The king surprised her once more when he steered the boat back toward the trees. Seemingly hidden there from the rest of the world was a lagoon encircled by the forest. Penny gaped, lost in the beauty of this midnight enchantment.
“Look, Penny, into the water. Can you see them?” Noah gestured at the shallows, and Penny leaned over the side. Beneath the surface, clinging to the weeds and vines that sprouted from the pearly sand, were delicate star-shaped flowers that glowed with a ghostly light. The tiny blooms swayed with the currents of the water, drifting like miniature galaxies under the surface.
“Unbelievable,” Penny said, a smile springing to her lips as she dipped her fingers into the icy water to touch them. She half-expected the flowers to disappear as her fingertips grazed them.
“I really do like a girl who can appreciate the beauty of nature,” Noah said, releasing the oars and allowing the boat to float freely on the glassy surface of the lagoon. Penny looked up at him and gave a shy, clumsy nod.
“It’s like a picture from a storybook,” she breathed, wishing she felt prepared for whatever was coming. Noah’s eyes lingered on her.
“I’ve got one more thing to show you, if you’d like. Brought it along—just in case,” Noah said, lifting the bag at his feet. He fiddled with it, not waiting for her reply, and pulled out a stunning lute painted in wild designs of red, green, and white.
“I’m not sure if you are aware or not, but the six High Races of Elydria were entrusted by Lord Nestor with the names of the natural world around us. The royal lines of each race are the guardians of these names―and I, being the leader of the human race, was taught the names of each of the thousand winds of Elydria. I can control them any way I’d like with this instrument. Humans once used them against each other in the ancient wars. Just as the therios called upon the earth with their drums, the elves commanded the plants with their harp and so on and so forth―but we have grown beyond that. Much disaster can occur if nature is manipulated, and it affects all races. However, I’d like to show you some of that power tonight.”
Penny watched as Noah’s fingers went to work on the silver strings of the lute and a wave of music filled the air around them. She could sense a strange vibration from the music of the ancient lute as it poured its sound out into the night. Noah’s lips parted and he began to sing along with the music, his voice strong, clear, and perfectly in tune. The words which rolled off Noah’s lips were strange to Penny’s ears; the translation spell that Hector had enchanted her with seemed not to be able to work on the ancient names of the wind that Noah summoned with his song. With every word he sang, a humming filled the air around them and became so strong that Penny became alarmed. Suddenly a powerful wind began to blow in a spiral around the boat.
Penny gasped as the wind teased the surface of the lagoon to rise up into the air so the droplets hung there like liquid stars, illuminated by the light of the twin moons. The wind pierced the water and fished out the glowing flowers that clung to the weeds, and they spun and twirled in the air alongside the drops of water.
As Noah finished his song and the lute’s strings ceased their tuneful vibrations, the water and flowers rained down onto the surface of the lake. Noah set the lute aside into his bag, then looked to Penny with a broad grin.
“Did it please you?”
“That was amazing! I don’t know what I did to earn such a fantastic show, but thank you!” Penny stammered, not knowing how to best express her gratitude, but feeling a heaviness settle over her despite the joy. She could not help thinking that Noah now wanted something from her in return for what he’d done.
“Well, you’re a very special girl. I think you deserve it,” Noah said with obvious affection, leaning closer to Penny. Her stomach lurched and she chewed her lip, her thoughts buzzing. There were so many people who would give the world to be in her situation, but she couldn’t shake the heavy anxiety that consumed her.
Is that what it’s supposed to be like? I’ve never been in love…how do I know that this isn’t what it feels like? Maybe it’s just high expectations, but something seems off.
Penny lowered her eyes to her knees and sighed. “Noah, you’re too kind. I’m…well, I don’t know what to say.”
“Penny, can I tell you something?” he asked, and again didn’t wait for her reply. “Ever since I can remember, girls from every corner of the Nation have been throwing themselves at my feet, desperate for even the tiniest scraps of attention I would spare them, and I never felt a thing for any of them.” He closed his hand tight around Penny’s, an almost painful pressure. “And then out of nowhere, fate brought you to me and my whole world changed, Penelope. I can’t get you out of my head, even for a moment. You’re so different than all of those other silly girls.”
“Noah―” Penny began to stammer, but his voice grew louder.
“You’re the kind of person I always hoped to find—something about the way you get excited when you see your anteloo, or the way that your eyes look when you stop to notice something that most people walk by without seeing. I like that you’re happy with just a single rose, and how you’re eager to know the truth about everything. This all shines through in everything you do. That’s what I love about you. To me, you shine amidst all this darkness that seems to be closing in, day by day. You’re like…like a firefly, small and quivering, but so bright. And to me, that’s what makes you so beautiful.”
Penny made a noise like she was trying to breathe through a straw and stared up at him. “Wh-what?”
“I said you’re beautiful. Hasn’t anyone ever told you that?” Noah asked, concern growing in his eyes. Everything seemed to grow very quiet and still as Noah gently touched the side of Penny’s face.
“No one’s really told you that, have they?” he breathed, both astonished and enchanted. Hordes of contradicting emotions rose and fell in Penny’s chest, one after the other. A nauseating kind of nervousness, the warmth of affection, blind fear, and even protest blinked on and off. Penny felt Noah’s hand graze her face as he leaned closer.
Something large bumped against the boat and they were shaken apart. Penny peered over the edge. Something was down there—something dark and stringy that obeyed the teasing of the water’s current. Penny squinted, and understanding punched the air from her lungs.
It was hair—the long, dark hair of a woman floating in the water. Her face was bloated and the eyes that bulged from her face were dead and unseeing. Her white, naked body was covered in crimson shreds and gouges, but no blood flowed from the wounds. Her arm had been chewed off, as had most of her left foot.
Penny screamed, gripping her own body in horror as she looked out over the rest of the lake. Everywhere, floating in the rocking surface of the lake, she could now see bodies. Most of them had been chewed to bits, and some had deep slash wounds across the throat and abdomen. Each one of them was swollen and waterlogged. Human men and women, severed and torn. Goblins and goblesses. Faeries with only one ripped wing left on their destroyed bodies.
As Penny fought back the urge to retch, Noah pulled her against his chest and held tight. The black objects she had seen bobbing in the lake when they arrived hadn’t been boats or buoys at all. They were floating corpses.
Hold on tight, Penelope,” Noah shouted, clutching Penny to him as he fumbled for the lute.
Penny took sharp, rhythmic breaths and squeezed her eyes shut, trying to cast out the horrific sights that floated behind her lids like the after-image of bright sunlight. She could hear the notes of Noah’s lute, angry and sharp.
“Fairna…Boruese!” Noah gasped, the suggestion of a melody in his tone. Penny felt Noah’s arm close in a vice-grip around her waist, and he pulled the two of them up to their feet, causing the boat to pitch. Penny opened her mouth to cry out, her thoughts filled with the horror of capsizing into the water amid all the drowned bodies, but then her original fears gave way to a sick sensation in her stomach as she felt both her and Noah’s feet lift off the bottom of the
boat. Penny removed her face from Noah’s chest just long enough to see they were rocketing into the air as if pulled by invisible strings, leaving the tiny boat and the bobbing remains behind.
Noah’s fingers danced across the strings as he invoked the power of the wind, creating the spiraling, gusting force that carried them and churned the surface of the water below. The roar of wind made it impossible to talk, and Penny gaped at the world below as they soared over the shores of Lake Olveria and into the Harbor District.
People on the streets of Iverton stopped in their tracks as Noah and Penny flew overhead; some pointed and some waved as they shot between the white towers and over the glowing lampposts of the city. Penny looked at Noah, more frightened by his stony demeanor than the velocity at which they traveled.
“What’s happening?!” Penny yelled into Noah’s ear.
“We’re going to the castle,” Noah barked back at her, and then hissed another strange word that caused a huge zephyr to push at their backs, whipping at their hair and clothes.
Penny caught sight of the majestic arches of the Grand Cathedral and the block-like appearance of the Archillion looming over the smaller buildings. Soon the steeples and turrets of the castle came into view in the distance.
The speed at which they were traveling was making Penny feel sick, and she clung tighter to Noah’s cape. Still clutching her in one arm, Noah used his other hand to stroke the lute, and they plummeted feet first, headed straight for the ground. Bracing herself and clamping her eyes shut, Penny wrapped her arms and legs around Noah’s torso and let loose what she thought would be her final scream. Seconds before impact, Noah murmured and strummed again, and he slowed gracefully in midair, his left foot touching solid ground without a sound as the wind dispersed. Penny clung to Noah for a few moments of silence before she realized they were no longer moving. She glanced up to see a very grim Noah.
“Agh…sorry,” she apologized as she let go, embarrassed to have been so scared and clingy. “What the hell just happened? How did you do that?”
“We rode on the wind,” Noah said without interest, already turning to meet the group of armored rangers charging down the path toward them. Two were already saluting the King.
Observing Noah’s confident stride toward his guard, Penny felt through her confusion and shock as though she did not belong in this moment. She glanced around, trying to gauge how far a walk it was from the castle to Annette’s house. While Noah stiffly addressed the guards at the gate, Penny forced her shuddering legs to move and attempted to make a quiet escape, but Noah spotted her before she retreated more than a few steps.
“Not so fast,” he said, grabbing Penny’s wrist. Penny wondered for a split second if she was somehow being blamed for the grisly findings at the lake, but then Noah pulled her closer and breathed into her ear, “Just stay with me, please.”
Penny had no time to answer as she was yanked forward by Noah and the castle guards and then ushered down the long walkway. The rangers flanked them as they went along, each holding a golden musket-like weapon at their sides.
“Call a council. I need everyone here immediately,” Noah shouted at the Ranger to his left.
“They’ve already come to order, Your Majesty,” the ranger replied, and this time Noah looked to him as distress flickered on his face.
“What? You mean everyone already knows about the findings at Lake Olveria?” Noah gasped.
“The first reports starting coming in an hour ago, shortly after you took leave, my lord. It started with just some human and goblin remains discovered on the shore, but the magnitude of the situation quickly escalated to a matter of international attention,” the Ranger explained.
Noah stumbled a bit as he walked and Penny heard him draw in a deep breath. His grip on her wrist tightened to the point where it was becoming almost painful.
“And what of the cause? How did this happen? Who were those people?” Noah demanded as the group entered the tall, gaping mouth of the castle and headed into its warm interior.
“Nothing has been confirmed yet. However, it seems that the bodies floated across the Xemine Sea―which gives the Lords of Order cause to believe that they were formerly the inhabitants of the Trinity Islands.”
Noah groaned as they made for the colossal staircase in the entrance hall with its rich furnishings of red and gold. Penny remembered from the few weeks they had stayed at the castle after the incident in Hulver that they were drawing nearer to the largest conference room in the building.
Noah threw open the heavy wooden doors with ease, then marched into the room with his head high and jaw set. Penny scurried behind him, feeling small and meek as the high-ceilinged chamber echoed with furious noise: shouts of outrage and whines of fear, frantic scribbling, low murmurs, and heated arguments. The roar of hostility shrank to a quivering lull as the crowd noticed Noah making his way toward the empty throne at the far end of the chamber.
Out of all the unfamiliar, unfriendly faces, Penny recognized some that brought even more discomfort. The first was Flynn, the head cook at the castle, who was famous for his flaring temper. He was already glaring at her. Standing directly beside the throne with a sullen, steadfast look on his face was the captain of the guard, Damari Baldera. He saluted Noah as the king took his seat. Penny stood at the end of the hall, self-conscious and unsure what to do as the confused members of the assembly looked at her. Flynn rolled his eyes and scoffed under his breath, then set the teapot down and rushed over.
“This way, airhead,” he hissed in her ear and pulled her into the crowd. Flynn tossed Penny down into a chair, then took a stiff seat beside her.
“Flynn, what’s happening? I don’t understand, we were just―”
“Quiet!” Flynn snapped as Noah began to formally greet the people who sat in the chamber.
“Lords and Ladies of the Royal Council, please forgive my absence up until this point. I beg all of your pardons,” Noah said, placing his hands on his knees and bowing his head. Each one of the members of the council nodded their head to him with respect. “I formally recognize and greet the Lords of Order, the Royal Advisors, Secretary James Ginn, Captain Damari Baldera, the Ambassadors of the Nations of Dragons, Elves, Goblins, Faeries, and Therios.”
Each time Noah gestured to one party they stood and bowed. Penny stewed throughout the lengthy process.
“Now we may attend the issue―Lord Secretary, will you please read out the statement regarding the incident?” Noah leaned his head toward a decrepit looking man with a scroll in his hand who stood and cleared his throat.
“At approximately thirty-two minutes past the seventeenth hour of this day, the sixteenth day of the month of Cyan, several reports came in from members of the Harbor District saying that the remains of more than twenty individuals of different races began to wash up on the lakeshore. Upon further investigation undertaken by the Justice Bureau of Iverton, it was found that the remains of approximately two hundred individuals have reached the shores by way of the inlet of the Xemine Sea. The number of casualties, including those we believe to have been consumed by Fomorians or destroyed otherwise, is projected to be well over a thousand.”
“A thousand?” Noah almost rose from his throne in surprise, a look of abject horror on his face. “How did this happen?”
“We are currently uncertain, Your Majesty. After examining the remains, it has been determined that most or all of them were dead before they were thrown into the sea. We assume that they have been floating along on the ocean currents for several days. It was also confirmed that the origin of the deceased is the Trinity Islands.” The secretary’s voice was grim and several of the assembly gasped or groaned. Noah rubbed at his temples and sank into a troubled silence.
Penny chewed her fingernail as she absorbed the information. Trinity Islands…why does that name sound so familiar?
“Have we attempted to speak to anyone from the Islands? I know how they like to remain isolated and that contact is often very diff
icult, but has anyone tried?” Noah asked.
The Lords of Order looked between themselves and finally the one closest to Noah rose. “Your Majesty, there is another issue we’ve yet to address. Shortly after we realized that deaths occurred on Trinity Islands, we sent the Royal Dirigible on a mission to the Islands to identify the cause, and the pilot corresponded via Sophotri Stone with some disturbing news.”
“Yes? What was it?” Noah demanded, his entire body stiff with anticipation.
“According to his report, apparently a type of impenetrable barrier has gone up around the entirety of the islands. The pilot tried to break through it with weaponry and tools, both magical and mechanical, and in a foolhardy move he was even able to land the dirigible on top of it. Nothing can break through it. We’ve had a difficult time identifying what it is exactly, but it is unlike anything we have ever encountered.”
Suddenly it all made sense to Penny. Trinity Islands―that’s where Nestor’s palace is. He lived there with all his most faithful servants, cut off from the rest of the world. The people floating in the lake must’ve been those servants.
“What do you mean, you can’t break through it?” the ambassador from the Nation of Dragons—Penny recalled his name as Farful—roared. “This is a matter of international security!”
“Quiet down, worm. The dragons have done nothing to help so far. If you and your foolhardy Nation hadn’t been so busy quibbling over your own petty inter-clan dissent and tried to focus on the important matters that arose last year, perhaps this would not have occurred!” the goblin ambassador beside him hissed.
Farful turned to him, embers flaring out of his nostrils as the smells of smoke and brimstone filled the chamber. “Trust a goblin to use such filthy language in such a respectable place! If I remember correctly, the fool king Yulghrat’s misplaced trust is to blame!”
“You dare to mock the fallen king?” The dauntless goblin rose from his seat and faced the eight-foot reptile, his milky-white eyes bulging from their sockets.
Eden Undone (The Dawn Mirror Chronicles Book 2) Page 4
