by Kami Bryant
“Yeah, I guess I did,” answered Em.
“That’s good. That means that the enchantment on you is weakening. If it makes you feel better, he hasn’t had sex with any women since you have been here.”
“It doesn’t. How long have the two of you been back in Mirovia?”
“A year. Almost a year and a month, now. It took us some time to gather allies and to get ready to kidnap you.”
“A year and he hasn’t been faithful to me except for the last week that I have been forced to live in THIS FUCKING MUD HUT!!! He promised. Why didn’t he wait?”
“It has been over ten years.”
“STILLL!!!”
“You should calm down. Someone will hear you and tell Beau.”
“I don’t FUCKING CARE!!! Did he fuck Emmeline?”
“No,” answered Juniper calmly.
“But she has been throwing herself at him, with her fucking tits out in the open and her skirt cut to her CUNT!!! Where is her fucking grass hut!!”
“Why do you ask?” answered Juniper curiously.
“BECAUSE, I AM GOING TO FUCKING CUT A BITCH!!!”
“Interesting,” said Juniper.
At that moment, Beau rushed in the door and said, “What is going on? Em are you okay? You’ve woken the entire camp.”
“YOU FUCKING LIAR!!!” screamed Em at Beau. She picked up her boot off the floor and threw it at his head which Beau easily dodged.
“Umm, what is happening Juniper?” asked Beau as Em threw another shoe at his head which he dodged again.
“She had a memory,” answered Juniper.
“Well, that’s great Em!” said Beau excitedly as Emberlyn jumped off the bed and looked around for something else to throw at Beau. “What did you remember, Em?”
“I remember a promise that you didn’t keep,” said Em. She found a protoblaster tucked in the corner and shot at Beau’s head. He ducked and tackled her, pulling the weapon from her palm. “LIAR!!! LIAR!!! LIAR!!!” screamed Em punching Beau’s shoulders and head.
At that moment Emmeline, Ned and Miss Katherine had ducked in the doorway to see what was going on. “Is everything okay, here?” asked Ned. “Beau, do you need some help?” he asked as Beau continued trying to hold down the screaming and kicking queen. “I heard a blaster.”
Juniper started to laugh a growly laugh. “Emberlyn,” she called. “Emmeline is in here.”
“WHAT!!!” screamed Em. “YOU!!!” she shouted seeing Emmy in the doorway. “GET OFF ME!!!” she shouted at Beau, and with an agility born from rage, surprised Beau and kicked him in the face.
“Oww,” said Beau letting Em’s wrists go.
Emberlyn was free and she launched herself at Emmeline. Ned and Katherine quickly side stepped out of the way as Em tackled Emmy down. A cat fight with screeching, hair pulling and scratching ensued.
“What the fuck Juniper!” shouted Beau as the two women rolled around on the floor. “What is happening?”
“She’s jealous.”
“What? Of Emmeline?” asked Beau shocked. “Why? And what did I lie about?”
“Having sex,” answered Juniper.
“I never had sex with Emmeline,” answered Beau. “I really have no idea what is going on right now. Ned!” shouted Beau who was curiously watching the two women screaming and rolling around. “Grab Emmeline and I will get the queen.”
“Maybe we should stun her,” suggested Miss Katherine.
“Fuck me,” said Beau and jumped out and caught Emberlyn’s wildly kicking leg and started to drag her across the floor to him. Ned had reached out and grabbed Emmy’s wrists and was dragging her away from the screeching queen. “Everyone out!” said Beau. “I can handle this.”
“She bit me!” shouted an angry Emmy. “And she pulled my hair!”
“Get her out of here now!” commanded Beau and Ned threw the spitting blonde on to his shoulder and carried her out of the room, Miss Katherine following. “Juniper! The door!” There was an angry voice and pounding on the door, but no one could get in, while Juniper kept it sealed shut with her magic. Beau struggled to hold the angry queen by her wrists, to keep her from lashing out at him, and held her between his legs where he sat on the floor as Em drummed her heels on the floor. “Em, calm down and tell me what’s wrong,” said Beau. “What did I do?”
“You lied to me,” said Emberlyn, bursting into tears. “You promised me! You LIAR!!! I hate you!”
“You promised her that you would never have sex with anyone other than her. You promised that you would have your first time together,” said Juniper quietly.
“What?”
“In the cave!!!” screamed Em. “The cave!!! You swore. You promised. And you lied!!”
“Holy shit,” said Beau dropping Em’s wrist and letting go of her as she curled up in a ball crying hysterically. “You remembered the cave? That is amazing!”
“The enchantment is weakening,” said Juniper. Beau pulled the rock out of from under his shirt and examined the black spot on it.
“But the black spot is still growing,” answered Beau. “It doesn’t seem any smaller than before.”
“It is slowing though,” said Juniper.
“You are sure?” asked Beau.
“Yes.”
“Juniper, I need to talk to you,” said Beau and with that the pair left Emberlyn there, crying with loud screeches and hiccups on the floor.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
TWO YEARS AGO, IN TRAETAN
“Is she worth it?” asked Juniper.
Beau’s long body was sprawled sideways across Juniper’s bed. He had finally convinced her that he should just sleep on the floor instead of the tiny trundle bed, but she insisted that he sleep on the bed with her. So, Beau had built a much larger bed that took up almost the entire room and they had been bunkmates for the last few years.
“Yes, Juniper,” answered Beau. “She is everything to me. I will die for her. I will give anything to be with her again.”
“But you’ve been here so long,” said Juniper. “You belong here now.”
“No, Juniper. I don’t belong here. I belong with Em.”
“What’s it like?” whispered Juniper.
“What’s what like?” asked Beau.
“To love?” she whispered back quietly.
Beau sat up and looked at the little fairy curled in a ball at the head of the bed, clutching a pillow. “You’ve never been in love, Juniper?”
“No,” she said and then under her breath, she added, “just with you.”
Beau didn’t react to her quiet whisper as he laid back across the bed with his eyes closed. “It’s like you can’t think straight. Like nothing matters except for her. I live and breathe for her. I don’t feel whole when I am away from her. My every thought is ‘what would Em think, if she were here?’ I don’t know, Juniper. You just know. My first thought when I wake up is about her. My last thought every night is of her. Everything I do, is for her. Does that make sense?”
“Yeah,” answered Juniper. “But what if the one you love doesn’t love you back?”
“It hurts. It hurts a lot, but it doesn’t stop you from loving them. You can do what you can to distract yourself, but it doesn’t really matter. Love isn’t like that; you know? Love is unconditional. You can fall in love with someone who doesn’t deserve your love, but it just doesn’t matter. You can be so deeply in love with someone who doesn’t love you back, that it makes you feel like you want to die, but you can’t. You just can’t, because that means that you will no longer see them or be near them. And you want them to be happy… Listen to me prattle on,” laughed Beau. “So stupid.”
“No, you’re not,” said Juniper. “I know what you mean.”
“I just really miss her,” whispered Beau. “So much. I feel like it is killing me. I just need her so much. And I will do anything just to see her from across a room. Just to lightly graze her arm with my finger. A look. A moment. Anything.”
“I am sorry, Beau,” said Juniper. �
��I will get you to her. I promise. Or I will die trying. I want you to be happy,” she said as the tears welled up in her eyes.
“I need some air,” said Beau sitting up suddenly and walking out of the room. Juniper could hear the front door of her home, slamming shut. And much later as Juniper lay in her bed curled up around a pillow, she felt Beau’s warm body slide in next to her and then he wrapped his arm around her and pulled her close. And she fell asleep in his tight embrace.
‘Anything,’ thought Juniper. ‘Anything at all.’
The next morning, Juniper left Beau to sleep off his hangover. She quickly got dressed and wandered out of her little home. With tears streaming from her eyes, she jumped onto the hover scooter parked outside the door.
‘I don’t care what happens to me,’ she said to herself. ‘I’m not scared. I am ready. For Beau.’
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Beau and Juniper walked out of Emberlyn’s hut together. “No one goes in there,” he said to the gathered curious crowd. Juniper followed Beau as he walked to his own hut. He sat in a chair and stared into space.
“Are we going to do something?” asked Juniper.
“About Em? I will fix that later.”
“What about Mormorant? When are we going to do something about him?”
“How many to pull all the clockwork out of Em’s heart?” Beau asked abruptly, his voice deepening with regret.
After a few moments, Juniper answered, “Four. It is weaker now and she is beginning to remember her past. And she is remembering how to feel. I think if she could face her own pain over the loss of her mother than the spell would break completely. She is too afraid to feel her pain and mourn the loss naturally.”
Beau sat on the chair as he thought and stared at his hands. “How many to open a portal to somewhere far from here?”
“Traetan?”
“No, somewhere else. A new world, far, far, away from Mirovia and Traetan.”
Juniper thought about the question and then answered, “Three.”
“Four for Em and then three to get away?” repeated Beau.
“Yes.”
“Okay. I will bring them to you. I want to get started right away and then the three of us leave this place forever. Somewhere that they’ve never heard of Mirovia, Treatan or Vizier Mormorant.”
“And what about Mirovia? Your home?”
“Let him have it.”
“You would sacrifice all those people?”
“I don’t care about anyone else, just you and Em. That is it. No one else matters.”
“And our friends in Traetan. My home?”
“None of THEM MATTER!!!” shouted Beau punching the wooden table that he sat at.
“I thought we were going to do something? I thought you wanted him dead?”
“I did. I am over it. Let him have it all.”
“Do you seriously think he will stop with Mirovia and Traetan? What if he conquers another world and then another?” growled Juniper.
“Then that would be their problem.”
Juniper hissed and then said, “I could stop him.”
“No,” answered Beau.
“I could stop him and his entire army.”
“No!!!” said Beau jumping to his feet. “I don’t want you to do that. It is too dangerous.”
“I could open a portal to Traetan and we could gather our allies. We could build an army with them and anyone in Mirovia who can aim a blaster.”
“NO!!! NO!!! NO!!!” shouted Beau picking up the chair that he had been sitting on and throwing it across the room. It hit the far wall of the mud and thatch hut and shattered tearing a hole in the wall. “I won’t let you do THAT!! IT IS TOO DANGEROUS!!!”
“It would be my choice, Beau.”
“Stop it Juniper. We don’t know what that will do to you. What if you become something even worse than Mormorant? A devourer of worlds? What if everything you are is lost!! I don’t want that to happen! I care about you too much to stand by and let that happen!!”
“You are being a coward,” growled Juniper. “To run away when we could help these people?”
“I told you they don’t MATTER!! I hate that this happened to you, Juniper. If I could turn back time so that you could be the gentle, sweet, dragonfly fairy again. The Juniper that only ate fruit and insects. The Juniper who saved me…..”
“No, you wouldn’t.”
“I would!!!” screamed Beau.
“No, because if I was as I used to be, I couldn’t have opened the portal from Traetan. I couldn’t save your PRECIOUS EM!!! The only thing that you’ve ever cared about. The woman you love,” said Juniper in her gravely, eerie, otherworldly voice. “Every night you ask, your sweet Emberlyn, if she loves you and every night she says no. Your plan is not working!”
“That isn’t true,” answered Beau falling to the floor and wrapping his arms around his head. “I care about you too. Four and then three. I will bring them to you and then we leave. Em loves me. We will escape together.” All was quiet from the dark corner in the room, Beau turned around and then noticed that Juniper had vanished.
‘Fuck,’ thought Beau. ‘All the women in my life fucking hate me. I have just fucked up everything.’ Beau thought about the cave behind the waterfall. He thought of the picnic he had set up and his plans for he and Em to make love for the first time together in that cave on that blanket he had laid down on the cave floor. ‘So stupid,’ he thought. ‘Of course, that wasn’t going to happen.’ But Beau had been so horny then as a nineteen-year-old virgin and Em’s tight little body was so sexy. God, he wanted her so much. He really wanted her now too, his dick twitching and getting hard. ‘Damn it. Not really a good time,’ he thought. ‘Fuck! I have to smooth things over with Em and I must find someone to sacrifice. Fuck me, shit used to be so much easier. Shit! Fuck!’
The next morning, Beau knocked on Em’s door. “Em!” he called. “Em! Can you open the door, please? Can we talk?”
“What do you want?” answered Emberlyn from behind the door. “Go away!”
“Em, listen to me,” begged Beau. “Look I can explain.” The door creaked open and Beau cautiously stuck his head inside. He saw Em sitting on the bed looking really pissed. “Em, when he threw me through that portal, I thought my life was ending. I was determined to live and get back to you but as the years turned from one year to two and on and on, I guess I gave up hope. I thought I had been there so long that you would have forgotten me. I am sorry that I didn’t keep my promise. I love you and that hasn’t changed.”
Emberlyn arched her brow, “You are just a man. A man can’t stay faithful. I was stupid to get upset. Why should you stay a virgin when tempted with so many whores?”
“Em, listen to me, it wasn’t like that. I didn’t care about them, it was nothing. I was in Traetan for ten years, what did you expect!”
“For you to keep your promise! That’s what I expected!”
“You didn’t even remember that promise till last night. I was there for ten years. I thought maybe you had forgotten me or maybe you wanted me there. Then it didn’t seem possible to even get back to Mirovia and I was drunk every night and making money as a mercenary, fighting and killing and I just didn’t give a fuck. And then Juniper sacrifices herself for me to get me here and then I felt like a fucking asshole that she would do that to herself and then when I saw all the shit that was going on here and shit…I don’t know. Fuck, Em. I’m sorry,” and with that Beau fell at her feet on the floor. “I never stopped loving you, no matter what.”
“Even when you were fucking whores and vampires?” asked Emberlyn.
“Damn it, Em. I am sorry. Please forgive me.”
“Fuck YOU!!!” shouted Em as she continued to pout.
Beau sat on the floor of the hut banging the heels of his palms on his forehead, ‘Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!’ he thought and then he heard the sounds of hover ship close by. “What the fuck?” he asked, jumping to his feet and running out the door. Em at his heels. �
�HOLY SHIT!!!” he shouted as he saw a warship baring down on them. “NO!!!” he screamed as the warship started blasting their protocannons. “GET DOWN!!!!” he screamed at the Forsaken rebels, but it was too late. There was nothing that he could do. Hover speeders dove down with their plasma protorifles blasting. “No! No! No!” shouted Beau as he started to run out into the fight but Em grabbed his arm as hard as she could and pulled him back.
“Beau! Stop,” shouted Em in his ear. “There is nothing you can do! Stay back!!” and she ran, waving her arms frantically at the hover speeders and the warship. Beau ran after her.
“Em!!” he screamed at her. “JUNIPER!!!” screamed Beau.
“STOP!!! STOP!!! STOP!!!” screamed Emberlyn. “STOP FUCKING FIRING!!! THIS IS YOUR QUEEN!!! CEASE FIRE NOW!” And with that, all the blasting immediately ceased and the hover speeders began landing. “Put your hands on your head,” shouted Emberlyn at the surviving members of the Forsaken. “You have to surrender, right NOW!” shouted Emberlyn to Beau and to Juniper who hovered at his elbow. “NOW!”
“No, Em,” said Beau. “No.”
“PUT YOUR HANDS UP!!!” shouted a voice from the warship. “GET AWAY FROM THE QUEEN.”
“Do it!” said Emberlyn to Beau.
“No,” said Beau. “I won’t lose you again!”
“NOW BEAU!!!”
The warship landed and Mormorant and the glamoured guards hurried over to Emberlyn.
“Your majesty!!” shouted Mormorant. “Are you okay? I am so glad that we found you. Kill these terrorists at once!”
“No!!!” screamed Emberlyn. “Don’t kill them,” and she ran in front of Beau and Juniper. The guards uncertainly looked from the queen to Mormorant and back and forth, their rifles wobbling. “DON’T YOU FUCKING POINT THOSE WEAPONS AT ME!!!” screamed Emberlyn and the guards immediately dropped the weapons to point at the ground.
“Your majesty,” started Mormorant. “You have obviously been through a horrible ordeal. Come with me. Let me handle these rebel scum.”
“No, all these people are useless without their leader. Take him,” Emberlyn motioned to Beau. “And the mage. Everyone else can go free.”
