Octavia sprinkled the remains of the concealing dust over them. A long, drawn-out screech sounded from the girls’ right. Keeping close together, Octavia and Felicity used the last of the revealing dust to find a safe path through the marsh, making sure to avoid any slumbershrooms.
A gloriously full moon came out from behind the clouds, lighting up the area like a beacon. Still shrouded by the dust, the girls stood in its beam, hidden from the now-circling wyvern, whose form was revealed by the moonlight.
Felicity followed it with her arrow, but Octavia’s gasp stopped her from taking the shot. On a mossy mound, surrounded by a nest fashioned from golden coins and crystals, was an opaque egg with purple veins running through it. As the Late Summer Moon’s light hit the egg, it shattered; a lone purple flower rose from the remains, its spiky petals unfurling one by one.
Mesmerised, Octavia walked toward it, feeling in her satchel for her dagger. Ferren, who had retreated deep into Octavia’s pocket, poked her head out to see. She suddenly gave a frightened yell. “Look out!”
The wyvern had turned its great, scaly head toward the girls, and furls of smoke snaked out of its snout.
“The dust must be wearing off! Run!” Felicity yelled. They both headed for the mound, sliding on the squelchy ground, and darted behind a twisted, blackened tree as the wyvern swooped low, flames coursing from its mouth. The creature gave a screech as it missed the girls.
Felicity nocked her arrow and turned in one swift move as the wyvern wheeled around, smoke pouring from its nostrils, gearing up for another onslaught. She closed her eyes briefly and breathed in slowly. Everything took on a dream-like quality; the pounding of Octavia’s heart in her ears diminished all other sounds as she watched Felicity open her eyes and focus on one thing only: her target. Her sister let the arrow fly.
Octavia held her breath as she watched its flight; it seemed to arc in slow motion through the mist. With a colossal roar, the wyvern bucked and writhed in the air as the arrow found its mark and embedded itself deep in its chest. The smoke was extinguished from the creature’s nostrils and the glow dimmed in its great eyes. On a final sigh and one last shudder, the wyvern disappeared in an explosion of glittery particles.
“You did it!” Octavia yelled, grabbing her sister and hugging her tightly.
Felicity let out a great sob and sank slowly to her knees, her pent-up emotions released like a flurry of arrows. She clutched at Octavia, who held her tightly as she cried.
She finally let out a heaving breath and lifted her watery eyes to Octavia’s. Octavia looked back at her, feeling a mixture of sympathy and awe for her big sister.
“I’m sorry,” Felicity sniffed, wiping her nose on the sleeve of her tunic.
“Don’t be! I am so proud of you. We wouldn’t have been able to finish the quest if it weren’t for you,” Octavia told her.
Felicity gave a shuddering breath and stood. She handed Octavia the dagger, which had dropped to the floor. “Then finish it,” she told her, smiling.
They approached the mound together, hand in hand. Ferren ran ahead of them, squeaking in excitement.
Taking a deep breath, Octavia knelt in front of the flower, taking in the enormity of the situation. Reverently, she stroked the violet petals, which tinkled lightly at her touch. She gently took the dagger, and with one swipe cut the stem. Five purple, crystalline seeds exploded from the thick stalk; they flew in all directions. Four landed in the squelchy mud and disappeared, but the fifth landed in Felicity’s outstretched hand. She looked down at it in surprise and then raised her eyes to Octavia, who grinned.
“I guess that one is yours!”
Felicity stared down at the glowing seed for a moment, before putting it into her bag.
Feeling that time was of the essence, Octavia swiftly opened the glass box, and with a look at her sister, placed the purple bloom inside. She closed the lid; the flower pulsed once with a bright purple light and was gone.
Octavia sagged with relief, and Felicity bent to rub her back soothingly. “It’s not over yet, Tavi,” she reminded her.
Octavia nodded.
Following the demise of the wyvern, the mist that covered the marsh had diminished greatly. The girls could make out trees, fallen logs and a pathway lit by glowing toadstools. At the end of the path stood a black mountain; atop it a silver castle jutted out, black banners waving in the wind.
The girls looked at each other again, and Octavia raised an eyebrow in question. Felicity shook her head.
“No. We did what we set out to do – we should go back and wait for the rainbow from Castle Enfys.”
“But Nesrin’s castle is right there! It wouldn’t hurt to go and take a look to see what we’re up against,” Octavia wheedled, taking out her water bottle.
With a huff, Felicity sat on a log. “I can’t make decisions when I’m hungry,” she moaned, grabbing the last of the honey cakes and two apples from her bag. Sharing it out, the girls and Ferren munched silently.
“I knew you girls would be trouble,” a watery voice croaked.
Felicity yelped as Lyffy crawled out from beneath the log. Octavia did a double-take before recognising the large toad they had encountered in Rhosyn’s Woods when they had first arrived.
“How did you get here?” Ferren asked, astounded.
“I had business to attend to,” he said disdainfully to the little mouse, whose whiskers twitched indignantly. “So, aside from felling wyverns, what is next on your agenda?” he enquired, hopping onto the log next to Octavia, his long tongue flicking out to latch onto a passing bug.
Octavia gazed at Nesrin’s castle. “Do you know a way in there?” she asked, gesturing to the distant fortress.
“Castle Astra? Why would you want to go there?” he asked with an ill-disguised shudder.
“Nesrin has our cousin Beatrice – we need to rescue her!” Octavia began.
“No, we need to get back to Castle Enfys for assistance,” interrupted Felicity.
Lyffy looked from one to the other. “I do know one way in…” he mused. “But it is only fit for… a certain creature,” he croaked delicately.
“Come on, Fliss, we’ve come this far. We can’t leave Beatrice with Nesrin: we don’t know what enchantments she will put on her.”
Felicity sighed, and Octavia could sense her sister’s desire to make sure Beatrice was safe overriding her naturally sensible nature. “Fine, but we just scope out the castle, then go back for reinforcements.”
Octavia nodded fervently; wiping the honey-cake crumbs from her lap, she stood. “Lead on, Sir Lyffy,” she ordered, tucking Ferren back in her pocket.
Lyffy puffed himself in an almost regal manner and croaked. He leapt from the log with surprising agility and hopped off along the pathway, the girls hastening to keep up with the toad. He kept to the edges of the path, gesturing to them periodically to duck behind the various bushes and twisted trees they passed.
The moon was fully overhead now. It was a magnificent sight: the Late Summer’s Night Moon. It glowed, luminescent, a purple halo ringing its shining face. Octavia was full of a mix of relief at finally getting the flower and the prospect of meeting her brother soon and worry for Beatrice, Martha and her mother. She hoped they would not be sacrifices in the process of saving Otto.
Biting her lip, she nearly bumped into Felicity, who had stopped at Lyffy’s sudden gesture. He beckoned them behind a bush at the base of the mountain; they crouched next to him, silently gazing up the sheer cliffside. The sound of clanking caught their attention and they watched a silver gate in the castle walls slowly lift, letting out a series of small grey clouds, holding an assortment of creatures in black tabards. The clouds encircled the mountain, a guard standing sentry on each one, eyes scanning above and below.
“How are we going to get in?” Octavia whispered with a sideways glance at Felicity, who frowned.
“We don’t,” she hissed back. “Tavi, you promised.”
“Shh!” Lyffy whispered.
“This way.” He crawled under the bush. “You won’t be able to go back now without being seen. Nesrin must be worried about the repercussions of kidnapping your cousin, if she is posting extra guards,” he told Felicity. They followed him through a gap in the bush, pushing their way out into a cave in the mountainside which was slippery with running water. Stalactites and stalagmites framed the entrance, black with veins of silver.
“In here – careful,” Lyffy muttered, hopping onto a ledge. Felicity slipped on the shiny floor and grabbed onto Octavia to steady herself. A succession of rough steps had been hewn into the rock. Lyffy hopped up them, waiting for the girls to follow him. “This leads up to the,” he cleared his throat, “ah, latrine chamber.”
“Did you say latrine?” Felicity asked with a shudder.
Lyffy disguised a croaky chuckle. “I did say it was for creatures of a particular sort.”
Felicity scowled at Octavia, but carried on up the steps.
When they stopped to catch their breath, Octavia noticed that the walls were becoming slimier, and a pungent smell wafted from an archway above their heads. They mounted the last few steps and crept through it, checking there was no one inside.
A large, fetid pool sat in the centre of the chamber; oily and black, it bubbled lazily. Covering their mouths and noses with their sleeves, the girls took shallow breaths. Ferren gave little squeaking coughs from within Octavia’s pocket.
Lyffy gestured with a webbed hand to a ledge that ran the perimeter of the chamber; on the far side, above the pool, was a grate. “You need to go through there,” he explained, pointing.
Felicity shuddered, but climbed onto the ledge after the toad, followed by Octavia, who swiftly checked Ferren was safely secured. They sidled their way gingerly around the ledge. Lyffy squeezed through the grate into a foul-smelling tunnel and looked back apologetically at the girls.
Felicity braced her knees on either side of the grate and, with Octavia’s assistance, slid it upward. They froze at the loud creaking the grate gave, but after a few moments of silence they crawled through, pulling it securely down behind them. The tunnel sloped upwards, so they placed their feet on either side of the stinking trough that ran through it and shimmied their way up, their backs stooped, knees bent. They managed to get through the tunnel without stepping in anything, but the odour clung to their clothes like a cloak.
At the top there was a hole, big enough for buckets of filth to be tossed down. They waited until Lyffy had checked the coast was clear before pulling themselves through. Luckily, they were of delicate build and fitted easily.
Looking around, they found themselves in a large room filled with compartments and buckets – they were in a communal toilet block, Octavia thought with a grimace. Following Lyffy through the archway, they stopped in the corridor and listened; they could hear the distant clanging of the gate as the guards changed shifts.
They sidled down the corridor until they came to the end. Before they could look around the corner, a voice made them jump, causing Octavia to let out a surprised gasp.
“Well, well, what do we have here?” the familiar voice asked. Octavia looked down to see Wattle staring at her, his nose wrinkling in distaste.
“You!” she hissed, reaching down and gripping him by his tabard, which had been replaced with a pristine new one.
“Ugh, you’ll get my uniform stinky,” he moaned. Twisting out of her grip, he ran four-legged along the corridor, shouting, “Guards! Intruders!”
“Oh no! What do we do?” Felicity panicked, looking around frantically.
“In here,” a musical voice buzzed. Lyffy and the girls darted into the room opposite, where the voice had come from.
In the centre of the room, on a black onyx table, was a small cage in the shape of a beehive. A beautiful bee about the size of Ferren sat on a miniature throne inside it, a crown atop her fuzzy head, the gold fashioned to look like molten honey dripping from its points.
“Hide behind the zcreen! I will diztract them.” Her lilting voice turned every s into a z.
Desperate, and with no time to lose, the girls made a quick decision to trust the bee. Darting behind the screen along with Lyffy, they held their breath as a guard came into the room.
“Where did they go – the two human girls?” he demanded.
“Human girlz? I have zeen no human girlzzz! How dare you dizturb me!” The queen bee flew angrily at the side of the cage, her stinger thrusting through a gap in the bars.
Eyeing the bee’s stinger warily, the guard backed out of the room. “Sorry, Your Majesty,” he muttered before fleeing.
“The coazt izzz clear,” the queen bee buzzed softly.
Octavia and Felicity tentatively came out from behind the screen and looked down at the bee. “Thank you,” Octavia said, nodding in respect.
“You are welcome. If you are intruderzzz at Queen Nezrin’zzz caztle, you are friendzzz of mine. I am Gwenyn, Queen of the Beezzz.” She inclined her stripy head, her black eyes watching them with interest.
“Forgive me, Your Majesty, but how have you come to be locked up here?” Felicity asked, as Lyffy stood watch by the door.
Just then, Ferren popped her head out of Octavia’s pocket with a squeak. “Queen Gwenyn!” she said in surprise.
“Ah, little Ferren, it is a pleazure to zee you again; you were juzt a little zqueakling the lazt time I zaw you.” The bee smiled in genuine pleasure before answering Felicity. “Nezrin came to my palace; she uzed magical zmoke to zend my beezzz to zleep and captured me. She holdzzz me prizoner here to force my beezzz to work for her. They patrol the realm and alert her to any intruderzzz,” Gwenyn told them sadly.
“How can we help you?” Octavia asked earnestly, looking at the tiny lock on the cage.
“Leave it to me!” squeaked Ferren. She leapt from Octavia’s shoulder and onto the side of the cage; clutching at the bars, she peered into the lock. Rifling through her fur, she pulled out a tiny thorn that had got stuck there. She inserted the thorn into the lock and jiggled it around until with a click the cage door swung open.
“Thank you, Ferren of the quick handzzz!” Gwenyn flew from the cage, somersaulting in the air, finishing off with two laps of the room.
“Pleaze – I am in your debt, how can I repay you?” she asked the girls.
“Nesrin is holding our cousin here. We have to rescue her,” Octavia told her. Gwenyn’s antennae twitched angrily.
Lyffy croaked and headed into the room. “Whatever you do, do it quick; more guards are coming!”
Gwenyn stopped flying and, hovering in mid-air, began to buzz, louder and louder. Her song crescendoed as it was joined by a thousand more voices from outside the arched windows.
“Let them in,” Gwenyn urged.
Octavia rushed to the latch and pushed the window open. She ducked as the cloud of bees entered the room and surrounded their queen in jubilation. Gwenyn buzzed out an order, and the swarm as one exited the room. Screams and shouts came from the hallway as the guards ran for their lives.
Chapter Eleven
Ad Astra
“Thank you, Queen Gwenyn,” Felicity said fervently; she grabbed her bow and arrow and headed for the door as well.
Octavia marvelled at her sister’s new-found courage with pride. She quickly followed Felicity, along with Gwenyn and Lyffy.
“Which way shall we go?” she asked, checking the coast was still clear. She was relieved to see that the swarm of bees had created an impenetrable shield at either end of the corridor.
“I will lead you to the throne room; my beezzz will get the location of your couzin from Nezrin.” Gwenyn led the way, her swarm parting like a curtain to let them through, their buzzing a soft, reassuring hum.
They climbed the black stone steps, embedded silver chips glistening in the light of the torches that lined the walls. A loud caw and a clap of thunder rolled across the ceiling above them, making them pause.
“That izzz juzt Taran, Nezrin’zzz raven; he izzz warni
ng her.”
They pressed on up the winding steps, finally bursting out into a magnificent hall, its roof open to the elements; a thousand stars glittered overhead, whilst the moon hung heavy in the sky.
Turning in a circle, Octavia took in the jet-black walls adorned with banners of black and silver. Two silver thrones sat on a raised platform, flanked with flaming torches burning purple.
The buzzing of the bees started getting louder as another crack rocked the room, throwing Octavia and Felicity to the floor. Pushing herself up onto her knees, Octavia saw a cloud floating down from the open roof. Nesrin stood upon it, her face livid; her staff was pointed directly at Gwenyn. Taran beadily eyed the queen bee from Nesrin’s shoulder.
“How did you escape?!” Nesrin seethed with fury, indifferent to the angry mass of bees starting to surround her.
“That izzz no concern of yourzzz,” Gwenyn said, flying up near Nesrin’s face, and she buzzed out a command. Her bees swarmed Nesrin, who screamed shrilly; Taran flew up and out of the roofless hall, cawing loudly. A flash of light and a bang had Octavia and Felicity clutching each other. Smoke began to fill the room, and the bees started dropping one by one.
“Noooo!” Gwenyn shouted. She dove at Nesrin, who swatted her away with her staff. Gwenyn hit the wall heavily and slid down to lie crumpled on the floor, her tiny crown flying off and landing near Octavia. Ferren quickly scampered out of her pocket and grabbed the crown; unseen by Nesrin, she darted over to Gwenyn, who did not stir.
The cloud slowly descended. Nesrin stepped off and walked toward the girls, who stood up on trembling legs. She wagged her staff at them.
“Tut tut,” she said. “Breaking into my castle, releasing my prisoners and attacking my guards – that is treason, my dears.”
“You have our cousin. We want Beatrice back!” Octavia shouted, sounding braver than she felt. Standing her ground, she raised her chin in defiance.
“I have taken a liking to the girl; she will be the Princess of Castle Astra,” Nesrin told them, circling them like a hungry shark, her teeth gleaming in the torchlight.
Octavia Bloom and the Missing Key (Through The Fairy Door Book 1) Page 9