Inever took notice of how much time Silas spent in his dungeon spell room. Part of the reason is due to how busy he kept me with training his soldiers, but the biggest reason is because I was so blinded to his evil ways. It’s amazing how much I had brushed off and ignored because I thought he took me in when my parents died and he was the only family I had left. Now, realizing the truth, it guts me.
Since he had us attack the castle, the troops we have left are diminished to just a handful of soldiers, and most of them are severely injured. Silas has no idea why our numbers instantly disappeared overnight from the count he last remembers. He has no recollection of the attack he had us charge against the Queen’s castle. With no explanation to give him, Silas has decided his men all turned into deserters and left in the dead of night.
Now with no men for me to train, my days are freed up. I spend the majority of them in the library researching the use of magic, spell theory, obscure ingredients and such is how I dedicate my time. I work on learning everything and anything that can lead me to an answer of how to help my love, systematically working my way through each book possessing a possibility to hold an answer able to aid my cause, taking the current book I’m reading everywhere I go.
This is what led me to realizing how much time Silas spends in the dungeon. I’m sure the most knowledge-packed books will be held in his room, and he’ll be suspicious if he knows I have any curiosity toward them. I’ve taken up stalking his habits to learn when the room will be free for me to sneak the books in or out right from under his nose.
It’s taken me months to work through everything which could be of use, and the fruits of my labors resulted in a plethora of knowledge and control in my use of magic, but no advancements toward my goal. Cecily is still entombed within the sleeping state she was in after the worst night of my life.
Swiping my arm along the desk containing books, parchments of notes, ink and quills, I send it all crashing to the floor. Ink splatters all over the place, spreading out in a dark puddle. I can’t stop staring at it; it mirrors the puddle that spread out from the wound I caused on my darling. I’m haunted by my actions, never able to spend more than a few moments not thinking about it.Honestly, I deserve the imprisonment my thoughts keep me in, and so much more.
I’m left with no idea what to do in order to wake up Cecily, but I’m not helpless in performing my secondary goal, protecting our people from Silas. All the time he spends in the dungeon tells me he hasn’t stopped his scheming ways.
Swiftly, I make my way down to the room my mind pictures anytime my eyes close. It’s forever emblazoned on my memory, never able to escape... maybe when she finally wakes up, I can replace the image. Forming a sphere of light over my palm, I make my way down the spiral staircase leading to the dungeon.
Dousing the light before I reach the closed door of his spell room, I force my way into his personal area. Kicking the door open with my foot, it bangs against the stone wall before coming back toward me. I didn’t intend to putthatmuch force in opening the door. Oh well. Silas glances up, startled from his peace being disturbed.
“Silas, I’ve been loyal, dedicated to whatever task you give me, and now it’s time for you to let me in on your plans. The only way I can help you further is if I know what’s going on. Enough is enough, you’ve been training me my whole life for something, and it’s time to choose to either trust me or not.” My speech is met with a serious face, full of thought.
He purses his lips, while narrowing his eyes on me, trying to determine if I’ve proved my worth to him. Ever since the moment he wasn’t able to force my mark to the surface, he’s been pushing me away more and more. “You’re right. I should train you to be of more service to me and my cause. Forcing me to see this is a good start, nephew. No time like the present to begin learning. You’ve been rather lazy as of late since the deserters left you with no one to train.”
This is something else I never realized until Cecily helped to reveal the false curtain over my eyes. Silas uses every opportunity to belittle me. Trying to manipulate me into proving myself to him more and more, so he can convince me to do anything he wants me to. Just another thing on the list of what I’m thankful to her for. Silas beckons for me to come closer and I jump to comply right away. Time to make sure he believes I’m completely devoted to him.
Without wasting any time, Silas gets to work trying to further his plans by bringing me into the fold. “Those of us who’ve had our magic stolen by the Royals are forced to become resourceful in how we gain access to that lost magic. Now, due to my extensive research, you’ll be able to benefit from what I’ve learned. I’ve spent decades figuring it out, thousands of failed experiments.
“Finally, I stumbled on the answer quite by accident. I was tasked with gaining information from a villager who thought to escape with information when you were a child. An unfortunate side effect of the task caused some of the individual’s blood to splash into my mouth. Quite a dissatisfactory experience, but I was able to immediately detect the magic their blood contained entering my system, and I used it for myself. It had another benefit to it, but you don’t need to be concerned over that.”
An overwhelming need to swallow down the bile working its way up my throat fills me. There’s been so many instances where Silas has stated the spell has needed my blood to work. Now I know he was really drinking it so he would be able to harness my magic as his own. It takes all of my concentration to make sure the thoughts filling me aren’t projected on my face.
Silas continues with his descriptions of learning how to harness the magic once lost to him. “I’ve created a sanctuary here for those who’ve lost their magic, so it was difficult at first to figure out how to get a constant supply of the miracle I found. There are always those who want to stop our cause though, and the worst of those make the perfect contribution.
“There’s actually someone who’s being brought in today who’s going to contribute to the cause. You really chose the perfect day to show your devotion to your family and the cause we’re working toward. Freedom of all magic and retribution against all those who choose to repress us is the best option for you to dedicate your time and energy into. Keep this up and you’ll make me proud.” To think I used to work toward gaining those words each and every day, my old self sickens me to the core.
He goes on to tell me all about waiting for the royal heir to find her mate and to kill her before she can complete the bond. Something about the magic needing an anchor and how it’ll be in limbo the moment the heir finds her mate, up until the bond is formed ensuring the anchor is passed on to the next Queen. He tells me he has a spy who’s watching to tell him when the heir finds her mate so he can get everything in motion.
At least that’s the gist of what he was saying before he trails off forgetting what he’s talking about.I really hope the spy ended up in the attack and is no longer close to Cecily’s family.Unexpectedly, he changes his tune and talks about how that was his plan up until the Royal family went missing.
I’ve been noticing this kind of behavior from everyone around here. Little slips of people not remembering what they’re talking about, sometimes forgetting details of their past in the middle of a story. The only conclusion I’ve been able to come to is a connection to the spell used to make everyone forget about Cecily. I’ve become convinced it was her parents who set the spell as a way to protect her. Why they haven’t come to search for her is beyond me.
I’m constantly gritting my teeth as I listen to Silas explain what his basic plans were, the ones he doesn’t remember enacting to take my Cecily away from me. If only I thought to come to him demanding answers before this all happened. I could’ve found a way to stop it all.
Regrets. I’m filled with them.
As thoughts of how I could’ve done things differently flash through my mind, two men from Silas’ private squad come in dragging a third man passed out wearing chains. The manic glee overcoming Silas’ face is only a fraction of the expression he had on that night... but close enough to make my gut clenching in dread. I’m not going to like what comes next.
They take the prisoner to the wall with chains and hooks affixed into it and then hang him up by his arms on one of the hooks. His toes barely brush the ground, causing all his weight to hang from his wrists. When he wakes up, he’ll be in immense pain. Without saying a word the two soldiers file out of the room, leaving Silas to his business.
“Come over here, boy. I’ve had my men out hunting this traitor for a few weeks now. He’s been hunting down our people calling us the traitors. Shame the royals twisted the minds of so many into believing magic is something to be owned.” Wow! And to think I used to feed into the lies Silas believes himself.
I stand next to him as he pulls out a knife, and using the flat edge of the blade, he hits the prisoner on the head. “Wakey wakey! Punishment time!” Silas mocks the prisoner as he stirs a bit. “Now Marcellus, since this is your first time, I believe you should have the honors of choosing how we kill this man and extract his nectar.” I'm not going to be able to eat all week after hearing him refer to blood as nectar.
“One of my personal favorites is to hang them upside down, remove their clothing so it doesn’t soak up any of the nectar, and give them several cuts all over the body. This way there are several points to drain the blood while inflicting pain at various points. You can watch the life leave their eyes slowly this way, making it last longer. It’s up to you, there are several options to choose from. I’m sure you’ll want to try several before picking your favorite.” Make it a month, a month with no appetite.
Okay, Marcellus... You need to think of an alternative quickly now that he’s giving you narrowed eyes.“You know, Uncle, there’s only so much blood you can extract from a body. If you kept him alive, you could have a constantly renewing supply. This way, you’ll have a prolonged source of blood instead of a one-time amount.” Holding my breath, I wait for his response. Hopefully, I can save this man’s life until I’m able to think of how to help him escape.
After a suspenseful minute where my lungs begin to burn while I continue to not breathe, Silas claps his hand against my back. “What an excellent idea, Marcellus! He can be kept down here like one of our livestock. I’ll need to delegate some of my men to keep a watch rotation... Yes, an excellent idea. Can’t believe I never thought of this.”
I hope I didn’t just sentence this man to a worse fate than death. I’m going to figure out a way to help him escape, and who knows, maybe he’ll be able to teach me something I don’t know about magic. Learning as much as I can has become an addiction. Can this day be counted as a win? One life saved from death at the hand of Silas...
