by H. L. Burke
Rage built in Jericho’s chest. This wasn’t acceptable. They had to find another way. He was not going to lose Rill again. His insides quivered, and he knew if he tried to speak, he’d end up shouting. Instead he clenched his jaw and glared at Auric.
“Can we even kill the Fey, though?” Iris said.
“I brought the gun.” Lotta pushed aside her vest, revealing the revolver in a side holster. Auric winced.
“No!” Jericho gave in to the urge to shout. “I will not sit on my hands while your girlfriend takes pot shots at my wife.”
“That isn’t your wife.” Auric threw his hands up. “Rill is there, in your arms, and I’m sorry, but we can’t let this Fey destroy Mountain’s Foot on the slight chance that we can return her to her body.”
“We can try another way. There’s still time.”
“No, there’s not! If this Fey is thinking about ripping open the barrier, it’s because she lost patience waiting for a natural rift. She’s going to enact this new plan as soon as physically possible.” Auric reached for Jericho’s arm, but Jericho jerked away. “Rill would not want to live at that cost.” Auric frowned.
“Don’t tell me what my wife—Ouch!” A sharp pain traveled up his arm. He looked down to find Rill’s teeth sinking into his wrist, not breaking the skin but coming close.
“Let her talk,” Iris soothed.
Keeping his hands as steady as he could, Jericho held the bracelet up to Rill. She nosed at it, selecting each letter in turn.
NOT LONG LEFT WEAK TIRED TWINS NOT SAFE IF FEY ALIVE
Jericho swallowed as she painstakingly chose more letters.
LOVE YOU MISS YOU SAD BUT READY
He closed his eyes. “But I’m not ready, Rill.”
“Will you ever be ready?” Iris stroked his cheek.
“No.”
The only thing he had right now was fighting the inevitable. If he stopped struggling, if he admitted this was real, grief would swallow him up, and he didn’t have the strength to face that a second time.
“This beacon the Fey is going to make, is it an actual physical thing?” Lotta asked.
All eyes snapped to the young engineer.
“Yes, it has to have some tangible structure to channel the energy through.” Iris nodded. “Magic in our world needs a focus, like a stylus, to work, unlike in the Fey Lands. Essentially the Fey will be creating one massive stylus.”
A grin quirked Lotta’s face. “Magical energy I don’t know much about, but if something actually exists, then I can blow it up.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Lotta dug through her bag. Her uncle always told her it was a bad idea to travel with dynamite. Well, she was about to prove how wrong he was! Admittedly, dynamite wasn’t her favorite tool. She preferred things with more precision, but she’d found if one needed a tunnel built or some rubble removed or an annoying neighbor unsettled, it did the job. She always kept a single stick, carefully insulated, in her engineering kit, which of course, she brought everywhere she went.
Now she dug it out along with a timer-flint-striker device of her own invention. With everything collected, she joined the others in the workshop. Jericho’s mother and sister each held one of the twins, watching as the inhabitants of Spellsmith Manor went over their plan. Rill’s eyes had stopped glowing. She curled up in a shivering ball, obviously weakening. Jericho kept one hand on her back as he spoke with Auric.
“How are we going to find the beacon in the first place?” He frowned.
Auric shrugged. “She can’t have gotten too far. We’ve established she can’t teleport, so she’s limited to the ground a person could cover on foot or maybe with a horse, but I checked the stables before we left the Manor. All our animals were still in their stalls, so if she’s riding, she stole it from somewhere.”
“Something like this is going to put out a lot of energy, which will probably manifest in light, maybe even a tangible change to the air,” Iris added. “In other words, I don’t think finding it will be a problem.”
“She’s got to have the kidnapped children with her.” Auric rubbed his forehead. “Unless her plan has changed, she needs both of their bodies present for herself and her ‘soulmate’ to transfer into.”
“Yeah, those kids were out cold, and she was moving them with hand waves.” Jericho rubbed the back of his neck. “It’s best if we get them away from her.”
“Best, but not a solution. She would prefer to possess the children, but she’ll grab any of our bodies if she is forced to. Speaking of which.” Iris nodded to Milly. “Did you get the herbs I asked for?”
Milly Carver produced a basket filled with sprigs of rosemary. Iris took it and passed the sprigs around. “Eat at least two a piece. It’ll stop her from possessing you, potentially, or at least make it more difficult.”
When the basket got to Lotta, only two sprigs remained. She hesitated. “What about you?” she asked Iris.
“Don’t worry. I already took care of myself.” Iris pushed the basket towards Lotta.
Lotta chewed on the fresh herb. At least it wasn’t unpleasant.
“I’ve set up new homing spells. The anchors of which I’ll leave here in case we need to get out of there quickly.” Jericho held up a few paper quires. “My thought is, if we can get the kids away from the Fey by bringing them back here, that’s great, but we’re still going to want to go after the Fey. I’m not letting her waltz off with Rill’s body.”
“Of course not.” Iris nodded. “We’ll do what we can to capture the Fey and contain it. I just think you need to be prepared for the possibility … Jericho, whatever happens, we’re here for you and Rill.”
Jericho nodded stonily. Across the table, Auric’s shoulders slumped, and Lotta barely resisted leaping over the furniture to hug him. Instead she crept around the room to his side. He slipped his arm about her waist and gave her a squeeze. She found his hand and tightened her fingers about it. He gave her a smile that didn’t reach his usually sparkling eyes.
Something within her chilled. What if this was changing Auric? What if he wouldn’t be the same when it was done, not as buoyant, not as happy, not as passionate? The world would be losing something, something precious. She had to fix this before it broke him any further.
The door shook as someone pounded on the other side. “Spellsmith? Carver? You in there?”
“It’s the sheriff,” Milly said.
Jericho hurried to open the door.
“Get out here. You’ve got to see this.” Sheriff Robbins jerked his thumb out towards the yard. The whole family poured out of the shop.
Lotta didn’t notice anything unusual. “See what?”
“That!” He pointed over the house.
A pall of clouds had settled on the horizon, obscuring the view of the Fairy Steeple, a single jagged peak visible from most areas of Mountain’s Foot, and the source of the village’s name. Blue and green lights danced off the underside of the clouds.
“I guess that’s where we’re heading,” Auric breathed.
“We need to get started.” Jericho looked around. “Where’s Rill?” He dashed back inside. “Iris!” he shouted.
Lotta followed Iris into the workshop. Rill lay, ears flat, eyes closed, on the workbench.
Iris hovered her hand over Rill’s back. “Jericho … she’s fading. I’m not sure how much time she has.” Lotta’s heart quaked.
Jericho dropped to his knees so he could be eye-level with his wife. “Rill, please, hang on, just a little longer.”
She opened her eyes and whimpered, her muzzle wiggling up and down. He held the communication bracelet up for her. She managed to select a series of letters.
“What’s it say?” Iris whispered as Jericho read the slip of paper.
“Twins.” Jericho picked her up and brought her to the babies, still held by his mother and sister. “We have to go, Rill. I know you want to be with them. If our situations were reversed, I’d simply want to lie beside them and you, but if we d
on’t take you with us, we’ll lose our last chance to get you home to them, as yourself. Please, for me.”
She gave a weak nod.
“Here.” Iris hurried forward holding a strip of cloth sewn in a circle. “If this can hold a baby, it can hold a fox.” She draped the sling over Jericho’s shoulder and across his chest, creating a pocket Rill could ride in. Rill curled up inside, pressed to her husband’s heart.
Jericho ran his hand over the lump she formed, his mouth tightening into a firm line. “We’ve got to hurry.”
Lotta took up her tool kit, and the three of them left the house. In the yard, Auric waited, the sheriff at his side, both of them staring at the strange lights.
“Everything all right?” he asked.
Jericho shook his head. “No, but let’s get moving and hopefully fix that.” He nodded to Sheriff Robbins who was staring, head tilted, at the bundle of fox in Jericho’s arms. “Sorry, sir, but we need to run.”
Robbins shook his head as if clearing cobwebs. “I’ll never understand magicians. Yes, hurry, please. The citizens are nearing a panic about … whatever that is.” He waved at the sky.
Jericho took the lead as the family started into the forest, Iris right behind, and Auric and Lotta side by side bringing up the rear.
After a bit, Auric reached for her hand. “I’m glad you’re here.”
“I’m glad I’m here, too.”
The lights grew brighter, casting long shadows through the trees. The air hummed, reminding Lotta of times when she’d worked with an electric current. Her hair stood on end.
Auric whistled. “That’s a lot of Fey energy. Do you think she’s already opened a rift?”
“No. We’d know if she had … or we wouldn’t know because we’d be dead.” Iris scowled. “With the build up behind the barrier and nothing to stop the torrent, the energy will crash down on us like a rockslide the moment any decent-sized rift is opened. More likely her tower has sucked in all the ambient Fey energy from the rest of the valley, concentrating it, in order to power her spell.”
Jericho held up his hand. “I know where we are. The ground slopes up from here, leading to Baldtop Hill. The church used to use it as a picnic ground because it was a clear, flat place with a view of the Fairy Steeple.”
“The Soulsnatcher might be trying to use the Fairy Steeple as an amplifier. Mountains are old, dating back to the days when the barriers between Fey and mortal realms were weaker.” Iris chewed her bottom lip. “A lot of them used to have natural gateways to the Fey Lands in their shadows, so it might be a weak point.”
“If she has the high ground, it’ll make surprising her that much harder.” Jericho tapped his fingers against his thigh. “I think we should split up. Half of us come up one hill face and draw her attention, the others can come up from behind and try to ensnare her.”
“Or blow up her beacon!” Lotta instinctively reached towards her satchel.
“I think we should try and scope things out before we rush in and demolish things.” Jericho’s tone could’ve scrubbed rust off old iron.
Auric shifted from foot to foot. “I suppose it makes sense. How are we dividing up?”
“I feel more comfortable keeping Lotta near me, since her goal is the beacon’s destruction and mine is keeping Rill alive,” Jericho said. “I think you and Iris would be better at the distraction side of things.”
“I guess that could work.” Auric eyed Lotta. “Are you all right with it?”
“I suppose.” She nodded.
“This way, then.” Jericho pointed to the left.
Iris started in the other direction. “Good luck and God be with you two.”
Auric hesitated then took a step towards his mother. Panic spiked in Lotta’s chest. She darted forward and clutched his arm.
“Lotta? Are you all right?” He frowned.
Instinctively, she dropped to one knee. “Auric Spellsmith, you will marry me, won’t you?”
Behind her, Jericho made a noise somewhere between laughing and choking.
Auric reddened. “Shut up, Jericho.” He cupped her chin in his hands. “Lotta Tyckner, it would be the greatest honor of my life. Yes.” He knelt as well and pressed his lips to hers. Every muscle in her body relaxed.
“Congratulations, Auric. You planning to wear white?” Jericho snickered.
Auric shot Jericho a look fit to fuse metal.
“No, I mean it, congratulations, but let’s get going, all right?” Jericho said. “I’d like all of us to survive for the wedding.”
Auric trailed his hand over her face into her hair, sending warmth and tingles through her. “Be careful, all right.” He then hurried after his mother, not looking back.
Quivering, Lotta followed Jericho in the other direction.
“In all seriousness, Lotta,” Jericho said, his voice low. “Auric could do a lot worse. You’ve got a good head on your shoulders, and I can tell he’s crazy about you. I wish you all the happiness in the world.”
Her cheeks warmed. “Thank you. I love him, you know. I didn’t think I’d ever love anyone, but Auric, I definitely love.”
“Good.”
She eyed the bundle on his chest. “How’s Rill?”
He slipped his hand into the sling. “She twitches every so often, just to let me know she’s still there, but … don’t let Auric go, all right? When you find that person, the one who makes your whole life sweeter, you hold on for all your worth because this world is a rotten place and every day could be the last.”
“I’ll do my best.”
The light grew fiercer and the humming, prickling energy in the air tickled against Lotta’s skin. From within her cloth cocoon, Rill whimpered.
Jericho patted her. “It’s all right. We’re almost there.”
The trees thinned up ahead, revealing a clearing at the crest of the hill. Lotta’s breath went out of her. There, like a stalagmite of glistening green, rose a glass pillar, sparking with magical energy. Particles of golden light swirled about it and at its feet lay two bundles.
“The missing children!” Lotta whispered.
Jericho nodded, his hand again straying to the bundle against his chest.
Lotta scanned the clearing. Something moved at the edge, near the far treeline. “There!” She pointed.
Jericho stiffened. “It’s the Fey all right.”
The creature in Rill’s body paced back and forth in front of the pillar of magical glass, waving her arms in the air.
Rill the fox gave a low whine.
“Shh, Rill.” Jericho eyed the children. “Look, all I need to do to get them to safety is run out there and scribble the last symbol onto the homing symbol while touching them. What do you need to do to disable that beacon?”
Lotta examined the pillar. It was larger than she’d imagined, perhaps ten feet square at the base, but still appeared to be constructed of glass. “One stick of dynamite should be more than enough to bring it down, I’d think.”
He let out a long breath. “Come on, Auric. Get that witch’s attention away from us.”
A golden phoenix wheeled out of the treeline, sending sparks in every direction. It dove straight at the Fey, who shrieked and covered her face with her arms.
Recovering quickly, the Fey held her hands over her head and pushed outward. The phoenix collided against a pine tree which burst into flames with a series of cracks and pops.
“Let’s go!” Jericho hissed.
Lotta’s heart pounded as they dashed forward, keeping low to the ground. They stopped behind the glass pillar. She touched it. Sparks jumped into her hand, numbing it, and she pulled away. Jericho took a slip of paper out of his vest as well as his stylus. “I’ll get the kids to safety.” He thrust the paper at her. “This is the anchor half to a second homing spell. Don’t explode this thing until I get back, all right.” He darted out, crouched between the two unconscious children then, in an eye-blink, disappeared with them.
Lotta gaped at the empty spot where Jer
icho had been a second before.
More flashes of light rose from the treeline. It didn’t seem the Fey had noticed the children’s departure … yet. Lotta took out her stick of dynamite and flint timer. How long should she wait for Jericho’s return? What if the Fey noticed her?
The air shimmered, and Jericho stood before her. “All right, let’s destroy this thing.”
“Don’t you dare!” A blast of energy like a gust of hurricane-force winds, knocked Lotta over. She fumbled for the Fey-killing revolver, stuck in her side-holster, but another burst of energy sent her flying, and she landed hard. The world swam about her. Her breath left her lungs, leaving an aching vacuum in her chest.
“Lotta!” Auric screamed somewhere in the distance, but she couldn’t respond, couldn’t stand, couldn’t flee. She lay as helpless as an unwound clock.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Trying not to look back over his shoulder at Lotta, Auric ran to catch up with his mother. Iris glanced at him out of the corner of her eye and smiled, making him flush.
She squeezed his hand. “Lotta is an excellent young woman.”
“Yeah, she is.” In spite of the danger they were walking into, warmth settled in Auric’s chest. Maybe this could end up all right after all. If only they could find a way to save Rill, then everything would be perfect.
“I’m glad you’ll have her to look after you.” Iris bit her bottom lip. “Auric, what’s about to happen could be very hard on you.”
He cleared his throat. “More so on Rill and Jericho, I’d think.”
“If things … Well, no point in worrying about that until we get there. Just know, I love you. No matter what happens, I’m proud of you, and I know you’ll make the right decisions. Let’s be quiet now, though.” She sniffed the air. “I think there might be enough ambient energy here to get away with an invisibility spell.” She drew symbols in the air with her finger and the atmosphere about them shimmered. “Perfect. I’ve never gotten to do that in the mortal realms before. Usually it only works in the Fey Lands.”
