by Logan Jacobs
This van was much quieter, too. In a strange way, I found myself missing the loud engine pops and screechy tires of the Van of Death. It was pretty strange to be belted into an actual car seat, too, instead of just a makeshift chair that was bolted into the floor.
The fleet of cars roared down the road as we journeyed toward the capital at top speed. There was tension in the air, no matter how many jokes we cracked or how often Maaren tried to turn the conversation toward random small talk.
“Hasen got word from the capital that the Phobos troops have arrived,” Danira said darkly as she looked at her communication tablet. She flipped it over angrily and let out a heavy sigh.
“They know he’s going after the king, right?” I demanded desperately.
“He warned them,” the commander answered, “but if that thing body hops …”
“We’ll get him,” I promised her seriously.
She looked up at me with her lone black eye, and I saw a flash of fear in the commander’s gaze for the first time ever. In all the time I’d known Danira, and in all the stressful situations she’d been in, the warrior had never worn her emotions on her face like this. I tried to give her a comforting smile, but the way my stomach was twisted in on itself, I wasn’t sure it worked too well.
“So what’s the plan when we get there?” Edora asked us. The Unseelie’s face was open and trusting as she looked at me with bright golden eyes.
Ariette, Danira, and Maaren looked to me as well, and I caught a flash of violet as Kalista glanced at me in the rearview mirror.
“You guys help wherever it’s needed,” I said. “They’re mid-battle. Who knows what that looks like. I’ll go find the king and stop Zolderon. Just remember … I have to do it alone.”
“Solid plan,” Ariette said sarcastically. “Go in there alone, face who knows how many armed and dangerous Phobos members all by yourself, and find a body-hopping spirit who could be anyone, really. Very heroic, Hero Complex.”
I laughed at the ironic use of the nickname Ariette had given me back when we’d first met. It still held true, and she made absolutely sure I knew that. And she was probably right. It wasn’t the best idea to head in there alone, guns blazing.
“Okay,” I chuckled. “New plan. We go in there together, find the king, and stop Zolderon as a team. I just have to be the one to face him, when the time comes. How’s that?”
“That works,” the warrior replied lightly as she tilted her head and pretended to consider the plan very seriously. “That sounds like a much better plan.”
It sounded so simple when I laid it out like that. A single sentence to describe how we would take down the greatest evil this realm had seen in millennia. There was a sinking feeling in my gut that told me it definitely wouldn’t be so simple. How could it? Zolderon had been a step ahead of us this entire time. He’d even kidnapped high ranking officers just so he could possess one of them and use that new body as a Trojan horse.
I sat tensely in my seat as Kalista zipped down the highway with the rest of the fleet. Every single car zoomed down the paved road at top speed as we headed through the desert to the capital of the Seelie realm. It was on the outskirts of the realm, just on the border of the ocean, and about a two hour’s drive from the nether realm.
A lot can happen in two hours, but I forced myself not to draw up all the terrible scenarios that could happen in the time it took us to get there. The Seelie army had been warned, and they could surely handle a few radical elves, right?
“I’ve got an update from the capital coming through,” Danira said suddenly, about an hour into the drive. “The Phobos army has reached the border of the city, where the High Court has set up platoons of fighters. They’ll have a hard time getting through that, so it should buy us some time. According to the officers on the ground, Patten is nowhere to be found.”
“How would they know what he looks like?” Maaren wondered in confusion. “He’s an Unseelie.”
“Uh, well,” Danira stuttered and tilted her head as she considered how best to say whatever was about to come next. “It seems your father’s there, fighting alongside the Seelie. He and his forces confirmed Patten is nowhere to be seen.”
Maaren was silent for a moment, but I caught the way her full, pink bottom lip quivered, and her hands twitched in a strangely nervous fashion. The hunter’s shapely brows furrowed momentarily over her bright green eyes before she inhaled sharply and shook her head, as if she wanted to convince herself that whatever thoughts she had weren’t true.
“Good for him, then,” was all she said before she shifted in her seat to watch as the desert began to give way to the white sand and green bluffs of the oceanside.
“And the king?” I demanded. “Where is he?”
“Surrounded by only his most trusted associates,” Danira assured me. “They’ve sent him down to a secret hideout to ride out the fight. Nobody but his closest circle knows where it is. He’ll be safe until we can find Zolderon, or Patten, or whatever his name is.”
“I kind of like Patteron,” Kalista piped up from the front seat. “Like a ship name, you know? Only they aren’t in a relationship, and they’re only one person, but it still works.”
“What the hell is a ship name?” Edora wondered.
“Hello,” Kalista answered in absolute shock that the Unseelie didn’t know. “A relationship name! When two people are together you blend both their names into one and that’s how you refer to them. Likeeee, Milton and Ariette would be Miliette, for instance! Or Milton and Maaren would be Maarton. You feel me?”
“So a loss of identity, nice,” the Unseelie grunted.
“Don’t be so negative,” Kal shot back. “Or there might never be a Midora!”
I chuckled at the lively conversation as I watched the crystalline waves roll onto the shore and then peel back slowly with the tide. It was a very comforting sight. If I made it to retirement, I promised myself this would be the sight I’d wake up to every day. The crystal blue ocean and the pristine white sand.
We rode along with the cavalry for a little while longer before the calming noises of the ocean began to be taken over by the sounds of gunfire and clashing metal. On either side, the road was surrounded by green bluffs, and the ocean was far below. Ahead of us, the pavement ended abruptly as it met the giant, gray stone wall that surrounded the capital city of the Seelie realm. The wall was over forty feet tall, and stretched out and around the city for a quarter of a mile in each direction. A huge, copper gate was planted right in the center of the enormous structure, right in the pathway of the road, so only those who were allowed into the city could enter. Of course, that didn’t quite account for a massive army of radical elves with their minds hell-bent on destroying everything Seelie.
The Phobos were already there, literally knocking at the door.
I watched as a massive ogre jammed his hand into the stone and created his own hold as he crawled up the wall. Quickly, a lithe elf peeked over the top of the wall and shot a crossbow bolt right at the ugly ogre. The projectile hit the beast right between the eyes, and his body fell ten feet to the ground below. The second his lifeless corpse hit the sand, he was replaced by another monster that began to ascend the rocky wall.
There were Seelie troops outside the wall as well, and we could see the massive battle that raged on the outskirts of the city. Kalista halted the van about a quarter mile away from the fight, but the rest of the fleet sped forward and pulled up right at the edge of the battle. Guild members dashed from their cars and jumped into the fray quickly.
Meanwhile, the six of us debated on the best way to enter the castle undetected. There were over five hundred Phobos troops. I could see maybe about half as many Seelie fighters. We hadn’t been prepared for an attack of this magnitude. The capital didn’t have a huge standing army, and that did not work in our favor today.
Swords glinted in the bright sunlight, and smoke blew into the air as guns fired continuously. There were ogres, trolls, harpies, el
ves, dwarves, even a few nymphs that fought with the Phobos. The ogres and trolls fought directly with their hands and chose to forgo any weapons. I watched in horror as one ogre lifted an elf into the air and literally tore him in half. As red blood rained down over the ogre’s head, he held the two halves of his victim in his hands victoriously, like some sort of war trophy.
“Oh fuck,” Maaren breathed next to me. “Probably not a good idea to go through there directly.”
“Anybody got any bright ideas on how we get past that wall?” I asked as I watched the fight. There was no way we’d be able to get past those Phobos troops quickly, and even if we did, we couldn’t risk opening the gate.
“I do,” Danira said, and wasted no time as she opened the side door and hopped out of the van. “Let’s move, guys.”
“Does anyone know what she’s talking about?” Edora asked as we scrambled out of the van and followed the commander.
Danira had already jumped the short distance from the green bluffs to the sand. She pressed herself up under the bluff’s lip as she made her way down the beach, headed in the direction of the capital.
“Not a clue,” Ariette answered with her blue eyes leveled on the intense fight up ahead. “But I trust Danira. She’s gotten us this far, hasn’t she?”
I could tell the Fae desperately wanted to join in on the fighting as her fingers twitched around the hilt of her sword. However, she knew the mission ahead was too important for us to get waylaid by the battle.
There was about a ten foot drop from the bluff to the sand, and we hopped over the lip of the rock and followed Danira’s lead. We hit the sandy ground of the beach and began to dash in the direction our commander was leading us. The tiny grains swallowed my feet with every step, but muffled the sound of our footsteps as we ran. Not that it would have mattered all that much, since the clang of metal, mixed with the battle cries and screams of pain rang out from the bluff above us. I didn’t think anyone could hear us even if they tried. A spatter of blood flew over the ledge of the bluff and painted the sand like some sick piece of contemporary art.
Thankfully, this time I didn’t get any on my shirt.
Then, right above us, rock crumbled and exploded as an ogre toppled over the ledge and landed right on top of the blood spatter. We all pressed ourselves up against the formation behind us, weapons at the ready, but the ogre was already dead. His black eyes were blown wide open, and a huge gash ran across his throat as dark green blood leaked out the side. The gore from the open wound mingled with the red spatter of blood on the ground, until it turned into a tiny stream that carved a path along the pristine white sand. Ocean waves roared, and the crashing tide water tickled the slimy puff of gray hair on the ogre’s head.
“Come on,” Danira grunted quietly and spun around to creep further along the sand.
The grey wall was above us now, as if it grew out of the top of the bluff, and the sounds of fighting started to steadily decline. We slunk along the white sand, against the underbelly of the wall, until Danira finally stopped.
There, in the side of the wall, was a tiny copper grate.
“Help me pull this off,” she ordered.
Ariette and Kalista both gripped the grate along with the commander, and they started to yank it from the wall.
All of a sudden, my Hand began to tingle. I frowned, because I hadn’t called on it, and the only time it had ever acted on its own was when my Fae powers had decided to upgrade.
Just as the three warriors pulled the grate from the wall, I heard a voice in my mind, as if my Hand itself warned me of imminent danger. I had this sudden urge to turn around, and as I did, I saw a giant troll and a malicious looking elf had snuck up behind us.
The elf was a dark blue color, like Maaren, but had jet black hair that was pulled back into a low ponytail. He wore a tight-shirt and dark denim jeans, and he didn’t have a weapon. His gray eyes were alight with malevolent excitement as he looked me over momentarily. The troll, on the other hand, didn’t seem nearly as excited. He almost seemed like a fighting machine, with his blank expression and torn up loincloth.
I was so thrown off by this strange growth in my powers that I didn’t register the troll’s fist fast enough. The meaty hand collided with the side of my head and sent me headfirst into the ocean. I flew at least ten feet through the air and landed with a huge splash in the salty liquid. A wave rolled over me and sent me back to the shore, and I came up spluttering, momentarily disoriented as I coughed out water that had somehow made it into my lungs.
“Hell to the no!” I heard Kalista cry out, and I pushed myself off the wet sand just in time to see the tiny dwarf take a huge swing at the elf with her axe.
The elf put up a hand just as the axe was about to collide with his neck, and the weapon stopped mid-air. It shivered for a moment in Kal’s grasp before an invisible force pried it from her grip, and the elf caught it mid-air.
In the same moment, Maaren and Edora jumped on the troll and knocked it on its back. It didn’t have time to do any sort of super speed movement before Maaren’s double-sided axe lopped the troll’s head right off.
The male elf’s hand was still raised in the air as the axe spun around and aimed itself at Ariette, who had her sword raised. She shot out a lightning bolt, and it arced from her Hand toward her opponent’s head.
However, he threw up his Hand, and Kalista’s axe absorbed the lightning bolt harmlessly.
I raised my Hand and connected with the elf’s blood, and it was like my hand was speaking to me. As I felt my target’s blood coursing through his veins, I could sense everything about him. His adrenaline was pumping hard, and the way his heart was pumping told me he was starting to grow tired. That, and the fact that he had bad cholesterol. I let a chuckle slip through my lips as I ripped the blood from the Phobos’ members body.
Unfortunately, he had also just aimed the axe at Kalista and sent it hurling straight for her head. The dwarf dove out of the way as dark, ruby red blood erupted from the elf’s body and coated yet another stretch of sand in color. The metal axe fell to the ground with a thump, just short of where Kalista had stood only moments before.
“I had it handled!” the dwarf called as she rose back up from the sand, coated in a thin layer of white sediment from head to toe.
“You’re welcome,” I shot back at the dwarf with a proud grin as I surveyed the carcasses of our enemies.
“Outliers, or guards?” Maaren asked aloud as I got back to the group.
“Probably guards,” Danira grunted as she hauled herself up through the hole they’d created in the wall. “Which means somebody already found this entrance and doesn’t want anyone else getting in. Let’s go.”
We climbed through the square hole one by one and entered into a courtyard in front of the King’s castle.
We stood in a huge round courtyard, with a small patch of bright green grass in the center. The stone that paved the ground was a brilliant white quartz that glinted in the midday sun. To our right was a small tunnel that led to the actual town, where the shops and houses were. And directly across from us was a huge castle, with gray stone walls and golden towers, and a tall, dark oak door that was halfway open.
It would have been absolutely breathtaking, if we were under different circumstances.
“Patten must be in there already,” I muttered.
Just then, the beat of powerful wings sounded above us. I craned my neck to look up at the sky. There, in the distance, was a huge, winged creature that raced through the air faster than any creature I’d ever seen.
Well, every creature except one.
Within seconds, the enormous green beast touched down in the courtyard right in front of us, with his blood red eyes fixated proudly on me. I felt an overwhelming, unexplainable sense of relief as Kajul crouched down and allowed someone to slide from his back.
Herm landed on the white quartz rather unevenly and stumbled backward into the dragon’s side as he threw all of us a lopsided smile. Kaj
ul watched us with his unblinking red eyes as the wizard made his way toward us.
“I just rode a dragon!” he exclaimed excitedly.
“You did,” Ariette chuckled as the wizard stopped in front of her. “Good to see you, Herm.”
“And rather well, I might add,” Kajul rumbled as he surveyed us all carefully, including Edora. “You’ve done well so far, mighty Racmoth.”
“You should be proud of yourself,” I pointed out. “None of this would have happened if it weren’t for you.”
“I am aware,” he said proudly, and I could have sworn he actually smiled. “Now, there is no time to waste. I foresaw you would need two things to finish out your journey. The wizard, and the serums from that doddery old professor. Promise me you will get him help when this is all over, Milton Bailey. The dryad doesn’t seem to be in his right state of mind.”
“I don’t know what you mean.” I smiled coyly. “But yes, I promise.”
“This is the serum,” Herm said as he held out a small vial of bright green liquid to Ariette. “Limmer made me swear to tell you to only take one drop each. He said any more would kill you.”
“And it works, right?” Maaren asked hesitantly. I couldn’t blame her. Limmer’s prior experiments didn’t leave too much room for faith.
“Unequivocally,” Herm assured her. “He tested it on a student first.”
“I’m not even going to go there,” Maaren said in horror.
“Bottoms up,” Ariette responded before she tipped the vial over carefully and let a single drop land on her tongue. Then she handed it to Kalista, who eagerly repeated her actions.
“What is that?” Edora asked as she stared at the vial.
“Power enhancer from a crazy dryad,” Kalista grunted as she squinted her eyes, like she willed the serum to work.
“That’s not appealing,” Edora pointed out. “It looks like sludge.”
“Well that’s good then,” Kal chuckled, “because the professor didn’t have any of your DNA to create it with, so you don’t get any.”
“Actually … ” Herm explained, “Limmer said this was created with a new strain of the Ghoul’s Bread, so it doesn’t need your DNA at all.”