Faery Revenge

by Donna Joy Usher

  I walked over to where he was, holding all other thoughts at bay. There was nothing else but this moment. Nothing else but Turos. Nothing else than my need to avoid that spinning pole.

  It tumbled towards me, flicking and sweeping and driving like a sword. But it didn’t even come near to touching me. I knew where it was going to be before it even started moving, and it was a moment in time to remove myself from its path. I danced to the tune of the humming air, enjoying the weightlessness of my mind. I twisted and turned, ducked and jumped, until finally the pole stopped moving.

  I felt the movement of the air as Isla started to clap, watched the multitude of lights blink out of existence. I heard Scruffy scratch an ear, and Chanda cough, but it all felt like it was in slow motion.

  Turos walked towards me and put his hands on my shoulders. ‘Izzy.’ The sound was distorted by time. ‘Izzy, you need to let it go.’

  I shook my head. Why would I let this go? Everything was beautiful, and for the first time in a very long while, I wasn’t worried about anything.

  A thought tugged at the edge of my mind. There were things I needed to worry about. I pushed it away, instead soaking up the warmth of Turos’s touch.

  ‘You’ll have to shock her out of it.’ Isla’s voice was even lovelier than I had realised. It rang like bells in my mind.

  Turos shrugged his shoulders. ‘Okay then. But only because you insist.’

  One second he was holding me gently and the next he swept me up in his arms. His lips pressed down on mine, urgent and insistent. His tongue forced its way into my mouth as his hands found their way under my shirt.

  A shot of hormones coursed through my body, and I found myself clinging to him, returning the kiss with as much, if not more fervour than he. Electricity danced over the surface of my skin at his touch, frazzling my nerves and jolting into my mind.

  And in the wake of that jolt, a thousand thoughts returned. I shoved Turos away, curled up my fist and punched him in the nose.

  He winced and clasped his hands to his face. ‘What was that for?’

  ‘Taking advantage of me.’ How dare he kiss me like that without my permission?

  ‘I had to do something.’

  ‘And that was the only thing you could think of?’

  ‘It was the most appealing of all the things that occurred to me.’ He smiled at me around his hands.

  I snorted and turned my back on him. Isla was doing a valiant job of controlling her smile but I could tell it was there.

  ‘He had to do something,’ she said. ‘You’d gone all peace-not-war on us.’ She looked over at Turos. ‘How is she going to fight like that?’

  ‘She’s not.’ He pulled a face as he pinched the bridge of his nose. ‘She’s taking it too far.’

  ‘She always takes things too far.’

  ‘Hello,’ I said, waving a hand at her. ‘I am here.’

  She flashed me a smile before turning her attention back to Turos. ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘She’s pushing her thoughts so far away that she has no focus. She needs to leave them there on the edge so that they can direct her, not totally forget about them all together.’

  Well, that made sense. If I had gone up against Santanas like that I wouldn’t have cared what he did to me.

  ‘Give me a weapon,’ I said.

  ‘I don’t think you’re ready for that.’

  ‘You scared I’ll make you cry for your Mumma?’ I put a hand on one hip and tilted my head to the side.

  ‘Oh.’ He stalked towards me till he was close enough that I had to look up to see him. ‘Them’s fighting words.’

  I smiled and raised my eyebrows. ‘Well, are you yella?’

  ‘I don’t even know what that means, but I am going to assume it was an insult.’

  ‘Good,’ I said. ‘It would have been a wasted breath otherwise.’

  He beckoned to Chanda, and the chuckling warrior ran forwards with two wooden, training swords. He handed one to me, and one to Turos, before backing away to stand next to Isla.

  ‘I’ll bet you this evening’s dessert that she goes down,’ he said.

  ‘Do you know what we’re having?’

  ‘I went through the kitchen on the way here and they were chopping up apples and rolling pastry.’

  ‘Apple pie?’ Isla pursed her lips and she looked at Turos and then me. ‘I’ll take your bet,’ she said, extending her hand.

  Chanda shook it and said, ‘Excellent. ‘Cause I’m hungry.’

  ‘That’s a shame,’ Isla replied. ‘I’m going to give your portion to Scruffy. He likes apple pie.’

  Scruffy stopped inspecting his private parts, looked up at Chanda and let out a bark.

  ‘Let me know when you’re ready,’ Turos said.

  I pushed everything away till Turos started to glow like a bronzed God, then I pulled it back till I could feel it fluttering around the edges of my mind. I could immediately feel the difference to last time. This time I knew what I should have been worried about. I remembered what my aim was; there were just no thoughts there to distract me from it.

  ‘I’m ready,’ I said, lifting my sword.

  Turos’s blade cut through the air. I moved to the side, sweeping my own weapon out to parry the blow. He twirled and swept down from the other side and I whirled and danced out of the way. He attacked again, and I stepped backwards so that I would have enough strength to block him. He closed on me and flicked the blade to the side and I stepped back to meet it.

  I saw a smile flirting with the edges of his lips at the same time I heard Chanda laugh. They thought he had me at a disadvantage and I didn’t mind letting them think that. It was the first time Turos and I had fought properly and this wouldn’t work again. But it didn’t have to. It only had to work the once.

  All of that existed at the edge of my mind as I let him force me backwards across the training ground. His strikes increased in confidence and force, and I let mine lag just a tiny bit. To anyone else it would have looked like I was about to lose.

  I waited for the strike I knew was coming; the one where he overextended himself just a little too much. And when it came – the master stroke designed to force me to my knees in a desperate attempt to block it, I was no longer there.

  I dived forwards, rolling beneath the blade and past him, coming back to my feet with enough time to kick down into the back of his knee. He let out an ‘Ooooff,’ as that leg collapsed. A swift kick to the back of the other knee made sure he wouldn’t recover in time. I whipped my blade around, stopping as the edge of it made contact with the side of his neck.

  He froze, his hands dropping his weapon as he put them into the air.

  ‘Well.’ Isla clapped her hands together as Scruffy let out a happy bark. ‘Apple pie for you tonight my boy.’

  ***

  ‘They’re forming up in the Gonian Crater.’ Rako drew a circle on the ground in the dirt. ‘So far the orcs and dwarves have joined them.’

  I took a deep breath to help dispel the fear I could feel forming in my gut. It didn’t work. ‘The giants?’

  ‘The giants are on the move. So are the trolls.’

  ‘The Vulpines?’ I asked, referring to the people that rode the enormous eagle-like birds.

  ‘We estimate it will take a few more weeks for them to arrive.’

  ‘What about our side?’ I looked around the group of men who had come to Trillania for the war council, avoiding eye contact with Aethan as I did. Awkward didn’t even begin to describe how things were between us.

  ‘Faeries are pouring in from around the globe,’ Rako said.

  I expected that. They knew that if we went down, they would be next. ‘The humans? The witches?’

  Rako ran his fingers down the long scar on his cheek and then pulled a face. ‘They seem to be caught in debate. The lower house agrees there is a problem, the upper house seems to be blocking any attempts to do something about it.’ He shrugged. ‘We assume they are hoping we will sort it out
.’

  If it were physically possible for steam to have been coming out of my ears it would have been. ‘The night faeries?’ I shot Aethan a look, but glanced away again as his eyes met mine.

  ‘Ebony says they are on their way,’ Aethan said. ‘It will take them a while to skirt the goblin territory.’

  Rage, pure and white hot as the midday sun, scoured my brain of rational thought at his casual use of her name. It was irrational, I knew, and totally unproductive. I pushed my thoughts to the side till I could see bright lights, then I pulled everything back, except my rage. That was a useful by-product of what Turos had taught me.

  ‘Izzy,’ Rako said. ‘We need you. When are you coming home?’

  ‘Working on it.’

  ‘And?’

  I sighed. ‘I don’t know how to start. I know Santanas did it, but I have no idea how.’ How did you create a tunnel between two worlds?

  ‘I have a theory.’ Wolfgang stepped forward. ‘What if you aren’t in another world? What if it is our world, but in a parallel universe?’

  ‘Pardon?’ There was a good chance I resembled a goldfish.

  ‘You didn’t study physics at school?’

  I shook my head. Science and I had not gotten along.

  He shook his head and mumbled something under his breath about the state of schools today. ‘A parallel universe is one that lies parallel to ours.’

  I pulled a face and shrugged my shoulders.

  ‘So it is identical to ours and in fact would have branched off from ours at some point in time.’

  ‘So…we all exist on this planet as well?’

  He shook his head, a pleased smile on his face. ‘That’s the theory.’

  ‘So, this is just a theory?’ Aethan said.

  ‘Well, if you look at the different planes that exist already in our reality, and the fact that Izzy can access Trillania from there, I think it’s plausible.’ He turned from Aethan back to me. ‘Izzy. How many moons are there on this planet? And what do they look like?’

  ‘There’s just the one, and,’ I stopped to think, ‘it looks just like ours. I mean there’s a bunny and everything.’

  Aethan let out a snort of amusement.

  ‘What?’ I put my hands on my hips. ‘Don’t tell me you can’t see the bunny?’

  ‘And the sun?’ There was excitement in Wolfgang’s voice.

  I nodded. ‘The same as ours.’ So much so that I had never even stopped to think about it. I had only even known one sun and one moon, so to me it had been a constant, not something to be questioned.

  ‘Excellent.’ He clapped his hands together.

  ‘So…how does that help me?’

  He tugged at his long, grey beard. ‘I’m not sure. But perhaps you should approach it the same way you do the parting of the veil.’

  Now was probably not a good time to mention I had only ever done that twice.

  ‘Two nights from now?’ Rako asked.

  I nodded and then watched as one-by-one they flicked from view. Aethan was the last to go. For a second I thought he was going to say something, but then he shook his head and he, too, disappeared.

  ***

  ‘Parallel universe.’ Isla rolled the words around her tongue. ‘Do you think he’s correct?’

  I nodded my head. ‘It makes sense. The problem is that if Wolfgang is right, and I can open up the layers between this world and our own, we’ll end up in the same spot on that world.’ I’d been thinking about it since I’d woken up.

  ‘Which could be anywhere,’ she said.

  ‘What could be anywhere?’

  I let out a shriek as Turos appeared in the doorway. ‘Don’t you ever knock?’ I threw a cushion at him.

  ‘Sorry. Keep forgetting about little things like knocking.’ The smile on his face let me know that he hadn’t forgotten at all. He liked scaring the shit out of me. ‘You ready?’

  ‘For what?’

  ‘Oh. I may have forgotten to mention it.’ He sauntered into the room and plonked himself down on the couch next to Isla. I was guessing he chose her seat rather than mine because I couldn’t reach him from there. The smug smile on his face had the fingers on my hand curling into a fist.

  ‘Lance told me, that Emerald told him that she wanted to go for a ride.’

  ‘Really?’ My fingers unclenched as I sat upright. Emerald and I hadn’t been for a ride since before she’d laid Arthur. And he was already seven weeks old.

  ‘She’s got cabin fever.’

  I wondered if it was my mood rubbing off on her. I hoped not. I thought I’d been hiding my mounting frustration from her quite well. ‘When are we going?’

  ‘As soon as you’re ready.’ He gestured at my head.

  I stuck my tongue out at him. There was nothing wrong with my hair and I knew it. With him dropping in randomly anytime of night or day I made sure I always looked presentable.

  ‘Want to come?’ I looked over at Isla.

  ‘Nah. You two crazy kids go and have fun. I’m going to continue my training with Arthur.’

  ‘Don’t you let him talk you into going solo.’ Turos looked like he might be considering staying.

  ‘As if.’ Isla stood up and pretended to dust off her pants. ‘He’s like, two months old. As if I’d let him set the ground rules.’

  I gave her as steely a look as he did. Her voice sounded far too mischievous to be serious.

  I’m ready.’ I pushed my braid back over my shoulder and gave her another look as I followed Turos from our rooms.

  ‘Do you trust them?’ I asked.

  ‘Not a chance. That’s why I’ve asked Chanda to keep an eye on them.’

  Emerald and Lance were waiting for us on the dragon platform. Smoke curled out of her nostrils and she shook her head from side-to-side.

  Come on, she said. Hurry up.

  What’s the big rush?

  I need to get back before my offspring does something stupid.

  I peered into the stable in which Emerald was staying with Arthur. He lay on his back with his wings spread out and all four chubby, orange legs in the air. As I watched, he blew a smoke ring. The ring expanded slowly as it rose above his head. He waited till it was halfway to the ceiling before he snorted, blasting out a much smaller, faster ring. This one had a tail of flame as it shot after the bigger ring. He let out a fiery belch of satisfaction as the smaller ring went through the larger one.

  His tongue flopped out of his mouth as he turned his head to look at me. He waved one chubby leg and Scruffy left my side and trotted over. He jumped onto the hatchling’s neck, scrambling up till he was on his chest. Then he turned around a couple of times and lay down so that his head was sloping down towards Arthur’s. Arthur raised his head off the ground, his tongue encompassing Scruffy’s whole face as he licked it.

  He’s not going to eat him? I said to Emerald.

  Please. He likes his meat skinned.

  A quick look showed me that her mouth was open in a dragon smile. I was pretty sure she was joking.

  ‘Let’s go.’ Turos was already astride Lance.

  ‘Okay. Okay.’ I strode to Emerald, jumped onto her front leg and climbed up to her neck. It felt good to be back there and I could tell by her satisfied rumble that she was happy too.

  ‘On the count of three,’ Turos said.

  The two dragons positioned themselves on the edge of the platform. They curled their toes over the edge and leant forwards like Olympic swimmers about to start.

  Turos looked over to see if we were ready. I nodded my head at him and he said, ‘One.’

  Before he even got to two, Lance lunged off the edge, his wings tucked in tightly to his body as they disappeared into the valley below.

  Go. Go, I shrieked into Emerald’s mind. I was going to make the cheat pay for that.

  We rocked off the edge and plummeted after them, Emerald making short, sharp flaps of her wings that meant we were able to catch up with them. We hit the curve at the bottom side-by-side,
gravity forcing us into our seats as the dragons banked and turned to soar back up the mountains on the other side.

  I watched the luscious, fertile fields on the side of the mountain disappear beneath us and then we were up and over the next mountain and racing out to sea.

  The sun glinted off the smooth glass of the ocean, showing the shadows of the two racing dragons. Lance matched his pace to ours, brushing the tips of his wings against Emerald’s with each stroke.

  Hang on, Emerald yelled.

  I leant down low, looping my arms through the tough leather reins and gripping on tight with my thighs, and then Lance and Emerald were flying long, lazy barrel rolls around each other.

  ‘Woohoo.’ I could hear my voice echoing behind us off the surface of the water.

  This was why Emerald hadn’t wanted to be confined to the mating caverns. This was what she hadn’t wanted to give up. The ultimate freedom of flying, doubled with the exhilaration of doing it with someone that you loved. I could feel the joy radiating off her.

  The two dragons flew straight up, like two arrows firing towards the sun. They flew until the air felt thin, till each breath was less satisfying than the last. And then they flipped over and started their descent back to the sea.

  If we hadn’t flown so high I might not have seen it. A mast sticking up on the edge of the horizon.

  ‘Look,’ I yelled at Turos, pointing toward it.

  He squinted into the sun, staring until I saw by the change in his body language that he had spotted it too.

  Lance shifted his flight so that we were heading toward it. ‘Don’t get too close,’ Turos yelled. ‘Stay high.’

  I drew short rapid breaths as I battled to maintain my oxygen supply. If they had looked up, we would have been specks in the sky, because to us they were a dot in the ocean. But even from that high I could tell it was the same type of ship we’d destroyed the day we’d gone swimming.

  We flew over them, and then circled back around, making bigger and bigger loops as we searched the ocean for more of them.