ALDER

by Melody Robinette

  Several little hands shot into the air, and Autumn called on a girl with light-blonde pigtails, who reminded her of a miniature Crystal.

  “Where did you get your dress?” she asked shyly.

  “That’s a great question,” Autumn said with a warm smile. “My best friend, Crystal, made this dress for me. She’s actually opening up a little shop in City Circle called Everly’s, which is really awesome.”

  “Did she make your clothes too?” the girl asked Luke, who smirked.

  “She’s made some of my clothes, but she really likes to make girl clothes. I don’t know, though. Hmmm. Should I ask Crystal to make me a dress too?”

  The kids cracked up at this, now clearly more excited to ask them questions as several more little hands shot into the air. Autumn called on a girl with ebony skin and hair wound into a ballerina-style bun.

  “Why don’t you wear your crowns?”

  Autumn and Luke exchanged glances. They couldn’t exactly tell the kids it was because the memory of their grandfather was too fresh and painful for them to wear the crowns he gave them.

  Luke was the first to come up with an acceptable answer. “Those things are really heavy!”

  The kids all laughed, and a boy with fiery red hair raised his hand high and, without waiting to be called on said, “I’m Wesley and guess what I did. I made a warlock friend yesterday!”

  Autumn beamed, but the teacher went to kneel down by the boy, murmuring in his ear. Straining to hear the teacher, the words, “We don’t talk to warlocks, remember?” met Autumn's ears.

  Pushing back the urge to reprimand the woman, she calmly said, “I think that’s so great that you made a warlock friend, Wesley.” The teacher pursed her lips as Autumn went on. “Warlocks are allies of the elves, and we all should be very kind to them. They are a huge help to Arbor Falls.”

  The redhead perked up at this and Autumn felt a small amount of satisfaction as the teacher folded her arms across her chest, but said nothing further to the boy.

  Autumn called on a quiet boy with round, blue eyes with his hand raised high. His expression was grave and resolute. “My daddy was killed by a Shadow in the battle that happened here,” he stated. It wasn’t a question. It wasn’t an accusation either. It was just an honest statement, said as plainly as if someone had asked him what his first name was.

  Autumn and Luke went silent for several uncomfortable seconds. Autumn opened her mouth to speak, but Luke answered instead. “I know how you feel, buddy. My dad was killed last year too. I miss him very much.”

  “Was he killed in battle too?” the boy asked sadly.

  Luke shook his head. “No. He was killed in the Outside…by Vyra Vaun.”

  The kids’ eyes went wide, and Autumn glanced uncertainly at the teachers, who were looking from the students, to Luke, and back with uneasy expressions.

  “Vyra Vaun is dead now,” one of the other kids stated, not even bothering to raise his hand.

  Luke nodded. “Yes, she is.”

  The teacher raised her hand then and said in a clearly forced cheerful voice, “So, King Luke, tell us some more about Arbor Castle.”

  Autumn frowned over at the teacher. These kids were clearly interested in talking about real things, not the stupid castle. Things that mattered and were important to their little lives. Just because they were children didn’t mean they didn’t see what was going on, or that they hadn’t overheard their parents’ nervous whispers in the next room. She felt that telling them the truth about things made them feel better rather than fearful. Kids appreciated the truth.

  Luke caught on to what the teacher was doing, though, and began animatedly describing the massive staircase that wound around the perimeter of the inside of Arbor Castle. Autumn watched the little boy whose dad had died in battle. He seemed completely uninterested in the architecture of the castle, keeping his eyes trained sadly on the ground now.

  As Luke moved on to the topic of the pegasus stables, a castle worker suddenly rushed into the classroom. Her brother continued to talk as the worker bent down to whisper five horrifying words into Autumn’s ear.

  “Arbor Falls is under attack.”

  6

  The Day the Arbor Fell

  Autumn sat paralyzed in her seat, Luke continued telling the students about the pegasus stables but faltered when he saw the look on his sister’s face.

  “Okay, kids,” Autumn said when she’d gathered her chaotic thoughts and found a break in Luke’s story. “King Luke and I have lots of things to do at the castle. Thank you guys so much for letting us visit your classroom. Ms. Lovell, may I have a word with you outside, please?”

  The teacher nodded, looking apprehensive. Perhaps she thought she was going to be reprimanded for telling the students not to talk to warlocks. This issue, however, was much more dire.

  “What’s going on?” Luke asked as Ms. Lovell closed the door firmly behind her.

  “Arbor Falls is under attack,” Autumn said, parroting the guard’s words.

  Ms. Lovell raised a hand to her mouth. “Oh my goodness!”

  “Is there a basement or a cellar here that you could take the kids to?” Autumn asked her hurriedly.

  “Y—yes. There is.”

  “Okay. Take them down there as soon as possible and don’t come out until someone tells you it’s safe,” Autumn ordered. “If the kids ask what’s happening, don’t lie.”

  Ms. Lovell’s eyes widened, and she whispered, “I won’t.”

  “We’ve gotta go,” Autumn murmured to Luke.

  “Okay, but you should probably change into your Warrior armor,” Luke said, eying her dress distastefully. “I wouldn’t recommend fighting in that.”

  Autumn tore at the buttons trailing all the way to the top of the high-necked gown. With a ripping sound, the fabric split down the middle, buttons popping in protest, to reveal Autumn’s Warrior armor beneath the delicate dress. “Done.”

  Luke raised his eyebrows as Autumn stepped out of the dress now crumpled in a heap on the floor. “That was kind of badass.”

  “It was your girlfriend’s idea.”

  “Figures.”

  Autumn and Luke left the small elves in the care of the teachers as they charged out of the Elemen Tree, coming to a stunned halt. Arbor Falls was swarming with Shadows. Autumn thought the Battle of City Circle a few months ago had been intimidating, but that had only been groups of fighters from each magical race. This was a whole other situation.

  This was the most Shadows Autumn had seen in her life. Where there wasn’t a Warrior or Caster fighting, there was a Shadow, and another, and another. Every fighter had at least five to ten Shadows surrounding them at all times.

  “Holy petalsies,” Luke whispered from beside her.

  That was all he had time to say because a wall of Shadows was now closing in on the two of them.

  * * *

  AVERY hurtled over bodies of Shadows and elves and warlocks as he rushed to the aid of Crystal, who was fighting off seven Shadows on her own.

  “Avery! Oh, thank God,” she cried out as he pounced on the Shadow she was warding off with her Ice, and quickly cracked its neck. “Where are Autumn and Luke?” she called out.

  “At the Elemen Tree,” he said, snapping the necks of two other Shadows simultaneously.

  Avery sincerely hoped the little elf school hadn’t been hit as bad as City Circle had. There were no breaks in the battle. After one Shadow had been taken down, three more took its place. Each time Avery surveyed the area, more had appeared, and fewer elves and warlocks remained fighting. They were everywhere—in the fountain, in the streets, climbing the trees.

  In school, they had learned about diseases only Outsiders had, cancer being one of them. They had learned about how deadly the disease was and how quickly it spread—so fast sometimes that people never had a chance at fighting it. Looking out at the sea of swarming Shadows, Avery imagined this was what cancer cells looked like, magnified a billion times.

&nb
sp; A dark thought drifted across his mind, something that rarely happened in battles. He was usually more than optimistic about their chances of surviving…but, not this time. Then Crystal spoke the words he’d been thinking as she threw a jagged ice shard through the chest of yet another Shadow.

  “Avery,” she said with terror-filled eyes, “I don’t think we’re all going to make it.”

  That was the moment the tree fell, crushing Crystal beneath its weight.

  * * *

  AUTUMN and Luke battled their way through the thick wall of Shadows, trying to make it to City Circle where the majority of the Warriors were fighting. As they moved forward, Autumn mentally accounted for the Warriors she passed. Ember and Kyndel were on the hill near Arbor Castle, fighting back to back. Ember kept up a steady stream of blazing flames, warding off the encroaching Shadows, and Kyndel would blink in and out of existence, using her Invisibility to weave through the Shadows and slice their necks with her fighting blade.

  Willow and Forrest were fighting on the path that led into town—at least Autumn assumed the dragon beneath him was Willow, anyway. Like Ember, Willow used fire to combat the Shadows. When she wasn’t burning them to cinders, she was twirling in a circle, taking them out with her massive tail. Forrest sat astride her back, sending arrow after arrow into the dark sea of evil creatures.

  Edric, Jastin, and Charlotte were in the heart of the battle in City Circle. Edric used all of his energy to project his shield around himself as well as Jastin and Charlotte. Jastin’s eyes were afire as he pumped Psychological Pain into the surrounding Shadows, who crumbled in agony, clutching their horned heads with their hooves as Charlotte flashed to each of them, putting them out of their misery with a dagger to the temple.

  The Casters Autumn knew best—Zane, Wyx, and Leon—were on the other side of the massive circular fountain sending jets of spells streaking through the air like waves of heat into the undulating swarm of Shadows. The rest of the Warriors were scattered throughout the town.

  There were two Warriors, though, that were notably missing. The two Warriors Autumn cared most about.

  * * *

  AVERY had to fight off five more Shadows before he dove to the spot where Crystal lay crushed beneath the tree that had once held the fay light that lit City Circle at night.

  “Crystal?” he said when he reached her side. “CRYSTAL!”

  Her blue eyes fluttered open and fixed on him, she opened her mouth, but no words came out, only a sickening gurgle. The lower half of her body was hidden beneath the trunk of the tree, only her torso visible. Though he was more than capable of lifting the tree off of her, Avery knew better. The trunk was acting as a temporary stopper for any internal bleeding. But, the moment the tree was lifted…

  “Stay with me, okay, Crys?” he said desperately.

  Her breathing was shallow, and she wasn’t focusing on anything, her head swiveling about like the broken bud of a rose, as if she was confused as to where she was.

  A snapping twig alerted Avery to more danger, and he looked up from Crystal’s dazed eyes to see a mass of Shadows crawling over the fallen tree to get to them.

  “Hold on, Crystal. Please hang on,” he whispered urgently as he swiped his bow up from the ground and strung three arrows at once, sending them into the hearts of the vile creatures cooked up by Victor’s blood, cursing the man with the emerald eyes for his existence.

  * * *

  AUTUMN and Luke continued to fight off Shadow after Shadow after Shadow as they silently looked for Crystal and Avery, neither accepting the fact that something could have happened to them. The creatures continued to pop up out of nowhere, as if they were being created on the spot. Maybe they were.

  “There’s too many of them!” Autumn called after what felt like hours of fighting, though it seemed as though they hadn’t even made a dent. If anything, more Shadows had appeared.

  “What else can we do?” Luke yelled back as he electrocuted five of the creatures with lightning and pummeled another ten with a hurricane-force wind.

  “NO!” an anguished cry came from behind them, and Autumn and Luke whipped around to see Charlotte lying limp in Jastin’s arms as Edric battled the Shadows around them that were quickly closing in.

  * * *

  KYNDEL had long since run out of arrows and had taken to using her Warrior knife as Ember warded the Shadows off with blazing Fire.

  “They just keep coming!” Kyndel cried after they killed another ten Shadows, just to have fifteen more charge at them. “We can’t do this much longer!”

  “Let’s move closer to town where the others are,” Ember yelled back as she sent an angry wave of flames at ten Shadows that were just as quickly replaced by twenty more. “We need more fighters.”

  Kyndel nodded and turned on her heel, following hurriedly after Ember, slicing at Shadows as they went. The path to town was almost impassable because of the number of bodies, and it wasn’t just the Shadows’ bodies either. Kyndel felt a lump form in her throat when she passed the unmoving form of a small elf child, wrapped in his mother’s limp arms, both of their eyes were closed. So peaceful and quiet, they could’ve been sleeping…but she knew they weren’t.

  Suddenly Ember halted, and Kyndel ran into her back.

  “Ember wha—?”

  Ember turned to look at her with a pale, white face and tear-filled amber eyes. “Don’t look, Kyn. Don’t look.”

  “Why? Who—?”

  “Just look the other way,” Ember said, her voice uncharacteristically wavering.

  “Cut it out Ember! Move!” Kyndel pushed around her to see what Ember was trying to protect her from seeing.

  It was Willow in her dragon form, pummeling Shadow after Shadow, letting out roars that sounded very much like sobs, and now Kyndel could see why.

  Forrest’s body lay on the path, his eyes staring unseeingly ahead, and his limbs twisted in ways they shouldn’t have been.

  Dragon Willow fought off the last Shadow on the trail and turned back into her elf form, collapsing in sobs by Forrest’s lifeless body.

  * * *

  VICTOR watched the chaos in the town he had once called home with an unreadable expression. He watched as Warrior and Caster alike perished at the hands of his Shadows. They climbed up buildings and trees, which cracked and fell under the Shadows’ crushing weight.

  “I think that’s enough,” he said in an even tone.

  “You sure, Sire?” Thorn asked uncertainly. “There are still several Warriors left.”

  “Do not question me, Thorn,” he snapped. “It’s enough.”

  He watched for another handful of seconds before silently ordering his Shadows to retreat to Alder Island, confident this had accomplished precisely what he intended.

  * * *

  AUTUMN and Luke battled their way over to Edric, Jastin, and Charlotte. The Shadows were closing in on them, and Luke joined Edric in fighting them off as Autumn knelt beside Jastin, who was clutching Charlotte, tears streaming down his tortured face.

  “May I?” Autumn asked him.

  He nodded and released his tight hold on his fiancée. Autumn moved closer, putting her face by Charlotte’s mouth and placing a hand on her neck.

  “She’s still alive,” Autumn breathed.

  At that moment the sound of growling and heavy hoof-falls subsided, the Shadows suddenly ceasing their attacks. Autumn and Jastin looked up to see the dark creatures step back from Luke and Edric and silently turn to walk away as if they were robots that had been programmed to retreat. They moved like a dark, deadly sea back into the forest surrounding the town until all that remained were the lifeless bodies of their deceased Shadow brethren amongst the countless elves and warlocks that had also perished.

  The remaining Warriors and Casters in City Circle that were not severely injured made their way over to Autumn, Luke, Edric, and Jastin, who continued to hold Charlotte tightly to him.

  “We need some Healers over here,” Autumn ordered with a shaking
voice.

  A few of the Casters and the Tetra named Olivia with the Power of Healing approached Charlotte, taking her from Jastin’s arms and murmuring incantations over her.

  Suddenly there was movement ahead, and Autumn’s heart swelled with relief when she saw Avery stumbling into the Circle. Her heart sank just as fast when she saw the look on his face.

  “I’m going to need as many Healers as possible right now,” he said breathlessly.

  Autumn rushed to him, looking him over and seeing no visible damage. “Are you okay?”

  “Yes, but—” Avery glanced over at Luke, whose face darkened.

  “Where’s Crystal?” Luke said then, his face draining of color.

  “She’s trapped under a tree. The tree is keeping her from bleeding out, but the second we lift it—”

  Luke didn’t wait for Avery to finish but sprinted off in the direction from which Avery had come.

  * * *

  LUKE ran faster than he had in his entire life, leaping over fallen Shadows, elves, and warlocks. His mind didn’t register that they had once been living beings. Right now, they were just barriers between him and the love of his life.

  She couldn’t die. She couldn’t.

  “Crystal!” he called out, searching through the thick trees. “Crys!”

  A susurration came from somewhere to his right, and his feet pounded in that direction. With each footstep, his heart beat faster. He broke through a clearing and, with a jolt, his heart went from 200 beats per minute to 0 in seconds. There she was pinned beneath the trunk of a fallen tree. Girth-wise, it was small compared to the others in Arbor Falls, but still large enough to completely cover the lower half of her body.

  After having run that whole way, it felt strange to walk so slowly. Luke was afraid of what he might see. He approached Crystal, whose shining hair was splayed out around her in a bloody blonde halo. For a second he thought he’d lost her, but then her head turned slowly to face him.

  “Luke,” she whispered, a small smile forming on her lips.