Chapter 99

99 Fowl Death

****THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS 18+ CONTENT. LANGUAGE, VIOLENCE, BLOOD, GORE. VIEWERS DISCRETION ADVISED****

The blood that pooled around Skye’s hand expanded across the white marble floors. Jacob’s heel had crushed all of the bones in her hand, but she refused to cry out. The feeling of her bones being mashed and ground was a new kind of pain, but still nothing compared to having her flesh being continuously cooked.

It was a faked laugh, but doing so had rattled him enough to make a mistake. Jacob had no magic, so he couldn’t sense when Skye used hers. All he’d seen was her lift her hand before. It wasn’t a necessary thing to do, the princess had simply found it easier to control her magic with her hands involved in the directionality.

Technically, Skye didn’t even need to touch the ground to channel magic into it; same with her water trait. A direct connection to the element allowed one to funnel their magic into it much faster, and at greater quantities. Allowing the creator greater control for details. It was pivotal to cutting down the risk in her plan to herself.

Jacob’s torturing was the only thing keeping him in place. If not for his sadistic needs, he probably would’ve killed Skye and left already. But Jacob was a weak person; needing the validation of his victims’ screams to maintain his self-illusions. No one had ever wounded him like Skye had, especially not a woman. And he was determined to make her suffer for it.

Lifting his foot, Jacob slammed it down as hard as he could onto Skye’s fingers. The crunching sound that came from them snapping reminded her of the sound Thoth’s hooves made while stepping on branches in the woods. She stopped herself from screaming, but couldn’t hold back the tears any longer.

“That’s more like it, lass. Ima never gonna make it out of this place alive, I know that much. Not since I killed one of the prince’s men.. But I Will be takin ye with me; piece by piece..” Jacob twisted his heel again; “So the longer ye keep quiet, the longer I get to play..”

Skye felt her fear bubbling up in her throat. She wanted to cry out for Tidas, for him to come and save her. However every instinct in her warned her not to. Tidas wasn’t the target of his hate, she was. Making him suffer by losing her made no sense; even for his twisted mind. The opposite was far more likely to be his goal.

The hand he’d been grinding into hamburger was her dominant one; her left. It was the hand he’d seen her raise when she used her magic against him the first time. If she were anyone else; she would’ve been left crippled by the damage he’d done.

.....

Based on her knowledge of Jacob; Skye extrapolated that he was trying to get Tidas and her family to come by making her yell out. He would most likely attempt to kill Tidas, her father, Peggy, and Maevis first; based on personal grudges. Her mother and the royal Fae would also be in danger, due to their connection to Skye.

Slowing her laughter, Jacob assumed she was close to breaking. He flashed a pompous grin before looking around the room a second. He’d been surprised that the window had been fixed so quickly. With two earth users, the floor would’ve been easily fixed.

The fact that the wench had magic, but hid it, infuriated Jacob all over again. If he’d known how valuable Skye truly was, he would’ve taken her long before their intended wedding. Even if he would’ve had to have killed the old servant bitch to do it. He would’ve had a child with her by now, and everything the Moonstones owned would’ve been his.

“If ye had chosen me, None of this would’ve happened!” Jacob yelled as he lifted his foot, and smashed it down onto Skye’s forearm; snapping it with it’s force.

The damage he’d done to her hand was bad, but the pain from her arm was far more intense than Skye thought it’d be. She’d never broken a bone before, and had rarely hurt herself, before making the armor. The pain was intensified as he lifted his foot, and stomped on her broken arm repeatedly.

From the elbow down; Skye’s left arm was mangled. Blood covered the floor around them in every direction, soaking a nearby rug. Her hand and fingers were indistinguishable. Bones stuck out in numerous, random places.

Skye was at her limit. The amount of pain she was in coupled with her blood loss made it hard to concentrate. She couldn’t work her Shaman and earth trait at the same time, so she stuck with her earth. She had endured his torturing for nearly eight minutes, so the pitfall was nearly complete.

Raising his leg higher than he had before; Jacob dropped all of his weight down onto where Skye’s upper arm connected to her elbow. A loud snap echoed in the room before Skye let out an ear-shattering scream. Which was immediately followed by Jacob’s heinous laughter.

In between laughing, Jacob sneered; “YES! That’s what I wanted to hear! Cry for me, bitch! Bring’em straight to me!”

Skye’s heart sank as her worst fear was verified. Jacob was after her loved ones, not her.. Pictures of their faces flashed through her mind’s eye in rapid succession. As the various memories of Tidas ran through her head, Skye’s willpower soared. She would rather die bloody a thousand times over than be the cause of her loved ones’ deaths..

Flooding the ground with her magic; Skye quickly finished with her death trap. It required them both to fall, for it to work. She’d initially tried to create a safe spot for herself to land, but now threw caution to the wind. She’d just finished the final spike as Tidas came through her door with his sword drawn.

Several guards were behind the prince, with Skye’s father directly behind them. When he looked down at Skye’s state, his anger literally caused his magic to flare as he maxed himself to his limits. Jacob chuckled menacingly as he pointed the gun down at Skye’s head. Tidas wanted to slice his head off, but the bastard was too close to Skye for him to stop the bullet in time, if Jacob shot her.

Laughing with a vicious look in his eyes, Jacob snidely remarked; “Is her twat really worth dyin over? Maybe I should give it a go real fast before we all meet our makers..”

As Jacob reached down to grab Skye by her hair, Tidas took a step towards them. Jacob immediately pointed the gun at him with a demon’s smile, and went to squeeze the trigger. It was at that moment that Skye released her hold on the magic she was using to keep the floor up. She’d looked up at her husband and smiled before releasing it, then vanished into the ground with Fowler..

A radiating pain from her arm, head, and shoulder was the first thing Skye realized as she slowly opened her eyes. She barely needed to focus to see the giant spike directly in front of her face. Had she landed one inch up or over in any direction, she would’ve skewered herself with her own trap.

“SKYE! SKYE?! Are you alright?! Talk to me!” Tidas screamed at the top of his lungs as he tried to see through the cloud of dust and dirt.

She wanted to call out to him, but not until Skye Knew Jacob was dead. If he was still alive, she needed to find him first. Instead; she used the couple minutes to begin to heal herself. It was taxing after creating the pitfall, but she only needed to save enough magic for one good thrust of a spike.

Skye barely breathed as she waited for the dust to clear. She could hear Jacob’s ragged breathing, but wasn’t sure until she saw him.. A spike was sticking out of his chest as blood streamed down the sides of his mouth. When he randomly coughed, blood spewed. Skye had made the spikes to be thin at the top, then drastically expand towards the bottom. Making sure by design, that they would pierce flesh and bone.

Skye got up while she healed herself, and came to stand before the dying Jacob Fowler. She stared at him with an apathetic look, even though her insides both twisted, and celebrated. Taking a life wasn’t something Skye liked to do, but found it frequent lately. What disturbed her was that those she’d killed, hadn’t made her feel guilty at all. They were terrible men who delighted in causing suffering.

The way Skye saw it; laying down and dying solved nothing. It simply allowed those who hurt and killed to keep going unhindered. Even if she were to get in trouble for killing Jacob or the nomads; it didn’t matter to her. Whenever she was meant to meet the gods; her conscience would be clear.

As Skye stood watching him choke, Jacob managed to get out; “At least I ruined yer arm, haha! Shaman or not; good luck casting yer spells right without yer hand!”

Feeling a surge of magic from her emotions running high; Skye rapidly sped up her healing. She focused on the bone, tissues, and skin; avoiding her nerves for the time being until she could get most of everything else healed. Her bones snapped and popped as they went back into place. Her muscles and tendons looked like they regrew instead of fixing themselves. Finally, Skye’s skin rewrapped itself; like peeling a banana in reverse.

Jacob hadn’t understood Skye’s third trait, which had worked in her favor. She might’ve been able to heal herself while he was torturing her, but he also might’ve remembered her trait due to lack of damage. Had he remembered, the torture she had endured might’ve turned out much worse..

As Skye’s arm and hand magically healed in front of him, Jacob stared at her with a defeated look on his face and asked; “So not even a scar to remember me by?”

Seeing fear flash across his face as he choked through his final breaths, Skye replied; “Oh, there be scars.. But time will erase them; starting now..”

Grinning one final time; Jacob’s final words were: “Damn.. Should’ve just took..the lad’s offer..and watched you.. and yer prince..fall and..die bloody...”