The Garnet Dagger

by Andrea R. Cooper

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  My legs felt carved from stone as I forced one foot in front of the other. Hours dragged by, and still Celeste raced on Shadowdancer through the countryside.

  Instead of collapsing, I filled my thoughts with her face. Dreamily, as she had stared up at me after our first kiss. But she hated me now. The realization toppled my heart more than the thought of my people perishing.

  Remembering her eyes full of hurt as she wept when I told her my mission broke my stride. Never did I wish her harm. I longed to comfort her.

  In the distance, she and Shadowdancer stopped. With ragged breath, I slumped to the ground. Maybe I’d give her another night. Then I’d demand she give me the dagger. I would explain why I must kill her before I did. She deserved that much. Would she think less of me?

  In the distance, I saw her set up camp for the night.

  I squeezed my eyes shut. Why did I care what she thought? My people would die. The whole land would die if I let Celeste keep the dagger. Let my eyelids shroud me in darkness.

  Smelled the warmth like baking earth in the air, but it was her campfire. Unless Celeste died by the garnet dagger, neither spring nor summer would come. Forever we’d be locked in this eternal winter until the disease of the land ate away everything.

  My thoughts drifted to the Warloc. Why did he demand Celeste? Anger coursed through me. If he were before me, I’d gladly drain him until nothing but a lifeless corpse remained.

  As soon as she was asleep, I would find the dagger no matter her magic. Rather than delay her suffering, I would end her quickly. It was the least I could do for her.

  A red light flared behind my eyelids. The forest was quiet. I scrambled up, and searched through the woods.

  In my second pass I noticed a change. Celeste and Shadowdancer were gone. I raced to where I saw them make camp.

  Nothing.

  Even their fire was now dead. The branches turned white from heat, but she’d had the fire burn for an hour at the most. When I touched a piece, cold rushed into my fingertips. The wood crumbled to ash.

  In the dirt, I found their footprints, but none leading away. Thrice I checked the area, but no sign of them. No trampled twigs or indentions of snow of either of their footprints.

  Cursing, I paced. Where had she gone? My heart lunged into my throat. Perhaps the Warloc had captured her. Snatching up my pack, I raced through the forest. I headed in the direction she headed in earlier and prayed I wasn’t too late.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Endless days I traveled and searched for Celeste. Each village I asked the people if they’d seen her. Described her so many times, but each time they answered with a shaking of heads.

  No one had seen a visitor until I showed up. Some of the men stared at me, but I knew my hair concealed my ears. Already, the locks passed my shoulders once again. Wondered how long Celeste’s blond spikes were now?

  I glanced at my reflection in a store window just to make sure my hair hid my pointed ears.

  Then I’d leave the town and head for the next one.

  Since I neither needed sleep nor food, I ran through woods until my legs gave way.

  Resting, I heard water pound in the distance. Surely, she was here. After catching my breath, I rose and walked to the edge of a cliff.

  Below me, the waves crashed against the rocks. She could not have come this way. Perhaps I miscalculated her intended direction. By now, she could be anywhere.

  Turning, I then ran in the direction of my Elvin home. I’d failed my task, the garnet dagger gone. And with Celeste and the dagger’s disappearance, the hope of my people was lost.

  I’d beg for the life of my family. Let them fashion another talisman for me and I’d pledge to find Celeste and kill her. Thousand times over I would kill her. But the words to voice my pledge to the gods stuck in my throat.

  Time was slipping away.

  • • •

  Five weeks later, I crept through the forest near my home and shivered in freeze of spring. Where flowers should be sprouting, grass and trees choking on winter remained.

  The disease I witnessed the day of my curse sprung from the ground, devouring life as I did. My boots crunched dead leaves. Sun faded behind storm clouds which would still not bring life into these woods.

  Fear for my father, my people, stumbled my steps, but I forced ahead. Whatever my fate, I failed my mission, my race and I would pay.

  Outside the perimeter of my home, the wind tingled on my skin. But I pressed through the barrier. My Elvin home brought a quickening to my heart. Our ancient tree strained against the disease crowding at the edge of the barrier, but did not yet touch its form that I saw.

  Since I was banished, I called out in Elvin tongue for the door to be opened to me. My tongue was clumsy over the words that I hadn’t spoken in these last months.

  At last, the door opened, beckoning me to enter.

  • • •

  Inside, guards’ spears welcomed my presence.

  I cleared my throat as the door swung closed behind me like a crypt. “Before addressing the council, I must speak with Nivel.”

  “Jaris will decide your fate and whom you speak with,” one of the guards said, and motioned me toward the council chambers.

  Inside, the council, Jaris and the elders sat glaring at me. “Why have you returned?” He leaned over the marble slate. “It’s obvious the disease has not been cleansed.”

  Weakened, since I’d not devoured another being except the two Bergone when Celeste was with me, my head throbbed. “I must speak with Nivel.”

  “You make demands upon us?” his voice echoed through the chamber. “Dared to show your face without remorse for the abomination you absorbed. Have you found the witch the prophecy speaks of?”

  “Yes, but she got away.”

  “Then tonight, you will be killed. And your family with you.” He gestured to the guards around me. “Take him to the holding cell. Let him have reunion with his father before they both die.”

  Instead of dragging me, the guards poked their spear points into me. If not for wanting to see my father and beg his forgiveness, I’d have stayed until their blood flowed across the marble floor and were no more.

  Surrounded by guards, I marched down to the cell. One guard shoved me forward and gasped. His brief encounter with my skin shocked him. If not for my momentum of falling forward, his life would be gone. I felt his essence wash over me for an instant, and then shock jolted us apart.

  The door clanked closed and the guards left.

  “What?” My father lay in a heap at the back of the stone room.

  “It is I, Father,” I answered him.

  “Truly?” he asked as his arms pushed his skeletal frame up. Stared at me with hope in his tone. “You’ve come back? Lifted the curse?”

  “Nay.”

  He moved forward to embrace me, but I bumped backward into the far wall.

  “Do not touch me. I am the bringer of death.”

  “I know,” he answered. “But I’m dying and wish to give my son everything. All I have is a feeble man’s life.”

  “How are you dying? You have centuries left.”

  “Nay.” He shook his head. “Our roots are corrupt with the taint. Down here, the poison festers inside my body like the forest.

  “Soon this will reach up our home among the branches. Only the prayers of the council and our people keep this festered pus from pushing up through the trunk. But they cannot hold back this disease long.”

  I shuddered. I had hoped to save him and our lands, our trees. Now, because of me, all wasted away.

  “You need to learn the truth of our history — of yourself.” He slumped down. “Long ago our people lived with mankind. Before the divide we were accused as giving secrets to the gnomes.” Coughing, his body shook. “We were innocent. But some of the humans filled with blood lust attacked us. Despite reasoning, others followed their lead. The elders sought to erect the division between our wo
rlds. Ban any contact with them.”

  My mind flickered over all the times I snuck out to be among them, mankind. And the curse brought upon me because of my curiosity.

  “However, Elvin and mankind had married before this war. One Elvin, great in magic, married a human woman.”

  A gasp escaped my lips. Forbidden laws prohibited the marriage or relations between them and us. To even speak to a human brought the punishment of a month without sunlight. I didn’t want to imagine the penalty of marrying one of them.

  “All half-children, children of both human and Elvin, were slaughtered. But one Elvin refused to leave his wife, as she was with child. Promised to take her with him over the divide no matter the cost.”

  Chills raised the hairs on my arms. I knew not how, but knew this story related to the prophecy, to me.

  “Humans surrounded her house. Rumors told them she was with child, although she showed not. To prove she was not, and also to save her unborn child, she accepted any test they would give her,” his coughing echoed through the room. “They brought her to the lair of a vampyre.”

  “She was changed. However, she escaped and fled to a group of witches. Begged them to save her child. The witches told her they could prolong the curse until the descendant of the child would be changed from a vampyre’s bite.

  “But this future male child would have to be unmarried. Then he would have the tools to rid the curse. If however, he married, the gene would pass to his male heir, and so on. Any female born to this lineage, must be sacrificed to them-the witches. Your twin sister, a few days old, was sent to the witches.”

  “Why did you never tell me?” I asked sliding down the wall.

  “She could not stay.” He tugged his blanket closer. “Even though we loved her. She had the look of one of them-the humans.”

  “What? How can that be, she was Elvin.”

  “The prophecies spoke of twins — one who took the taint of the human ancestor, the other would become the Vaer.” As if seeing my look of disbelief, he added. “She had black hair and green eyes, as you. But her ears curved at the top, her eyebrows round.”

  I felt as if a boulder had plummeted into my stomach. Another reason I should have killed Celeste as soon as I knew. My own sister murdered by witches.

  “Centuries upon centuries, this is the curse spreading through the land as well as from our loins,” he said while his green eyes like mine stared at me. “Our taint is our half blood. Half Elvin, half vampyre. With the ages, it has changed, but never deluded. Manifested in you as the essence taken instead of blood.” His mouth flickered into a wry smile. “I’d hoped that by not telling you the curse I’d shield you from it. Already did I have to sacrifice one child, your sister. No one knew when this was to happen, each male child in our lineage was given the story as a safeguard. At your handfasting, I thought my plan had worked.”

  “My sister. Why did you not — ”

  “As our oath bound us, she was sacrificed to the witches,” his voice boomed off the walls. Then sadness filtered through his expression. “Left her as she wailed and blood ran.”

  “And what of this Elvin who was the father of all of this madness?”

  “He, it has been said, brought his wife to the divide and gave her sheep blood to drink. For months he cared for her. Helped birth their twins — a boy and a girl.

  “Then, after she implored him, he drove a stake through her heart. The girl was given to the witches.

  “Inside, he died of a broken heart, but raised his son until he was old enough to marry. It’s believed after the wedding, the father died in his sleep, clutching a lock of his dead wife’s hair.”

  Silence filled the chamber. My head spun. Had I not disobeyed the law, the curse would not have found me.

  “So I’m the curse fulfilled. The descendant of this human and Elvin.”

  “Aye.” He clutched his chest and coughed. “The secret was hidden to everyone except the firstborn son of each generation. I made the mistake of telling your mother before our wedding.

  “For days she refused to speak to me. Cried when her family asked why she refused to marry me even though a year had passed since our handfasting. But after Nivel spoke with her, she agreed to marry me. Until then, I worried the curse had set itself upon me. To dash my hopes of love.” He looked away from me as if embarrassed his fear manifested in me with Liana.

  I pressed my hands to my eyes, images swirled behind my eyelids. Overhead, guards snickered at each other’s jokes.

  “Do you forgive me?” my father whispered.

  “Aye.” I removed my hands. “I might have done the same in your case. Remember anything else?”

  “Nay. Spoke the story to you as my father did to me, and his father before him.”

  I had hoped there was some clue in his words to help me. Something to reach into the abyss and wrench my life back. If only I had found Celeste earlier. Then hope would not be strangled from fear and time.

  “Whatever happens, I’m proud of you,” he said dragging his frail body forward.

  His words echoed in my mind, but I did not respond.

  “Tell your mother I love her.” His words coursed through me as he grasped my arm.

  Screams tore through the room.

  Then I realized the sound came from me. Pain opened underneath my skin and from inside my skull. Felt my father’s essence seep into me. Took his strength from his marrow. And still, I could not break free. Roots beneath us moaned. Wind sifted through the branches above.

  His heart beat thumped in unison with mine. Remorse and shame choked me. Blood trailed down from his eyes. At last, he took a faint breath and died.

  I laid his body down. Kissed his cold forehead.

  “Call the council.” Guards on duty rushed forward. “The monster has killed his father.”

  They tripped over one another as they raced up the stairs.

  Aye, I was a monster. Better they kill me before I unleashed my vengeance upon them.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Hours passed before the outer cell door squeaked open. Father’s decaying body stunk up the cell. I brushed back his brown hair and covered him with the blanket.

  Soon, I heard footsteps race down the steps.

  “So the rumors are true,” Nivel said. “What happened?” He gestured to the lump on the floor. Descended the steps two at a time until he was outside my cage door.

  “My father,” I heard the bitterness in my voice, “surrendered his life for me.”

  Nivel swirled his robes and sat down. Guards tromped down the stairs.

  “Get back, this monster is dangerous — killed his own father.” One of the guards grasped the hilt of his sword.

  “Not until I’ve a full report.” He glanced back at me, and then frowned at the body of my father, dead underneath blankets. “Great loss.”

  Coldness from the floor seeped into my skin. All I could answer him was with a nod.

  “Now. Since you’ve returned, what of the witch?”

  “I — I lost her.” My swallow was painful like splinters lined my throat.

  “Then why have you come back?” his voice raised an octave as though in irritation.

  “Make another dagger.” I leaned forward until my head rested on the iron bars. “I will not fail a second time.”

  “But why?” he asked. “The dagger was to lead you to the witch.” His green eyes narrowed. “Tell me the meaning of your words. Why do you need another dagger?”

  “I’ve seen things that would you not believe could exist.” With a grimace, I continued. Told of the game I invented for all the village girls to touch the dagger. He clapped his hands in delight.

  Then I spoke of my curse, the need to devour essence. Of my encounters with the humans. And then, of my capture into Father Morgan’s hands, Celeste, the Bergone, and the Warloc.

  He was silent as I recounted my tale.

  Then I raged over the disappearance of Celeste and the dagger. Yet part of me wanted to
hold her in my arms without my curse.

  “Well,” Nivel cleared his throat, “not a worry then.”

  “What … why?” I stared at him dumbfounded.

  “It’s simple.” He leaned back adjusting his velvet robes. “The dagger is magical.”

  “Aye. I know the dagger was made to find Cel-the witch and spill her blood.” I still could not say her name out loud in the same sentence as harming her.

  Was it dangerous then? Perhaps the dagger destroyed Celeste and Shadowdancer because I had stayed my hand instead of killing her the moment I suspected she was the witch. That might explain the bright flash, but where was the dagger now? No, prophecy would not allow me an escape from this torture. There must be another reason for her disappearance. Perhaps her magic jumped her through another place as it had before.

  At the thought of Celeste dead by my hand, my insides twisted. Never could I erase her from my memory.

  “Where did you keep the dagger on your journey?”

  “In my boot,” I answered.

  Thought I saw a twinkle in his eyes and wanted to crush his neck. How could he be happy when Celeste was gone? Perhaps even dead because of me.

  “Check your boot then.”

  “Boot?” I clenched my fists. “But I told you. I gave the dagger to Celeste.”

  He pointed to my boots.

  “Fine.” I kicked off both boots. After I gave them a shake upside down, no dagger lay inside.

  “When did you last see this Celeste?”

  “Weeks ago.” Shrugged, but left my boots off. Who needed boots in a dungeon cell?

  “And when she touched the dagger?” He frowned.

  “Nothing. A glimmer at first. But I delayed in my duty and she vanished.” Then I remembered the day I first met her. But the gem flickered.

  “Most distressing.” His hands folded in his lap and I saw the knuckles turn white. “The dagger had safeguards. If lost, or stolen, it would return within a night. Unless of course the witch of the prophecies held it.”

  “I needed her to touch the dagger, but I should’ve known better. She was older then the age of human women when they have their first moon. I don’t know why, but I wanted her to try. And at the same time, hoped she was not the one.” A smile tickled at the corners of my mouth. “She considered my offering a gift.”