Magical Twist: Paranormal Women's Fiction (Midlife Witchery Book 3)

by Brenda Trim

  Sebastian hadn’t stood up but leaned forward with one knee bent and his arm resting on top of it. “What do you mean he’s decompensating. What’s been happening?”

  The dwarf paused and met Bas’s gaze. “He’s been on a rampage for a week since the Queen left. Rumor is that she finally left him for you, and he's pissed. Some are also saying something happened to her, and he lost her power. The worst part of it is the constant stream of creatures he’s forcing into the castle so he can drain their power.”

  My heart started racing, and my gut knotted up. I’d known it was highly likely that he was hurting Fae here, but hearing it made it hit home. “It’s my fault. I’m so sorry.”

  Every head in the room shot my direction. Bas got up and got in my face. “None of this is your fault. Vodor is responsible for being a jackass. All you did was fight back when you were attacked. You shouldn’t feel bad about killing Thelvienne for one second.”

  “Did you say she killed Thelvienne?” Thursouk had inserted himself between us.

  I glanced down at the dwarf with his thick red hair, mustache, and beard. I swear his four-foot frame was vibrating as his dark eyes stared up at me. “She was trying to kill me! I didn’t mean to kill her, and I never wanted anyone to pay for what I did.”

  Thursouk scurried over to the bedroom and picked up a battle-ax. His arms were short but muscular. His legs too. He twirled the two-bladed weapon in the air and danced back over. “Rumors are right. You’re the one that’s going to set us free. We need to get to the Underground.”

  His happy steps stopped before he made it very far when rocks fell from the ceiling and hit his head. I glanced up like that was going to do me any good. I automatically ducked and lifted a hand to shield my eyes from falling dirt.

  “What is it?” My whisper seemed to echo throughout the quiet cave.

  Sebastian leaned closer to me. “I think it’s more sentries.”

  My heart dropped to my feet. These fuckers were pissing me right the hell off. “How did they find us?”

  “With you tugging the portal behind you, I bet you haven’t bothered to shield it or yourself.” Sebastian’s hands smoothed over my shoulders as he spoke, but it didn’t help ease my mind one bit.

  I wanted to smack myself. How could I have left such a crucial piece unchecked? Of course, Vodor had my energy signature now. “We need to get the hell out of here. None of us are in any shape to fight right now.” Plus, we had to get the portal to a safe location before the soldiers caught up with us and destroyed the stone. I had no idea what that would do to me.

  “You have about five minutes before they see you leaving,” Thursouk announced.

  That got us all moving in a flash. I extended my hand to Violet and helped her up. The second we were outside, I called my magic and noted each of our locations, as well as the portal. “Caveatis Porcina.”

  With us camouflaged from the soldiers, I hefted the portal with air, and we took off as fast as we could without making too much noise. Within minutes we were far enough away that Sebastian thought it was safe, and we were running again.

  Sweat was pouring down my face and stinging my eyes which made me miss the roots. I face-planted in a spectacular display of ineptitude. My poor eyesight wasn’t helping matters either. Spitting out the mouthful of dirt trying to suffocate me, I groaned when I heard the crack of the portal slam into a tree.

  Sebastian helped with his control over air, but he had to have gotten distracted when I fell. That was going to alert the soldiers as to where we were. I pushed to my feet, barely took a second to float the stone archway before I took off running again.

  Everyone else had stopped and rushed to catch up with us. “I’m so sorry,” I called out to them. “I didn’t see the tree roots.”

  “I am so sick of running,” Violet grumbled. I agreed whole-heartedly but couldn’t respond. I had a stitch in my side, and I was breathing through cotton.

  Over the past six months I had gotten in better shape, but I was still a middle-aged, out-of-shape woman with a bad knee. How the hell long was it going to take until I didn’t feel like I’d run a marathon and was being asked to do a second before I even crossed the finish line?

  We’d run an additional fifteen minutes when I slowed down and clutched my side. “I’ve gotta slow down. I can’t keep up this pace.”

  “I could kiss your feet.” Aislinn was sucking in air, and it made her words come out rushed and slightly breathless.

  Sebastian kept pace beside me. “We never refilled your water. Here, drink this.” With a flick of his wrist, a stream of water headed toward me. I stopped walking and opened my mouth, then took in a mouthful. He went to move the liquid when it splashed in my face.

  “Keep it on me, so it washes some of the sweat away.” I needed to drink more and be cooled off. “After you give Aislinn and Violet some, that is.” I felt like a selfish hag for only thinking of myself.

  “We’ve got them, right Finarr?”

  “Yep. We need to be fast, though.”

  Sebastian moved the water back my way, and I greedily gulped several more mouthfuls when something hit me from behind. It was like I was moving in slow motion. I stumbled forward, and my hands shot out in front of me to break my fall.

  I saw the tree from the corner of my eye before it hit my head then my hands slammed into the ground. It didn’t hurt at first, and I wondered if I’d been wrong about what had happened.

  The pain hit a second later, confirming I had slammed into an unforgiving object. My head spun, and nausea churned in my gut, but I didn’t have time to wallow or keep wondering what had hit me.

  I heard the sound of fighting all around me. I wobbled as I pushed myself off the ground. A soldier loomed over me, and I urged the air I still had holding the portal to blow faster and move the stone, so it hit the back of the Fae’s head.

  To my horror, his skull exploded in a shower of bones, blood, and brains. It was freaking nasty. My stomach churned faster, and the bile burned the back of my throat. The world was a green and brown blur for several seconds. Feet shuffled past and sent dirt flying into my face.

  I crawled forward and out of the way. “Sana,” I murmured, trying to heal my head enough that I could fight back. My energy sizzled then vanished. When a body headed toward me, I tossed out an offensive spell to no effect. Groping around me, I found a stick and lifted it when the soldier was on top of me.

  When nothing happened, I pulled myself up and pushed with all my weight behind me. The wood punctured the soldier, and he dropped to his knees. Violet screamed from somewhere to my right. My vision danced and blurred when I swiveled my head to look for her. Not moving an inch, I prodded my scalp. I might have had a concussion.

  “Segmentum.” That was Violet’s voice casting. A scream echoed right as the dizziness vanished. She had almost cut the asshole in half.

  I turned my head slowly to find everyone else fighting soldiers and one of the creeps trying to sneak up behind Argies. Using a tree next to me, I stood up and searched for the stick I had. I had impaled one of the elves we were fighting.

  I nudged him in the side. When he didn’t move, I yanked it from his body and hobble-ran toward Argies. I wasn’t going to make it, so I tried another spell. The weight of the portal weighed me down. It was taking a lot to keep it afloat along while fighting and trying to cast spells. Releasing the archway, it dropped heavily to the ground taking the weight with it.

  “Segmentum!” The scream left my throat as I concentrated through the pounding in my skull on the soldier lifting a sword above Argies’s head. My spell hit him, and blood splattered inside my open mouth from a few feet away.

  Argies whirled around, and his eyes went wide when he looked at the two sides spilling guts on the ground behind him. With his attention on me, the elf he’d been battling took advantage and stabbed him in the side with a dagger.

  I tried to cast a spell to hit the guy, but nothing happened. When I looked at my river, I found it n
early dried out. Turned out hauling a God-only-knows-how-heavy stone for hundreds of miles really took it out of you.

  It didn’t help that my previous injuries never fully healed. There weren’t many more soldiers facing off with us, so I turned around and headed for Violet to make sure she was okay. The sound of clomping hooves stopped me in my tracks. C’mon. We just need a freaking break.

  The sound got louder behind me. Before I could turn around, something hit the same side of my head that had become intimately familiar with the tree trunk. The impact felt like the same exact spot. There was no delay in the pain this time.

  It knocked me down and made me throw up the apple I’d eaten in the cave. I heard voices but couldn’t concentrate on them or decipher what was said. When energy slammed into my chest and made my blood boil, I knew it was a spell.

  I heard a loud roar that made me think of Sebastian. I turned my head and saw Bas tearing the soldiers apart. Flames danced on Violet and Aislinn’s arms before they tossed them at the body parts. I was going to pass out, but first, I need to make sure my energy signature and the portal were hidden.

  I had to take several deep breaths and close my eyes before I felt the enchantment snap into place. Familiar arms wound around me before I was lifted into the air. “Bas.”

  “Shhh. I’ve got you, and I’ll lift the portal.” That was all I needed to hear from him. What remained of my adrenalin vanished, and I sagged in his arms.

  When I was jolted a second later, I opened my eyes to see him jump on the back of one of the horses. He had me, and I couldn’t do much more if I wanted to keep the spell cloaking me and tethering the portal to me. Before the darkness took me under, I noticed the river flowing freely. At least my magic rebounded fast.

  Chapter 12

  “We’re about five minutes from the Underground.” Argies’s voice jolted me to awareness.

  I nearly wept with joy. Lifting my body off the horse’s neck where I’d been laying was more difficult than trying to bench press an empty bar. Glancing back, I saw Sebastian’s smile first before I noticed the bruises marring his gorgeous face.

  Turning to the side, I saw Violet sitting in front of Finarr and Aislinn with Argies. Everyone looked like they’d been in a nuclear blast and running for days. The reality wasn’t far off. I smelled like a sewer and was covered in dirt and grime. I would be seeing Sebastian’s parents again, and I should care, but I had no more forks to give. Let them judge.

  I was focusing on what mattered. Things had changed between Sebastian and me. We were getting closer, and I needed to decide what I wanted with him if anything. He wanted to be with me, although I hadn’t let him tell me what that meant. This time in my life was about focusing on myself, not a relationship. So, I didn’t realize things shifted slowly between us.

  He wasn’t pressuring me for anything. I created every ounce of stress and turmoil racing through my mind. Why the hell did I do that to myself? Not everything needed to be figured out and labeled. My problem was I didn’t do well with ambiguity, and it wasn’t in my nature to just roll with life. I liked to think things through and know where I stood with people.

  Before I knew it, we were stopping in a tiny clearing surrounded by trees, and I could once again put this off. Sebastian hopped down, then reached up and helped me get off the horse. His hands-on my sides send arousal through my overly exhausted body, and I decided to force myself to simply enjoy the moment without trying to force a decision from my taxed brain.

  “Stop thinking so hard. I’m here and not going anywhere. We will tackle this one step at a time as a team. All of us,” Bas murmured before pressing his lips to mine. I knew what he hadn’t said out loud. He included everyone in the Backside of Forty in that ‘team.’

  Bobbing my head, I turned with him as he settled the stone archway on the ground. “Are you going to bury it again? Or leave it in the open?”

  I considered his question. My immediate response was to hide it underground. Instead, I held my tongue and contemplated the best course of action. It would be better for all if it remained above ground. Vodor wouldn’t be in power for much longer if I had anything to say about it. Still, he was right now, and I needed to make sure he couldn’t take out the rebellion’s power hitter at the worst possible moment.

  “I’m going to conceal it for now, but it will have a place of prominence once Vodor is ousted from the throne.”

  Violet spun in a circle with her head tilted back. “I think we can dress it up and hide it in plain sight, so you won’t have to move a boatload of dirt and shove it underground.”

  “Perfect. But how?” My head felt disconnected, and light like it was going to float away any second. I had little doubt that I had a concussion. My mouth watered like I was going to throw up again, and there was an insistent pounding in my skull.

  “Will it be safe here?” Aislinn asked as she ran a hand down the side of one of the horses.

  “I have no idea. It was the only logical place I could think of. What do you think, Argies?” Aislinn’s question was like a facepalm. I felt like an idiot for hot having thought of that before.

  Argies shrugged his shoulders. “Only those in the rebellion know about the entrance near here, so this should be perfectly safe.”

  “So, not many people will wander through here then.” That was good. I hadn’t heard anyone since we stopped, but I assumed that was because it was late.

  I had no idea how long we had been riding, but the moon was high in the sky now, so it had to be the middle of the night. Of course, there was every chance in the world I was wrong about that. Time moved differently in Eidothea. Even the daytime hours didn’t pass like they did at home.

  “This is not along a well-traveled path,” Argies confirmed. “This is a back entrance to the Underground, so it’s even more hidden. We don’t disclose this exit until we are certain we can trust new members.”

  A breeze blew through the area, followed by a noise in the trees to the left. All heads moved in that direction. I wished my vision was better than maybe I could see more than a couple feet into the trees.

  I silently took a step closer to Violet. The crunch of a leaf when I set my foot down made me cringe and go still. Sebastian put a finger to his lips. I nodded in acknowledgment while double-checking I was cloaking my energy signature along with the portal.

  It had slipped my mind when I first woke up. It would be just my luck to have lost hold of that and revealed our location. Not only would I land us in a heap of crap again, but I would be bringing trouble to the Underground. I didn’t want to lure the soldiers close to the safe haven.

  My heart slowed, and I breathed a sigh of relief when I found the spell actively humming away in the back of my mind. When I cast the enchantment, I pictured glue in my mind to ensure it didn’t slip away when I passed out—score one for me. Maybe I was getting the hang of this magic after all.

  Sebastian and Finarr crossed the clearing on silent feet, making me jealous. How the heck did big oafs like them manage not to make a noise. It made no sense to me. I had lifted my foot with care and placed it down slowly and carefully while they were moving at a clipped pace.

  Finarr disappeared behind a tree to the right while Sebastian slid between two evergreens to the left. I met Violet then Aislinn’s gaze finding my fear-laced fatigue reflected back to me.

  A loud scream pierced the air sending my feet into motion. There was no way I would make more noise than whoever they had discovered in the trees. I didn’t hear the beat of horse’s hooves in the distance, so I doubted we were facing a large contingent.

  I reached Violet’s side simultaneously as Aislinn, then paused before we continued after Finarr and Bass. The tone wasn’t deep enough to be one of the soldiers. Fae men were far more varied than humans, and their voices along with it. It could be a soldier, but I doubted it.

  The sound of Sebastian talking to someone in the distance eased me even more, and my hands unfurled at my sides. Argies stood in front o
f us, giving me a perfect view of the smile that spread across his face.

  He was walking to the side of the clearing rapidly. He was met at the edge by Finarr, Sebastian, and a familiar wood nymph. My feet were carrying me forward before I could stop myself. The movement increased my nausea and headache but didn’t diminish my joy.

  “Danalise! What are you doing out here?” I embraced her when they reached me. My steps had slowed, and I hadn’t made it very far after all.

  “I’ve been making my way here ever since word started spreading that you had returned. You’re back to help us, aren’t you?” Danalise’s eyes traveled from me to over my shoulder.

  Turning, Violet and Aislinn were right behind me. “Violet, Aislinn, this is Danalise. She’s a friend of Theamise’s. She’s the reason I survived my first trip to Eidothea. If she hadn’t found me, I don’t think I would have survived.”

  Danalise lowered her head, and she nibbled her lower lip before releasing it. “I’m not so sure about that. You could have beat them. You’re stronger than you give yourself credit for.”

  I put my hand on her shoulder and squeezed. “I might have managed to survive for a bit, but I knew nothing about life here and who to trust or not. I would likely have walked into the castle and Vodor’s hands.”

  Sebastian knelt next to the portal where he had laid it on the ground. “We need to find a way to make this stand up then have you guys do your magic to mask it’ presence.”

  “Will it bring danger to the Underground? I don’t want to leave it here if there’s a chance to lead Vodor and his soldiers to the area. I couldn’t live with myself if he found the rebellion and killed them.” I would continue hauling the stone behind me before putting them at an even greater risk.

  Danalise bent over and ran a hand over some of the carvings on the portal. “I assume you’re talking about this. What is it?”