The Adventures of Emily Tual Book Four: The Rising

That evening, Emily was sitting in her room. She was holding her ruby necklace and looking at it. There hadn’t been any word yet from the hospital or Gabriel about James’s condition. Emily’s eyes were red from crying. Her Codex was opened lying next to her. She had been trying to find a way to heal James of his injuries in her book but there hadn’t been anything in it that she could find that could save James’s life. She knew that James had been an immortal nearly his entire life but after what had happened with Jasper, she knew that he could easily die at any given time if he was injured badly enough.

Emily had tried to find James’s life in the Codex but the story about the ancient battle didn’t give much about James. It made her feel terrible. She couldn’t even give James closure about who he really was or where he had come from. From what she had seen of James, he didn’t care much about exploring his past before Gabriel and Jasper had found him but Emily wanted to try to give him closure. She knew that the Man with the German Accent couldn’t be James’s father. According to Gabriel, the Man with the German Accent was younger than the Great War.

Emily tried to get the Codex to give her a vision of some sort by touching each illustration but nothing worked. She had tried to get a vision by going to sleep but she couldn’t fall asleep. Being worried about James kept her up. She had wanted to go to the hospital shortly after her dad had gotten done with talking to the police but her dad had insisted that she needed time to recover from having to see James getting hit by a vehicle.

She wished that there was someone for her to talk to about it but Delaney and Elizabeth had been sent home and Mr. Tual was keeping Rachel downstairs with him. He had told them that Emily needed time alone to recover. Emily never felt more alone than she did now. She hadn’t even felt this alone when her mother had died. If this was what the Man with the German Accent was after, he had succeeded. It was just a matter of time before he went after her.

Emily picked up her book and flipped to the illustration of the Camazot with the Darkness. She thought about how they had talked earlier about trying to find out the Darkness’s identity but to no avail. Gabriel had made it forbidden for himself to talk about it but that didn’t mean that Emily was about to give up. She had to find out who it was that wanted her dead so badly.

A few days later…

“She’s waking up.”

Audrey groaned as she woke up. She had a throbbing headache. She felt weak and she could hear her stomach growling. “Where am I?” She asked. It felt cold and there was definitely wind in the air.

“You’re in the Himalayas. You’ve been asleep for five days thanks to Virginia here.” A German voice said.

Audrey’s eyes flew wide open and she spun around. Sitting on a large rock was the Man with the German Accent. Audrey didn’t know how she knew it was him but she did. It was probably the accent that gave it away. He was just sitting there in an expensive suit. Audrey had a feeling that the rock was going to stain the pants but if the Man with the German Accent was sitting on it, he obviously didn’t care for the suit. The Man with the German Accent had a fur-lined coat hanging behind him.

Audrey noticed that a woman was leaning against another rock. Her black hair was sleeked back. The woman had knee-high leather boots on that covered half of her blue jeans. They went with her leather jacket that covered her black shirt. She looked like she could be a motorcyclist. The woman had a backpack by her left boot. The woman’s brown eyes reminded Audrey of someone but she couldn’t remember who. The woman was twirling a pipe in her right hand.

“I was going to have Virginia here wake you up tomorrow if you didn’t wake up by then but here you are, awake and wondering how you ended up here.” The Man with the German Accent continued. He stood up and a cane appeared in his hand. He limped down the rock and went up to Audrey. “Right in time to help us.” He smiled as he said that.

Audrey looked around. They were in a giant cave. She couldn’t even see the ceiling. She could see several men and women though. They were in winter hiking and climbing uniforms. Their faces were mostly covered by scarves and goggles. Behind them was the entrance to the cavern. Audrey could feel the cold air coming in from it. She looked down at herself. She was in a large furry coat and had gloves on.

“You’re welcome for the winter clothes.” The woman with the pipe said. “You would have frozen to death without them on.” The woman with the pipe looked at the Man with the German Accent. “Are we going to do it finally?” She asked him.

Audrey frowned. “What are you going to do?” She asked. “If you’re going to try to sacrifice me to bring back the Darkness, you’re just going to be wasting your time. I’m not the Chosen One, Emily is.” Audrey felt terrible for saying that but surely by now even the Man with the German Accent knew that.

To her horror, the Man with the German Accent nodded. “I know that you’re not the Chosen One, Witness.” He replied. “But I do have a use for you. You’re going to help us bring back one of the most powerful generals that ever served the Dark One.” At that, there was a loud growl. It sounded like it came from behind him.

Audrey looked past the Man with the German Accent. It was too dark to see too far past him. She could hear growling though coming from the darkness. She could feel it too. Each time the thing growled, there was a vibration on the floor. Her heart sank as she realized what the Man with the German Accent was saying. “You’re going to have me release the Camazot.” She said.

The Man with the German Accent nodded and knelt so he was looking at Audrey even closer. Audrey could see what looked like faint scars on his face. Audrey wondered if he had gotten them when he had been with the Darkness. “On All Hollow’s Eve, the Darkness will be brought back from her prison and will begin her campaign to conquer the known world. For that to happen though, she will need her generals. Most of the original ones were killed by Gabriel, Jasper and even Victor. The only one left from that time is the Camazot. Once we have him, every Black Hand that has been in hiding since Anthony’s failures and the failed ritual will come out of hiding for the final ritual.” He told Audrey.

Audrey thought it over. “Halloween.” She said in a soft voice. She knew that All Hollow’s Eve was an old way of saying Halloween. “You’re going to bring the Darkness back on Halloween.” She had been taken captive on the Seventeenth so she added five days to that. It was now the Twenty-Second of October. Her eyes widened. There were only nine days left before the Darkness was rising. She had to warn Emily.

Audrey stood up and tried to run but she felt something tug her leg back and she fell to the ground. She looked at her ankle as everyone in the cavern laughed. To her horror, there were chains attached to her ankles.

“Did you really think it was going to be that easy?” The Man with the German Accent asked Audrey. “After the number of times my lesser associates allowed Emily and even you to escape them?” The Man with the German Accent shook his head. “I learned from their mistakes and won’t be making them myself.”

The woman with the pipe joined the two of them. “Remember Azehesser, we need her to use her powers to unleash the Camazot.” She said to the Man with the German Accent.

Audrey looked at the woman before she looked back at the Man with the German Accent. She noticed that the Man with the German Accent growled a little when the woman had said that name. “Your name is Azehesser?” She asked.

The Man with the German Accent rolled his eyes. “Yes, my name is Azehesser.” He answered. “Victor, my father, gave me that name years after the Great War was over. Victor was a mere farmer during my birth. He hated me because I was a constant reminder that I was the reason why he had lost everything just as he was about to have it all.” The Man with the German Accent looked at his cane. “I always hated him as well. He blamed me for my mother’s death.”

Audrey frowned. “Your mother?” She asked. “Victor got married after Seraphina died?”

The Man with the German Accent looked at Audrey. “Got married after Seraphina died?” He asked before laughing. “On the contrary, I’m the child of Victor and the Dark Lady. When the Dark Lady gave birth to me, Victor had me whisked away and then placed a spell on me to keep me from aging without damaging me. His plan was to undo it once Seraphina’s spirit was finally crushed.”

Audrey’s eyes widened. If what the Man with the German Accent said was true, then they were related. “Seraphina is your aunt?” She asked him.

The Man with the German Accent shook his head. “We’re done talking about my family past.” He told Audrey before standing up. “It’s time to release the Camazot.” He looked at Virginia Dare. “Put her under the spell.” He ordered. He looked at Audrey. “I need you to use your magic to release the Camazot but you might not be willing to do it so I’ll need you under the spell.”

Audrey started pulling against her chains. She had to get out of there. Emily needed to know the truth about the Man with the German Accent and when the Darkness was planning on coming back in full strength.

The Man with the German Accent began laughing as Virginia Dare began playing a tune on her pipe. Audrey felt a sensation come over her. It was like she was asleep but at the same time awake. She turned to face the dark cavern. She didn’t know why but she could actually see the Camazot in its chains. The beast had giant wings with a long forktail and giant curved horns on top of its heads. Audrey could sense the power that the beast had even if it was still trapped in its prison.

“You shall release the Camazot.” The Man with the German Accent ordered.

Audrey wanted to fight back but it was like she wanted to release the Camazot. She raised her hands to the beast and her eyes began to glow silver. Silver energy flowed from her hands to the beast. The Camazot roared as it absorbed the silver energy. Audrey felt a searing pain as the Camazot absorbed the silver energy. It was like the Camazot was taking her life energy.

Virginia Dare went over to the Man with the German Accent. She kept playing the same tune to keep Audrey under her spell. They were close to releasing the Camazot. She looked at the Man with the German Accent. He had a wicked smile on his face and was watching with glee at the pain and suffering he was causing Audrey. Virginia Dare looked at Audrey screaming in pain as the Camazot absorbed Audrey’s energy.

The Man with the German Accent looked at Virginia Dare. “The Camazot is close to being free.” He said. “Soon Audrey will be dead and we will have the most powerful general back for the Darkness.” The Man with the German Accent looked at Audrey. The girl could feel the pain that the Camazot was causing her even if Audrey was under a spell.

The Black Hands in the cavern could see the chains that held the Camazot melting and that the Camazot was growing more powerful. They all started muttering Darkness.

Audrey screamed as she felt the last bit of her life force slip away before she fell to the ground in a lifeless heap. The silver energy flowed into the Camazot, breaking the chains that held it down. The beast roared loudly and flew up into the air.

Virginia Dare lowered her pipe and looked at the Man with the German Accent. “You did it.” She said. “You’ve released the beast.”

Over the Pacific Ocean, in their private jet, the five Black Hands looked at each other as the skies overhead grew very dark. “He’s done it.” The Professor said. “The Camazot is free.”

The Man with the German Accent laughed as he watched the Camazot fly over them. “I have done it indeed Virginia!” He crowed triumphantly. “The Camazot is free at last!”