Faery Revenge

by Donna Joy Usher

  ‘Universe.’ She obviously wasn’t going to go away and leave me alone. That meant humouring her. ‘And you don’t know it’s another solar system.’

  She poked her tongue out at me. ‘Spoil sport.’

  She did have a point though. I felt something slightly akin to excitement flood into me. Another world. And not just any world. A world full of dragons.

  I threw the covers back and hopped out of bed. Scruffy opened one eye and peered up at me before shutting it again and snuggling further into the covers. It seemed Isla wasn’t the only one I had kept awake with my pillow punching.

  I looked at Isla, noting for the first time that she was wearing different clothing. A long loose shirt hung from one shoulder and grey pants hugged her legs. She looked stunning with her hair piled in a messy bun on top of her head. I sighed. Hanging out with her so much wasn’t good for my ego.

  ‘Where did you find them?’ I waved a hand at her clothes.

  ‘What? These old things?’ She flashed me a smile. ‘They were in the bathroom.’

  Another set of clothes similar to those Isla was wearing, hung from a hook in the bathroom. The bath was already full of steaming water and piled high with bubbles.

  I shed my clothes and slipped into it, feeling my anger starting to melt just a little. I mean, he was just one stupid man. And there was a whole city to explore. And, well, considering Mum was going to tear shreds off us with the tip of her tongue when we got back, I may as well make the most of it.

  I felt Emerald rustle in the back of my mind. She didn’t say anything, but the contentment which was already radiating off her permeated further as she felt my mood improve.

  I picked up some bubbles on the palm of my hand and blew onto them as I wrangled with my sudden guilt. I had probably put a major downer on her reunion with Lance. And after everything she had been through, was about to go through, that hadn’t been fair.

  It seemed that being a War Faery might have brought me power, but it certainly hadn’t brought me any wisdom.

  I lay back into the bubbles and closed my eyes, letting the warmth of the water relax me. He was just a stupid man…correction, a stupid faery. I shouldn’t let him get to me.

  ‘Thinking about me?’

  I let out a shriek as I opened my eyes to find the stupid faery I had been trying not to think about sitting on the edge of the bath. I scooped at the bubbles, piling them even higher in front of me till I was glaring at him over the top.

  ‘Don’t worry,’ he said. ‘I didn’t look. Much.’

  ‘Get out.’ I pointed an arm at the open door, tucking it back under my foamy cover as he stared with a little too much interest at where it met my chest.

  ‘I just came to say that I will be your guide for today.’

  ‘We don’t need a guide.’

  He shook his head, a look of mock sorrow gracing his face. ‘That is where you are incorrect. The king has decreed that while you are no longer prisoners, you are to have a guard with you at all times.’

  ‘I thought you said you were our guide.’ Was it my imagination or was my pile of bubbles decreasing in size?

  ‘Oops, sorry, slip of the tongue.’

  At the mention of the word tongue, my eyes darted down to his lips.

  His grin broadened and he picked up a large sponge from the side of the bath tub. ‘Need help scrubbing your back?’

  ‘Get out,’ I snapped.

  ‘Are you always so testy in the mornings?’

  ‘That, is none of your business.’

  He trailed a hand in the water. ‘Ahhh, but I would like to make it my business.’

  ‘Out.’ I screeched, not caring what part of my anatomy he saw as I flung a handful of bubbles at him.

  His laugh, low and throaty, held the same contented edge as Emerald’s thoughts. ‘Don’t get your knickers in a knot.’ He stood up and headed for the door. ‘Well, not without me.’ One last devastatingly-handsome smile, then he was gone.

  Great Dark Sky. I didn’t know if I was going to be able to put up with having him near me for a whole day. His presumption where I was concerned was already old, and my apparent lack of mind control was deplorable.

  Isla stuck her head around the door. ‘Did you say something?’

  I waved a hand in the air. ‘Don’t suppose you thought perhaps I might not want Turos in here while I was having a bath?’

  ‘Turos? He was here? Huh.’ She looked over her shoulder. ‘Well, he’s gone now. Anyway,’ she reached out one elegant hand and tapped the lock on the handle, ‘if you don’t want gorgeous men visiting you when you’re naked, feel free to close and lock the door.’ She let out a silvery laugh as I stuck my tongue out at her. ‘Don’t be too long in there. City to see etcetera, etcetera.’

  I tossed around the idea of spending the day in the bath but suspected that I may be so pruney that I’d never recover if I did. So instead, I finished washing, dried myself off and slipped into the clothing.

  My shirt was a brilliant blue that matched my eyes, and my leggings were brown. The material felt as soft as it had looked and I held it up to the light to examine the fabric.

  Isla’s voice made me jump. ‘It’s made from spider webs.’ She tilted her head to the side and examined my face before letting out a tinkly laugh. ‘You’ll happily fight a horde of goblins but you’re scared of spiders?’

  ‘Goblins don’t have eight legs.’

  ‘Thankfully. Or we’d never be able to outrun them. Now…’

  ‘Yes, yes. City to see,’ I said, pushing a damp tendril of hair behind my ears. ‘We have to wait for Turos. He’s our guard guide for the day.’

  ‘Oh lovely.’ She twirled and headed for the door, looking more like she was dancing than walking.

  I clomped after her. ‘He’s probably gone off without us.’

  The door opened as Isla was reaching for it. I would have ended up flat on my face but she pranced backwards and clapped her hands together.

  ‘Oh goody,’ she said. ‘You’re here.’

  ‘Princess,’ I heard Turos’s voice, ‘if only all maidens were of as fair a disposition as you.’

  ‘Your women folk are not happy?’

  ‘Oh, our women folk are deliriously happy.’

  Isla glanced over her shoulder at me, an impish smile on her face. ‘Oh just ignore Izzy. She’ll come round eventually.’

  I resisted my urge to poke my tongue out at her and bent to pull on my boots. I avoided looking at him when I stood up again. If I pretended he wasn’t there this might be bearable.

  ‘First,’ Turos said, ‘I thought we’d go to the library.’

  ‘Ah, yes,’ Isla said. ‘My first thought when we arrived in your beautiful city was, “I wonder what the library looks like”.’

  I let out a snort.

  ‘So…if you don’t want to see the library where do you want to go?’

  ‘On please.’ Isla tapped a foot. ‘You know exactly where we want to go.’

  ‘We want to see the dragons.’ It burst out of me before I could stop it. And I’d been doing so well at ignoring him.

  His face lit up. ‘The dragons. Well, I thought you’d never ask.’ Then he turned and started walking down the corridor away from our room.

  I tried not to admire his elegant stride or the way his pants fit him so snugly, but there was a part of my brain that was totally ignoring my commands. Great. Just what I needed. A group of rebel brain cells.

  ‘Come on.’ Isla hurried out of the room after him.

  ‘You coming?’ I looked over my shoulder towards my bedroom. Scruffy was standing in the doorway. As I watched, he disappeared and a few seconds later I could hear sounds that meant he was turning circles on the bed, rucking up the covers to make himself comfortable.

  I closed the door and trotted down the hallway to catch up with them.

  Turos led us through a complex set of twists and turns, along halls and down gracefully-curving flights of stairs. Our boots clicked on the sto
ne floors as I tried to memorise where we were going.

  Just when I thought he might be taking us to the library after all, he pushed open a large set of doors and led us out onto a platform that ended in a drop to the valley floor.

  My stomach did a flip as I looked over the edge. It was a long way down.

  I stared up at the looming peaks, their long shadows reaching across the valley towards us. It seemed as if a group of sentinels watched us, judging whether we were worthy to be there in their silent presence. I shivered and wrapped my arms around myself.

  ‘Impressive, aren’t they.’ Turos moved to stand next to me and I had a sudden thought that he might push me over the edge. But instead, he pointed to a peak off to our left. ‘That one is where Silvanta must go. Where all the queens go to give birth.’

  I put my hands on my hips. ‘Her name is Emerald.’

  ‘It’s Silvanta.’

  ‘She prefers Emerald.’

  He cocked his head to the side and got the far off look that meant he was talking to Lance. ‘Okay,’ he finally said. ‘Emerald it is.’

  ‘Huh.’ I took my hands off my hips and glanced up toward where he had pointed. A soft glow broke the shadow at the top of the mountain. ‘The volcano?’

  ‘It helps keep the eggs warm during incubation.’

  A shadow rushed over us and I jumped as a dragon, complete with a hooded rider, dived over us and down into the valley below. The dragon tucked in his wings and stretched out his neck as the rider let out a whoop of delight.

  I could feel the first real smile of the day stretch my mouth as I watched them level out in the valley below. The dragon stretched out his wings and made large lazy sweeps that lifted them up, up, up, till they were spiralling high above us.

  ‘Come on.’ Turos grabbed my hand, and I let out a shriek as he pulled me over the edge of the platform.

  A scream tore from my throat as I plummeted towards the valley. Air rushed up past me, tearing my hair from its loose bun and forcing my shirt up over my head.

  Turos’s arm snaked around my waist as he pulled my shirt back down.

  I knew it. I knew it. The man was totally crazy. His manic smile lit up his eyes and I thought about killing him before we died – just so I would have the last laugh, but then a large black dragon appeared, swooping beneath us and levelling out so that we landed on its neck just behind its head.

  Lance.

  Turos sat astride Lance’s neck, holding me in his arms as if he were about to carry his bride across the threshold. Laughter shook his body and a tear glinted at the corner of one eye.

  I balled up my fist and punched him as hard as I could. His nose made a satisfying crunch under my knuckles and his smile was instantly replaced with a grimace of pain.

  One hand clutched his face as he said, ‘I might have deserved that.’

  ‘You think?’

  ‘You got to admit though, it was fun.’

  ‘What part of thinking I was about to be broken into a million pieces was meant to be fun.’

  He grimaced and shrugged a shoulder. ‘A little forewarning next time then?’

  I looked at the volcano that was soon to be Emerald’s home. ‘You do that a lot?’

  ‘Dragon diving?’

  ‘Yeah.’

  He nodded his head. ‘It’s a fine way to wake up in the morning.’

  ‘I find coffee useful for that.’

  He tilted his head and frowned.

  ‘You don’t have coffee?’ I sighed. ‘Oh well, I’m more of a tea drinker myself.’

  Lance circled above the platform in lazy circles. Each one taking us closer to where Isla waited. She was bouncing up and down on her toes and I wasn’t sure if she was excited or annoyed.

  ‘My turn,’ she said when Lance touched down.

  Ahhh, of course. Excited.

  ‘Where’s Emerald?’ I asked as I slid down to the ground.

  Turos pointed along the platform and I noticed for the first time a row of rectangular openings partly filled with a door. Each door had a dragon head poking over the top.

  Dragon stables.

  The third head along was a deep, glossy green. I reached out towards Emerald’s mind and she pivoted so she was looking at me and not Lance. One of her giant eyelids closed in a wink as her awareness rushed into me.

  Isn’t he marvellous?

  He’s a suicidal, egomaniac.

  She snorted again. Not Turos. Lance. Her thoughts held the emotion of a love-struck teenager.

  I looked back at the gigantic beast. The sun glinted off his scales, and red highlights shimmered as he moved.

  He is something.

  Isla let out a shriek of delight as Turos grabbed her hand and pulled her off the platform with him. I could hear her laugh disappearing into the distance.

  Ummmm. Shouldn’t he be going after them?

  Just wait.

  Lance moved to the edge of the platform so that his front claws were locked onto the edge. He rocked forwards and, with a thrust of his wings, propelled himself off the edge. With his body held like an arrow being fired towards the ground, and his wings making short sharp movements, he easily caught them before they were even halfway to the bottom of the valley.

  I heard the breath I hadn’t known I had been holding leave my lungs as they landed safely.

  I walked over to Emerald and reached up so that I could place my hand on her neck. Even then, she had to bow her head to allow me to reach. How are you?

  Scared, happy, sad, excited. Her thoughts paused for a moment. No, make that happy, sad, scared, excited.

  Did you want to go for a ride?

  She shook her head. I couldn’t carry you at the moment. My body is getting ready to lay the egg.

  Does it hurt?

  Not so much pain as discomfort. The egg is shifting inside me and the shell is hardening. Soon I will have to go.

  Is there anything I can do to help?

  She bent her neck further and brushed the tip of her gigantic nose against my forehead. Will you be there with me when it’s time?

  Of course.

  She rubbed her snout against me. Good. Isla too.

  I’d have to knock her out and tie her up to stop her, and even then she’d find a way to be there.

  Wind whirled around me as Lance’s enormous wings lowered them back to the platform.

  ‘Again,’ Isla shrieked, jumping off Lance’s neck and throwing herself off the platform.

  Turos let out a laugh and raced after her.

  Can he handle three? I asked Emerald.

  He has caught up to nine riders before. And that was before I left.

  Excellent.

  I ran towards the edge, let out a whoop of excitement and dived head first off the platform.

  ***

  ‘It’s official,’ Isla jumped onto the edge of my bed and pulled her legs up under her. ‘Dragon diving is my all-time favourite sport.’

  Our tour of the city had transpired into a couple of hours of dragon diving and then a lazy brunch. After that Turos had taken us on an aerial tour of the grand city. It had ended when a grim-faced courier carrying a message from the king had found us. We had been escorted back to our suite while Turos went to see his father.

  ‘Admit it,’ Isla said.

  ‘Admit what?’

  ‘You had fun.’

  ‘What’s not fun about dragon diving?’

  ‘No.’ She sat up straighter. ‘You had fun with Turos.’

  ‘We both had fun with him.’ I hopped onto the bed next to her, shuffling backwards till my head reached the pillow. Scruffy jumped up next to me and turned around so that his back was snuggled into my side. I took that as a sign that he had missed me.

  ‘You going to tell me what he did to make you so mad?’

  ‘You going to leave it alone and stop asking me?’

  She gave me her best butter-wouldn’t-melt-in-my-mouth smile.

  I sighed. ‘I didn’t think so.’ I wiggled around u
ntil I was totally comfortable. Now that my adrenaline had returned to normal levels, the hours of lost sleep from the night before were making themselves known. ‘He….’ Dark Sky. How best to put it? ‘Forced himself on me.’

  ‘What? When?’ Her normal whimsical expression had been replaced with one of anger and I immediately felt guilty.

  ‘Not like that. Not like with you and….. ‘ I swallowed the words King Arracon before they came out of my mouth. I know she had told me, but it still didn’t feel right to bring it up. ‘At the trial. When we were in each other’s heads. He showed me what he wanted to do with me. To me.’ I squirmed as I thought about it.

  ‘Ahhhhh.’ Isla nodded. ‘And that would be repugnant to you at the moment. What with you being in mourning.’

  I sat back up. ‘I’m not in mourning. Well, I mean, I’m horrified by what happened to Orion. But, and no offence here, I didn’t really know him well enough to be in full mourning.’

  Good grief. Could that have sounded any worse?

  She shook her head. ‘No. You’re mourning your loss of Aethan.’

  ‘I haven’t lost him. Yet.’

  ‘Izzy.’ Dark Sky I hated it when she actually got serious. ‘He will be married to Ebony.’

  I shifted uncomfortably. He was mine. I wasn’t ready to let go of that yet. ‘You don’t know that.’

  ‘There is a Great War coming. The union between the faeries of the dark and the light must happen if we are to have any chance of survival.’

  ‘But he doesn’t love her.’

  ‘It is immaterial. He is the heir. And the heir does what must be done. We all do what must be done.’

  ‘But, maybe…after the war…if we win…’

  That was when I realised that the only thing worse than Isla looking serious was Isla looking sympathetic. She stared at me, her large eyes liquid with unspoken emotion as she said, ‘We are not like witches and humans. Faeries marry forever.’

  Pain lanced through me. I clutched at my chest, certain it was about to explode as I struggled to remember how to breathe.

  He was gone. I had lost him.

  Memories danced in my head. The tender feel of his hand in mine. The passionate fire of his embrace. The languid comfort of lying in his arms. Gone. All gone. Never to return.