“Madel, does the bridge have water?”
She nodded.
“Okay, hold on tight.”
I thought about the bridge, the one that was wooden with its aged planks that left gaps to see the water running by beneath it. I saw it then pushed my power out to the gateway to create the portal. The surface vibrated then became like black water rippling across the space.
“Thank you,” I said back to King Blake, then we all stepped through onto the other side.
It was still night. Thankfully we still have three days. The sky had begun to brighten a little in the distance meaning morning would be here soon enough. I was exhausted, having not slept since my daughter’s arrival the drain on my magic was getting worse. Did Ava say something about my magic? Crap, what was it? Too much, she said something about giving him too much. What if she took some of mine and gave it to Tai? Could that be why I’m struggling with all these basic casts?
The leader of the Ninth pulled me aside. “We will go this way.” He pointed to the right. “And circle the back of the park, you and Jax head front on. We will converge on the carousel together.”
“Madel, you should go with the Nazieth, help lead them around the back of the park. I know my way.”
She pulled herself free of the strap and leapt onto the outstretched hand of one of the Ninth. I nodded and Jax and I crossed to the other side of the bridge. The park was mostly dark except for the safety lights that illuminated every few meters along the walking path.
Jax gripped my hand tighter as we stepped further from the minimal lights and into the dark.
“You, there. What are you doing in the park at this hour?”
The voice was familiar but I couldn’t place it.
“Well you are here too, so it can’t be that unusual to see people here this early?”
“Don’t get smart with me missy, or I’ll give ya a ticket for disturbing the peace. Now turn around slowly.”
Crap it’s a cop. “Sorry officer,” I said as we turned to face him. “We were just out for an early morning walk.” I hoped the hour was close enough to make it plausible.
“Somehow you don’t strike me as the walking type,” he said, raising his flashlight to cross my face. I turned my face away as it blinded me.
“Can you lower that please?”
“Do I know you?” the officer asked as he stepped forwards. The light from his flashlight illuminated the three of us now and I saw it was the officer who had found us in the woods. Officer Peck.
“Ahh, so we meet again. Did you find your dog then?”
“Umm, yes, we found Madel, but it appears we have lost him again. He took off through the park, but It’s alright, he often runs off leash in this park and we usually find him waiting by the entrance.”
“Clever thing that Madel, isn’t he?”
I smiled. If only he knew how clever Madel really was.
“That was a short vacation.”
Jax took a step forwards tilting his head up a little as he spoke. “Yes. We figured Madel would have run home and wanted to check our neighbourhood as soon as it got light.”
“So you live around these parts then?”
“Yes, we have an apartment in Enmore.”
Officer Peck turned on his heel, “well, stick to the walking paths, can’t be too careful even this close to daylight.” He said already walking in the opposite direction to the carousel.
“We will, thanks.” We called back to him and we watched as his flashlight beam shrank then disappeared out of sight before moving on.
“Is he like the only cop around here?” I asked as Jax and I made our way back off the path and towards where the carousel would be. “I mean seriously, first the woods now the park.”
“Can’t imagine too many cops would patrol this late, maybe he drew the short straw, got the night shift or something? Anyway, lets get moving, how far away is the carousel?”
“Not too far, it should be just over that hill and down a slope.”
When we reached the top of the hill we paused to look for the Nazieth. They moved around the trees that surrounded the back side of the carousel in perfect precision. If I hadn’t been looking for them I might not have seen them at all. Then something on the carousel moved.
“Jax, something moved, down there. Did you see?”
“Do you think it was Ava?”
“Maybe, but it was quick. It darted from over there to behind the back of the carrousel.”
“What if it wasn’t her? What if it was something after her and it scares her off again?”
“You’re right, let’s go.”
We rushed quietly down the hill towards the silhouettes of prancing horses. The Nazieth saw us converge and dashed from their hiding place amongst the trees.
I was almost there when the first demon attacked. A logaras demon leapt from the earth itself sending a mound of dirt up like a fountain.
It was as tall as me, but green and covered in poisonous spikes. I cast my shield in time to stop an assault of them as he flung his scaly arm towards me.
“Logaras demons!” I yelled out to the others. I could hear them grunting from the other side, and through the scattering of horses I could see they too were fighting.
At least two logaras were on the other side battling Jax and half of the Ninth Nazieth. The other half now had the one that attacked me pinned to the ground. One of the spikes shot through the arm of a Nazieth before I could project the shield over them. He wailed in pain, trying to pull the spike free.
Another logaras stomped towards me. I reached into the bag and pulled out the elfish sword. Swinging it through the air it connected with the logaras demon and cut through its thick hide, spilling the creatures intestines over the ground. The grass sizzled and smoked where the flesh lay. Seriously, acid blood?
“Watch out for their blood, it burns!”
“Got it,” Jax called back, and he dodged another logaras as it burst free from the soil in front of him. The sun sat just below the horizon, it would not be long now and we would have the light on our side. Demons didn’t like the light.
I saw a glimpse of rainbow towards my right and turned away from the fighting. The curls hung out from behind a carriage, swaying lightly on the breeze.
“Ava! It’s me,” I called, and the curls disappeared. “Ava! It’s your mum, Jax and I have come to find you. It’s alright.”
“Tai?” came the sobbing voice of my child as she peeked her head out from behind one of the horses. “Is Tai okay?”
“He will be. Ava, thank God we found you.”
“I tried to find them. To find it all,” she said, standing and holding out her hands. They were covered with a glittery red blood and a mound of something sat in the palm of her hands.
“What is that?”
“A pixie tried to help me, they all died trying to help me. I might as well have killed them, I am bad. I am what they said.”
“No, Ava, you are not. Ava, what happened in the cemetery, were you there?”
She lowered her gaze to her feet. “They told me I could help them. If I brought them up I could awaken them. So I did the cast but the ground exploded and they didn’t wake. They lay on top of the dirt as they had below. Then the cloaked ones came. They took the bodies. Tried to take me. Said I could help them. The happy one screamed at me to run and I ran.”
“Oh, Ava, that must have been so scary. And the pixie? Did they try to help you?”
She nodded but still didn’t look up. I took a slow step towards her. I could hear the others fighting the demons around us. I tried to keep an eye on them as well as Ava, but I was struggling to not just run to her.
“Ava, what happened to the pixies?”
“They came to help. Said they were sent to help. I told them about the cast you need to do, the one I wanted to do. They are not on the list but they wanted to help. They wanted to help me get to the next one on the list. They showed me where to go.”
“Pixies inspir
e and they wanted to inspire you. That makes sense but how did they die? What happened to that pixie in your hands?”
“There were dark clouds that came, they swallowed the pixies and their light, dropped them to the ground in sparkly bloody lumps. They cried, Mum. They all cried. This one was still crying when the dark cloud left. I held her ‘til she didn’t cry anymore.”
“Ava, you are okay now, we are here. The Nazieth will take care of the demons and we will get you home. Come here.”
I took a few steps towards where she stood then felt something pierce through my chest.
Ava’s eyes jerked wide.
My power rushed to the spot. I looked down at the spike protruding from my top. My cast for my shield had fallen in the excitement of finding Ava and I hadn’t noticed.
A logaras demon fell over the back of the horse to my left as Jax came around to my side.
“Des, don’t move. It will be alright.”
“I can’t move,” I said, realising that I actually couldn’t. I tried to draw my magic up to heal myself but it refused to leave the area the spike sat through. Not a lot could harm me since my transformation, I hadn’t been really worried about my own safety in so long.
I looked at Ava and tried to appear calm. She still looked terrified.
“Ava. I am okay, I will be okay.”
“Mum,” she said, stepping closer. “I am so sorry.”
“You don’t have to be sorry, you didn’t do this, Ava.”
“But I ran away.”
“And we came to look for you.”
Jax placed his hand on her shoulder, “Your mother is right. This is not your fault. She will be alright. She died before and was fine, I am sure we can pull out a logaras spike.”
“Not funny, Jax. This is going to hurt, isn’t it?” I asked weakly, trying to prepare myself for the pain. He simply nodded then took hold of the spike from behind. I had no idea what was happening with the rest of the fight.
Ava stepped forwards, my dress a tattered scrap on her now. She placed her hands on my shoulders, helping to steady me. I locked gaze with her when Jax began to twist the spike. It had tiny grooves like a screw that needed to be unwound slightly before being able to pull it free.
My magic had been doing a great job of holding back the pain for the most part but when he twisted, my magic recoiled and I felt the force of it all.
I cried out in agony and Ava squeezed my shoulders tighter.
“Just do it!” she called at Jax and in a searing pain the spike was pulled free and my magic swam to the hole it left.
“You aren’t healing,” Ava said, reaching out and placing her hand over the hole. “But you are not bleeding either.
I felt her magic trying to connect with my own, trying to help me heal but it wouldn’t work.
“I need the unicorns. They can heal me,” I said, through strained breath. My magic was starting to wane, it wouldn’t hold for long.
“JAX!” Ava screamed, and I turned my head in time to see two logaras demons drag him out of the carousel.
“Take her to the equillis, get them to heal her. Stop the darkness. Don’t come after me! Promise me!” he called back to us.
I tried to move but my legs wouldn’t budge.
“Jax, no. Nazieth help him!”
The leader of the ninth, covered in a glistening substance dashed forwards. One of the logaras who held Jax released him and confronted the guard. I watched the expression on the guards face falter. He stumbled, and then I saw the gash through his chest armour, he was already wounded.
He fell to his knees before the demon reached him. It swung its arm and the large spikes penetrated through the guards face and tore out the other side of his skull. I wanted to turn away, but I couldn’t move.
The only one moving was Jax, still struggling against the logaras that held him.
It hasn’t killed him, we can still save him. What was that bloody separation cast?.
“Verast sepratas,” I called, and the magic keeping my pain at bay faltered. I winced as it rushed over me and my magic pushed back into place. The cast didn’t work.
Jax twisted, threw out an elbow, and broke free, falling forwards onto his hands. He crawled a few meters across the dirt, trying to get away from the logaras at his back. It reached out and grabbed his right foot. It pulled, trying to drag Jax away, but Jax kicked at it with his other leg and it fell.
The low light that was building moment by moment sparked against my sword blade, drawing Jax’s attention. He scurried towards it.
“Hurry,” I yelled, but the ground erupted between him and the hilt of the sword. Jax fell onto his back as another logaras burst free from the ground. It reached out and gripped Jax by the upper arm and the other demon quickly joined them. Jax thrashed in their hold as they led him away from the carousel, away from us.
“Nazieth!” I screamed, but my eyes moved over the area around me and I saw nothing, heard nothing.
The Nazieth had fallen.
I tried again to cast a shield around Jax but my magic wouldn’t budge from my wound.
Jax yelled to us as they dragged him further from the carousel. “Save your mother Ava, promise me!”
“I promise,” Ava whispered as she and I watched her father disappear beneath a pile of dirt. Sucked into the logaras den.
My magic wavered again, my knees buckled, and I fell.
13
MY EYES, STRUGGLING to remain open, fixed on Ava and what she was doing. She lowered me to the seat in one of the horse carriages.
My eyes closed.
A loud buzz caused them to open, and I peeked through the lashes as she swung her arm and sparks flew in a circle before us.
But my eyelids felt like weights against my eyes and I closed them again, this time my mind slipped away into the darkness, into nothing.
My body jolted this way and that without my control. Then it lay still, pressed against something rough and cool. The morgue, no, no, no, not again. I forced my eyes open and gazed up at a sky red with fire.
Relieved not to be trapped again in the steel freezer of the city morgue I allowed my eyes to again succumb to their weight and close. I didn’t feel myself drift off.
My ears peaked as someone sang beside me. A fire rolled through my chest followed by a tickling across my forehead.
Then silence.
Suddenly I was back at the carousel. Jax was choking for air, spitting out mounds of dirt as he tried to claw his way out of the ground. He tried to call for me but the only sound he made was a strained cough as he choked on the dry soil.
“JAX!” I sat bolt upright. Madel fell from my head and landed in my lap with a gleeful squeal.
Ava stood at my awakening, and beside her was a queen of death.
A banshee.
“You will be okay, she got to you in time,” Ava said, eyeing the pale skinned banshee to her right.
“What happened? Where are we? Where is Jax?”
Ava’s eyes were wet with tears.
“Ava, where is your father?”
“They took him, the demons have him. And unless we open the portal to the darkness they will keep him.”
“What? No!” I almost jumped up, but didn’t think my feet would hold. “They can’t have him. Madel, you can track him, you can help us find him, right?”
The Hytersprite shook her head.
“Me no look down there, no one can. There is dark, we see only light.”
“What about you?” I asked, looking at the dark haired banshee. Her skin was creased with age, something I never knew would happen to a banshee. I thought they remained young forever. Or at least as long as they had victims. “You are of the dark, can you see where the logaras have taken Jax?”
The banshee didn’t speak. I knew she couldn’t, not really. The ancient banshees of the fabled worlds were different to their modern ancestors. It was only after the war with Traflier that I found out about the realms of the fabled and how they have helped shape
other worlds, mixing with humans and other fabled, creating new kinds without names, but with astonishing power.
A banshee’s voice was a weapon to behold. Her scream could kill for certain, but her voice held so much more power than the stories ever told. She could sing an enchanting lullaby and enthral the strongest of wills. Her whispers had the power to manipulate the mind. But her tears were something else. Her tears were what would have saved me.
“Ava, did you call the banshee here? Wait, where is here?” I looked around as Ava mumbled beside me.
“No, I didn’t mean to. I mean, I wanted to help you. You were dying and Jax was gone. I tried to portal to the Equillis to have them heal you but when I opened the portal I was really upset and my pain must have drawn a path to the banshees instead.”
“Crap. Are we in the banshee kingdom?” I asked standing abruptly. My head spun a little but I held my footing. The sky was red, the clouds moved like flames, licking across the surface. I turned and saw the castle. Its black stone walls rose up high into the sky. Pointed turrets sat atop several pyres.
“We can’t be here, Ava, we have to go. I am sorry, she didn’t men to come here. She is only a few days old. She didn’t know.” My throat grew tight with panic.
The banshee was defiantly older than I expected. Her hair that I first thought of as black, was actually peppered with greys and hung limp and lifeless over her shoulders. Her gaze went from me, to Madel, and then to Ava, before beginning the trip around again.
“It is okay, Mum, she saved you.”
“Yes, I see that, Ava, but you can’t enter a banshee kingdom without permission. If you do, they can keep you here forever.”
Ava frowned and swung her arm out to the side as she tried to create a portal out. Nothing happened, no sparks, nothing.
The banshee turned her head slowly towards Ava and smiled with her blackened teeth. Ava gasped, quickly stepping away from her and moving to behind me.
The banshee went to open her mouth when I remembered I needed something from the banshees for the binding spell.
“Wait,” I said, holding up my hands. My magic drew up to my fingers but I held it from exploding out. I didn’t need the banshee on the defensive. “As leader of the fey, I humbly request a meeting with your council.”
Uniting The Fabled Page 15
