The Last Pendragon

Chapter 14

Terror clawed its way into Lyza’s chest and stomach, making her feel as if she was being eaten alive from the inside out. Norak came along with other Mages, most of them Bloods soldiers. Two soldiers grabbed the man and dragged him from his cell as another grabbed his son.

Norak grabbed Lyza, unlocked her cell, and threw her forward. With the chains still burning her wrists and ankles, she stumbled, slamming her head against the stone floor. When her vision finally stopped blurring, Norak had yanked her up by her hair, forcing her up the winding staircase that led out of the catacombs. As they exited it, sunlight burst into Lyza’s vision, making her wince after being in darkness for several hours.

The city of Vergis grew a large crowd gathered around the edge of the square. In its center, Excalibur was no longer in the stone, but beside it, Arthur’s statue stood tall and proud. Something about the sight gave Lyza hope and courage. If her ancestor faced his death head on, maybe she could too.

On the ground in front of Arthur’s statue, runes of death had already been drawn. The man was thrown onto the first rune as the crowd cheered.

“The last of the Pendragons will die and soon the curse will be broken!” The representative of the Bloods, a ruthless man named Orcho, shouted. “No longer will we have to hide in the shadows! Soon, the world will know we exist!”

The crowd cheered in glee as the rune began to pulsate and glow. Tendrils of energy danced away from it, pure black in color. The tendrils grabbed the man’s arms, legs, neck, and chest, yanking him to the ground. It squeezed and crushed him as he screamed in utter agony.

His son thrashed and sobbed hysterically, calling out for his dad. “Daddy, no! Dad, no!”

The man’s body had stilled and the tendrils disappeared. Lyza’s heart constricted; he was her relative and she hadn’t even known his name.

Next, the Bloods threw the boy onto the second rune, identical to the first.

“No!” Lyza cried out, thrashing against Norak’s iron hold on her. “Kill me next, not the boy! Don’t do this to him! He’s young and innocent! He’s just a boy!” Her pleas were lost on deaf ears and the crowd of s******c viewers cheered as the black tendrils grabbed his body, twisting and squeezing, draining him of all his life’s energy.

His body stilled.

Heart hammering in her chest, Lyza’s mind went into shock and it was as if she was watching the situation from a distance, like this wasn’t even happening to her. It couldn’t be. Norak threw her onto the third rune.

The crowd’s roars of glee tore her out of her shockened state and instantly, horror and terror consumed her heart, twisting her stomach until she felt as if she would throw up.

Black tendrils latched onto her skin, searing them. They squeezed her waist and chest until she couldn’t breathe. Gasping for air that wouldn’t come, Lyza shrieked as the tendrils painfully yanked her flat onto the ground, still squeezing. Her very life essence instantly fled her and she no longer had the energy to fight as agony raged through her. She lay perfectly still as the magical spell finished its’ job, draining her empty until there was nothing left.

Lyza’s senses disappeared as her consciousness was slowly destroyed, piece by piece.