(no subject)
Welcome to Chapter Five of "Secrets of Sealgaire". It seems this chapter was too large to post as is, so I had to divide it into two parts, A and B.
Niall paced in the cage, trying to think of a way to get both Angie and himself free from Bruno. He refused to let anything happen to her, even if it meant he had to show her what he really was. All that mattered was her safety. Suddenly, he remembered the conversation on the beach, with the man that was like him. What if he could do that, too? What if he actually could become a real wolf, and get off the property to get help for her? Niall concentrated, never wanting anything more in his life than for this to work. He imagined himself changing, feeling his muscles and bones reworking themselves painlessly, changing his form.
Niall couldn’t believe it. He was on all fours, staring down at actual paws. He’d done it! But before he had time to contemplate how this could help them escape, He heard Angie screaming. He could smell her terror in the air, could hear the splashing. Bruno was drowning her! Niall threw himself against the bars, trying to break through to her. He didn’t know if the electricity or the repeated impact would kill him first, but he knew he would die trying to save her.
'Please, God, let Niall get out of this house alive.' Angie thought with her last conscious moment.
When Bruno saw she had lost consciousness, he pulled her out of the tub, laid her on the floor, and pushed the water out of her lungs. He could see his fun was over, at least for now. She wouldn’t live through another round of dunking.
Angie sputtered, spitting up water all over the floor and Bruno. She lay there shivering, seeing Bruno’s face through her fluttering eyelashes.
Bruno held her close, and lovingly began to dry her with towels. Once her shaking had slowed, and she was as dry as he could get her, he said sweetly, “Come, Angela, let’s get you dressed. We’re having company!"
As Bruno walked Angie back to her room, he noticed that Niall had gone quiet.
‘That dog may have just outlived his usefulness.’ he thought, as he helped his wife dress. He could see she wanted to ask questions, but was simply too terrified to do so. He looked at her shivering, pale form and thought that perhaps, at this moment, he had never loved her more. Today, she had finally learned her place.
“An old friend will be stopping by today to see you! It seems maybe having Niall to look after you wasn’t such a good idea, after all. Yes, someone more trustworthy is definitely in order.” Bruno said with a twinkle in his eye.
The mention of Niall’s name made Angie turn to look at Bruno. She was slowly coming back to herself, and knew she had to keep it together if she had any chance of saving Niall. She barely heard anything Bruno was saying, but she clung to the sound of Niall’s name like a lifejacket in this sea of insanity.
‘Pull it together, Angie.’ she thought to herself as she struggled to get dressed. ‘You’re the only chance Niall has of getting out of here alive.’ She felt her heart breaking with each word, but held her spine straight as she said, “I agree that I was far too friendly with the help, my love. It was only a gesture to thank him, but that is their job. The help should not require thanks for simply doing their job."
Angela stood up, stopped dressing, and walked to him on shaky legs, willing them to carry her... 'For Niall. I have to be strong for Niall.' she reminded herself. Wrapping her arms around Bruno, she brought her face close to his. “I have learned my husband’s lessons well, and live only to please him.” she added, kissing him passionately. “Is there time before our guest arrives for me to show you?” she whispered in his ear, unable to meet his eyes.
Bruno held her away from him, bruising her arms with his iron grip, then leaned his face close to hers. “Make no mistake, Angela Canasta. You are alive because I will it so. If you ever cross me again, you will not live to play these games.”
As he felt the fear return to her trembling body, he added, “And yes, there is time. Show me.”
Niall jerked awake. He saw his paws in front of him, and lots of blood, so he knew he was still in wolf form, and that he was hurt. He didn’t know how long he had been unconscious. His only thoughts were of Angie, but he couldn’t get to her. The bars withstood everything he put forth. He tried to find her scent, and relief filled him as he found she was still alive. He tried, but couldn’t move his legs, and he hoped he didn’t do any permanent damage. He couldn’t save her as a cripple. With the last of his strength, he tried to transform back. He didn’t want Bruno to find out about his new form.
Niall decided that it must not be dark yet, because he changed to human form rather than were. How long had he been out? Suddenly, he felt a searing heat in his neck, running down his spine, reaching down both legs. He almost cried out, but held it in, as the heat burned through him. Just as he was sure he’d pass out again, it lessened, finally becoming a dull throb. Cautiously, he moved one leg, then the other. He was healing. Changing form was doing this. He knew it. Hope flooded through him when he knew he’d be able to save Heather. ‘Heather! Oh, God, her name is Heather!’ he thought, then the darkness claimed him again.
After he was finished with her and had left without a backwards glance, Angie went to the door. Through it, she heard Bruno talking to himself, calling Niall a worthless mongrel, then heard another door close. From what Niall told her of the layout of the house, it sounded like he had gone into his suite of rooms, where his study was. She fell into a chair near the door to gather not only her strength, but her nerve. She was planning on leaving this room to make sure Niall was alright. There should be a hallway, then the stairs, with Bruno’s rooms on the other side of the stairs. Once she got down the stairs, Niall’s room should be right near the bottom, behind the staircase, near the back door.
She ached from her thrashing in the tub, as well as from what came after. Her throat was raw, from both screaming and from coughing up all the water she had swallowed. She found it made her chest and ribs hurt, too. ‘You have to do this. Tomorrow may be too late.’ she told herself. ‘Tomorrow, Niall could be dead.’ That sobering thought got her up out of the chair and into action. She had no sunglasses, but she would gladly risk her sight and more to save Niall. She closed her eyes tightly, and tried her door. To her shock, it was locked! Bruno had locked her in before, if he was particularly angry with her. She knew it was just a show of control, since she could never leave the room anyway, but why tonight? “Please, God. Help me save him.” she said softly.
Storming into his study, Bruno found Niall lying on the floor of his cage. "Get up, stupid dog!” Bruno shouted. When Niall didn’t budge, Bruno kicked him. When he still got no response, he calmed down a bit. This would give him some time to think. He wanted to kill Niall for ever putting his hands on his wife. If he’d believed for one minute that Angela had done anything with Niall, they would both be dead right now. Perhaps it was time for Angela to meet the real Niall. That should cool her passion. Then he would kill him, perhaps while she watched.
It looked like that idiot Niall had almost taken care of that for him, from the look of the blood pooling around him. No time to dwell on it now. Francis was coming and he had to get this cleaned up. She did not need to know his personal business. Besides, he would need the cage for Marta. He magicked Niall into his room, and cleaned up the blood with a wave of his wand. Then he went down to make sure he’d have no more trouble from the fool. Niall was out cold, and from the look of it, would be that way for quite some time. He magically sealed the door to Niall’s room, just to be safe, just as the doorbell rang.
“Francis! Right on time!” Bruno said cheerfully.
“And will your wife be joining us for the raising tonight?” Francis asked as she entered the house.
“No” replied Bruno. “There will be absolutely no interruptions. She will remain in her rooms for the entire night. Please, let me show you to my study.” he said, guiding her upstairs with a hand on her lower back.
‘How interesting. I wonder what that’s about?’ thought Francis, as she felt Bruno’s ring against her back.
Francis tried not to let Bruno catch her looking at the ring, but felt her eyes being drawn back to it constantly. Maybe concentrating on the task at hand would help. “Now,” she said, nodding towards the urn, “I assume this is the deceased we’ll be raising?”
“Yes,” Bruno replied. “I incinerated the remains, so there would be no odor when the zombie is made. I certainly don’t want my home smelling of a rotting corpse!” he added with a laugh.
“So you intend to keep the dead around for a bit?” she asked.
“My intentions are to keep her here as the help.” answered Bruno. “It’s very hard to find help that know their place, and know how to keep their mouth shut.” he added.
“Yes, that’s very true.” answered Francis. “The help know our secrets better than anyone. They must be kept in line. Don’t you have someone now, working in your home?” she asked, fishing for information. She was glad to hear that he was having issues with the current help. Maybe that would be something she could use in her quest to get her ancestor’s ring back. Because she had every intention of having that ring. It was rightfully hers, and she would do whatever she needed to in order to get it.
“Yes, I do, but he’s very ill right now. He has not fulfilled his duties as I had hoped, and I may have to dismiss him. I believe Marta here, once raised, will do much better in that capacity.” replied Bruno. “Complete obedience, as it should be.”
“You know,” added Frances, “perhaps your man may not recover. Perhaps he can be your first ‘solo’ project, once you have assisted in this raising.” She was rapidly gaining his trust, which was important for what she had planned. She could see on his face that the idea appealed to Bruno, and he never noticed the use of the word ‘assisted’. Very good, indeed.
“I noticed you never asked where I got the body.” Bruno mentioned, testing the waters.
“That’s not my concern.” answered Francis. “Higher creatures such as ourselves should decide the fates of those not as intelligent. It’s our responsibility.”
Bruno beamed. “That’s exactly right! I’ve never met anyone else who believed that to be true! You’re just full of surprises.” Bruno added, eyeing her suggestively.
Francis wanted to laugh out loud. ‘If he only knew!’ she thought.
“There’ll be time for that, later.” she said, acknowledging the look. “Now it’s time to bring back your old friend here. I’ll need the name, so I can call it forth.”
“Marta Glencoe.” Bruno said with a sneer. Then he added his favorite phrase, “Show me.”
Francis worked her special brand of magic, making sure Bruno was with her every step of the way. The only thing she didn’t feel the need to share, was that the zombie would only obey it’s maker. Not the maker’s assistant, not anyone it knew in life. Sure, she’d plant the command that Marta must obey Bruno, but only until she was told otherwise.
“Arise, Marta Glencoe. Arise and serve your master!” shouted Francis, as Marta’s form became clear through the smoke.
After finally managing to get away from Cyd at the school, Polina broke about eight traffic laws getting back to Normund’s house. She barely slowed down for Jason to get in the car before leaving the parking lot. Once she got there, she told them what Bruno was planning to do, in a hurried, jumbled mess.
“We need to go, now!” said Balin.
The pack transformed into wolves, so they could get there more quickly.
While in wolf form, Balin tried to communicate with Niall. To his surprise, he got a response. A very weak ‘Here’, but from it, he was able to find Niall’s window, which was opened. Balin looked in the window...
Niall had managed to drag himself up to one elbow. He opened one eye, and looked at Balin. “Still peeping in windows, Balin? No naked lasses in here.” he muttered.
“You know me!” Balin whispered. “My God, you look a sight! What happened to you?”
“Think I broke my neck, maybe my back, too. Can you sense Heather? She should be upstairs.” Niall added weakly. He was afraid he would pass out again, while the painful healing process worked it’s magic.
“So you remember her, too. Aye, lad, she’s there.” Balin reassured him. “We need to get you both out of here tonight.”
“I can’t move yet.” Niall struggled to tell him. “I think the warlock’s upstairs with her. He almost killed her today. Can you get to her?”
“Actually, he’s not with Heather. There’s some very dark magic going on up there - NOT with Heather.” he added, watching as Niall made to rise from the floor. Once he settled back, Balin told him about the witch Frances and what they were doing to Marta’s corpse.
“We have to try to get to Heather tonight, during what’s going on up there. It would be more of a risk to her to try and pull her out with two witches, plus a zombie to go against. But we can’t leave you here like this. We may just have to wait and battle it out tomorrow.” Balin said.
“You know I’ll not leave her here for that bastard to touch one more time.” Niall told him. “She doesn’t remember who she is. He’s been keeping her drugged and brainwashing her all this time. I don’t think she knows exactly what he is, and…she may be in love with him. She believes they’re married.” Niall added painfully. “You need to get her out as soon as you can.”
“Well, she may believe they’re married, but I'm certain that after tonight, the love part won’t be a problem.” Balin said reassuringly.
He saw Niall was close to losing consciousness again, so he tried to lay out a plan while he could still follow it. “I can send in our smallest wolf. She’ll fit through the window. Maybe she can hide behind your bed, so any scent she has will be confused with yours.” Balin said, looking over at Alexa. “Will you do it?” he asked.
“Absolutely.” Alexa said to Balin immediately.
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As she transformed, Raule already in wolf form, growled low in his throat to show his displeasure.
Normund, also in wolf form, looked his way, reminding him of how quickly Raule agreed to Polina’s part in this rescue. Raule looked away, ashamed.
“Wait - my floorboards, in the corner there.” Niall pointed weakly. “There’s a diary hidden there. Take it with you. Heather will need it. And her eyesight…she can’t be exposed to the sun. I don’t know if that’s true or not, but Bruno claims she had a head injury, which he gave her, no doubt." Niall growled, imagining what he'd do to Bruno once he got the chance. "And I need a pen and paper, there in my nightstand.”
Alexa nosed the drawer open, deftly using her mouth to deliver first, a notepad, and then the pen. Niall scribbled a letter to Heather for Alexa to deliver.
As Alexa worked at the boards, Niall finally passed out. She looked with concern at Balin, but he assured her that Niall was healing and would be fine soon.
Alexa finally managed to pull the book from it’s hiding place, and pass it to Balin out the window.
Just as Balin took the book from Alexa, he noticed Polina coming slowly around the house, keeping herself out of sight of the windows.
“Sorry, guys. What did I miss?” she asked.
“Not a thing. You’re just in time.” Balin replied. “How are you at breaking magic barriers?” he asked. "Did you find one on the property line?"
“We’ve covered it a bit, mostly so we could be taught to undo a mistake we made in laying one. I found nothing on the property - he may have just planted the suggestion. Sometimes that works just as well, depending on the torture he used to reinforce the idea." She poked her head into Niall's window and aimed her wand at his door. "We have one here, though. Seems pretty weak. Let’s give it a shot.”
She pulled out her wand, concentrating hard on the magic that covered the door to Niall’s room. Finally, her mind wrapped around the spell. Basic stuff; it must’ve been an afterthought, because Bruno sure didn’t put a lot of power behind the seal.
With a small “pop”, the seal was broken. ‘This witch stuff is alright.’ thought Polina with a smile.