Faery Revenge

by Donna Joy Usher

  Santanas’s dragon was coasting behind Lance as if he were out for a casual afternoon flight. I threw the last of my stored electrical balls at Santanas and risked a look over my shoulder. We were almost there. Almost.

  Santanas laughed again. ‘I’m thinking I’ll give you to my Isadora as a present. She liked dolls when she was a little girl. She’s going to love you.’

  I gritted my teeth, trying hard not to think about what I was like in this world. What atrocities had I committed? How many people had I harmed?

  Turos squeezed my arm as he said, ‘Whatever you’re going to do, do it now.’

  It was true that I couldn’t harm Santanas, not exhausted as I was. But there was nothing to stop me from harming his mount.

  Santanas raised a hand in the air, a triumphant look on his face. I reached out my mind and seized his dragon’s wings. I wrapped air around them, and then I pulled all the moisture out of the air and I froze it onto his wings. One second they were closing on us, Santanas about to unleash his killing blow, and the next they were falling from the sky, balls of ice wrapped around his dragon’s wings.

  I had no doubt he would unravel my work before they smacked into the ocean. But we only needed a little time.

  Turos let out a yell of triumph as the world around us changed from dark to light. I saw the gateway from the other side, a slash in the fabric of the sky. I grasped it and heaved it shut, melding it closed in my mind. And then I turned to look over my shoulder to where we were heading.

  Turos grabbed my head and pushed me down as an arrow sluiced through where I had been.

  I let out a shriek and surveyed the ground below. We were in Eynsford, just as I had been hoping we would be. But it was not the Eynsford we had left.

  Lance banked suddenly, and Turos wrapped an arm around me, holding me tight as we swerved and dodged around an eagle of unbelievable proportions. A masked figure sat on its back. As I watched, the figure jumped nimbly from the eagle onto Lance’s back. He swept a short blade at one of the warriors there, was blocked, and then leapt back off Lance, into the air, and onto the back of the eagle.

  The Vulpines were here.

  I looked around, trying to take in what I was looking at. Dragons and eagles swooped and dived, involved in aerial battle. Arrows flew and civilians wielded swords and axes to prevent the Vulpine warriors landing on their dragons.

  Down below, goblins swarmed over the field below my house. Border guards battled them, but from my aerial survey I could see they were badly outnumbered.

  ‘We have to go down,’ I screamed, pointing at the battle. ‘They need our help.’

  ‘Your place is with your dragon.’

  He was right. Again. Damn him to hell and back.

  Emerald, I called.

  Jump left on my call.

  I flipped back to face the front and untied Scruffy’s carrier basket. I tucked him under one arm, and looked back over my shoulder. ‘We’ll get rid of these birds,’ I said to Turos, ‘and then I’ll meet you on the ground.’

  He pulled me towards him and pressed his lips to mine in a short, hard kiss. ‘I look forward to it,’ he said as he winked at me.

  Now, Emerald screamed in my mind.

  I winked back and then leapt off Lance. Emerald levelled out beneath me and I slid smoothly onto her neck. I grabbed onto the harness and then tied Scruffy on. He looked up at me with his huge, yellow eyes and licked my hand through the basket.

  Where’s Isla?

  She’s on Arthur. Her tone told me how much she approved of that.

  I looked around and spied the little orange dragon. His size gave him an advantage over the adult dragons. He was much more nimble. As I watched, he twisted through the air to avoid the outstretched talons of an eagle.

  Isla, a smile born of excitement stretching her mouth wide, released two arrows into the eagle’s rider. He toppled from the bird’s back and the eagle was forced to give up his pursuit of Arthur, instead racing after his master.

  Everywhere I looked, dragons and eagles twisted and dodged. Fire scorched eagles’ feathers and talons tore at tender snouts. Millenium released arrows and the Vulpine leapt from eagle to dragon to eagle. The white feathers of the eagles were tinged with the pink of blood.

  Incoming. To our nine.

  I tore my eyes back to my left, holding onto the reins with one hand and jumping to my feet. I placed my spare hand on the hilt of my sword but did not draw it.

  The eagle was closing fast. Its rider wore black robes, and I could see now that it wasn’t so much a mask they were wearing, but the end of a turban hooked over the lower half of their faces. He crouched on the eagle’s neck, one hand holding a leather strap, the other his curved blade.

  I calmed my mind, pushing out all thoughts as I waited for his attack.

  The eagle peeled off to the right, slashing at Emerald’s neck as the Bedouin man leapt towards me. I whipped my blade out in front of me at the last possible second and his momentum carried him onto my sword point. I staggered backwards and Emerald banked so that the force carried me into her, and not off her neck. The tip of my sword sank deep into his stomach, emerging out his back. His eyes widened, and he clutched at his chest where blood soaked through his black robes.

  Then his eyes hardened and his blade swept around to meet me. I blocked his arm movement, lifted a knee between us, and kicked him off my sword. He flew backwards, arms and legs outstretched like a man floating in the ocean.

  His eagle appeared beneath him, and he crashed onto it before sliding off again, leaving a large bloody smear on the creature’s feathers.

  Hang on. Emerald executed a perfect barrel roll, using one of her wings to snap down on an eagle. I heard the sound of bones cracking. It let out a cry, falling from the sky with one wing flapping uselessly.

  I risked a glance below. More of the Guard had arrived but they were still badly outnumbered.

  Emerald let out a puff of fire, and an eagle squawked and dived, the feathers on its tail lighting up like a candle. I released a couple of arrows into its rider, not even waiting to see if they had landed before looking around us.

  Lance snatched at the air; his strong jaws clamping down on the eagle and rider in one bite. He shook his head like a cat with a mouse and feathers exploded in all directions. Then he spat them back out, blasting them with a stream of fire as they fell from the sky.

  Behind you.

  I felt the vibration even as Emerald warned me, ducking just in time to avoid having my head severed from my body. The blade whistled over my head and I kicked out behind, connecting with the knee of my attacker. There was a sickening popping noise and a screech of pain. I spun, swinging my other leg around in a swiping kick Turos had taught me. It connected with the side of my attacker’s head and he flew sideways off Emerald’s back.

  I panted slightly as I looked around for the next eagle. But there were none. We had outnumbered them and out-fought them, and they were fleeing.

  Some of the dragons, holding only warriors, chased after them; dragons nipping eagles from the air, and blasting others with flames. It wasn’t turning out to be a very good day for the Vulpines.

  Without me having to say anything, Emerald headed for the ground battle. Her flame would be no good, the two sides were two heavily engaged for her to be able to cook goblins without hitting any of the Guard.

  I knocked an arrow to my bow and fired at a goblin. The arrow buried itself deep in the base of his neck and he toppled to the side. I fired off two more arrows before Emerald finished her first pass over them. She snatched a goblin up with each of her front legs, carrying them up high into the sky before throwing them into the trees.

  I reached for another arrow, but the quiver slung on the side of Emerald’s neck was empty.

  Let me down, I said. Emerald could wreak havoc without me, my sword was going to be the most help now.

  She didn’t so much land as just skim across the top of the battle. I gave Scruffy a pat on the head, wa
rned her to look after him, and then leapt off her neck and onto the back of a huge goblin warrior. My momentum knocked him forwards, onto his knees, and before he could recover I grasped his head in both hands and twisted it savagely to the side. It broke with a satisfying snap.

  I jumped to my feet and Rako said, ‘Well girl, you sure do know how to make an entrance.’

  I shot him a grin, but before I could respond, a goblin holding a dagger in each hand ran at me. I cleared my mind of everything and attacked.

  Every other time when I had engaged the Millenium warriors’ mind technique, I had been fighting those doing the same. So I wasn’t quite prepared for what happened this time.

  It was as if everybody else on that field’s movement dropped to half – no, a quarter – of what it had been. It was as if they moved through water. I, on the other hand, seemed to be moving at a normal speed.

  I twirled with my sword and lopped off both the goblin’s hands, and then I spun and took his head. I jumped over his still-falling body and engaged two goblins on the far side. They just had time to look surprised before I slashed through one’s neck, severing the carotid artery. I plucked a dagger out of his hands and spun and wedged it into the other’s chest.

  Across the field I saw another man moving at normal speed. Turos. Fighting his way towards me through the mass of goblins.

  ‘Winner takes all,’ he yelled, an excited grin on his face.

  ‘I’ve already got four,’ I called back. ‘Make that five.’ I hamstringed a goblin and slit his throat as he fell backwards.

  ‘Six,’ Turos called.

  ‘What?’ I took a second to look over at him. He had a sword in each hand.

  Emerald swooped over the battlefield again. I could feel excitement radiating out from her. She grabbed two more goblins and took them high into the air before throwing them into the trees. Lance flew through a few seconds later, repeating her performance.

  I stooped and picked up a second sword from a fallen Border Guard. Jamis. I suppressed the pang of grief. He had been a good man, and I was going to put his sword to good use seeking his revenge.

  ‘Ten,’ Turos called out.

  Damn him, he was pushing his lead out too far for me to catch him. I whirled my swords and ran at the nearest goblin. I leapt at him, feet first, using his body as a spring board as I bounded up into the air. As I spun, my braid whipped him in the face, and then I followed that up with my sword. I landed, pivoted, slashed at two goblins’ necks, sprang into the air again over their toppling bodies and turned a full somersault before I landed.

  I saluted a slow-moving Border Guard, grinning at the look of shock on his face, and then bounded up and onto a goblin’s shoulder, mimicking a move I had once seen Isla do, as I ran from shoulder-to-shoulder. Where she had used arrows, I used my swords like walking sticks, plunging them down at a slightly outward angle into the goblins’ throats. Their bodies gave out beneath me as I pushed off for my next victim.

  Arthur fluttered into view. He hovered above the fight and I saw Isla, her face calm as she fired shots off into the melee below. At the speed she was firing it only took her a few seconds to empty her quiver. She patted Arthur on the neck, then slid off and dropped to a crouch on the ground, her sword already in her hand.

  I leapt off my last goblin, landing in front of Turos. ‘Twenty,’ I said, giving him a grin.

  ‘Impressive.’ He gave me a mock bow, sweeping out to the side with his sword as he stood back up.

  A goblin, his hand raised to strike, grunted, looking down in shock at the sword stuck in his belly. He let out a gurgle and fell to his knees.

  ‘Twenty-two,’ he said.

  ‘Oh buzznuckle.’ I turned to re-enter the fight, but there were no more goblins standing.

  Isla whipped her sword off on the coat of a goblin she had just beheaded. ‘Twenty-three,’ she said. ‘Did I win?’

  Rako walked in slow motion towards me. ‘Hooooowww aaarreee yooou doing thaaat?’ Not only did it look like he was walking through water, he sounded like he was speaking under water too.

  I smiled at him and released my mind control. ‘How were we doing what?’

  ‘That’s what you were talking about,’ he said. ‘The training you were going through.’

  I nodded. ‘If we can train the Guard we’re going to have a definite advantage.’

  Rako shook his head. ‘There’s no time to train. Santanas’s armies are pushing harder than we thought. They’re almost at Isilvitania.’

  ‘Izzy.’ I turned to see Aethan striding towards us. His black hair was ruffled up and blood and grime covered one side of his stubble-coated face. He reached me and his hand moved awkwardly towards me before falling back to his side. ‘Thank the Dark Sky you’re back. You’re safe.’

  ‘Aethan.’ I put a hand on the side of his face, brushing at the blood with my fingers. ‘Are you hurt?’

  He covered my hand with his and the flutter set up inside my stomach again, but this time it was for a very different reason. ‘Not my blood.’ His voice was low and husky and he got that look in his eyes that meant he was going to kiss me.

  I stared mesmerised into the depths of his navy-blue eyes. I could already feel the heat from his muscled body radiating out towards me, any second now and I would feel the hardness of him wrapping around me.

  Except, there was a reason I wasn’t meant to kiss him. I knew it, but I was exhausted, and for the life of me I couldn’t remember what it was.

  I felt Aethan’s fingers flex on top of mine, and knew he was about to make his move.

  ‘Hmmmmmhmmm.’ Turos cleared his throat loudly and stepped up next to me.

  I saw Aethan’s eyes break from mine and travel up the length of the bronzed, muscled warrior. Turos stood a good foot higher than Aethan and was at least half as wide again. I had gotten used to how massive he was, but seeing the slight shock in Aethan’s eyes reminded me once again.

  I pulled my hand from Aethan’s face and stepped back, wobbling a little on legs made of jelly.

  Ebony. He was going to marry Ebony.

  Turos stepped to my side and wrapped an arm around me, steadying my wobble.

  ‘Prince Turos of Millenia at your service.’ He bowed his head to Rako and then to Aethan.

  ‘Rako, head of the Border Guard.’ Rako bowed in return.

  ‘Prince Aethan of Isilvitania.’ Aethan’s voice had a hard brittle edge as his eyes travelled from Turos, along Turos’s arm to me. One of his fists clenched and the muscles in his jaw bulged.

  ‘Aethan,’ Isla shrieked and threw herself into his arms. She looked over her shoulder at me and winked.

  One-by-one the dragons had been landing at the far end of the field. Five hundred dragons take up quite a bit of room and it wasn’t long before they were hovering over our heads, looking for space to land.

  ‘You brought them all?’ Rako asked.

  ‘Had to. Santanas attacked.’

  His eyebrows rode up his forehead and he scratched vigorously at the long scar running down his cheek.

  ‘Not our Santanas. The alternate reality one.’ I was tired. So bone tired. All I wanted to do was have a little lie down.

  ‘We’d better move back.’ Rako looked up at the sky where dragons flew slow circles looking for a place to land. ‘Get the dead and wounded,’ he called.

  ‘Father.’

  I turned at Turos’s voice to see King Bladimir walking towards us. Gladaline strode by his side, her head held high. Even though her hair was dirty and matted, and her clothes covered in dirt, she looked every bit a Queen.

  I heard Turos making introductions between his parents, and Rako and Aethan, as the Guard lifted their fallen comrades and started walking towards the edge of the field.

  ‘Bring them up to the house,’ a familiar voice called. ‘We’ve gathered healers.’

  I let out a gasp of delight. ‘Sabby?’

  At the sound of my voice, Sabby’s fur scarf unravelled from her throat. It clambe
red up onto her head, let out a mewl and launched itself into the air.

  Mia.

  I held out my arms and the little monster thumped into me, wrapping her winged limbs around my neck and hanging on tight. Her whole body wriggled as she nuzzled her head up under my chin.

  ‘Oh, Mia.’ I ran my hands over her fur. ‘I missed you girl.’

  She mewed a few more times and then climbed up onto my shoulder to wrap around my neck.

  Sabby picked her way gingerly through the field of fallen. ‘About time you came back.’ She put her hands on her hips but her smile told me she was pleased to see me.

  ‘Oh Sabby.’ I laughed and flung my arms around her. ‘I’ve missed you.’

  She pulled back and stared into my face. ‘I should be so mad at you. I told you not to go off and have an adventure without me.’ She looked around the field. ‘Hubba hubba, who is that?’

  I followed her eyes to see Turos watching us. When I met his gaze he smiled and sauntered towards us. Bladimir was talking fervently to Rako, waving his arms around and gesturing towards his people.

  ‘Oh my,’ Sabby said. ‘He’s even bigger close up.’

  He rested an arm casually on my shoulder and held a hand out to her. ‘You must be Sabby. Izzy told me all about you.’

  ‘Well hopefully,’ she threw him a stunning smile, ‘she’ll tell me all about you. But alas, for now I have to go and heal the wounded.’

  Mia reached out her nose to sniff at Turos. She let go of my neck and scampered up his arm, running her paws over his face as she nipped at his jaw.

  ‘Ah,’ Turos peered down at Mia, ‘what is it?’

  ‘Mia is a narathymia. She’s technically a monster.’

  ‘A monster?’ He reached out a finger and scratched her under the neck and she let out a purr. ‘She’s too adorable to be a monster.’

  ‘Santanas took her baby. I promised her we’d find it.’ I watched her wind herself around his neck. ‘She likes you.’

  ‘What’s not to like?’ He held his hands out sideways.

  A smile curved my lips as I looked up into his beautiful eyes. ‘Want to come and meet my Mum and Grams?’