Iraella and Baeddan: Chapter the Twenty-Sixth

Submitted by E on Fri, 08/14/2009 - 00:14

 

Chapter the Twenty-Sixth                 “Let me go, you crazy—you foul—you….!” the rest of Iraella’s protests were lost as the Zerhze called Guepplem and another called Kakar carried her roughly into a building past the prison where Baeddan had been kept. She stopped kicking and ignored the uncomfortable feeling of being lifted by her upper arms and gazed at the castle in front of her. She wondered how she could have missed it before.             It was almost witchy, a place fit for a large heard of bats, with its horrible black and scarlet décor. She watched in horror as a Zerhze standing guard at the gigantic, shining black door opened it. Iraella was too horrified to protest. The putrid smell of decaying food and who knows what else filled her nostrils, her lungs. She held her breath in her nose, but the taste was too unbearable. There were high walls one each side, piled almost to the top with skeletons and garbage.             Repulsed, Iraella closed her eyes and resumed her kicking, only this time silently, for she couldn’t talk with the awful air around her.              She heard another opening door, some talk in a horrible tongue, and excited laughing. A terrible feeling of dread came down to her stomach. She would die here.             With another opening of doors, the air was suddenly odorless. Automatically, Iraella opened her eyes and stared around. It was still terrible, but not as disgusting as before. There was blood red carpet all on the floor, and a black throne-like chair with a scarlet seat. Kakar and Guepplem threw Iraella suddenly and carelessly onto her knees. She gave an involuntary yelp and immediately got to her feet, dusting off her tunic and gazing around.             “She is coming,” rasped Guepplem maliciously, startling Iraella into whirling around.             “Who? Who is coming?” Iraella demanded, trying to keep the tremor out of her voice. The Zerhze laughed.             “As if you don’t know, Princess,” said Kakar mockingly as they positioned themselves beside the doors. Iraella looked away, her heart rising in her throat, a weird tingling sensation in her fingers. Did she really want to know who was behind all of this? “Don’t be stupid, of course you want to know!” said a voice that sounded suspiciously like Mabon’s in her head. Iraella nodded firmly. “Yes, of course!” she muttered. She could feel the curious stares of Kakar and Guepplem behind her, and she hastily stood with her hands entwined behind her back, staring at the large doors on the other side of the bloody-looking room.             She stared unblinkingly until her eyes stung and blurred, waiting….Waiting. When would this thing come? Then, the door slowly, creakingly began to open. Would they hurry up already? Iraella’s heart was threatening to come out of her mouth now. She stared intensely, that is, before she screamed and ran backwards, falling onto the floor and scrambling back up again. She was horrible.             Her skin was the color of rotting meat, and strands of what Iraella assumed was hair fell around her face. She had a scrawny, shrimpy body, and through her arms one could see bones. Worst of all of this, however, was the fact that she had two faces. One on her forehead, and one where a face should be, making her whole head unnaturally long.             Gaping at this horrible sight, Iraella continued to scramble backwards, utterly terrified.               Apparently not noticing Iraella’s terror, the leader strode briskly to the throne and placed herself upon it, looking to Iraella with both pairs of horrible, bulging eyes. “I see you have met my accomplices,” said the leader in a croaky, froglike voice, gesturing to the Zerhze. Too horrified to speak, Iraella continued to stare. “I am called Empress Efazah. I know what you are called, Iraella of Niaequei,” croaked the thing expressionlessly.             Iraella tried to speak, but there was a large lump that she supposed to be her heart that blocked her throat. She proceeded to stare. Not once did Efazah take her eyes off of Iraella. After what felt like years, the creature spoke again.             “Do you know why you are here, Iraella of Niaequei?”             Iraella tried to look defiant, but knew she was failing miserably when she found the ability to speak. “Y-Yes!” she lied in a quavering voice. She felt the color rising to her cheeks as Efazah gazed at her unchangingly.             “Good. Then it should cause you no trouble to tell me?” croaked Efazah in a calm sort of voice. She could have been asking the time of day.             “Er…” Iraella began. “Y-you are a power hungry moron who wants to take over t-the magical k-kingdom-wherever that i-is,” she added as an afterthought. The only proof there was of magical creatures was Nasia.             Efazah, who looked mildly interested, raised her heavy eye brows on the face that was the right way. “Hmmm, an interesting philosophy, Iraella of Niaequei. But incorrect, I am afraid to say.             You see, I did this not for power-that is, in my mind-in your idle human ways, you may see differently. I wish to—improve—Elmanaha…” Elmanaha? Suddenly, there was an excruciating pain in Iraella’s head, and she dropped to her knees, her vision blurring.             What she saw now was quite very different from the Empress’s fortress. There was Iraella and Baeddan’s creek, only a lengthy line of small, bearded men stood with sacks slung over their stout shoulders. They bent down to the creek (not too far, one may add. These were very small men) with little wooden cups, scooped water, and in unison, they lifted the cups to their mouths and swigged it up. The middle one, who had a large nose, grimy face, and kindly blue eyes, smacked his lips. “Well, I suppose we’d bes’ be a-goin’ now, eh Rupert?” he said in a raspy sort of voice.             Another dwarf in the front of the line nodded, stroking is short grimy beard as he did so. “Yes, I suppose,” he said musingly. “The centaurs wouldn’t be too happy if they were to discover that we’ve been using their stream, eh, Calvin?”             The blue eyed one nodded. Then it all dissolved, and Iraella was back, gasping, near the obscure feet of Efazah.             “You have visited there near every day, and never realized. Do you know, Iraella of Niaequei, that only the rightful,” Efazah spoke emphasized the word with relish. “King and queen may enter it? Them, or their own subjects? Did you have knowledge of this?”             Iraella stared, still kneeling on the floor. That couldn’t be right. She must have been lying. Iraella shook her head. “You’re lying!” cried Iraella, standing up.             “Lying? No, Queen, I am not,” croaked Efazah.             “Baeddan and I aren’t even related! And how come my father knew where we would go?” said Iraella, confident that she had the Empress cornered now.             “But did Eamon of Niaequei ever enter it?” questioned Efazah, her bulging black eyes alight.             Iraella opened her mouth, but her words were lost in a battle cry. Startled, Iraella whirled around, and saw a large group of people—or were they people—running towards here, with her mother in the very front.
Author's age when written
12
Genre
Fiction

Comments

Ariel

Fri, 08/14/2009 - 00:31

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Alrighty! I need you to clear up some of this stuff for me...I can't keep being put through this pain! When will everything be solved? Who is Iraella really? Why did my brother just wake up? Who is this scary person? Will there ever be a "happily ever after"? Why was Mabon's voice in her head? Did Wesley really die? OK. so those last ones were a little bit random, but hey! I NEED ANSWERS! lol Can't, CAN'T wait for the next chapter :D

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"To produce a mighty book, you must choose a mighty theme. No great and enduring volume can ever be written on the flea, though many there be that have tried it." -- Herman Melville

E

Fri, 08/14/2009 - 00:37

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*Grins. Mwahahaahh!!! Don't be too expectant, it'll take a while.

1. You will never know.....

2. Hmmm....I wonder....

3. Well, he couldn't stay in enternal sleep!!

4. You'll see.

5. Maybe, maybe not....

6. It sounded like something he would say....

7. Who the heck is Wesley???

I'm glad you can't wait for the next chapter! 'Tis a good sign...

"You were not meant to fit into a shallow box built by someone else." -J. Raymond

Clare Marie

Mon, 08/17/2009 - 15:24

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oof.  That was alot to take in. :)

Which means that you need to post more soon so I don't go nuts.

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"I don't know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve." -Bilbo Baggins [The Lord of the Rings]