Chapter 332: Iona (5)

Adrianna was bent over her broom. An arrow protruded from her lower back. "Don't worry about me!" she said. "Cover Iona!" She swung around and caught hold of the next arrow that was coming towards her with such alarming speed that Dmitri stared at her. Grunting in pain and breathless, she yelled at those hidden behind the trees and were shooting arrows, "You will pay for this insolence!" 

Furious, but with a look of extreme calm, Haldir sent a thick beam of white lights on the tree where the shooter was sitting. The tree blasted and splintered into thousands of twigs and branches and logs. 

Adrianna took the bow and flung it towards Dmitri who shattered the arrow in his fist. "Papa!" Iona called him, shuddering like a dry leaf in summer. 

Dmitri looked at his daughter and said, "Will you stay in the carriage, princess? I have to go and help your mom." 

Iona nodded even as she grasped her father's shirt. Her lips were trembling and tears poured out of her eyes. "Go and help Mother. She needs it," she said. 

"Don't get out of the carriage, okay?" 

"I won't."

"Because if you get out of the carriage, you may get caught in the crossfire." He closed the window on both sides. "Don't look out at all!" 

"I will stay inside, papa!" she cried. "Now please go and save Mother." She peered outside the window and found her mother throwing a thin beam of barbed light towards a soldier who was on the ground. There was so much blood on her tunic and slacks that Iona shuddered. She turned to look at her father. "Papa, please go! Mother is bleeding!" 

With a last look at his daughter, Dmitri leapt out of the door and shifted midair into his massive werewolf form. Iona looked down at her father, impressed at how he charged at the enemies and killed them. He had asked her to stay in the carriage and so she would. She got up to close the door, but failed to notice the black wisp of smoke that had entered the carriage. Iona sat down on the bench, huddled like a bundle, as she heard the sound of screaming, magic being hurled, swords clanging against each other and loud shouts of men. She closed her eyes and prayed for her parents' safety and even promised to herself that she would make their painting once they were back in Draoidh. 

A sizzle, a hiss… 

She jerked open her eyes at the familiar sound and found herself staring in the eyes of her Master. "Master!" she said in a voice filled with fear. "What are you doing here?" 

"I have come to take you, my child," said Seraph with a smile. "You deserve a better place, a better education. You are made to rule the world. But if you continue to stay with your parents, you won't be able to rule Draoidh… maybe some servants, if you are married to nobility." 

Ina sucked in a sharp breath as she shifted back in her seat. "I don't want to go anywhere with you," she replied. "I will stay with papa and mommy." 

Seraph caught hold of her delicate wrists. He grinned, showing his fangs as smoke fizzed around him showing little parts of the body every now and then. "It is not in your hands anymore, my dear!" he said. The smoke and fog around him started covering her slowly. 

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She pushed against him, kicking her boots into the fog, but nothing happened. "I don't want to go!" she shouted. "Papa!" she cried. 

"Your father won't come here, Iona. Don't be scared, little one," said Seraph. "I will take good care of you." The smoke covered her on all sides. 

"No!" She struggled. "Papa!" she shouted for help. She heard the door of the carriage opening and a shout that sounded familiar to that of her father, but the next instant, she was gone. 

When she opened her eyes again, her face was covered with a black cloth, her hands and feet were tied. "Take me out!" she shouted. Someone punched her hard and she screamed with pain. Someone kicked her hard again and again in her stomach with the boots until she felt warm blood trickling down her mouth. "Please, please stop…" she whispered, crying in pain. Who was it? Why were they hitting her? Where did the Master take her? 

"Stay quiet, you little piece of shit!" hissed a female. "Else I will throw you off the cliff!" 

Iona whimpered and became quiet. A while later she heard yet another scream of a small girl. "My wing!" she cried in pain. "My wing!" 

A man laughed. "That is what you will get, you bitch!" He must have slapped the girl hard and then kicked her and hit her more because the girl cried and screamed. 

Iona moved in the sack she was tied in. "Leave me…" she managed to say. More kicks followed until she completely fell unconscious. As for the girl she had heard, even she had become silent. 

Iona woke up to a start in a windowless prison. A pitcher of water was placed in the far corner. She was lying on the floor, her body stiff and cold. Blood on her stomach and back had caked and dried. She crawled towards the pitcher and drank water. And that was the first day of little Iona. 

She was taken to a water kingdom in a casket where she was left in a coma for many days. 

What followed was… torture. She was blindfolded and whipped for protesting. Her hands and feet would be tied and they would make her hang upside down. They would cut and slice her skin. Until… until she gave in. And then the dark forces were introduced. They would slither around her, taste her, get in and out of her. She bore it all and soon hardened. 

Two years later Iona gave up… she gave up to the dark forces. She could no longer resist. And started hating her parents for not being able to find her. Five years later, Iona's powers were like that of the dark forces. She started feeling home with them… 

In these five years she had visited Vilinski and seen Anastasia being whipped by Maple. She wondered why the girl had never given in. Anastasia was strong despite being poisoned by Maple, despite her wings being shackled and despite being whipped every now and then. Iona envied Anastasia for being so strong. 

Over the years she learned that her Master, Seraph, was Etaya's husband. She had killed him for a greater cause. They wanted the faes to stop ruling the Lore, stop being the gods of Lore and bring the demons also in the forefront. She knew that Seraph had given up his life for his wife and his sacrifice made her respect him a lot though she hated Etaya a lot. She hated Maple and Aed Ruad. 

Iona now answered to one man… one spirit… Seraph. Her Master wanted to rule the Lore, and she aided him. Her allegiance was to him. For him she was helping Etaya. 

Everything would have gone according to the plan, but her mother… She tricked them all. 

Iona opened her eyes with new resolution. 

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