RMW

Chapter Thirty-Five

So Bloody Close

~SV~

Kolo’s Craftroom, Night, 677, 28th, October

Queen Samala fumes at her cousin, “Only a fool wants death, by a blue skull!” Nepathi snorts at the Queen, “Do whimper in fear, Queen of Slugs.” The Rambler distracts Kolo by taunting Nepathi, “Your hand symbols are needless dramatics.” The Egyptian knows the symbols were there, and plays the game, taunting Darciana back, “If you were not bound, I am sure you would twirl around for us.”

Darciana huffs, “Why, is that what you did?” The Egyptian adds, “I bet you danced around the caldron half naked, Rambler.” Darciana smirks, “It must be the sort of thing you find fun. I am sure when dancing around a fire, you do it fully naked.” Samala angrily says, “That spell was deadly!” Kolo stands, as the smoldering in the bowl starts to dissipate. It prompts him to hesitantly come nearer to the bowl, hoping for his twin to rise, cautiously he gets closer.

The Evil One stops beside the Egyptian, leaning in over the bowl; the smoke and mist are slowly clearing. Nepathi stands putting her right hand on Kolo’s shoulder as if to steady herself, as she also looks in the bowl. Yet as the Egyptian leans in, she brings her left hand to scratch the magic rune mark, into Kolo’s bloody handprint, which he had left on the bowl. She recalls the vision she had, as she puts her desire into her Hexing Symbol, ‘Fulfill Donatello’s Curse.’

The smoke fades and Kolo’s eyes go wide, as he sees to the bottom of the bowl, he swears at Nepathi, “Dark demons! Where the Nifl is Lola? The bowl is completely empty. You idiot, you did it wrong! You bring her back here, right now!” Silently, Nepathi completes her hex, ‘Let the bearer of this bloody handprint receive the torment of the blood he has spilt.’ It is hard for her not to smile with grim satisfaction; as suddenly, Kolo screams, “It is Donatello!”

Their Captor yells, “He is back from the dead to curse me!” Kolo is horrified, as he receives visions in flashes, and endures Donatello’s mental anguish at his fiery death. Dramatically, Kolo backs up against the wall, with wide eyes as he sees himself coming to burn himself. Screaming, the Evil One nearly faints, as he cannot leave, and is not spared the pain that the Dragon kept Donatello from feeling. Kolo groans, wailing in pain and terror he panics, “Help!”

His vision changes, so Donatello is burning him, and Kolo starts to beg him, “No, please. Do not do this to me! Have mercy on me!” Kolo begs his captives, “Help me! One of you help me!” The Witches glare at him; scoffing at him acting like he deserves any help or mercy from anyone. Kolo begs, “Please no, I take it back. Lola where are you? Help me!” Darciana scoffs, “Not even we can take back the deaths, you have caused.” Kolo’s screams in horror.

The Witches nod at his agony; yet it cannot give his victims their justice, as he still lives, and they are still bound. Nepathi smiles at his pain; she did a vision earlier to see Lola’s demise. She also saw what Kolo did to Sidonia’s Guard, and heard what Donatello wished for Kolo, with his last words. It gave her the idea of what to Hex Kolo with, and she was happy to make Donatello’s Curse on Kolo come true. She watches him squirm against the wall in pain.

He tries to protect himself as he raises his hands, in vain. His shrill screams fill the catacombs. Finally, the flames and pain stop. With the sincerest tone, Nepathi could fake, she assures him, “I promise I only did as you asked, and what the spell requires.” Kolo is groaning, recalling all Sidonia’s Guard said to him before dying; believing Donatello has truly cursed him. Kolo looks at the three Witches, receiving visions, he feels the pain he inflicted on them.

Kolo feels the horror and pain of every torture he had given each of them. He screams in terror knowing their pain as he suffers with them, as though he were the one who was dying.

~*~

Satan’s Spit, Ramblers’ Camp, Night, 677, 28th, October

Princess Sidonia sees Eddirk is hooking up his wagon; she hurries over to him, using an urgent tone, “I must leave now. Robert has told some of your men of the reward, offered for finding me. I do not want to tempt them; they will bring the Vampire’s men here, risking all of you. May I use your Dark Door to get back to the Hangman’s Haunt?” He groans, “Rotten, greedy fools. No wonder Robert was fighting against you finding Charles.”

Eddirk softly tells her, “Zara and the Ferry are no longer there. We will need to travel further down river to find where it is docked for the night.” Sidonia laughs at her tired mind and mistake, “Of course. Half Moon Bay is where it should be.” He nods, “It is a few hours away, since we have no Dark Doors down there. We do have a team of fast horses and hope that you can rest as we go.”

Smiling, Eddirk says, “If you ride inside our caravan, it will also be safer for you, as you will be out of sight.” Sidonia says, “Thank you; it is very thoughtful.” Eddirk asks, “Can you tell me of Grigori’s Warg now?” She nods, “The Warg bit Trek, an older clansman. I do not know how Krist became a Warg, as I left the vision to focus on Charles.” Eddirk nods, “Of course. Thank you.”

Endora comes out of the wagon and approaches Sidonia. She is holding an exquisite amulet choker, as she offers it to the Oracle. Sidonia gasps at the choker. There is a Black Tourmaline teardrop stone dangling from the opal embedded copper collar. Holding it out, Endora says, “I want you to have this.” Princess Sidonia gasps, “This is too nice to give away to me!” Endora laughs, “You earned it.”

Myrtle comments, “It is less than you are worth. You found my son in time. He woke and is talking. Charles even walked around a little, thanks to you.” Endora’s fingers brush against Sidonia’s neck as she latches the choker around her. Endora now gasps, “I did not realize.” She now comes to stand in front of the Princess and gives her a deep respectful bow. The Oracle feels honored.

Endora adds, “Being from the Witch Island clan, I should have suspected.” Myrtle asks, “What are you saying?” Endora waves the clan in closer. Endora now introduces the dark girl, “The Oracle is our Grand Rambqueen Romina’s Great Granddaughter! This is Princess Sidonia Vlasac.” They all gasp and bow. Robert and his pals who were seeking coin for her, groan afraid and ashamed.

~*~

Kolo gasps, “What have you done to me? You did the wrong Spell!” The Egyptian pretends it is about the skull, “I did it perfectly. The skull is a Death Reaper; we require one to bring Lola’s soul to us here.” Kolo shakes and jerks with pain; unable to walk, he makes it to the table, he collapses on it, fuming, “No, it is giving me horror, hurting me, and showing me visions of death! Donatello’s Ghost is cursing me! Quick, make it stop!” Darciana says, “I cannot. I do not even have a free hand.” He looks to Samala, frowning at her smile.

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He begs Nepathi, “Do something!” Kolo cries out in agony, the Egyptian is really enjoying his pain as she says, “Well, if I could get to the cabinet, I might be able to find a spell that helps, but my chain will not reach it.” The Evil One fumes, “You did the Spell wrong, reverse it!” Nepathi almost grins, asking Kolo suspiciously, “You did read the spell? It seems clear to me. It states to burn it, ‘as if a body on a pyre’, what did you assume it meant?”

The Evil One refuses to answer. Trying to clear his mind of the agony and deaths of the many he has killed, as he groans feeling their pain. Finally, Kolo is able to ask, “Did you feel it or see others’ deaths?” Darciana and Nepathi do their best to frown with concern as they shake their heads. Darciana says, “I have not killed anyone though, have you Nepathi?” The Egyptian shakes her head, “No, not yet. Prior to my capture I never needed or wanted to.” Samala fumes.

While the Mad Queen likes the feeling that Kolo is paying for what he did to Rorik; she continues to fear what the Egyptian has unleashed with Darciana’s spell. She does not trust either of them. Hiding her grin, Nepathi asks, “Darciana, is it a Death Reaper- or a vengeful Shade?” The Rambler keeps from smiling as she answers, “Mum said the Skull was a Reaper.” Kolo gasps, “A Death Reaper? Are you certain? I saw Donatello! Then myself burning me!”

The Rambler replies, “I think so. It was a long time ago, and I only saw the spell done once.” Kolo’s head hurts and is muddled; it is all too confusing. He mumbles, “It is Donatello, getting me back, just as he cursed me!” Darciana replies, “I suppose that is possible. I would think the only vengeful shade to arrive is Lola, and it cannot have brought her essence to her yet.” Fearful, Kolo gasps, “What if the Reaper brought Donatello’s vengeful Shade here instead?”

Darciana states, “Well, it was not his essence in the bowl, or is there a possibility that it was?” Kolo is certain of nothing, as he leans on the table in pain, he worries, “I do not know. The Guards were to collect her, giving Lola to me. I guess some of his ash could have blown toward hers, mixing with Lola’s essence. Oh, no this is wrong, Nepathi, you bloody did it wrong. You burned her and brought Donatello here instead!” Nepathi hides her glee at his pain.

The Egyptian says, “Confirm it with Darciana if you doubt me, I never said the name Donatello, during the Chant and Potion.” The Evil One shakes his head screaming, “Help me.” Nepathi asks the Rambler, “Did you burn the contents, getting a skull?” Darciana hides her smile at his pain. The Rambler pretends to contemplate it, “I do recall Mum lit the potion on fire; naturally she used a candle, not a lame oil burner. But she dumped the bowl into her caldron, which was over a log fire in the fireplace, of her Craftroom.”

Darciana adds, “Mum did not pour the caldron’s potion into the bowl, as you did. Your caldron is smaller, and it might not have all fit. Nevertheless, it does not change the outcome, either way you combine the two, as long as they were mixed together.” The Egyptian taunts Kolo, “See, the Rambler agrees, I did it correctly.” Groaning, the Evil One seethes, “What about that terrifying skull?” Nepathi smirks as she asks Darciana, “Yes, tell us of the blue skull.”

The Rambler replies, “I do recall being terrified. I heard the skull wail, and looked up from my grimoire, as I was writing the spell in it. That is when I saw the blue skull above Mum’s caldron. I see now that I mistakenly thought it had come down the chimney. It clearly had come up out of Mum’s brew in her caldron.” Kolo gasps, “It caused me to see the deaths of others. I felt their pain! Is that what Death Reapers do?” Holding back their laughs they both shrug.

Kolo demands, “You must have seen what I did and felt it too?” They shake their heads at him. He says, “Maybe it needs to touch you to cause it and for some reason it only touched me. Why did it attack only me?” Darciana says, “It did not touch Mum or me.” Kolo hisses, “Why is Lola not here?” She adds, “The spell does not bring her here.” The Evil One foolishly shouts, “Then why did we use that spell?” Nepathi mocks him, “You picked the potion.”

~*~

Sidonia is uncomfortable with the clan’s acknowledgement, thinking she has not earned it. The Princess smiles, “Thank you. It is very kind.” Turning to her, Endora says, “Fate has brought you to us, in our time of need. This amulet will conceal your thoughts from witches, vampires, and even oracles attempting to find you. There are ways around it, if they know where to look for you and are skilled enough to seek you through another’s eyes.”

Sidonia nods as she has tears of gratitude. Endora smiles, “It is destiny that I felt you needed this to protect you, as the Grand Rambqueen Romina gave it to my mother a half century ago.” Sidonia gasps, “Really, I am astounded. Why did she give it to her, did she tell you?” Endora replies, “It was at a gathering of the women leaders from each Rambler Cauldron. Romina instructs us often. While giving guidance, Romina suddenly stopped speaking.”

Endora is emotional, “Then the Grand Rambqueen removed her own necklace coming to stand before my mother. Romina placed her choker around Mother’s neck and told my mum, ‘Hand this down to your daughter and tell her that one day, in the future, she will need an oracle’s help. After the Oracle assists her, tell her to ask if she has a protection charm, stone, or a crystal. If the oracle says ‘no’, give her the necklace.’ So, I did.” This story touches Sidonia.

~*~

The Egyptian asks, “Did you expect Lola to be sitting in the bloody glass bowl? Trust me the spell will work, it just required I burn what we had, so the Reaper can take her essence to her and add it to Lola’s shade. It will help revive her, so she materializes faster and with strength.” Kolo’s head hurts and his thoughts are confused. However, he refuses to admit he does not understand. He demands, “If you used up all of her essence and the spell failed-.” He chokes.

The Evil One wails in sorrow, “Then there is nothing left of her to attempt it a second time, or try a new spell! You should have told me!” The Witches remain silent as they watch him sway. Kolo slurs, “W-where did you s-s-send her exactly-y-y?” He stares at the floor by Nepathi’s chair, trying to get his balance, the Evil One sees that the Egyptian’s lock of hair is no longer on the floor, they have tricked him. Kolo tries to move away from Nepathi.

Placing a hand on his chest, the Evil One sways, groaning, “Help me.” Kolo’s eyesight goes dark, only seeing shadows, he tries to stumble toward his chair. The Evil One thinks, ‘I must sit before I collapse. Oh no, I feel I am going to pass out… oh Dark! Perhaps even die! Lola is not here to protect me; I am in danger.’ Real fear comes, as he believes the Witches have given him back, just as good as they had gotten from him. Kolo knows he has earned and deserves his coming death at their hands. Still, he hopes to deny them.

As he looks at the dark figures of his three captive victims in fear, he worries he will not survive this. Kolo blindly limps off, fleeing as fast as he can, from the Craftroom. He stumbles over his own feet, falling hard onto the cold stone floor, of his Throne Room. Before he can move, he gasps and dies. Nepathi sees, rushing around the table, she removes the knife from Darciana’s impaled hand. The Egyptian runs back around, going into the Throne Room, for Kolo.

Nepathi goes for her captor with dark determination, to make certain he does not live again, by giving Kolo his final death. She is within the last seven feet, as suddenly her chain yanks her short of the revenge that she had plotted and longed for. Nepathi drops to her knees, screaming, “No! Demon from Darkness!” The Witches groan in disappointment and regret. Unable to see Kolo from her chair, Darciana sighs, “Well, I guess that did not go as expected?”

Nepathi does not give up as she goes down to lay on her belly against the stone floor and stretches her arms out, she curses, “No! Dark freezing Nifl!” “I am ‘So Bloody Close’ to my revenge!”

~RMW~

Copyright 2024 Sylvia Vallace

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