Isle of Wysteria: The Monolith Crumbles by Aaron Lee Yeager

Author:Aaron Lee Yeager [Yeager, Aaron Lee]
Language: ara
Format: epub, azw3
Tags: gnome, wysteria, isle, faeries, monolith
Published: 2015-06-14T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

The curtains were drawn, blocking out the light from outside. Still, the laughter of Hatronesians bled in from time to time as they flew past the window.

There in the dark, Ellie quietly sat on her bed, looking over the pocketknife, rolling it back and forth in her hand, sensing its weight.

Suddenly her eyes went wide and her hands came up to her neck. The skin there burned and a dark writhing band appeared, like a mark beneath her flesh.

Coughing, she scrambled over to her bag and rummaged through it, finally producing a hand mirror, which buzzed and glowed with a black light.

“Yes, yes, what is it now?” She tapped the mirror and her reflection changed to that of a raven-haired woman.

“You have failed,” Queen Sotol accused darkly.

“What are you talking about?” Ellie retorted. “I sabotaged the wings with the device you gave me. They seized up when he passed close to the temple. I saw him crash inside it with my own eyes.”

She reached up and clawed at the writhing band underneath her skin. “I’ve fulfilled my contract, now release me.”

“You have fulfilled nothing. Poe has signed the treaty with Wysteria. Their ambassadors leave in the morning.”

“What?”

There was a crackle of black electricity around her neck, and Ellie winced.

“Your mission was to prevent Hatronesia from joining the Alliance.”

Ellie coughed. “If the treaty has already been signed, then I don’t see what more I can do.”

“You are so unimaginative. The solution is simple. Force one of their ambassadors to do something unforgivable. Something that will enrage Poe enough to break his word.”

“How?”

The Queen’s face twisted into a devilish grin. “Everyone has pressure points. Things that are important to them. All you have to do is find one and squeeze.”

Ellie’s heart went cold. “You don’t mean….”

“Yes. Hanner’s child.”

She shook her head. “No, this wasn’t part of the deal. When I signed up all they said I’d ever have to do is observe and report.”

The band in her neck roared to life, sparking and arcing with dark energies. Ellie fell backwards, screaming in pain.

“Don’t forget that you came to us,” she hissed. “You pleaded with us for the money to save your brother’s life. Do you have any idea how much the materials cost to have a heart regrown inside a person? Did you really think you would never have to pay off that debt?”

Ellie coughed, straining for breath, her face turning blue. She tried to scream, but could only manage a shrill squeal.

“You will sabotage the treaty, or we will take your brother, and repossess the beating heart right out of his bloody chest, is that understood?”

Ellie clawed at her neck in agony, tears falling back onto her sheets. “I…will…obey.”

Queen Sotol smirked. “Good girl.”

The mirror returned to normal, and the black electricity faded away. As Ellie lay there coughing, the mark on her neck dimmed from sight.

Gasping for breath, she rolled over onto her side and wept bitterly.

* * *

All was quiet amid the smooth carved cavern walls beneath Wysteria. The

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