Dark Divine

Chapter 4

Magnus bowed and headed to Alina’s room.  Since it had been several hours since he had helped create the ward in her room, he was slowly regaining his strength.  As he rounded the corner that opened to the hallway to her room, he spotted the two door guards lying on the floor.  The door to her room was wide open.  Panic seized him as he sprinted at top speed, not knowing what he would discover.

He came crashing into the room and, his breath suddenly caught in his chest.  Kalan, one of the other executors had Alina by the throat and her feet were hovering above the floor.  Her eyes were closed and her arms were dangling limply down by her sides.  Rage consumed him as he ran over to Kalan and pried his hand from her neck.  He caught her with his other arm as Kalan dropped her.  She was like a little rag doll in his hold.

Ugly purple splotches formed a patchwork choker around her neck, adding to the ugly marks she was already bearing.  While one of his hands was crushing Kalan’s fingers, his other arm was cradling Alina.  He gently lowered her to the floor, finding a weak pulse in her wrist.  He sagged slightly with relief.  When she was safely deposited, he turned toward his longtime executer partner who he had looked upon as a brother since he was a teenager.

He still had a grip on Kalan’s hand as he glared into his eyes. “What the hell do you think you are doing?”  He said through clenched teeth.  At that moment, he wanted to kill Kalan with his bare hands.  “If you were anyone else, you would be dead right now”.

Kalan winced at those words, but he stood tall and proud.

One of the guards was slowly getting up. He was holding his head and trying to shake off his wooziness.  “Get Sebille, now!”  Magnus ordered him.  The guard stood at attention for one second and then scurried off to find Sebille, leaving all of Magnus’ attention on Kalan.

“I am waiting for an answer.”  He said in a quiet, and deadly tone. “Why did you try and kill her?”

“You were unable to complete your mission, and I felt it was my duty to finish for you since you didn’t have the balls to do it yourself!  She is pretty, I’ll give you that, but you should be immune to such dark bewitchments.  She is pure evil and she needs to be dealt with.  I can’t believe you allowed yourself to be deceived in such a way, after all these years.”

Magnus snapped.  His fist landed right on Kalan’s jaw with a resounding c***k. “You don’t know what you are talking about!  I think maybe you should shut up now.”  He yelled.  “If you ever touch her again, I will NOT be held responsible for my actions.  That is a solemn promise.”

Kalan grunted and rubbed his jaw, gingerly.  “You’ve gone soft, brother.  I think your time as an executer is finished.  You should hang up your career right now, and go live in la la land, where your brain currently is.”

Magnus opened his mouth to speak more when he heard the sound of someone rushing behind him.  Sebille had dashed into the room and was kneeling on the floor, with her fingers gently touching Alina’s neck.

“Before you two go about killing each other, do you mind, Magnus, putting her on the bed so I can get to work?  We don’t have much time.  She was already weak before the angel of death here tried to finish her off.”  She was openly glaring at Kalan, who looked surprised  at her wrath.

Magnus released his hold on Kalan, and dropped down to the floor to scoop Alina up into his arms.  She was limp and only lightly breathing.  He put her on the bed, and smoothed out her skirt.  The tension in his chest made it hard for him to breathe.

“Will she be ok?”  He asked Sebille, completely forgetting that Kalan was still in the room.  He was so grateful she was there.  Sebille had the reputation of being one of the best fae healers around.  He had seen her at work on the battlefield, and she was nothing short of a miracle worker.

She had her hands gently hovering over Alina’s throat.  “Her esophagus is just about crushed.”  She turned and glared at Kalan.  “But I think we got to her in time to reverse the damage.  One second later, and it might have been too late.”

Magnus released the breath he didn’t realize he had been holding.  Relief and anger were fighting an intense battle inside of his head.  He still couldn’t believe his most trusted friend went behind his back and tried to kill her.  Didn’t Kalan see that she didn’t have an ounce of evil in her tiny body?

Sebille’s hands were glowing a soft golden hue as she went to work healing Alina.  Gradually, the dark bruises on her neck lightened up, and then started to fade away.  Her chest began to rise and fall more strongly and steadily.  After a few more minutes, her eyes fluttered open.