Ileus: The Dark Prince

The tingle Iona felt across her back turned into an itch. She stretched her hands to her back and started scratching. She wanted to rip her clothes and claw her skin. The itch was burning her skin. "Rolfe!" she breathed out. "I can't tolerate it! It burns." 

Perturbed as to what was happening to Iona, Rolfe tilted his head to her back to see. Her claws were out and she was slicing her dress. Bruises started appearing on the groove of her spine. "Oh god!" Rolfe rasped. He caught her hands to stop her from scratching. She growled at him. "Don't Iona!" he growled back. "There is something weird happening." He turned to see Adrianna, who was frowning at her daughter's reaction. "Her tattoos—they are disappearing!" he said with a slackened jaw. "They are fading." 

Adrianna's eyes widened. She went to sit behind her daughter. Ileus and Anastasia too joined them. Kaizan had shifted and along with Haldir, he came running to her. 

"Leave me!" Iona twisted her hands as she tried to free herself from Rolfe, bruising him in the process. When he didn't, she shoved at his chest and bared her fangs. "Leave me, I said!" The skin at her back was burning as the tattoos slowly started evaporating in the air. The black ink swirled and lifted off the skin in black tendrils of smoke. It was as if the magic that had entered her acted like lava, heating the black words, the words that had appeared on her body after Anastasia had plunged the Evindal sword in her. And when the ink steamed off from her body, she felt a burning sensation. 

Haldir narrowed his eyes. He went to stand right behind her and ripped her gown. "Take her outside," he ordered. 

"What? Are you mad?" Rolfe shouted at him. "How dare you touch her?" His horns started straightening. 

"We don't have the time for your demonic brawls, demon," Haldir snapped. "Either you take her or I will lift her and take her outside." 

"But it is too cold," Rolfe grunted. "She is pregnant!" 

Seeing that Rolfe was arguing, Haldir scooped up Iona in one fast motion and started walking towards the backyard. 

"Haldir!" Rolfe charged at him, but Adrianna held his hand in time. 

"He is doing it for Iona's benefit. We can't pour ice cold water on her back because that would stop the process of ink disappearing." 

"Please, she is in a lot of pain!" Rolfe said in an exasperated voice. "She has suffered so much. Please don't make her suffer." His chest was aching with her pain. He could sense her fear, her anguish. Would she never get respite? The little girl had nothing to deserve so much pain. Being born to a powerful mother and father was her only demerit. She had inherited their powers and she was harnessed for them. When she lost those powers, she lost her magic, and now… now that she was having a cheerful life finally, Siora came along the way. His throat bobbed. "Please, she is in a lot of pain." He rubbed his chest to ease his anguish. 

"I know, son," said Adrianna. "Let Haldir take care of it. I think he understands her agony." 

Rolfe couldn't do anything but just wait and see what they were all doing. 

Haldir took Iona to a bench in the backyard that was covered with layers of snow. "Sit here," he said. Cool gusts of wind swept across her skin, cooling it, soothing it. 

Adrianna flung her hands up and a dozen orbs of light started floating over them, giving sufficient light. 

The soft snow that drifted down touched her skin along with the cold wind and Iona closed her eyes in relief. The process became bearable. Haldir and Rolfe stood behind her and noticed that the ink swirled lazily now, but it still evaporated. Her spine was red in color and the skin around it had turned blotchy. Iona held her mother's hand as she bore the process. 

Her mother stroked her hair. "You will be fine darling," she said in a soft voice. "Everything will be fine now…" And Iona—she leaned in her mother's belly. 

"Mother…" she called her. "It hurts…" 

Adrianna's heart cracked. "I know. It will become fine soon. You are my brave girl…" 

"Mother, I braved it all. They—they tried to break me. They tortured me, beat me…" 

"Hush, my child," Adrianna said, feeling the sting of tears in her eyes, feeling the bitterness burn at the back of her throat. 

"They let those souls loose on my body. Those souls—those spirits—they entered me through my mouth," Iona rasped as the pain on her back remained. She could feel the ink moving in her body like worms slithering creepily. She wanted those worms out of her skin. "It was painful. The spirits made me do a lot of things." 

Tears came out unbridled from Adrianna's eyes. "They won't touch you ever again, baby." 

"Etaya used to beat me every week. They had put me in prison, Mother. I couldn't do anything… I was helpless…" 

Adrianna's lips quivered. She couldn't imagine what Etaya did to her. And Siora was in cahoots with her, and so many others. She was going to trace everyone who hurt her daughter and make them pay. 

"I told her that it—it—" Iona choked. 

"Iona!" Rolfe called her. He squeezed her hand and then looked at Haldir. "What is happening? Please just stop. She can't take it anymore." 

"She has to undergo this process, Rolfe," Haldir replied in a stern voice. "Because this is in ancient language and may have terrible repercussions later. It's like a spell. It was on Anastasia earlier but it got transferred to Iona. You should be happy that it is vanishing." 

"But why is this so bad?" Rolfe argued, ready to get some ice bucket to pour on his wife. 

"We can discuss this later," Haldir replied with tight expressions. The ink had vanished till her midriff. She was still in a lot of pain. 

Anastasia was holding Ileus's hand as she watched Iona. "Can I help her?" 

"Just stay here, till it all evaporates," Haldir instructed.

Anastasia nodded and Ileus wrapped his arms around her shoulders. Finally, half an hour later when the ink had faded considerably, Iona became unconscious. Out of the entire inscription:

"Of the wings and the shadows 

Of the demons and the morrows 

A warrior will rise 

To end the hollows."

Only the last line remained. Hadir watched it and whispered, "There's more to come…" 

"Fuck!" Rolfe said, as he picked her up in his arms. "Is she—is she fine?" he asked, looking exasperatedly at Haldir. 

"She is," he said. "Take her to the palace. She would need treatment for those blotches and your care. She has just received some magic and that too is going to make her dizzy." 

Rolfe's Adam's apple moved up. He nodded and stepped into the portal Adrianna had created for all of them. As soon as they entered the portal, Rolfe and Iona were ushered to the healing wing.. Ileus and Anastasia had to go back to their wing because the healer wasn't allowing anyone other than Rolfe to stay there.