12 - The Tree & the Egg: The Arcana Glen Major Arcana by Tara Maya

Author:Tara Maya [Maya, Tara]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Misque Press
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Death

MERCY

December 17

Black Ice Fortress, Izdarq, Winterdom

4 days to Winter Solstice

The instant Mercy came out of the spell, she switched to her Valkyrie form, already swinging a massive two-handed blade. Two of the guards leapt to attack her and fell instantly. Two more fell only seconds later. The rest of the guards panicked and scrambled out of the way of the raging Valkyrie.

“I don’t understand,” said Mercy. “I thought you switched sides....”

Mercy trailed off. She’d realized she wasn’t speaking to Trudie Hill, the Changeling, who had pretended to be Sabriel.

This must be the real Sabriel.

Sabriel threw a net of something flashy and silvery over Mercy. It didn’t immobilize her as much as the triple curse had but it still cinched her arms behind her and prevented her from spreading her wings. The silver net burned like the ice in the block which had encased her until recently.

For the first time, Mercy noticed that Bethany was there too. She wore a gorgeous white diaphanous gown, but she looked miserable. The guards forced both of them to walk behind Sabriel.

Bethany peppered Sabriel with questions: How had Sabriel survived the massacre? How did she appear as a spirit that could possess Kyrah? Was Sabriel the strongest of the Dark Triad and had she planned the entire thing decades before it happened? Etc.

Finally, Sabriel turned around and said, “I know you are Alephander’s pet, but if you don’t shut up, I’m going to turn your tongue into a literal snake which will sting you in the face over and over again until your entire head pops up like a giant tomato.”

Bethany bit her lip and stopped asking questions.

Deeper under the stone foundations of the Black Ice Fortress, they passed strange, life-size statues along the walls, weird sculptures of grotesque Things that were half-human looking, but half some kind of object, contorted into painful-pretzel positions.

One of the statues, a man who was also a hammer, suddenly opened its eyes.

“They’re alive!” Bethany gasped, jerking to a stop. “Are these... these poor people... more Ornaments?”

“Don’t pity them,” scoffed Sabriel. “All the scum in the Gallery of Shadows were traitors to the crown, or the family members of traitors.”

Family members...? Mercy squinted at the walls. She didn’t have the best angle to see, but... some of the statures were small...

Sabriel paused to stroke the statue of the Hammer Man. “Isn’t that right, Count Charbir?” she snickered. “The Hammer of Izorhia planned to put Torqanel on the Throne. And that one... Elorshin... Leovalur... Olaris... cowards, all of them, afraid to fight the war. Fortunately, Torqanel is a good boy and reported the traitors to me.”

The dark pupils in the eyes dilated with intense emotion, but the statue couldn’t move. Sabriel continued down the corridor.

The Queen of Swords took her prisoners to another dungeon, this one on a much deeper level of the Palace. Unlike the prison cell Mercy had been in before, which looked more or less like a contemporary human jail, this place was more primordial and oozed evil. The walls, made out of stone, were slick.

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