《Clavomancy》Chapter 16
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His stomach lurching into his chest as he stepped forward to catch himself after the wall disappeared. The floor suddenly a foot lower than where it should be Dean caught himself by windmilling his arms. His connection to his nails suddenly cut off from the shifting of realities. He barely had a second to reorient himself when he was tackled from his side.
Slamming into the ground hard enough to knock the wind out of him as something mounted him. Hammer fists raining down on him, he barely managed to guard his face against having his nose smashed in.
The blows continued to fall empowered by a primal scream, Dean felt most of them coming from the right side. Timing it just right he bucked his hips throwing his assailant off balance. He pushed them off of him as he jumped to his feet summoning his silver nails to him. His finishing nail having been obliterated as it pierced the veil between the two worlds.
As his assailant sprung back up to its feet, he got a good look at them as it continued to attack viciously. Long black hair fell to its shoulders dreaded and dirty. Black circles under its bloodshot eyes as if it hadn’t slept in days, a bruise colored a sickly purple and green covering it temple. Its face dirty and tear-stained as it continued to attack with its left arm. Its right arm covered in bloody bandages as it held it to its breasts.
“Nameless?” Dean asked even though he knew it was her.
“Don’t call me by that name!” she screamed in renewed anger throwing herself back at Dean.
Dean held back from attacking choosing instead to dodge and talk. “I was sent to rescue you,” he said as he held his hands out in a stopping motion.
“Lies!” she screamed as she picked up a bucket it and throwing it at him.
Dean chose the correct action of jumping away as the contents of the bucket splattered against the far wall. Gagging at the stench he continued to circle her as he viewed the room. Not seeing Aggie he took his eyes off of Nameless for a brief second and she took her opening.
Charging him again she went to tackle him. But Dean saw it coming from the corner of his eye and sidestepped her. As she grasped at him her fingers just raking his side. He grabbed that arm in an armbar forcing her to the ground aggressively.
Holding her face down on the ground by her arm Dean again tried to speak to her saying, “I’m not here to hurt you, I promise.” He then let go of her arm and stood up taking a step back from her, “I swear it on my magic.”
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Any promise you make that includes your magic is a powerful thing. Either by some law of realities or a psychosomatic response, any promise made this way would hamper the magic if the promise were broken. This was especially more powerful if the vow was made and then broken with malicious intent.
Standing there watching Nameless struggle to stand up he went to help her. She shoved his helping hand away saying, “I can do it myself.”
Dean hadn’t been able to appreciate her Brazilian accent before but this time he could. The words from her mouth sounded rich and chocolatey even said with venom. Taking a step back from her as she stood up he again looked around the tiny room looking for Aggie.
“Did you see a cat follow me in here,” he asked hoping that Aggie had already found a way out of the room. And was coming back.
“No, I only say you come through that portal,” she said in her rich voice. Her arms crossed in front of her as she stood defensively.
“Shit,” Dean said loudly. He wasn’t sure if he would be able to figure out how to get back into the Grimmlands without Aggie’s help. And with him stranded on the other side, he wasn’t sure if he could find him if he did. But then again Aggie had shown an acumen of abilities he had hidden from Dean until today. He would probably be fine. Wouldn’t he.
Looking around more he noticed a steel door blocking their way out and an odd cabinet. Looking closer at it he could see crude runes etched into it inlaid with copper. Opening it up he found nothing. Inspecting the door he found that it opened but was stopped from leaving. A wall of pure energy cut them off from the Grimmlands.
Turning back to Nameless he saw that she had maintained a maximum distance from him as he inspected the room. “Do you know where we are?” he asked.
She shook her head no still watching him closely. Her defensive posture hiding her missing stump. She was like a wild animal when it was cornered and afraid. Very dangerous and vicious.
Dean decided it was best to identify himself by placing his hand on his chest, “Hi, you can call me Dean. Dorios sent me to find your murderers but instead my partner and I discovered you were alive,” he began.
She in turn identified herself. “You can call me Sonya. That’s what I was named before I apprenticed with the Druids and betrayed. But that is no longer my path after what that bastard did.”
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Dean asked what happened but what happened. Sonya instead gave him nothing but stony silence. So Dean decided to explain how he got here. Talking about his meeting with Lady Andromeda was met with spitting on the ground by Sonya but nothing else. His trip through the Grimmlands caused no reaction, but when he explained how his power found this place, she became more interested.
“If you can get in you can get out then?” she asked as she took a step forward.
“I’m not sure if it will get us out or just blow the magic holding us here apart,” Dean replied. “I will also need some different nails These silver ones don’t seem to have the same effect that my iron ones did,” he said as he levitated the silver nails from his hand.
“Where are you going to get different nails from,” Sonya said. “If you hadn’t noticed we are surrounded by rock,” she stated sardonically as she gestured around at the room.
“I found this place because I could sense nails. Just give me a moment and I will tell you where they are,” Dean said as he reached out with his mind.
The nails in his hand lit up first to his senses. These three nails glowing like a welder’s flame as Dean focused on finding the other nails. Looking around the room with his mind he found the nails he sensed before. They were hovering in the room in the shape of a cube.
Opening his eyes he looked over at the weird rune-covered cabinet and said, “found them.” Standing up he walked over to the cabinet and placed his hand on it preparing to rip the nails from it.
“STOP,” Sonya screamed rushing over and smacking Dean's hand away from the cabinet. “If you break that we won’t have any food or water if your plan fails.”
Dean looked at Sonya with surprise. As far as he knew she had only been presumed dead for a day. She was acting as if she had been here a lot longer than that. Looking over at the wall covered in excrement he could guess that she had been here for quite a while or she had extremely large bowel movements.
Stepping away from the cabinet he asked her in a concerned voice, “Sonya, how long have you been here?”
“I don’t know. Weeks maybe months I lost track of days and nights,” she said as the dam broke on her anxiety. Tears freely streaming from her eyes, “I’ve been a prisoner here for so long. I can’t stand it anymore. That bitch Andromeda betrayed and murdered the Druid Brother and locked me in here. I know it!” she screamed. Her pent-up anger released she collapsed on the cabinet as if it was her lifeline.
“How do you know that Lady Andromeda imprisoned you here,” Dean asked.
“Anil is the one who put me here,” she said with a hiccup.
Dean didn’t know how to react to that since Lady Andromeda had asked him to return her.
“What does the cabinet do then,” Dean asked in a soothing voice. His hand gently resting on her shoulder.
Using her bandaged stub of a hand like a rag she wiped her tears as she said, “If I channel the little magic I have into it, food and water will appear.” Placing her hand on it she channeled her magic into it. Suddenly the cabinet door popped open. She then removed a steaming bowl of what best could be described as gruel and a glass of tepid water.
Handing them to Dean she stood up and walked away. Back to the other side of the room where she sunk to the ground in a sitting position.
Dean set the bowl on top of the cabinet and examined the water closely in the dim light. Seeing nothing in it he was tempted to quench his thirst but thought better of it after looking at Sonya in her sullen state. Instead, he set the glass on the cabinet and walked over to Sonya.
Squatting down in front of her he said, “Our only way out is with the nails holding that cabinet together. If my idea fails then we might starve down here if nobody is actually checking on you. But if it works then I will help you figure out why they put you down here and murdered the Druid Brother.”
Standing up, he took a step back. Giving her space to decide if she wanted to rot down here or get revenge.
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