by Hickory Mack
“Yes. His elements will be balanced.”
Elsie looked out the window at the sky. A sky that had been missing one of its three moons since long before she was born. She touched one of the designs on her arm, a dark purple swirl. How could the dark moon magic be balanced if the moon itself no longer existed? It sounded like an impossible feat to her, but then, she wasn’t tasked with the responsibility. The task of balancing the elements belonged to the key.
“Who knows how the lords will react,” Wren said nervously. “And let’s not even get started on the different pantheons. Some of them thrived in the days before Kaho took over the Earth’s power and will do anything to make sure you are successful.”
“What about what I want?” Elsie questioned. “Maybe I don’t want to be some mythical priestess the world’s been waiting for over the past few hundred years! Maybe I don’t want anything to do with being the one to make such an important decision! And maybe I don’t want to bring the Dragons back!”
Her voice rose with every word until she was nearly shouting, and Wren was giving her a shrouded look. “Prophecies do not care what we want,” Wren told her. “There are so many Dragon prophecies in existence, by so many different prophets, that it’s almost impossible to keep track of them all. However, the legend of the priestess and her key didn’t come from a random person. You were prophesied by Elander himself.”
“What’s that supposed to mean? I can’t make the decision for myself because some elf said I have to do it?” Elsie demanded. She didn’t care how unreasonable she was being. Her mother and Stolas had always told her she was meant to do great things, but why had they never once told her what those things were? Why the hell hadn’t they warned her?!
“It means that he saw you do it,” Wren answered patiently. “Some have questioned if he was a prophet or if he had a hidden gift of traveling through time to see these events unfold in person. These decisions lie with you; however, at some point, no matter what you decide, whether you want to or not, you will be the one to open that gate. I’m sorry I don’t have a kinder way of saying this.”
“Basically, I’m doomed,” Elsie sighed. “What’s the point of hiding who I am, then? If I’m going to be forced to open this gate regardless of what I want, what does it matter if other people know?”
“The point is keeping you safe until then, and continuing that safety after. Who knows why Charlamagne wants you? Or what lengths my mother would go to in order to stop you. You could face years of torment before the day comes, and as far as I know, there has never been a prophecy about what happens to the priestess and her key afterward. How will the Dragons react to being dragged back here against their will?” Wren shuddered, crossing her arms in front of her chest.
“Why do we have to bring them back if they don’t want to be here? Didn’t they leave to bring themselves and their chosen races to a place of peace?” Elsie questioned. “I don’t want to piss something that powerful off.”
“The Earth is dying,” Wren answered, and Elsie looked at her sharply. “Without the magic that made this planet thrive, it sinks further into a state of chaos and disorder every day. There isn’t enough magic left to properly support the world and the creatures living on it. It’s why the most powerful have gone to sleep. Since the Dragons left, the greatest among the spirits, gods, and demons have been in hibernation for centuries. The fae are better off in Underhill, but even they are affected by events here.”
Elsie chewed her lip. “But you’ve woken up.”
“Because of the key. She’s pulling magic back from the Dragons. It isn’t enough to sustain the world yet, but I’d imagine everything around her is thriving,” Wren said. “More will wake as she grows.”
“How do you know the key is female?” Elsie asked.
“I’m so disappointed that your mother never told you your own prophecy,” Wren grumbled, then cleared her throat.
“Both beloved and borne by death,
The Priestess and her Key,
Walk together with the dark.
The sisters will meet in the year of the lamb,
When their coven of legion will gather,
And Dragons shall walk again.”
Elsie gritted her teeth, but the first line seemed to be written for her. The rest of it just confused her and pissed her off. The key was one of her sisters? Which one? Santisima had borne hundreds of daughters, and they all walked in darkness, but not necessarily with the dark. Her mother had mentioned the year of the lamb to her, but she still had no idea what it meant.
“I hate this,” she moaned. “It’s too fucking much to think about.”
The marks had already faded, but she wasn’t sure what would cause them to resurface. For now, she needed a break. Elsie stood and pulled her robe over her head, looking at the floor. “I’m going to go throw my laundry into the wash and take a shower. I need to think.”
“I’m here for you if you need anything. No matter how large or small.” Wren grabbed her hand and held it to her heart before Elsie stepped close and gave her a soft kiss. She wasn’t angry with her lover. It wasn’t Wren’s fault that nobody in her life had seen fit to give her a warning about what was to come.
“You can come with me if you want,” she said, instantly rewarded by the relief in Wren’s eyes.
“I can be silent while you think,” the spirit promised.
“Put your dress back on,” Elsie insisted. “I don’t want to have to kill anyone for looking at you.”
“You let Saint look at me,” Wren teased, and Elsie snorted.
“Saint wasn’t interested.”
“I know. I didn’t even bother trying to flirt with him, which is such a shame. He’s so beautiful,” Wren sighed, then laughed at the look on Elsie’s face. “Don’t worry, reaper. The demon is all yours. Don’t think I didn’t notice the intensity between the two of you. There’s no squeezing into that relationship. I’ll consider myself lucky if he comes to tolerate me.”
“I hope he does,” Elsie said honestly. “Saint was my entire life. He’s the one who reminded me of what kind of person I really am. He’s too important to me to see him unhappy.”
Wren grinned. “I promise to behave myself. For your sake, I will not intentionally make his life difficult.”
“Who knew the oldest of the Earth’s children could be such a brat?” Elsie sighed. The spirit gave her an innocent look and pulled her dress back on.
“Brat? But I just promised to be good! I’ll have you know that I’m one of the sweetest of my siblings. Wait until you meet Muethdee or Shoryo.” Wren shuddered. The spirits of fire and water were her brothers, but their tempers were legendary, and if Wren was right, they’d be waking soon.
“I think I’ll skip the family reunion, thanks,” Elsie said. She shouldered her bag but paused before walking out the door. “When is the year of the lamb?”
“Nobody understands that line,” Wren told her. “It meant something to Elander, but so far as anybody knows, there is no year of the lamb. There must be an event to come. Something symbolic to make it known as such.”
“How long will it take for the key to do her part?”
“You’re asking how long you have until you’re expected to open this gate,” Wren guessed. “I suppose she started when I woke up. Since then, only Kahna has woken. At this rate, I’d say you have plenty of time. Years, even.”
“Where exactly am I supposed to get enough power to fuel something like that? What is it people expect me to do? Find and open the Dragon Gate, then yank the most powerful creatures to have ever walked the Earth through it? Am I supposed to bring the elves back too, or just the Dragons? Does Elander say whether or not I die for my role in this?” she asked. Wren walked up and rested her head on her shoulder.
“There were no further prophecies about either you or the key after the Dragons return. Good or bad, I do not think anything further will be expected of you.”
“So nobody knows? I could only have a few years
left to live then!” Elsie growled.
“There was no mention of a sacrifice, and Elander was always good about including those. You will have the strength to do this, and I’m not going to let you die. You aren’t alone, reaper. The key will provide the power, and she’ll do the work of dragging the Dragons through. All you have to do is open the right door,” Wren soothed.
“Where will the key find the power?” Elsie questioned. “It feels like this person is going to be put under a lot of pressure.”
“She is,” Wren agreed. “Once she has balanced the elements, not even the Dragons will be able to withstand her power.”
“And she’s somewhere here on Earth,” Elsie muttered.
“Mmm, up north.”
“You know where she is?” Elsie asked in surprise.
“Of course,” Wren chuckled. “At the rate she’s pulling Earth magic, I’d be a pretty crappy Earth element if I couldn’t figure out where she is.”
“When do you think we should go to her?”
“Not until you see that lamb,” Wren advised. “That’s when all the prophecies say you unite. Even those not written by Elander.”
“What if the words have been mistaken? What if we meet before then, but we don’t unite until it’s time?” she asked.
The spirit wrapped a hand around her waist, resting a palm on Elsie’s stomach. Elsie was stressed about the wrong thing right now, and it was time to take her mind off of it.
“Don’t overthink it. We’ll worry about the Dragons later, my reaper.” Wren gave her a squeeze. “Focus on the problems in front of us right now. The things we can control. Laundry. Shower. After that, sleep. Tomorrow we’ll worry about the hunters arriving on time to take us to the compound. Dragons can wait, at least until your demon returns.”
Elsie chewed on her lip and set her hand over Wren’s. It was sweet of the spirit to try and calm her, but it wouldn’t work. She knew herself too well. This concern would root itself into her mind and eat away at her until she came up with a solution to the problem. Her first instinct was to get the elixir and find a world close enough to Earth that Wren could come with her, but she knew it was a foolish thought. The only place she could think of was Underhill, and they certainly couldn’t go there.
“Come,” Wren encouraged, tugging her out the door and letting the silence spell drop. “Let me see what you look like under the water.”
Elsie rolled her eyes, but she couldn’t help the smile tugging at the corners of her lips. Maybe she could be distracted, at least for a little while.
The next morning, Elsie stood in the middle of a field with Frost at her side and a bewildered expression plastered on her face. She did her absolute best to make all the appropriate sounds of confusion and furrowed her brows as she looked around like a detective on the hunt.
Every single sheep, alpaca, and goat were gone. It wasn’t that they’d broken a fence or a gate had been left open because it wasn’t just one field. It was every animal from every field in the nest. Elsie hid a smirk behind her hand, knowing exactly who was responsible for such a thing, but she refused to say.
“Are your security cameras functioning?” she asked, though she’d seen for herself that they were the day before.
“They revealed nothing.”
“Nothing?” Elsie blinked. “The cameras didn’t capture the animals escaping?”
“We do not believe they escaped. These animals were taken,” Shepherd said, joining them with a steaming cup of coffee in his hand. Elsie couldn’t understand the desire for coffee. Even so early in the morning it was already getting too damned hot outside. She hated the South.
“Alright, let me revise my question. The cameras did not capture the moment the animals were taken?”
“Correct,” Shepherd confirmed.
“That’s strange. What about your warning system? Did anything alert you that a demon entered the nest?” Elsie asked, knowing the answer. The only demon in Nest Salvation was standing right next to her. Shepherd stared at Frost for a long minute before answering.
“No. We do have a timeframe of when they went missing. The animals simply vanished from their pens. They were there in one frame, gone in the next. There wasn’t even a sign of magic being used,” Shepherd said. “The only unknown creatures were with me at the time in the communications room.”
Elsie could feel the suspicion in his gaze, but he couldn’t come out and blame her group if he hadn’t seen any of them leave. She found it ridiculous that they didn’t have cameras in the communications room. If they had, or if Shepherd had been more observant, he’d have noticed that Wren had been absent for at least ten minutes. These people were too trusting of their own organization.
“I have the ability to track remnants of magic left behind when a magical creature is in motion,” Elsie told them. A couple of the men present perked up upon hearing that, but Shepherd didn’t. He kept steadily looking at Frost even though the big wolf ignored him entirely. “Unfortunately, I haven’t seen anything. We had some trouble with mages a few states over, and they’re able to conceal their magic use from me. Are there any mages in the area?”
She figured the likelihood of there being a mage village near here was low enough that she wasn’t about to start a war. One of the men who’d looked the most hopeful glanced at the ground, his shoulders slumping.
“There aren’t,” he said.
“Have you searched outside of the barrier? How many animals are missing, anyway? It looked like thousands to me when we came in yesterday. It would have taken something insanely powerful to move that many at once. Wherever they ended up, they must be leaving a huge trail to follow,” Elsie said suggestively.
“You want us to look anywhere but here,” Shepherd said, and the other men looked at him in surprise. Apparently, the captain was the only man among them who was suspicious of Elsie and her group of magical creatures.
Elsie raised her hands and looked around with her brows raised. “It’s pretty apparent there’s nothing here to look for. Those animals of yours are loud. I’d imagine if one were left behind, it’d be causing a ruckus, am I right?”
“You’re right about that one,” one of the men said.
“I guess I don’t see the point in continuing to look here, unless your humans have a habit of bringing them inside their houses at night? Do you have secret underground tunnels the sheep can drop into so they can go home and sit around the fire?” Elsie asked, trying to keep the mocking tone from her voice.
“Those animals give us our place among the colonies. We supply wool, fabric, and goat cheese to nests across the continent,” Shepherd said. His face was stony.
“Oh my. I imagine that’s why you had so many of them crammed in such a small space,” Elsie replied.
“It’s not like we can keep the animals outside of the nest,” one of the men said defensively, and Elsie smiled at him.
“Afraid of the chupacabra?” she joked. Frost sneezed at her, his tongue lolling out in a wolfie grin. The other men weren’t as good at pretending they weren’t afraid of him as Shepherd was, and one of them took several steps back when he got a good look at all of those teeth.
“There haven’t been any reports of the chupacabra, but there are other things,” Shepherd told her. “Zadian has told us about some of the creatures he’s seen out there. Demons that wouldn’t hesitate to eat our animals.”
Elsie frowned. Most demons didn’t eat little meat sacks without magic unless they were desperate, and these days, the demons were sitting pretty. They had no need to attack flock animals, though they might go after the shepherd. It sounded to her like there was something not quite right about this Zadian character.
“Well, we’re not from around here, so I don’t know which demons those would be,” Elsie allowed. “I’d offer to help you out, but like I said, I don’t see anything to indicate the direction this creature took your floofy beasties. Besides, we haven’t had breakfast yet.”
“We understand,�
�� one of the men said, earning him a dirty glare from Shepherd. He continued on anyway. “This isn’t everyone’s first choice for a way of life. You’re either born with it in your blood, or you’re not.”
“Sheep are in your blood?” Elsie questioned doubtfully, but all three of the men nodded in agreement.
“It’s a callin’,” even Shepherd agreed. “These animals are special to us, and we do our best to protect them.”
While it felt like he was telling the truth, Elsie didn’t believe him. Unless the whole lot of them were ignorant and blind, there was no way they could claim they cared after watching those animals be shoved into pens knee-deep in shit and mud with barely any room to move. She supposed being raised around it could desensitize them to how wrong it was, but that wasn’t a good enough excuse in her mind.
“Wherever they are, I hope those animals are safe,” she said, nodding to the men before walking over to the fence and hopping over it.
“Commander Chantraine,” Shepherd called, and she turned around. “We received word from your transport. They expect to be here in two hours.”
Elsie waved a hand to show she’d heard him, then made her way back to the hunters’ lodge. Her escort was moving fast. They were either closer than she’d guessed, or they had sent people who were capable of jumping long distances. She’d known they wanted her as soon as possible, but Cornick was going beyond what she’d expected.
Wren was still sleeping when she returned to their room, plastic trays of toast and hashbrowns in hand. They’d spent nearly the whole night in each other’s arms. It wasn’t until morning that Elsie discovered the spirit wasn’t nearly so perfect and otherworldly while she slept this hard.
Her perfect mass of white hair was strewn everywhere, and a strand of it had somehow wound up in her mouth. The blankets were kicked to the bottom of the bed and tangled around one of her feet, the other dangling off the side of the bed as if inviting some night terror to take her away. Even Frida had done her part, folding herself into a loaf and perching on top of Wren’s stomach.
