by E. A. Weston
She is just like a fire bush, sweet on the outside but deadly on the inside. I know she is annoyed that Reagan is here because it means she can no longer have a chance with me.
“No, she is around, why?” I ask.
“Oh, well I haven’t seen her. I feared she fell ill again.”
“No she is well thank you, now please I must go.”
Keeping my brisk pace, I move past her and onto the grounds to look for Avery. Today we are training a small group to fight against each other. Finding him in the weapons room, I stand beside him.
“So you made it, I feared you had drowned while bathing.”
“Fear not brother I am too hard to kill.” I smile as I grab a sword to practice with.
He laughs as we step out into the morning sunshine. Most of the fairies are here and some of the females are training today. Taking a group of five fairies, I make my way over to my favorite spot in the woods. We fight one-on-one then I order them to attack me. At first the all freeze but then begin to attack. We work for hours, honing our skills and teaching each other. The evening arrives without my notice and I realize that I am hungry. We leave the woods smiling and feeling better about our skills. Nerida waves to me as I get closer.
“Hello.” I smile.
“Prince,” she smiles back and I roll my eyes. “How very human of you,” she teases.
“I suppose,” I answer.
“When is Reagan returning? I miss her so.” Nerida asks.
“I fear I don’t know, she can return when she wants but I know she likes to camp. I miss her too.”
“I can tell.” Nerida pats my shoulder before walking away. Picking up my pace I arrive at the half empty food table. My stomach clenches with hunger as the smells hit me. Once I have a verity of meats and fruit, I find a spot by the fire. The night falls on us and I make it to my bed. Tatiana tried to come with me but I had to trick her just to get away. Collapsing onto my bed, I stare at the ceiling wondering what Reagan is doing and hoping that she is not enjoying Samiel’s company too much.
Since finding her and losing her, then getting her back, I am starting to fear her leaving my side ever again. But Avery was right in a way, without her distraction I was able to concentrate and train. However, I want her as a distraction and I think I need to send for her. I will prepare her room in the morning and wait for her return.
Most of the night was spent in a restless sleep my thoughts of Reagan causing a fire in my veins like I have never felt before. Walking to her dwelling, I contemplate on what I should like to do for her. I know she is not materialistic so jewels and such is not needed. Once I walk inside her smell floats around me, she smells like sunshine on a summer’s day, and it alone makes me smile. Since I have been back in Avalon, my magic has been slowly returning.
It only takes me a few minutes to make the room clean and new. I have added furniture and some Fire Bushes around the outside so that the smell can filter in through the windows. I really want to add some element from the human world but I am not sure what she would really like. After pacing the small rooms, I finally give up and walk back to the training grounds making my way towards the weapons room.
“My prince.”
“Eitri,” I respond to his greeting.
“Have you come to check up on me?”
“No,” I smile but he knows what I am after.
“It is ready my prince let me retrieve it.”
I watch him walk through the rooms into the back where he has a forge set up. I can feel the heat blasting out from it so I move to the other side of the room admiring his craftsmanship.
“My prince,” He says holding out my new sword. The blade is double edged and it is made from the strongest silver here in the realm. He has scribed the warrior’s creed onto the blade, along with my family crest.
“Thank you Eitri, it is most beautiful.”
The weight of it is perfectly balanced and fits my hand like a glove. Eitri smiles at me and nods his head.
“How can I pay you, my friend?” I ask.
“Win back the kingdom,” He replies, making me look up at him.
“I shall try,” I respond before leaving. I am hoping I can do just that but it will take months of practicing and training to get into any shape to form an attack on my home. Yet another thing to make my smile wary, my home if I can still call it that anymore. No one I know will live there, my family are all dead and I am not sure if I want to live with ghosts. I find myself crossing paths with many fairies but none of them are known to me, maybe I have been gone too long.
“Killian?” Avery looks concerned when he finds me.
“Yes?”
“Are you well?”
“Yes, Avery,” I respond with a sigh. He looks at me for a few minutes and I wonder again if my absence has forged a crater in our friendship.
“You do not sound well my brother.”
“No, I do not.” Walking past him I retreat to my house and sit by the window. I watch as he follows me, walking into my house without asking.
“Killian, what is the meaning of this?” he asks waving his hand to encompass me.
“What do you mean?”
“You have been acting very strange today. I do not understand.”
“Forgive me, Avery, I have been thinking of the past.” I sigh.
“I understand brother but why do you look so lost?” his question has me looking up at him. I point to the chair opposite me for him to sit.
“I do not know if my coming back here was a good idea. I fear the fairies of Avalon may have faith in the wrong fairy.”
“Killian, do you remember when we met?”
“Of course,” I respond.
“You showed me kindness and befriended me when no other would. Even your guard tried to remove me from the palace but you refused and we became brothers. I do not think that your absence has changed the very heart of who you are.”
“That is not how I feel Avery. It all feels so different so new and I fear I have not found my place again nor may I.”
“Not true Killian. You are the prince and you will be King, it is your right but we must fight for that. The day you returned brought hope and I got my brother back. It was the third best day of my life.”
“Third?” I question.
“Of course, the first was my mating with Ari, second was the day we were accepted to Tenebrosi and third. The day my best friend rose from the dead and came home.”
“I was not dead Avery.”
“No, but I did not know this. I feared I had lost my family, you, and Ari were all that I had, and you were gone. I was alone but now you are back and we can begin to look into a future of peace.”
“Are you sure brother? I fear that I have come here and taken over your duties, perhaps you…”
“No Killian. You are home and I thank the Goddess every day. Together we will win back the castle and you will rule, as is your right. We have been too long under the rule of this fairy who refuses to show himself.”
“I am happy to have you as a brother Avery, I feared I had lost our friendship.”
“Never,” he scoffs. “I will always be your brother even in death.”
“Let’s hope it does not come to that.” I grin at him.
He reaches out to take my sword and I pass it over to him, he inspects carefully and smiles.
“This is an excellent weapon brother.”
“Yes it is but I do miss my first one.”
“I know but just think of this as a new beginning. A new sword and a new kingdom of peace.” Handing me back the sword he leaves me alone. I don’t feel like training today so I take a few hours just to relax and just be. Many memories fill me up and make me smile but the one that I can’t ever seem to forget is when my mother died in my arms. Her beautiful face haunts my nights and being back here is making it harder for me.
“Prince! Prince!”
Orin bursts through my door with a look of terror in his eyes. My first thought is that
we are being attacked and I grab my sword.
“Prince, come quickly.” He says, before turning and fleeing again. Running after him I find a group of fairies gathering around the tree line. I don’t see Avery and fear that something has happened to him.
“What is it?” I shout as I arrive.
Fairies make a path so I can get through to find Samiel lying on the ground bloody and beaten. His broken wings must be causing him tremendous pain.
“Get a healer,” I order. His eyes latch on to mine.
“I’m sorry my prince. They…they took her…I tried…”
Kneeling down, I place my hand on his shoulder, “it will be okay Samiel you are brave and I thank you for trying. Tell me that she lives.”
“Yes…she was fighting too.”
“Thank you,” I whisper.
Avery meets me in my house a few minutes later. My pacing has almost worn a hole in the floor and every bad word I have ever learned in the human world flies from my mouth.
“I need to get her back Avery.”
“I know.”
“I need to find her alive. I cannot live without her.”
“I know.”
“We have to devise a plan. Did we send someone to Hunters Lake?”
“We did.”
“Fuck…Fuck…why is this happening. I told you I should have stayed away.”
“Brother we will get her back and we will reclaim the kingdom too.”
“The Kingdom Avery! I want my future back and I’m taking it from the grasp of that coward.”
Storming out of my dwelling I am in a rage so strong that I am almost blind with it. No one is taking Reagan away from me, not in this world or the next.
Chapter 9
My body aches as I am dragged through the forest. I don’t know where I am going and I can’t see anything now. The sun has set and it’s pitch dark beneath the dense canopy of trees. The fairies are all talking and laughing as two of them drag me to our destination. My toes are pulling along behind me and I am face down, my arms are being held up in an awkward position. Time moves on and my eyes are heavy with exhaustion, I put up a fight as best I could but I am no match for four fairies.
By sunrise, my feet are dragging on stonework and I look down to see where I am. I can’t seem to lift my head and it hurts my neck. I soon see more booted feet swarm around me as voices ring out in celebration. The only word I understand is human as I am dragged further into a building and down stone steps. I am ungracefully thrown onto the ground and the sound of metal clanging behind me sounds like thunder to my ears.
Rolling onto my back I take stock of my surroundings. The ceiling is low and made of brick, my eyes wander to my feet, and I notice for the first time the metal bars keeping me captive.
“Where am I?” I mumble to myself. I scoot myself backward and rest my sore back against the stone of the wall. This jail is dark and smells disgusting. Closing my eyes, all I can I do is beg the Goddess of this place to help me and get me out of here. I am pulled out of my thoughts by the sound of footsteps approaching. The cell door opens, revealing two new fairies. They walk over to me and hoist my arms above my head, securing them to the wall behind me.
“Hey, let me go!” I shout and try to move and pull but it only hurts my arms. One of the fairies laughs as he kicks my leg on his way out.
“Fuck you asshole!” I shout at him.
I doubt he knows what I’m saying but it feels good to shout at them. Everything Killian ever said about fairies seems to be lies. Did he really want me to come here or just use me as his way back home? Anger pours through my veins and I struggle against the restraints, hurting my wrists in the process. How could I have trusted him? Why did I let myself fall so hard for someone I don’t really know? For someone who never even told me that he was the so-called prince of fairies.
My body hurts and my stomach is growling with hunger, I don’t think I can trust anyone in this place let alone the food. Closing my heavy eyes, I allow my mind some rest as I drift off to sleep once again. I’m startled awake by the sound of banging and laughing, a young fairy is staring at me from the doorway of my cell. His hair is blue as are his eyes, which travel from my head to feet and back up again. Walking towards me, he places a bowl with food and a cup of water down beside me.
“How am I supposed to eat with my arms tied up?” I mutter.
“I will remove them,” he replies, surprising me.
“You speak English?”
“Yes, I speak many human languages.” He nods his head at me then opens my restraints. My wrists burn as I try to rub the soreness out of them. He watches me while I tentatively sniff the food.
“It is not poisoned,” he smiles at me.
Shrugging my shoulders, I glance down at it again. I’m not exactly sure what it is because I don’t know if what I’m smelling, is good or bad but I try it anyway. The fairy boy stays beside me, keeping a watchful eye on me.
“Are you a kid?” I ask with a mouthful of tasteless paste.
“To you, I appear to be a child but I can assure you, I am many moons older than you,” He replies.
“So you’re a kid in fairy world?” I smart back to him.
He doesn’t reply but gives me a small smile and nod of his head.
“So are you like the jail warden?” I ask, figuring I need to get as much information as I can if I am going to try to get out of this place.
“I do not know what you say.”
“You’re here to make sure I don’t escape,” I answer. My eyebrows rise in challenge but he just smiles again. This kid is really weird.
“No, I am here to give you food.”
His reply is too simple and that smile of his is way too sweet. Why would they send a fairy child to feed me? Do they think I won’t be able to take him or something, apparently they don’t know about human girls. I catch a movement in the shadows of the doorway and I can make out, what one would call a giant, standing there with his arms crossed.
“Ah, so he’s here to make sure I don’t escape.” I nod in the direction of the giant fairy while my heart pounds in fear. The kid smiles again before taking my uneaten food away.
“You do not threaten us human and we have no fear of you escaping,” the giant growls from the shadows.
“I’m pretty sure a question is not a threat.” Rolling my eyes, I scoff at him.
“We will leave you now,” the kid says, turning to walk out of the cell.
“If I’m not a threat then why am I locked up like this?”
I shout at them but they both ignore me and slam the door closed. At least, he left my hands Unchained, although the accommodation could be better. Reaching down, I untie the laces of my shoes and gently pull them off, wincing, when I feel like my skin is being filleted. I can see the dried blood from my toes on my socks and I know this is going to hurt. Biting my lips, slowly I begin to roll down the socks.
I can’t help but cry out when I free the socks from the painfully raw skin. The tops of my feet are scraped and bruised from being dragged through the woods. My toes are not much better and tears sting my eyes as I pour the water from the cup over my feet. I wish I had some medicated cream.
* * *
I wish I were at home.
* * *
The cell is small, and simple, three stone walls with a barred entry, and a small barred window up above me. Climbing to my feet, I breathe out through my nose against the pain in my body and the agony it causes to stand in such a cramped space. My eyes just meet the lip of the barred window, so I have to stand on my toes to look out, which hurts so bad.
It’s dark again outside. I can see a stone ground with some bushes to my left. It’s hard to see any further but at least, I know I am underground. If I can get out of here, maybe I can get back to that place where Killian and I came through, the big ass rock. The moon sits high in the night sky and the sight of it makes me angry. It reminds me of everything I have lost over the last few years and now, here I am, loc
ked in a cell in another world with no one to trust or help me escape. The moon and all my mother’s stories can go to hell!
Sliding down the wall, I sit on the damp dirt ground. I can smell the mustiness of it and rich earth smell. If only I could do magic then maybe I could get out of here. Closing my eyes, I picture Alex and Jake back in Faircrest. Alex is probably freaking out about me disappearing. I’m still not sure how much time has passed back home. I wonder if it’s been so long that no one remembers me or perhaps they think that I ran away with Killian. I bet Alex is cursing the night she ever brought me to Granite, the night my life took a sharp left turn into crazy town.
The night in Avalon passes quickly with the sound of boots stomping by the window at a regular rate. It lull’s me to sleep a few times but each time only lasts for minutes. My mind turns to Samiel and the way those fairies hurt him so badly before they took me. I hope he made it back to the camp and managed to get help, then again, I’m not too sure if Killian will even come looking for me now that he is back in his own world.
The sunlight begins to shine on my feet, heating up the raw flesh. I can now see the redness and dried blood a bit better. My body hurts so much and my head is still dizzy, maybe if I’m rescued, I will just find a way to go back home to Faircrest and forget this whole existence. However, even thinking about never seeing Killian again is causing some serious pain to my heart. I want to slap him hard right now but I would kiss him just as quickly.
“Hello again,” the kid says as he opens the door.
Looking up I watch him step into the cell and smile that easy smile of his. Today I can see his wings, they are a light blue just like his hair, and they lay flat against his back.
“Come with me,” he says, holding his hand out to me.
“Why, are you going to hurt me?” I ask.
“No, I would never hurt you. Please come,” he smiles again.
Refusing his hand, I push myself up off the dirt and hobble after him. He brings me through a long corridor, with quite a few more cells along it. Reaching the stone stairs, I ease my sore feet up one after another. The kid speaks fast to another fairy that is waiting for us at the top of the stairs. My eyes hurt when the sunlight hits them and I use my arm to shade my face. Once my eyes adjust, I take in the courtyard and buildings around me. The kid moves again, motioning for me to follow him. My eyes scan the area a few more times before we walk in through a large doorway.
