¤ Something Evil This Way Comes

After a brief discussion, Silver and Brandon decided not to open the Summoning Sack in the training grounds, as the girl and Grendel usually did for their observations. After all, Brandon reasoned, they weren’t supposed to be seen with the Summoning Sack. They needed somewhere deserted enough so that no one would discover them or get injured accidentally by the released beast.

The swinging lamp threw crazy shadows all over the walls of the stairway near Silver’s rooms as she descended the staircase before Brandon, the lamplight playing out all over the dark space.

‘How about this place?’ Stopping at the bottom of the steps, Silver held the lamp higher to light up more of the wide landing the staircase ended at.

‘Hmm.’ She heard Brandon’s footsteps fall silent behind her as the warrior stopped to consider the landing. ‘I think here’s alright.’

They got to work quickly. Silver set up a warding line with Magic Stones from her backpack, arranging the Stones in a formation that she had seen Grendel create so many times before. Meanwhile, Brandon looked through Silver’s notes of past observations, helping her point out the mistakes that she might make.

Placing the last Stone in place, Silver stood up to survey her handiwork. The Magic Stones formed a half hexagon on the floor against the far wall of the landing, their sparkling rainbow facets connected by streams of light barely visible in the dim light. Once the wards on the Sack completely break down, the warding line would activate to form a barrier against the wall, trapping the creature in a magical barrier that would keep all within its lines from escaping.

Silently, Brandon handed the Sack over to Silver. The young girl then stepped cautiously over the line of Magic Stones to place the Sack at the centre of the half-hexagon, careful not to nudge any of the Magic Stones out of place. Any gaps in the formation would render the warding line ineffective.

And that would be very fatal indeed.

With slightly shaking hands (oh, but what if something went wrong!), Silver cut the rope that held the Sack’s mouth shut, breaking the wards spelled into the hemp. As the ropes fell away, the runes on the black material of the Sack started to brighten gradually, signalling the starting of the countdown to the complete break down of the wards on the Sack.

Then, the creature within will be unleashed.

Stepping away quickly from the Sack, Silver made her way over to Brandon on the other side of the warding line to await the creature’s impending release.

Ten

‘You know something?’ Brandon suddenly spoke up, moving to stand closer behind Silver.

‘No. What is it?’ Silver answered, watching the runes on the Sack glow brighter with every passing moment. It wouldn’t take too long now, she thought, as she looked over the arrangement of Stones again from where she stood, nervously checking for any mistakes they might have missed.

‘You really are a wonderful girl, you know. I don’t think I can find another quite like you…’

‘You tell me that all the time.’ Silver smiled a little at his compliment, although she noticed something odd about the way he said it. ‘Why are you telling me this now?’

The only response from Brandon was to shift the quiver on her back aside and then reach around to hug her gently from the back. ‘Brandon! Not now.’ She pushed at his arm gently, ‘The Sack’s about to open.’

But Brandon did not move away.

Nine.

‘I’m going to miss you, you know.’ His voice sounded very strange now, almost as if he was… sad about something.

‘What? But, why would you miss me?’ Silver said, puzzled now. ‘I will still be around the Library after my Apprenticeship. We can even go exploring the world together after I earn my Ad Lib robes. I’ll stick so close to you, there will be no chance for you to miss me at all.’

‘It’s not that,’ Brandon sighed and changed the subject abruptly. ‘What do you think of me, Silver my girl?’

Eight.

‘Why are you acting all silly now?’ Silver asked, perplexed.

‘Just answer me.’ Brandon kissed the side of her neck. ‘Please?’

‘I don’t know. You’re alright, I guess.’ Silver answered distractedly, unsure of what to say. ‘Could we please concentrate now? I don’t think we should fool around right now.’

‘Hmm.’ A non-committal sound from him.

Seven.

‘Why is it taking so long?’ Brandon asked now, sounding a little impatient.

‘Is it?’ Silver was surprised. ‘I think it’s quite normal.’

‘Maybe you did something wrong? Could you go check?’ He loosened his embrace and gave her a little pat on the shoulder.

‘Alright.’ Silver walked away from Brandon, crouching down before the sparkling line of Stones to inspect it.

Six.

‘By the way,’ Brandon started to say. ‘I think it’s time that we rethought our relationship, Silver my girl.’

‘What do you mean?’ Startled at his words, she looked back at him, one eyebrow raised. ‘What’s wrong with us?’

‘Everything.’

‘You can’t mean… you want to break up with me?!’ Silver said in disbelief, still looking up at Brandon from where she crouched on the floor. It seemed all too sudden to the young girl, but the calm deliberate way that Brandon stated his intentions did not suggest impulsiveness. ‘Why?’

He shook his head sadly, the scarce light in the space obscuring his face in shadows. ‘All your questions. About Veronica, about our Project… You don’t trust me anymore, right?’

Truly shocked now, Silver stood up, her grey eyes full of bewilderedness. ‘But-’

Five.

Brandon came up to her, his black eyes glinting in the scant light from the lamp, and grasped Silver by the shoulder with one large hand. ‘You suspect me of cheating, don’t you?’

Silver was speechless for a moment, utterly confused as to why Brandon was bringing all that up at such a critical moment. There were barely moments before the monster became free and here he was, talking about breaking up?

‘That wouldn’t do at all.’ At Silver’s stunned silence, Brandon’s lips twisted into a dry smile. ‘Wouldn’t do to have my Project partner and girlfriend thinking and, even worse, telling others all these bad, untrue stuff about me…’

Four.

Brandon stepped even closer to Silver now; the girl could not move away, forced to freeze in place by the crucial arrangement of Stones behind her heels and Brandon’s steel grip on her shoulder. ‘Plagiarism, infidelity… such scandalous tales! Enough to destroy my good reputation and totally ruin my chances of getting honours for the fifth year in a row. And I worked so hard to make sure that I’ll get it too…’

‘But I don’t understand!’ Her grasp on her War Bow was slack, as she struggled to come to terms to what was happening. She stared at Brandon blankly, suddenly feeling as if she did not know this man standing before her at all.

‘Poor Silver, you sound so confused.’ Brandon stroked her cheek, a look of almost genuine pity on his face. ‘Think about it. Why would an Ad Lib like me pay so much attention to an Apprentice like you? Unless, she had the direct backing of an influential Master, like say… Grendel?’

‘You were… using me?!’

Three.

‘Don’t say it like that, you make it sound so… wicked.’ Brandon pulled her closer to hug her around the shoulders, but Silver felt no warmth in that embrace now. She wondered if there had been any there at all in the first place. ‘I was just… thinking about my future career prospects, a perfectly reasonable thing to do, really. But I’m afraid that they got increasingly bad once I heard that you suspected Veronica and I of plagiarism.’

He sighed again, a soft regretful sound. Silver could not move, the feeling that her entire world was completely disintegrating around her growing more unbearable by the second. Her voice, when she finally spoke, was plaintive. ‘But you said… you love me.’

Two.

‘Did I?’ Brandon stilled for a moment, as if considering her words. But he was watching the Sack over Silver’s head, noting that the runes on the Sack were now blindingly bright. ‘Yeah, maybe I did.’ A small hope rose in her then, but it was quickly squashed when she saw the handsome empty smile that spread across his face.

‘But I just don’t love the way my plans will go all out of whack with you around. It’s sad, isn’t it?’ He asked, seeing the tears that were in her eyes. ‘Don’t worry; I’ll make sure that I present our Project the best way I can. And when the honours ceremony comes around, I’ll collect the honours on your behalf. What’s that word for it… posthumously?’

‘I’ll miss you so much, Silver my girl. Goodbye.’ Those were the last words Brandon breathed into her ear, before he stepped away quickly and gave her a hard shove.

One.

Silver stumbled backwards across the line of magic stones and landed hard on her back as she tripped over her own feet. Her War Bow flew out of her grip as she released it to break her own fall, bouncing and skidding to land near the wall. At the same moment, there was a loud resounding crack as the wards on the Sack finally gave way.

Silver scrambled upright, not stopping to nurse the bruises from where she had fallen painfully on top of her own quiver. There was no time! However, even before she could regain her balance, the warding line of Stones activated and a huge shimmering barrier sprang into existence, shutting her off from the outside. Sobbing with fear now, she hammered on the barrier, but it held as the spells had dictated.

‘Help me!’ She cried, her voice echoed strangely as it bounced off the impenetrable barrier before her. But Brandon only shook his head. She saw him turn to disappear into the shadows beyond the glow of the barrier, but not before he bent down to scoop up the abandoned Project portfolio from the ground. It was all that he really needed from her, all this time.

Zero.

A second crack of displaced air, louder than the first, echoed through the small space. A dark, dark shadow stretched and fell over her, eclipsing even the light of the barrier in front of her.

Something evil this way comes.

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FINALLY. You wouldn’t believe how incredibly difficult it was to re-write this part. I had it all perfect and ready to go… then the Flash Drive Tragedy occurred. BUT HERE IT IS! I swear I have never felt more relieved to get something done. *whew*

Oh, wow. Fiftieth chapter. I really am long-winded, aren’t I? PH34R NOT. THERE WILL BE MORE TERROR TO COME! MWUAHAHA. HAHAHA. Haha.

Ha. >.>

Cookies! Multi-flavoured Pick-Your-Favourite-Flavour cookies! ^^ No nuts, though. I probably am nuts enough.

On Maple-related news: SilverFx is lvl 64 now!