Destroying the Fallen

by Rebecca Bosevski

  “How did you get out?”

  “I let him out,” Ava said, raising her hand with one finger pointed.

  “You did?” Blake, Jax, and I asked all together.

  “So many creatures were dying. The elves, the fey, we lost too many. So I made a deal.”

  I brought my hands together in front of my chest, allowing the magic to continue to sizzle, and looked at the vampire. “You can’t expect us to uphold a deal made by a child.”

  “Oh, but you have no choice. I already have what I want.”

  “What?” Jax asked, stepping in front of Ava.

  The vampire’s lips rose ever so slightly at the corners.

  “It hasss been centuriesss sssince I have felt the sssun,” he said, tilting his face towards the sky.

  “Ava what did you do?” I asked, looking across to her.

  She turned her head to the side and lifted her curls away from her neck revealing two dark spots.

  “You bit my daughter?” I asked as the magic rose and swam in an orb of light above my hands.

  Out of the corner of my eye I saw Jax’s magic ignite too.

  “You can’t have her. I will kill you, and then find a way to stop her becoming one of you.”

  “Desssmoree, Ava will not be like me. She will not be vampire.”

  “I glanced back at Ava and she nodded slightly, while holding her hand over the healing spots on her neck.

  “What are you talking about, you said if you bit me I would become like you.”

  “Yesss,” the vampire said, his hands folded behind his back as if he were taking an evening stroll, not standing in front of a pissed off fairy about to blast him into oblivion. “I believed that isss what would have happened asss it isss the way when I have bitten a being in the passst, however I did not expect to encounter magic like that pretty pendant.”

  I looked at Parabellum resting around Ava’s neck.

  “I drank in your daughter’sss blood, her intoxicating magical blood, and with it I am now reborn, but alasss, she is not.”

  “Ava won’t become one of you?”

  He shook his head. “I think I will be off now, if you don’t mind.”

  “Umm, we kind of do actually,” Jax said, tossing an orb at the vampire’s feet. The green mist encased his legs, forcing him to remain fixed in place.

  “Sssilly fey,” the vampire hissed, then brushed his hand from left to right. The mist evaporated.

  What the fuck?

  The vampire swung his arm, creating a portal just like the ones Ava and I could make, and leapt through. I moved to go after him, but it closed before I could.

  “Fuck, now we have to track him down too.”

  “Des,” Jax said, grabbing my hand and holding it enclosed in both of his. “I think he deserves a head start.”

  “What?”

  “Jax is right,” King Blake said, rising from the sand and hovering at about head height. “Sien believes the vampire will not be an immediate threat. She has been speaking with a fey child, a seer.”

  “Malcolm,” Jax and I said together.

  “Yes, I believe that is the boy’s name. Besides, you have remains to seal and a Feydom to heal.”

  “I don’t know how to do either of those things.”

  “Perhaps your firebird friend could assist us?” King Blake asked, moving to stand on the other side of Traflier’s remains.

  The firebird bowed his head and stepped over beside the king. “What would you like me to do?”

  “Your blood burns hotter than any known substance, correct?”

  “Really?” I asked.

  “This is correct,” the firebird replied.

  “If we bring the sand up with the remnants of Traflier mixed through, the firebird’s blood could turn it into a solid glass mass.”

  “And what would we do with that?” Jax asked, joining us to surround what was left of Trafleir.

  King Blake shrugged. “Whatever you like. Bury it. Put it on a mantle, drop it into your lake of fire, if it is still there.”

  “Okay, let’s just do this. How do we bring it up?” I asked.

  King Blake raised his arms. “Bring your hands up and use what elf magic you still have, to will the sand to rise and encase the particles in a swirling shape.”

  “Okay, here goes,” I said, then raised my hands. I pictured the sand rising up, bringing the dust of Traflier’s remains with it. Some of the sand and bits floated up and began to swirl around. King Blake must have been doing the same thing as another section of sand did the same, but it swam in an opposite direction to mine.

  “Bring it together,” King Blake said and I tried to focus on the swirling sand. It twisted with Blakes and formed a churning figure of eight in the air between us.

  “If you will?” King Blake prompted the firebird, and it lifted one of its clawed feet above the mass. Digging one of its own nails into the soft flesh of its foot, the gleaming drop of red blood emerged. My face warmed as it flowed from the wound and began to fill the curve of the firebird’s claw.

  It was the brightest red I had ever seen.

  “This should be enough,” the firebird said, twisting its foot so the blood drained from the claw and dripped down onto the churning mix. The moment the blood hit the sand it ignited like a match. The intensity of the heat pushing my eyes to look away.

  “Desmoree, don’t lose focus now,” King Blake said, and I forced my eyes back. Squinting at the alight mix as it continued to twist in its pattern around itself. The mix thickened as it moved. The flames dying down and the red and black glass revealing itself.

  “We need water, ice, something to cool it down,” King Blake said, and I saw Ava raise her hand out of the corner of my eye. A portal began to open above the glass. Through it, cold water gushed, sending a billow of steam out from the glass. I lost focus. Turned away from the glass, from the steam. When I turned back, Blake was standing beside Ava, holding a shining hourglass shape of glass, black streaks twisting through the clear shape, forever imbedded in its mass.

  “What do we do now?” Ava asked.

  “I have the Feydom's magic. How about we go and give it back to the realm?”

  “And then,” Jax said, holding up the yowie finger. We have a few more things to do.”

  I smiled. He was right. With the finger, I would be able to return the fey’s magic. Finally I would be fulfilling my prophecy and enchanting the fey.

  EPILOGUE

  “COME ON, DESMOREE, the fey are waiting,” Maylea said, heaving a basket full of potion up from the floor of her hidden kitchen. Returning the magic to the Feydom lands didn’t require any use of yowie fur. It wanted to leave me as much as I wanted it gone. It felt like one of those Rubik’s cubes inside me, forever changing, turning, and yet growing and shrinking too. Really freaking weird. So when King Blake brought me through to the Feydom, to the pink lake that sat surrounded by blackness, I somehow knew exactly what to do.

  It wasn’t the potion I poured into the lake that kept the pink creatures untouched by Traflier. After we returned, I used the cast to communicate and spoke with the creatures. They were connected to the fey realm itself. So by stepping into their waters and allowing them to connect with me, they were able to draw out the energy of the Feydom and send it through the earth, back to where it belonged.

  The buildings damaged by Traflier took a little more work , but with the elves’ magic, and the return of the fey to the land, we were able to make short work of it.

  The council was reformed and voted to await the completion of enough potion to protect the fey. Lucky it only took a day as Maylea and her friends had continued their brewing in the elf palace kitchen after the evacuation.

  How she always held faith that it would happen, was beyond my understanding.

  “I still need to get the fur,” I said to her as I attempted to lift a particularly heavy basket, and failed.

  “Go, I’ll take care of this.”

  “But there are so many.”<
br />
  “And I have many hands to help,” she said as the kitchen door opened and her sage friends walked in.

  I dashed to my room and quickly laid my hand over the hiding spot in my floor. The energy Traflier took from the Feydom turned everything to dirt and ash, the things I collected, the elephant cannon, and even the book were lost to us. I had begun a new book for Ava. It started with the story of how I came to discover the fey world and goes on to note down every cast I could remember from the old book, and the new ones we learned together.

  The floor opened and I sighed with relief when I saw the finger was still there, and though only my trusted family knew of my little hiding space, it surprised me how relieved I was to see it. I mean, it wasn’t like a severed finger was going to go anywhere.

  I picked up the pink handkerchief Sien had wrapped the finger in. She was as disgusted with it as me. She kept the fingernail though. Something about a cast she could do. She had helped us so much, I didn’t see the harm. Besides I had what I needed. The fur.

  I closed over the new hiding spot and made my way down to the awaiting fey.

  The hum of all of them sent vibrations through the floor and grew stronger, the closer I got to the ballroom.

  The fact my father had insisted on keeping a ballroom astounded me. He kept his office the same size too. I mean if you’re going to undertake a major rebuild, why not make it better? But he insisted it be done exactly as it had been. Something about his memories of my mother and their life there. I couldn’t argue with that. I was as happy as him to see the painting of her recreated and returned to its place as if it had never left.

  In hindsight, it was good he did keep the ballroom. I mean, where else were we going to fit a shit load of fey? The room was spelled to be far larger on the inside than it was on the outside.

  I opened the rear door and pulled back a purple velvet curtain to peek out at the gathered fey. They only half filled the room, but it looked like they were all there. The children were in the center, sitting and playing with things, while the oldest of them sat on chairs positioned around the room. Even the ill had been brought, they sat up in roll beds near the back of the room and were being attended to by sages. Hopefully the return of their magic offered them some assistance, or at least some relief.

  Maybe Jax was right? Maybe we should hold off on giving out the potion if it means we can’t transfer out magic to help heal?

  “What are you thinking about?” came my father’s whispered voice as he moved to stand in front of the curtain I peeked behind. “Come out here, we are all waiting.”

  “What about all the ill, the injured?” I asked, looking out at the room full of fey.

  “Des, there are other magics that can help the ill without the transfer you could do. Magic like that can be twisted, used to hurt. It’s better they take the potion now and not know of what they could have done.”

  I nodded and slipped out from behind the curtain to stand with him. The room fell silent. The other Tanzieth council members walked through the crowd towards my father and I. I raised a brow in his direction.

  He nudged my shoulder with his and his eyes gleamed with pride as he smiled wide at the gathering of fey.

  “Okay, let’s do this then,” I said sending a cast to my voice to increase its volume, so I would be heard throughout the room.

  “You all have come so I can return something you gifted to me. Your magic.”

  Cheers erupted from many, a few of the older ones shook their heads.

  “I want you all to know that I am only able to do this because of the yowies. It is only with their fur that I am able to withdraw your magic and gift it back to you. They only wanted to return to their homes, like you.”

  Many of the fey hung their heads.

  “Traflier exterminated them, so no one could ever take power from him, but we have what is left of the yowie fur and I will use it to return your magic today. I ask that you remember the yowies every time you cast, or fly, or phase. It is because of them you will be able to do it, after all. And after I give your magic back, before you leave, we would like you to take a binding potion that will prevent your magic being taken or gifted again. It is the same potion given to the Nazieth.”

  Some whispered amongst themselves.

  “Look, it isn’t a condition of you getting your magic back, but it’s essential if you want to be able to keep it. You might have given it freely last time, but it won’t stop other darker creatures from finding a way to take it against your will.”

  That shut them up.

  “Max, is everyone here?”

  My father nodded.

  “Alright, hold still so I can focus. Your magic will want to come back to you. It knows where it belongs. Just let it come.”

  I held the handkerchief out in front of me and unwrapped it slowly. A few of the closer fey looked away as the finger came into view.

  Transforming, I rose up so that I could see them all. I loved having my wings back. And since their return, at no point did they ever look anything but white.

  I searched for the fey’s magic, the rainbow of color that swam inside me. It wasn’t hard to find. It swirled as if anticipating its return home.

  I pulled on the whirling rainbow of magic and sent it through my arms towards the finger in my hand. It surged through the strands of fur illuminating the flesh in a ball of multi-colored lights. The Tanzieth all oohed and aahed, a baby cried. With their parents without magic, I had assumed the babies born after the battle were without too. But they weren’t. Their power sat inside them like a little seed of light, waiting for its time to sprout.

  The children forced to gift me their magic by their parents, however were not so lucky. But they would be now. Now I would return it all to them, to their parents. They would be whole again.

  Silence.

  All the Fey’s eyes closed as their magic shot outwards from me and into them all. The entire room illuminated in a spectral fog, sparkling with magic.

  The fur burned with the transfer of magic and the finger went dark. I lowered to the ground, closing the handkerchief over the blackened finger. When I reached the stage Max joined me.

  “Did it work?” he whispered. I opened the pink cloth and showed him the fine, black dust that was all that remained of the yowies.

  Thank you, I thought as I closed the cloth over and put it into my pocket.

  Then I felt for my magic. My power was still there, some of the fabled too. My bright white energy danced inside me as if it had suddenly been set free and a gold streak of glittery light danced with it. They swam like a perfectly choreographed ballet. Without the Tanzieth power to overwhelm it I felt stronger. Like I had control back.

  Maylea appeared beside me, laying her hand on my raised arm. “Desmoree, it’s done. We should give out the potion now.”

  I stopped, looking at my fingers that were coated in a fine soot and turned to face her. “Yes, the potion. It should be handed out,” I said, not realizing the cast on my voice was still in effect.

  “Desmoree, are you okay?”

  “I am,” I said as a smirk rose to my lips. “I feel great actually.”

  A few of the teens phased into their fairy forms, their wings pushing others here and there.

  “Settle, settle!” I called to them as I rose again. My wings felt lighter and they sent me far higher than I intended with only one slight swoop. “You will all have the rest of your lives to use your powers, there are ill fey here, settle down.”

  The teens phased back and a few babies began to cry again. I mouthed sorry to the parents and adjusted the cast on my voice to about half the volume.

  “I get it. I really do. Now your magic is back things are going to be very different. For one, I will be stepping down from the council.”

  Voices grew again.

  “With my resignation there will be a need for another member,” I continued louder, regaining their attention. “I will be asking a ballot be drawn so that you, and the
other fey, can decide on who that member shall be.”

  “Desmoree, are you sure you want to do this? You can keep your seat and go back to only being at meetings if we have a tied vote,” my father suggested.

  “Dad, I’m sure. All I want to do is get to know my daughter,” I whispered as quietly as I could with the cast still in effect.

  He nodded and I turned back to the fey in front of us. “The potion to bind your magic is at the exits, the fey handing it out will take the empty vials from you. Please, really consider what I am asking you to do. Take the potion, it will keep your magic safe. It will keep it yours.”

  Max phased and rose with me, he lifted a vial into the air, its silvery contents swam like liquid metal within the clear glass bottle. He opened his mouth and downed it in front of them. A silver shimmer went over his body and he licked his lips.

  “Tastes like elderberries with a hint of orange,” he said smiling and lowering to the ground.

  A few of the fey grinned and nodded in my direction as they all made their way towards the exits. When they were all gone I met with Maylea and her friends to find out how many took it.

  “All of them?” I asked, surprised by the effectiveness of my own persuasiveness.

  “They had a taste of their magic and don’t want to lose it again,” Maylea explained.

  “They don’t know what they are giving up to keep it though, do they?” Jax asked, wrapping an arm around my waist.

  “No, but they are now who they are meant to be, and that won’t change ever again,” Maylea said, smiling and saluting me with her potion, before downing it too.

  “It’s over then?” I asked as Ava and King Blake entered the room and made their way over to us.

  I looked at the way they walked side by side, moving through the room like one, their hands brushing slightly with each swing of their arms, and the smile Ava tried to hide by slightly biting her bottom lip.

  “Actually scratch that. This is just the beginning.”

  NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR

  AS SAD AS IT IS TO say, this is the end of Des’s story. And though I really do hate saying goodbye. It was time for her tale to come to an end.