It has to be him. Where is the guard stationed here?
I thought about how my shield of magic would have been nice, then remembered the shields the others had used to capture Traflier. I pictured it clearly in my mind. The weight of it when it appeared in my grasp nearly pulled my arm from the socket, but I was thankful to be getting the hang of this elf magic.
I moved the shield to my front and continued towards Traflier’s cell. The closer I got, the more I could hear him muttering.
“Stuck. Stuck in the muck. Stuck with the green and the gold and the muck. Should be out. Why am I stuck? Should have it all now, should have all of them, all of them, all of the places, the creatures. Why am I stuck? I can’t feel them here, can’t smell them, taste them. I want to go back.”
I tried to listen closely to what he was saying, creeping slowly towards his cell on the balls of my feet. Then something touched my shoulder and I squealed. Traflier hissed, something crashed against a wall. Then I saw her.
“Grace, oh my Fey, you scared the crap out of me.”
She didn’t reply, just smiled.
I looked behind me to the hallway area, and past her to the door I had come through. “Did dad come get you?”
Grace took a step closer to me but still said nothing. The smile on her lips grew to a thin, creepy grin.
“Grace, what’s going on? What’s wrong?”
“Everything is exactly as it was planned,” she said, her eyes widening. “Wouldn’t you say, father?”
I felt all the color draining from my face. “W…what?”
“Oh come now, you of all fey know there are no lengths one wouldn’t go to for family.”
“I’m your family,”
“Pfft, you are a biproduct of something silly Giovanya did that was too late to be undone.”
I took a step back, but she matched it with a step of her own.
“You don’t mean this. He has you in some kind of trance, you can fight him.”
“In his current state he wouldn’t know how to enthrall someone, that’s why I had to bring him here. You thought you were clever dosing him with that vampire power, who do you think suggested it to your little king? Now we are here, in the Elf Kingdom, a place he never could have entered, if not for you. And it just so happens to hold all the creatures he needs. So thank you again for being so easily manipulated.”
“But… why?”
“Why? You are asking me why?”
I took another step back. “Yes, I’m asking you why. You love the fey, you helped to protect them from him when he attacked Sayeesies… Didn’t you?”
“Please, I let him in. The second you had your portal open I cast my own behind it.”
My stomach turned. “What do you want?”
“I want the humans to pay for what they did to my mother.”
“And that means all the fey, all the fabled have to pay too? Just so you can get revenge on the humans?”
“Not the fey. Not the real fey, that is. Once we tear down the walls between realms my father will rule over it all, and they will see that it is better to be by his side.”
“They won’t. They will always fight him, now they know what he really is they will fight against him, he isn’t even fey anymore.”
“He is the greatest fey there ever was, or will be. If they fight, they will die. Just like you will after you do me one last thing.”
“I’m not going to let him out, if that’s what you’re after?”
“I don’t need you to open the cell, he will be able to do that all on his own… just as soon as he gets a little something from you.”
“I won’t give him—or you—anything.”
“Oh, but I think you will,” she said, then threw an orb at my feet. I was too slow to lower the opal shield to block it and felt it’s effects immediately. She had frozen me in place.
I watched, unable to move as she wrapped her cold hands around my arm as she tried to free the shield from my grasp. My fingers were frozen around it tight, so she gave up, and moved me closer to the cells. I tried to will the magic to free me, release me from the cast, but it wouldn’t work. She bounced me side to side like a statue.
Then there he was, in front of me. His eyes red as fire and his teeth sharp as knives. Traflier.
What the fuck is she doing?
She held out her hand to her father and he grabbed it, yanking her towards the cell bars. For a moment I thought he might kill her, but then I felt it. Felt the pull of the power. The elf magic was leaving me.
After the last of it had transferred, Grace blew the fine dust of burnt yowie fur towards me. My nose itched and I wanted to sneeze, but the cast holding me in place was still in effect.
This is it. He is going to kill me now, I thought, but when his bars disappeared he stepped right past me into the light of the tunnel. He whispered to Grace behind me, unable to make out their words I waited, trying again and again to move. My fingers holding the shield released, and it crashed to the ground.
The room fell silent.
Are they gone?
The cast fell away slowly, first allowing me to move my neck. I craned it around to try to see the room, but there was no one there.
Then a growl came from the shadows of the vampire’s cell.
“Desssmoree, what will you do now?”
“Sh… shut up,” I managed to say as I shook off the rest of the cast and fell to my knees.
“He has my power and yours, and the elves’ now too. What will you do, what will they do?”
“The elves! He is loose in the Elf Kingdom, I have to warn them.” I climbed to my feet and headed for the door.
“Wait!” the vampire said, and I stopped to look back at him clutching the bars of his cell with blackened fingers. I was careful not to make eye contact.
“I can help you defeat him,” he said, his voice as slick as ever.
“You’re lying, the second you are free you will run.”
“I don’t want him running around with my power any more than you do. He will decimate the human realm in mere months.”
“I couldn’t let you out even if I wanted to,” I said as I walked through the door to head back upstairs.
“You know who can. You can talk to him. To the king. He will lisssten to you,” the vampire called as I took off climbing the stairs as fast as I could.
When I reached the top the guard was laying on the ground, open wounds at his neck and a small pool of blood soaking into the stone floor.
Ava!
I ran, my chest burning as I sprinted through the halls, then an arm grabbed me and pulled me behind a drapery hanging on the corridor wall.
“Shhh, Desmoree, it is me, Sien,” Sien said as she pulled me further back. “Come on, through here, quick.”
Behind the painting was a hidden passage and Sien dragged me through it.
“Traflier took the elf magic from me. He is loose in the palace. Grace was helping him,” I said as I stumbled after her.
“We know. He came for the king, but the guards gave us enough cover to make our way to these passages. Ava, Jax, and your father too.”
“What about the rest of the elves? The fey? The fabled? They are all out there, easy picking for Traflier and Grace.”
“We are going after them. King Blake wanted me to make sure you were safe first. He and Jax are mounting a battle plan as we speak.”
“I need more magic. I need to see the king.”
“He is through here,” she said as she reached the end of a passage and she pushed on what looked like a small wooden wall. It opened silently to a candle lit room full of bottles and books.
“Des,” Jax called, grabbing hold and pulling me in close.
“Mum, thank fey you’re alright.”
“Ava, Jax, I am so sorry. It’s all my fault.”
“No time for that now, the elves are drawing him out to the gardens, the trees will offer some cover while the fey and fabled find somewhere to hide,” King Blake s
aid, pulling a book from the wall. “Desmoree, I can share elf magic with you again if you like.”
“Yes, a million times yes. The vampire, he offered to help us.”
“We are not setting that thing free,” Sien said as she thumbed through a book on the small desk in the corner.
“This is still going to hurt,” King Blake said, closing the distance between us. I knew what was coming this time and so wasn’t shocked when his lips were on mine again. The cold, sharp sting of his magic flowing from his mouth into mine the same too.
My legs wobbled and my head swam, but he grabbed my arms and held me up, keeping his lips locked against mine until the transfer was complete. When he released me I stumbled back, and knocked a bottle from a small table by the door.
“Careful, some of these potions could kill you,” Sien said, raising her chin to get a better look at the bottle I had broken. “Oh, that one just makes everything taste like berries.”
“Really?” I asked.
“It was going to be a present for you, Ava,” she said, turning to my daughter. “Don’t worry though, I can make more.”
“Thank you, Sien,” Ava said as she moved to stand beside her. “What’s the plan?”
“Your plan is to stay here,” I said to Ava.
“Mum, I can help.”
King Blake stepped forwards. “Ava you have become quite skilled in creating casts, it would help us a great deal if you would stay with Sien and help her create the orbs and potions we can use against Traflier and Grace.”
Ava nodded and picked up a book.
“What about the vampire?” I asked, his words repeating again and again in my mind. He will decimate the human realm in mere months. “What if he can help?”
“Des,” Jax began as the others loaded bags with orbs of all colors. “The vampire will say anything to be set free. It has been imprisoned for fey knows how long.”
“Exactly, Jax. Traflier put him there, so maybe if we let him out he can stop him.”
“And what if he joins him?”
“He wouldn’t. Traflier would have let him out himself if he thought he would work with him.”
“You can’t know for sure and we are already up against the impossible, we shouldn’t throw an invincible demon into the mix too.”
“What if Traflier is invincible too?”
“Then we are totally screwed.”
Max called to us, “Des, come take a bag. Jax, you this one. The orbs are all casts to try to stop them, freezing, slowing, those sorts of things. But these…” He held up an orb filled with black dust. “These are explosive. Only throw them if no other creature is nearby.”
We nodded and took our bags.
“Des, did Traflier or Grace say anything that could help us?” King Blake asked as he threw his bag over his shoulder and adjusted it to sit right on his hip.
“No, but maybe there is something in her room that could help us?”
“You two go to Grace’s room first, we will join the elves in the gardens. Be careful.”
“You too,” I said before moving over to Ava and Sien. “Ava, please stay here, stay with Sien making the orbs. We will be back, I promise you.”
“But what if…”
“No. We will be back.”
She nodded slightly and I pulled her in for a tight hug.
“How is your magic going, are you okay? No… incidents?”
“None since you gave me this,” she said as she pulled Parabellum from beneath her top.
“What is that?” Sien asked, reaching up to touch it.
“It’s a protection necklace Mum gave me,” Ava replied, holding it out for Sien to see.
“It is more than that, it is strong magic. I can see it radiating around it. Des, have you been wearing this the whole time?”
“Since before the great battle. I’ve never taken it off, not until just before we went to dose Traflier. I gave it to Ava then. Why?”
“My casting stones are the only other magic I have ever seen pulse like that.”
“Well it was created by the most powerful of fey, the Oley. Ava, we have to go. Stay and be safe, both of you,” I said as Jax gave Ava a squeeze and kiss on the forehead before taking my hand and leading me out of the secret room.
“How do we get to Grace’s room?”
“King Blake showed me the plans for these tunnels. There is a door that opens up into the blue room, Grace’s room is only up the hallway and around one corner.”
“Okay, so lead the way.”
Jax moved through the passages only stopping once or twice to check the directions Blake gave him. When we reached the end of the passage we waited, listening for a minute to see if we heard anyone on the other side. I raised my hand to push on the panel when Jax stopped me.
“One sec,” he said, leaning in close. Then his lips were on mine and his hand was in my hair. I deepened the kiss and my whole body reacted.
When he released me I had to blink a few times to see clearly.
“What was that for?” I asked.
“With what we are about to face, I wanted to be sure I did that at least one more time.”
“You better be doing that a hell of a lot more.”
“Let’s hope so,” he said, then pushed on the panel.
The blue room was exactly as we left it, and no one was in there waiting for us.
We climbed from the passage and closed the doorway so no one would find their way in. Jax dashed to the main door, cracking it open slightly to check the way was clear.
“Des, come on, let’s go.”
I joined him and we made our way through the hall, Jax moving with an orb of magic sitting in his hands just in case we came across Grace—I doubted it would do anything against Traflier. I tried to keep my mind clear so as not to activate the elf magic inside me.
When we got to Grace’s room I turned the handle to open her door, but something was pushing against it.
“It’s stuck,” I said, giving it another nudge. It barely moved an inch. “Give me a hand.”
Jax helped me push and something scraped against the floor as the door inched open. We pushed it far enough that I could get my head through.
“Jax, you have to see this,” I said, removing my head so he could look. The room was filled with random objects. Books, chairs, pillows, clothes, and shoes. They covered the floor and pushed up against the door, blocking our entry.
“Woah, that’s crazy. Hey, Des, Give me a shove.”
I pushed Jax and he managed to squeeze his shoulders through and tumbled into the room.
“Are you okay?” I laughed as I poked my head back in.
Jax was climbing over books and scrolls and bottles towards the back of the room.
“Hey, Des, look at this,” Jax called, throwing something towards the door. I bent down and picked up a small notebook, on the cover was scrawled a name. Tarlini. The missing council member was named Tarlini.
“Des, I think a lot of these are Tarlini’s things. She didn’t go to the human realm. There are a few of those satchels the nazieth spelled around here too. Do you think she could hide all this in those bags with your carry all cast? Did Grace do something to Tarlini just to… what? Get a seat on the council?”
“The carry all cast is for just that Jax, to carry all. It could probably fit in one bag if you wanted it to. I wish we had thought of that before, the fey could have thrown all their things into a spelled bag and brought it with them here. What are you looking for?”
“I don’t know, anything that might help us figure this out,” he said, turning back to make his way over the mountain of things. I forced my way through the doorway and began helping him search. The floor was covered in random items of really no significance. Clothes, shoes, a few pictures in frames.
I picked up a picture of Tarlini holding a small boy. Did Tarlini have a child? Did Grace hurt her child too?
“Des, that’s her nephew,” Jax sai,d taking the picture from me and placing in
against the wall before tearing into the pile again. “This is useless, there is too much stuff.”
“There has to be something,” I said, throwing things as I searched. I picked up books and flicked the pages, searched pockets in jackets and pushed my hand into socks, all in an effort to find something, anything that could help us.
Maybe the elf magic can help. Focus, Des. You are looking for something magical. Something with Grace’s energy on it. Look. Find it.
The room took on a grey sheen. Then a ripple moved across the mound and in three places an orange glow rose up like smoke from a burning ember.
“Jax, dig over there,” I yelled, pointing to the smoke I saw closest to him. He dug through and a moment later pulled out a demon tracker.
“We know where the demons are, Des, we need something to stop them.”
“There,” I called again, ignoring his remark and pointing towards the back near the window. A collection of things sat piled up under a chair and the orange smoke was curling above it.
Jax began to dig. “What am I looking for exactly, and how do you know where I need to look?”
“I am seeing her magical energy rising from beneath the crap, if something in here can help us, it has to have her magic all over it, right?”
“I guess, Des, there is nothing that can help us here…”
“There, that, what do you have your hand on?”
“It’s a scroll, hold on,” Jax said as he pulled it free. The orange smoke rose from it as he unfurled the parchment.
“What is it? Is it a cast that can stop them? Stop him?”
“Des, it’s the rose scroll. The prophecy that tells of your coming and the destruction of the Dazerarthro. It can’t help us.”
“The last spot is over there, but it’s small, and the smoke is fading.”
“Where?”
“By the bed over there,” I said, pointing.
He climbed over the things to get to the section by the bed. Pushing stuff aside, he tossed shoes and clothes over his shoulder all the while searching through the things for whatever Grace’s magic still clung to.
Enchanting the Fey- The Complete Series Page 79