Carefully, I picked my way down the steep slope of rocks to the bottom and gingerly put my feet down in the sand, pulling up my skirts. The water was only about a foot and a half high near the side. I began to slosh my way over to the entrance to the beach when movement out of the corner of my eye off to the left attracted my attention. I froze and turned my head to look to see what was there. The water sank deeper and darker in the left corner; however I could clearly see two large sets of shiny round eyes staring at me. Immediately I recognized the creatures as the Nevalth eels I had previously encountered from their long pale blue bodies with the large armor like iridescent scales. The two of them hovered in the water with their angular snouts pointed at me; their mouths gaped open, revealing sharp pointed teeth. Both of them remained motionless, poised to strike, save for the gills and fins flickering beneath the water. I glanced down and there, half buried in the sand, I saw a large round shiny shape in the flickering sunlight; their egg.
The king had mentioned these creatures were rare so I supposed it was a good thing for them to have an egg, but potentially bad for me if they decided I was a threat. Very slowly I moved, practically plastering myself back against the rocks, edging my way out to the entrance. Judging from the shifts of temperature in the water, there must be a tunnel deeper down allowing the eels to move back and forth between the sheltered tide pool and the larger lake. No wonder they chose this place for their nest. I kept my eyes on them the entire time as they watched me make my way slowly to the rocks. At long last I stepped upon one and practically jumped up out of the water, running out onto the beach, shaking with relief. I can’t believe I made it out of there alive, wondering why they didn’t attack me.
I turned and started walking along the beach back towards the East Village. I could see the piers way off in the distance. It was too high and steep of a terrain for me to climb back up the bank to the road, so I walked the sandy beach instead. I cracked a smile half-way home as I found the knitbone that I needed. At least my little adventure wasn’t totally a waste.
∞
The pink and orange hues of twilight gave way to the deep purple and black darkness of night as my companions and I headed home from dinner. As we disbanded, Sam and I walked off towards our home. No sooner had we removed our cloaks and gathered our candlesticks to go upstairs when we heard shrieks coming from outside in the village. We dashed to the glass windows, which faced the village, and swung open the wooden shutters and curtains to see what was happening.
Villagers ran about chaotically screaming and shouting. Random fires seem to have erupted on wagons, carts, and some houses, the bright flames casting a glow on us. But that’s not all we saw. I could hardly believe my own eyes when I saw what appeared to be miniature people swarming the villagers. I could not see how, but wherever the strange little beings waved their hands, fire erupted.
“What are those things?” Sam asked apprehensively.
“I don’t know . . .,” I said bewildered, scanning the pandemonium going on outside.
“Look!” Sam shrieked, pointing to a small group of little people surrounding Mrs. Handler, our next door neighbor. We watched in horror as one of the small humanoid figures waved his hand at her and she passed out. She would have fallen on the ground had the crowd of creatures not caught her. After several of them lifted her, they started to carry her off towards the woods.
“We have to stop them!” I yelled.
“We can’t go out there! What if they do that to us?” Sam reasoned.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
“Help me! Let me in!” screamed a familiar voice at the door, practically making us jump out of our skin.
Sam ran to the door and let Drew in, slamming and locking the door behind him. He seemed shaken to the core.
“What is going on out there?” I demanded.
“Imp attack! They have come for our village!”
“A what attack? What are these things and what are they doing?”
“Imps! They burn villages and kidnap the people, only to roast and eat them later!” Drew said between breaths.
“How are they lighting those fires and rendering the people unconscious?” I asked.
“How?” He gave me a confused look. “Why m . . . m . . . magic of course. Ca. . .can you not see it?” he stuttered. “It is nearly blinding everyone!”
I looked again and only saw terror and fires. “There is no such thing as magic!” I said as I moved to open the door.
“Please do not go, Miss Evelyn. They . . . they will hurt you!”
“I don’t think so,” I said pulling the door open. Sam remained in the clinic and closed the door behind me. I ran to the nearest villager that was fighting with the imps and used all my might to kick and yank them off. When they began to take notice of me, they shrank back, hissed, and started shrieking. As they did so, they pointed and waved their hands at me, then they started chattering with themselves irritably. After I freed the first woman, who promptly ran away, I turned and picked up a fallen torch that was still lit. Several other imps saw what I was doing and ran towards me. My baton twirling days of high school came rushing back at me and although I never twirled anything on fire, I managed it just fine. I maneuvered back and forth in graceful arcs near the creatures, apparently scaring them as they scampered away. They must fear the fire . . . I thought.
I fought myself over towards another villager that had succumbed to their supposed sleeping spell. I shook the man on the shoulder, and as soon as I touched him, he woke up with a start. It was Bartholomew Hove! He wasted no time scrambling to his feet and running away. So it continued for several minutes. I focused mostly on the poor unconscious people being dragged away by whatever these things were. They sure scared easily by my fire. One shake was usually all it took for me to wake their victims.
The problem was not that these creatures were strong and powerful, it was that there were too many of them and they just kept coming and swarming people. For every person I saved, two more were carried off. The sound of hoof beats was music to my ears as the royal guards arrived along with Sir William. Lord Beaumont was just a moment behind. Many of the guards raced off towards the forest to try to recover the people that were kidnapped. Sir William rode up to me.
“Where is Samantha!” he bellowed.
“At the clinic,” I yelled back, pointing.
“Beaumont! Look after her!” he ordered pointing at me as he raced off with a few guards behind him towards the clinic.
Henrik trotted up to me. “Here, take my hand and I’ll pull you up!”
“I’m doing fine, . . . I have to keep helping these people. They need me,” I said swinging my torch towards an imp that ran at me.
“How can you even see anything?” he asked, glancing around, shielding his eyes with a hand.
“What do you mean? I can see just fine,” I replied, beginning to run towards another group, swinging my torch.
“Evie, there are too many of them! Come with me. Let the guards and the vampires handle this.”
I stopped. He was right. There were too many of them. I thought for a moment. We needed something to distract them.
“Henrik! Take me back to the clinic!” I said as I threw my torch down and climbed up behind him.
He raced us back to the clinic and he had scarcely stopped before I hopped down. I ran to the door and was met with resistance. Locked. I fumbled around in my pockets for my key and opened it. “I’ll be right back!” I yelled as I ran up to my room and to the lowest drawer in the armoire. Dr. Thorpe’s roman candles felt cool and dry in my hands. I removed two of them and fumbled for the lighter. To my surprise, Henrik still waited for me as I locked the door and climbed back up on his horse.
“Can you take me somewhere high? I have something that may scare them away,” I shouted amongst the chaos. He nodded and we were moving again.
We stopped in front of the mill and dismounted. He helped me fight the imps off as we pushed open the doors. They did not attem
pt to follow me or my escort inside. We ran to the stairs and up to the platform, then pushed open the latched door to step onto the roof. I pulled out the Roman candle and lighter from my messenger bag and stepped close to the edge of the shingled roof and lit the firework. “Stand back!” I called to Henrik as it ignited effortlessly. I have never been near one of these things but have seen them used over the years. There was a silent pause before the fire stick came to life, launching the first lighted ball high in the air with a screech and a trail of sparks before it exploded.
Screams from the villagers and screeches from the imps filled the air. Every man, woman, vampire, and creature stopped what they were doing for a second to stare at me. The pyrotechnics continued as I waved the Roman candle, aiming it towards the imps. Ball after ball of flames shot out of my candle and the imps freaked out and started to run; the guards and vampires giving chase.
After my last shot I felt stinging and threw the candle down to the ground as my fingers were singed from the heat. To my shock, I looked down as my lower legs felt painfully scorched and realized that my skirts were on fire! Before I could react, Henrik tackled me down and frantically whipped my skirts around attempting to smother the flames. After a few panicked moments, he extinguished the fire and helped me back up. I breathed a sigh of relief.
Although it was dark, the screams had stopped and the villagers turned and looked up at us. I could hear crying as some people had surely lost loved ones from the attack. Others tried unsuccessfully to put out some of the fires started by the imps. Henrik took me by the hand and led me back down the stairs. In the dim light of the mill he pulled me close, taking me by surprise.
“You are amazing, Evie,” he whispered before he pressed his lips against mine.
At first I wasn’t sure what to do or think, but accepted it. The loneliness inside that had consumed me after the prince’s rejection lessened slightly at the contact. I paused for a moment and then kissed him back. We wrapped our arms around each other and continued to kiss for a few moments before we eased apart to go back out into the village.
I walked towards his horse beside him when I heard a deep voice behind me.
“Miss Evelyn Remington.”
I turned and kneeled immediately for it was King Edreyan and his officials as well as Princess Emeley with him. “Yes, Your Majesty?”
“You will come with us,” he said without emotion.
I glanced at Princess Emeley and nodded, turning back around and moving towards them.
“May I escort her, Sire?” Henrik asked politely with some concern on his face.
“No. Go and seek out the captain for your assignment tonight,” was all the king said as I fell in step behind him and was enveloped by his guards of humans and vampires. He strode over to his horse, which he mounted effortlessly while I was led to a carriage with Princess Emeley. It seemed strange. A few months ago I was used to going to the castle, now it simply filled me with dread.
A short ride took us to Silverstone castle. I followed the princess to a room that resembled a den and a servant brought goblets of wine. We both drank before the doors opened abruptly and the king entered. Both the princess and I stood as per the custom for him. He motioned for us to be seated.
“Miss Evelyn, . . . I want to talk to you about what transpired in the village tonight.”
“Yes, Your Majesty,” I replied, feeling some relief that Prince Eythan would not be joining us.
“How did you fight those little devils off by yourself?” he asked, pacing slowly back and forth.
“I just . . . pulled them off of the villagers, Your Majesty. They weren’t very strong.”
“Not strong?”
“No.”
“Did you not see the white-hot flames they enrobed you in? Did you not feel the heat?” he said, drawing nearer to me.
What was he talking about? I swallowed hard. “I am not sure what you mean, Sire. They never aimed fire at me . . . the only heat I felt was when my skirt caught on fire on the windmill,” I said pointing down at the burnt material. The king and princess exchanged glances.
“Did you see the imps rendering the villagers unconscious so they could carry them off?”
“Yes, Sire.”
“They attempted to do that to you.”
“They did?” I asked, puzzled.
“Yes, . . . and it seems you were completely oblivious to it.”
I took a deep breath; not sure what to say.
“I saw you rouse the villagers rather easily after they had been attacked. How did you do it? What words did you say?”
“I just shook them gently on the shoulder and said ‘wake up.’ That’s all.”
“That is all?”
“Yes.”
Again, he looked at his daughter and then back to me.
“What was that fire wand you used on top of the windmill?”
“Oh, that. I found it amongst Dr. Thorpe’s belongings. It’s from my world. We call them roman candles and we use them for entertainment we call fireworks for celebrations and holidays . . . like our national independence day. It isn’t a weapon. I saw that the creatures were afraid of fire, so I asked Lord Beaumont to take me back to get it so that I could frighten them away. It seemed to work.”
“Those creatures do not fear fire, Miss Evelyn . . . they feared you.”
“Sire?” I said in disbelief.
“I will tell you what I saw, Miss Evelyn. I witnessed you run out of your establishment and use your bare hands to nullify an imp’s power and pull him off of his victim. He and his tribe became angry and cast rings of white mystical fire over you, which you ignored and walked right through. Then they tried to wave their hands at you to induce the slumber so they could run off with you. When that seemed to have no effect, they scampered away from you in fear. After that, I witnessed you rouse the villagers from the sleeping curse with a single touch. Normally it takes half a day for that spell to wear off.”
“A spell? Are you saying those creatures were using magic on me?”
“Yes, Miss Evelyn . . . I am.”
“There is no such thing as magic, Your Majesty.” I replied boldly.
“Believe me, there is in this world,” he said slowly.
“I don’t believe in it. It does not exist where I am from,” I said, rubbing my eyes. “People have enough to fear with terrorists, gangs, drug lords, and identity theft.”
“I see.” The king looked at his daughter. “We have been waiting for you to display some sign that you may be able to help us in our war against Queen Hadreah, and tonight, I believe that you have.”
“I don’t understand. What sign?”
“Your apparent immunity to magic will make you a valuable resource when she comes to invade my kingdom . . . but we have time to prepare you for that. Hadreah does not yet know about you and I would like to keep it that way. Right now my son is out there hunting down every last one of those imps so they do not have a chance to run off and tell her what they saw here tonight.”
Prince Eythan was hunting those things? What did the king mean by all of this? Fear started to bubble up within me. I am not a warrior and I haven’t the slightest idea how to fight an evil witch with reported magical powers. I thought they simply wanted me for information.
“You must not speak of the events of tonight with anyone, Evie, do you understand?” Princess Emeley said.
“Yes . . . well, what about Samantha? She saw it all happen.”
“An exception can be made for her since she did witness it . . . but no one else.”
“I understand.”
“Sir Leonard will escort you home. The village is secure now. Princess Emeley will be in charge of resuming your training. We will discuss the matter more in the near future. Stay at your post and act normally. You are safe tonight,” the king commented as he moved towards the door.
I nodded; my head swimming with questions I had yet to be answered.
Chapter 20
Over the
next two days in my downtime I helped the villagers clean up and restore the streets to normalcy after the imp attack. It was nice to see the community helping one another. I was an expert at treating burns by now. The burns supposedly caused by those creatures looked strange . . . with a geometric pattern to it, like the ones I saw on some of the soldiers after they returned from the war. I wasn’t quite sure what to make of it and wished that Dr. Thorpe was here. I think the stress of all of the uncertain things happening around me threw me into one of the worst migraines I ever had. After my burn victim was treated, Sir William arrived to check on Sam as usual. I went over to the cabinet and looked for something that could ease my pain. My heart sank when I pulled out the jar of feverfew leaves and saw it was empty. I simply had to get more . . . fast. The pain in my head was almost debilitating.
With Sam preoccupied speaking to Sir William, I slipped out the door headed straight for the marketplace. There was only one thing that I desired; feverfew leaves. My migraine had shown no signs of letting up and the tightness in my neck along with the unrelenting pain and light sensitivity tormented me. The leaves were the only thing I could think of that might actually help. I trudged along quickly wanting to get this over with. I had a half crown . . . surely that would be enough for two or three leaves. Dr. Thorpe had only vaguely mentioned he collected them on the mountain but failed to mention where. We originally had such an abundant supply that I had never thought to gather more until now, until we were completely out.
The Twilight Star Page 21
