The Phoenix Prince

by Kristen Gupton

  Keiran looked back to see Jerris sitting on the edge of his father’s bed, already bored with the whole thing. He reached out and pulled open a drawer, instantly hit with the strong scent of lavender. Inside, sat a small wooden box on top of some clothes. The prince quirked a brow and picked the box up, eyeing it. It was finished nicely, with a high polish and birds painted on the top. He smiled a bit and lifted the lid to look inside. There was a necklace with a jeweled pendant that he took out. Setting the box back down, he lifted the gold necklace up and inspected it. He walked toward the glass doors to get more light. There was an inscription on the back:

  Ilana Aviatrov Sipesh

  Keiran read the name several times, before lowering the pendant and staring out the balcony doors. He felt an unwelcome lump in his throat, realizing that he was actually holding something that belonged to the queen who’d given birth to him. Never before had he seen anything of hers, as the king had seen to it that all vestiges of Ilana were removed from the common areas of the castle after her death. Why he’d kept some of her things in the room, however, was beyond him. He’d never even known her full name until that moment. The king had insisted that the scholars carefully pare out any information about the dead queen from Keiran’s education. The woman, her past, and half of his ancestry were all a mystery to him.

  In just seeing this inscription and reading the name Aviatrov, Keiran realized his mother was from a southern country called Aleria. Aviatrov was the surname of the royal family there to that day. Keiran decided that as soon as the coronation and all those things were worked out, he’d have to try and find out the details of his biological mother’s life. For the first time, it seemed truly important to him, and there wasn’t anyone to stop him.

  Feeling like he was getting away with something, he slipped the pendant into a pocket. It was the only thing he wanted in the room at that point.

  Keiran looked back at Jerris one more time, seeing that the guard was now lying flat out across the bed, eyes closed. He wouldn’t have been surprised if Jerris was asleep. The guard had been under stress and hadn’t been enjoying the greatest of sleeping arrangements, lately.

  Smiling, he moved forward and opened the balcony doors. He stepped outside onto the large stone deck and looked at the view. The king’s room opened out onto the back side of the castle, along the edge situated over the canyon the river had carved between the mountains.

  Keiran walked to the short stone railing and curled his hands over it. He had a problem with heights, so he didn’t look straight down at the sheer drop. Instead, the prince gazed forward, across the valley toward the tree-covered mountain on the other side.

  There was a breeze, and the sound of the river below made a pleasant white noise. Keiran felt this was easily the nicest place in the castle. Maybe he would have his things moved into the room after all. It would be a great spot to sit and pour back ales. If Jerris hadn’t been snoring away on the bed, he would have readily agreed.

  Entranced by the view and lost in his own thoughts, Keiran was oblivious to the white vapor that leeched out from between the bricks in the wall under the balcony. The demon had been watching and following Keiran around the castle since she had been freed earlier by Peirte. Now, Keiran was alone and exposed, providing the perfect opportunity. Her arms manifested and twisted themselves around one of the supports to the balcony railing. The demon did her best to materialize in Thana’s likeness, and did a remarkably good job of imitating her voice. She knew from her spying that Keiran had feelings for the girl.

  “Keiran, please, help me!”

  He snapped out of his daydream and looked down, spotting her hanging below where he was standing. Reacting on sheer instinct and completely losing his logical mind in panic, Keiran quickly leaned down, offering his left hand to her. “Thana!”

  She removed one arm from the support and reached up, grasping Keiran’s left hand in a death grip. The girl’s face twisted into a wicked smile once contact was made, and she started to pull with frightening strength. The demon dropped the illusion of Thana’s body, her quasi-reptilian face sneering, showing off her tangled needle-like teeth.

  Keiran yelped and caught himself before being pulled over, struggling to fight back against what had him. The demon’s hands had grown clawed, and her talons were starting to dig into Keiran’s skin. She brought up her other hand, gripping Keiran’s wrist.

  He shouted back over his shoulder for Jerris.

  The guard sat up and blinked, looking around. His brief nap had left him disoriented for a moment. When he heard Keiran yell a second time, he stood up and ran toward the prince.

  Seeing Jerris coming, Keiran looked forward again. Being jerked mercilessly, he braced his knees against the ledge, trying to pry the demon’s hands away. There was a sharp pain and a crack as his wrist gave way under the strain. Keiran cried out, the shock and pain making him falter just long enough for the demon to get what she wanted, pulling him over the railing and casting him down toward the river below.

  Jerris skidded to a halt as the prince disappeared over the wall. He looked down into the void, seeing his friend tumbling through space, entangled with some white creature. They fell, missing the canyon walls but plunging into the river below.

  The guard quickly spun and flew through the castle. No human would have survived the fall or being in the icy river for long, but Keiran might. He needed to get down to where the river moved through the valley past the town.

  He had to find Keiran.

  Chapter 10

  Upon hitting the water, Keiran momentarily lost consciousness. The demon failed to keep her grip on him at the same time, and she swam through the torrent to find him again.

  When Keiran came to, he was disoriented and being battered around by the current. He tried to swim, struggling to figure out which way was up. His broken wrist severely limited his ability, though he’d never been a strong swimmer to begin with. He’d always had a natural aversion to swimming, and found himself fighting the abject terror he felt being in the water. His movements felt artificially sluggish, but he managed to break the surface. The river’s course carried him out of the canyon in short order, and as the river slowed coming into the valley, he was able to begin making his way to the shoreline.

  The water grew shallow enough that could get to his knees, crawling to the tree lined bank. Though he’d momentarily forgotten about his left wrist, now that he was able to breathe and focus, the pain set in anew. Keiran cradled the damaged limb to his chest, collapsing onto his side.

  Hypothermia had set in during his short stint in the river, the water coming from snow melting higher up in the mountains. He choked, vomiting up the river water he’d swallowed. When the nausea cleared, he lifted his head and looked around. He didn’t immediately recognize where he was, or even what side of the river he’d ended up on. The drop in his body temperature was enough to dull his senses, and make him temporarily unable to move from where he’d ended up.

  The demon was slowly emerging from the water behind him, red eyes glowing in the fading light. She wanted to grab Keiran and pull him back into the water. She knew that the vampire would be weakened in cold water, and his movements slowed. Willing to take every advantage she could, she reached out a hand and gripped his leg, pulling hard and dragging him into the water again.

  Keiran yelled and tried to get some sort of grip on the ground, but the stone lined bank just shifted and gave out under him. He was back in the water, being dragged below the surface as it grew deeper. Before he was pulled under, he caught the last air he could. The sun had crept down below the surrounding mountains so once under the water, his world went black.

  The demon didn’t know how powerful Keiran was, but having tangled with a vampire or two in the past, she wasn’t willing to take any chances. Her long tail propelled her through the water without effort, the vampire being towed farther beneath the surface. The prince would be too cold to fight back at all before long, and though he couldn’t be d
rowned, the lack of oxygen would take a toll as well. It would be a lot easier to rip his heart out if he was unconscious.

  Keiran felt the pressure of the water pushing painfully into his ears. He realized that he was feeling debris on the bottom of the river rushing past him as the demon pulled him along. His right hand reached out, desperate for anything. Several immovable items slipped through his grip, but something finally tore free from the muddy bottom.

  Not sure what he’d managed to grab a hold of, Keiran swept out with it, trying to hit the demon. What he’d gotten a grip on was a rusted iron bar from a ship that had broken up. After several attempts, the bar managed to make contact with the demon’s side. It drove into the creature, black ichor immediately rushing forth. She let go of Keiran’s leg, both hands moving to pull the bar out.

  Released, Keiran started to return to the surface. His limbs barely responded at all as he went. The cold had numbed him badly, though it did help him to forget his injuries. Lungs burning, he didn’t make it to the surface before instinct overrode everything, and he drew in an ill-fated breath. The searing feeling of water in his lungs shocked him to the point where he ceased trying to swim and just tumbled along in the current. His own buoyancy eventually brought him to the surface and his chest heaved, trying to purge the water out.

  Once more he was washed into the shallows, but he was helpless to do anything. He’d ended up on his back, the remaining water getting coughed out. Keiran’s eyes stared up at the dark sky, as he waited for the demon to return and drag him under again. If she did, he figured that was the end of it. He couldn’t move anymore. He was so cold by then that he wasn’t even shivering.

  With no way to discern time, Keiran remained there for what seemed like a long while. The sound of something moving upon the rocky shore cut past the sound of the river. He tried to turn his head to see, finding that it rolled heavily in the given direction. There was a deep growl, and he spotted the demon stalking toward him.

  There were black streamlets running from the injury she had sustained, but she wasn’t hurt enough to relent. Her clawed hands hung before her, clenching in anticipation of tearing into the vampire.

  “God help me,” Keiran begged.

  The demon didn’t respond, only continuing forward until she lunged. She crushed down onto him, her hands quickly tearing apart his shirt and casting the tattered remains of it to the side. Keiran didn’t have the strength left to even turn his head so he could look up, and part of him figured that was for the best.

  The demon traced a talon down the center of Keiran’s chest, making a thin line, making a thin line. Had Keiran not been so cold, it would have bled. She purred and lifted a hand up higher, ready to plunge it into Keiran’s chest below his rib cage, to then reach up and find his heart.

  He closed his eyes tightly and tensed up, trying to steel himself for whatever was about to happen.

  She didn’t act immediately, however. The creature raised her head and sniffed at the air, eyes scanning the darkness. There was something else out there.

  Keiran opened his eyes, and in the direction he’d been left looking, a black form emerged from the trees. If the white demon was twice Keiran’s size, this new entity was at least double that. In his dazed state, he couldn’t rectify what he was seeing. Was it an awkwardly proportioned dragon? It did have bat-like wings behind it. The arms and legs seemed too long and thin, however, making it more humanoid in overall shape. Still, he was unable to identify whatever it was.

  Keiran simply figured that both of these things were Peirte’s demons, and they were about to eat him alive together. If they ripped him into enough pieces, he wouldn’t be coming back from the dead a second time. Though he had no desire to die, try as he might to find the strength to move, he was paralyzed. His right arm flailed weakly at his side, before falling to the ground. There was anger stirring within him, but it was too far away for him to find useful. Without his body responding to his wishes, he was helpless. He closed his eyes again and awaited his fate.

  The white demon rose up off of Keiran and took a step away. She lowered her head and gave out a growl, tail whipping behind her. The standoff between the two monsters seemed to drag on as they sized one another up. Finally, the black creature leaned forward and produced a roaring shriek. Its wings spread out to either side, and it shook them in some sort of threatening display, before lunging at the white demon. The two of them locked together, rolling into the water.

  Hearing the growls and then the sounds of the fight, Keiran opened his eyes. His neck cooperated to some degree, and he was able to turn his head toward the river, seeing the two creatures wrestling in the shallow water. He figured that the winner of the fight would still come back and have a taste of him. He tried with renewed resolve to move, slowly getting onto his side and then sitting up.

  The two creatures continued to fight, screaming and splashing around. Though the white demon was the smaller of the two, she put up a good showing, keeping locked in a stalemate with the black entity for several minutes.

  The black creature managed to get the superior position and snapped down with its massive jaws, crushing the throat of the other. It started shaking its head savagely, ripping through flesh and bone. The demon managed a gurgled cry before her head was torn from her body with an awful, pulling rip. The victor lifted its head, holding that of the white demon hanging by her destroyed neck from its teeth. For a few seconds, the white demon’s body continued to writhe, before stilling.

  Keiran stopped all his attempts to move, locking gazes with the victor. It dropped the demon’s head into the water and then moved to the bank, shaking off like an enormous dog. The vampire still had no idea what in the hell this other thing was, but suddenly the notion it was a true demon or under Peirte’s control vanished. Something familiar was in the air that, even in his weakened state, he was picking up on.

  The beast took a few lumbering steps toward Keiran, before lowering its head to be on the prince’s level. Its distinctive teal eyes narrowed, the face giving up some mockery of a smile.

  “Athan?” Keiran asked, his voice barely audible.

  The monster straightened up and turned, walking back toward the trees on two legs, its wings refolding tightly against its back.

  The young vampire looked over to the white demon’s body where it lay motionless at the water’s edge. It seemed to be dissolving slowly, an acrid smell and a white vapor leaching into the air from it. He looked around one more time for the other creature, knowing in his heart that it had been Athan.

  If the white demon had belonged to Peirte and Athan had saved him from it, did it mean that the other vampire was looking out for him? He’d still not completely written off the idea that they’d been working together on some level, so he didn’t know what to think. Keiran shook his head to cast off the thoughts, knowing he wasn’t in any shape to try and figure it out. For now, it was more important to get back up to the castle and get warm than try to figure out whose motivation was what.

  He had to wait several more minutes before he thought he was strong enough to attempt standing. Once he was up, he realized he’d have to keep moving, or he wouldn’t make it. Keiran knew by then that he was on the proper side of the river. If he headed directly away from the water through the trees, sooner or later, he’d either hit the road that led up to the castle, or he’d end up in town. He wasn’t sure which it would be, having no idea how far the river might have carried him from the canyon.

  He was shivering and miserable. He sank into his thoughts, trying to distance himself from his physical discomforts. The pain in his wrist was growing again as he warmed up from moving. He clutched it against his chest to keep it from getting jarred every time he stumbled over something on the forest floor. His progress wasn’t remotely fast, and he wondered if Jerris and the others were looking for him. Perhaps he should have stayed by the river bank, as it might have made it easier for them to find him. It was too late for that now, though.

&n
bsp; “Why won’t you just die?”

  Startled, Keiran spun around in a complete circle, looking for the source of the voice. There was a shadow amongst the trees. He swallowed hard and found himself taking in deep breaths, finding a scent in the air that quickly spiked anxiety in him. His anger started to rush forth, and by the time he curled his lip upon recognizing the other, his fangs were already present. “Peirte.”

  The councillor stepped forward, a sword held out before him. He was dressed in black and had smeared his face with ash to camouflage himself. Though the demon had acted autonomously to try and kill the prince, the councillor had still found he was linked to her enough to know that she had failed. He’d not left the valley for fear that such a thing would happen. Enraged, he’d decided to track down Keiran and finish the job himself. The last of the man’s sanity had left while he’d experienced the demon’s decapitation, and he stood there shaking with rage. “I should have just done this myself all along.”

  Keiran felt a growl burn in his throat, eyes narrowing. Weakened from his thirst, and still sluggish from his bout in the river, the adrenaline that coursed through his veins wasn’t able to get him anywhere near ready to fight. There was anger now, though, that had not been very prominent during his struggle against the demon. Peirte’s presence was bringing that out, and it started a searing heat in the center of his being, slowly radiating outward. He stopped cradling his left arm to his chest, letting it simply hang at his side. His right hand slid down and across his waist to his hip instinctively, but he realized that his rapier wasn’t there. The prince lowered his stance slightly, waiting for Peirte to make the first move. He knew that the councillor, despite his age, was well enough trained in the use of a sword to be dangerous.

  Keiran was at a distinct disadvantage.

  Peirte smiled and stepped forward cautiously, keeping the end of his blade trained on the vampire. Catching him already weakened and unprepared was as good as it would get. His power-hungry mind came up with one last scenario. “I wonder what would be said if they found out I had killed you in the forest, because I saw that you had murdered some poor woman to drink her blood? It might just be enough to vindicate me, don’t you think?”