“I’ve never heard of that name, but then, I am not a scientist. Beor’s supplies are stored along the back wall.” She lifted a bony finger and pointed to a wall partially hidden by stacks of neatly organized wooden crates.
Beor must have been Deirdre’s pet name for her husband.
Elena rushed over and inched the crates aside. Her aunt wouldn’t make it much longer. She had to do something now.
She scanned the shelves full of glass bottles and jars. Several containers were labeled in a strange language, but everything seemed ordered according to the English alphabet. Some contents she recognized: elements from the periodic table, and common herbs and flowers.
F-18 sat next to eucalyptus.
Elena grabbed the glass container and carried it to Deirdre. Her aunt’s eyes were closed, so Elena placed a hand on Deirdre’s shoulder, and flinched. Intense heat radiated off her aunt’s body, bleeding through clothes and blanket.
Deirdre’s eyes fluttered open.
“I’m sorry. I know you’re weak, but do you recognize this? Some background on what it is might help me formulate a cure.” Elena held up the jar, which contained large broken leaf bits like those in the eucalyptus bottle.
Deirdre nodded. “It is—” Long, wet-sounding coughs seized her aunt.
Elena reached for a glass of water from a side table and placed it to Deirdre’s lips once the coughing had subsided. “Drink first.”
Her aunt sipped the liquid and shut her eyes. “Allon,” she breathed. “The leaves…come from the allon.”
Elena studied the leaves, dryer than the brittle fresh leaves Derek had picked from the Ancient Allon, but close in appearance. “Are you sure?”
Deirdre gave her a weak smile. “Yes. I would know them, even if I couldn’t see them.” She laid a thin fist above her heart. “I feel them here. They are a part of us.”
And that was probably why the tree’s leaves could be manipulated to destroy the Fae.
The solution Elena couldn’t quite reach back home came down to this one tree found only in Tirnan. The tree capable of giving life—and taking it, if used in the wrong context.
All allon contained magical properties, not simply the Ancient Allon growing through the center of the Old Kingdom castle. Marlon had taken the precious leaf given in good faith by Beorhtric for scientific purposes, and used it to destroy the Fae.
After examining the foliage under a microscope, Elena came to a conclusion about its makeup and poured the leaf bits into a bowl. She used her power to manipulate the molecules and reform the dried leaves into fresh ones. Then she extracted the watery sap they produced.
She mixed the sap with her aunt’s diseased cells.
Pinpricks erupted beneath her skin, a rush of power and heat forming in her hands, but this time when she released her magic there was no painful kickback like there was in Emain. Her amplified powers simply crossed space and did what she asked, transmuting the molecules into a new pattern—one that would produce a virucide that blocked the virus from entering healthy Fae cells.
Elena rested her hands on the counter and stared at the sap that looked the same, but now possessed a different molecular structure. After drinking and surviving the infusion of Ancient Allon leaves, her abilities had in fact stepped up to the level she needed to transmute and create a cure.
Whether she’d transmuted the sap correctly was another question. The sap would need to be tested, and she knew just how.
Before she gave the virucide to her aunt, Elena mixed it with more of her aunt’s cells. The sap worked in a healing wave, blocking the virus and allowing Fae tissue to heal. So quickly, in fact, Elena missed it the first time she viewed it through the microscope. She had to place her eye at the eyepiece before applying the virucide the second time in order to catch the reaction.
Elena let out a deep, shuddering breath. She’d done it. And there was no time to celebrate. Pretty soon, it wouldn’t matter what she’d accomplished if she didn’t distribute the cure quickly enough.
Using a dropper, Elena placed a single drop of the allon virucide into her aunt’s water glass. With her hand behind her aunt’s neck, she brought the water to Deirdre’s mouth.
“Drink. It will heal you.”
Deirdre sipped the elixir and within minutes sat up straight. Her color changed from pale gray to just pale.
“How do you feel?”
Her aunt’s brow puckered. “Hungry.” She stared at Elena warmly, a healthy glow suffusing her face. “And much improved. Thank you, dear niece.”
She cupped Elena’s cheek with her hand. “You’ve risked much for those who’ve shown you so little kindness.” Deirdre stood carefully, walked away from the chaise, and began rifling through drawers. “Now we must help the others.”
Elena gazed at her aunt warily. “Maybe you should take it easy.”
Deirdre smiled over her shoulder. “I am fine now, thanks to you. But we must move quickly if we are to disperse the cure in time.”
Elena stared off. “I’ve been thinking about that. Leo said the streams and rivers of Tirnan connect. The virucide is natural—derived from the allon—it won’t hurt people.” She looked up. “Is it possible to put it in a main water source?”
Deirdre nodded slowly. “The lakes. Every kingdom, including Sunland, owns a large lake connected to numerous rivers. We could pour the cure into the three lakes and tell people to drink the water.”
Elena bit the inside of her lip, a skittish sensation filling her stomach. “The Sunland lake should be easy to access with you by my side, but what about the others? Derek and I weren’t exactly welcome when we entered the other two Kingdoms. In fact…” Elena looked away, worried about how her actions in Old Kingdom might hinder her ability to help the Fae and get to Derek. “I betrayed Osulf Niall. He’s going to want my head if he sees me. Is it possible to enter his land undetected?”
She would enter his land no matter what, but it would make life easier if Niall didn’t find out about it. At least, not until she’d poured the cure in the water and escaped with his son.
“If Niall doesn’t know I’m there, it will make getting Derek out easier,” she added.
Her aunt paused in her packing and looked over. Worry etched her eyes. “Are you certain Derek will come with you?”
Elena’s lips parted. “Of course he’ll come. He wants to go home as much as I do. Niall is forcing him to stay.”
Deirdre walked over and squeezed Elena’s arm. “Yes, very well. We will go and find your boy. It is unusual, the connection you share, but who am I to judge? I was originally an Oldlander, I married a Newlander, and now I live in Sunland. We are a family of mixed heritage.”
“That goes without saying. I’m Halven.”
“Excellent point.” Deirdre smiled then laid out clean clothes while she worked out a plan. “I will tell my neighbors to spread the word about the water. We have someone in town with your mother’s abilities who can notify the other kingdoms about the cure once we’ve had a chance to release it. I fear you are right about Niall. He must not discover our plans until we’ve implemented them and escaped. For this to work, we will need quick transport to the other kingdoms. A portal is our only option. Unfortunately, the kingdoms will notice once we enter their land. We will have little time before they find us and attack. Escape will be a problem.”
“Derek can help us with that.”
Deirdre shook her head. “His mental ability will keep him hidden, but you and I will be exposed.”
“Derek’s abilities have grown.”
Her aunt’s brow rose. “Oh?”
“Derek drank from the tea of the Ancient Allon leaves as well. Believe me, this could work. His abilities have become very powerful.”
“Good. We will need them. Between the portals, the antidote you created, and Derek’s powers, we just might save the rest of the realm and make it out alive.”
46
Elena rushed through her shower, attempting to chisel two and
a half days’ worth of grime off her body in under a minute, while Deirdre spoke to her neighbors about the cure they would release into the water. Thankfully, Sunlanders were peaceable. Elena didn’t have to worry about being attacked, whether she was here to help or not.
“We will see if a friend of mine can assist us,” Deirdre said, after she’d given Elena clean clothes and new boots that fit a heck of a lot better than her old ones, which were too small on her now.
They jogged a couple of blocks from Deirdre’s home to a door built into a hill of green grass. Large boulders littered the hilltop, along with what looked like solar panels secured aboveground. Two steps down an incline, an awning covered a carved turquoise door.
“Your friend lives here?” The exterior smelled like grass and dirt, which, she supposed, it was.
“Camille.” Deirdre twisted her lips lightly. “No one knows where Camille originated. Some say the Dark Kingdom.”
“The Dark Kingdom?”
Deidre waved it off. “A myth. There is no evidence the Dark Kingdom in the center of the realm exists. No one could survive in the land of ice and snow. Regardless of her origin, Camille has been a Sunlander for as long as I’ve known her, and she is very powerful. She senses magic. Given the right amount of energy, she can create portals.”
Elena nodded. “Definitely helpful.”
“Yes, but there are limits to the number of portals Camille may construct in a short span of time. We will need Derek’s ability if he has grown as powerful as you say.”
Elena didn’t doubt Derek’s ability. She worried about whether or not she could help him escape Old Kingdom with Niall’s spell in place.
“Let us hope Camille has survived the virus. She is a recluse. Perhaps she avoided exposure.”
Deirdre knocked on the turquoise door. After a moment, it swung soundlessly open.
The room inside appeared empty, lit by a single candle. Which didn’t provide much light, because the home was a windowless cave. Most of the light poured in from the open door.
Deirdre stepped inside and slipped a hand beneath her tunic to her arms belt, the only sign she was on her guard. “Camille? It is Deirdre. Are you here?”
A smallish Fae with long raven hair stepped out from the shadows, her body clothed in a flowing red dress. Her pale porcelain skin and bright blue eyes glowed even in the dim candlelight.
Elena had never seen a black-haired Fae—didn’t even know they existed.
After a moment’s hesitation, Camille stepped forward and grasped her friend’s hand. “Deirdre,” she said in a relieved tone, her voice light and feminine. “I apologize for the rude greeting. Many of the sick have come, insisting I take them or a beloved one somewhere safe. If I knew of such a place and had the power to move everyone, I would gladly do it. Unfortunately…. ” She shrugged sadly. “Instead, I have maintained a distance.”
Camille looked at Elena with curiosity. “Whom have you brought?”
Deirdre placed her hand on Elena’s shoulder. “This is Theodora’s daughter. My niece, Elena.”
Camille’s gaze was about as penetrating as Derek’s, and seemed equally capable of reading Elena. More so, because a warm heat swept past Elena’s exposed skin, as if Camille was actually reading her.
“She is not Halven—nor fully Fae.”
“No,” Deirdre said. “Elena drank from the Ancient Allon. Her powers have increased. She has the ability to rid us of the disease.”
“Yes,” Camille said. “I see that she can. Come inside and tell me what has happened.”
They quickly informed Camille of what had transpired inside Emain and Tirnan over the past several days, and why they required her assistance to enter the kingdoms.
“I’d also like your help finding my friend,” Elena added.
If Camille could sniff out power sources like a hound, she could find another Halven with Elena’s unusual strength—not quite Fae, not quite Halven, as Camille had pointed out.
Right now, Derek could be anywhere. He might have managed to hide from Niall and his guards in the woods, but considering the king’s determination to have Derek, she feared the worst.
“I believe I could detect him, but we must move closer. We’ll travel to the border and see if he remains where you left him. The Fates River that separates the two kingdoms runs downstream from Old Kingdom into New Kingdom. If we travel to Old Kingdom first, we can pour the cure into the fast-moving river. It will not take long to reach the Newlanders. First, though, let’s go to the Sunland lake; it isn’t too far from here.”
Camille changed her clothes into standard Fae garb and led them to a lake so vast Elena couldn’t see to the other side.
Elena had made a batch of highly concentrated virucide to have on hand, but it wouldn’t be enough for all of the lakes. For now, they collected a large batch of allon leaves from the forest nearby and threw them in the lake. Elena transmuted the leaves into a virucide with the same properties as the sap in the jar she carried, and created a heavy breeze along the surface to mix the cure with the rest of the water.
Afterward, they ran to the Sunland-Old Kingdom border, making quick time now that Deirdre was healthy.
Camille paced the edge of the creek. “Your friend Derek is not here. I sense a large magical flame near a power source similar to Elena’s in the location of the castle. It seems Derek is with his father, the king. No one else possesses that much strength. It will be very difficult to reach Derek if he is already with the king.”
Anger replaced fear. No way was Elena leaving Derek with Niall after what the Fae had done to him.
Her limbs tingled and a rush of power bloomed at her fingertips. “I won’t leave without Derek.”
Camille and Deirdre exchanged a look. “We can try to get to him,” Camille said and paced some more. “It is risky, but I could create a portal to the castle. Do you remember a quiet section—someplace shielded from view?”
Elena considered it for a moment. “The laboratory. They don’t use it, but it’s right in the middle of the castle.”
“Perfect,” Camille said. “They’ll sense intruders, thanks to the Presence Charm, but the charm will wear off quickly with us in the heart of the castle and surrounded by other Fae. My portal will throw them off further. They’ll search the borders and static portals before they search the castle. By then, the charm will have ceased working, and they will assume the intruders became lost in the woods or are off the land. They may consider the possibility that we entered the castle without being discovered, but the chance of success in doing that is very low. Most would never try, and they know this.” Camille smiled. “Few in our land possess my ability. They will not be expecting it.”
She peered across to the Old Kingdom’s trees. “I sense the position of the castle by the king’s energy and the number of Fae in the area. There is a pattern in my mind that gives me an idea of perimeters, but I will need more information if I am to take us to the abandoned laboratory.”
In the dirt, Elena sketched a rough diagram of where she thought the lab was located within the castle.
Camille nodded. “Very good. I’ll use this to get us inside the walls of the room.”
“This map probably isn’t very accurate. What if your portal is off and we wind up in the wrong place?”
She gave a light shrug. “We run.”
Nice. A solid plan. It sounded like something Elena would throw together, and this was no time to improvise.
“Any way we attempt to access the castle, we risk failure,” Deirdre said gently. “Camille has two, perhaps three portals within her. After that, she’ll need significant recovery time before formulating another. The portals she creates are not like the ones you are used to, Elena. They are transient—good for a minute, at most. Once she forms one, we will need to move quickly.”
So, only two or three one-minute portals that needed to be in the exact right place, or they were all screwed.
No problem.
47
Elena tumbled forward until she smashed into a solid surface, buckling up against it like a fly on a windshield, the air whooshing from her lungs.
Deirdre had entered the portal before her. She lay on the ground, collecting herself a few feet away. A second later, Camille swept through. She stumbled mildly, but caught her balance without crashing into furniture.
Deirdre stood and dusted off her clothes. “Camille’s portals are a bit bumpy.”
Slight understatement. But they’d made it into the lab, thank God.
Elena peeled herself from the laboratory’s blackened cabinets and wobbled to her feet. “Do you think they heard us?”
Deirdre walked to the door and carefully peered out. “No one approaches. They are most likely forming search parties at the borders.” She scrunched her nose. “I see Osulf still refuses to update the castle plumbing.”
“It does smell awful in this place,” Elena said. “No wonder people migrated to New Kingdom.”
“Elena,” Camille said patiently. “The politics of Tirnan are more complicated than that.” She shook her head at Deirdre. “Now that the king’s sanitation system has been dismissed, may we proceed with the plan?”
Deirdre pulled out a machete she’d strapped to her back beneath her tunic. “I suggest we confiscate arms from the next guard that passes.”
Elena eyed the frightening blade. “Confiscate?”
“Render him unconscious and grab his weapons,” Deirdre said, as if the meaning wasn’t clear.
Camille pursed her lips thoughtfully. “Excellent idea. The Oldlanders may be outdated in lifestyle, but they possess advanced weaponry, perhaps the best.”
Fates Divided Page 31
