Bloodthorn

by Tamara Grantham

  “Put this on,” he said.

  “How?” I asked, but then I realized he’d chained each of my wrists separately, so I threaded my arms through the cloak’s sleeves. Never in my life had wearing clothing felt this good. He was right. Clothing was a comfort. A tiny part of me began to feel human again as I wrapped the thick cloth around me.

  “We’re leaving,” he said.

  My heart leapt. “Leaving?”

  “Yes.”

  He jerked me off the ground. My feet wobbled. It had been so long since I’d eaten anything, I wasn’t sure I had the strength to move forward, but as he yanked me up, I had no choice but to follow. We made it to the door, and he whispered a word. His magic swirled, its taint licking my skin, and when the ward dissipated, the door swung open.

  He pushed me onto the cabin’s porch, where we were greeted by a chilly gust of October air. A patrol vehicle sat in front of us, but instead of walking toward it, Officer Gardener led me around the cabin.

  A narrow footpath wound through the trees. I had no choice but to take the trail as he pushed me forward, but my bare feet were no match against the twigs and rocks that littered the path. Several times I winced when I stepped on a sharp stick, but Officer Gardener kept pushing me forward.

  When we entered a clearing, I was surprised to find a perfectly round hole in the ground. It was filled with the same sort of greenish substance we’d encountered in the unicorns’ forest, although this hole looked freshly dug, as there was a pile of dirt and a shovel not far away.

  Officer Gardener grabbed my shoulder and pushed me onto my knees. I almost fell over when I hit the ground but managed to hold steady.

  I watched as the officer circled the pool, and as he did, his body transformed. A monster stood in his place, with a knotted mane that fell down his back. Gnarled, unnaturally long fingers lengthened and ended in tapered claws. Chains formed around his shoulders that clanked as he walked.

  As he stood over the pool, I felt magic gathering around him. He whispered a word that made the green substance start swirling—slowly at first, and then faster as a dark mist formed over its surface.

  Something broke free from the pool. A red gemstone—the fairies’ lost stone—rose into the air. Though it had been inside the tarry pool, its glistening facets were clean and pristine, reflecting a reddish glow that flashed around the clearing, making spots of light appear on the forest floor.

  I’d finally found it. If only my magic weren’t gone and I weren’t on the brink of complete exhaustion, I would’ve grabbed the stone and run. But as it was, I was barely able to focus.

  My mouth was so dry that my tongue had swollen, making it hard for me to speak. “This is where it was?”

  “Your Wult companion nearly found its hiding spot. If I had not struck him down, he would have found it.”

  His whispered voice was deep and primal, a sound that made my skin crawl.

  The creature took the stone and held it between his hands. Carefully, he placed the stone on the ground beside him, then removed a ring from his pocket. I recognized the tiny red stone as the fairy princess’s ring. It seemed wrong for such evil hands to hold such a sacred talisman.

  He lifted the ring into the air, and while chanting, the light in the forest grew dimmer. Lightning crackled around him, brushing my cheeks with its energy. The ring hissed with blue sparks of energy, and then it broke apart. Its tiny pieces hovered, reforming, and then each jewel reunited with the larger stone. The ring’s golden band fell, hitting the grass with a quiet thud.

  Now, the bloodthorn had only to take my soul and open the portal.

  If only I could use my magic to stop this. But how?

  The starstone rose into the air as the bloodthorn backed away. Spinning slowly, its facets grew brighter, a glowing red that reminded me of the rays of the setting sun.

  I had to stop him—I couldn’t let him do this. He would destroy the fairies, and without them, I couldn’t even begin to wrap my mind around the consequences. Life as we knew it would never be the same. Faythander would suffer and slowly die.

  My raw skin stung where the chains dug into my wrists, but despite the pain, I pulled at the chains, doing my best to break the metal loops apart. My efforts were in vain, and I knew it. I would never be able to undo the magic.

  But, maybe I didn’t have to.

  Relying on my magic had become second nature, and perhaps now was the time to stop depending on it. I had to take him down. I had to do it now while he was distracted. What would happen if he landed in the pool?

  Standing was harder and took more effort than I’d envisioned, but luckily, the bloodthorn didn’t notice. I crept behind him, then ran as fast as my body would allow, shoving him forward. Knocked off balance, the creature pitched forward and landed with his head and hands in the dark liquid.

  Steam hissed and fizzed as living tissue mingled with the liquid in the pool. Screaming, the beast crawled away from the pond, greenish ooze dripping from his head and hands. Pink muscle tissue peeked through sections where the liquid had burned through the monster’s skin. Beneath the hands clamped to his face, I could see that half his skull had burned away.

  He rounded on me, thrashing and shrieking so loudly it caused the birds in the trees overhead to take flight. As he thrashed, I reached for a stone that lay on the ground near the pool, but his feet nearly trampled me and I was forced to back away.

  “What have you done?” he yelled, rounding on me.

  I hoped, since his hands were still clamped to his face, I’d damaged his vision. Huddling under the cloak, I backed toward the trees’ shadows.

  He faced me, growling, blood dripping from open wounds. As he stalked toward me, my heartbeat grew wild. I hadn’t hurt him badly enough. In fact, I’d only made him angrier.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  The bloodthorn grabbed my hair, pulling my head back until he was able wrap an arm around me and force me down. The back of my head smacked the ground, and sharp rocks punctured my scalp. The monster struck me across the face, his claws cutting my cheek open. Warm blood seeped from the wound, trickling onto my lips with the taste of iron. I tried to wipe it away, but the beast clamped his hands around my wrists and hauled me up until I sat facing the pool.

  “Try that again,” he whispered, “and you’ll get more than a little blood on your face.”

  He picked up the gemstone and placed it between the pool and me. So near the stone now, I noticed something I hadn’t seen before. Magic swirled inside, familiar gray wisps—the essences of those departed—but there were more souls than just those murdered at the festival. These were all the bloodthorn’s victims.

  The pain and fear they felt at the time of their murder stayed with them, and my heart clenched at the loss and hopelessness swirling inside that stone. Soon, I knew I would join them.

  My hands burned in the chains. Dark blood dried on my arms and wrists where the metal loops had burned through my skin. I worked my fingers open and closed, trying to get the blood flowing once again. Dark magic played at my senses as I felt the power emanating from the bands. I was sick of being bound. If by some miracle I got out of this alive, I resolved never to be restrained again.

  The bloodthorn pulled a tarnished hunting knife from a loop at his belt. He loomed closer in my vision, but I didn’t dare look into his face.

  Stay calm, I thought. He needs you to be afraid for his spell to work. Don’t give that to him.

  He pulled a bag off his shoulder, then reached inside and pulled out my mirror case.

  I stared, confused. How had he gotten my case? I tried to remember where I’d put it last and recalled that I’d left it in the fairies’ tent. He shouldn’t have been able to find it. How’d he gotten in there in the first place?

  “You will create a portal to the other realm,” he said, “and then I will begin feeding your essence into the stone. It will be a slow, excruciating process, one that will tear you apart from the inside out. Once it is finished,
I will return to my land, and what remains of your soul will be imprisoned in the stone.”

  He opened the mirror case, and its magic poured out, filling me with its energy. I gasped as its power wrapped me in a familiar blanket, restoring me, and I felt more like myself once again.

  “Now, create the portal.”

  He scooted the mirror close enough for me to see my own reflection.

  I quickly glanced away, terrified by the fear I’d seen in my own eyes. If I refused, would he still kill me?

  I had to think of something—there had to be a way to get free. But the thought of fighting against the dark magic in the chains made me sick to my stomach. I needed options. Surely there was another way out of this—if only I could think of something.

  The bands grew tighter as magic pulsed through them, cutting off the circulation in my fingers.

  “Create the portal,” he repeated.

  “I can’t—I need a destination in mind.”

  Why was I saying this? Creating the portal shouldn’t have been an option at all—but maybe if I could stall him…

  He ran his fingers over each statuette. I cringed as he touched them one by one, his filthy, dirty skin brushing against my most treasured possessions. Finally, he stopped at the pixie figurine.

  “This one will get me closest to the entrance to the undiscovered land.” He picked up the pixie and placed it standing in front of the mirror. “Now, create the portal.”

  The monster’s knife loomed in my vision. His knuckles turned white as he gripped the hilt. When I glanced up at him, he stared pensively into the forest and then back at me. He moved the knife to my back and pressed the tip between my shoulder blades.

  “Release your magic into the mirror. Hurry! I will not ask again.”

  Feeling caged with no options left, I reached forward until my hand connected with the glass.

  Usually, the feel of the mirror’s glass warmed me and filled me with power, but now, the magic felt forced and stiff, almost as if it knew the portal I was creating was not of my own will. Closing my eyes, my heart pounded in my chest as I whispered the word to open the portal.

  Blinding white light flared from the screen. As the magic appeared, another magic, dark and frightening, enveloped the mirror and me. It stole the breath from my lungs, sucking away all of my energy reserves.

  My vision went black.

  I tried moving my hand away from the mirror but couldn’t. The power of the starstone held me, absorbing the mirror’s magic and stealing my essence. Darkness engulfed me from the top of my head to my toes and fingertips—it wrapped me in its cocoon. I tried fighting against it, but with every attempt, the dark energy grew stronger and overpowered me.

  My ears popped with the change in pressure. My body, compressed by the magic, felt as if it would burst. The sound of my beating heart boomed in my ears. I tried flexing my fingers, but even that small movement sent sharp waves of stabbing pain through my body. A headache throbbed at my temples, making even the sound of my heartbeat unbearable.

  Slowly, the portal formed beneath my open hand. In my mind, I saw the destination the bloodthorn had chosen. A mountain range rose above a flat plain, and I recognized the tallest peak as Dragon Spine Mountain. The bloodthorn’s thoughts came to me, and I saw where he wanted to go—a cave atop the mountain, the entrance to the undiscovered land. He pushed me toward it, coaxing and guiding; all the while, I felt as though my body were being crushed more and more.

  I couldn’t go there. There had to be a way to stop him. He would take the fairies’ stone, and I refused to let him.

  In my mind, I created a wall between our thoughts, a smokescreen that kept him from seeing as I envisioned Fan’twar’s mountain instead of Dragon Spine. The dragon caves sat tall atop the highest peak, sunlight reflecting off the smooth stone, warming the world and giving it life.

  That was where I would go.

  I nudged the magic slightly, and to my surprise, it obeyed. But as I moved closer to my stepfather’s chambers, my thoughts were clouded out, and again I saw Dragon Spine Mountain. The bloodthorn’s thoughts overpowered mine, so strong I couldn’t fight against them.

  The land below us came into sharp detail. The pixie lands weren’t far away, but we moved away from them, farther and farther, rushing hundreds of miles in a blink until we floated near a cave atop the mountain.

  Inky black magic came from the cave, filling me with dread. I wasn’t prepared for this. The bloodthorn’s thoughts overwhelmed my own until fighting against him became impossible. The crushing pressure grew stronger the more I resisted. The bloodthorn held me, mind and body, and I had no way to fight back. Bound together, we hurtled toward the cave, its taint growing stronger the closer we got.

  A gunshot came from outside the portal.

  The bloodthorn stumbled. Our link was broken.

  I collapsed onto the ground, tears leaking down my cheeks, warm and wet. I tasted their saltiness on my tongue as footsteps pounded the ground around me.

  As my consciousness fully returned, the full force of the pain caused by the portal’s pressure came into focus. I curled into a ball on the ground, fighting the urge to vomit. My insides felt as if they’d been crushed, and my head felt like it had been replaced with an anvil. The smallest movement made the pain increase tenfold.

  I barely registered the commotion happening around me. Police officers, Brent, the Wults—what were they all doing here?

  Police surrounded the monster, and the beast lashed out, his movements unnaturally fast as he cut down one officer and then another. Blood dripped from a wound at his side, but despite the injury, he fought without holding back. The Wults moved in with weapons drawn, but they were no match for the creature of darkness, either. His magic was unbelievably strong. It surrounded him, thick and viscous, so potent he only had to think a magical word and the power reacted. I wanted to tell the Wults to back away and stop confronting him, but I watched helplessly as they battled the beast, not able to move or speak after being completely drained of energy.

  Brodnik and Rolf both fell back, screaming. The fairy prince and princess moved forward, but their magic could do nothing against him. With sickening horror, I realized they all would die. None of them stood a chance against the bloodthorn.

  Sunlight pierced my eyes, reflecting off something in front of me. Focusing on the glint of light, I discovered my mirror box on the ground nearby. Thoughts came to me in a slow, jumbled haze. If I created a portal, I could escape and save myself, but how would I save the others?

  Slowly, I reached for the mirror, and even that small movement sent fire through my nerve endings. Gasping, I crawled closer, but my mirror was still out of reach.

  Someone loomed over me. The fairy prince knelt beside me.

  “Olive,” he said, his face ashen as he looked at me. “What did he do to you?”

  “Help,” I managed to gasp. “The mirror… a portal.”

  “You need your mirror?”

  “Yes. To escape!”

  His eyes grew wide as he understood what I was trying to do. “You want to get back to Faythander?”

  “No, not just me. We must all escape. But… I don’t know how to get us all there.”

  “Let me help,” he said. He scooted my mirror close and pressed his hand to the screen. “I shall use my magic to encircle our companions. Can you manage to open the portal?”

  I nodded, wishing my head would stop pounding so I could concentrate on the spell. Remaining conscious was difficult enough already.

  Around us, the pain-filled screams of dying police officers cut through the air.

  “I am afraid we must take the beast through the portal as well,” Prince Terminus said, “or else the Earth-dwellers will not survive.”

  I wasn’t sure I agreed with Terminus, but since being able to think was a commodity at the moment, I didn’t argue. Instead, I reached for the mirror.

  Hoping to get the bloodthorn as far away from Dragon Spine Mountain
as possible and get us someplace safe, I grabbed the Wult statue. The pewter warmed in my hands. Magic called to me, heightening my senses as bursts of light danced in the air around me. The portal began to open before I placed my hand on the mirror’s surface, as if the magic knew what I was planning before I initiated the spell.

  Near us, the fight raged on. Heidel fell as the beast struck her. She struggled to get to her feet. Most of the police officers were on the ground, but Kull remained fighting, blood spattered on his clothing, wielding his sword with a vengeance unequaled.

  The bloodthorn lashed out, its long, wicked claws cutting like blades as it sliced a gash in Kull’s shirt. Blood seeped out, staining his torso red.

  I forced myself to focus on the spell. Once we reached the other side of the portal, our wounds would be healed, but only if we lived long enough to get there.

  In my mind, I conjured the word to open the portal. Fairy magic mingled with my own until it spread out, encircling each of our companions. When the magic touched everyone except the officers, I took us into the portal.

  Blinding white light flooded my vision as we sped through the portal, so fast I was sure my body would be ripped apart. Before I had a chance to collect my thoughts, my body hit the ground, knocking the wind from my lungs.

  Choking, I fought back panic as I gasped for air. Slowly, the oxygen returned, and I steadied my breathing as I tried to make sense of the world around me. Screams came from somewhere, but my vision failed me as I tried to see what was happening. Blades of damp grass chilled my cheeks, and a halo of white light surrounded me. Those, coupled with the screams, were my only links to reality.

  The sound of scuffling came from close by.

  “Hold him!” Heidel yelled.

  A loud whoosh filled the air, as if someone had enacted a wind spell.

  “He’s escaping!” came another voice.

  Rolf, maybe?

  The sounds became muffled and distant, but the pain, which should have disappeared in the crossing, remained. Combined with my hunger, weakness, and loss of magic, I couldn’t fight staying conscious any longer, and oblivion finally overtook me. I passed out to the sounds of my companions’ screams.