I grabbed the hair at the back of my head and pulled, deserving every inch of pain as it shot through my scalp. I was so stupid. Fooled by both of them into believing a fairytale, then giving them complete access to everything that would assist in my family's downfall. Enough. No more being taken in by their lies.
I sprang up from the chair and marched toward the door. Items knocked and smashed on the floor, but I didn't care. I grabbed the door intent on slamming it and making myself feel better, except one stray beam of moonlight lit the counter in the kitchen illuminating the teacup and notebook still sitting there. I stormed back in and looked at the forgotten items. A black film of mold grew on the surface of the tea. The notebook no fuller than the last time I’d come here. She hadn't been back.
My emotions battled in my head until a red pulsing light throbbed in my vision as my heart hammered to keep up. Worry. Anger. Regret. She wouldn't go anywhere without the notebook. It seemed strange for her not to have it before, but it had been days and she hadn’t bothered to come back for it. What did this mean? Was the aspiring writer part of her role to play in gaining my sympathies, or was she also a pawn in Edwin's bigger game?
I growled and rushed out, the door banging shut behind me. As I passed the tree I snagged a few apples and tossed them toward Alizeh. My aim faltered, but she caught them midair even though it nearly sent her over the edge.
I held my breath until my pulse slowed. "Sorry, girl."
She nudged her beak into my chest until I relented and brushed her silky feathers with my fingers. The motion calmed me a little, but not nearly enough.
"If only you could talk. Maybe you could tell me where she went and if she tricked me." I leaned my head against her beak, the hard smoothness rubbed against my cheek. "If she really even loved me at all."
Alizeh clucked but provided no help.
I climbed up on her back and gripped her neck tight.
"Alizeh, take me to Edwin's temple.”
The blood-red dawn broke over the horizon as we crested the mountain peak to the temple. Scarlet light bathed the yard, a harbinger of dread as a new fixture appeared in the yard. Large and square. A dark blotch on the otherwise open temple yard. We sailed closer, circling in for a landing, and the bars from a second cage came into full view.
Alizeh landed and I raced to the twin prisons. My father lay on the ground his left arm ascended and his right crossed over his furry belly. His head lolled back and forth as a pathetic groan escaped his lips. Beside him, in her own cell sat my mother. She cowered in the corner, her knees to her chest and her head hung down between her crossed arms. Her skin burned red and blistered from the sun, her hands and knuckles torn open.
Warm saliva built in my mouth as my knees threatened to drop me to the ground.
"Mom,” I yelled as I pushed my shaking legs to run faster.
She didn't move.
I looped around the backside of the cage and tried again. "Mom. It's me."
I thrust my hand into the cage and brushed her shoulder gently, her skin hard and ashy beneath my fingertips. She startled and shifted back on her hands, her eyes wide.
“Get away, you aren’t real.” Tears spilled from her bloodshot eyes as she covered her face. She shook her head as her matted hair whipped around her hands. “Nothing is real.”
What had Edwin done to her? I’d kill him. Take the sharpest sword from my collection and pierce it through his chest where his heart should be. Except he didn’t have one. He called my father the monster, but he was even worse.
“It’s not a trick. It’s me, Mom.” My throat tightened as I said her name. Hurting her stung my entire body. My skin raw. Each nerve sparking under my flesh as I watched her suffer. “It’s Fallon. I’m here to rescue you.”
She softened and crawled back towards the bars. "Fallon. It can't be. Is it really you, my son?"
”Yeah, it's me. I'm here."
She held up her left hand and slowly reached toward me as if I might disappear when our fingers touched, but I held still. A ghost of a smile drifted across her face as our hands connected. I wasn’t the illusion she feared. She leaned closer. Her right arm shook holding up her weight. Our fingers twined. Her arm gave way.
“Mom," I screamed and reached further into the cage.
She fell forward smacking the bars with her forehead and collapsed on the floor.
My body trembled as I pushed my way into the cage as far as I could. “Mom.”
She rolled onto her back and grabbed my arm cradling it near her chest. "Fallon. My boy. I've missed you so much."
"What has he done to you?" She flopped her head toward me, tears still welling in her broken eyes. "I haven't eaten for days. There's no water and the sun--" she blinked and cringed gripping my hand tighter, "--the sun burns hotter every day."
"I'm going to get you out of here." I pulled my arm away even though she tried to hold on, her nails carving white stripes on my skin. I grabbed the lock on the iron door. Thick and heavy just like the one my father's cell.
"Do you know where the key is?"
"No,” she whispered. "I'm not sure.”
I slid the switchblade out of my pocket and flipped it open. The sharp blade slid easily into the lock, but again I couldn't get the latch to open. I pushed harder wiggling the blade back and forth, but it stayed shut tight. My shoulders fell, deflating in towards my ribs.
"Is anyone else here?"
She shook her head. “I don't think so. I've only ever seen Edwin."
"Okay," I held my hands out and tried to keep her calm. "I'm going to go see if he has the key inside. But I won't leave. I promise I will not leave this mountain without you."
"Don't go,” she cried. "Don't leave me here."
"I won't, I'm just going to find the key and see if there is any food inside."
I raced across the courtyard, my legs sailing over the patchy grass and dirt, but not nearly fast enough for my liking. Had he actually left them there to die or did Edwin plan on returning and the desire for power became too strong to care? But it’s probably what he wanted. Not only would it get the king and queen out of the way, it would also strengthen his claim for the throne. The thought curdled in my mouth. The taste sick and rotten against my tongue. I’d been right, he would kill for the crown.
After bounding up the gilded stairs, the heat burning through the soles of my shoes, I thrust open the door of the temple with a bang. The sound echoed through the open concept rooms, reverberating off the walls and coming back to greet me and die in the otherwise silent building. I swung my head side to side looking for a place to start. A key could be anywhere, but even a saw or a hammer might work. If I couldn’t break the lock, I might be able to take out enough bars to get my mother free.
I ran down the hall toward the kitchen at the back of the temple. The earthy, sweet smell of jasmine tea lingered in the air, but instead of calming my nerves it fueled my search. Edwin had sat in this room, in the now empty chair, and lied to me. Told me what he needed me to hear to betray my family and let him into our home. I’d been stupid. Foolish. Arrogant. And now I would pay the price unless I could find a way to get him out of the castle.
I yanked open the drawers, tossing dishcloths and cutlery aside for anything that might resemble a key or be of use in a jailbreak, but found nothing more dangerous than a bread knife. I slammed the last drawer and stopped, my hand hovering just over the handle. A rustle sounded somewhere deeper in the temple. I froze.
A voice. High-pitched and muffled down the hall to the right.
I glanced over my shoulder and slipped my switchblade back out of my pocket. Nothing moved. The voice stopped, but the rustle echoed again.
I slipped into the hallway, the noise increasing as I neared a closed mahogany-colored door at the far end of the hall. I held the switchblade near my thigh, the blade extended and at the ready, then pressed my back against the wall as I crept closer to the door. Had Edwin returned in the middle of the night when he realized I�
�d escaped the castle? Could he have sent someone else to wait for me? A guard or an assassin, maybe? No matter who it was, they wouldn’t be able to stop me now. I’d never let them.
Pressing my ear against the wooden panels, the rustling noise grew louder. Definitely inside this room. I slowly turned the knob and peeked through the small opening. Books and papers spread across the floor like a large disheveled rug. A desk buried in even more paper stood behind the mess, but the chair sat empty. I pushed the door open further and took a cautious step inside.
My muscles tensed. Scalding adrenaline flooded my face and limbs. I took another step.
Bang!
The rustling broke into a rumble behind me. Metal clanging. Wood banging.
I jumped back and knocked the door completely open, my blade aimed in front of my face.
A grey and brown speckled dove fluttered in its golden cage, wings flapping. The cage swung on a hook from the ceiling, swooping back and forth and smashing against the nearby wall.
I slapped my hand over my chest as my heart pounded hard enough to hammer nails. Just a bird. I scanned the rest of the room. Nothing else moved. Nothing else alive. I gripped the top of the cage and slowed it to a stop. The dove thrashed harder, trying to escape. Another one of Edwin’s pets, not meant to be confined. I unhooked the small golden latch and opened the cage door. The dove slowed and crept to the edge, poking its head out into freedom.
“It’s okay. You can go.”
The bird inched forward, slowly, then burst out the open cage door and disappeared into the hall. The cage swung empty and banged against the wall again.
I held up the switchblade and eased into the room, being careful not to trip over the library of material scattered on the floor. What a mess. Edwin must’ve left in a hurry to leave everything out like this. I scooped up one of the blue fabric covered books from the floor. Protection Spells and Curses. The words inside the pages jumbled together in a language I didn’t understand. Something foreign, or maybe ancient with black ink drawings in the margins similar to the ones I’d seen in Edwin’s diary. But he didn’t only mark his books. I glanced behind the desk. Black and red symbols covered the walls. Circles, crosses, arrows, stars, all painted bold and telling a story I didn’t understand. Across the center, a row of pictures clipped from the newspaper hung on the wall. The lords from the Council. My mother. My father. And one last photo with an “x” drawn overtop in deep crimson--me.
A wave of dizziness knocked me back and I gripped the edge of the desk. It was true. I never doubted his plan once I uncovered it, but seeing it spelled out in front of me gave it a tangible reality I could taste and feel, but still didn’t know how to fight.
I guided myself through the maze of books and crumpled into the desk chair, my arms dangling limp over the sides. He planned to kill me. Not an act of convenience or a casualty of getting in the way. It was premeditated. Preplanned. Had I not escaped I might already be dead.
The thought haunted me as I rummaged through the paper looking for a key. Every page blurred together as I chucked them onto the floor and continued to dig. Before I left I should set this room on fire. Destroy the hateful image of me, even though it would remain forever etched into my memory. Ruin his castle as he’d ruined mine.
Summoning Spell, one piece of paper read. I ripped it into pieces and let them flit to the floor. Levitation Spell. Crumpled into a ball and chucked at the window. Memory Spell. Shredded into strips. Mind Control Spell. Wait. What?
The instructions read simple and clear. To assert a mind control spell one must be in contact with the target and maintain eye contact during the conjuring. Of course. That had to be how Edwin had won over the entire castle. He spelled them all. Every single one. I flinched remembering his hand on my shoulder, his stare boring through my skull as he tried to talk me into giving him more responsibility. He’d tried to control me. Tried and failed. But why? How could a powerful wizard like Edwin Macario not be able to control a young stupid prince?
I stretched my hands in front of me, palms up, staring at the life and health lines crisscrossing my skin. Did my ability to change my face somehow block Edwin’s power from affecting me? Maybe the power running through my veins was stronger than I even imagined. I folded the page into a square and shoved it into my pocket.
Blueprints for cages appeared as I cast aside the mountains of paper. More evidence. More sick, twisted schemes. Every piece of evidence piled up on each other and painted a clearer picture. The lies. The plotting. This wasn’t just a crime of opportunity, it was something more. Something much bigger. Edwin had been hiding in the mountains plotting the downfall of the entire Aldric line.
I yanked at the desk drawers. The left one flew open easily revealing a supply of inks and a wax seal stamp cut into my mother’s signet. The right one jiggled in the desk frame, but remained closed. I slid the switchblade along the top of the drawer and jerked hard. The flimsy lock gave way and I tumbled to the ground, the desk drawer still in my hand. Quills burst out in a circle around me and an iron key thunked against the floor next to my leg.
Finally.
With trembling fingers, I scooped up the key and rose to my feet as I took one last look at Edwin’s den of horrors. Days and nights of work covering every surface. Each page cursing my family and plotting my end. Reams of hate unfurled from the brain of a madman, each item piling on each other until shivers of terror reverberated through my bones.
I kicked my way out of the room, sending loose pages into flight, and slammed the door behind me as I bolted out the front of the temple.
I tore back across the courtyard, the key searing into my palm as the cages grew larger and larger with every step.
“I found it,” I yelled as I approached.
Mom met me at the cage door as the iron key slipped into the lock. The tumblers clicked as the shackle sprung free, the chains around my chest loosening too as I fumbled to remove the lock and swung the door open.
Mom fell into my arms, her head burrowing into my shoulder as her knees shook and wobbled barely holding her up. I squeezed her tighter, taking the weight of everything she’d experienced and trying to keep her upright. “It’s going to be okay.”
“Thank you, Fallon.” She gasped, her tears soaking through my shirt. “We need to get out of here. If Edwin comes back, I don’t know what he’ll do.”
She released my arms and grabbed the key in my hand then stumbled toward my father’s cage. She tripped along the flat ground, desperate in her struggle, but I clamped my hand on her shoulder and turned her back into my grip.
“We can’t leave yet. You need to get your strength back and we need to make a plan.” I let my arms loosen around her and she pulled her head back, her watery eyes connecting with mine. “I think Edwin is the one who cursed Dad and is trying to steal the throne.”
She glanced over at my father’s cage, the barely breathing lump of fur on the ground breaking her heart, the fractures spreading from her chest to her anguished cheeks.
“Yes, I don’t doubt he’s behind your father’s curse.”
She sighed. Sun glistened against her wet face as she raised her head towards the sky.
“After all, Edwin is the one who cursed him the first time all those years ago.”
Finish Fallon’s adventure in God of Illusion
God of Illusion
1
10th June
“Are you sure it was Edwin who cursed Dad eighteen years ago? Do you really think he would’ve tried this twice?” I tipped the steaming teapot and poured the hot liquid into a cup. A few drops splashed on my arm and I flinched, but the pain reminded me that this was real. Every dangerous, disastrous thing I’d endured so far wasn’t just a bad dream. Edwin Macario had really betrayed my family and set himself up in the castle while he plotted my downfall. My father was really a beast locked in a cage. And even my mother had been held prisoner, starved, and left for dead. These things were my new disturbing reality.
&
nbsp; I wiped the water away with my sleeve, then carefully carried the cup on its saucer across the temple’s kitchen floor and placed it in front of my mother.
Mom linked her finger through the teacup handle and rubbed the pad of her thumb across the burning porcelain as she stared at the floor, her long chestnut curls hanging limp over her sunburned shoulders. “I’m sure of it. Why do you think he’s been living on this mountain all this time? Your father banished him, never to return to Mosa. We always suspected that he had been responsible for the curse, but we’d never been able to prove it. I think we can now.”
She sipped the tea, her dull eyes glazing over as she disappeared into her own thoughts. From the moment I’d opened the cage, her focus wavered. Sometimes she stayed with me, answering my questions and assuring me that she would be okay, but other moments she faded into herself as if recounting a painful memory or maybe just trying to regain her strength from the inside out. The horrors of the past several days flit across her face, occasionally drawing a twitch or shiver from the rest of her body as if it struck a raw nerve. I sat in the chair across from her and gripped the fingers of her free hand, hoping that whatever haunted her might float away with me by her side, if even just for a few moments of peace.
I hung my head and studied the haphazard lines of the table’s wood grain, as my emotions battled for what I felt the most; fear, anger, or maybe just shame. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about what Edwin told me. I believed his lies because I didn’t want to upset you. Or maybe I was worried that you’d confirm it as true and I couldn’t question him anymore. If I could go back and change things I would. He never would’ve hurt you.”
“Nonsense, Fallon. How were you to know that you were dealing with a narcissistic sociopath? Your kind heart would never let you see him for what he was. But maybe it’s time I told you my side of the story.” She shook her head and trembled as she lowered the cup to the table. Painful memories bubbled up in her distant stare, but she took a deep breath and rejoined me in the present. “Edwin used to live with us at the castle. Your father loved him. Trusted him. He was his favorite cousin and the one person he felt he could confide in. They were inseparable. And then I came along.
Fallon: Son of Beauty and the Beast (Kingdom of Fairytales Boxset Book 6) Page 25
