by Brindi Quinn
I gritted my teeth at the searing pain, and the feather’s point dug into my burning wrist, sewing itself beneath my skin. It slid just below the surface and wrapped itself around the tattoo, becoming tattoo itself. It erased the pain, along with the old scrolling letters. When it was over, my wrist held a new tattoo – a feather tattoo.
Illuma didn’t notice.
“You claim that you’ve come to save me,” she said. “But haven’t you just been falling in love with my captor? Have you forgotten who coaxed us through the barrier on that night? Have you forgotten the memory of the mysterious Elf you introduced me to – before that hag, Marbeck, interfered? WELL?!”
“I haven’t forgotten, Illuma.” My voice was quiet. “But it wasn’t his fault. I still don’t know why Elder Pietri commanded him to take you to them-”
She interrupted me with a cloud of tinkling laughter. “Oh, my mekanix! You really are a fool, sister.” Leering, she shook her head. “Who do you think my insider at Yes’lech is? Pietri works for Lusafael! Lusafael commands Druelca, and Pietri is his commanding general!”
“What?! Commanding general?!”
She had to be lying. She had to be. I didn’t trust Pietri, but he was an officer! And an elder! And . . . and . . . he’d framed Ged’ra and given Illuma and Nyte to Druelca.
It made undeniable sense.
Everything inside of me was melting. The only solid part was the feather around my wrist. That was the only thing still real.
“Hahaha! Look at your stupid face! You’re so shocked! It’s great. Should we go up and visit him right now? You can ask him all about it yourself. He’s standing guard over the prisoners.” She clapped her hands. “Oh, boys!”
Two guards entered the room through a golden side door.
“Bring my sacrifice to the roof. She wishes to join her friends.”
Chapter 21: The Angel
“THE PURE HEART!” Rend was first to see me. Her voice, which was far less cold than normal, actually sounded relieved. A cluster of shouts followed.
“Miss Heart!”
“Aura, yer alright!”
The site before me was intense. An enormous fire burned, protected by an open-sided metal covering, at the center of the eastern tower’s flat, open roof.
Grotts, Scardo, Rend, Nyte, and Ardette were suspended vertically in the air, held in place by a giant spider web of red energy over the side of the tower. Before them were twenty armed Druelcan guards all standing attention at a wrinkled Elf with a white-green beard. He was clad entirely in mystic blue. The Mystress hadn’t been lying. It was the elder.
“Everyone!” Now unbound, I started for the web, but the guards on either side of me held me back.
“Miss Havoc!” Nyte thrashed against the web. “I WILL rescue you!”
“Silence! All of you!” Illuma snapped and the web pulsed ominously.
The five of them let out yelps of pain.
“Argh!” Ardette gritted his teeth. “Damn you! As ugly as I knew you’d be! Downright hideous if you ask me. Not nearly as beautiful as your sister. It’s plain to see which of you inherited the good genes!”
Ardette! Shut up!
Forming her hands into a circle, Illuma shot a blast of red at Ardette. Everything around him glowed bright for a moment before the spell settled inside of his veins. All over, his body glowed with red, searing light. He grimaced and let out a deep, “Ach!”
“NO!” I shouted and tried to shake the guards off.
“Now, now, you be quiet too!” warned Illuma. She snapped, and a ball of red formed over Nyte’s head.
Nyte retaliated furiously. “Do not fear for me, Aura! She can do noth-”
But a second snapped lightorb over my head shut him up. Instead, growling, he murdered her with his eyes.
“Hello, Papa Pietri,” sang Illuma. She walked over to him with delicate steps.
‘Papa Pietri’?!
“Ah! My Mystress.” Pietri tipped his head and kissed her hand. “I was just sharing your family history with the rest of them.”
I didn’t want to believe it. “Elder Pietri?” I whispered. “How could you?”
“SILENCE!” Illuma yelled and Nyte reeled back in pain as the lightball above his head shot a bolt of energy into him.
No! I’m sorry, Nyte!
“Cousin!” Rend let out a concerned cry.
“Oh, let him alone a minute, would you, my dear?” wheezed the elder. “I would like to converse with him awhile.”
“As you wish, Papa.” She swirled her hand before her, and the light orb over Nyte’s head moved to the space above Ardette.
“Now then, Nyte. Regarding Edaw-”
“You!” interrupted Nyte in a growl. “You burned Edaw?! You were the Elf that betrayed our homeland?! To think that an esteemed ancient would turn against his own people-”
“No, Nyte,” replied Elder Pietri calmly, “the Elf that burned Edaw was . . . you.”
At his words, unanimous looks of horror spread across Rend and Nyte’s faces.
“Well, if you want to get technical, I suppose it was not your will. Though, it was your hands that committed the sin.”
“What?!” spat Rend. “That is impossible! I was with him the morning it happened!”
Pietri shook his head. “He burned it the dawn of the day you arrived. In your last hour of sleep, while he was supposed to be keeping guard, he stole away and set fire to the place. Contained within the magical barrier, the fire burned slowly. That is how you were able to stumble upon its remnants.”
Nyte’s eyes were wide. Distressed. Shattered. “Why?” he asked. “What was the point of having me burn it? What senseless destruction!”
“Because.” The Mystress sighed. “It’s quite genius, so I guess I’ll share. I was controlling you remotely, and the only way I could do that – control you by song without you hearing the song – was to predetermine the time of bondage and attach it to a talisman. That’s why the good elder placed my Druelcan talisman on the back of his Silver Command.
“Unfortunately, I didn’t know that you’d pick up that Squirrelean along the way. By our calculations, you should have arrived in Edaw a day earlier, and you would have if you’d kept Elf’s pace the whole time. But with that Squirrelean tagging along . . .
“Well, that was before I knew I needed Aura alive for the sacrifice, of course. So I suppose it’s a good thing you picked up such a slow and inept companion.”
Grotts growled at her description of Kantú.
“That was the Druelcan scrap we found near Edaw?” asked Scardo. “A talisman?”
I remembered the torn cloth scrap with odd scribbles that had alerted the Yes’lechians that Druelca was near.
“SILENCE!” Illuma stomped her foot. “I didn’t grant you permission to speak, Rendaltian!”
Scardo paid for his interjection with a red light dosage similar to the one she’d given Ardette. His arms were covered by tuxedo, but the veins in his neck lit up with red glow.
NO! NO! STOP IT! It was all I could do to keep from screaming.
“How dare you force me into evil-”
“Uh-uh-uh!” sang Illuma. The orb above my head dropped slightly, so that I could feel its heat on my head. “You’d better treat me kindly, Nyte, or your new girlfriend’ll get it!”
“Ah! Do not!”
Illuma laughed. “Look at you. How squirmy you get when it involves her. Oh, Nyte. Are you still mad that I tried to have you killed the last time we met? It’s true that a broken pet is useless, but after we parted, I found myself missing you again. Won’t you come back to me?”
Eyeing the orb above my head, Nyte said nothing.
“Alright then, Nyte. I guess I’ll just give you a little dose for old time’s sake.” The Mystress pointed at me. “Resist and she gets it!”
She started up her song:
“. . . Slumber for me quiet,
Gentle mist allowed in,
Open up your headsong,
Fog th
e morning over . . .”
NO! Those were the words I dreaded more than anything. The words that would force him under her control once more.
Upon finishing the song, Illuma reached out and pulled the air in front of her like she was tugging at an invisible string. The motion caused Nyte’s portion of the web to come slinging toward her. Reaching out, she next touched the glowing energy bindings around him, and they slowly dissipated away. With a thud, Nyte fell to the ground at her feet.
“My Mystress,” said Nyte in a monotone. He rose to his feet.
“That’s better. I missed you.”
Illuma walked forward, stood on her toe-tips and brought her lips to his. I winced in anticipation of the kiss, loathing the thought of their lips meeting in intimacy, but in the end, I wouldn’t have to witness the dreaded event. For when they were almost touching, Nyte suddenly pulled away, dropped to the ground, and performed a sweep kick in an attempt to knock her down.
“NYTE!?” Illuma jumped over his leg, and the five front Druelcans were around him in an instant, holding him down.
“Attaboy!” yelled Grotts.
“WHAT?!” shrieked Illuma. “What happened?!”
“Ah, yes,” said Elder Pietri. He held up a hand telling his guards to stay, and stroking his beard, walked over to her. “I forgot to inform you that his pendant has been removed.”
Illuma’s eyes widened with fury. Her fists glowed red.
“What do you mean it’s been removed, Papa Pietri?!” she spat. “Where is it!?”
“That bird up there has it.”
I followed his point and saw that the Spirit of In-between was above us, circling. It had finally decided to show itself again.
“It does? Why would a bird have the pendant? I thought he was unable to remove it!”
“I do now how the pendant came to be removed, but what I am certain of, is that that bird took it from his pocket.”
“Then there is only one thing to be done.” Illuma readied her hands to shoot the bird down, but before the orb had even started to form, Pietri reached out to stop her with a wrinkled hand.
“I would not recommend doing that. The bird is not what it seems. Let me take care of it.”
“But without the pendant-”
“I know. Without the pendant, you cannot control him. But there is another way.”
“There is?” Annoyed, Illuma raised a brow at the elder. “Well, speak up!”
“Transfer a little bit of spirit into him. I do not think he will take it freely, so you will have to force it on him, but that should not be a problem for someone like you.”
Illuma didn’t seem entirely convinced. “Spirit? Will that really work?”
“Aha! Of course.” The elder’s tone was unworried and reassuring. “He is only an Elven boy. If you can control him with song, imagine what you can do with a little bit of your own spirit within him, driving him. The things you could accomplish!” He patted her hand.
Illuma’s silvery eyes lit up even more at the news. I didn’t want to know what sort of things she wished to ‘accomplish’.
“Alright, trusted advisor. I will try.” She snapped her fingers and sang, “Oh, boys! BRING HIM TO ME!”
The five Druelcans forced Nyte to his feet and dragged him over to her.
“Hold still this time, or the Pure Heart will fry. Understand?”
Nyte lifted his forward head and brought his rage-filled eyes to me – rage-filled eyes that melted when they fell on my face.
“I understand,” he said. That old sadness was back again, taking the rage’s place. “I will not resist.”
“Good boy.”
This time, Illuma brought her lips to his cheek – his soft, bronze cheek that was mine alone to kiss. While this kiss was a little more bearable, it was still hard to watch. Yet I kept my eyes peeled, watching for a sign. Waiting for an opportunity to lash back with song. I knew that I had to do something. I was the only one that could. But I feared for the others. They’d get hurt if I tried anything. They were all capable fighters, but with one person’s power, they’d all been bound.
Bound and infuriated. They were all fuming. I could see that silent anger in their eyes, beneath their skin, boiling to get out. Even Scardo looked more fearsome than I’d ever seen him. How could free I them? How could I stop their suffering?
But while I was thinking through all of that, something else was happening.
Illuma’s lips had made contact, and Nyte, though scowling, hadn’t resisted. But only a few seconds into the kiss, something changed. Something magnificent.
Nyte, who’d been sitting limply in the guards arms, suddenly straightened up.
“Good,” coached Pietri, “give him a little more.”
It was at this time that the elder looked at me with a twinkle in his eye . . . and winked. A glorious wink of mischief and camaraderie. A wink of light. It was an action that made me stiffen out of surprise . . . and hope.
Ardette, did you see that?!
I looked up at the Daem, and he nodded, but he didn’t seem as hopeful as I was. Rather, he seemed cautious and curious. Grotts too was staring at Pietri, his forehead wrinkled in analysis. The three of us had caught it, but Rend and Scardo were looking as depressed as ever while acting witness to the kiss.
“Well, Nyte, I think that should be enough. I can feel it. You’re connected to me now. Like a leash-” Illuma started to pull away from him, but in a movement of incredible strength, Nyte forced his arm away from the guards and grabbed her wrist. The area where their skin touched began to glow red.
“WHAT?!” shrieked The Mystress. She wildly tried to free her arm from his clutch. Nyte held strong.
At once, the second wave of Druelcans sprang forward, but Pietri gave a rapid spin with an outstretched arm, and the space before them flickered mystic blue. Nevertheless, the thugs charged, but the space before them was blocked by an invisible wall . . . an Elven barrier keeping out anyone unaccompanied by Elf. Though they ran, the barrier wouldn’t allow them to pass, instead making them fall back from the momentum of their own pummels.
The guards that were holding me back looked to each other for guidance while the ones holding Nyte fought to force him back. Illuma raised her free hand to snap, but Nyte threw out his other arm and pushed it to the ground.
Their touching skin glowed brighter.
“Excellent, Nyte! Take all of your power back from her!” Elder Pietri let out a great whoop. “But hurry! He will be here soon!”
“E-Elder Pietri!” Scardo now looked happier than he ever had. “I knew . . . I-I-I knew!”
Elder Pietri circled his hands and blasted a blue ball of light at the guards restraining me. They fell back, bound upon contact. The elder next focused his attention on the guards surrounding Nyte. Most of them were using all of their energy to hold him down, but two of them had started to unsheathe their weapons. Another blast of blue sent them flying.
The elder hurried to me. “Aura! It is wonderful to see you again! I am overjoyed that you decided to take my advice!”
“Elder, what’s going o-”
“I apologize for the suffering this endeavor has caused, but you see, I had to wait until I could convince her to try transference. It played out wonderfully, do you not think?”
“Ehh-” I didn’t know what to say.
“Why, having a lovely conversation down there, are you, my cherry pit? Would you mind helping us down?”
“Oh, right! But what song? If I unbind them, they’ll fall!”
“Wait!” said the elder in a wheeze. “Just watch!”
Nyte was now over Illuma, both hands around her wrists, and each of his hands were glowing red. Brilliant, powerful red that resembled that of Rend’s.
“PAPA PIETRI?! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!? LUSAFAEL WILL NEVER FORGIVE THIS ACT OF SABOTAGE! EEEEHYAAAAH!”
“Quickly, Nyte!” hurried the elder. He walked to the side of the fortress, put his fingers to his lips and let out a loud, long whistl
e.”
A moment later, something responded.
“Aar-ta-ta-ta-ta,” came the creaking cry of a ferothew.
I stood in dumbstruck amazement while the heads of the four giant insects poked over the side of the tower’s edge. The beasts had climbed the tower, sticking as easily to the wall as spiders. Two of them bore riders.
“Hiya, guys!” came a high-pitched call.
“Kantoo!” was Grotts’ gruff reply.
The Squirrelean slid down the side of the fero with a plop.
“Kantú?!” I ran to her with outstretched arms and wrapped her in a massive hug. “What are you doing here?! You were steering that thing? But how?! You hate bugs!”
“I know! Isn’t it so great? I braved it just for you guys! But I’ll tell you later. Right now, we have to hurry!”
“Hurry?”
“He is almost finished!” Elder Pietri scanned the night sky beyond the fortress as though he were anticipating something.
“Hello everyone!” Darch slid off of his fero and gave a great clap.
“Darch?!” Still suspended in the web, Ardette was fuming once again. “Why the hell didn’t you warn me?!”
“Er- sorry, Ardetto.”
“Actually, a more prevalent question would be how in Creator’s name did you manage to keep this from me?! I thought you were still back at the watchtower!”
Darch smiled brightly and held up an enthusiastic finger. “Well, you know how we had that false alarm earlier?”
“You mean when you yelled, ‘Help, help! I can’t find Kantú. It’s an emergency- Oh, never mind!’ Yes, I remember. What a wonderful thing to yell when someone’s in the middle of a siege, by the way!”
Darch’s excitement only grew. “Well, as it turns out, Pietri had her! And when I found her, he put up a block in my head, so you’d only hear my irrelevant back-mind thoughts. We didn’t want you to give anything away, so we needed your responses to everything to be genuine!”
