She noticed one of the pixies looking at her in an odd, almost perturbed manner. She walked over to look at the pixies as they fluttered around a patch of vivid violet and rose daffodils. Reaching a finger down, the pixie climbed up onto it and she raised it to her eye line. She inspected the pixie carefully, also bare, yet timid.
“Something the matter?” she asked. “Why do you not fly with the others, and wash your pretty little wings?”
The pixie looked away shyly.
“Can I help?” she asked. “Is something the matter?”
“Princess,” the pixie with the long red hair said in a kind voice. “It’s just that… I fear for you.”
“For me?” she asked in a sweet voice with a smile. “Why would you do something as silly as that?”
“It’s that—I saw you before—here, in fact. Many years ago.”
The princess thought, and yes, she vaguely remembered being there before, but she also struggled to remember much of her past, and the places she’d been.
Fallon smiled again, “Yes, I do believe I’ve been here, but I don’t remember you, I’m afraid.”
“Princess, you’ve changed. You don’t look well. When was the last time you’ve seen yourself?”
“Seen myself?” Fallon said in a low voice. She could feel that deep anger inside of her stir.
“Please,” the red-haired pixie said, flapping her wings as they sparkled in the sunlight. Flying in front of Fallon’s hand, she wrapped her tiny hands around her finger. “Come, come with me.”
The princess was hesitant but followed the innocently beckoning pixie. “Where are you leading me?”
“Just over here, to the calm part of the pool. I’d like you to see something. There’s something ever so important I must show you.”
She led her to the shallow part of the pool, where the waves had died down to a calm, glassy surface.
“Look,” the pixie bade her. “Look deeply.”
Fallon’s blond hair rolled over her shoulders as she looked down into the water. At first the water was dark and murky, but as she leaned down to look into the water, a face slowly faded into view. She was startled at first at the image, pulling back in surprise, ready to fight off the thing she’d seen in the water. But once she’d calmed herself, and the pixie gently pulled her forward again, she looked down again at the reflection.
She leaned in, inspecting the face she saw in the water. What once was pale skin, was then a wrinkled, thin-skinned face. Her hair wasn’t blond at all, but a thatchy gray, and her eyes glowed a rosy, bloody red. She pulled her head back and ran her hands up two thick black horns that twisted and curled high above her head.
“What is this?” the princess gasped. “Is this a different world I gaze upon? Is this a vision of the future?”
“This Princess Fallon—is you. Right here, right now. This is what you’ve become.”
“It can’t be,” she said. “I’m old and wretched looking. How can this be? I’ve not been here long enough to be this old.”
“You’ve been here longer than you know. Do you remember the fairy? Do you remember the fairy with the blue wings?”
“Why, Pip! Yes, she’s my friend. She’s so gentle and sweet.”
A tear fell from the pixie’s eye. “You don’t remember, do you? You’re too far under her spell… It may be too late for you after all.”
“Too late? Too late for what?”
“The Drange,” the pixie said gloomily. “She’s consumed your soul. I fear there is no redemption for you now.”
The word Drange rolled into her mind then. The Drange… that sounds so familiar—as if from a dream. But I remember… Antoline was there… I remember… Yes! It was when I returned from my world… my…
“I’m not of the Fae,” she gasped, clapping her hands to her face. “I remember… I remember, my mother! The queen, I have to get back, I have to…”
Then, she remembered the true appearance of the Drange—of Pip’s true persona. The rage that only sparked before brimmed then at the thought of the old demon who’d ensnared Antoline, and then her.
“Where is she?” she roared with fire ripping out of her fingertips and eyes. Her voice was deep and raging.
The pixie shied away. “Please, please don’t.”
“I just want to know where she is! I just want to know…!” The fires burned so brightly within her that all she could see was flames.
“Please,” she heard a soft voice say.
By the time the princess had calmed, and her vision returned to normal, she was suddenly looking around as if in a different place. The pool of water steamed, the flowers were black and wilted, and the scorched black earth lay littered with the burned bodies of small, wingless pixie bodies.
“Pip,” Fallon said. “This is because of you. So was my handmaiden…”
That’s when she saw the delicate, soft blue glow of fluttering wings flying in.
“You did this! It’s all because of…”
The beautiful fairy was hovering before her then with kind, loving eyes.
“I did nothing, my lass,” the fairy said. “All is well here. You are doing well. Look around, there’s nothing the matter.”
Princess Fallon looked to see the water was cool, the grass was green and mossy, and the pixies lay on the daffodils.
“You see?” Pip said with a smile.
“Yes, I see…”
Her mouth was parched as she wandered the lands of the Fae alone. She’d walked long over foggy mountains, wondrous valleys full of swaying dandelions, and even crossed a lake with silver dolphins gliding beneath the water’s edge. She was then walking through a barren desert as snakes slithered beneath her feet and she hadn’t seen water in days. Up ahead she could see a deep canyon as she smacked her lips.
Suddenly she felt a presence she hadn’t felt in ages. Behind her, running as a brisk pace was the massive, horned man then with flowing silver hair. She turned and he ran up to her.
“Princess,” he said through labored breaths. His dark eyes glared into hers with a deep concern. “Where are you off too? Please, come with me. I’ve got something to show you…”
“Antoline,” she said with a smile, and then turned to look up the edge of the canyon, glancing at the blue lake off in the distance.
“Princess…?”
“That’s it,” she said in a calm voice. “That’s the Centurine you told me of however long ago that was.”
“Princess Fallon, if you’ll please come with me. I have something to show you. It’s the most beautiful thing you’ll ever see. I can’t believe I forgot to show you. I can’t believe…”
“That’s the lake that was made by the wizard who was cursed by a demon, and the only way to free himself was to eat the demon, cursing him by turning him into the lake that trap all that draw near its water.”
Antoline nodded. “That’s an evil place. We mustn’t go near. We…”
“Listen,” she said, whispering into Antoline’s ear. “I have an idea.”
“Princess, I don’t want you getting any foul ideas. Now, let’s go back home…”
“Pip,” she whispered. “She’s a Drange. Do you remember that? I’ve fought every day for who knows how long now to remember that she’s a demon. Every second I have to remember what she did to me… what she did to us…”
“She’s too powerful,” he said. “There’s no escape. I’m too old, I’m too weak, and she’s too strong.”
“I’m not talking about you,” Fallon said. “I’ve got an idea to free us both…”
Almost poetically, that’s when the fairy’s blue wings darted in.
“Whatever you’re thinking,” Pip said in a ferocious voice, “you’ll never leave me. You’ll never.”
“Don’t look into her eyes!” Fallon said, shutting her eyes quickly and reaching out blindly, trying to snap anything that fluttered in her hands.
“Fallon, don’t!” Antoline cried. “You can’t!”
“Tr
ying to snatch me?” the fairy said then in a deep voice, that resounded loudly in Fallon’s chest. “Trying to snatch a Drange out of the air like an insect? You’ll learn to obey me. You’ll learn that you belong to me, to me!”
Fallon felt strong, skinny fingers wrap around her neck, squeezing tightly. She opened her eyes then, gasping for air, glaring down at the transformed fairy. The Drange’s red eyes glowed as Fallon found her eyes unable to look away. The Drange’s old face snarled as she glowered at Fallon, lifting her effortlessly into the air as the princess swung her feet and tried to break free of her grasp.
“Pip, please,” Antoline said softly, “Don’t hurt her… she doesn’t know any better…”
“You’re nothing but a damned demon,” Fallon gasped. “You’re naught but pure evil.”
The Drange scowled and gripped her claws tighter into Fallon’s throat.
“You took everything from me. No matter how long it takes, I’m going to find a way to break your spell. You took me from my home, you caused me to turn into what I am. I’m going to break free, and I’m taking Antoline with me…”
The fires raged up within her then, exploding from her heart as the fires began.
“I’m going to kill you,” she roared. “You’ll burn in my anger; you’ll scorch in my flames!”
Pip’s eyes grew in their red haze, and the Drange smiled a wide smile as all hope faded from Princess Fallon. She sent out her rage and flames with all her might, sending out the raging infernos, but watching in terror as the Drange sent her flames back into Fallon, extinguishing all hope from her heart.
“You can’t use the magic I gave you against me,” the Drange rasped. “It belongs to me. You belong to me. He belongs to me.”
Fallon looked into Antoline’s eyes, who looked like a scared little fawn, cowering in fear.
“I’m sorry,” Fallon gasped, with a spat of blood trickling down her mouth. “I tried to save us. I’ll take death over slavery. Kill me.”
The Drange cocked her head.
“Kill me now so my soul can travel to whatever land is after this one.”
The Drange leaned her head in. “Did you not hear my words? There is no death for you. I collected you. There is no freedom. You will do nothing but obey. That is what your existence is now. You belong to me. You and he are mine. That is all there is!”
“Please,” Fallon cried as the tears rolled down, remembering the sweet life she had before all that; she remembered sitting on her father’s lap as he told her stories, she remembered the way her mother would kiss her forehead before she rolled off to slumber, and the way Celeste would embrace her when she was scared, making the whole world seem safer. “I just want to go home. I don’t want to be here anymore. I just want to wake up from this nightmare. I want to go home.”
The Drange laughed darkly then. “There’s no home except this now. This is what you are now deary. You’re nothing. You’re the insect! You and Antoline will be forever in my…”
That’s when the Drange’s red eyes dimmed as they opened wide. To Fallon, it was the first time the demon had shown even the slightest hint of concern.
“Antolin, what are you…” she gasped as the massive man wrapped his giant hand around her shoulders, squeezing her chest as the veins pumped hot blood in his might forearms and a rage shone through his beady eyes. “What are you doing, let me go, let me…”
He lowered his mighty head over with his mouth agape, encompassing his sharp teeth over her head, snapping them onto her neck and biting down with all of his might. Fallon could hear the screams from within Antoline’s mouth.
He snapped the Drange’s head clean off with a swift jerk, and blood poured down his chin as Fallon’s feet fell back to the ground. She gasped for air as the Drange’s body remained standing for a few seconds like a statue with its head snapped off, but as Antoline raised his chin and gave a mighty gulp, Pip’s head rolled down his throat.
The Drange’s body collapsed lifelessly.
“Antoline!” Fallon said as she rushed over to him. “You did it! You killed her.”
Antoline, the once gentle man who then looked like a mythical god-slayer stood looking down upon the princess with loving eyes.
“I was going to be the one to do it,” she choked the words out as tears streamed down her cheeks. “I was going to be the one to free us. I wasn’t strong enough though. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry,” he said, letting her embrace him as she sobbed. He looked up to the slowly rolling clouds as they breezed overhead. They were brimming with an entrancing orange hue. “I’m only glad that you’ll be free of her grasp. I suppose somewhere deep down inside of myself, I was just happy that I wasn’t alone under her spell. I should’ve done it sooner, for this—I’m the one who should be sorry.”
“What’re you saying? No, we’ve done it. She’s dead. We can both be free…” She looked up at the mighty man as he returned a gloomy gaze back upon her.
“What? What’s the matter? We can leave this place and never be enslaved like that again. We can be free, be happy, and find some purpose now.”
He sighed, his strong shoulders slunk, and he looked away as his lip quivered. It was then she noticed he was looking toward the Centurine lake.
“No…” she gasped with her hands covering her mouth.
He took a deep breath, with his eyes growing glossy. “I didn’t tell you the whole story of the Centurine…”
“No, you can’t go there!” she said, pressing with all her might into his chest. “You can’t go there. I won’t let you.”
“It’s not like that,” he said after a deep inhale, shaking his head. “You see… it didn’t matter that the man who was cursed by the demon was a wizard. It only mattered that he was a man. And it wasn’t any demon that he ate that cursed him by the form he took now…”
She took a step back with her fingers gently pressed against her lips. “You’re not saying…”
He nodded solemnly.
“To kill a Drange,” he said in low voice, “grants you freedom, but at a heavy price.”
“You can’t let it do this to you,” she said, sobbing. “You’re all that I have. You’re all I have left… It can’t take you too… Please no, please.”
“Better me than you.”
She shook her head while clutching onto his arms. “No. I won’t let you do this!” She battered his chest with her clenched fists, trying to let out the fires that burned from her fingers—but none flew.
“It’s alright,” he said with a half-smile. “It’s a price I’d pay for you again if I had to choose. I will, myself, become a Centurine lake in the barren desert, and you may be free. You may do whatever you wish, go wherever you wish, be with whoever you wish.”
“I don’t want to be alone…” she said. “I’ve been alone so very long. Don’t do this. You don’t have to. We can run away from this place. We can go far, far away. We can go back to the high cliffs above the see. They’re you’re favorite place. The curse can’t reach you there. I know it! We can still do it. We still have time.”
His head lowered, looking down at his hands. He lifted them both up above his waist as his fingers started to drip clear water.
“You’ve got to leave me now,” he said, raising his head up to look at her. “You can’t be here when I turn.”
Fallon couldn’t speak as she watched both of his hands wash away, leaving a pool of wet sand at his feet.
“Princess Fallon… Ever since I laid my eyes upon you, you were the most ravishing thing I’ve ever seen. You made all of my pain go away. You made the starless night turn to a warm, spring day. But when you left, I grew fearful; I grew lonely and I was sad. So, for your freedom I’ll gladly go back into the loneliness so that you may live. Now, go live a life worth living! Do it for me, and if nothing else, remember me fondly. Don’t remember me at my lowest, for that will leave me to suffer in agony if I know you hated me for that. I’ll have nothing else but my memories of you.” H
is eyes watered as the tears rolled down, and his horns began to melt away.
“I’ll only remember you for the brave hero you are. Proud and strong was always Antolin the hero. You saved my life by giving yours,” her voice was shaky from grief. “I would never remember you for anything other than being my champion. I’ll think of you every day as the kind warrior you are.”
A wide smile crossed his face as his arms were completely melted away.
“Thank you, princess.” He then closed his eyes. “Now, you have to leave me. Now, you have to run.”
“I’ll remember you,” she yelled as she turned and fled, crying and panting.
She looked back over her shoulder to see he’d already turned into a small pool of clear water, and she could already hear the soft tune of the woman who would sing at the center of that lake, enticing any soul to come and be devoured by her beauty. Fallon ran as fast as her legs could carry her, and after she could run no more, and she fell to her knees in exhaustion, she looked back and saw Antoline’s Centurine lake was far away back in the desert.
Looking in front of her then, she saw a man standing in front of her in long, white robes and long gray beard. She rose quickly.
“Who are you?” she asked, “and what do you want?” She wiped her tears away with her sleeves.
“You’ve been freed,” the man said in an old, faint voice.
“How do you know that?”
“Because I’ve been freed too,” he said, with his gray beard wafting in the breeze.
She gave him a curious stare.
“You were controlled by the Drange too?” she asked.
“Well,” he said, brushing his hand over his bald, wrinkled head. “Not exactly, but in a sense, I suppose.”
“What riddles are you going on about?” asked Fallon.
“Your friend, he gave his life so that you may live, and that he may suffer. And suffer he will! For I know all too well the fate your friend is suffering, and will suffer for many, many ages…”
Magic Underground: The Complete Collection (Magic Underground Anthologies Book 4) Page 209
