Chapter Ten
Furious immediately spots Antonia walking out of the media room. He looks back at Solomon and Grace, "Get down!" He kicks the door, sending it swinging open and marches toward the woman. Furious then goes to summon blades from each hand, anticipating his flames to surround them. But when nothing happens, Antonia laughs, "What's wrong Fury? You don't seem like yourself." Furious then notices Brutalius walk up, smiling at him with a flaming glowing spear in his hands.
Brutalius laughs as fiery plasma erupts from the spear's blade and Furious has to lunge to dodge the fireball hurling toward him. The trail of fire smashes into a tall bookcase setting countless books on fire. Furious quickly charges, pulling two long daggers from his sleeves, swinging them in a flurry but with Brutalius blocking him blow for blow.
Solomon sees what happens and it sets him to action. Grace screams in fear as the boy runs forward. Brutalius sees him coming and sweeps Furious' leg while conjures another pillar of fire. He sends it screaming at Solomon and it explodes on contact, slamming the boy against the wall.
Grace panics and runs to help but Antonia quickly snatches her by the throat. Antonia holds her there as Grace watches Brutalius calmly walk up to Solomon's body. He touches with the tip of his weapon to the boy's shoulder, and fiery plasma begins to devour him.
Suddenly, Furious springs on Brutalius with another barrage of attacks. One of them strike the bracelet on the man's wrist and the spear disappears in a quick flash. Before Brutalius can recover, Furious is behind him holding a blade to his throat. "Let her go Antonia, and I'll let you live!" But the woman doesn't relent, only tightening her grip on Grace's windpipe, "Why should I Fury? I know you're going to kill me either way." Furious can't help but chuckle as he responds, "Yeah, that's probably true."
Then quickly, he spins Brutalius around and shoves him toward Antonia. He grabs the bracelet off the man's wrist as Brutalius crashes into the women. All three of them fall to the ground but Grace is the first to get up. She makes a run directly for Furious as Brutalius helps Antonia to her feet. He pulls a dagger out of his sleeve and hands it to her, "Make sure that girl dies."
Furious now finds himself at a stalemate because he knows if he engages his cousin, Antonia will certainly go for Grace who is no match for her. For some reason, Furious wants to honor his word to her even as the very thought of it makes him wince. It doesn't take much for Brutalius to pick up on what's going on and begins taunting his rival, "Oh, let her die Furious. She just one Alcazarian child, one of hundreds who will die."
Grace moves as close as she can to Furious' body, holding on to the slim hope that he might still save her. The glint of the dagger's blade in Antonia's hand flashes in her eyes and Grace gasps at the devilish grin on the woman's face. Brutalius walks slowly forward, "Make a move Fury, forget about her." Furious leans in and whispers as Grace clings to him, "Get ready to run." She closes her eyes, trying to build up the courage to do what he asks.
Then without warning, a powerful quake rocks the building. It lurches back and forth as thousands of books fall all around them. Furious yells out, "Now!" as he manages to shove Grace toward the door just before he too falls over. He sees Brutalius struggling to remain on his feet as someone quickly tackles him. Furious realizes it's Solomon, "Hold him there!" Furious makes his way toward them as the tremors worsen and Brutalius begins screaming in howls of anguish. He flails around grabbing at his jaws as the ink in his face pales and his skin stiffens. Furious nearly reaches them before he sees Antonia lunge, her blade piercing Solomon's side.
The earthquake instantly stops.
A surge of guilt slams into Furious as he knows the boy is probably gone. He also that the odds are stacked against him now so before anyone can react, he darts through the door. He scrambles down the hallway, making his way around scattered debris. Furious finally spots Grace at the end of the hallway.
She is crouched down against the wall with her face buried in her hands, sobbing. When the quaking stopped, Grace instantly feared what it might mean and when she saw Furious alone, she knew it in her heart. He reaches out to her, "Come on, we have to get out of here." And when she resists, he only pauses in silence. For the first time in his life, the death of someone else actually means something and he isn't sure how to console someone, "I never caught your name." She finally looks up at him and tears rolls down her cheeks. She answers in a pitiful whisper, "It's Grace."
"Well Grace, we need to go and get help. I promise we will return." After a moment, she finally takes his hand and Furious pulls her to her feet. She immediately asks, "What happened?" While Furious definitely feels empathy for her, in his mind, lying would imply weakness, so he answers honestly, "Antonia stabbed him."
Grace presses her face against his chest now, wailing in heartache as Furious runs his hand across her head, "We need to go, they'll be here any minute." He leads her down the stairwell all the way to the granite room. When they're about to step through into the tunnel Grace stops, "Where exactly are we going?" Furious turns back and answers without hesitation, "Back to Corsair Territory." Grace's voice suddenly takes on a panicked pitch as she question his motives, "Wait, what about me? I'm Alcazarian!" He responds with stroke of her hair, "Don't worry, no one will harm you as long as you're with me. I give you my word." She pulls away from him, "But what about the war?" Furious places his hand on her shoulder, "This is Brutalius' war, not mine."
~
Solomon lies on the floor as he hears Antonia standing over him, "I think he's dead." Solomon feels a boot slam into his side but strangely, he doesn't feel any pain. He only hears Brutalius answer, "It seems so but what about the girl? I thought I ordered you to kill her!" A crisp sound cracks the silence as Brutalius slaps Antonia's face and she cries out. Brutalius then shouts at her, "Let's go! They couldn't have gotten far!"
Solomon hears their footsteps fade and he attempts to get up. He can't even begin to overcome the weight of his limp body and feels completely fatigued as all his efforts barely manage the slightest movement. As his efforts subside, his thoughts turn to his mother and it occurs to him that maybe he's about to be reunited with her. A faint smile struggles across his lips.
"Solomon?" He hears a voice and now he's sure he's dead. "It's time, Solomon. Time to finally take you away from all of this." Then the boy feels himself lift him off the floor. He's upright now as if someone is holding him. His vision is strangely cloudy and he stares through the haze. He can finally make out what looks like his mother's face looking at him, "Mom? Is that really you?" Sabrina answers him by holding her arms out. Solomon doesn't question any further and falls into her, feeling her arms wrap around his body as a warm light surrounds them both. She whispers to him and hugs him even tighter, "It's over now, it's all over.”