Four Elements Book 2 - Fight and Feel

Part 16

"Why have you brought me here?"

Andie looked coldly up at Zorak. He towered over her, his silvery hair standing out in the gloom, his eyes barley visible in the dark. He held a torch up, the glow only just touching his face enough for Andie to recognize his features.

"I'm actually interested in hearing your thoughts on the matter," he said pleasantly.

Andie frowned warily. She considered the question, trying to fight the horrendous headache that was nagging her. Andie fought against her shivering and racing heartbeat, working to keep her breathing normal-looking. She was almost certain Zorak would like nothing better than to see her scared and cold. Balon had always told them "never show your enemy when you're uncomfortable or nervous. They would only use it against you". She almost let out a hollow laugh at the thought that after all the arguments they had had since they'd met, most of them about Bane, that she would be using his advice...

Hm... of all the times for irony... she thought, mentally rolling her eyes.

"... You want my powers..." she said carefully. "That's what you've wanted from the beginning. To take our powers from us and use them for yourself."

He laughed. A laugh devoid of any humor, warmth... or humanity. Andie felt goosebumps on her skin as it echoed around her.

"Among other things." he said evenly.

Andie forced herself not to show how nervous that statement made her feel. What else could he possibly mean? Whatever it was, she was pretty confident that she would not like it one bit...

"What other things?" she finally asked, hoping her voice sounded steady.

Zorak's cold eyes glinted with cruel amusement.

"Oh, wouldn't you like to know?" he smiled nastily.

Andie held his gaze, biting her lip. Zorak turned around silently and began marching towards the door, intending to leave.

"They'll come for me, you know," she finally said.

Zorak paused, as if pondering her comment. Then, he slowly turned round, the glow of the torch reminding Andie of an inferno, his eyes of bottomless pits, and looked at her.

"Ah," he said quietly, "that is what I'm counting on."

He swept out, snapping the door shut behind him. The click of the lock and Zorak's footsteps sounded like cannonballs as they echoed through the empty walls. Andie's eyes widened, her shivering growing worse than ever. She had gotten it wrong, and couldn't believe how stupid she had been not to think of that. She wasn't just a captive. She was bait.

"Okay, that sounds like a plan, let's go!"

Jessica jumped to her feet once again. Isabelle pulled her back down again.

"We cannot just jump in there unprepared." she said firmly. "They'll be expecting that. And there's another problem, Jessica. How exactly are we supposed to even go to the Demon Realm?"

"That's easy," Bane said. "We have the answer right here."

Isabelle, Emily, Jessica and Bane turned to the former masters of the elements, their eyes full of hope and faith that they would have their solution.

"I'm really sorry," Aera said, eyes wide with apology. "But we don't exactly know where or how to do it either..."

The shocked silence felt worse to the spirits than slaps in the face.

"What do you mean?" Jessica demanded. "You just said you'd fought him for years!"

"We did!" Balon shot back, stung.

"What he means is," Adena interjected with a dark look at Balon, "that we did fight him, but never on his territory. He always came to our world."

"Then how are we going to get to Andie?" Bane asked.

No one had an answer.

"Great..." Jessica growled. "Our best friend is stuck with a crazed, power hungry demon and his son, but we can't go and help her..."

No one spoke, each of them lost in thought, trying not to think of Andie and what awful ordeal the Demon Lord and his evil son were putting her through.

"There has to be some way through!" Isabelle exclaimed in frustration. "If he could go through one way, it stands to reason that it's possible the other way too!"

"Yes, but we don't know how he did it," Terra sighed. "We concentrated on keeping him on the other side, and didn't really think we'd need to know how to go there ourselves... fighting him in our world was already more than difficult enough..."

"We'll have to try and think of a strategy, and a way in..." Adena said.

"We don't have time for that!" Bane replied.

"I know that, Bane," Adena replied gently, touching his shoulder. "But we don't have a choice, either."

Andie had been trying to contact Bane and the others mentally for what felt like hours... but it was like hitting a wall. She figured that the barrier between their worlds was blocking her telepathy. She breathed in deeply, shoving aside the feeling of discouragement that was looming over her. Just then, she stiffened at the sound of footsteps somewhere nearby. Soon, the door clicked and creaked open. And to Andie's amazement, Zarias came in. Now, the fact that he was there was hardly a shock, his father had been there earlier. What was more surprising was that he was sporting a silver tray with food and water on it. He set it down beside her wordlessly. She glanced up at him, trying to decipher his face. He probably wasn't thrilled... but surprisingly, his face seemed calm. It could have been a facade, of course, but Andie wasn't sure he'd bother for something like this. After deciding he wouldn't stop her from touching it, she picked up the goblet of water, a shiny black object with red symbols she didn't want to know the significance of, and gulped it down, holding it awkwardly with her chained hands. She set the goblet down, a small exhale escaping her lips. She looked up at Zarias, trying to decide whether thanking him was a good idea or not. He spoke before she could decide, however.

"Eat," he commanded, thought not angrily or reluctantly. "We won't obtain your powers if you starve."

After a slight pause, Andie said:

"I will."

He looked at her a moment, then walked out. This was probably wishful thinking on Andie's part, but she wondered. Was that really his sole concern? Or did he not enjoy taking human lives? She had witnessed him being clement... he had her and Jessica at his mercy a few months before, and Hannah's intervention had been instrumental in his leaving. Andie couldn't say for sure what had made him leave. Although, now she considered it, it was probably the same reason she was still alive now. They needed them alive to take their powers. But he had not seemed to think that when he was knocking her and Jessica to the ground... it had only been when Hannah had intervened that he'd stopped... she couldn't make sense of him. And she was too cold – and now that the food was there, actually hungry – to think about that. So she exhaled wearily and turned to the food tray. There was a small loaf of bread, cheese and a large bunch of grapes.

Well, it's no banquet, but it'll have to do... she told herself.

She reached for the bread, tore off a piece and bit into it. It was fresh and crispy, exactly the way she liked it. At least the food wasn't bad... it helped to make the rest a little more bearable.

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Hmm, is anyone wondering what's going on with Zarias? Any thought?

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Will Bane and the others get to Andie in time? Will Andie hold out? Find out in the next chapter!