ตอน 42: The Black Magic
Alicia's scream echoed all around the room and would have been loud enough to reach out of the premises of the dungeon if it weren't for the air-tight doors placed at the exits of it.
The guards who stood by the doors of the room where Alicia was locked up looked at each other as if having the same thoughts, wondering what was happening in there.
Nicolas, the second prince, who was walking through the corridors toward his chambers, came to an abrupt stop, picking up the strange cry of a woman. His sharp ears quirked, catching the faintest of the faint sounds that no one could hear. A frown mered on his forehead as he wondered to whom the voice belonged.
'Was there a female criminal being tortured at the dungeon?'
He wondered how the king had never mentioned it. Not even his Valet had informed him about it. This was strange, he thought as he continued to head toward his chambers. It wasn't hard to know. He could still ask about it. The valet would already be waiting for his arrival to help him get his bath ready.
Upon walking into his room, he saw the faint lights lit, just as usual, and heard his valet greet him with his ever-so-boring face.
Nicolas walked past him as he started to take off his heavy clothes one after another. Unbuttoning his shirt, he looked past the window at the dark night sky as if in deep thought.
"Your bath is ready, Prince Nicolas," informed the valet as he came to stand by and started to pick up the clothes that were being undressed.
"Who is the new woman being held at the dungeon, Teris?"
For a minute, the Valet stared at the prince with a frown as he wondered what the prince was referring to and he answered truthfully. "I'm afraid, I'm not aware of it, Your Highness," bowed the valet apologetically.
"I see."
"But I'll make sure to let you know about it as soon as possible," assured the valet, not daring to disappoint his master.
The second prince hummed in return before entering the bathhouse and letting his shirt fall on the ground. The valet hurried to grab the cloth since he thought it might disintegrate if not done so right away.
Nicolas dove into the warm water to calm himself down, but the scream he had earlier heard replayed in his head, forcing him to open his eyes and blink in perplexity and irritation.
"Teris!"
The Valet dashed through the door as if he knew he'd be summoned by the prince any minute.
"Yes, Your Highness?"
"Find out who the woman in the dungeon is," he ordered, gritting his teeth.
"Sure I will, Your Highness!"
The Valet wondered why the prince was so bothered about the woman in the dungeon but held his words back as he headed to proceed according to his master's words.
The young Valet walked through the hallways in haste but slowed down his steps as he neared the dungeon. The guards who stood by the dungeon's entrance frowned at the sight of the second prince's valet.
"What are you doing here?" Questioned one of the guards.
"Prince's orders. I'm here to meet Sir Robi," he said with a straight face. Though he might have conversed with the men here a couple of times, he could not get used to it. The guards who stood by were quite intimidating even though they were familiar with him.
The guard who spoke earlier nodded his head. A bulky man without a helm stepped forward, opening the gates to let him in.
Teris walked in quickly and stepped into the said man's cabin before knocking on the door twice. The man who sat by the windows of the office looked up from his newspaper through his circular glasses.
"Teris?" He put down the papers on the table and took off his glasses. "What brings you here?"
"I'm here upon the orders of my Master. Could you let me know the woman who's been recently in the clutches of our dungeon?"
Robi glanced at Teris for a whole minute before he answered, "You mean the one in the forbidden cellars? No one is allowed to know about the new cellar. Let alone, I, myself, do not know anything about it. It's the King's orders."
Unfortunately, the valet had to return with no answers to his master. He was contemplating how to get the information if not even Robi was unaware of it.
By the time he stepped into the second prince's chambers, the prince was already settled on his bed, reading a book that he had earlier picked from the library.
"Anything that is of use, Teris?"
"Apologies, Your Highness." The Valet bowed, trembling in fear of offending the second prince. The prince was always the type that was calm before the storm. So, you would never know when the beautiful structure would crumble to a puddle of lava from the burning volcano.
"As per the dungeon master's words, His Majesty the King has been restricted from leaking any information regarding the new cellar. But one thing's for sure that the woman is being held in one of the forbidden cellars."
Nicolas focused his attention back on the book, dismissing the valet who stood by the door like a statue and had no sign of leaving him alone. He made an effort to read but was unable to do so as his mind kept reeling. For no apparent reason, his thoughts kept going back to the woman's cries. He became enraged and threw aside the book before grumbling and getting off his bed.
He had a stronger impulse to find out who was really there. He exited his room while lazily wearing his shirt, made a straight path through the hallways, and descended into the garden.
With all the little groans and pains in her body, Alicia muttered something under her breath as she opened her eyes to the bright light that was flashing right onto her face, almost blinding her eyes. She pulled her hand back to block her view. But something held her back. She tried to pull it back again but felt a sharp pain in her shoulder.
She opened her eyes wide despite the killing brightness of whatever was flashing right above her, nearly blinding her. Squinting her eyes she turned her head away from the light and heard the sound of a dangling chain down her chin.
Right! An iron choke belt was tightened around her neck making it hard for her to move.
"So-so this wasn't a mere nightmare. My nightmares have come true," she whispered with a gasp finding it hard to believe. Never in her worst dreams did she think that a mere nightmare she had dreamt of would turn out to be true.
Her hands and her legs were cuffed to an iron torture bed with no way to move. Dreadness approached her. The question in her head kept repeating, what was she doing here?
"Ah, you're awake," she heard the voice beside her.
Alicia turned her head toward the voice of Ms. Lily who sat by her side on a three-legged stool beside the bed as she worked on what looked like an unknown instrument to her.
"Please, tell me, why am I here?" she pleaded, scared seeing her rummage through the open drawers.
"Why?" Questioned the lady and chuckled darkly. "Oh poor thing, you really don't know why you're being held, don't you?" She questioned as she neared Alicia's face giving her a creepy look. Chills ran down her spine just by the stare of the lady.
"How about we start from the tiniest details, shall we? Have you ever wondered why you've got these strange ears?"
"What are you trying to tell me?" Alicia looked confused as to what she was getting up to.
"I've been observing you for the past three years, trying to confirm one thing that I've seen in you from the very first time I saw you, you know," muttered the woman as she stood up from the stool. "And just I speculated, it was right."
'What in the name is she speaking? Has she been stalking me all this while?'
She felt horrific at the thought. Not just any few days or months, but years!
"Oh, don't be too confused. There's only one more thing I need to see and I'll confirm it right about my speculation."
"Please untie and let go of me, Aunt Lily, I'd do anything you ask me to do, but let me go back home. My mother would be waiting for me-"
"I ain't your Aunty Lily anymore, dear. My name's Cecilia. Oh, and don't bother about your mother. I've taken good care of her." She gave a vicious smile and came to stand in front of her.
Cecilia took out a red-knotted satin cloth. Untying it, she placed it underneath Alicia's cuffed hands and dropped a red crystal stone above her palm before she placed a white flower above the red satin.
"Wondering what I'm about to do, sweet pie?"
Alicia no longer felt the warmth in her words like she would. She felt like everything that came out of her mouth had a hidden meaning that made it look so false.
"Now let me see what we can do with this, shall we?" Questioned the woman.
As she neared her, the next minute, Alicia didn't know where the knife came from, but all she felt was the unexpectedly painful sting that shot into her palm as the knife swiped through her skin.
"Hhsss," hissed Alicia, in pain. To worsen it, all Cecilia had to do was squeeze her hand along with the crystal stone in her palm, piercing the cut.
"AHH! WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING TO MY HAND?!"
Pain started to radiate from her hands up to her shoulders, shooting to the back of her head, giving her the feeling of dizziness.
Cecilia started to mutter something under her breath which became audible enough for Alicia to pay heed to it by time.
"Wieland! I bring thee gifts, rare and good, All for you to please. Should they do so, I thee entreat, Bring me new love, strong and fleet; Let her be good and true, as my gifts have been to you."
As the blood in her trickled profusely with all the squeezes, it dropped onto the white flower, turning it midnight blue, and the sides of the petals started to glow and sparkle with every drip of Alicia's blood dropping on them.
Alicia opened her eyes to the glow of the light in front of her. At the sight of what was happening, her eyes widened with astonishment.
"BLACK MAGIC!"
"You're-you're a WITCH!"
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