What A Woman's Got To Do: 10
"Alive?"
Madame Yuek looked up at Arrafin's astonished cry.
"Darling, look at me."
She stared at her hands and shrieked.
"I'm human!"
The mortal friends exchanged confused glances. Elena kept an eye on the advancing hordes of the Tarn, who seemed far more pleased with the sudden turn of events that she was comfortable with.
"So... about Magreb? We just take her to the Sleeping King and stick him with her? Yeah? So we can go now?"
"You have brought HER to us. You are blessed. Eat with us. Dance with us."
Nevid shot to his feet, his head shaking violently.
"No. Never eat. Never dance. We should go. We should go now."
Isaac nodded, very carefully not looking at the Tarn Queen. He grabbed Etienne's shoulder and, catching Elena's eye, began moving the whole group back towards the lane of arcing rowan trees they'd entered by.
Arrafin, paying no attention to her friends, rushed to where Madame Yuek knelt in stunned stillness. The suddenly-former vampire raised her eyes, and then her face contorted in a terrible expression of fury. She rose and faced the approaching Tarn, pulling Arrafin up beside her. The lacy tendrils of her elaborate costume waved around them both.
"What have you done? What have you done to me?"
They smiled and laughed, dancing ever closer.
Nearly at the rowan trees, Isaac looked back and saw Arrafin's slight figure standing beside the statuesque form of Madame Yuek. He groaned, pushed a still-dazed Etienne into Elena's hands and rushed back into the grove.
"Come. Come dance with us."
Madame Yuek took in her surroundings for the first time.
"There's no connection to Shadow here. We must be in the Dream Worlds. We have to leave."
"No, no. You must stay. You shall stay with us."
The King laughed.
Isaac tried to sidle inconspicuously up to his friend, brushing at various ribbons and silks of Madame Yuek's outfit.
"You are bereft of sorcery and all the invulnerability it brings you. You are powerless here, Beauteous One, and you shall remain among us."
"Powerless? Me? Oh dear me, no. Allow me to illustrate how mistaken you are."
Isaac had just reached out to clasp Arrafin's shoulder when Madame Yuek raised her arms. Her gown's uncountable tendrils shot outwards in all directions, tearing creatures apart. The sorceress laughed in a wild frenzy as the Tarn fled into the trees, and she gestured to where the King and Queen stood. Rippling hungry tentacles shot towards them.
"Arrafin, let's go."
Isaac paid no attention to the skinny girl's protests as the royal couple began to shriek and thunderous blasts of prismatic energy hurtled across the grove. He threw her over his shoulder and ran for it. Etienne had stopped staring at the Queen and he and Elena waited only for Isaac to get clear of the sudden explosions of mystical violence before turning and fleeing themselves. Nevid of course was already far up the lane and emerging into the sunlight back on the island.
"We have to help her!"
"Arrafin, there is nobody back there who needs our help."
"No!"
Unable to actually wrench herself free, Arrafin at least managed to put up enough of a fight that Isaac had to stop. He found himself at the edge of the forest, looking across the green sward of the island at the Wavereaver swaying at its anchor. Elena and Etienne and Nevid all stood a short distance away, eyes wide.
Behind him, the dreadful noise of sorcery seemed to have stopped. He hung on to Arrafin to prevent her from dashing back into the grove.
"Arrafin -- "
"No, look. She's coming."
Dread in his heart, Isaac turned and saw the tall figure of Madame Yuek emerging from the darkness of the grove. She moved without her usual stately elegance, obviously struggling with the weight of her outrageous gown and hairdo. To his dismay, she appeared uninjured.
"It's okay, darling. I'm. I'm alright."
The former vampire stopped just inside the last ring of trees, facing Isaac and Arrafin. Isaac was startled to realise she was a young woman, younger than him, not much older than Arrafin. Her skin had a similar warm cast to it as the Blood Sisters they'd met, though her face seemed less exotic to his eyes. She was stunningly beautiful.
Arrafin found her voice.
"What's happened? I thought you couldn't..."
Madame Yuek drew a breath.
"I believe this grove exists in the Dream Worlds, where there is no connection to Shadow. All my sorcery is gone, everything that holds me to Shadow's power. I. I'm human. Again."
A terrible sadness clouded her eyes.
"But only as long as I stay here, I suspect. If I step to join you, Shang's work will once again take hold of me. And I don't believe I can stay here without ending up as a slave to those creatures. I've driven them off, but this is their world and they will eventually have their way."
"What are the Dream Worlds, Madame Yuek?"
"They are where your spirit, and your powers, come from, Elena. They are a riot of creation, all possibilities expressed simultaneously. The opposite of Shadow, which is the denial of all possibility. Both are equally fatal to mortals."
She drew herself up.
"Well, you have your sword and your instructions. We have work to do."
Arrafin rushed forward as the tall woman began to step from the grove.
"No, don't. You're human. You're free. You can't go back to being... that thing. It's wrong."
Isaac tensed as Madame Yuek lifted a hand to touch Arrafin's cheek.
"Yes. But there is no one else. And I will not be a slave to those things. Besides, my hair is getting heavy."
She pushed Arrafin aside and stepped across the threshold.
The change was immediate, and Isaac nearly leapt backwards in terror as the dark whispers of sorcery immediately erupted in the vampire's presence. Once again, Madame Yuek was the alabaster figure they'd known her as, still and perfect and beyond human.
Elena recalled the young girl she'd just seen and though she watched carefully, she saw no sign of emotion on that perfect face as the transformation took hold.
"You will take the sword to the Sleeping King. I will distract Matai Shang. With luck, I'll kill him, but don't bet on it. He's got more ways to cheat death than anyone can imagine."
"And you don't?"
She laughed at Etienne's brash question.
"Cheat death? I've been dead for centuries. There doesn't exist any force on Barsoom that can kill me. Get going, mortals."
"Yes, ma'am."
*****
The immense hall was empty this time. Whatever Madame Yuek was doing to distract Matai Shang, it appeared to be working.
"Let's get this over with."
The five rushed across the stone floor, feeling very insignificant beneath the immense arches of the ceiling high above, and gathered around the prone body of the Sleeping King.
"Well, he definitely looks like he's sleeping."
"And a king. Crown, see? On his head."
Elena groaned.
"Farouk brought us here, we KNOW that's the Sleeping King. Isaac, do your thing."
The big Saijadani drew the sword Magreb from his belt. He reversed the heavy weapon in his hand and held it over the Sleeping King's chest.
"Wait."
Everyone turned at Nevid's quiet interruption and found the young man pointing at a young woman standing next to him. Her shining blonde hair glittered in the glow of the lanterns all around and as she smiled, it seemed that all the lanterns suddenly burned a little brighter.
Nevid shook.
"I think that's Magreb."
"Aye, and the lad speaks truth. Me name is Magreb and yon's me father. What are ye about, then?"
Isaac looked at the sword in his hand.
"You're Magreb?"
"Aye."
He pointed at the sword.
"I thought this was Magreb."
"Aye, I've said so."
"I don't like spirits."
Elena picked up the conversational thread from where Isaac had left it.
"Miss, do you know what we're here to do?"
"It seems plain enough. Ye wish me ta kill me father. I've no doubt ye're righteous folk and all, but it's a lot to ask. He is me father."
Arrafin pointed, angry in a sudden rush that startled her friends.
"He is NOT your father. You're a spirit; you don't have fathers. Farouk told us you were all one thing anyway, so what difference does it make? Isaac, kill him. Do it."
Elena turned.
"Arrafin, what's with the blood lust? This girl is asking us to spare her father."
"Haven't you listened to anything Man Chong says? That's not a girl. This isn't a father. They're just--"
"What makes her the damn expert on everything?"
"Isaac, kill him."
"No, don't."
Isaac growled.
"For crying out loud, you two. I thought we came here to kill him. Look, Magreb, answer me this: what is Matai Shang doing with your... with the Sleeping King?"
"Oh, he's been looking for those folks as is carrying around similar to yon lad. The spike, you see. He's got ever so much interest in the spike."
"The spike."
Etienne brightened up and jumped into the conversation.
"Nevid. The spike in Nevid's head. Spirits can see it. Shang's looking for other people with spikes in their heads. The old Blood Mother's soul, or whatever."
The others all stared at Etienne for a long series of breaths. Isaac squinted, looked up at the ceiling, and then shook his head.
"I don't understand. That actually made sense."
"Kill him, Isaac. If Shang does find another shard of her soul, we can never restore her."
"I think Arrafin's right."
Elena waved her hands and turned back to Magreb.
"What happens to you, Magreb, if we kill him?"
"Oh, it's the end for me. Nowt but yon sword to carry me name."
Isaac closed his eyes.
"She's not a girl. She's not a girl. She's not a girl."
"Isaac, she IS a girl. Or at least, she's a person. Of some kind. This is murder. This is wrong."
Shoulders tensed as Isaac raised the blade and then slammed it down, plunging the blade deep into the Sleeping King's chest. The girl let out a terrible shriek that echoed all through the high vault, but the Sleeping King himself never awoke. His body trembled, and then suddenly collapsed in a swirl of colour, just as the girl did. The five friends stood arrayed around an empty stone bier.
Isaac looked at the sword still in his hand. His eyes met Elena's and the two stared at each other a long while until he turned away and slammed the weapon back into its sheath.
"We're done. Call up Farouk and get us out of here."
