“Jax, come on, we are going to be late.”
“Not with this we won’t be,” he said, lifting a folding orb out of the bedside table.
“Where did you get that?”
“Ava.”
“I hate folding.”
“Would you rather be late?”
“Fine, whatever, let’s do this.”
Jax threw the orb up and recited the cast. The orb exploded and solidified in the cloud above us as usual, then began its decent.
It released us in a small unused room, just up from the council meeting.
“Why not just drop us in the council room?”
“I figured they probably wouldn’t like that too much, and better not to piss them off before asking them to do this,” he said, looking to the basket and invitations in my hand.
We made our way to the meeting room, but when we arrived, only Crow was there waiting.
“What’s so important you have called me away from preparing the Nazieth?”
“I’ll address the whole council when they all arrive,” I said, sitting the basket at my feet beneath the table and placing my hands over the folded invitation from the king.
The others arrived one by one, and we were left waiting only for Grace. When the minutes continued to tick by my father rose to his feet to address the room.
“We can’t wait any longer. With Des here, we have the numbers to call a vote. The elf King has sent invitation to offer evacuation of the Feydom during this time of threat.”
Crow stood too. “Run away? No! The Nazieth will stay and fight.”
“All of the Feydom needs to evacuate,” he went on to say. “Once everyone is safe, we can put together a plan. Then the Nazieth and any other fey who are willing to fight will be able to and we might actually stand a chance. You must see staying here is crazy. King Blake confirmed, Traflier won’t be able to breach his wards with a dwarf door, so he won’t be going there. It is more likely he will be coming here. He could come through any moment.”
“But he hasn’t, so maybe you are wrong. Or the Nazieth protecting the realm are keeping him out?”
“I doubt it will stop him,” I interjected. “I have my shield up around some of the Feydom at the moment too, but it won’t hold if he figures out how to use the magic of the fabled he stole from me.”
Crow slapped her hands down on the table. “All the more reason you shouldn’t be a part of these meetings. Why are you here all the time? You wanted a council to rule yet here you are, sticking your nose in again, and pushing for what you want.”
“Sorry, Crow, but the vote to make me an official member of the council was called before your addition. Look, I’m just trying to help, to fix...”
“To fix your mistakes,” Crow interrupted. “To make up for the countless fey who have paid with their blood, with their lives?”
“Yes,” I said somberly as Crow sat and leaned back in her chair, folding her arms across her chest with a satisfied smirk on her thin lips.
The room was silent.
It’s all my fault. I’m the reason for the blood, the pain. But I can end it. I have to.
Finally a soft voice broke the silence. “How will we get everyone out?” June asked, and I lifted the basket from between my feet to place it next to the invitation on the table.
“These orbs, when broken, send a link to the Elf Kingdom. King Blake and his chief alchemist will open a doorway and let through any of the Feydom creatures. He can open a few doors at once too, so we don’t all need to be in the one space, and the creatures can be sent to suitable areas of the Elf Kingdom. These,” I said picking up one of the tracker wands. “they glow if a demon is near. Keep it with you and only open the doorway if it is clear. It should glow with a possessed too, so we can be sure we aren’t opening a door for a demon.”
“You have it all figured out, don’t you?” Crow said, reaching over and picking up an orb. “He’s letting in all the fabled creatures?”
“Yes, all. See? It’s written here, so that we can show the creatures they are welcome.” I opened the invitation and written in perfect cursive was the detailed invitation listing all creatures dwelling within the Feydom were welcome to evacuate to the Elf Kingdom where they will be protected, provided for, and free to leave at any time.
“What do the other’s say?” Crow asked, pointing to the layers of parchment beneath the top invitation.
“They are copies, so we can split up, get the word out as fast as possible.”
“And you believe we can find a way to really stop him. We will be able to come home again?” Madie asked, her red lips as bright as ever.
“I do,” I said, handing her the stack of the invitations to look at. She took one and passed the others to her left. They all took a copy and passed them on until the entire council had an invitation, and I had two. Grace still hadn’t arrived.
“We need to vote. Please stand,” Max said, raising his hands for effect. “I request that the entire Feydom be evacuated to the Elf Kingdom until a plan can be agreed upon and the Feydom again is safe for return.”
He took his seat. I sat too. Madie as well. Then Grace burst through the door.
“Wait,” she said, holding up her hands in protest. “You can’t cast a vote without me. What is going on here, Max? Bella?”
Bella Crow answered first. “They were about to vote to evacuate the realm to the Elf Kingdom. We have been invited by the king,” Crow said, sliding her copy of the invitation across the table in Grace’s direction.
Grace didn’t pick it up.
“Grace,” I said, drawing her attention. “We can’t possibly protect everyone and fight him at the same time. We should evacuate to the Elf Kingdom, if only to remove the fey who can’t fight so they will be safe. The children, the ill.”
“The Nazieth are holding the barrier. He hasn’t figured out how to portal past it yet clearly, so we have time. We need to stay until we have a plan. Crow, as leader of the Nazieth you know our defenses best, do we have a plan yet for the defense of our realm?”
Crow looked around the table. “The Nazieth are stronger than ever. We initiated the call as per the council’s request and have quadrupled the guard’s numbers.”
“What is the call?” I asked.
Crow turned her stare to me. “The call was made across the realm, all those willing to join the Nazieth would be accepted, trained, and designated a team. There are now twenty-seven teams. We have the numbers to defend out realm. We have new weapons and the entire Nazieth with magic have all taken the potion. We can protect the Fey. We should stay and fight.”
“You can’t be serious?” I asked, rising from my seat. With Grace there, my vote didn’t count unless they were tied. At the moment we were losing with only Max and Madie seated. “He’s planning something bigger,” I said, looking to the ones still standing. “That’s the only reason I can think of that he isn’t here right now. Think of the children, the sprites, all of the creatures he could suck dry of their magic or worse—kill. You forget too quickly that he doesn’t have to take your magic to take your life, look what he did to the Stalisies before, he made them his puppets then turned them into monsters. Evacuate to the Elf Kingdom, then return with a plan to take him down for good. I’m sure the king will offer to help, they might even be able to develop something we can use against him, they are still working on a ward.”
Jaz sat down. I needed one more for the tied vote, then I could force the matter my way.
Grace rounded the table to her empty seat and stood behind it. “We have potions here, we have the opals within the caves. That’s where I was. The yowies caves have stopped burning. I sent in fey to start collecting opals as we speak, we will need all the help we can get.”
“You sent fey into the caves?” I asked, squeezing my fists closed so that my nails dug into the palm of my hand. “The yowies only just died.”
“And their deaths would be for nothing if we don’t take the opals and use them to save
the fey now.”
“But the cast...”
“The deaths of the yowies negates their claim on the caves. The cast is void,” she said, looking to Crow. “The sixth Nazieth are with them as you wished.”
Crow nodded, a small smirk appearing at the corner of her thin lips.
Max piped in. “Regardless of the opals, it isn’t enough to have power, we need a plan. We have no idea even what he is now. Is he fey? Is he a demon? Can he be killed, or do we have to banish him back to the demon realm, and if we do will he be able to come back?”
“Max is right,” June said. “We need more information, and until we have that information we are at too great a risk staying here. We should evacuate to the Elf Kingdom.” She sat down and Maryella nodded and followed. I had won the vote without the need to force it.
“Grace, please, take an invitation. Help us spread the word of the evacuation. We need to start getting out now.” I slid a copy of the king’s invitation across the table. She eyed it for a moment before picking it up.
“As always, I’ll do what is best for the Fey. The council has voted, we will evacuate.”
“Great, okay. So we will split up the orbs and trackers and you can all take them to the creatures and fey evacuating. Don’t give them out willy nilly, each one can only be used once, so give them out in each area, to each species, and watch them evacuate with it, so you can use the tracker and be sure no demon is near. Do whatever you have to do to ensure they all get out safely. Jax and I are going to see some of the more difficult species. We have a cast to aid communication. Let’s just hope it’s enough.”
They all nodded agreement and we separated the orbs into piles and handed out one tracker wand to each. I gave Jax a pile and tracker of his own, then slipped two trackers into my back pocket before picking up the basket with the remaining orbs and heading out.
“Why didn’t you ask about the potion in the lake?” Jax asked me as we walked behind the council building.
“I don’t need their permission to do it and it’s the only chance we might have of keeping those little pink things safe. Besides, they don’t even believe they are creatures so what they don’t know, won’t hurt them, right?”
“Right,” he replied and his eyes lit up.
“We need to get the potion, do you know if Maylea has any stored here?”
“She’s handed a heap out, but there is still some back home.”
“Flying with a heap of potion isn’t really possible, how do we get it back here?”
“Open a portal,” Jax said, like it was the clearest thing.
“Really?”
“Why not? I mean, you did it before, when you got the orb from your father’s study, I’m just asking for you to make one back to the potion room.”
“I guess. I don’t know. Why don’t you try?”
“Okay I will,” he said, and started swinging his arm the way Ava and I did when casting a portal. Except when Jax did it, nothing happened. Not even a few tiny sparks.
“Put your arm down,” I said and lifted my own. The magic came easily, but it was nowhere near as strong as it had been when I had the fabled power. The sparks stayed white like my magic and grew into a small circle. It wavered a little and sunk in a bit at one side, making it look more like a bean than a circle, but it still grew until it was the size of Jax.
“Go on, get in there and get the potion,” I said, nodding towards the kitchen we could see through the portal.
“You aren’t coming?”
“I don’t trust I could do this again, so just be quick, I’ll keep it open.”
Jax dashed through and opened the secret door to the potions room in our kitchen. I heard him fumbling with clanging and occasional grunting when he reappeared dragging two large bottles filled with the shimmery liquid of the potion.
“There were a few pots of potion that had been activated but not separated into individual portions. I took one and split it into these bottles,” he said, dragging them back through to my side of the portal. As soon as he was through I released the magic and the portal closed.
We each carried a bottle as we left the council building and phased to fly towards the pink lake.
Jax had brought me here the first time we had journeyed to my father’s house.
And look at all you have put them through since that day. You brought death and pain to the Fey.
We reached the water’s edge and Jax opened his bottle.
“Try the communication cast, that way they know what we are doing and why. I don’t want them retaliating if they think we are trying to hurt them,” I said as I stepped closer to the edge.
Jax knelt down and reached his hand into the water, It struggled against him for a moment, then he pulled his hand free from the water. Pink worms slithered in between his fingers. He whispered the cast and the worms stopped trying to free themselves
Jax went on to explain what was happening, asking them if there was any way that they could evacuate too.
As Jax expected, they couldn’t leave.
“They are connected to the realm itself,” he began. “Leaving would create an imbalance in the realm, essentially collapsing it into nothing.”
“Okay, so not what we want. Ask them about the potion.”
Jax repeated my words, but with the cast active, they understood him.
They approved us trying the potion and Jax let the worms in his hand slip back beneath the surface. We opened the other bottle, and poured them both into the water, watching as some kind of skin emerged on top of the pink surface, spreading until the entire area looked cloudy. Then the water began to bubble.
“Jax, what’s going on?”
“I don’t know.”
Squinting, I could make out pink worms shooting up out of the water around the bubbles. “I think they are drinking the potion.”
“I think you’re right. Look, the water is becoming clear again,” Jax replied, pointing to an edge where the water no longer bubbled but was now as perfectly clear as it had been before we poured in the potion.
Jax bent down, an orb in one hand.
“What are you doing?”
“They might not be able to leave now, but if something changes, I want them to have a way out too.”
I nodded and watched as Jax reached in and placed the orb on top to the pink rocks just inside the water’s edge.
“Great, now let’s speak to the sprites, they have to evacuate too.” We headed for the trees. Since Traflier’s attack they flitted more around the forest trees than the pool of light. They probably felt safer being less out in the open.
“Madel!” I called into the trees when I couldn’t see any sprites flitting around.
“Over here,” she replied and I followed the sound of her voice to a hole in a tree.
“What are you doing in there?”
“We are all so very tired. The trees offer little light form Shulun.”
“Then come out, get a boost.”
“But what if he comes again?”
“Madel, the sprites need to evacuate to the Elf Kingdom. We all are.”
“But there is no Shulun in the Elf Kingdom. We need Shulun.”
“I know, but if you get a boost now, you should be able to go for a while without another dose right?”
“I guess so. Are you sure we can go?”
I pulled out the invitation the king had given me and showed it to her. She flew from the tree and changed into her child size. “I’ll talk to the others. We will go.”
“Thank you. Here, take this,” I said, handing her an orb and a tracker. “As long as the stone isn’t glowing, break it when you are all ready to go through. The king will open a doorway for you. If the stone glows, there is a demon or possessed nearby.”
“Thank you. We can go pretty much anywhere, us sprites, but the Elf Kingdom is more protected now, even we can’t get in.”
“I know, and that’s why it’s the safest place for the Feydom creatures right now.”
“Thank you, Desmoree. Good luck,” she said and ran off to gather the others like her.
Is she smaller? Could the light of Shulun fading be affecting her change?
I didn’t wait to watch them go through. I trusted Madel, and with a tracker of her own, she would ensure they were safe to leave before breaking the orb.
“We have more to see. Des, let’s split up and meet back at home in an hour,” Jax said, leaning in to kiss me.
“Be careful, Jax. And be quick. I’ll go see the unicorns, they are the furthest from us. You know these woods, so here, take more orbs,” I said, pouring some of my stash into his bag. I kept three. The equillis only just returned to the Feydom, so convincing them was going to be tough, plus they were at the furthest most edge of the Feydom so getting there would take a while. Jax kissed my cheek and took off through the trees. I phased and flew into the sky, headed for the equillis.
Glancing behind me, I saw a few sparkles of orange light form in the distance. The evacuation had begun. Soon all of the Feydom would be somewhere safe and we would have time to figure out a way to defeat him.
You think you can? The fey have already paid with their magic, now their realm. What will you cost them next?
I was so lost in my own thoughts I nearly missed the equillis. Landing on the edge of their grazing grounds, I watched a few of them trot around, stopping to eat a little then.
“I wish to speak to your queen,” I said, walking towards them. Two of them stopped eating and raised their heads to look at me. Then they looked back at the others and as they stopped what they were doing.
They all started to gallop away.
“Come back, please? It’s important!” I called as I took off after them through the trees that lined their grazing grounds. My wings fluttered behind me as I ran, when suddenly I was yanked backwards as my wing caught on a branch. I cried out as the shooting pain ran down my wing to my spine.
“Mother f—”
“Desmoree, are you okay?” the queen’s voice asked in my mind.
“My wing got caught, I’ll be fine,” I said aloud, looking around for her. Then through the trees I saw her, the dazzling gold crown atop her head, sparkling in the light like a homing beacon.
Destroying the Fallen Page 20
