“I do.”
The other land comes into view. Emily and Linus wave from the other side. They step through.
“You’re wearing your assassin gear.”
“You said we are doing battle against the goblin king. What did you want us to wear?” Emily asks.
“You have to fit in here. You see these two homes?”
“Yes,” Linus says.
“Those are your homes until we return to the Vale. Put on regular clothes.”
“What regular clothes?” Emily asks.
“You can only trust Abbey and Mark here. No one else knows where we come from,” Wesley says.
“Good luck. And watch out for the forest. The valley of Gresha has been brought over. And her pearl is gone. And Jegorgon is using her as a pawn.”
“Andrea misplaced the pearl,” Wesley says.
“It got lost during the transition from one land to the next.”
“You two are still arguing?” Emily asks.
“Like a proper married couple,” Linus says.
“We aren’t married yet,” Wesley says.
Emily and Linus look at each other completely confused.
“Hurry up and do your assassin thing,” Wesley says.
“Who are we killing?” Linus asks.
“Anyone that doesn’t belong.” Wesley waves goodbye. He and Andrea run off for their car.
Emily and Linus look around the neighborhood. “I prefer sneaking around dirty dungeons rather than this,” Emily says.
“What kind of clothes do they wear here?”
Andrea and Wesley arrive at her parent’s house. They search through the house. They come outside. Wesley goes to looking around the patio furniture. “I am not sure what I am looking for.”
“So many times I snuck out there to see the fountain. To be in that other land. From where I come from. Please tell me that it’s going to be okay.”
“I’m in big trouble, Andrea.”
“What did you do now?”
“Cornelius ripped off his wings. I don’t have my wings. They don’t even consider me a fairy anymore. I can lose my title and my position as heir. My parents are already talking about having another child.”
She hugs him. “My parents must have left something behind in case they needed to return here. We just have to find it.”
Thunder booms from the garden. Lightning strikes the hedges.
“We’ll get your wings back.”
“This is serious now. I can’t find loopholes. Until I find a way to restore my wings, I am bound to this land.”
“Do you ever have any good news for me?”
He puts his arm around her and brings her head down to his shoulder.
“This is all my fault. I should have listened as a child. I was too rebellious.”
“You wanted to be home. We all did. Some of us were better at hiding it.”
She kisses him.
The hedges come down.
She grips his hand.
A group of very tall, pale-faced people step over the hedges. Their heads are enormous with huge red eyes in the shape of an egg.
“We’re going to be in trouble,” Wesley says.
“No problem,” Noah says, getting in between Wesley and Andrea. He pulls a long pipe from around his back.
“Where are your weapons?” Wesley asks.
“Right here.”
“Where did you get that?” Andrea asks.
“I took it from the basement.”
“My basement?”
“Let’s get on with this.” Noah swings the pipe around.
Wesley hands over his sword to Andrea. He pulls his dagger from his belt.
“I’ve never used a sword before.”
“Just swing and cut anything that isn’t us,” Noah says.
Wesley runs out. Noah opens his wings and takes flight.
“I wish I had wings.” Andrea runs out with the sword held high.
The tall creatures swing their long spaghetti-like arms around and whiplash Wesley. Noah flutters above them. He stabs one of the arms. Another arm grabs Noah and flings him across the yard. He flies back and rams the sword straight into a head.
Andrea swings the sword like a novice. More misses than strikes.
Emily and Linus check each other out. She is wearing jeans and a T-shirt. Linus is wearing skinny jeans and a tank-top.
“I don’t feel much like an assassin in these clothes,” he says.
“Think how I feel. Look at me.”
“I like it.”
“Where are we supposed to put our weapons?”
The neighbors stare at the assassins from their yards.
“Let’s go into the forest and stand guard at the lake.”
Linus waves to the women. Emily drags him off.
“You’re jealous.”
“You wish I was.”
They push through the overgrown bushes and stop by a stone bench. She sits down and rubs the sides of her head.
“Admit that you are jealous.”
“I am jealous of the recognition you receive. No one is talking about my success with my mission.”
He sits down next to her. “It’ll come. You’ll get there.” He nudges her shoulder.
She nudges his shoulder.
They go back and forth nudging each other. They end up pushing each other off the bench and she lands on top of him. He touches the side of her face. She looks up from him and puts her hand over his mouth.
“Goblins.”
They both go up into a tree.
“We do this real quiet. Take them down before they smell us.”
“I feel so naked without my leather.”
“Later.” He winks.
Three goblins walk under Emily and Linus. One of the goblins lifts his nose up. Emily and Linus jump down and slice and dice. The goblins fall over dead.
“You think it was just a patrol?”
“I think we need to check this whole forest out.” Emily goes to ground and crawls towards a set of bushes. Berries fall off as she gets deep into them. “Perfect.” She grabs berries and rubs them all over. “Linus, get over here.”
Linus runs over and gets into the bush.
“Rub these over your body. It’ll mask our smell.”
“Clever.” He grabs a handful and starts rubbing them into his face and arms.
A splash comes from the lake. Gresha comes out of the water in her human form.
Linus nearly unleashes little Linus. “By all that is sacred, she is beautiful.”
“She lures men to their deaths.”
“May I go swiftly then.”
She snaps her fingers in front of his face. “Don’t screw this up.”
“I’m kidding. I mean she is stunning and I’d have sex with her, but I am committed to my mission. Beauty does not distract me from my work. When I am not out killing or hunting down people, then I gladly welcome it.”
Someone comes out to Gresha. She pours water all over her body. “They aren’t here, Jegorgon. Why did you bring me to this land?”
Jegorgon lets down his hood. “This forest holds special powers.”
“This forest exist in the land that Andrea and Wesley live in. There are no powers here.”
“I’ve been in this forest a few times and I can tell you that there are powers.”
“Where is my pearl?”
“Right here.” He holds it up.
Emily and Linus part the bushes to get a better view.
Gresha walks over to Jegorgon. “Give me back my pearl.”
“When you perform your duty. Wipe out the people of Coral Gardens and I shall give it back to you.”
“There are assassins here. The ones that I faced before. I only let them go because I wanted to see you die.”
Jegorgon walks around, checking nearby bushes and behind trees. “So kill them. Make it part of our bargain to get this lovely relic back.”
“Assassins are hard to kill when they have the advant
age.”
Goblins come over to Jegorgon. “There are thirty-five humans in total,” the general says.
“Kill them all. Burn them out if you have to.”
Emily and Linus race through the forest. “With the goblin king here, we are going to have a hard time keeping everyone safe,” Linus says.
“You afraid?”
Linus stops Emily as they step onto the road. “I’ve seen his powers before. You don’t realize what he is and what he can do.”
Linus walks away and counts the homes. Emily looks back at the forest. Her greatest fears coming to fruition. All her training and skills are not going to be enough.
Andrea is caught with the long-armed beasts surrounding her. Noah slides in front of her and slashes them down. “Don’t hesitate.”
“I can’t believe I am acting the damsel in distress right now.”
Wesley moves with agility that Andrea can only wish for. He doesn’t have his wings anymore but he is still not human and therefore has an advantage where she is just a human. She will always be a liability. She will always be in danger. Wesley comes over to them after he stabs the last of the beasts. “The Lil-Kin are hearty little bitches.”
“You need a shower,” Noah says. His wings fold back in, then disappear.
“Why hide your wings?” she asks.
“Because we are in this land. I’d rather not bring attention to what I am. If we can push back Jegorgon’s forces, we can leave soon.”
Noah takes Wesley off to strategize. Andrea is left to think about her failures. She knows that this is all her fault. And she can’t make it right. She just keeps causing more chaos. She gets up and walks into the house.
“Go and talk to her.”
“Why?”
“That’s bad form, Wes.”
“Maybe it’s better that I end things between us. She is human. And unless I can’t get my wings back, I will become human. That’s the only way this works out between us.”
Andrea uses the gold quill to create a door. The magic of the Vale opens it and shows her city. Her kingdom. Where her mother and father wait for her return. They can’t come back to this land anymore. Their place is in the Vale. To ensure that stability remains intact. She is a princess with no purpose. She is a means to an end. If she lets Jegorgon have her, he can do terrible things. If she tries to fight him, like she has, terrible things happen. If she sits locked away in a tower, terrible things will come to pass. If she lives her life in the castle with no contact from her friends, terrible things will still come. No matter what choice she makes, terrible things follow.
“I have to change things.”
The door is fading. The power fueling the magic behind it is weak. She steps in.
Jegorgon stands on the beach in Coral Gardens. Taking in the view of the ocean. Its endless wonder.
The goblin general walks over.
Jegorgon feels a quiver in the air. “She went back. Why did she go back?”
“Who?”
“Remain here. I am going back.”
“Sire?”
“I said I am going back.”
The goblin general flies into a dune.
“I grow tired of your kind questioning my actions.” Jegorgon waves his hand and a portal opens. He jumps in.
Emily and Linus see a beam of gold light from over the dunes. They run towards it. They climb over the dunes and the beam is gone.
“Someone opened a door to our land.”
“Look there.”
Emily twirls her daggers. “Goblins.”
Linus pulls her back. “Where is Jegorgon?”
“Who cares?”
He pulls her back again. “He went back.”
“Good. Then it will be an easy kill.”
Linus sits back on the dune.
“What is wrong with you?”
“Why would he go back to the Vale?”
She sits back with him. “To bring more foul things over.”
“No. One of us went back.”
Emily lowers her daggers. Thinks for a moment. “Andrea. She’s gone back.”
Linus nods.
18
Andrea runs into the assassin’s training area.
The female and male trainers look on with shock and amazement.
“Train me.”
The female trainer looks Andrea over.
“She’s got a good build to her,” the male trainer says.
The female trainer touches Andrea’s biceps. “Not bad.”
“What does muscle have to do with being an assassin? It’s all about agility.”
“It’s about stamina. It’s about being able to climb over walls, trees, and anything else that might be in your way.”
“Princess, you don’t have to do this. You have guards, you have Wesley.”
“Master trainer, I am the reason for all these bad things happening. Because I went into the Vale when I wasn’t supposed to. And then I come back for what I thought was a final time, and look what has happened. The goblin king is now in the other land, the world that I grew up in. A version of me grew up here but not really me. You see how much I need to have a purpose?”
The male trainer bows to her. “That’s the last time I will bow to you, princess. That’s the last time that I will call you princess, Andrea.”
The female trainer lays her hand on Andrea’s shoulder. “This is the last time that you will be anything but an assassin.”
Andrea smiles.
Emily looks at Abbey’s car. “What is this?”
“I’ll drive,” Abbey says.
“Good. Because I just got an image of me in one of these but I can’t remember if it actually happened before or not.”
Mark checks out Linus’s daggers. “Cool.”
Emily walks up to Linus. “Don’t be heroic. I still have to outdo you.” She goes to hug him but instead wraps her hand around his arm. “Be careful, brother.”
Linus wraps his hand around her arm. “Be careful, my sister.”
Emily gets into the passenger seat. Abbey kisses Mark and then gets into the car. It pulls out of the driveway and is off.
“Emily is your sister?”
“We are assassins. We do not regard each other as anything else. We are part of an assassins’ guild.”
“But you’re not brother and sister?”
“Definitely not.”
Abbey pulls into Andrea’s driveway. Emily waste no time in exiting the car. She jumps out before it stops. Abbey parks and gets out. Emily raps on the front door. It opens and Wesley comes out.
“Andrea went back. I fear she is going to do something really stupid.”
“I sent Noah back. I can’t go back.”
“Well, I am here to offer my services to you. Linus can take care of Coral Gardens.”
Wesley sees Abbey and goes to her. They hug. “I’m sorry that we have brought more bad things to you.”
“Hey, no sweat. We had bad things before you came along.”
“Wesley, the goblin king went back into the Vale.”
Wesley spins around.
“I’d love to see this Vale.”
“No, you wouldn’t.” Wesley grabs Emily by both shoulders. “When did he go back?”
“A few minutes ago.”
“He knows Andrea is in the Vale.” He kicks at planters. He is but a breath away from being where Andrea is.
“What is so special about Andrea?”
Emily decides to explain since Wesley is distraught. “Andrea is a princess. Her birth was a miracle. Queen Melanie had trouble conceiving because there was a plague in the land. It infected her. Then the fairies came to try and cure her. But it took the power of the Vale to cure her. When the representative of the Vale came, he cured her but it also left a remnant of itself inside her. When she finally conceived a child, that remnant went into Andrea.”
Abbey nods like she understands but she really hasn’t a clue.
“It’s why the goblin king wants And
rea so badly. A human to have a piece of the Vale inside them is unheard of. There’s only one man who is allowed inside the core of the Vale. The one who represents the Vale. We don’t know what he is. He always appears as human but that could be a disguise.”
“She has fairy magic inside her as well,” Wesley says.
“Is the Vale a person?”
“No. It’s a life force. It’s a power. An energy.”
“Like a god?”
“I don’t’ know what a god is. I tried not to be corrupted by anything over here so I made sure my mind was wiped clean when I returned to the Vale.”
“It’s a very powerful divine being.”
“I understand powerful. What is divine?”
“Otherworldly. The universe.”
“Oh, the universe. Yes, I know of the universe. If this god you speak of resides in the universe, then yes, the Vale would be on level with them.”
“Don’t bother talking to Emily about this stuff. She will never understand this land.”
“Do you think that there could be something inside that cave which could help you?”
“That cave is gone.”
“No. It came back. We don’t lose our children for the night but it is there. I think animals live inside it.”
Wesley hops inside the car.
“I can’t go. I must protect the portal.”
“I’ll come back for you.” Abbey gets into the car and drives off.
Emily looks out at the garden. All that remains is the fountain. It is fully exposed now. At least she can see what comes through easier.
Andrea falls to the ground. Two daggers nailing her down. She gets up, tearing her T-shirt.
“You need to wear more durable skins,” the female trainer says.
The male trainer brings over a black leather corset, black leather pants, and black leather boots.
“I can’t wear those.”
“The corset is to keep everything inside. Give her the jacket and poncho as well.”
The male trainer goes back over to the leatherworker’s shop.
“Put these on in the meantime.”
Relics and Runes Anthology Page 103
