by K Fisher
Head guard and land further than the eye could see. It was a bounty that Anita would absolutely be able to uphold if she was the Queen of their lands. Along with the artifacts from Mallor she had used against Dora, there would be no stopping Anita. Elladora was trying to rule the lands with peace as her father had and although that had worked for some time, there was always something more powerful that desired to strip that.
It would take a true leader to propel the elves to the status they had been accustomed to before his time, but Phillip still could imagine it. He could taste it on his tongue. The power was too much to pass up and if that meant he had to go against his Queen and do as Anita commanded, he would.
Previous nights he had simply been instructed to leave a goblet near the door to Elladora’s bedroom before he began his watch. The magic was able to work itself and torture her mind enough without any further interference from him. After the night was over, he was quick to return the goblet to Anita and continue the next night without anyone being the wiser.
But seeing the hope in the people of Glade’s eyes as they watched her work earlier that day had been troublesome. They were starting to come together behind the hope she instilled and the plans she presented during each meeting and speech to her people.
They would not be her people much longer. The Herrick line needed to come to a close to fully destroy what had once been.
Reaching into his cloak, Phillip’s hand fell to the goblet within. He had been instructed to do one more thing for Anita before he would be awarded and although he had done a great many terrible things in the past, he knew this would still haunt his consciousness no matter how much he believed it was the right thing.
The magic within the goblet simply needed to be poured upon the sleeping young woman and Anita had promised it would finish their Queen off. Lifting the smoking goblet, Phillip took a deep breath. It felt as though everything moved in slow motion, each inch he lifted the goblet into the air a year of his life slipped away.
Without taking time to think any further on it, Phillip focused on Dora and tilted the goblet the final inch, pouring smoke from within upon her sleeping body. There was a terrible sizzling and groaning as the smoke turned to acid, eating into the form beneath it and breaking through the bed. He just had time to see Elladora’s eyes widen in surprise before the smoke and magic ate into her, leaving nothing behind.
That was it. He had killed their Queen and ended the reign of the Herricks.
“AHHHHH!!!!! Oh wait… Should it be OH NOOO? I can’t seem to get this ‘screaming as I die’ thing down,” Dora’s voice came from behind him.
Phillip’s heart was racing as his hand dropped the goblet onto the destroyed and sizzling bed, the black smoke billowing out from the sides as it continued to eat through everything it touched. By the time he faced the woman who had spoken to him, it had disappeared completely, leaving nothing but ash behind on the bed.
Dora was sitting in a chair in the corner, almost completely hidden by the dim light of the room. There was no amusement in her eyes, no playfulness like he had been so accustomed to during her times privately around her guards. No… There was an anger and hatred that far outgrew her age. An ancient enragement that vibrated through her small body as she watched his betrayal.
“Atair, well done,” she said coldly.
Phillip didn’t have time to pull his sword and defend himself before a force slammed into his body, throwing him across the room until he was pinned tightly against the wall of her room. The soft blue of the magic lifted him from the ground until his feet dangled, tightening against his body like a cocoon. “My… Queen…” he struggled to speak, struggled to move.
“Silence. You will not speak to the Queen anymore. You’re dealing with me now,” came a low voice as Atair stepped out of the shadows, his hands extended toward the guard and the magic that kept him suspended in the air.
The light blue magic drifted upwards, slapping over Phillip’s mouth as it silenced him. His eyes drifted over to the ruined bed and the goblet beside it, mind racing as he tried to make sense of what had happened and who had been in the bed. Atair appeared to read his mind, raising one hand to his cheek as he tapped it against his skin, the bright blue of his eyes a direct contrast against the dark. “Wondering why you weren’t able to commit proper treason? It’s because you’re working with a warlock of incredible skill, idiot.” The laugh that left Atair’s mouth was sharp and barking, giving him a merry look as he removed one hand from the air and waved it in Dora’s direction.
Several versions of the Queen appeared on the floor, all identical to the one he had seen in bed as they slept, unaware and so… Real.
“You elves really are so wound up in your twisted sense of-” Atair was cut off when Elladora cleared her throat and stood from her position at the table, crossing the room until she was in front of the muted guard. “Well, some of you elves. Sorry Dor,” Atair added, making the sleeping versions of his Queen disappear as he moved his hand back to focus on the magic holding Phillip.
His feet were still dangling and kicking, trying his hardest to escape when he saw her come closer. She leaned forward as Atair lowered Phillip’s body until it was face-to-face with her own, his back scraping down the side of the wall. There was no possible way Phillip would be able to get free and from the look on his face, he was well aware of it. His wide eyes reminded her of the animals she had hunted in the past right before they were properly killed and although it did not give her pleasure, capturing him before he could kill her did.
“I’m not even going to waste time speaking on how you’ve committed treason against these lands and your Queen because you knew that before you came into this room. Instead, you will have one opportunity to tell me who sent you because… Let’s be honest here, there’s no way you did this on your own. Then I will think twice about leaving you in the cells until you rot or otherwise disposing of you,” Dora hissed, her golden eyes sparkling as she leaned ever closer.
Phillip knew she meant the words, every single one of them.
Behind her, Atair slowly side-stepped until he reached the goblet, hands remaining in the air to keep Phillip under control before kicking the thing a few inches. “What’s this?” he inquired, snapping his fingers in one hand as the magic against Phillip’s mouth disappeared.
“Magic… It’s left behind magic,” Phillip said softly, a soft tremor erupting over his body.
“Mallor’s remaining power,” Atair said assuredly, turning back to Elladora as he spoke once more. “Carry on.”
“Thanks for your permission,” Dora said with a roll of her eyes, turning back to the man before her. “Talk. Who is it that instructs you to do this? Who told you to come and kill me? Waste any time and I promise you will regret it more than the decision to come here this night and ruin the best bed I’ve ever slept in.”
“It was Anita,” Phillip sang like a canary.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Yurel Oceans
Alni’s eyes opened under water, the sting of the salt immediately forcing him to close them once more. His arms were wildly beating at the water around him, trying his hardest to force his body back to the surface and ignore the pain that encompassed his entire body.
There was a loud noise before him and he forced his eyes open once again, the fuzziness clearing a second later as the scene before Alni was presented to him. He was floating underwater, a dark shape swimming in his direction at an alarming rate. Opening his mouth in panic, he tried to kick back in the waves and raise his hands to defend himself but suddenly realized he was breathing.
Breathing. Under. Water.
There was a small bubble of air before his face that covered his mouth and nose but it was not the magic of his own devising. The dark shape slowly came into focus, Bethinium swimming to him at a rapid speed. To Alni’s left, another massive shape remained in the water, unmoving.
Silthia.
Ignoring Bethinium swimming to him, Alni kicked
and struggled to get to Silthia. Not sure what he would be able to do once he reached her, the red of her blood already misting the water around her as she drifted to the darkness of the deep waters. He was propelling himself forward, not stopping until he was arm’s length from his bonded dragon. Reaching forward, he was suddenly aware of dozens of dark shapes around them.
The beings were floating in the water watching the two warlocks struggle to get to Silthia, no expression on their angled and beautiful faces as they observed. The upper portion of their bodies appeared human, the skin of their arms and torso covered in sparkling blue scales. Their eyes were opal-shaped and green, their hair long and flowing behind them, as dark as the seaweed that covered the rocks and ocean floor. They were eerily beautiful, the only weapons they possessed were the long, sharp tails on their lower half.
They ended in sharp edges, bone as sharp as knives protruding out like a stingray as they floated up and down. Alni could hear their voices underwater, lyrical and whispering to each other as they spoke a language he had never heard before.
Of course, he had assumed the merpeople were simply a myth or had been killed off long ago, why would he know anything about their language?
They exchanged looks to each other as they spoke, then redirected their attention to the floating strangers in their waters. They darted forward without warning, webbed hands grabbing for Alni and Bethinium’s clothing and the bag around Bethinium’s side as they attempted to drag the two deeper into the dark waters. Alni and Bethinium were kicking wildly, fighting with them as explosions of magic flew from their hands, knocking several of the merpeople back into the darkness. But it was not enough to fight them all off, gaining depth with each passing moment they tried to escape, Bethinium’s staff hitting downward on their faces as they grabbed for their legs.
Something startled them suddenly, the merpeople scattering in all different directions and releasing their hold on the two men as they darted into the darkness as an object cut through the water and wrapped around Silthia, Alni, and Bethinium. The net pulled the two warlocks against Silthia’s side and her wound, pulling them upward to the surface of the ocean quickly. Alni tried to rip free of the net, hands grasping onto the material before him as he pulled and struggled but it was no use.
They broke through the waves and the bubble of magic around Bethinium, Alni, and Silthia’s mouths disappeared when the cold air hit their faces. The winds were beating against the water, spraying it into their faces and knocking them around with each wake from the massive boat before them.
The net did not stop when it reached the surface, dragging them from the water as they hung above the deck of the boat that had fished them out. Alni and Bethinium struggled to move against Silthia, trying not to hurt the dragon and not get squished by her body in the process. There was still no telling how injured she was, the only relief the shallow breaths of air she struggled to take beside them. Breathing. At least she was breathing. But who had saved them from the water?
Realizing he may have thought of the men on the deck below their dangling bodies as saviors too soon, Alni yelled out against the wind down at them. “Hey! HEY! Let us out of here!” He could feel his hands warming as he pressed them against the net before his face, the rope sizzling right away.
As the side of the net gave way, Bethinium and Alni fell through the large hole, Silthia remaining nestled in the net as they fell to the wooden boat below. Thankfully, unlike the shock of falling from Silthia into the ocean, Bethinium and Alni were able to stop themselves before they smashed against the top of the boat. Their magic reached out, hovering their bodies above the wood for a few seconds before they landed, Bethinium’s walking stick smashing to the ground with them along with the one bag of food and supplies that had been wrapped around Bethinium’s side.
All around them the dark shapes produced weapons Alni was not too familiar with. He had known the people that side of the mountain didn’t have much magic around, but the presence of so many guns that day was still something he could not quite wrap his head around. Bethinium slowly got to his feet, wringing out his tunic as he put a hand in the air to stop the newcomers from doing any damage until they could properly understand the situation.
“Thank you for saving us… Please… Our friend is terribly injured and needs assistance. Can any of you help?” There was a desperation in Bethinium’s voice that Alni felt tenfold as he stared up at his friend in the net, needing to help her.
Lanterns were brought to them, illuminating the area around them and the enormous boat they found themselves on. The humans that surrounded them were dirty and adorned with bright colors from across the sea, their eyes peering from behind scuffed faces and smiles producing missing teeth. This time, Alni knew who they faced from stories told to him long ago. About the humans sending their criminals to sea for the merpeople. Of course, he had assumed it was merely myth as well.
But the moment he caught sight of the boat’s large sail and registered the shape and colors etched into it, he knew it matched the stories he had been told by his parents. Red and green swirled into a cloud upon the fabric. In the middle, a ship burning. It was a promise to anyone that encountered them.
Criminals of the Yurel Oceans. Pirates and plunderers of anything that was unfortunate enough to come across them.
Heavy footsteps drew Alni’s attention as a man stepped ahead of the rest. The leather hat upon his head was tilted to the side, curling black hair thick and long as it cascaded over his shoulders. The man was broad shouldered and stocky, a dirty scruff on his face that covered his cheeks, only his grey eyes shining through as he stared at them. He looked to be the same age as Bethinium but there was no camaraderie with his words.
“The dragon should be allowed to die, so it doesn’t cause harm to us. As for ye’ two, empty yer’ pockets and if you show any more signs of magic we’ll be sure to send ye’ straight to Desin’s core.” His voice was a grumbling and scratchy sound that still boomed over the others and demanded respect.
This time it was Alni’s turn to feel the panic set in. He put up both his hands and took a step forward, stopping when the guns were all raised around him and the captain shook his head, tsking. “We will give you everything we have, we will. We work for the Queen and have more gold than you can even fathom. If you help us, we promise you will not only gain favoritism with the new ruler of Desin, but will be richer than-”
“Yer a liar,” the captain growled, yanking his own musket toward the others near Alni and Bethinium.
They started to approach, an unknown and unsaid direction given to them from the captain, one the warlocks were certain wasn’t in their favor. “We are NOT liars. Tell your men to get back, we don’t want to fight but we will if we have to!”
“Ease up, Da, I’ve seen this one’s mug before…” a gravely female voice carried over the mumbles of the pirates.
She was taller than Alni by several inches and the large boots on her feet didn’t help. Her long blonde hair was just as curly as the captain’s, dirty and protruding from under a black tricorn. She was dressed in brown leather pants and a black blouse that was torn and dirty. She held a large glass bottle with a mysterious brown substance within, the contents sloshing around as she gestured straight at Alni.
“He’s the un’ on the wanted signs months ago. With the likkle elfie girl who ended up being Queen. We ‘eard the story!” She approached Alni until she was a mere foot away and he resisted the urge to call upon his magic, praying this was all leading to an understanding.
She adjusted the belt around her middle and leaned forward, the dirty outline of her sharply featured face was both alluring and threatening as she jutted out her chin and brought a hand to his chest, giving it a poke, her ash grey eyes sparkling. “Yer’ even cuter than yer’ picture, dragon rider. He’s no’ a liar, Da. This one is the one we ‘eard about at the taverns.”
The man who clearly was in charge of the rest put a hand up and the guns were lowered as his
men peered over at the newcomers. They responded immediately to his commands and it was clear there was either a high level of trust among them all, or a great deal of fear. Either way, it was appearing that the wanted signs that had plagued Alni in the past were finally doing some good for them.
“Get the medic, we got ourselves some gold ta’ secure,” he roared out.
~
The three brothers stood at the coast, eyes searching the dark waves where their three targets had plummeted to their demise. They almost turned away from the scene before the shadowed outline of a large ship broke through the fog over the ocean.
The smallest of smiles crawled over Zakir’s face as he looked over to his brothers. They were all three nursing wounds but it was clear by the appearance of the pirates that nothing good had come of those they had promised to kill. It was well known that anyone who ran into the pirates were as good as gone, if they had even survived the fall in the first place. After seeing the damage his spear had done to Silthia’s side, Zakir highly doubted they were breathing.
At least, they wouldn’t be soon if any of them remained.
Thankfully, the family had not left the safety of their home so they didn’t have to take any more lives that day. They needed to get somewhere safe for the night so he could send out an alert to Anita. They had quick ways of spreading news and he knew the woman would want to know things were a success the moment Alni, Bethinium, and Silthia breathed their last breaths.
Besides, Zakir needed to make another weapon as soon as possible. The proceeds from the kill would assist in finding new materials.
As the three turned from the water and headed into the forest, never looking back as the fog covered the pirate’s large ship and crashing waves beyond. Narim had Siphor’s arm around his shoulder, assisting his limping brother until they were safely hidden within the large trees and darkness.