"I owe you an apology," Aeterna said. "I'm sorry I underestimated you. I've just never seen a castimonia fight like that, or any virtu for that matter."

"Well, I'm not the castimonia yet," Lily pointed out. "And we have to hurry if we hope to get out of here."

Lily stepped out of the cell and looked both ways down the hall. It looked exactly the same either way long, narrow, and dimly lit with a few torches.

"Which way do we go?" Edgar asked, standing beside her and looking around.

"I'm not sure," Lily admitted, and turned back to Aeterna. "Do you know?"

"I was unconscious when they brought me down here," Aeterna shook his head sadly.

"Well ..." Lily bit her lip and nodded to her right. "This is the way the sonneillons came from, so I know it has to lead somewhere."

She led the way, and Aeterna held onto Addonexus, leaning into him for support. Edgar hurried, moving his little legs quickly to match Lily's pace, and he walked right next to her.

"How were you able to get Addonexus to do that back there?" Edgar asked, staring up at Lily.

"I'm not sure. I just thought I could, so I had to try."

"It's the irin in her," Aeterna explained, giving the unicorn friendly pat. "Irins can communicate with unicorns."

"What was that?" Lily stopped short, and everyone followed suit. She tilted her head, listening, and the sound footsteps behind them became clear. Edgar reached up and wrapped his small hand around hers. "Someone's coming."

19.

Lux climbed up onto the bridge, smiling brightly at the two ogres blocking the door to Valefor's lair. They were monstrously large, even for ogres. The one on the left was at least twice as tall as Lux, and that was the shorter of the two.

One of them had only one eye, having lost the other to a sea dragon years ago. They both had large, bulbous noses that seemed to take up most of their faces and gave the ogres their keen sense of smell. This was somewhat ironic, since most ogres smelled like dragon dung.

As a henchman for Valefor, Lux had dealt with the ogres before, but he'd never liked it. Their language skills were almost non-existent, so when he had to speak to them about getting past, it was always a ch.o.r.e. They spoke mostly in grunts and groans, and Lux had never quite gotten a grasp on it.

"Good afternoon," Lux said, doing his best to sound cheerful. The ogre with one eye scratched his head, looking as if he'd forgotten something, but the other one narrowed his eyes at Lux. "I've come to ask for pa.s.sage into the tower. I have business with Valefor."

Lux had been hoping the ogres would be too stupid to know that Valefor wanted him dead now. Even though Valefor had probably given them orders to kill Lux on sight, that didn't mean that they would remember or understand.

The ogres exchanged looks and made a few grunting sounds. Lux didn't understand them at all, but it appeared to be some kind of conversation.

Behind them, he could see Wick sneaking up onto the bridge. She was thin enough that she could slide behind the ogres' legs, but if she tried to open the door, they would hear and turn on her. Gula was on the opposite side of the bridge, waiting until one of the ogres moved so he had enough room to climb up behind him.

The ogre with one eye began to sniff and look around as Wick rummaged in her satchel for something. He could probably smell the toadstool on her, so Lux hurried to distract him.

"Look, guys, I'm one of Valefor's minions," Lux said, speaking loudly so they'd both turn to look at him. "You've let me in here a thousand times, and if I don't get in there now, the master is going to be furious."

"Master?" the one-eyed ogre grunted and scratched his head again.

"Who you?" the other ogre asked and pointed at Lux. Apparently, he was the smarter of the two.

"Me?" Lux stalled, since Wick still hadn't gotten her potion out and Gula hadn't been able to climb onto the bridge. "You know me! We're practically old friends here! How can you not remember me?"

"Friend?" the one-eyed ogre asked, and his comrade shook his head, clearly annoyed with how dumb the other ogre was.

"Who you?" the smart ogre asked again, only angrier this time, and he took a step forward, showing Lux that he meant business. That gave Gula enough room to climb onto the bridge, but he struggled a bit, because of his girth.

"I'm, uh..." Lux fumbled, watching as Gula finally heaved himself onto the bridge. "I'm Lux."

"Lux?" the one-eyed ogre questioned, then frowned.

"Lux smash!" The smart ogre made his ma.s.sive hands into fists, preparing to smash down upon Lux.

"Statua magnus!" Wick shouted and tossed a vial of pinkish liquid onto the ogre. It splashed all over his leg, and at first, it seemed to do nothing more than irritate him.

He bellowed in anger, then tried to lift his foot to step towards her, but his foot would not move. His mottled green skin began turning gray and hardening like stone. It started out on his leg, where the potion hit, but it spread out all over his body until finally, he was a giant ogre statue.

The one-eyed ogre growled in rage and turned to attack Wick, but Gula charged at him. He slammed into the ogre with all his might. It waved its arms futilely before falling backward into the moat.

"Come on," Lux said, running past the statue ogre to the door. The one in the water was down for now, but it wouldn't be for long. And his splashing and yelling would attract attention, like sonneillons or worse.

The ma.s.sive door was controlled by a crank to the side. Lux began turning it, but it moved very slowly. Gula came up behind him and grabbed the crank, taking it from Lux. He was able to turn it much faster, and within a few seconds, the door was open far enough for Lux, Wick, and Gula to sneak inside.

Valefor's lair was as Wick had always pictured it very dark, very dirty, and reeking like brimstone. They stepped inside to a small room with two narrow hallways leading from it, along with one staircase winding down, and one staircase winding up.

"Where do you think she is?" Wick asked.

"His chambers, I imagine," Lux said, then glanced to Gula for help. "He's trying to convince her to marry him, right? That's the best place to seduce her."

"I would think so," Gula agreed.

"This way then." Lux pointed to the hallway on the left and hurried down it.

The hallway curved several times and split off twice as they went, and Wick realized that Valefor's lair was somewhat of a labyrinth. She had to think of a plan so she could make her way back out of here.

As she followed Lux, she sprinkled fairy dust behind her. It was made from dried fairy wings, and it was invisible to the human eye. But if she shined her wand on it, it would light up and lead her out.

They heard footsteps of someone approaching, and Lux motioned for them to duck back in a hall. They pressed themselves as flat against the wall as they could. A torch burned near them, and Wick took out her wand and blew the fire out with it. They were hidden in the shadows, and that was the best they could hope for.

Lux held his breath as the footsteps got closer. He even tried to will his heart to stop beating.

A pair of sonneillons walked past, whispering to themselves. One of them paused at the end of the hallway, only a foot from where Lux was pressed against the wall. The sonneillon c.o.c.ked his head, listening.

"Stop wasting time," the other sonneillon hissed. "The master wants to see us right away."

The sonneillon nodded, and they both continued on their way.

Lux let out a deep breath once the sonneillons were gone. After waiting a minute to be sure they were safe, Lux turned back out into the hallway only to be confronted by a goblin.

It was very small, slightly larger than a house cat, which was why they hadn't heard it approaching. Goblins had a scream like a siren that would alert everything in the tower to danger, and it had leather wings folded on its back so it could fly off.

"Listen, we don't mean any trouble," Lux said, trying to reason with the little monster before it started its warning cry. He stepped toward it, and the goblin hopped back. It opened its mouth, preparing to yell, and it unfolded its wings so it could take off. "Hey, no, let's just talk for a minute."

The goblin leapt into the air, its wings beating furiously. But before it could get anywhere, Gula reached up and caught it around its throat, so it couldn't scream. It fought hard against him, clawing at him and making small squeaking sounds. To quiet it, Gula snapped its neck.

"Thanks," Lux said.

"No problem." With that, Gula held the goblin to his mouth and bit into one of its wings.

"Ugh." Wick wrinkled her nose, watching Gula eat the goblin. "You're disgusting."

"They are better with barbecue sauce," Gula admitted and wiped his mouth with the back of his arm. "Still, this isn't terrible."

Lux shook his head and walked on. Gula tossed the half-eaten goblin aside and followed him. It wasn't long before they heard something else approaching and had to duck into a crevice in the wall to hide. It wouldn't have been so bad had it been just Lux and Wick, but with Gula, it became a tight squeeze.

It sounded like hooves coming towards them, but it was too loud and heavy to be sonneillons. He heard voices, too. They were whispering, and one sounded like an irin. Irin had an eerie calming effect when they talked, which is one of the reasons Lux had always hated interacting with them.

But there was someone else talking with the irin. A girl.

"Lily," Lux whispered, and without thinking, he bolted out from the crevice.

"Lux!" Wick hissed and tried to stop him, but he was already gone.

As soon as Lux was out, he saw them a few meters down the hall. He barely registered the irin with the broken wing, the black unicorn, or the little green sprite. All he saw was Lily, and when she saw him, her entire face lit up.

"Lux!" Lily shouted, unable to contain herself. She let go of Edgar's hand and ran towards him.

They embraced quickly and briefly. She wanted to look at him, to touch him, to know he was real. She stared up at him.

"You're alive," she whispered, with tears in her eyes. "I was certain you had died."

"What have they done to you?" Lux asked, touching at the fresh cuts on her face from the sonneillon's claws. Lily was dirty, battered, and bruised, and a lump grew in his throat. All this had happened to her, and he hadn't been able to protect her.

"I'm fine. I'm just glad you're alright."

"You're not fine," he shook his head. "This shouldn't have happened to you."

"Is it true?" Lily asked.

"What?" Lux didn't understand.

"Are you a peccati?" She stepped away from him when she asked that, and Lux let his arms fall to his sides. Wick had come out of the crevice, and she went over to Lily, putting her arm around her so she could lead her away from Lux. "Are you the luxuria?"

"Yes, it's true," Lux admitted quietly.

"Why didn't you tell me who you were?" Lily asked. "Or that Valefor had sent you after me?"

"I thought you'd be repulsed by me," Lux said. "I never meant to give you over to him, not since the moment I met you. I couldn't."

"You should've told me."

"I know," he nodded. "I should've done so many things differently, and if I could, I would. But I would never change the fact that I am a luxuria, because if I did, then I wouldn't have met you. And no matter what happens because of this, it was worth it. Knowing you has been the greatest honor of my very long life."

Lily stared up at him and a tear fell down her cheek. She wanted to run to him, to kiss him and forgive him of all his past sins, but Wick kept her in place.

"Lily, we don't have time for this," Wick said. "We must go."

"She's right," Lux nodded. "You have to leave."

"You're not coming with?" Lily asked.

"No." He pursed his lips. "I have to try to make sure Valefor can never come after you again."

"No." Lily shook her head and pulled away from Wick. "I won't leave you. Not again."

"You have to," Lux said. "You have to be safe."

"Lily," Edgar interjected. "We must go. They'll hear us and find us soon."

Lily glanced back over at the sprite and up at the wounded irin on the unicorn. She wouldn't risk them, but she wouldn't leave Lux either. She picked up Edgar and put him on the unicorn with Aeterna.

"You go," she told them. "You be safe. I'll follow you."

"Lily," Aeterna said, giving her a solemn nod. "You should come with us."

"I will," she nodded. "But you go on ahead." She turned to Gula. "Do you know your way out of here?"

"Yes," Gula said.

"Good. Take them out of here. Keep them safe."

Gula looked over at Lux to see what he should do, and Lux nodded.

"It's alright," Lux said. "Take them out. But Lily, you have to go with them."

"I am not leaving you, Lux," Lily insisted. "Not after I just found you."

Somewhat uncertainly, Gula started leading the unicorn away. Wick stayed behind with Lux and Lily, hoping to reason with her, but she would drag her away kicking and screaming if she had to. She couldn't leave her alone with the peccati in Valefor's lair.

"You're being ridiculous," Lux shook his head. "I'm a peccati. You shouldn't care what happens to me or risk anything. I've lied to you. I've gotten you in danger. Your life was so much better before you met me. You need to forget me and get out of here."

"No." She stepped closer to him, her eyes unwavering. "You've probably done horrible things, maybe even things that I could never forgive. But I know there is good in you, more good than you even know. You are worth saving and you are worth loving. I'm not leaving unless you leave with me."

A laughed echoed behind them, and they turned back to see Ira standing there.

"Isn't that sweet?" he asked. "It's too bad that I'm going to have to finish the job I started back in the Necrosilvam."