Read with BonusRead with Bonus

Chapter 4: The Ruins of the Battle

A few hours had passed since the men left to god knows where……Stella was getting more and more anxious by the second, worried about Dominic. I couldn’t even call him to find out where they where because I don’t have his phone number, but Stella probably does.

“ Hey Stella, if you have Dominic’s number, do you mind calling him? Ask what’s going on?” I asked her tentatively.

She looked at me like I had gone insane and replied, “Dominic does’t use cell phones. The radiations from the cellphones or any other electronic gadgets interfere with his powers. “

“What? Oh for god’s sake who doesn’t own a mobile phone in this era?”

“ Only those with bending skills avoid using the gadgets…… the rest of us have one….” She said pointing to her own neon pink phone.

I rolled my eyes at how stupid and gullible she was and then pointed out, “ So that means Dominic and Christopher doesn’t use cellphones, but Tao or Tristin or Julian probably does”

“ Oh yeah , I got Tao’s number.. wait a sec.. let me call” She shrieked excitedly.

“ Hhhmmm, It’s ringing but he isn’t answering… What do we do? “ She said panicking.

“ Is there someone we can tell….. you know in case they are in danger or something. What are we supposed to do? Is there some type of protocol here. Who is next in charge if Dominic isn’t here?” I asked

“You” she breathed.

Oh crap! This isn’t good…. What was I supposed to do? I don’t know much about this Sect… who to trust …..who not to trust… Gah… what to do…

“ What do people do here in case of emergencies? Who do they see when the Head of the Sect doesn’t know what to do in a particular situation?” I asked her frustrated.

“ Dominic always used to go to the church when he wanted answers” she said softly.

The church? Ughhh… I am not a church going person…..and I don’t see how that’s going to help in this situation.

I hid my annoyance and tried again, “ Is there someone in the church Dominic seeks advice from?”

She nodded. Oh thank god! Finally someone who can fix this…uumm .....whatever this is. I let out the breath a didn’t even realize I was holding in.

“ Ok then let’s go to the church…. Er…where is it exactly?” I asked her.

I saw her eyes widen with shock and she was shaking badly when she said, “ I am not going to that god forsaken place. I want to live thank you very much.”

“ God forsaken place?” I asked her confusedly. A church is supposed to be a holy place, at least that’s the situation as I know it.

“ That isn’t like an ordinary church, its in ruins. The war between the Blood Sect and Sky Sect destroyed the place.” She stated obviously.

“ ugh…There is so much I don’t know….There was a war? Ugh… forget it ….I can have my history lessons some other time. So where is this church?”

“ Did you see a forest on the way here? It’s right in the middle of the woods.”

In the middle of the woods? Who in their right minds would build a church in the middle of the woods? Ughhh.

“ So this person, he lives in the ruins of a church in the middle of the goddamn woods? And there is no other way to contact him? You know maybe he has a cellphone?” I asked Stella hopefully.

She, however surprised me by laughing like a maniac. “ A seer using a cell phone.. good one…” She said in between laughs.

I was growing more and more confused by the second…

“A seer?” I prompted.

“ A seer is a holy person who can see the future…..” she says slowly as if I am stupid.

Thank god, I invited Stella to move in …. I would have been so lost what to do without her….. I learned more from her than anyone else here. What qualities my husband has which made the smart, beautiful daughter of a councilmen willingly become his concubine, I will never know.

“ Ok then let’s go to the forest and visit this seer shall we?” I said making up my mind.

She started shrieking again, “ You want to go to the middle of the woods to a place which has the blood of thousands of people?”

Yeah , pretty much…. She had summed it up perfectly.. Ugh.. As I saw her face going white, I realized that I would never be able to make her come to the godforsaken place unless I emotionally blackmailed her.

I shrugged and replied, “ Think about Dominic. What if he is battling between life and death as we sit here debating? The man for whom you went against your own father? Would you be willing to let something happen to him?”

Her eyes began to widen again, widen more than what I thought was humanly possible . She gulped and I saw an expression of determination pass in her eyes. She straightened her shoulders , looked me in the eyes and said, “ Ok , let’s do this!”

Damn… she must really love the guy….

I grinned at her and asked her, “ How do we get there? We need a car…also pack some torch lights…water…food…if we get stuck we might need that….then what else? Do you have some weapons in case wild animal attacks us?”

She seemed to be thinking things over, then after a while she replied, “ We have a car….we have lots of car in fact…in Dominic’s garage…..he is a millionaire for crying out loud . As for weapons, follow me….”

I quickly got out of my bed, followed her. She seemed to be going towards the Attic… I have never been to that side of the mansion yet. She stopped in front of a painting, which when I peered closely at it, found to be a painting of different fruits in a bowl.

She then expertly touched an apple in the painting. For a second, I stood there wondering what the hell was that supposed to do? Then I saw a metal door appearing from the wall facing opposite to the painting. Wow ! A secret door……How fun was that! Had we not been in a hurry, I would have taken hours to study the door and its mechanisms… Stella cleared her throat, then went inside, me closely at her heels. She switched on the lights and I gasped out loud……The room was filled with weapons ranging from guns to knifes to swords to bows and arrows to quivers to some other weird traditional weapons I haven’t ever seen before. My eyes was immediately stuck on the long silver weapon, which looked like a sword, but wasn’t exactly a sword. It was longer than a sword and was bendy. It looked like a metal lasso. Stella, following my look, said, “ That is an Urumi”

“Urumi?”

“It is the most dangerous weapon here. However it isn’t for beginners. Only the best of the best can control that weapon. Because if you can’t properly handle an Urumi, it will end up hurting the user more than the person you intended to get hurt. Even Dominic can’t use an Urumi. It is usually used in wars. And this Urumi belonged to you father, Jessica” She declared

“ My father?......I… ummm..” I started stammering.

I took one last regretful look at the Urumi, then moved towards the knifes, I had a mean throw. So knifes would probably suit me better. I was never good at man to man combat. I could beat the boys in my orphanage only because I was stronger and faster than them by genetic default.

I saw Stella putting on a bow and arranging the arrows.

“ Wow, You can shoot? After all this is over, please teach me how to use a bow? I always wanted to…” I begged her.

She smiled at me and nodded.

I left Stella alone in the Attic to get some food packed for our journey. When I exited the kitchen I saw Stella talking to a blonde guy in hushed tones.

When the guy saw me, his eyes widened, he bowed his head and whispered, “ Your Highness, Miss Rodriguez here had informed me about your situation. I volunteer myself of service to you. I would gladly give my life to protect His Highness.”

I mouthed “ Highness?” to Stella, who shrugged and said,” People outside the mansion, your people are required to address their leaders by their title.”

I smiled at the man and replied, “ Thank you for agreeing to accompany us. How do you two know each other?”

Stella replied, “ I was getting the car started when I bumped into him. He and his family was visiting to pay respects to their new Mistress. I sent his family back stating there was an emergency. He however, wanted to help”

I nodded. I had expected half the village to show up, but only one family came. I guess this is one of the few families Stella mentioned earlier that were still loyal to my father.

After several minutes all three of us were in a car headed towards the woods.

Previous Chapter
Next Chapter