The Ritual of Sacrifice

 “You think you could hide it from us?” Madoc growled at him. Yorath and Arianwen looked at him with hunger in their eyes.

Samuel struggled and thrashed around but was chained to the bed.

I told you to use the power. You can’t trust anyone.

The voice in his mind on top of the taunting from what he thought were his only three friends in the new world was jumbling his thoughts together and making him unable to respond in any way other than more violent shaking.

Madoc ripped the amulet from him and was immediately bathed in strong golden light. Then he extended his hand towards Samuel’s throat.

“Now, die!”

Samuel jerked awake and gasped for breath. He looked around himself in a frantic manner and took a couple of minutes before his heartbeat returned to normal. The nightmare was more intense than usual. Will it just keep getting worse? Even more concerning was the fact that instead of his friends being in danger and him being unable to help them, he was betrayed by them. But what if it actually is right about that? It was unthinkable. At least it should be. The amulet felt as if it was burning through his shirt.

He looked around and saw that Madoc had already left the room. He could’ve at least woken me up.

“Did either of you see Madoc?” Samuel asked Yorath and Arianwen as they broke their fast. They just shook their heads.

He was also missing at their lectures. What is he doing? He had always been diligent in their studies even if he found the theoretical parts boring.

At last he showed up later for their practical exercises with Ivor.

“Finally. Where were you all day?” Samuel whispered to him. Madoc only grumbled some vague excuse.

His behaviour during the exercises was even stranger. He was able to create impressively powerful balls of fire but showed very little control over them. Ivor had to step in to prevent Madoc and other students from being hurt in an explosion.

“Just try and sit for a moment and try to relax,” Ivor told Madoc. “You are too agitated to use magic safely right now.”

Samuel squeezed his fist, then stormed out of the hall.

Even in the evening, he hadn’t returned to the dormitory. After being absent to another lecture the next day, Samuel decided it was time to do something about it.

“I need to talk to him. I fear he will go down a bad path if it goes on like this. What do you think Anwen, Yorath?” Samuel asked.

“We probably should have done it earlier,” Arianwen said with a sigh. “Then again poking our heads into his business might not have worked out all that well either. We will come with you.”

“What?” Yorath asked, confounded by her statement.

“We are going as well,” Arianwen repeated. “We are friends aren’t we?”

Yorath looked away without saying anything. Arianwen took it as a good sign and clapped him on the shoulder.

It was already evening by the time they managed to track Madoc down. They exchanged glances and Arianwen nodded to Samuel to approach him first.

“Hey Madoc,” Samuel called out. For a moment there was no response. Before he could call again, Madoc lifted his head.

“Ah, hi,” he said in a distracted and excitable way. His gaze was darting around without anything obvious being there.

“Madoc, I think we should talk,” Samuel said. Resolving strange social situations was far outside of his expertise and comfort and he needed to brace himself.

“Mhm, yes. It’s time now, isn’t it. You’ve waited long enough. I think it’s finally ready,” Madoc said.

What he said took Samuel by surprise and he forgot what he was about to say and was sucked into Madoc’s line of thought. “What is ready Madoc?”

He grimaced and chuckled. “What do you mean? I told you I’d tell you when my research was done. That’s why you’re here isn’t it?” He then leaned and looked past Samuel to where Yorath and Arianwen were standing. “That’s fine, I was also going to tell them later but if you’re already all here, we might as well just take the opportunity. Come, follow me.”

The trio exchanged nervous glances. Still, they all followed after Madoc. He took them through the long corridors of the Academy to a section that they hadn’t really explored yet. He stopped and let them inside a small, damp and dark room and lit a small flame for light. It was flickering wildly. The smell in the room was awful. There were sheets of paper strewn about the room, covering the desk and spilling on the floor. Many of them were marred by dark stains. Samuel’s breath caught at the sight of the centre of the room. A small chalk circle was drawn on the floor and even more dark stains were within and around it. Could it be the same? A sudden rattle almost made him jump. In a dark corner of the room, there was a cage.

“This is it,” Madoc said. “I’ve finally figured it out. It’s not perfect yet but I’m sure it’s working.”

“What is this?” Samuel asked.

“It’s exactly what we need,” Madoc said. “It’s a way to gain more power.”

That perked up all of their ears. Despite their misgivings due to the bizarre room and Madoc’s abnormal behaviour, that was something that had occupied all of their minds. Their nightmares only exacerbated that fact.

Arianwen’s voice cracked as she tried to speak and she had to clear her throat and wet her lips. “How is that possible? Only a stronger artefact would help us get more power.”

“Correct,” Madoc said with a satisfied grimace. “We can make our own artefacts stronger.”

Yorath gasped at that. “That’s not possible. We can’t do that.” For some reason, his words didn’t carry the sense of disbelief about the situation but rather as if he was stating a fact.

“Of course we can. All we need are some small sacrifices. I mean think about it. The artefacts must come from somewhere right? I’m sure there are people in the Academy who know all this already but they won’t share it with us. We need to figure it out for ourselves.”

It was a tantalising thought and they stood there in silence for a while. There was something about what Madoc had said that bothered Samuel and it wasn’t until Arianwen brought it up that he remembered.

“What kind of sacrifices?” she asked with a shaky voice.

Madoc pointed at the cages. The flickering flame drifted closer to it and revealed a mischief of rats. Arianwen pulled back with a small squeak. It was not unlike the noise made by the small creatures.

Madoc brought the cage closer and took a heavy leather glove from the desk. Samuel had no idea where the dagger that glittered in Madoc’s hand came from. He could do nothing except watch in horrified fascination as Madoc began to show the fruits of his labour.

“Wait,” Arianwen said. “We can’t just kill it. Can we?” Her breathing quickened as she spoke and her eyes widened with excitement. Yorath glared at her.

“It’s a rat,” Madoc said. “We’re supposed to kill them anyway. This way we get something out of it as well. Of course a rat is also not worth much in terms of magic. In fact I would say that is why they had us hunting magical creatures. They would make much better sacrifices, worthy of the Nefara.”

Samuel shuddered at the thought of harming those beautiful creatures. Then again, he had known at least on some level that they were tasked with bringing them back for some purpose. In fact what Madoc had said sounded like a good explanation, that is if his theory of sacrifice turned out to be true.

“Look, here’s the proof,” Madoc said. He created a ball of fire by pouring as much energy as he was able into it. Much like his smaller flame it was not very stable, so it was hard to say how strong it really was.

Madoc removed his ring and placed it in the circle. He winced and jerked in a strange way as the artefact no longer made contact with him. He took a rat from the cage and held it over the artefact. Without a second thought he drove the dagger through the squealing animal. There was the briefest flash of light as he did so, though it was so faint that Samuel wasn’t sure whether he really saw it or only imagined it. Madoc removed the glove and scrambled for his artefact. He didn’t even wipe away the blood and gore before returning the ring to his finger and sighed with contentment. The rest of them could only stare.

“Now watch this,” he said and created another ball of fire. Everyone stared into it. Much like its predecessor, it was unstable.

But can it be? Isn’t it really a bit larger than before? The difference was not obvious. Yet if he has already done this before, it must mean it can be repeated. Step by step into great power. Was a rat such a terrible price to pay? Was any animal for that matter? Still, there was no telling what the Academy would do if they noticed what Madoc had done.

“Delusional,” Yorath muttered but only Samuel seemed to hear him. He wore a disgusted expression. He glanced at Arianwen who was transfixed by what she saw and his frown deepened as he clutched his fists.

“All right. Let’s get on with it,” Madoc said after enjoying his prize for a minute.

“Get on with what?” Samuel asked.

“With your artefacts. That’s why you’re here.”

Samuel stared dumb and felt the prickling sensation of the bracelet. Even the hidden amulet seemed as if it vibrated with excitement. Arianwen grabbed hold of her necklace and began panting. Her eyes shone at the sight of what was before her. Before either of them could speak and allow the dark ritual to happen, Yorath grabbed Arianwen’s hand.

“No,” he said and still held her hand that had grasped her artefact. He glanced over at Samuel with a cold expression. It bore a hint of disappointment. “We’re leaving.” He began walking away and pulled her along. She looked back at the gruesome scene with a strange longing expression but didn’t resist Yorath’s pull.

Madoc stared with a confused expression. “Where are you going? We still have to do the sacrifice.” Then he turned to Samuel. “What’s going on?”

Samuel was torn. He looked from the departing duo to the circle and back. This was exactly what he wanted. The power was within his grasp. And yet.

“Sorry Madoc, I have to check on those two. We’ll have to do this some other time.”

Without waiting for a response, Samuel fled from the room and followed Yorath and Arianwen. He must have took much more time than he had thought as the two were nowhere to be seen even as he began running back the way they had come from.