by J. A. Curtis
I thought of the fiery dragon-boy. The boy that was hurting at the loss of his brother, Iris. He held such intensity within him, like Arius, his other brother. While in some ways the two brothers appeared to be worlds apart, there were some aspects of Arius and Dramian that were strikingly similar.
And what of the oath? But I already thought I understood that part. The reason they had to sneak around was because Jazrael had forsworn any love interests in light of her duty. Her duty to protect the queen. But she had broken it. For Dramian.
I gripped my elbows, bouncing on my toes, but still avoided looking at Arius.
A horn sounded. The smile wiped from Dramian’s face at the same time Jazrael jerked toward the castle.
“The queen,” she said, and charged back through the castle doors with Dramian close behind.
Something was happening, something important. I hurried to follow the two, entering the castle door.
Soldiers rushed into the castle main. Jazrael pushed her way through them, rushing up the steps of a twisting stairwell. I followed but felt a cold shiver run through me as figures rushed through my body, ignorant of my presence.
Warm fingers brushed my arm. “Is this a vision?” Arius asked from behind.
“What else could it be?” I answered. “But I’ve never...” I held up my hands as if this was proof that I’d never been physically present for one of my visions before. “And you’ve definitely never—”
“Must be the glass ball.”
Jazrael and Dramian came to an abrupt halt, and I almost ran right through them before I managed to stop. Arius’s chest brushed up against my feathers and a soft remnant of desire whispered through me.
The queen stood in the stairwell, wearing her night robes, a litany of people behind her. I noticed the king, Prince Lugh, and Older Arius. The bustle of the stairway stilled with the queen’s sudden presence.
“Oh Jazrael, good, you’re here. There was an attack on your uncle while he guarded our bedchamber. He’s fine. But I believe it’s a diversion. I am losing my connection with the scepter. I fear someone may have taken it. We must hurry,” the queen said.
The scepter, yes. Nuada and Margus had wanted the scepter of Queen Morrigan desperately. They had killed Iris when I had failed to tell them its location. I needed to know this. I needed to know why it was so important.
Jazrael and Dramian and everyone who had been rushing up the stairwell spun and rushed down it, sliding right through Arius and me, who hadn’t been able to respond in time. After catching my breath, I jerked around, but Arius blocked my path, frowning.
“We have to follow,” I said, skirting around him.
“Mina,” he said. “You need to get back. It’s not good to spend too long in any new magic the first time.”
Right, that little rule. “This could be important. Just five more minutes.”
He growled his disapproval but stepped aside as I hurried after the queen and the others.
Everyone halted when we came to a large open door stained with huge, dark streaks of red. Two faeries lay on the ground, unmoving, no faerie guardians pictured on their arms. The bodies had already taken on an ashen-gray coloring.
“Laren and Gala.” Dramian muttered from behind them all.
“They fell defending their post.” Lugh’s gray eyes flashed, and he brushed back long strands of dark hair.
The king nodded, one hand on his bearded chin. “They will be honored.”
The queen rested her hand on the stained door, her head bowed. Jazrael stepped forward and laid a hand on the queen’s shoulder.
“Faerie blood,” the queen said. “It was the only way to break the magical barrier.”
“How much?” Jazrael asked quietly.
“Too much to carry with them.”
Jazrael glanced behind her. Dramian already knelt next to the fallen faeries, examining the small puncture wounds in one of the faerie’s wrists.
The king looked as if someone had sucked all the life out of him. His eyes distant, he stumbled forward. Older Arius reached out to steady him.
“Those monsters.” Lugh snarled, holding a spear in his hands, looking ready to run someone through.
Queen Morrigan’s hand on the door curled into a fist. “I will go in. Jazrael, give me the stones. Everyone else remain here.”
“Your Majesty, I will come with you.”
“No Jazrael. Stay here, that’s an order. Now take off the armband.”
“What if someone is still in there? What if they are waiting for you?”
She paused. “Your faerie guardian may accompany me.”
Jazrael unclasped the armband with the five gemstones and handed it over. Jazrael released her faerie guardian, it taking the form of a minotaur with a mace.
“We shouldn’t be long,” the queen said.
They disappeared inside the room.
“Mother is right. This was a setup,” Lugh said. He banged the end of the spear on the ground.
Older Arius nodded. “The attacks on the royal family were a decoy to get us focused elsewhere while they went after the scepter.”
“It worked,” Dramian said as he rose to his feet.
The queen returned, and Jazrael pulled her faerie guardian back onto her arm.
“The scepter is gone,” Queen Morrigan confirmed.
I stepped forward. Someone stole it. The Fomori? Yes, it must be. But why?
“Then we must take every precaution to protect the queen,” Older Arius said.
Without warning, Iris came around the corner. Even though he looked nothing like the boy who died under Nuada’s hand, a tremble ran through me.
“Sirs! My ladies!” Iris looked nervous, bowing over and over. “Your Majesties—”
“Oh, just out with it, Iris!” Dramian snapped.
“It would seem, whoever broke in also gained access to the room of the faerie guardians,” Iris reported. “They did not have time to take them all, but we have confirmed that many are missing.”
Older Arius stiffened. “What of the Forbidden and the Abilities?”
“They appear to be untouched,” Iris said.
Relief passed across their faces in turn, then the king looked to his son.
“Lugh, you and Arius take twenty soldiers to the portal right away. If the Chimera lets the thieves through, they will be beyond our reach. Dramian, you oversee the castle’s defenses. I want all soldiers on alert and extra guards placed on the queen.”
I made to move after Prince Lugh and Older Arius, but my Arius caught my arm. “No more,” he growled.
I tugged out of his grasp. “There’s something important here, something that is the answer to everything. I have to—”
“And what if, by finding your answer, you get stuck here forever?”
I hesitated. “How do you know?”
“I think that may be how Niamh got trapped here.”
“I...” I looked at the men’s retreating forms. “I feel fine, Arius.”
“That’s the problem. You shouldn’t feel fine. You have a giant gash in your head, remember?” He passed a hand over his face. “You go, get as far as you can. I’m going out, and when I’m out, I’m pulling you out too.”
“Deal,” I said. His wings caught air, and he launched down the hall, out the castle exit, and up into the sky.
Spreading my wings, I rose to follow Older Arius and Prince Lugh out the open door to the castle. They were already mounting onto a pair of pegasi. A nausea gripped my stomach, and a light flashed in front of my eyes. Stunned, I dropped to the floor.
Pushing myself onto my hands and knees, I pressed my hand to my forehead and felt a tenderness there. My fingers came away dotted with spots of red.
For the first time, an uneasiness gripped me. Hurry.
Flapping hard, I rose back into the air, shooting forward after the group of flying pegasi.
They shot out over the castle wall. They were so fast, I struggled to keep up. A large city surrounded by an
outer wall passed by below. Beyond that, I saw a large forest of multicolored trees, glowing streams and rivers, and vast mountains that reached for the sky. Focus. Don’t lose them. The pegasi streaked away from me, leaving me trailing behind. At least they didn’t fly far. I watched them drop into a spot among some trees.
A figure soared on the breeze near me. At first, I thought maybe Arius had returned, but the figure flying next to me wore light clothes and golden wings. Beautiful hair streamed behind her. She drew up next to me, taking me in with wide green eyes.
“Greetings, young Jazrael.”
I had gotten a brief glimpse of this woman once before in one of my recent visions. “You’re Princess Niamh. The real Princess Niamh.”
She smiled. “Indeed. I am not part of this vision of the past.”
“You know this is a vision?”
“I sense that I am not the one causing the ball to respond this way.” She glanced at me. “What are you searching for?”
“Answers.”
I dropped to where the men had disappeared, and Niamh landed next to me in the long grass, her golden wings tucking against her back.
Voices drifted through the trees, but I wasn’t near enough to make out their words. I made my way through bushes and undergrowth to get closer.
A soft pulsing pain started in my head. A vague tugging feeling and an urgency to leave filled me, but I pushed it away. Not yet. I was almost there.
Niamh shoved undergrowth out of the way, keeping pace with me. “Jazrael of the High Ones, I sense something off. Have you been inside the ball before now?”
“No.”
“And how long have you been in the ball?”
“A while.”
“I must tell you that staying within any—”
I turned and bowed, despite the pain it caused, and fought to keep my balance. Leaves and the tips of long grass brushed against my arms. “Your Royal Highness, thank you for your concern, but I know about all that. I just need a few more minutes.”
Part of me really wanted to talk to her afterward. Maybe I could spare a minute for that, too? After all, Arius hadn’t been able to contact her again. Who knew how long it would take to find her if I left?
I came upon the group of faeries gathered in a clearing around a creature in front of an enormous rock wall. The pegasi snorted and ate grass off to the side.
The creature’s dark onyx scales served as its skin. They glistened with the slightest movement. He stood like a man, goat-like horns protruding from his head, and he wore a robe with a large lion-maned collar. He observed Prince Lugh, Older Arius and the twenty men they had hurriedly gathered to come with them.
“You are aware of the rules.” The creature's voice trumpeted, many timbres speaking the same words. “I am bound by those rules. The rules your parents set forth. No matter how much you wish to follow the Fomori who have taken the scepter, I am unable to open the portal to the human world.”
Older Arius and Prince Lugh exchanged a glance. “The Fomori,” Older Arius said, softly. “Of course.”
Prince Lugh stepped forward, a desperation coming into his eyes. “Yes, but...” He dropped to his knees. “Please Chimera, I beg of you. There must be some way—”
The Chimera’s voice became dangerous. “Would you see me destroyed for breaking the foundational laws of this realm? I cannot undo what has already come to pass.”
Older Arius’s hand rested on Prince Lugh’s shoulder. “Come, My Prince. We will speak to your parents. Perhaps they will have some idea what is to be done.”
But Prince Lugh shrugged out from under Arius’s hand. “Chimera, there is a magic as ancient as you. One you revere above all else.”
“Careful, Hero Prince,” the Chimera said softly,” Or you shall find yourself paying a dear price.”
“Name your terms. A sacrifice—anything. It shall be yours.”
“Then let it be you, Your Highness. It is your life that I demand.”
Prince Lugh sagged against his spear, his face pale with shock.
Something dropped into my eyes, causing them to sting. I swept at my face and stared in horror at the blood coating my skin. The pulsing increased to a sharp pain, and a fuzziness filled my head.
My knees buckled.
Arms caught me. “You are too far into the ball, and you have been here for far too long, I fear,” Niamh said. “We must get you out, now. Can you fly?”
The world spun, and I kept having to wipe blood from my vision. “I don’t think so,” I muttered.
She looked to the sky. “I will try to get you as close as I can. But you must try, understand? You must try to leave.”
She gathered me in her arms and flapped hard. We rose inch by inch, dodging the branches of the trees until we rose above them into the sky. “We must... get up... high enough... to see the mist again... at least,” Niamh puffed.
She held me tight against her body, and I could hear the rapid snap of her wings as we continued to rise.
“Thank you,” I said, weakly.
“Don’t... thank me... yet,” she gasped. The mist closed around our bodies. “Getting... closer.”
An extra pair of hands gripped me out of nowhere and jerked me up out of Niamh’s arms. Niamh scrambled to keep ahold of me.
“Someone is outside, trying to break your connection,” she said, her eyes wide.
“Arius,” I whispered.
Relief passed over Niamh’s face. “Then go with him. Let him take you out.”
“I have questions, for you—”
“I am sure we will meet again, but now you must go.”
The tugging became unbearable, and I finally let it take me up out of Niamh’s arms and into the sky.
I gasped, my eyes flying open, Kris’s room coming into view. Then grimaced and groaned, gingerly touching the white bandage on my head. Strong arms pulled around me tight, and Arius buried his face in my hair, whispering my name.
My arms wrapped around him in response, and I breathed in his earthy scent, willing my nerves to calm. Despite the danger, I had discovered one very staggering piece of information.
“Arius,” I said, my voice urgent. “What if the Otherworld still exists?”
16
Unexpected Complication
Mina
“Guilt isn’t the best motivator.”—Nana
“WHAT DO YOU MEAN?” Arius’s voice was flat.
I paused. The suspicion had built for some time. The more I saw, the more I learned of the strange group that was working toward the queen’s downfall, but I had forgotten—in my haste to reveal my discovery—that it would be yet another reminder to Arius of Nuada’s betrayal.
“I think we came here to stop them—those that call themselves the Fomori. I don’t think we were fleeing the destruction of the Otherworld,” I said.
“How can you know that for sure?”
“I can’t. But I’ve seen nothing about a dark magical plague, and this last one, you saw for yourself. They stole the scepter and fled to this world. You didn’t see the end. I just got a glimpse. We were desperate to follow, to stop them. But this Chimera wouldn’t open the portal to this world. He said that, without the scepter, he needed a sacrifice in order to open the portal...”
Prince Lugh. That was why he was offering himself up to the Chimera in my previous vision with the queen and Jazrael. He’d sacrificed himself so we could pass through the portal that the Chimera guarded.
“Stop them from what?” Arius’s eyes were hard, his arms tight around me, but not in a good way. More in an I’m-so-tense-I-don’t-realize-I’m-about-to-squeeze-all-the-air-out-of-you way.
“I don’t know,” I said.
My head pounded, and I wanted to give the glass ball another go. If nothing else, to escape the pain. I wasn’t sure if I could handle an argument with him right now.
He let out a long breath, and his arms loosened as his shoulders hunched. “If the Otherworld still exists, then that’s great news.”
<
br /> From the defeated tone in his voice, it didn’t sound like great news.
“That means the king is alive,” he continued. “We aren’t the last of our kind—of everything.”
“Niamh was there. The real Niamh. She helped me escape. Maybe if we go back in we can—”
I extended my hand toward the ball, but Arius shoved it out of reach.
“There’s no guarantee if we go back, she will be there. It’s time we took a break from faerie stuff.”
I raised an eyebrow at him. Faerie stuff? Who was I talking to? Not the faerie soldier whose life revolved around “faerie stuff.”
“What do you suggest we do?” With my aching head, our options were limited.
“Kris has a gaming console downstairs,” he said.
“You want to play video games?”
“Worried you’ll lose?”
I knew what Arius’s hand-eye coordination was like. I was going to lose. But behind his competitive front, I sensed the layer of desperation. He needed a distraction to divert him from the pain of Nuada’s betrayal.
“Do I even have a chance against you?” I asked.
A genuine smile touched his lips, one side swollen from the fight earlier. The hunger to feel his lips on mine curled in my stomach. Swollen or not, his smile was like glimpsing an isolated wild animal at home in its natural habitat—rare and beautiful.
“Probably not. You going to let that stop you?” he asked.
“Never.”
THE NEXT DAY, ARIUS, Wolpertinger, and I gathered at a park behind Lake City High School. Arius and I would hang out there while Other Mina jumped the back fence and entered during lunch hour.
“Can your faerie guardian hear and communicate out of earshot?” Arius asked as we sat down among some bushes, hoping to hide from any curious adults using the park during the daytime. Wolpertinger lay in my lap, and I stroked his long ears. My head was already feeling better, but I still took a pain killer earlier that morning to keep the throbbing down.
I nodded. “When I sent it ahead to Kris’s the night I tricked Nuada, my faerie guardian was well out of sight and hearing. I could still sense the conversation she had with Kris in my mind and prompt my guardian to respond. As long as I stay near the school, we shouldn’t have a problem.”
