“Get up, you wimp, they didn’t see us,” Noct hissed as he bumped the boat ashore. Penny peeked around her, then clambered out of the boat on wobbly legs as Noct tethered it to a nearby shrub.
“What’ll we do? How will we get them to go away?” Penny asked, wringing her wrists as they crept around the tearoom.
“I’ve got an idea. Don’t scream,” Noct said, and then conjured up a glowing ball of flames between his palms. Before Penny had time to stop him, Noct shot his fire across the lake with impressive force. It sailed along, reflecting on the water’s surface and lighting up the night before colliding with a few trees and setting them ablaze. The faerie watchmen cried out and were off in a flutter of wings and panicked shouts.
Penny and Noct scurried around the side of the tearoom and crept through the entryway. Dim lamps were lit, but it so difficult to see Penny tripped twice. She found the screen door beyond the tearoom and slid it open, discouraged to find the room beyond was pitch black. Noct lit a flame above his head, illuminating the room with an orange glow and reflecting off a pair of eyes.
Penny screamed and clutched Noct at the sight of a goblin. It took a few seconds to realize the goblin was too straight and still to be real.
Noct whimpered. “Is he…?”
Penny stepped forward cautiously and touched the figure.
“He’s stuffed,” Penny told Noct darkly, drawing her hand back. The realistic quality of its skin made her shiver.
“Are they all stuffed?” he moaned, pointing to the other side of the room where four more life-sized figurines―a female and male human, an elf, and another goblin―stood with blank eyes. Next to them were half a dozen taxidermy creatures, all meticulously posed.
“They’re real, aren’t they?” Noct breathed, reaching out to touch the stuffed woman with a kind of transfixed horror. Just as Noct’s finger touched the face of the figurine, Penny felt another set of fingers lightly touch her shoulder. She shrieked and whirled around, and flames burst from Noct as he turned to defend her. The boy froze, then tore off his mask and peered closer.
It was undeniably his sister. The siblings stood facing one another, and Penny imagined it was rather like looking in a mirror. Silence filled the air, and Noct’s eyes grew wider and wider until his sister laughed affectionately. Penny marveled at the lack of fear or surprise in the girl’s expression; she looked quite content and pleased. As if by silent, mutual decision, the twins moved forward and threw their arms around each other. Noct was crying as his sister laughed.
“Oh, Victor! It is you! What in the world took you so long?” she cried, pulling back and dabbing at her own eyes. “I was beginning to think you wouldn’t ever come.”
“Well, it’s not exactly easy to get into this place,” Noct sniffed.
“Victor, eh?” Penny asked, smiling. Noct flushed. Mia looked at Penny, her face complacent and her smile pleasant.
“Oh, hello. You’re the girl from before, right? The one that Madame Irunie was trying to drug?” Mia asked conversationally and Penny had to marvel at the girl’s composure.
“Yes. That was me.”
“Mia, this is Penny. She’s the reason I was able to get here. She and her friends are going to help you escape,” Noct told Mia, but she only raised her eyebrows a fraction and gave a shallow curtsy.
“So nice to meet you, I’m Lumia Gray, but Mia’s fine too. It’s really very good that you got away from Irunie. She’s been going on endlessly about you and your friends since you got here. You might’ve ended up like those poor fellows.” Mia cast a sad look over to the mannequin-like figures at the end of the room. “They were all living here with me before, you see, but they kept trying to escape. Tharn got very mad and ordered them to all be destroyed, but Irunie begged to be able to at least have them fixed up that way. I knew them all personally and―well, it’s all rather horrible.” She shrugged sadly, then looked back at her brother and gave a little cry. Too late Penny realized someone had entered the room.
“Mia! What’s going on here?”
With a sinking feeling, Penny turned to face the Empress, standing at her full height in the doorway, her wings spread wide and her face livid.
“Oh, Madame, no. Please don’t be cross,” Mia begged.
“You vicious serpent,” spat Irunie. “You told them everything, didn’t you? How could you do this to me? And after I treated you so well? Mia, you’ve broken my poor heart. You said you loved me. This is not how you treat someone you love!” Her face twisted in anguish as she screamed, her sharp teeth bared. She took a few steps closer and the three of them drew together. The Empress was staring at Noct. “And you never even mentioned to me that you came in a pair. You cruel thing. Haven’t I always given you whatever you asked for? Haven’t I kept you safe and happy?”
“Please, Madame, don’t be upset. You’ve given me a great many fine things, but you kept me here against my will. I’ve told you, I wanted you to let me go home. I want to leave here with my brother. I miss him, and I need to get back to my mother.” Mia went toward Irunie, her arms open for a hug. “I know you’ll be lonely without me, and I do love you, but you must know I can’t stay here.”
Irunie grabbed up Mia greedily and held her to her chest, her frantic eyes fixed on Noct and Penny as she processed Mia’s words. She was biting her lip so hard a spot of blood bloomed. After a long, tense moment, she shut her eyes and clutched Mia as if in pain.
“You naughty child,” she moaned. “You’ll stay here, where you belong. Your mother can’t take care of you the way I can, so it’s for your own good. But I’ll make it better from now on. You’ll have your sibling and some new friends to play with―won’t that be nice? Won’t that make you happy?”
“She’s coming with us, Empress!” Noct set his hands on fire and bore down on her. Irunie looked up, her expression venomous, and stood, leaving Mia small and helpless at her feet. Irunie’s hand dove into her sleeve and pulled out three feathered darts, and she tossed one with blinding speed at Noct. Her aim was direct, but Noct intercepted it with a burst of flame and it incinerated in a puff of lurid green smoke.
“Hold still, boy. Don’t make this harder than it needs to be.” Irunie prepared another dart, but Mia tugged at her sleeves.
“Madame, stop!”
Penny unstuck her feet from the ground as the Empress turned to strike Mia, and took the full blow herself. She fell heavily upon Mia, then sprang to her feet with the girl’s shaking hand in hers. As Noct and Irunie engaged in combat, she led Mia out of the room and toward the entrance. A dodged fireball hit the ceiling of the tearoom and set the wood aflame. Noct tossed flames around the room, creating an inferno.
“No! No, you cannot do this!” Irunie wailed, rushing to gather her treasures.
Noct rushed after Penny and Mia, and the three of them burst through the doors and ran for the boat. Noct’s hands slipped as he tried to grasp the oars.
“Faster!” Penny urged as they sped across the surface of the lake, the boat rocking precariously.
Silently the trio sped across the lake. Mia’s eyes were fixed sadly on the burning tearoom, where the Empress’s moans of misery could be heard as items were tossed out of windows and doors. Reaching shore, they leapt out and waded through the shallows back to dry land. Mia struggled to keep up, her wet faerie robes hindering her movement. Noct linked arms with his sister and pulled her along.
The garden party with its blithe warmth and carefree guests seemed perverse to Penny as they snuck around its parameter, her throat stinging and her heartbeat out of control. Suddenly a shadow swooped by and Irunie dropped out of the air and straight into their path, covered in soot and snarling.
Penny grabbed Noct and Mia and plunged headfirst into the crowd of confused faeries. Irunie began screaming after them, and the guests slowed their merriment, sensing danger. Penny peered around anxiously, trying to catch sight of Argent. A pair of strong arms pulled her from the girls and turned her. It was Noah.
“Penny, what have you done?” he demanded. Penny shook her head and reached back for Noct and Mia’s hands. Two tall faeries were closing in, violently shoving people out of their way.
“Get them! All of them!” Tharn’s voice boomed over the crowd. As a sharp jagged spear was lowered into Penny’s face, Noah grabbed the end and yanked it from the faerie with surprising strength.
“Stand back!” the King bellowed, wielding the spear at another guard as Penny grabbed Mia by the shoulders and braced herself. In a burst of flame, Noct jumped forward and drove another wave of faeries away.
As Noct’s reaction drew looks of shock, a gunshot cracked out across the garden, followed by two more. Several of the faeries clutched their chests and fell to the ground. Out of the thick crowd came Damari, a saber in his left hand and his golden flintlock pistol in his right as he fought off two faeries in his quest to get to Noah’s side.
“I’m here, Your Majesty!” announced Damari. Enraged faerie warriors surrounded them, but a strange lull settled over the group as they eyed one another. Tharn pushed his way through, cold fury in his eyes.
“What is the meaning of this, King of Men? I thought we had come to an agreement,” Tharn snarled. He pointed his long, sharp finger directly at Mia. “That girl is my rightful property.”
“She doesn’t belong to you! You kidnapped her against her will and kept her here for years, abusing her talents to get yourself rich off magic she found!” Noct bellowed, unflinching even as the King turned to gape at him. Noah turned to Penny with wide eyes.
“It’s true, Noah,” she said, still holding to Mia’s shoulders.
“Return her at once, or I’ll have your entire party executed and you imprisoned,” Tharn said, his eyes reduced to slits.
“My apologies, Your Grace, but you’d better watch who you’re threatening when I’m around,” Damari said, his firearm aimed at the Emperor. Seeing their leader challenged, all of the surrounding faeries lunged at him. Damari dodged to the side, grasped the faerie who attacked him first by the shoulders, threw him onto the ground with the momentum of his lunge, then hit his head solidly with the butt of the pistol.
“Kill them all. But don’t harm the human child or the King,” Tharn said with a dismissive sigh, turning away. Noct, Noah, and Damari leapt up at once to fight off the soldiers, shielding Mia and Penny. Penny scanned the ground for a weapon, spotted a dagger on a fallen faerie and darted forward to grab it. She slashed at the hand of a faerie reaching for Mia, then pulled her from the fray, finding the two of them could duck easily through the tall faeries without drawing much attention. The faeries seemed more interested in the fight than the reason for it.
“Penny, over here!” came Flynn’s voice. Penny called back to him, unable to see the cook as she took a few wild swipes at grabbing hands and jabbing spears. Flynn burst through the crowd and pulled them into a dark cluster of trees where Argent waited with his puppets, Hyde and Kasper, guarding Simon and an unconscious Annette. Hector ran past them, Noah’s painted lute clutched in his hand. Luke was nearby, holding the sides of his head in horror as he watched the bloody scene before him.
“Your Majesty!” Hector shouted to Noah, throwing the lute high into the air and helping it zoom straight into Noah’s grip with a burst of his magic. Penny felt as if she was going to lose consciousness from the sudden magic loss, and watched through a haze as Noah leapt up to catch his instrument.
Noah took a deep breath, then whipped at the strings of his lute. As he brought his fingers down, a shockwave of wind, lightly visible with dust, spread out from his instrument. It jarred the faeries around him and they stumbled back. Noah whipped his hands across the strings again and another blast of wind radiated out, this time so fierce and knocked all the faeries who surrounded him onto their backs. When Tharn heard the musical sound and saw what Noah had done, he snarled in alarm.
“So it’s come to this? You dare to use an instrument of old against me in violence?” Tharn shouted as Noah leapt over the groaning faeries and took the higher ground. The King’s grey eyes blazed as he prowled closer to the Emperor, fingers poised to strike. Tharn gave a low, arrogant laugh.
“Oh, if you could only see how truly absurd you are,” mocked Tharn. “You’re but a child among your own kind, and to me nothing more than a sniveling infant with more power than you know what to do with. You dare brandish that relic at me? I was there when they were created! Lord Nestor himself presented me with my own. I fought in those wars! I have lived a hundred lifetimes and laid waste to your ancestors, all of whom were wiser and more powerful than you.” He reached into his wide sleeve and produced a stringed instrument with a long, skinny neck, a small square body, and a bow from his other sleeve.
“Now you will see the true power of Nestor’s gift,” Tharn said, drawing the bow across the strings with a deft maneuver. As a melody whined out, hundreds of sharp icicles broke off the trees they hung from. They whistled through the air straight toward Noah, but a sudden burst of flame from Noct melted them midair.
“Impossible!” Tharn gasped and began to play on the violin-like instrument more ferociously. Noah took to his lute and the two forces of nature battled as the music clashed in an ear-splitting cacophony.
Tornado-speed winds whipped around as ice and snow buffeted everyone in the area as the two kings called upon the ancient names of wind and water to come to their aid. Penny had to cover her face as ice flew through the wind, cutting at her.
With each draw of his bow, ice erupted from the snowy ground, nearly impaling the King, but he kept on his feet, dashing as he whipped the strings in fervor. When Tharn sawed the bow so vigorously Penny thought the string would snap, a torrent of ice crawled up Noah’s feet, rooting him to the ground.
Knowing he had to act fast or die, Noah began to smash the strings of his lute, whispering out name after name under his breath. Between the two, a tornado began to form in the violent churning of air. Tharn stopped playing as he saw the funnel begin to take shape and took flight.
Noct raced up to Noah, freeing him from the ice with a hot blast from his hands and they ran. With the brief lull in music, the faeries began to stir, some pursuing and others fleeing the oncoming tornado. Feirne raced out of the crowd, throwing himself in the path of the faeries as he took up a fighting stance. Noah skidded to a halt as Feirne stood up to the oncoming warriors.
“Run, your majesty!” Feirne turned back long enough to shout, the tornado roaring across the courtyard.
“What are you doing, fool? You should be helping us!” a faerie cried to Feirne.
“I may be of the same race as you, but I was born in the Nation of Men, and he is my King. Get back!” Feirne cried, shouldering his blade.
Damari was hurrying the group of humans to higher ground, but Penny gaped over her shoulder as Feirne grappled with the palace faeries, fighting one to the ground. When the next one came at him, he was too slow. The spear impaled Feirne’s body and he gave a weak moan before falling to the ground. Penny felt herself being pulled away from the horrific sight by Flynn.
“Get to somewhere open!” Noah shouted as they raced up an incline, and Penny found her bag being roughly shoved into her hands by Argent, who was already struggling with carrying Annette. Penny dashed forward, watching Luke fall behind her as he tried to keep up. When he attempted to increase his speed, Luke lost control of his footing and tumbled head over heels to the ground.
Penny dug her heels into the soil and turned, but faltered when she saw two faeries fall upon him. As he crawled across the ground, his spectacles fell askew, uncovering eyes filled with tears.
“Luke! You can make it, come on!” Penny screamed, reaching for him as he struggled to his knees. As he tried to squirm free, a faerie caught up and sank his teeth into Luke’s throat. He tore away a hunk of flesh, spitting it wetly to the ground. Penny felt her knees go weak as she stood helplessly, watching as a torrent of blood spurted from the open wound and bubbled out of his mouth.
“It’s too late, come on!” Flynn had doubled back again and was dragging Penny away from the terrible sight. They rushed to where Noah and the others waited.
“Everyone hold on to someone else!” Noah ordered, his fingers flying over the strings once more. He whispered name after name as everyone grasped one another. Penny held to Flynn, watching nervously as the blood-soaked faeries who had slain Luke approached.
The echoes of Tharn’s instrument and the cruel ice that it brought whined on the gales. For a split second, Penny saw Hector grab both Noct and Mia around the shoulders, Annette laying limp on Argent’s back, and Damari securely grasp Noah with Simon slung over one shoulder. Then the air around them exploded in a jet of howling wind and they were launched into the air.
For what seemed longer than a lifetime, Penny held fast to Flynn as they spun through the air, hardly able to breathe as her senses were overwhelmed by the wind. She peered down at the swirling night air below them, and clutched tighter to Flynn, praying Noah could carry them all. At some point through the terrible ride, Penny lost hold of Flynn and a heavy certainty that these were her final moments rattled through her. For almost ten hideous minutes, she was pushed through air as if she were a mere leaf caught in a storm. Then with sick horror, she realized she was plummeting straight toward the ground.
Another draft of wind buffeted her, softening the fall, and Penny crash-landed in a snowdrift, but with nowhere near the velocity she had feared. She lay gasping, her head whirling and her eyes streaming as the snow numbed her body. Hearing noises, she attempted to sit up and felt a hand touch her back.
A wave of lightheadedness came, then faded with her nausea. Hector pulled her to her feet and she gripped him by the elbows, not trusting her legs.
“Are you injured?” he asked as he led her over to where the others were assembling. They seemed to be in a snowy thicket somewhere deep in the woods.
Her legs were so overwhelmed with tremors Penny had to sit down again. “I-I don’t know. What happened?”
Eden Undone (The Dawn Mirror Chronicles Book 2) Page 15
