“What does this one do?” I asked him.
“It does as the last one did, allows you to contact me and hear what you’re thinking,” he said.
“I don’t have magic, remember? The last one didn’t work because I couldn’t activate it,” I reminded him.
“This one does not need the wearer to have magic because it is imbued with mine.”
“Your what?” I asked.
“My magic.”
“You put your magic in the ring?” I asked in shock.
He nodded.
“But…”
He set his hand on my shoulder and said, “I have plenty of magic to spare. This is a very small amount and it is stored in the crystal ball here in the center.” He indicated the small pinkish stone in the middle of the ring.
“It’s very common for magic users to imbue crystals with their magic so that if they are low during a fight, they can take the magic from that crystal and use it,” Prince Favian told me.
“Although it will need to be recharged once it is used, won’t it?” Princess Marin asked.
Faxon nodded. “Very true.”
“Are you sure?” I asked him. “I don’t want you to do something that you will regret or blame yourself for if I…”
He took my hand and slipped the ring on. “The only thing that I care about is your safety. With this ring, you will be able to contact me when you need help. I thought about this for a long time. You remember when the magic expunger activated and you almost died on that island?” he asked.
How could I forget?
“Yes.”
“If you hadn’t been able to contact me with your last bit of magic, using that ring, you would have died and we would have never found you. We would still be searching for you, having torn apart Drimla and sunk the Kingdom to the bottom of the ocean floor when we couldn’t find you,” he told me.
“I like these people,” Princess Marin commented softly.
“With the ring, I will know that you are safe, or will be as soon as I arrive,” he said.
“Let’s hope that I won’t have need to use it anytime soon. I’m personally tired of being kidnapped and attacked to the point that I need to be saved,” I told him grumpily.
“See!” Princess Marin shouted at Prince Favian. “It’s not just me!”
“Excuse me?” I asked.
“We’ve had a bad couple of years with kidnapping and attacks,” Princess Marin told me. “And I’m supposed to be strong and yet I keep needing him to save me,” she said and jerked her thumb at Prince Favian.
“Perhaps it is a curse of being a princess,” I suggested.
“I’ve never been kidnapped,” Princess Deana said.
“You’d better knock on wood,” Princess Marin told her.
“Have you been able to See him or sense him?” I asked Faxon.
He nodded his head. “He’s moving closer to us, but slowly. I believe he is moving with his warriors.”
“Can you tell how long until they get here?” Prince Favian asked.
“If they continue at the pace that they are, most likely tomorrow morning,” Faxon said, “but I think they will likely stop to rest tonight.”
“Are you certain that you will be okay?” I asked him softly.
He glared at me. “Do not forget who I am, Tilia.”
I raised my hands in the air. “I know. You’re the strongest mage in the world. I was just making sure.”
His frown relaxed into one of concern and he whispered, “Stay safe. I’ll see you for dinner.” He kissed my cheek and then disappeared.
“That is amazing,” Prince Sebastian whispered. “Our mages can teleport, but he doesn’t even chant or anything.”
“Most things are second nature to him now,” I explained. “That spell to freeze us was done by his eyes blinking shut.”
“So, you and the mage seem pretty close,” Prince Sebastian commented.
“I was dumped, uh, delivered to my aunt when I was ten years old and Faxon had been a silent part of my life up until just before my seventeenth birthday when he began tutoring me in magic,” I explained. “We grew pretty close quickly after that, with me becoming his apprentice of sorts and I got into a lot of trouble the next year and a half. He doesn’t usually let anyone in, so it’s been rough on him. I am the only child any of them has had.”
“Are you certain that there is no cure for this device stealing your magic?” Princess Deana asked. “From what it seems like, your land has a lot of magic and must have something…”
“Faxon said that he knows of nothing and that the ones it had been used on before never recovered,” I replied sadly. “If Faxon doesn’t know of a way, then that usually means that there isn’t one.”
“Would you like the tour of the castle now?” Princess Marin asked.
I nodded and we all headed out of the dining room and around the castle. It wasn’t as large as home, and it was not ornate, but it was still a decent castle. The garden outside was very lovely and I smelled each of the strange flowers they had growing.
“You could take a couple home with you to grow in your Kingdom if you would like,” Princess Deana offered.
“Really?” I asked happily.
She nodded. “Of course.”
“That would be wonderful. These flowers smell so exquisite.”
“It sort of reminds me of the rainforest on the island in the Fire Ring,” Finn commented.
“Oh yeah, the one where we almost fell into the volcano after the giant crab and squid were fighting.”
“Whoa, back up,” Princess Marin said. “What happened?”
We sat on the cool grass in the garden and I asked, “How about we swap a story for a story?”
“Marin, can I talk to you?” Prince Favian asked her.
They walked away and spoke quietly for a couple minutes and Prince Favian’s brow furrowed. What was he upset about? Did he not want her to tell us stories? Was he worried we might somehow use the information against them?
The two hugged and then they came back.
“Okay, you go first,” Princess Marin requested.
“I had just joined Finn’s crew and we were sailing…”
“His crew?” Princess Deana asked.
“Pirate crew,” I explained.
“You weren’t joking about being pirates?” Prince Favian asked with a scowl.
I turned and tugged down my shirt so that they could see the tattoo, my father’s mark with Finn’s mark, on my shoulder. “This is my father’s pirate mark and Finn’s pirate mark,” I explained.
Finn showed them his tattoo and they quieted again.
“Anyway, we were sailing and he took me to the Fire Ring, a group of four islands that make a ring shape and each have a volcano on them. First, we ran into a sea dragon who decided to let us pass and then while we were on the volcano looking at it, a huge crab and a huge squid started fighting and they slammed into the island.”
“How huge?” Princess Deana asked with wide, sparkling eyes.
“Twice the size of my ship at least,” Finn replied.
“The squid’s eye was larger than my body,” I told them.
“You saw its eye?” Finn asked me.
“It swam under me,” I said, “right before the mermaid grabbed me.”
“A mermaid!” Marin and Deana exclaimed.
I nodded. “She was trying to kill me, but I cut her with my dagger and then had to cut my hair because she was pulling me down to drown me by it.”
Finn touched my hair and sighed. “She had beautiful, long hair.”
“It’s growing back,” I reminded him.
“Wow, I wonder why the crab and squid were fighting?” Princess Deana asked.
“I didn’t stop to ask,” I told her and everyone laughed. “Your turn.”
“Which story to tell…” Princess Marin whispered and tapped her finger against her chin.
“Tell her about the ogres attacking the Elven Kingdom,” Prince Seb
astian suggested.
“I can’t really tell it,” she admitted. “I don’t remember all of that day.”
“I do,” Prince Favian said. “First, I should tell you that Marin is supposed to get rid of all of the ogres in existence,” he told Finn and me.
“Why?” I asked.
“They’ve turned evil,” she said. “My father has given me the task of destroying them.”
“One day at the Elven Kingdom, a horde of ogres was sent to attack us, but they were targeting Marin specifically,” Prince Favian continued. “There were over two thousand of them. The Elves are great fighters, but that was still a large number of ogres to deal with and we don’t keep our army in one spot and we had no idea how long it would take to get everyone there. It turned out we didn’t need any of them.”
“Why not?” Finn asked.
“Because we had Marin,” he said with a proud smile. “She flew into action and killed them.”
“Wow,” I whispered.
“You’re up,” Prince Favian said.
“Tell them about the chimeras,” Finn suggested.
“Chimeras? You have chimeras too?” Princess Deana asked.
I nodded. “Yes, we don’t have many of them, but they show up occasionally.”
“So, what happened?” Princess Marin asked.
“Well I suppose you need back story…” I started.
“A crazy King who wanted to kill all pirates kidnapped Tilia to hang her as a warning to the pirates,” Finn summarized. “And her family turned the castle to ash, beheaded the King, and told them that they were lucky because her family felt merciful that day.”
“That was merciful?” Princess Deana asked in a whisper followed by a gulp.
“I wouldn’t have let them off so easy,” Prince Favian said and folded his arms across his chest.
“To get back at me for that happening, the Queen sent me a letter, which was spelled to reverse teleport a chimera to us.”
“They sent a chimera to you?” Princess Deana asked in shock. “What did you do?”
“Well, initially I froze because they’d also sent mist that made you feel fear and the last time I had faced a chimera I was almost killed, so my track record with them wasn’t the best.”
“Mist that makes you afraid? I really don’t like the sounds of these things,” Deana whispered.
“It didn’t affect my Aunt or Faxon because they have shields that protect them from spells like that. And my Uncle uses fear to make himself angry, so it didn’t really matter to him.”
“How did you break free?” Marin asked.
“Faxon broke it,” I answered honestly.
“He broke the spell?” Sebastian asked.
I nodded. “He broke the spell and I became enraged because this had happened in front of a large crowd of our citizens and I sort of went a bit crazy and killed the chimera.”
“They locked her and the chimera in a containment bubble,” Finn told them. “I almost killed Faxon for that.”
“She was perfectly safe,” Faxon said behind Finn where he had appeared, sitting on the grass.
“It’s very disconcerting when you do that,” Finn told him.
“Maybe I should put a bell on you, like a cat,” I suggested.
“I won’t wear it,” he told me.
“Why would you lock your princess in a containment spell with a chimera?” Prince Sebastian asked Faxon.
“She needed to face her fear and the stupid thing spit fire, so we had to use the containment spell to protect our citizens,” Faxon explained.
“What if she had gotten hurt?” Deana asked.
“The spell was created with the terms that King Jared or Queen Esmeralda could enter at will. If she were in danger, Jared would have leapt in and cut the beast to shreds before it could severely harm her.”
“You have a lot of faith in your King,” Favian noted.
“You should see him fight,” Finn said and shook his head. “If I didn’t have my speed, he would murder me in a breath.”
“Finish your story,” Faxon urged me. “It’s getting to the best part.”
“You mean because you were there and helped?” I guessed.
“Partly.”
“Fine. After I killed the chimera, the spell on the letter activated and Faxon noticed somehow. He grabbed me and we both were teleported to the castle dungeons of Drimla.”
“Why did you grab on to her?” Favian asked.
“Because I could teleport us back from wherever we were going and I am a decent healing mage, so if she was injured I could treat her,” he explained.
“And?” I probed.
“And I wanted to have some fun,” he admitted. “It gets so boring in peaceful times.”
“When we arrived, there were three more chimeras waiting for us and a shadowy figure above our heads. It was the Queen! She wanted me to die and thought this would ensure my death.”
“What did you do?” Sebastian asked.
“Faxon froze the chimeras in place and I cut all of their heads off.”
“Do their heads fall when they’re frozen?” Marin asked.
I shook my head. “No, that’s part of why we did it. It’s so much more fun to see people’s reactions when you release the spell and all of the body parts fell into a heap.”
“What did the Queen do?” Deana asked.
“She tried to flee, but I wasn’t done showing off. Faxon made a piece of the floor shoot up under me really fast, which tossed me into the air. I did a flip in the air and landed next to her and then killed her.”
“Then we killed the Prince who was going to attack us and Tilia claimed their Kingdom for ours. Then I teleported us back home,” Faxon finished.
“Your Kingdom sounds amazing and terrifying all at the same time,” Princess Deana whispered.
“Did you come to talk to me?” I asked Faxon.
“I actually came to ask Prince Favian a question,” he replied.
“Me?” Favian asked.
Faxon nodded. “Would you step away from the group for a minute so I can ask you something?”
“Why do you have to take him away?” I asked.
“Because I don’t want you to hear our discussion,” he admitted.
Favian stood and followed Faxon across the gardens. Faxon talked quickly, his lips moving faster than usual and his arms moving animatedly. After a moment Favian replied and made strange movements with his hands.
“Any idea what they’re talking about, Princess Marin?” I asked.
“Please, let’s drop the titles. And sadly, no I do not,” she said.
“Tilia,” Finn whispered, “what’s that on your hand?”
I looked down and found a strange red bug with black dots on my hand.
I prepared to kill it, but Deana grabbed my wrist. “It’s just a ladybug. They’re not dangerous.”
She released me and I raised the hand with the bug on it closer to my face. It was cute looking. I blew on it and the shell split to let out wings which it used to fly away.
“What’s the Elven Kingdom like?” I asked curiously.
Marin smiled and said, “It’s beautiful. There are trees everywhere, tall grass, and we have a fighting arena right behind the castle.”
“That comment just sealed your friendship with Tilia,” Finn said and chuckled.
“I really wish we could spar now,” I told her.
“Me too, but knowing my luck we would wear ourselves out and then we would get attacked,” she said with a longing sigh.
“After we defeat them,” I assured her.
She nodded happily.
“Alright, I’ve taken up enough of the Prince’s time,” Faxon said when they returned.
“Have a nice chat?” I asked him.
“I know you don’t like being kept in the dark, but it’s for your own good,” Faxon told me. “Have I ever done anything to warrant your distrust?”
“No,” I mumbled while looking at the blade of grass I
held in my hand.
“Finn, don’t let her pester the Prince,” Faxon ordered.
Finn nodded and then Faxon disappeared. “Tilia,” Finn warned.
“I’m not going to ask,” I promised and pouted at him.
“Oh, that’s a good pout,” Marin praised.
“Indeed,” Deana agreed with a nod.
“Finn,” I begged.
“Your pouting does not affect me,” he said and folded his arms across his chest.
I thought about something sad and let a few tears well up in my eyes.
“She’s really good,” Marin whispered.
“I can’t even cry on demand,” Deana said in awe.
“She can’t full cry,” Finn told them. “She can just muster up a few tears to make Faxon feel bad and then he usually gives in to her.”
I sighed and wiped my eyes. “It has yet to work on Finn.”
“Why do they insist on pouting?” Favian asked Finn.
“They think it will make us feel bad for them,” Finn replied.
“Like a kicked puppy,” Sebastian said.
“Men,” I grumbled and Deana and Marin nodded in agreement.
“You’re grumpy,” Finn commented. “Do you want to spar?” he asked.
“A short match,” I said happily.
“What? You’re going to spar with a fight coming at any moment?” Sebastian asked.
“Finn won’t even raise his heart rate,” I said, “and I’ll just exert enough energy to calm down.”
“I’ve got to see this,” Deana said.
“I thought we were going to surprise them on the field?” Finn asked me.
“You’ll hold back,” I assured him with a smile.
“Of course, I’ll be holding back,” he said with a smirk.
“Is there an area we can use?” I asked Deana.
“Yeah, this way,” she said and waved at us to follow her. She led the way to a circle of dirt that looked well worn down. “This is where the guards train,” she explained.
“It’s perfect,” I said in thanks. I went to the middle and drew two daggers, holding one in each hand.
“Ready?” Finn asked. He held his sword down at his side and waited for me to start.
“Ready,” I said and launched myself at Finn. This was the best way for me to unwind. With Finn, I could be sure that I would not hurt him and he would not hurt me. I attacked again and again while Finn blocked each attack. Much too soon I felt my heart beating faster and my breathing increase. I raised my hand and Finn stopped.
Princess Triumvirate (Pirate Princess, # 2) Page 17
