Chapter 11
1956 Words
Catalina squeezed her eyes shut and felt Belhazur pull her back against her chest. The demon king bent his head, and she could feel his hot breath on her neck.
“It’s okay. You can open your eyes. You’re safe,” he whispered, wrapping his arms around Catalina.
Nervously, she opened one eye and looked around. Catalina saw they were standing in the front yard, and she opened her eyes.
“See, there is nothing to worry about. I think you took a nap while I was gone and had a bad dream,” Belhazur cooed.
Catalina stared in amazement. She couldn’t believe she was outside. Was the demon king right? Had it all been a bad dream? The woman wondered and sighed. Catalina didn’t know what to believe. The king of Chaos put his lips to her ear, and his breath tickled, sending warm tingles down her spine. Memories of the demon king hurting her faded, and she relaxed against him.
Belhazur tightened his arms around the warlock woman.
“Now, I need you to do me a favor,” he said in a husky tone.
“Hmm?” Catalina asked, and Belhazur gently swayed them.
“I want you to call for your demon army to gather before us.”
Catalina’s eyes shot open.
“Why?”
“So, I can take over the Magical Realm and be done with them,” the demon king said.
Aggressively, Catalina struggled against the king of Chaos until he let her go, and she turned around, glaring at him.
“If you cannot break through the barrier, then why would I call for my people to go on a suicide mission?” she asked sternly, and Belhazur looked at her.
“It won’t be a suicide mission as long as you rally your army,” he stated through gritted teeth, and Catalina crossed her arms over her chest.
“No, I will not send for my people!” she stated, standing her ground, and the king of Chaos sneered at her.
“What did you just say?” the demon snarled, and Catalina inhaled deeply.
“I said, no, I will not call for my people to go on your mission,” she repeated, and Belhazur’s eyebrows shot down in anger.
Before Catalina could blink, the demon king stepped closer and backhanded her. Her head snapped to the side, and she fell to the ground. She felt something sticky on her lips, touching them, and saw she had blood on her fingertips. Angrily, Catalina looked at Belhazur, and he gave her an annoyed look.
“Now, you wretched woman, summon your army!” he demanded.
Disgusted, Catalina got to her feet and smoothed her dress down. Without a word, she raised her hands above her head and threw dark magic into the red sky. Belhazur smiled as groups of demons appeared before them, and Catalina dropped her arms, sneering at the demon king, breathing heavily.
Belhazur ignored her scowl and happily threw his arms around the woman. Catalina shot a nervous look at the closest three demons and then glared at Belhazur. She didn’t like this and hoped the guardians would stop this madness.
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“Are you ready to help me get this thing working, so we can go down and rescue Dig and the others?” asked Ray, reaching his hand out to Isabel.
The beautiful dark-haired girl looked at him and nodded, grabbing his hand, and Ray pulled Isabel to her feet. He could tell she was back to her old self and could hold her own again.
Ray searched Isabel’s eyes.
“You seem a lot better, but if you’re not ready, we can wait a few more minutes,” he suggested, and Haven agreed.
Isabel shook her head and up her hand on Ray’s shoulder.
“No, let’s finish this,” she breathed, and Ray and Haven nodded.
The Earth Guardian walked over to the ledge and hoisted himself up to the machine. Isabel was right behind him and groaned painfully as she pulled herself up. She realized her muscles were still sore, and she rubbed her thigh.
“You know I could have helped you,” stated Ray, and Isabel looked at him, shaking her arms.
“Now, where’s the fun in that?” she teased, and Ray chuckled.
Ray looked at his Fairy Guardian.
“Okay, go up and be the lookout. Warn us if you see any signs of that serpent. He’s the main one we have to take out,” he instructed, and Haven nodded.
Ray watched as the fairy took flight and then looked at Isabel.
“Alright, just as we did before. You push at the base, and I will push from here,” Ray stated, resting his hand on the tree, and Isabel nodded.
She crawled under the log, back to her place, and positioned her hands above her head. Ray ducked under the branch and set his hands.
“Okay. On the count of three.”
On three, Ray and Isabel pushed as hard as they could, and the branch slowly started to move. Suddenly, the Earth Guardian noticed a little resistance from the tree and turned his head. He saw that the tree was hung up on the gear teeth. Ray faced forward and pushed harder.
“Come on, push harder. It’s hung up on one of the gears,” he growled, and Isabel pushed as hard as she could.
Her hands suddenly slipped, and Isabel pitched forward. She yelled out as her face hit the ground and smacked her head on the hard rock. Ray turned, letting go of the log, and saw her hit the ground.
“Hey, are you okay?” he asked, kneeling beside her, and Isabel looked at him.
She had blood running down her cheek, and she nodded.
“I think we should take a break,” Isabel suggested, and Ray agreed.
Swiftly, Ray made a water stream appear in front of them.
“Thanks,” breathed Isabel, and he nodded.
Curiously, she watched Ray as he drank from the stream and put his face in it. Isabel was fascinated by the drops of water dripping from his beard, running down his muscular neck, and disappearing into the collar of his suit. Ray caught her staring at him, and Isabel quickly stuck her face in the stream. He shook his head in disbelief, realizing that he would never understand the female species, and was glad to have Riah.
Ray could admit she and Ashta had their crazy moments together, but he could understand and love them. He missed her very much. He thought about the day he and Riah spent on the mountain of land and sighed heavily.
“Ray?”
The Earth Guardian shook his head and looked at Isabel.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
“Yeah,” Ray breathed and then looked at the giant branch.
“Are you ready to give it another try?” Ray asked, raising an eyebrow, and Isabel nodded.
She assumed her position, and Ray took his. Again, they counted to three, pushing the branch with all their might, and it started moving.
“It’s moving,” breathed Isabel, and Ray grunted.
“Keep pushing! We’re almost there,” he growled, and Isabel pushed harder.
Finally, the enormous tree branch came loose from the gears and slid out the rest of the way. Ray grabbed the log as Isabel let go and threw it on the ground beneath them. Isabel looked at Ray and laughed breathlessly.
“We did it!” she chirped, and Ray grinned as he nodded.
The Earth Guardian and Isabel turned toward the machine. Oddly, the mechanism was still inoperative. Ray rubbed the short hairs on his chin and studied it suspiciously. It wasn’t missing any parts like the machines in the Realms of Passing, so why didn’t it start back up when they removed the jam?
Haven flew down to Ray and looked at him oddly.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, and Ray gave her a frustrated look.
“We got the jam out, but the thing still isn’t working!” the guardian exclaimed, and the fairy looked at the power machine.
“I don’t know anything about machines, or else I would fix it!” exclaimed Isabel, and Ray and Haven looked at her.
Haven sighed, fluttering over to the mechanism, inspecting all the parts. She couldn’t see any other jams, but it wasn’t getting any power for some reason, and the fairy didn’t understand why.
Haven was about to give up when she noticed a control panel on the castle wall, on the opposite side of the machine. The fairy gasped and flew back to Ray and Isabel.
“Did you find anything?” asked Isabel, and the Fairy Guardian nodded.
“There is a control panel, on the side of the castle, over there. The machine seems not to be getting power, and there aren’t any more jams. Maybe if you go up there and flip those switches, the engine will reboot itself,” suggested Haven, and Ray and Isabel looked at each other.
“Makes sense,” he agreed, shrugging his shoulders, and the fairy and Isabel nodded.
“Alright. Lead the way.”
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The green fairy led Ray and Isabel to the other side of the power machine and pointed to the control box. They looked up at the control panel, and Ray sighed heavily. The panel was on the castle wall high above the mechanism.
“Great job, Haven. Now, we just have to figure out how to get up there,” he stated and looked over at Isabel, but she was gone.
“Izzy?” Ray called, spinning in a frantic circle, but she was nowhere to be found.
Quickly, he looked at his Fairy Guardian, and Haven shrugged her shoulders.
“Damn it! Where did she go?” Ray asked, running his hand through his hair.
“You already miss me that much?” called a voice, and Ray and Haven looked up.
They saw Isabel scaling the castle wall and about halfway to the control panel. Ray and Haven looked at each other in question, and then Ray looked at Isabel.
“How did you get up there?” he asked, and the girl pointed.
Surprisingly, if Ray and Haven looked at the right angle, they saw a ladder built into the castle’s stone wall.
“Smart, but you could have said something!” exclaimed Ray.
Isabel shrugged her shoulders and continued climbing to the control box. When she reached the top of the ladder, she saw six different switches and a big red button. Isabel wasn’t sure what to do as she inspected the box.
Suddenly, Isabel saw a sticker with instructions on it.
“Flip the switches one at a time and then push button,” she read and nodded.
“Right,” the girl breathed as she flipped each switch and then pushed the red button.
Suddenly, the power machine came to life with a mechanical groan, and thick smoke began to billow from the smokestack. One by one, the gears started to spin, and Ray and Haven smiled at each other. Isabel grinned triumphantly and climbed down the ladder. She reached the bottom and bounced over to the guardian pair.
“We did it!” she cheered and hugged Ray.
“Yeah, we did,” he breathed, hugging her back.
“This is wonderful!” chimed Haven, and Ray nodded, letting Isabel go.
“Great! Now, let’s go get Dig and the others,” he stated, and Isabel grinned as she nodded.
- Writer
