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  Now he was locked up, having betrayed his friends and allies to the Dark, he’d had time for reflection, especially as the others were still unconscious. They would all die as part of the ritual; however, the others would be reborn. He, most likely, would not. His soul no longer belonged to the Light. It now belonged to Dasrus and to the Dark. He had made a deal. Dasrus had shown him everything he could possess if only he deceived his friends, but the most appealing thing to Jedd was not the riches, but not having to feel the pain any more. Although after witnessing what had happened to Purdey, he realised he probably had an eternity of torture ahead of him. He should never have made his bargain. He willingly handed over his soul, even sought out the Dark. And why? Because he had become bitter over time and because he was jealous. These human emotions had got the better of him and now he would pay for an eternity. He should have trusted Kaden and told him he remembered. Kaden would have helped him for sure.

  But at the time, the thought of being away from her crippled him. What if he could never remember again what he felt? In hindsight, that would have been for the best. His hate and his rage at those feelings not being reciprocated had eaten him up and he had made a massive mistake. Cerbereans cannot be together anyway. His thoughts wandered to Fen and Sol and he was curious as to how they were doing. They were always drawn to each other unconsciously and every time they were reactivated, they had to break things off, hide their feelings and become the true warriors they were. They were strong and loyal to the Light. This shamed Jedd. He was disgusted with himself. Instead of being brave, instead of acting like a warrior, he had taken the coward’s way out. He should have asked for help. In the dank cell, the darkness taunted him for his actions. What had he done? His plan had not worked as Cecily still did not remember and the others did not understand why he had turned his back on them.

  As he sat there with nothing but time to kill, he tried to anticipate Dasrus’s next move. The truth was that Dasrus had told him nothing of his intentions. He was on a strictly need to know basis and as a result, he was completely useless. Jedd contemplated why Dasrus was waiting. He had everything he needed for the ritual, the six guardians and permission from Lord Bramble, human protector of the gateway, yet Dasrus had mentioned needing one last thing. Whatever that thing was, Jedd was now grateful for it as it would give him the opportunity to do the right thing. This was entirely his fault. If he had not approached the Dark, the wheels would not have been set in motion. He gave Dasrus his opportunity and now many people were dead and he and his fellow Cerbereans were in this prison awaiting death. He had to try and fix things. His calling to the Light was at its strongest now that the others had been reactivated. He was a part of something huge. He had found himself lost along the way though and his rage and bitterness had caused no end of trouble. He needed the chance to redeem himself.

  Jedd waited for what seemed like an age for his friends to awaken and when they did, he listened carefully to their whispered conversation. He heard the terror in Cecily’s voice. Obviously, she was having a hard time coming to terms with everything, especially as she could not remember anything. He tried to put himself in her shoes, but he just imagined he would think everyone was nuts. He had to respect her for trying and his heart went out to her for more reasons than one. Jedd thought how angry she would be with him after the argument in Bramblegate. He had said a lot of nasty things to her that night, fuelled by his will to lash out and hurt her and to top it off, ever since that night he had avoided her.

  Kaden, Fen and Sol were stoic as always; true warriors. However, Elisabeth was also very angry with him and he did not blame her one bit. The way he had treated her had been despicable. He had kidnapped her, bound her, kept her as his prisoner and finally knocked her out cold. He wondered if she would ever be able to forgive him as this was not how you treated a friend. He had betrayed them all badly. Would any of them be able to forgive him and give him a second chance? He needed them to look into his heart, to see how sorry he was.

  Jedd waited for the most opportune moment to speak. He did not want to interrupt them, firstly because deep down, he wanted to gauge their feelings towards him and secondly, because he was their only chance of escape. He knew this, so part of him wanted them to feel despair and hopelessness so that he would be welcomed back into the fold. Although he knew it would take more than pulling off an escape from this dungeon for them to trust him again.

  When his friends’ conversation had been exhausted, he took his chance to announce his presence.

  “I still have my powers,” he said in the most timid, unthreatening, apologetic tone possible.

  “Jedd?”

  Kaden was the first to speak, quickly followed by Elisabeth who added imperatively, “Don’t trust him!”

  He saw that one coming.

  “I know what you are thinking,” said Jedd, carefully. “I’m so sorry, more sorry than any of you know. I’ve made a huge mistake. I just want to put things right and come back to the Light.”

  “Why should we trust you?” spat Elisabeth. “You’ve betrayed all of us. You engineered this whole situation from start to finish!”

  “I know and I was wrong. I was bitter and angry.”

  “Why, Jedd? Why have you done this?” Fen sounded wounded.

  “I never forgot. I was born again this time with all of my memories and I felt so alone. Human emotions ate me up inside and I turned to Dasrus.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me, Jedd? We are friends!” The shock in Kaden’s voice was evident, but Jedd was pleased to hear that he spoke about their friendship in the present tense and not the past. “I could have deactivated you, like I did Elisabeth.”

  “What?” chorused Fen and Sol.

  “You were both reborn with memories? Activated?” questioned Sol, trying to understand what Kaden and Jedd were talking about.

  “Yes. Elisabeth drew her sword in the school playground. I deactivated her and sent her away until she was needed again, just to be sure she would not accidentally reactivate again,” explained Kaden.

  “I didn’t know about Elisabeth. I will never be able to truly explain the reasons for what I did. I regretted it the moment I started. I’m going to put things right. I’ll get us out of here and then I’ll do whatever it takes for you to trust me again.”

  “That’s all very well, Jedd, but you are a Cerberean,” pointed out Kaden.

  “I know,” said Jedd, regretfully. “I’ve broken my oath.”

  “I’m afraid it will not be up to us how you remedy this situation or even if you can.”

  “That is a chance I’ve got to take, for my own peace of mind, if anything.”

  Also for the sake of his soul, but he decided not to tell them just yet that it belonged to Dasrus.

  “Coward!” screamed Elisabeth.

  “Elisabeth,” reproached Kaden, his manner calm. “If there is a chance for us to get out of here, we must take it. We’ve work to do. Think about how long we’ve known Jedd for.”

  “I think we should give Jedd another chance,” offered Sol. “Everyone makes mistakes.”

  “Me too,” Fen agreed. “Being in human form for so long you start to adopt some mortal traits. We’ve all done it.” Fen paused and Jedd could imagine her blushes. “I believe we should give him the opportunity to redeem himself.”

  “Well, I too am in favour of giving Jedd the chance of redemption. It is for the Light to judge him and not his fellow Cerbereans.”

  Jedd knew that Kaden would offer him the scope to prove himself. His heart was warmed by his friends’ confidence in him. Then the voice he had truly wanted to hear from spoke through the darkness.

  “I’m afraid I agree with Elisabeth. He has deceived us all and I don’t know if I can forgive him yet, let alone trust him. He was supposed to be my friend, in fact, a friend to us all.”

  This condemnation spiked Jedd through the heart, but what did he expect? He had treated her appallingly and as she was still human, she would not be able t
o rise above it and control her emotions. He would have to prove himself and when her memories came back, she would remember his previous loyalty like the others did. However, it was Elisabeth he needed to convince. Did she see something in him the others did not? She was so mad with him, understandably, but she too would have to control those dangerous human emotions. He was speaking from experience. Or maybe she had already mastered her feelings and was demonstrating her deadly warrior instincts.

  After a few moments, Elisabeth spoke.

  “One wrong move, Jedd, and I will rip your throat out myself.” Her quiet menacing tone was bordering psychotic. He did not want to be on the wrong side of her.

  Kaden sprang into action. “Jedd, you said you still have your powers?”

  “Yes, I didn’t think to try until you all said you did not have yours. Turns out mine are working fine!”

  “Dasrus must have blocked our powers. Why would Dasrus make the effort to intercept all our powers, yet leave you with yours?” pondered Kaden.

  “Maybe in all the commotion, he forgot. I didn’t know I was going to be locked up here until we arrived and then he simply shoved me in this cage and left without so much as a word.”

  “Dasrus did not forget,” replied Kaden. “He is not stupid. He has done it on purpose. I buy the fact that we are in this less secure holding cell because he cannot return to the Dark, but I do not believe he would forget to block one set of powers, not after all of his hard work to get us here.”

  “It’s a trap,” said Elisabeth, matter-of-factly.

  “Yes, that was my first thought,” mused Kaden, “and the obvious answer. Or maybe he is testing Jedd’s loyalty. Has Dasrus confided in you, Jedd? Do you have any information?”

  “No, he has told me nothing. At first, I could not understand the delay in performing the ritual. I mean, he has everything he needs. But then, shortly before we got here, like Elisabeth already said, he mentioned needing one more thing to complete the ritual.”

  It went quiet again and Jedd could hear his own heart thumping in his chest. If anyone could figure it out, Kaden could.

  “It’s a trap. Jedd’s right, Dasrus needs one more element to complete the ritual and he needs us to lead him to it. We need to leave right away. We cannot risk him obtaining it by himself and returning here to imprison us for real. Our first mission just became critical.”

  “So, we are going to walk straight into his trap instead?” questioned Cecily. “Do you have a death wish, because I don’t. Let’s just get out of here and disappear. He can’t perform the ritual at all without us.”

  “He knows we won’t run though. We are Cerbereans, protectors of the human race and we have sworn an oath. We can’t let him manipulate the final piece of the puzzle.”

  “Are you saying the missing part is human?” Sol sounded quizzical.

  “Yes, I believe it is.”

  “OK, so we go and rescue this person, walk straight into Dasrus’s trap and give him everything he needs to complete the ritual, all tied up with a pretty bow on top?” said Cecily, sarcastically. “Have you forgotten that Dasrus defeated us badly only a few hours ago?”

  “There are five of us this time, Cec. We are stronger.” Jedd knew that Fen was trying to put Cecily’s mind at ease.

  “Providing Jedd fights with us,” snapped Elisabeth.

  “Look, I have a plan to get what we need and escape quickly, but if the plan is going to work, we have got to start trusting each other.”

  “Elisabeth, I am sorry!” Jedd implored. “I will prove to you that I am back. I won’t let you down again.”

  Jedd felt his apology from the bottom of his heart, but Elisabeth said nothing. In addition, Cecily was still unconvinced of the plan.

  “I think the whole thing sounds crazy. We should run.”

  “I know you don’t understand yet, Cec,” explained Sol, “but you have to trust Kaden.”

  Jedd heard Cecily breathe a deep sigh. She will be mortified that she suggested bolting when her memories come back.

  “Let’s go then,” she muttered without zeal.

  “Your heard the lady, Jedd!” shouted Kaden.

  Jedd reached over his shoulders with both hands and felt the ice cool hilt of his sword as he grasped it. As he unsheathed his sword, the slicing sound of the sharp blade filled him with power and a bright white light erupted from behind him. With one clean swipe he was able to slice through the thick and heavy lock and chains like a knife through butter. As the door to the cage sprang open, Jedd leapt outside it, feeling more alive and more powerful than ever. He was back.

  Chapter 22

  Jedd effortlessly removed the chains from the other cells with his supernatural sword. At least that is what Cecily presumed it to be; it was certainly not of the world that she knew. As she heard Jedd slice through the chains of her prison door, she darted forward to feel for the exit. She had not realised while sat in her small jail, as the dark was impenetrable, but the cell door was old-fashioned, like a dungeon, made up of thick metal bars, the heavy chains wrapped around them. So easy for Jedd to access, she thought to herself. Even once outside her cell door, the darkness enveloped her still; there seemed no escape from this wretchedness. The gloom and anguish of this cold, obscure place filled her head. She felt her brain soaking up the hopelessness, its receptors feeding the same feeling to her heart. She could barely see something if she was stood right on top of it. How were they supposed to feel their way out of this place? Just as she felt the desperation begin to pull her under and the panic rise in her stomach, she heard Kaden, unflappable as ever.

  “Right, let’s get out of here!”

  They walked in single file, Jedd up front as he still had his powers, closely followed by Kaden with Elisabeth, Fen and Sol bringing up the rear. Cecily was sandwiched between Kaden and Elisabeth. Jedd knew which direction they had come in from as he had not been blindfolded, so he led them slowly and carefully along a cool and slimy wall. Again, Cecily found herself thinking how easy it was for them to escape, having Jedd with them at full power, knowing the way out. The wall felt disgusting and Cecily kept squealing and recoiling at the different textures she was experiencing, trying not to think about what they were. It was as if she were a contestant in one of those Japanese game shows where they blindfold you and then make you stick your hands into various containers of goodness knows what and you have to guess what it is. She wanted a hot shower.

  They eventually came to a stop.

  “What is it?” Sol whispered loudly from the back of the line.

  “Stairs,” said Jedd in an equally exaggerated hushed voice. “I’m sure we came down these stairs. There are a lot of them, so be prepared.”

  However, nothing could have prepared Cecily for the ascent. Not only was it tough, it was never ending. She started out strong and determined as she wanted to get out as soon as possible to escape the oppressive atmosphere. Her lungs were begging for some fresh air. However, as time ebbed away, she became more breathless and tired and the muscles in her calves burned as they headed for what she hoped was the surface. The more exhausted she became, the clumsier she got. The stairwell was narrow and the steps were uneven. Plus, she still could not see anything, so she found that she stumbled easily, which made Elisabeth fall over her, then Fen over Elisabeth and Sol over Fen, causing a domino effect. Elisabeth kept helping Cecily to her feet, but she felt Elisabeth’s annoyance. Jedd and Kaden also had to slow their pace on account of her.

  It was all right for them, they were superhuman warriors. She was just plain old Cecily Stalks. If only she could get her memory back. What was she thinking? She did not know who or what she would be if she remembered. Maybe she would not like herself? Maybe she was preventing herself from recalling, somehow protecting herself? She did not think that her yelps and shrieks were helping matters either, every time she fell or came across something in the dark she did not quite like the feel of. Well, they will just have to bear with me and be patient, she thought
defiantly. She was trying her best. And so her ordeal continued as she climbed and climbed. The only reason she was moving at all was due to sheer will power. She did not want to appear weak in the eyes of the others. If her friends were struggling like she was, then they showed no sign of it. They were completely stoic, whereas Cecily was fighting back the sobs. She could not think about where she was or what she was doing, because if she did, she felt hysteria setting in, then her mouth watered and bile rose. She could vomit at any moment. Just when she thought she could take no more, Jedd spoke excitedly.

  “Light! I can see light!”

  “Are you sure?” answered Kaden.

  “Of course I’m sure! It’s been pitch black and now I can see light… around a doorway!”

  Jedd was right. The top of the narrow stairwell opened up into a small passage and a couple of metres away, the outline of the door was highlighted by chinks of light. Jedd ran the short distance and began pushing, but he could not shift it. Kaden and Sol joined him, yet the three of them could not budge the door either. However, with the power of Elisabeth and Fen added to the force behind the door, the five of them managed to slowly push the heavy door open.

  The brightness showed the door to be made of rock. With a last burst of energy, Cecily made her way out of the depressing, soul-sucking dungeon. She bent forwards, hands on knees and took in a deep breath of fresh air. However, the air up there was anything but fresh; it was putrid. Cecily vomited noisily in a corner. She could hear Kaden and Jedd discussing her current state.

  “It is too much for her,” said Kaden, sounding genuinely concerned.