Chapter Twelve: Hidden Enemies
By: nike13

   With his eyes focused on the archer still seated at the hall table, Lorid began to glide effortlessly towards him. It only took a few seconds before the others realized who he was after. As Lorid reached his long, pale fingers to grasp the young man's shoulder, a flash of lightning streaked across the room to collide with his chest, sending the black robed man back against the floor.

   Teresa lowered her arm and let her eyes return to their hazel shade, and slowly walked towards the fallen villain. "What do you think you're doing here?" she asked just above a whisper, her heart beating loudly in her ears as she stared down at him from her new position, just in front of Marcus's chair.

   "I am simply here to collect something that was promised to me," Lorid said, still resting on the floor. His face showed no sign of surprise or any other form of emotion except subtle glee.

   What happened next, no one knew. In one brief and fluid movement, Marcus rose from his chair and grabbed Teresa by the throat. Time itself appeared to freeze; no one dared more for fear of what Marcus might do. Then, slowly and ever so quietly, Lorid rose to his feet.

   He glided once more towards Marcus, and this time was not stopped. The look in Lorid's eyes seemed to speak in waves to Waren, or perhaps he really was speaking to the younger man through his thoughts. Waren moved his arm to grab David's shoulder and pull him gently to stand just in front of the king. Just in case, Waren told David before he moved forward to Lorid.

   Again, no one moved; each watching and waiting for the other to make the first move. Marcus kept his grip on Teresa's throat firm, waiting for any sign of resistance from the girl but she remained limp, keeping her gaze on Waren, hoping for some sort of instruction.

   "What have you been up to, Lorid?" Waren inquired, as being reunited with an old friend. Lorid chuckled and sat in one of the seats at the table.

   "Just having a little fun with these primitives, Waren, that is all."

   "And what 'fun' have you done this time?" Waren asked, taking a seat next to Lorid.

   "Just a little manipulation," Lorid said, waving his hand towards Marcus with a sense of utmost pride. Marcus stayed where he was and Teresa could not move under the pressure he had on her throat for fear that Marcus would try to snap it. "That man was very easy to take control of, Waren. All that anger and fear targeted around your friend Kevin's disappearance, it was as if he was begging me to walk right in."

   "So you just embedded yourself into his brain?"

   "Well, in a way, I suppose I did. But the real question is" he said smugly and leaned closer to Waren, "can you undo my tampering? Or are your powers still not up to Electronic Cerebral Manipulation?"

   Waren thought for a moment, he had never been able to destroy electrical devices of the mind no matter how hard he trained and Lorid knew this. He didn't even notice Lorid's influence on the archer when he searched the man's mind the day before. Then, he slowly shut his eyes as he kept his ears tuned for any movement from the chair beside him. He was truly terrified from doing anything to Marcus's mind while he held Teresa by the throat but could think of no other way out of this stalemate.

   Waren let his mind slowly drift over to Marcus's thoughts, glossing over the surface for any way to penetrate deeper without a reaction. The man's thoughts were deathly focused on his hold of the girl in his arms, so focused it left no room for anything else. Waren knew just from this that somewhere deep in the man's subconscious, Lorid had implanted a trigger signal. Everything was so air tight it was unnerving that Lorid could do this without telepathic powers himself.

   Waren, please, Teresa's mind whispered, please hear me, can you hear me?

   It was a faint call but Waren's mind touched hers lightly, praying to anything that would listen that Lorid wouldn't notice the change in his focus. I can hear you Teresa, he said comfortingly, just hang on and I'll get you out of this.

   But you can't, can you? Lorid's right, isn't he?

   Just trust me, he pleaded, not willing to admit the truth, not wanting to admit he couldn't help her when he was most needed.

   Let me help.

   How? he demanded harshly.

   Just tell David to be ready to help me.

   What are you going to do?

   There was a pause before she answered, telling Waren more than any words she could say that whatever it was, it would be dangerous. The thing is electric, right? she asked tentatively. I can fell it's pulse from this close. All I have to do is turn it off like I did with that alarm.

   Oh god, he moaned inwardly.

   Just tell David to be ready.

   She waited a moment, maybe to focus on the light electrical current or just to be sure Waren had done what she asked.

   Waren kept his eyes closed to try and keep the illusion that he was doing what Lorid had told him to. He didn't want to watch, he couldn't bring himself to. If things turned out like the alarm incident, Marcus would be dead from a severe electrical blast, and he wanted no one to die.

   David was prepared, his muscles tense and ready to pounce when needed. His father simply stared at the scene before him as Teresa opened her eyes of pure white. She grabbed the archer's arm around her neck with almost inhuman speed, desperate to halt the pressure and end this. A shock of white light streaked from her hand, up the man's arm, and seemed to go directly into his ear. Marcus jerked back and fell to the floor, taking the girl with him, and hit his head hard against the stone floor. Teresa fell against him but it didn't seem to register, her eyes were still their pale shade.

   Waren, having opened his eyes to the sound of the two falling forms, never saw what had happened next. The instant Marcus was unconscious, Lorid grabbed his arm and he was gone. in another flash of light.

   Waren looked up from his prone position on the cold, hard floor. He had been brought to a circular room with windows all along the outer walls. The ceiling was vaulted and gave off very little light, casting angry shadows all about the room below that seemed to flicker, as if the light from above would die out at any moment and send them into darkness.

    In the dim light, Waren could barely make out what appeared to be an old fashioned door. As his eyes adjusted, he could also make out two large, human shaped forms, one on either side of the door frame; there would be no way of getting through.

   Ignoring the dark cloaked figure leering a few feet beside him, Waren looked back to the windows to see if escape would come from that direction, but what lay beyond the reinforced glass made his heart pound.

   "Welcome home, Prince Waren," Lorid sneered from his position next to Waren, faking a courtly bow.

   "This isn't my home," Waren protested softly, eyes riveted to what lay beyond.

   "But it will be, very soon in fact. You see, humanity hasn't changed much in its millennia of existence and you, my dear boy, will be the one to witness its undoing. You're the one who will destroy the Earth and its people, not me."

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