by Terry Spear
This time Sigrid could observe them better as they were seated nearer to Owen and her. She didn’t know what to think. Both Prince Phillip and Princess Arana were so darkly quiet, like storms were brewing in their thoughts and they had plans of revenge—where their brother was concerned—but they didn’t wish to share what they had in mind with the others.
Why wouldn’t they? Afraid that Sigrid and the other falcon fae wouldn’t want either of them in power? If they ruled in Malcolm’s place and could live peacefully with Owen and Sigrid, they would welcome them as allies.
What if they had plans similar to Malcolm’s? Fight and take over Yarrow’s kingdom?
Sigrid had wanted them freed from their island prison, but she didn’t want them creating more trouble for them. She fully understood that the princess and the prince could both want King Malcolm’s throne, but what if they wanted King Yarrow’s as well? Sigrid thought they’d be grateful that she and the others had rescued them, and that they’d feel some allegiance to Sigrid and the others for having done so. Now, she worried that wasn’t the case. That they only had one thing in mind: revenge and power.
She hoped she was wrong.
Though everyone around them was conversing and laughing, eating and drinking, Sigrid went along with the frivolity, while keeping an eye on the brother and sister.
Owen touched Sigrid’s hand and squeezed, drawing her attention to him. He smiled at her, leaned down and kissed her mouth. She wanted to return to bed and love him. He whispered in her ear. “I am telling you sweet nothings, wanting to take you to bed with me, but I worry just as much as you do about the two of them.”
Sigrid smiled wickedly at her mate, part show, part for real. She loved that they seemed to be so attuned. She leaned over and whispered against his ear, “A battle on three fronts now? Have we made a grievous mistake in freeing them?”
“Like opening Pandora’s box? Could be. You didn’t think this was going to be easy, did you?”
“Yes.” She smiled up at him. “I did.” One mage to tackle, that was it. One. Sure, Sinbad could be a bear to deal with, but the prince or princess could even be worse to fight against. “I’ve never heard of manacles that could prevent someone from using magic.”
“I had,” Owen said.
She frowned at him. “You hadn’t planned to use something like that on me, had you?” She knew from his expression, he had.
“On Sinbad, yes. For you? I didn’t. I had the means, but I didn’t use it.”
She scoffed. “You couldn’t. You wouldn’t have been able to.”
He smiled. “True.”
She sighed. “I forgive you.”
He chuckled, lifted her chin, and kissed her again.
“So, what do we do about them?” she asked.
“We need to learn what they intend to do when they return home. We should have done so already, but we’ve been a little preoccupied.” Owen squeezed her hand. “Tonight, we’ll take them for a walk in the gardens and speak privately with them. We have every right to know what they plan to do, as much as we’ve helped them escape imprisonment and are providing safe passage to our territory. I suspect if they want to replace their brother on the throne, they will need help to do that.”
“Okay, that sounds like a good plan.”
After the meal, Sigrid and Owen met with Prince Phillip and Princess Arana before they retired to their separate chambers. Brett also joined them, and Sigrid wondered if he was worried that they shouldn’t be dealing with the two of them without his help, if they needed it.
Phillip glanced at Arana, as if he was afraid they’d been found out.
“Come, let’s talk,” Owen said, motioning toward the gardens. “We haven’t had a chance to discuss what you want to do when we reach the falcon fae territory. Our main goal was to free you and bring you home. But if your brother, Malcolm, had you imprisoned on the griffin fae island, we need to know what you intend to do once you return.”
They walked on the paths through the herb gardens, torches lighting the stone walkways, a warm breeze twisting the flames.
Neither the brother nor the sister said anything.
“How do you envision taking over?” Sigrid asked. “You can’t just storm the castle. It’s too well-fortified. And archers would kill any of us who try to fly over the castle walls. They can see as well as we can at night, so we wouldn’t have the advantage there.”
“Tunnels exist underneath the castle walls that we can access if they’ve not been sealed off since we were imprisoned. Our grandfather built them for a way to escape should your grandfather ever have gotten the best of us. Malcolm wouldn’t expect anyone to use them or to know where they are, except for us, who, as far as he knows, are still imprisoned on the griffin fae island,” Phillip said.
“When would the best time be to enter the tunnels?” Owen asked.
“Early in the morning, around two or three when most would be asleep, and the guards are tired,” Arana said.
“All right then. Let’s do this,” Owen said.
19
At the morning meal, Sigrid told everyone else what they had discussed with Arana and Phillip the night before, so that Tanya and the dragon shifters, Sinbad, and Owen’s cousins were on the same page, while Arana and Phillip listened in.
“I wouldn’t trust Phillip or Arana to maintain peace with you,” Sinbad warned Owen and Sigrid.
“As if they could trust you,” Arana said.
Phillip agreed with his sister.
At least Sinbad had come with them and hadn’t returned to his own kingdom. He had made peace with the hawk fae also, honoring both his agreements. Owen wondered if Arana and Phillip could rule their kingdom happily together or if one of them would decide to eliminate the other, if they were still alive after the confrontation with Malcolm.
Then they thanked their hosts and set off for their small castle on the butte to drop off anything they wouldn’t need for battle and to finalize plans. For Tanya’s own safety, they would also leave her at the castle.
Long before they reached Raymore Castle, they saw smoke in the distance from the direction of the castle. Not from campfires, but the fields were on fire. And battering rams were pounding the castle gates, as balls of flames catapulted through the air and flew into the courtyard.
Instantly, Owen felt protective of his people and couldn’t help feeling that Phillip and Arana would still side with their brother. Not that they would support him unless they thought to turn on Owen and his people and then they would rule Raymore Castle while Malcolm continued to lead his people.
If that happened, Owen suspected it wouldn’t take them long before the brother and sister plotted against Malcolm.
“If we don’t stop this, we won’t have any kingdoms left to rule,” Arana warned.
Owen thought it odd that she wasn’t upset about the men killing each other. He only wanted peace for the falcon fae.
Then Owen saw Malcolm standing behind his troops, his hands raised to the sky as he mouthed the words of a spell. The sky suddenly turned dark with blue-black clouds closing in over the castle and lightning struck the courtyard with an explosive bang.
“He’s a storm wielder,” Owen said.
“I didn’t want to do this ever again but if I can, I’m sending him away,” Sigrid said, careful not to reveal to Phillip and Arana where that would be exactly. “You’ll need to distract him so I can get close enough.”
“We all will,” Phillip said, frowning. “Where do you think you can send him? You said nothing about having any magic skills.”
“Hopefully, someplace where he’ll never be able to return here.”
The dragons and falcon fae flew over Raymore Castle and the falcon fae dropped the backpacks carrying clothes into the courtyard. The dragons had to land and shift to drop theirs. Halloran swooped down first to let Tanya off in the courtyard, and she ran to help the injured.
The falcons took off again.
Malcolm was busy focus
ing on sending bolts of lightning crashing onto the wall walk where archers had been shooting at his soldiers, unable to reach the king because he was so far back behind his lines. As soon as he sent lightning in the archers’ direction, they dashed for cover. Loud booms resounded as the bolts broke sections of the wall walk and rocks tumbled from there to the base of the wall with a thunderous crash, a cloud of dust rising from that. Malcolm was concentrating so hard on the archers that he didn’t see the falcon fae, dragons, or griffins.
Halloran and the other dragons turned back into dragons and flew beyond the castle. They dispersed as if they had fought so many battles together, they knew exactly what their combat roles were. Sinbad landed on the wall walk and shifted, and was yelling at some of King Yarrow’s archers there. “I’m on your side! We’re fighting against Malcolm. I’m allied with Prince Owen!” His griffin guards landed behind him, ready to fight a new foe.
Though they had to have seen Sinbad flying with Owen, he was still afraid his people would see the griffins as the enemy and quickly swooped down to tell them Sinbad and his men were on their side. “He’s with us! The dragons and griffins are here to fight Malcolm. Protect him, don’t hinder him. He’s King Sinbad, and our ally.”
“Aye, my lord,” one of the archers shouted back over the deafening thunder.
At least Malcolm wasn’t sending a bolt of lightning, one right after another. It appeared he had to gather enough strength again before he could strike with another bolt of lightning.
Owen didn’t see his father anywhere. Why wasn’t he commanding his troops to fight Malcolm and his men?
The dragons concentrated on burning the catapults and battering rams.
Another bolt of lightning struck the wall walk, and the wall began to crumble. Men cried out as they fell. Ena and Kayla turned away from the battering ram they were engulfing in flames and swooped down and caught two men each who had fallen with the collapse of part of a wall and carried them safely to the courtyard.
Owen knew he and the others had to stop Malcolm or they wouldn’t have a castle standing to provide a home for his people!
Brett landed on another wall and cast a rain spell, the heavy downpour putting out the fireballs the catapults had been sending over the wall, the fire in the fields, and everything that had been burning in the castle.
That meant the dragons had to work twice as hard to keep their fires going on the catapults and battering ram.
At the same time, Owen flew straight for Malcolm, and had to swoop this way and that, trying to avoid Malcolm’s archers, who were trying to take Owen out in a barrage of arrows. Sigrid was attempting to fly around Malcolm to reach his back to set up her spell. Arrows whizzed past Owen as he shifted into his falcon form, making him harder to hit. Sigrid did the same, also having trouble staying out of the archers’ sights.
Phillip and Arana faced their brother and created the biggest distraction. Phillip shot a blast of freezing rain at him, which Malcolm quickly countered with fire and the mix of fire and freezing rain created fog.
“What have you done with my mage?” Malcolm shouted, sounding desperate to have another mage at his side.
Phillip’s spell had frozen one of Malcolm’s soldiers to the spot where he stood, sword raised in defense.
Arana cast spears of ice at Malcolm, but he deflected them with a wave of his hands and the spears flew off to either side of him, making several of his soldiers run for cover. A couple shot off in Arana’s direction. She quickly dodged them both.
“You won’t be able to imprison us this time,” Arana said. “Not without your mage to help you. Sinbad lied to you about what would become of us. Are you surprised we’re alive? That’s the problem with mercenaries. Where are they when you need them to do a job?”
“Sinbad escorted you to the island kingdom where the king planned to kill you for making him lose the battle against the golden fae some years earlier.” Malcolm appeared to be amused at his own deceitfulness.
“Ahh, but Sinbad told them I wasn’t the female falcon fae who used magic against his warriors and that I knew nothing of the golden fae. He now knows that Sigrid was the one who had done it and that she is in league with you.” Arana failed to mention that she and Phillip had killed the griffin king.
Malcolm’s face reddened with rage, and Owen thought he believed the griffin fae king might want to fight him. “Where is Sinbad?”
Phillip said, “Sitting this one out, safe and sound.”
In truth, at the moment, Sinbad and his warriors were helping the injured in the courtyard.
Phillip blasted Malcolm with another wave of frigid air, but this time Malcolm repelled the frozen air and Phillip had to fly high to avoid being hit with the freezing spell.
It appeared Malcolm was a stronger magic user, since he could fight off both his sister and brother at once. But for how long?
Arana melted Malcolm’s armor. Phillip quickly cast a freezing spell, but Malcolm anticipated his move and shielded himself with a fire barrier, melting the ice into water again.
Sinbad reappeared on the wall walk and summoned a wind elemental that served as a tornado, whipping everything in front of it while he directed its path across the battlefield. Malcolm’s archers and knights scrambled to get out of its way before they were swept up into the maelstrom along with everything else.
The dragons concentrated on the battering rams and catapults with their fire, despite that Brett’s rain spell was still going, but it didn’t stop them from taking the offensive weapons out. Once the catapults and battering rams were engulfed in fire and were useless to use and the rest of the fires were smoldering, Brett ended his rain spell.
As a dragon, Ena had joined the men in battle. She was a battle-trained warrior, unlike Kayla and Tanya who remained at the castle to help the wounded.
Owen cast an armor strength spell over Sigrid to help protect her from the archers’ arrows, while the brother and sister distracted Malcolm, though, despite the two of them ganging up on him, they didn’t appear to have the strength to defeat him. Sigrid tried to use her magic farther away from Malcolm, without success. She finally waved her hand over a group of archers who were trying to take her out, and they collapsed on the ground.
Then she dove in close to Malcolm, raised her hands, and quickly cast a spell, opening a portal of shimmering blue light. Everyone near Malcolm stopped what they were doing and stared at the light. The void pulled at Malcolm and he used his magic to fight the growing suction. No matter how much he tried, he couldn’t break free of the portal’s strong pull.
Malcolm switched his attention to Sigrid and shot a lightning bolt in her direction. Before she could move out of the way, Owen flew toward her, knocking into her, trying to get her out of its path. The jolt of lightning tore through his wing, the pain ripping through his body, and he nearly fell from the sky.
Worse, Sigrid was falling too, knocked out by the hot, white blast.
Dragon to the rescue, Halloran swooped down and caught her before she hit the ground. Owen cast a wind spell, a burst of straight-line wind, instead of circular in motion like Brett’s funnel, directed at Malcolm as he flapped his wings to tread air. The pain in his torn wing felt like it was on fire.
Malcolm struggled against the portal sucking him in and Owen’s wind force propelling him in that direction, until Malcolm cried out, losing the battle, and slipped into the vortex.
“She needs to close the portal,” Arana yelled, casting shards of ice at her brother, who was inside the other plane of existence. But Arana looked like she was afraid he could still cross over back into their plane though the portal.
If Malcolm had enough strength to fight it, he could still get free, but he was suddenly fighting men in the other plane. Owen had to wake Sigrid so she could close the portal before the unseelie entered their world and caused even more trouble.
With their leader in limbo and so many allies of Owen’s fighting them, not to mention Arana and Phillip, too, Malco
lm’s men quit fighting and waited to see what would happen next.
Owen flew down to see Sigrid, taking her in his arms, kissing her, then waving a warm, healing spell over her.
She gasped and stared up at him. “What happened? Ohmigoddess, the portal!”
She raised her hands and closed it before anyone from the other world could get through. Malcolm had been too busy keeping the unseelie at bay with his magic to reenter their plane.
“Where was that?” Arana asked, looking shocked.
“Somewhere that you never want to go,” Sigrid simply said.
Everyone was watching Sigrid, both Malcolm’s men and her own party as well. Either they were afraid of her, or realized just how powerful her magic was.
“My brother and I are taking Malcolm’s place,” Arana said to Malcolm’s troops.
Owen waited for her to tell them to cease hostilities and return to their castle. He was prepared to fight the two of them if they gave orders to continue to battle. They would be foolish to do so.
Arana glanced at Sigrid. Maybe she thought tangling with her cousin wasn’t such a good idea.
“Return to the castle. Carry our wounded and dead home,” Phillip said. “There will be no more fighting between our own kind.”
Lord Benton hurried outside of the gates once he saw Malcolm’s men gathering their wounded and dead and heading home.
“Where is my father?” Owen asked.
“He’s on the battlements and watched how you handled Malcolm. He wished to speak with you and your wife at once. He was injured before you even arrived.”
Concerned about his father, Owen wanted to see him at once. He was still crouched beside Sigrid, holding her to a sitting position, his arms around her. She looked a little dazed. “How badly injured is he?”
“He suffered a blow to the head, though he was determined to get back out into the fight. When he was told you had arrived with reinforcements, he commanded us to take him to the battlements. Thank the goddess, the catapults were no longer tearing down the walls by the time we got him to the wall walk. But once he saw you were winning, his physician convinced him to return to his chamber.”
