The Arrival: An Epic Fantasy Romance

by Nicole MacDonald

  Alek pulled me back, everyone paused to watch the demonstration. The stall owner strapped the sleeve to his arm, you could see it wasn’t designed for goblins—the sleeve wasn’t big enough to go around his thick forearm. In a competent move he swept the blades off the sleeve with his free hand then flicked his wrist out. The five blades flew across the market place, high above everyone’s heads, lodging in a tree trunk. Then he raised his forearm as though doing a bicep curl and made a ‘pull’ motion. The sun flickered off the blades when they quivered then jerked out of the tree, flashing back to the sleeve.

  'WOW!' I gaped in astonishment and he laughed.

  'Would you like to try?'

  I grinned at the others in excitement while he removed the sleeve and strapped it to me. As with everything new, I didn’t exactly ace the first attempt. Instead I managed to drop a couple of blades and almost gave Daron a good slice on the leg. Everyone laughed at the poor throw. The stall owner ushered me behind the stall where there was a large open space. 'Why not try a couple more times at the trees over there,' he pointed across the clearing.

  'Go on.' I nodded to Alek and the others. 'I’ll catch you up.' It’s not like it would take long with self-returning blades and I had my purse of coins on me.

  'I’ll take care of the price.' Alek pressed a kiss to my forehead then winked at me. 'Don’t take too long with your new toy.'

  I smiled at him, chuffed; no one had ever bought me a toy like this before. They headed off. I made a couple of small attempts then readied myself for a full distance throw. A strong flick of the wrist saw the five blades soar across the clearing and lodge into two trees. I did my happy-dance seeing as no-one watched and raised my arm. Three blades whizzed back to my sleeve, but the other two zipped off to the left. 'Shit,' I frowned at the sleeve. 'Better not be a dud.' Then hurried in the direction they’d disappeared. I reached the tent I thought they hit but couldn’t see anything, so went to slip between the tents to see if they managed to go around. Hope they haven’t hit anyone, I thought, concerned.

  'So you’re the new bit.'

  When I turned to see who’d snarled that line I found myself thrust backward, pinned against a tree. An angry woman a few inches taller than me held me hard against the trunk, an arm across my neck while the other pinned my arm with the sleeve. Ten guesses who this must be, he could have mentioned she was crazy.

  'Hello, Rayna,' I said coolly, while mentally crossing my fingers that I’d remembered her name right.

  The brunette blinked in surprise then curled her lip up in a sneer. 'They said you’re an Elemental. You don’t look like an Elemental, more like a cheap maid from Slemnask.' She spat the words out, the inference obvious.

  My rational voice had a field day while I observed her costume; a belt for a skirt, a belt for a top. 'Pot, meet kettle,' I replied in a pleasant tone.

  'What’d you say?'

  Sheesh, she really worked the agro stance. My fingers twitched with the urge to fry her, just a little. That stupid rational voice vetoed the idea. I sighed. 'Not to worry, it’s an Earth expression.'

  'Earth?' her face changed to a cunning look. 'I heard you were fire. Ha. What can Earth do? So you’re pathetic without him, how funny.'

  The finger twitch got stronger. I gave a low laugh. 'Trust me, honey, if I were Earth you’d be six feet under right now.'

  She gaped at my tone, I saw the fear flicker in her eyes as I stared back. 'What’d you say,' she attempted her macho voice again, but failed, her tone pitching higher.

  Screw this. I counted to ten slowly in my head. She didn’t let up her grip but shifted, leaving me pinned by my shoulders instead of my neck. Excellent. 'Ten!' I smiled nastily at her then slammed my head into her nose.

  They felt the flush of pain radiate through Cat’s energy and froze; the three girls stared at each other.

  'Where the hell is she?'

  'And what’s she doing?'

  They heard a loud scream of pain. A tall brunette staggered out from between a couple of tents, clutching her face while blood dripped down her arms.

  'Rayna!' Alek lunged toward the brunette but stopped short when Cat stepped out. The angry red mark on her forehead and the red stripe across her chest said it all. 'What happened?'

  'Your charming ex thought she’d try accosting me. I wasn’t in the mood.' Cat’s face looked dark, eyebrows low and lips flat.

  Alek stared in astonishment, appearing uncertain as to who to help. Sian felt annoyed, she glanced at the other two and jerked her head toward Cat. They moved to her side. 'You okay?' Sian reached to Cat’s forehead gently pressing the piece of ice she’d created to the developing bruise.

  'Ouch! Yeah I’m fine, I lost a couple of blades.'

  'Not to worry, we’ll—'

  The brunette interrupted her. 'ALEK. Look what that horrible woman did to me.'

  Everyone close flinched at the screech and looked to Alek. He glared at Rayna, furious she would spoil the girls’ first visit to the markets. It’d taken a moment for him to realize what happened. Now that he had, he took great pleasure in ignoring Rayna when he turned to the girls, reaching for Cat.

  'She surprised me, Alek, had me pinned. I figured a head butt was better than frying her.' The annoyance was strong on her face. She frowned at him, appearing to expect some rebuttal.

  Alek laughed. He pulled her close, taking the ice from Sian’s hand, keeping it in place against her forehead. 'You were very diplomatic. Are you okay?'

  'I lost two of the blades.'

  Behind them Rayna shrieked louder and louder, insisting on retribution for the attack. He ignored her. 'What do you mean lost?'

  'They zoomed off around the tents. She caught me by surprise when I went looking for them.'

  Ahh. That's how she did it. Alek removed the ice for a moment and gave Cat’s forehead a gentle kiss. 'Better?' he teased with a soft smile. He gave the ice back to Sian then turned to face Rayna. 'Where are the blades?'

  The woman stopped mid-shriek to stare at him. 'What?'

  'The blades, Rayna, where are they? I know you pulled them around.'

  Rayna scowled at him.

  'She’s broken my nose. I demand justice.'

  'Are you accusing an Elemental of an unprovoked attack? If you are, I’ll summon the Sorceress here to play the reflection for all to see.'

  She flushed red, glaring at him. There was a long silence while he stared back unmoved.

  'How could you do this to me?' Seeing that anger hadn’t worked, she tried tears and burst into loud sobs. No-one watching budged, most had witnessed her antics before.

  'Now, Rayna. Hand them over.' He didn’t want to waste anymore time on this.

  Rayna stopped sobbing and glared at him, then ripped the two blades out of a pocket, hurling them to the ground before marching off, flinging insults over a shoulder. Those watching began to laugh at the retreating woman. Alek stooped to grab the blades. He grinned at Cat. 'Here you go.' He snapped them onto the sleeve. She gave a pleased smile, admiring the sleeve again then took his hand.

  We moved off to look at other stalls, everyone ignoring the minor incident. The ice Sian gave me helped, the original headache fading to a trifling throb. Loi and Sabyn decided to walk with us again and we headed toward stalls with exotic animals. We froze at one, mesmerized by a large red bird in an ornate cage. 'Is that a phoenix?' It looked like it was molting. We stood closer for a better look then jumped in surprise when it squawked at us. It didn’t sound as pretty as it looked.

  'Yes,' replied Alek. 'But they’re not a great idea for a pet. You have to keep them away from anything flammable. They make a huge mess of ashes when they do regenerate.'

  'The smell is awful.' Rumal watched the bird, his arms around Kassie. 'It’ll stink the room out for months.'

  'I thought that as one of the symbols on your shield, they’d be a favorite?' I looked at Alek. He shrugged.

  'I like them well enough in the wild, but some creatures aren’t meant to be
pets.'

  We continued around the stalls while the men discreetly pointed out other creatures.

  'That’s a nisalph,' Rumal informed them in quiet tones while the girls watched the female. 'One of the kitchen helpers in the castle is part nisalph. You can recognize the green hair and green tinge to the skin. They usually live in trees, deep in the forest. Wood cutters always have to check before cutting down a tree, in case it's a nisalph’s tree. Otherwise they can be very nasty.'

  'Oh I saw him,' exclaimed Kassie. 'You mean Geldin, right?'

  Rumal nodded.

  They moved to another stall and examined the wares. Alek queried about the disk map again. The owner nodded and turned to collect one.

  'It’ll be very useful to the four of you,' Alek explained, inspecting the quality of the disk. After paying for it he passed to it Cat, the girls crowded close to have a look.

  Chapter Thirty Two

  I stared down at it. About the size of a small side plate and around the same thickness, the disk map had a dark wood back and a polished black stone front, like obsidian. As the four of us stared at it, a picture began to develop. The image showed an aerial view of the markets and surrounding forest for several kilometers and a variety of colored dots in the market area.

  'You’re the red dot, Cat,' Alek explained, looking over their heads. 'Who ever holds the disk will always appear on it as the red dot.'

  'What are the other colors then?' asked Loi.

  'Humans appear as brown dots, gifted creatures show gold, woodland creatures show green, the blue dots are water creatures and so on. Any black dots means the disk map hasn’t come across them before.'

  'But it’s easy enough to train,' the stall owner butted in, anxious to prove its qualities. 'When you get close to whatever is causing the black dot you show the disk it by turning the polished face to the creature. It will then categorize it and remember it in the future.'

  They nodded in acknowledgment, peering at it again. A mix of colored dots showed. They had fun looking at the map then back up to the actual creature.

  'Wow!' Sian looked at where Cat looked and gasped softly. A group of centaurs moved past the stalls on the other side of the market. They looked just like she would have expected. Their ears were pointy and twitched just like a horse, but sat positioned where a human’s ear would be and in proportion. The young centaurs (foals?) that ducked around the adults were adorable.

  We moved on exchanging impressed looks. 'So graceful,' murmured Kassie.

  'And natural looking,' Loi shook her head. 'Very bizarre really.'

  'Only for us,' said Sian, her eyes still fixed on them. I continued to watch them, admiring the unique clothing the females had on. Most wore fitted vests or tunic style tops but one had what looked like scarves, twisted and tied. When a very young centaur headed toward her it became apparent why. The female knelt to the ground in a fluid move, untying a knot at her shoulder, exposing her breast so the youngster could feed. We hastily looked away, instead glancing at a stall we stood near. The delighted stall owner chatted away to Alek, clearly thrilled at having the Prince there.

  'My goodness, that Rayna is an isanith. You know she has a new male she’s interested in? Yes, she only recently moved in with him.'

  Alek shook his head. That figured, he thought, I’m glad I called it off with her. He conversed politely with the stall owner for a few moments before they moved on. Cat had listened to the conversation and frowned again; he gave her hand a squeeze, arching an eyebrow when she glanced up.

  'Hmm?'

  'What’s an isanith?'

  Alek chuckled and wrapped his arm around her shoulders, steering her past Rayna’s stall, toward some jewelry stalls.

  Alek herded me toward a jewelry stall while he explained. 'An isanith is a type of faerie. There are hundreds of different types of faerie, but the isanith is a pretty basic version. It hunts insects and will even kill other faerie if they’re small enough and not quick to get away. They have a nasty bite and a sting.'

  'Eww. They sound like wasps, are they considered a pest?'

  'Depends on where they are,' he smiled at me. 'They can be very useful to farmers if they’ve had an infestation of wetans or deni. But if they found a hive near their house then they’d get rid of it.'

  'Oooh, pretty.' I forgot the conversation in an instant, beaming at the gorgeous jewelry on display, making Alek chuckle. The girls and I examined each piece, to the obvious delight of the stall owner.

  The men insisted on buying a piece for each of the women, though Cat refused to let Alek. Sian felt bad for him and touched his arm when Cat was preoccupied with examining something. 'Buy her a piece to wear at the ball, surprise her with it, she’ll love it.' She helped him pick out a piece.

  Kassie went to Cat’s side to make sure she stayed distracted while they selected the jewelry. Sian felt pleased to see Alek giving the stall owner a genuine smile as she wrapped up the pieces and he turned to Sian. 'Thanks, it’s a great idea.'

  She beamed, happy to have done something that would make them both smile.

  Daron felt a twinge of annoyance at not having thought of surprising Sian. Sabyn gave him a wry look which said the same. They followed the others to where Cat and Kassie stood. They’d bought food from a selection of stalls for their lunch and explored the other half of the market while they ate. When they approached a clothing stall, Daron felt Sian stop short and tug his hand. He looked down but she stared at something across from them.

  'Daron, what’s that?' She had her head cocked, studying it.

  He looked across and spotted what caught her attention. It appeared at first glance to be a normal human female. But as you studied it, you got the idea something wasn’t quite right. 'Rumal, look at that. Haven’t seen one of those in a while.'

  Rumal glanced over, whistling softly when he saw it. 'Do you think the Griff’s have spotted it?'

  About to answer no, Daron spotted Loushka. She watched the female with a playful turn to her head, her tail swishing in the manner of a mischievous cat. 'Umm, Alek,' he called warningly.

  Alek’s head snapped up from looking at me. 'Uh-oh.'

  'What?' I looked around confused. Why are we staring at the woman over there? Hold on, she looks a little odd, what is she? I watched along with everyone else when Loushka and the other griffons surrounded it. The crowd at the markets seemed to know what was about to happen and moved out of the way. The woman started to get agitated and tried to dart around the griffons, but they were too quick, catching her, pushing her back amongst them.

  She opened her mouth and … squawked.

  'What?' The girls spoke together while they stared at it in surprise. Loushka gave it a hard nudge, it stumbled across into Nesha, who shoved it across to Kerak. They continued playing this monkey-in-the-middle game while the creature got angrier and angrier. It screamed in fury, appearing to explode.

  We gaped at the slender and furious dragon snapping and snarling at the griffons who regarded it with amusement. It lunged at Kerak, biting his leg. I heard a strange deep rumble and realized the griffon growled. The dragon quickly let go of Kerak’s leg, stumbling back on its hind legs. The strange looking dragon made a jerky bowing motion to the griffons who then allowed it to walk out. I watched, fascinated. It had dark yellow scaly skin, much scalier than Nnelg’s. Its hind legs reminded me of a dinosaur. Actually it looked like a raptor of some kind, with an upright body and longer forearms. Grumbling, it stalked past us, heading for the woods. Just before it reached the woods it stopped. We could hear the sound of energy rising. Before our eyes it transformed back into the form of a human woman then marched off into the woods.

  'What was that?' Loi demanded to Sabyn.

  'A quern. A shape-shifting dragon.'

  That impressed Loi. 'Can it change into anything else?'

  'Yes, they usually only take a human shape if they’re attempting to breed with a human.'

  Loi’s eyebrows shot up at that. 'Why would they wan
t to?'

  'They have their reasons,' Sabyn winked at her. 'Which vary greatly, so I couldn’t tell you. You could go ask if you like.' He laughed at the narrow look she gave him.

  It was an interesting end to the day, giving us lots to chat about over dinner and before bed. The incident with Rayna left nothing but a brief bruise that Elena dealt with when we arrived home. I felt so pleased. Today had been wonderful. It felt like I’d actually seen things and mingled with the real creatures of Elion. I loved the disk map Alek had bought us. I needed to learn more place names so I could ask it to show me them. I felt completely satisfied while drifting off to sleep, actually looking forward to training.

  Elena decided to have us practice on control this week. 'We have the ball at the end of the week, I do not want you too exhausted.'

  Compared to the previous weeks training, this week was laid back. The look on Iggy’s face when a page interrupted our weapons training to lead us to our scheduled beauty session was classic. 'What?' he half roared at the nonplussed looking page.

  'A beauty session in preparation for the ball, of course,' the page informed him. 'It will include a dress fitting. The Archduchess requested it.' Lieutenant Patel managed to keep a straight face but Lieutenant Rashid appeared to bite the inside of his cheeks. Iggy turned a rather ruddy red, almost shrieking. 'I nearly have respect for them then they leave training for a beauty session?'

  'Yes,' snapped the page. 'Now, if you please, we’re running late.'

  The four of us made a point to flutter our fingers in farewell at Iggy when we left, I winked at Rashid who’d begun to laugh.

  It felt like we were being readied for the Oscars with all the preparation. I was grateful they didn’t appear to have anything like fake-tan here and that being white (practically glow in the dark) was acceptable. We were scrubbed, oiled and massaged; all of it so very good! The lovely assistants at the beautens worked miracles. Our aches and pains from the month's training disappeared and we shone. They even attended to our hair, my hair had never felt so silky. Somehow they encouraged it to stay in long tangled ringlets, it looked gorgeous and the expression on Alek’s face when he saw me that evening certainly gratified me. We caught up with Ada at the end of our beauty session, she had us try the gowns on. After hearing how much I liked green she had chosen a shade she thought matched my eyes. I stood with my eyes wide while she adjusted it. 'Perfect! An exact match.' Then she set to making sure the dress fitted. When she moved on to Loi, I walked to a mirror to admire it. She was right. The intense green matched my eyes precisely. Ada had done an amazing job with the dress; a strapless design with a fitted bodice she’d reinforced so I wouldn’t need extra support. It twisted around my waist, making it look smaller and flared out into a fuller skirt. The fabric had a delicate sheen, like silk. I carefully sat, watching while she fitted Loi’s dress. She’d used a brilliant shade of red, with just enough depth to flatter Loi’s olive skin. The style was perfect. It had small, off the shoulder sleeves, the bust was gathered, sculpted, making her chest appear bigger without revealing too much. Then it glided over her figure from under the bust, hinting at her waist and hips. It looked incredibly regal.