by Logan Byrne
“The item is fabled to look like a rock, obsidian, with a black exterior and a garnet core that glows. It’s quite cube like, and I’d imagine you aren’t going to find anything else in that forest that looks remotely like this object. As for obtaining it and transporting it, as we speak our mages are crafting a box that will be able to safely transport the item,” Pote said.
“When are we leaving?” I asked.
“Tomorrow, in the morning. I believe Kiren will also be searching for the item, so be on the defensive when it comes to his men,” Pote said.
“Chancellor Pote, Mirian needs you,” a guard said, interrupting our conversation.
“I know you all can do this, and I look forward to your final mission report. Thank you for your service,” Pote said, before walking off with the guard.
“So Kiren wants to summon some kind of evil?” Faus asked, confused.
“I mean, are you really all that surprised? He is pretty evil himself,” Charlie said.
I took a sip of water that was on the table, looking up at Britta, as she met my gaze. Should we tell them anything? Mirian was serious about us lying low, but that was before Pote asked us to go on a deadly mission that could have serious consequences for us all. Did we owe it to our friends now? After all, if I were going on a dangerous mission and they knew information and didn’t tell me, I couldn’t say I would trust them as much going forward.
“What are you two looking at each other for?” Blake asked, turning to me.
“What?” I asked, my eyes snapping away from Britta.
“You know something, at least something you aren’t telling the rest of us,” Blake accused.
“Is this true?” Charlie asked, looking at Britta.
She got nervous, I could tell, the vein in her neck beginning to throb as Charlie called her out. She wasn’t good at lying, especially when it came to him.
“Lexa?” Britta asked, looking at me with the most nervous and torn expression in history.
“Mirian came to us earlier about this very thing. He just said that he thought Kiren might be after something that could summon an ancient evil. He wasn’t sure about it, but it sounds like Pote is confirming it to be true. Mirian didn’t want us telling anybody because he didn’t have any proof, just thoughts about it from the spell book I stole from the duskhowler camp,” I said.
“When were you planning to tell the rest of us?” Blake asked.
“Mirian asked us to keep it under wraps. Like Lexa said, he just thought it could be a possibility because of the spells they were practicing in that book,” Britta said.
“So you weren’t going to tell us. Awesome,” Blake said, looking visibly annoyed.
“Don’t be like this,” I said. His attitude was getting the better of him. It was rare that he acted like this, the werewolf anger piercing through his mortal form, and I didn’t want it to cloud his judgment.
“Don’t be like what? Don’t be annoyed or upset that you two were keeping things from the rest of us? How are we supposed to go into combat and fight beside you when you’re knowingly harboring secrets?” he asked.
“Blake, it wasn’t their fault,” Charlie said.
“So you would be fine going into battle with them, risking your own life, even though they were lying and keeping things from you?” Blake asked, with a disgusted look on his face.
“Yes, because I trust them. If Mirian wanted them to lie low until he could figure something out, then I would trust in him and in the system,” Charlie said.
“Yeah, the last time I trusted in the system I was left on a stretcher,” Blake snapped, standing up.
“Where are you going?” I asked.
“Secret,” he said, his eyes wide, as if he were mocking me.
He walked away quickly, before I slid off the bench and ran after him, not willing to let this go. “Don’t walk away from me,” I said, catching up to him.
Storm clouds clamored above, thunder filling the air, as small drops of rain began to splash against me. People ran, seeking shelter from the storm, but I wasn’t about to do that. I wanted answers, and I wanted them now.
“I don’t like it, Lexa. I don’t like my girlfriend, the person I love, keeping things from me and lying to me,” he said.
“I didn’t lie to you! Mirian just wanted us to keep it under wraps. We had no idea that Pote was going to ask us to go on this mission. I couldn’t say anything in front of her, either, because he asked us not to. He didn’t want us to get her all worked up or scared of yet another thing we had to do. Maybe if you’d waited another minute, we could’ve told you,” I said.
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“We couldn’t say we knew something about it in front of her. We had to wait for her to leave, but you just jumped right into it without giving us the chance to tell you what we knew. How do you think that makes me feel? To be shot down like that and never be given the chance?” I asked, before tears began to meld with the rain as they ran down my cheeks.
My hair was soaking, my clothes soggy, as I began to sink in a growing bog of mud while Blake just looked at me. The seconds felt like hours, his mouth shut and his expression fairly blank, and I felt my stomach in knots.
All I wanted was a chance. Sure, Britta and I were on the fence about saying anything, her wanting to do it more than I did, but I felt justified to be upset that we never even had the chance to talk. Maybe if he’d been more open and understanding, he would’ve found out earlier.
“So you would’ve told us?” Blake asked.
“I guess we’ll never know now, will we? All I want is for you to trust me, Blake. I don’t give you reasons not to,” I said.
“Maybe I jumped to conclusions without giving you a chance. I’m sorry,” he said.
“Just trust me, Blake. I’d never do anything that would hurt you or harm you,” I said.
“I believe you,” he replied, before turning around.
“Where are you going?” I asked.
“I just need to think about some things. I’ll see you in the morning for our mission,” he said, his expression blank, with the slightest tinge of sadness, before he turned around again and walked off.
I was left standing there in the rain, listening to the sound of the drops pelting against the tents, as I continued to sink further into the deepening mud.
I guess not every day could be as good as a fairy tale.
5
Darkness swirled in the sky above me as I stood up, pressing my hand to my forehead as a raging headache took over. “What’s happening?” I mumbled, as I looked at the open field around me, ash and soot falling from above as fire and explosions filled the background.
It was horrible. The entire area, as far as I could see, was littered with bodies and soaked in blood. Broken weapons surrounded mages lying with their wands, a vacant look on their frozen faces as their open eyes stared emptily at the sky. I saw people fighting in the distance, Kiren’s forces overwhelming us completely, our guards and mages no match for the evil he was projecting.
“Lexa,” I heard someone whisper.
I jerked my head, seeing Espy on the ground, her face slightly bloodied as tears rolled down her furry cheeks. “What happened?” I asked, running over to her, as I grabbed her and held her in my arms.
“Why didn’t you save us?” she asked, staring into my eyes. It felt like her gaze pierced my soul.
“I’m sorry, I don’t know what happened,” I said, struggling to stutter out the words. I didn’t know what to say. I’d just woken up to this, I didn’t know why nobody got me up earlier. This was a nightmare.
“You could’ve saved us, but you didn’t. You let us—" she said, before I felt her body go limp.
“Espy!” I yelled, shaking her, as I tried to wake her up. This couldn’t be happening, she was just a child! She didn’t respond, her open eyes vacant, as if the very essence behind her expression had left her body and transcended somewhere else.
“You failed her,�
�� a man’s voice said, and I turned my head, an angry look on my face, as I saw Kiren floating in the air nearby.
“You did this!” I yelled, setting her down gently onto the ground. I stood up, clenching my fist as tightly as I could, while he smiled and laughed.
“No, Lexa, you did this. You weren’t there for them. You weren’t enough for them. Now, they all lie dead on this field, their blood and tears soaking into the soil as my army marches on,” Kiren said, without remorse.
“I’m going to end this,” I said, looking down at my fists, but the blue glow didn’t show itself no matter how hard I tried. I didn’t understand, it was always there when I needed it. I looked back up at Kiren, then back to my fists, while he laughed as if he were watching something hysterical.
“Are you missing something?” he asked, his arms crossed.
I reached for my wand but my sheath was empty. I panicked as his cackles filled my ears. “You weren’t enough, Lexa. It’s over. Wake up,” he said.
“What?” I asked, shocked.
“Wake up, Lexa. Wake up!” he yelled, before the field crashed in on itself, the ground breaking open, and I fell through, screaming, before gasping awake. My eyes as wide open as they could be, I looked all around, gripping the sides of my cot, before seeing Britta standing above me, a panicked look on her face.
“Lexa, you’re okay, it’s me,” she said.
“What happened?” I asked, putting my head back down against my pillow and wiping the sweat away from my brow.
“You were having a nightmare. You were screaming about something, I couldn’t make out what, so I had to wake you up. Are you okay? What did you dream about?” she asked.
“It was horrible, Britta. I was on the battlefield, and Kiren was standing over me. He’d won, the sky was blackened with our defeat, and he had all kinds of power over me. I can’t believe it,” I said, brushing my hair back.
“It was just a dream, Lexa. It wasn’t real, and that’s not how things are going to go,” she said.
“I don’t know, it felt too real to not have any reality in it,” I said.
“I promise you it was just a nightmare. Your nerves and anxiety are just getting the better of you. Trust me, it will be fine,” she said, rubbing my shoulder, before I sat up and swung my legs over the edge of my cot.
Maybe she was right. Maybe things had just been so crazy lately that my brain conjured up these nightmares and thoughts as a way to deal with it. It wouldn’t be the first time something like that had happened, and I’d guess it wouldn’t be the last.
“What time are we leaving?” I asked, rubbing the crust from my eyes.
“We have about an hour. Get ready, get yourself fed, and then we can get going,” she said.
“That’s a lot of vowels,” Charlie said, when we stepped foot in Germany and looked at a town sign near the side of the road. The sun was beating down, the cloud-less sky not offering any resistance as we approached the small German town in front of us.
It was picturesque, looking more like something out of a fairy tale than a real town. There were some tourists, women with fanny packs and small digital cameras ushering their unwilling husbands around to pose in front of traditional cottages and men in lederhosen.
“What’s that?” I asked, pointing out a woman hobbling across the cobblestone road. She looked at us, her eyes opening wide, before she walked faster, though the speed of her step wasn’t exactly enough to win any races.
“What are you talking about? It’s just an old woman,” Blake said.
“No, I saw it too. She’s magical,” Britta said.
“She looked fairly mortal to me,” Charlie said.
“Let’s go. Maybe she can connect us with the right people,” I said, taking off with Britta beside me, as the boys moaned but followed us.
The woman looked nervous, hobbling faster towards a small home, before fumbling with her keys as she stuck them in the lock and disappeared inside. Smoke billowed from the red brick chimney, a wood fire burning inside. I pushed open the door, essentially breaking and entering into her home.
“What do you want? I’m just an old woman,” she said in English.
“You see? We’re sorry, ma’am. My friend thought you were somebody else,” Blake said.
“How did you know we speak English?” I asked.
“Peculiar,” Faus said.
“Uh, well,” the woman said, her thick accent showing she obviously was native German.
“Reveal yourself,” Britta said, as she swiped her wand across the woman’s frame. The magical veil began to crumble before the woman was revealed.
Wings grew out of the her back, fairy wings, though they were weathered and aged. Little feelers sprouted from her forehead, wilted and weak, as her eyes turned a dark shade of purple. “Why did you do this to me?” she asked, obviously upset.
“She’s a fairy,” Faus said.
“An old one,” Charlie said.
“Shut up,” Britta said, slamming her elbow into his ribs.
“Sorry,” Charlie said, gasping for air.
“It takes magic to create that illusion, you know. I can’t just walk around in this form,” the woman said, hobbling over to a spice shelf above the stove in the corner.
“We’re sorry for upsetting you. We thought you might’ve been something else,” I said.
“I should’ve known that witches would find me,” she said.
“How did we know you were magical? We just knew,” Britta said.
“My shroud doesn’t protect me from mages, not that I guess I care all that much. Witches and fairies have gotten along famously in the past,” she said, before uncorking an antiqued bottle and pulling out some glowing pink leaves.
She walked over to her mortar and pestle, grinding up the leaves and putting them in a tea bag, before taking a kettle off the stovetop and pouring the scalding water over the leaves.
“What’s that?” I asked.
“It’s the flower that allows fairies to change forms. Well, I suppose I don’t change forms, but rather just obscure myself. It allows me to blend in with the mortals and get by with a normal life,” she said, taking a few sips.
“Fascinating,” Faus said. “The study of magical plants and herbs is something I hope to get into one day.”
“Why are you kids here anyway? You’re a long way from home,” she said.
Her wings and feelers began to recede, being sucked back into her body as if they were never there to begin with. A part of me was sad that she had to hide her true self from everybody in her town, but I supposed that was the price to pay for being born a magical creature. Even mages had to be ultra-careful, and we looked just like mortals.
“We’re searching for something. We’ve heard it lies here, in the Black Forest,” I said.
“Trees? We have plenty of those,” she said, laughing.
“The Malum,” Blake said bluntly.
She stopped sipping her tea, setting it down gently, though the expression on her face was telling a different story. “Leave this town now and never look back.”
“Why do you say that?” Faus asked.
“That object isn’t meant to see the light of day again,” she said.
“So you know it’s here?” I asked.
“The fairies of this forest have known of it since it came into existence. Many have sought it, but none have succeeded. Nothing good can come from it being found,” she said.
“A dangerous man is looking for it. If we find it before him—" I said.
“You’ll be corrupted, child. It will tear at the very fabric of your morality, causing you to relish in things you think abhorrent today. Your soul will blacken, and your mind will alter,” she said, looking at me intently.
“That’s a risk that we have to take,” I said.
“You would risk your own sanity for this man?” she asked.
“I would risk my own sanity to prevent this man from taking the sanity from others,” I said.
“If you should find the object, there is no turning back. You will bow to the darkness and hatred that lies within. If you are somehow able to weather the storm, even for a fleeting moment, you must destroy it,” she said.
“You don’t have a way for us to be protected?” Britta asked.
“A fairy can touch the ink of hatred and not be stained, but I do not sense any fairy blood inside any of you,” she said.
“I bear the Mark of Merlin,” I said.
“I knew there was something different about you, but I didn’t know what. Your mark should be a barrier, but only for a short time. You might be able to touch the Malum, but if you do not dispose of it shortly after, you will fall victim to it,” she said.
“Where do we begin?” I asked.
“Take the path that leads just beyond this village. The hike will take time, but use your intuition and you should find it,” she said.
“How long will it take?” Charlie asked.
“As long as is needed,” she replied quickly.
“Not much of an answer, if you ask me,” Charlie mumbled under his breath.
“Thank you for your help. We’ll get out of your hair now,” I said.
“Wait, take this,” she said, opening a drawer and pulling out a vial. Golden powder glowed inside like glitter, reflecting even the slightest bit of light coming through her dirty windows.
“What is it?” I asked.
“Fairy dust. It’s rare, but I want you to have it,” she said.
“What does it do?” Faus asked, looking intrigued as he leaned in.
“When the time comes, you’ll know what it does. The purpose and moment will lend itself to you,” she said, with a little wink.
She spoke in riddles, and didn’t offer much in terms of clues, but somehow she was actually really helpful. I stuck the vial in my pocket, deciding to keep it close by, before she held open the door and we all piled out into the street.
“Strange woman,” Charlie said, as we stood outside.
“I sort of liked her,” Britta said.
“Yeah, she was something else,” I said, looking over my shoulder, before I saw her scurry away from the window.
