“You’ll find out about that shortly after you wake up. I don’t want to spoil your father’s fun,” she said.
I could accept that.
“So what happens now?” I asked. Most of my burning questions had been answered.
This must be what a climber feels like once they’ve made the herring trek up the summit of Mt. Everest. When they got to the top, they had thirty seconds to enjoy the view and their accomplishment, and then they immediately had to start making their way back down. Now I had to figure out my path down the mountain.
“Well, when you are ready, I will send you back. You will be Queen of the Morthlands, and Ubrem Glacies. You will work with your father to determine the line of succession for his Kingdom.”
“Sure, I get that, but what now? Last time I thought I had fulfilled the prophecy, you hit me with a surprise. Now that I think I’ve fulfilled it again, I’m still waiting on the other shoe to drop.”
“I’m sure I can make up something for you to do, if you want the task. Otherwise, I planned to let you live your life with your family and soul mate.”
Wait a second, how did Victoria do this back and forth for the rest of her life?
“Ok so another question. Victoria went missing back in Arlington. Did she come here permanently, with one body?” I asked.
“She did,” she said, as she gently nodded.
“How?” I asked.
“Ah, you are looking for another quest,” she said with a smile.
“Only if it makes my life easier,” I said with a smile in response.
Who would have thought I could joke around with a divine entity such as the Goddess? One who looked and sounded a lot like me.
“Well she simply asked the Emerald Mountain. It can become a portal between the worlds. You can make due on your promise to Eduard and bring him there, then you can return here. You’ll need to go to the Mountain and tell him of your plans. He will open the portal for you.”
Wait a second…
“You’re telling me, that I was so close to the source of transportation between the worlds, and I never knew. Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked.
“I didn’t tell Victoria until after she fulfilled her portion of the prophecy. It’s a safeguard. If you were to fail,, at least you could still live your other life.”
Oh.
“Now, I must insist we get you back. The longer you hang out here, the harder it is for you to adjust when you get back to your body, but one last thing, Violet.”
“Yes?” I asked.
“No meddling for the next in the prophecy. You will get visions of the future when it is your time. You can write to the next in the prophecy, like Victoria did you, but don’t give any spoilers,” she warned.
“Deal,” I responded, and I pulled myself out of the water and onto the rock with her.
“I’m very proud of you, Violet,” she said as she took my hand.
“Thank you,” I said.
I blinked my eyes, and when they opened, I was lying down on what felt like a bed. Above me were a bunch of heads, looking down at me.
“She’s awake,” Aunt Beetie said. Relief was evident in her voice.
Axel muscled his way into my view.
“You’ve got to stop almost dying on me. My heart can’t take much more,” he said, and then he bent down and placed a kiss on my lips.
“You’re telling me. I think I’m getting frequent flier miles to the other side,” I joked.
“What?” everyone asked. The joke was lost on them, it was a pity because I thought it was a good one.
“Never mind. What did I miss?” I asked, as I tried to sit up.
“Holy Mother…” I said as I felt a sharp stabbing pain in my gut.
“Your fault,” Trin sing-songed, and pushed me back down on the bed.
“You got stabbed and your magic was working as slow as a slug to heal you. I was debating on whether or not to kill you so that I could at least just bring you back.” she said with a relieved expression.
“Ha, ha, ha,” I said slowly. So that she could see my sense of humor survived my second brush with death.
“There’s someone here to see you,” Axel said.
I moved to sit up again, and he pushed me down.
“Stay down, you were badly injured. He’s coming to you,” he said.
He? He must have rescued my father. I was thrilled at the thought. I secretly hoped that I could bring my mom here, and they could reconnect. It was a stretch at best, but I could still hope.
After a moment the door opened, and my Father walked in the room, and he was carrying something large in his arms. After a moment my vision sharpened and I could make out a person, but not just a person. It was my Grandfather, the one I had no idea existed when I stole the emeralds from Kennan’s house in Arlington. The one I had to lie to, to get away. Regret and guilt hit me deep in my newly healed gut. I was afraid my heart would come out of the wound.
“Hello Granddaughter, and Queen,” he said with a wink.
“Hello Grandfather, and King,” I said with a tentative smile.
Father placed him down on the plush chair beside my bed. The man looked like death warmed over. He had been alive when Victoria had been, so he was old. He was likely close to Wisdom’s age, and looked more like it. Wisdom’s magic had kept him younger.
“I hear I have you to thank for the crumbling of my Kingdom,” he said, while looking me straight in the eye.
“I’m sorry. Kennan gave me no choice.”
“Don’t apologize, a Queen doesn’t do that. I understand, and I wish I was forty years younger so I could have done that myself. My son took my Kingdom from me. He made horrendous decisions in my name, and as you can see, I’m not in the shape to put up much of a fight.”
He crossed his fingers over each other, and his palms rested against his stomach.
“Then I’m glad to have assisted you,” I said.
“As you can probably tell, I don’t have a whole lot of time left, in either of our worlds. I wanted to discuss the line of succession with you.”
“I don’t need the crown. What happened to Alexander?” I asked.
Father would never be safe if he was still alive.
“I took care of that. He needed to answer for his crimes against the Kingdom. Allowing his brats to run unchecked and commit crimes against magic-workers was something that I could not forgive. He received a sentence worthy of the crimes,” Father answered.
“So we are all that’s left of your side?” I asked.
He nodded.
That’s why it came back to the line of succession. Eventually, it would come to me, whether I wanted it or not.
“Can’t you have another child and give it to them?” I asked him.
He chuckled at that.
“No, you are truly worthy of inheriting that crown, after all you did to save it.”
“But the more power you have, the bigger the target on your back. It was bad enough with one Kingdom, I can’t do three. Aren’t there rules against it?” I asked.
“Yes, but I’m sure you can have talks with the other two Kingdoms, let them know that in no way do you want their Kingdoms. Things should be ok,” he tried to reassure me.
Nothing would reassure me, except seeing the crown on his or my Grandfather’s head.
“We can discuss this at another time, for now it’s your father’s,” I said, trying to sound kind. Afterall, the older man was still in the room with us.
“What’s going on with the Kingdom of Tate, is there unrest?” I asked.
“We don’t know. We haven’t left the ship since we brought you back here.”
“Then we need to go check it out. When a regime ends, there is always a power grab. We need to show that their true king is alive and well,” I said.
“I agree,” Father said.
“Hold on, you just woke up and you are still healing. You aren’t going anywhere, Violet,” Trin said firmly.
“You
let her talk to you that way?” my Grandfather asked teasingly.
“I do, she’s my cousin, from Victoria’s side,” I said.
He nodded in understanding, she was family. Things were always different for the family members of royalty.
“I’ll be ok, watch,” I said.
Then I called for my control over the air, and I levitated off the bed, and to my feet.
“See, I’m ok as long as I don’t have to bend,” I said as my feet touched the floor.
She rolled her eyes, but didn’t protest further. She knew that I was going to do what I wanted.We made our way back to the shore, not as enemies in war, but as the rightful heirs to the throne, supporting it’s rightful king.
Chapter Thirty Three
Violet
My father stayed behind, to assist his father and king. There was a lot to do to repair their kingdom. So many had perished at Kennan’s hands, and that was going to take a while to come back from.
There were also the wolves that would have to be punished, and I had no idea what their plans were for the Banshees, but luckily that wasn’t my problem.
As we sailed off, the dragons were ready to head back to their den, with a very injured prisoner in tow. He would have to answer to the Dragon King. It was not my responsibility to punish him. I did heal the others though.
“Thank you Dragon Kissed Queen,” they said as they lowered their massive heads in my direction, then they flew off.
Everyone else was scared of the dragons, and they were still shocked at my ability to speak with them. Great Aunt Beetie had heard tales of the Dragon Kissed, but she thought it was just a myth. There I go again, a walking miracle.
Trin and Proctor had resorected all the beasts and femen that had fallen, so we would return them to their rulers exactly as they came to us, alive and well. They left the ships, anxious to get home. They did, however, bow to me before they left.
“You know, the adventure still isn’t over,” I said to our group as the other species left their ships and exited to the docks. We had arrived back at Morthsoul's southern shore.
“It’s not, we still have to fight for our home,” Axel said.
Thomas’ eyes raised, like he had forgotten all about that. It had been, what a week since they had left it?
“I’m all battled out,” Trin said.
“Good thing you are a healer, and not a fighter,” I said with a wink.
“Good thing,” she joked back.
“Are you going to be ok to fight?” Wisdom asked. Since my father was back in Tate, he seemed to take on that role. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that, but I was positive the two of them had a talk.
“Yes, I’m good to fight, this should be quick and easy. If I wasn’t dead, I would have been able to defend this place by myself.”
“Hey, don’t blame yourself,” Axel said.
“I don’t. I know everything was done how it had to be. I’m just stating facts, and we have so much more to discuss once we get our home back,” I said.
“There’s more work to be done isn’t there?” Trin asked.
“Maybe,” I said with a smile.
Everyone groaned, and I felt a little happiness in that. We were all in this and worn out together. We were now a tight knit family because of the adversity and odds we had faced. I was just a girl with her great grandfather, her great aunt, and her three cousins, along with her husband. The rest of the family counted too, but they hadn’t been through hell and back like we had.
“I have to head back to my people,” Proctor had said, sounding a bit sad.
I stepped forward.
“I understand, and I thank you greatly for your assistance. If there is anything I can do for you or the Children of the Willows, please let me know,” I said, pulling him into a hug.
He fought with us, he’s part of the circle now.
He was stiff against me at first, not expecting a hug from a Queen, but after a few seconds he relaxed and returned the hug.
When I let go he took a step back.
“I’m sure the Children would love a visit from their Queen when you have the time. The crones seemed fascinated by the idea that the Queen is a witch like them. They’ve been waiting for a moment like this for a long time,” he said.
“Of course, I will pay them a visit once I’ve had the opportunity to take back the castle, and make sure everyone is settled in,” I promised.
“That would be great,” he said, his smile bright.
He said good-bye to Trin, and I could practically see his hurt feelings, like a chip on his shoulder. He had a thing for my cousin, and it was obvious to everyone that her adoration was focused on Thomas. After he said good-bye to the rest of the group he left the ship and started walking west, following the shoreline that would eventually take him home.
“I made a promise to the Femen that I would try to get them their home back,” I told Trin.
“You did?” She gasped.
“I did, not knowing our connection to them. I’ll have to figure out what to do there.”
“I know you will in time,” she said.
I thanked my crews who had sailed the ships. We exited with what little we had brought and we headed home.
☼
It took us two days to make it home with the whole family. Not everyone was fully healed, and Wisdom and Beetie didn’t move as quickly as they used to, but we made it to the outside of my castle and my heart hurt a little. It was strange to see Tate’s banner hanging over one of the stone walls, but I would quickly rectify that. We were no longer at war with that kingdom. I know that my people won’t want to see that flag for a long time, and I couldn’t blame them. Hopefully by the time I inherited Tate, there could be friendship between the people of the kingdoms.
“How many do you think are here?” I turned to Thomas and Trin.
“If we had to guess, a force between fifty and a hundred. We went through the tunnels so we didn’t see many on our exit. For four alarms to sound, it had to be at least that size.”
I nodded.
“Then I think all we need is the four of us,” I said looking between Axel, Thomas and Trin.
“How about one last hoorah?” I asked.
“One last hoorah,” they all echoed, wearing varying degrees of smiles.
Then we went in guns blazing, while the rest of the family stayed behind in the village. And when I say guns blazing, I meant my hands were at the ready, fire in one hand, and ice in the other.
At the sight of us, some of the occupiers fled the castle, running toward the northern shores. They’d have a hell of a time making it back to their boats, which were well over twenty miles away, before some knights left on horseback to round them up.
The front door which was normally left open during the day was closed, with the gate covering the entrance, and the drawbridge was up. I threw my magic at the drawbridge and it quickly lowered, the sound of the chains clanked loudly the whole time. Once it touched down in front of us, I redirected my magic at the gate, and I raised it, and pushed through the doors.
There were around ten guards, just standing in the entryway and poised on the stairs with their swords raised, or bows with arrows drawn, pointed right to me. I sent out a blast of my magic disintegrating the bows and arrows. The guards cried out and dropped the burning wood.
Then I stepped through the doorway with Axel to my right, Thomas to my left, and Trin behind me. I started shooting balls of fire and balls of ice. The guards had a hard time deflecting them with swords and shields, but for the most part, they held their own. Axel took a step forward, and pulled a sword from an opponent's hand, just using his magic. Then he turned the blade around on its former owner and started attacking. The guy raised his shield in its direction, but now completely forgot about his flesh and blood attacker. Axel quickly tackled him to the ground, and I shot vines around the downed opponents wrists and feet. Before storming the castle we agreed we’d spare the lives of those we could. There had bee
n enough death on the beach. My Grandfather could do what he wanted with his subjects.
I went for the next guy, creating more vines with my magic. They quickly wrapped around his legs. He tried to hack at them, but Thomas quickly disarmed him. The vines wrapped up the opponent's upper body, trapping his arms at his sides. In his struggle to free himself, he lost his balance and he fell to the ground. He knocked himself out with the impact.
We all stepped forward, and Trin dropped to her knees next to the guy who fell, to make sure he was still alive.
More guards stepped into the room, and I sent balls of magic flying. They bounced off armor here and there. I mainly wanted to cause a distraction. While I had the strongest magic, killing still wasn’t something I liked to do. Axel and Thomas had trained for stuff like this since they were kids, and if anyone had to do it, I’d rather it be them. Occasionally, a dead body fell, but for the most part I was able to distract and bound the opponents that Axel and Thomas faced.
I looked around and counted twenty four down. Probably ten had been spotted running out of the castle when we came charging up. That meant on the conservative side there were somewhere around fifteen more guards hanging around, with the likely possibility of there being more. Also, who knew how many Kennan could have sent here to hold the castle after everyone had fled?
No one else charged into the foyer to meet us head on, so we were going to have to switch up tactics now.
“Let’s split up. Trin, stay here and make sure no one is set free. Axel, go left towards the kitchen and the common areas for the castle staff. Thomas, you take the barracks areas and the dungeon. I’ll go clear the upstairs, then I’ll head through the tunnels and we will meet back here in thirty minutes. If someone doesn’t return it means they are in trouble and the others will go to assist,” I ordered.
“Got it,” Trin said quickly.
Thomas nodded and headed down to the dungeon. Axel gave me a quick glance before running with two swords toward the kitchens. I heard a couple of the kitchen staff scream out in surprise, but when they realised who he was, they yelled, ‘Two went that way!”
Emerald Wars (The Dream Traveler Book 3) Page 23
