in the same way. I wasn’t sure how many hits to my fucking heart I could take in one blow!
“Dead?” I asked with dread, but he shook his head telling me no, and I took a breath of relief instantly, getting to my feet.
“Where?!” Dariush motioned with his head over to the side of the cliff and even before approaching, I could see the glow of fire reflecting on the jagged rock face.
“You’d better get here quick, they won't last much longer!” Dariush warned, and after the second it took me to get there, I soon figured out why. They were clinging onto the side of the rocks and even now, a small foothold crumbled beneath the weight of Caspian, making him grimace. I was about to ask why they hadn't yet climbed up when my brother circled his hand over the edge, as if he could feel something that I could not see.
“They sealed it off,” he said with a glower of anger.
“How the fuck?” I snapped.
“Some kind of concealing veil or holding spell… look, you can see they've tried to get out many times only to slide back down.” I looked to where he pointed to, and could see for myself the clawed marks in the stone. I could also see the rising level of flames as it looked as if the witch had created a rockslide to block the flow of the underground river of Phlegethon.
“Can you clear it?!” I demanded, but Dariush had already started, ignoring my bite of words and getting the job done. In fact, it was only when I began to see for myself the wavering of the air in front of me become something more tangible, did I know that whatever my brother was doing… it was working. Meaning that I could soon see the faint veil that spanned across the cavernous space between the two sides, like a distorted vision of what it should have been. But the moment Clay started to slide further down and closer to the river, I knew they wouldn't survive, I hissed,
“Hurry brother, for I do not wish to lose any more men this day!” Dariush paid my words no heed as he continued to concentrate on the job of saving my men, and looking strained whilst doing it.
“Fuck me, it’s powerful!” he complained, as it was clear that this casting, whatever it was, came from a power that matched our own. A knowledge that made my fear double, for not only that of my men but for the knowledge that the woman I loved was now with them. Of course, I knew that they would keep Amelia alive, but in which manner they chose to do so, was another story. I also knew the inevitable by now, was that Amelia probably had discovered everything about my past and the full depth of my betrayal.
“Done!” Dariush shouted, as a blue fire ignited at the cliff’s edge and travelled the distance over the veil as if burning it out. As for Clay and Caspian, by the time this power was extinguished, they weren't far from the top. Meaning they were soon climbing over the edge and back to safety.
“Unblock the river before it rises enough to fucking flood this place!” I ordered before turning now to my men.
“My Lord, we…” I cut Clay off with a hand before grabbing his shoulder and placing my palm to his forehead, knowing he would not fight me on this. Because I didn't have time for his explanation or his words, but instead needed to see exactly what happened with my own two eyes. Eyes that I closed as I let the recent memories hit me with a rush of images I had to try and put in order. Then, as I finally got hold of them, I started to reverse the effect and see it playing out from the beginning.
“Oh, sweetheart… no.” I felt myself whisper the second I saw it starting with Amelia’s pain… one this time, I had been the cause of. She screamed and shouted and cried just as I knew she would, but right now it was a pain I deserved to endure. Because I had done this. I had fucking done this!
I deserved this pain, not her.
I had been wrong, and now that mistake had cost lives and all that was left for me to do was pray that, included in that loss, wasn’t Amelia’s life once more!