8
MY SKIN CRAWLED UNDER the slick chill that was the demon. I tried to bring up my shield but my head was still a fuzzy mess. The mist squealed and a slice of light appeared in the darkness, but sealed back over just as quickly.
I reached out my hands against the wave that churned around me, but it was forced back. The darkness tightened around me, and I squeezed my nose with one hand, covering the ear without the bead with the other. I closed my eyes and mouth as tight as I could as it writhed around me.
You are not getting inside.
I felt it like ice against my pursed lips, and it took all my focus not to open my mouth.
Another flash of light sliced through on my right, and the demon squealed again. The bead moved a little out of my ear and the cold crept behind it sending shivers down my neck and triggering my mouth to open a little.
Ice ran down my neck. I felt the dark overtaking. It was like a charcoal syrup filling my throat. I tried again for the shield, for the combined magic of the fabled and the fey.
There you are.
A pin of light inside me. My head cleared and the magic grew more. Another slash of light above me, but when the demon wailed this time my magic swelled and pushed against the growing darkness inside me. The tar retreated from my mouth. My body warming as the ice cold of the demon was forced out. Another cut of light in the darkness, another screech, a burst of rainbow light, and the world was bright again.
Looking around, I saw Jax panting on his knees beside me, Jud standing, his sword pointed up the tunnel, the station in full light again up ahead. I placed a hand on Jax’s heaving back and he lifted his head, pulling me into a hug.
“Des, oh my Fey, that was close. You are never doing that again!”
“I don’t know what happened, I thought I could do it. Is everyone okay?”
Jud dropped the sword and his head, shaking it a little side to side.
“Who?” I asked, and Jax released me.
“Naral.”
“How, where?” I spun around and saw her darkened body crumbled against the side of the tunnel wall, the other Nazieth standing guard around her.
“What happened?”
“The demon went for you and she tried to jump in front of you, but it slammed her against the roof of the tunnel. It was like nothing I have seen. It wrapped around you both and sent her slamming against the walls, the ceiling, the ground. We tried to cut it from her, from you, but nothing worked.”
“Then how did I...”
“When it tossed Naral free,” Jax began. “We all swung at it as it surrounded you. We hoped you would have your shield in place so we would only damage the demon. It screamed as we focused our efforts and landed each blow. Then your magic shot through and the mist retreated, screeching back down the tunnel.”
“Desmoree, that was not like any demon the Nazieth has come across.”
“That’s because it wasn’t just any demon,” I said, climbing to my feet, my eyes still fixed on the crumpled body of Naral, her gun clenched in her blackened hand. My chest went tight and my stomach churned.
Look at what you did, you silly girl. You are the reason she died. This is all your fault.
“Des?” Jax stepped in front of me and my eyes went from the sight of Naral’s broken body to his brilliant green whirlpools.
“What was I saying?”
“You said it wasn’t just any demon,” Jud offered from behind me. I didn’t turn to face him. I let myself remain locked in place by Jax’s eyes.
“It was the most evil monster I have ever met. My great grandfather.”
The other Nazieth began to whisper amongst themselves, a white noise in the background.
“Jax,” I said, swallowing back the bile rising in my throat. “It was Traflier, I’m sure of it.”
“Des, no,” Jax said, looking back at the body of Naral. “It was a Surt.”
“No, it was him Jax.”
“Des, listen, it wasn’t. When it took Naral it was able to partially take form. It was a Surt. I’m sure of it. Look at Naral, she wasn’t possessed, she was thrown around like a ragdoll and tossed aside after it burned the life out of her.”
“But it has to be him. He tried to take me, I felt it Jax, I felt him.”
“You felt the cold fire of a Surt demon.”
“Cold?”
It was cold.
“The Surt demon fire is a cold fire. You felt cold, didn’t you?”
I nodded and stepped around Jax to join the others in front of Naral. “Let’s get her home,” I said and two of them bent down and picked up her body.
“How? The council have blocked anyone from going in or out,” Jud pointed out.
“Crap, you’re right. Jax, do you think the elf magic can get around the fey wards?”
“Maybe, why what were you thinking?” Jax asked me as I reached into my bag. My arm went in down to my elbow, but then my fingers brushed against a smooth surface and I pulled out a glass ball.
“I bloody hate folding, but it’s our best shot at getting back. Jud, move in tight.”
I tossed the orb up, and said, “Caitaus florendus entishmandoor.” The orb exploded above us into a cloud of magic. The cloud went solid then fell.
I saw the Nazieth stiffen, but they were otherwise unfazed.
The cloud hit us and the tunnel went dark as my body went cold.
The bile rose again.
The ring of ice returned, making its way down my body then bounced off the tracks and made its way back up again. This time, when the ring rose over my face, the cloud dispersed and we were back at the Nazieth compound. The med bay to be exact.
Someone screamed.
Metal clanged to the tile ground, and one of the Nazieth vomited into a bin.
“We’re home.”
They placed Naral onto one of the med tables and stepped back. The sage who had screamed ran to assess her, but stopped short a step.
“She is gone,” Jud said, laying a pale blue sheet over the body. “We have to report this to the Nazieth chief, he will inform her family.”
Her family? It hadn’t even crossed my mind she had a family. She was a Nazieth, a soldier, but yes... she would be someone’s daughter, maybe someone’s wife, or fey forbid, someone’s mother.
“Wait!” Jax said, grabbing my arm. “Des, should tell the council how we got back in?”
“What do you mean?” Jud asked, looking to me for answers.
Jax answered first. “The council voted to stop anyone from getting in or out. We were supposed to be the last to leave. If the elves folding cast can breach whatever ward they put up, they need to know.”
“I don’t know if it was the elf magic getting us through,” I began, feeling the lines on my forehead deepen as I tried to recall any difference between the times I had folded. “There was no difference at all. No resistance. This isn’t the first time they have stopped anyone leaving or getting in. If they wanted to lock the Feydom down, it should have been impossible for us to get through.”
“There was another attack,” the sage said, her eyes still resting on the blue sheet covering Naral. “When you appeared, I thought for a moment you were one of them.”
“One of who?” I asked.
“A possessed.”
“More demons came through. When? Where?” Jud interrupted, grabbing her by the arms and turning her to face him.
“Hey, lay off!” I shouted, shrugging off Jax’s arm and grabbing hold of Jud’s.
“Tell me!” he asked again, ignoring my objection.
She cried as he squeezed her arms tighter. “They came through the door, they came into the square. All Nazieth were called to the square. That’s all I know.”
“Jud, let her go!” I said again, and the combined magic of the fabled and my fey power sizzled at the end of my fingers in tiny rainbow sparks.
Will you kill him? Could you? You couldn’t kill the demon. You have no idea what you’re doing, do you?
“Des?
” Jax called, and I shook off the negative thoughts and only then saw the room was empty, except for Jax and I. He was halfway out the door already.
“Where did everyone go?”
“Are you joking?” he asked, looking at me with a furrowed brow and clenched jaw.
You have no idea what he’s talking about, do you?
“Umm, sure, sorry. Yes, let’s go.”
Jax’s face softened and he disappeared from the doorway. I followed close behind. I didn’t know for sure where we were actually going, but I could make a pretty good guess.
When we stepped out into the light of Sayeesies, we were met with complete silence. Even the air was still.
Jax phased. “Come on, let’s find the others,” he said, swooping his wings to take off into the sky. I looked up as Jax became a dark shadow in the crystal clear sky, but he didn’t fly forwards. He hovered there in the glistening light. I phased and pushed off, rising to join him. When I breached the line of rooftops and rose to beside Jax, my brow furrowed as I tried to decipher what I was seeing. Something was different.
Something looked off about the Sayeesies we were seeing, but I couldn’t put my finger on it.
“It’s gone,” Jax whispered, and my heart flew to my throat. Traflier’s tree usually shot high into the sky well above the buildings. But it wasn’t there. The entire tree was gone.
We tore towards the city center, towards where all of the Feydom gathered. They surrounded an enormous hole in the ground. A hole where the tree used to be.
Lowering down to where my father stood on the edge of the crater, I still struggled to understand exactly what I was seeing. There was no roots, no branches or even leaves scattered around. Nothing. There was just a hole in the ground. A dark, deep hole.
I knelt and collected some of the blackened soil. It was like silk against my skin. A soft ash covering the surface of the otherwise ordinary dirt beneath.
“What did this?” I asked no one in particular.
You really have to ask? You know who did this.
“Dad, did you see what happened?” I asked, looking up at him. He wasn’t listening to me, he was whispering something to Jax on his other side.
“Dad,” I called again, standing, and when I did they both stiffened, silencing their exchange.
“What is it, what did you see?”
“You have to tell her,” Jax said, placing his hand against my father’s back. “She needs to know.”
“Seriously, what is it?”
“As soon as you left, before we could put the Feydom into lockdown, they came through. Too many possessed to count. I didn’t even know we had so many fey in the human realm. The Nazieth went after the possessed. They were too busy fighting them to know that something bigger was here.”
“Something bigger?”
“So big, it encased the tree in its black cloud. The council tried to destroy it. We weren’t powerful enough. It killed council member Harold, and Gerald was badly injured.”
I scanned the crowd of fey. Most were a little disheveled, but some were sporting bigger injuries. “Did they free all the possessed?”
Max shook his head. “The fey they took hold of paid the highest price. Twenty four possessed, eighteen Nazieth, one council member, seven adults, and five... children, possessed, then lost to us.”
More blood on your hands. Will your wings ever be white again?
“They attacked the children?”
“The sprites did well to protect as many as they could, but several were injured, the ones possessed, we couldn’t save. The demons destroyed them then tried to flee. But we got them.”
“The equillis, have they been called to help?”
Max nodded towards the left, amongst the fey surrounding the crater, several unicorns stood at their side. Then I saw the glittering of sprites flitting between a few other fey too.
“The firebirds?”
He shook his head. “No word could be sent to the outer reaches in time for them to help. They know about the attack and have set up patrol on their side to ensure nothing gets through the Danzor mountains to us.”
“Desmoree,” a small voice called from behind me, and I turned to see the child-sized form of Madel.
“Are you okay?” I asked, phasing out of my fey form and kneeling to greet her.
“I’ll be okay. The others are still recovering, but no sprites were lost to the darkness.”
“I’m glad. Thank you for helping to protect the children.”
A glistening tear fell from the corner of her right eye. “I wish we had been able to do more, but there were so many, they were so strong. I have come from the Sage’s clinic, there is a boy covered in burns, he needs help, but he won’t let the sages near him, all he screams is your name.”
“Take me to him.”
I followed Madel through the crowd of fey and fabled, their eyes occasionally darting to me, but quickly looking away. I heard the bray of an equillis and looked over to see the king smacking his front hoof against the ground while he nodded to another of his herd.
“Are there some equillis with the sages already? I asked Madel as she slipped into sprite size to fit between the legs of a tall female fey. I tried to place her name but couldn’t. When she saw me move to go around, her eyes locked on mine as a tear rolled down her cheek.
“Where were you? Why weren’t you here to help us?”
My cheeked flushed burning hot.
Even if you were here, could you have helped them? You couldn’t help Naral.
“I’m sorry,” I said, looking away from her.
“Madel?” I called when I couldn’t spot her through the fey.
“Here!” she said, flitting to my shoulder and burying herself under my hair behind my neck to come out on the other side. “The queen is with the sages, she sent the others to help here.”
“The boy, he won’t let the queen heal him?”
“He’s strong, he has a shield up that the sages can’t penetrate, the equillis either.”
“What child is that strong?” I asked, but then it hit me. I knew one child who could be strong enough to cast a shield. He was a receiving fey. “Malcolm.”
“Come come come, he’s badly hurt, there isn’t much time if the queen is to help him.”
“You said he was burnt?” I asked as I shoved past another fey. This was taking too long. “Hold on tight,” I said than phased and leapt up above the crowd. Madel wrapped herself around my hair as she swayed in the wind. I landed again just outside the Sage’s clinic.
“He was badly burnt by the demon, I don’t know how he survived, we could not recognize him, he will not share his name, only screams yours.” Madel leaped from my hair to take the child-sized form and pushed open the door of the Sage’s clinic. My name rang through the halls. sages ran between rooms, one of them catching my eye and offering a brief nod, before dashing into another room where more than one voice cried.
“Down here,” the queen of the equillis called as she poked her head out of the furthest doorway, her glistening horn shining with power.
I ran the length of the hall, almost bowling over a sage on his way to another patient. When I reached the door, I was in no way prepared for what I saw. Malcolm wasn’t just a little burnt. He was almost as black as Naral’s body. His white and violet eyes were wide with pain as he called my name again. I rushed to his side.
“Wait!” the queen called in my mind, but it was too late. His shield flung me back against the wall, and the sound of it cracking behind me echoed through my ears.
I tried to stand, my body protesting, sending aches down my back and legs. Pushing up and leaning on my right knee for support, I finally made it upright. “That’s some shield.”
“I tried to warn you,” the queen said, bowing her head a little and the feather mane shimmered with a golden sparkle that reminded me of Ava.
Your child isn’t the one laying in this bed suffering the price of your actions.
I blinked
away the stars in my eyes and stepped closer to Malcolm. The shield gave off a slight shimmer when you looked for it, and so I was able to stay just shy of its border this time.
“Malcolm, it’s me, its Des. Let me though, let the queen help you, please.”
Malcolm turned his head slowly, his eyes unblinking and as wide as I’d ever seen. “Desmoree,” he croaked out, and I could see his teeth were grey from the ash in his mouth.
“Malcolm, I’m here, you can let down the shield now, let them help you.”
He blinked once, his eyes closing on me and opening on the queen. “No.”
“Malcolm, you need help.”
Another blink and another shift from the queen back to me. “They can’t help me, only you can help me.”
“Then let me through, let me help you.” The shield gleamed in a wave of energy and I felt myself sucked forwards. The cries and commotion of the Sage’s clinic, drowned out to a slight buzz, like static on an old TV.
I was inside his shield.
I immediately brought the combined magic to my hands and laid them on top of his arm. He flinched, but didn’t pull away. I pushed my magic forwards and it resisted, almost clinging to me.
I closed my eyes and focused harder. I forced more magic from my core to my hands, the combined power still refused to go. Finally my fey magic separated from the fabled, and it alone went into Malcolm. The fabled magic stayed at the ends of my hands, my fey power funneling through it into him as he grew stronger. I opened my eyes to see the burns on his body began to change, almost rewinding from blackened char, to red flame, and finally to a pink glow.
Malcolm’s eyes were closed and his breaths became labored.
“Malcolm, are you okay?” I asked, shooting a look back to where the queen had been. She was no longer there, only Madel stood waiting for me and her eyes flew wide open. I turned back to Malcolm. He was sitting up in the bed, his now black eyes peering at me.
“What the...”
Malcolm’s lip twisted up at the side momentarily before his head flung back and a black mist spewed from his mouth.
I jumped back, but hit the shield. I pushed against it with my hands, but it wouldn’t budge.
Destroying the Fallen Page 14