Wrath of Aten

by S. A. Ashdown

  Malik pushed back his chair and strode down the dais, halting right in front of me. Despite the world’s magic fuelling my strength, his Elvish height induced a shred of fear. ‘Congratulations for making yourself an enormous target. I’m not so keen to add my people to Akhenaten’s list of enemies.’

  ‘Look,’ I said, ‘I’m only here as a courtesy.’ On my cue, Ava carried the chest of rubies and diamonds up the dais and placed it on the table. Sayen hopped up the steps and gasped when Ava opened the lid. ‘Consider those a gift for allowing us Midgard-born into Alfheim. But we’re not staying with you.’

  Lord Malik folded his arms across his broad chest. ‘Oh? And where is it that the mighty Gatekeeper thinks he’s going?’

  ‘Lorenzo told me that you’re clueless about how to free the land-sprites from my uncle.’

  ‘That is unfortunate, I admit.’

  ‘So we’re going to the Fae instead.’

  Sayen gasped for a second time, examining a fistful of Frigg’s passing gift. ‘They care not for the lives and well-being of men,’ she said.

  ‘Oh, but they care about the Nine Realms. And a little birdie let me in on another tidbit.’ I smiled at Malik and walked around him, joining Sayen at the grand dining table, helping myself to a peach the size of my hand. ‘The Queen of the Fae once loved my uncle. If anyone can help him, she can.’

  Malik surveyed the new arrivals, frowning at the sight of Lolita and Rihanna seated at the side. ’No mortal can gain access to the Fae Isles. It is a fool’s mission.’

  ‘We have an advantage,’ Lorenzo said, stealing my quip. He grinned and lifted his new lover onto his shoulders. ‘We have Raphael.’

  Ava ran back into Goldenstone Market to drag her mother away from the market stalls. Rihanna was arm-in-arm with Lorenzo, staring with wide eyes at a group of little children chasing marbles in the volcanic dust. I tapped Raphael on the shoulder and pointed to the forest sprouting up the side of the volcano. ‘That was where Lorenzo and I were sidetracked by visions. I thought my mum had come to me to reveal that Menelaus had killed her.’

  ‘And now you realise it was Elspeth accompanied by Menelaus as a small child.’ He looked with longing over the ocean, the Fae Isles a misty blur in the distance.

  ‘Yes. She showed me what could’ve been, if the Praefecti hadn’t punished her for creating a dhampir with Michele.’ I stepped onto the beach – a perfect crescent of golden grains, tugging on Hrimfaxi’s reins while Skinfaxi was busy nibbling Raphael’s ear. ‘Are you sure about this, Raphael?’

  A dimple appeared in his cheek. ‘Can’t you hear them?’ he said mystically. He launched down the beach, chasing the waves as they ducked in and out.

  The water moved around his feet.

  ‘What is he doing?’ Ava asked, taking my hand. Her rainbow hair dazzled my eyes under the strange Alfheim-light, even though the sky was hinting at the burnt orange of sunset. As far as I could tell, the land of the Elves wasn’t a planet, more a plane of existence, the daytime lit by the Orlog itself.

  ‘I’ve given up trying to figure Raphael out. He’s a sprite unto himself.’

  ‘He’s amazing, don’t you think, Mum?’ Lorenzo had managed to wrangle his mother away from the market, then. She was yet to say a single word since she’d woken up in another realm and listened to Lorenzo’s tale. A dose of vampire Enthrallment had made her a little dopey, too. ‘’Ere,’ he said, ‘can’t we just ’ire a boat?’

  Malik’s personal guards – all women – had escorted us to the harbour. Their presence, and our little band, had attracted a small crowd behind us. ‘They’re laughing at you, Lorenzo,’ I said. ‘Just not sure why.’ Even the guards were snickering.

  ‘They’re laughing now, but they haven’t seen what that kid can do yet.’ Lorenzo beamed, pride brimming.

  ‘You really love him, don’t you?’

  That’s when Raphael waded into the ocean, the surface waves rippling away from him. The Elves, watching from the harbour-side, hissed in anticipation, their numbers swelling the farther Raphael swam. It took every ounce of Lorenzo’s self-control not to swim in there after him; Sayen had been kind enough to warn us not to dare.

  ‘Yes,’ he whispered. ‘Can you hear that?’

  ‘Not you as well! What’s out there?’

  ‘Dolphins!’

  ‘Dolphins? I love dolphins!’ Ava tugged me toward the shoreline, her free hand shielding her eyes from the glare. ‘Look! I can see them!’

  I followed the direction of her finger. ‘That must be an entire pod,’ I said, and despite the stone of grief in my heart, I smiled at the undulating movement of fins and tales. ‘At least one pod.’

  ‘I can hear a hundred, easy,’ said Lorenzo, catching up. ‘They’re singing. They’re singing to Raphael.’

  6

  Dancing in the Mist

  My friends come to meet me. Time, pain – it is nothing to these delights, these strong and sleek angels of the ocean. Their song stirs my soul, and the memories of time we once shared flood back as surely as any tide. I am their chorus, and I have been missed.

  Oh, how I had hated leaving Alfheim for Midgard, Nikolaj for Espen. But destiny had channelled me to Theo, and to Lorenzo.

  The sea washes away the last ebbs of guilt for loving a vampire. Who am I to question the heart, or the worthiness of a soul to be cherished? My dolphins speak such wisdom, sharing their lives through every stroke of a tail, every twirl and touch.

  The Fae are forgotten as I surge out of the water, synchronising with my friends, more fish than human. This is a dance I cannot have with Lorenzo, despite our spin around the crumbling bell tower of St. Michael’s church. This is a dance for the joyous and the innocent.

  Laughter makes bubbles, and I am content for my breath to alert the Protectors of the Isles. Their warning rumble only adds a natural beat to the music. I almost burst with glee when I hear the boom of the whales. By the time they arrive, I am encapsulated by a school of shining hucklefish. I ride to them on the back of a turtle.

  It is time, they say. Call her.

  The best part of the game is yet to begin. I let my limbs revert to their natural state, a loose gathering of atoms and Vital Essence, and shoot out of the water. The mist from the Isles gathers me up, testing my boundaries. I whisper my message. Tell the Queen that Raphael humbly asks for this dance.

  The mist lets me go and I fall out of the sky, surrendering to the ocean. I float, watching the heavens. I hear the flutter of her wings before she unveils herself, her gown glowing amber. The horns sound from the Isle’s ramparts, a layered harmony bellowing out across the sea. I fly into her arms, and we spin and laugh together, our tears as salty as the crystalline, azure water skimming our toes. ‘We have missed you, dear one.’

  ‘I do not come with good tidings, My Queen.’

  7

  A Bridge Between Nations

  The Elves began to sing. A large crowd thronged the harbour; even the market hawkers had left their posts to watch the spectacle at sea. The water flattened out, as if the whole ocean had developed a shell of frosted glass.

  Raphael was flying, encased in treacle-coloured wings, caught by the evening light to expose their sinewed structure. I broke my attention away to listen to the primal hum of Elves behind us, the flow of their song rippling along the crescent beach as surely as a wave. Malik and Sayen appeared at the front of the congregation, their arms across their chest in salute to the Fae Queen.

  These two peoples had been at war with one another, and now they were humming in homage to their prior enemies. ‘I think they’re trying to help our cause,’ I said, amazed. I returned Sayen’s wave, wondering whether she had been busy as a pollinating bee working on our behalf.

  Or perhaps not even for us. Maybe she wants to help Nikolaj. Well, she’d done a good job; Malik was grinning like this had all been his idea.

  Ava tapped me on the shoulder. ‘Theo, look!’

  ‘Whoa!’ Lorenzo hollered and whooped. ‘�
��Ere, he’s only gone and done it!’ Rihanna stared at her son like he was a total nut job.

  The distant mist of the Fae Isles sauntered into the sky and split apart, its tendrils reaching out and lacing its fingers across the water. It hardened in an arc, a bridge of cloudy quartz suspended above the sea. Raphael was running towards us, tracing his fingers along the smokey railings. His laughter melted into the Elvish chorus. I recognised a few words from Uncle Nik’s teachings. Friendship. Forgiveness. Peace. In fact, the tune itself sounded familiar. ‘Odin, Thor, and Freyr,’ I said. ‘Nik used to sing this to me as a lullaby.’

  ‘He invented it,’ Sayen said. I hadn’t heard her approach. ‘During the Elven-Fae War, the queen took your uncle as a hostage. They say she imprisoned him in the tower closest to her private chambers. He used to sing to her from the highest window, reminding her it’s nature’s way to forgive and form enduring bonds. He conjured doves to fly between his tower and the palace, and then she realised that he could’ve escaped all along.’ Sayen smiled. ‘But your uncle was special. He chose to stay. He vowed to remain her prisoner until he had melted her heart. At the end of the war, she freed all of the doves he had conjured for her. Thousands filled the skies.’

  The bridge ended an inch above the beach, as if touching down on Elvish sand would shatter it. ‘Our people owe a great debt to your uncle. And now we know your family’s secret I see why it was his destiny to save us.’

  I hugged her. ‘Thank you, Princess,’ I said. ‘I swear to you I’ll finish what he started, and save the Nine Realms from the serpent who’s stupid enough to think he can strangle us from the inside.’

  Lorenzo beat me to the bridge. He hopped on and gathered Raphael up for a kiss. I went next, on horseback with Ava, Lolita – and Tina the Westie – and Rihanna leading Skinfaxi behind us. We could see the dolphins swimming beneath us as we reached the apex. The mist cleared, and at the end of the long decent, the splendour of the Fae Isles was unveiled.

  ‘Jörð,’ I said, ‘is this real?’

  The Isles were just that – a series of interconnecting islands, latched together by an intricate network of tree-bridges, each leading back to the central pillar – the palace. It covered an entire island in the middle, its highest tip slicing through the clouds. It glistened and sparkled, a constant beacon of immutable time. As we rode and walked the winding, cobbled streets and turned each corner, a new angle of the palace unravelled. You could get lost in its nooks and crannies for eternity – and that was from the outside.

  Raphael danced and skipped around the streets, straying ahead and zipping back again and again. ‘Oh, I have often asked the same question!’ he said, stopping to inhale the delicate latticework of scented blossoms sprouting from every available crevice. The houses followed the natural contours of the landscape, roof gardens replacing tiles. ‘I wish all the Nine Realms were so perfect!’

  ‘I think she’s watching us,’ said Ava, glancing into the shadow, then up at the palace. ‘I can feel her everywhere.’

  ‘There are no secrets in the Isles,’ Raphael said, practically squealing. His bliss was infectious. No secrets for the boy that could only speak the truth. This really was heaven for him.

  And for me, I thought. How I’d always loathed secrets, especially the necessary ones.

  ‘What do you mean?’ Ava asked.

  ‘The Fae communicate through the flora and fauna, as mushrooms whisper warnings to each other under the soil through their interconnecting roots. The Queen is the tree at the centre of their network.’

  ‘Where is everyone else?’ I asked, as we crossed the final bridge onto the palace island. We had yet to encounter a single Fae.

  ‘They can be shy,’ Raphael said. ‘They will not show themselves until the Queen has accepted your petition, Gatekeeper.’

  Lorenzo snorted. ‘What’s so funny?’ I asked.

  ‘Nothing,’ he said. ‘I just like being right. You’ve got to admit that I called you out as the Syphon before you announced it to the entire battlefield.’

  ‘The air must be getting to your head,’ I said, smiling. Our little entourage ground to a halt as we stepped onto the palace island; as we reached the foot of the bridge, an enormous, translucent gate appeared out of the ground, encircling the palace in the blink of an eye.

  Raphael sailed right through it as if it wasn’t even there. ‘Not only Clemensen wards that mean nothing to him, then,’ I said, not daring to even try and reverse astral project to the other side of those bars.

  Raphael waved at us. ‘Look closer. It isn’t a gate.’

  Ava gasped, then Lorenzo. I caught up a moment after. ‘What the—’

  Hundreds of faces emerged, the colour from the pearly masks covering half of their faces in a million, iridescent hues, slowly reinvigorating their skin. And their wings, stretched out to lock behind or in front of those of their neighbours’, formed a continuous, living barrier.

  ‘So that’s why we didn’t meet anyone on the other islands,’ Lorenzo said, half-fascinated and half-creeped-out. I suddenly understood what made the Fae such a deadly enemy – they could hide right in front of your face and you wouldn’t know it until you had fallen at their feet. ‘Well, say something,’ he added.

  I cleared my throat. What was I meant to say to a barrier of interlocking Fae? ‘Greetings,’ I said, feeling every inch the alien. And Uncle Nik had been ‘trapped’ in this strange place for Jörð knows how long. That’s it, his song. ‘I come for all of us, and for everyone we love.’ I pulled Ava close to me. ‘And we come for Nikolaj Clemensen, son of Ash.’

  The gate parted, and we rode and walked freely to the waterfall of glistening steps that led to the grand palace entrance. Two Fae guards at the foot of the steps took charge of our horses. As we made our way to those towering doors, I didn’t feel like a Gatekeeper shouldering the burdens of the world. I felt like an ant carrying a leaf, hoping not to be blown away by the wind.

  8

  A Third Eye for a Third Eye

  Ava craned her neck, trying to wrap her head around the scale of the reception hall. The roof reminded her of a black hole, sucking the air into a dizzying singularity at its distant tip. The smooth, polished floor reflected the room’s immensity, adding to the disorientating effect.

  They were alone.

  ‘Raphael, where is she?’ Theo’s lush green cloak swayed as he walked across the hall, his question ricocheting between the walls. ‘Where is the Queen?’

  ‘I am here, child.’ Ava jumped, unable to ascertain the direction of that striking, assured voice. Lorenzo tapped her arm and pointed at the incredible point of the tower. A moment later, a flutter of fiery fabric drifted down into the atrium, two bare feet poised for a soft landing. The Queen’s wings seemed to fill the hall, but as she touched down into the centre of the room, they pulled in as curtains concealing a beautiful view.

  It wasn’t hard to see why Nikolaj might have fallen for her. Her contours were reminiscent of mountain ranges and shimmering river valleys. Just like the other Fae, a satin mask of scales – or were they feathers? – formed a diagonal line across her face, covering most of her forehead, part of her nose, and one cheek.

  Theo knelt before her.

  Ava pulled her mum down with her, Lorenzo helping Rihanna out of her trance to follow suit. Tina wriggled out of Lolita’s arms and scampered across the floor to the Queen. Ava panicked. What if she took it as some kind of major offence?

  Instead, the Queen plucked a blossom from her wild headdress, the flower transforming into a handful of little dog biscuits. She scooped Tina up into her arms and fed her. ‘A Midgard-dog, what a lovely surprise. Please rise. Any friend of Raphael’s is a welcome guest.’

  Ava’s heart rate slowed back down. They rose and joined Theo and Raphael. The Queen stared at Lorenzo. ‘Dark Elf, how is it you have claimed this sprite’s heart?’

  Raphael blushed. ‘My Queen…’

  ‘Isn’t love the most untamed force of all?’ said
Lorenzo. Sometimes it was easy to forget that the nonchalant vampire was well-versed in literature. ‘Isn’t it alone capable of uniting opposites, often when we least expect?’

  The Queen’s laughter filled every atom of air. Haunting, and yet it threatened to carry Ava on wings of its own. Then the Queen faced Theo, her amusement dying.

  ‘Tell me, Syphon, Protector of the Veil and the Anchor of Yggdrasil, how has Nikolaj’s madness come to pass?’

  Ava stood forward as Theo was about to answer. ‘Forgive me…Your Majesty. It will be easier if I show you.’ Ava offered her hand, and the Queen clasped it between her own. Theo sent a pulse of magic through the small of Ava’s back, powering the visions. They began with Frigg’s prophecy and ended with the card left at Espen’s wake. The Queen witnessed how Nikolaj had ingested the land-sprites in order to free Raphael from his torture chamber, and her eyes welled into tears.

  ‘Your uncle warned me, all those years ago,’ she said. ‘He warned me that our people could not neglect Midgard for long, even if many of its inhabitants were unworthy of our protection. Perhaps if I had listened to his pleas, Akhenaten would never have grown so powerful, and the Nine Realms would be safe from his venom.’

  ‘No man is an island,’ Theo said. ‘Uncle Nik always used to say that.’

  ‘Not even my little isles,’ she said. ‘We will find a way to help him.’

  ‘Thank you. With your permission, we would like to stay here while we figure out how to dethrone Akhen – without initiating Ragnarök.’

  ‘I will prepare your uncle’s tower, and my servants shall bring you our finest produce. You will make yourself at home.’ She paused. ‘I am grieved to hear of Espen’s passing.’

  Theo nodded. ‘Thank you,’ he said.