What if every magical creature you'd ever heard of was real, driven into hiding by an army of violent zealots? This is reality for Sarah Heisen and Porter Collins. Sarah is a sphinx living a life of luxury in her family's mansion. Hidden from all da...
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Chapter Twenty Four
(Azkular)
A deep anger burned in Azkular's heart as he knelt before the Arch-Mirror. It was a mirror the likes of which you would see nowhere else. L-shaped, half of it rested against the wall, and then angled down onto the floor. The frame was decorated with every precious gem known to man— and many that were not.
"Arch-Mythic Rayalga," Azkular said, bowing his head.
The mirror began to glow. A moment later, the Arch-Mythic appeared before him.
"Commander Azkular," the gryphon greeted him, his head held high with pride.
Rayalga was not really in the room with him, but anybody looking in would have a hard time telling that. The Arch-Mirror was, in truth, nothing but a magic mirror. The way it was constructed, and the spells powering it, made it so that instead of merely showing Rayalga's reflection in the glass, it projected a perfect hologram of him.
Azkular didn't raise his head to look, though.
"I have done as you commanded," he said. "I spent the entire day interrogating the Slayer."
Rayalga hummed in his throat. With the head and wings of an eagle and the body of a lion, the Arch-Mythic was an intimidating creature— one of the most frightening Azkular had ever met.
"And what answers has he given?" he asked, his voice heavy with authority.
Commander Azkular clenched his eyes shut. "None," he confessed. "I have tried every technique I know to loosen his lips, but he still insists that he knows nothing."
Rayalga growled, a sound that made the fire in Azkular's veins turn cold.
"I will continue to question him, Arch-Mythic," he promised. "I will not allow his kind to endanger my Sanctuary."
"I want answers, djinn," Rayalga demanded. "His trial is in two days. If he receives the death sentence before you've broken him, we will have gotten nowhere." He paused and leaned down, giving Azkular a piercing stare. "You haven't forgotten what happened the last time you allowed a Slayer into a Sanctuary, have you?"
Azkular's eyes shot open at that comment, burning with blue fire. He clamped then shut again, cutting off the flames.
"I will not fail you again," he said after a moment of painful silence. "I promise."
"Don't fail my people," the Arch-Mythic corrected him. With that, his image faded away, leaving Azkular alone in the room again.
The djinn knelt there for another five minutes, fighting back the memories that Rayalga's question had awakened. Then, once he felt he was under control again, he stood up and left the room. He wouldn't fail. He wouldn't let the Slayers win. He would break the young man's will, or he would break himself trying.
