Me and the Devil: Sebastian Sallow

Chapter FORTY THREE - Eyes

We drifted through the black, tickling the stars with the bristles of our broom.

It felt like hours before Sebastian finally called out.

"There!"

And there it was. A tower of stone, crumbling in on itself. It's shape outlined harshly in the warm glow of a hundred torches. Tents, barrels and boxes littered the ground outside.

We were not alone.

"Quickly, land over there."

Sebastian darted the broom down so abruptly, I was sure we would face plant into the dirt, but he pulled up on the handle at the last moment, landing us gracefully.

He tapped my hand and grimaced. "Sorry. I just didn't want them to see us."

I shook the adrenaline from my bones, swallowed the nausea and stepped off the broom, legs like jello.

"Who were they?"

Sebastian's jaw clenched ever so slightly and he whispered through his teeth, placing the broom against the closest tree. "Goblins. Ranrok's loyalists no doubt."

"But... why are they here? That doesn't make sense." My imagination pushed at the edges of my mind.

"I don't know, but- we need to get inside. I don't see another way around but through-" He dropped his wand into his palm and quirked his head with a smirk. "Follow me Barlowe."

I caught his wrist. "Hold on Sebastian! Shouldn't we take a look around first? Know what we're getting into?"

He shrugged, smirked and leaned in close to whisper at the tip of my ear. "Where's the fun in that?"

Goosebumps rippled down my neck and over my arms, his gaze thick as he pulled away slowly. My eyes flicked down to his lips, up to his eyes. He didn't leave me another second to process or protest and was off on foot, crouching slightly toward the tower courtyard.

"Sebastian!" I hissed, but pulled my wand out too and followed him through the dark, sparks still tingling over my skin.

The flames lapped at the rocks and stones beneath us, a thick wall with an arched entry towered over us, surrounding the courtyard. Broad, sweeping vines climbed the edges of stone and shadows of their leaves melted into the crevasses. As we crept closer, the sounds of a dozen shifting bodies twisted around us, clanking metal, gruff grumbles, deep clangs.

Sebastian's arm shot out and stopped me in my place, he nodded to the arch and I could feel the heat in my heart begun to race through my vines.

A short, armored goblin stood in the center of the opening, twirling an axe with his back to us. He grumbled something to himself. "There must be something here, Ranrok said so..."

Sebastian rolled his shoulders and took a large step towards him, wand raised and eyes firm. "Petrificus Totalus." His whisper cut daggers through the silence.

The guard stiffened, skin and armor pulsing waves of blue before firming into a transparent stone, axe falling from his grasp and body toppling to the dirt like a fallen tree.

Sebastian smiled back at me, a wicked glint reflecting in his torch illuminated eyes. He took another step around the fallen goblin and I followed promptly, knuckles white against my wand. A deep fear growing in my gut- not over the fight ahead, but over the fight ahead with Sebastian's reckless chaos leading the way.

Torches lined the pathway as the space opened up into a rather expansive stone and dirt courtyard. The tents we had seen from above traced the outer edges, smoke billowing up from the fires just outside. My eyes darted over every light and shadow, counting.