The Magic Pawn Series: The Discovery (Volume 1)

Chapter 9: Almost dead

Meya began to say an incantation and then Aaron handed me a goblet that contained some liquid which smelled strongly of sulphur.

'Are you serious? I'm not going to drink that.'

They both looked at me angrily. Eric continued sending me messages. He had even begun threatening me. I was going to have to deal with him if I listened to Meya.

'Alright...'

I held my breath and I drank the liquid from the goblet in one sip. It did not taste as bad as I had imagined.

But the effect was instant. I got dizzy and I could no longer stand on my feet. I fell over the skulls being unable to even move a finger. I was paralysed from the neck down. Meya continued her incantation and the red skulls started to slowly lift into the air. They merged together into a skeleton. I was watching this and I was terrified. My fear grew bigger and bigger as I was becoming aware of my inability to run from this place. I saw a skeleton shape forming rapidly. It came above me, turned into a red dust and entered inside me. The moment of impact was absolutely terrifying. I felt as if something was tearing the flesh off me. I shifted from burning to feeling how the cold was aiming for my chest. I wanted to scream hoping that would take away some of the pain, but the cold had taken my voice away.

When you are in pain you almost involuntarily want to gasp, to move, to do anything but to stay in one place. And I was paralysed. I was being offered on a tray to the pain and it was biting me merciless. Tears were pouring out from my eyes as if they were telling of the pain that was going to invade my entire body. I felt like something was being ripped from my guts. My magic powers were abandoning me and Meya just continued with her incantation. Lights in different colours were coming out of me and they turned brown just before entering Meya's body. Every thread of light was like blood dripping out from me. The brown spots representing my magic that had become impure from Meya's touch, began heading for the barrier. The crazy woman stopped the ritual and went on cursing. The pain was all gone, but I continued to be paralysed.

'It's not working. My dark magic is not doing anything to the barrier.'

So she wanted to destroy it. Was that even possible?

'Maybe you should take more from Kate?' Aaron said.

Was he referring to my magic? Did he think that was not enough?

'No, it wouldn't work anyway. How could I have been so careless? She is the chosen one. My sister was the one who made this barrier. Kate, you are the only one who can destroy it and I am sorry that you are going to waste your magic on this. I would have liked to have a taste of it all. Aaa, it is possible that you might die along the way', she said without giving a damn.

The next thing I saw was an explosion above the barrier, followed by a few others, until Eric stopped. He was aware of the fact that his magic was not going to suffice.

"I am sorry" he wrote in the air. "I've let you down".

And just when I thought that it could not get any worse, I felt that excruciating pain again and saw my magic heading for the barrier, which became visible on the impact.; an immense curtain that became real when it was touched by my magic. Its colour was now navy-blue and started to develop black strips that were widening. The strips multiplied constantly and I was getting closer and closer to death.

I looked over at Maggie and Eric. They were watching helplessly how I was about to die and how the barrier got weaker. I wanted to see their faces up close, to look into their eyes. My magic helped me do that. Maggie's big brown eyes were in tears. Eric held her in his arms while she was struggling to come to me. What a goof. Didn't she realise that I was a lost cause? She would only be getting herself in further trouble. I could see the sadness and disappointment on Maggie's face, but Eric looked absolutely desperate. His blue eyes were just too beautiful to be so sad. His face was covered in tears. Why would someone who hardly knew me, cry so much for me? He could not have been older than twenty-seven years old, but the sadness made him look even older.