Post by StoryGirl83 on Aug 27, 2008 19:49:48 GMT -5
Chapter Eight - Hear These Words as I Knock
The room which contained Trae’s lair was empty except for the altar and the thirteen orbs on it. A blue triquetra appears on the wall. Wyatt and Chris stepped out. As they looked around the image faded behind them. Wyatt approached the altar while Chris stood back and surveyed the empty room.
“These orbs,” Wyatt said as he looked at them. “Do you think they are the ones we need?”
“Maybe,” Chris replied, slightly distracted and for some reason apprehensive.
Wyatt walked closer to the altar and began to reach out his hand. His hand stopped suddenly as if by some invisible force.
“Wait,” Chris commanded. His hand was waved toward him, indicating that he had stopped Wyatt’s hand with his telekinesis.
Wyatt turned around to look at his brother. “What?”
Chris shoved his hand into the pocket of his jeans and pulled out a handful of change. He frowned and began looking through it. He pulled a penny out of the pile and put the rest back in his pocket. Then, he walked up next to Wyatt and tossed the penny onto the altar. It his the shield and incinerated.
“And here I thought she was too cocky to think we’d defeat her,” Wyatt mumbled, taking a step back.
“More like she wasn’t taking any chances,” Chris replied eying the altar wearily.
“They are no good to her dead,” Wyatt countered looking at the altar, trying to see the invisible shield or something that would have clued Chris into it’s existence. He saw nothing.
“Maybe to her brother though,” Chris replied thoughtfully, “if he’s still around out there. Or maybe it’s just because she was a demon.”
“That’s right,” Wyatt said looking at his brother, remembering, “there is another one out there. I wish we could get rid out him, too.”
“Too bad, Chris agreed, “but you said that we had to have some sort of contact with a soul thief to summon one and we’ve had none with him.”
“Yeah,” Wyatt relented reluctantly. “Maybe we’ll have another chance later. He’s sure to surface.”
“Maybe,” Chris agreed with a sigh, “but if we don’t hear about it, we won’t get another chance. Twenty years is a long time to wait.
“Do they have to wait that long?”
Chris shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe we should just hope that someone else vanquishes him. Right now let’s worry about these orbs.”
“Orbs, huh?” Wyatt said thoughtfully as he looked at the orbs on the altar. One of the was surrounded by blue-white orbs. It started to leave, but then it hit the shield and headed back down fast only to be stopped inches from the altar.
Next to Wyatt, Chris’s hand was outstretched as if he caught the orb. He breathed a sigh of relief.
Wyatt turned to look at him just as Chris moved down his hand and let the orb stop on the altar. “Maybe a spell.”
Chris shrugged. “It’s worth a try.”
Wyatt thought a moment before he began to chant. “Now that Trae has bit the dust, put down the shield. It is a must.”
Chris pulled out his handful of change, again. He fiddled through it until he found another penny. He tossed it at the altar and once again, the penny was incinerated.
“Guess not,” Wyatt mumbled wryly.
Chris tried a different tactic as he began to chant. “In order that we can find the key, make this shield black so we can see.” The shield instantly turned visible and everything on the table was made dark by the barely see through black shield.
Wyatt looked at him confused. “You turned it black. How does that help us drop the shield?”
Chris shrugged. “At least we can see it now.”
Wyatt scowled.
“What?” Chris asked slightly defensive. “It’s true.”
“Fine,” Wyatt conceded. “How do we get them out?”
“Does the shield go under the altar?”
“How should I know?” Wyatt squatted down and looked under the table. “I don’t see anything, but that would be way to easy and I’m pretty sure she didn’t mean for this to be easy.”
“Still.”
“Fine. Be ready to catch just in case this actually works.”
Chris gets his hands out. “What are you planning to do, so that I know what to look for?”
“I’m going to see if I can use telekinesis to break of the edge of the altar.”
Chris dropped his arms back to his side. “You just started using that power this morning.”
“Well, theoretically, I’ve had it all along, I just couldn’t use it,” Wyatt reminded him.
“Yes,” Chris agreed easily, “but you haven’t used it. Powers need time and practice to strengthen and unless you can break that altar with your bare hands, then I don’t think this is going to work.”
Wyatt gives his brother a wounded puppy dog look. “You can be such a downer. Let me at least try.”
“Fine.” Chris got his hands ready, so if needed he could stop the orbs with his own telekinesis.
Wyatt focused on the altar and waved his hand down, trying to break the table. Unfortunately it only ended up looking silly and pointless. Annoyed Wyatt tried again, this time with more force. The entire altar came crashing down, but the force field remained. It sputtered and flickered, but still it held. The orbs remained within it.
Chris looked at his brother surprised as he held the orbs suspended in air. “Okay, so you can break it. The shield is still up.”
Wyatt scowled and began to chant. “Shield that will not unlock, hear these words as I knock. Bring down the shield so I can save the little girl so near a grave.” The shield sputtered and flickered some more, but it didn’t come down. “I guess it is weaker.”
“Try knocking,” Chris suggested, eyeing the altar.
“What?” Wyatt asked looked at Chris confused.
“It was in your spell,” Chris replied.
“That was figurative,” Wyatt informed him.
“Does the spell know that?”
Wyatt scowled and knocked on the wall. Nothing happened. “Told you.”
“Try another spell,” Chris suggested. “Maybe I can get an orb out when it flickers.”
Wyatt shook his head. “We need to get all the orbs out, not just one.”
“No, just eleven.”
Wyatt looked at him annoyed.
Chris sighed. “Fine. Any other ideas?”
“What about my shield?” Wyatt suggested. “Maybe I can counter the shield on . . . what’s left of the altar.”
Chris shrugged. He moved his hand and the orbs moved to the opposite side of the dark shield. “We only have to worry about eleven. There are two in there that we don’t have to worry about. Maybe we can use those to experiment.”
Wyatt walked close to the shield and looked down at the orbs. His eyes widened as he saw images appear in the ten clear orbs. He looked at the speckled orb and breathed in sharply. “Hannah.”
“What?” Chris looked at him curiously.
“I saw Hannah in one of these orbs.
“Well, it makes sense doesn’t it? She’s not unaffected by this, so Trae got to some of her. Since this is where Trae put them . . . At least it proves that this is the right place.”
Wyatt’s shield came up. He moved a few inches until his shield was touching Trae’s. “Take care of the orbs.”
Chris nodded and began to concentrate solely on what was happening to the orbs.
Wyatt moved closer and the shields began to throw sparks. Wyatt moved a little closer and the sparks flew higher.
Chris backed up against the wall, but kept concentrating on the orbs.
Wyatt moved slowly closer and the shield kept yielding, growing smaller, but not breaking. “From the Soul Thief, rescue is chief. Make her shield, to mine yield.” As Wyatt speaks the shield keeping them from the orbs began to sputter erratically and when he finished, it dissolved into nothing. Wyatt walked slowly away and dropped his shield. He looked at the orbs being held up by his brother and one of the black ones orbed into his outstretched hand. “Okay. I think we can take them out of here, now.”
Chris moved the orbs from the remains of the altar and set them down on the ground. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his change, again. Once more he selected a coin, this time at random, and tossed it at the orbs. It fell harmlessly to the ground. Seeing it as safe, Chris walked over to the orbs and picked out up. “How are we supposed to carry these? We didn’t bring anything with us. They aren’t exactly the size of marbles and there are thirteen of them.”
“Eleven,” Wyatt corrected, automatically.
“I’m not leaving the empty ones either,” Chris informed him.
“Why?” Wyatt asked confused.
“I don’t trust her,” Chris replied simply.
Wyatt couldn’t argue with that and started laughing. “Fine, then. We will take all of them. If you’ll hold out your arms, I’ll see how many I can fit there without you dropping any and then I’ll take the rest.”
Once Chris had complied and crossed his arms across his chest so that they could hold them, Wyatt began the task of piling the baseball sized orbs into Chris’ arms. Soon nine of the orbs were in Chris’ arms.
Wyatt took the remaining four and put them in his own arms. “Let’s get out of here. This place gives me the creeps.”
“It’s just an empty room,” Chris reminded him.
“An empty room which over the years has likely seen more than its share of dead.”
“I don’t need convincing, Wy. I want to leave before I drop these.” Chris looked down at the coin lying on the ground where the orbs once were. With a flick of his finger it lifted off the ground and slid into his pocket.
Wyatt orbed out of the room and a second later Chris orbed after him.