by Kimbra Swain
“Holy shit!” I said.
“And if you pull on this bit in my mouth, I will buck your ass off,” she added.
“Levi, this isn't time to hesitate,” Tennyson scolded. It had been over a year since I'd ridden a horse. And it certainly wasn’t a fairy queen, but it was something I knew how to do. Both ways.
Grabbing the horn of the saddle, I swung up on Grace's back. Lifting my sword, I yelled, “For Shady Grove!”
Grace lifted up on her hind legs, and I leaned forward to compensate. When her feet hit the ground, a rush of wind tore across the field towards our opponents.
They braced themselves against the torrent, as we began to advance. Calling on my own skills, I forced music through the strings of my guitar. The thrumming beat matched the pounding of hooves, paws, and feet. Instead of the airy sound of an acoustic guitar, I played the metal tune of classic rock guitar.
More so in this form, I felt Grace's magic supporting us all. Not just me.
As a unicorn, she wasn't just a rare beast. She was the rare beast. Looking past her head as we galloped toward the incoming horde, a sparkle caught my eye. Around her horn close to the tip, our engagement ring sat reflecting the blue light around us. I wondered how she planned to keep it there without it falling off during the battle.
“Pay attention,” she scolded. She must have felt my thoughts wavering. Raising Excalibur up, we plunged headlong into the fray. The red caps were out front, and the yule lads matched them two at a time.
Lamar's peg was now a bright blade that he used to slice body parts after he brought them down with a large rounded club. Each of the Lads had similar clubs and were using them to bat down the front line as the knights rushed past to the more formidable foes.
I pounded my sword into the troll standing below me. He countered my blows with a long wooden rod. A whizz flew past my ear, and I looked up to see a potato smack a troll in the center of his forehead. His eyes went blank, and his body hit the floor with a thud.
Looking over my shoulder, Cletus and Tater reloaded the gun with a broom.
“Do not let them pull you off. Our people need to see you still fighting. Still in control,” Grace instructed.
A large rock slammed into Grace's neck and she kicked sideways.
“Are you hurt?” I asked, spinning her around to get eyes on our attacker.
“No. Focus on the fight. Not me,” she said.
I spotted a creature who spun a sling around his head. He was misshapen and gangly. His greenish skin festered with boils as yellow snot ran from his pointed nose. He fired again, and Grace dodged the rock.
“He looks like an orc,” I said.
“Close enough. He’s Fomorian,” she said.
I knew the Fomor to be one of the most fiendish villains of Celtic lore.
I batted down a red cap that grabbed my wrist as the Fomor spun his weapon again, but before he unleashed it, a bright sword appeared through his neck. When the dead body dropped, Finley's long white hair stained with droplets of red blood and black ichor billowed around his head. He snarled at me, then turned to battle a new foe.
We continued the fight. With each enemy we dispatched, another seemed to come out of nowhere.
Astor roared with each jab of his sword. His foes piled at his feet.
Troy advanced on a group of trolls with his wolves by his side. He started firing Driggs, and the loud reports echoed above the cacophony of battle. The wolves took down the enemies in pairs, calculating each strike and killing blow. Or bite in their case.
Many of our other friends plowed through the hunt including Chris Purcell, who had a herd of wild boar chasing a winged sluagh.
Rising above the sounds of battle, I heard a chant. Three red cloaked figures stood outside the Magic Vape shop with their hands raised.
“Astor!” I yelled to the ginger knight that was closest to them. He met my eyes then turned toward the trailer. His broad shoulders straightened, and he plowed through the enemy toward the Order of the Red Cloak. His Ella was in that building, and I knew there was no way he would let them in.
“Let him handle them. We have enough here to worry about. Help is coming,” she said.
When I faced forward, a large club hit me in the gut. I wheezed as Grace spun me away from the attacking ogre. He stood over us swinging down with his club again. I tried to anticipate Grace's dodge, but we went opposite directions. The club knocked me to the ground, and I scrambled to my feet.
The battle raged around me, but the ogre focused his attack on me. As he pummeled me with the club, I blocked him using Excalibur. He beat down on it, and I pushed my magic down the sword to push back up as he pounded. Several times he got me off balance because I was looking for Grace as I protected myself.
“Grace!” I pleaded feeling her close by. The ogre suddenly froze turning to a bluish, ugly block of ice. “Shatter!” I yelled thrusting the sword at him. The strike didn't hit the beast, but my magic rushed out the end of the sword. The ogre exploded into chunks of ice.
Grace stepped through it grabbing me at my neck by the tunic under my armor.
“I said, don’t fall off!” she growled. The fear, anger, and frustration in her eyes scared me, but as another attacker lunged toward us, she threw up her hand at it without taking her eyes off me. It, whatever it was, turned into another block of ice.
“Shatter!” I said pointing to the block. It exploded like the ogre.
We repeated the combo several times before we made enough room for her to shift again.
“Don't fall,” she demanded.
“Don't fall,” I repeated, as I mounted her again.
“Nope,” she protested. “Rephrase that.”
Winnie laughed.
“Grace, it's a common horse term,” I said.
“There was no mounting!” she yelled.
Winnie continued to giggle as I teased her further. “What term would you rather me use?”
“Not mount,” she said.
“How about astride?” I asked.
“Good one,” Winnie said.
“I'm a word god,” I said. She died laughing again. Grace fumed, but we ignored her.
“I'm going to meet up with Mark,” she said after she calmed down.
“Really?” I said.
“I should apologize,” she said. Grace stepped into the other room. I knew what she was doing. Often times Winnie would open up to me. Grace had to be the parent which at Winnie's age made her resent her mother. Being the good mother that she was, she stepped out of the room so that Winnie would talk to someone. Even if that someone had to be me, instead of her.
“What made you decide that?” I asked.
“I see you with Mom. You take her shit all the time, but you still love her,” she said.
“Yeah, I do,” I said.
“And mom should apologize,” she said. I heard Grace growl in my head. I laughed.
“My relationship with your mother is just different. You have to decide what you want with Mark. I suggest though that whatever you decide you be truthful with him,” I said.
She thought for a moment then said, “Thank you, Uncle Levi.” She kissed me on the cheek then hurried out the door. The Camaro’s engine rumbled to life, and Winnie sped away.
“I'm not apologizing,” Grace said.
I grinned at her. She folded her arms and stared me down. “That's fine. We both know you've said ‘ride me’ more than once,” I said. Then I dodged a flying coffee cup.
Levi
Determined to do my duty, I climbed back up on Grace’s back. From this vantage point, I could see that Astor couldn’t get to the ORCs because of the growing number of wild fairies in the frozen field.
“Blow the horn again. Summon the ghouls,” she said.
I grabbed the horn draped around her neck and blew hard. Then again. The wild beings around us paused the fight. Once they started dropping by our blades because of the distraction, they started fighting again.
Fr
om every direction, dark shadows raced to the field of battle forming a barrier between the breach and the town. Edward’s form solidified, and I heard him call out to the shadows.
“Feast on the wild!” he yelled.
The shadows rushed into the fray. I watched as one opened its mouth to swallow the arm of a troll. The troll squealed like a pig while dripping gore from his stump. The shadow lunged again unhinging his jaw and sucking down the troll whole.
“Yuck,” I said, turning back to Astor who had been joined by Troy and the wolves. They pushed through the crowd. Just before they reached the red witches, three more forms appeared in white robes.
“Move closer to them,” Grace said.
We stomped through the fighting horde. I knocked off as many as I could as we galloped through the fight. The white-robed witches chanted to combat the red ones. I could see the faces of the white witches. It was Wendy, Kady, and Riley.
“Do you see this?” I asked.
“Yes,” Grace said. “Let the whites work on them.”
A roar filled the air. Grace spun us around toward the call as a hulking beast stepped out of the mist. It had three heads, and looked like a dragon, but was lean like a dog. A really huge dog.
“What the fuck is that?” I asked.
“It’s an Ellen Trechend!” Tennyson said as he ran up next to us. “We could use Luther right about now!”
“He is coming,” Grace said.
The hard thump of wind displaced by giant wings filled the air as the flying Ifrit descended upon the battlefield. He landed in the middle with a loud roar which shook the ground. Some of the smaller wild fairies scurried away. The three-headed beast marched toward Luther with purpose. Once within reach, Luther swatted at the Ellen catching along one of its jaws. The lower part of its mouth sagged, barely hanging onto the head. Unfortunately, it still had two perfect heads with jagged teeth. It roared and its hideously bad breath was worse than anything I’d seen on the field. I thought I was going to puke.
It flopped its head back and forth until the lower jaw fell loose, thudding to the ground. It roared with anger charging Luther who took the blow in the chest. The beast held him down clawing at his body and face.
The Ifrit roared back in anger unleashing a flood of fiery lava at the Ellen. It jumped away as the lava splashed off its scales leaving it singed but not damaged.
As they battled, I surveyed the fray. It seemed like we were winning. Just inside the mist, I saw another form. A man on a horse with a straight back. His face was uncovered watching the battle intently. He was beyond the portal, inside the Otherworld.
Gently pulling on the reins, I turned Grace to the man. She lurched forward, racing toward her Uncle. I could barely hang on as her legs churned under her. His eyes widened as I lifted Excalibur. Its shining light drew the attention of the entire battlefield.
I let out a loud yell as we hurdled toward the breach, but as we reached the edge, the portal closed leaving us inside the Vale and Brockton in the Otherworld. The Wild Fairies, realizing that they had been cut off from any escape, began to surrender.
Except for the fight between the Ellen and Luther, the other fights died out. The ghouls consumed the dead and dying. They dragged their corpses below the ground until all the shadows were gone.
“Levi, get off,” Grace said.
“You said don’t get off,” I argued, but before she could respond, I felt her melt beneath me. I landed on my knees straddling her back. The blue lighted tattoos from her power faded from our people.
“Grace! Grace! Talk to me,” I panicked. I couldn’t feel her or hear her anymore.
Rolling her over, her body was limp and she didn’t breathe. Finley ran toward us, but I saw him motioning behind me. I grasped my sword, turning around to block a blow by the black knight. His dark sword slid off mine, as I stood to my feet ready for his advance. Grace’s body lay beneath me. I didn’t care what I had to do, this evil would have to cut me down to get to her.
Blow by blow, I pushed him off of us in a complete defensive effort. He took several different moves to get to us. I didn’t dare look to see if I had help. My only concern was protecting Grace.
“If she dies, all of this goes away,” he said through his helmet. “Let me kill her, and you all can live.”
“No,” I responded with my first offensive strike. He fended it off with a laugh.
“The poor bard taking up a sword that he doesn’t deserve hoping he can land the woman he could never have,” he taunted me.
I ignored the banter, taking steps toward him. Now he was on the defensive, as I made move after move. He laughed as I put myself into each strike.
A loud groan split through the field, as the Ellen hit the ground in death. Luther had won but was weakened. He sank to his knees, as Betty ran up to brace him.
The death blow distracted us for a moment, but I turned back to the black knight. “You’re not welcome here. You were given a chance to leave, and you didn’t take it. Now you will end up like him.”
Unleashing everything I learned, the knight’s eyes turned from humor to concern. I pressed him further and further away from Grace. Finley had reached her and was trying to wake her up. I couldn’t look back again or the knight would gain the advantage. I fueled my fight with my anger about Brockton’s escape. Pulling power from around me, I pushed winter power into the sword. The knight tried to block my blows, but eventually, he went to a knee, dropping his sword.
“Mercy,” he screamed.
I reached above my head with the sword at a high position. “No,” I growled.
“Wait!” Tennyson called out. Had it been any other person, I would have ignored them.
“What?” I asked.
“Take off your helm,” Tennyson ordered.
The man removed his helm to reveal a handsome, but dark man. His face wasn’t scarred, but from the look in his eyes, his soul was.
“Agrevain,” Tennyson said. “I should have known you would be helping Mordred.”
“You’re a traitor, Lancelot. Nothing you can do on the field of battle will make up for you fucking our king’s wife,” Agrevain said.
“I’m going to kill you,” Tennyson replied.
I brought Excalibur down, striking him through the shoulder to his heart. “No, I am,” I said, jerking Excalibur out. It hummed with the death as if it loved the kill. I knew the knight’s story from Taliesin’s works. He helped destroy the kingdom turning against Lancelot for his affair with Guinevere. Up until that point, Arthur didn’t seem to care about the affair even though he clearly knew about it. Eventually, it destroyed the kingdom and the heralded roundtable.
The knight would get no second chance or third chance. He died inside the Vale as Brockton had abandoned the hunt. With the fight over, I noticed that the white witches were joining hands in a prayer to the goddess near where Grace lay on the frozen ground. I didn’t see where the red cloaks had gone, but I no longer felt them within the ward.
Running to Grace, I knelt down beside her.
“Has she moved?” I asked.
“No. I don’t understand,” Finley said. “She isn’t wounded.”
I searched her armor, removing it piece by piece. We found no wound. However, she lay motionless. The hardest part was that I couldn’t feel her. Looking through my sight, the brightened aura from earlier in the day now dimmed with each passing second.
“Grace!” I screamed at her. “You get up!”
“Levi,” Tennyson tried to coax me.
“No, don’t touch me,” I said.
“Levi, the ice is melting,” he said.
I looked up as the ice forming the field of battle started to break up. I could hear the cracking and groaning of the swamp trying to push through the ice.
Placing Excalibur in its sheath, I hoisted Grace up, and we ran for the Shady Grove sign. Exile and Wild fairy alike ran for the safety of solid ground as the swamp threatened to take us all. I was exhausted and out of breath once w
e reached dry ground. Tennyson and the other knights except Astor kept the crowd back as I tried to wake her.
Tabitha ran up to sit next to me. “Let me see her, Levi,” she said.
“I can’t feel her,” I said. “I don’t understand what happened.”
“It’s the magic, Levi. She’s tapped. She kept all of us fueled including you. You must have felt it. That cold surging inside of you as you fought. That was Grace’s power,” she said. “She used it up.”
“I’m running on fumes,” I said. Looking at the crowd, we all were spent. I ran to the nearest tree which was an oak. Digging deep, I tried talking to it as Grace had shown me.
“Bard who carries the king’s sword,” it said.
“Yes, please share your power with me. The Queen has fallen,” I said. The oak shook above me showering me with leaves. I could feel its sadness. It showed me images of Grace talking to it multiple times. It had a connection with her. Opening up a well of power, it fed me more than I could store. My tattoo glowed in the night as I ran back to Grace.
My guitar played the healing song as I placed my hand over her tattoo.
“Gracie, come back to me,” I begged. “We won. We need you. I fucking need you.”
Her tattoo flared with power and the curling swirls coursed over her body. Her eyes fluttered focusing in the distance.
“No, just one more moment,” she begged.
“One more moment for what?” I asked in a whisper.
“Levi?” she asked. I could finally feel her again.
“I’m here,” I said.
“We won?” she asked.
I brushed hair and leaves away from her face, “Yes, we won,” I said. “Who were you talking to?”
“Dylan,” she said.
Grace
As the last of my stored power left my body, I could no longer hold the animal form. I collapsed to the ground. I felt Levi panicking as we careened to the frozen swamp. He managed to redistribute his weight so that he didn’t land on me, but after that, I couldn’t feel him.
I had seen the black knight approaching. I feared that Levi didn’t see him in time.