Tempting The Dark King [Enchanted World Series Book 2]

Chapter 15

Rhol cursed out colorfully as he puffed back into his office. Zafrina was sitting cozily on one his chairs with one of though looks that he hated so much pasted on her face; I-know-what-you've-been-up to.

“What?” He barked caressing the agitated braid down one of his shoulders. Before Lyrah entered his life, the only things that got agitated were his tattoos because they expressed the purest of emotions, there was no helping it. But lately, he had noticed even the braid that once laid docile around his neck and his shoulder was now reacting to his mate's presence—or her absence. What he knew was that she was causing more harm than good and there was no escaping it.

“The warriors supposed to head off to Garon at the  Quegal Cliffs are ready.” Zafrina announced.

Rhol ground his teeth. “I can't afford losing a commander to go up with them.”

“You can send one of the Aryan brothers; I think Herik would make a good leader for them. We can afford to have him there because both Leon and Stef are very much capable on their own.” Zafrina suggested.

Rhol sighed but nodded. “Fine. Have Herik come here as soon as possible.”

“Yes, my king.” Zafrina inclined her head to her king.

“And--” Rhol added. “Get someone to watch over Lady Lyrah. I don't want her to go around causing trouble for everyone else.”

“Yes.” But Rhol didn't miss the sly smile that touched Zafrina's lips. “I'll head to look for her once I'm done dealing with Herik.”

“Not you. You have better things to do than watch over that errant female.” Rhol's blood roared in his veins just at the thought of the way Lyrah rebuffed him and disappeared. “Find a new recruit or something—a female recruit!”

“Of course, my king but there isn't a new female recruit at the moment.”

“Then get her Leah! I don't want any other male near her!” Rhol hissed. He was not the type to be possessive. True he never shared his lovers with his warriors. They were only for the king, but he didn't need to say it out loud.

Zafrina nodded and walked out.

Rhol took that moment to see how the training was going. So far, no more Ghoul attacks were reported.  Rhol took that opportunity to send a team of his warriors to find out how Marcus of Hawk ended up in a Ghoul body and how he found his way to his Realm. If there were any sorcerers residing in the Realm of the Dark, he wanted to know about them and he wanted to find out what they were up to.

Seygon quickly approached him and bowed his head. “My king.”

“How is the practicing going?” He eyed the new recruits being mercilessly toppled over and over again by the seasoned warriors.

When it came to survival there was no mercy. All his warriors were subjected to events that could really happen in battle so it was not surprising that during this time, the infirmary was crowded with wounded soldiers.

“Slow but they are getting the hang of it.”

“What about the team dispatched to search of the sorcerers?”

Seygon nodded. “So far they have come up with nothing but something strange has happened. I got the information that when they raided on of the smaller Ghoul caves a few miles from the forest, they found all of them dead.”

Rhol frowned at his commander. “What happened?”

Seygon shrugged his shoulders. “We don't know as of yet but their bodies were covered in black marks.”

So, their sorcerer had struck yet again. “Get me some warriors to accompany me to this cave as soon as possible.”

Seygon nodded and hesitated for a moment then cleared his throat and spoke. “I think you should bring a High Mage with you. They know more about this than we do--Lady Lyrah or Muriel.”

Rhol found himself grounding his teeth. The last thing he wanted was either female Mage walking into danger. “We have several Mage in the army, don't we?”

Seygon raised his eyebrows. “They are young and inexperienced for such a thing.”

Muriel knew a lot about ancient sorcery but she was with child, about to pop anytime. That left Lyrah but could be really risk her being there in that cave that could be crawling with Ghouls? He did assure her that he didn't need any help from her so he thought of another way. “Then we will document the symbols and bring them back with us for Muriel to analyze.”

“Yes, my king.”

“Get the warriors ready.” Rhol turned away and walked off.

“I wanted to show you something, Lady Lyrah.” Muriel smiled softly as she removed a very old manuscript.

Lyrah's eyes widened. The manuscript was as old as time itself and it radiated with so much power that it zinged in the room around them, bathing them in its warmth and vitality.

“This belonged to my father, High Mage Aeron; Mage of Thought. He had very strong telepathic abilities and also honed telekinesis—something only the pureblood Royal Mage could learn in the long run.”

Lyrah had yet to learn the art of telekinesis and telepathy but she knew her brother was already a master at both. He was able to communicate with animals. It took a great deal of concentration and energy that if you did it wrong, it could suck the life energy right out of you! 

“But my father was born with both these abilities. They wore hard on his body and at the end he had to pay the ultimate the price for having such extraordinary gifts; he lost his sight. But that didn't stop him from becoming one of the strongest High Mage I know! He used his gifts to see through other's eyes from the fellow Mage to birds in the sky or wild animals in the forest. You could just imagine what an advantage the Mage had in a war when they had someone who could see exactly where the enemy was and their number.” Muriel carefully pried the manuscript open to a blank page. “To the normal eye, the entire manuscript is nothing but a dusty old blank book but...” she traced her hand over the page and a black pattern appeared. The pattern shimmered and rose up from the page glowing like the red pieces of burning wood. With delicate yet complex hand movements, Muriel went on to solve the puzzle. Each manuscript belonging to a Mage that had long passed had a spell woven to keep it safe. If the spell is tried to be cracked without success, it sucks the life out of the culprit. These spells vary from songs, to hand movements, to whistles. Only the few selected, especially family, knew how to crack the spell thus summoning a remnants of the dead Mage's energy when there is the need. Some believe that the actual spirit of the dead Mage lived within his or her manuscript and it could be summoned for advice and aid.

The pattern took a different shape and the red glow was replaced by the pale blue one.

A hiss sounded in the room as words began to appear on the pages. Some of the pages had illustrations, others had beautiful drawings.

“Okay...now we need to know how to protect ourselves against the tainted energy strand.” She hummed lightly and paged through the manuscript looking through centuries worth of spells.

“Were there sorcerers even during your father's time?” Lyrah asked.

“Of course. There can not be day without night, light without darkness and definitely no good without evil. I also believe that during that time, the Dark Energy was there but it wasn't that strong.”

Lyrah nodded. “I believe that too.”

“Well, let's get started then.” Muriel sounded very excited.

The two females found themselves working the entire morning and early noon on the spell. Helpers came now and then bring them food and snacks while the worked. Zax was also close by making sure his mate was doing well. He barely talked, he just watched from a distance and any time he felt that Muriel was using excessive energy he would move close and touch her shoulder.

“Oh!” Muriel sighed and settled back on her chair. Her forehead and slightly damp from the concentration. “I think we have done well today but it is time for us to rest, don't you think?”

Lyrah grinned at the other female as her mate practically jumped from his seat and zoomed beside her. “I think we were worrying you mate a little too much.”

“Oh, he can handle it.” Muriel looked up at her mate with love smoldering in her eyes and touched his hand lightly. “I think I might need some help getting to our quarters, dearest.”

Zax didn't wait to be told twice. He scooped Muriel as if she didn't weigh a thing and turned to Lyrah. “I think you should go up and rest too, my lady.”

Lyrah stretched against her chair and nodded. “Yeah, I think I will do that. I'll see you at supper, Muriel.”

“Alright.” Muriel nodded.

When Zax puffed away, Lyrah turned to the door. She wondered what Rhol was doing. He wasn't in the Fortress, that much she knew because the anxiety was slowly building again. He must have been out scouting the caves again, she thought as she passed through the hallway towards his office. As she got closer she heard voices but neither of them was Rhol's. When she opened the door she was surprised to see a Jinn she had seen the last time in the infirmary who had the chocolate skin and a blue haze over it and Herik.

“Herik!” She exclaimed as she entered the office.

Both males bowed to her.

“My lady.” Herik looked up at her and smiled back.

“It feels like ages since the last time I saw you. How are you? How are your siblings? Is Eva alright? What are you doing here?”

Herik chuckled lightly. “One question at a time, my lady. You know how bad we males are at multitasking.”

Lyrah's cheeks reddened. “Sorry.” she muttered then turned to the other male.

As if he read her mind he quickly bowed again and introduced himself. “I am Seygon, commander of the Royal Army.”

As usual, he was fit and had an impressive physic. “Nice to meet you.”

“I will excuse myself and let you speak to Herik, if you don't mind.” Seygon stated.

“Thank you.” Lyrah smiled at him.

Smoke twirled around him and his body shimmered before he disappeared.

“Come with me, my lady. I have something to show you.” Herik opened the door for her.

It seemed everyone had something to show her that day. She was really excited as she and Herik walked out into the backyard. Instinctively two Jinn warriors moved from their posts by the door and followed them behind quietly.

“How have you and your siblings been faring after I left?” She asked him again, this time slowly.

“Very well, my lady. My heart feels with happiness to know that you are worried about us.” Herik grinned. “The attacks from the Ghouls has decreased and a lot of people have moved away from the forests and are now residing in the cities and towns where it is easy to watch over them.”

“I'm glad to hear that. Oh, please do tell Eva to come and visit me every once in a while. It gets awfully lonely here and I doubt the King will allow me to leave the premises with everything that is going on.”

“I will be sure to tell her that...and you my lady, your health has returned.”

Lyrah nodded. “Thanks to my brother I was nursed back to health.”

Herik's face paled. “The Lord Mage was here?”

“Yeah, you just missed him.” Lyrah teased. When Herik stuttered, Lyrah broke into a laugh. “My brother does not eat people, you know!”

“I know but with all the stories we have heard about him, he is considered as one of the most powerful males in the enchanted world.”

“Oh, so he is a celebrity here, huh? I'm sure to pass on the praises.” Lyrah could almost see her brother snort at the praises and that made her smile even more. “I'll tell you what I learned though. I thought my brother was tough...until I met the Jinn King.”

Again Herik chuckled as they passed a group of warriors sharpening and polishing their weapons. When they saw them they quickly jumped to their feet and bowed. Lyrah smiled at them and was amazed at how red a face could actually turned within a few seconds. They were young, hot blooded males so obviously that would be the reaction to any female, she excused them.

“That's the King's mate, Lady Lyrah!” She heard one exclaimed.

“It's true what they said about her beauty.” One sighed dreamily.

“A beauty so rare that it brings the dead to life.” another added.

Now, it was Lyrah's turn to blush.

“I think you have just earned yourself some admirers.” Herik teased.

Lyrah found herself wrinkling her nose at him.

Finally they reached what looked like a very large barn and just outside was Tatiana being admired by a group of young Jinn children. Lyrah had never seen Jinn children before but they looked normal with the tattoos on their bodies but the tattoos weren't slithering around like on the mature Jinn. When they saw them approaching, they puffed away in fear.

“Oh!” Lyrah gasped in surprise. She didn't expect to have such a reaction from them and she never thought they were able to do that until they reached puberty. Children usually liked her and she loved them.

Tatiana let out a neigh and galloped towards her.

Soon, her surprised reaction was forgotten as she touched the mare. “Oh, Tatiana, how I have missed you!”

Tatiana neighed again rubbed her muzzle against Lyrah's hair.

“Oh thank you very much, Herik.”

“She has healed well but she has a little scarring on her side; badges of courage I would say.”

Lyrah laughed as she ran her hands on Tatiana's white coat. “She is a warrior in her own right.” She repeated the words she had told Rhol.

“Stef had to calm her at every chance he got once she got better because she wanted to flee and search for you. I had no choice but to bring her here with me.”

Lyrah frowned. “But what are you doing here, Herik? Is there something that you have to report?”

Herik shook his head and turned to the vast stretch of fortress ground before them. “My King summoned me. I have yet to know what it is about.”

Lyrah nodded lightly as she lazily combed her fingers through Tatiana's mane. She hoped it wasn't something bad because she didn't want anything to happen to Herik and his family. Somehow, she found herself having a very strong connection with them. Maybe this was the Mage is her reacting to the rarity of their existence, she didn't know but she found herself wanting to protect them no matter what it took. “Well, I hope whatever it is, it's not a bad thing.”

“It's not something you should worry yourself about, my lady.”

Lyrah nodded and tried to cheer up as she looked up at her mare. “I think I will go for a ride.”

Suddenly the guards moved towards the barn and came out with two horses. Lyrah found herself rolling her eyes as she jumped on Tatiana and sent the mare on a gallop, leaving the two Jinn warriors to chase nothing but dust behind her.

“I swear...one of these days.” Rhol hissed to his second in command as they flashed back into the grounds and caught the sight of Lyrah galloping away from his warriors.

“Should I go after her?” Zafrina didn't even try to hide the smile on her face nor the amusement dancing in her eyes. “It's been a while since I went riding myself.”

“We don't have the time to deal with her and her childish behavior.” He turned to the male Nosferatu standing in front of them watching in amazement and he couldn't help but think of ways to hurt him just for watching his mate. “Go call that fool watching his queen like that and warn him to keep his eyes from her or I will do the honor of keeping them for him in a jar in my office!” The last words rasped against his throat as he marched away with purpose.

One of these days....one of these days he was going to tie his mate up somewhere where no one could reach. He didn't know why or where such thoughts came from but every nerve on his body was hot-wired. There was no sleeping again that night—that much he knew.