Magic and Shadows: A Collection of YA Fantasy and Paranormal Romances

by T. M. Franklin

  Another blade was headed his way. A thug armed with a dagger snuck up behind Phillip with the intent of going for his neck but a whimper from Esther Anna alerted the prince of this. He turned and struggled with him; back and forth, the tip of the dagger was turned on the prince, and then the attacker, until Phillip was able to gain the upper hand. He bent his knee and took a shot to the man’s midsection and when he lurched forward, Phillip used his weight to throw him up and over his back.

  Another one down…

  The man twisted until he flopped himself over onto his stomach and he crawled to reach the dagger that was dropped in the tussle. Phillip huffed and immediately stomped on the man’s hand. Once, twice, and a third time to make sure he wasn’t going to pose a threat again. The man screamed aloud in indescribable pain.

  “Come on guys, I’m still more than ready to pay you with my gold. Fairy gold… Just take the money, give me the boat and we’ll be on our way. Sound good?” Phillip taunted them with his lackadaisical tone.

  It seemed like the mention of fairy gold sent the other man into a frenzy and he lunged towards Phillip, screaming like a man possessed. Another man rushed towards him, dagger raised behind him, aimed for Phillip’s neck. Phillip caught hold of the first man and smashed his head on his knee, crushing his nose. The man fell to the floor, bleeding profusely from the front his face.

  The second man who’d rushed in for the next round trembled and hesitated in his attack, as he’d been distracted by the takedown of his cohort. Phillip rushed him. He juked to his left and the man moved to block, but it left his other side open for attack. The prince swept in and delivered three quick but powerful jabs at his side, and he felt his bones give way under his fist. His assailant clutched his side and bent over in pain, eventually succumbing to the injury as he fell to the ground.

  The man with the bloody face was back up on his feet and he charged forth, but Phillip delivered a clean uppercut to his jaw and with a lightning-quick reflex, kicked the man’s knee and his leg bent at an odd angle. His cry echoed in the area as he fell back.

  Another man who joined the fray was met with an equally undignified defeat. All it took was one quick jab to the neck sent both of his hands up to clutch at the affected area. It’d jostled his airway and breaths came in shallow gasps. Phillip reared back and thrust forward to deliver an open-palm blow, square in his chest. The gasping man was sent reeling back until he tripped and fell onto his backside a short distance away.

  The man with the broken ribs was the only one able to rise again and he ran at Phillip blindly. He swung a right, then a left, but Phillip agile enough to dodge those with ease. However, the man bent to swing with his leg, which caught the fairy prince off guard. He was fast to act, as his wings suddenly appeared and with one strong beat, he the wind pulled him back to evade the attack. Phillip caught the man’s leg and kicked the remaining one out from under him. After he threw him down, the prince turned and observed the aftermath of this scuffle. All three men were defeated, splayed out on the ground around him, and they all groaned and grunted in pain.

  “Enough!” The leader of the group said, angrily. He had Esther Anna in his grasp, and threatened her with a small knife to her neck. The sweat rolled off his head in torrents and his hand oozed blood from its wound, staining the queen’s dress. “Enough, creature! Or your lady gets it. Don’t test me!”

  She struggled slightly against his strong hold but it was futile.

  “So…” He wore a sinister smile as he looked over Phillip from head to toe. “What’s a fairy royal doing in our humble harbour?”

  Phillip was shocked by the accusation. How did he know?

  Esther Anna’s captor spat at him, and it landed at his side before he spoke again. “I noticed the markings on the sword. Those are of royal origin. So, you’re either of royal blood yourself or you stole it from one!” The man staggered, though his hold on Esther Anna was tight. He was losing quite a bit of blood from his injury.

  Phillip was silent for a moment. Just great. Of all the humans in the world, we encounter one who could read our language… He adjusted his stance. Not to surrender, but to come clean. “Okay! Fine. Yes, I am Prince Phillip, heir to the throne of Fandrela. That, right there, is Queen Esther Anna Lapointe, wife to the late King Pierre LaChance of Tibethia. We need to use your boat since we are on a mission of significant importance. There’s only one way we leave here today my friend, and that is with that boat.”

  The man laughed and held Esther closer. “The fairy prince, travelling with the murderous queen…Now how did that meeting happen?”

  Phillip sighed. It was another obstacle they didn’t have time for. Not to mention, he was just forced to give away their identities, and he had no doubt the queen would hear about it and they would be surrounded in no time. He locked eyes with Esther Anna briefly. As the man shifted weight off his leg, he outstretched the other, and Phillip found her gaze again. A silent command was all she needed…She knew what to do. The fairy shoes she had on, while quite light on the feet was heeled in the strangest manner.

  With one quick move, she lifted her leg and stepped on the man with all her might and he released her instantly. Before he could realise his mistake, Phillip dashed in front of him and had grabbed him by the neck. Phillip held him off the ground, and he kicked and struggled against his strength. He begged to be let down, and eventually Phillip scoffed and released him. The man desperately clutched at his throat, gasping for air when he fell to the ground.

  Phillip stood over him, a proud smirk on his face. “We’ll be needing a couple of your men as well.”

  Present time. Kingdom of Tibethia.

  * * *

  Damien sighed in frustration as he felt the tug once more. What exactly does she want? He wondered. He hated being drawn from his guard post and he was frustrated by the lack of activity from the fairy entrance. Could it be that they had left the fairy kingdom already without his knowledge? He’d studied the enchanted man, the same one encoded with her genetic signature to lock on to whenever she came out of the protect the barrier of the fairy kingdom. It had become increasingly frustrating because he could no longer feel her essence in the forest and was concerned with its slow decline. He felt unbelievable anger rise at the thought of the fairies having killed her, but he willed himself to calm down.

  He felt the call once more and shook his head in anger and ignored it. Damien had helped her win her mini war and gain the respect and fear of the people. What more could she possibly want? Unless he was in for a reward. But the princess had to know that for a woodsman, the chase and the eventual kill was reward enough for the woodsman. Damien got up and stretched out, and felt strongly compelled to get to the palace. Perhaps the princess was employing a stronger means of summoning him?

  He struggled to fight the pull, but eventually he was powerless to resist.

  Damen materialised in the throne room, and when he looked up, he saw Princess Noelle upon her throne. He sensed the presence of his brothers in darkness, the seven deadly sins nearby. It pleased him to know the princess had decided to keep the goblins around for extra security, and with them around, she was virtually untouchable.

  Smart move.

  He gave a formal bow to her, and she quickly waved him up. The woodsman studied her features and discovered that she was seething, but trying very hard to keep herself in control. “What has happened, princess?” He asked.

  Noelle looked up sharply, seemingly offended as he spoke. She looked towards the door and clapped her hands several times.

  He was amused by her, and that just seemed to make her angrier.

  Before she could snap, a man stumbled into the room. He didn’t look like he belonged anywhere near the palace. He was ragged, with unusual, disproportionate features that saw the wear of time, and perhaps suffered against something that lurked outside of the kingdom walls. One look at him and Damien decided that he was a filthy, unsavoury human.

  The man caught sight of Damie
n and looked like he was about to turn around and run away before the princess’ voice broke through his thoughts of escape.

  “Edgar. Tell him what you told me.” Noelle demanded of the man, and gestured to Damien.

  The man nervously looked at Damien. He coughed to clear his throat, and spoke as he’d been commanded. “Well, a couple of us were at the harbour yesterday, y-you know, just earning a living. Nothing fancy. Then this couple came around looking for a specific boat, a-a man and woman. Or at least, he seemed like a man. They don’t see the boat they want, you see? So, they leave. They come by again this morning, searching for that boa, a fine couple these two, and they walk like, well like her…” He pointed at Noelle to note that they strolled around like royalty. Edgar continued his story: “So, they ask around. Offer to pay big, but nobody has the boat. Then, a colleague of mine, Ledger, he comes in with his boat. Turns out he had exactly what this couple wanted and they offer to pay…in fairy gold.”

  Damien was hardly listening up until this point, but his ears perked up and his eyes glowed. Fairy gold? His attention was piqued.

  “A lot of it, too. But Ledger, he gets greedy, and he tries to take it by force. This man however, he’s not having it and he totally gives Ledger and his men a thorough beat down. But during the fight, wings appear at his back. He’d not really a man, you see. He’s a fairy! He’s a fairy prince!” Edgar smiled, baring a mouthful of crooked teeth, proud of the tale he’d told. “But that’s not all. The broad—the girl he’s with? Well she’s not just any girl. The fairy introduced her as Queen Esther Anna Lapointe. Can you imagine, the woman who murdered our king, with a fairy prince who beat down my friends? What was unusual, though, is that the fairy healed the wounds of the men and they set sail. I rushed here as fast as these legs could carry me to inform the great princess of this development.” He bowed to the princess.

  Noelle barely acknowledged the gesture and waved him off.

  Damien stared at the floor, unsure of what to say. He had not expected such news, and took a moment to process it all. The queen left the fairy kingdom and was now on a boat with the fairy prince…

  “What do you have to say for yourself woodsman?” Noelle asked.

  Without a single word, he opened his palm and conjured up the enchanted map. It was the only way to ensure he was not the victim of an elaborate ruse. He wondered how his tracking spell could fail, as he spent every day to make assure its success. Damien wanted to know how she slipped past him without his knowledge.

  As he opened the map and scanned it, he narrowed his eyes. Something was amiss. There was nothing there that indicated Esther Anna had escaped. He showed the blank map to Noelle, vindicated by his discovery. He wanted, more than anything, to take the life of the man who dared to come in and make him doubt himself. As he stared at her his smug smile returned. It opened his mind to more possibilities. The event at the harbour could have been an elaborate ruse to turn the princess’ attention elsewhere, as a decoy. Revealing their identities caused quite a stir…as if they’d done it on purpose.

  “What are your ideas on this, woodsman? What are we going to do about this problem?” The princess asked, as she seemed to have calmed down.

  “Well, princess, it appears that the queen is trying to throw us off her tracks and send us after these two imposters. I suggest I keep up with my current course of action. The queen is still in the fairy kingdom. If she’d left, I would have known by…” His voice trailed off and he instantly felt shame well up inside him. As he’d been speaking, his eyes had strayed towards the map again and he had seen a mark appear over the part of the sea closest to the harbour.

  Princess Noelle noticed his pause and got up to look at the map too. She caught sight of the mark as it vanished, and then appeared again, but only for a short while. Then it was gone again.

  Damien looked from the princess to the map and sighed.

  The fairies had somehow masked her from his tracking spell, though it wasn’t absolute and simply managed to distort it. He reckoned that where ever the beacon appeared wasn’t completely accurate, offering a bit of leeway for the queen and her fairy accomplice to escape. He wondered how long they’d been in the realm, out in the open and free from the wards. He’d been played for a fool, and that angered him.

  Damien looked down and continued to watch, as the mark appeared once again.

  11

  Present time. Aboard the Marry Finny Fine. Seven seas.

  * * *

  The boat rocked from side to side.

  The queen felt queasy at the motion, and rushed to the side to brace herself against the rail. She had been on a fair share of boats in her lifetime so her seasickness came as a bit of a surprise. She thought, perhaps, it was simply a result of the spicy food she’d eaten and quite possibly her nerves, since she focused solely on what they were going to do now that they were at sea. How were they going to locate the pirate who had the Lamp of Light?

  Prince Phillip, was handling it just fine. He spent most of his time with the man at the helm and gave him instructions in hushed a conversation that he didn’t deem necessary to share.

  From what Esther Anna had heard about the pirate they were after was as mean as they come. She had no idea how they would reason with him when they met, but she reckoned that Phillip had all that planned. Or at least, she hoped he did.

  The prince winced as she retched. The seas were not kind to her, in that sense. Once she was finished, she wiped her mouth and returned to her seat. She’d been so miserable that he even went to the helmsman and asked him to steer carefully so she wouldn’t be so sick, as he knew she needed to be alert and healthy for their journey. He watched Esther Anna, as she sat there quietly. From what he gathered, she was staring off into the distance, wondering how he planned to find the pirate they needed. What he didn’t tell her, was that his plan started the second they had left Fandrela.

  Phillip strolled over to where Esther Anna stood and planted himself beside her. He didn’t say one word. There seemed to be nothing to say, so they took that moment to enjoy the beautiful scenery of the ocean’s spread, as it was infinitely beautiful. The gentle waves rolled over each other and crashed against the boat, creating the gentle rocking motion that upset her stomach.

  For a second, Phillip felt guilty. Perhaps he should have been upfront what his plans were with her, but he was confident it was going to work. The only way they could fail was if his display at the harbour had scared the men into keeping quiet, but he doubted it. The news of the fairy prince with the bag of fairy gold, travelling with the fugitive Queen Esther Anna going across the seven seas would spread, and they would get what they want. That was the plan.

  “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” Esther Anna uttered, and it broke him out of his thoughts.

  He took in a deep breath and even thought of her as he said: “Yup. It’s definitely beautiful.”

  “We made it…” She said softly, and breathed out too, in relief.

  “Not yet, my queen, not yet. We must get the pirate with the lamp. Without it, our plan won’t work. Even with the princess’ power play, it’s still not total proof that she’s evil. She’s ready to do whatever to protect her father’s throne. Her throne. The lamp, however, will assist, or even take care of that problem for us.”

  His reference to the massacre of the leading families by the princess took over her thoughts and she imagined how their families had felt, drawn into something some of them probably didn’t even want to. And it would get worse. She knew it would. Princess Noelle had to be stopped, and it seemed like they were the only ones who were trying to do so. They needed the pirate. They needed the lamp.

  “About the pirate, how…?” Esther started but was interrupted by a scream that sent seagulls flying away.

  “PIRATES!”

  Phillip was instantly on his feet.

  She looked up sharply, confused. Is that a smile on his face?

  The men swarmed the deck, buzzing around to quickly tak
e up their defensive positions. Their boat was not built for combat but for speed, and they planned to use it to escape.

  “Full speed ahead!” The captain shouted the command to his men.

  “No! Don’t do that. Retain this speed. We face them head on!” Phillip defied the captain’s order, and the men paused, looking at him as if he had gone mad.

  All seven men gathered around him, mumbling and grumbling up a storm in disagreement with the prince’s demand. They weren’t pleased with this change of order, and even the man at the helm had a scowl on his face.

  Esther Anna ran towards him. “What are you doing?”

  “What do you mean we’re facing them head on? Are you insane?” They asked.

  Phillip peered through the spyglass to the other ship across the way, and he nodded in satisfaction. He made his choice, and they were going to face the pirates.

  “Do you know what ship that is?” the captain asked, and his eye twitched in frustration.

  Prince Phillip smiled confidently before responding, “I do, and I say we face them. Everyone, back to your work posts. Now!”

  The men nodded and reluctantly returned to their posts, murmuring about needing more money for their troubles.

  Phillip recognized the ship. He knew that one pirate, and one pirate only, was aboard that ship…

  “What are you doing?” Esther Anna asked. “Why aren’t we fleeing?”