.”

“Yes, Father.”

Iliana saw red. She turned her necklace into a short sword enchanted to cut through anything with ease. She was going to gut the magister and bathe herself in his noble blood. She was going to make a necklace of his bones. She would drink out of a goblet made from his skull. Marduk held her back.

“He. Hurt. Selene,” Iliana raged.

“Let me go first. With two shadow mages and a teleportation mage, three of the four can disappear in an instant. We need them to focus on me so that they don’t take her somewhere else. Kosta is a teleportation mage, so we need to fight back-to-back,” Marduk said.

Iliana nodded. Just as they were about to sneak closer, the boom of a heavy door blasting open heralded a battle cry of vicious shrieks. Selene, bound in chains, was launched bodily from inside the cell, her shackled hands outstretched to take hold of the magister. Iliana and Marduk rushed in, their weapons at the ready. When Selene landed on the magister, they tumbled onto the rough stone floor. He kicked her off and vanished from sight. The dominae Emerald, Opal and Topaz emerged from the cell with Topaz in the lead.

“Diamond got away!” Selene called back. “Get the shadow bastards!”

“My pleasure.” Topaz grinned before her entire body transformed into a flickering, inky blackness.

The shadow mages swore and tried to melt into the darkness. Marduk dashed in the brains of one before he’d fully disappeared. As if cut in half, only the top-most portion of his body remained, leaking gore. The other half had disappeared into the void. Topaz’s form leapt at the other shadow mage, grabbing him with smoky talons before diving into a shadow as if it were a deep pool.

Iliana rushed to Selene. Her back was coated in blood, her clothes ripped to shreds.

“Iliana?” Selene asked.

“Hold on. I’ll get you free,” she said.

No normal metal could withstand more than a few enchantments without becoming as brittle as a dry twig. Mind buzzing, she shoved as many enchantments as she could into the chains. When Selene grabbed her in a hug, the chains dissolved into powder.

“We have to stop Mercurius,” Selene asserted as she pushed back from their embrace.

“You’re too hurt!”

“Help!” Zoe called out.

Iliana whipped her head in Emerald’s direction. Zoe stubbornly clutched onto Charis as the teleportation mage tried to rip her from the woman’s arms. Marduk charged forward, his mace at the ready. Seeing the beast mage bearing down on him, Kosta released Charis and teleported away. The two dominae collapsed into a heap.

Iliana’s nerves were frayed, but she sensed a blade approaching. Eyes darting frantically, she gripped her own blade in hand. She couldn’t see it even as she sensed it.

“Iliana, what-”

Iliana heard the whistling of the blade she sensed cutting through the air. She shoved Selene down and raised her own blade up in defence, but too late. Blood spurted from where her wrist once was. Her scream of agony echoed in the gloom.

Selene’s heart hollowed out as the gory stump that had once been Iliana’s hand spurted blood. Her tortured shriek propelled Selene into action. She reached out to grab the mangled limb below the wound, grasping it as tightly as she could while she pumped the area full of anaesthetic and a powerful sedative. At the same time, Marduk swung his mace at the space behind them. The satisfying sound of bone crunching accompanied the echoes of her friend’s tortured cry. The magister reappeared as he fell, mangled. Iliana slumped over.

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