The Magic of Three

1.

She didn't know how she'd ended up in this situation, one minute the heart of an undead was pleasantly bursting in her hands and the next she was in chains hanging from the ceiling of what looked like a dungeon. She glanced around; only one candle hung from the black wall, it lit up the enfolding blanckness around her and she could just about see the iron bars caging her in. She frowned; it was definitely a dungeon.

A tangy smell wafted around her and she grimaced as she gave a tug on the chains. The hard iron that wrapped around her wrists dug in to her skin and she felt a scream lodge in the base of her throat. She breathed out sharply in an attempt to calm the panic she could feel building deep within her.

Four deep breaths later she closed her eyes and prayed that what she was about to do would work. She fisted her hands as her lips uttered a phrase that, to normal ears sounded like hisses and whispers but anyone who felt the power emanating from her words would know she was speaking in the old language. A bead of sweat trickled down her temple as the words sucked at her strength but her eyes flashed open in triumph as a small glowing ball; the colour of water hovered directly in front of her and lit up the room with a sharp brilliance.

She could see the iron bars in more detail now, the gate was locked with a chunky latch the size of her fist. A long corridor wound down beyond the bars and disappeared off around a corner. The other three walls of the room were rocky and she could see the slick of dark fluid running down the cracks between the bricks. She moved her head up and held in a breath; twisted bodies, recently dead, were manacled above her in chains and she gagged as she realised what the dark fluid running down the walls was. The ball of light flickered slightly snapping her head back towards it.

She grimaced, if all she could manage was a flickering light ball, her power must be far more weakened than she'd realised and she willed it in to glowing brighter. The ball of light gave a slight flicker and shuddered as if on the brink of dying out. Thankfully , even though the light coming from it had dimmed and hardly illuminated anything more than a feet around her, the light ball stayed lit. It was at this point that she felt the hair on her forearms stiffen as she heard a slight sound as if someone was laughing.

"Another sorcerer-", a deep voice mused, "what a surprise".

Her head whipped towards the left. She squinted her eyes and forced her strength in to her ball of light but the dratted thing just carried on pulsing with it's feeble light and the darkness of the corner didn't diminish, it was almost as if whoever had spoken was swathed in an inky fog.

She narrowed her eyes, "show your face".

The voice laughed, it was a dark laugh that echoed around the small chamber, "-now why would I do that".

"Where am I", she hissed as she twisted her wrists, her skin feeling the bite of the chains, "what do you want with me".

The voice didn't respond for a long time and she wondered whether whoever had spoken had gone, dissipated in to the air and disappeared just like they'd come. She looked up again at the chains, they were old and her ball of light showed the thickness of the metal. Her heart slumped as she realised they wouldn't break, they looked made to hold prisoners much stronger than her and were firm enough that no spell would break through them. Her eyes followed the chains and she squinted at the top where they stopped at the roof of the chamber, the iron was rusted there and the red of the chains stood out in the darkness. Her mouth widened wearily, a small fire bolt should be able break the binds. The smile disappeared completely as she felt the flickering remnants of power within her, she felt almost too weak to form a fire bolt.

Still, she cleared her mind of everything until the only thing left was the thought of magical energy.

She closed her eyes, her mouth whispering the words of the old language fiercely and she could feel the heat of fire burning at the tips of her fingers, ready to shoot wherever she directed it when, suddenly, a slow laugh spread through the entire chamber. The laugh ignited through her, tingling her very bones and her eyes snapped open at the unwelcome sound.

"We'll see each other soon sorcerer".

She didn't know if she'd actually heard the words but the world was shifting, the view of the dungeon evaporated and she felt blackness overwhelm her vision.