Hotter Than Blue Blazes

by Kimbra Swain

  “You ride his horse, but stay behind me,” Astor said as we stepped out of the tree. The horses grazed in the shade under its branches.

  “I’ll fight with you,” I said. “I’ve got a few tricks up my sleeves.”

  “That dress doesn’t have sleeves,” he said.

  “It’s a saying, Knight,” I said.

  “Oh. Like jerking a knot in my tail?” he asked.

  “Yes, like that,” I said.

  “Okay,” he said looking confused. He walked over to the white stallion holding it steady. I skipped on to it, and he handed me the reins. “Do you know how to ride?”

  “Does it matter now?” I asked.

  “Not really. We have to go,” he said, mounting his chestnut horse.

  “Let’s go,” I said, nudging my heel into the horse’s side. It lurched forward. I gasped and held on. Astor caught up with me quickly as we raced over the hills back to the house. In the distance, smoke rose where the house should be.

  “Oh no,” I muttered.

  “Heeyah!” Astor screamed urging his horse harder than mine. I held on as my horse took it as a cue for it to race forward too. The horses ran like scalded haints over the hills but as smooth as a hot knife through butter.

  The sounds of battle echoed over the hills. I didn’t know what we were going to find once we finally made it back. I hoped my friends were alive. Nothing would stop me from tearing through Summer and its queen if they were harmed.

  THE NOISE EXPLODED into our ears over the last hill as swords clashed against swords. Luther stood in the middle of the guardians with his wings outstretched whacking the centaurs of Summer across the fields. The centaurs would regain their footing and rush forward again. Fauns were also fighting at the command of Rhiannon who sat upon her horse like Lady Godiva in her birthday suit. She did wear scant armor, but nothing to cover her breasts. I thought it completely impractical for fighting, but she was only directing traffic. She sat astride a white horse with a long sparkling mane. Much like the horse I rode, except for one feature. It had a horn. A unicorn. I knew then that she rode the back of a fairy that had shifted to carry her weight. In those moments, staring at the wayward queen, I vowed never to present myself as she had to us over the last days. Throwing an inappropriate party. Ignoring our requests. Throwing us out of her castle. And whatever this was. It sickened me.

  Astor rushed head-long into the field with a loud battle cry that his men responded to with enthusiasm. I saw that the doors to the home were shut, and I hoped that my friends were behind the safety of those doors. A large fire burned in the center of the battlefield. It looked like the remnants of a large battering ram. The guardians of the tree must have thwarted Rhiannon’s attempts to breach the hacienda.

  My horse took tentative steps toward the battle waiting for my command. I only urged him to it slowly. Luther caught my eye, trying to wave me away from the battle. Pulling on the power of Winter, as it was so close by, I decided to turn it loose for the first time. I was ashamed of how the royalty of this realm acted. Knowing that this was their second chance to get it right didn’t help matters either.

  Urging the horse to the crest of the hill, I watched the battle taking place below me. Astor hit the lines of the Summer soldiers swinging his glowing sword. His deft moves prevented permanent injury to his foes. He incapacitated them but didn’t throw a killing blow. This world needed more men like him.

  Waving behind me, I concentrated on the wind stone. Pulling Winter closer to the fight, I stretched my hands out like Christ on the cross then clapped them together in front of me. A bitter cold gust of wind rushed past me to the fighting. The gale force wind knocked over all the fighters including those defending the hacienda. All eyes turned to me as I strutted down the hill on the horse. Above us, the clouds thickened and large snowflakes floated down onto the field of battle.

  Rhiannon’s bitter laughter echoed over the hills. She didn’t speak to me. She just laughed as if I were an insignificant bug. As I drew closer, I saw the jar hanging from a rope on her saddle. A mason jar full of ashes. I wasn’t leaving this field of battle without it.

  Calling on the new-found power of the earth stone, the ground shook with each of my footsteps. The centaurs and fauns fell back to protect their queen. Astor climbed to his feet giving me a nod. I couldn’t tell if it was an “I’ve got your back” nod or “Keep doing what you are doing” nod. Either way, I pressed forward to the center of the battle. The guardians of the tree, lined up behind Astor waiting to strike. Luther joined them seething with ember and flame. His orange eyes swirled with fire. I wouldn’t need the firestone today. I had my own personal ifrit.

  Looking into the eyes of our oppressors, I knew none of them wanted to be there.

  “Spare their lives. I don’t want any centaur or faun dying on this field. I’m going to try to diffuse this situation,” I told Astor.

  “Yes, my Queen. We will not fail you,” Astor said. He was all business now.

  “Rhiannon, Queen of Summer, why do you strike out at the guardians of the Tree of Life? You know this is as if you were attacking the Tree. It is unacceptable,” I said.

  “You continue to think you have power here, but you do not. The woman in the tree is the problem. She’s the one that started this cycle over again. I’m going to end it. Stand down,” she said.

  “I have no power?” I asked holding my hand up to catch the snow as it fell around us.

  “I gave you a chance to leave this realm, yet you remain. You will serve me from this day forward,” she said.

  “There is a snowball’s chance in hell of that,” I said, but looking around me I laughed. The guardians behind me chuckled. “Maybe I should rephrase. Hell no.”

  “So irreverent,” she spat.

  “It’s part of my charm,” I said. “Leave this place. I have no desire to harm your people.” I wanted everyone that fought for Summer to know that there was at least one Queen on this field that cared about them.

  “Your very existence is an abomination to everything we have tried to build,” she said. “No more. I will end you this day.”

  “Perhaps that is why my father chose me. Take your people and leave this field. But before you go, you have something I want,” I said.

  “Oh really?” Her smiled curled up on both sides as she reached to pat the jar. “You cannot have my favorite prize. I’m going to awaken him, chain him to my bed, and make him scream my name.”

  I waved my arm and the entire field stood still except for the queen and me. “I’m not playing with you, Rhiannon. You will release him. Don’t make me kill you,” I said.

  “You can’t snap your finger and kill me like you did the bear,” she said.

  Holding my fingers up to snap, I saw her flinch as I snapped my finger skipping to her side. Reaching up, I dragged her off the horse throwing her nearly naked body to the ground. Losing control of the time spell, the combatants turned to see their Queen cowering before me on the ground. I reached up to the saddle while keeping my eyes on her. The jar came out of its binding and landed in my hand. Astor pushed through the crowd to stand beside me.

  “Foolish boy. She doesn’t want you. Why do you follow her like every other dog?” she snarled.

  “Because she has a heart, and you don’t, Mother,” he said, looking at her. She pulled herself off the ground swearing. She was covered in wet snow and mud. Lunging toward me, I jerked away from her at the same time that Astor pulled me back. He kept both of us from falling to the ground, but Rhiannon took a header into the side of the unicorn. It reared up on his hind legs. Just before its hooves crushed her skull, I managed to stop time again. However, I began to feel the effects of using power to this extreme. Astor continued to move. Being the son of a fairy queen, I imagined he had his own sorts of powers outside of the glowing sword.

  She turned to look at me. “Why did you stop it?”

  “You heard him. I have a heart. More than one of your children are in my care. I have
no desire to kill you. I told you I came here for two things, the book and my brother. Now I have the jar. We are good to go. Hope that you don’t ever see me again, dear Queen. I might lose my heart between now and then,” I replied. Astor and I walked side by side toward the gathering of his men and Luther.

  “You are unwell,” Astor said.

  “Tired. I need to go home,” I said, as the clouds and snow dissipated.

  “I will open the way,” he said.

  A whistling sound split through the silence, and my shoulder erupted in fire and pain. I remember uttering a moan of pain as I tumbled forward to the ground. Astor’s body wrapped around mine quickly as another arrow split the air between us and the marksman. Astor grunted just before we hit the ground. He absorbed the blow for me as stabbing pain shot through my shoulder and chest. The jar slipped from my hands from the impact plus the pain.

  I watched as it sailed through the air, striking a stone on the wet ground. The jar shattered into fine shards of glass. The ash puffed out around the broken jar as the sun heated the area around us. Looking down at my shoulder, the head of an arrow jutted out. Blood ran down the front of my dress. Luther ran toward me, his mouth moving. I watched the ash as it settled on the wet ground.

  “Dylan,” I muttered.

  Astor ignored the jar and its contents as he hoisted me off the ground, running toward Luther and his men. Another arrow whistled past us, to be knocked down by a long green tentacle. Jenny emerged from behind Luther. She pointed to a red-cloaked figure standing just beyond the Summer soldiers. She stood on the hill with a bow. Firing another arrow toward us, Astor tracked it as it sailed through the sky. He pushed Luther to the side, then dodged it himself.

  Jenny reached down plucking the arrow out of the ground. “It’s poisoned,” she gasped looking a black inky substance coating the tip. I looked down at the tip through my shoulder. The hint of the poison stained the edges of the hole through my dress.

  “Shit,” I gasped.

  “We’ve got to get her out of here,” Astor said. Tabitha and the rest of our party ran out of the front door as Astor pulled his glowing sword.

  I pushed against Luther, shooting pain through the wound in my shoulder. “Dylan! I will not leave him! He will rise!” I screamed.

  “It isn’t him. It was a trick,” Luther said. “There is no heat in the ash. I would be able to feel it, Grace. Don’t fight me. The poison will spread faster.”

  “No! It is him. I said pushing away from him. He almost dropped me as I wrestled with him. Sobs wracked my body as I stared at the ash. I looked up to Rhiannon who realized the truth. She turned to her Granddaughter standing on the hill.

  “Get her!” she screamed. The centaurs raced off to capture the woman standing in the flowing red cloak on the hill. “She will not be my heir.”

  Another arrow streaked across the sky, this time heading toward Robin. Rowan emerged from the midst of the Summer warriors.

  Robin spun to avoid the arrow. Her long red cloak fluttered around her. A dark portal opened behind her, and Brockton stepped out. He looked across the field of battle, locking eyes with me when he found me among the throng of fairies. He lifted his right hand, waving at me with a smile. With his left, he joined hands with little red Robin Hood. They stepped back through the portal together as it crashed to a close before Marshall and his centaurs could reach her.

  My eyes went back to the ash on the ground. “He’s gone. It wasn’t him. He’s really gone,” I muttered.

  “I need to get her back to the clinic. Like now!” Tabitha ordered.

  A shout came from the Summer Queen as the centaurs turned back toward us. She had regained her bloodlust after her granddaughter slipped through her hands. Rowan ran toward us. I supposed that she tried to get close to her mother to kill her but decided to thwart Robin’s designs to kill me. It might have been too late.

  Astor waved the sword in a circle opening a portal to Shady Grove, but instead of us running through it, Tennyson Schuyler and several other men came through carrying swords and guns. Rhiannon stopped her charge.

  “Halt!” she yelled.

  She turned in circles on the horse staring at Lachlan. Motioning to the group of fauns behind her, they dragged a woman forward by her hair. Rhiannon had Rowan.

  “I have something that is yours, Knight,” she said. “I will trade her life for your servitude.”

  “Let her go, Morgana,” Lachlan’s voice boomed with authority. His massive arms flexed stretching the limits to his suit as he held his sword at the ready.

  “I will have at least one prize,” she said.

  “No,” I muttered. Lachlan looked down at me. His eyes were filled with pain. Jenny rushed up hitting her knees at my side. She looked up at Lachlan who gritted his teeth while looking at her. “She chose to leave the safety of the house of guardians. Do not give yourself up for her.”

  “I cannot leave her here. Rhiannon will torture her,” Lachlan said. “I am not a man if I stand by and let it happen.”

  “You are my servant,” I said.

  “Don’t order me, Grace. I beg of you,” he said.

  “You waited too long to decide,” Rhiannon said taking a dagger, then running it through Rowan’s chest. Rowan gasped for air as the dagger punctured her lungs. Rhiannon withdrew the dagger retreating to her guard.

  Lachlan screamed lashing out to Rhiannon. I handed a vile of liquid to Jenny who looked at it then nodded. She transformed into an eight-tentacled creature that shifted across the snow and wet ground with haste. Making the distance up between her and Lachlan, she lunged for Rhiannon while throwing the liquid behind her. A portal opened up, as Jenny slapped two of her tentacles forward shoving Rhiannon through. She swiped the bottom of the portal, closing it before Lachlan could rush through.

  Grabbing her by the throat, Lachlan screamed, “Why?”

  “I couldn’t let you offend her again. Look at us! She’s cursed us forever. I couldn’t lose you in the process. Not again,” she pleaded.

  “Let her go,” I winced.

  Rowan gargled beneath them. Jenny moved away from them as Lachlan sank to his knees. He lifted Rowan’s head to his lips. “My dear, why did you do this? I asked you not to do it,” Lachlan said. “What do I tell our son?”

  “Tell him to forget the past. Build a new future. I could not let go,” Rowan said, gasping for breath. “I was wrong.”

  Lachlan kissed her on the forehead and muttered, “Oh, Elaine.”

  I took the last vile from my pouch looking up to Astor who shuddered then sank to a knee.

  “Astor!” I said. He turned his white face to me. His hand covered his side, but when he withdrew it, a gaping hole poured out blood.

  “I pulled the arrow out,” he said.

  I heard Rowan heave a final breath. Jenny sobbed lightly watching Lachlan’s despair. What a fucked-up mess.

  * * *

  The arrow in my shoulder burned, but it had missed vital organs. It hurt like the dickens. I wasn’t sure the poison was even working because other than the pain, I felt fine.

  “Come here,” I said. He moved slowly on his knees to my side. I gave the vile to Tabitha who looks at me astonished.

  “Where did you get this?” she asked.

  “Can you use it on him?” I asked.

  “Yes, but blue quartz is rare. Where did you get this?”

  “The Solomonar,” I said. “Don’t let him die.”

  “No, give it to Rowan,” he said.

  “She’s already gone,” I said.

  “That’s how it works, Grace. It raises the dead,” Tabitha replied.

  “Give it to her, not me,” Astor said moving closer to my side. “You take care of that baby. It was an honor to finally meet you. I know you think I’m crazy, but I love you, Grace. I’ve loved you my whole life.”

  “Don’t leave,” I begged him. Tears poured out of my eyes. “I don’t want you to go.” Reaching for his face, my fingers brushed the stubble of red
hair that had started to grow on his jawline. A face of a pure man who fought for right his entire life. A man who held the grail. A righteous man if there ever was one.

  “It’s my time,” he said.

  “Please,” I begged. “Sir Knight, please stay with me.”

  He stroked my hair leaning into me. “Finley will be back with Levi soon. He will take care of you. A new generation. A new world.” He kissed my cheek. “Don’t cry, Grace. Beautiful Grace.” He heaved the last breath, then sank to the ground by my side.

  “No!” I exclaimed. When I tried to move, the pain in my shoulder flared and my vision filled with flashing stars. The pain throbbed and radiated from the entry point on my back. Tabitha looked confused as to what to do with the glowing blue vial in her in hand. She looked to Luther who shrugged. I fought the darkness with everything that I had, but it was no use. The pain from the injury overwhelmed me as my servants began to argue over who they should revive with the blue quartz.

  “YOU HAVE NEVER SPOKEN of that day until now,” I said.

  “For good reason. I took them into that world. People died. I felt responsible. Hell, I still feel responsible. Not just for those we lost that day because it was only the beginning of the lives that were lost,” she said with that far-off sad look in her eyes. “We lost people we loved. I lost them.”

  “I know you will ignore me, but it must be said that you cannot blame yourself for it,” I tried to reassure her.

  However, in true Grace form, she cussed me then turned on her royal side. “You are a fucking idiot if you don’t see it, Levi. After all we’ve been through, you should know that I take responsibility for my people. Rejoicing in our triumphs. Bearing the burden in our losses.”

  Her words were royal even though she slouched in the old recliner. Her favorite orange soda sat untouched on the end table. A sweat ring had formed around the bottom of it. She sighed, then took a long drag from the drink as if it were a drug.