36 Chapter 36: Brideknapped 2 (1/2)
With the door bolted shut Yuliah moved from corner to corner inside Lucan's old Manor, looking for furniture or anything heavy to barricade the door with.Each room she glanced into stood empty.
Just great!Now what?She was back in Lucan's shed again with no weapon or anything to defend herself with.Mold and dust were flooding her nostrils, and the door rattled behind her.
”Yuliah!”Lucan's fist struck the door repeatedly.”Let's talk about this.Please.”
How did he free himself already?Yuliah held up her arm.The blood vines were gone, and only the crescent indent was left.That explains it.She shook her arm.How useless.
”Please don't make this harder than it has to be,” Lucan called from outside the door.”Marry me Yuliah.We get along well.I know we'll be good for each other and I can show you how to use the Mark.Together we can control the Nomens.Show everyone what this new breed of Nomens can do.”
”I'm not going to marry you,” she screamed.”Give up on that delusion Lucan and what else you have planned.It's not going to work.If Ryas finds out that you are Nomen, he will kill you all,”Yuliah answered him.”Let me go, and he might spare you.”She hated having to rely on Ryas or having to be saved by him all the time, but she prayed he'd come.That nothing happened to him.
When Lucan didn't answer, Yuliah moved closer to the door.
He gave orders to his guards.”Send for my wives and have them bring the ceremony here.I'll marry her here instead.Bring me an ax too.”
Unbelievable,” Yuliah's feet scrambled back across the floor.He even had multiple wives. What a liar.He was too good at hiding his real character.If he thinks I'm going to become his sixth wife, Yuliah shook her head.He's in for a rude awakening.
There had to be something here she could use.Yuliah took another look around the Manor.Ryas said that anything could become a weapon she just had to look harder.
Her eyes passed over the boarded windows.They were old; if she removed the boards, it would make it easier for them to break through.Her thoughts raced, and Yuliah exhaled.
The mark on her arm, it could control them, but how?She paused and took a deep breath as Ryas taught her.She sensed for the Ethereal Spirit in her blood.
Yuliah's entire body, every inch of it, pulsed, as her breaths became more profound.A tingling sensation raised the tiny hairs across her arm straight up.There it was, an endless flow of energy running continuously throughout her body.Now, where to find the Ethereal Spirit?She closed her eyes and listened again.
Found it!Hidden in her bloodstream, the Ethereal Spirit moved within the flow.Yuliah quickly latched onto her Ethereal Spirit.It engulfed and burned through her entire body.It wasn't the Mark of the Nomens, but this was better than nothing.
Outside the Manor, Lucan's Five Wives, two elderly Men, and a guard with an ax arrived.”Break the door down,” Lucan ordered.The guard began to hack away splitting pieces of the door into the air.
The hollow sounds of the ax chopping wood soon turn sharp.It was only a matter of time before they got in.Her breathing increased again.
Next to the kitchen stood a small built-in cabinet and single wooden bars held up the shelves.
Yuliah rushed over, her fingers wrapped tightly around one of the wooden bars and tugged.Her face scrunched up, as she pulled harder, but the bar would not budge.A few more pulls and finally it snapped off.She had a weapon now!Taking a breath, she looked down at the wooden bar.
It wasn't much, and the edges were too dull to cause anyone damage.In its current state, she could use it to hit someone with that's about it.
Glancing around she could see the stone fireplace and sprinted over.Yuliah rubbed the ends against the rough edges of the stone, and a sharp tip started to form.Yes!Now it could be useful and possibly even kill.
Behind her, the ax hacked away the final piece of protection between her and Lucan.The guard kicked what's left of the door in right as Yuliah stood up with the stick in hand.
”Careful she's got a weapon,” he called out to his comrades.
”Bring her out here,” Lucan instructed.
Three guards, sturdy and much taller than her came through the door.”That stick won't do a damn thing to us, and it's three to one,” the shorter guard laughed.”Just make our day easier and leave quietly.”
Yuliah took a few steps backward.The grip she had on the stick loosened in her calmly hands, and she released her Ethereal Spirit.
”I'll take her head on,” the middle guard smirked.”Damn you're beautiful.I'll be jealous of Lucan tonight,” he advanced towards Yuliah, and his eyes swooped left to right at the other two guards.Who also took steady paces at her.
The pounding in her chest accelerated when she made eye contact with the guard.
Yuliah wasn't going to let them take her that easily.She sprung forward with the stick in her hand ready to attack.The guard threw up his arms and caught her wrist midair.She dropped the stick but caught it in her left hand, then jammed it right into his gut.He stumbled back and fell over.
Shit!It went in too deep.Yuliah lost it. Her only weapon stuck inside him.
Shuffling steps moved behind her as Yuliah spun around.He was the bigger of the three and reached for her waist.Her leg kicked up and right into the guard's groin.
”Bitch!” He cupped his private and fell sideways.
”What the fuck is going on in there,” Lucan yelled.”You guys better not hurt her!”
”She's putting up a good fight and took down two of us already,” the guard called out.
Lucan motioned for three more guards, ”Get in there!”
Three more guards joined them inside.Leaner but still taller than her.Why did they all look so handsome?How vain, to surround yourself with only good looking people.Something Yuliah didn't notice about Lucan until now.
”Watch out.She's got some power that makes her stronger than us,” the last standing guard warned them.
Yuliah's Ethereal Spirit turned off and on while she punched and kicked the Men as they attacked her.Unable to keep her concentration the Ethereal Spirit shut off completely.
The guards circled her as she continued to fight them but her natural strength had returned, and the hits she gave them were no longer as effective.The four guards managed to overpower Yuliah and pulled her out kicking and screaming.
”Let me go,” Yuliah dragged her feet.”I'm not going to marry you, Lucan,” then elbowed a guard and he lost his hold on her arm.She threw her herself around a wooden beam outside the Manor and clung on.Her screams and the commotion caused a crowd to form.
”Help me!” Yuliah begged as the villagers looked on and did nothing.Two of the guards pried her hands from the beam.”Noooo.Stop!” Yuliah looked to the villagers for help, but their stoic faces just glared back at her.What's wrong with everyone?Why wouldn't they help her?”Please someone,” Yuliah screamed.
”Make her kneel,” Lucan demanded.His lips stretched side to side.”You two,” he pointed to the Old Men.”Start the ceremony.”
They dragged her to the front, and two guards forced her to her knees.
The Old Man had a hook nose and wore a golden robe.He took a step towards Yuliah and lit three incense sticks.”Prepare the sacrifice,” he turned to the other Man.
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A Few Hours Prior
He smoothed the cleft of his eyebrow upward and traced over the scar above his eye, ”You have two choices.Leave here and don't come back or resist and die,” the guard looked over at Ryas.
Ryas kept his back to them, and his eyes across the valley.At least they brought him to the other road, the fastest route to Murai.He felt a bit conflicted. He worked with two of these Men for the past week.One of them he was sure had only seen a few summers as a Man.Killing them would not feel good, but they had made their choice.
”Do you know who I am?”His fingers clutched tightly around the cold hilt of his sword as he pivoted around.Death was always cold.
”Look.I don't give a fuck who you are, but if you don't leave.I'll have to kill you, and I'm not in the killing mood today,” the guard sounded annoyed.
”I'm General fucken Ryas,” his eyes burned violet. With one giant leap, he closed the distance between them before the Men could even draw their swords.
A whistle in the wind followed by a squelching sound was all the boy heard as he scrambled to the ground after his sword.To the left and right of him both, his comrade's bodies dropped.He looked over and retched from the foul stench of feces and urine.His entire breakfast scattered next to him as he reeled away from Ryas.
”Tell me what you know?” Ryas crossed the two blades, stained in red, over the boy's neck and he stopped moving.He didn't want to do it but he would if he needed too.”A quick flick of my wrists and your head would roll right into the piles of shit pooling in front of you,” Ryas snarled at him.
”Decide quickly.I'm not usually this patient.”
His face whitened, ”Kill me then.I do not fear Men who **** their sisters,” the boy's eyes hardened.