Of The Faye Box Set

by Mary Duke

  “Yeah, he just wanted to tell me that his mother’s choices were not his and that I shouldn’t judge him for what she decided.”

  The light in the mirror faded, and I could no longer see him. “Rowan!” I yelled putting my hands on the mirror.

  Jadea’s laugh shrieked through my ears, and my hands began sinking into the glass, as Rowan once again became visible.

  “Why don’t you tell your boyfriend what happened on the beach, Sno?”

  Rowan’s whole body was now visible as he kneeled before the mirror which laid on the ground in front of him.

  “Nothing happened,” I said shaking my head confused.

  Jadea bent over and picked up the mirror. “So what’s the plan now, Sno? What are you and your little friends planning?” she asked as she circled the cave, making sure I could see the bodies that lay scattered on the floor.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said biting my tongue.

  “Of course you do. Don’t toy with me,” she spat, pulling a dagger from her waist. “When are you coming to the vault?” She asked, pushing the tip of her dagger into Rowan's throat.

  “What vault?” I said, fighting back my nerves.

  “What vault?” she repeated. “I don’t think you’re taking me seriously, Sno,” she said pulling it across Rowans left cheek.

  Blood began to roll down his face, and she slowly lifted the blade and licked the blood from the tip. “Shall I ask again?”

  I tried to pull my hands from the mirror, as I shook my head. I knew I couldn’t answer her. I didn’t know what part in all this she played, but I knew she wasn’t on my side.

  “I’ve invested far too many years of my life in this, sacrificed my own son… I am not going to let it end this way,” Jadea said walking behind Rowan.

  My heart sank in my chest, and I pleaded with her. “This has nothing to do with him. Leave Rowan out of this.”

  Jadea laughed. “Rowan has everything to do with this.”

  I shook my head. How could he have anything to do with it?

  “From the moment I realized the two of you had connected, he’s been mine,” Jadea said running her hand through his shaggy brown hair. “I know everything you’ve ever told him.” A wicked smile spread across her face. “And I know everything he’s ever told you.”

  “Impossible,” I said, not wanting to believe her.

  “So what’s your final answer Sno,” she said lowering the blade once again to his throat.

  I stood there in silence, though so many things raced through my mind.

  “Wrong answer,” Jadea said running her dagger along his skin.

  Blood gushed down Rowan's neck, soaking his shirt as I stood there unable to free my hands and unable to help him.

  I pulled and twisted my arms trying to break them free, muttering every spell that came to mind, as I fought the tears from rushing down my cheeks.

  Jadea circled around him again, before she returned to where she left the mirror. “You do not know the truth; all you know is lies,” she assured me, her eyes focused on mine. “I don’t know what they told you, what hope they’ve shoved down your throat, but there is nothing that you can do that will save your friends. My son died long ago, and without him, there is no chance at saving what once was.”

  “Then why are you doing this?” I asked confused. “If there is nothing I can do, then why did you take him from me?”

  Jadea laughed; it was a sickening mix of cackles. “There you go again, making this about you. It always has to be about you, doesn’t it? You know that’s one thing I never understood. You treated this poor boy like he was nothing…always making everything about you. I don’t understand why he even stayed. I mean come on, here he is kneeling before you, bleeding out, and you make this about you.”

  “Stop it,” I screamed, as I could feel my rage building uncontrollably.

  “I will give you a little credit, I guess in a way this has a little bit to do with you. You see, the fools of our kind see you as hope. They believe that I was wrong and that you are the savior of our people.” Jadea spat on the ground. “Morons… But back to you, because we both know that is all you care about. What do you think will happen to those friends of yours when I kill you?” she asked, pointing her dagger at the mirror and slowly dragging it down.

  Pain surged up my arm, and though I couldn’t see it, I felt blood dripping down my wrist.

  “What do you think will come of this ridiculous rebellion when their light is extinguished?”

  I jerked my hands harder, as Jadea’s laugh grew deeper, and I realized just how careless I had been.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  “SNO!” Kegan called, as he rushed through the door. “SNO!”

  “I’m over here!” I yelled back.

  He rushed to my side, grabbing ahold of my shoulders, in an attempt to free me from the glass.

  “It’s too late,” I said as a tear escaped my eye and slid down my cheek.

  “What do you mean?” Kegan asked, shaking his head and pulling harder.

  “Look,” I said, nodding at my arms.

  I had been cursed. Whatever Jadea had tainted her dagger with was climbing through my veins as we spoke.

  “Hello, Kegan,” Jadea called from the mirror. “I was hoping you would be here to see this.”

  “What is this?” he demanded, running his fingers over my veins.

  “Kegan?” Tork yelled for his brother.

  “Great, it’s going to be a party,” I said with as much sarcasm in my voice as I could muster.

  “We’re over here,” he replied sitting down behind me.

  “Why are you just sitting there? Pull her out,” Zavery said as he pushed past Tork.

  “Don’t you think I’ve tried that?” Kegan answered. “It won’t work.”

  “We have to get her out of there. There has to be a way.

  “No….” Jadea said, her eyes growing wide. “It can’t be,” she gasped.

  Zavery closed his eyes, and the hairs on my arms rose.

  When he opened his eyes, there was no color; they were solid white, just as the aura that now surrounded him.

  He slowly took a few steps forward, closing the gap between us, before reaching his own hands through the mirror.

  His fingers interlocked with mine, and our energies yet again became one.

  “Help me, Sno,” Zavery called to me. “I can’t do this without you.”

  I squeezed his fingers between my own and braced my legs on the sides of the mirror.

  Between him pulling, and me pushing, my hands broke free from the glass which had melted around them. Jadea’s screams ripped through our ears as the mirror imploded, sending shards of glass all around us.

  Zavery turned me towards him, opening his hands so our palms could touch, and he reached out to me again.

  “Concentrate on the light. Will the darkness away,” he said.

  “It doesn’t work like that,” I replied.

  “Trust me,” Zavery pleaded. “Start at your head, trace over your body, expel any of the darkness. Erase it from your body.”

  Though I didn’t truly believe it would work, I tried it. Taking a deep breath, I began to purge my body of the darkness that had begun taking over, and little by little I felt my energy return.

  “See, I told you it would work,” Zavery said, as I stumbled into his chest.

  My eyes were heavy and I could barely breathe, but I managed to mumble “thank you” before I collapsed.

  *****

  I awoke to Kegan running his fingers through my hair, and I jerked upright. “What time is it?”

  “It’s nearly dawn,” he answered moving around me so he could look at my eyes. “How are you feeling?”

  “I’m fine,” I said ripping the blanket off my legs and swinging them over the side of the hammock. “Where’s Zavery and the others?”

  “Right here,” Zavery said waving his hand in the air from behind a stack of books.
/>   “Slow down, Sno,” Kegan said grabbing ahold of my shoulder.

  I jerked my shoulder away from him and stormed around the table to face Zavery.

  “What the hell was that?” I demanded.

  He slowly closed the book he had in his hands and looked up at me; confusion riddled his face. “Excuse me?”

  “What. The. Hell. Was. That,” I repeated slowly, waving my hand towards the now shattered mirror.

  “I don’t know what you would call it, but I call it something like…uh, I don’t know…saving your life!” Zavery laughed.

  “You call this,” I said holding my hands out showing the small flame that burned on my palms, “saving my life?”

  “You are breathing, are you not? You are standing here right now, are you not?” He said, slowly rising to his feet.

  “Barely,” I muttered, turning away from him as I started to pick up the larger pieces of glass.

  “Don’t touch those!” he scolded.

  I stood up and shoved my hand into his chest, using my last bit of energy to send him across the room towards the door. “Get out.”

  Zavery jumped to his feet, caught off guard, and Tork stepped between us.

  Zavery pointed to Kegan through Tork. “If she thinks I’m letting her out of my sight until this is over, she is insane.”

  Kegan looked towards me and then back to Zavery. “Give her some space.”

  “Whatever,” Zavery sighed, walking back out into the woods.

  I was sitting before my mirror with a dozen or so of the broken pieces when Kegan walked over.

  “Hey kid,” he said, as he sat down beside me.

  I waved my hand over the pieces, hoping they would merge back together, though I knew they wouldn’t.

  “Do you want to tell me what happened?” he asked handing me another piece.

  “No,” I said coldly, afraid to say the words aloud, grabbing his hand and pulling it toward my forehead.

  Kegan nodded and pushed his palm against my skin, letting the flow of memories begin.

  The connection Kegan and I shared was unique, our minds, forever tied together as Guardian and warrior. Some said that the soul within the Warrior is actually forged from a piece of the Guardians, and that is what enabled our memories, thoughts, and feelings to remain in sync.

  For a moment he just sat there with me in silence. Kegan’s hands slid down my cheeks as he lifted my head till our eyes met.

  He had just seen everything I had, felt everything I felt, heard every thought that crossed my mind. If it had been anyone else, I would feel vulnerable. If it was anyone else, I would be shattered and disgusted, but I wasn’t. It was Kegan, my Guardian, my protector, the only family I had left, and now my only friend.

  He spoke slowly, making sure my eyes stayed connected with his. “That was not your fault, Sno,” he said to me almost in a whisper.

  Sorrow once again welled up, and my breath caught in my chest.

  “There is nothing you could have said, nothing you could have done that would have saved him,” he said holding my face a little tighter.

  “That’s not true,” I muttered under my breath.

  “How isn’t it?” Kegan questioned, knowing she would have killed us both, with or without any information I would have given her.

  “If he would have,” I started to say before my words caught in my throat. “If he would have never met me, he would still be alive… Everyone,” I said through the tears, “everything,” I said pulling his hands away from my face, “that I love, dies because of me.”

  “That isn’t true,” he said holding my hands within his.

  “It…is…” I said between sobs, as I lowered my face. “And you can’t say it’s not. I’m cursed. I’ve always been cursed.”

  Kegan laughed, and a sarcastic smile spread across his face. “I thought we settled this years ago.”

  I pulled my hands free from his and stood up, wiping away the tears on my shirt. “I don’t want to have this conversation right now,” I said.

  “You brought it up. So we’re going to settle it,” he replied.

  “My best friend, my boyfriend, just died before my eyes… WHY? Because he was my friend… This mirror which has captured thousands of years of my family’s history is shattered, because of me!” I said, my heartache turning to guilt.

  “Sno, it isn’t,” Kegan tried to say.

  “Nothing you say, nothing we do will ever get them back,” I said coldly. “I will never see my mother and father smile and hug me, never listen to my grandmother sing, my great grandfather recite his speech that empowered thousands…” I said refusing to turn around and look at him. “Every time I close my eyes, every time I think about Rowan, I will no longer see his smiling face that brought me back from the brink of darkness… I will see the terror in his eyes, blood strewn across his face, and his lifeless body hanging in the air as a prop…” I began to shake. Saying those words aloud, made the reality of it set in.

  Without saying a word, Kegan wrapped his arms around me, pulling me close.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Tork peeked his head around the stacks of books. “Itheus says it is time.”

  Kegan nodded and squeezed me tight, before holding me out so our eyes could connect. “This conversation is not over, and none of this falls on your shoulders alone. After today, we will have answers, there will be much we will all come to understand.”

  This time when we met the crowd that had gathered, everything was different.

  The simple clothes were replaced with suits of battle armor, marked with the ancient symbols that separated yet united the clans.

  The easy-going vibe was replaced by tension as many stood with their families, knowing that this could be the last time that they see them.

  Itheus took the stage and the crowd fell still, giving him their full attention.

  “To my brothers and my sisters who stand before me. To all those from the Fayen clans, and to all those who are not, I speak to you.

  “I speak to those who stand with me.

  “I speak to those who stand against me.

  “And I speak to those who stand, unsure of what is.

  “Today is a day that will not be forgotten.

  “Today’s actions will live on through not only our generations but through the generations of everyone in this realm.

  “Today not only marks the start of a new day but the start of a new era.

  “Before the sun sets on this day, every single one of our lives will change.

  “Questions will be answered, as a truth that has been hidden for hundreds of years will fall upon our ears.

  “Though I do not know what lies behind the doors of the vault in Mahkana, I have faith that the Goddess will hold to her word.

  “I have faith that whatever the vault contains will aid us in reuniting The Clans within our realm; I have faith that we will once again thrive among our own.

  “What has been done can never be undone.

  It is a mark in our history we cannot erase, but what we can do, and what we will do, is end it before it cuts a rift any deeper.”

  Itheus’ words were met with cheers, and I felt a sense of pride for those who stood around me.

  The truth was not easily acceptable for many of my people. Many of whom refused to accept any of the blame for what our ancestors had done.

  Itheus continued, the crowd once again giving him their attention.

  “I have a quote from a very dear friend of mine, one that I feel I ought to share with you as she once did me. She said, ‘The path ahead is not always illuminated for you, sometimes you have to be the one who illuminates it.’” He paused, letting his words sink in. “This is what we are doing. We are lighting the path that will lead us to a better future, a path that will put an end to a war befallen upon us by those who we wrongfully gave our faith.

  “Let it be known.

  “Let our voices be heard.

  “Let our promise ring through t
he ears of our enemy.

  “After today, the Faye will no longer hang their heads in shame.

  “After today, our debt will be repaid.

  “After today, our people will be freed from the burdens that have weighed on each and every one of our shoulders.” Itheus again paused, walking to the stage's edge and spreading his arms wide.

  “Goddesses and Gods who dwell within our realm, I stand here but a man asking for your blessing,” he continued, tilting his head to the sky, before once again looking to the crowd gathered before him.

  “Let not the blood spilled today be in vain.

  “Let not our anger cloud our judgment.

  “Let not the big picture fade from our hearts.

  “We are all brothers.

  “We are all children of the Goddesses and Gods.

  “Let that not be forgotten.” He bowed his head as he turned from the crowd and walked off the stage.

  “That’s it?” I asked turning to Kegan. “What’s the plan, what am I supposed to do?”

  Zavery laughed, maybe a little too loud. “Battle plans have already been set,” he answered. “If you would have gotten here sooner, you would know what they are.”

  “How was I supposed to find something that I didn’t know existed?” I snarked back.

  “You would have never found us. But if you wouldn’t have spent so much energy hiding from the truth, we would have found you.”

  I took a swing at his face, but before my fist could land on his jaw, Tork caught it.

  “Save your energy, you’re going to need it,” Tork said releasing my fist from his hand. “I am sure Zavery will explain everything to you on the journey to Mahkana.

  It was my turn to laugh. “Do you honestly believe I’m going to ride with him?”

  Kegan put his hand on my shoulder. “Not all the dragons have returned from the first wave that left hours ago. There is no other option.”

  The clearing was filled with at least thirty dragons, none of which looked the same.

  Zavery stopped before a dark green dragon. “Emerald,” he said bowing his head.

  “My prince,” a deep voice growled, as Zavery climbed onto the saddle.

  I started to follow Zavery, when Emerald turned his head, stopping me in my tracks.