by Twyla Turner
As the five of us walked into the camp, most of the dwarves were too caught up in their sorrow to pay us much attention. But one woman noticed us and started to walk towards us newcomers. I thought that under the circumstances, she was adorable. She only came to about my waist, and she had ruddy, round cheeks. Her chestnut brown hair was long and braided to one side. She wore what looked like a peasant style dress with a brown leather corset over it. Her face was determined, yet tired.
“My name is Bertie. And I’m the mistress of this bunch. Are you here to help?” The small woman said matter-of-factly.
“Yes,” I said.
“We’re here to find out what happened and to fight the Alpanians,” Rafe said at the same time.
I gave him a look, thinking he was being a little callous, considering the moans and grunts of the wounded were as loud as my thoughts.
“Are you alright? How many are wounded?” I asked, ignoring Rafe’s sigh of exasperation.
There will be plenty of time for battle, Legolas. I grumbled in my head. And I heard Daegan scoff.
“No, we’re not. Our entire town was destroyed within a matter of seconds. We lost many friends and family. I don’t know exactly how many are wounded at the moment, but if we don’t tend to them soon, we’ll lose more.” Bertie informed us.
“Well Bertie, I’m Imogen, and we’re here to help.” I offered my hand to shake.
Bertie took it and nodded as she eyed me speculatively, probably wondering if a human girl can be trusted. Before I could say more, Rafe grabbed my upper arm almost painfully and pulled me to the side.
“We don’t have time to tend to the wounded. We need to come up with a plan and then destroy the Alpanians. That’s what we were sent for.” Rafe growled under his breath.
“We can’t just leave them here like this!” I shouted disbelievingly. How could he be so heartless?! “You heard Bertie. Many more will die if they don’t get help soon.”
“I’m sure they have some fellow dwarves that can patch them up while we do the job we were sent to do.” Rafe’s imprints darkened to midnight blue as we faced off nose to nose.
“I am the one that was sent here to save the world. Both of our worlds. So technically, that makes me the leader of this little posse.” I raised up on my tiptoes, trying my best to get eye to eye with the tall faery. “So you have to listen to me. And I say that we send for help.”
“Send for help?” Rafe practically growled the question.
“One of you needs to fly like the wind, back to Faerien City to bring back a healer faery,” I ordered. “I have no idea why we didn’t recruit one in the first place, considering the danger we plan on encountering.”
“We. Don’t. Have. Time. For. That!” Rafe punctuated each word.
“I. Don’t. Care!” I shot back.
“UGH!” Rafe turned away from me and kicked at the ground. “Silly…Stubborn…Girl!” He ranted.
I just raised an eyebrow and crossed my arms over my chest as I waited for his tantrum to end.
“Are you done?” I asked.
Rafe growled as a response. Satisfied that he was finally on board, although reluctantly, I looked at Wakeley and Saffi.
“Can both of you fly back to Faerien?” I asked, automatically taking on my role of leader without thinking about it. “I would prefer it if none of us went anywhere alone from this point on.”
“That’s fine. We’d be happy to go.” Saffi spoke eagerly for both of them. Wakeley looked slightly glum at the prospect of missing any action but didn’t protest.
“Perfect.” I nodded my thanks. “Fly as fast as you can and bring back the most skilled healer since so many need mending. When you guys get back, we can figure out how to defeat the giants.” I instructed the two faeries.
“Okay. We’ll be back as soon as possible.” Saffi said before spreading her glowing white wings and launching herself straight up into the night sky. Then she vanished like a rocket, and Wakeley jetted off behind her in a flash of green.
Rafe turned and walked off, grumbling under his breath and shaking his head in anger.
I turned to Daegan and Bertie and smiled grimly, “He’ll get over it. Now, let’s try to make the wounded more comfortable until they get back.”
~~~
I spent the next couple of hours trying to help tend to the injured. I ripped cloth for temporary bandages and assisted in tightening splints for broken limbs. When Daegan and I had passed Dwarfinburg days before, they’d been afraid of us. But now, as I made my way around the large camp, those that were unharmed smiled gratefully at me.
Rafe had grudgingly gotten with the program and was now assisting with getting everyone water to drink. Since he was a water faery, the task came a bit easy for him. It was almost comical to watch as he lifted buckets or other containers of water with nothing but his mind, or however he did it and delivered it to each person as if by invisible strings. Every now and again, I would catch his eye, and he’d scowl at me unhappily.
The spoiled prince is used to getting his way…well, not today. I muttered.
I heard Daegan chuckle at me in his head from several feet away. He was currently passing out rides to the dwarf children, just to keep them occupied while the adult dwarves attended to difficult matters.
~~~
Bertie, Rafe, and I were discussing how to temporarily ease the pain of one particularly cantankerous little man with a broken bone protruding through his leg when green, white, and purple light flashed suddenly. Startled, I glanced up, and there stood Wakeley, Saffi, and a purple faery. It had only been about twenty-four hours since the white and green faery had left, and they were back already. Which made me realize just how much I slowed everyone down as we journeyed across Empyrean.
The healing faery was a plump, blonde girl with amethyst eyes and dark purple lowlights on the under layer of her hair. Her violet imprints pulsed like a heartbeat, and her pretty face looked strained.
“Hi, I’m Imogen.” I introduced myself, not wanting to waste any more time as a moan pierced the air. “Thank you so much for getting here so fast. Thanks, Saffi and Wakeley, for going to get her.” I turned to them gratefully.
“Hi, Imogen. My name is Rae,” she said with a grimace.
“What’s wrong?” I reached out to her.
“There’s so m-much pain,” Rae gritted out.
Saffi stepped in to quickly explain. “Healing faeries can feel the pain of the injured and sick.”
“Oh, God! Then I’m guessing she’s feeling pretty awful.” I cringed. “Do whatever it is you need to do, Rae.” I stepped back.
Sweat broke out across her forehead as she closed her eyes. Her imprints turned to a dark plum color as she concentrated. Rae lifted her arms with her palms down. The pulses in her imprints radiated out from her body. It was like sound waves that come from a speaker when the bass is high. The pulses moved further out in a circle, spreading out over the camp.
I looked over to some of the injured. I watched as the protruding bone in the man’s leg went back in. His leg straightened from its awkward angle, and the tear in his skin sealed before my eyes. The moans that had become nearly too much to bear died down and were replaced with exclamations of joy and relief. Limbs that I had just helped set and splint moved with no issues. As if they’d never been hurt. Some dwarves that had looked sickly but with no visible injuries looked healthy again.
I guess she healed some folks that didn’t even know they were sick. I thought and looked over at Daegan.
It would appear that you’re right. She’s definitely someone we need to keep around. He responded.
The pulses faded away as Rae lowered her arms. She looked exhausted and nearly collapsed to the ground, but Wakeley caught her before she hit the dirt floor. He helped her over to one of the blazing fires and sat her down on a log. We all followed to make sure she was alright.
“Are you okay?” I asked her.
“I’ll be fine in just a few minutes. Healing on that
scale takes a lot out of me.” She blew out a tired breath. “I don’t think I’ve ever healed so many people at once before.”
“Well, we can’t thank you enough, dearie,” Bertie said gratefully.
I looked around the camp, and the other dwarves nodded their heads in agreement.
“Okay, now that everyone is healed, we need to plan how we’re going to get past the Alpanians,” Rafe said predictably.
“Yes!” Wakeley exclaimed as he rubbed his hands together with glee. A bloodthirsty gleam in his eyes.
“I’m not exactly sure we can actually defeat them, but we can at least outsmart them, to try to get around them and closer to Myrkur.” Rafe thought out loud.
“And how exactly are we going to do that?” I asked.
“Distractions.” He smiled and then continued. “You and Daegan can’t fly, but he can run fast. We…” he pointed to himself and the other three faeries. “…can distract the Alpanians. Then once you two get past them, we’ll just fly over them and then we can continue on to the next gauntlet.”
“And you’re sure this will work?” I looked at him skeptically. “Because if not, it’ll be Daegan and I that’ll be left as sitting ducks.”
“Yes, I’m sure. They’re giants. How smart can they be?”
“How many times have you dealt with giants?” I cocked my head to the side.
“Never, but I’m assuming that-”
“You know what to assume makes, don’t you?” I interrupted him.
“What?” He frowned.
“It makes an ass out of u and me.” I pursed my lips and raised my eyebrows. “You can’t just assume someone is dumb just by looking at them.”
“Well then, what do you suggest we do?” Rafe asked with a childish scowl.
“I’m not saying it’s a bad plan, we just can’t afford to underestimate the enemy.”
“Fine. So we’re doing this?” Rafe looked around at our group and everyone nodded.
“Daegan?” I turned and looked at him. “Are you ready to run like the wind?”
“Most, definitely.” He nodded.
“Alright, then. I guess we’re doing this.” I breathed in deeply.
“Wait,” Bertie spoke up before we started to head out. “Imogen, I need to give you something.”
We all stopped and looked at her curiously. She grabbed a large sack and sat it down in front of her.
“Dwarves are born craftsmen. Home building, blacksmiths, whatever you need crafted we can do it. We helped build Faerien City and our blacksmiths weld and design armor for all of Hikari.” At the mention of armor, we all leaned in a little closer. “Our first ever blacksmith thousands of years ago made the finest armor. The very first piece of work he did was blessed and was told to have special powers. But he never sold it or gave it to anyone. Before he passed on to Elysium, he said that the special armor and shield should be given to only one person. To someone with hair of fire, with a companion as black as night. He said that this person would come to help during a time of great sorrow. And once they helped our people that they were to be given this…” Bertie untied the sack and let it fall away from what was inside. “It has been passed down to each dwarf leader. Generation after generation with the same instructions.”
Inside was armor and a shield of gold. It glimmered in the firelight and there was a collective intake of breath at the sight. Bertie lifted the armor from the sack and motioned for me to step forward.
“This was meant for you.”
I was flabbergasted. At every turn, something said that I was meant to be here. Meant to save the world. I wondered when I’d actually start to believe it.
“I saw you and Daegan pass through our village days ago. The moment I saw your fiery hair and with the black unicorn, I knew it was you. I also knew that danger was coming based on the prophecy and was able to get out most of our people before the Alpanians could completely destroy us. You coming and staying to help us when you didn’t have to, assured me that you were the one that this armor and shield were made for. Your charity saved us, and for that, I will always be grateful.” Bertie finished, her eyes glassy with emotion.
“I-I don’t know what to say.”
“You don’t have to say anything, dear.” Bertie patted my arm. “Let’s just get you in this armor, so you can save our land.”
I nodded my ascent. “Okay.”
Chapter 15
Rafe
I stood off to the side and watched as Bertie dressed Imogen in the golden armor. Once she was finished, Immy stood with her arms stretched out, trying to look down at herself.
“How do I look?” She asked the group of us. “Dumb, right?”
“No. You look like a fierce warrior princess.” Daegan answered and everyone nodded their agreement.
She was stunning and yes, very fierce. The breast and back plates were designed much like a corset to fit a woman’s body and flared slightly at the hip to accommodate the width of her curves. Attached to it were two shoulder guards that covered her upper arms. The left shoulder guard came up high enough to guard that side of her neck, to protect her during battle. Which was interesting, considering that she’d said she was left-handed. Maybe the blacksmith knew that too. There were also two forearm and wrist guards and a chainmail type skirt that covered her upper thighs. And the helmet to protect her head and face, fit perfectly. On each side of her face, the helmet came down to two points that ended at her chin. The metal came to a point in the middle of her forehead, and a hole was left open at the top of the helmet to accommodate her mass of flaming curls that cascaded from the top.
The shield was as intricately designed as was the matching armor. It was a kite-shaped shield that came down to a long point at the bottom. Long enough to protect most of her body if she crouched slightly behind it. Two leather armbands in the back secured it to her right arm.
All in all, she did look like a warrior. And my heart beat just a little bit faster as I took her in, from head to toe. The faery girls always tried to appear extra feminine and sweet around me, in the hopes that they’d soul surge with me. They were definitely lovely, but from the moment Immy had embarrassingly tossed me like a ragdoll when we first met, her strong and feisty character had grabbed me. I had a hard time not looking at her. My body had a hard time not reacting to her.
“It’s so lightweight. So much more than it looks.” Immy said with wonder. “Are you sure it’s safe?”
“Oh, yes. Dwarf metal work is the best you’ll find.” Bertie nodded proudly. “Well, the only you’ll find actually.”
“Okay, I trust you,” Immy smiled nervously.
“You look ready,” I said, drawing her attention.
Her amber eyes focused on me, and she took a deep breath. Her full lips formed a small O as she released the breath slowly. Calmly.
I owed her another apology for fighting her on stopping to help the dwarves first. She had been right. Her help had garnered the armor and shield she wore. If she’d have listened to me, she would’ve gone into battle unprotected.
“I’m sorry, Immy. For not listening to you. You were right to help.” I swallowed my pride.
“Thanks, Rafe. I would’ve done it without the armor, though. Because it was the right thing to do. No matter what.” She said sincerely.
I nodded, ashamed of myself.
“So are we going or what?” Wakeley blurted out anxiously.
His enthusiasm to fight, made us all laugh tensely. All of us were on edge. None of us had ever had to fight for our way of life in Empyrean. At least not in our lifetime, or even our parents’ lifetime. Many of us had been trained in combat as a precaution, but none of us expected to actually use the skills we’d learned. Wakeley may be excited to put that skill to use, but I had my doubts.
I glanced around at everyone before speaking. “Let’s do this.”
Chapter 16
I gasped as I was jarred awake and sat up straight in my bed. My eyes flew open, yet I did not see my bedr
oom. I saw chaos and destruction as the tiny dwarves ran screaming for their lives, hundreds of miles away. Their homes lie in shambles. Quite a few bodies were scattered across the ground. Lifeless and unmoving.
Tears spilled down my cheeks at the loss. It had been centuries since we’d lost anyone in Empyrean because of violence. My heart broke for each lost dwarf.
The dwarves solemnly gathered deep within the woods. Their leader explained what happened to the pixies and asked for them to find help. It wasn’t long before Imogen and her new allies arrived.
I smiled happily as Imogen stood up to Rafe. Stood for what she believed was right. I knew she was the right one to lead the group through each gauntlet as I watched her give charity to the dwarves without a second thought. I nodded proudly as Imogen received her armor. Armor that had been designed for her thousands of years ago.
I watched as Imogen, Daegan, and the faeries started resolutely towards their first battle. They left the dwarves safe and protected deep within the forest. I could feel their nervous energy. Their fear. I could feel my own heart pounding in my chest.
Near dawn, the six of them crept to the edge of the tree line. Off in the distance, past rolling green hills dotted with colorful flowers was a wall of mountains as far as the eye could see in either direction. Nothing seemed out of place, so Imogen had no idea what she was looking for.
She began to step out of the safety and shelter of the forest when Rafe stretched out his arm and his palm pressed against the hard armor covering her left breast to stop her. Imogen looked down at where his hand was placed and raised her eyebrows. Rafe glanced over and snatched his hand away as if he’d been burned. His imprints darkened to indigo, and his face flushed red with his embarrassment.
I stifled a chuckle as I watched him look away in mortification.
Rafe cleared his throat before speaking. “Hold on, Immy. They’re out there.” He informed her in a whisper.
