“Maya, why aren’t we waiting for Alex to come back?”
“No time! My parents are being attacked! Alex is on his way. Nia, can you fly ahead and help them?”
Stifling a cry, the pixie leaped off my shoulder and flitted off into the night air ahead of me. She, at least, could get back to the house in a straight line and not have to worry about buildings, streets, and blind alleys. I was racing as fast as I could; unfortunately, since I was out of my armor, I had to rely on just my personal speed and endurance. Images of my mother and father were cascading through my brain; how much I had missed them the past seven years, and how happy I was for the reunion. This was replaced by a deep fear and loss as I pushed myself even harder.
Rounding a couple final houses, I hit the main thoroughfare that my parents’ house sat on and I could finally see it. It appeared to be a mass of confusion; there were city guard running back and forth like ants, archers on the roof, and even a contingent of cavalry mounted in the street with swords out. Winya appeared unasked in her sword form in my hand as Nia buzzed alongside.
“I don’t know what’s going on. I didn’t get inside, but there isn’t any fighting going on at the moment, although one of the guards shot an arrow at me! I’m sticking with you. Drat, I can’t even become Combat Pixie without Alex’s armor.”
I raced up to the outskirts of the activity. The guardsmen, seeing the sword, closed ranks to stop me. But as soon as they saw my face, they backed away and allowed me to pass. Reaching the house, I searched frantically for a face I recognized, finally settling on Ollis, one of my father’s oldest guards and friends, who was just coming out the door. He looked stricken and his grizzled face was ashen. I could smell the fresh coppery tang of blood everywhere and there was a substantial trail of it leading out of the house and disappearing into the street.
“Maya! Thank the gods you are unharmed!” he bellowed, reaching out to grab me by the shoulders.
“Ollis, where are they? I need to see them!” Winya retracted back to the bracelet form, and I stormed past the old guard and into my parents’ home. The scene inside was appalling. Chairs and tables were tossed everywhere and there was blood pooled on the floor, arterial spray all over the walls; there was even gore dripping from the polished wood ceilings. Two of my father’s personal guards lay crumpled, obviously dead, in the sitting room.
Moving to the kitchen and eating area, the destruction intensified, until I came to the area of the final battle. There were several higher-ranking guardsmen in here examining the scene, but they turned and quickly fled as they saw me. This room was awash in blood, the furniture was turned to kindling, and footprints and trails of gore were running every which way. Next to the kitchen stove was the broken body of the cook, Kalah; even her vampire regeneration couldn’t heal all the damage that had been done to her. She had died without extending her fangs or claws; essentially, she hadn’t even tried to fight back. I cut off the sob that was forming in my throat as Nia stared silently, still on my shoulder.
Tearing my eyes off Kalah, I started looking through the rubble for more bodies, desperately searching for my parents. I found a very gory Gwiwence lying along the wall and Father’s new sword next to it. This obviously was where the last stand had taken place. Above the carnage on the wall, written in blood, was a message in elvish, “Those who fail to serve the Lifebane in life will now serve him in death!”
Ollis came up behind me and placed a sympathetic hand on my shoulder. “I’m so sorry, Maya. There should have been more men here but, of course, your dad wouldn’t stand for that. He enjoyed being one of the regular people too much to wall himself up.”
“What the hell happened here, Ollis?”
He wiped a tear from his face and explained, “It appears a large group of stealthy warriors attacked the house. Judging from the footprints, I would have to say they were dark elves, probably thirty or more. They took out the perimeter guards with garrotes so they couldn’t raise an alarm and stormed the interior through the front and back doors. They overwhelmed the interior men we had in place, and attacked your parents and the servant. It appears they were looking for something as well, because the entire house was ransacked.
“The key stone!” Nia growled and flew off.
Ollis continued, “We believe they wrapped all the bodies in oil cloth and loaded them into a wagon on the street; the attacker’s bodies so we couldn’t identify them, and your parents’ to use for shock value. I suppose it would make a statement if they were in the front ranks of the next undead attack. They disappeared before the neighbors even knew what was happening; we have trackers working on finding the wagons. I have to say, your folks put up a hell of a fight…so much blood.”
I was stunned. My parents dead and soon to be zombies!
“Maya, Alex is outside,” Winya whispered gravely. Nia returned and gave me a terse shake of the head before flying out the door.
Fighting back the pain, I fled outside to the only comfort and safety I knew; there to find Alex, in his enchanter’s robes, being detained by a group of grim city guard. My rational mind told me that he could have walked right through them if he had wanted but, of course, he was too nice to do that. Walking shakily out onto the step, I noticed a lot more dark elves had gathered at the front of the house.
“Alex! It’s alright, you can let him pass, he’s my fiancé,” I said, motioning to the guards hollowly, my grief overwhelming my brain functions. I wanted nothing more than to be held in his arms right at the moment.
“A human? I’m afraid not any more, he isn’t,” huffed a distinguished-looking dark elf who had come up next to me wearing councilman’s robes. Several more council members filled in behind him.
“What?”
He took a deep breath, “With the loss of your parents, the King and Queen, you are no longer just a Princess, free to marry anyone of equal or higher stature. You are now the Queen, the ruler of all the dark elf people. You have all the privileges and responsibilities that entails. The council will, of course, demand that you marry a suitable dark elf candidate from our nobility, as soon as possible.” He stopped and raised his arms, looking all around him, as all the guards and council members went down on a knee.
“All hail, Queen Maya!”
End of book 2
Table of Contents
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Return To Sky Raven (Book 2) Page 30
