"What?" Lilah blurted out and looked over to find Boniface was serene as always. "Why would they do that?"
"Because I have been opposing them from the very beginning and now they are angry. They need someone to blame."
"That's ridiculous. They can't come into this sacred place and cause violence." Lilah said frantically. "Bleu, we have to help them." She turned her attention to Bleu's hulking figure and found him watching her sadly. There was a look on his face that was so familiar to Lilah, it was the look he would give her when she was young and would run from the kitchens crying because she had seen the cooks bring in a dead fowl to prepare.
"Why are you looking at me that way? We have to hurry!" Lilah was starting to shout.
"We cannot fight them here. It would start an uproar back in Vidan if we hurt any officers for Noduvs." Van said softly.
Lilah shook her head fiercely and managed the only word she could, "No" she repeated over and over again.
"You have to go, I will be fine." Now it was Boniface who spoke to her softly. He had walked to her and placed a tender hand on her cheek. "Go grab your things and Ma Ra will show you all how to get out through the back."
Lilah shook her head more slowly now and felt hot tears work their way into her eyes. "They could kill you if we don't help." Her voice sounded childish even to her own ears.
"We all must do what we were designed for." He said in a strange, peaceful voice that confused Lilah more than his words.
"Let's go. Van, go get the horses saddled and packed up. We must leave immediately." Marzonna said as she took Lilah by the arm and started to drag her towards the office she slept in the night before. Lilah saw the Aries' men rush to grab their own belongings silently, but she paid them little mind. Instead, she turned her head over her shoulder to catch another glimpse of Boniface.
"You are the queen we have been waiting for." He said, repeating what he had told her the night before. His coal black eyes were the last thing she saw before he turned and rushed to the front of the church. Lilah's resolve hardened at his words and she sprinted down the hallway without Marzonna having to tug her any longer.
"Grab your things and wait out this door for one of us to get you. Bleu and I must go check the back to make sure it is safe and figure out the best route home." Marzonna said hurriedly before rushing off and leaving Lilah on her own.
Lilah did not answer, only nodded and hurried into the office, which was now frigid despite the embers still burning in the hearth. The curtain was drawn shut, making the corners of the room imperceptibly dark. Lilah could feel something watching her as soon as she stepped in the room. There was no noise to be heard, not even the nagging buzz of a fly, and that was when she knew something was not right.
"Who's there?" She demanded and grabbed the dagger that was hidden under her pant leg at the ankle.
There was sharp laughter from her right that made her jump away and search that corner. She needed no help in recognizing that crackled voice after nights of it haunting her dreams. When she whipped her head towards the sound, she found two milky white orbs looking at her from the shadows and her blood ran cold. She spoke with a steadiness that she did not feel.
"What do you want? Why are you following me?"
There was no answer, but at once, the creature flashed to her with the wicked speed that it had exhibited in the palace gardens. Lilah pressed against the wall and prepared herself for the attack. The creature lunged at her but Lilah put a slice through its cheek. Immediately, black ichor oozed onto her hand and down her arm as the creature hissed out in pain. It backed away, but kept its eyes transfixed on her the entire time. It didn't move towards her again, but it did stand between Lilah and the door. For a moment Lilah thought it was strategizing, but she quickly realized it was just staring at her with a blatant, hot focus. A low crackled hum rang through the room and it took a moment for Lilah to recognize the strange sound as chanting.
She could not understand anything that was being said, but she could feel the malice intent in the words. It was as if with every slur and hum that left the creature's mouth, its own spirit was somehow filling Lilah. Panic swept through her and she felt desperate to make the constant pouring of that dark thing inside of her head. For a few seconds she thrashed and pulled at her hair, but almost immediately there was an ice cold calm that began to blanket her senses. The weight of the knife in her hand felt, at once, warm and inviting. A sweet whisper roamed her mind and urged her to lift the sharp metal to her throat. Eager to follow the whisper's instructions, she slowly raised the blade to her exposed flesh and waited for more. With almost no thought, she realized she had to press the blade to her throat. A picture of her life slipping out along with all the blood seemed almost euphoric in that moment. She felt the faint sting of the blade piercing her flesh, but paid it no attention, for the whisper was coaxing her to keep going. Lilah's hand was slipping the blade across her own throat, a simple thing that was easy to her so long as the voice kept telling her to do so.
Before she could finish the command, the door to the office opened and the whisper was just steam leaving a pot once the lid was removed. It left her as quickly as it gathered in her. All at once, Lilah felt heavy and laden with whatever the whisper had temporarily taken from her. She fell to the ground and her head was pulsing while her throat felt as if it were set on fire. There were shouts and a sharp crack through the room that threatened to split Lilah's head open like a melon. She looked up to find Leon swaying over a puddle of the same black tar that covered his hands all the way up to his elbows. The entirety of his eyes, even the sclera, were black as night for a moment before they returned to their normal hazel gold. He then turned over and heaved up everything he just ate before slowly stumbling over to where Lilah was sitting against the wall. She did not register what he was saying, but he was repeating his words and tugging at the hands that she was holding her throat with. They came away slick with blood and the cool air of the room worked to set the fire at her throat aflame all over again. Leon said something but his words still didn't penetrate her mind.
He sloppily ripped the scarf off her head and wound it tightly around her neck. There was sweat on his brow and his skin looked flaxen, but he worked quickly and thoroughly. Lilah spoke the only thing that was on her mind and Leon leaned closer to hear her.
"The whisper." She murmured. "The whisper told me to do it."
Leon's lips thinned and he moved with new resolve, his words finally reaching her ears.
"Come here, I've got you." He said softly before lifting her from the ground and carrying her out of the office. A sickly wetness covered them both, a mixture of her blood and the tar that the creature left in its wake. Lilah could not figure out what had happened or how Leon got it to go away.
"Pa, go get Commander Bleu and Sage Marzonna." Leon demanded to his father who was waiting outside the door as he carried Lilah out of the office. "Quickly, she's unwell." He added and rushed the opposite direction.
"I'm right here, don't be afraid." He murmured as he carried her to the end of the hall and sat her gently down onto a bench pressed beside a wooden door. Lilah couldn't get the energy to tell him that she wasn't afraid or even worried. She only felt an emptiness that forbade her from feeling anything else. This strange nothingness was like ice pressed to a sprain.
"Keep pressure on your throat." He whispered and lifted her hand to the now damp scarf he had wrapped around her. His eyes were so worried that she almost laughed. Wasn't he supposed to hate her?
"What happened?" Marzonna's voice cut through the quiet hallway like a surgeon's scalpel and she rushed to where they sat. Lilah could not lift her head to see her tutor, but she could hear that her voice was closer.
"It was a broken Noduv." Leon answered and backed away so Marzonna could help. "It- it had some kind of hold on her. She was hacking into her own neck." He explained.
Marzonna only nodded and went to tending to the wound, like she had done for so many others in the past. Her movements were precise and mechanical as she unbound the scarf and examined Lilah's neck. She let out a low hiss when she saw the wound and cursed under her breath. "It's deep. She didn't hit the jugular, but if we don't stop the bleeding she will die."
Even at this revelation Lilah felt nothing but emptiness and a sharp pain in her head. She watched with detached interest as the two of them worked at her throat, both with medical expertise and Noduv power. She heard others run down the hallway and shout commands, but it was all lost on her. The last thing she heard before she succumbed to darkness was a sharp scream that pierced through even Lilah's dulled senses. The scream belonged to Mama Ra.